Summer do

On By CarynIn dog

It was time. Time to give the dogs their summer do and shave them down. Griffin is a good boy and comes and sits to get shaved, if a bit forlorn. It takes two of us to shave down Missy, who is less than half Griffin’s size. She is just so wiggly and everything tickles. But it is done, and they are much happier black dogs in this Texas heat. We had enough hair to make a new dog. Literally. I’m quite impressed with my eldest’s fast sculpting; she even arranged the white hairs on the chest.

Before
After
The aftermath of shaving two black dogs
A dog made of hair, created by my eldest

No, I didn’t keep the fur to spin. My dogs produce wiry hair with no crimp which I have not figured out how to spin, and the thought of a hair shirt is not a pleasant one.

Crossvine

On By CarynIn Garden
Crossvine in bloom

The three-year-old crossvine on our front fence is really starting to come into its own. It is filling in and expanding and this spring has an abundance of blooms. We have a one-year-old plant next to the chicken coop that is in full sun that I am hoping in a couple years will even surpass the glory that this one displays. It too is blooming now, but still has the look of a gangly youth.

Something lives there

On By CarynIn Cats

There is a tree with a deep crevice in our back woods. The neighbor cats like to sit in the crook above the hole and watch, so I’m pretty sure something has made a home in there. I’m just not sure what.

Cat looking in a hole in the tree
Different cat, different day, same hole

Organizing and protecting

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

So now that I’m back to posting things for sale on Etsy, I needed a way to organize and protect my inventory. In the past I would tuck boxes into a cupboard, but then have to rummage through the boxes when something sold. This time I bought a file box with hanging folders, and am tucking the cards and wood work into the folders and labeling.

Labeled hanging folders to organize Etsy stock
A look down into the hanging folders

This should keep my inventory safe and dry (rather than on a table or counter where anything could happen), and I know where everything is!

That was inevitable.

On By CarynIn Craft

I was hoping to make it through knitting my Grandma’s blanket without having to rip anything out. Alas, it was not to be. I missed a cable cross over row, but luckily caught it two rows later, so only had to frog it (rip rip) back two rows.

Error in the knitting

Ripping out knitting is a bit terrifying (I always think of getting a runner in pantyhose). Luckily, I learned how to make a lifeline by picking up the target row with a spare needle set. Unfortunately I didn’t look up the directions before I did it. (Here is a link to good instructions for next time.)

Picking up the good row

The mistake I made was picking up the left leg of the purl stitches instead of the right leg.

Yarn caught. Oops # 2.

The final ripped row was still threaded through the work. Rather than pull the entire skein through, I cut the yarn and made an overhand knot at the end of the row (so I can undo the knot and weave in the ends later).

Backward stitch. Oops # 3.

When I picked the the left leg of the purl stitches, it also made those stitches backwards on the needle.

Making the purl stitch from the right leg.

To make sure these stitches didn’t get twisted, I had to make my purl stitches from the back side of the loop. The knit stitches were all fine. It was an unfortunate mistake, but it is fixed now and I can continue on!