Embracing Patched Jeans

Hurray!  My first piece went live yesterday on CBC-Parents!

It's in the "Learning" category.
It's live, and on a national CBC website!
Here's a link:
 Why My Kids Have Patches On Their Clothes And What That’s Taught Our Family

In other news:
Sadie the dog had a little run-in with the leftover sugar from canning yesterday.  Rather, she was annoyed that I left home (She was saying, "The nerve of that lady!  Going out for some groceries! Leaving me at home with Sally the dog, the Professor, and both twins---  All on my own!") and decided to do some investigation of our kitchen counters again.  Everyone else was upstairs, getting ready for kid bedtime. This time, Sadie's adventure involved taking a 2 kilo bag of sugar (maybe a pound or .5 kilo was left) and bringing it to the living room, ripping up the bag, and spraying sugar everywhere.  Talk about a mess...OY.  She is paying for it today with a real tummy ache.

It was a lot to clean up but it was also pretty funny.  Oh, we have a big puppy!
Note to self: Do not leave stuff out on counters!  Repeat! (Read that note, again and again.)

She'll grow and learn, but it takes training and time...and I have to train all the other family members to keep better track of her.  (Cause sometimes I do leave home to do things...crazy, huh?)

Mid-career science funding

While we were playing outside in the sunshine at a birthday party for seven year olds over the weekend...This CBC article launched:

Why doesn't Canada support mid-career discovery-based scientists?

And yes, if you were curious, I wrote this while getting us ready for the big international trip.  Then I worked on editing it with a great CBC editor while we packed and unpacked, and I got 40 some cupcakes baked and iced, and I put together the boys' birthday party. It all happens at the same time around here.

In a quiet moment, I finally captured Sadie, our new dog, playing ball with her squeaky toy.  She is a blur of motion and it can be hard to catch a photo.  So here's a little video instead, I hope it works! (oops, it didn't work!)  If you have a moment, watch  Here is a still shot or two, just for the joy in playing and her enthusiasm!  It's great to have a big young dog around sometimes...if only to remind us to enjoy squeaky balls and play time.

Busy times!

Two new articles went live over the weekend...and today my twins don't have school.  Busy times here!  The good news is that it's been warm, the front yard is open for chalk drawings and sand box, and Sadie the new dog likes squeaky balls and can play with them by herself. --I almost wanted to make a video of this very funny squeaky ball play, but could not leave twins and two dogs alone in the front yard to get a phone or iPad.  Instead, I did some spindle spinning.  Retro, and much more relaxing... :)

Here's an article featuring Winnipeg Animal Services Agency that went live on CBC-Manitoba:
Doggone lucky Winnipeggers: Animal Services adoption process reveals a system that actually works
Subliminal message from Joanne: Adopt a shelter dog!
Here's a fun Irish setter photo (not our black and tan Gordon setter mix dog) that went with the article.

And another article came out in Vancouver in the Jewish Independent:
Civil Dissent: A Jewish Value 

I am slowly working up a new knitting design, new dogs take a lot of time!
In the meanwhile, maybe you need to knit a little Sumpin for spring?  Or a lightweight linen Nanodistal?  Don't need clothing? How about a bug finger puppet or two? :)

What's going on over there?

 Just before we got Sadie, I thought--I'm about to finish a knitted tunic!  (It's a Nutkin variation in navy Briggs & Little Tuffy yarn, designed to stand up to hard wear in our household.)  However, the tunic features pockets, and my house keys often wear holes in knitwear pockets.  So, I sewed two little pocket inserts on my sewing machine out of matching cotton fabric remnants...but the tunic isn't done yet.

Since getting Sadie, it's been all about managing our new dog, our new dog with our old dog, twins, and household.  Yesterday I did something crazy for myself. I went to my physio (physical therapy) exercise class.  I crated Sadie and left her at home for about an hour and a half.  When I got back, her brand new wire crate looked like this:
Shed pushed out the tray on the bottom, cracked and chewed it, bent the crate wires, and shredded towels and sheets that were both above and below the tray.  Oh, and she finished the peanut butter in her chew toy Kong, in case you were wondering... (Yeah.  Not good.)  So, we've got a dog with (note irony) a little separation anxiety and some crate issues.

Since yesterday: We've bought a plastic hard sided, smaller crate.  I've taken Sadie to the vet for a once-over, and for the short term, we're getting some nice drugs to help her calm down so she can be in the crate for a little while at a time, or to sleep in at night.  --Ain't no way I am leaving this dog alone in our house, free range, if she can do this to a crate.  We're doing more walks (vet approved, even though she just had spay surgery on Wednesday) and more training.

And last night, with the first attempt at calming drugs, new crate, etc., she was only quiet and calm on her own in the crate from about midnight until 5.  I am tired.

So, new dogs cost a lot of money!  Last month, I had a marvelous run of pattern sales over at Loveknitting.com.  I was so thrilled!  Then, April came, and drum roll....on both Ravelry and Loveknitting, I have sold a total of ONE pattern this month.  ONE!  So, when the fees are taken out of that?  It's worth about the same amount as ordering a single cup of coffee at a coffee joint.  I emailed the Loveknitting folks, and it turns out they wrote something in a March newsletter that encouraged people to do a pattern search--and this helped knitters find my patterns.  Since then, Nada.

To boost business, I took out a Ravelry advertisement for a few days.  Lots of people are clicking on these ads...So this is a pitch.  Are you a knitter?  Do you like knitting my designs?

If so, please share your projects on Ravelry, link to my design pages, and feel free to talk up patterns you like to your knitter friends.  ...Cause I have an expensive crate-eating dog over here....and I'm going to need more sleep before I can begin even thinking about writing more articles and patterns this week!

This Soft Basket, featured in this photo, is currently filled with dog toys at our house.
Stripe Freestyle, in the ad below, is currently in use--the 6 year old in the photo is wearing it today at school!

Welcome Sadie!

We brought home our new Gordon Setter mix dog, Sadie, yesterday.

  She is about a year and a half old and weighs around 60 lbs (27 kilo).  She's just gotten fixed so is requiring a fair amount of attention, as any new dog should!  Winnipeg Animal Services Agency said she was a stray.  We know nothing other than a birthday,which may be a guess.

Potty training--yes, I think she was, but I do not know what words were used. I tried all the likely English ones and a little French. She could have been trained in Cree, Ojibway-Cree, or Mandarin, for all we know.

Crate training was clearly not a strong suit.  She has already bent some wires, torn up sheets and puppy pads and raises heck when crated. She even sings (not just barking) like an opera singer. (Common bird dog trait, especially in young lively ones.). She does settle down eventually.  We did not sleep a ton last night. :)

She is quiet and clingy when loose in the house with us.  She wants to be near her humans and cuddling with them all the time.  I am the top favorite, but she definitely likes her male family members. too.  Sally, our 13 year old pointer mix, is mostly ok with things.  She missed Harry, our dog who died, and seems glad for company.  She does get annoyed occasionally (who wouldn't!?) and lets Sadie know it.

Sadie is currently resting next to me in my office...she is extremely worried about losing me (entirely understandable, given her recent shelter experience) and stays close all the time.  Last night the Professor had a dinner meeting.  I bathed both boys in the bathroom by myself with the new dog in the room, too. Crowded!

She is a gorgeous big dog, very gentle, and really loving.  Not good at all walking on a leash yet, that is something to work on.  It's hard to see in these photos, but she is very narrow, tall and long.  A 42" crate was the right size.  

After the boys were in bed, Sadie helped me do chores in the kitchen.  She helped move around a dish towel that we used to clean up after she had a big drink of water and dribbled everywhere.

It was very hard work.  Here she is,in the middle of our (not very big) kitchen.

Please join us in giving Sadie a warm welcome home.