taking things in stride

Posted on Posted in Bare Naked Wools, designing, home and family, projects

thank you all so very much for your enthusiastic response to my latest design publication—bottoms up booties; i’m so glad you like them. our scholarship fund total was up to $4294.20 last tuesday and i’m pretty sure that with this publication we went over 5K!! i am thrilled beyond measure; we’ve had a tough couple of weeks around here and we needed some good news.

right now, i’m working on the bootie number two with the button top cuff option; i’ve knit this pair all in kent worsted (driftwood shade) and i just love them—this yarn has so much depth and cushiness, mmm. if i don’t end up needing these for a gift, i might keep them for me.

today i looked at various button possibilities from the selection we carry in our online shop—all of these are natural bone and horn, but they vary in color and shading, depending on the source. the only ones i’m not entirely crazy about with this yarn color are the ones on the lower left, above.

while i do like the ones in the upper right, i think they might get lost in the fabric a bit. that leaves the black buffalo horn ones (left) and the red horn ones (right). i’m leaning toward the red ones, just as i did when i knit my herringweave cardigan in the driftwood color last year. the black ones tho are also classy and i might go with those just to change things up a bit for myself. which ones do you like?

i was stitching up the bottom seam of my button top bootie when realized that this option would also be cute without buttons or buttonholes—just the vented cuff which creates a split. it looks so cute, both turned up and folded down. when there’s better light tomorrow i’ll take some photos to show you what i mean . . .

once the second button cuff one is finished, i’m almost done with bootie knitting for the time being. i’d like to make a second slipper to match this prototype, which i knit using a sample skein of patchwork in worsted weight. that was when we thought we were going to get a whole shipment of the heavier weight yarn in. but our mill never sent it, so all we had were the sample skeins, which i’ve nearly used up knitting hats and these booties.

i just love this yarn, but i’m afraid it’s not to be, at least for now. i do have enough to knit a mate for this slipper tho . . . it’s a taller one with an extended leg and SOOooo toasty. it looks like it fits me here, but actually, it’s a bit big, being a large size. if it fits david, i’ll give them to him.

several people have asked me about resizing these slippers to fit even larger feet—i have to hand it to the knitters who regularly knit for men with size 13 feet and up; that’s real love. anyway, if i can, i’ll make some time this week to edit the pattern with two more sizes. i can’t promise because we have a lot going on this week, but i will try!

i love this photo, taken the saturday after thanksgiving when cardigan and i were hanging out and taking things easy.

i was working on my design, getting the fit right, while testing out cable options and she was watching me, haha. so peaceful.

little did we know what the rest of the day had in store for us! this flop for instance—the cable was too large and not pronounced enough; i just wasn’t sold on it, even after investing several tries into slippers that were “almost done”. ah well, re-doing is still knitting, right?

finally in the late afternoon i said, “enough of us sitting around on our patooties, cardigan; let’s get outside!”. it was a lovely late fall day and we headed up to the college nearby to walk in the fields. we watched the sun set and were just heading off the grounds toward the street when a large german shepherd came out of nowhere and attacked cardigan, going right for her throat.

the owner had been letting his dogs run free in the field, not realizing we were there. he threw himself on his dog and after several tries managed to pry its jaws apart, but not after a lot of damage had been done. poor cardigan’s jaw had been snapped in two and was hanging loosely, having sunk into the loose folds of her neck; it was horrific, but even more so because in the near dark, i thought it was torn away completely. i got her to the street and called david and my friend ramona; she told us where to take the dog for emergency care. our ER couldn’t take care of this injury, so we spent the rest of the night in a more distant vet ER.

thankfully, they were able to stabilize and sedate her, concluding that if she rested with them in the ICU, she could wait til monday for surgery. they decided to put her jaw back together with pins and an external fixator, which she will wear for at least eight weeks; it’s a little like the kind of scaffold they build for a smashed hand or wrist.

we picked her up on tuesday; she slept on my lap most of the way home (she had a morphine patch working in her favor).

she also has some nasty abrasions, bite wounds, and deep punctures all over her body; one on her neck is quite bad. when she came into the house, she hid under david’s desk until she figured out what’s what—she was extremely happy to be home, but pretty disoriented and distressed at first.

the hospital staff was quite concerned about her lack of appetite, but we assured them it was normal for her not to eat when fed by others. sure enough, as soon as i offered her some food, she wolfed it down and was hungry again a couple of hours later. she was eating so eagerly in fact, that we worried that it might be bad for her, haha. but we were told that she should return to her regular rations as soon as possible. no problem there; she’s eating quite well, as you can see in this youTube video david made the day after she got home.

unfortunately, she can’t feed herself, at least not yet; she has to keep from bumping or putting any pressure on the fixator and it’s right in the way of reaching food on her own. plus she can only have soft foods, which tend to smear all over the device before reaching her mouth—very frustrating.

we’ve been playing with an adapted bowl (my inner designer is just running away with this little bone to play with) and have come up with this jerry-rigged prototype, a little feeding shelf. in the process, we stumbled upon her first game—she just loves getting the food off the paddle and then hearing me cheer for her in my muppet voice! she will do it again and again, as long as the whole thing stays upright. if it tumbles down, she runs away and is hesitant to try again (that doesn’t last long when peanut butter or salmon is on offer).

but now that we know it will work, we can make something much more stable and permanent. while the macaroni boxes are endearing, they aren’t really cutting the mustard, structurally. and the plastic bowl scraper is too stiff; we need to get a silicone one. most of the time it’s easier and cleaner to hand feed her, but since she enjoys this contraption, we’ll use it sometimes; it’s the first toy she’s ever shown any interest in!

even while extremely high on pain meds (or maybe because of them), she was ready to get outside right away. she isn’t allowed a lot of activity but going outside to do her business is fine and gradually, i’ve been letting her walk a few blocks to satisfy her lust for new horizons. i’m hoping that after her two-week followup visit this wednesday, they will say she can go on slightly longer walks. keeping her indoors is killing both of us.

meanwhile, we’ve also had to make concessions for the cold; she is shaved over her whole front and the rest of her body clipped close. of course she developed a cough almost instantly, so she needs to be bundled for going out. our neighbor connie was kind enough to give us this red sweater, but it doesn’t fit right and cardigan won’t walk in it, haha; i think it feels like it’s falling off all the time.

i found something else that works great which we all like—a gray puffy vest.

once cardigan realized how cozy it is, i think she actually enjoys wearing it—she often keeps it on after coming back indoors.

on top of that i add a fleece cowl that i bought for running but rarely need to use; she didn’t like this as much at first, but now that the temps often fall below 25 degrees, she’s sold on it.

it’ll be a while before we see this cute lil nose again in its entirety and it might not look exactly the same afterward, so i’m crushing on this photo right now! i think they may have corrected her jaw alignment a bit, so her front lips don’t drape over as much as they used to, but it’s hard to tell; it could just be hardware and swelling that i’m seeing. but she’s being a real trooper about everything, taking all these changes right in stride. she even runs right up to other dogs still when we’re out on our walks; she’s not at all afraid. if anything, she’s finally become a bit more comfortable with people now, allowing small head pets from many friends.

to be honest, it’s pretty amazing how much she seems to have recovered already, bone mending aside. david and i were just wondering how dogs really experience pain and whether it hurts her as it would us. or as a street dog, did she learn early that pain is just part of life and dismisses it? she is lively and interested in everything that goes on around the house (especially food preparation); she sits very close by to watch everything i do.

sometimes i ask her to count for me, just to give her something to work on when i have to be away from my knitting chair for a while. she says my lacunae hat is right on track and that she loves the yarn, too (briar rose fourth of july). i’ve been working on this during our meetings and not paying much attention, since it’s at that “nothing but straight knitting for a while ” stage. and suddenly i realize i should measure it to see where i’m at (or have the dog do it).

i’m going to have lots of yarn left over; i think i may knit myself a matching headband since i use those a lot when the weather is a bit warmer. there might even be enough for a second pair of mitts . . . as insurance.

i’ve been swatching with festivus 4.0 sport weight and holy cow is this yarn lovely to knit with; it’s so lush. yeah, out of the blue, david said he’d like a sweater knit with it so i jumped right on that. i’ll have more to show you in a few days about this project, but it’s a simple design; just enough knit/purl texture to keep me from falling asleep.

it will be knit in the round in one piece to make the most of the gradient fade; these skeins have very subtle color changes that don’t show up well in this photo, but i will still take care to use them in an order that takes advantage of the color graduation. i’ll be starting with darker and more subtle shade changes near the bottom hems and working toward brighter and more noticeable banding near the top of the yoke.

if you are interested in a set of skeins for sweater making, please do feel free to email us  with your idea (jeevesATknitspotDOTcom). we can put together a mostly matching set or one that is more gradient—just let us know your preference.

well, i think someone needs to go for a quick walk before bed and since it takes a bit of time to get dressed for the cold now, i better shove off—see you soon!

 

63 thoughts on “taking things in stride

  1. Oh, I am so sorry to hear this! Poor Cardigan! I would be at wit’s end if Nicki or Thorin were hurt. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!!!

  2. Oh my gosh… my heart breaks for Cardigan and for you! How helpless you must have felt while watching your baby get attached!! I have 3 dogs (2 labs and a cavalier king charles spaniel) and I can’t even imagine this happening.. actually I can imagine. That is what is so horrifying. I pray for a quick recovery for your sweet pup. She has come so far.

  3. Oh I am so sorry about Cardigan and so thankful that she has you two. It is so stressful when our loved ones are ill. Hoping that she is on the mend!

  4. I am so sorry about Cardigan! I watch this blog for updates on that sweet rescue baby! I’m so glad she will recover.

  5. What a horrible thing to have happened to poor, sweet Cardigan! I and my furry friends are sending all our love and healing thoughts your way, and hoping for her speedy recovery.

  6. oh anne and david and cardigan, i’m thinking about you!
    spoil that puppy! after all that, spoiling is the order of the day!

  7. Oh Cardigan! I’m crying for you, poor girl. She’s so lucky to have such a great family around her.

  8. I know it was awful to see her being hurt. I’m glad she got great care and your family is back together.

  9. I’m so sorry to hear about this horrible encounter. Best wishes to Cardigan for a full recovery. She is lucky to be getting such good care.

  10. Poor Cardigan. What a horrible ordeal for all of you to go through. All the best to you and a speedy recovery for Cardigan.

  11. i was popping in to look at shop and just read of Cardigan’s tragic attack 😱😱 how awful! emergency vet’s are the best. poor Cardigan and you and David. so good to see pictures of her.

  12. Just catching up on some blog posts, so saw this well after the fact. I am so sorry that this horrendous thing happened to you and Cardigan. So scary. Very glad that the emergency vet was able to help her. I will pray for her to heal quickly.

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