Few More Patchwork Flowers

I was so good. I visited a JoAnn Super-Centre (a fabric and craft store) and could easily spend hours and a lot of money in there but I was there for less than 40 minutes and only purchased items that I really need for my current project – the hexagon patchwork. An added bonus was that everything was on sales, what a bargain.
I cut the new fabric into hexagon shapes already and made a few more flowers.

It is cold today, woke up to 48ºf / 9ºc this morning. Not having my first cup of tea sitting outside with Poppy as I normally do; it’s just too cold.

Well, stay warm and have a great day.

Half & Half Sweater

I finished the sweater before we went away for our mini vacation at Fort Myers but didn’t get round to wash and press it until now.

The front panel has a tendency to roll up together. I made it stays “open” after using a hot iron on it. I used the heat setting for pure wool and iron the sides but avoiding the actual cables.
I love the low neckline, just need to wait for the weather to turn cold, hopefully around Christmas. It is still too hot to wear woolly jumper right now.

Pattern: Sirdar Ribby Yoke Jumper published in The Knitter magazine Issue One January 2009

Fort Myers, Florida

My husband took a few days off work and we decided to spend a long weekend at Fort Myers in the west coast of Florida.

The hotel receptionist was so good. She told us that most tourist beaches do not allow dogs, but Poppy can visit City beaches. She gave us map, written directions and marked out all the dog allowed places.

We headed towards a City beach in Sanibel Island and it was not crowded at all.
Poppy just couldn’t wait; she dived right into the water and swam way out.

I was walking slowly, taking in the scenery, was surprised to see so many different kind of sea birds, and there was something else…this fish smell. I was wondering what it was or where it came from. Poppy found it first. The whole shore line has a band of sea shells, mixed with a few dead fish and dead crabs, sea weeds…all baking in the sun.

When we were back at the hotel, hubby wanted to watch the games (American football), Poppy was tired and went straight to bed, and I was happy to work on my patchwork.

Poppy's Snow Shoes

I want to tell you about Poppy’s snow shoes. I bought them a few years ago when we were living in New Hampshire. They were to protect Poppy from getting ice balls in between her toes. The first time that happened I thought Poppy was injured.

It was early winter and the yard was covered with a foot deep of snow. Poppy went out to play. She was fine at first, then I noticed that she was slowing down. Soon after she was limping, and by the time I got to her she was not able to walk.

The snow had been melted by her body heat and had formed into ice ball between her toes and her paw pad, one ice ball in each paw. They were rock hard and painful for Poppy if I tried to pull it because the ice was compacted and had fused with the sensitive hairs on the underside of her paws.

After that experience, Poppy always wore her shoes when we went out to play with fresh snow.

We live in Florida now and even though it doesn’t snow here Poppy still wears her snow shoes sometimes. This year Poppy had a few episodes of skin problem due to insect bites. Small areas of her skin would become inflamed and sometimes infected.

In our effort to think of ways to stop Poppy from scratching the inflamed areas with her legs, my husband has one of his “think outside the box” moments and said to me “Snow Shoes”.

Here is a picture of Poppy I took back in April. She has an area just behind her right ear that was troubling her. With the snow shoe on her back leg, she could itch herself to get some relief but not able to do any damage. We were able to care for Poppy by applying medication on the infected area and the skin healed very quickly.

Poppy is all better now and has her long coat again.

Poppy's shoes are made by Ruffwear. The soles of the shoes are made of rubber material, have great traction and they really give good protection to her paws.

Half & Half

The mailman delivered a small parcel yesterday. My sister sent me two balls of yarn with a small hand-made note and some little metal charms. I am so delighted. My stash of yarn is well stocked now to make lots and lots of toys.
The Hayfield Bonus Double Knitting Flesh Tone is considered by some knitters as the best colour for making toy faces. 100% acrylic and it is priced at around £1.30 to £1.65 back in the UK, that’s about $2 to $2.60. However, they are like gold dust over here in the US. Shops are selling them from $9 each.

Anyway, my Ribby Yoke Jumper is coming along. I did this last Sunday.

I did the back and the two sleeves using the chunky knitting machine. I have jointed the pieces together and am going to knit the yoke in the rounds by hands.

I think I should call this my Half & Half Jumper: half hand-knitting and half machine-knitting.

Easy like Sunday morning

The clock has gone back an hour, but Poppy and I kept to our routine. We woke up early and sat outside in the backyard and enjoyed the morning sun.

This morning I had a cup of tea and the knitting with me and cast-on the front of the Ribby Yoke Jumper.
Quiet and peaceful, even the mosquitoes have left us alone. Moments like these, the lyrics of the Three Little Birds song always come to mind…“Rise up this mornin', Smiled with the risin' sun…

…Don't worry 'bout a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."

Take it easy and have a great Sunday.