Quick, while he is sleeping.

Herbie is the perfect name, he is a right little Herbert. I can not read, knit or touch the laptop if he is awake. He just grabs a toy and launches himself at me. Then it is play or go for a walk, today was easier as the weather was glorious and he played in the garden with Rufus.
They rushed around for almost 2 hours, it was Rufus who tired first and he went home for an hours rest before the afternoon walk.
Herbie chose to play with his toys instead.They had their walk and after eating Ben curled up and had a snooze.
Herbie, on the other hand, found his rope ball and went doolally for half an hour. He is sleeping at my feet now and I am hopeful that he stays that way for a little while.

He does like this crochet ripple blanket and sneaks it off the sofa at every opportunity 

Just like Rufus the moment I get off the sofa he takes my corner.

I have managed some knitting, only socks though as I can drop them the minute he hurtles toward me.

These are from Kay Jones of the Bakery Bears, they are her All is Calm sock pattern. I have only put the lace on the legs this time but will knit the pattern again with a solid yarn.

I can not find my sock blockers, I remember moving them a few weeks ago but have no recollection of where to. I hope that they turn up soon.

This pair will be off the needles soon, also in a bakery Bears pattern, the Snowfall socks. Just a simple pattern to give a little bit more interest than vanilla socks. again I have only used the pattern on the leg because of the patterned yarn.

I hope to get some work done on the Carbeth very soon, it ought to be finished by now and there is yarn for another waiting in the wings.

Sewing has been a no no as well, if he comes into the room with me he runs riot and if I shut him out he cries at the door.

I did make the squeaky bone toys (now just chewed up shreds) but he was playing in the garden at that point.

I have some squeakers on order and will be making a stack of toys with some sturdy fabric. 

That little surprise has taken over my free time but he has also taken over my heart. He has become best friend to Ben and Rufus and when not plaguing me he climbs over the SO to find the most inconvenient and awkward place to go to sleep.

Both the dogs came with us to Neath for the SO's dental appointment, we had a walk along the riverbank and a little way through the town. Luckily the SO was not in there too long, but the dogs had a good snuffle and sniff round and slept in the car on the way home.

It is now 9:00 and I need to get this posted and pick that sock up while all is quiet.

                      TTFN                                                     Pam

Knit? Read? Watch TV?

You don't really want to do any of those, do you?
I'm sure you want to ..............................................................................................PLAY.

Come on, you know you want to.

Look what happened to my hefalump.

You should have played.

I have monkey now!!!

Did you want hefalump?

Go on, have a play.

Mmm, shall we try with my ball?

Look at it. Lovely big ball. You can have a chew.

Oooh, Rufus has come to play in the garden with me.

I like playing with Rufus.

I

But I would rather play with you.

What do you mean Dinner Time. You had a late breakfast and it is only half past six.

We did have a late breakfast so we had pudding for dinner.

Naughty but oh so nice.

A version of Spotted Dick, raisins and mixed spice. Yum.

It did look and smell yummy but where was my bit??

Look, here is my squeaky bone that you sewed for me.

 Shall we play with this?

There's my new brother, Ben. We share our toys but he doesn't want to play as much as me. 

He is my older brother, much older.

There was a photo of me asleep on my big blankie.

 (it was Mum's but she let me have it.)

It got lost in the 'puter thingy so she will have to wait till next time.

(she'll have to be quick to catch me sleeping)

More later, there is another one of those new bone toys somewhere and Mum says it is for Rufus. Not if I find it first!

BTW Ben has one as well but he rests his head on it and nods off.

                                         TTFN                                                   Pam

PS. I have managed a little knitting but every time that I pick the lap top up Herbie wants to play with it. I did get some work done in the garden and we should have a decent week. There is a lot of new fencing that needs painting, we are mostly puppy proof. There is just the top area and we have a gate to keep Herbie out of there.

                 Pam (hope to get back to a decent schedule soon.)

Planning on Proofing.

Puppy Proofing. And some.

Thank you all for your comments, Herbie is a delight, a very wriggly, running and jumping delight. He explored the garden a few times yesterday with Ben and Rufus and it became instantly obvious that Things have to Change.
Pots and planters have to be moved.
Protective collars have to be put round tree trunks. Sharp Teeth!!!
A new section of fence and a gate have to be made. Soon, very Soon.

The gate is to keep him out of the greenhouse area, I can just see him hurtling towards it at 100 miles an hour. It is Polycarbon but would damage his eyes and frighten him if he ran into it.
The fence is really just a long narrow section to block  off a possible escape route at the bottom of 2 fence panels.

My knitting has to go on my little table, not on my lap, he stole a ball of sock yarn from under my nose and wound it round the living room in seconds.

He can also access the side table where the biscuit barrel and chocolate dish USED to live.

He did sleep well, all that playing and a new home to explore must have been tiring.

W had put feelers out to all his friends about a dog for me and yesterday he had a phone call. That led to the trip to Port Talbot and Herbie.
W did not go into too many details but Herbie comes from a home with young children and was just too much for them. They had him from 8 weeks and at that point there was another baby on the way.
He is now 9 months old and very lively. I can understand that not everyone can cope with all the time that a puppy needs when there are children and a new baby to be looked after.

He came with toys, food, dishes,collar and lead and so on. He is house trained and is up to date with his shots from the vet. he does need to be neutered but I will give him a month to settle in first. The only real issue is that he does not know his name, or he is a consummate actor, so there is absolutely no recall. He will not be off his lead for a while yet. There is a secure, fenced area in the park where he can have free exercise and we will start that today.

I have not weighed him yet but will do that later, then I can calculate how much to feed him. I do not want him to pile on too much weight.

I will have to slip into the CS at some point and get a bag full of soft toys, he and Ben had a fine old time last night and there were 2 casualties that could not be saved. It is a long time since Ben played like that, it was lovely to see. I need to get a larger dog bed for them to share, I may see about making one myself. I have some curtain fabric, lining as well, and enough fibre fill for stuffing. I could make a separate insert and then 2 or 3 covers.
The quilts may have to go on time out for a few days, I will see what I can come up with. 
It is nearly 7:30 and I have been up long enough for 2 cups of tea, time to shower and climb into some clothes ready for a walk.

I am sure that there will be more photos quite soon.

               TTFN                                                  Pam.

A little surprise.

It has been a muddling sort of day, not hot or cold, not wet or dry. No real wind at all, just the odd wispy breeze.

The dogs were walked, chores were done, an hour in the sewing room as planned and of course some knitting.

When I went to fetch Rufus for the afternoon walk W asked if I could keep him for a while as he had to go to Port Talbot and did not know what time he would be back. 
No worries, he is always the perfect guest. I figured that he would not be back till around 8 so when I got a text just after 6 saying that he was back and would I go round my heart leapt in to my throat.
I scooted round and my concern was written across my face so W made me sit down, he assured me that he was fine and then asked me in.

There in the room was a dog cage, in the cage was a miniature version of Rufus.

Meet Herbie.

The main difference is his dark muzzle and his tail has a full pug curl.

I thought that W had got himself a puppy but then he asked if it was okay,if not he would sort it. 

Then I twigged that the little JUG,( jack russel/pug cross )was for me.

I have to tell you that I cried on his shoulder, we have had several conversations about another dog. I was adamant that if I did have another it had to be as near to Rufus shape and as close to Ben's size as possible.

He was not far out.

Ben is fascinated by him, even to the point of toy sharing.

The SO took one look and said "Rufus has shrunk" Twice.

Now I have to go and do some serious playing.

                 TTFN                                      Pam

Back to the 60's

That is denier tights, after a few warm days and thin tights this morning was chilly enough to get the thicker ones out again. It did warm up as the morning wore on, but not enough to warrant changing.

The dentist trip was a bit like a University challenge question, it was a starter for 3. The SO has a filling next week and possibly an extraction the following week. There is the choice of paying through the nose for another root canal procedure (the last one has failed miserably and is now infected) which may or may not work, or waiting 18 months for an NHS appointment with the same prognosis. 

I have a suspicion that he will plump for the extraction as he has had 2 procedures on that tooth already.

I have taken pics of the socks but because I used a speckled yarn the pattern has not come out very distinctly

I love the yarn, it came from Rosie's Moments and is called Sprinkles. It is an 80/20% superwash merino nylon blend .

The pattern is obvious in real life, I will be knitting a pair for Francesca in a solid colour yarn, I just have to pull some from the stash.

This is the stitch pattern, it comes from The Knitter's Bible Stitch Library by Claire Crompton. I love this book and my other knitting books and intend to look for a few others as they all have different patterns.

I had a look in the Library this morning but the choice was abysmal, 12 very elderly tomes that were sadly out of date.

Possibly because there are few knitters in the area, there are a couple of yarn shops fairly local, one is a reasonable high end and the other more of a warehouse type shop. I have not been to either, I am happy with Deb's shop and anything that Deb doesn't stock I can get online.

I have made a small investment in the past few days, you know that I like to watch podcasts and one of my favourites is The Bakery Bears, well as a treat for myself I have become a patron. This gives me a discount on all Kay's patterns on ravelry and everything in her Etsy shop. Even better is a steady supply of free patterns, I have knitted a few and each one is wonderful.

I am not a toy knitter but fully intend to knit up her Bakery Bear patterns, there is a Mr and  Mrs Bear and lots of clothes for them. There is a Fox and a Giraffe as well, I may become a convert to toy knitting.

I will take this cost from my craft budget and believe that it will be a saving. 

All is trundling along as usual, the Easter Chocolate Mountain has shrunk to a molehill, the freezer stock is being used albeit slowly. I have curtailed my weekly shop and the shelves are becoming less stacked. I can not say more empty as it will take a month or so to get down to the level that I am aiming for. As well as volume I want to reduce the variety, I am a self confessed foodie and have far too many spices, sauces, flavoured vinegars and so on.

Simplify is the name of the game, and I need to play it for a while.

Dinner tonight will be Pasta with a spicy sauce, mostly from the pantry and using up some sausages and bacon. I am trying very hard to plan all our meals to use what I have rather than shop for new things. I did a small shop on Sunday and it was mainly veg, fruit and perishables.

I am experiencing a little difficulty in my crafting. I have fallen into a pattern of all knitting or all sewing and that really does not work well for me. I am going to try to devote a period each day to sewing, I hope that this will become a habit and help me to enjoy my sewing, I have been guilty of sewing for hours and ending up with back pain, a stiff neck and head ache. 

It has been so bad that I found myself contemplated selling my sewing cabinet and big Janome. If the new idea does not work it might come to that.

Any how, enough of the whinging. I have some time this afternoon to sort through the fabric that is strew about the sewing room, and then some more cutting to do. I am going to spend an hour sewing tomorrow and then pack up for the day. I aim to fit that in so that I will then take the dogs out for a walk and the exercise and fresh air should do me the world of good.

I am off now to perform said sorting chore, followed by some ironing. sigh.

              TTFN                                                Pam

Upside down, Boy you turn me....

Not inside out but certainly round and round.

I wanted to knit a pair of socks, patterned but not too much. I went through my folder of sock patterns and nothing called out to me.

I turned to ravelry, freebies of course, but yet again nothing was grabbing me.

AHA, I thought, I will copy what lots of pattern "designers" do. I pulled my stitch dictionaries out and browsed. I found a 12 stitch 16 row panel that just said " I am perfect for Francesca".Trouble was this was written to be knitted flat and bottom up. I knit my socks in the round and top down ( do intend to try toe up at some point).

So, I cast on and joined and happily knitted 20 rows K1 P1 rib then embarked on the pattern. I had to start on the last row and work my way backwards and translate the wrong side rows.There are some twisted stitches which all had to be reversed, brain ache!!

But, it is looking good so far and I have started on the 3rd pattern repeat and love it so much that it will be used in a sweater pattern soon.

Once the pair is finished I will share them, and the amended pattern, then any of you sock knitters can have a play without the brain ache.

My eldest grandson has a broken leg, both Tibia and Fibula, and he is plastered from foot to mid thigh. He is a very active boy so I anticipate lots of  "I'm BORED" and "I'm fed up" quite soon. We will be looking for some new Lego for him and a few books. The SO has dentist on Tuesday so we hope to go over on Wednesday.

 It is his birthday in May and we had planned to look for a sturdy football goal set, the last one was very flimsy and died within days.
Of course that will not happen, rubbing salt into the wound and so on.

I watched the latest episode of The Bakery Bears podcast this morning, Kay made a steamed Spotted Dick. I told the SO and we are having one tomorrow, I will use vegetable suet and take a large slice round to W. I will be breaking with tradition and using raisins, chopped stem ginger and some ground ginger, I will be putting some of the ginger syrup in the bottom of the basin.

It has been a foul day here, I woke to torrential rain which died down to a persistent drizzle, the mountain has been veiled all day.

I did manage to get Rufus and Ben out this afternoon for a while, they were not too keen but we all needed the air.

I have Firefly recording on the TV, I never saw all the episodes the first time round so will enjoy watching while I knit.

Now I need to get the kettle on for a brew, the veg are chopped and sweated off for an Impossible Quiche, I do like a one pot wonder and all it will need is a squirt of ketchup, maybe a little salad.


                  TTFN                                      Pam

It's the treadmill for me.

I have not been on a treadmill for around 6 years, I will be going through a "stress test" at the hospital as soon as they can fit me in. Deep Joy.
Apart from that all went well yesterday, now I am playing the waiting game. I was in the hospital for precisely 35 minutes, I did not have time to get my knitting out of the bag never mind knit a row.

Today it is gloriously sunny and we enjoyed our walks, there were lots of dogs and their walkers out to pass the time of day with.

I have washing on the whirly thingy, where does it all come from. I think that there must be pixies involved somehow. It is a bit like the Magic Porridge Pot, there is no end to it. 

Today is mainly about ironing, both laundry and quilty.

I do have some knitting things to share though.

Francesca's sweater is done, once soaked and blocked ( I will not use pins, just ease it to shape) it will be put away till November. By then there will be a hat to go with it.

This is the WYS yarn for the next Carbeth, also for Francesca, once I have finished the stash yarn version I will get it cast on. I must get a photo of it loaded up for you to see.

This selection is for me, have you seen the sweater pattern by Ellie of Skeindeer knits? that is to be my colourwork experiment and experience. It is a long long time since I knitted colourwork in the round. It was in the days of Magnus Magnussun  jumpers with the yoke knit in the round on Pony circular needles. Those circulars seemed amazing then, but are awful in comparison to what is available now.

I have pulled all the yarn from stash and am happy with my colours, although I do intend to knit with a wider palette at some point. I just need to get those knitting books sorted.

They can wait while I knit through the list so far, there is another shawl or two that I am itching to cast on. I also have a bundle of sock patterns to play with, in the interests of my sanity I will restrict myself to one large project and one pair of socks on the needles at any one time.

Francesca would like socks for Ch******s again and I have an obscene amount of 4 ply to work through. 

Dinner last night was amazing, even if I did make it.  

My take on Pasta Primavera. Penne pasta cooked al dente,  celery, shallots, green pepper and a leek chopped quite fine and sweated in a knob of butter. Once soft I added a carton of soft cheese with garlic and herbs (lidl) a splash of veg stock (homemade) and a whole head of roasted garlic (squeezed out of the skin). I cooked this to simmering point and then added a cup of cooked Edamame beans and another of cooked petit pois. a good grind of salt and pepper and a carton of double cream (a large one RTC for 50p)

Then I stirred in about 1/2 a head of broccoli steamed and cooled, a few minutes to heat it through and then into dishes with a generous sprinkle of fresh mint and coriander.

I took a dish to W who enjoyed it just as much as we did.

The Cherry on the Top was an oaty Rhubarb Crumble using freshly pulled rhubarb from the garden. It was sublime.

Enough of this self praise, much more and my neck will not support my head.

Now that the sun has finally come out to play I am craving lighter food, tomorrow I will make a quiche and later today I hope to get a quick cucumber pickle made. 

Now I better get off my btm and get that iron turned on.

                   TTFN                                    Pam

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