Ahab rocked the Sent Hurdling on Saturday afternoon. He struggled a lot in the morning but that was not unexpected by me or anyone else on the team due to the fact that we were running outside on grass and he's never done that before.
We tried to schedule some outdoor practices this summer but every time we ended up cancelling due to a thunderstorm. Not unusual for summer in this part of the world but frustrating never the less. Unfortunately, this did mean that Ahab never got a chance to learn to play Scent Hurdle on grass. Wonderful, distracting grass; it has so many lovely smells......
It was clear from the beginning that Ahab was having a hard time understanding that he was there to play Scent Hurdle and not to sniff the grass. However, as a team we decided to let him keep trying. There are not many sports you can play with your dog that will tolerate, much less encourage, you to train your dog during an event, this is just another reason to love Scent Hurdle. This did mean that everyone else on my team had to sacrifice the chance at points for their dogs and I'm very grateful that they did because after a few runs with me going with him to the box it suddenly clicked for him. Ahab is like that, when he "gets" something it's like a switch goes off in his brain.
The first time he managed a clean run everyone; and I mean everyone on my team, on the other team we were racing against (they had finished their run), and all the spectators watching gave him a big cheer. It was extremely touching. There might have been a tear in my eye; it could have been the wind.
Knitting
Not much to report on the knitting front. Progress continues on the Cotton Hoodie, a blue sweater, a pair of socks, and a vest. But, not enough for interesting pictures.
Current Weather
15C and mostly cloudy. Fall is in the air and all the leaves are turning. Soon it will be winter again.
Sunday, 18 September 2016
Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Firecracker
Yeah, yeah; I was that creative and named the sweater for the colourway of the yarn. Bite me.
The picture shows the unblocked sweater so I'll still be able to tweak the fit slightly before wearing it. However, I absolutely love how this turned out, it's wonderfully soft and looks nifty with the tweeding (is that a word? it should be) in the fabric. This was another seamless bottom-up sweater as per EZ. No stitch pattern or anything as I quite like plain, simple sweaters. Plus, they're great for TV watching.
Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in Firecracker
Needle: 2.75mm
Gauge: 31 stitches and 37 rows = 10 cm
Didn't feel like I was playing with fire quite so much with this sweater, I had nearly an entire ball of yarn left at the end. Although my yarn scale says I used almost 11 balls but I know I only bought 10 and there's plenty left. Weird.
I want to do at least one more before taking a break from these. Trouble is, if I stop I may not come back to them and I have three more planned at this time. May just have to power through all three to make sure they get done. I think I'll do blue next; my favorite colour is blue and guess what colour of sweater I knit the least for myself? Yep, blue.
Current Weather
22C and partly cloudy.
Looks like summer is drawing to a close; the weekend is supposed to be pretty miserable.
The picture shows the unblocked sweater so I'll still be able to tweak the fit slightly before wearing it. However, I absolutely love how this turned out, it's wonderfully soft and looks nifty with the tweeding (is that a word? it should be) in the fabric. This was another seamless bottom-up sweater as per EZ. No stitch pattern or anything as I quite like plain, simple sweaters. Plus, they're great for TV watching.
Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in Firecracker
Needle: 2.75mm
Gauge: 31 stitches and 37 rows = 10 cm
 |
| Unblocked Firecracker |
Didn't feel like I was playing with fire quite so much with this sweater, I had nearly an entire ball of yarn left at the end. Although my yarn scale says I used almost 11 balls but I know I only bought 10 and there's plenty left. Weird.
I want to do at least one more before taking a break from these. Trouble is, if I stop I may not come back to them and I have three more planned at this time. May just have to power through all three to make sure they get done. I think I'll do blue next; my favorite colour is blue and guess what colour of sweater I knit the least for myself? Yep, blue.
Current Weather
22C and partly cloudy.
Looks like summer is drawing to a close; the weekend is supposed to be pretty miserable.
Saturday, 20 August 2016
A Dragon
I finished knitting a dragon today. Heh, that's definitely a nifty sentence.
The picture doesn't show it well but he yarn is very sparkly so he shimmers a bit when the light moves. This yarn is a bit scratchy but I think it makes for a fine dragon. They're supposed to have scales after all. Some of the dragons made from this pattern have contrast coloured spines and wings but I decided to make him a solid. I have a feeling I'll make this pattern many more times as it is just so darn cute. Maybe future dragons will have contrasting colours.
Pattern: Tarragon the Gentle Dragon by Knit-a- Zoo
Yarn: Unknown Sparkly Red from the Stash
Needle: 3.25mm
Guage: not critical but you want it to be fairly tight.
Other projects are continuing. Firecracker is about half done and I can't wait to have a chance to wear it. It's wonderfully soft. I have to keep reminding myself that summer doesn't last long and they'll be plenty of time to wear sweaters. Sometimes is surprisingly hard. This has been a wonderful project for watching the Olympics with as it's all stockinette stitch in the round. Lovely.
Pennants continues as well but it involves counting so progress is slow during the Olympics when knitting and TV watching must go together.
Not sure if I'm going to finish the cotton sweater; something about the gauge is not working for me.
And socks are at an awful low spot.
Current Weather
Cloudy and 24C.
It's been a few days without rain which has been unusual for the past few weeks. Hopefully the farmers can harvest.
The picture doesn't show it well but he yarn is very sparkly so he shimmers a bit when the light moves. This yarn is a bit scratchy but I think it makes for a fine dragon. They're supposed to have scales after all. Some of the dragons made from this pattern have contrast coloured spines and wings but I decided to make him a solid. I have a feeling I'll make this pattern many more times as it is just so darn cute. Maybe future dragons will have contrasting colours.
Pattern: Tarragon the Gentle Dragon by Knit-a- Zoo
Yarn: Unknown Sparkly Red from the Stash
Needle: 3.25mm
Guage: not critical but you want it to be fairly tight.
 |
| A Dragon! |
Pennants continues as well but it involves counting so progress is slow during the Olympics when knitting and TV watching must go together.
Not sure if I'm going to finish the cotton sweater; something about the gauge is not working for me.
And socks are at an awful low spot.
Current Weather
Cloudy and 24C.
It's been a few days without rain which has been unusual for the past few weeks. Hopefully the farmers can harvest.
Friday, 29 July 2016
Plugging Along
Progress continues on a few things.
The Pennants Blue Vest:
The Cotton Hoodie:
And another light weight sweater, Firecracker:
Terribly slow progress on the current socks so no picture of them.
Current Weather
Mostly sunny, 13C.
Wow, stayed in double digits overnight. That's warm for around here.
The Pennants Blue Vest:
 |
| Not that you can see the pennants yet, post blocking they'll show up. |
The Cotton Hoodie:
 |
| Boring, but will likely be worn to death. |
And another light weight sweater, Firecracker:
 |
| Hot stuff! |
Terribly slow progress on the current socks so no picture of them.
Current Weather
Mostly sunny, 13C.
Wow, stayed in double digits overnight. That's warm for around here.
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
The Math Was Right
This
is what I had left after finishing this
What a relief, I was very worried I wouldn't have enough yarn to complete Hazelnut but I ended up with about 30g left. Hmmmm, I could have made the body slightly longer. Note to self.
I'm calling this done although it still needs to be blocked. We have guests at the moment so the spare bed is in use for it's intended purpose and there really isn't anywhere else I can block something as large as a sweater. The risk of feline interference is just too high everywhere else. Since the guests are my sister from Scotland and my Wee Niece and one of my sister's friends with her daughter I'm not really all that worried about it. Besides it's summer so I probably won't wear it for a few weeks yet and it's not like I don't have other sweaters in the meantime.
Pattern: Improvised bottom-up seamless raglan as per EZ
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Hazelnut
Needle: 2.75mm
Gauge: 31 stitches and 37 rows = 10 cm
To make this I started with the sleeves and cast on enough stitches to make a nice snug sleeve, worked a couple inches of ribbing followed by increasing every third round until the sleeve was as wide as I wanted it to be, then worked it to the length I wanted. Only calculated the gauge after completing the sleeves. After that I just worked the body, joined the sleeves and worked a raglan shaped yoke. Simple.
OK, I admit I've done a number sweaters like this now so what seems simple to me might not be to everyone. If you need a place to get started with seamless sweaters I recommend knittingfool.com. There is a marvelous calculator on this site that will tell you exactly how many stitches you need. Plus, have a good sit-down with Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears. She covers seamless sweaters really well. I switched things around and worked this sweater bottom-up but I have done several top-down sweaters and followed a bottom-up pattern several times before I felt comfortable improvising on my own.
Current Weather
Mostly cloudy, 17C.
We're into the typical summer weather pattern of low to mid 20s during the day and a thunder storm in the evening.
 |
| 30g |
is what I had left after finishing this
 |
| Unblocked Hazelnut |
I'm calling this done although it still needs to be blocked. We have guests at the moment so the spare bed is in use for it's intended purpose and there really isn't anywhere else I can block something as large as a sweater. The risk of feline interference is just too high everywhere else. Since the guests are my sister from Scotland and my Wee Niece and one of my sister's friends with her daughter I'm not really all that worried about it. Besides it's summer so I probably won't wear it for a few weeks yet and it's not like I don't have other sweaters in the meantime.
Pattern: Improvised bottom-up seamless raglan as per EZ
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Hazelnut
Needle: 2.75mm
Gauge: 31 stitches and 37 rows = 10 cm
To make this I started with the sleeves and cast on enough stitches to make a nice snug sleeve, worked a couple inches of ribbing followed by increasing every third round until the sleeve was as wide as I wanted it to be, then worked it to the length I wanted. Only calculated the gauge after completing the sleeves. After that I just worked the body, joined the sleeves and worked a raglan shaped yoke. Simple.
OK, I admit I've done a number sweaters like this now so what seems simple to me might not be to everyone. If you need a place to get started with seamless sweaters I recommend knittingfool.com. There is a marvelous calculator on this site that will tell you exactly how many stitches you need. Plus, have a good sit-down with Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears. She covers seamless sweaters really well. I switched things around and worked this sweater bottom-up but I have done several top-down sweaters and followed a bottom-up pattern several times before I felt comfortable improvising on my own.
Current Weather
Mostly cloudy, 17C.
We're into the typical summer weather pattern of low to mid 20s during the day and a thunder storm in the evening.
Wednesday, 13 July 2016
Sunday, 10 July 2016
Hey, there was knitting!
No Scent Hurdle this weekend so knitting was accomplished.
Had to frog Hazelnut back to the start of the body when I realized I'd made it too big and I was going to run out of yarn. Sigh. Hopefully this time it works. This one is also good TV watching knitting as it's mostly stockinette stitch.
Also started a vest with a stitch pattern in it. The pattern is called Pennents, I found it in "Knit Stitch Dictionary" by Debbie Tomkies. This will be a basic vest, well except for the stitch pattern that is. Love vests, they keep you warm but not too warm most of the year. Summer, not so much but it's only summer for a very short time here.
Current Weather
Mostly cloudy, 18C.
Had a substantial thunderstorm yesterday, lots of thunder, lightning, and hail. Typical for summer in this part of the world.
Had to frog Hazelnut back to the start of the body when I realized I'd made it too big and I was going to run out of yarn. Sigh. Hopefully this time it works. This one is also good TV watching knitting as it's mostly stockinette stitch.
Also started a vest with a stitch pattern in it. The pattern is called Pennents, I found it in "Knit Stitch Dictionary" by Debbie Tomkies. This will be a basic vest, well except for the stitch pattern that is. Love vests, they keep you warm but not too warm most of the year. Summer, not so much but it's only summer for a very short time here.
Current Weather
Mostly cloudy, 18C.
Had a substantial thunderstorm yesterday, lots of thunder, lightning, and hail. Typical for summer in this part of the world.
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