Catching Up On The Fur And Fiber Front

My goodness how time passes! Last time I blogged it was early April and now the month is waning to a close.

A few days ago we had a couple of really pleasant weather days and on Saturday Molly and I went on an adventure with our friend Kat. We originally planned to go to a dog park in Hilsboro. Molly and I left the house at 11:00 am and headed over to Kat's. We arrived to find that she had prepared lunch and bravely invited Molly in to join us. (It was definitely too warm to leave her in the car and there was no shade to park in.)

Hesitantly I retrieved Molly from the car and we entered Kat's house. Kat lives with four or five cats..I've lost track right now. Two are older ladies and are strictly indoors. Callie had not secreted herself away as Taco had, so very quickly Molly located the old gal and a chase commenced. After retrieving Molly from kittie harrassing, I leashed her and we sat down to lunch. Much of our lunch conversation was interupted with, "sit, down" and chicken bribery. In the process of Molly's patient efforts, the trash and recycling was knocked over and spilled twice. Later she swept things off the coffee table with her tail. Kat, god bless her, took this assault in stride and remained positive the more harried I became.

After lunch we loaded up and headed out to Ardiri Winery and Vineyards for a wine tasting. I hoped for shade to park in and therefor leave Molly in the car, but no such luck there. Just as we arrived a huge contingent of BMWs arrived in some kind of rally event. Kat took Molly's leash from my startled hands and we tied Molly to the post of an arbor on the patio. We then hurried to get in line for our tasting before the BMWers arrived to slow us down.

As I learned how to taste wine, tasted wine, and bought wine, I kept a nervous eye on my Molly on the patio. She didn't make any noise and I'm quite proud of her. Numerous times she was greeted and petted by strangers. Later Kat and I sat with Molly and enjoyed our glass of wine in our complimentary glass...no, Molly didn't drink any...she's too young.

After a peaceful time in the country, fruit of the vine, conversation with Kat, we loaded up and headed to the Hondo dog park. www.hilsborodogs.org What a wonderful place! Truly a mecca for the dog park enthusiast!!

The park is safely and completely fenced in. There is a section for timid and small dogs, a larger section for larger dogs, and a third sandy section for use in the winter (to preserve the grass in the other areas). There is a water faucet. There are numerous poop bag stations and trash cans. There are benches and a fine gravel path around the circumferance of the larger enclosure. (According to www.hilsborodogs.org the length of the path is 0.17 miles.)

There is an entrance area that is fenced and between two gates.

We entered and made our way to a bench. I turned Molly loose. What a gift to see my girl run and play with others of her kind. She happened upon a small, white dog named Happy. Happy didn't take too kindly to being sniffed and turned on her. This turned him into prey for Molly and a growing pack of dogs. Eventually Happy was rescued, unhurt, the scrum broke up and we all went on with our afternoon. I was too nervous to let Molly loose after that, so she remained on her long line.

We weren't lonely on our bench. As folks and dogs made the circuit we were visited. Kat and I got as much attention as Molly. We met Alexi, Belle, and Rommel to name a few. It was a treat to talk dog with so many folks and be sniffed by so many noses and to pet so many eager faces. Before we realized what was happening, it was 4:30 pm, so we packed it in and headed home. Both Molly and I were happily exhausted.

On the fiber front:

I'm currently working on a pair of socks. I bought the yarn at the T-Spot shop in Manzanita. It's a solid green, my first solid colored pair of socks. I'd decided to knit my regular kind of socks, then I ripped it out and decided to knit a little more fancy with a different kind of leg and heel flap and then I ripped it out again and am back to making my standard kind of socks.

I'm currently working on a baby blanket for Mia Dixon, new daughter to Jeff and Michelle and sister to Kyler. I'm about done with my second skein. I bought a total of four and I don't know yet if I'll use all of them. It's an uncomplicated pattern, but it's slow going. I knit two or four rows and then put it down.

I'm currently knitting a blanket for my bed. Months ago I made multiple attempts to make a blanket for our bed. I got quite a lot done on a huge blanket, big enough to hang over the sides of a California king bed. It's a monster of a thing. However, there is no longer an our bed. That particular bed and it's compatriot no longer live here. I wrestled back and forth with continuing the Very Big Blanket for 'our' bed, continuing the Very Big Blanket for 'my' bed (turning it sideways so it would potentially fit a queen size bed), and finally have settled on ripping it out and making a Big Blanket for my queen bed. I've cut the lead yarn on the Very Big Blanket and cast on for the Big Blanket. I think this will be the biggest blanket I've made. Currently it's residing on my bed and I worked on it last night and this morning. The cats are enjoying sleeping on it and pouncing on the yarn as it unravels from one and is knitted on to the other.

That about catches things up. I'll be back.