Welcome Hoyt

After almost a year of Alan nagging, and me saying we were too busy with wedding stuff, I finally gave in and we adopted a wee puppy.

We had been searching in Petfinder and Craigslist for a few weeks, and had even sold ourselves on a 4 month old Plott/Redbone Coonhound mix named Marley, but that fell through. We were in the middle of giving up on Marley when we saw a posting for an adoption event at the Petco in Tacoma. They advertised "lots of puppies" being ready for adoption.  Petfinder listed the organization as having Australian Shepard/lab mixes, Border Collie/Australian shepard mixes, and Hound/Lab mixes. So many to choose from!

Well, we fell in love and the rest is history.

Meet Hoyt. 

Hoyt is a Leo, born August 19 to a Walker Hound Dame and a Lab Sire.  He enjoys chewing, sleeping, and belly rubs. 

He's had his first round of shots and dewormer, sleeps all day and partly through the night, and managed to stay home in the laundry room during work on Monday and not wreak too much havoc.


He's a little timid to start, but once he explores new places he turns into a romping machine. He met Pippin the Puggle and had some good play time on Sunday. No fear of other dogs, which bodes well for running out all that energy at the dog park.

What a great bundle of love to bring home. Welcome, Hoyt.

Roxborough Dolman

If you read my blog on my actual website, you may have noticed that the "current project" hasn't changed in over two years. I have completed SO MANY other projects in the mean time, but they were short or secret and couldn't be added to list. Or I was away from the blog and just forgot to update. But that one was still languishing on the needles.

I started it on the train to Montana in 2012. I remember because it was my birthday and I was so stoked to be knitting my first "modern" sweater with really great yarn. Then I worked on it during field work all summer at Lake Cushman doing traffic surveys, and at Lake Kokanee and Alder Lake doing creel. I got distracted with beer koozies and husky hats during the fall, but picked it up again in the spring and got to the armpits.

By July 2013, I had finished the body and was working on the neck ribbing. By mid-July, all it needed was ribbing around the arm holes.

Then it got put in a bag. The bag got put in a box. The box got moved from the apartment to the house. The bag got unpacked and shoved into a basket, never to be seen again....

UNTIL NOW!

I was thinking about starting a sweater I bought yarn for a year ago (hush), but decided I had to finish the dolman first.  On Sunday night I pulled it out, found the right size needles, and got to work. Three hours, some really weird armpit measurements, and two youtube videos later, both sleeve ribbings were completed. Monday night the ends got sewn in and it went in the bath for blocking.

OMG I love it.

It's awesome. It's SO SOFT. And so comfy. And the colors are perfect.

My only complaint is that when I blocked it the whole thing loosened up a bit. Not unexpected, but the waistband doesn't hug my hips quite as much any more and it's a little bit longer (pictures are pre-blocking). But that's totally my fault for knitting a gauge swatch but not washing it. Live and learn.

I wore it to work on Wednesday and it was so warm and cozy and perfect for an early fall day. LOVE.

Pattern: Roxborough Dolman, by Courtney Kelley
Yarn: Fibre Company, Canopy Fingering in River Dolphin and Aloe
Needles: US 3 and US 5 24" circs, plus DPN for sleeves