DOG SCARE!

For more than a year now, my neighbor Beverly and I have taken a walk around our neighborhood every morning. We usually leave our houses at about 6:10 a.m. I bring Maggie, the beardie, with us (armed with plastic bags to scoop up any you-know-what she may leave behind) and we set off down our street.

During the school year, Maggie loves to greet every little (and not-so-litte) child waiting at the various bus stops along our route. After a few months, the kids got used to seeing us and some of them even waited eagerly to give Maggie a pat and say "good-morning."

Sounds idyllic, doesn't it? Well, to be truthful, I've always felt a bit of nervousness walking Maggie. There are lots of dogs in our neighborhood and, on many occasions, I've seen them loose, just running around. In fact, one morning, a Pit Bull, complete with long chain dragging behind him, sauntered out of the woods near the creek and accompanied us on our entire walk! This was before I started bringing Maggie along, thank goodness ... because as mellow as this dog seemed to be toward us, who knows how it would have reacted had their been another dog along.

As we walked our route for several months, Beverly and I didn't really encounter any other dogs. I'd see other neighbors out walking their dogs at various times during the day and I started to feel bad that Maggie was left at home.

When I first started to bring her, I'd also carry a squirt bottle of vinegar and lemon for protection, but after a few months without anything strange happening, I felt confident enough to even leave that.

We've been cautious, too. In fact, eventually we forfeited some cul-de-sacs because we knew dogs were down there and we just didn't want to risk an incident. I've always brought Maggie home before we finish our walk completely, as there's a large, old black dog that is supposedly held in by his "electric" fence, who always lurches out, storms down his front yard and barks ferociously at us. Further down the road is a tiny, but determined, little white and brown barking dog running around without a leash. His name is Cinnamon and, usually, in his defense, his owner is outside with him, at least, but I've not ever wanted Maggie involved in that, either.

So this morning, all seemed calm and peaceful as usual. We waved to the neighbors who passed in cars. We breathed in the heavy scent of honeysuckle vines. All seemed fine. As we were chatting leisurely, Beverly abruptly stopped in her tracks. I thought she had twisted her ankle or something, as she said in a strained voice, "Oh my gosh!" I hardly had time to look up, when two enormous German Shepherds seemed to come out of nowhere, barking and heading straight for us! We didn't have time to think! (Or at least I didn't! Beverly stood stock still, like someone is supposed to do when faced with a shark in the water!) One of the big dogs (seemed to me to come up to my hip)ran toward Maggie and grabbed her tail or her leg, I don't know which, because she yelped and pulled me. I fell into her, making her yelp more ... and then I tumbled onto the street! I skinned both my knees, cut my hand and got a blood blister on my third finger.

Maggie didn't look back, she just kept pulling me forward and, fortunately, the dogs didn't go any further! Just as suddenly as they had appeared, they turned and went back up to their house!!

Beverly and I have seen these dogs on many occasions, but always they're barking from behind their fence, not running loose! Talk about territorial! The only thing I can think of is that the owners must be letting them out front now that school has ended and there are no more children at the bus stop on their corner.

Maybe the dogs were only being curious. They certainly could have mauled Maggie completely, had they wanted to ... they didn't even break her skin. But I realized that having vinegar and lemon wouldn't have helped. It all happened too fast. There was no planning ... no defense. Maybe continuing to move forward was a poor decision? Who knows!

sigh All I know is, it's a sad day for Maggie and for me, because now that my fears have been realized, I don't think I want to take her out again with us.

I've been debating calling the people and letting them know what happened ... any thoughts? Please let me know what you'd do!

Booties Finally Finished!

One of our neighbors just had a little baby girl ... and I was trying to think of something I could knit very fast! A fellow knitlist friend suggested a great pattern for no-fall-off booties, but after I started, I realized it was going to take me too long with the small DPNs.

I found a pattern on eBay that used size 6 straight needles. These knit up so quickly! I just took these booties out of the dryer! (After a wash in Woolite, they still look great!)

After knitting one almost flawlessly, I started the other and made a myriad of mistakes! UGH! Had to take it out down to the eyelash yarn. I really don't like ribbing at all! If anyone talks to me, I forget whether I was purling or knitting and then have to recount all the stitches to find out.

Other than the ribbing mistakes, these booties were so quick to knit up! I'm really pleased with how they turned out! You simply turn down the cuff.
Well, I hope my neighbor likes them!

Magazines and More Magazines

The school year is coming to a close and I'm starting my annual ritual of cleaning. Of course, everything looks particularly bad right now ... in fact, it looks like a tornado swept through every room!

Well, in the middle of all the books and school supplies, I've come across years of magazines that I've been saving. I have so many years of Martha Stewart Living I've lost count. I've got loads and loads of Cooking Light, Country Living Gardener, Food and Wine, Country Gardens, Cottage Living, Real Simple, etc.

I almost had to wipe away a little tear as I realized it's time I throw them all away. Yes, *sniff*, it's sad. But really, they are all the same. After you've subscribed to a magazine for a few years, you realize the same articles are shaken out, rewritten a bit, new photos are used for a fresh look and then they're printed time and again. In all fairness, how many different ways can you carve and decorate a pumpkin? Yet, just wait, next October, all the magazines will instruct us once again on how to do it in a "new" and fascinating way!

Once you've gotten a year's worth of gardening magazines, you pretty much know how to take care of tender perennials in the winter ... when to put them back out in the spring ... how to divide and propagate ... which plants will bloom when, etc.

I'm sneezing as I write this ... from all the dust from the magazines I've never referred to again ... not even once! I never needed that special recipe I thought I would from Cooking Light or Food and Wine. I've never gone back to re-read my gardening magazines, either ... well, o.k., maybe once ... that time when I thought how neat it would be to make that living wreath out of wire and sphagnum moss ... it turned out not to be a good idea to hang it on the house, though. You should have seen the mildew growing on the boards when I took the wreath down to water it!

Do I really need to save the Real Simple issue on what to do with day-old bread??? Our bread doesn't even last a day! And to tell you the truth, Cottage Living just always made me mad. I mean, I'm tired of looking at those people's darling little cottage homes with their perfectly manicured lawns that end in a sparkling, natural-looking pool. Have you ever noticed that all their lovely furniture looks as if it's never been sat upon? It would be really refreshing to read a magazine that had photos of sloppy rooms, unmade beds, clothes piled up waiting to be folded and a sink full of dirty dishes for a change!

I subscribed to Body and Soul for awhile, but then realized that most articles included yoga, meditation and natural foods. I like yoga, but my knees crackle and pop when I sit cross-legged. Forget head rolls, too. My neck makes these strange crunchy sounds when I start to rotate. Somehow it's difficult to meditate with all that noise going on.

Yes, I must be brave. I must take a deep breath (after I dust them off) and get the recycling bin. I must be tough on myself. After all, I've just subscribed to Simply Knitting and I just know I'm going to have to save all of those. You never know when I might need another sock pattern!

Amelia's 17th Birthday Cake!

We celebrated Amelia's 17th birthday a day early this year ... right on Easter Sunday! Roberta and Jonathan sent me this great 3-D rabbit cake pan from Williams-Sonoma, so I thought I'd use that for her cake. The recipe for the cake was the typical very firm, very dense (not very tasty) scratch cake, but it did hold together well. Next time, back to Duncan Hines for me!

New Tea Party Almost Finished

Here's the "new" teapot. I needle-felted the word 'tea' on one side. I used size 10 1/2" needles and one strand of Lopi throughout, using the pattern for the Fiesta Ware Pitcher. I didn't follow the design for Fiesta Ware, though, as it wouldn't show through the felting. I also made a tray (sort of!) using two strands of Lopi and size 15 needles, just casting on 30 and, after purling first two rows, just ss the whole way until the end, purl one row, then bind-off purlwise. With one strand of Lopi, I picked up stitches along one side, and purled a row, then bound-off purlwise, then repeated this on the other side. That gave me a nice little rim.

Tea Cups

The felted tea cups came out much bigger than I would have liked. Again, I used the Fiesta Ware pattern (again omitting the design). I used size 8 needles this time and two strands of Lamb's Pride worsted (from the Brown Sheep Company) held together. The saucers came out very heavy! I wanted to make sure the cups would be stable and thick, but maybe the two strands made them too thick. Oh well! It's always an experiment!

Here's a Vase with Felted Flowers

I used the Felted Wine Bag pattern from Knit One, Felt Too, by Kathleen Taylor, but stopped before the end of the bag ... and then increased all my stitches by one each for the ruffle. Then I used a crochet bind-off for the little loops. This is also Lopi -- one skein. I wet-felted the flowers/stems as described in the Hand Felted Jewelry and Beads book by Carol Huber Cypher, using BFL roving I had dyed last summer.