It's been a bit of a roller coaster week, good things, great things, scary things, frustrating things have all happened. But tonight, all is good. It it freezing cold and snowing outside and I'm curled up with my knitting and Kipp (who is an incredibly good snuggle dog). The other two pups are contentedly curled up for the night in their cozy corners. This all makes me smile.

Got an email from KnitPicks last night - they are interested in using my sock pattern in their Independent designers program - woohoo!!!!

They'll be sending me yarn support from their new Chroma line to knit the socks with - I can't wait to use it! Now to actually write down the pattern...

In other news, I finished the rough draft of a scarf pattern this morning and emailed it to some test knitters. I'm hoping to get the final pattern finished this weekend and submit that idea to KP as well. Then next week I'll be able to focus on the socks/pattern.

A few Missy pictures

My girl - intense, focused, beautiful

On her 11th birthday last March - still quite active and loving life

Above - Missy and her buddy Pepper. This was the cat's doing. When he was a kitten he decided that if she was going to sit and start at him, he was going to play with her. They've been buddies ever since.
Christmas 2009. Just a perfect Christmas pet photo

I love this look - She is always ready to go!

Fnished up these mitts yesterday - they're a belated birthday gift for my mom. I used yarn that was leftover from the Baktus scarf I made her for Christmas - so now she's got a matching set. The yarn is hand-dyed Merino Dream fingering.

So that post about no snow? A distant memory. Last week at SAR training we had clear ground. No snow in sight. Then in the space of a week over 3 feet of the white stuff fell (can you say "lake effect?") This poses a bit of an issue for wilderness SAR training when ones dogs are 17.5" and 21" respectively.

The answer came in the form of an abandoned building to train in - Yay!!! Kipp got an introduction to the idea of building searches. Which are a whole new idea to a dog who is used to searching in the great outdoors. Scent behaves much differently inside with a heating duct system than it does outdoors with a natural air currents. And then there's the whole idea that you're running down hallways and checking rooms instead of working fields and woods.

But after some introductions to the game changes, Kipp seemed to catch on to the different format. It was neat to watch him run from room to room looking for his "victim".

Kenzi? Well, she's still a bit of a spaz. But she engaged right away and her focus was pretty decent for a brand new location. I think I worked her just a touch too long. Gotta work on quitting before a touch before she's ready to. But I was pretty happy with both my dogs for the night.

I finished up a few different knitting projects this week. A hat and muffler for 17 y/o DB. A scarf for a friend. A pair of fingerless mitts for my mom. I'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow.

I also submitted another pattern to KnitPicks for their Independent Designer Program. Now I'm waiting for a "yay" or "nay" on my pattern idea...

We have snow!

The first real snow of the season arrived last night. It's just about perfect. Five inches of the fluffy white stuff - enough to have fun in, but not so much that in interferes with regularly scheduled life! I'm sure after a few weeks of snow, I'll be tired of it, but for now I'm out in it taking pictures! The dogs love it (of course)



Kipp thinks I should skip the whole picture thing and just.throw.that.squirrel.again.already!

Happy New Year!! There is still unusual absence of snow for this time of year. In fact we had temps near 50 for New Year's Eve. Weird.

But with the lack of snow we have continued to be able to play with the.best.dog.toy.ever - Chuck-it ball!! For years I just threw the ball - I had an arm, why buy something else to throw the ball? Then I got one. Now I have three. And a good supply of Ultra Balls (AKA BC proof balls). I can throw the ball super long for my youngster and close in for my older gal. And no wet balls to pick up!! It's probably the one dog toy I'd never be without now. And, oh yeah, the dogs love it too!

So here's a gratuitous picture from last year (when we actually had a touch of snow on the ground) As you can see, Kenzi likes to collect those Ultra Balls...