Restless Knitter

I ripped out the ribbing and picked up twice the number of stitches in the curve.

Do I like how it looks where I picked up stitches? Not really, but it’s laying flat so I thought I could live with it. But do you see what I see? Do you see where the dye lot is different in the ribbing? Be thankful you aren’t at my house, there are so many bad words flying around it would make your ears bleed. Why the hell didn’t I see this before? I used the same damn yarn that I used the first attempt. WHY WHY WHY!

Bella is getting better. She went back into the ivy part of the yard by herself last night, with no toys or treats to coax her. This morning she went to the fence to talk to the neighbor, another step in the right direction. I think she’ll be back to her old self by the time another week has gone by.

First a Bella update.  We think a critter came through the backyard mostly because she’s trying to mark her territory with her fancy feet dances.  She normally doesn’t back down from critters but they usually run or fly.  I think something challenged her, maybe a snake or a ‘possum, and it’s scared the shit out of her.  We’re pretty sure neither of our neighbors would do anything and have ruled that out.  Anyone trying to open the gates of our fence would either give up before they ever got them open, or give up because they were making so much noise, so we’ve ruled out strangers in the yard too.

Toys don’t motivate her much into going far out into the grass, so I’ve been using pieces of hotdogs.  It’s the only way to get her to poo because there’s a Bella law that says no taking a poo while on the leash, and I don’t want to force her into the backyard with the leash. I don’t know what the hell is up with that but that’s the way she’s always been since we’ve had her. Aren’t you glad I shared her poo habits?  Anyhoo, this morning I sprinkled some Seven Dust near the areas she’s afraid to go to, thinking maybe that will help mask the scent of whatever scared her, not to mention it will help with the bugs.  It did help a little.  (I wouldn’t let her get close enough to it to inhale or eat it, just so everyone knows I’m not going to poison the dog.) She went out a little farther.  This afternoon, the guys came to mow the yard.  Even better distraction.  These people that she normally only gets to bark at, the WHOLE FRIGGIN’ TIME THEY ARE HERE, she got a chance to go play with.  She almost forgot that there’s supposed to be something scary about the backyard.  (I keep typing backyarN, gah.)  Our friends have a dog that Bella likes to play with so I’ve told The Man that I think it would be good to borrow him for a little bit.  Let her see him back there playing and having fun.

I’m frustrated with myself and the cardigan.  Why do I always choose things that frustrate me?  I mean, I know it’s because I like the challenge, but when I get to the challenging part I get pissed and wonder what the hell I was thinking.  The cardigan I’m making is here.  The challenge is picking up stitches all the way around.  I can pick them up fine on straight edges, but that curved edge is driving me up the wall!  I used the loop cast on to increase for those curves on the front and now I’m regretting it.  I can’t say for sure that another method would have been better but I know this one is driving me nuts.  And having the whole edge of the sweater on a circular that isn’t long enough to gracefully handle all those stitches isn’t helping.  Ugh!  I’m not going to give up, I just needed to set it down for awhile and bitch about it.  Next time I post, it will be to bitch about the crochet edging.

I wasn’t blogging back when Brandi (our English Springer) got sick. She developed a brain tumor or something. She started having seizures and stopped being herself. We tried medicine. We took her back off the medicine. We put her back on it. She got worse as time went on, in just the two and a half months since she had her first seizure. She became very sad, or withdrawn. She didn’t chase the cats. She became afraid of everything. It got to the point that she was afraid of stairs. Once she got into the basement, she would no longer even try to come up to eat, drink, or be with me. That was very hard because Brandi went with me everywhere. I didn’t go to the bathroom without that dog. She was truly my constant companion. The day she put her head under the weight bench and screamed because she thought she was stuck, we knew it was time. She was no longer living the “quality of life” that she should be. She was a week from her 5th birthday. People, I cried for 3 months. Mostly because I missed her, some because I felt guilty for not spending $8000 on a surgery that wasn’t guaranteed to help. I wasn’t ready for another dog until January. Before then, I think I would have felt more guilt because it would have been like trying to replace Brandi.

Then we got Bella. Bella whose mission in life is to terrorize the cats, chase every living critter in the backyard, and bark at everything that walks by the front of our house. We have a fenced in backyard and Bella has free roam of it when she goes out. She loves it out there. There are bugs, moles (uh, not sure if there’s any left now), salamanders, birds, squirrels, chipmunks (and one snake sighting) all for her amusment. It’s hard to get her to come inside at times. She will race around the yard so you can’t catch her to bring her in. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog that can run as fast as she can, seriously. Two days ago, this all changed. She would go out on the deck then whine to come back in. She wouldn’t go out to the grass. After The Man and I went out for breakfast yesterday, I decided to take her out there on the leash. I figured if she saw that it was okay with me, she’d get over not wanting to get off the deck. And she wouldn’t pee in the house again, grrr. So yeah, I took her out there on the leash. When we got down in the grass, she bucked, whined, and pulled back so hard she gagged. I tried running with her beside me but she still would try to get to the house once we got to this invisible line that she knows about but I can’t see. I paniced. All I could think about was how Brandi had started getting scared of everything. I cried like a baby. After composing myself, I drove Bella to the vet’s office. Where I proceeded to break down again. They checked her over and can’t find anything physically wrong with her. Something has traumatized her though. After I pulled my stupid stunt of taking her out there on the leash, she backs off when she sees me heading to the back door.

Our neighbor stopped over later in the day and we were telling him about all this. He started crawling around on the floor and playing with her. He crawled out the back door and down the steps of the deck (I tried this later in the day, do you know how hard it is to crawl down steps!?), all the while with her trying to lick his face and bite his nose. He got down to the grass, and she played with him a minute then ran over as close to the house as she could while still staying in the grass and took a poo. After she did that, she sniffed it then did something she’s never done before. She kicked at it. I know a lot of dogs do this every time they use the bathroom, but Bella has never done it before. After she kicked at it, she ran away from it (she looked back in it’s direction twice) and back up on to the deck. We were relieved, though, because she’d been holding it all day and at least she did it outside.

This morning, I cut up a hot dog and fed her little pieces. Some I fed her by hand, some I tossed into the grass, until I got her to that invisible line. If I drop the treat in the grass past that line, she comes and gets it, then she backs up behind her line and starts kicking at the grass with all four feet. I don’t understand at all what has traumatized her so badly that she won’t go out to where she once loved to be. The vet asked about several things that may have caused it. Did she fall down the stairs? No, and she’s not afraid of the stairs in the house. Possibly an animal? Don’t think so, she hasn’t backed away from any of the ones we’ve seen. She keeps at anything that moves until she either catches it or it gets away into the neighbors yard. The storm? Again, don’t think so. We’ve had storms before and she’s never been affected. Maybe she got a small lightning zap or felt the tingle from lightning, maybe standing in water? She doesn’t get to go outside when there’s lightning. I know that it’s possible that she’s felt lightning before we’ve seen it, so maybe. Watch her potty, maybe she had a painful urination or bowel movement. Don’t think it was from peeing, she hasn’t been afraid to pee in the dining room TWICE! The bowel movement is possible, especially after seeing her kick at it yesterday. But she did go this morning and doesn’t seem like she’s having a hard time or anything. I want to help her get over this because she loved it so much out there. Maybe it will just take time and/or maybe a lot of hot dog pieces. I just know that there has to be something and she’ll make it through this and once again love the backyard.

Edit: I posted on a doggy forum. The kicking is her trying to mark her territory and get rid of the scent of whatever it was that spooked her. Instead of treats, they suggest we use toys because treats are for rewards and toys are to drive her. We shouldn’t push her to get into the part of the yard that she’s not comfortable in and just act like it’s no big deal that she won’t go there. It will take some time and patience but she’ll eventually be okay back there.

Because showing you a pic of the knitting progress wouldn’t be much more enlightening than the previous pics, and I need a break from knitting, I’m instead going to share random crap that will bore you to tears. Run. Run away now.

Dove deodorant is da bomb. I got the doesn’t show up on your clothes type and it doesn’t. I don’t feel like my armpit is raining either. That clear Soft & Dry is shit. Adidas is also shit.

Bella caught a bird. Bad Dog! Instead of trying to get it away from her, I ran in to call the Husband
RK: (in a sad voice) Bella caught a bird
H: Really?
RK: Yes, and I think it’s still alive. What do I do? Do I let her finish the job or do I take it away from her?
H: Wring it’s neck.
RK: WHAT! NO! OMG I can’t do that!
H: Well you don’t want it to suffer, and you don’t want her to eat it with that bird flu shit.
RK: I’ll take it from her but I can’t kill it.
H: Want me to have Friend stop by?
RK: No. I’ll see if it’s still alive
This is why I shouldn’t have bought squeaky toys for the dog. She wasn’t trying to eat it, she was just trying to get it to squeak. (Why yes, my child is perfect and I’m a mother in denial.) I got her to let go, and took her in the house. The poor thing was still alive and tried to fly off. I thought maybe it’s wings were just wet (right, like it’s a butterfly or something, it’s called denial) and maybe it might make it, even though it was missing an eye (ugh, damn dog) so I left it alone. I went later to check on it, and found it feet up. Dead. I felt so bad. Fast forward a week. Again, Bella has something in her mouth. I chase her down (what a fun game Mom, chase me some more!). It’s a lizard. She’s chewed off it’s tail but it’s still alive. I scoot it into a container and toss it over the fence. A couple of days later. Bella and I go outside. I’m sitting on the deck and watch her do the there’s a bug crawling around in the ivy so I’m going to stick my nose in and out of there until it gets away or I eat it thing. Only this time it’s not a bug, it’s bigger. We play the Chase Me game until she drops it. It’s the same freaking lizard she chewed the tail off of days before. It clings to the stick I’ve put under it and I throw it, stick and all, into a different neighbors yard. There’s only one yard left to toss a tailless lizard into, but let’s hope it’s learned that this yard is a hazard and it doesn’t have to get tossed again.

Debbie recommended a horse curry comb for Bella’s shedding issues. I love you Debbie! My furniture loves you too. The day after her comment, I went to the horse supply store. They let me bring Bella inside and try out the different combs. The one we got is made of a rubber material (or something like rubber, it’s flexible whatever it is) so it feels weird calling it a comb. I brush the dog at least twice a day and each time I’m amazed at how much hair comes loose. Curry comb = greatest thing ever!

Knitty Gritty is going to start showing new episodes in July. In one episode, we’ll get to see a toilet paper cozy. Yay, just what I’ve always wanted. *smirk*

I’m impatiently waiting for my Interweave Knits to appear in the mail. I’m hoping the pictures in the magazine won’t be as dark as some of the pictures in the preview.

I installed our new kitchen faucet all by myself. Aren’t you proud?

I had hot chocolate today because it was only 59 degrees. Tomorrow I will be bitching because it’s in the 80’s.

This jacket is going to take me a loooong time to knit.