Thursday, May 15, 2008

Off the wires

I've been buried in grading, or I would have posted some pictures of the shawl off the blocking wires yesterday. But I've made it through the papers from one class, and am halfway through the papers from my other classes, so I'm making progress. It's entirely possible that I'll actually meet my goal of having grades calculated and posted by tomorrow night. Meanwhile, I have my shawl to admire and to remind me that I can actually finish something in this life, rather than standing in the middle of piles of unfinished grading, turning in circles, feeling overwhelmed and wondering what to do next. (Honestly, this is where knitting comes in handy; as the Yarn Harlot points out, knitting is fundamentally about doing one small action again and again, and having an actual product in the end -- grading is very much the same thing.)

Older Daughter kindly agreed to take a break from her homework to model for me:
See how the shawl is almost the same color as the grass? It's very springy.
Isn't it gorgeous? This could be something I knit again -- it's such a fun pattern, and the results are really lovely.

Meanwhile, I've made a (very small) start on a new project. I'm knitting myself the Hip in Hemp skirt, although I'm knitting it in a solid navy blue, rather than in stripes. That project sort of fell into my lap one day a few weeks ago; I was reading the musings of someone who was searching for a skirt to knit, and revisited that pattern. It had caught my attention when I saw it last summer, but it somehow didn't occur to me to knit it as a solid, and I knew I'd never wear the stripes (I am slow on the uptake sometimes). So I pottered on over to Webs to see if they sold the Lavold Hempathy yarn (my LYS didn't have any; I called first), and not only did they have it, but they had it in navy and (get this) on sale. Not only was it on sale, but my order came it at just over the amount that it takes to get a discount. Sweet. If that isn't Fate telling me that it's time to finally knit the skirt I've been dithering about for so long, I don't know what is. I'm just knitting together the live stitches with the cast-on row to form a tube for the elastic waist (although I'm thinking of either an i-cord or a ribbon instead; I've made the waist with a hole to insert one or the other, and could then tie a little bow in front), so I'm really not very far along. There will be pictures when I've made some progress.

In other news, poor Tilly has had quite a week of it. We boarded her at the vet this past weekend, knowing that we couldn't leave her with the cats and Kia to be fed by our neighbor. She was clearly very disconcerted by being left there (in spite of the fact that they keep poached chicken on hand for treats), and absolutely freaked out when I picked her up. She kept making these hoarse barking noises that sounded just like Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles when they let him out of the car trunk (anyone else out there remember that?).

Then last night was her first obedience class. I'm extremely happy with the place we found, which is just down the road from us, and the three women who taught the class are wonderful. They confirmed my impression of Tilly, though, which is that we have quite a personality on our hands. She threw a temper fit at one point, and one of the trainers took her off to work with her while the other trainer was talking about how to work with dogs. It turns out that Tilly is hand-shy, probably due to some of her experiences living on the streets before she was rescued. This means that we're going to need to be really careful about disciplining her; neck scruff shakes, which work well for some puppies (like Kia) will not work with her because of her already-negative association with hands. And when she mouths, we won't be able to hold her muzzle shut for the same reason. So it's going to mean some more thought in our training work with her (especially by comparison to Kia, who is such a submissive dog that just glaring at her was usually enough to get her to pay attention).

And then this morning, I had to take her to the vet to be spayed; I would have held off, given the boarding experience of the weekend, but she's over five months now, and the window for an easier surgery is closing. So she'll be there overnight. They did call me after the surgery to say that she was doing well, which is good news. But poor baby. It's a lot in one week, and I'm glad that I'll be working at home most of next week, with only one day where I need to leave the house for any length of time.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the fried-egg poppies are blooming in the yard -- I love these flowers! (They're really called matilija poppies, but come on, don't they look like fried eggs?)

Righty-o! Back to grading; so close...

P.S. Tamar, I checked with Rick about the brand of the microphones, and he didn't remember right offhand, but will check with his uncle. I'll let you know. And the only reason I find the Vorkosigan books relaxing is because I've read them so many times before, so I know they turn out all right in the end. Silly, eh?

15 comments:

Anne said...

Fried eggs -- or something. They're pretty spectacular, whatever one associates with them. So sorry to hear about Tilly's week. But that's three now, by my count, so she should be done with bad events for a while?

The shawl is absolutely beautiful. Did you get it back from Older Daughter?

Okay, time to do some grading.

Jodi said...

Gorgeous shawl! I love the vibrant green, perfect for spring.

Oh 16 Candles... what a classic.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful shawl as expected, very nice knitting job indeed!

That flower is so pretty but are you sure it is real? :) We call those eggs: eye eggs in Hebrew!

Willow said...

Poor little puppy. I hope she remembers the fun walks.

That shawl really is gorgeous. Willow is seriously weakening here.

Bea said...

The shawl is really lovely! I love the shade of green.

I don't remember 16 candles at all. I hope things go better with Tilly!

Anonymous said...

Once you figure out what motivates Tilly, you'll be in good shape. Again, an analogy to parenthood!

The shawl drapes so nicely. It is a stunner.

EGunn said...

I'm sorry you're buried in grading! It will be over soon!

Poor Tilly. It was probably good to get it all out of the way, though, and it's not worth having her surgery be harder later. I'm sure she'll be glad to be home, though!

And yes, that flower looks just like a fried egg.

Can't wait to see the skirt!

Ally Jay said...

Poor Tilly, lots of TLC heading her way I expect. Great shawl, I adore the colour and look forward to seeing the skirt.
Good luck with the grading. I can so remember being drowned by books to mark.

knitspot anne said...

GORGEOUS! i don't envy your grading but how good it will be to finish!

Nana Sadie said...

Oh it's GORGEOUS! What a great model DD makes!
(((hugs)))

Alwen said...

My advice on Tilly: Catch her doing something right! Then praise the bejabbers out of her. (This works great with kids, too.)

I have a lovely, gentle, submissive dog, Truffles, who came to us 7 years ago hand-shy and with fear issues. Her pupils would expand and she would get this crazed look.

My interpretation was that she had come a little late when called as a puppy and then gotten the surprise beating for obedience. She learned! She was never gonna do that again!

I never touch her to discipline her. My other dog, who outweighs her by over 60 lbs, I can scruff-shake or muzzle-shake, but with Truffs it's all tone of voice.

My favorite is the incredulous, what-on-earth do you think you're DO-ing?!!! tone.

Sorry! I guess you can tell dog issues press my "verbose" button.

FUZZARELLY said...

All dogs are different I have learned. For each, the owner needs to find The Way. They really do want to please us - it is in their nature.

Beautiful shawl!

Rachael said...

NO YOU DID NOT just comment about the Vorkosigan saga. I LOVED those books. I haven't loved anything else she's written though. Oh that makes me want to read them again!!

Do you watch the dog whisperer? We found it really helpful with our dogs, we managed to get them to stop barking at people outside the windows using some of the stuff that Cesar teaches. It's pretty incredible, really.

Shawl is gorgeous! Good luck with the grading and GO YOU on the skirt, I'm just not brave enough.

Anonymous said...

Your shawl is beautiful! Just perfect for the spring.

Anonymous said...

Love, love, love the shawl!

And, as Alwen notes, high praise when caught doing something right does really work as long as you can try to do it consistently for a while. And it definitely works on kids...AND husbands!