The week in review

• Dobby Goes Home and Crickett Arrives
• Bad Dog Chester
• It's a Boy, Not a Girl
• Finished HOM Item

Dobby Goes Home and Crickett Arrives
Dobby was adopted out and went to his new forever-I-hope home. His new owner loves him, and he's taking his watchdog duties very seriously in return. I cried when he went, which was surprising because he was such a chore. But I missed his impish ways. Probably because he was such a chore: he was jam-packed with personality, really smart and I think he would have been a totally different dog if he'd had a better start in life. He would have been really cool. And maybe there's hope for him to become that way; I think his new owner will transform him.

Two days after Dobby went to live with his new owner, Crickett arrived. You can read about her at the Inland Northwest Pug Rescue web site. Her owner was a "breeder" who died, and so Crickett and the rest of her pug companions were sold to another "breeder" after a time of neglect (check out those toenails). The other "breeder" couldn't use Crickett as a cash cow because she'd been spayed so she came to rescue. Crickett has limited vision and a bum hip, so when you go to pick her up, she galumphs around the house merrily until you catch her. I swear she's giggling when she does this. But because of her conformation, she never should have been bred to pass that on, she should have been a beloved pet. Hence the quotes around the word "breeder"—I don't think either one of them was/is very good.

Crickett is quiet and low maintenance, quite the contrast from the Dobistinate one. ELH is as smitten as he can be by a dog, probably because Crickett has these blonde eyelashes and she knows how to bat them. She also has the hots for Chester and has dominance humped him 4 times. Marley is shocked and appalled. So is Boomer, for that matter; he's not pleased he has to sleep with the two ladies while Bad Dog Chester now sleeps in the crate. Girl germs, you know.

Bad Dog Chester
Not only did he get on my desk, but the final straw was when I found him on my DRESSER! Well, I didn't find him, only the aftermath. There was a box of dog treats on that dresser; now all dog treats are in airtight containers with lids. Due to the fact that he ate a Greenie during one of his desk forays, all his hair is falling out and his nose is raw. He is no longer the soft beautiful boy he once was—all he has left are coarse guard hairs. If only he understood cause and effect. I'm treating him with his baths, antibiotic ointment and time.

Chester has been relegated to the crate because he gets up and wanders around. I fear this leading to a nocturnal emission of some sort, so I always get up, and I'm tired of getting up at 1am and again at 4am. So into the crate he goes at bedtime and he promptly turns his back on the crate door, thinking he's sending me some puggy message, and then he falls asleep.

I'm on to him, though—he secretly loves sleeping in his crate. I can tell because I tried to get him out one night to put another pug in instead, and Chester wouldn't budge. I thought I heard fake snoring...

It's a Boy, Not a Girl
My neighbor is pregnant. She had an ultrasound and I had to laugh: the pros were all 100% sure it was a girl. "Why, look, here are the girl parts," they said. So I whipped out the Dale of Norway books and commenced to knit a Pink Thing.

Well, there was a problem so she had to go back to the doc and get an amniocentesis done. Turns out the girl is a boy. And they are 100% certain of this now.

Instead of worrying, I just said to myself, "Yippee, now I can make the Wild Stripes baby blanket from the 'guys' issue of Knitty! Time to buy more yarn!" The baby blanket is in stockinette, so it's great TV-watching knitting. And I love the colors along with the fact that I didn't have to sub in pink to make it a bit more girly. Yes, Virginia, I have the pink-is-for-girls gender stereotype when it comes to baby items. This is because I never got to have my bedroom walls painted pink when I was a kid, despite my begging. Besides, the pink I would have put in was a cool watermelon pink, and I would have subbed in a wine red for the dark green. Hey! That reminds me; I don't know where the wine red got to after Chester's last desk adventure...

Finished HOM Item
I finally finished the trim on a sweater I was making out of Cotton Twist for House of Marley (that means it's a dog sweater). Since it's cotton, I didn't do "sleeves" instead opting for crocheted picot trim on the armholes. The "C" word!

I am pondering what to do with the leftover yarn, because it's a color called Pucci and doesn't go with anything else. I am thinking I should knit a big old flower out of it, make some leaves out of something else, mount it all on a pin back and call it a corsage for Mom. Whaddya think?

Miscellany
I hit the back-to-school sales. There is no better time to stock up on trendy office supplies. Yes, office supplies. Like binders and stuff to stash your knitting patterns in. They have these really cute folders now that have pre-punched holes in them, so you can stick them into your binders. I even found pencils with my name on them! While I was in the school supply aisle, a girl came down the aisle and said, "Cool!" plucked a folder off the shelf and headed around the corner. When she was out of sight, I had to look at what was so cool. It was a Napoleon Dynamite folder! The girl came back to put the folder away and I said, "Hey, don't put it back, I'll take it." She asked if I liked the movie, and said she really loved it, but you had to watch it more than once to "get it." I thought to myself that I got it the first time, because in school, some of my friends were like the characters in the movie.

Dobby stalked, and the Princess and the pee

Last time, I promised a story about the Dob-stalker. But first, a photo of a finished object! This is the scarf made from Soiree from a free pattern off the Crystal Palace web site. I had hoped that by cutting out some of the repeats, the scarf would be longer, which it is, but it's not long enough. Live and learn.

Dobby's Stalker
Dobby wears a thing called a "belly band" or a "male wrap" in the house. His housebreaking isn't that reliable, and with four pugs, one of them is bound to sneak off and mark something—usually Dobby. The wrap holds a maxi pad and acts like a diaper. One of Dobby's wraps is bright red stretch terry, and the other day, he got by me and outside before I could get it off. So there he was, on the deck, wrapped like a Christmas present with a bright red bow.

Did you know, the color red attracts hummingbirds? And attract one it did. It was one confused bird, hovering above Dobby and not comprehending this dogflower at all. Dobby didn't help because he was standing stock still, but I managed to shoo the hummer over to the actual feeder. When Dobby moved, the bird came back. It was stalking Dobby's pants! It's a very confused bird, and I'm not helping. It has hovered in front of me when I wear my hibiscus print tank that has stupid red rhinestones, and all I could think of was "that's one pointy beak there". Finally it flew away in disgust without impaling Dobby.

The Princess and the Pee
I bought one of those little Bissell steam cleaners (this one has a heater in it).

Now why on earth should I do such a thing? Because the other night, Marley didn't follow everyone else upstairs. We were on our computers and I said, "Hey, where's Marley?" Of course as always ELH said, "I dunno," so I went downstairs past a pee spot on the NEW DINING ROOM RUG and found her in the kitchen. I know it was her; it wasn't a mark, it was a spot. We had just set that freaking rug up on the 9th for heaven's sake. At least I wisely put an old shower curtain under the end farthest from the windows, where she has been known to pee. I suspect she was angry for being left downstairs in the dark, although nothing was preventing her from coming upstairs at any time—she's come up in the dark before, when she wasn't in a Princess Marley mood. So I surreptitiously blotted the spot with numerous paper towels and sprayed enzyme on it and went upstairs.

The next morning, I could still smell it, but luckily ELH didn't. So I sprayed the spot with vinegar. Then for the rest of the day I could smell vinegary-pee. What I didn't realize was that Chester had decided to mark "Baa" -- Boomer's stuffed sheep, so there was a puddle in the nook upstairs and the air flow was carrying that smell down.

I cleaned up Chester's mess, but the dining room was still redolent of aging vinegar. So I went out and bought one of those little cleaners and viola, no more smell! I love it! And since I immediately put the box in the basement, ELH hasn't noticed.

Sad Day
Today is kind of sad for me. Dobby is going to his new home. I keep trying to console myself that if ever there was a boomerang dog, Dobby is it and he'll be back in a month. Yes, he is trying at times, but he's also hilariously funny, and he's very devoted.

It is time now for him to move on in life. And it is time for Cricket to come and get ready for her new (and much better!) life.

But I'm sure I'll see Dobby in a month!

Chester and the Desk Part IV, My Weekend Trip, Yarn Pjorn

I came home to find my desk eviscerated. An act of rage, not of young pug naughtiness, but I'm not sure what the rage was against. Stupid me, I forgot to set up the baby gate to block Chester out of the room. Everything was everywhere, and he only used the desk as a prelude—he demolished the contents of my wastebasket, and when that was not enough, went and demolished the contents of the laundry room wastebasket. Photos of the office carnage are here for your pleasure; the other areas you can just use your imagination for. (Note: I picked up the phone before I took the pictures.)

This time, Chester ate my grape Tootsie Pop that I was saving for a rainy day. He neatly plucked it from my pencil-holder coffee mug and spirited it away. I never found the wrapper, but I did find the stick and some grapey smears in the dog bed. I imagine the purple wrapping will end up somewhere outside in the dog yard. Chester also ate a Greenie that I'd careflly thrown away in the very bottom of the office wastebasket. Unfortunately, Greenies have wheat gluten in them, and Tootsie Pops have corn syrup in them. Talk about Chester's allergens.

When I found Chester he had the remains of a... a... Dobby-pee-soaked Maxi pad glued to his front paws. There, I said it. That was from the laundry room, where Dobby's "diaper pail" is located.

My Weekend Trip
I planned on visiting my best friend Kathryn in the Seattle area, and possibly watching ELH race his motorcycle. After cleaning Chester's office carnage, I was less than thrilled to take a 300 mile road trip with the Four Heathens. And yet... the next morning I got up and went into the office to find my "to do" list. I turned around and there was bleary-eyed Chester, who had made it between the daybed and the wall. He's sitting on some fabric that he had neatly and quietly removed from the bolt and smashed down on top of another bolt of fleece that is stored back there. And yes, that is Cherry Tree Hill Babyloop mohair next to the brat. Wondering if I really should rethink my plan, I oiled up the Veg-Jetta (which runs on salad oil) and set out. I made it all the way to Everett without stopping for gas, which made traveling with the fearsome foursome easier.

I had a great time with Kathryn. My other best pal Lara came up with her two pugs and for a while there were 8 pugs harassing each other at Kathryn's house. I think Dobby was relieved to see even more of his kind: it was divided into 4 blacks and 4 fawns. After Lara went home Kathryn and I went out with some folks from her work and had Indian food that was to die for. The plan was to tromp over and see March of the Penguins or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but that didn't work out so we all went to a local bar and had drinks. Kathryn is now enamored with the Rusty Nail, but I stuck to a gin and tonic.

The next day, we went sans pugs to Lara's, and made us apple-oatmeal pancakes that were to die for. We then went to a quilt shop and a yarn store (understocked) and back to her house to sit companionably and knit. I never did make it to the racetrack, but ELH was having such a good time, he didn't mind.

On the way back home, I was starving so I decided it was best to just go to McDonald's drive through. I got myself a cheeseburger Happy Meal, and the pugs each split a hamburger. Boomer and Marley know the drill, but it is always rather frenzied. It turns out that Dobby does not know what a McDonalds is truly for, other than barking wildly. I had to whack him on the head with his half of the hamburger because he was yapping at something out the window like a crazed maniac. Chester thought I was waving the burger for his pleasure and snatched it out of my hand, causing me to have to turn and pry bun out of his mouth. By then Dobby became aware of the feeding frenzy and managed to eat his part of the hamburger, but only bit by bit.

Yarn Pjorn
My order of Nandia cashmere/silk lace arrived, as did my Knitpicks Merino Style, which is destined to become a baby blanket. The Nandia, I'm not so sure what it's for, but it's vastly dye-able as is the Merino lace from Knitpicks.

Next time: The Dobby Stalker, and a bit about Kreacher.

A Boomer story, circular needle comparo and more about Chester

I've posted about Dobby the foster pug, and about mischievious Chester. Of course you've seen Marley, the original Blackpug, but there is one more: my baby Boomer. I've had him since he was a pup, and I don't talk about him much because he's never any trouble. In fact, ELH (a cat guy) thinks that if Boomer didn't have the one bad habit of incessant licking he would be the perfect dog. Boomer's health is stellar, he's well behaved, loves everyone especially blonde women, and he's 9 years old now. Boomer was supposed to be a show dog, but he's a wee bit too long, I think, and he's afraid of loud noises and of heights. I didn't show him much, because an unhappy dog isn't going to show well, so why put everyone through torture? So he's my buddy and the House of Marley male model instead. One other thing about Boomer: he's a flirt who thinks his middle name is "Cute." He is what you'd call a "chick magnet".

On Wednesday, the doorbell rang. The postal carrier does this when he leaves Priority Mail packages, but he'd already made the Priority Mail pass. However, I'd seen him up the street, so I answered the door and sure enough, there he was, and there was Boomer, who rocketed past me and stood in the living room looking quite relieved. I must have looked confused because the mail carrier said, "I didn't know if you knew he was out here, so I brought him up to the door. He was just right here, but I didn't know if you knew, so I rang the bell." I thanked him profusely and he went on his way.

Ah, Boomer. We had houseguests, and someone had let him sneak past out the door. Boomer being a timid soul just stayed right in the yard (he was either lying in the shade on the lawn or huddled up against the door trying to figure out how to make someone let him in). But the postal carrier was right, he wasn't supposed to be out unattended. Everyone around here knows that, too—I'm always with the pugs, which is why the mailman rang the bell. Heck, even Boomer knew that, so he really was relieved to be let inside the house. The denials that issued forth from the adults in the house were hilarious! The Notme's were in full force. I can only assume that Boomer has found a secret passage out of the house, and he's too scared to use it again so he's not telling anyone about it.

Circular Needle Comparision

Left to right: Aero, Inox, Addi Natura (bamboo), Addi Turbo, Bryspun, Susan Bates Silvalume.

Much has been written about circular needles, and lately there has been discussion about a brand called Aero, which are available in Canada. I just purchased a few from Beehive Wool but I haven't used them yet. The ones in the picture are all US #7/4.5mm except the Aero, which is a US 6/4mm.

The Aeros look a lot like the Inox needles (which are grey and teflon-coated). Both are made in Mexico, but the one difference is that the cable is a little bit thinner on the Aero. In fact, I'd say the Aero cable is close in flexibility and diameter to my Addis. The Bryspun cable is thicker, but very bendable. The Silvalumes—well, they have their fans, and I am not one of them. The cables are thick and ornery and I have to soak them in hot water or blow them with my hair dryer yet still they want to go back to round. I can imagine people buying these at the local craft store and giving up on knitting in the round entirely after one hat or something.

Joins on Aero, Inox, Addi Turbo, Addi Natura, Bryspun, Susan Bates

On to the joins: I like the Inox and Addi Turbo joins the best, and since the Aero looks like the Inox, I'll probably like those as well. The worst joins in my opinion are the Susan Bates and the Bryspuns. The Bryspun joins were a huge disappointment to me. They have the fabulous pointed tips, and are warm to to the touch, but those joins! Someone has experimented with putting a dab of model cement on the Bryspun joins and sanding it smooth with good results. I think that's too much work: the year is 2005 and the technology should be there so that I shouldn't have to fix my new circs! There is another alternative: once upon a time, a company did make a one-piece nylon circular and they can be found from time to time on eBay, but that's all I know.

I forgot to photograph some Clover bamboo circulars, but I must say the Addi Natura joins are a lot better. Even so, they're only OK. The best ones all around are the Addi Turbos, but you're going to pay for that. And even though they're my favorites, I don't like them for some yarns because the yarn goes shooting off the needle. They're too good!

Chester No!

The poor fellow thinks that's his name. It's actually Chester Alan Seego, but I digress. After his last foray onto my desk, he looked like a beached whale and there was much waddling about and much pooping in the yard. Sadly, the Greenie that he got ahold of contains wheat gluten, and I'm pretty sure wheat is one of the things Chester is allergic to. So he's breaking out again and getting frequent baths and having his nose wrinkle and face wiped with alcohol-free Stridex pads. Is he sadder but wiser? Who knows? I do know that after at least 4 desk adventures, he seems to have given up, probably because he knows he ate all the Mr. Pugsly's. Only Boomer seems to be aware of the second box of Mr. P's, and he's not telling. I swear Boomer has an invisible periscope that comes out of the top of his head so he can see up onto the kitchen counter. He's the original food-oriented pug at my house and could have a career as an agricultural inspection dog for US Customs. It's uncanny, and I'll tell that story next time.

Chester and the desk redux, Art on the Green and last: a Lara spoiler.

How can a walleyed innocent pug be so very naughty? I can't say I shouldn't have known, after all he has shown a propensity for knocking over wastebaskets.

After Chester's first foray onto my desk, I moved some of the objects of his desire elsewhere (like in the drawers). I also decided to put a large plastic rat trap in his path, carefully arranged on the scanner so that when it went off, it wouldn't snap on Chester and hurt him. I just wanted to scare the bejeezus out of him to keep him off my desk. And out of my cubbies! I even tested the trap on my finger, due to my complete klutziness, and while I did utter some swears, it didn't leave a mark. So I felt OK about it. The red line in the photo at left shows Chester's path to the desktop.

Well, I went out to get a much-needed coffee this morning and Chester got up on the desk again. However, he was completely undaunted by the springing of the trap, and continued onwards like Hannibal in his journey through the Himalayas.

This time he hit the mother lode and knocked a box of Mr. Pugsly's Peanut Butter Biscuits and a zip-locked packet of Grizzly Salmon Nu-Treats onto the floor. Mmmm. He promptly consumed the Mr. Pugsly's (I assume) and then opened and ate the Salmon treats. Then he barfed same on the rug. Charming.

So what is a big-brained primate to do to thwart the small brain of a single-minded pug? Well, apparently nothing. Actually, what I did was move the trap onto my desk near my monitor. That's because he was moving my monitor to get at the treats behind it, as well as to evacuate my cubby of "yarn I don't feel like looking at right now". The red arrows in this photo show (left) the cubby that he was obsessed with for no reason other than to vex me, and on the right the teeny yarn stash. Please note that this photo is staged. The tell tale sign is that you can actually see the top of the desk. I have a "Violets by the River Shawl/Scarf" kit, the book Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller, assorted papers, a birthday gift and some unpaid bills piled immediately to the left of the scene pictured. So, after moving the trap, I decided to go to the actual Art on the Green at North Idaho College. And Chester decided to get up on the desk again.

The trap was sprung and it was obvious he left the scene in a hurry. Only one ball of yarn (Feza Dali in a color that I don't want) was askew. The can of carpet cleaner sitting on my desk was knocked over, leading me to believe the trap jumped up and bonked Chester in the chest. Nothing else was disturbed. Has he learned? Probably not. I'm just hoping he doesn't teach Dobby the ins and outs of climbing.

Art on the Green

This weekend was Art on the Green, which is combined with a street fair/sidewalk sale downtown, plus Taste of Coeur d'Alene, in which Spokane food places set up shop in the park to tantalize you with their wares.

On Saturday, Marley and I set off early for the sidewalk sale. We couldn't go 50 feet without someone stopping and wanting to meet Marley. That's because Marley had big grin on her face—it was just the girlz and we were going SHOE SHOPPING! We did, and then went back through the park and stopped at the Taste, where I got myself a double iced mocha, and a fruit and oatmeal healthy bar thing. We sat in the shade and Marley drank water out of a ziplock back (it's a great trick to teach a dog), and I had my mocha and we nibbled on the bar thing. Then it was back home because poor Marley was completely exhausted from meeting her public.

I will never understand why people walk 4 abreast down the sidewalk, or they stop to converse right in the middle of things. Same with the person with the gigantic stroller. Sheesh! Step to the side, FCOL (fercryin'outloud)! And if you're going to bring your dog, bring some water for it. And some poop scooping sacks! Also, it is not a good idea to practice your skateboard tricks at the park during a big people-filled event. There's a skate park 2 blocks away, and if you're not good enough to go there, well: all of you, just stay home!

Today I decided to visit the other part of the event, to see the juried art exhibit and to see if anything had changed from the raku pottery, framed wildlife photos, jewelry, more jewelry and more pottery vending. Nothing had changed, not even the location of the booths! Some of the juried art hadn't changed, either, ferinstance this papier mache work of three tenor chefs: she submits one of these (different subject matter) every year. This year, there's a price tag on this one of $1200. Marked down from $1800. Some of the other art looked like paint-by-numbers, but others were pretty good. All in all, I thought last year's art was better. Oddly enough, the art hadn't been judged, and it was the last day of the show.

On the way back I walked past the giant sandcastle that a fellow creates each year. Very cool. I'm very happy to live in a place like this.

And now, the Lara spoiler. And Kathryn probably shouldn't look, either.

I finally got all the pieces and made my knitting friend some stitch markers for her birthday. They're sterling silver, and I call it the "Harry Potter set," because it contains elements from the Harry Potter books: the Goblet of Fire, the sorting hat (or a Wizard's hat), Hogwarts castle, Hedwig the owl, and Aragog the spider. And on the subject of Harry Potter, I love this particular page from Scholastic's web site, a comprehensive glossary. It's particularly useful for us addlepated messy deskers who can't remember if it's "Aragorn" or "Aragog".

Next time I will have knitting news. I frogged a dog sweater I was making because I didn't like the tension. Twelve inches of 2-color knitting, by the wayside! Such is life.

Chester and the desk

I went out today to run some errands.When I came back, ELH greeted me with, "I blocked off the office because there's carnage in there."

Huh? Carnage?

"I went in to the office and Chester was lying on the floor next to the telephone. He pretty much had his way with your desk. I put the phone back, but the rest is carnage. I confiscated the Greenie he was chewing on."

ELH wasn't kidding. Chester had cleared off my desk and cleaned out the cubbieholes I have for bills and junk. The pug found stuff that I didn't even know I had, like the nub of a Greenie, which I think has CORN STARCH in it—oh great, more allergies. That nub was ancient; pre-Chester, so before last November. Chester even checked behind my monitor. And he may have MADE CALLS: the speakerphone was on. He probably ordered pizza and charged it to my account.

ELH said he yelled at Chester, but the yelling was probably between choking back laughter, so I'm not sure how effective it was. At least he put the phone back.

Stuff, Alka, Gems Merino and Ellen Travolta

I'm starting off with "stuff". As Rosanne Rosannadanna used to say, "It's always something." Story of my life. The other day, I planned to go to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale and get some new shoes. Well, the day I decided to go, I tripped over Chester and cut the heck out of my pinky toe on a corner of wall trim. No trying on shoes for me. Then today, a chunk of my front tooth breaks off. All this after I'd crashed my motorcycle on the way home from vacation, so I have a bruised knee. Argh!

Alka
You'd think I'd take solace in my knitting, but it's too hot to wear Charlotte, and I had to tink 13 rows of Alka because I forgot where I was on it over my vacation. Thirteen rows of Alka are a good two inches, but that's where my lifeline was. Thank goodness I had one. So "six inches forward and five inches back," I guess. Now I'm putting lifelines in every 10 rows instead of every repeat of 20 rows.

Gems Merino
My order of Gems Merino Opal (l) and Pearl (r) came. I ordered these up because I discovered that yes, Virginia, you can handpaint superwash, you just can't felt it, and also that either Koigu or Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino starts out life as one of these. Well, whatever it is, it's Opal, not Pearl. Pearl is much finer. And now, if my dye order ever arrives, I'm sure I can create a large mess in the kitchen.

Ellen Travolta
Tonight, we went out to dinner with our neighbors at one of our favorite places, which has now been dubbed as, "The place the locals go". Moontime is an awesome restaurant here in Coeur d'Alene, and if you ever visit, it truly is where the locals eat. You should eat there. The three owners are great guys and the food is outstanding.

So we're eating and drinking and I comment to my neighbor, "Isn't that judge so-and-so?" I had been on jury duty last summer and the judge is sometimes spotted at Moontime. I liked the judge, who declared a mistrial ending the trial I was on. I felt he was sensible—neither side was proving their case very well, and a witness had just said something that went right by me, but turned out might be prejudicial. A mistrial was good for all concerned. But I digress. Having asked if this was the judge, I was told, "No, but he looks just like him and I'm always making that mistake." The guy could have been the judge's brother.

It was then pointed out to me by neighbor-husband-neighbor that the fellow wasn't the judge, because the guy sitting there was actually married to Ellen Travolta, who was sitting across from him. Sure enough, I glanced over again and was amazed: that was unmistakably Ellen Travolta (with lighter hair than I thought). But it was so funny—I could not stop glancing at the husband, because he was just a TWIN of that judge. I certainly didn't give a hoot about the famous person he was with, it was just so amazing how similar this guy looked to the judge.

Another famous person that lives out this way is Patty Duke. She's gone back to her real name, and I wouldn't know her if I fell over her. But if she looked like a judge I knew, I'm sure I'd stare!

In pug news, I had a small victory today. I had sent the carpets out for cleaning, but every time I'd walk in the bedroom, I'd get a whiff of dog pee. ELH is thankfully oblivious to this, but I can't stand it so I spent a week crawling around on the floor sniffing EVERYTHING. I cleaned whatever I could think of, and yet there'd be this one quick whiff. Disgusting. Well, it turns out the pug blanket that I thought had just come out of the wash hadn't. Dobby pointed my error out by sniffing at it determinedly. It was right at the entrance to the bedroom, too, so I gave it a sniff and sure enough someone had whizzed on it and I had neatly set it on top of Dobby's crate. Into the wash it went and problem solved. Thank heavens; it was getting quite frustrating.

Dobby has a toy frog that he dearly loves. He's so cute and has many more good moments than freakazoid moments, so I don't understand why no one wants to adopt him. Sigh.

Here is the obligatory pic of the Soiree scarf I'm doing on big needles. I've got to have something simple on the needles for when I'm watching TV. Alka doesn't cut it and I spend more time tinking than knitting. This is very, very gold. I think it will be perfect around New Year's Eve or the holidays.