Two Down, Six to Go

I know it seems like this has turned into a puppy blog, but there is still knitting going on. I'm halfway through the second sleeve of Calluna. I didn't get a picture, though, because I was too busy taking puppy pictures. The good news is, two of the puppies have found new homes! They will stay with us for a couple more weeks, but then they will move on to their forever homes.

These are the six that are still available. If you know of anyone in Southern California who is looking for a puppy, please direct them here!

Dopple (female)

Brownie (male)

Queenie (female)

Spot (male)

Sweetie (female)

Tiger (female)

Four Weeks

The puppies have been with us four weeks today. That means they are now six weeks old! We can hardly believe they've already been here four weeks--until we look at the "before" pictures.

This is how they looked the morning after we picked them up:


This is the poor little girl who died just hours after this picture was taken:

And here they are today:

As you can see, they're much bigger. They were about one pound each when they arrived. Now they weigh between five and seven pounds each!

They also have wicked sharp puppy teeth, and they aren't afraid to use them.

As adorable as they are, when they're in a playful mood, it's a bit like trying to cuddle a school of piranhas.

Fortunately, they still tire quickly, and spend a lot of time looking just like this.

I'm really going to miss the little guys when they go to their new homes.

My Stash Runneth Over

Last December, I wrote about my realization that I had finally achieved Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy (S.A.B.L.E.). Although I don't believe in diets, for food or yarn, because I believe that the forbidden is oh-so-much-more-enticing--and therefore declaring anything forbidden is counterproductive--I did mention my goal of reducing the stash a bit through a combination of destashing and knitting from stash.

I made some impressive strides in that general direction. I put some of my yarn up on Ravelry, with the intention of offering it for sale. That got a tad overwhelming, and after an entire day of photographing and cataloging, I had to take a little break...which is now dragging into its eight month.

I successfully undertook the Great Giant Granny Square Scrapghan Challenge of 2009, which used up an impressive 10 pounds of stash yarn and netted me a blanket big enough to work as a car cozy.

I even cut waaaaay back on my yarn buying from WEBS and Little Knits and Smileys, and all the other pushers--I mean sellers--online. This reduction may have been offset slightly by a corresponding increase in purchases from Rav destashers--but come on, how can anyone resist those deals?

Last December, the stash closet looked like this:


This morning when I decided to pull a few single balls of yarn from the stash closet for an afghan square swap I'm taking part in, I was astounded to see this:

Is it me, or did I somehow acquire even MORE yarn in past eight months?

This does not appear to be an improvement.

Normally, I don't mind yarn piling up. I love yarn. It makes me happy. It inspires me. And as habits go, it's pretty benign. But when the yarn becomes a public safety hazard, it's clearly time to take action.

Destash? No. We've already established that destashing does not work for me. Yarn diet? Ditto.

But I had to make a pilgrimage to CostCo today (on a Sunday--save me!), and I happened across these nifty storage boxes at three for fifteen bucks:

I bought two sets. I debated buying more, but my husband was with me, and I didn't want to call attention to the full extent of the yarn issue--since I like to allow for a little plausible deniability on my part, and a little self-delusion on his part--so I kept it to just the two. Even that drew a little more negative attention than I really wanted, but I moved swiftly to the alcohol aisle and defused the situation with a little creative redirection.

Once safely home and closed up in the guest room, I dragged out everything from the floor of the closet. There was a lot. No pictures, because my husband does sometimes read the blog, and, well, see above re: plausible deniability.

After an hour of sorting and packing, I achieved this:

Okay, so I still have more yarn than I can feasibly knit in my natural lifetime.

But at least now I know what I have.

Small victories, right?

Knitting?

[Picture-heavy post.]

Yes, indeed! See?

This is the first sleeve of Calluna. The pattern called for a simple, moss stitch, 3/4 length sleeve. I made mine full length, with a slightly bell-shaped cuff, and incorporated the cable from the peplum.

This is the sum total of my knitting for the past two weeks. I have been occupied with other things, and I'm sure many of you have come to hear about that.

So, the puppy update: Heidi and the puppies are doing great!

Heidi has put on a lot of weight and looks much healthier. She's had a bath, and we're letting her in the house. She gets along perfectly with our dogs and kids, but it's obvious she's never lived inside. She is a smart dog and a fast learner, and very eager to please. We are working on getting her used to being inside to ease the transition to her new home, wherever that might be.

She's still nursing the puppies, as you can see, but she's getting tired of it. We're feeding them mushy puppy food four times a day now, and they're getting big!

Each puppy has developed its own personality, and they all look different and are all different sizes. Much as I'd love to know what the father was, it's exciting watching them turn into mystery dogs.



They all love to wrestle and play, both with each other and with toys.




They're such fun to watch!

Like all babies, they only have two states of being: wide awake and sound asleep, with no transition between the two.



Who could resist that face?