Wednesday 22 December 2010

sweater heaven

I knitted Digger a sweater to match Peggy's, just different colours. Trouble is they both love them and when I put them on my dogs they go out into the snow and won't come back indoors. They have had great fun romping around the garden and the green outside the house, pushing the snow up in the air with their noses. Digger whinges all morning until he puts his sweater on for his trip outside; drives me mad!

Here the roads are driveable, but the icy paths are certainly a health hazard. I tried to get to my friend's house this morning but only got as far as the garage then had to turn back. I dug my car out of the frost and drove to the nearest carpark, and walked very gingerly round to her house for a short stay - cup of tea and a chat - exchanged presents and left to do the reverse journey. I almost wished I was impaired enough to warrant a walking stick, but I mustn't tempt fate.

I must thank the post office this year because their job at the moment must be so demanding due to the weather. However, I got presents delivered to me for my friends only 1 day late and the presents I arranged for my sons were delivered on the morning stated in the website. How's that for organisation and customer satisfaction. Well done!

When the snow fell last week my telephone cable came away from the house and left me stranded, no landline, no broadband, it was like losing an arm and I felt very cut off. Thankfully my trusty mobile allowed me to get in touch with Sky who arranged for an engineer to come and reconnect me yesterday. Thus I can now update my blog, read my facebook, collect the books from Amazon bought for my kindle and read all my emails. Whew...life is always throwing up problems to be solved.



Tuesday 14 December 2010

more bird houses


Here is the latest bird house; I made it for my dog walker and will fill it with little sachets of pot pouri and a post it note pad and small pencil, as a Christmas 'thank you' for taking my dogs out every week, rain, hail and snow, bless her.  She is a lovely girl but how she goes out in all weathers is beyond me.

These shapes started with a wedding box made from white lace coasters, but I got bored with the same square and started exploring other shapes to see if they would be popular with our tourist trade. A couple i.e. the tower and the bonbon box were failures but the rest seemed to appeal. I'll have to see if I can make enough to sell on a regular basis, but at the moment I'm not sure I want to start selling again...maybe next Spring?

Happiness is a son who asked if he could come for Christmas and that's a big 'Yes'. I'll get to try out my new culinary skills on him, poor soul, and he'll have to smile and say 'its gorgeous'. The one big problem I have is what to do with the waste peelings and left over bits that come from cooking raw food. Devon has issued us with a kitchen caddy to fill, but we can't put any plastic in it, and have to use kitchen roll to line it, then it goes into the green recycling wheelybin which is only collected every two weeks. Boy, does it whiff in the summer! Unfortunately I don't have a compost bin - nowhere to put it and no use for it after as my garden consists of gravel and slate to make it dog friendly. Hey Ho....


Thursday 9 December 2010

Weather...or not


With it being so cold I was 'forced' into finishing off my Christmas presents ready for sending out. I used up all my Christmas paper and that's when I saw Digger taking off with the inner cardboard tube in his mouth. This tube was at least 3 times longer than him and it posed lots of hazards like getting between my desk and chair, through the kitchen door etc. and then Peggy spotted him with it and decided she wanted some, so that meant a tug of war game and lots of growling. They had lots of fun with a simple cardboard tube and I had to laugh along with them.

Our neighbour 3 doors away has put some blinking lights up along his guttering and we can see these from the hall window. This has caused Digger some confusion and he has been growling at them for several days. Here the dogs are at the window trying to decide if they are a threat or not...
 You can't see the lights properly but the picture gives some idea of what the dogs can see and it took a while for Digger to settle down and ignore them.



I also had a little time to make Peggy a new sweater. I had tried the one I made for Vicky (who died) but poor Peggy is a lot bigger and was having difficulty walking in it. So off I went to the wool shop and got some chunky wool and huge needles and a pattern off the internet and made a custom sweater for her. Doesn't she look cute?

I had to bribe her with a doggie toffee to get her to sit so that I could take a picture of her. I also bought some wool off the internet which is still awaiting arrival. I will be making Digger a sweater as soon as it arrives and maybe one for next door's Archie too because Parson's Jack Russells seem to fall between the cracks when it comes to shop bought sweaters. They are either too small or too large whereas this pattern can be altered to suit the pet. I got the pattern from here and do thank whoever was kind enough to put it on the net.