Knitting at Herbie Dog Digs

Egads. More rain for central Ohio. Yesterday was almost two inches. Woke up to fog soup this morning. More rain predicted for tomorrow. Ugh.

My entire garden is loving this whole thing. I have more cucumbers on the vine then one family could possibly eat. It's led me to research bread and butter pickle recipes on foodtv.com. I always thought you had to grow "special" cucumbers for pickles. Apparently, no. And, supposedly, they can be done in the microwave? I think I'm going to give it a whirl as in about two weeks, we will have to do some serious picking. I finally picked our lone green pepper as well. Didn't expect much as we only planted two pepper plants but only one pepper at a time? It's flowering again but at this rate, you'd have to plant a dozen plants just to make stuffed peppers.

The rain has left us tons of time for knitting. When I say "us", I mean I always have company. Sabrina changes projects and direction as quickly as I do. She is learning how to rib (k2, p2) to make herself a pair of fingerless gloves to go along with her new two-needle socks that Mom (yours truly) just finished (photo above). I must say, one should always have fingerless gloves to match ones socks, no? Anyhoo - loving this whole two needle thing a bit too much. As I posted earlier, I am a dolt with double pointed needles (stretches my comfort zone just to knit an I-cord).

Lastly, I have posted photos of a pattern I just finished (still on the fingerless glove theme). Another kick I am on is knitted leaves...and I have no idea why. Just love the way the leaves seem to "pop" out of the knitting. Love the way they turned out (and in 100% cashmere...Ooooo) and was toying with posting the pattern for free on Ravelry. Any opinions? Interest?

Made some great project progress yesterday afternoon and last night! Finished the shrug for my daughter (pic to come) as well as the two-needle socks I was working on for me (photo above)! Two big checkmarks in the completed column! Yah! My son declared the socks to be "a fine piece of workmanship". He is eleven and such a goofy kid - and, yes, he really talks like that.

One step closer to Fall knitting of hats, mittens, gloves and scarves (although I have my eye on starting the "Sexy Vest" (free post of Ravelry). Before I even start a pattern now, I look at the Ravelry project progress to see what yarn people are using and what success rate they have had. It has saved me huge amounts of time with false starts. Almost everyone that has reviewed "Sexy Vest" raves about the ease of the pattern to follow and I think I have enough of the incredible Sublime yarn. Received six balls in the mail on Saturday in Aubergine - which is a beautiful purple with brown undertones.

Was also on Ravelry yesterday reading reviews of the new Berroco yarn "Vintage Wool". Again, in complete trust of the savvy Ravelry knitters, I ran to Ebay and bought six skeins of two shades of green. At over 210 yards per hank, I can see the possibility of more vests for the Fall season.

We've had quiet a bit of rain as of late in central Ohio and the dogs are a tad house happy (not to mention the humans!). This morning we had them out before the predicted afternoon thunderstorms begin again.

Stitch (the silver dapple) is 6 years old and we bought him from a wonderful breeder in Oregon. He is a great representation of the dachshund breed - calm, very attached to his family, good with kids, a bit worried during thunderstorms (adding to the house happiness mentioned above - lots of hiding in the deepest recesses of the pantry, wimpering).... We moved to Ohio over two years ago and wanted him to have a friend. Enter Oscar into the scene as a Christmas present from hubby in 2008. Wow - stellar opposite to Stitch. Oscar is a livewire. Runs everywhere and a non-stop PIA for Stitch. Wants to play constantly and, Stitch, being a little on the chubby side, cannot keep up with him. Attached is a picture of Oscar trying to get Stitch to chase him through the yard.

They are back in the house now, barking non-stop as my daughter has a friend over. Just kicked the kids outside for a little peaceful knitting time.

....my Japanese quilt needs to be finished! I have been working on this for two plus years - that's right - years. I needs about 4 hours worth of work. It is going to be fabulous when completed but too small for my queen size bed - more like a twin sized. So, instead of spending four more hours searching for more fabric to buy on Etsy and Ebay, I need to drag myself to Joann Fabrics today, buy the dang thread I need and finally put this puppy to rest!

I am on a quest to finish the scores of unfinished projects lying around the house...and there are a ton of them! Most of them only need an hour or so worth of work to finish so I promised myself that I cannot start my Fall knitting until these projects are done! Project to complete are:

*The second slipper sock - I found a great two needle sock pattern as I cannot knit with four double pointed needles to save my life! I have one sock completed in a yummy yarn called Jaeger Roma (now discontinued). Two evenings and I finally should have a completed pair

*Shrug for my daughter - Found an easy shrug pattern on Ravelry called "shrug this". Miscalculated the size (was originally for me) so in less than two hours, this should be complete for Sabrina's back to school wardrobe

*Shrug for me - Purchased Berroco pattern called "Ezra". Used Jaegar Roma but this time with not so great results. Expended a lot of energy on this and it's a bit odd fitting. Need to block this and try to salvage

*Two fingerless mits - Both are my own pattern that I want to post on Ravelry. They are completed but need to take pictures and write up the pattern. One was completed on this incredible handspun cashmere I found on Etsy.

Finally...In the photo above, my labor of love this summer - a knit purse. I don't even like knit purses but started this on a whim. And I love how it came out! It's finally complete (even lined!) and I need to spend fifteen minutes sewing a snap in it so closes.

I love rainy summer days. It's a nice break to sit inside, not having to worry about watering the plants lest they faint away with the late afternoon Ohio heat. We spent over five years living in Oregon - you learn to appreciate liquid sunshine. :o)

Yesterday was just one of those rainy days. We had bananas ready to go over so we made a double batch of yummy banana bread.

Also, my daughter saw an alien pattern on Ravelry recently posted by Barbara Prime (check it out - totally cute and free!). She insisted I teach her how to make this pattern. I could tell I was in for a long afternoon! Up until now, she has only knit and purl (just learning purl about two months go). She turned nine in May.

I have been knitting for more than 10 years. Sounds impressive, eh?

I have yet to produce a sweater that I would wear myself. Am I too picky? Are my expectations too high? I can crank out toys, mittens, gauntlets and hats like nobody's business. Garments? To wear outside? ha! Torture!

I see other garments that fellow knitters produce by hand on Ravelry and they look exactly like the photo that comes with the pattern. Mine, however, are somehow tragically handicap.

Take for example the most recent folly - Ezra. A really well written pattern by Berroco. I did my gauge swatch yet this came out very big. Not tragic as it's a really, really tiny shrug. Fine. Can live with that. However, the neckline is a total nightmare. It's too tight. The sweater itself stretches where it shouldn't and drapes really weird over my shoulders. I spent weeks on this thing and have been told by my loving family that it's "OK".

I've posted a picture of what it's supposed to look like. I am going to try and block it today to see if I can salvage this thing. Photo to come tomorrow.

Sigh. I think I'll start this cute cat pattern today. The world needs more stuffed cats, right?

and he came out soooo cute! I used some unidentified green variegated cotton yarn from my yarn stash, along with some Jaeger Matchmaker for the face. Last, I used some Moda Dea bamboo in grey for the nose! He ended up being about 5" long.

Not your traditional Hedgehog but he's a cutie none the less!

As I posted yesterday, we came up with an easy and awesome Paella recipe that I can't help but sharing. Yes, this is a craft blog but aren't a lot of crafty people cooks too? ha!

*2-1/2 cups Jasmine rice (not quick rice)
*3 cups of chicken stock (i used canned and cut down on the salt for the rice)
*2 cups water
*3 tablespoons of olive oil
*2 cloves of garlic
*2 lbs of frozen shrimp
*1 lb of imitation crab (i know - eye roll - but i love the stuff)
*10 green olives (cut in half)
*1 can of corn, drained
*1/2 can of green peas, drained
*30 capers (my family loves these!)
*1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (you can omit if you don't like heat)
*Fresh cilantro (taken from the garden - about 5 leaves)
*2 dried bay leaves (take these out when ready to serve)
*pinch of saffron (not necessary but makes the paella authentic)
*1/2 teaspoon of salt
*1 package of Knorr Sazon with Coriander and Annatto (available in your grocery store's spice aisle or the hispanic food section). This gives it the golden color
*pepper to taste

Throw the rice and liquids (water, stock and olive oil) into a large pot and bring to a rolling boil. Throw everything else in the pot at the same time, place a lid on it and lower the flame to low. Cook 20 minutes without lifting the lid and it's done! I served with cut lime on each plate to squeeze over the rice. Again, not necessary but paella is a heavy meal (especially in July) and the lime seems to "lighten" it!

Sounds like a lot of ingredients but you make up for it in the ease of cooking. This fed my family of four (my son eats as much as hubby does) and we had enough left over for an awesome lunch the next day!

Ok, ok...a little shameless plugging! We opened our own Etsy shop a few weeks ago and shockingly, we are selling! A lot! It's a great way to clear out old stashes of yarn, books, etc. Take a look this weekend and you'll see some great deals as we mark down craft books...that...need...to...go.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6330229

It's call Herbie Dog Digs (shocking, I know). Hubby did a kick arse job on the banner!

Awesome dinner tonight! Kinda thrown together on the fly from seafood we just got from Sam's Club but it was AWESOME! I'll post the recipe tomorrow but for now, let's call it the Poor Man's Paella!

For me, there is nothing like the start of a new project. Pattern perfectly printed on crisp white paper, brand new yarn that is still in its band. It's like paradise. So much so that I had to take a picture.

As you will see to your left, last night I decided to tackle Little Cotton Rabbit's newest creation - the sweet garden hedgehog. The pattern is available on Ravelry for 95 pence...and the best part is proceeds go to a wildlife fund in the UK. All around good thing. If you haven't bumped across Little Cotton Rabbits blog, you are in for a treat! Not only is Julie a master toy knitter, she has patterns available and you will learn about her little slice of life in dealing with a severely autistic child. Her mood is always up and I enjoy popping in a few times a week.

You can visit her here: http://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/

The hedgehog is taking place wonderfully! He's going to be so cute!

When thinking about what to write in my very first blog, I felt compelled to explain the name.

Herbie (aka Herbiedog) was an ornery Scottish terrier I owned when I met my husband. I have tons of stories about the hate/hate relationship between the two but I'll save that for another time. If you have seen the movie Marley and Me, know that I cried like a 3 year old at the end as the movie hit a little to close to home....

Herbiedog lived many years ago but the name has always stuck with me. When we lived in Florida, his Lebanese vet used to call him Harvey and it still makes me giggle...because he used to talk to him like he would answer him..."How are you doing today, Harvey"....or when I frantically rushed him to the vet for eating three pounds of cat poo from the litter box of a friend with 5 or so cats, he wagged his finger at him and asked..."Harvey, why would you do such a thing"....I was almost gagging from both the thought of the doggie breath from the car ride, as well as stifling my laughter.

Anyway, we've owned several dogs over the years with such grandiose names as Millie, Stitch and Oscar but Herbie was a special dog and the name - never to be repeated.

Now digs - yes - the real Herbiedog loved to dig, as did every terrier I have ever owned. They were born for it. But digs - in the sense of this blog - serves as the hippie 70's term of "dig" ...aka Do you dig it man? Yes I do....

So this Herbiedog Digs is about what I am into...which seems to change every day but my core "digging" is....

*Knitting - mostly toys with an obsession with monkeys.
*Embroidery - not your grandma's - the new obsession with Doodle embroidery - love, love, love it
*Quilting - my newest passion since discovering the Moda charm packs and layer cakes. Could life get any simpler???
*Crochet - for blankies and such. Never been able to make anything wearable with this craft.
*Jewelry making - I mostly admire this from afar...have made a few things, invested a small fortune in beads but my attempts are amateur at best.
*and whatever else strikes me when on Etsy...ebay..shopping at Joann Fabrics or Michaels thinking, I SO could do this!

By the way, the photo posted is our current canine inhabitants - Stitch and Oscar - both miniature dachshunds