Her Story
Well, it appears that my pup is far more interesting than my knitting, so here is her gratuitous display of cuteness from last night.
This is one of her favorite things to do. She gets up on the couch, schootches up right next to you, pushes off her front feet, makes her body stiff, and lets herself drop into a human sitting position, leaning against your arm. It's hard to describe and harder to believe, but I swear, we do not need to coax her into this position, she does it all on her own. We were both completely shocked the first time she did it, and I think we responded so lovingly that she had done it ever since, just to make us smile. So I was plugging away on the computer, only to walk over to my honeys and see them sitting like that, watching the boob tube.
People have asked a little bit about Panda, so I'm going to give you her story, inasmuch as we know it.
Nearly three years ago, Leo and I quit our jobs in Boston and moved to LA. We didn't have anything lined up, just a small amount of savings and a desire to get to sunny California. Leo had ferrets, but had really wanted a dog. I was not a "pet person" but I was willing to give it a shot, presuming that said doggy would be all Leo's responsibilities and I'd simply put up with him or her.
We made the drive, arrived in California, and got ourselves settled. My friend, Chrissy, who is an animal trainer, knew that we were in the market for a pup and said she had a dog she thought would be "perfect" for us. She is a Border Collie mix from a litter of puppies they'd taken in for a commercial. Border Collies don't make good set dogs, because they easily startle and don't tend to like strangers. Houston, as she was known, was no exception. Born to a Border Collie mom on a farm, the dad was one of a couple of intact dogs in the neighborhood, either another Border Collie or an Australian Cattle-dog. Since her brothers and sisters all looked decidedly Cattle-dog like, even while Houston looked more like the other Border Collie, it's presumed that the Cattle-dog was the father.
The farmer rented his unexpected litter of pups for the commercial, when tragedy struck, the entire litter of pups as well as a second litter were stricken with Parvo a disease that often kills puppies. Luckily, every last puppy survived, but it was touch and go for a while. The farmer had never wanted the puppies to start with, so he asked the ranch to purchase the puppies from him, which they did, despite the fact that none of the dogs were likely to ever work in the industry again. Luckily, these pups were so sweet and charming that they were all quickly placed in loving homes. When we arrived in LA, the last of the puppies was waiting to be placed.
Leo and I went to the ranch and Houston was brought out to meet us. Instead of running off in fear, she came over for some affection and eventually curled up in Leo's lap. This is highly unlike her and to this day, we've never seen her take so quickly to strangers. We adopted her on the spot, renamed her "Panda," and have loved her ever since.
I went from being indifferent to dogs to falling head of heals for my little girl.
Ok, in knitting news, take a look at how my Paco piece is coming along
Yup, I ripped it out. I think the gauge changed too much once the weight of the fabric increased. The swatch just didn't reflect the final gauge. I took a new gauge reading from the piece as it was before ripping, and reworked the pattern. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I also bought myself a little Koigu, yesterday.
The purple is actually a deep deep eggplant color and the three look really nice together. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I am so in love with this yarn. Oh, the best part is, I got to use my ball winder AND my new swift.
This is one of her favorite things to do. She gets up on the couch, schootches up right next to you, pushes off her front feet, makes her body stiff, and lets herself drop into a human sitting position, leaning against your arm. It's hard to describe and harder to believe, but I swear, we do not need to coax her into this position, she does it all on her own. We were both completely shocked the first time she did it, and I think we responded so lovingly that she had done it ever since, just to make us smile. So I was plugging away on the computer, only to walk over to my honeys and see them sitting like that, watching the boob tube.
People have asked a little bit about Panda, so I'm going to give you her story, inasmuch as we know it.
Nearly three years ago, Leo and I quit our jobs in Boston and moved to LA. We didn't have anything lined up, just a small amount of savings and a desire to get to sunny California. Leo had ferrets, but had really wanted a dog. I was not a "pet person" but I was willing to give it a shot, presuming that said doggy would be all Leo's responsibilities and I'd simply put up with him or her.
We made the drive, arrived in California, and got ourselves settled. My friend, Chrissy, who is an animal trainer, knew that we were in the market for a pup and said she had a dog she thought would be "perfect" for us. She is a Border Collie mix from a litter of puppies they'd taken in for a commercial. Border Collies don't make good set dogs, because they easily startle and don't tend to like strangers. Houston, as she was known, was no exception. Born to a Border Collie mom on a farm, the dad was one of a couple of intact dogs in the neighborhood, either another Border Collie or an Australian Cattle-dog. Since her brothers and sisters all looked decidedly Cattle-dog like, even while Houston looked more like the other Border Collie, it's presumed that the Cattle-dog was the father.
The farmer rented his unexpected litter of pups for the commercial, when tragedy struck, the entire litter of pups as well as a second litter were stricken with Parvo a disease that often kills puppies. Luckily, every last puppy survived, but it was touch and go for a while. The farmer had never wanted the puppies to start with, so he asked the ranch to purchase the puppies from him, which they did, despite the fact that none of the dogs were likely to ever work in the industry again. Luckily, these pups were so sweet and charming that they were all quickly placed in loving homes. When we arrived in LA, the last of the puppies was waiting to be placed.
Leo and I went to the ranch and Houston was brought out to meet us. Instead of running off in fear, she came over for some affection and eventually curled up in Leo's lap. This is highly unlike her and to this day, we've never seen her take so quickly to strangers. We adopted her on the spot, renamed her "Panda," and have loved her ever since.
I went from being indifferent to dogs to falling head of heals for my little girl.
Ok, in knitting news, take a look at how my Paco piece is coming along
Yup, I ripped it out. I think the gauge changed too much once the weight of the fabric increased. The swatch just didn't reflect the final gauge. I took a new gauge reading from the piece as it was before ripping, and reworked the pattern. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I also bought myself a little Koigu, yesterday.
The purple is actually a deep deep eggplant color and the three look really nice together. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I am so in love with this yarn. Oh, the best part is, I got to use my ball winder AND my new swift.
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