Do you think they've figured out I'm a knitter?

I received a mysterious envelope in my work mail box today. It was obviously recycled after having been sent to some big muckety muck across the courtyard from me. The original info was scribbled out and scrawled across it was my name. Wobbly letters, they were...I think she must have been laughing and writing at the same time! It was sent by an infrequent attendee of our twice monthly noontime knitting group and she KNEW how fitting it was. I opened the envelope to see this and laughed heartily myself. I guess this is what my world has come to...what my dear work friends think of me.

Wait a minute! Why are you laughing?!?! Uh, oh, I guess it's not just my work friends, eh? :) Too funny!

Going to the coast

We're headed off for three wonderful days of coastal goodness tomorrow! Woo hoo! I know we'll be muttering about retiring over there some day when it's time to come home. I love that ocean air!!! We got a great vacation rental house owned by a friend of one of my work/knitting friends. Close to the beach, great set up, and they love dogs, so ours are very welcome. Plans include long beach walks, movie watching, game playing, no work talk for hubby, no cell phone for hubby, unwinding time for hubby, and a trip to a yarn shop for me. I'll post pictures upon our return. Woo hoo! Oh, yeah, I said that already, but I REALLY mean it! :)

What flower are you?

I swear I only took this once, even though those of you who know what my favorite flower is may not believe it. :)

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

Savannah at Umpqua

And, here she is, in her first win photo. Not too bad for having a newbie set her up. The first pic is how close Ross cropped it...I'd have appreciated a bit more background, but oh, well. I should have smoothed her topline around her shoulders a bit and pulled her tail out so you can actually see it, but otherwise, I'm happy with it. Of course, I like the bottom one with me cut out muuuuuuccccchhhhh better. I know, I know, it's about the dog, but still! :)

Ravelry, how I love thee!

I know most of you who check out my blog are here for the dogs, but dang, this Ravelry this is soooooo addictive! It's a record keeper (how much yarn and what kinds do I have, what types and sizes of needles do I have, which projects have I made, which projects do I want to make, etc.), but that's just the tip of the iceberg. How do I put this into dog terms? You know all the talk about building a cardi health database? Ravelry to knitters and crocheters is like that database, but only if it could give you all the health information; show you pictures of nearly every cardi that ever existed; link to every sport cardis have ever done and have pictures of them all doing those sports; show you what your puppies would look like if you bred dog A to bitch B; put you in touch not only with all the other cardi breeders now, but let you have access to resources left by every breeder ever; show you all win pictures of every cardi ever alive; show you every shampoo, lead, collar, food, and other product ever used on a cardi and what the results were; and more! It's amazing!!!!

On Ravelry, I put in the name of a designer and, most likely, go to that designer's personal Ravelry notebook that shows what she is working on, what types of yarns and needles she's using, what patterns she's written and how to get them, what books she's got patterns in and how to get those, what groups she belongs to, what her personal blog address is, and so, so much more. Or, say I find a great deal on some yarn, but I haven't a clue what to make out of it. I can put it in Ravelry and it'll show me every pattern any member has ever made out of that yarn. So, not only can I see what the projects look like, I can see what all the other colorways look like, too! And I just started using it, so I'm sure there is way more I haven't even discovered yet.

I joined a bunch of groups based on different knitting podcasts I listen to. While at one of those groups, I saw someone's chosen profile picture...a cardi! So, I went to her Ravelry site (Karen in California with Tango and Dancer), which led me to her blog and more pictures of her dogs. Turns out she was at Nationals and I'm almost positive I spoke with her very briefly. She's an amazing knitter and only has been at it a year longer than me. She bravely tackles stranded colorwork!!! I'm in awe! And that's just one person. So amazing to me!!!!

Gawd, I'm spending way too much time on the computer, I'm having to learn how to use Flickr, I missed handling class (nail appointment was the real reason, not copious amounts of time on Ravelry - RIGHT!), and I'm not even knitting. ARRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!

And if you're ever on Ravelry and looking for me, my username is RichelleCK. :)

We did it!!!!

Savannah was Winners' Bitch and Best Opposite Sex today. Digger won Winner's Dog and Best of Winners. Getting there early made a big difference! She got used to the atmosphere, I cooled off and calmed down, and we pretended it was handling class. Much better! She needs more Petsmart trips to acclimatize herself, though I think she was being a bit ornery on purpose today. She was certainly feeling full of herself when we came home! She was trying to tell Ethan she was boss...and he was letting her! Wonder if she's starting to smell good again...

We didn't get any good show pictures, but we did get some fun pictures of Savannah getting to use her birthday present for the first time. I definitely have a water dog in this one!!! I have a cute video, but it's too big for YouTube...any ideas on compressing it?




On a knitting note, I've finally received my invitation to Ravelry, a new online knitting community that is a BIG deal among us knitting geeks!!! Woo hoo!!!

Poor Savannah....

....handicapped by her handler again! Why do dogs all have to be soooo different? Wait, no, I'm glad they are. Okay, why can't I control my feelings about showing? I really dislike it, I get nervous and can't control my emotion, and I sweat more than flows over Niagara Falls on a wet day! Ach! Today's lesson? Savannah is not Ethan. (Which I'm thankful for most of the time, but...) Savannah needs to be at ringside at least half an hour before time to go in with me sitting calmly in a chair by her. Ethan needs to get to the ring right before he goes in or he'll bark his silly damn head off. Now, the real challenge is me sitting calmly for that half hour. Perhaps I should knit ringside...hmmm....

Anyway, we went reserve again today. I was so out of it I don't even know who won, except she was in open. Kayla came second in class to her. Digger won WD and BOW. Truman won BOB.

Nikki looked terrific in group...poor Carolyn couldn't hear us clapping...well, I guess it was just me and Debbie Berry and Debbbie's goldie friend, but we really were clapping. Tomorrow I've promised to hoot and holler, too. :)

Tomorrow's another day...wonder if socks will calm my nerves....