More Yarn & Projects

This picture is of the multi-directional scarf my friend Bridget made for me for xmas. Not sure of the pattern or yarn--but if you go to her blog you may be able to find out where she scored the pattern!

These are 2 of the sock yarns I ordered from Knit Happens [check their groovy button on the left]...top is ArtYarns #110 and the bottom is Lorna's Laces "knithappens"... have to send them off to my mom to make me some socks!


And a better pic of the scarf/yarn from MissHawklet...

Yarn & Scarf

Ok, not the best picture, but this is the MissHawklet yarn I received! Whipped it up into a quick scarf! The colors are amazing [though the camera doesn't really show them]--copper/terra cotta, some golds, chartreuse & seafoam greens, slate blue greys. The silk in the mix and maybe the pygora[?] make it a bit fluffy like mohair, but the silk definately reminded me of spun sugar or handmade silk ribbon candy you'd get at xmas time!

Did it with 3 rows of stockinette and 3 rows of garter...ball was 160yds but I like wide scarves.

What a day...

Well today was quite a day! Plumber came out to fix the clogged drains in the house [which backed up the sinks when I ran the dishwasher & washing machine]...that got fixed & in the process learned that the "new" water heater [cira 1998] had to be replaced b/c it was leaking and the pipes at the bottom of the thing were rusted...BLECH...

On a happier note, got a huge package from Knit Happens today [Araucania cotton in black and red], Lornas' Laces [Knit Happens--pink & green] and Artyarns supermerino in this red/pink/lavender color [110] PLUS the yarn I ordered from MissHawklet [ 160yrds of wool, pygora, bamboo & tussah silk] came in with a groovy little iron-on label to put inside whatever I decide to do with it! Happy happy :) Pictures to come...

Miss Thing...and miscellanous things...

Miss Thing has been super chatty lately. The brusing and swelling from her close-encounter with the dogs has long since subsided...she's clearly 110% now...but she's getting chatty & that piques the dogs' interest when they hear her chatting away in the back office/den!

She's got a total set up back there with toys, scratch post, private litter box, favorite faux mink pad to sleep on, etc. but she somehow seems to forget that Gizmo et al. tried to make hors d'ouvres out of her. Best thing though is when I can't go back there and sit with her [she apparantly forgets that I spend a good deal of time each day brushing her], my husband set up a webcam so I can check on her from the main TV in the house! I bought a kit from KnitWits to make felted cat toys for her & Molly but I need to learn how to do intarsia & the class I signed up for doesn't start till the end of February...

[the photo of her is from 5 or so years ago...her famous "do not bother me because I was about to sleep" look]

And, thanks to a friend, I found a cool blog called The Blue Ewe [see their groovy button on the left too] and decided to steal her post [with my answers]...

4 places you've lived:
1. long island, NY
2. clearwater, FL
3. arlington, VA
4. denver, CO

4 jobs you've had in your life:
1. cashier
2. copy clerk
3. vet tech
4. paralegal

4 movies you watch over & over:
1. shawshank redemption
2. sliding doors
3. clueless
4. can't hardly wait

4 websites you visit daily:
1. www.people.com [love those celeb photos]
2. www.washingtonpost.com [crossword puzzle online]
3. www.yahoo.com [greyhound groups]
4. www.hotmail.com [mail]

4 tv shows you love to watch:
1. csi
2. coupling [BBC version]
3. law & order
4. one tree hill

4 favorite foods:
1. pasteries
2. pies
3. strawberries [fresh]
4. peaches [fresh]

4 places you've been:
1. medicine bow, WY
2. misawa, JAPAN
3. rekyiavik, ICELAND
4. new melle, MO



~c

And about some yarn...

Ok, after a busy first day in the blog world...I finally broke down & ordered some really cool yarn from MissHawklet [how can you not love a logo that has a chick with a typewriter!]...the color's called "melting pot." Now I'm just waiting for that package from Vermont! Wool, pygora, bamboo & silk--how exotic! Pygora sounds like a mythological creature known in certain circles as a pygotear [a pony/coyote/cougar...heheheh, inside joke!]

I also found out that 2 dear friends have blogs too! Greyhounds, knitting & chickens [among other things]...check out their links on the left!

I'm also entering myself in the 2006 Knitting Olympics. I'm attempting the "not your standard issue sweatshirt" [p.97] from "The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits" in Peace Fleece...

~c

And the cats...

Can't forget that I had cats LONG before I had greyhounds. Miss Thing is 13yrs and a spicy little siamese mix...Gizmo tried to eat her right before we took a trip to CA in December...which made all the other dogs [except Newell] want to snack on her too...she survived, I'm surviving a $2500 vet bill, and we learned that Gizmo *clearly* isn't cat safe.

Molly is our chubby white ball who, in her former life before she came to our home, lived as a feral cat in Washington, DC. She has the longest, fattest whiskers...and she's pigeoned-toed...

Favorite Greyhound Sites

I have a lot of spare time right now...here's a list of my favorite online greyhound sites for all sorts of things!

www.greytalk.com --for all things relating to adopted greyhounds

www.nofca.org --open field coursing for the serious greyhound competitior...the greyhounds that participate are some of the best in the country...not for the faint of heart greyhounds!

www.runofc.org --open field coursing in New Mexico...and again, some of the best greyhounds in the country...not for the faint of heart greyhounds!

www.nationalcoursingclub.org --the wonderful Waterloo Cup Organization...support them & help bring back organized coursing to England!

www.valspajamas.com --my friend Megan makes totally hip greyhound coats & collars

www.houndtogs.com --another "greyt" site for greyhound coats

www.asfa.org --all about lure coursing

www.nwsga.com --my local coursing group!

www.globalgreyhounds.com/homepages/stonehaven/home.html --some of the coolest Irish greyhounds

www.mesaracing.com --Mesa Racing, the kennel from where Oliver [a.k.a. Mesa Coronado] came! They have some seriously hot dogs out there right now...

www.ngagreyhounds.com --the American greyhound racing body...want some fun? check out the download for the squaker sound on the "supplies" page

www.lgra.org --Large Gazehound Racing Assn--amateur straight racing for greyhounds--think your dog is fast? try out a local race meet near you!

www.notra.org --Nat'l Oval Track Racing Assn--amateur oval racing for greyhounds--think your dog is fast? running the "bunny" on the ground is a lot different [though fun]

One of MY Favorite Pics

Evie had the rare opportunity to run in the Waterloo Cup in England in February 2005. She was the first American greyhound to ever participate...I didn't tell my parents or anyone other than some really close friends that I was going...my dad found out when he saw this picture published on the BBC--me and Evie being interviewed by a reporter from Grenada Live! a local news show in England...
The hood & hat weren't the *best* look for a TV interview, but it was freakin windy & cold that morning and I was severely jet-lagged!

More Pics of the Pups...

Cherry waiting for her turn to run in Canada at the LGRA/NOTRA nationals this summer...

Oliver [#1] and Evie [#4] making nice clean breaks from the boxes!

Newell--happy & trotting along on a weekend walk...

And Cherry in her "show dog" pose [ok, she doesn't want to stack at all] after winning the ASFA Region 1 Best of Breed this summer...

Gizmo in the Snow

Snow is pretty rare in Seattle--but with all the rain, the mountains are getting plenty! This was on one of our weekend walks--we had 10 greyhounds with us that day! Gizmo SO doesn't look like a show dog anymore!

Photos Added

Ok, took awhile to figure it out...

This is Evie doing what she does best--chasing a lure! Taken at the Grand Nationals in Colorado 2003.

First Post!

Well, this is the first post! Not too sure about how this is all going to work out but here goes:

As per the title--I have 5 greyhounds here in the Seattle area. We started with one [doesn't everyone?] via our local adoption group, started doing all the adopted greyhound stuff [play-dates, etc.] and then ended up moving! We were gone from the Seattle area for about a year and during that time, 2 more greyhounds came home with us. We were lucky because we had started lure coursing with Newell but his toes couldn't really handle all the turns...but at an event we had the luck of meeting a local breeder of NGA greyhounds who had a few adults she was looking to re-home.

Very rare to get a dog directly from a NGA breeder, but we fell in love with Evie & Newell ended up with the most perfect play pal! The best part about getting Evie was that she never had her "onion skin" papers sent in, so we [well, I] was able to pick her "official" racing name. She had been in a home before she came to us with the name Cinderella because she was kinda sooty looking, but she was also the color of a dark, dusky evening...and Cashel's Evening she became.

Cherry came along almost 10 months later! Actually, the day we picked up Evie, Cherry was born at the farm & we watched her and her littermates grow over the months with no intention of getting one. Cherry was the pick bitch of the litter that Anne had decided to keep. Beautiful white and fawn ticked [and as beautiful as her mother, Chynna], and being born on the 4th of July, Cherry Bomb was more than an appropriate name! She came home with us when she was 9mo old...Anne decided that she needed to focus more efforts on her NGA dogs [as Cherry was what is known in the greyhound community as a 1/2 and 1/2 --part NGA and part AKC, resulting in her being AKC registered & unable to race at the tracks].

Oliver came home after we had moved back to Seattle. He is from one of the great American sires--Craigie Whistler. Through other greyhound people we know, we had the chance to get him directly from a FL track--as he basically got fired from his day job as a racer. Don't really understand why--as he's wicked fast--but he *does* have a quirky personality to say the least! Oliver's white & black, adding another white spotted dog to the mix. It's funny because people seem to "collect" greyhounds by color--we all have our favorites--with mine being the white/colors and the blacks!

And greyhound #5...Gizmo...is Cherry's sibling! He came to us just in October after finishing in the show ring. We're friends with his breeder and she knew we were an active "performance" greyhound home--participating in lure coursing, OFC, straight and oval racing with our dogs. So, we're trying to work Gizmo in, get him in running shape, and generally keep him from eating the cats!

That's the low-down on the dogs, more to come to update everyone on our comings & goings! For those of you interested, our kennel name is RAINIER GREYHOUNDS...

~c