Raincoast

Summer seems to be over with out here on the Pacific Coast - I wasn't quite ready for that. I'm hoping we get a short hit of nice weather on the 13th of September as that's the day of my birthday party - celebrating a pretty big number this year - and we wanted to have it mostly outdoors. It was very difficult to decide on how to celebrate this year. I hate leaving anyone out but I don't feel up to a truly huge party. So compromise has ruled the day and it's just family and closest friends. Of course there will be the usual Virgo gathering of the theatre related crowd at a local watering hole on the 5th of September and I'm promised a celebratory breakfast on my actual birthday (the 8th) morning. And I'm excited about my present from my guy this year - I'm hoping for that new folding spinning wheel I'm jonesing for but I suspect it will be some spectacular piece of new technology...more shopping fun for him.

And speaking of spinning, I finished two skeins of alpaca lace weight, all washed and ready to go, but I don't think it will be enough for the lace shawl I have in mind. I'm going to do two more skeins so that I don't have to stop in the middle of knitting and spin more...typically that would spell the stallout of the project since I would have to learn the pattern all over again and wouldn't be able to figure out where the heck I am after taking a couple of weeks out for spinning. From my reading, a rather open lace seems to be a good choice for alpaca as it is too warm when knitted solidly. Proof of that? I made a nice little sweater for my two year old granddaughter and after she's been wearing it for awhile, she grabs the front and yanks on it to indicate "Get this hot thing off me!"

The alpaca fleece from Bluestone is really lovely...hardly any guard hairs and not much in the way of vegie bits, the dark colour yarn lustrous and soft in the finished state. I realize now that the commercial alpaca yarns are a somewhat lower quality as they have a lot of long guard hairs sticking out of the thread. These can feel very tickly on the skin and perhaps that's why Eva hauls on her sweater fronts. I'm considering buying a whole fleece from them when they shear in the spring from an all black male called Marco. That should keep me out of mischief for a very long time.

This is week two of the Fringe Festival in Victoria and we've seen a couple of shows so far, one excellent, one so-so. I try to see everything done by my friends in the theatre world and follow that up with the shows that are getting the most buzz. This can be difficult during the last week as the really good shows sell out quickly and the venues are small. It never ceases to amaze me how resourceful these small productions are and how well some quite wacky venues work for theatre. There is something to be gained from not sitting in a conventional space, seats in rows, stiffly upright. Besides having a more relaxed audience, the best pieces make an advantage out of distractions like missed sound cues, street noise and other unforeseen occurrences. One good thing about the crappy weather...attendance is up. No one wants to go indoors when it's sunny out.

Finished projects...lots of travelling in the past couple of weeks and that's golden time for knitting, if not spinning. Knitting in the car while someone else drives is one of my great pleasures in life. I have the utmost sympathy for those who get carsick if they do anything other than look at the horizon. I finished a knitted tank top that is in the blocking stage and I'm praying it will fit. It looks right but no knowing for sure until I try it on if it will both fit AND be flattering. I also knit a slew of little baby hats from superwash merino for some babies of my acquaintance. They (the hats, not the babies) have a rolled brim and a knotted top and look so cute that I could just keep knitting them in bunches. So quickly did they fly out the door that I didn't get photos taken...guess I'll have to make some more. And I'm making good progress on the Central Park Hoodie for myself - I'm past the armhole decreases on the back and that purple tweed colorway is gorgeous in those cables.

Decision time - either I pick the plums and figs this afternoon or head out the door to watch some theatre...nice choices to have.

Daisy update: the x-ray report came back and the news isn't great. She has a cyst and possibly a mass in her chest cavity and surgery isn't recommended. So I guess her days are numbered although she's pretty much her old self energy and attitude-wise. For the time being, we're going to keep her comfortable and see what happens but it's pretty sad and I get misty writing or talking about it and am a complete emotional mess over other people's aging/dying dog stories. This seems natural to me, if not my favourite thing to go through. It was almost harder to not know if she was going to still be on the earth after the first episode and now that the cards are pretty much on the table, we try to appreciate her to the fullest, every day.

Getting out of the lair

It's been a slow few days around here - hard to get rolling when the schedule gets knocked off kilter. Not that I haven't been busy. Monday evening was spinning group and I was seated next to someone who turned out to be a holistic vet who has a home visits practice...funny how the right person comes along just when you need them. Daisy is pretty much her old self although the hacking cough continues. Still no word from the doggie hospital on the x-rays so I'm in limbo on how to feel. There is a lot of fear displacement activity goin' on. I've managed to spin two full bobbins of laceweight singles in alpaca and now have plied them together for a grand total of around 6 ounces and about 600 yards of yarn. My plan is to knit a lace shawl for myself but I don't know if I have enough yet for that. Lordy it takes a long time to spin lace weight! Two weeks of pretty steady spinning to get two bobbins!

The alpaca came from a "fibre safari" up-island with my guy during which we visited a winery, had a look at the wonderful display of Cowichan sweaters at the Duncan museum, had lunch at Urban Beet in Nanaimo (highly recommended) visited Hummingbird Studios and tried out all the portable spinning wheels (the Louet Victoria...or was it the Juliet...was my fave) and bought extra bobbins for my traditional Ashford, went to Blue Stone Alpacas and had a tour, came away with two giant bags of alpaca, one dark brown and one white, dropped by Qualicum Bay Fibreworks, had a tour, picked up some lovely roving, stopped for dinner at Bistro 161 (not sure about that number) in Duncan which was great except for the selections of '80's rock blasting from the beer garden across the street. Whew! Quite a day. And quite a long sentence!

This week I've cast on and finished two adorable little hats for a shower gift and knitted quite a bit on my silk summer tank which I'm hoping to have done in time to get some wear out of it before summer is over. Today was a pretty hot one for Victoria, very muggy, so there's still a bit of summer to go. That's not to say it might not change overnight...it does that here...from shorts weather to sweater weather and back again in less than a week.

Daisy came home last night and it is good to have her back. I can't stop hugging her and I'm sure she's wondering "What the heck?" She seems the same as ever: waggy tailed and optimistic. She has a little blue bandage around her right forepaw covering her intravenous site...I suppose I should take it off soon. She has bottles of pills and a special diet which she seems to like a lot. It looks and smells a lot more interesting than her usual dry dog food and she's eager for it.

We've had a quiet morning together - me spinning alpaca, her lying next to me in the sun on the bench by the window. It's lovely and peaceful but I would have been on my way to La Belle Provence (Québec) as I write if not for this crisis. No way I could have left with Daisy in this state but I couldn't help but feel a bit forlorn as Harry, who has to go for business, went off in a taxi this morning. There were plans to visit eastern Quebec fibre attractions, spend a week at Lac Meruimticook with Quebeçois friends, and enjoy lively Quebec City including a one night stay at the Chateau Frontenac. Can't blame me for feeling chagrined.

The up side of having to stay home is that I get to enjoy my lovely city of Victoria at pretty much its best. The sun is out, the garden is gorgeous and tonight is spinning group. Since this is pretty much a bonus week, I plan on "wasting" time by pursuing my leisure activities nonstop....spinning, knitting, gardening, reading...yeah! Now if I could just get someone to cook for me and make my bed!

Tough day on the homestead

Today I found myself writing life details into my pattern notes on Ravelry and it occurred to me it would be more appropriate to (finally) get myself this blog and do my rambling here.

Our little dog Daisy, smooth fox terrier pictured on the left, has had a cough for a few weeks, had some treatments that seemed to help for awhile and gradually relapsed. In the past couple of days she took a turn for the worse, suffering along with the persistent hacking, some gastro-intestinal distress of which I will spare you the gory details. Last evening I spent a less than pleasant four hours waiting at our local pet hospital (it's the weekend and her regular vet is sensibly unavailable) for her to be seen.

The place was hopping, every chair in the waiting room full, receptionists rushing about dealing with new arrivals, triaging the serious cases. A weeping teenager in tight jeans and ear glued to a pink iPhone tottered in on four inch heels carrying a fluffy black cat yowling in distress from its carrier. A rangy older woman limping behind a walker brought in a tiny sick kitten she had gotten the day before at the SPCA. A middle-aged couple with a cute, waggy-tailed maltese waited and waited. A man and teenager (his daughter perhaps) arrive with takeout, eat it hurriedly on the bench outside the door and are handed what can only be the remains of their dead pet in a cardboard box. Everyone in the waiting room watched avidly until the penny dropped and then all looked studiously away. Vets cruised through, godlike, flipping through charts, delivering treatment options, professionally kind.

This I observed in the final hour of waiting, the first three hours having been passed in the car since coughing dogs aren't allowed inside until kennel cough has been ruled out. Daisy got a carside assessment and then was admitted to the building. I kicked myself for not bringing along my knitting - I could have finished my current project in all those hours of sitting. Although I remembered my iPod, worrying made it difficult to concentrate on listening to anything.

After being x-rayed, Daisy stayed for a sleepover and further diagnostic work and to have fluids and meds pumped into her intravenously. She's still there but I'm told I'll be getting a call soon to come and pick her up and get instructions on her care over the next few days. I've had to cancel a trip to Quebec, planned for months. Disappointing but I can't go away in the morning with our little buddy in this uncertain state, needing more than routine care. Not something you can ask a house sitter to take on, even if I could bring myself to leave.

I've been steeling myself for the worst, considering the horrible possibilities and narrow options, and weeping buckets. I've consoled myself by spinning alpaca and listening to podcasts of only the gentlest and most soothing variety...CraftLit, Knitwit, Manic Purl...you get the picture. I must write and thank those lovely women for helping get me through this.