Back To My Needles

Several months ago I put my knitting bag aside due to my vision problems. Last week I got my bag and yarn and needles out and started clicking away. I thought I'd share my latest project with you.

Last year I saw this little doll in a magazine. After much searching I found that she's a design by AK Traditions, an Australian company. I found their web site, but it wasn't easy to find what I wanted or to order the pattern, so I kept looking.

They have three books of doll patterns, but none of them seem to be available in the USA. Finally after weeks of googling, I found a very helpful knitting shop, Get Knitted, in the UK, that said they could order the pattern for me. After another month of waiting, I finally received the booklet that has instructions for six dolls.


This is my version of Abbey, the first doll in the book and the one I originally saw in the magazine. I like the way she turned out, but I have a few warnings if you plan to make her or any of her friends. The knitting is simple and quick, the finishing is not. It takes more than twice as long to finish the doll as to knit it. There's a lot of sewing and trim. I cut corners by using decorative buttons instead of the embroidery they recommend, but it still was a lot of fussy work.


The instructions are not very complete and assume a lot. There are also several errors in the patterns. These are not patterns for a beginner. Still, I'm happy with her and I even plan to make a little brother for her from the same book.


Once the doll was complete, I immediately cast on for my next project. I love this bright pink color. What's it going to be?

It's going to be Baby Bobbi Bear.

When I grow up I want to be a toy maker with a lot of dogs. I think I'm on the right track. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Cooking With Fudge - Frosty Paws

Hi everyone, Fudge here!


Today I'm going to teach you all how to make a super delicious treat for dogs, Frosty Paws.


You've probably noticed that we have these wonderful frozen treats at some of our parties. Mom discovered these when she lived in a far off land called Maryland. The dogs that lived with her then had these a lot. Then she moved here so that we could have this big house and our own special yard to play in, but the stores here didn't have Frosty Paws.


For those of you who still can't find Frosty Paws in your stores, they're frozen doggy treats like ice cream. They come in these little cups so we can each have our own cup, no sharing. Sometimes little dogs like our Lucy just need half a cup, so Dad used to just chop the whole thing in half for her.


Mom has this great cookbook called 'Don't Turn Your Back - Cooking With Your Portuguese Water Dog' and inside is a recipe for Frosty Paws. Did you ever notice how good cookbooks smell? Samba ate one of Mom's favorite cookbooks once. She said it tasted like chicken parmesan.

Anyway, before our food store started selling Frosty Paws, Mom decided to make a batch for us and now I'm going to tell you how to do it so that you can all have yummy frozen treats on these hot days.


Here are the things you need: 32 ounces of plain or vanilla yogurt


2 mashed bananas


2 Tablespoons of peanut butter


2 Teaspoons of honey


A bunch of little cups


A blender

There are a couple other things you might need, too but I'll tell you about that later.


You put all those yummy delicious items in the blender and push the button. This is where the fun starts. You see, Mom had a new blender when she made these for us. She hit the blend button, but she hadn't put the top on tightly.


Frosty Paws flew all over the kitchen. It was on the counter and the walls and the floor. It was great. It was like a big fountain of Frosty Paws, a dog's dream come true. Mom said some bad words, quite a lot of bad words and Dad nearly fell down laughing. We were all very busy licking Frosty Paws off the floor, walls and the fronts of the cabinets. If I stood close to the cabinets, it dripped right onto my tongue.


The other items you might need are a lot of paper towels...

...and a mop.


Whether you lick your Frosty Paws out of a cup or right off the wall, they taste wonderful.

32 oz plain or vanilla yogurt
2 mashed bananas
2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 tsp honey
Blend with top on tightly, pour into cups, freeze, enjoy!

Too Close For Comfort

The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico disgusts me on so many levels. To call it a spill makes it sound like a little accident where a bit of oil dripped out. This is a disaster that affects us all.


This shouldn't have happened!! The greed of the corporations and the politicians combined to produce this disaster.


Those of us who don't live in the Gulf States watch with horror, but at the same time feel somewhat safe from the mess. Think again!!!


This is Morgan. She has several physical conditions that require her to eat a diet high in Omega 3 and Omega 6. She eats a food that has fish as the first ingredient.


Several of my dogs eat a fish based diet. As we all know the pet food industry has not always been very careful about where they buy their ingredients. Remember the enormous pet food recall a couple years ago?


My instincts tell me that some pet food manufacturers will buy the contaminated fish from the gulf because they can get it cheaply and turn a big profit. We will unknowingly feed the oil soaked fish to our dogs and cats. Then what will happen?

Will we start seeing more cases of canine cancer, more skin or respiratory issues with our pets? We need to be proactive. Now is the time to contact the manufacturers of whatever food and treats we feed our animals and ask where they purchase their ingredients.


Tsar eats Wilderness by Blue Buffalo. It's first ingredient is salmon which does not come from the gulf region, but there are other fish sources included.


Tsar likes this food and he eats better than he ever has on any other brand.

Samba, as you all know, has been very sick. We've been careful about her diet, trying to give her the specific nutrients she needs to help her body heal. She eats Blue Buffalo fish and sweet potato formula and has done well on it.

On Tuesday I contacted Blue Buffalo and asked where they get their fish for their dog and cat foods. I told them how concerned I am and how I want to make a change now if there's a chance of oil contaminated fish being used.


Last night I received a reply. It follows:

Hello Sue,
Thank you for contacting BLUE. The fish BLUE uses in our formula come either from the North Pacific or the Atlantic. We do not source fish from the Gulf. I hope this helps you with your concerns.

Please contact us should you have any further questions.
Regards,
Linda
Blue Buffalo Co.


Now is the time. Read the labels on your pet food and treats. Contact the manufacturers and ask where they get the ingredients. Express your concerns about the use of Gulf fish in pet foods. Get in front of this matter. Let's not find ourselves dealing with another recall and more sick animals in the future.

Do It Yourself

Tsar has a sense of humor. He enjoys playing tricks on me and the other dogs, but it's not always appreciated. Here's a recent example.



We keep the water bowl in the kitchen. It's a big bowl and because some of my dogs are a bit sloppy when they drink, it sits inside an even bigger bowl to catch the drips. Tsar like to sleep on the cool tile floor in the kitchen.


Lately when the other dogs wake up during the night and go downstairs for a drink, Tsar makes funny squeaky noises. Instead of just walking past him and getting a drink, they come upstairs and wake me up to escort them to the water bowl and make Tsar stop squeaking. This is not good for a restful sleep and makes me a bit unfriendly in the morning.


Last night after five nights of escorting dogs back and forth to the kitchen water bowl, I decided to end the game. I took a small bowl upstairs, filled it with water and set it inside the shower stall.

This was such a popular idea that everyone had big drinks before bed causing me to have a second bedtime outing so I wouldn't have to get up during the night to escort everyone outside.


Last night we all slept thru the night, Tsar in the kitchen with his private water bowl and the others in the bedroom with the community water bowl waiting in the shower. Problem solved.

Incoming

Over the weekend this box arrived on our porch. It was addressed to me, but it was really for my furry pals.


This package was from the Lapdogs.


Look what was inside, a brand new soccer ball.


The soccer ball my pack played with earlier this year was slightly deflated, but this one is nice and round and just the right size.


Fudge thought it would be fun to have a game here in the house, but I vetoed that idea. We'll wait till the temperatures cool down and have a good game outside where nothing will get broken.


These were also in the box, some Zukes treats and a new hat for Fudge. He's our official hat model.


I found if you fold the back of the hat under, it fits a dog's head somewhat. A chin strap would help, too.


He's trying to sit nicely, but the others are crowding around to see what he's doing.


We promise once we can play outside that Fudge will sit nicely for a picture.

All these special goodies were from Nichole at Lapdog Creations. She reviews lots of different products and often has giveaways. I pay attention to her knitting book reviews and even closer attention to her pet product reviews. If you're not familiar with her blog already, go over and check it out. You may learn about a product you've been wondering about or you might find yourself receiving a special gift box like ours. You'll also meet four of the cutest canine product testers that reside there.

What We Did On Our Vacation

Last week Rob had some time off, so I took a week away from the computer and the phone and we spent some R & R here at home.


It was very hot outside, well over ninety every day, though we did have thunderstorms most afternoons. That meant a jittery Morgan due to the thunder, and grass that you could practically watch grow. Rob had to mow every third day and still with the sun and rain, it shot up and is still too high.


When it's that hot outside, my dogs want to be inside where it's cool. Rob and I both did a lot of reading, so the dogs did a lot of napping. Morgan found a spot on the end of Rob's sofa.


Noah had a comfy spot on the end of my sofa.


Fudge used my foot as a headrest.


One of the tasks we started was dog trimming. Fudge was the first victim. Rob did half a trim on him and will finish him up soon. Till then Sir Fudge is playing King of the Jungle and showing off his bare butt to anyone who will pay attention.


The mailman didn't get the week off and he brought me a neat package. Sunny had a blogaversary a little while ago and did a giveaway. It arrived last week and look what cute things she sent.


She included some additions for the frog collection, too.


One of these days I'm going to photograph the frogs in my collection and give you all nightmares by posting them on this blog.

It was a relaxing week of sorts. I didn't compute and I didn't pick up my needles all week. By yesterday I was getting very antsy. It's time to start some new projects.