Doggone Embarrasing

Don't let Baru's sweet face fool you.

Samson and Baru have outdone themselves today.

When I "walk" the dogs I take them across the street to a big field. There I remove their leashes and let them run around or we play fetch.

Various people on campus have informed me that it is a great source of amusement to them to watch the dogs drag me across the street every day.

But that is my life, so what are you going to do except laugh along with them? I'm out numbered and outweighed and the dogs know it.

When we take these outings I do my best to stop them on the sidewalk going and coming and to never cross in front of a car. It is my hope that these routines are seeping into their furry brains and will be applied if they ever get out alone (not that I really believe that will be the case).

So today they are all excited about the sunny weather and actually made it to the tarmac before I managed to bring them to a halt and drag them back onto the sidewalk.

During this struggle there was a police car coming down the street, but he saw us and stopped.

Once we were safely on the sidewalk I waived him forward.

He rolled forward a little, but since pedestrians in New Hampshire have the right of way he stopped again and waived me forward.

Samson is only controllable when asleep.

The dogs some how saw that, interpreted it correctly, and tried to take off across the street!

Really, puppies?!

But I hauled them up short, retreated toward the house, and waived him on again.

This time he pulled up to the curb, got out of the patrol car, and laughingly informed me that he had never seen that before. The dog seeing the signal and going.

I agreed that I was pretty surprised as well.

Then I told him they are friendly, but jumpy, and he already saw I had no control over them.

Despite that he bravely came forward, gave them pets, and told them how beautiful they are.

He suggested that I get them pinch collars, which won't hurt them, but will allow me to control them. He implied I might even get to be the Alpha when they are wearing them.

I've always wanted to be the Alpha. I think a trip to the pet store is in my near future.

Packing Decisions

We are going on a trip.

This is not unusual for us.

What is unusual is that we are taking nine high school students with us. Or is it they are taking us with them?

Anyway, it's a ten day educational (snicker) tour covering London, Paris, Florence, and Rome.

Now, you know I've already been to Paris. And I spent a weekend in London when I was in England for my Junior Year Abroad. I've never been to any part of Italy.

Don't get me wrong. I don't at all mind going back to London and Paris. But I'm really looking forward to Italy.

And the Chunnel.

What does all this have to do with knitting?

Why, I have to pack projects, of course!

Now a normal knitter would tell you that a 10 day trip needs an ungodly number of projects.

But, as we've established, I'm not a normal knitter.

My plan is to take my active project--Lucy Neatby's Sea Lettuce Scarf in her Cat's Pajama Yarn in Honey Pot that I've had for ages--and one back up project.

For reference, when we took a 10 day trip to California last summer I took four projects and basically only worked on one. Although I finished it and started a new one on the trip home.

The point is, two projects will probably be rather adequate based on past behavior.

The second project will, not surprisingly, be a sock. They are still tops for travel projects because of their portability.

But as I pawed through the dining room credenza trying to decide on which sock yarn to bring, a little voice said, "There are plenty of stockinette stitch sweaters you want to make. Why not bring one?" However I dismissed it since I wouldn't want to track multiple skeins of yarn.

That is another advantage of socks, generally a single ball is required.

As I was making my decision I first reviewed my Ravelry stash and was reminded I have a staggering amount of sock yarn.

Then I pulled it all out and put it on the dining room table, confirming how much there was, and confounding the situation because it's all so pretty!

There was a moment of panic when I realized I couldn't find one of the yarns I bought at Rhinebeck last year, which led to me realizing I couldn't find any of the sock yarns I bought at Rhinebeck last year.

After a few minutes of turning storage places over I realized they were in a bag next to the china cabinet. phew! Nine skeins of sock yarn would have been a big investment to go missing.

With them all laid out before me decision making could begin in earnest. I was debating taking a known quantity, like Jitterbug or Indulgence, that I could just cast on and go since I'd used it before. I also wouldn't need to carry multiple sets of needles.

But I also thought taking an older yarn that's been waiting for a while would be good.

After sorting my Ravelry stash half a dozen ways, I settled on the Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Yarn that I bought back in 2009(!).

It was a pinch battle between that and the Seacoast Sock Yarn I bought in 2010 that is so soft and pretty.

Basically, the Smooshy won because it was already balled.

To solve the needle dilemma, I paused the Sea Lettuce Scarf this afternoon and went ahead and swatched. My US 1.5 Darned Pretty Needles seem to be doing the trick.

With my projects settled, I just have to worry about packing clothes now.

The irony of all this is that I'll probably just work on the Sea Lettuce Scarf the entire trip and won't have to pull out the back up project at all!