Taffy's home!

Yesterday, Judy and I drove to Yakima, WA and picked up their new puppy. And it IS Taffy! Abby and Sassy were also there as was their momma, Mercy. Mercy is the ugliest little mutt you ever saw, and her face looks slightly deformed because of the horrible overbite she has. She looks like the monkeys from Wizard of Oz. I would take her in a flat second if we didn't already have four dogs and three cats! The uglier the better! There are other reasons I would take her: 1. She's full grown and small. 2. She's already housebroken. 3. She's out of that puppy chewing stage. 4. She's only a year old. And 5. She's not a very pretty dog, and I know she's going to be hard to place, and that pulls at my heartstrings. Poor Mercy. Here's her picture:



Anyway, Taffy is a cute little puppy. She has wire-y AND curly hair, and she's NOT a very active puppy at all. She sat in my lap and didn't move pretty much the whole trip home. She kept her head tucked under my arm and hid. I hope she's not going to be afraid of everything. She also had gas the whole way back. I was mortified and kept telling Judy, "I swear that's not me!" HaHa!!!

Oh, yeah, and the dog rescue lady had about 20 dogs (no exaggeration) in her house. Her house was a wreck and it smelled yucky (like a bunch of dogs lived there!). She has some beautiful dogs that were hers. I fell in love with a Chihuahua/Italian Greyhound-looking dog. She was BEAUTIFUL and oh so sweet. BUT... the dog who fell in love with me was a HUGE pit bull mix that was one of the sweetest dogs I've ever seen. She called him her "gentle giant." Oh, yeah, and there was one beautiful black male dog that she said she had to keep because he was so afraid of people that she couldn't even show him. I got him to stand next to me by sweet talking to him softly, but he wouldn't let me pet him.

Our Friends' New Puppy

Friends of ours, Judy and Gerry, had to put their little Shih Tzu (Caper) to sleep a couple of weeks ago. Well... they're in pursuit of another dog now, and little did they know that I'm the QUEEN of puppy hunting! I turned Judy on to pefinder.com the other day, but she said she couldn't find any dogs that she really liked! So, I got online and found several little dogs and puppies that I thought she might like. I walked her and Gerry through how to find the ones I found for them, and they immediately fell in love with two that are in Yakima, WA named Taffy and Mandy. They are Shih Tzu/pug/terrier/bichon/poodle mix. So, they filled out the application. Unfortunately... those two already have adoptions pending.

So... back to the drawing board... And, guess what? Taffy and Mandy have a little sister named Sassy. BUT... she's black, and Gerry doesn't really want a black dog.

So... then, yesterday, they get an e-mail from the lady who's fostering them, and wait a minute, but the white one IS still available... But, I checked. And, NOOOOOOO.... the white one that's still available is Abby. Abby IS CUTE! (I'd take her in a heart beat), but she's more terrier looking then Shih Tzu looking, and Judy and Gerry are definitely cute-and-fluffy-looking-dog-lovers rather than ugly-but-cute-wire-haired-terrier-dog lovers.

So, anyway... Here are pictures of the two puppies that are available. Sassy is the black one and Abby is the little white one. They were born on December 6.

Judy and I are going to go pick up one of them tomorrow. Not sure who we'll bring home... I'll keep you posted.

Newest Crochet Books! (YES! MORE BOOKS!)

Okay... yes, I ordered more books, but this is nothing new--I do this every time I have a new obsession. Anyway, three of them got here today:

101 Stitches to Crochet (a card deck by Interweave Press, edited by Erika Knight)
The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs (Linda P. Schapper)
Crochet in No Time (Melody Griffiths)

The card deck is absolutely fabulous. Of course, I love anything by Interweave Press. The set includes a card for each of 62 basic crochet stitches and 39 crochet motifs. The front of the card is a big, very clear picture of what the stitch fabric looks like and then the back of the card has the written pattern and a very clearly drawn diagram. The cards are numbered so they're easy to keep in order--which is nice because there's another card that has a list of all of the stitches and the corresponding card number. Very neat little set. I'm glad I bought it.

The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs: 500 Classic & Original Patterns, Revised Edition is a hard-back book that's about 2.5" thick! Wow! This is a hefty tome of crochet stitches. The inside jacket says the book was first published twenty years ago, and unfortunately, the photos LOOK that old--they really date the book. I guess I'm comparing the book pictures to the beautiful card deck I just bought, and there is no comparison (the card deck is soooooo much better). That said, though, there are 5 times as many stitches in the book as there are in the card deck, and I think the book will be a wonderful reference.

And, last: Crochet in No Time by Melody Griffiths! I bought this book because I also have her other book: 201 Crochet Motifs which is my FAVORITE of all the crochet books I've bought so far. This second book has some BEAUTIFUL crochet pieces in it. I like that each project tells how long it takes to make it. One tank top says it takes 12 hours (which would probably mean about twice as long for me!).

Amugurumi Eyes

I ordered some 6mm and 9mm amigurumi eyes from an Etsy store called "6060". All they sell are plastic safety-backed eyeballs. So... expain that to me: why would they pick "6060" instead of "20/20" (unless that's what his/her vision actually is...???).

Anyway, Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet recommends this specific type of eye for all of the projects, and I couldn't find them locally--thus the internet search. I can't wait for them to get here because my next amigurmi project is an egg carton-full of eggs and chicks in eggshells!

Crocheted Mandala Square

Here's my Mandala square--the January square on Ravelry. It turned out alright. I wish the center medallion was more prominent--it looks kind of like a big blob in the center of the square. I also wish I'd made this square in blue instead of green (or at least blue AND green instead of just solid green). Oh, well... it's finished, and I'm not going to do another one in this pattern.

I don't like the February block on Craftster.org so I need to make the February block on Ravelry. That block is called "Two Tone" and I'll (obviously) do it in blue and green.

Oh, yeah, and I finished sewing on the pink tampon legs on my Amigurumi octopus. Hmmm... that was nowhere near as satisfying as I'd hoped! The silly thing is finished now, and I have no idea what to do with it (except send it to my grandmother and hope she'll appreciate all the hard work that went into making it!).

Crochet Day

Yesterday was a crochet day. That's all I did all day long. I started and finished the Ravelry January square (it's called "Mandala"). I also printed off the pattern for the February square from Ravelry since I don't like the February one on Craftster.org (it's a heart, and I just don't like it for some reason).

The other project I worked on was my little pink octopus. I finally got her head/body finished last night. It looks so cute--just like an octopus head should look! I started on her arms/legs this morning. I have two finished and they look like little pink tampons. I wonder how I'm supposed to sew the legs onto the body? I think don't think the directions are very helpful. They just say "sew the legs onto the body" or something similiarly vague like that. Oh well... I'm sure I'll figure it out.

artsymomma's block

Well! I finished artsymomma's quilt block! I used templates and did a crazy nine-patch. I had a little bit of waste from the angled cuts, but I used almost every last shred of fabric she sent me. The block is 11.5" square.

I don't feel it's a GREAT block, but it's definitely better than I expected considering how little fabric I had to work with.


I was also a little disappointed because I couldn't get one of the seams to align. I picked it out three or four times before I gave up on it. I don't know what the problem is with it (it's the top left seam below).


I kind of like the inner border. I wanted to do a solid green inner border, but I didn't have enough fabric (even a skinny stip like that) to make a solid green border. So, I miter-joined the green with a strip of tan. It's different, but I like it.