Here’s a closeup of the sock. Not that you can really tell what the pattern is, anyway. That’s the blessing and the curse of self striping yarns. But it does hide mistakes well, too.

The yarn, by the way, is Skacel’s Trampoline Stretch. I enjoyed working with it. It was a little easier to rip back when I needed to — many times, unfortunately — than the last yarn I worked with, although sometimes I still had trouble with it.

I’m not sure why I had so much trouble with this pattern, either. It really wasn’t all that complicated. It’s from Cat Bordhi’s Socks Soar on Circular Needles; the Columbine Peak pattern.

I just made some really dumb mistakes, like not realizing the yarnovers weren’t mistakes on one row, and not knitting them — so then coming up short two rows later! Still, the colorway is busy enough that I doubt anyone would ever be able to find the mistakes without a magnifying glass.

As you can see, I’m close to finishing the first sock. I remember the very first sock I knit. My MIL looked at it and said “well, I suppose it will stretch” (hinting that it looked too small). It ended up being a bit too loose for me. I was afraid that these might also be too loose, but they seem to fit okay (although I’m not sure that I’ll keep them for myself, anyway).

Yes, the dogs really do have a thing for socks. So far they’ve never actually chewed one up . . .

Technorati Tags: sock, pattern, self striping yarns

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It’s rare that the boys cuddle up together on this little mat (although it does happen, obviously). Even my MIL, who is not a big cat lover, exclaimed over how cute they are when they’re cuddled up together.

It’s even rarer to get photos of them both cuddling and fighting on the same day, although that’s a fairly common occurrence around here. In fact, they don’t use this tunnel a whole lot, either. But then I haven’t trained much with it lately, and I really ought to. But they do use it every once in a while.

It’s perhaps most rare to get a decent action shot of them in the midst of a fight. This one wasn’t half bad, if a tad out of focus. Gizmo is very smart about finding highly defensible positions. Maybe that’s why he was in the tunnel in the first place.

Technorati Tags: cuddle, cute, photos

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We’re shaking things up a little and enlarging the scope of this blog to include knitting. But since it’s supposed to be about cats & dogs, my husband suggested that I ought to include some of the animals when I post about my knitting. Simba was happy to oblige.

Here’s Simba with my sock sack. I signed up for the Summer of Socks. I’ve just recently gotten into sock knitting. I’m using the two circular needle method, which I taught myself with the help of some videos online and a few books.

This is just the third pair of socks I’ve knitted (okay, so I’m working on the third pair). Boy, that first pair I had to rip out about six times on the first sock before I got what was going on. And even then, I managed to do the heel inside out! I figured it will actually feel even better that way . . . and then I gave them to my mother. Well, they were a little loose on me, anyway.

The second pair came out really nicely.

This third pair is going fairly well, except I seem to have picked up a few too many stitches after turning the heel. But then when I got back to pattern, I had to undo one of the knit two togethers I’d done to take care of that. I’m still not quite sure what happened . . . hopefully the second one will go a bit smoother.

Well, without further ado, here it is. My closeups came out blurry (not enough light), so I’ll have another go at it another day. Plus where the pattern came from, the yarn, yadda yadda.

You’ll notice that Simba is in his cube. Recently, there have been a few times when I haven’t been able to locate him inside or out, and then he just magically appears (how do they do that?). I think the mystery has been solved: no one has been in that cube for more than a few seconds in years.

Simba used to just love it, but then we moved it and he didn’t use it any longer. Gizmo has never really taken to it. I couldn’t find Simba again for the longest time today, again — and now I realize, he had to have been in the cube all along.

Technorati Tags: knitting, sock knitting, two circular needle

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I admit it; I got sucked in today. I stopped at a local discount store when I had a few minutes to kill before my haircut, and I just couldn’t resist the pink heart bed.

Lola had taken over our old love seat. She’s the only one that lays there, too. Chester never gets up on it. Maybe because he wasn’t allowed up on it before we got our new couches? Or is it because he already has his own bed?

Okay, so it was the boys’ bed before Chester took it over. Oddly enough, they don’t really seem to grudge him the bed. Simba never tries to chase him out of it.

Even though she is grudgingly laying on her new diva bed (notice how she’s on the very back of it?), I’m not sure she properly appreciates how it sets off her chocolate coat.

She liked her pillow. It was just a ratty old pillow that my husband used to use (and I can’t say as I particularly liked it, but then he never liked any of the nicer pillows I tried). Which is why I keep trying to give her a more aesthetically-pleasing subsitute. It’s not as squishy as the pillow, I suppose. But notice how it nicely matches the mexican blanket next to it? Just like a teenager. Never appreciates what you buy for them.

Or maybe she doesn’t like the fact that the new bed isn’t as deep as the old bed, and so she’s relegated to a more lowly position. Why is it that some beds are so deeply appreciated and used, and others are shunned? Or why is it that the boys just adore having a towel by the back door to lay on (we have the dogs go to it when they come in, so that they don’t truck mud throughout the house when it rains).

At least Simba appreciates what we buy for him. Okay, so we didn’t actually buy the couches for the boys (or the dogs). Shhhhhhhh! Don’t tell Simba that. He seems to understand how well the deep blue of the couch sets off his handsome fur coat.

Alas, you will notice that Gizmo is yet again nowhere to be found in any of these photographs. Simba has become increasingly snuggly as time goes on. I’m not sure if it has to do with his simply slowing down as he ages, or the fact that the dogs are always with me (or on me), and so he’s finally realized that there’s a lot of competition out there for my lap.

Not only has he begun to curl up on my lap during the winter, he does it now, too, when it’s ungodly hot out. And he’s begun to sleep with us frequently. So far Lola still sleeps in her crate. I’m not sure I’m ready to trust her on the bed all night. Plus, I’m not sure there would still be room for me & my husband if we have three on the bed!

Gizmo was on the scale in the family room, by the way. It’s one of his favorite spots to take a snooze.

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We wanted lapdogs . . . well, I got one anyway. Chester isn’t laying on me so much these days, actually. I think he doesn’t like the warmth (but he’ll go outside & bake himself outside, go figure).

However, somehow my office chair is just a magnet. He’ll still lay on my lap for the longest time (most days) when I’m at the computer.

Lola doesn’t lay on us so much. She’ll hop into our laps, but she rarely stays there for long. But then Lola rarely stays still for long. Which isn’t really true, because she has come to appreciate naps now. She’s even gained some more weight finally — she’s good, as long as she doesn’t gain anymore.

Above is one of Chester’s favorite positions: he uses my left arm as his pillow, which of course drags down my entire body so that I look like Quasimodo. But hey, he’s comfortable.

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I’m not quite sure what’s gotten into Simba lately. I feed them later in the summer (altho because of daylight savings time, it’s really at the same time). But since I still go to bed at the same time, that means he doesn’t have as much time with me in the evenings (especially when I walk the dogs). Plus he doesn’t lay on me in the mornings, either, unless it rains like today.

So he’ll walk around wailing at night. I think he wants to go back outside, but that’s not happening. Plus, he’s started to sleep with me frequently. Simba has always been the one that rarely sleeps with us, and most often comes in after we’ve all gone to bed. But now he’s coming to bed with me, often waiting for me to come to bed.

Gizmo used to be that way, but he stopped sleeping with us when we got Chester. Although he’s started to sleep in his carrier in our bedroom sometimes now. So we’ve had the four of them all together in the room some nights.

One of Gizmo’s favorite places to hang out is on the scale. So I never have to worry much about him losing weight & my not noticing it.

I have definitely noticed that the boys aren’t as playful as they used to be. They still get the crazies at times, which drives the dogs nuts, but they spend the vast majority of the day sleeping. Even if I try to entice them to play during the day, most times it’s a half hearted attempt on their part. They are most active at dawn & dusk (that’s when prey is most active), but otherwise, they’re usually pretty content to snooze in the same location for hours.

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Although Lola walked on leash perfectly nicely when we first got her, she quickly deterioated into a lunging, snarling dog when she saw or heard other dogs within a couple of months. I don’t know why.

I think part of the problem is that while she did live with other dogs as a puppy, she wasn’t taken on walks, so she never really learned how to behave on leash. And I don’t believe she was well socialized to other dogs when she was a puppy.

We always thought that she was okay with dogs off leash, but one day at doggy daycare she bit another dog. Unfortunately, I didn’t find out about it immediately. She has since been back with the same dog, and has been okay — with close supervision. She apparently doesn’t like that particular dog. We think some of it is female-female aggression, but I know for sure that’s not all there is to it.

By using the clicker on our walks, we’ve made great progress around the neighborhood. Lola knows every single house that has a dog. I can now walk her past most of them without much trouble. Sometimes she has to be managed (made to stop & watch me first); sometimes she doesn’t. Even when she does have to be managed, she is now relatively easy to control. In the beginning, she was uncontrollable.

So we’re on to phase two: the hike and bike trail. The hike and bike trail is where lots and lots of people go to walk their dogs. To begin with, when I saw a dog about 20 feet away, I’d have her sit & watch me. I’d try to time giving her her treat with when the dog actually passed by us, so that she can learn that dog walking by = treats.

So far, it’s going pretty well. On our second walk there, today, I was able to have her just walk with me past several dogs without having to stop at all. Soemtimes we still had to stop. And sometimes she still got reactive, as when the small dog came up to us at one point. She is not to the point where she’s okay with a dog entering her personal space.

It’s unfortunate that I have to go past the largest parking lot, where there’s the most space, because that’s also the area of the trail that’s off leash for dogs. She is definitely not ready for dogs running around off leash while she’s on a leash. We did that earlier this week, and although it wasn’t too bad, I know that it’s harder for her. So I have to try and set her up for success by staying in the areas that require dogs to be on leash for now, which means not knowing if we’ll be able to find a spot to park in.

I have dreams of someday being able to walk both Lola and Chester without having to constantly have an eagle eye out for other dogs, with them calmly walking at my side. I hope that someday that dream will be fulfilled. Until then, I know we have our work cut out for us.

Technorati Tags: on leash, well socialized

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Well, almost.

There I was, checking my email in the office after feeding the boys, as usual. All of a sudden I hear squawking. And sight unseen, I know exactly what it is: the boys have got this year’s bird.

Each year, it seems, one is sacrificed to the cat gods. Often they get away; but not always. Sometimes they are completely devoured, leaving almost nothing more than a feather behind.

I came out to see the boys watching a mourning dove on the floor. Not a baby, like usual, but an adult. DH came out at about the same time. Just as he said it didn’t look dead to him (I told him they play possum), it flew up & behind one of my exercise equipment.

Now, remember that the boys reside outside in a chain link dog kennel (a very large one). Yet I have seen birds land on it — I’ve even seen them fly into it sometimes. Birdbrain, DH says. Yet supposedly birds have a decently large brain considering their size. Still, there is definitely something to survival of the fittest.

At this point we shoo Gizmo outside, I lure Simba into the bathroom with treats (I couldn’t believe that treats trumped bird, frankly), and DH went off to put some clothes on and look for a container to try to get the bird into.

Although they’re only six years old, the boys definitely show signs of slowing down. This is the second time recently I’ve been able to chase them off a kill. Usually when they bring in a bird, they play with it (it’s not pretty). I think they weren’t quite sure what to do with an adult bird; the birds they’ve brought in in the past have been babies.

Not too long ago they brought in a lizard. I managed to get them to let it go & get it into a glass, then Gizmo promptly put his paw in the glass, got the lizard, put it in his mouth & ran outside with it.

But we’re talking birds here, not lizards. I’d thrown a towel to where the bird was, and thought I’d gotten it, but I hadn’t. It was behind my racks of paint. When DH tried to move said paint, it flew off again — right smack into our dome window, then behind my painting desk.

Finally, DH was able to scoop it up with the towel & set it free outside — where it promplty flew directly into the side of the kennel again (but not actually inside it). I don’t think that bird is long for this world, but we did our part to ensure its survival.

No, sorry, no pictures. We’re way too busy trying to figure out how to get the darn thing out then to grab a camera and take photos of the live bird flying around our house.

Chester, in the meantime, never even got off the bed (the door to the bedroom was closed, but still). What a good boy!

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One of my big failings with Chester was training him to be calm when the doorbell rings. He’d just go ballistic, running around barking, whining, and unable to listen to me.

About a month or so ago, I read about training for calm at the doorbell on http://www.clickertraining.com/. Although I’d worked on it in the past, in several different ways, the article made sense to me and I decided to give it a try.

I’m not sure if it was just the right time, or if they’ve had enough training, or the planets were just in alignment, but I found that within a few days they were learning how to go to mat when I put my hand on the doorknob and said “just a minute” (without the doorbell).

Within a couple of weeks, we began training with the doorbell, too. I’m still not sure what I did right this time . . . all I know is that now I can answer the door (granted, they have to wait while I make sure the dogs are sitting on their mat — that’s what the “just a minute” is for), even hold the door open while talking to whoever is outside — and the dogs stay inside.

Chester is still very barky during this process. I think I can eventually get that under control, too. He isn’t as barky in the backyard (with me) as he used to be. We’ve worked on “quiet” a lot. Lola is still pretty barky in the backyard, although she’s surprisingly quiet when the doorbell rings usually.

And then there’s the garage door opener. That really sets them both off!

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