Do you remember me telling you about the sweater jacket I had knitted, but hated to wear? I frogged it some time ago. This weekend I finally reskeined all the wool.
It took several hours. I had knit the jacket with two strands of yarn held together. So, first I had to separate the two strands and then I had to whirl them up on my umbrella swift. If ever I have been grateful that I purchased the swift so many years ago, my gratitude soared this weekend. If I had been required to wrap the yarn around a chair, I think my arms would have fallen off and my mind would have followed them.
Most of the advice I had read in the past advised me to simply steam the skeins. But, I had 19 skeins. I couldn’t even imagine how long it would take me to steam 19 skeins individually. Needless to say, I didn’t steam them. Rather, I gave them a good soaking and used my washing machine to spin the water out. It worked like a charm. They were hanging in my basement (laundry room) to dry in the course of 20 minutes.
Two days later, they are still drying, but I am in no rush. I still have a Christmas tree skirt to finish knitting before I can starting dreaming of my new sweater jacket. Since I first frogged the original sweater, I have been hunting for a replacement pattern. I found it a week and a half ago: Louhi by Tuulia Salmela (Ravelry link).
As adorable as Jake looks in the picture above, he is causing me grief. Periodically, he decides that rather than eat his Eagle Pack dog food, he would prefer to live off of dog biscuits and peanut butter. Mind you, on a typical day, he might get one small biscuit from the mailman and one large biscuit from me. He receives a kong filled with peanut butter as a bedtime snack. An 80 pound dog cannot live off of 2 dog biscuits and a scoop of peanut butter. It simply isn’t possible. Yet, Jake is a stubborn dog. He waits until he is famished with hunger (approximately 2-3 days of not eating) before he caves and starts eating the oh-so-boring-but-nutritious-and-hearty dog food.
We rescued Jake 2 years ago. He is 5 now. We have done this fasting dance at least 5 times. My will is rock solid for the 1st day. I truly believe that Jake will simply eat at the next meal. After Jake has gone 3 meals without food (breakfast, dinner, and breakfast on the 2nd day), I start to lose my resolve and slowly crumble into a half-crazed (frustrated, bewildered, and worried) woman. Hand feeding doesn’t work. Switching the dog food does work (as I learned the 1st time we went through this), but I prefer to not take that route. Experts say that switching dog food every time a dog decides he no longer wants that particular food will create a picky eater. The goal is to NEVER have to do this fasting dance again.
Now, true, it is summer and Jake doesn’t eat as much food as he does in the winter. Rarely do we do this dance in the winter.
It’s times like these I really wish I could talk to my dog. Although, I imagine the conversation would go something like this:
Jake, you need to eat something.
I don’t want to eat dog food. I want a tasty treat instead.
Jake, you can’t live off of dog treats. It’s not possible.
I don’t care. Treats taste better than dog food.
Well, you have a point there, Jake. Still you need to eat ‘real’ food.
I’m sorry you are upset, but I’m still not eating that.
Yep. Sometimes words aren’t necessary.
The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh 