Thursday, October 21, 2010

Yeah,eh,eh ... they're all growing old



Just like Shirl from Sky Hooks, all my friends are growing old. Our youngest pet is a cat who's now eight years old. The most elderly is Diablo, my horse, who just turned twenty. When you have pets you have such companionship, love and joy from them; but also heartache and heartbreak. Jethro, my 11yo Rottweiler, was recently very sick & I was soooo scared. I really thought he was going to die or that I would have to have him euthanised. He started looking sick on Friday, 2 weeks ago. He was straining to pee and there was blood in his urine. By Saturday afternoon I knew he was very sick & rang the vet. We made an appointment for Jethro on Sunday morning, but this posed a real problem. Jethro is highly guard trained and he takes his job seriously. I was concerned about safety, as Jethro will only allow 4 people near him - let alone touch him! The vet gave me some ACP (a horse tranquiliser) to give him before I took him in. It bombed him out & he got happily into the back seat of the car. He only reacted once - a deep, deep growl - when the vet was checking the dog's prostate! The examination proved non-specific, but the vet thought he probably had a massive kidney/UTI and that he was trying to excrete kidney stones. We took some blood, he gave me antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds and we came back home. It took Jethro 14 hours to recover from that horse tranquilliser and we had to do it all again in 3 days time. The blood tests showed the expected high white cell count, but also that he was not making red cells as quickly as expected. After the second visit to the vet and another dose of sedative, with a long recovery time, it was decided that the stones were gone and Jethro was expected to get better - but probably slowly. He is now doing really well. No more blood, no more discomfort & I am so relieved to know he will be with me for a while longer. He is the 9th Rottie I have had since I got my first one in 1973 ... and he's the best one. I know his time with me is limited and I intend to spend every second with him that I possibly can. He's now spending all day with me - inside & out - and he sleeps beside my bed at night.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Dance With Me Butterfly!



This set took a-g-e-s to complete, but it's now gone to its new home.

I was a bit concerned that the shrug may be a little small, but I will replace it for the winning bidder if it is :)

Still have enough of the pink yarn to make another one!

eta: it was too small so the replacement one has been sent to the winning bidder, as promised.

Bunny Versa set



Also sold through our Woolly Butts store for the Kate Buntine Foundation charity, was this Versa Vest set.

The set consists of the vest, soaker, shorties, an itti bitti MCN & itti bitti wipes.

It was excellent value and the new owner is well pleased with it :)

Bunny Shorties


The October auctions for the Kate Buntine Foundation raised $668.42
The shorties in the pic were part of the Versa Vest set.
Thanks to everyone who took part.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Kate Buntine Foundation (JDRF)

The August/September round of fund raising auctions through our Woolly Butts store: http://www.wahmnaps.com/store.php?SS=46
was very successful. Over $4,000 was raised. The Versa Vest will form part of an MCN set which will be offered during the coming weeks. There are a couple of other things I am still working on; and Natalya also has some items to finish off. I'll add a link and the date when these things are Previewing. This vest is hand knitted using beautifully soft Worsted (10ply) Bellingen yarn which was dyed by Jen, who donated it to our Kate Buntine charity auctions. The vest is not yet finished, but thought I'd put up a sneaky peek!

aaaannnnnnnnnd ~ back to knitting


I searched every yarn website/store for the perfect red to make Celia Ng's shawl pattern "Salsa Roja". I even bought some Wollmeise! However, I decided on Madtosh Sock in 'Tart' colourway (well it did HAVE to be red! didn't it??! with a name like that?) ... but couldn't find it instock anywhere. So, I put out an SOS/ISO on Ravelry and Jenelle came to my rescue. mwah! mwah! It's an easy pattern. I love it & have already worn it heaps.