The addiction grows...shopping for stash in Vermont

When Ed was planning our Vermont vacation, I gave him a list of yarn shops in Vermont and hinted that it would be very nice if we could stop at some, especially on days with "high-cranky factor". A "high-cranky factor day" is a day when the chances of me being cranky is high because Ed picked a hike that I ended up not liking.



Ed went overboard with yarn shops! Some days he planned on stopping at two, maybe three shops! Great intentions by him but we didn't get to all the shops he planned which was good for the wallet too -- some were closed for the day, some were just gone and if I was having a good day, I didn't feel the need to spend money on more yarn :-)



My personal knitting enabler did ask me to get her some alpaca in dark chocolate while we were in Vermont. It seems like that is not an easy color to find in laceweight to DK weight yarns. If I remember correctly, alpacas naturally come in 22 colors.



We ended up stopping at Maple View Farms to visit their alpacas. The alpaca didn't seem to care for us -- maybe we smelled too much like dog, or maybe we just smelled since we were hiking earlier and it was warm out.



I really liked that the yarn at Maple View Farms had a picture of the alpaca on the label that the yarn came from from.

We did find the usual traditional yarn shops filled with lots of pretty skeins of yarn. But there were some odd mixtures in there too. We stopped at one yarn shop that was also a plant nursery and fruit stand. Another yarn shop was also a framing shop and a tuxedo rental place. My favorite one probably would have been the yarn shop that was also an ice cream shop except that they weren't open. :-(

We did stop at The Green Mountain Spinnery -- I was told I should go there. I got some great mill-ends that I'm going to make a felted bag out of. Ed is wondering how many bags I plan on making since he's heard me say that about other yarns too. Well, I can always use another bag for another in-progress knitting project :-)

Maybe next year, we can reroute the drive up to Vermont so I can stop at WEBS. I've heard that place will make a knitter cry tears of joy :-)

PS And for those of you that thought I was buying something illegal in Vermont...shame on you! :-)

Is this considered cruelty to animals?

Vermont Vacation...a Montpelier hike

Thom and Joan (the Millbrook innkeepers) had the day off so they joined us on a very nice hike! Who woulda thunk that behind the capital building was a beautiful park unlike any other city park I've been in. We hiked for hours -- sometimes in the park, sometimes not. We crossed roads, went through a summer camp and best of all -- we found water for the dogs to swim in.

We had to hold Harley back from jumping in so Riley could get his chance at fetching the stick.

After our city park hike, we ended up in downtown Montpelier where we had yummy hot dogs and cheeseburgers from one of the street cart vendors. I was in for a huge surprise too when we ran into my friend, Howard, who stopped for lunch in Montpelier on his way to Montreal for a work meeting!

Since the Millbrook Restaurant was closed that evening, we enjoyed a delicious dinner that Thom cooked for us...it definitely wasn't on their usual menu.

We had a great day in great company.

Back to Vermont...hikes, hikes and more hikes!

Ed spends a lot of time picking out hikes for our annual vacation to Vermont. Here are some of the more memorable ones.Brrrr! It was a little chilly up at Sterling Pond. It was also a little bit crowded -- a lot of times when we are hiking in Vermont, we see very few people. Sterling Pond seemed to be fairly popular, even on a cloudy and cool day. Of course Harley did not mind the cold at all and he was in the pond as soon as we tossed the stick.

I have to admit, I wasn't really paying attention when Ed said we were going to have lunch on the border. It wasn't until a little while later that I realized he meant the Canadian Border! At the end of the Journey's End Trail there's a little monument marking the border of the US and Canada -- off in the distance you can see the cut through the trees marking the border as well.

Now this is my kind of trail -- air conditioned! Okay, it was only air conditioned at the end. Some time long ago there was a rock slide and beneath this rock slide is ice...lots of ice...enough ice to give a great breeze when you are standing near the slide. The water coming out of the slide was pretty cold too!

Abbey Pond was really nice but very buggy. There was nobody up there but us and Harley and Ava had a great time swimming. Of course I had to have my picture taken on the chairlift that we passed on the way up.

The great thing about spending a day hiking is that you end up with two very tired dogs who will sleep nicely (no barking!) while we have dinner in the restaurant.

Flattery Will Get You a Pair of Socks :-)

Sometime last year, my future brother-in-law-to-be saw me knitting a pair of socks and he was amazed. He said they looked like you could buy them in a store -- I think he was amazed that handknit did not necessarily look homemade.

A few months ago, he saw me knitting another pair of socks and his comment to me was that he liked the color I was using and that it would make a good pair of men's socks. I'm very good at taking a hint so I knit him a pair of socks for his birthday. Of course they arrived a few months late -- flattery will get you a pair of socks but not necessarily on the gift day they are planned for :-)


We were so happy to welcome him and his son into our family.

Anita's scrapbook

Anita's Scrapbook, page 1

When we learned that Gusto was going to be returning to The Seeing Eye, I asked if I could send a scrapbook back with him. Because a person is legally blind and can have a guide dog, does not necessarily mean that they cannot see so I thought it would be nice to send back a scrapbook instead of just a few loose pictures. They said it was fine as long as it was fairly flat so that started my tradition of making a small scrapbook to go with our pup.


Anita returned to The Seeing Eye with a traditional scrapbook made with paper and stickers but I decided to replicate a copy for myself digitally using the same pictures. You can see her entire album at


http://www.cmphotocenter.com/photos/share.php?code=mkJdIdDIO1yP2ymwnhbbUUCpnLtmNcfi&share_type=storybook

The last pages from Anita's scrapbook

A letter from Anita's person...

With Anita's graduation photo from the Seeing Eye, we learned that Anita went to a 64 year old woman. Anita is her first Seeing Eye Dog. With every graduation photo, we also learn where our pup ends up living but I won't post that info here since it is a public blog.


We were surprised and extremely happy to receive an email sometime in March from The Seeing Eye. Anita's person had emailed The Seeing Eye and asked that her email be forwarded onto us. We don't expect to hear any news about our pups after they are placed so this email was extra special for us.


I thought I'd share what she wrote because it made us so proud to have raised Anita.


To the staff of The Seeing Eye,

I am writing to express a huge sense of gratitude for the gift of this beautiful seeing eye dog named Anita. Not only has she given me greater safety as I walk down and cross streets, she has been an absolute joy to have in our home. I also want to thank all of you so much for treating me so well during our month of training to become a seeing eye team. The dining room staff, the administrative staff, the nurse, the program staff, and, of course, the amazing trainers were so wonderful. Thank you so much!!!


Anita did so well on the plane ride and loved walking through the airport with the airline assistant who took us to baggage. I learned early on when I got her how much pride she takes in doing a great job. She has settled down very well in our home. Now, she is in her own stride, moving more freely through the house. However, she is not so keen on the my insistence on the cement parking in our back yard, which has a patio bordering a garden with lots of moist soil and mulch! Yesterday, she parked with her two front legs on the soil and her behind on the cement! She is one smart dog! What could I say?


She has been to church with us twice now and really likes it. She has plenty of room and eventually goes to sleep, but I think she loves the people and activity, including the music. She does a great job of moving me through the people in the lobby after church, being careful not to bump anyone but helping me to move through.


We went to our house this weekend, and she is beginning to love it there since it always includes long walks in The Gardens, which is directly across the street. This past Saturday, we stopped at one of the ponds so that she could enjoy the geese. There were so many of them, and they were splashing around, taking off in groups, and making lots of noise. Well, of course, Anita was ready to jump in with them! She really likes the feel of the wide open spaces of the park and loves that she can now take me through all of the twist and turns of the garden paths with very little direction from me.


We have had a trip to New York City already, and she was stellar. She loved the Acela train with its special section that gave both of us plenty of space. She watched everyone get on and off the train with naps in between. She was great getting me across the busy streets of the city when I went from one meeting to another over a five-block distance. On one occasion when we walked with my colleague to the Ford Foundation, she kept me from getting hit. With my colleague walking behind my right shoulder, I gave her the forward command to cross Second Avenue at 43rdStreet. No sooner had I stepped off the curve, Anita stopped abruptly. Well, I sure have learned to stop when she stops if we are crossing a street. I then asked her hub up?? And then she continued taking me across the street. So, my colleague told me later that it was a car turning in on the street and at speed that forced the driver to stop very abruptly when they saw us crossing. I never saw the car. My colleague said that she had to just trust we knew what we were doing and didn’t try to grab me or alarm Anita. Good for her! I was so proud of Anita’s good and work.


I was also reminded of the fabulous training Anita and I got from Denise and all of the support and encouragement we got from all of you. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!


P.S. The puppy raiser family sent me a beautiful album of Anita via Doug. The photos of Anita growing up as puppy were so moving. I just cried when I saw them….again a wonderful gift for which I am grateful. Doug, could you share this letter with them?

A letter from Anita's trainer...

Anita's graduation photo came with a letter from Anita's trainer as well. We did get to spend a lot of time talking to Anita's trainer at Anita's Town Walk, but it was great to get the letter from her as well.


January 28, 2009


Congratulations!

Anita has graduated and is now an official Seeing Eye dog! Anita was matched with a lovely 64 year old woman. This is her first Seeing Eye dog. She is totally amazed by Anita and how wonderful and sweet she is.

She curently works for a non profit organization, she is a philanthropist. She mostly works from home but does do some traveling for her job. She uses the metro and the bus system regularly. She also goes swimming daily. Well...did Anita like visiting the pool when we were there with her new person. We laughed -- poor Anita wanted to go swimming! She was so wiggly and excited!

Anita has been a gem to train and match with her new person. Her new person has such a nice touch with Anita, always making her tail wag! She is thrilled with her and everything Anita has been able to do for her so far. They were awesome in New York City! You should be very pleased, you raised an excellent little dog. Congrats! I can't thank you enough for your hard work, and opening your hearts and home!


Sincerely,
Anita's trainer

So proud of our girl...

I recently received an email from the puppyraiser who raised Tina -- Anita's mom. It made me realize that while we had received Anita's graduation photo and letter back in February, I never shared it on my blog! My only excuse is that we received the letter and photo while we were still living with the in-laws (house was still being worked on) and then it took awhile for me to get my scanner hooked up.

Sorry Anita -- we're very proud of you! Anita was our first female pup -- she was part lab and part golden retriever and she was absolutely beautiful. She had her quirks and we weren't positive she would make it through school since she did seem scare easily and at odd things too -- the salad spinner would send her running into her crate! It took awhile for us to get her to leave our property on walks . Friends would call before arriving at our home so we could greet them as they got out of their cars -- Anita finally overcame her fear of cars that way. Oddly she was never afraid of thunder and she just loved loved loved to swim.

My next blog posting will have a letter we received from her trainer and the posting after that will have a letter from her person!

We're so proud of our girl!

Vermont Vacation...and Riley makes 3!

Riley belongs to the innkeepers at The Millbrook. Ava had a great time playing with Riley last year but this was the first time Harley and Riley met -- when Harley went in 2006, Riley wasn't living there yet.

Just like last year, Ava and Riley had a blast playing together. We were hoping that Harley would play along too but he just seemed to want to play with Ava. Harley wasn't mean to Riley but he just didn't seem interested in playing with him.

On the other hand, Ava had a great time because she had both Harley and Riley to play with.

Images created using Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus and Earthy Pet Digital Content.

Vermont Vacation...Dog Mountain

On past trips to Vermont, we've driven by the Dog Chapel statue and I've always wondered what it was. I finally looked it up and Ed put it into this year's itinerary.

At the bottom of the driveway, there were statues of a yellow lab and a black lab so of course Ava and Harley wanted their pictures taken with the statues.

We went inside the Dog Chapel -- it was great and I wish I had known that you could leave pictures on the wall -- I would have brought pictures of Gusto, Harley and Anita in their graduation photo. We'll probably return on a future trip so I'll have to do it then...and maybe I'll have a graduation photo of Ava to hang too!

Ava and Harley had a blast at Dog Mountain. After visiting the chapel, we went up to the pond where Ava finally swam. She's gone swimming by accident before but this was the first time that it seemed to be intentional although she did also spend a lot of time just standing in the shallow end barking at Harley. There's also a dog agility course which neither Ava nor Harley were interested in. After wandering around for a little bit we spent time (and money) shopping in the art gallery.

Vermont Vacation -- the drive up...

We made our annual pilgrimage to Vermont at the end of June. We stay at The Millbrook Inn in Waitsfield and we love it there. This is our fifth year there and everytime it has been with a different pup except for this year since Ava was there last September and Harley was there a few years ago when we were first raising him as a Seeing Eye pup.

Ed certainly knows how to plan a vacation. We went up a different way this time since I wanted to stop at The Green Mountain Spinnery. Along the way, we stopped for a short hike at Wilgus State Park -- Ava and Harley had a blast and really enjoyed the chance to stretch their legs after being so good for the long ride to Vermont.

We also stopped at the Countryman Peony Farm. It was still early in the season for blooms but what they had was beautiful.

Yes, I'm obsessed with socks

Yes, you did read that title right -- I am obsessed with socks...well, actually with handknitting my own socks. My obsession started sometime in Fall 2007 and to date, I have knit 37 pairs -- some as gifts but most of them for me. I am proud to say that I have managed to get rid of most of my store bought socks and have replaced them with handknit socks. I finished four pairs in the month of May. This pair is sock #33 for me. I used the Slippery Socks pattern on Knitty.com.

Pair #34 was also for me. Risata (from KnitPicks) may be one of my new favorite yarns. I love the stretch. Now if only there were more color choices. I love bright and multicolored yarns -- if anything just so I can oooh and aaah over my stash of yarn. This pattern is from Socks From the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. I love her new book and of course I had to join a knitalong on ravelry.com to knit more patterns from her book.

It took Ed awhile to decide that he wanted socks for himself but now that he has decided yes, he seems to think I can crank them out like a factory. Unfortunately for his feet, I am easily knit-distracted. While working on his 3rd pair of socks, I started knitting 3 afghans. But this above pair is #35 for me and #2 for him.

I offered to teach my friend, Jennifer, how to knit so she could knit her own socks. But she is very smart and has decided to stick to crocheting because she knows I will knit socks for her, especially if she keeps telling me how pretty my socks are. So she received pair #36. Technically it is the 2nd pair I've knit for her, but one of her daughters took the first pair I knit. This pattern is the same as pair #34 making us fraternal sock twins :-)

I spend a fair amount of time looking at patterns on ravelry.com -- it is an illness and one day I will post some pictures of my favorite closet in the house -- my yarn closet.

This post is dedicated to Monica, my personal knitting enabler who very kindly sent me a list of yarn shops to visit while we were vacationing in Vermont -- how evil of her! :-)

Images created using Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus and Creative Memories Digital Content.