Craft Room Output

What HAS been coming out of my craft room lately?
I've been going to Ben Franklin Craft's "Yarn Yoga" which is just a stitch and bitch group that meets once a week and we all do our needle arts together and share ideas and learn stuff. While there, I've been able to pick up a few gal pals, and one of them is Gabi. I showed Gabi my yarn bag which is that same nappy bag you may remember from way back when and she LOVED it so much that she wanted to make one with fabric that she had left over from her wedding tablecloths she made with Amy Butler fabrics. Gabi's never sewn though. I invited her over for lessons and we made her the same nappy bag, changing pad and changing pad carrying case in about four weeks meeting once or twice a week for an hour or so. I was so in love with those fabrics that I went out and got me some different Amy Butler fabrics and did the same bag again on a lazy Saturday. I altered the length of the shoulder strap so that it now is more of a side satchel and goes over the neck and swings to under the other shoulder, just like we did for Gabi's.

My exterior and interior fabric choices

Showing off my roomy zoomy pockets!

While I was sewing this stuff up and looking online at fabulous yummy Amy Butler fabrics, I found something that a gal made. It was a simple velcro enclosed lined handbag large enough to hold diapers and wipes. Gabi is expecting a new li'l boy in a few weeks so I whipped one up for her to add to her baggable stuff and stuffed it full of wipes and diapers. As a side note, DAMN diapers are expensive!!! Anyway, I'm going to two of her baby showers and made her a little carryall for little niceties to tag along with her as well...some herbal tea, homemade peppermint lip moisturizer, and a spray of Rescue Remedy and some lavender essential oil. She can fill the rest with other little bits. It can't hold much, but it's a bag to put in her bag and it's homemade. From one sewer to another, she'll know what went into makin' it. At least she won't have wipes and diapers freely floating around her huge diaper bag.

I was sooo excited doing those projects. I want to do some more tote patterns that are out there, but I should practice doing things with zippers first. So, I picked up a McCalls pattern that had a bunch of totes in it, including one I'm totally excited about doing...it's a bowling bag style.....oooh, I can't wait!
Anyway, the one I'm doing now is a tubular duffel bag but I can't figure out how to get the handles evened out just right so I can move on to do the lining and the sides and get this sucker done, but I did do the zipper and it totally works and I'm completely thrilled.

Hopefully this week, this thing will be done. I'm using some scrap fabric I had in a give-away pile as the lining since no one will generally see the inside and it won't be terribly off in color matching. I'll show the lining when it's complete.

But Lori, what ELSE have you been up to?
ha ha ha...I'm so glad you asked!
At the yarn yoga, I can't do sewing, I can only do needle arts which is crochet or knitting...so I'll show you my two latest projects. I should show you pics of my adorable hat that I completed but I know a lot of you have already seen it on my head so I didn't feel the need to put it on today to take the pic....maybe later..anyway, onto my other WIPs, work in progresses.
A friend of mine, Angela showed me how to make this easy knit baby blanket...however, it's working corner-to-corner and is going to take me about a year to complete. It's monotonous and boring which makes it good to do while being at yarn yoga so conversation doesn't mess up any potential counting. I just liked the shiny jewel toned yarns...mmmmm....microspun yarn. Since it's corner-to-corner, it has a great streeeeeetch to it and makes it yummy to crumple in your fingers. This one's going in the hopechest. I'd like one in ruby red, indigo and purple....but different designs because this is just dull. I'm glad it's purdy.

Soooooo....I wanted to learn to crochet, remember? Anyone? Okay, well, I did....so I made a couple washcloths and thought I could do this bath mat until I lost the directions. I just found them yesterday so I'm going to work on this too. It has a star on it that are made by making "popcorns". I really dig the monochrome affect and think this would do well in either of our bathrooms. If I made another, it'd be great in our master because there's lots of white going on in there....I dunno...I just wanted to learn. I like working with the cotton yarns though...it dries my fingers out. I think I like the idea of mats more than washcloths...the cloths are just weird to use in the bath so far. I haven't found a great design for a luxury washcloth worth making just yet.

Yes, but Lori...what ELSE have you been up to?
Yeesh! ya'll really ask for the world, you know?
Okay, so I know how to wire-wrap a round or oval cabachon...it's gotten easier and now I'm a total pro, happy with my work and so on...but what about square? Rectangle? Hmmm? Okay, here's my first attempt at angles AND at using my Dremmel and polishing wheel and polishing abrasive. It totally took away my knicky bits. I would do LOTS different the next time, but this appeals to me anyway. I'm into the rock itself...it looks like a mountain scene to me. No one at the store knew what kind of stone this was....I just knew it was MY stone.

I also learned a new chain called the Half-Persian or Snake Chain. It was hard to learn but I got it now! I adore this chain. Don't mind the dog hair.

Lori...c'mon...what about the children? Won't SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?
Okay, so lately, for the dawgs in our life, we've been taking them for rides in the new honda hybrid...but Jordan complains that his new-used car is getting dirty and full of dog hair from such trips. Sewing projectereeno for Lori!!! I found some tye-dye terry cloth at a local fabric store and used some yardage of light denim I had already and created large lightly padded dog beds for Jordan's car. I put ties on the side of one to hang from the top of the seats in something for car-seats for kids I think. I got to use beads that I got from a festival I went to a few years ago and traded a few beers for, so it was nice to create something with them finally. They got to be for a toggle for the blanket loop attachments. I made the other one to cover the base of the seats. Anyway, there they are! I'm making some red ones for my car. Cool part is that when we camp, we can take these out and voila! Dog bedding for two dogs! Friends house? Dog bedding....Car broke down? People bedding. hehe. Each one also folded in half makes for a really comfy dog bed for one of these mongrels all stretched out even. AND, since it's terry cloth, it absorbs an adequate amount of moisture.

So...other than all that....I've not been up to much...hehehe.
Ciao

Dawgonit!!!

Jack and Maggie. Maggie and Jack.
Love them we do (how did they make those faces for me? I'm totally cracking up!), but we're realizing they are getting older and we're watching the puppyhood slip slowly away as they approach their 7th year. We have many plans for them of traveling and hikes and long walks and play time. In fact, we've got high dreams of introducing a new puppy to them in the next year. Trouble brews though as we realize they both have dog aggression issues that, though are not severe, they do stop them from being invited back to large dog park-like lodging centers for when we travel without them ( rare though that is ). What would they do with a poor defenseless puppy around? Jack is especially bad with sharing toys with anyone at times and will become quite aggressive with other dogs. Maggie has not been a problem for him because she will either enjoy the combat, or back off and go find something else to do.

Another issue is potty training Maggie to 'go' in the kennel and not just any ol' place she wants to in the yard. We had gotten the command "Kennel! Go Potty" through to her for a short bit and we were again impressed with the mind of a lab. For a while. Recently, she'll go there, and stand and just stare out. You'd think, "oh, she must not have to go" ( because you wait and wait and wait and repeat the command over and over and wait and wait) so you release her and let her play, only to find she 'goes' somewhere in the yard.

Here they are with their training collars in place. I like how Jack is expressing his distaste for this item while Maggie doesn't seem to give a rip as long as she thinks she's going somewhere.

Additionally, on our walks, we're tiring of pulling our dogs back to us in a "heel" position. That seems to be a part of their training that slipped the furthest from it's perfection they once knew. I think we are to blame. Silly humans...

Mags and Jax were trained using the sounds of a "choke chain" and it worked for their training, "if" you like to stop every few feet, and give the "shing shing" sound of giving short bursts of pulling on the chain to remind them that they need to back up and walk beside us. They happily bounce backwards, and you can take another few steps to repeat commands of "NOOOoooOOO!" and "HEEL" all the while making the "shing shing" sounds with the collar. This makes a mile walk take oooh, about five hours. We both require large amounts of valium afterwards and feel like putting our dogs in the kennel overnight so our patience levels can rise to a decent level.

So, about three years ago, I discovered the "Gentle Leader" and "Halti" alternative harnesses. This was BETTER!!! I LOVED what they could do for Jack and Maggie, when you've got them moving. The theory is that you aren't "choking" them, or allowing them to be choked by a chain that pulls tighter as they pull, but instead redirects their face which they don't tend to like, so they pay more attention to me and don't pull. I have to say, these are a great tool.....when they are "walking." If you stop to talk to friends, tie your shoes, take a break though, they shove their faces into any legs or ground they can get to and rub and dig and scratch at their faces. This aggravates me, Jordan and probably any friend we've been around when we've put these devices on our dogs. We found this acceptable because those moments are rare and they don't pull like they do with a regular canvas collar, or try to pull so far ahead like with the choker.

So, we have a few issues with our dogs, right? Oh, and I should also mention, sadly a criticism for our lovely Maggie-pie. She LOVES her toys. So much that she will constantly get her toy and shove it, drool and all into any available lap over and over and over and over...well...ya...you get the point until you put the toys away. And by away, I mean behind a latched door. She NEVER tires of this game and it can be a bit much with company around where it tends to get worse. If no toys are available, she'll bring you carpet fuz, lintball, or toilet paper roll. All with this happy face of "Look what I found?!!! A lintball!!!! don't you want to throw it? Throw It? THROW IT!!! kind of mentality as she squishes it into you, looks at you, looks at said lintball, back at you, lintball, you, lintball. It's a good thing she's soooooo good looking. She's gotten used to us saying "that's enough" and putting said lintball on the floor and giving a hand signal to leave it alone, which she ignores, picks up said lintball and goes away and eats it.

SO, we called in a dog trainer, Melissa Lynch, a recommended trainer from our local natural pet store called "Sam's" to answer a few of our questions and provide a tune-up in our training.
The short and sweet of it all for the dog aggression we described to her; Maggie did not have the socialization early on to do well with playing with other dogs and get the training that requires since she's had that issue all her life. Jack has progressed into a more mature dog ( than he used to be ) and is now tired of puppies and their play. He would prefer to play with Maggie or anyone willing to throw the ball, but it's his ball and don't make him stress over fighting for his toys. There would be no use really in trying to get the dogs to do something they do not like to do just to make us feel better ( like being social in a dog park). Just because what we think is fun ( wondering free in a park) does not mean that this is fun for Jack and Mags. They enjoy the freedom in their home and their yard and are adequately exercised. If we enjoy the dog park so much, we should go alone. We admitted the last two times we went, we did not take the dogs so that we could relax and enjoy ourselves. Additionally, Dog Parks "should" be for dogs that are well trained and listen to their humans and do well with other dogs. This doesn't seem to be the case in general as you watch people yelling and running after their dogs and having no control over aggressive behavior. In a perfect world, it would be perfect but a dog park is far from it. Even if you can control your own dog perfectly, you can't control the others. Oh, I almost forgot, about the dog boarding/kenneling stuff. Even if we had good training for Jack and Maggie and we were able to control them, the care-takers would not be adequately trained and therefore, the training would go to waste and they would have the "Jackyl and Hyde" that they described to us the last time. Nice one minute, a terror the next, and then back into nicey nicey land.
She recommended having a dog/house sitter when we're away if we want them to be at their most relaxed and well exercised state, someone trusted, and insured and someone that would not bring their own dog over.

Next....the collars, the "heeling" command. Our trainer Melissa went to her car and produced a "prong collar" probably more well known as a pinch collar. She placed it on me first, and tugged and I felt relatively no pain ( she did this on my hand, not my neck you silly people!), and so I allowed her to test it on our dogs. They did WONDERFULLY and did not try to be inappropriate when they sat because they were comfortable around their face. I LOVE THIS COLLAR, and they are sooo much more relaxed when they walk now...they even bounce or trot. VERY CUTE. (plus, it looks like they have chain maille on so you know I love that!) This is how I now 'walk maggie to the kennel' to reinforce that "Kennel! Go Potty!" command. I walk her in until she 'goes' and provide praise and treat when complete. Play is also the third reward if she poops. Her playtime is now dictated upon when she evacuates. Gotta love working from home to work this in! The prong collar is only for training so they never wear these when it's not necessary and never for being tethered to something...which ties in the next thing we "fixed."

While Melissa was here giving us advise about our dogs, Maggie was insistent with her toys as she does. Melissa tried hiding the toy behind her, squirting her with a water bottle and each time repeating "NOOooOOO" in a very serious low tone. Didn't work. Nothing works we tell her...except getting ourselves upset and probably Maggie too. Again, she went to her car and this time produced a six foot lead which she anchored to the couch and the other to Maggie's canvas collar. This part was the amazing part. Maggie went to the end of her lead, found she was tethered and then, just simply, lay down. She totally relaxes with this tether bit and she has her toy and a bone and just entertains herself or naps. We now do this for about fifteen minutes max if she becomes anxious like this and have found that she was probably full of a lot of stress during those moments and just didn't have a way to calm herself down. Now that she's tethered, she's getting the idea better and better each time and only seems to mind if she's tethered and someone tries to go outside. We'll see if practice won't make perfect with that one.

So, just a small update on how we're doing with the pupperonni's. Aren't you impressed with the posing these guys did for these photos? You KNOW it was mean of me to do since it wasn't nice enough weather for a good walk after leashing them, unleashing them, trying a new collar and so on. They are two of the most patient dogs sometimes. After the training session, both Jack and Maggers got new canvas collars and six foot leads as well as new prong collars for each. Melissa said that introducing a new puppy is a totally different issue for the dogs and that from meeting them and hearing our tales of their terror she says that introducing new 'family' member puppies are totally different than dog park pups and playing with our friend's dogs. They establish rules over time and aggression isn't going to be an issue. She will also be there for the initial introduction of the new puppy when the time comes and that will make us all feel better. The trainer was worth her money and we're practicing more and more and trying to learn new things about our dogs. I found a book on my own at the library that I recommend for understanding dog behavior....It's called "The Other End Of The Leash," "why we do what we do around dogs." It's by Patricia B. McConnel Ph.D. I'm totally getting into her book and it's an interesting lesson in animal behavior. If you're into dogs, animal behavior or both, check it out and lets discuss!

G'nite for now, it's late, and I've been at a late night knitting event so I best get some shut-eye.

Ducts say Roof Roof!

wait...ducks say "quack quack".....and what about a roof?

Okay, we've been busy around here, I can admit that. But...what HAVE we been doing that we can admit to on a public blog for all family and friends to see? Not much...so with that, I'll see you later, check back soon.


Oh? So you can't be fooled that easily? Well then. To further announce that Jordan works from home with his new company, I'll announce that he's taken over the office completely and barely lets me check email every few days when I remember. Its no small wonder that I haven't been able to post any new blog entries, but after getting a letter in the mail from my parents requesting more photos and updates and one email from my MIL, I'm pushing Jordan out of the way to show you what we've been up to.

We've been in contact with our local Public Utilities District to replace our furnace. They offer a line of credit that is hard to beat and they do energy testing and such and then offer up contacts to go through for replacing our furnace. Our furnace is the original that came with the house, so it's at least 30 years old. Jordan says it's a Wesco furnace. Our heater began making noises or maybe 'continued' making noises when we moved in. It scared the hell out of us the first time we heard it. It's similar to thinking that aliens are hovering over the roof. Very X-File-ish. WOOO-OOOOO-OOOO-OOOOO and very loud. I'm glad it only last for about 10 or 15 seconds but that's about every time it really kicks on to add some more heat to the house.

Our furnace resides on our small kitchen pantry. It takes up half of it. If at all possible, we need to have that moved to the garage with the water heater. When this gets replaced, our new one will offer air-conditioning, which will help in resale value, but was not of huge interest to us as we were pretty much fine with windows last year. Our solarium does heat up the living room and kitchen to a great deal, but we're going to discuss covering that with curtains so that we don't need to be running A/C if we don't need to. We both like the fresh air too much anyway, and the hot season is rather short. We can sweat it out unless we have company.

So, we've been having contractors in and out of the house lately giving bids that could choke a horse. Ideally we'd like to have the furnace moved out of the pantry and into the garage and, in fact , one contractor is saying we have no choice due to limited clearance for servicing. To move it would require concrete cutting to get it into the garage, re-working the duct layout, and running electricity to the new location making for a very sizable bid. The PUD also has strict efficiency requirements and says that there must not be any exposed metal duct work and our ducts are so poorly insulated right now that it would all have to be stripped and resealed (adding $2k to the bids). Some are recommending that we just replace it all with flex ducting which is plastic and probably a new system would be cleaner than the existing ducts. Apparently the price to replace is about the same as the strip & seal. All in all, this is probably going to be a project costing around $12,000.00.

So, before we do these changes, anybody want to buy a nice house? Needs a little work, but we've got contractors all set up! hahaha. KIDDING!!! We're loving this home and knew that there would be things along the way that would need updating. It just sucks because we were thinking we'd have a deck and hot tub in already. HA HA HA>>>>>Want to know the definition of dreamers? Look up Jordan and Lori on dictionary.com.

So, while we've got that going on, we've also finally finished up the project of replacing our barn roof.
Previously, when we moved in, it looked like this.

During a windstorm here the metal from behind was pulled upwards and sort of looked like a cow-lick on top of our roof. One of the bungees holding it down had broken and we had begun to think that perhaps metal sheets and bungee cords were not the best laid plans our previous owners had for roofing a perfectly well-built structure which is our two-stall barn.

We tried to hire Jordan's brothers Matt and Jer to replace the roof, but Matt injured himself pulling all the roofing off so they could not continue. We then had an exposed roof to deal with, and the guys had discovered that some of the plywood would need replacing as rot had begun to set in. We bagged it for that weekend and ended the weekend with an awesome bbq that Becca and I pulled together with Jordan manning the grill. We called a local guy, Jeff to come take a look and with all our weather problems we had out here, it took a really long time for a small project to get completed, but it's better than ever.