Major Knitter

Remember When the Duke and Otis were Puppies?

It's TBT so I had to look for some of my first pictures of the puppies for Throw Back Thursday.

Here's Primogeniture with one of the puppies (Let's call him Otis).

Here's Secundogeniture giving a kiss to a puppy (Let's call this one Duke).

They were just a week or two old.  sigh

Here they were a few weeks later.  Otis is right in the middle.  Duke is behind him (upper left) with the two dots on his head.

And here's Otis front and center trying to get out of the basket of puppies!  Duke is still right behind him (center).  You can just barely make out one dot on his head.

They were so cute and small in August 2014.  Now they're a hefty 70 lbs, and strong as bulldogs.  But they're still adorable and cute.  They don't fit in a basket anymore - but are great cuddles.  And they follow me to sleep wherever I go - in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the Knit Nook, or TV room.  It's kind of sweet to have such devoted loving companions.  🐶 🐶

 

National Puppy Day?

"Mama, Did you forget about National Puppy Day?"

"That's OK.  We still love you." - Duke

"But it will cost you extra biscuits." - Otis

It's a Good Day to Cuddle Up

Duke and Otis heard that Jonas was coming.  This is what they thought about that.

We're just going to stay here Mama if that's all right with you.

The Duke and Otis Show

Boys will be boys.  I guess this isn't exclusive to the human race.  Duke and Otis get up to all sorts of antics just like my two boys, my two brothers, the Scouts... and just about any group of males I know.  It's always entertaining. Sometimes they love each other and are so sweet and endearing.  Other times I'm pretty certain they're going to hurt each other with their rough housing.

The other night, Secundogeniture sent me this picture.

I don't think this is going to end well.

New Year's Eve = Last Minute Knitting

This year on my Finish or Frog it group on Ravelry, I challenged everyone to knit from your stash.  If you've seen my house you probably know that I have enough yarn to keep me knitting for at least 20 years.  So trying to knit from my stash is a huge goal for me.  2015 was a year of little projects - dishcloths, hats, animals, socks and blanket squares.  That helped me use up a lot of my stash.  Last night I decided to take a look at my Ravelry queue and see if there was anything I could finish before the stroke of midnight.  I found two nearly finished hats that just needed a little bit of attention - so that's where I focused my knitting mojo.

I finished my fourth Cabobbles Hat designed by my good friend Estella Haines.  I really like this pattern.  It's well written, easy to follow, and makes a beautiful hat!  It's also been the perfect project for using up yarn that I bought and quickly forgot what it was intended to be.

The second hat is a pink bear hat for a toddler.  I was less than successful with this FO.  In a brown adult size, it looks like a bear.  In a pink toddler size, it looks like a rat.  Maybe I'll just add some whiskers and call it a day.

Duke and Otis show what they really think of my New Year's Eve knitting.  Here's hoping everyone has a safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful 2016!

It's NaBloPoMo!

Forget about Thanksgiving.

Forget about No Shave Movember.  

Forget about everything Pumpkin Spice.

Don't even talk to me about the Christmas themed cups out at Starbucks already.

November is really all about NaBloPoMo - or National Blog Posting Month.  The concept is simple.  Post on your blog once every day in the month of November.  30 posts.  No theme.  No requirements.  No minimum number of words required.  Just blog once each day.  OK.  I can do that.  It is a great way to keep my eyes open for blogworthy photo ops or go off in a new direction.

Instead, I'm going to start of NaBloPoMo by talking about November baseball.  It's game 5 of the World Series and my Mets are playing.  

You gotta believe!

Duke and Otis are sporting their Mets rally towels.  

Let's Go Mets!

The Duke & Otis Show - Nap Time

The dynamic duo are great nap time buddies.  

So cute!  I wish there were audio with this picture so you could hear them snoring ever so slightly.  

Sleep tight Doodily-Duke and Oatily-Oat.

The Duke & Otis Show - Pillow Talk

These guys are so cute.  They make me smile all the time.  Otis is constant in temperament, demeanor and behavior.  Duke is all over the map.  But he's especially cute when he's napping with his brother.

I can almost hear the music now...

...Lay your head on my hindquarters

The Duke & Otis Show - I'm Ready for my Close-Up

I haven't posted bulldog pictures in awhile.  So I decided to take some close-ups of my lovable guys.

Otis is such a fine looking bulldog.  He's really a love bug.  He's calm, quiet, big and affectionate. He's my lovey dovey.  At about 8 p.m., he starts walking into the bedroom and asking me to tuck him in for the night.  It's so cute.

"Mama, is this my good side?"

I'm going to be honest.  Duke is a pain. I love him dearly, but he's a pain. He's hyperactive and always gets into trouble. We have a saying in our house whenever there's chaos or something done by the dogs.

"It's Duke.  It's always Duke."

He was so excited to see us when we got home from our road trip that his snaggletooth scratched my cheek.  Fortunately, there was not broken skin or permanent mark.  He didn't bite - but his bottom incisors stick out so much because of his bulldog underbite and are really big teeth - that when he gets excited - those incisors just get you.  Sometimes he does this when he's just rubbing up against my leg.  But when he's overly excited it's pure chaos.  He actually left a black and blue mark just under Secundogeniture's eye because he was so excited to see him and scratched him with his recently trimmed claws.  

Oh Duke.  It's always Duke.

But they're great dogs.  I love them.  They bark at everything and protect us.  If I were a burglar (which, by the way, I'm not), I would not want to break into our house. Their barking alone would be deterrent enough.  These two dogs would smother you in their love and excitement.

Oops!  I better go.  I hear them rough housing in the TV room upstairs. 

"Duuuuuuuke!"

Duke & Otis Show - The Eyes Have It

Oh Duke!

He's got a case of cherry eye. Poor baby.

Otis had surgery 8 months ago on his left eye.  But his eyes are funny.  Just like the black and white patches all over his body, he has one eye that is black and one that is white.  This makes the conjuctiva in one eye gray and one pink.  Plus he has the classic droopy eye that is common in bulldogs so it exacerbates the look of the black and red.  

Eye. Eye. Eye!