Doggy sweaters.

My girls in their sweaters.

This one has gone to Cyprus for a rescue dog to have.

T on Tuesday with Loony Luna

Homemade mushroom 🍄 soup from a Slimming World recipe and I'm showing you this because it's T on Tuesday at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place once more. I'm still trying to get through all the organic veg I over-ordered before Christmas.

Here's Luna relaxing in her new jumper. She's now chewed the buttons off one side so it needs a rethink.

Just look at that sweet innocent face. Butter wouldn't melt....... but Lovely cuddly Luna has issues and is quite naughty, in a toddler kind of way, too!

Walking on a very frosty day round the fields where the mud was frozen. Jumper was only missing one button at this point.

Luna can jump high, she loves it on the pond filter and she can clear the waterfall in either direction - even while racing up and down at 100 miles per hour! She can also vault the stair gate and I'm sure she's trying to work out if she can clear the heightened fence to go explore the school field behind!

Luna trying for the circus by walking across the pond frame. She's also tried walking along the edge and fallen off! She's just discovered the dead reeds and has been bringing them indoors to play with.

Better give Sooty a look in here. Poor Sooty, not only is Luna jealous of any affection Sooty gets (and she will sit on him or push him out the way to get all the attention), but she is very boisterous and frightens him so much that he doesn't want to get up or go up or downstairs for fear of getting hurt. 

The jealousy is a real concern, what if she is jealous of my little granddaughter?

I didn't want to make Sooty's life a misery either so I hope they will become more compatible in the next few weeks.

Training classes begin this week if I can drive after my appointment at the eye clinic and the drops I'm allergic to.

I was told Luna was very quiet and just sat quietly - wrong! She's totally loony at least twice a day!

Luna that's my ironing!

 On my bed together but apart.

It's a dog's life. Luna is scared of men. I found that out last Tuesday and it is a real issue. My youngest son Richard has been visiting daily to get her used to him. She's happy to snuggle up with him for cuddles - until he stands up. Then she starts growling.

Luna jumped up after Sooty was there or he probably wouldn't have joined her unless I was in the middle.

This looks like such a cosy scene, all of us together but Sooty didn't stay long after this and Luna pushes in so she is closest.

Luna's work in progress.

This is the gorgeous figurine that was my Christmas present from my lovely late hubby, along with a very sentimental card signed by him which had me in bits on the day.

This is a wonderful woodcarving that was a Christmas present from my youngest son, it is beautiful.

So what else has Luna done you might ask - well....

she stole a piece of raw chicken when I had to answer the phone,

whenever I am on the desktop computer she is looking for yarn to steal and unravel - she's doing that right now and she just worked out how to open the lid of a plastic box full of wool,

she ate a big hole in her jumper,

she rolled in poo,

she dug up mole hills,

she walked along the edge of the pond frame and fell off,

she raced round and round the house and garden,

she found the dead reeds in the pond and has been bringing them indoors,

she chases cats, even if I am on the end of the lead - ouch!,

she barked the first time on her 4th day,

she barks at every little noise now,

she will play with anything she can get and looks like she will chew it up,

she learnt to sit and stay, well it's a bit flaky but we are working on it and she will be going to training class this week hopefully.

Sooty is so scared of getting hurt by Luna, I thought he was alright walking with her and I've been letting him off the lead and keeping her on the extender but today on the last part of the walk when I crossed the road then let him off he ran so fast and kept running, he wouldn't stop! I was so scared he would cross the busy roads and run home, and there was no way I could catch him but Luna tried which made things worse. I'm too heavy to run very far or fast, not supposed to run at all with my osteoarthritic knees but I am hoping if I lose more weight, a few stones, I will one day be able to run again.

It's been a tough week as my Dad got a diagnosis of terminal melanoma and I've had to relive my experiences with my late hubby as I've been taking Dad to appointments.

I finally got my filling done today after messing up on times the last time, so it was soup for lunch eventually.

I have to either take dad or go to my own appointments every day this week.

T on Tuesday and Luna's arrived!

 As it is T on Tuesday here is yet another pancake stack this time with fruit tea in my sheep mug! Join in this weekly tradition at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place! Once again I need to apologise for not returning your comments last week - I intended to do it but I've been a little distracted as you will see.
As you may know from previous posts, 2016 was a horrible year for me. I wish you all a Happy 2017. I still have bad things going on but.......

......Luna has arrived at last and my life will never be the same again! She flew from Cyprus to Amsterdam, was collected by pet courier and driven here via the Eurotunnel train to arrive New Year's Eve early afternoon. Be prepared to be bombarded with Luna photos!

I cried when the man brought her in, got lots of kisses from Luna though.

Not only has she left Cyprus they cut off all her curls so she must be feeling the cold. But look at that waggy tail!

She wasn't house trained but after one small "accident" she hasn't had any more and today was actually at the door asking to go out, but then wouldn't do what she had to do until Sooty came out too, and I have to go out every time! That can be very cold, wet and dodgy as the ramp that is there from Alfie's days made by Shaun got very slippery in the frost.

Luna had never seen a TV or lived in a house before. I put the TV on Saturday afternoon and it was still tuned in to CBeebies from my visitors who left just after lunch and before Luna arrived. The programme was about a little girl who had 3 husky dogs, Luna was fascinated.

Later there were fireworks so I had to sit up cuddling two terrified dogs until 1am and channel hopping to avoid fireworks on TV. 

Sunday we went for a very wet and cold walk, came home and put the fire on and heating and TV, sat dozing cuddling Luna and it was Countryfile with dogs and sheep and lambs. That seemed OK but next it was Planet Earth 2 and Luna was growling at the animals, first a Jaguar, then Iguana's being chased by snakes. I went to cook my dinner and suddenly heard loads of growling and Luna backed rapidly into the kitchen, when I looked it was the monkeys in India she didn't like!

In this photo she is watching Monster's University and wasn't sure what to make of the monsters!

Selfie with Luna. She jumps up and clings on a lot, she likes to greet other people like it but they don't all want muddy clothes! Found out on day three she is scared of men. She loves everyone else and other dogs and thinks they all want Luna cuddles and muddy paw prints all over lol.

She spent her first night sleeping on top of me with her head nestled in my neck, second night she curled up besides me. Saturday night I had to fight two dogs for the duvet which is a single one on a king size bed. Last night I put the other one back on and Sooty was happy.

When I first saw the three photos of Luna I thought she was about the same size as Sooty and bought a coat in that size but she is bigger so it's about 2 inches too short and I've ordered a bigger one. I couldn't let her go walkies in this cold wet country without a coat so I used it and cannot return it now.

I also made a jumper the same size as Sooty's but left it unfinished as I became suspicious she was bigger after seeing a video of her and I'm nearly done adjusting it. In the meantime she is wearing Alfie's old one that looks like a bolero on her.

Luna with one of her new toys. She ignored them on day one but on day two she started to play and even stole 3 balls of yarn from a bag in the craft room while I was on the phone.

This was after I got up. We were catching some sun on a cold and frosty day. Not sure Sooty stayed put like this for long, he's been sulking a bit since Luna arrived.

I'm finishing this post in bed with Luna laying tight by my side demanding regular cuddles and Sooty snoring next to me.

Time for Tea on Tuesday, and exciting news!

 The last project I finished was these fingerless gloves from the Furls Crochet Along. I loved doing them, took three attempts to do the first. It was too tight, then I realised I had made a mistake, then realised I actually madEe two mistakes so I began again. The yarn is King Cole Riot, and the bowl is a Furls bowl. I will probably give these to someone for Christmas.

I also finished the mystery CAL which is called Jennika and was by Melody of Melody's makings. It is meant to be an accessory that you can wear multiple ways, sew it up and wear it cross body (I don't think I will wear it like that and mine seems to be too long to do that, it is the correct length so maybe I should have gone a size down), or sewed together as an infinity scarf, or left as it was for a scarf or on the head and round the neck as a cowl. I decided to add borders and buttons so I can wear it either way, infinity or straight scarf and it is lovely and warm, and the exciting bit is there are patterns to come for a hat and mittens to match!

Bought some yarn from Love Crochet and found this cute ball in the pack!

Selfie, Sooty and me!

The most exciting thing that is happening in my life right now is this little lady called Luna. She is in Cyprus and I am adopting her, and I just heard I can have her on Dec 31st which works out great as the fuss of Christmas will be over and she can settle in quietly. She is living in kennels now, so there could be some house training to do, but Sooty's new little sister is going to be here soon. I wish it was sooner, but it takes time to do all the work to get her to fly. She has been spayed today. She is just 18 or 19 months old and is a Cyprus poodle. I had a home check and now I have more work to do on the fences to stop her escaping if she tries to. So I have several rolls of wire netting and some posts, just need someone to put it up now.

I'm now getting the full story, she was tied up outside by her previous owner so was rescued into kennels, so I doubt she has any house training at all!

This is Sooty's new jumper, I made it to fit him, not from a pattern but loosely based on a previous pattern and another one I saw a photo of. Looks quite Christmassy I think. I made it in Marriners Aran yarn which has some wool content.

This is the shawl I showed you last time, now it is blocked you can see the pattern and points. I love the colours together. Yarn from Pook GB on Etsy.

This is another dog jumper in progress and it is for Luna, hope it fits because I think she is the same size as Sooty, if she is bigger I will donate it to the dogs home and start again!

This isn't the same pancake stack as the last post, I just realised I had the same thing again! It is T on Tuesday at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place, and I owe comments from the two previous ones - I am so sorry, I just haven't managed to do it and I don't know where the time goes!

I made it to the I Made This blog, with my Easter bunnies, quite exciting too!

T for Tuesday - zzzzzzzzzz

As you can see I missed last week, and haven't posted anything since the last T day!

What a difference in the weather from last week, this morning it snowballed, really! Look - little balls of snow! They were soft when you stood on them. So no sitting in the garden crocheting this week, I've been inside bundled up with the heating on instead! We did have a little sunshine, but it was still very cold outside.

Last night I made a mug of peppermint tea and sat down in my recliner to do a little crochet before bed - then I fell asleep and woke up (to a cold mug of tea) after having a nightmare still in the chair at 2 a.m. Alfie dog also woke, and stood up all distressed trying to work out where he was, after having a nightmare at the same time. I hope it wasn't the same nightmare! What do dogs have nightmares about I wonder?

So here I am again, sitting in the recliner before bed with my crochet and favourite mug of peppermint tea (well I will be in a minute after I post this, and my tea is cooling down to drinkable temperature hopefully and not cold like last night), trying not to fall asleep before bed! If you want to find out more about this weekly event hop over to Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place.

Here are the views from my recliner, complete with bits on the carpet from grandson's recent activities that you can read about at the bottom of this post!

 I have got further on my Persian Tiles blanket, the remaining 15 tiles are coming along nicely. I really thought that by last Wednesday I would have completely finished them all ready for joining and end sewing, well that didn't happen!

 The reason I hoped to finish was the Scheepjes Dance in the Sea CAL started on Wednesday last week when they released the first pattern for the first squares to be made. Tomorrow the second pattern will be released. So I am trying to finish my 4th square tonight. I realised - after someone else also noticed it on their squares - that my border is the wrong side facing, so on the 3rd and 4th squares I did it without turning to get the border the right side. I might have to redo the first two borders now!

 Hopefully Alfie won't have nightmares tonight, here he is settled in and wearing his jumper.

Sooty's in the other bed, at least I hope he is and that he's not pinched my chair as he often does!

I joined the Facebook page for the Last Dance in the Sea CAL, I might have mentioned that last time, and after seeing someone posting a project book filled with prints and yarn samples I remembered I had some similar books and it was really a good idea so....

Here it is, I need to print off something to go in the spine bit, probably the top of the page with the CAL name.

I inserted the info sheet that came with the kit...

and a couple of pages printed from Marinke Slumps' blog from a post created by her sister, and this one shows the blanket I am making and the yarn samples. This is a good idea to identify the yarns if the last bit has lost the yarn band! I also added the hints and tips sheet with the reference square we created first, then the first pattern. Tomorrow I can add the second. This will keep my patterns nice and clean and neat and I will always know where they are.

The reason last week was missed was that my hubby was unwell at the weekend and I took him to A&E (emergency room) on Monday morning and they kept him in from Monday to Saturday in isolation treating him for an infection. I found it really strange that we had to put on a disposable yellow plastic apron when we went in to visit him, what does that do? It doesn't cover a lot of your clothes really, and what about handbags, coats if you take them off etc? On leaving the room you had to dispose of the apron and use the hand gel outside - except I am allergic to the hand gel, so they said wash your hands. The only place to wash my hands was in his room. My eldest son and his little family visited at the weekend which made hubby determined to be discharged, and he was finally on Saturday, after being declared "safe" and not likely to infect anyone on Friday ("you don't need to wear the aprons now" - we were sat there with them on), and being converted to oral antibiotics.  He is very weak and has lost weight, and was given the news that the cancer is still growing although it hasn't spread to anywhere else. We are waiting at this time to hear if he is suitable to go on any cancer research trials in Oxford, I so hope that he is. It has given us a little hope for the future, our little grandson feels the same love for my hubby as hubby feels for him, and he said his granddad is his best friend and his favourite. It could be very tough on him to lose his granddad when he is only just coming up to 4 years old in May. This was him posing with a "get well" card he made for his friend who has scarlet fever, Kenny has just recovered from Chickenpox himself. He was in trouble when he added more bits to this card because he used the child friendly scissors to cut a hole in the heel of his sock - while he was still wearing it! Then he kept insisting to his daddy that it was an accident - scissors were confiscated, even plastic ones! He looks so innocent doesn't he! This is a rare photo of him smiling nicely!