Hound Dog

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Well, I said that I would tell you what was keeping me away from the blog, so here it is.

Actually, it is more than one thing. I have been very busy at work, so coming home to sit at the computer to write some more isn’t high on my list of things to do. But the bigger thing has been what many of you are already aware of, we had to say goodbye to our dog Bogey back on July 31.

snowprisoner Bogey in action

We did see the day coming. In fact, the socks that I made for Mr. Penney’s birthday are in the Hounddog colorway because of how closely it mimicked Bogey’s own coloring.

hounddog-socks

It sounds silly to some, I know, but without having Bogey around; things just have not been the same around here. Motivation to do things kind of went away with him.

As time passed, we decided to start looking at rescues because we thought that maybe we should give another dog a home. At the same time, we decided to donate items to be raffled off by our vet because of how good they were to us when the time came for Bogey. They use the funds from the raffle to pay for the medical expenses of strays that people bring in as well as those that don’t have enough to meet the bills that a pet can sometime rack up. Paul donated a gift certificate for a massage, and I donated the shawl that I entered in this past year’s Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

oliveshawldone

Just as Paul was about to leave the house to take our donations up to the vet, the vet emailed Paul. Mind you, the vet had no idea that Paul was coming over there with donations, nor that we were contemplating adopting a dog. The email was that a beagle had just come to them through one of their other clients. This beagle’s owner had just died, and the beagle needed a home or he would be going to the pound. Were we thinking about adopting a dog?

The stars had aligned and we adopted Comet, a six year old beagle on December 15.

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Are things the same? No, but they aren’t supposed to be the same either. Comet is a very good boy, like Bogey was, but has a good bit more energy. He is still getting adjusted to his new home, as he was shuffled around for awhile before he came to us.

I must say, when I was contemplating writing this blog entry over a month ago, this was not the ending I thought this story was going to have. But I am very glad it does end this way, by beginning something new. We still miss Bogey, but we like to think that he was somehow involved in getting Comet to us.

Next up, one more reason why you haven’t heard from me in awhile.

Copyright 2013 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Thank you!

Thank you to all that have donated in support of my run in the Race for the Cure. As always, it is very much appreciated.

This year, I ran my fastest 5K. That was truly unexpected. I finished in 23:10. My previous best was 23:38. Yeah!

To celebrate that, I have added these shibori scarves to the prize list. I give you the details on how I made them in a later post.

But for now, the winners of the prizes:

For the scarves: Mary Jane Pfeffer, Teresa Greenhalgh, Joan Hajek, and Roseann Mauroni.

And the winner of the throw is Ellen King!

Thank you all!

Copyright 2013 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Missing You

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Hi all! It has been a while, hasn’t it? (Please don’t go back and count how many times I have said that in this blog.)

A lot has gone on since that last post. Some good, some bad, some indifferent. I will get into all of that later, but right now, I am raising funds for my run in Race for the Cure.

race-tee

And this year’s thank you gift that will be raffled off to those who support me is the Still Waters throw that got a first place in this year’s Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

still-water-throw

There is one catch, though. The throw will be in my weaving guild’s show that ends in June, so the winner of the throw will not actually receive it until June.

For every $5 donated in support of my running the Race for the Cure, you get an entry in the raffle for the Still Waters throw. And there will be more prizes to come.

Thank you for your support. And good luck!

Copyright 2013 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Winners!

We have winners! The winner of the shawl is Chuck Gardetto! The winner of the massage is Lynn Zwerling! The winner of the BFL scarf is Bonnie Becker Ramsey! And the winner of the Sea Monster scarf is Dorothy D’Ascanio!

I will talk about the actual race in my next post, but for now. Thank you all for your support!

Copyright 2012 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com.

More, More, More

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Thank you all so much for your support in Race for the Cure! We have raised over $1000, thanks to you!

And because I want more people to win, I am adding prizes!

In addition to the shawl and the massage from New Horizons Massage, I am raffling off the scarf that got a first at this past year’s Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

It is BFL wool, dyed by Fiber Optic Yarns. More specifics can be found about it here.

Also, I will be raffling off this scarf.

The fiber for this scarf is merino/silk/seacell dyed by Dragonfly Fibers. More about this scarf can be found here.

The drawing will be tomorrow at 8 PM Eastern, so there is still time! And if you have mailed in your contributions, please let me know so that I can include you in the drawing (the mail is a little slow!)

Thank you all again.

Copyright 2012 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

It’s Time

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So this summer, I spun up some superwash merino/bamboo roving that I purchased from Kimber of Fiber Optic Yarns at this year’s Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

And earlier this month, I teased you with the start of what it was to become.

Well, it is done. And it could be yours. Mr. Penney was gracious enough to model it for photos.

How can it be yours? For every $5 in sponsorship of me in the Race for the Cure, you get a ticket in the raffle for this shawl. The race is October 21, and the drawing for the shawl will be October 28 at 8PM Eastern time.

But the shawl isn’t the only thing up for grabs. A one-hour massage from New Horizons Massage will also be raffled off. How great is that!

This year’s race is very special to me. Thank you in advance for your support.

Copyright 2012 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Pretty in Pink

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Well, my niece, Colleen, is expecting a little girl (really soon!)

I don’t think anyone ever doubted that I would make her something. Because, well, really, must I explain?

The pattern for this matinee jacket is from a Hayfield pattern book from years ago. I am pretty sure that the pattern book is not available new anymore. The yarn is Kate’s Dragonfly Fibers Dragon Sock in the Conch Shell colorway. It knit up pretty quickly.

Of course, when I order something that is pink (or any light color), people that I normally purchase fiber from know that something is up. Go ahead, look back at my projects. I’ll wait.

See, I normally pick darker colors. So, yeah, when you see me making something in a color like pink you know it’s not something I am making for myself.

Yes, it’s about that time.

Copyright 2012 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Race for the Cure 2011 post-show

Race day, which was two weeks ago now, was a brisk but sunny day; and as usual, my stomach was turning before the event. The nervousness starts on the drive to the event, as the last few miles take an eternity to drive because traffic is so backed up. Granted, I have learned my lesson with that, but the traffic back up seems to get worse every year. A blessing and a curse, I guess.

Once the car was parked, I got myself to the starting line. I didn’t get a spot as close to the starting line this year as last year because I really don’t like worming my way through all of those people, jockeying for position. They all just kind of look at you like, “And who do you think you are?” And somehow, the response, “The one that is going to beat you to the finish line!” doesn’t seem appropriate.

Not jockeying for a position closer to the starting line turned out to be a big mistake, because my time (24:31.4) was close to a minute slower than last year. And all of that lost time was in the first mile, trying to get out from behind people who decided that maybe they will just walk instead. While the 1 mile clock said 7:00 when I past it last year, it said 8:15 when I passed it this year. Oh well, live and learn.

The actual race isn’t the primary reason for being there anyway.

Everybody there was racing for someone.

I wrote down who I was racing for.

Thank you all for your sponsorship to help me do this.

Now for the shawl.

It is completely finished and ready to go to the winner of the drawing, Joan Hajek.

It took me a while this year to come up with a project to make. Part of the problem is finding a project with some kind of pink in it that I will actually like doing, because I am not a pink person. Surprise! Then, in July, I got the last shipment from Spirit Trail Fiberworks fiber club. Of course, the thought of this shawl didn’t occur to me until the night that Irene hit us when I saw the notice that Jennifer had post on Ravelry that she had 10 ounces still available of the colorway. While the storm was raging away on us, I was messaging with Jennifer to get the rest of the superwash BFL. Good thing we didn’t lose power until later that night!

After spinning the fiber up, I had to figure out what pattern I was going to use to weave it. Since I was using the same yarn for both the warp and the weft, I wanted a pattern that didn’t instantly scream “PLAID!!!!” After playing around with different drawdowns (weaver-talk for how we figure out a weaving pattern), I settled on the one below.

It is what is called a progressive twill, which basically means a basic twill pattern that gets its starting point shifted over to a different set of treadles with each start of the repetition. I thought the long diagonal would be longer than any color repeats, and thus play down the plaid a bit. (BTW, I have nothing against plaids. It was just not something that I wanted to go for here.)

Overall, I think the idea was kind of successful.

On the loom, the shawl was sett at 15 ends per inch, with a weaving width of 16″. Coming off the loom, the shawl measured 14.5″ X 59″. After fulling, the shawl measures 13.25″ x 54″. None of those measurements include the fringe. I believe a good bit of the draw-in, take-up, and shrinkage is due to using wool singles, which have a great deal of energy to release. A plied yarn in a less elastic fiber probably wouldn’t have shrunk down so much.

Again, thank you all for your help and support. I already have next year’s fiber on order!

Copyright 2011 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com.