I'm a dog chasing cars...

I can't believe its Sunday already - the weekends fly by much too fast - but I am ready for a lazy creative day at home with the dogs, some yarn, needles and a just maybe, even a plan (other than trying to stay cool despite these wretched temps and out of the thunder storms)! If I can get my creative mojo flowing, I just might even get out the beading supplies, which would lead to a brand new item in my etsy store!

I feel like one of the cool kids since we caught an afternoon showing of The Dark Knight in IMAX yesterday (yes, we ordered our tickets well in advance... all showings were sold out for the entire weekend), followed by a delicious dinner at an Italian place. I enjoyed the movie and especially Heath's performance as the Joker and all his memorable quotes... "I'm a dog chasing cars. I don't have plans. I just do things. I'm not a schemer." Christian Bale's Batman voice left a little to be desired (yes, I just might still be a Val Kilmer Batman fan...). All in all, it was a great film and very cool to see in IMAX. There were quite a few city wide shots from above... simply stunning!

I did some doggy shopping last week and was delighted to find a nice summery toy for my Dogs on Thursday summer swap pal. It was a nice idea, no?

Was being the key word there... as you see, while I was bringing in bags from the car, getting the mail, etc., this happened....

Ok, so I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture of Lola tearing around the house with the new toy (tags still attached) in her mouth, but once I realized what she had... well, we had a little fun with it. She's a sneaky devil who tries her hardest to stick her head in to every bag that comes in the house, no matter what's in it, but I had thought I'd put these bags up high enough out of reach... then I thought again....

What toy Mommy??? You mean it wasn't for me?

Sophie seemed to think if it wasn't meant for Lola, it must've been meant for her...

All while my boys just carried on, laughing at the girls who got caught red handed camo pawed... guess its back to the doggy store this week for another toy for our pal...

Speaking of the DOT summer swap, I just had to share the cutest email I received from my spoiler...

Fetch the tissue,
The ribbon and glue.
We're filling a box
That's heading for you.

We're putting in fun stuff
And good stuff to eat.
It's for you and your doggies
To help beat the heat.

So watch for the mailman
As you sit by the pool.
The Dogday Swap
Will help you stay cool.

Isn't she a creative one? I just can't wait to find out who she is!!!

Well, back to my lazy creative Sunday...

REVIEW: Rowan Autumn Winter 2008 Yarns

Rowan Autumn Winter 2008 Yarns
~ Colourscape Chunky
~ purelife British Sheep Breeds
~ purelife Organic Wool
Available: August, 2008
Where to Find: Rowan Yarns

I'm really excited to tell you about three beauteous new yarns from Rowan's Autumn Winter 2008 line -- all are sure to become fast favorites in my own yarn stash.

First up is Colurscape Chunky. Colourscape is a brand new label from Rown, with the Chunky kicking it all off. This gorgeous variegated yarn is 100% lambs wool (mmmm...soooooo squishy), which is incredibly soft to the touch and an absolute dream to knit with. I know because I couldn't resist casting on with it and have a Cross Stitch scarf in progress...

The yarn just glides right over your needles and the colorway is vibrantly stunning! The yarn has a true hand spun feel to it and due to the specialized manner in which Colourscape is made, only a limited amount of each colorway can be produced by the mill... truly making it a must-have (if not must-hoard!) yarn for fall. Colourscape Chunky will be available this August in eight unique colorways.

Rowan's ethical brand purelife is launching its second yarn, British Sheep Breeds - a yarn that is both ethical and sustainable, perfect for the discerning knitter who is careful about the impact she makes on the environment. This soft, simple wool is produced from annually renewable resources, shorn and blended from four British breeds (Jacob, Black Welsh, Blue-faced Leicester and Suffolk) and spun into five wonderfully pure, undyed shades.

British Sheep Breeds is supported by The British Sheep Breeds Collection, featuring 12 new designs by Marie Wallin. The yarn and pattern book will be available this August.

Finally, we have the third yarn to be launched under the purelife brand, Organic Wool Naturally Dyed. This wool is incredibly soft and luxurious and like the British Sheep Breeds, is both ethical and sustainable. Organic Wool is produced from the fleece of sheep grazed on land free from pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and is then cleaned and processed in an environmentally friendly fashion. The colors come from natural plant dyes in eight dazzlingly beautiful colors reflective of their natural origns - from the chalky stone of parsley through the rich green of horsetail.

Organic Wool is supported by The Organic Wool Collection, featuring 12 modern and easy to wear designs by Marie Wallin. The yarn and pattern book will be available this August.

As mentioned, I am truly loving knitting with the Colourscape Chunky and I can't wait to find the perfect project for both the British Sheep Breeds and the Organic Wool!

The winner of the Doggie Knits book from a previous review was drawn via random number generator... (beginning with this drawing and going forward, I've opted to give every comment 2 numbers for the generator so that #1 and # last - who are rarerly ever drawn - have a fair shot... To use 22 comments as an example, #1 would get 1 and 23 ... #11 would get 11 and 33 ... #22 would get 22 and 44)

The first number was 25, which would have been Nancy, however since she asked me to pick another winner in her comment... next was 28, which matches up to # 6... Congratulations Sherri (be sure to stop by her blog and read about Oliver)! I will be in touch via email to get your mailing address!

4-legged Gene Simmons?

Last night was knitting night and you know what the means.... well, it means that today is Dogs on Thursday and, of course, one more step to TGIF! I cast on my Virginia Shawl for the A Knitter's Garden KAL, knit a few rows... then ripped it out and cast on again (hint for those KAL... watch those first few stitches at the beginning of each row to make sure you're getting your YO in there before the P2T!). Think I might work on it tonight while watching Greatest American Dog. Our house is routing for Tillman, since I have him in the pool over on Ravelry, but there are quite a few cuties on the show.

Now on to the usual Thursday cuteness...

Sophie's [you know the drill... click their linked names for more cute pics] answer to the heat wave? When she's not napping, she seems to be laughing...

It seems we've been watching too many reruns of Gene Simmons Family Jewels lately, as Tut seems to have picked up on Gene's infamous trait...

Zeus and Lola have been on Chucky look out (please excuse the kids' window sill disgrace artwork...)...

Enjoy the rest of your day... and remember, its almost the weekend!

REVIEW: Poochie-Bells

Poochie-Bells
Classic Collection
Where To Find: Poochie-Pets

I've seen doggy door bells before... coming across some in pet boutiques, magazines, online, etc. However, found that a lot of them came from companies that were so pretentious, you practically had to be a millionaire to afford a bell... for your dog to ring when he wants to go out and do a number 2! I'd actually been using an old Christmas bell, tied with a red ribbon to my door handle for years.... but not anymore! Poochie-Bells came to my rescue when they sent out a package for review.

Poochie-Bells are not only made with quality and functionality in mind, but they are chic and affordable too! Each one is handmade in the USA (scoring them bonus points from me!) from durable grosgrain ribbon and heavy duty bells, which are custom made just for Poochie-Bells (no ordinary craft bells to be found here!). The two sets of strategically placed bells are carefully folded and snapped securely into place so that both large and small breeds can easily reach either set - and the durable bells won't be destroyed, ensuring your dog's safety. The four bells are just right so that you can easily hear them, but not so loud that they are overbearing (important for those of us with pooches who are smart enough to learn just how to annoy their humans).

Each Poochie-Bell comes neatly packaged along with a super shiny dog tag and complete instructions on how to train your dog. The dog tag is an adorable extra touch, with the Poochie-Bells logo on one side and "Ring...Ring I want to go out!" on the other (for my fellow craftsters, it looks super cute on your knitting/project bag). The easy instructions are clear and concise, and installation takes 2 seconds - just slip it over any door knob. They would make excellent gifts for all of the doggy homes on your gift giving list this holiday season!

The blue striped Poochie-Bell shown above has replaced that old Christmas bell on our front door and not only does it look great, but we're working on training Sophie to use it now (she didn't really reach the previous old bell).

Check out their website for some fun celebrities & their poochie-bells pics!

CONTEST! Thanks to Poochie-Bells, I have a very chic pink & brown polka dot one to giveaway to one of you! To enter, simply leave a comment here telling me how your dog(s) currently alerts you that he/she wants to go out. Maybe he/she already rings a bell... or does a fancy dance... or howls like crazy? Please be sure to leave a means of contact if your email does not automatically attach to your comment. Deadline to enter is Tuesday, July 22nd at midnight. Winner will be selected by random number generator.

Stay Tuned for Many Upcoming Reviews, including Namaste Bags, PolarKnit fleece yarn, Rachael Ray Nutrish, Paco Collars, Tilli Thomas yarns, brand new yarns from Rowan, Signature Needle Arts and more!

FO Monday!

We had a new arrival in the family (Matt's cousin's new little boy, Ethan Ryan) late Friday night/early Saturday morning, which prompted a quick weekend knit... the Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch. I had Rowan's All Season Cotton in hand - in both pink and blue, waiting on the official call ... and blue it was!

A very quick knit... I cast on Saturday before heading off to an arena football game and finished it at Matt's racing yesterday.... off it went in today's mail with the cutest little doggy (are you surprised?) outfit!

I even got to use my newest project bag from GypsyKnits. Kathy's bags are the best small/medium project bags around - complete with wrist strap and metal carabiner clip (take note of the dog bone one on this bag!), perfect for knitting on the go. When she inquired about some of my stitch markers, we set up a trade and then she showed me this new doggy fabric she got in... how cute is this??

Now, since I still have a skein of Rowan in pink, I'm going to whip up another umbilical cord hat for a friend who's expecting a baby girl this fall...

Enjoy the rest of your Monday... I'll leave you with a few recent wildlife shots.

Chucky (or maybe its Woody?) hanging out in the storage room...

A pretty butterfly...

Some of the 101 duckies who came to see if we had any bread in our pockets visit us while we were walking around Essex...

Last Row

TGIF! I went to see Bon Jovi last night (love them!) and am a bit tired today, so this will be a quick post. The show was fantastic, as always, but I don't think we could have been any further from the stage...

Seriously, we were all the way on the other side of the arena, straight back from the stage, up in the balcony... last row. These are not the awesome seats I'm used to for seeing Jovi! Ah well.. we still had fun anyway. Jon got a little bit closer to us for a couple songs...

I'm also happy that I choose right when I picked getting tickets for the second night in Boston ... we got the longer and better set! Songs they didn't play the night before and were "must hears" on my list included Raise Your Hands (my fave Jovi song live!) and Bad Medicine w/ Shout. Plus we got Jon's impersonation of Mick Jagger when they threw a little Start Me Up in to Sleep When I'm Dead and during I Love This Town, the crowd went nuts when they plastered clips of our Boston teams on the big screen! We even got to sing Happy Birthday to Richie when they brought his cake out onstage and an extra encore song - Twist & Shout!

Since I have no knitting content to show you (did I fool you with that Last Row title?), I wanted to share a couple of family photos from last Saturday's belated Dad's Day lunch up in Essex, MA (mmm... fried lobster tails... fried clams...). It really means a lot to me that so many of my friends continue to ask about Mom's colon cancer (she was declared cancer free in May) and who have been checking in as my Dad begins treatment for his squamous cell carcinoma. His treatments began on Monday and he is currently undergoing radiation once per day and chemo once per week. Since they expect the radiation to cause throat pain and difficulty swallowing, he did have the g-tube put in so he will be ready. So far, so good... and all are in happy spirits!

Here's my Mom & Dad...

Matt's Dad & Sue (aka my "momsue" not to be confused with my Mom, Sue)...

We had a wonderful time... and no, I didn't take a picture of the fried lobster from Woodman's... sorry!

BARks and Woofy Cakes

It's Thursday again and time to wish Dogs on Thursday a Happy Woof-birthday! For those of you who only visit for my DOT posts, please be sure to scroll back to yesterday's review & giveaway - you'll appreciate it!

Now on to pictures... and lots of them!

Lola [as always, click links for more woofy pics!] celebrated her 6th birthday on July 4th .. with cake and toys, of course!

What 6 years old looks like...


Mmmmm... cake!

The birthday girl and her toys! I found these cool felted dog toys (a VW bug and a doggy head) at Woof It Down, as well as a tuggy fleece toy.

Everyone had fun checking out the new toys...

Kids will be kids... don't mind the mess of toys (and, um yeah, maybe I need to vacuum)...

Sophie: "I heard there was cake out here.... did someone say cake??"

Besides birthday excitement, we also got our July-August 2008 issue of The BARk in the mail... featuring my two hams, Teutul & Lola on the "smiling" pages! Its been a full year since I sent this picture in to them (along with some others), but they made the cut! The mag was quite popular, as you can see...

Lola got first dibs on checking herself out...

Teutul pushed his way to the front of the line next, singing "I'm too sexy for The BARk...too sexy for The BARk... whatcha tink bout dat?"

Zeus and Sophie each enjoyed a peak at their brother & sister...

Anyone notice Sophie is smiling? It just might be the single benefit of this wretched heat wave... panting dogs = smiling dogs = something Sophie doesn't do all that often, especially with her overbite!

I just adore this one and emailed it off to The BARk for future consideration... who knows, maybe she'll make the July-August 2009 issue!