Of Wins and Wiener Dogs

I'm happy to report that Penny has completely recovered from being spayed. She had a very smooth recovery process with no problems, and I'm proud that she didn't have to wear the "Cone of Shame" because she didn't mess with her stitches at all! All of us are glad to have that behind us.

The area continues to recover from the floods. As it turns out, my mom's roof had three pretty significant leaks during all the rains, and I'm working with the roofers and insurance company to get her house re-roofed. It's always an interesting process taking care of stuff like that from an hour away. At least the insurance adjuster has agreed that the roof needs to be completely replaced, so we're hopeful we can get the process going and everything done before the next deluge. There are tarps on the roof now to protect the house from any further damage.

But on to happier things...

I got a note from my friend Melody that I had won her blog contest! I was totally blown away -- I never win anything (well, I take that back... I did win a blender in a raffle when I was in the 9th grade... I still have it and it still works). Behold the loveliness:
It's a hand dyed laceweight yarn from Kaalund Yarns in Australia. The picture is horrible; it doesn't do justice to the beauty of the yarn. And Mel very kindly included a beautiful shawl pattern for me to knit. Mel, thank you so very much!!! I look forward to casting on and I hope I can do justice to the wonderful yarn!

As for wiener dogs... We took Penny to the annual HowlOWeenie sponsored by one of the dachshund rescue groups here in Atlanta. We joked that it was Penny's big "coming out" party after her spay.

Did I mention that there were wiener dogs??
Some were in costume...There was even an Elvis sighting...
Penny found a new fan:
All in all, we had a good time. Penny was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and all the dogs. She does well with other dogs on a "one on one" basis, but she tends to be a bit timid when confronted by a lot of them at once. I think the socialization was good for her though.

Now, this next bit may not be for the faint of heart... but I actually finished something!
Granted, it's only an ornament -- The Sunflower Seed ornament from the 2008 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue, but it does represent the most stitching that I've done in the past 9 months. Penny's settling down to the point where I can get a needle and thread out and not worry about her grabbing it out of my hand. (I do, however, still have to worry about where I put it down, or it will be grabbed and taken across the room...)

I also started Penny's sweater for the winter:
For those of you interested, it's the "Olly Sweater" out of Doggie Knits, and it was specifically designed to fit a dachshund, so I'm hoping there won't be a lot of tweaking to fit that long, low body. I'm making it out of a soft, Berroco merino washable wool and I'll include a hole for her harness to clip through so she can wear the harness under the sweater rather than over it.

Whew! That's the catch up! Hope everyone has had a good couple of weeks.