Knitted dog sweater

I just finished knitting a medium dog sweater I'll be donating to ElderDog Canada, which will be sold in their online shop, used directly as needed in ElderDog activities or included in special ElderDog fundraising. It’s considered a large-sized sweater (the chest is 18 inches). Because the colour of the yarn was monotone, I included a thin variegated strand of yarn that provided random subtle colour.

I found the pattern at Yarnspirations.

Man of Kent, Toronto, ON

Gord and I had supper this evening at Man of Kent on Ossington Avenue. 

I had a beef and ale pie and he had a chicken, mushroom and bacon pie. Both had mash, mushy peas and gravy. They were really good and we’d get them again. 

My beef and ale pie

Gord's chicken, mushroom and bacon pie

Allana was our server ... she was friendly and took good care of us.

Open Cribbage Tournament, Royal Canadian Legion - Branch 31 Mount Dennis, Toronto, ON

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 31 Mount Dennis (on Weston Road) had a cribbage tournament this afternoon and Gord and I were there. We've been going to them for a few years and it's always a fun afternoon.

There were 52 teams and the top prize was $340! 

Honeycomb (aka Newfie) knitted mittens

I just finished knitting a pair of Honeycomb (aka Newfie) mittens. I haven’t made a pair since October and I thought these would be fun colours.

I used 4 ply yarn and 5mm double pointed needles.

Wrist

1. With A, cast on 42 sts
2. Knit 1, purl 1 for 18 rows
3. Purl
4. Purl, increasing 2 stitches on each needle for a total of 48 stitches

Pattern

1.  *Knit 4 with B, slip 2 purlwise with A*, repeat to the end of row
2. Repeat this row 4 more times (5 in total)
3. Purl 2 rows with A
4. Knit 1 with B, * slip 2 purlwise with A, knit 4 with B*, repeat to the last three stitches, knit 3 with B
5. Repeat this row 4 more times (5 in total)
6. Purl 2 rows with A
7.  *Knit 4 with B, slip 2 purlwise with A*, repeat to the end of row
8. Repeat this row 4 more times (5 in total)
9. Purl 2 rows with A
10. Knit 1 with B, * slip 2 purlwise with A, knit 4 with B*, repeat to the last three stitches, knit 3 with B
11. Repeat this row 4 more times (5 in total)
12. Purl 2 rows with A

Thumb

1. In step 12 above, purl 2, put 7 stitches on a stitch holder for the thumb and cast on 7 stitches, purl to the end.  Purl 1 row.

Mitten

1. Knit the pattern until long enough (I did 6)
2. Knit 1 row
3. *Knit 4, knit 2 together*, repeat to the end
4. Knit 2 rows
5. *Knit 3, knit 2 together*, repeat to the end
6. Knit 2 rows
7. *Knit 2, knit 2 together*, repeat to the end
8. Knit 2 rows
9. *Knit 2 together*, repeat to the end
10. Thread the yarn through remaining the loops and pull tight
11. Weave end inside

Thumb

1. With A, pick up the 7 stitches from the holder
2. Pick up 7 stitches around the thumb hole for a total of 14 stitches
3. Knit to fit length of thumb
4. Knit 2 together all around
5. Thread the yarn through the remaining loops and pull tight
6. Weave end inside

Book ~ "Mocha" (2012) Ellen Miles

From Goodreads ~ Charles and Lizzie Peterson love puppies. Their family fosters these young dogs, giving them love and proper care, until they can find the perfect forever home.

Charles and his family are visiting relatives in the country when a stranger drops off a puppy. Mocha, a Bernese Mountain dog, was running around on the highway without a leash or tags. Can Charles find this adventurous pup a perfect place to live?

Charles and his older sister, Lizzie, are in elementary school. The Peterson family have a puppy named Buddy plus they foster dogs and help them find homes.

The Petersons are visiting relatives in the country for a few weeks to celebrate Thanksgiving. There is a knock on the door and a stranger has a puppy he had rescued from a highway. He leaves quickly, leaving the puppy, who they name Mocha. Mocha is taken to the vet to see if she's chipped and it's discovered she's not. Mocha is very friendly and loves everyone so it shouldn't be hard to find her the perfect home.

Though this book is a quick read and directed at elementary-aged children, I found it entertaining. There is a learning experience and a puppy tip at the end. It is written in third person perspective and first person from Mocha's point of view. It is the twenty-ninth in the Puppy Place series, which currently has 64 books in the series, and works as a stand alone.

Knitted dog sweater

I just finished knitting a medium dog sweater I'll be donating to ElderDog Canada, which will be sold in their online shop, used directly as needed in ElderDog activities or included in special ElderDog fundraising. It’s considered a large-sized sweater (the chest is 18 inches).

I found the pattern at Yarnspirations.

Book ~ "Teddy" (2013) Ellen Miles

From Goodreads ~ Charles and Lizzie Peterson love puppies. Their family fosters these young dogs, giving them love and proper care, until they can find the perfect forever home.

From the first time Lizzie sees Teddy the Pomeranian, she knows that this alert little puppy has some special talents but he just won't stop barking! When all of the other members of the Peterson family lose their patience, Lizzie sticks it out by training this pup to be helpful around the house.

Lizzie and her younger brother, Charles, are in elementary school. The Peterson family have a puppy named Buddy plus they foster dogs and help them find homes.

Their vet asks the Petersons to foster Teddy, a Pomeranian. He is a very yappy dog and his owners had asked that she perform surgery so he couldn't bark. Instead she suggested that another home be found for Teddy. As the Petersons discover, Teddy does bark A LOT and Lizzie is determine to teach him to not bark as much and find him the perfect home.

Though this book is a quick read and directed at elementary-aged children, I found it entertaining. There is a learning experience and a puppy tip at the end. It is written in third person perspective and first person from Teddy's point of view. It is the twenty-eighth in the Puppy Place series, which currently has 64 books in the series, and works as a stand alone.

Book ~ "Hold My Girl" (2023) Charlene Carr

From Goodreads ~ Katherine is a woman full of obsessions. Everything clean, everything perfect, all the time. After seven years of trying - and failing - to conceive, she finally gives birth to Rose, her IVF miracle child. But she’s afraid that Rose may not be her daughter; her pale skin doesn’t match Katherine’s own.

Tess never got her happy ending. She took on IVF alongside Katherine and a group of hopeful mothers but her daughter, Hanna, was stillborn. After a series of poor choices, she’s divorced, broke and stuck in a job that’s below her skill set.

Ten months later, Katherine and Tess get a call from the fertility clinic that reveals shocking news: the two women’s eggs were switched. While Katherine’s perfect life beings to crumble around her, for Tess it’s the glimmer of hope she needs to get her life back on track. But it will take a custody battle to decide who deserves to be Rose’s mother, a battle that will push both women to the brink.

Katherine and Patrick had been trying for years to have a baby. Tess had also been trying to have a baby and though she and her husband eventually divorced, she decides to do it alone using a sperm donor. Both women become pregnant via IVF. Katherine delivers a healthy girl they name Rose. Unfortunately Tess' baby, who she names Hannah, is stillborn and because of complications, Tess will never be able to get pregnant again. While Katherine and Patrick are professionally successful and seem to have a perfect life, Tess is working a job that is below her skill level and using booze and men to numb her unhappiness.

Almost a year later it's discovered that someone at the fertility clinic had switched their eggs ... it was Katherine's egg that had been mixed with a sperm donor and that's the baby Tess had carried (Hannah) and it was Tess' egg that had been mixed with Patrick's sperm and that's the baby Katherine had carried (Rose). Needless to say, Tess wants her baby (Rose) and Katherine and Patrick want to keep Rose since biologically Patrick is her father and Katherine had carried and birthed her. The three can't come up with a solution so it goes to mediation and then court. There is a lot of dirt in Tess' background that can be used against her in a custody battle but as it turns out, Patrick and Katherine also have their own secrets that might hurt them.

This was an interesting topic for a story. Who is the actual mother ... the one who provided the egg or the one who carried the baby and was raising her? Apparently in Nova Scotia where the story takes place, there was no precedent (and maybe Canada?). Both Katherine and Tess thought they were the "real" mother. I thought the writing was okay, though I found the story a bit long and it could have been tighter. It's written in third person perspective in Katherine and Tess' voices. I wasn't overly sympathetic to either Katherine or Tess ... Katherine seemed too cold and Tess kept making dumb mistakes even when she knew so much was on the line. As a head's up, there is swearing.