As Usual ~

Typical me.  We are leaving at 6:00 am tomorrow morning, and knowing DSO, he will actually be here at 5:45.  All will get done, and if not, oh well.  I guess I am doing pretty good for noon the day before departure.  The lawn is mowed and the houseplants watered.  Hooking projects are ready to go.  Of course I will not get half done of what I am taking, but a hooker must have hope 😁.  I have pulled out some summer clothes because here in northern Ohio, even on warmer days, I am still in winter clothes mode.

Nothing more has been accomplished on Askew.  My new goal is to finish the hooking before I leave for rug camp on May 12.  My consignment items are ready for the camp store, but since I am vending at a hook in a day after my return from camp, that still will need to be organized next week.

That's about it, dear blog friends.  Will be back upon my return . . . hopefully with a few adventures to share.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Hooking Detour ~

As previously stated, I had hoped to have Askew finished before running away from home on Monday.  I didn't see it happening, and the last two days I have worked on my guild's raffle rug, so now I am sure it is not going to happen.  I had said I would hook the background 😁  The rug was hooked in a smaller cut than I like to hook, but knew I could hook most of the background in my favorite 8 1/2 cut.  Here it is when I got it.

Wednesday at guild, the rug was passed to a volunteer who planned to hook the leaves.  The leaves are to be hooked in a dip dyed wool IN A 6 CUT!  That is WAY above my pay grade.  That is one long piece of wool dyed many shades.

Even though the leaves are not done, I decided to take the rug so I could hook the background on the way to Myrtle Beach.  I hooked a holding line around them.  The gold holding line will be removed and replaced with the dip dyed wool.

I wanted to outline the motifs before the "car hooking" which is a good thing because it took way longer than I thought it would.  Now all I have left is the easy peasy background . . . and there is not that much to hook.

I need to get a couple small projects ready to take along because I should have time to work on other things.  Askew is just way too big to work on in the SUV.  Thankfully DSO is very tolerant of wool dust, because anyone who works with wool can attest to the fact there is a lot of it.

Friday chuckle . . . 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Oh, Darn!!!

My first blog post with Askew was on March 6 and at that time I had 8 circles hooked.  I really hoped to be done by now, but progress has been very slow the last couple of weeks.  I am so tired of hooking it.  I have to force myself to pick up the hook.  It doesn't help that yard work season has begun, although my heart isn't in that either.  So far I have only used my worms, but I am running low on dark ones.  You know, blackish, dark gray and black.  I still have lots of browns, but since there are blacks in all the stripes already hooked, I need to continue to incorporate those.  Sadly, I now need to cut some strips.

Here is what is left of the "dark" worms . . . and most are not very dark.

Here is where she is today.

I am hoping to finish by Sunday, though I can't see that happening.  Monday we are leaving on a little get away to Myrtle Beach ~ never been there ~ and will drive down to Charleston for a day ~ been there for just a few hours.  I get home, am home for a week and then head to rug camp.  It will be crazy busy getting ready for camp, getting camp store consignment items organized and being ready to vend at a hook in the day after I get home from camp.  Just thinking about all that is making me tired.  Oh, and of course there will also be plenty of yard work to do since that yard guy never shows up 😁

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Playing in the Dye Pots ~

I am heading to rug camp in West Virginia in a few weeks.  Usually I agonize over what rug I am going to start in class.  I purchased this pattern on a Facebook buy and sell group and knew I wanted to work on this.  For me, it is a large pattern at 26" x 36".  I just love the funky horses, but not the color palate that was used.

I thought I would dye wool ~ easy peasy, no?  NO!  I decided to use formulas from this dye book.

I wanted a horse of a different color - teal.  I did not have any teals in my wool stash so . . . I had some leftover dye, a formula called Wild Flower Blue.

The results are MUCH brighter, but as we all know, it is so hard to get a good color!!!  And so much brighter than I want in my rug.

Then I used a formula called Champlain Blue.  Not teal.  I guess I'd call it a very soft primitive blue/gray/green.  I LOVE IT!  (But still not a truly accurate 😢 )

I figured I needed more of the Champlain Blue so made up another batch, once again with good results.  This color is a bit more accurate.

I also dyed a pot of Mustard Seed.  I'm not wild about it.  I think it looks too bright???  Looks more of a sunflower color to me.  But darn . . . in person looks much different.  Has more of an orange/brown color???  Hard to describe.

A couple posts back I mentioned about using a grey scale camera to check to see if there was enough value difference for wools that abutted each other.  I was not looking to purchase an actual camera.  At one time I had an app on my iPad but it seems to no longer be available.  Amanda, a no-reply blogger, said to look for Paint By Note Specs.  She said they are glasses with red lenses with the right shade of red to remove all color and should run about $20.  Saundra mentioned she had a green and red value finder.  I think I have one somewhere, but I did also find them on Amazon. 

This most likely can be applied to any craft . . . lol!

I have been fighting with my computer for two days.  I am suddenly having a problem transferring my phone photos to my desktop.  SO FRUSTRATING!!!  She is old so maybe she needs to go to the computer doctor?  I hope not.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Meet the Granddogs ~

My son's girlfriend got Zeke almost two years ago.  He is a pomsky.  What, pray tell, is a pomsky?  A pomeranian/husky mix 😁  So I wondered how that could be possible.  Well, it involves artificial insemination . . . lol.  Zeke looks so much like a husky, but in miniature.  He is not as big as he looks, is all legs and weighs a whopping 15#.

After my son's other dog, Kali, got her wings in early February, he was thinking about another dog.  But let me tell you I was totally floored when he said the birthday cash I gave him went for a puppy.  (I thought it was going towards a motorcycle trailer.)  Meet Zala.  She is just too stinkin' cute.  Another pomsky who is actually related to Zeke.  Her coat is considered merle.  Son said that he was looking up female names beginning with a Z, and found Zala which is Slovenian for beautiful.  My mom was 100% Slovenian, so I know she is smiling down on that puppy.  Yes, her eyes really are that blue.

Zala is all puppy for sure and tortures the heck out of Zeke.  I guess that is payback for how Zeke tormented Kali.

My son has a water problem in his back yard due to water runoff from the school yard that abuts his property.  Zeke and Zala are just like kids who cannot stay out of a puddle.  

Can you say bath time?

Now as you know I am a huge advocate of rescue and purchasing a "designer dog" is something I would never do, but I can't control what others do.  When I was growing up, designer dogs were know as mutts!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

One Plus One ~

Yard work has not yet begun other than having mowed a few times, so I have been spending more time than normal hooking.  Progress has been made on Askew and like I said before, I am getting mighty bored with her, but will soldier on.  I don't need another unfinished project.  I am still using only worms or small bits of wool that are in the worm tubs.  

The other day I was heading to DSO's and needed something small to work on, so decided to start on another mat that will be given away.  I have hooked Mr. Jingles (a pattern by Notforgotten Farm) several times.  It will either be another door prize for my guild hook in or given to the other guild I belong to.  This other guild is collecting small mats that will be donated to a group that will then use the proceeds from the sales for kids' programs.  

I know why I have so many darn worms.  I have cut wool twice for the background on Mr. Jingles and each time there was not enough contrast.  Hopefully this wool will work.  I really should figure how to use a greyscale camera so I could avoid this problem!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

WOW! WOW! WOW!

I wish I could claim this picture as mine, but I can't.  It was taken by a friend of DSO's daughter.  Even though a good picture, it does not capture the magnificence of totality.

WOW!  WOW!  WOW!  Those are the adjectives I have for having witnessed a total solar eclipse.  I had been sweating the weather for days.  It was sunny this morning but the forecast called for cloudy skies during the eclipse.  Yes, clouds came in but not enough to ruin the experience.  Temps were in the mid 60's.  Just a perfect day.  And what an experience it was!  I rank this up there with the time I saw the space shuttle launch back in the late 80's.  Something I will never forget.

My pictures are terrible, but I will share one I took during totality.

During totality, you did not need to wear the eclipse glasses.  Because I live so near the centerline, our totality time was nearly 4 minutes!!!

This cool shot was taken by my sister-in-law.

The partial eclipse seen through the round holes of a colander.

I don't know if the crowds materialized as predicted or there were any shortages.  I am so blessed to have been able to experience this magnificent occurrence. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Total Solar Eclipse ~ April 8, 2024

 

Northern Ohio has gone eclipse crazy.  I did not realize that is was such an historic event.  According to examiner.org, the last total solar eclipse to traverse Ohio skies was more than 200 years ago in 1806, and the state won't see another until 2444.

Here is the path of the eclipse.

This is how it will travel thru the northern half of Ohio.  Lorain County, where I reside, is in the centerline totality area.  You can see us just west of Cleveland.

I've circled Lorain where I live.  The absolute center line is only a couple miles from me.

Our county alone is expecting anywhere from a half to a million and a half people.  We have been warned to gas up our cars and have food and water on hand due to the influx of people.  All hotels have been booked for many months and there are no porta-potties to be had 😁.  Now we just need to hope and pray for favorable weather.  The forecast keeps changing from cloudy to partly sunny.  At the moment the weatherguessers are saying partly sunny.  I hope the weather gods will be smiling down on us tomorrow.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Happy Birthday to ~

~  ERNESTINE ~

I fostered a pug named Cheerilee thru Ohio Pug Rescue back in August of 2017.  Within the week, DSO adopted her.  She was 5 years old at the time and an owner surrender so her exact birthdate was known.  Here is the official "adoption" photo.  I think they both look pretty happy.

He changed her name to Ernestine.  Remember the Lily Tomlin character Ernestine on Laugh In?  How she snorted and chortled? 

Pugs do the same.  Hence her name.  

Here she is today at 12.  Look at that gray face (and a few pounds extra pounds 😁).  Those gray faces just melt my heart.

She has been an absolute joy.  Unconditional love.  I highly recommend pet ownership, and please remember . . . 

ADOPT ~ DON'T SHOP

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

One Year Ago Today ~

It's hard to believe it has been a year since Molly got her pug wings.  I sure do miss that little stinker.  A few of my favorite pictures.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😢

Lauren