Chat Back for August 29

Answering questions from comments and email.

Dorothy asked . . .

Are Barbara Walker's books still available?

The Stitch Treasuries are available at Schoolhouse Press

The Second (red) and the Third (yellow) are my favorites, with the First also being frequently used.. The Fourth (green) has been completely worthless to me. It's got some weird things in it and I can't remember seeing anything pretty inside.

Note that the swatch pictures are in black and white. However they all show the stitches in fine detail unlike some of my other stitch pattern books where the color interferes with the clarity.

In the First and Second, the patterns are not charted. Easily remedied with pencil and graph paper. I often chart the patterns, especially when I'm going to be knitting in the round.

It's all the many clear, knowledgeable comments, techniques, and wisdom of Barbara Walker that makes these books so special to me, more than making up for any shortcomings.

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Dorothy also asked . . .

Are you still going to doggie school? Is Sunny doing better?

Pappy and I still go to doggy school on Thursday. In fact last week I wrote a blog post about his doggy school pool party.

Pappy is 11 to 13 now (mature rescue dogs often don't have an exact age) and gets so tired at two hour long doggy school he can hardly hold his head up by the end of class. We sit out some of his least favorite activities and that helps a little. He's had blood work done and a complete senior dog physical. Nothing wrong with him. He's just getting old.

Sunny is off all steroids right now. Her back is fused and rigid, but doesn't give her pain unless she jars something out place.

She doesn't do doggy school anymore. It's impossible to just go for obedience without her seeing the other dogs jump the hurdles and doing other things she loves and isn't allowed to do.

I'm sure she misses it. She's been going since she was a little puppy. I considered taking her just for the obedience, but Dr. Baker said, "not yet", and I think he was gently trying to say "better never". The next time she hurts her back may be the time we can't make it better. So sad.

We continuously watch and worry over her. And, she's more spoiled than ever.