Snuggly Isis

A week ago, I decided to give Isis a haircut, her hair was getting out of control and she was obviously uncomfortable. Normally I take her to the groomers, but the last time I did; the groomer plucked her ears and was just generally unpleasant. So I thought I'd have a go at doing it myself.

I don't think I did too bad, it's a bit rough - but I think it just adds to the general scruffy puppy look!

Unfortunately, since then, she's really been feeling the cold!

I found this fab pattern through Ravelry and thought I'd make one for her.

I normally loathe clothes on dogs, I don't see the point. Dogs aren't supposed to wear dresses, but this falls under the same category as her raincoat - so it's ok!

Pattern: Ribbed Sweater Vest
Yarn: Sirdar Bigga
Source: Mia and Maddie Designs
Time: 2 hours

Spring

The weekend was glorious! The skies were blue and the sun was shining. On Sunday morning, after waking to this cuteness,

we decided to take full advantage and go for a little walk.

Here is Isis sniffing daisies, doesn't she look like she's having fun?

Lately…

So, let me think, what's been happening?

Well, Isis has had a hair cut…doesn't she look gorgeous!? I also bought her a warm coat as she seems to feel the cold after she's been to the groomers.

I decided to treat Mum for her birthday and take her to London to see Phantom of the Opera in April, the tickets arrived a couple of days ago and I'm excited already! I'd also like to see Wicked and Mamma Mia this year if I can.

I went to Mel's today and look what she had! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, she let me try some and it was bloody delicious. I must keep my eyes open and treat myself to some lol!

A week ago a worldwide KAL that I arranged on Ravelry to do Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights. I showed you a pic of my progress. Well, I REALLY hated those bloody loops. I hated them enough that I realised those loops would prevent me wearing it when it's (eventually) complete.

So I frogged it!

I then spent nearly 48 hours working out how to do the scallop edging from Magic Carpet Ride in its place; I had some kind of weird block though because my brain just wouldn't work. I took both patterns, yarn and needles to our local knitting group and sat with paper and pencil and Joy and we did some math. In the end I had an epiphany and I actually made a swatch shudders. This made calculating things much easier and we worked out that I needed to start with 343 stitches.

It's a very difficult pattern and I spent most of yesterday knitting, ripping and re-knitting the same four rows. Today I'm passed those rows and speeding along reasonably nicely. I'm 25 rows into the first set of charts and I'm starting to enjoy it. The beads are mega tiny, but they sparkle in the light and look well nice! I wonder if I'll still love it when I've knitted the whole thing (which is supposed to be 90" when blocked) lol.

Do you think it's a bit cold? Sugar obviously thinks so LOL

Square 3, Kyle @ college, on the floor...

Here's Square 3 by Marian Tabler, took me a while longer this one, couldn't get the gist of the pattern and had to rip back every now and then. But, I finally finished it about 2 o'clock this morning. I'm aiming for a square a day -- I have no life lol.

Kyle started college proper this week, he seems to be enjoying it although we have had some backlash tantrums at home. This is nothing unusual, just his way of venting due to the huge change he's gone through with his routine this year. Leaving high school and starting college must be pretty scary for him!

I've started sleeping on the floor, I've been doing so since Monday night to see if it helps at all with my back…I must be totally honest and say that I do think there's a slight improvement, although I was bloody cold the first night - but I added an extra duvet and I've been fine since…as you can see Isis (who has had all her coat chopped) loves going to bed!

Shopping for Isis

Isis destroyed a few of her toys a couple of days ago - literally pulled the stuffing out of them! So I bought her some new ones today, we got this huge long thing that's got TWO squeakers in it…she's racing around the house having great fun!

Isis

Took Isis for a walk in the park today on the way to visit Mason, my godson. She had a great time running about and I managed to get a few pictures before cam batteries died!
We spent a couple of hours visiting with Mel & Mason (who's miserable because he's teething!) then walked home through the park.

Bath Day

Today was bath day for Isis, she was sorely in need of it, she was absolutely FILTHY! But doesn't she look gorgeous now she's clean?

Isis update

Isis is much better now, she's showing much more interest in the world around her, she's eating and drinking and going to the toilet - we started off with small walks around the block and yesterday I took her up on the downs with Kim, which she thoroughly enjoyed!

I spoke to the vet on Thursday, he was very pleased that she's doing so well and has decided to stop her antibiotics.

After a £700 bill - I'm definitely going to invest in some insurance!

Isis @ the vets, knitting

Took Isis back to the vet today for another check up - her temperature was normal, thank god. She's eating more now and is definitely happier about things.

I'm going to spend tomorrow looking around for pet insurance because I think I've spent about £600 at the vets over the past fortnight!



We held our first Island Knit and natter last night, there were 10 of us in total and it was great! We met upstairs in Joe's and we must've looked like a bunch of right weirdo's all knitting and gassing away! I thoroughly enjoyed it (apart from the hard chairs they have in there!) and can't wait til the next one!

I've almost finished a crochet blanket I'm making for Kerry's baby, she now has (nearly) two blankets and two matinee jackets, I also have a dress in progress for her. As soon as I've finished the crochet blanket, I'll make a start on a matinee jacket and bonnet set I have a pattern and wool for.

My purple pattern folder - PPF - is about to gain weight, I've just been reading this thread and I sooooooooo want to do it, Jess has already informed me that she'd love another blanket, but I'd like to do it for Mum - maybe as a Christmas present, trouble is, I've got so much more queued lol!

I hate knitting/crocheting without doing something else, staring at needles without glancing away gives me a headache, ideally I either knit when I've got company or when there's something to watch on TV, unfortunately, I just don't have anything to watch right now - that's not good!

I have to apologise to Kerry - she shouted at me for posting that pic of her in my opening post and demanded to know why I don't have better pic of her lol

Isis

It's erm........4.15am - I'm awake, still............again! This is a common occurrence which seems to be becoming more and more frequent lately, wonder if it's the medication I'm on, I shall ask when I see the doc later.

I decided to put all my photo's onto memory stick, trouble is they're all on snapfish and it takes ages to save each individual photo back onto my pc - they don't seem to have a facility for mass download, but they do have a mass upload. Bit inconvenient!

My poor puppy has been ill lately, her name is Isis and she's a Shih Tzu, she's nearly 8 months old and about a week ago, she stopped eating. I took her to the vet and they said her temperature was up, they gave her a shot and told me to take her back on Friday, which I did.

Temperature was normal, so they sent me home.

On Saturday Mel was here, she was forcing me to do housework (tut!) and I knew Isis wasn't right as she still hadn't eaten. But then she ate half a can of food and I was starting to feel a lot better about the whole thing, even though she wasn't herself.

Anyway, Mel and I were having a tea break from the cleaning, when Isis suddenly woke up from her sleep and started screaming, she came running over to me and it was obvious that she was in pain. I picked her up and tried to reassure her, then I took her out to the garden, thinking she may be constipated as it's a problem she has had in the past.

She would only walk a few steps, then stop and sit, her back was slightly hunched. I picked her up and took her back inside. I put her on my bed while I phoned the vet and she started throwing up. The vet, Nicola, and I decided I should take her in for an emergency appt.

Her temperature was 105.5, apparently it's supposed to be around the 100 mark. Nicola decided to keep Isis in, I was devastated! Isis hasn't spent a night away from me since I got her!

She spent the weekend doing tests on Isis, I had to nag for information, which I wasn't too happy about, but Nicola was very honest with me and told me she was baffled. She didn't know why Isis wasn't eating or why her temperature kept going up and down.

On Monday morning, she told me Isis seemed happier in herself and that I could go and collect her because she would be more relaxed at home and probably eat something...well, when I got there I was furious. Isis barely moved, I went a bit ballistic and ended up shouting at Richard, the head vet, who took it all very well.

We agreed that I would take her home while they awaited blood test results and I would take her back in to see him on Tuesday.

I basically spent the next week going backwards and forwards to the vets, her temperature stayed up and she didn't eat. Her x-rays are clear, as is the ultrasound, so Richard took some blood and sent it off to the Royal Veterinary College last week to see if they could find anything wrong with her, even though we think she has had some sort of intestinal virus.

Then on Friday evening, Alex managed to get her to eat 10 treats! Richard and I were very pleased and decided to see how she went over the weekend, she's eating a little more each day, which I'm eternally grateful - holding your beloved dog and being able to feel her spine is horrible!

Today she ate some puppy food, some biscuits and a lot of treats and we went for a little walk up on the cliff!