My blogging antics have now moved to lyssiepagedesigns.wordpress.com

Apologies for the lack of updates since, erm well forever really. But life gets in the way sometimes, especially when "life" involves a rather crazy 11 month old staffordshire bull terrier puppy. She's the world's greatest dog and I adore her, even with her habit of grabbing my knitting from the sofa and racing off at full speed with it, or stretching herself out on my lap directly over my knitting and/or pattern (do you think she's trying to tell me something?).

Despite that I'm still managing to get a fair amount of knitting done, including this year's Debbie Abrahams mystery blanket club which I've somehow kept up to date with (photo to follow after I've knitted the final squares and sewn up) , and have already signed up for next year's blanket club.

In between finding time to knit, train Ebony (the aforementioned staffie pup) and getting lots of hugs and love from her I've also been in training for this Sunday's Waggy Walk in aid of Dogs Trust. The lovely Ebony is a former resident of their Leeds rehoming centre having been picked up as a stray when she was around 7 months old, if it wasn't for Dogs Trust taking her in from the local stray kennels this tiny puppy probably wouldn't be around today. Dogs Trust never put a healthy dog down, and for those dogs that aren't so cute or have behavioural issues that may make them less desirable to potential owners, they promise to look after them until the right owner comes along. They really are a great charity and do some wonderful work looking after around 16,000 dogs every year, so if you can I'd really appreciate you going to my just giving page to read Ebony's story and donating a pound or two if you can afford. And if you're considering getting a dog please consider a rescue dog, not just from the "big" organisations like Dogs Trust, RSPCA or Blue Cross. There are often many small local rescue organisations that aren't as well known and are often having to fund their activities from their own pockets and relying on the kindness of the volunteers they have to work for nothing in order to save as many dogs as they can from being unnecessarily being destroyed.

Just a Staffy Cross.

Today is just another day - to me they're all the same
I have the worst of genes you see, I bear the "Staffy" shame.
The shame is in our numbers, there's thousands with no home.
Thousands just like me you'll find, in kennels all alone.

My mum was "just a Staffy", my father - well who knows?
Mum, too, became unwanted, as the last puppy goes.
And then begins the process, of money-making deals
A life of "moving on" unfolds, who cares how the Staffy feels?
If you have the cash to hand, the Staffy pup is yours
But that pup is getting bigger now, just look at those big paws.

You brought me for your image, thought I'd make you look more tough
But you'll find my boisterous nature has already got too much.
If you had thought to train me, with kindness and with praise
You would have had a faithful friend to share your darkest days.
I would lay down my life for you, but you simply cannot see
You make sure you get your money back on what you paid for me.

And on it goes, until one day, I'm no longer worth a dime
The retail on an adult staff - not worth the waste of time.
So what happens to a Staffy now? Do you really want to know?
Do you care what will become of us, when we leave our final home?

Have you ever thought to wonder, "Where is that Staffy now?"
The "Staffy" has another name; he's become a "stray" somehow.
Me, I was put into a car and driven far away
The door held open, I jumped out, I thought to run and play.
It was with joy and happy heart I turned to look for you
You drove away with all my trust and a piece of my heart too.

I wandered round for many days before I was brought here.
Now I wait with heavy heart, trepidation and with fear.
Seven days is all I have you see, seven days for you to claim
The little dog that you threw out, for which you have no shame.

This is my last goodbye now my seven days are up
If only more thought had gone into the future of that pup
As the needle empties to my veins I lay down with one last sigh
I'm sorry I was born a Staff, because it means that I must die.

By Anon

Taken from staffierescue.co.uk another small but wonderful organisation who work with the much misunderstood staffie breed and their crosses.

I'm doing the Waggy Walk this October to raise money for dogs trust please go to http://bit.ly/9TAoQQ and sponsor me, every penny counts,

The first of my vampire boyfriend socks done in colinette jitterbug in vatican pie colourway. Not an easy shade to get hold of - after searching every yarn selling retailer online i finally found it direct from colinette but all the fuss was worth it given that it's the richest most lovely red which i just can't capture on camera. Apologies for the lack of updates of late, since my last update i've finally had my tonsils removed and am still recovering. The two weeks off work i've had to take has given me plenty of knitting time which is very welcome but unfortunately not so much of the energy needed to blog about it. I did feel well enough yesterday to go over to the rowan garment sale at green lane mill and managed to pick up some absolute bargains. I have to admit though it feels more than a little like cheating buying ready knitted garments.

Baby socks for lsb's friends new baby done i my left over tofutsies.

Pop art skulls cushion in progress. Apologies for poor quality photo, neither my laptop nor camera seem to want to play fair today so it's back to my phone for the time being. I love this cushion. The colours are amazing and while the yarn feels a little on the scratchy side while knitting overall it's moot so bad. In fact i don't care that it doesn't match anything in the house because it looks so awesome. In fact it's set off something of a skull vibe in me at the moment with my now mentally lining up skull and crossbone project on my head's to do list

Front panel of shaded squares cushion. I love all the beads and i'm really liking the way it looks so far.

Shaded squares cushion. I'm really enjoying knitting this, well aside from the having to cut about a million lengths of yarn for all the bits of intarsia. I really like the way it looks and the cotton glace is so nice to knit with

Sunshine cushion. I finished it on thursday morning having run out of yarn last week just before finishing the back panel. New yarn bought, washed shrunk and sewn up it's finally done and i'm rather impressed with how it's turned out. I've already cast on for another of debbie abrahams' cushion kits this time the shaded squares cushion - i think it was the huge amount of beads that swung it for me. I've also just bought yarn for the pop art skulls cushion from the anticraft book. I think this is just coincidence though and doesn't actually signal a theme of knitting cushions to be continued for the foreseeable future. Next year's big project's going to be debbie abrahams' mystery blanket club, with of course plenty of other things thrown in to keep me occupied between parcels.

Sock number one of my mount hood. 80 stitches on 2.25mm seemed to work really well. The yarn's lovely to knit with as well, despite all the increases and decreases within this pattern it seems to have been less prone to splitting than other times i've used the happy yarn.

Mount hood sock in wendy happy capricorn. Quite nice easy to follow pattern though i get the feeling it might end up a little on the baggy side - 80 stitches on 2.5mm needles sounds like it's far too big. So i'm toying with pulling back to the end of rib cuff and switching to 2.25mm instead.

Slowly but surely my sunshine cushion is progressing nicely. Not helped of course by the fact i'm still rotten with tonsillitis - good news is i've been referred for the operation for them to come out (which also comes with two weeks off work, valuable knitting time). Even better news though. If all goes well i have a job lined up for september! I've only just stopped shaking from the pretty amazing news. Will try not to leave it so long next time before i update.

The start of lsb's latest pair of socks. A rather boring 1x1 rib which is livened up nicely by the gorgeous wendy happy feet yarn which is a little splitty but very soft and lovely to knit with besides that. Best of all it's a local yarn purchased from a great local yarn shop. My bank balance is really starting to take a hit with baa ram ewe being just down the road. Thankfully most of the wedding stuff is just about sorted meaning i think i can treat myself to a yarn binge now and then. In other news work is great, i'm really enjoying it and getting very excited about all the great new opportunities there are for me here. Just have to convince them to let me have a job now!

Isn't this just the most beautiful blue yarn you've seen? And it's named after cookie monster which is even better! This just arrived on my doormat from the wonderful krafty koala and i can't wait to knit it up. Of course there is also the small matter of the sock yarn i got yesterday at the grand opening of baa ram ewe which is also begging to be knitted up pretty sharpish. Ah so much beautiful yarn, so little time.

Just a quick update on my way to work as i know i haven't posted in ages. But then i haven't done much knitting in ages. I'm slowly but surely ploughing my way through the mock cable sock. Not easy when you only work a few minutes bus ride from home. Great for having a little longer in bed in the mornings, not so great for productive knitting. Work is good though, i'm enjoying working with children and it's totally different to anything i've done before but i absolutely love it. I have my own mini caseload which is slowly growing when i meet new people to work with. I even get to spend some time doing my dream job later this summer and i can't wait.

Finished the front of the sunshine cushion. Apologies for the bad picture quality, i still only have my phone camera.

And from the back (i love the cables)

Toe jazz socks

I've been so busy knitting and job hunting that I haven't had chance to update. And as I'm still without my camera there's no pretty pictures to show of all my hard work, I'm about halfway down the foot of my second Toe Jazz flip flop sock and I've got over half of the front panel of the sunshine cushion knitted. I really love this cushion, it's knitting up really nicely and looking very cool with the beads. I'm even enjoying knitting with the denim yarn despite the funny tension and the fact my hands get quite blue if I'm knitting for any length of time. 

In non-knitting related news I'll be starting back on my final placement in just over a week. This time working with children and people under 18. I'm looking forward to it as it's going to be quite different to anything I've done before. So if nothing else it'll be an adventure.

The first repeat of my sunshine cushion by debbie abrahams. It's my first attempt at knitting with denim and i'm quite enjoying it so far. I have a blue tinge to my fingernails though, which i'm putting down to the yarn rather than lack of oxygen.