Chickenlips Knitting

Things have been and continue to be somewhat chaotic in our household, and I'm not talking about just the arrival of a new puppy, although because he's so tiny it does keep us on our toes and walking carefully lest we step on him! The icky legal situation we have been in for most of this year isn't exactly over, but there's finally light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm pretty sure it isn't the oncoming train, because that already done run us over.

And of course, Christmas is almost here. Already? I can still taste Thanksgiving dinner! Alright, that was probably an overshare. With every year that goes by, I become more thankful for the Internet. I was able to get a start on my gift shopping without leaving the house. I like that, because I dread malls and heavy traffic!

Even with all this schmattah going on, I managed to bang out an FO. Above is my version of Cartman's hat from South Park, for a zany--yes, even madcap!--friend of Michelle's. I used a basic stockinette roll-brim hat pattern that I found free on Ravelry. Now that we're in the deep freeze here, I hope she'll be able to deliver this hat to her friend tomorrow because it's plenty warm. I have most of the skein of yellow Lamb's Pride left over, and I might use it to make Toki a new sweater. I made him one out of leftovers of my Dyepot Worsted--don't have a decent pic--but that's OK, because it's already snug on him.

The rest of this post is puppy stuff, so if that's not your cup of tea, I'll be back in a week or so with something I can't stop knitting out of the Malabrigo I recently bought.

On Friday Toki had his new puppy exam. He's 2 lbs. 8 oz. and very healthy, except for a bit of dry skin. There's no evidence of it other than scratching, so some supplement oil was prescribed. I'm adding small amounts to his food daily; hopefully that will do the trick. We also got prescription shampoo, but with it being so especially cold right now I'm suspending bathing him until it warms up. It's not like he gets too stinky anyway--he weighs about as much as a meat loaf.

Antics report: the vet proclaims that Toki has the appearance of a Pomeranian, but the bravery of a Chihuahua, and I can see the fearlessness even now. He loves to chase Jimmy, who is very sweet and tolerant of the new baby. It's been a week and when they play, there's no loud yipping. Toki was on the couch beside Jason, but he decided to see what Jimmy was up to so he leapt off the couch, and instead of landing on the coffee table he bonked into it and landed on the carpet. I tell ya, who needs HBO?!

Intelligence: A-plus. This from a veteran owner of Dachshunds, who are wonderful dogs but impossible to house train; they do their business wherever they damn well feel like it, thank yew. "Training pads? We don't need no stinking training pads," say the Dachshunds. Toki, however, trots over to the wee-wee pad now without having to be put there, and it's only been a week. So much for the so-called "expert" at Nature's Pet, who told me I wouldn't have success at housetraining until he was 10 weeks. He's only 8 and catching on, so neener neener neener.

Why yes, I am over the moon about this little mutt. Why do you ask?