July 26, 2004
A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing
Still on the subject of dogs, this weekend I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Oh, pooh—nix that overly melodramatic statement. The truth is it's more likely going to be a frequently-in-a-life experience since I know the people involved well and see them often; who'm I kidding?
Said friends had been muttering something on and off about adopting a particular rescue malamute through our local malamute rescue organization. They decided to proceed with the adoption, passed the house inspection and picked up “Thunder,” now “Harley,” a week ago. Turns out Thunder/Harley was not, in fact, a malamute but a wolf hybrid!
Me, I more or less pooh-poohed the idea of anyone I knew owning a wolf hybrid—until they arrived at a small birthday party we attended yesterday, opened the back of their van, and out jumped…a pure white wolf. My opinion? There is very little hybrid in that dog, just lots of wolf. He had the skinny ground-covering legs and large snowshoe paws of a wolf, the big, strong, muscular head of a wolf, the gold eyes and far-away gaze of—say it with me now—a wolf. And the most laidback and mellow personality I've seen on any dog, wild, domestic or otherwise, even when the other three dogs cornered him and called him a “girlie man.” The highlight of the evening came when we were all watching a video, and I was sitting on the floor with a huge wolf head and one huge wolf paw on my lap.
Why no photo, you ask? Because, unfortunately, a goodly portion of the evening was spent trying to get poor Harley to walk. The big boy, who had already injured his leg one time after his adoption, fell on the slippery hardwood floors yesterday and aggravated his injury more. He had to be carried out of the house on a blanket. Not a good photo op, by anyone’s standards. Keep your fingers crossed that this beautiful animal recovers! He has a great life ahead of him with two loving mommies and five acres to roam.
Knitting Knews
Okay, okay, I went a little crazy. I present to you the beaded stitch markers:
The Blues
The little leaf and the darker oval bead are both a beautiful opalescent navy. The oval one is remarkably smooth and cool to the touch, so much so that you just want to caress it and rub it endlessly, like a Greek worry bead. This does not make for much progress in one's knitting.
The Reds and Clears
I made the white marker specifically because it would show up clearly against dark yarns. Of course, these puppies are a good 1"-2" long each; you can't really miss 'em.
Blacks
Because I am not a big fan of black, I more or less forced myself to buy these beads and make these two markers just to broaden my horizons. Of course, the "RYAN" one turned out to be a total hoot (once I fixed the "functionally illiterate" version which had the "N" on backwards) and the other one turned out more attractive than I thought it would.
Terra Cotta Sparkle
These are made out of something called goldstone that looks like cat's eye. As a person who is half magpie (or so Big Sister would swear), gotta love that sparkle!
Transparent Aquamarine-ish
The marker on the right is actually my favorite of all, but the fish and turtle versions are growing on me...
Thank you for taking the photos, Mysterious K!
Feral Knitters tonight! Only half of one peerie and the second repeat of the knot pattern remaining on the pillow. Methinks I'll actually finish it this week so, Janine, be on standby for steek and finishing questions!
I can hardly wait to see your finished pillow! What a speedy knitter you are. And beader--love the stitch markers.
Say hi to the Ferals for me. I'm ploughing through my Shetland yarn collection, getting ideas galore but not much knitting done. I get to meet Rachael today! Perhaps inspiration will come with a face-to-face knitter interaction.
Posted by: Janine on July 26, 2004 11:10 AMPretty, pretty markers. I really like the way the look, but use crapola string for myself! I can't bear the thought of paying for those things, but I could see making some (& probably spending more in the long run on supplies).... Great. Another project to add to the list.
Posted by: Samina on July 26, 2004 11:28 AMHoo-boy, when I was a kid, I always fantasized about having a wolf as a pet. As I grew, I realized it's probably not all that practical or safe, but hearing your story makes me yearn....
and holy moly, those stitch markers are SOMETHING. I love. I love.
Posted by: Norma on July 26, 2004 11:40 AMI am pea-green with envy :) Wolf is one of my totem animals and oh boy! What I wouldn't give to sit with one's head in my lap. Lucky you!
The markers are really pretty. I'm trying to get used to using pretty little things like these. I'm sure it'll work out in the end, but right now I'm still at the finding-them-awkward stage.
Posted by: Robbyn on July 26, 2004 12:18 PMWas it a dark and stormy night?
In my world, wolf dogs are right out. "Mellow" to me is "biding their time". One day, that genetic sitch is going to flip to "on" and I'll be so much caribou baby. I mean, I bolt the doors when I hear our AZ coyotes cranking up their insane group yip.
If I want a head in my lap, it'll be my old, toothless cat, thank you very much.
Posted by: Cuzzin Tom on July 26, 2004 12:47 PMsuch pretty stitch markers-
i can't wait until harley is well and you can get pics- was frankie present to be impressed by his beauty? when our beowulf is introduced to any 'guest dogs' he immediately goes into his poor, sick, flailing around mode to grab all attention to himself- as soon as he is quite sure all eyes have turned to him and the 'guest dog' is getting no attention he returns to his usual robust health and continues acting his amiable self again-
stay happy-
Posted by: barb in texas on July 26, 2004 01:29 PMCuzzin Tom, I'm wit'cha' on the Wolf Hybrid: Not Man's Best Friend theory, but after spending ten minutes with Harley, I was in lerv. Besides, dude could barely get up. I figured I could be down the hall, out the door, and in the car before he ever made it to all four feet. Trust me: I had the speed/distance ratio thingy all worked out.
Norma/Robbyn, if/when I see Harley next, I'll try to remember to take a photo. Lots, in fact. Ya' gotta see this dog to believe him.
Janine, as the official "knitting matchmaker," I'm too excited about the fact that you and Rachael are getting together. Tell me how it goes!
Samina, the trick is to make nice with someone who has "done" the beading thing, is tired of it, and is willing to share beads and supplies with you for free (or to be the boss of someone you can browbeat into sharing beads and supplies with you. Wink, wink.). Okay, okay, although I did get a lot of the supplies for free, thanks to my employee and our receptionist, I did spend about $30 to make some of these markers. It was worth it, though; it was loads of fun.
As I suspected, due to their "heft," the stitch markers are much easier to transfer from needle to needle without having the marker go flying across the room. However, I've learned the hard way that if you're knitting in the round, you have to make sure the markers are hanging in the front of your work. If they hang in the back, you'll knit them right into your fabric and then you have to fuss and fiddle to free them.
Posted by: Ryan on July 26, 2004 01:39 PMNope, Barb, Frankie was not part of the "pack" this time. The hostesses own two BIG dogs, and Harley's owners have one other BIG dog and, when it's just those three, we feel comfortable bringing 12"-tall Frankie along because all the dogs know each other and have proven they can get along with minor flashing of teeth. But we were leary of having a wolf hybrid added to the mix so Little Miss stayed home, lolling on HER blanket on HER couch and looking out HER window.
Posted by: Ryan on July 26, 2004 01:52 PMThe stitch markers are drool worthy! Very nice, madam. And I'm jealous of the wolf story. I have a friend in North Texas who helps rehabilitate injured wolves. They are just beautiful. Oh, just to let you know, you'll be stalker free for the rest of the week. Don't try to hide. I'll find you again. I'm a good stalker. Just enjoy the vacation. *giggle*
Have a great day!!!
Posted by: Stalker Angie on July 26, 2004 05:40 PMI was the delighted recipient of a very, very pretty stitch marker just recently. I have it marking the beginning of the round on a sweater I've gotten back to working on because using the marker was so much fun. A little sparkle every time you get back to the beginning!
Posted by: Kit on July 27, 2004 12:11 AMWOW! Those are lovely, lovely stitch markers! WOW! I am super super impressed.
Must see pictures of grand pup! You know for the dog obsessed person over here!
Posted by: Rebecca on July 27, 2004 09:57 AMKit, glad you're enjoying the stitch marker.
StalkerAngie, what am I going to do without my 300 "breather" phone calls a day?
Rebecca, no special message for you because you know and I know we've been chatting on the side. ;-)
Posted by: Ryan on July 27, 2004 03:31 PMI did an intership in high school at the Phoenix Zoo and one of the animals I fed were the wolves. They were so beautiful and so cute because, while we never went in the pen with them and they always slunk off away from us, they couldn't resist wiggeling their bottoms and tails when you would say their names in that high "good boy" voice.
Posted by: Laurie on July 27, 2004 04:19 PMOh my gosh, you made so many! I love 'em! I respect the effort that went into 'em too. I think the "N" would have been kind of cool left backwards, though... ;)
Posted by: Rachael on July 28, 2004 04:38 AM