After seeing a large number of Down the Road and Back Again shawls being knit on Instagram, I ended up decided I’d really love to give it a go myself. I’d been wandering through my stash in hopes to find yarn for a next project as the Scottish Stripes was nearing completion. I ended up pairing Dream in Color Smooshy, some of my oldest sock yarn stash, with Dyeabolical’s colorway Night Before Christmas.

I balled up the yarn while supervising Miss Butterfly’s sorting through basement toys determining which things could be donated now that she is older. Then I did a row or two on it in order to memorize the pattern. After that, I packed it for our overnighter road trip.

I really didn’t get too far on it as when we drive, I tend to do a large portion of the driving. But I really loved how it was working up.

I am not sure if this’ll be my next work project or if it’ll stay at home. Perhaps home is best since I’ll need a scale to figure out when I am halfway through the yarn and ready to start the next section. I guess I should find my next work project today since I go back tomorrow.

In baby doggo news, we are adjusting ok I think. It was a rough night last night because we got so many storms. It rained over 2 inches again, and the storm cell seemed to be sitting right over our house, the thunder was so loud it shook the house, and the entire sky was grey instead of black due to lightning. Neither of the dogs are scared of storms, but it kept them up just due to it being so loud. So, between the storms and the new pup rattling her kennel and being restless, I don’t think I slept too well. Mr. Ink got up at 5:30 to take the dogs out, and Rose decided after that she should be on the bed. All this did was wake me up completely, so I took both the dogs out of the bedroom and made some coffee.

Rose was goofy and playful until she had breakfast. Then I took them both on a walk. Once home, she ended up fast asleep on the couch.

Of course, now I am wide awake and caffeinated, so no sleep was forthcoming for me.

After a couple of less than ideal walks where I’ve been nervous she’d slip her collar, I decided what Rose really needed was a good strong and comfortable harness. So, Lizzie and I embarked on that chore today. We left Rose at home since she gets super scared right now.

Lizzie was thrilled to get in some car time with me, and she was an angel in the store. Rose is in between a small and medium harness, so I chose the medium figuring there might be more growing in her future. We brought that home and tried it on, Rose seems to think it’s fine. She even slept on the couch with it on.

This harness is quite nice, it’s got 3 places to attach a leash, I don’t have to get Rose to step into it like I do with Lizzie’s harness, and it’s got a handle on the back of it for those moments when she’s super scared and trying to cower under something. I suspect it’ll work very well for us. We are waiting for Miss Butterfly to get home before we go on another walk, it’s always easier with two humans.

Rose is settling in ok. We ADORE the hound dog kisses she gives. She’s not a licker, she just snuffles all over us when she wants reassurance. It’s super cute, like butterfly kisses from a dog. She’s definitely still a baby, she sleeps a lot, but when she’s awake we have to watch her very carefully. She loves my knitting and really wants to have it for her very own. In fact, last evening she tricked me just so she could get at it. She pretended she needed to go outside. I fell for it even though she’d JUST been out. I got up and went to the door and she ran back for the knitting! Thankfully Mr. Ink had her number and was able to rescue my project. We spend a lot of time redirecting her while she’s awake and I wouldn’t trust her for a moment out of my sight yet. Thankfully she doesn’t really want to be out of my sight either.

We also just had an incident where Rose had taken a toy onto the couch and was playing. Then she accidentally dropped the toy on the ground. Rather than getting down and picking up her toy, she sat on the couch whining at me to try to get me to get the toy. I refused, and now she’s fast asleep again.

Lizzie is still the nuttier and more hyper of the two dogs, but that’s because Lizzie is a very confident dog. Rose’s foster family told us that she’s probably in the top 5 most intelligent dogs they’ve fostered, and I truly believe it’s her intelligence that kept her surviving on the streets. It’s what makes her timid, she seems to know what could happen. But, it’s her intelligence and curiosity that is also going to bring her slowly out of her shell. She’s not content to be timid and stay in one place, she really wants to keep exploring and figuring things out. With a dog as confident as Lizzie as her companion, I think we’ll be seeing improvements very quickly in the next few months.

And just so you all know, we are now getting some tail wags and I even got a doggy smile when I got back from the store today. Adjustment is happening.