Here’s another shawl I decided I just had to start, since I didn’t have a proper work project. At the moment, it’s not the one at work, it’s the one at home. However, since it’s a project where I just knit until I run out of yarn, it’ll be a perfect work project for next week.

First let me show you the handspun yarns I am pairing.

This is a 2 color shawl called Brillig and honestly? It’s not really turning out how I expected. I was expecting more striping, but what I am getting is more a gentle wash of color out of the colorful handspun. No matter, it still looks great. I’ll continue on. But, I may choose to make this shawl again, changing my yarn pairing to something actively stripey.

It still has a very cool effect and I am truly enjoying working on it. Once I established the pattern in my head, I don’t need to look at the pattern and that makes it go all the faster. After this weekend I’ll bring it to work.

In a Rose and Lizzie update, things are going ok. We had a night there where Lizzie really got grumpy, then after I talked to Rose’s foster family I was able to establish a couple changes we could make that would help Lizzie adjust a little better. Foster family say they are huge fans of the older dogs teaching the younger dogs, and that most of the grumpiness is a “conversation.” However, I felt that Lizzie was starting to head into more than conversational territory. So, we corrected that problem and are now TRULY seeing those conversations become teaching moments. Lizzie has shown Rose how to be, where to be, and how she thinks Rose should act in various situations. Now Rose is doing those things, and this makes Lizzie happier. It also gives Rose more confidence, as she’s learning her place and also learning she can trust Lizzie to show her what is safe and what is not. For a fearful dog, this is ideal. It’s pretty cool to watch Rose’s brain begin to work. You can see the wheels turning. You can see her cower, then watch Lizzie and realize Lizzie is not scared, and then see her go do the thing she needs to do even though she’s scared.

Yesterday Miss Butterfly wanted to take Rose on a playground while we were out on our walk. I didn’t expect it to work, as Lizzie wasn’t doing it, and Rose already seemed at her limit with new experiences. But, she did!

You can see she’s pretty nervous and looking around, but she’s up there leaning on her human for support. She even went down the slide with Miss Butterfly. We stopped after that, and continued on our walk. We’ve all the time in the world for more new experiences.

Poor gal was SO exhausted after her walk that she ended up falling asleep with her toy in her mouth.

It’s almost like she needs to mentally regroup after all these new experiences. She’s doing great though! Getting naughtier by the day, which is the sign of her feeling more confident around us.

As soon as a few weeks have gone by we plan to get Rose some serious training. Leash walking is really difficult right now due to her fear. I believe that if she’s had some training under her, we’ll be able to mitigate some of those moments where she’s feeling particularly overwhelmed and fearful and trying to run away.

Anyhow, I have to remind myself it’s been just a few days, not even a week, and we’ve seen TONS of wonderful progress. I’ll have more time this weekend to work with her and see if I can get her to walk a bit better on a leash even before training.

Anyhow, that’s all the updates from my side of the world today! It’s still raining, and after a while, rain can be exhausting! Hope it’s clearer where you are!