New Sweaters

It has been some time since I have last posted- we have been very busy with so many things- from business to family life. In the midst of feeling like these is no time for much of anything fibery, I was able to knit both Jim and Deanie new sweaters! What a feeling of accomplishment.


Jim's sweater is a sample stitch sweater, every 6 inches I changed the stitch. Deanie's sweater is my 1st Cabled sweater.I have a cable stitch book and chose a few designs I liked and put them together. I think they both came our fine.

I will say I ripped each of them out at least 3-4 times- if I could learn to gauge properly and knit correctly, maybe I could save myself time and actually knit MORE finished items.

I made Deanie's sweater to be worn with his kilt. Jim has a concert this coming Saturday and i will get a photo of Deanie in his outfit. In the meantime, I am trying to make a matching tam, but we will see how many times I have to rip that one out. I started one last night and have already ripped it out- I was tot he decrease rows..... I enjoy knitting- I HATE RIPPING OUT SO MANY TIMES .......... AAARRRGGGH!

Deanie and Hadar Chilling and Training Together

These two are really great buddies- take a look and see......

More Dog Show Photos

Just a few more photos from the past week end- and a movie- for those interested.... The 3 boys are Byron Baggins, from Michigan, Bourbon, from South Dakota and our boy Hadar, from Utah. This is from Saturday and Hadar won the class and went on to the herding group. On Friday, Byron Baggins won and Sunday was a black Briard named Gus. Bourbon was pulled from showing on Sunday.

We had fun with Angie O and her kids and husband Thad- they are wonderful people and a lot of fun- we sure hope to see them again in the near future.

This is Ms Brinley-she was busy at work during the show. Here she is stewarding , which is making sure everyone has their numbers and knows when they go into the ring before the judge. Brinley is quite the worker and as you can see , a smile on her face at all times. A joy to be with and quite a character!


My newest friend Kanon- what a lovely lady. She is doing really well at showing the dogs. This is Gus, who won the breed class on Sunday and went to the herding group ring. What a team they make. Hard to beat them !

I think my favorite picture this week end!!! Like Father like son! Thad and Til show what it takes - the endurance needed to sit through a dog show! WOW - do they have it or what??? LOL We need to start a dog club - a new "TAIL - GAITING" group, complete with TV, Barbecue and Drinks. Then maybe the shows would be more user friendly. I know where you would find the Snell family- watching Kyle show our dog , if he was in the ring during the commercials!!! Watch carefully- this small video is Til and Gus - You can see where Gus' heart really is!


Deanie met a number of new friends in cluding a breed of dog I never heard of let alone seen before. It is a some sort of Norwegian Bear Dog, I think..... Until the next time...... many many blessings..... The Snells

A Last Minute Get Away

With so much work at Spinderella's, break time is not something I often think about.

Our puppy , Hadar, was going to go with our handler, Kyle Hennefer of Paws 4 Thought to Rapid City, SD for the weekend. He was entered in a 3 day show for practice, after all he is only 9 months old, and a silly puppy. Going away with Kyle would be good for him and great practice in the ring.

At the last minute, Wednesday to be exact, Jim decided we should go to Rapid City, enjoy the scenery, visit with dog friends and watch Hadar show. The show started Friday..... we had to leave on Thursday. OK ???!!! Got the bags packed, took Shaymus, Ahri and Oreo to the kennel, called the kids Shae will take care of the cats, whew......off we went. Jim, me, Deanie, Simcha and Hadar. An 11-12 hour trip ahead of us, we left at 1 in the afternoon- what were we thinking??? LOL

We arrived after midnight- hit the pillows and up at 6am to make the show. What great fun to meet up with friends you hadn't seen in 2 years. The Olsen family met us in the grooming area and we laughed and talked.....and of course we groomed- after all we DO HAVE BRIARDS!!!

Show time.... Angie and her girl Ella couldn't have looked better! Ella is a beautiful Black Briard with movement to die for. She is waiting to strut her stuff.

Here are the class boys- Hadar on the left, Bourbon in the middle and Byron Baggins on the left. They all did a wonderful job showing, even if Hadar and Bourbon acted like the puppies they are on one of the 3 days. The fun part is always getting to meet new people and have fun with old friends.

We were able to steal away the afternoon driving the countryside and going to Mt Rushmore. It really was something I had envisioned that was larger than it was. But is is a very impressive piece, the simple artistic work on a mountainside is inspiring. Set in such a beautiful area of the country!

It was fun getting out in the fresh air for the afternoon. We wished we would have been able to go on the tour, but with limited wheelchair access, we decided to get back in the car and go back to our Motel town, Keystone. A walking tour was in order, with wheelchair and dogs, only problem ..... I forgot the camera!!!! The walking tour took you past very old homes and some cool looking gold mines. After dinner, we hit the bed to get ready for another day.

Off to work, but will post more photos soon.....

A new sweater for Deanie

Fall is here and winter just around the corner as you can tell from our last entry. The crisp air prompted me to make a sweater for the Bean Boy- that's Deanie, for those who may not know.

I started blending fibers a month or so ago- took natural wools and alpaca and went out to the mill to make some roving. I thought about hand spinning the roving, in all my spare time, and thought Deanie needs a sweater this year, not 10 years from now!


So I actually set off to spin my own yarn , all by my self , with no help from Jim, on the spinning frame. I did pretty well, until the time came to actually SPIN the fiber! LOL And yes, Jim helped me set everything and get it spinning. I DID skein the wool all by myself! LOL To the right is the yarn- it is a lovely oatmeal color, very soft and I am sure Deanie will wear it well.


Here is the front of the sweater. Now mind you, I see the mistakes too- but i prefer to call them design elements. I realized the mistakes in the middle of the sweater, thought about ripping it out and starting again, but after already ripping it out 4 times, once from not gauging 1st, and 3 more times trying to follow the pattern, giving up and doing my own thing, I decided against it and to keep knitting. :-) I will keep you posted on the progress, and you all keep rooting that I get it completed this year! LOL

As always- Many Blessings

OH NO ......... SNOW!!!!!

I guess it was too good to be true- the lovely weather we have been getting used to. But it was bound to happen sooner or later- and we would have preferred later. It is beautiful- but i am just not ready.

A week ago we were enjoying the last of the foliage in our front garden- such colors! We went from this.......






To this...... in a matter of hours. Good bye to the warm weather of fall and welcome winter- we have a feeling you are here for a few months to come.

It's been awhile- but we've been busy

We decided to hit the house work really hard- and the front porch was top priority.
It was a week end job that was filled with cold and rainy weather.

Jim took the boards off the porch while Lynn stacked them on the street for our yarly pick up. The two of us worked for most of the morning getting those boards off, but that was just the beginning.



We had a surprise under that porch. After all it was built around the 30' or 40's. We found a mound of dirt under the doorway and a large "hole" where you can see Jim standing . We used the doorway dirt to fill in the hole. Jim found that the support boards were for the most part, still pretty solid, but he decided more joists were needed for a more secure deck.



We are still not finished with the railing and another set of steps on the south side of the porch, but we will get that done before winter. We chose a tongue and groove pine and stained it with a blue color to pull in the blue trim work on the house. We like it - I guess that is all that matters. :-) We'll take photos as we get things finished.