Always getting under my feet!

What ever I was doing, one thing was for sure, Oban would be under my feet whilst I was doing it!
Yesterday we buried her ashes under the house.  With more than 2 meters of snow still on the ground, which will remain frozen well into late march, we had no possibility of burying her body in the garden.  
Behind our cellar, we have an approximately 80 cm high space running under the entire house to permit access to the pipes etc if needed.  Here the earth is very compact but due to the insulation from the house above, it doesn't freeze.

So Oban's final resting place is right where she loved to be, always under our feet!!

Thank you, friends, for all your lovely words of sympathy, on my last two posts.

Yarn Along & Remembering Oban

I don't have a whole lot to show on the knitting front, finished one of Tino's socks and cast on the second.  I bought this yarn as a 'test' for another project and while I love the colour and most importantly Tino loves his 'sock', this is way too orange for my future project.  My ripple continues to make progress but it is going to be sometime before I get this finished,  each row has over 200 stitches and takes quite sometime to complete.

 
As those of you that saw my previous post know, Oban, our beautiful dog, died on saturday.  Inspired by my kids, and Ines's (a sweet friend in Rémi's class) artistic celebrations of Oban, Richard and I worked together to create our own little memorial.

It wasn't my intention, but upon seeing my felt and paper cord bunting, a friend said it reminded him of Tibetan prayer flags.
Slowly reading Mere Christianity - C.S Lewis.

artwork by Tino, Rémi & Ines

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along, and hope I have more success today in leaving comments.  Yesterday I was unable to leave messages on a few blogs including Lori's and Natalie's.

Paw Prints

OBAN 2002 - 2013

My beloved furry friend, my best friend, died during emergency surgery late saturday afternoon.  She was just one month shy of her 11th birthday and sadly her huge beautiful heart, that she used so unconditionally to love everyone, gave out just after the anesthetic was administered.
Oban spent her time, free as a bird!  no lead, rarely a collar, and in her younger days, no end of mischeif.   
She was known to all, far and wide, in our little village;  had her little circle of friends, human and animal, and  when not following me around like a shadow, would be out a visiting!

Sunday morning, I searched in vain for her distinctive paw prints in the snow (she only had three legs)  and found everything but - adults, kids, cat, deer, bird...
... although they may have disappeared so quickly from the snow they will be forever and always etched in our hearts.

Yarn Along - F.O + W.I.P

Pardon me - Great Crochet Spirit!  I didn't mean what I said.  Crochet is not the grumpy old neigbour of knitting!! it was just frustration speaking. But still, must make a mental note than when casting on a very long chain and then attempting the foundation row, first banish small boys with elastic band propelled paper airplanes from the room!!
Yes this means I have started my ripple blanket.  Quite a rocky start to my ripple!  kept making teeny tiny mistakes but not noticing them until well into the next row.  And while ripping out crochet is far easier than ripping out knitting, only ever one stitch on the hook, it is every bit as disheartening to see rows of 200+ stitches coming undone.   Finally got into the swing of  4 x 4 repeat pattern and am starting to enjoy the project.

for oodles and oodles of crochet inspiration visit Lucy

Funny thing is, that although I'm very pleased with the colours and the pattern, crochet still doesn't hit the spot like knitting!! I doesn't call out to me "hey Emma, forget the housework for today and come and have a ripple with me", it doesn't make my fingers itch in anticipation the way a knitting project does.

So this also means that I have finished my Shalom.  I'm rather pleased with it!! the only thing is the arm holes, they sort of feel too big...

strange arm pose to illustrated big arm holes!

... would it be very naughty of me to stitch them up a bit?  I mean no one will really know will they if we don't tell them!!
I'm still searching for the perfect yarn for my next knitting project, which will have to remain "hush-hush" for the moment as it is a birthday present for someone, so I have decided to make a patchwork pocket for my 'newish' telephone.  I'm determined to learn to sew this year and this seems like a nice small thing for a beginner.
Reading a chess for children book with Rémi at present.  We are both absolute beginners, but we are now getting into games that last two, one hour sittings!

Lac Vert - the water was very cold, he didn't fall in!!

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along this week.