A family member requested a scarf with stripes, somewhere in the range of earth tones. I busted out all of the Cascade 220 I have on hand that fits that bill, and started putting it together in various combinations.
Once I started, I kind of couldn’t stop. Swatches can be frustrating when you just want to start your new knitting project. But if you don’t really have anything in mind, it’s a nice mindless way to tread water.
The first week with a new litter of puppies is hard. They have to be fed every four hours around the clock. The breeder takes the daytime and evening shifts, and I take the early shift.
This means getting up for the 3AM feeding. And after an hour or two of feeding puppies and making them poop (you have to make them poop, they don’t have the reflex to do it on their own yet) I am quite awake.
This means that bedtime is shifted to 5PM, six hours earlier than usual, and a full two hours before sunset. It means that by noon I have put in a full day’s work and it’s time to kick back and relax. It also means doing a lot of conversions.
Like I will ask myself, “Am I hungry?” And I will count how many hours I have been awake. Then I will start with my usual wake-up time and count forward that many hours. If the answer is “Normally I would eat lunch at this time,” then the answer is yes.
Fortunately this bit only lasts a week or two. As the pups age, the feedings get farther and farther apart, and they can sleep through more of the night without having to wake up to eat.
Ok, I gotta ask….. why doesn’t mama dog feed the pupppies herself? And I know that mother cats will do the stimulate to poop and pee thing for their kittens, do mother dogs not do that?
Basically, why are the humans doing all the puppy-related labor instead of the mother?
The swatches look good. Are you going for a modified Dr Who scarf?
I am quite taken with the swatch at the upper right. Not that you asked.
And yeah, why do the humans have to do all the work?
This particular mama dog does not have very much milk – and she hasn’t been very maternal with cleaning the babies. It happens sometimes… and it’s one of the reasons that Newfs are considered a challenging breed to propagate. Other dogs are considered “easy breeders,” you barely need to do anything for them!
I love that top middle swatch. Such pretty earthy colors. I’ve always been curious about what it takes to raise a litter of puppies, and quite frankly the whole “make them poop” thing does not sound like a good time.
That makes garter stitch ideal. I want to do a sideways linen stitch scarf though. It has been calling me for some time. The pups couldn,t be in better paws.
The blue, gold and red square is my favorite so far. Next would be the brown, blue and green.