Busy, Busy Weekend

Lots of things are happening this weekend at Chez Mann. First, since I forgot to answer the SP12 question last week, I figured I'd better answer the one for this week. Here goes:

1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?
2) What yarn do you never want to be without?

1. I think that any indie yarn which I don't have is what would make my stash complete. Since my stash fills an entire room, new dyers are the ones I don't have. Who are they? Beats the hell out of me! I'm always keeping my eyes open, though, so if I see someone whose work would be a good fit for the shop, I can drop them a note.

2. I don't have an answer for this one. As you all know, I don't use commercial yarns. Even though I have some favorites in the indie world, I don't want to name them for fear of offending others who might sell through the shop. Let's put it this way - if I don't have sock yarn, I might as well not knit.

Whew. Those questions make me think, and that hurts.

So Thursday, we headed over to San Francisco International Airport to pick up our baby. When we arrived, her flight had just landed, so we had to kill about 15 minutes before she was unloaded. Once we went back into the office, they gave us a stack of papers and told us to go over to Customs (Homeland Security) in order to clear her through. That took all of 10 minutes, from the time we drove over, gave the papers to the man behind the counter, and came back. Then we were told to go into the warehouse to get our baby. Oddly enough, there was another puppy from the same breeder (she was the other one I was trying to decide upon - it was going to be either her or Emma), so Emma got to travel with her sister. Then I saw her and my heart melted all over the floor. There, in a large, sturdy carrier, were these soulful eyes peering out at us. I stuck my finger into the cage and had a paw rest on top of my hand, and then a velvety-soft muzzle rubbed against it. We picked her up and carried her out to the truck so we could get her collar on and take her to go potty. Just as we were doing that, the owners of the other puppy arrived and ran over to see our girl. They were as excited as us and absolutely thrilled to see that the babies had made the trip successfully. So, Syd:

EMMA IS HOME!

She is absolutely the sweetest puppy in the world. We've had her two days, and she's already potty-trained. She understands "no", "come", and some other basic commands, and is truly a Velcro dog. Right now, she's laying by my feet while I type.

Here's a picture of us sock knitting:





She's the cute one.

She did really well with the fireworks last night; in fact, she completely ignored them because we did. She's literally glued to us and has to sit with me in the chair, no matter what I'm doing. And she snores with her tongue sticking out. I'm so in love that I can't stand it. She begins her puppy training classes next Friday, and I can't wait to show her off. She's now gotten up off her towel and is helping Daddy take cookies out of the oven. Oops... she's back with me now.

Other than playing with Emma, I've been working on the shop. I can't do too much at a time, but I work on it as I can. I'll be finished with the update by the end of the weekend and will have everything posted on Monday. Monday also starts a week-long sale on everything in the shop, so check in - there will be lots of fun things, both new vendors and updates to established ones. I'll put a list of all the new things to look at in the newsletter and also at the top of the home page. I also wanted to mention that anybody who placed an order this week will have it mailed out on Monday. I've just not been well, so I haven't gotten everything done. That's why I've been slow with updating. I think it will all be worth it, though.

So that's what has been consuming all my time this weekend. Thank you, everybody, for all the comments about Emma; she's even cuter in person. I'll most likely bore you all with pictures of her as she grows. I won't have a prison visit this Monday; she has her first vet appointment (I had to schedule it ASAP because if I waited, it would void her health guarantee). It's really strange to think that she lived in Russia and came all the way over here. That little pot roast has traveled more than I have; she flew over the North Pole to get here with a layover in Amsterdam (she came in on KLM). For those of you who have yarn with me, don't worry - she's not allowed in the studio where the yarn is kept, and she also won't be anywhere near it when I go to list it. Even though she has short hair, she still sheds. I also don't think you want your yarn to smell like a puppy.

So back to work on the update. I may have to take a few breaks to have Snickerdoodles, though.

And to cuddle my little snoring pot roast.