Life's a Stitch

Yup, that’s Gracee’s name. She came to us at six months old, a piece of returned merchandise, a used dog. The breeder told me that her owners couldn’t house train her and she was vicious when tucked into bed. If you know Scotties, you know a bed tucking would be most embarrassing for such a distinguished creature.

I’m always up for a challenge when it comes to vulnerable creatures. Indeed, Ms. Grace couldn’t be house trained because she has inflammatory bowel disease. No gross details, but there are plenty. At the worst, she was down to 15lbs instead of her healthy 22 and was ready to be dealt with in the most humane way possible, if you know what I mean. The vet said, “let’s try one last thing” and put her on prednisone. In 48 hours she had an amazing turnaround. For all you purists who believe in the BARF doggy diet and no meds, this was the best thing for her. She is still on a minimal dose, but after two years is a typical dog. Typical for a Scottie means a dog who knows she’s better than you and reminds you of that every day. OK, Gracee’s is typical except for one thing. She has OCD, which my husband thinks is a side effect of the prednisone. She constantly licks carpet and sucks her leash. WARNING – this is gross: poor puppy throws up a carpet fibre sausage about twice a month. I warned you. That is a small price to pay for life with Gracee May, we love her just the same.

Her official adoption picture:

As for knitting I finally picked up where I left off on my Rippling Waters scarf. I started the end bit three times and kept ending up with a mistake in the same spot. After a break I took a deep breath and patiently worked through the numbers. Guess what? I had made a note on the chart resulting in being one stitch off. I figured that puppy out, I did it! I have a whole new outlook. This is progress: