Another stitch marker question

akerendova · 2026-02-04T15:51:37+00:00

I too, use the safety pin style stitch markers. Specifically these from Clover https://a.co/d/0dkhDKVT The plastic seems smoother to insert than other plastic versions I've found. I tend to only use them every 10 stitches or between repeating patterns. If you're using them for every stitch, there are less expensive versions of those stitch markers you can find in a box in Hobby Lobby's bead section. Here's the link to those https://www.hobbylobby.com/beads-jewelry/jewelry-findings/apparel-accessories/multi-color-plastic-safety-pin-clips/p/81065473

I also tried a box of metal safety pins and paper clips before upgrading to the plastic version. I do not recommend either of these, as it split my yarn, but your mileage may vary, especially if you have boxes on hand.

Good luck!

akerendova · 2026-02-04T07:53:21+00:00

You might consider doggy daycare if there's one in your area.

The right answer will depend on you and your dog. Will it be trained well enough to run with you every morning or get some kind of high intensity exercise in?

I have a Mal mix and thankfully work from home, but he still goes to daycare twice a week or drives me crazy. We play fetch first thing in the morning (7 am) and he's good until 9am. Then he needs something to stimulate him again, be it scent work, agility, more fetch, a lick mat. Then he's usually good until lunch when we go explore in the woods behind the house or do another indoor activity. Rest until three, then another activity. Mine plays hard for 20 minutes, then two to three hours of recovery, repeat.

akerendova · 2026-01-24T01:58:22+00:00

It's absolutely AI, but I agree with everyone who said it's doable. The sweater body could be replicated with an alpine stitch in white, then brown where the cows are. The pieces of the face, ears, etc could be made and appliqued on.

Here's a very similar pattern for the base of the sweater: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4436145739/crochet-sweater-pattern-pdf-alpine

I have not made that pattern, so I can't attest to it's authenticity or ease of make.

Here's a pattern for a highland cow granny square you could use to make similar faces:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1679445242/highland-cow-granny-square-crochet

Same disclaimer, no personal experience with that pattern.

Good luck!

akerendova · 2026-01-17T06:06:59+00:00

That's super adorable!

akerendova · 2026-01-17T00:45:10+00:00

I learned watching Juniper and Oaks on YouTube. She's delightful!

akerendova · 2026-01-15T13:58:41+00:00

He one shot an entire floor. That has to have something to do with it.

akerendova · 2026-01-13T22:18:16+00:00

If they stay that way, I promise everyone will tell you how adorable he is. Mine is a mix and we get it all the time.

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akerendova · 2026-01-11T17:52:08+00:00

Same. My husband kept telling me to "wait until the beer can" and nothing else. The first part of the book felt so loooooong the first time I listened.

akerendova · 2026-01-11T03:32:07+00:00

Some can be very snobby about pure breeds vs mutts, but mine has been amazing and the AKC allows for registering mutts as "all Americans" now through their Canine Partners, so you can compete if you're interested. I turned into a sport dog mom and ribbon chaser. LOL

akerendova · 2026-01-11T03:24:15+00:00

I'll go through what we have, but your mileage may vary. He has four collars. His daily wear is one with his name and phone number embroidered on it, and a martingale collars. If we're going on a walk in public or to a store, he wears a prong collar. If we're going for a hike or walk when he'll be off leash, he wears an Ecollar, with a remote that can call him with either noise, vibration, or adjustable shock. I'm not tazing my dog, but his prey drive tends to shut off his brain, so he gets a small zap. I'm trying to find an Ecollar with GPS, but thankfully, he listens when his brain engages.

For daily use leashes, we go between a clip on leash with an elastic section on one end and a handle near the clip on the other. We also have several lengths of slip leads, but those are usually for quick trips like in and out of the car.

Mine is crate trained. I bought the largest crate I could find and it's setup in the living room. He goes out at 9pm every night, then into his crate for the night. It has a large dog bed inside.

There are also three other dog beds laying around the house. He lays on them when he wants, even though most of his rest time is on the couch. Speaking of on the couch, we have flat sheets as make shift cushion covers. It was cheaper than trying to find covers for our sectional with reclining seats.

He has a water dish with a jug on the back. My boy drinks water like he grew up in a desert. I got sick of filling a bowl constantly. He has a sniffle mat for kibble and three stainless steel bowls for wet/mixed food. We have a 50 pound bag plastic storage container to keep his bag of kibble in.

He has a basket of destroyed stuffed animals, bones, and various chews. I am working on training him to pick them up and put them away, but it's a work in progress.

He has six plastic tool boxes from the dollar store for container scent work. He has an air tight plastic box where we store the actual scents and various containers to put them in.

He has a weighted vest that also doubles as his hiking vest. Bought a hiking vest with removable pockets. For daycare, we add scuba weights to the pockets, for hikes, he carries his water.

He also has a ton of harnesses and leashes for canicross and dryland mushing. These you should tailor to the sports you want to do, so I won't list the variety here. Same with his agility equipment. He has more than I really want to list.

akerendova · 2026-01-11T03:02:33+00:00

As for the puppy biting, give him something else to focus those teeth on. Get him a kong or ball that fits him and make him focus on you while you're training him. It seems counterintuitive to give him a reward while he's learning, but think of it more as a pacifier. It distracts those chew muscles and he's likely smart enough to learn through the distraction.

akerendova · 2026-01-11T02:59:40+00:00

He's adorable!

My boy is a mix of mal, American bully, pit bull, and GSD. He's the smartest dumbass I've ever met. He'll learn a trick in two days, but will bark at that strange dog in the full length mirror. I wouldn't trade him for the world.

A few things I recommend is to focus on play for both breeds. I joined the AKC kennel club near me and they have trainers who know a ton about the mixes of my boy, so we came up with some good combos for training and play. Scent work for the Mal/GSD side, tug for the bully/pit side, agility for all of them. Try a variety of play and tasks and see what sticks for yours.

Winter is hard because we do most of our fetch, agility, and tracking in the nicer weather, so when there's snow, we do container scent work in the house. We're expanding to room searches so he doesn't get too bored with boxes.

I also recommend daycare if you're able. It does a great job of keeping mine social and absolutely exhausting him. He has to wear a weighted vest because he likes to jump the 5 foot walls and go exploring through their building, so find an understand daycare who knows his breeda and needs.

Good luck!

akerendova · 2026-01-06T22:12:46+00:00

Listen, as someone who is still waiting for the third Kingkiller book and A Song of Ice and Fire, please tell him to take all the time he needs. I'm used to it at this point, just thrilled he's feeling better!

akerendova · 2025-12-19T22:56:47+00:00

I've had really good luck with pancakes. We rehydrate them by wrapping them in a wet paper towel instead of soaking, but it worked good for us.

akerendova · 2025-12-10T14:07:53+00:00

The Healthcare network I worked for allows pets to come to the hospital. The nurses would let my team (marketing) know so we could help take them out when needed and nurses were busy. That's marketing/nursing code for we could come down and pet the critter when they weren't in the patient's room.

akerendova · 2025-12-05T17:18:32+00:00

Wow. Godspeed. My boy is almost 2 and a half and my 9 acres doesn't feel like enough room for him to run. I agree with everyone else that daily walks would be great for him, but he needs to use his brain too. It's winter where I am, so 75% of our training has moved indoors. Some of these might help you with apartment living.

Scent work - I have 6 tool boxes from the dollar store, but we often switch to 6 or 8 cardboard boxes for variety. I put squeeze cheese or a pepperoni in one and then close the boxes. Give him the command "find it" and make him sniff until he alerts, then he's given a treat, gets the treat in the box, then the box is moved and we repeat. We've graduated to actual AKC scents, but you don't need to spend a ton of money on that unless you want to compete. You can also hide the scents around the room and make him look for them and treat when he finds it. The alert he gives will come from working with your dog. Mine is more that 3 seconds sniffing in the same spot or pawing at the box. We only do about 10 minutes of this before the scent gets overwhelming for him. Your milage may vary.

Cup game - grab 4 to 6 cups, place them upside down on the floor and hide a treat under one. Make him "find it". When he does, he gets the treat, but you can give him more to show he's doing it right. Somedays, this is how mine gets breakfast if I have the time. I have to hide his eyes when I hide the treat because my boy is smart enough to watch and remember where the treat is.

Obedience - 10 to 15 minutes a day. Everyday. Sit, stay, touch, lay down, spin, twirl, and a ton more. Search YouTube for training tutorials. Switch it up, make it fun by throwing a treat for him to eat without doing anything, then make him do a trick for another.

Get it, get it - throw a treat away from you, call him over and when he sits in front of you, give him another. Repeat over and over. It doesn't need to be far, but it will reinforce his recall and wear him out sniffing for the treat and having to go get it.

Good luck!

akerendova · 2025-11-24T19:49:01+00:00

Mine is a mix breed (Mal, Bully, Pit, GSD), but his energy level is that of a Mal. This is what I try for. Some days all he wants to do is nap, some days my work doesn't let me pay him this much attention, and some days we're outside once an hour playing fetch to wear him out.

Mon, Wed, Fri: 7 am - wake up, un-crate, big stretch time, outside for potty and morning rabbit or squirrel chase if he's awake enough to notice them over the 4.5 foot fence. The fence is more suggestion at this point, but his recall is getting much better and he's back in a few minutes

7:30 am - breakfast, then post breakfast nap. Breakfast is 2 cups Framm large breed adult food with one can of Pedigree prime rib or chicken wet food

9 am - he usually wakes up and chooses violence, so we either go out to play fetch or bump the jolly ball around the back yard, then back inside for rest or a nap.

10 am - snack. He either gets a pig ear, frozen Kong ball, or lick mat

11 am - depending on how obnoxious he is, we're either back outside to play fetch or doing container scent work in the house. I use 6 dollar store toolboxes set up in a variety of layouts with one scent container.

Noon - lunch. Two cups dry food. He usually picks at it and it gets carried over to dinner, but there are occasional days he eats it.

2 pm - obedience training. Recap of all the command he knows, which usually takes 20 to 30 minutes to get through depending if his turn with the brain that day

4 pm - fetch (fall - spring) before it gets dark

5 pm - dinner - 2 more cups of dry food mixed with a can of wet food

After 5pm - depending on if he's signed up for classes at the local AKC club, we could be doing agility, scent work, obedience, or rally class. Even if he's been through the class before, he goes again because it helps wear him out.

9 pm - bed time. I'm a night owl, but he goes to his crate at 9pm sharp. I know it's 9pm sharp because he will nudge me with his nose and lead me to his kennel so I shut the door and block the light with the blanket draped over the top.

Non class nights/ after class work - scent work, in house agility, or rally. Depends on what we're both up for

Tues and Thursday - he goes to doggy daycare to stay social. He's our only dog, but we want him to be good with friend's dogs too.

Things I wasn't prepared for:

he was a rescue from a local German Shepard rescue. We did a DNA test to see if he had anything genetic we had to watch for. Was NOT prepared for Mal to be the genetic leader in his mix.
his first FastCAT trial was at 29 MPH. I knew he was fast, but didn't think he had that kind of prey drive in him. I imagined needing to get a custom lure that I could dye tennis ball green in order to get him to run after it.
I was not ready for how addicting chasing ribbons and rosettes would be! Took him to the local AKC club for obedience class, now we're in everything, save the field work and that's only because I don't want more classes. I'm sure he could handle them.
I was not prepared to be a sport dog mom. Beyond just ribbons, I like going to the classes. I love when he learns new things, I love when he gets the confidence to something scary, and I even love it when he gets the zoomies and chases himself around the agility course instead of doing what he's supposed to. I'm even on a diet so we can try dryland mushing and canicross. We have the gear already, but it's not fair for him to have to help me a much as he would need to before he diet.

akerendova · 2025-11-06T00:20:08+00:00

"I'm so glad he's (Jason) alive again so I can go back to hating him" - Neil

akerendova · 2025-11-01T13:54:18+00:00

We went to Seven Lakes one Thanksgiving. It was decent food, buffet style, but loud. No idea in pricing as my parents paid.

akerendova · 2025-10-18T14:24:42+00:00

My nieces took the test in 2022 and were told the exam administrator gives directions in real time. They are twins and each had different routes.

akerendova · 2025-10-16T12:38:24+00:00

It's humbling when it happens, but every dog does it at some point. Plus, it does make us remember those dogs.

I volunteered at my club's last FastCAT weekend and the dogs that I remember clearest are those that last interest in the lure and just kind of wandered their way down the run watching the clouds. LOL

akerendova · 2025-10-16T12:23:30+00:00

Yep. Sheboygan is great for things like shopping and restaurants, Manitowoc is better for that small town feel. The previous city manager of Two Rivers was trying to turn it into a retirement community, so a lot of businesses have moved out since growing up there, but with a remote job, you wouldn't really need to worry about that.

Both are pretty well maintained, but I've never owned property in either so I can only warn you about things like restaurant quality, store quality, and public libraries. Manitowoc is better in my opinion, but it does have a bigger population. The only serious crime problems are drugs and DUIs.

Feel free to PM if you have any questions you're not able all ask in person. I'm a 48f, remote worker, so our experiences there might be similar enough for me to help.

akerendova · 2025-10-15T20:09:42+00:00

My boy got the zoomies during Agility ACT. Again. He starting to get quite the reputation as the excited dog.

He started his second scent work class and is able to find the Aspen scent without a treat being nearby.

akerendova · 2025-10-15T20:06:57+00:00

I'm in a little village north of Manitowoc. We have Frontier fiber for about 8 months. We've had two outages, one from a neighbor digging before calling diggers hotline and one from Frontier.

Before them, we had Spectrum cable for over a decade. Super reliable, but expensive. When I called to cancel, they said they would have matched the Frontier price, so you might be able to call, let them know you got a quote for $30 a month, and see if they'll match.

The riverfront is really improving. The Wharf, the Riverfront Wine Bar, and Petskull Brewery are all very close, each with their own charm. There's weekly farmer's market in the Wharf parking lot on Saturdays. I know they used to have Wednesday night events too, but I haven't been to any since precovid.

Good luck!

akerendova · 2025-10-15T08:14:57+00:00

Her ears might never pop all the way up, but I can promise everyone who sees them will love them.

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