Knitting Resumes (plus, Happy Kitty News)

Actually, knitting never stopped, although it did slow down some.  But first -- happy kitty news!

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, Harley was about a year and a half or two years old when I adopted her.  She was living in a feral colony in an apartment complex in San Antonio, and a friend was feeding some of the cats in the colony. Harley was the 'friendliest' of them, so my friend caught her and I brought her home.

Harley has never been very trusting - I suspect some of her interactions with humans in her early life were not very much fun.  But she likes me - she sleeps with me every night and likes to be petted and brushed.  She'll sit next to me or behind me, on the back of my chair.  But she hates to be picked up and has never sat on my lap.

Almost every evening since I got back from my vacation/conference trip, she sat on the back of my chair and sort of peered at my lap.  I really figured that she was trying to decide if stepping on my lap was a safe shortcut to the couch.  Then, Saturday night, she stepped into my lap and laid down!

The first night, she only spent a few minutes on my lap.  But most evening since, she has spent a couple hours there.  She even lets me wiggle and move my legs.  You cannot believe how happy this makes me -- and it only took eight years!

So -- knitting -- while I was on vacation/at my conference, I worked on Boneyard, which is perfect mindless conference knitting.  And it doesn't look like much, either -- just a large blob of knitting on circular needles.  I'm making it larger than described, using two skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn.  I also have some ideas about how I want to finish the last several rows, so by the time it's finished, it will really just be Boneyard-inspired!

I also finished one Cotty sock.  I have a habit of making socks too large, so I really worked on not making this one too big - and now I'm afraid it's a bit short!  However, I'm going to cast on to sock #2 and not panic yet!

Last weekend, I cast on a hat for my 14-year-old niece.  She chose the pattern (Everglade) and the yarn (Tempted Hand Painted Good Grrl in Va Va Voom, which is actually more purple than pink).  She wants an orange flower on it - she chose a cabbage rose from Knitted Flowers.  I'll attach it to a pin, so she can move it around.  I also may make a yellow one - I'm not so sure about the orange and purple!

And, finally, I am dying to cast on a pair of gloves -- I think they'll be Entangled Stitches.  Or maybe Glows - love that ruffle!