A day without cats on the internet??

Dolly says, "Oh, noes!"

Vinnie says, "No way!"

Harley says, "Meh...."

Here's the funniest cat video I've seen all week:



Update

Original, right? I don't have much to say about knitting, or much of anything else. I should be preparing for a class I'm teaching tomorrow evening (information resources for global health, anyone? That would be "global health," as in something being studied, not "global health," as in "I can make everyone healthy with these databases!" Because if that were the case, librarians would rule the world!).

Anywhoooo..... I have been working on my October Lady Sweater, and am now into the gull lace pattern, but just barely. I know this is known as a fast knit, but I am a slow knitter and don't really have all that much time to knit, anyway. But here it is, thus far:

In reality, the color changes aren't quite so dramatic.

I really want to have this done by the beginning of October, for my first October conference. Of course, by my second October conference, I'd like to have finished Ishbel. One of my closest friends and mentors turned 70 this weekend, and I'll see her there. It just occurred to me yesterday that, instead of buying her a pair of earrings or something for her kitchen, I should knit her something! And this yarn (Malabrigo Sock in Solis) would be perfect for her.

Ishbel is also supposed to be a fast knit - I've seen people post about knitting one in an afternoon - but I'm not so sure. Here's how far along I am right now:

Ha! At least the yarn is wound and the pattern is purchased, printed, and safely in its plastic slipcover!

Bullets

• I was looking forward to wearing my new Buttercup to knitting at Home Ec Saturday morning, but it was a little chilly, so I wore Daedelus instead.

• We've had a chilly summer, in fact. I hate to complain about it, considering what my friends and family in Texas have had this summer, but I worry that, if it's getting down into the 40s in late August, what's it going to be like in December?

• I had some bananas on the counter, so I made these muffins this morning. Wow - talk about yum! (I used regular whole wheat flour, butter, and Greek yogurt.)

• It's hard to type with a big boy kitty on my lap between me and the laptop!

• Friday night, I cast on for my February Lady Sweater (which I think I'll call October Lady Sweater, in hopes I get it done!), using some Brooks Farm Mas Acero that I got at Stitches Midwest last September. I'm about halfway through the garter stitch bodice. I find garter stitch wildly boring, so I'm plowing through it.

• Before I cast on, I finished the first Bougainvillea sock. I started these back in February. I love the pattern and the yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in cranberry), but I haven't been in much of a sock mood lately. (Weird....)

• I've finalized my Christmas knitting plans. I think it's very do-able, and I've got the planning done much earlier than usual. Plus -- it's all being knit from stash!

• Gotta go - almost time for Mad Men!

Time Flies!

Really, I didn't mean for it to be two weeks. But since it has been, I guess I would say that the highlights were seeing the butter cow and butter Abe at the Illinois State Fair and finishing Buttercup.

And there was a butter kitten, too.



There were also several butter butterflies hanging above Abe and the cow. If you look closely, at the very top of the first picture, there's something small and butter-colored. That's a butterfly!

There's been a butter cow at the Illinois State Fair every year since 1922. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to keep the cow from melting back then?

I also (almost) finished Buttercup. She's laying on top of the dryer, drying, right now, and I still need to sew in some ends. I'm pretty happy with it. I wanted to make it more of a baby doll shape, and I think I may have done that just a little too well! But it's still a cute summer top.

Sorry for the lousy picture. The cats are particularly unhelpful.

Details
Pattern: Buttercup (Ravelry link -- the only place I can find it)
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in Eucalyptus. Hemp, cotton, and nylon - I loved this yarn! I'll definitely use it again.
Mods/notes: I wanted this to be a little more baby doll shaped, so I increased it a bit more to make it flare. I also did five pattern repeats at the bottom, rather than one. (I got both of these ideas from Hapichick, on Ravelry.) As I said in my notes on Ravelry -- if you're one of those people who is uncomfortable showing more than an inch below your collarbones, this isn't the top for you. While this should be obvious from the photos, I was surprised at how many people seemed surprised at how wide/deep the neckline was when they finished.

This was a great pattern, and I really enjoyed knitting it. It took me about 6 weeks, which, considering how slow I am and how little knitting time I have, was really quick!

It fits!

No, Buttercup (Rav link) isn't finished yet, but I did put it on waste yarn to make sure it fits -- and it does!

The color is off - it's really a sort of blue-grey-green.
However, this is the best I could do in my tiny downstairs bathroom.

I'm doing a little modification - I'm making it more baby-doll shape, and am doing a wider trim at the bottom, a la Hapichick. As of Saturday, there's a new version of this pattern available -- I'm not looking at it, because this one is working for me!

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How cute is this?


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And Denise on Clear Creek is turning destashing into a contest -- go to her blog to see! (There's sock yarn and Malabrigo!!!)

More Yarny Goodness

I don't know about you, but tonight I'm working on socks, pretending I'm at Sock Summit (assuming there are lap-sitting cats at SS09).

This is Vinnie, who has gone from growling at me a month ago to sitting on my lap whenever we're in the same room. And it's hard to take a picture of your own lap.

I forgot one of my yarn-related birthday gifts in my last post. My brother got me this great knitting pirate t-shirt.

In the last few days, other knitting goodies have arrived in my mailbox.

Here's this month's yarn from the Mean Girls Yarn Club. Accompanying it are a stitch marker (attached to the label), a lollipop, and, my favorite, a tiny crochet hook on a key chain ring. I've been wanting one of these for ages! This one is made by 5elementknitr, who is currently at Sock Summit, with all the other cool kids.

And a week or so ago, while working on Buttercup, the cord to one of my Harmony Options broke. It came out of the part that screws onto the needle. This was extremely annoying, so I called them. I know that I'm not the first person to have this problem, but I've got to say customer service was great. They put a package of two more in the mail, and told me just to throw the broken one away. I love my Harmonies, and even if they aren't perfect, I'm glad that this problem was so easily resolved

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, it's my birthday, and I got some knitting-related gifts!

My sister sent me a Shawl Stick and a little K2tog pin. I think she got them both at Yarn Barn in San Antonio, and I love them both!

I also got two knitting books. Knitting in the Sun is full of great patterns -- Santorini and Bordeaux are all already in my Ravelry queue, and I'm sure others will join them.

I also received a copy of Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders, which also has great patterns. The friend who gave it to me admits, though, that the deciding factor was the toddler sized elephant hat. (Rav link - sorry!) I'm trying to decide if I can upscale it to fit her!

I'm still working on Buttercup, and it's going well. I went back to finish the sleeves and neckline before I continue on the body. That way, I won't be worried about running out of yarn. I'll probably finish the neckline this evening, so I'll post a photo of that much next time.

New stuff

It seems like a great deal of yarn has come into the house lately, and I haven't blogged it or even posted it on Ravelry (I LOVE the stash page on Ravelry -- I actually know what yarn I have now!)

Of course, there were eight balls of Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in Eucalyptus (027), which they describe as grey green -- I think it's more of a bluey green. It's being made into the previously described Buttercup.

There's also the three skeins of Dream in Color Smooshy. One skein is in Petal Shower

and two are in Absolute Magenta.

The magenta is destined (at the moment, at least) to become Ishbel.

There's also two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Wendy Knits Sunrise, which was dyed in honor of this Wendy



and a skein of Tempted Good Grrl in Va-Va-Voom.

And if that weren't enough --

a Namaste Buddy Case

(I'm not sure what I'll use it for, but I love the removable divider),

a Knit'n'Walk (although I'm pretty sure I'd be unable to knit while I walked),

and, finally, a bag that I got on sale from some store at the mall -- they had them on sale for $10, hanging on racks out front.

A bit much for a purse but great for a knitting bag. Here's a close-up of the print:

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Harley says, "This makes me very tired..."

Knitting!

I know, I know -- 3 posts in 2 days! Don't get used to it!

Also, this one has actual knitting content! Including a finished object! Whoa!

Here it is -- the baby-sized Artful Afghan (which is the same project as the Artful Elegance Afghan, just with different colors recommended -- you'll find examples under both names in Ravelry), finished the night before the mother went into labor (in fact, as I write this, I haven't heard that the baby has been born yet). This is an extremely easy pattern, which, for me, makes it wildly boring. It really shouldn't have taken four months to finish! However, I'm happy with the result.

The yarn is Cotton-Ease, in a variety of colors. From the center: Berry, Lime, Lake, Azalea, Violet, and Charcoal. I had never knit with Cotton-Ease before, but it's a nice machine-washable and -dryable yarn. It's a good thing I like it, because I've got quite a bit left over!

Last night, despite a numerous WIPs that have been completely ignored for the last couple months, I cast on for Buttercup (Rav link, where the pattern is available for free) using Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy, in the evocatively named 027 colorway (light blue-green). And I'm hoping you're sitting down because I actually did a gauge swatch!

My stitch gauge is right on, although the row gauge is off. But that's pretty easy to accomodate. Tonight, I'll cast on for the actually project.

And it occurs to me that some unblogged-about yarn has come into my life recently. So there's another post (but don't hold your breath)....

Bezzie's Library Card meme

Bezzie has requested that we post pictures of our library cards. And on mine, you get to see my bad handwriting, too, although in a pique of uncharacteristic paranoia, I've blurred out part of my signature, in addition to my card number and barcode.

And I promise -- knitting next time!

Fun with the Family

I took a few days off last week and met up with my mom, brother, and niece at Illinois Beach State Park. We're a camping family, but we don't camp because of a love of the great outdoors or anything like that. We camp because it's a whole lot cheaper than staying in a hotel! Over the years, we went lots of places, like Washington, D.C. and Key West, that we wouldn't have been able to afford any other way. We started out 45 years ago with a teeny little tent and air mattresses, cooking over a fire -- although just about the first "fancy" accessory we bought, after sleeping bags, was a propane camp stove.

Now Mom has a pop-up camper, with (almost) real beds. However, I'm afraid our little camper may have gotten a little bit of an inferiority complex from our neighbors!

It was really chilly while we were there. The Lake Michigan beach was 2 minutes away, but we spent the hour there huddled up in our sweatshirts. One afternoon, instead of going to the beach, we visited the Jelly Belly Distribution Center, 20 minutes north, just over the state line in Wisconsin.

We were driven around on a little train and watched videos of the history of Jelly Bellies. And we all had to wear paper hats.

Of course, the tour ended in the the gift shop, where we stocked up on Belly Flops -- Jelly Bellies that aren't quite up to standard.

On the 4th of July, we drove into Chicago -- all the way down Sheridan Road, maybe not as fast -- sometimes -- as taking the Tri-State (where I was stopped for more than an hour on Friday by this accident) but a whole lot more interesting of a drive -- and went to Taste of Chicago. Because it was chilly and a little bit drizzly, it wasn't real crowded when we arrived.

I was thrilled to see a booth from one of my favorite Chicago restaurants, Star of Siam, so I had Pad Thai and potstickers. My brother and niece wandered off to find "real food," but Mom had Pad Thai with me.

I'm not sure Mom had ever had Thai food before, but she liked the Pad Thai!

After sampling a few more things (and I wish I could remember the day of the place where we got the yummy Chocolate Hazelnut gelato), we made our way to Navy Pier. Frankly, a rainy holiday is NOT the day to go to Navy Pier -- all the people who should be outside there are crowded indoors! But I do wish I had had more time to look at the stained glass on display.

This window was overlooking the staircase in the house of a former mayor of Kankakee.

That night, we sought out the local fireworks in Zion, the town next to Illinois Beach. (Click that link about Zion - the town has a really interesting history!)

Ooh!


Aah!

The next morning, we had a great -- and cheap! -- breakfast at Emily's Pancake House in Beach Park (there's one in Waukegan, too). If you're ever in the area, stop there for breakfast or lunch (they close at 3:00). Our waitress was as good as the food - when she heard that my niece had been excited to find a slice of kiwi in her side of fruit, she brought her a bowl of nothing but kiwi and cantaloupe!

And then we made our way home, where I found three kitties who had missed me -- even Vinnie wanted to be petted!

Next time: actual knitting content! (Guess what is finally finished?)

Animals

Vinnie is a little less unhappy, I think. A couple times a day, I go into his room, and he growls a little less. I've also stopped shutting the door, and instead have just been setting a large suitcase in front of it. It lets some air in (Vinnie's room gets warm during the day) and, if any cat actually wanted to get either in or out of the room, they would be able to. So far, no takers among my little family of unathletic cats!

This evening after work, though, I left the suitcase in the hall when I moved it away, and then I went downstairs. Ten minutes later, I heard meowing at the top of the stairs, and there was Vinnie. A few minutes later, he came down to the main level of the house, where I was baking lemon bars. He sniffed around a lot, then started down the stairs to the lower level.

I think this is as far as he got, because Harley was downstairs.

Eventually he went back up to his room. I think I'll leave the door open tonight and see what happens.

Harley's not sure what she thinks of this course of events, but she seems less freaked out about Vinnie than she was about Dolly. And Dolly still doesn't seem to recognize Vinnie, although she lived with him for 7 years!

And, finally, this summer's goslings and ducklings are starting to explore.

Click to see a few more pictures of backyard fowl.

Checking in

Sorry for disappearing so long. The baby blanket is still not done, and the last week or so has been quite stressful.

A week ago yesterday, on the 16th, one of my co-workers fainted at work. She came to in just a few seconds, and by the time someone came and got me, she was sitting up and talking, although she was very, very pale. We called 911 and the EMTs took her to the ER. Several hours later, while she was waiting to be discharged, she fainted again. This time, she didn't come to and couldn't be revived. She passed away 2 days before her 33rd birthday, probably from a pulmonary embolism.

Kathy was an amazing health sciences librarian. She had only been in the profession for 5 years, but was a real inspiration to a lot of people. You can read about her work with the College of Medicine here.

She was also a great person -- one of the smartest people I've met, with a huge streak of silly. She's also the friend from whom I got Dolly.

Here family flew in from California, and at first thought they didn't want any sort of funeral or service. We told them that we thought the library staff would like one, and the next thing I knew, I was planning a memorial service, which was held on Saturday. We held it in a lecture hall that Kathy spent quite a bit of time in, and had around 140 people in attendance. I lined up several people to talk about their relationships with Kathy -- a couple people from the library, a couple med school faculty and a student, and finally, Kathy's mother and father. The I asked if anyone else wanted to speak, and 4 or 5 people did. We had a series of photos running on a loop on the screen behind the speakers. It was a nice service, and I know her family is glad we did it.

Her family also asked if I would take her other cat, Vinnie, a 15 year old grouchy old man of a cat. He's upstairs in my 'office,' hiding behind the bed and growling and snarling whenever I go in. But he's eating and using the litter box, so I think he'll be okay. Once he comes out from behind the bed, I'll take a picture!

The baby blanket slog continues. It won't be done by Friday, but now I'm hoping for next Friday! And then I'm going to knit something lacy!!!!

Or maybe socks -- I joined the Mean Girls Yarn Club and got my first shipment a couple days ago.

Pretty!

The colorway is called Aunt Sarah's Pussies, in honor of Si and Am, the naughty cats in Lady and the Tramp. Along with the yarn, there was a pretty little stitch marker, a DPN case, and a kitty-shaped lollipop that I'm a little bit afraid to taste!

In non-knitting news, last Saturday night I got to see my favorite Texas musician, Robert Earl Keen, perform here in Iowa City, for free! He was the Saturday night featured act at the Iowa Arts Festival. It rained all morning, and it sure looked like it would rain later, too, but it didn't -- the weather was gorgeous!

I moved up to the side of the stage to take a few pictures, and I swear that the second after I took this, he looked right at me and smiled - but neither my camera nor I was quick enough to get a second shot!

Three friends went with me, and I was afraid I would be the only REK fan there, but there were obviously a number of people there who knew him. At most REK concerts, I cringe when I see too many A&M t-shirts -- Robert Earl's an Aggie and sometimes his fellow alumni can be kind of obnoxious at concerts. This time, though, I was thrilled to see the maroon, since I knew it meant I wasn't there alone! In fact, during the day, I even wore the maroon t-shirt I got when SCC was in College Station a few years ago.

I was able to replace my Road Goes On Forever bumper sticker (my previous one was in shreds), but I didn't stand in line to get Robert Earl's autograph -- the line was pretty long, which made me happy, too. My sister had gotten an autographed copy of his book for me a few months ago, so it seemed sort of redundant. Although in retrospect -- how cool would it have been to have his autograph on my bumper sticker? Of course, I probably wouldn't have put it on my car then!

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There was a request for a photo of the leaves of my mystery tree -- does this help?

Still here

Still working on the wildly boring baby blanket. The shower is Friday. If I work hard (harder than I have been!), it will be done!

It's a big circular-needle wad at the moment.

I haven't let myself work on anything else, so as a result, there's been very little knitting lately.

This afternoon, I went out and bought mint, basil, and sage and repotted them into some pretty pots. (I left a whole lot of pots at my house in San Antonio, so I had to buy new ones.) I've talked about growing herbs forever, and finally decided to do it. They're on my balcony, which is closest to the kitchen. On the patio, I'm afraid they would be a nice snack for the ducks and geese!

I chose herbs that I buy fresh frequently -- I'm currently on a real mint kick. My favorite salad at the moment is baby spinach with strawberries and whatever other berries I have on hand (this week, raspberries and blackberries), mint leaves, and raspberry dressing. And mint is essential to this dish, which is still a favorite. If this experiment works -- meaning they don't die in the next week -- I'll go back for more. Parsley would be nice. Any other ideas?

I also have a new phone, that looks just like my old one. Last Saturday I tried to flip it open to read a text and noticed this:

Opening it up only made it worse.

Of course, it was out of warranty. So I got another, exactly like it. My contract isn't up until March, but I really want to get an iPhone then.

One more thing: anyone from the Upper Midwest know what this tree is?

My reserved parking space, in front of my townhouse, is under this tree. In the fall, it leaves millions of tiny leaves all over my car, and in the summer, it drops these things:

And the birds like to sit in it, too. Knowing what it is would make it easier to think the ugly thoughts that I think about it all the time!