Slow Progress

Sorry - didn't mean to drop off the blog-planet for so long. First - thank you all for your kind thoughts about Vinnie. It's amazing how attached I got to him in just a year.

I've been knitting, but have no pictures to prove it. That's the same photo of Larkin that I showed you 6 weeks ago, but I do have progress.* I've reached the edging, which right now seems less boring than the lace, although I'm pretty sure I won't feel that way after a few evenings of "k2tog, k14, turn, k15, turn" and repeat, around and around!

However, since I had reached the edging, I decided I would let myself cast on for Myrtle, a cardigan by Larkin's designer, Snowden Becker. I cast on Saturday night. By the time I finished the bottom edging on Sunday evening, I suspected it might be too big. Monday evening, I had finished the first pattern repeat, so I kind of finger-blocked it and measured. Oh, yeah -- waaaay bigger than it was supposed to be! So I frogged it all. I will be casting on again, going down both a needle size and a sweater size. But for now, I think I'll work on that blanket some more. Blankets are always the right size!

* Despite the fact that I know that blanket knitting is not my thing, this is the third blanket I've knit in just over a year. I'm pretty sure this one will be the last for a while!

Sad News

Just a quick post to let you know that my fears about Vinnie came true - he passed away sometime early Sunday morning. I stayed up with him until about 1:00 a.m., because I knew he was doing really badly. I considered taking him to the emergency vet, but I knew that would be traumatic for him, and I was fairly certain that there wasn't much that could be done. When I got up at 7:30, he was gone, laying near where he was when I went to bed. Harley was sitting a few feet away, waiting for me.

The posts about how Vinnie came to live with me last summer are here. In the time since, he went from grouchy old man -- I was warned that he was a scaredy cat and not terribly friendly to most people -- to one of the sweetest cats I've owned. If I was in the room, he was usually in my lap, even though I've heard that he wasn't a lap cat in the past. Although he and my other cats weren't exactly friends, they all tolerated each other. He had even become fairly social -- if he heard me talking to someone, he would come see who it was. He would even model my knitting.

I miss him a lot, and feel lucky that I got to have him for the last year.

1. Vinnie, 2. Vinnie, 3. Vinnie, 4. Vinnie wearing Sweet Pea, 5. Vinnie and Mom, 6. Kitties all together, 7. Whispering Pines Shawl (and Vinnie), 8. Vinnie, 9. Vinnie, 10. Vinnie

Brief Update

Two weeks ago, I spent the weekend at my Mom's. I had a nice weekend, include a quick trip to Champaign with my 14-year-old niece to the new Sephora there. And we ate lunch at the Chick-Fil-A in the nearly-deserted Illini Union. (I'm beginning the "you must go to Illinois" indoctrination!)

Waiting for lunch

It was a nice weekend and when I got home Sunday evening, all the kitties rushed to the kitchen to greet me. I looked straight down at Vinnie and realized that he had suddenly gotten very skinny. Actually, I'm sure it wasn't really sudden; I just didn't notice it until I had been away for a couple of days.

As the week progressed Vinnie ate less, and stopped coming to the kitchen to eat. In mid-week, he started peeing on the floor and stopped going downstairs to the living room. He camped out under the sideboard in the dining room, so I moved food and water and a littler box there for him.

Friday afternoon, I took him to the vet, and my fears were validated -- he has advanced kidney disease. For the last week, he's been getting subcutaneous fluids, an antibiotic, and special kidney disease soft catfood. The sub-Q fluid administration hasn't been too bad, although he hates the antibiotic. I kind of see his point - the antibiotic smells like a pina colada gone bad.

For a couple days he rallied. He loved the food and the fluids helped. Tuesday evening, he even came out to greet one of my co-workers who stopped by to borrow a cooler. But now he seems to be declining, not eating much at all. So I don't know how long it will be. He's a sweet old boy, and seeing him this sick is hard.

Vinnie in better days

Sweaters and Me

You may remember how, in September 2009, I finished my first adult-sized sweater, the February Lady Sweater.

One thing I haven't mentioned is that last spring, I accidentally felted it a little. It still fits, but is too short for my liking. :-(

I've been thinking for months about making myself Snowden Becker's Myrtle Cardigan. I even have the yarn and the pattern. But, in addition to all those WIPs I've shown you, I've been nagged by the fact that I actually have two sweaters hibernating.

Back in March 2007, I cast on for A Cardigan for Arwen, a hooded cabled cardigan that was very popular at the time. I finished the back and over half of the left front. The yarn is a beautiful sort of nubbly wool from Beaverslide, the Fisherman Weight, in Wood Violet.

Then, a year later, in April 2008, I cast on for Tussie Mussie, a more spring-like cardi with bobble bouquets, in Knit Picks Swish DK in asparagus.

Sooo..... despite the fact that I love, love, love the yarn I'm using for Arwen, I think my excitement for knitting a hooded cardi has passed. I've decided to frog it and save the yarn for another use. That way, I can begin Myrtle without increasing the number of sweaters on the needles. I believe I will be getting out the swift and winder this evening!