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!

But wait - there's more!

(I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post -- I think about posting all the time!)

From a couple of the comments to the last post, I think some of you are under the impression that I've got a lot of WIPs going. And you're right, because there are even more!

For example, there's my Boneyard Shawl. This is truly mindless knitting and great for conference and group settings. It's destined to be my work shawl, taking the place of the ugly store-bought woven shawl that I've worn at work for years. I'm making it from two skeins of Malabrigo Sock (in Stonechat), so it will be good-sized and cozy.

I need to take another picture - it's much larger than this now!

There's also Stonewall, yet another beautiful Anne Hansen design that I'm knitting out of an equally gorgeous merino-tencel sock yarn by Jessie. I really want to get this done by winter - I need a new scarf!

Again, it's bigger than this now!

There's Feather Duster, which is perfect for this Kidsilk Haze in Candy Girl. Knitting with KSH drives me nuts, but it's so pretty!

And finally, over the weekend I pulled out my Hedera Socks. I'm just starting the second one. I started this pair so long ago that it was before I figured out that I need to knit socks a little smaller than it seems, so the first one is a little big. And even though I've seen lots of beautiful Hederas, I'm not so sure about this slightly busy Blue Moon Socks that Rock (Medium) in Gypsum.

So you see why it takes me so long to finish anything! Lately, I've been fairly faithful to the baby blanket, Larkin, to make sure I get it done before the baby arrives in October.

Slow Progress

I wish I had something completed to show you, but since I have been incredibly non-monogamous in my knitting, I have little to show.

There's Larkin (rav), the baby blanket. I think I'm about a third done with it. It also now has a recipient -- one of my co-workers is expecting a baby girl in October and I think this would be nice for them.

There are the Hedgerow Socks (rav), which I began last October, as conference knitting. They've been hibernating, and I've just started the second one.

There's Whispering Pines (rav). I'm on the second of 11 charts (plus a knitted-on edging). I'm hoping to finish this by Christmas (for me).

There's another Crocheted Birdie. This one will have non-matching wings.

A few weeks ago, I visited Helen, and we made a quick trip to Klose Knit where, in addition to a little bit of cotton yarn to use to make birdies, I bought this gorgeous Lantern Moon knitting bag. It's very small, but bit enough for a sock project (although at the moment it's holding Whispering Pines). It's also reversible -- you can see the darker pink there at the top -- and has a pocket both inside and outside.

In a fit of startitis, I also cast on a pair of Rivendell socks, but knew immediately they would be too small. I think I've figured out how to add a few stitches to the circumference, but am no longer dying to make them, so they will wait for a little while. But that's okay - I've got plenty of other projects to work on!

More crochet!

Pattern and lots of handholding-helpful hints on Attic24.

One of these days, I'll get around to an actual post again.

Hey! It's crochet!

Pattern borrowed from Through the Loops, and execution inspired by Turtlegirl.

It's the first thing I've crocheted in about 30 years. It's a two-sided coaster, made from Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton, in Coral, Sprout, and Glacier. It took about 3 hours, which included re-learning how to crochet. Obviously, I need a little improvement in the color-changing. I think I may go buy a crochet book tomorrow....

FOs

The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy! Like I said in the last post, I finished up the boring green blanket -- which I have to admit is very pretty, even if it was boring -- for the WRAP project. You can see more of the afghans and quilts (gorgeous quilts - I especially love Laurie's) there. And in case you are wondering, the book I gave along with mine was Life as We Knew It, recommended by my 13-year-old niece.

As I was packing the blanket up, I realized that I had "double-twisted" several cables!

That project had to be finished in time to take it to the annual MLA conference in Washington, D.C., which began on May 21. Around the end of April, I decided I should knit my friend Melissa a small shawl for her birthday, which was at the beginning of May, because I knew I would see her at MLA.

The color is closer to what's shown in the "blob" photo in my last post.

I decide on the small size of Centrique, using Handmaiden Camelspin in Rose Garden. Except, when I finished the small size, I still had lots of yarn left, so I figured I would do another pattern repeat. Of course, I ran out of yarn half way through the last row. I ended up ripping out the last row and knitting it and the bind-off using Elann Peruvian Baby Silk in Peridot. The green was very similar to the green in the Camelspin. I actually has some Camelspin leftover from Brambler, in a kind of golden brown that would have worked, too, but I really liked the idea of green "tipping." Too bad you can't see it in the pictures!

And thus completes my "obligation" knitting. It's not that I don't like knitting for others -- I do, or I wouldn't do it -- but it feels like all I've done since last fall is knit for other people. So, although I have plenty of projects on the needles, I immediately cast on for Anne Hanson's Whispering Pines (in the very same yarn as the one pictured). I've had the pattern and the yarn in my stash for a couple years, but because I knew it was a huge project that was just for me, kept putting it off. So now, without knitting that must get done by some deadline, I'm working on things for myself (with Vinnie's help!).

The other two projects I'm working on for me are the Larkin baby blanket -- which may actually go to a baby, but may stay here with me -- and my Boneyard shawl, which is what I worked on during sessions at the MLA conference. There were lots of knitters at MLA this year -- my non-knitting friends kept telling me about knitters they had spotted. There were so many of us, in fact, that, after the meeting, an MLA group was started on Ravelry!

Finally!

The boring green blanket is done!

I haven't measured it yet, but I think it's about 3 1/2 feet by 4 feet.

Pattern: Cable Blanket (that link should make in possible for anyone to see my Rav page for this project. The Bernat website makes you register even to look at free patterns.)

Yarn: 10 skeins of KnitPicks Swish Bulky in Honeydew, which had been languishing in my stash

Needles: Giant size 10 circs

Mods: I only cast on 206 stitches rather than 230, and pretty much knit until I was out of yarn. That happened half way through the bind-off. I tried weaving in ends and using the trimmings (some of those ends were pretty long), but even then, I didn't have enough to finish. So I ended up picking out the bind-off and tinking one row, then binding off.

This is charity knitting for WRAP, and I finished it a whole 13 days early!

And now there is stealth knitting....

FO!

The big green blanket is now about 85% done. Maybe this weekend....

However, I did start, and finish, a little project this weekend.

That's my head behind Vinnie's - see my hair sticking out?

Okay, so, no matter how cute he is, Vinnie isn't the best model. Actually, it's probably because he was happy to wear the hat as long as he was sitting on my lap, leaning against me.

The pattern is Sweet Pea, and it's for my hairstylist, who is due in about 2 weeks and doesn't know if she's having a boy or a girl.

The yarn is Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, (colors Frost, Lemongrass, and Wintergreen), which I'm not really crazy about - too cottony! And if I were to do it again, I'd use size 6 needles, rather than size 7.

I do like the peas in the pod, though.

My other FO of the weekend was Rachael's book, How to Knit a Love Song. Even though I pre-ordered it from Amazon, just because it was Rachael's book, it's been lying on my table ever since it arrived. I just don't read romances. But Friday night, I wanted something light to read, so I picked it up -- and I loved it! It's well-written and has a story full of people I really liked. I'm not giving up my murder mysteries for romances, but I'll certainly read Rachael's next one.

Isn't it odd...

that I live in Iowa but have never been to Minnesota?

visited 31 states (62%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Anyway -- I am still alive. Within a couple days I should have one - and maybe two - FOs to show you. I'll admit that the knitting has been a little sparse for the last couple weeks, but my excuse is my new toy.

It's a miracle!

Apparently all it takes to bring peace to my kitty-kingdom is a pouch of Friskies Gravy Sensations, split three ways and doctored up with a little Pro-Pet Skin & Coat Care Formula (soy bean, cod liver, and wheat germ oil, plus vitamins -- it works wonders on dry kitty skin).

Yes, that is a snow boot next to a sandal there in the corner.

That's Vinnie in front, Dolly in the middle, and Harley at the back. While they were waiting for me to get it all divvied up, Harley and Dolly huddled together, then at the same time, turned toward Vinnie and hissed. It really looked like they were discussing their options, and decided a good hiss was the best answer!

Vinnie has been getting much braver, exploring the whole house. I really think it's just a matter of time before they're all getting along -- or at least tolerating each other.

In knitting news, have you seen Snowden Becker's pretty Larkin (rav) baby blanket? After I admired it, she asked me if I would like to test-knit it. I explained that I have to finish the big green blanket, and that I'm a really slow knitter. She said that was okay, so Saturday evening, I cast on for it in KnitPicks Comfy Sport in a wonderful shade of grey called Whisker. Actually, I tried to cast on Friday evening, after the yarn arrived, but realized that I didn't own any size 4 DPNs, so I had to work on the big green blanket until I could get a set of DPNs the next morning.

Even though this is supposed to be a baby blanket, I think I'll be keeping it for me!

I'm still slogging along on the big green blanket.

Miss Me?

I realize that you don't expect a post from me more than once every week or 10 days, but this time, I was really out of town!

With my mom, brother, and niece, I went to San Antonio to visit my sister and brother-in-law. I'm really lucky they still live there, because it gives me a good reason to visit the city I lived in for 23 years! Our visit, which was timed to take place during my niece's spring break, also coincided with my sister and BIL's move to the house they just bought. I'm sorry to say that I didn't take a single picture of their new-to-them house, which is adorable -- built in 1959, hardwood floors throughout, built-ins in every room, original tile (and not ugly colors!) in both bathrooms, big trees in the back yard -- you would love it!

I did get a chance to meet up with some of my knitter friends. We went someplace new to me - a great Chilean restaurant called Chile Lindo (that's a Yelp link - I thought they had a website, but can't find it). The empanadas were great and, of course, so was the company!

The family also made our usual pilgrimage to Rudy's (the original one, in Leon Springs). There, I only managed to take pictures of the meat (turkey and brisket) and the remnants of the amazing creamed corn, although I also ran into some former co-workers. I also had lunch with some co-workers at Thai Taste, one of our favorite lunch places for years. (That link goes to CitySearch, where it seems to be one of those places reviewers either love or hate. I have to say that I love it - the food is great and the service is excellent. It's not fancy, but then again - it's also really cheap. It's also always busy at lunchtime, so it's fine with me if those people who don't like it stay away!)

I also had Tex-Mex at least four times (breakfast tacos twice, Taco Cabana for lunch, and Perico's for dinner). And when not eating, I was yarn-shopping! First I stopped by the Yarn Barn, where I bought Alisha Goes Around sock yarn (merino/bamboo/nylon) -- Alisha is from New Braunfels, just north of San Antonio --

and a skein of the very decadent Hand Maiden Casbah (merino/cashmere/nylon) in Midnight, which will be a thank-you gift for my cat caretaker.

And then, at the insistence of all those knitters up there, I made a trip up to Comfort to The Tinsmith's Wife. Wow! What a great place -- well worth the 90 mile round trip! There I met Bill, the owner's father who holds down the fort, and Laurel and Noro, who are extremely laid-back cats. The shop is very cute (as is, frankly, all of downtown Comfort) and they have a wonderful selection of yarn. I came out with three skeins of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton destined to become a baby hat,

two skeins of Kollage Creamy (80% milk and 20% cotton!),

and a skein of String Theory Caper sock yarn (merino/cashmere/nylon) in Bowmore, which will make a beautiful shawlette.

And -- I finally finished the Bougainvillea socks! Love them! The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in cranberry.

Bullets and No Pictures

• I'm exhausted. "Spring forward" always kicks my butt, and this Saturday night was particularly bad. Due to multiple airline-induced delays, I was up until 4:30 Sunday morning.
• Those airline-induced delays were because I was in Albuquerque for a conference last week. I've been to ABQ four times, always for conferences, but I'd really like to go back for a real vacation some time. It reminds me of San Antonio.
• Speaking of San Antonio, my family and I leave for a visit there this Friday. It probably means I'll be up until about 4:30 Saturday morning; I'm really too old to do that twice in 8 days.
• My San Antonio knitting project will be the incredibly boring blanket, which has been languishing at 40% complete since the Olympics.
• Before I leave, I want to finish my Bougainvillea socks, which have been a focus in the last couple weeks.
  
• And speaking of the Bougainvillea socks -- they are one of Anne Hanson's amazing designs, and last week, I won a copy of this gorgeous book in a contest at her blog!
  

Harbingers of Spring (and a knitting-related question)

The snow is melting slowly, which is a good thing, as it helps minimize the possibility of flooding, and it's actually gotten above 40 for a couple days. This week's predicted precipitation is rain and fog, not snow.

Yesterday, a few geese returned to the pond.

Click to enbiggen

The pond is creek-fed (and in fact, the creek continues on beyond the pond), so where the water is flowing in, the ice has melted. Notice the goose standing on the ice, though!

I am very ready for Spring. This is the time of year when I really miss San Antonio, where it's already Spring and, if the wildflowers aren't already blooming, they will be soon.

Knitting-wise, I'm forcing myself to keep working on the blanket. I'm 40% done - it's easy to keep track of when you've got 10 skeins of yarn and plan on using them all! It's reached the bulky and non-portable point and is boring knitting, which is a deadly combination for me. Occasionally, I take a break to work on any of the several pairs of socks that are on the needles.

I need baby-knitting advice. I have a friend who is due in May and is not going to learn the sex of the baby. Although she's not a knitter, she always admires my knitting, so I want to knit something nice for her. However, the fact that I don't know whether I'm knitting for a boy or girl has me stumped. I do NOT want to knit another blanket - I'd rather do a sweater or maybe a hat and booties. Any gender-neutral suggestions, not just for patterns but for colors and yarns? (I think I have problems with this because I'm such a girly-girl...)

I promise knitting pictures next time!

From the Mail Lady

It's always exciting when the mail lady brings goodies. Actually, sometimes it's the library's delivery guy (his name is Ron), since I have a fair amount of mail delivered to work instead of home. Either way, whether it's Ron or the anonymous Mail Lady who delivers my home mail, it's always exciting.

There have been some undocumented knitting-related deliveries lately.

Here's the February shipment of the Mean Girls Yarn Club.

Both times that I have joined yarn clubs, I've told myself that it would force me to consider yarn not within my usual colorways. However, not surprisingly, this month's shipment is my favorite, because it's definitely within my colorway comfort zone!

The shipment also included a heart-shaped lollypop and a tiny key-shaped stitch marker.

Speaking of stitch markers:

That's two sets of stitch markers from Lynette's Etsy shop, Passionknit Pieces. I'm a sucker for stitch markers, and she's got lots of cute ones!

Red Nuggets

Black Cats

At least six weeks ago, my friend Melissa asked me if I wanted some old knitting patterns she had gotten somehow. I said sure, so she put them in the mail to me.

The first few looked like the typical pamphlets I remember my grandma having back in the 60s and 70s. Most of these didn't have dates on them but the two that did were dated 1974, which is the year I graduated from high school, so I remember it very well!

The last one in the pile had a note attched.

I have to say that I don't remember guys wearing aran hats tilted to one side like that. I also don't remember any dressing like this!

Note the same tilt to the hat. Maybe he's got a scar over his eyebrow.

I'm not one to criticize the styles from the past - I'm old enough to know that fashion is circular and if you're laughing about it today, there's a good possibility you'll be wearing it tomorrow. However, I'm pretty sure I'd remember guys dressed like this!

And those knee socks? They're actually leg warmers, years before the leg warmer craze of the '80's!

The Last Christmas Gift!

This weekend, I finally finished my brother's flip-top, flip-thumb mittens. I could have had them finished a couple weeks ago, but really needed my brother's thumb handy, to make sure everything fit.

He had tried on the prototype at Christmas, so knitting the hand/mitten part was easy. The thumb still puzzled me, though, so I knit two variations. After he tried them both on Friday evening, I cut the thumb tips off, and redid both.

So - in the end, I knit 3 mittens and 5 thumbs, but ended up with something we both liked.

It was raining outside, so we couldn't take pictures with snow.
I should have at least made my brother put on his coat!

Details
Patterns:
Construction of hand: Nuttinbutknittin's Glittens
Final thumb: Glenna C's Podster Gloves
Colorwork patterning: My own, but nothing fancy - 2x2 squares and some straight lines. The fanciest thing about them is probably the twisted rib cuff!

Yarn: 4 colors of Cascade 220, which is my favorite mitten yarn. I like it for color work, and it makes nice, warm, water-resistant mittens.

Needles: Size 4 DPNs for the cuffs, glove insert, and mitten and thumb tips; size 6 DPNs for the stranded work.

Olympic Knitting

Although I'm not participating on a team in the Ravelympics, I did sign up for the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. I did this not because I think I will finish a project and "medal," but to force myself to work on this lap blanket, which I promised to knit by May for a charity.

It's a free pattern from the Bernat site, called Cable Blanket and I'm using Knitpicks Swish Bulky (color Honeydew, apparently no longer available and greener than this picture shows) and size 10 needles. Some of you know how I dislike big yarn and big needles, but I had 10 skeins of the yarn in stash (and no idea how it got there!) and it seemed like a smart use of it. I'm making it slightly narrower than the pattern directs, partly because I wanted a more "lap size" blanket but also because I'm not sure I've got enough yarn. I think it's going to end up around 45" x 42" - sounds like "lap-size" to me!

My brother's flip-top, flip-thumb mittens are basically finished, although they have different thumbs. I'll see my brother this weekend and we'll decide which thumb works better. Then I'll rip out the "wrong" thumb and re-knit it. Luckily, thumbs knit up fast! Hopefully, I'll get a modeled shot once they're done.

I mentioned a while ago that I really wanted to make a Boneyard shawl. After starting it in a couple other yarns that were of a more appropriate gauge, I decided to use the Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Stonechat, for which I had been having trouble finding a good project. Although Boneyard calls for a heavier yarn, I have two skeins of the Malabrigo Sock Yarn, so I think I'll just keep knitting until it's gone!

Looking at my Ravelry Projects page, I realize that the last thing I actually finished for myself was by October Lady Sweater, which I finished at the end of September. I think maybe the reason I have such a case of startitis is because I want to make something fore ME!!!!

I did make some cupcakes for me - and for my co-workers - for Valentine's Day....

Black Cats

I've had this little black iron cat for years. I believe my mom gave it to me one year for Christmas. I use it as a door stop -- notice the hinge in the photo. Black Kitty is quite small!

For reasons I don't understand, Harley has always been terrified of Black Kitty. Whenever she walks past it, she stays as far away from it as possible and eyes it suspiciously!

Dolly ignores Black Kitty. Her favorite place this winter is hunched over the heat register in the kitchen. Poor cold baby... I'm tired of winter, too!