Inevitable

The Blue Cat, aka Blue and formerly Bluey, while not in the feline intellectual ranks of my departed Lenny or Panda, is probably the smartest of the quadrupeds in my current assortment. She's definitely curious and a bit mischievious.

This photo is my stash closet:



It's generally stuffed and with the exception of WsIP (Works in Progress) and a box of Blue Moon I haven't put away yet, the stash lives here and is contained. I often don't close the door, because Blue Cat can open it anyway, and the other two follow her. Generally this is not a problem because the ground level of the stash shelving contains old towels, intended for some eventual make-do quilt batting for practice, and the cats generally sleep on those. All quilt stash is in sealed bins. Yarn stash is mostly in ziplocs.

Note the gap there on the left of the shelf. My bin of quilt cotton charms is out, because I was sorting the last of my charms into my colour-grouped, ziplocked packets, and it's a bit of a task. I didn't think much of it when, just before going out to the store, I saw Blue eyeing the empty shelf space. She could hop up there, but there's not too many places to go, and the bin on the right there is full of yarn but most of it is in plastic and there's only an inch between top of bin and next shelf up, so what could she do?

I went out and came back, and returned to the 9-patch squares for the quilt-in-progress. I then heard a rustle behind me that sounded like something caught in a plastic bag. Since I have some stray plastic bags hanging on my doorknob, I thought one of the cats was playing. Turned around. Saw nothing. Turned back. Heard rustling. Turned around. Still saw nothing. Said "Blue?" and got an answering Siamese mumble.... from the depths of the stash closet.

I looked in at the bottom shelves, thinking maybe a bag got dragged in with the towels. No Blue. Looked behind door. No Blue. Then she grumbled again, and the noise was much closer to my height than one usually finds Blue. I looked in that little 1-inch gap between the top of the yarn bin and the top shelf. Well.



Cat in the Stash. I suppose it had to happen.

Happy Birthday, Waterloo!

Apparently my city is having a Sesquicentennial Party. A parade is going by outside my windows.

Started off with a marching band striking up the Maple Leaf Forever, and one of the classic/antique vehicles that went by was a barrel buggy from Joseph Seagram and Sons. Considering I live in the Seagram Lofts, one of the older properties in the center city and formerly the barrel warehouse for Joseph Seagram and Sons - that was kinda fun.

I think the drums are freaking out the cats, though. Maui just ran away.

Meeting Stephanie

So, last night I did something I've never done before - I went to a "fan" event of a sort, and actually asked someone for their autograph. Yep, bought Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's latest book, had her sign it, and got to say hello. I told her who I was, referencing the emails we had exchanged when I sent her a tip about tickets for the Police concert, and she yelled across the store to her husband, Joe, "Hey! Joe, this lady's the reason you're going to see the Police!". He smiled and waved.

It was a crazy crowded night. As the knitters might have guessed - not enough chairs. Indigo staff seemed a little befuddled, but very nice, and pleasant about having to do crowd control. The drive there was nearly two hours, then I had to park and run a block to the store to get there barely in time - and I was stuck at the back behind a post. This also meant I was nearly last in line to get my book signed. By the time I got up to the table to say hi, I was feeling shy-ish, realizing how much of the crowd seemed to be in-group that I didn't feel I was - so I didn't get my picture with the Travelling sock or anything. But Stephanie is as nice as her writing makes her out to be, a VERY funny speaker, funnier than alot of comediennes I've heard, and she stayed probably an hour or more later than originally intended to make sure she met everyone who wanted to meet her. It's nice to know a public personality is still so genuine, I'm sure many Famous-with-a-Capital-F Famous authors would have just said sorry and cut the line off.

And she said my hat was nice and thanked me for donating it. It didn't look like much next to some of the offerings, but it's very nice to have it acknowledged.

Funniest line of the night (so many, it's hard to pick): "Yarn? What yarn? These are my KITTENS!" If you were there, you know.

Hat In A Hurry, Hey!

A cat, and a Hat!



How 'bout that? Hat completed in ~ 48 hrs. Pretty much improvised after reviewing Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Knitting Rules" hat basics. Despite the fact that it looks like a mold-striped souffle in that picture, it's nature is somewhat more toque-like when on a head. Since I have not mastered the art of the self-portrait in a dim room with a cel phone camera, it is being modelled by a small mostly cube-shaped computer speaker above. But, having tried it on, it is a wearable hat and I would not be humiliated to be seen in it. In colder weather than today, anyway.

Check out the top. I'm kinda proud of the way that worked out.



This looks more like I meant to do that.

The yarn is a Regia 6-ply "Crazy Color" #5264 that I dug out of the bargain bin at the back of the LYS for about $3/ball. It took 1 50 gm ball plus about a metre of the second (so I can still probably make kid socks of the 2nd ball). Pattern, like I mentioned, was improvised around the Yarn Harlot's hat structure outline.

If anyone cares, here's the basics:

I tested gauge, sort-of, my test was wrong but I recalculated from there, and started.

Cast on a multiple of 4, which at my gauge was 108 st, and knit about 2 inches of K2P2 rib.

Knit a round of stockinette, increasing ONE stitch to 109 st.

I then knit K3P1 all the way around. The one odd stitch meant that the 4-st repeat moved by 1 stitch each row, and the sides of the hat actually have a spirally mini-rib from that.

Kept going until a tiny bit less than hand-height as it seemed like enough.

Purled one complete row, DEcreasing one stitch back to 108 stitches. I like the little turning ridge this makes between sides and crown.

Began a Knit X, Knit 2tog decrease pattern, starting with X=10, and subtracting 1 from X each decrease round. Stephanie explains it better, go read her book. Knit 2 stockinette rounds between decrease rounds for X = 10 to about 7, then knit 1 stockinette between decrease rounds. Once I was down to 18 stitches in a round, I just did K2tog all the way around until I had 2 left, and threaded the tail through and wove it in.

Voila! Inexpensive and quick but thoughtful (I think, anyway!) warm hat for someone who might otherwise not have one.

Off to cast my Trellis baby sock back on again, so I might be identified as a Pick-Up-Sticks'er at tomorrow night's book night.

Life's a Beach, and then you Knit!

Happy Squish in the mail today:



This is my second month of the Pick Up Sticks sock club. Niiiiice. A wavy, lacy cabley pattern called Beach and a custom colour of Seacoast's "Panda" merino-bamboo blend called Seaside. I'm still workin' out getting something done with last month's installment, Trellis in the Spring Garden yarn, but this one looks quite jump-innable. I'm very happy to find I like the feel of the yarn, too. Hearing the world "bamboo" associated with textiles doesn't make most folks think of something silky-soft to cuddle up to, but this really is. Since sustainable/renewable resources are important to me, bamboo yarn is something I really WANTED to like, so very nice to find I do!

But first, must finish this:



Looks like a strange, green striped yarn jelly fish right now (Blue seems to think so, by her glare) but I hope it's going to be a hat. The Yarn Harlot, who has been traversing the US rallying knitters to good fun and good causes, finally has a Canadian book-talk date in Toronto on Friday and I'd like to go (waiting for colleagues to step up and help with the pager). A cause she has taken on for this book tour is to gather and donate hats to the needy and homeless of the communities she visits. Knitters are invited - never required - to contribute a handknit hat, which are then distributed through grassroots street aid groups. Toronto's donations are going out through StreetKnit.

So, if I get enough time (like maybe not blogging so much!) to finish this, I hope it turns into a warm if ugly winter hat for someone.

Off to laundry, and of course, knit!

Phew - recovered, for now

So I was going to blog the completed and now delivered parental socks, but I got home to discover Tourmaline (that's my home PC) gone all boot-loopy. That would be the 3rd time for that since this zarking Shuttle motherboard met Windows XP. No start, no safe mode, no "last good configuration" and not even recovery console would work.

This time, better than the last two, however, did not require a complete re-install, the "repair" install worked. After the recovery console failed, mind you, and it took two restarts of the repair install.

Tourmaline's days may be numbered. As I've got all the yarn and quilting projects I need for a while, and replaced my walking shoes... next item to save for is a MAC!

Happy Holiday weekend

Today, I'm off work, and just enjoying the day. The spousal euphemism and I are off to a wedding reception later this afternoon. The wedding is actually at two, but the euphemism couldn't get the day off even though I had booked it (before the wedding). This is what happens when friends have surprise weddings they announce 3 weeks in advance via email, scheduled to happen at 2pm Friday afternoons. You end up with more than a few guests who just come later to the dinner reception, crude as Miss Manners might find that to be.

Since I wasn't even sure until this week if we were going at all, I spent part of this morning trying to look presentable at the last minute. Manicure and a hair wash/style. Luckily, I live a short walk away from numerous salons and on a Friday morning of a holiday weekend, most people are heading up to cottages or camping, so they could take walk-ins.

Now I'm stuck here for a couple of hours and can't do too much with a fresh french manicure on - I wreck manicures nearly instantly, or at least by bedtime of the day they are done. So, while knitting seems OK, I'm a bit slower as I don't want to scrape my nails on the needle, and housework and gardening are out.

Speaking of gardening, our just-retired superintendent complimented me today on the clean-up of my little patio-yard. I have zero gardening experience, and just a few vague ideas about what I want, so I did pay someone to do the hard work of digging out old crap, re-soiling the beds and drawing out a plan for me. Here's some of my progress:



That is my little Pixie cutleaf red Japanese maple. I hope she's doing OK. She's a clump-form tree, with 6 branches grafted onto the root ball, and 4 of them are leafing up lovely. The other two have lost every leaf they had and are looking a little twiggy. I'm going to wait it out for a bit, maybe she just got too cold as I bought her a teeny bit early in the season, but Grobe Garden Centre does provide a 1-year guarantee so long as I follow their planting instructions, and I did.

This one:



is a wee cute Blue Star Juniper who has lived her longer than we have. She was in the opposite corner of the patio and I had the gardener who cleaned up the back move her over. So she and Pixie are sharing a patch.

Along the other patch, I've planted a hedge of miniature spirea, a couple clumps of ornamental grass, and a few of these:



I know, doesn't look like much now, but look at those teeny little green and red points - those are going to be gladiolas! I love glads, and since I couldn't afford the total outlay for two banks of designer perennials at once, I picked up 3 inexpensive daylilies and an armload of gladiola bulbs, as you can buy mix-and-match for about $0.25 each. I don't even remember all of what I bought or where I put them, but as long as they grow I'm sure I'll see them again.

Yay! I have a garden.

Is it 5 yet?

Blogging from work again (so no pics in this one).

Slow and quiet today, which always makes me nervous around here that someone's going to phone me at 4:45 pm with a doozy of downed system or something. I have in the meantime been making myself busy going through case logs and mailing contacts who are ignoring me - I have to mail them 3 times and be ignored before I can close their service tickets.

Spent sometime reading other blogs. YarnHarlot and the Blue Moon RockinSockClub community blog are the regulars, and Sissy's band-mate Angela sometimes reads and comments on mine - so I got caught up on hers. (Reciprocal blog-watching is good for hit counts!).

I am currently two club-socks behind on starting, with the May PickUpSticks sock in the mail this week. Not that I don't want to knit them, and not that I'm not knitting (still on the Monsoons the Second), but I'm pondering what would be BEST to do with the exclusive and pricey Socks That Rock Silkie April club kit. I really wanted the knee-highs but keep reading how they're too loose and fall down. I've asked for some input from the other Rockin' Sockers and a few have provided their tips.

While pondering that, the Fleece Artist Parrot colour from the last post has been cast on to a two-at-once Magic Loop with an Addi Turbo Lace I picked up. I then decided I needed a smaller needle, but the Lace needles only come in 2.5 mm - so I now have a regular Addi Turbo to try. I'm not sure if I like the loop better than dpns or not. I have to untangle it. But I don't drop needles. We'll see. I've decided the colour, which looked so bright and happy in the skein, is a Pureed Parrot in the wound and knit forms. Looks a bit busy. Those will be for crazy-sock days.

Oh, and apparently, the Yarn Harlot has finally got a Canadian stop on the Casts Off tour, and will be speaking next Friday night. I'm trying to get back-up on the team pager so I can go. Anyone want to join and go see if Stephanie Pearl-MacPhee is real? We're supposed to knit a hat for the homeless if we can. I might be able to do that.

Small weekend accomplishments again....

Finished!


Sunsets V.2.2 are done, modeled here on my feet for convenience. Should be off to their new home sometime soon.

In Progress:



Monsoons the Second, from my traded extra ball of STR Monsoon. I won't do the full cable on these, might modify to just do one cable at the sides of the ankle.

And this:



Which looks like a muddly placemat full of holes, is the beginnings of the Stormwater Shawl. I set myself the loose goal of doing 4 rows/night and an extra 4 on the weekend, which means I get one full pattern repeat done a week. I don't know when this will get finished, and it's in a timeout right now because my stitch markers keep snagging the yarn. I'm making new stitch markers.

The soon-to-be-started lineup:



On the left is a Fleece Artist Merino in "Parrot" which after I wound it, I have renamed Parrot In A Blender. Middle is the Silkie Socks That Rock from the April Rockin' Sock Club, from which I've started and ripped out a toe, twice. You see, problem there is I'm waiting for two more of it to do the Knee High version of Knee High to a Grasshopper. I ordered two extra from the club-exclusives in case the dye lot differed from the first, so this actual club skein that came is destined for something else. Don't know what, but something. On the right is the Spring Garden exclusive from the Pick Up Sticks April sock club, which I think I will make some little-girl sockies out of once I re-engineer the pattern for small feet. And the little raspberry-red thing on top is one of a lot of 11 Koigu I won on Ebay, this one destined to be a whole bunch of test swatches since Koigu is a little too pricey to mess up. Since thanks to Ebay I've acquired a bit in some colours I'm not totally enamoured with I figured I could sacrifice this one to some swatching.

Going to replace the stitch markers on Stormwater, have tea, do laundry, and go to bed now.

Meme of the Moment....

Today's distraction.



I'm
a Ravenclaw!

Travelling Sock, Pedestrian Style

Well, the yoga moment thing kinda ran down, I guess. There were more of them, just didn't get them blogged before I ran out of steam. That's OK - if anyone really cares about my mundane little yoga insights, just ask.

Here's the heap of slowly-in-progress artsy pursuits:



Hard to tell, but there is progress. The quilt is being reassembled into ever-smaller pieces. The Sunset Socks V.2.2 are both past their heel turns now. And the longer one:



Which you can see on the bottom, has made most of that cuff progress just today, during 2.5 hours of walking. Yep, it's spring again, and I decided to boot it to work for the first time this year. 50 or 55 minutes one way. And for kicks, I decided to walk the sock.

To give credit where it is due, Travelling Sock (tm) belongs to the revered Stephanie, the Yarn Harlot - she has truly elevated her travelling sock to cult status. It's a jetsetter. It hangs out with stars (or at least, Toronto Club musicians and choreographers). It flies across the continent regularly. My sock is not nearly so well travelled.

However, to steal a little credit back, I came up with the idea of carrying one of my socks around in my pocket, and later a little case perfectly sized for a one-ball yarn project, independently, before I began reading the Yarn Harlot all the time. Indeed, one of my reasons for choosing socks is that they are portable. My quilting habit kept me busy enough, but you can't take the Janome along to stand in line at the Drivers and Vehicles Licensing office and stitch up a few squares, eh? So focusing on small knitting projects seemed perfect.

Despite the tendency for the Sunsets V2.2 to fall into the knitting "black hole" with their thousands of tiny stitches, we made about an inch of progress while dodging bicycles, construction equipment, and Crackberry enabled RIM executives on the Laurel Trail. I manage to see enough scenery at the same time, too, and I can still pay better attention than most pedestrians seem to. I bet the guy I passed who had the Crackberry in one hand and iPod in the other had no idea he walked past someone knitting a sock despite the fact that he'd have trampled me if I hadn't dodged onto the grass out of his way.

So hopefully I can add a day or two of the sneaker commute to my week, having the sock in a beltable pack and having re-ordered my purse into a backpack again for the nicer weather. I might get the darned things done before Christmas after all.

Yoga Moment 4: City Yoga

Toronto People Are Different And Unique People

Part of my Yoga weekend was spent on some streetcars and city wandering. Yoga practice has an aspect of finding a way to "be". I was observing the city with this in mind, given how I'm often not at ease in big cities. People watching in Toronto can be strange. While wandering about, I saw the following:

A young woman dressed on the top half like the Mennonite girls I see around Waterloo, and from the waist-down like a punk.

A scrappy little Asian shop-owner trying to take on some big bruiser in Kensington Market over what he thought was a shoplifting incident, while a couple of women wearing dreadlocks tried to intervene and explain about the other character they saw run down the street.

A pair of what looked like glam-goth Morris Dancers wandering Chinatown

On my way back out to Union station, I passed a busker playing mellow spanish guitar on a beat-up old steel string. Wearing a paper bag on his head.

Toronto people definitely work out their own way to be.

Yoga Moment 3: Tech Yoga

Yoga People Are Smart People

I should preamble here. In an esoteric sense, one answer to "what is Yoga?" could be "Yoga is everything you do". The uninitiated, and indeed many yoga practitioners of some skill, interpret yoga as an exercise form. While physical conditioning is part of it, and sometimes all of it in the Western world, what I'm learning about yoga tells me it's a bit more. The physical conditioning is a tool for connection with the self, the mind, the world around us, and the divine/spiritual/occult/super-entity of your preference.

Yoga is about being where you are, and reaching out from that point. The use of physical movement and posture, sometimes difficult and uncomfortable ones, is about exploring the physical placement of where you are in order to advance.

I know, it doesn't make sense.

Yoga Conference Day 1 was spent in a workshop titled Anatomy and Asana, led by a very well-educated kinesiologist and published author on the topic of anatomy as related to Yoga practice. This was a very technical workshop which nonetheless included some excellent aspects of the "physical" yoga leading to the "spiritual" yoga.

It also tuned my upper back up something amazing. I've had issues all across the thoracic spine level lately, extending even down to my fingertips. This workshop gave me a great yogic look at the exact same stuff my physiotherapist had worked me through on it and I think I learned a few more tricks for dealing with this hotspot.

Even the same knowledge from a different perspective can lead to alot of new knowledge.

Yoga Moment 2: Chance Yoga

Yoga People Are Coincidental People

This is more just a note. I got off the train to head for the MTCC where the conference was, but wasn't sure where I was going. A woman up ahead of me had a yoga mat over her shoulder and was heading the same way - so I thought I'd follow her. A block later we were at the door of the North building and she turned around to hold the door for me - and hey! Darned if it wasn't one of Adam's coworkers. I knew she was a yoga teacher, but had no idea if she'd be at this conference or not.

Turned out we were even in the same session for the day, and as there was partner and group work involved, we had a nice time working together and even had lunch. We were off to different things for the next day and I didn't run into her again, but it was nice to have a familiar face around.

Yoga Moments 1: Travel Yoga

Train People Are Kind People

I have a few entries but I'm tired and still in my workout pants - so I will relate the simple beginning of my Yoga Conference.

First of all, when the train pulled in to my departure point (Kitchener) at 6:30 Thursday morning, I had a brief moment of wishing I could show my nephew. He loves trains - and I got to ride to Toronto on the SPIDERMAN train. I guess VIA's raising some revenue by renting out billboard space on its engines, and the entire engine was wrapped in one of those bus-ad type graphics, for the new Spidey 3 movie. It was all webbed up with Good Spidey and Bad Spidey facing off across the side.

My train yoga moment occurred later in the trip at the 2nd last stop. An elderly lady had boarded at Kitchener, with her daughter, or maybe granddaughter or companion, I don't know, and her walker. She had lots of help boarding as the attendants let her on first, they stowed her walker in baggage for her, and she could carefully walk her way down the aisle bracing herself on all the empty seats while her companion was close behind.

At her stop, Brampton, the woman was concerned that she not miss her stop and even though her companion was trying to settle her and tell her to wait, she became very anxious to get to the door - many minutes before the train had stopped moving. Walking a narrow aisle on a swaying, bumping train is not easy with no mobility challenges and this lady had a few. She also had a death grip on a handbag with no strap that she wouldn't give to her younger companion, it seemed. She quickly lost her balance struggling up the aisle.

Instantly and without thought, every passenger seated on the aisle began reaching out to offer a hand. Some did so without even looking or really knowing what was up, as they had their backs towards this scene but saw the passenger across from them reach. Nobody crowded or jumped up, but hands went out all the way down the car and our traveller was graciously helped along from seat to seat to seat either by someone grasping her hand to steady her or putting her hand on their shoulder and having her lean on them as she went by. There were more hands than were needed (which is probably good as min were tangled in yarn and I was afraid I might stab her with a stray knitting stick). Her companion was apologetic that the woman was so anxious to move and caused a fuss, and felt she had to explain that she was afraid to miss her stop, but both of them were met with nothing but smiles and winks and "no worries!".

The car attendant had her walker ready for her at the luggage cage and she was waiting in plenty of time to be helped down when the door opened at her stop.

Sockknitters ADD.....

RSC SPOILERS BELOW. If you're cruising by from the RSC or the Rockin' Sock Ring, and DON'T want the April surprise ruined, please move on by. Nothing to see here, nope, move on move on....

In the interim we bring you a gratuitous cat photo:



You know the dude with no fur in the front - my under-the-halogen space is getting tighter since Ms. Blue also figured out it's warm there. I have daily rolicking cat fights under that lamp now.

So, I started off today mad at the mailman, but he made it up to me by noon. For the last 4 or so packages I've received, I've noticed some oddnesses with the delivery timing. My first RSC shipment delivery notice showed up on a Monday - but I noticed the card was dated for the Friday before and said I would have been able to pick it up Friday. Two other online purchases in the interim wandered... I was tracking them on-line, and saw twice that delivery attempts were made - yet I got no delivery notices. The first of those I picked up when the online system said it was at the post office - and the delivery card for it got to me a full week later. I thought it was the card for my NEXT expected package, so was most confused when I went to the PO to be told they didn't have a package and had no idea why I got a delivery slip - until we realized it was the slip for the package I got a week ago. For the 3rd one, I found it online, at a DIFFERENT (though closer) post office, and I never did get the delivery slip.

This morning, I got an online notice saying my Pick-Up Sticks Sock Club HAD BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERED, YESTERDAY. It was not. I wasn't home, and there was no package left, and no delivery notice. I was about to phone Canada post and yell, as I'd opened a ticket after the last few oddities, but I decided to go home and check at lunch. And I caught the postie red-handed! He was in the mailroom, door open, and I popped my head in and asked about packages. He said "Oh, yeah, I tried you yesterday and you weren't home, so I left the packages here. I put them by your door today" - which he usually doesn't do, but someone must've let him in for something else.

So, mystery semi-solved. I think I've found my local postie leaves stuff in our mailroom - which I can't get to, of course - and makes a second try. Ironically this delays me getting stuff, because it's locked up away from me but if he took it to the local PO across the road right away, I'd get it that night. Oh well.

So, today's packages and the spoilers!!! Check this out, the April RSC package:



I don't know how readable that is, but this is not just a new colour of our much-loved Socks That Rock - it's a whole new yarn! The Blue Moon Ladies found a merino-silk twist blend, and the silk ply in it takes the dye a bit differently, so there's this wonderful barberpole stripe to it. It is named Silkie Socks That Rock, colour as we knew is "Walk on the Wild Tide", pattern is "Knee High To A Grasshopper". And it's SOOOOOoooo squishyable. I let it sit beside me at dinner. I am resisting, forcing myself to finish Monsoons the Second and Sunset V2.2 (which is now lookin' lots more fitting, but still a slow knit). I have also heard rumour that Blue Moon may make additional lots of this yarn available, as they've teased us terribly by sending a pattern that includes a knee sock length but only 1 skein of yarn for the shorter version. I will have to ponder whether to splurge for more if they do that.

Here was the second package, the one I actually saw the notice for:




Also much yummyness. Connie's Pick-Up Sticks business is a small online shop specializing pretty much in small-production artisan-dyed sock and lace yarns. Her sock club is a little different than BMFA, so we don't get yarn she produces, we get "proprietor's choice" of those she supplies, this one is Zen Yarn Garden merino dyed in a just-for-Pick-Up-Sticks custom colourway. While the spring pastels wouldn't be my first choice, they're very cute, the yarn is also plushy if a bit finer than Blue Moon, and the pattern looks like a fun challenge. If I don't like 'em, they'll make a great gift anyway.

I'll be off for the weekend if anyone is looking for me, or at least until Sunday. I'm booked for The Yoga Show and conference in Toronto and am treating myself to 2.5 days of Yoga workshops and some evenings with friends in town. I'm taking the projects-in-progress, not the new yarn-pets, to try and get them stitched up and off the needles, and we'll see about the new kits when I'm back.

I'd rather be...

Anywhere but here. I have been sneezing alot at work lately. Just at work. Now my eyes are burning. My team lead is actually wondering if I'm allergic to the place.

It's nice out. It's nice at home. It's not nice at work. Not awful, just not an appealing place to be on a sunny and finally warm-ish spring morning.

Here's some progress of late:



So, yeah, it doesn't look like much but it was a couple of hours of my time sewing 2.5 x 21 inch strips together into 3-colour 6.5 x 21 inch strips that look like KooKoo candy (am I showing my age? Anyone else remember KooKoos?). It would only have been 90 minutes of my time, but I did indeed sew one wrong sides together. That took talent, considering I'm working with Batiks. Batiks don't have "sides". Except for exactly TWO pieces of my fabrics that have a print on the batik - one metallic and very obvious, and one a subtle watermark. I somehow sewed the obvious metallic together wrong side out. That took work.

Sunset Sock V.2 has had its second build attempt rejected and is now beginning release Sunset Sock V.2.2, as I frogged it again after concluding that garter stitch foot bottoms just won't work, the top and bottom lengths end up TOO different and I can't get rid of the bunching. It worked somehow on the Forest Weave sock (Sissy! Send picture before something happens to it!) but I think that was because the basket weave stitch included enough garter that the top was shorter too. But garter bottom and ribbed top don't go. So we're doing a reverse stockinette bottom, rib top. The good news is that might go faster (a bit. It's still 800+ teeny-tiny stitches per inch). Monsoon Socks the Second are progressing slowly, I'm into the foot of sock 1. Sunset is my walk-around sock, and Monsoon is my desk sock right now. I think I will take both next weekend when I'm away at the Yoga show as I'll have two hours of train time plus evenings in hotels (or out at yarn shops!) to work on them. And I don't want to travel with Stormwater, which is now somewhere 'round row 28, as it's too delicate and perfinicky to work on without complete focus - and even then I had to tink a whole row when I lost a yarnover on the 3rd stitch and didn't notice. I sure hope it turns into lace like the picture. At the moment it looks like moldy spaghetti.

Back to making myself look busy.

Oh by the way ....

Forgot to show this teaser. This was not an accident:



Rather, I finally got to acting on a plan that's been formulating since Sprout! the zippy kitty shredded our lovely batik duvet cover some years back. She didn't mean to, she just likes doing cat-acrobatics on the bed, and she digs in for traction. The duvet batik, a bit flimsy for all its loveliness, is being re-incorporated along with a bucketful of gradually accumulated fat-quarters into a new quilt.

Given that the "lap" size quilt took over 3 years, don't hold your breath, this might be all we see of it for a while. Who knows.

... then my car must've broke down by a yarn store. Ooops.

To take the edge of the disappointment of mis-calculating Sunset Sock v.2.0, I bundled Mom into the Echo and we went to check out Spun, a new-ish yarn store that has popped up in Burlington near Mom'n'Dad's place. Actually, it's in an interesting corner of a suburban strip-mall type place. There's Spun, a sewing store, and a dance store all in one corner, one next to the other. All my hobbies in about 30 feet of storefront, wow.

Spun was neat. Cozy and friendly, and the nice sales assistant was helpful with some sock engineering discussions, and happy to help us rootle every basket in the shop. Vaguely hoping Mom might find something to interest her in crochet again, I nonetheless figured we would at least find a yarn she liked for her next socks (once I figure out the design) and she's mentioned a couple times she wanted a neat winter hat. We found both:


It might be a bit hard to see, but we got some self-striping Regia Cotton yarn in a denimy-blue scheme, and we found a Sweaterkits silk-alpaca hat kit, in a purple, which Mom has started liking. The hat will be quick to whip up for her, as I made one already and have done all the frogging and gauge fiddling before. The picture of my black one is over in the Gallery, click left and look up the Sockumentary.

Then, this was the next accident, of the variety that Yarn Harlot has described as "I fell over in a yarn store and may have swiped my credit card on the way down".

Guess what?:



Oh yeah, right you are:



I had found it. The elusive Fleece Artist Thrummed Moebius, by Cat Bordhi. Spun had two, a brown-on-brown-on-brown one, and this one, with a joyous muddle of black, purple, green, yellow... I likes it, I do. I am going to require myself to finish Stormwater and several socks first, but this new pet is in a place of honour on the top of the luxe yarn stash bin.

My friend Alison has this theory, that if you can't find something you own, like your hammer or one of the 23 screwdrivers you have, you should buy another. The new one by its very presence will attract the other one(s) back. She says this is why she had 3 identical hammers in her student apartment. I am wondering if there is a related concept for yarn, as I had essentially given up on the thrummed moebius kit and gone with the Stormwater, only to find one not a week later. Maybe the Fleece Artist was jealous of Handmaiden getting all the attention.

I think, for now, I am done with string-related accidents. I will therefore, while not depriving myself (because starvation diets don't work either), work to stick to an orderly plan when it comes to string for a while (kinda like attempting a healthy meal plan!).

There are presently two socks and Stormwater on the sticks now.

There is Chapter 2 of the BMFA Rockin' Sock Club which should ship this month, and chapter 1 of a local home-grown sock club on its way soon.

There is my trip to Toronto for the Yoga Show, during which I may visit Lettuce Knit but will do so with a reasonable budget in mind. (I CAN actually do that, believe it or not, partly because well-stocked yarn stores can be so overwhelming I am paralyzed).

There is Blue Moon's 10% coupon which I WILL use, but not until I have earned it by finishing sock kit #2, as well as the next assignment of what I really SHOULD be doing instead of knitting, blogging, and losing track of my debit card in yarn stores:




*sigh*. Logging off now to hit the code.

...... then there was the experimental design accident....

Since it's been seen by it's eventual owner, I can now introduce you to the new Sunset Sock v.2.0:



and promptly tell you that it has now met its demise and is a ball of string again. That was painful, this yarn is so fine it was about 1000 st/inch of sock! But, it wasn't going to work. Sunset Sock v.2.0 is my attempt to work out a diabetic-appropriate sock for Mom and her touchy feet and ankles. I am incorporating wool/cotton/elastic yarn, really stretchy ribbing on the top of the foot and around the leg, an increase at the ankle for swollen ankles, and a garter stitch sole to make it cushy.

However, the mix of garter st. rib on the bottom and vertical k3 p1 rib on the instep made the top and bottom two different lengths essentially, and put rumples and wrinkles in the sock at the top of the instep. Not good when trying to avoid pressure points. The good news was the stretchy ribbing and the increased diameter on the leg DID work. So I'm keeping my proportions but adding a bit more engineering around the transition from instep to ankle into the next attempt, we'll see.

Final installment to come...

It all started with a quilting accident....

I have long come to grips with the fact that I'm a bit of a yo-yo when it comes to creative pursuits. Interests come and go, and I sometimes find myself with say, a bucketful of paint brushes and some fabric dyes I may not use again (it was supplies for a workshop, and the workshop WAS rather a hoot). I'm OK with that. A bit of luck and a lot of hard work in the last several years of my life did land me in a position where some experimentation with a textile habit won't interfere with the mortgage.

So last week my slightly longer-standing textile habit, quilting, was back at the forefront when, in a fit of head-cold-induced restlessness, the Spousal Euphemism and I drove over to visit my old town, Guelph, and pop in to Greenwood Quiltery. The point of that trip was to pick up the latest (and last, I found) installments of my Swatch Club. Greenwood has recently added a "for Knitters Too!" by-line, and is one of a few stores in the region that carries the lovely, Canadian luxury yarn lines of Fleece Artist and their offspring, Handmaiden Canada Fine Yarns. My Fleece Artist encounters so far have been with their basic Merino sock hanks, the first of which turned into socks yesterday that promptly ran away to live with my sister (picture coming. I really liked that forest green!). I have seen many other lovely yummy Fleece Artist and Handmaiden kits, but since I wasn't into shawls and scarves or a "Maid Marion" vest, I have reverently squished and petted them in stores, but refrained. I DID become very, very intrigued with one of their kits I had seen on-line - a Thrummed Moebius by Cat Bordhi. I've wanted to learn to do Cat's Moebius trick since I read about it - it's the perfect thing for a mathematically-oriented artsy, and if I were to wear a shawl, it would be something geeky involving the word "moebius" I'm sure. Alas, though, at every Fleece Artist dealer I've been to they either have never had that kit, or sold out, or doesn't know about it at all or if they can get it ... so I remained without any Fleece Artist ambitions besides the socks.

Last Easter Saturday at Greenwood, though, I came across the Handmaiden Stormwater Shawl kit. Now I had seen this kit before, often in bright/light pastels. The pattern looked intriguing. If I were to knit a shawl OTHER than a moebius maybe it would be something like that, the pattern is a sort of tesselating wave look (being an engineer by education, I seem to be one of few knitters/quilters who IS enthusiastic about the math concepts behind the designs). The yarn for this kit, called SeaSilk, is lovely. But I wasn't into shawls, and the colours I'd seen hadn't grabbed me - until this one at Greenwood. It is a charcoal black-grey and brown variegated, but because of the sheen of the yarn, the charcoal gray looks like a dark pewter, and the brown, a bronze-copper tone. I was quite intrigued. I petted it a bit, squished it - and talked myself out of it, paid for my swatches and two fat quarters, and left the seasilk in its display basket.

So here's the quilting accident part - I arrived home to a message from Greenwood advising that they made a mistake at the cash, and owed me money back. I hadn't even noticed - I guess I'm used to accidentally spending more than I thought when it comes to fabric. And I did have a head cold, which means my IQ was covered in snot and hence lower than usual. Greenwood was closed by the time we got home, so I would have to call them back about the refund on Monday.

That night, I dreamed about the pewter-copper seasilk and the Stormwater pattern. I woke up pondering it the next day. I wondered if it would still be at the store the next time I went. I often talk myself out of purchases to find I never give them another thought or if I do, that thought is that yeah, I really didn't like that anyway. So when I DO start wondering "did I really want that after all?" the answer is often (though not always) yes.

On Monday I phoned Greenwood about the refund, and they said they would pay me back but I'd have to come in with my debit card. They also offered of course store credit if I preferred (also requiring me to visit again). We concluded that since I was a somewhat regular visitor, I didn't need to rush back with my card and they would keep a credit note on file for next time I was in. I thought about the Stormwater kit, and dismissed it without saying anything, thinking that I'd get back there in a week or so and maybe think again *if* it was still there, and if it had gone in the meantime, so the Fates would have meant it to be.

An hour later I called back and asked if they would hold the kit with my credit note. I said at the latest, I'd come back this Saturday, or maybe on a lunch hour late in the week if I could get away. I couldn't get away that exact day, as I had an hour-and-a-half conference call booked with a customer over my lunch.

An hour after that again, my customer had called to cancel. I get "flex time" at work - so long as my 8 hours gets put in and the required work is done - I can take a long lunch and work until 6. I concluded at that point that the accidental overcharge, required re-visit for my refund/credit, the fact that I actually DREAMED about the shawl, and my cooperative customer were all telling me I did indeed want that *particular* Stormwater shawl.

So this:



...is indeed cozied up on the corner of my desk. I've started and pulled it out twice, as SILLY ME - it's lace and therefore has those "yarnover" thingies that caused the Alligator socks to kick my butt three tries out of four. However, I'm reformulating my plan to involve many many stitch markers and will cast on again today.

This is not the end of this particular story. To Be Continued....

Order me up another weekend, please, this one was defective...

So Thursday just as I was leaving work I started feeling that back-of-my-sinuses scratchiness that precedes everything from mild head cold to full-blown strep. It didn't go as far as strep, but did degenerate into the bruised-all-over, joints-about-to-explode feeling of just about any virus I catch. I'm barely starting to feel better today, so will probably be fine for work tomorrow. Heck of a long weekend.

Just had a wire malfunction that occupied sweetie's time for an unintended hour trying to figure out which end of which cable to replace. Now I'm staring at my homework again and feeling really not motivated at all. So I'm puttering about and cleaning things. In my little world that seems to mean shuffling stuff from one side of the desk to the other while wiping up dust - dust which instantaneously reappears somehow.

I think I shall go wash my last installments of Greenwood Quitery's Swatch Club. Despite feeling like roadkill, I wanted to get out yesterday so we drove over to Guelph, to have a wander about, a meal, and pick up my quilting swatch subscription (50 little squares a month). They're used to me leaving it for a while and picking up 2-3 at a time. They warned me that April was my last one - they're discontinuing it. I'm a little disappointed, just because I'm a textile hound, but I suppose I must have about 1000 little squares now and I've used relatively few - a bunch of the kid prints went into Holly's quilt. I have an Atikinson Designs pattern I want to make up in a big size for our bed, though, and it involves lots of little squares, so I'll use up the Batik swatches on that. Then I'll have to act on my vague intention to make a tumbling blocks type quilt from charms. So I'm hardly short of stash - just disappointed that I won't get more. They have two other clubs - cotton and batik - where you get 8 fat quarters every two months, and a pattern and such, but maybe I'll forego that given my sock club interests, for now, anyway.

Off to laundry.

WHAT kind of knitting needles?

Along with the "what cute animal are you" (a frog, apparently), the Webbiverse has now given us the "what kind of knitting needles are you" quiz.

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are interchangeable.Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every eventuality covered and every opportunity just has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and every day is a new beginning. You are good at so many things, it's amazing, but you can easily lose your place and forget to show up. They have row counters for people like you!
Take this quiz!

Sleeping, Sweating, Stitching....

Oh my goodness where did another weekend go?

I am definitely facing an extension for my programming course... if I don't get a good whack in at the assignments on a weekend, they just plain don't happen until the next weekend, and if I'm busy then... so it goes.

So in the last 4 days I've seen a naturopath, a traditional doc, a whole gaggle of sleep technicians for an overnight stay, and spent most of two days with a room full of crazy women hopped up on club music, taking Laura Furtado's "Strip to Fit" instructional workshop. She's a rockin' young woman with more energy than I've EVER had, and really impressive entrepreneur. Despite the title, clothes were kept on - she spins this different ways depending on the audience, with more strip-oriented stuff happening at bachelorette parties and "sensual dance" being more the theme for gangs of fitness instructors like us.

Being one of the shortest, and THE roundest person in the class, I doubt this will be my true calling any day soon. But it was fun, and if my knees ever forgive me I might have a new dance step or two next time I'm up for a hi-lo aerobics class.

I was a little more "on" today than yesterday, because Friday night, I was at a lab all night for a sleep study. I'm not sure how they can think they get an accurate picture of your sleep profile in one abbreviated night in the lab. You're sleeping in a strange place with strangers all around. You're wired up like some experimental chimp, and the electrodes on your head are GLUED down. The rest are taped, and I'm allergic to adhesives apparently. Lights out is at 10:30 and they wake you up to un-wire you and kick you out at 5:30, but I was already awake by 5 having woken up repeatedly through the night. I walked home with blobs of glue in my hair and slept on it for 3 more hours, then had to go to the aerobics workshop. Even after washing my hair 3 times, every time we did some "sexy" head-flip or ran our hands through our hair (provocatively, of course) - I found more glue bits. And the rash from the adhesives was popping up all over. Add to that my wardrobe includes lots more regular-fit t-shirts than crop-top racerback tanks - I was definitely not sexy-dance material yesterday. Today I dug out the top of a bellydance costume and some nicer flare-cuff yoga pants, so it was a better day.

In between all that, I've been looking at my textbooks - and deciding to knit as I'm too braindead for Java. Mom's sock is working, slowly, but I think it's manifesting one of those "knitting black holes" the Harlot has written of - I haven't made it to the heel turn yet but I've knit and knit and knit. To get out of the gravity well, I cast on a toe for something else while I was at it, so am back to having an "upstairs" sock and a "downstairs" sock, or if I prefer, a "travelling" sock and "home" sock. We'll see.

I'm not showing pictures so it can be a surprise - the sock actually looks rather different than I expected from the yarn, but really cool.

More later. I need a shower, there's still a bit of glue behind my ear.

On my mind....

I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a clapotis from unattainable Koigu. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock. I'm knitting a sock.

A catching-up day

Well, it's back to the daily grind tomorrow despite the fact that I could probably more than fill another month away from work. Oh well.

Spent the day tidying up and finishing up. Look what's done:



They're comfortably snug on, and just the slightest struggle to GET on, but not as bad as some reported. I'm pretty happy with these. Love the Socks That Rock yarn. This is pair #7, and Pair #6 also made it off the needles on Friday (the Out of Phase socks, now in the sweetie's hands.. er, feet).

I've also finished a baby quilt (picture soon before I send it off) for a now-9-month-old, so that is off the to-do list. And I heat-set all of the dye painted fabric I made yesterday. Those aren't really worth picturing - it's apparent that I'm a stitcher, not a painter, though I like some of the colours I got.

I'm partway through a closet clean-up and pondering the next projects.

Sidewalk Rage

Dear Idiot in Minivan:

The bright, RED, round thing which is on top of the column of colourful bright round things at street intersections means STOP. Yes, you. STOP the vehicle you are driving.

Even if you are about to make a right turn.

If the instruction isn't quite clear, STOP means fully depress the left pedal, until such time as your vehicle ceases ALL forward momentum and is motionless. Only lifting your foot off the right pedal so you slow down and take the corner based on inertia does NOT constitute the STOP action. Failing to fully enact the STOP manoeuvre is, in fact, a violation of law in this Province.

Also in relation to the above, you know the little white lite-brite man sign? That means that the Pedestrians, that would be, ME, get to walk across the road. Yes, walk. I don't have to bust a knee to run out of your way, jerk, just because you have a horn and happen to think the rolling not-stop is a convenience option you have. Stuff it up your tailpipe, thank you.

In other events of today, I have in fact proven that I can walk and knit, while still being alert enough to avoid caffeine-hopped soccermoms (or soccerdads, didn't get that close a look) in minivans who don't know how to drive. I did also discover I cannot walk and knit IN THE DARK, as evidenced by the dropped stitch on the way home. Next week, we may progress to chewing gum in aerobics class, but I'm afraid I'll be taken out by the floor polisher.

Today's fun sock thing:



I wonder if anyone else in the RSC is finding their socks can stand up on their own? That used to mean they needed a wash, but apparently in this case it means Kaci's Inside Out pattern really has structure.

Blog Socks the.. umm, what the...???

Warning! RSC/NSK spoiler below, even though I think we all have our kits by now. Cruise on by if you don't want to see...




I'll wait...........



Yarn Harlot had a really sweet story to post today. Go read that....










OK, so this didn't completely surprise me, as I had read of/heard of some of the other Rockin' Sock Club members seeing this:



It makes me laugh though. Yes, this is A SOCK, it is meant to go on A FOOT. That is all.

The tension difference in the two knit patterns is quite funny though.

Sockumentary

It's handy having your own personal photojournalist around.

The Gallery page has been updated with some really quality photos of my knit works (and a couple of the cat) thanks to Adam. I helped a bit, buying white fabric and arranging, but he's done some spiff workup on them. Check the links to the right.

I also rearranged some of the quilty stuff to reflect the Works in Progress now finished, though I don't have the best Finished photos of all of them.

Vacation! Hurry up and relax!

For the next week, I'm not going to work. No big plans, nowhere else in particular to go, but Adam has this week off because he has to book all his time in July for the coming 12 months and just picked random times. So a few weeks ago I booked the same week off.

And I'm feeling stressed about it. There's so much neglected "when I get to it" stuff in my life, that I've cognitively cluttered the week already now I'm wondering how to get it all in. Well, I admit it's my issue, I'm working on it. I want to finish a now-8-months-overdue baby quilt and get it to New York. I want to clean. I have booked endocrinologist, physiotherapy, and massage appointments. I've picked up a couple extra classes to teach at the gym... all these should be good for me and not stressful. But I want to go hide in the closet. I'm fighting off a meltdown back into social phobia over a "girls night" invitation I've accepted for tonight, because I have homework - that I probably wouldn't do anyway, but it's preoccupying me.

Anyway, relieving the too-busy-ness a bit is the fact that I FINISHED the alligator socks. They're not back to Angry Alligators but they're close to "more trouble than they're worth" Alligators. While finishing the ribbing on the second one, I thought I'd pop the first on one of my cold feet, as hey, my feet were cold and there was at least one sock lying around with nothing better to do. I pulled it on, it fits ok... and ZZZIIIPPPPPP, oh look, a ladder in my knit, through the ribbing and all the way back down the leg. I had somehow dropped a stitch out of the last couple rows of ribbing and not noticed.

What saved this one was the sheer coincidence that the dropped stitch was in one of the two columns in the whole pattern repeat that was, indeed, just a column of knit stitches. So I didn't lose any of the maddening yarnovers I could never find - I could pick it back up with the crochet hook. PHEW. Once I got back to the ribbing, of course, I had to un-do the bind off and the first couple rows of ribbing, as not only had I not noticed I dropped the stitch, I somehow compensated and I could only pull the ladder back up to about halfway through the ribbing, then there was no ladder - I'd knit two together to close it without noticing.

For the record, un-knitting takes alot longer than knitting.

Here's the cranky Alligator masterpiece:



Here's a close-up:



I'm not sure they're my favourites, but they're OK. One toe is pointier than the other as I used more stitches in the cast-on on the second one, but I don't think up I'm to the hassle of taking it out. Beside, I'm on to something new again.



Despite my utter failure of a crochet chain cast-on, Toe #1 on the Rockin' Monsoon socks tickled me so much, I started toe #2 from the other end of the yarn ball and I think I'll knit both socks simultaneously. For Toe #2, I even found out how to do the chain - rather than crochet the chain and try to pick up bumps, you crochet the chain AROUND the first knitting needle! MUCH smoother. I found an illustrated how-to at that just made it seem so simple.

Now, I have yet to unzip that, but we'll see. Upward into the sock feet we go!

Today's Socks and Cats

Caution RSC/NSK - Spoiler Below!

So as of the 10th, here are the current two sock projects:



The one on the right is now finished, and looks big because my foot is a W size 7 and the sock is for a Men's 13. The one on the left... well, if you look back at last week, the 2nd Red Alligator sock doesn't appear to have progressed, does it? It has, it's just that half of its progress was going backwards.

Shortly after ripping it out the 3rd time, I came across one of those knitting tips that is so brilliant, and so obvious, I'm absolutely mortified that I hadn't thought of it. A knitter on the RSC/NSK Blog explained a "lifeline". You thread a piece of contrasting yarn or thin ribbon through the stitches on a row that is complete and correct. Knit on from there. If you make a mistake - you only rip back to the row with the ribbon, then you CAN pick up. So if you can see the little line of white that is NOW in that sock toe - that's my lifeline. No more ripping the whole sock out because I can't figure out how to pick up a yarnover.

This will be a very handy tactic in the complex project that arrived yesterday:



Yes, the Blue Moon Monsoon finally landed! This is installment one of my knitter's decadent indulgence, the Rockin' Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The yarn colourway is named "Monsoon" and the pattern, "Inside Out". I can't wait to start but I have to finish at least one of the two current socks - probably the Alligators as they're currently on the needle size I need. Mom, sorry, I'll start yours right after but I realized the RSK kit has some techniques in it that might make a nice cushy-foot sock for sore feet, so I want to try them out first. I can start one for you as I work on those.

Finally, cat status: I'm pretty sure that Maui is NOW at last gaining a little weight. He can't get enough of the junk food, and he gets fed a few times a day (whenever we're home to fight off the girls).



He is completely in love with the halogen lamp. I'm going to have to get the original one fixed, so he can have one (because he shadows everything else on my desk) and I can have one to read by.

Small milestones...

After several hours of intermittent hacking about, I have approximately half of my next homework assignment working. I'm hoping to make that 2/3 before bed, at least.

Here we have a photo of My Own Starry Night, reclining in the winter sunshine, as complete as it seems to want to be, for now:



I still think it needs more quilting, but I haven't got the skills to go with my ideas yet, so we're going to call it "done for now" and claim to have finished a quilt. I have to, because it's been stalling some other as-yet-unfinished ones.

Here we have the 2nd flip-top mittens:



Which have been done for a while but not photographed. This was a "kit" for which I threw out the pattern part and used the yummy yarn. The yarn is a handpainted silk from Sweaterkits, and almost matches the handpainted silk in the sweaterkits toque for which I did follow the pattern. I decided to partly re-engineer and partly improvise the flip-top pattern based on the one from "Not Just MORE Socks" that I used for Adam's Jitterbug flip-tops. It's not great - the base of my pinky is occasionally exposed - but it's close enough that I don't so much feel like pulling it out as doing something better next time.

And, the current two socks in progress:



I suppose you can argue that socks in progress do not count as milestones, but I put the qualifer SMALL in the title - getting the first sock of a pair done is a small milestone, as is getting the heel of a new sock turned via a new method I just tried for the first time (well, second, but first time successfully). I've decided the red sock is just the Red Alligator sock, because I didn't want Angry socks - my feet would probably not be happy if their socks were angry. The other one is a Straight Up Sock, something I started because the stitch pattern on the Red Alligator needs more concentration than I have when knitting while doing other things, but a Straight Up Sock can fill in as I can ALMOST do plain stockinette stitch without looking. Or when I'm tired. This will be Adam's next one and he doesn't mind at all that the sock seems to have a bit more pink in it than the ball of yarn appeared to at first.

I think I will stick to this method of having at least one challenging project and one more basic one on the go - it suits my can't-sit-still fidgetiness but also suits those times when I sometimes can't coordinate anything slightly complex while fidgeting.

Mom, I'll start you one as soon as the Alligators are done.

Sinking Feeling....

This little gizmo:



Is a piece of my kitchen faucet assembly. This little gizmo has A Lifetime Guarantee.

Contrary to what the naive might think, a Lifetime Guarantee is no guarantee that this little gizmo will function as specified for a lifetime - be it yours, mine, or its own. What "Lifetime Guarantee" means is that when this little gizmo spectacularly malfunctions, spraying water all over the inside of the kitchen cabinets, turning the kitchen garbage into a soggy compost bomb and the paper recycling into papier mache, pouring water out of the cabinets all over the hardwood, and leaving a sleepy coffee-deprived homeowner with surprisingly wet feet for being indoors on a dry day, you get a new one for free.

Claiming your new little gizmo has some prerequisites. First you have to turn off the water supply, and since you're crawling around in a half-inch of water in the kitchen cabinet anyway, you might as well mop up too. Then you have to find the malfunctioning part in the tangle of tubing and piping, a process which involves spraying more water all over to identify where the water is coming from, then turning the water supply back off again. Next step: figure out how to disconnect it. The disconnection process will be made more complicated by the fact that the gizmo appears to have been attached with a wrench, judging by the tool marks all over it despite the bright orange sticker on it that says "Hand Tighten Only" (possibly a cause of the failure, as the gizmo appears to have exploded along a spiral fracture line suspiciously following the tool marks). The disconnection will also involve skinned and bruised knuckles as it is wedged into THE most contorted position amongst the other pipes and tubes, and of course we must also endure the minor head injury that seems almost mandatory when any under-sink plumbing ventures occur.

Then, you're nearly home free. The last part of the Lifetime Guarantee replacement process is to find the plumbing supply place that has one in stock. In a fit of rational smartness, I got on the net and the phone and called before driving all over town (hint: Home Depot doesn't seem to carry this manufacturer!), and only had to go a few kilometres to the next-to-nearest Home Hardware. Today we love the GlenBriar Plumbing Showcase, the nice parts folks had even set the replacement aside for me after my call, and wandered out into the aisles to meet me when they noted a soggy perplexed woman with the gizmo in hand checking the shelves for similar looking parts.

From there, it was back home, and repeat the previous paragraphs all in reverse (minus the mopping up as I was not dumb enough to turn the water back on before reconnecting everything).

And this, dear reader, is why none of programming homework, quilting, knitting, or my taxes have yet been done today.

Mostly functional, again.

So after disassembling the computer case and poking every which way at my flakey Bluetooth, I relocated the CD I need and installed the right driver. Window says it doesn't need custom BT software drivers - but it does. My gadgets are now all conversing with the mothership, after an additional side-track into reinstalling the Palm software as well.

So, here's what my cat looks like lately:

And the back of him:

He's so cold with all that fur gone, that he's taken to sitting under my halogen desk lamp. Which I had to replace, as something shorted out my 12-year-old one that I loved.

But, at least he's continuing to eat and seems happy with the food tube removed.

In other adventures, what should arrive this past Monday but my shipment of Lorna's Laces from an Ebay-enabled dealer (that sounds so illicit!)

Guess which one is for socks for Mom? I don't think I meant to do that with the rest of the colours (the dark earthy tones) but they just happened that way.

And lest anyone think I'm just hoarding yarn, I AM being productive to merit my stashbuilding. This sock:

which some of you met last Saturday has been ripped out and re-started since that photo, and is a few ribbed rows away from done and will probably be finished tonight. I think I'm going to call these the Angry Alligator socks. The 12x8 stitch pattern, named "Small Capitals" in the stitch dictionary, looks more to me like the bumpy scales of some large reptile. I'm trusting since the bumps are on the outside I'll still be able to wear them. I deviated from the instructions and made the heel back in the same pattern, so they may only be usable as clog socks - which is fine, as I think the red/purple variegated yarn will go with my red-purple Naots or purple Keen clogs. I can't wait for this weather to get over with it so I can wear clogs again.

As the moment, the elements are doing their best to encase the condo in pebbly ice.