From Rain to Hope

I haven’t had a lot of time on my hands the past week because of the move to our new house, but I’ve managed to complete two knits.  A cowl that needs to be blocked before you can even tell anything about it.  See:

Unblocked Destroyed Cowl

Also, I finally finished my socks, but only got a picture with my phone.  They’re great though and will hopefully get a lot of wear in cooler weather.

New socks and one of my favorite pairs of shoes!

We’re getting settled into the house.  Still lots of unpacking to do and I doubt I’ll get it all done before the trip, but that’s ok.  As for the cats, they’ve adjusted well.  If you need photographic proof.  I have plenty.

Luna and Dottie settled in.

Bob, sunning his belly.

Dottie still lounged out in the window.

Moxie, always the little lady, refused to be photographed in such a casual fashion.  She opted for a more classic portrait.

Super pretty eyes, a bit annoyed though.

Sadly, the new house has not cured bad kitty behavior.  They’ve all been getting into a bit of trouble.  Dottie was the only one shameless enough to get her picture taken though.

Why yes, those are glass blocks in my kitchen.

A blog post filled with (mostly) green.

Gathered Scarf, in bloom

I completed my Gathered Scarf.  It is VERY green and also VERY long.  I stopped knitting before I got to 80″, but the thing ended up blocking out to 92″.  It’s great though and I love it.  So does Lambie:

Lambie stylin' in the Gathered Scarf

Pattern: Gathered Scarf by Maryse Roudier

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, Happy Forest

Needles: US 6 and US 9

More details… here (ravelry link)

I’ve also been working on a couple of different tops.  One is moving along really quickly.  I had hoped to finish it by St. Patrick’s Day, but I sort of stalled out when I got to armhole shaping.  I may get back on it today.  For now, my last progress shot will have to hold everyone over until I get the thing done.

Bad lighting + one handed shooting = bad photo

I’m also working on a sweater that is not green, but I thought you might want to see the small amount I have done.

The very purple and tweedy Pickadilly

That’s about it for now.  I will aim for more words in my next post.  Now I will leave you with this:

Kitties behaving badly

This could actually be a regular blog feature.  Dottie and Bob are always getting into things and places they shouldn’t.  Luna and Moxie are usually good or at least more sneaky about their bad behavior.

It seems someone went through the trouble of gaining access to my blog recently and adding some bad code to try to cause problems for my multitude of readers.  Silly people.  Not only is my viewership teensy, but I know y’all are all smart and have good anti-virus software to catch anything that might get thrown your way.  Still, I’m sorry I let it happen.  I will now keep a closer eye on things so if anyone else manages to gain access, I’ll be able to kick them out quickly before they have time to cause trouble.

Enough of that.  On to knitting.  Yes.  There has been knitting, just no blogging about it.  I have finished a few things and started a few more.  There has also been super secret knitting that I will hopefully be talking more about in my next post.

First up, my second Ishbel.

Ishbel 2

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Bristol Yarn Gallery Lyndon Hill

Needles: US 7

More details… here (ravelry link)

I sort of stalled out  on this after starting it last July.  I didn’t knit on it all for almost 6 months.  Once I picked it back up it was finished in no time.

Ishbel 2, up close

I’m also working on a couple of scarves.  One is almost finished.

Gathered Scarf, on the diagonal

The other is just started, but is lots of fun to knit.  I may make another in a lighter weight yarn soon.

Saroyan Scarf, the beginning

Hopefully, I’ll be able to tell you about the secret projects (some of you already know all about them) I just complete next week.  Stay tuned.

Oh, I almost forgot.  It snowed in Charleston.

February Snow in Charleston

No I haven’t stooped to knitting little socks for the kitties (yet).  I just find the title much more fun without the commas so I left them out.  I know.  I’m easily amused.   Long time, no blog, huh?  I have no excuse.  I’m just lazy and until last week, there wasn’t much going on to blog about.

I was going to start the blog with a cute cat picture, but they all had different plans.  I bent down to get a nice shot of Dottie in the sun and as I get ready to click the shutter Moxie decides Dottie needs a bath.  That might’ve made a cute picture, but, at the same time, Bob started trying to climb up on me and this is the results:

Dottie's photo-op disrupted

What’s worse (and darker) than this horrible picture?  Loops’ ankle.  Good segue, wasn’t it?  He had a tumble down our stairs on Wednesday.  We had him checked out and it was an ankle sprain and should be better soon.  He’s still limping around, but is back in work so maybe with my days free from nurse duty I’ll get some knitting done.

The only thing I’ve really been working on is my socks.  You know, the ones I let everyone vote for the yarn to make them.  I’m about half through with the first sock and they’re turning out well.  See:

My new colorful socks started!

The pattern is fun and they work up pretty quickly so I should have a completed pair in no time.  Maybe I’ll finish them while I’m back in Alabama.  I’ll be flying direct from Charlotte to Birmingham on Oct. 3rd and be with the family for two fun filled weeks.  Hopefully Loops and the kitties can live that long without me.

That’s right.  I’m on the couch.  With possibly the cutest little laptop ever created.

The Toshiba NB205

It is great and tiny.  It’s just over 10″ wide.  It works really well and should be nice to take with me wherever I go.  Loops laughs at me, but I just LOVE the way it looks.  Check out the outside.

Yummy texture in frost white!

Ok.  Enough about my little netbook.  On to the knitting updates.

I actually haven’t been getting much done with the knitting the past week or so.  I’ve been in a bit of a funk, I suppose.  I’m trying to get out of it though.

Uhura is pretty much at a standstill.  I did get to the bottom of the back half and did the hem.  I now want to hem everything I do.  I think it’s great.

Not so great picture, but a great hem!

I have also started another Ishbel shawl.  It’s going to be more summery since I’m using a cotton/silk blend.

Ishbel in my favorite color, grey.

Last on the list of projects I’ve actually been working on, the sock.  This sock has been in progress since last year.  I just couldn’t get into it, but recently decided I wanted to get on with it so I dug out the few inches of leg I had done and started knitting.

Sort of like a rainbow got sick, huh?

Sadly, it seems too big.  Last year, I wasn’t nearly as careful about getting the correct gauge as I am now.  I’m happy that I can actually make a sock though.  Turning a heel just seems very impressive to me, even after doing it and finding out it’s actually pretty easy.  Now I just have to get to the toes.

Back in November, I wrote a blog and introduced Moxie.  Here’s what I had to say:

Sure we didn’t need another cat, but we’ve been wanting a third.  We’ll try to stop at that number though.  I have a feeling between her and Dottie we’ll have our hands too full for any others.

I guess I was wrong because the past month we’d really been talking about getting a fourth cat.  We went back and forth with the whole need and want debate and changed our minds about 20 times.  In the end, the desire to have another cat won out so we went down to Pet Helpers.  It’s a great shelter.  They have most of the adult cats in 4 different rooms with all kinds of things for them to climb and sleep on.  You can just walk right in and meet them.  Between the two days I went there to pick out a cat, I must have spent 5 hours total just going back and forth from room to room meeting all the cats.  It’s sad how many cats were there and some have been there for years.

As a little introduction to who our new cat is, I’ve copied his description from the Pet Helpers website

Ok I don’t want to seem conceded but I may be the coolest cat to have ever entered the pearly gates of Pet Helpers. Ask any staff member you pass who the most awesome cat in the shelter is and they will invariably say me. I will be the first to great you when you walk in the room and try to ride out on your shoulders. It is a crime to think I have been here for almost a year, don’t make me wait a minute longer. I scored nearly perfect on my felinality test but you don’t need a test to see I’m over qualified to be your cat.

They were not exaggerating about him riding out on your shoulders either.  He will jump right on if you let him.  Anyway,  I know y’all are all wanting to actually see him.  Meet Bob.

Mr. Bobertons

He seems to be settling right in around here and is not bothered by all these crazy girls hissing at him all the time.  Hopefully they’ll become more friendly soon and Bob will get over his “I must explore the kitchen countertops” phase and we’ll be able to let him roam the house freely at night.

Ready to attack!

Bob request that any “welcome to the family” gifts you may feel like sending be little tinsel balls like the one above.  He LOVES them and doesn’t understand why the girls would like furry mice more.

Today was vet day for Luna and Bob.  They were very good kitties and were only fussy during shots and anything involving their butts.  I don’t blame them.  Do you?  Bob’s got an antibiotic shot because he’s running a bit of a fever.  Hopefully, he’ll be better soon.  Otherwise, both cats were in good health and are now being lazy at home.

Lazy kitties

It’s a sad fact, at least for Loops, but when we go shoe shopping for him, I am the one who ends up with new shoes.  I got two pairs this time while he didn’t get a single pair.  Mine are great, especially my sneakers.  Here’s the view I’ve been staring at all day.

My colorful new shoes!

I can’t stop looking down at them.  They’re so fun.

I also started my Ishbel shawl that I wrote about in the previous journal.  It is FLYING off the needles.  Just this weekend I’ve done almost all of the first section, which is all stockinette stitch.

Ishbel Started

Once I do the last few rows of this section, I will start the lace charts.  It will probably slow me down a bit, but I still feel like I’ll be finishing this project in record time.

This was going to be a post about how glad I was that we moved from our townhouse in a tidy subdivision to an older neighborhood.  That was before I found out earlier that the owner of the new house we just moved into has decided to sell it, just like the owner of the townhouse decided to do.  It really makes a person never want to rent again.  I guess it’s just something we have to accept.

Onto the post’s original content though.  I love having a yard.  Not just a yard, but a yard that has actual trees.  We have birds and squirells everywhere.  It makes me so happy to look out the window and see critters.  The cats love it too.

Now onto the pictures.  These are basically snapshots, nothing fancy, but I wanted to share the cuteness.

On the Fence

The squirells are loving all the mushrooms that have been popping up all over the yard.   The other day they were everywhere, chowing down.

Tasty treat time!

Nom, nom!

If the squirrels weren’t cute enough, today I looked out the back window and saw a little lizard on the deck.

Lizard time!

Hanging out!

I shot the lizard shots through the back window because I didn’t want to scare him off.  He was hanging out on our deck box which is still empty since we can’t find any cushions we like for our deck benches.

That’s really all I have to blog about now.  The next post should include another finished knitted object so stay tuned!

Have you ever made yourself a lunch so yummy you felt the need to photograph it?  Probably not, but  today my lunch looked so yummy I had to snap a picture before digging in.

Mmmm.... Lunch!

It sure was tasty.   The recipe can be found here.  I don’t change much from the recipe.  I think I use more onions and use dried dill instead of fresh.  Oh, and I use cheddar cheese.  Of course, if you have more than 3 people to feed, you might need to double the recipe.  It says it serves six, but never has come close to that when I cook it.  Probably because we all eat way more than we should.

I’ve had some cool stuff arrive in the mail lately.   I ordered my interchangeable circular needles and they arrived the other day.

Denise Interchangeable Needles

They are nice.  I haven’t knit with them much yet, but it’ll be nice to always have the size I need, when I need it.

I’ve also just received some gauge rulers I ordered.  They are handmade out of bamboo.

Too Cute Gauge Rulers!

I found them on Etsy after seeing some that another knitter had.  She doesn’t have many in stock right now, but her shop is karatstix.etsy.com.

As for knitting progress, I’m not really putting a dent in any of my current WIP (works in progress).  I’m getting the most progress done on a U-Neck Tunic.

U-Neck Tunic, cast on

I’m excited about it and so far it’s knitting up really easily.  Hopefully it will turn out well.  I’ll be totally dejected if it doesn’t fit.  I already had to start over because it was way to big the first time.  Here is how far I’ve gotten so far:

U-Neck Tunic, progress

Since I started knitting small diameter in the round (I have yet to knit anything large, ie a sweater, in the round.), I have had a few problems.  I started with a sock using 5 DPNs (that’s double pointed needles to my non-knitting readers).  It was going fine with that method except all those needles were annoying and no matter what I did, I still had ladders, or spaces, in my knitting where one needle ended and the next began.  I knew I’d have to learn some way to fix this or I’d never be able to make  sleeve for a sweater without having to make it flat and seam it.

Recently I tried another method for circular knitting.  It’s where you use two sets of circular needles, which are two knitting needles connected together by a thin cord.  I did ok with this method.  I think I would’ve even liked this method had it not been for my cheap needles which had cords which were way to stiff.  Here is a progress shot of my knitting by this method.

Toast on 2 circular needles

The pattern is Toast.  It’s a great, simple project and I love my first arm warmer.  Since I’ve only finished the one, I’ve just been wearing it around the house, rocking it Michael Jackson style.

Since I was unable to fix my ladder problem with this method.  I decided to knit the second using yet another style of circular knitting.  It’s called Magic Loop and you use one set of circular needles that have a longer cord.  It’s easy to do, but not as easy to explain.  So far, so good.  I think I’ve finally fixed the ladder problem and I should be finished with my second arm warmer in no time.

I’m not 100% happy though.  Today I came to a realization.  I’m doing all these methods wrong.

Does this look funny to you?

This is the inside of my arm warmer.  In the other picture I flipped my knitting right side out before taking the picture.  This picture is what it looks like while I’m knitting.  I find out today that when most people knit in the round it is NOT inside out.  All this time I just assumed inside out was how things went and when complete you just turned them right side out.   I pretty much figured out how to fix it and even did a round of this right side out, but I found the cord was all in my way and I messed up because of it so I just went back to my old way.  It works.  I suppose I should learn to do it correctly though just in case inside out will not work for something.  I suppose it serves me right for insisting on learning how to do everything myself.  Loops always tells me to ask people questions and have them show me stuff, but I always prefer to figure it out in my own way.

One more thing before I go.  I have a Print Store on deviantArt where all my photographs are for sale.  I haven’t actually sold any, but I buy small versions of everything and since my kitties are so cute, I had to buy magnets of a picture of each of them.  I finally received them earlier this week and they’re up on the fridge.

Awww! Cute Kitties!

Too Cute!!!