Random Friday

I'm doing *stranded* gloves for my first time at working gloves. Oh no, I couldn't do just plain old 1-color gloves for my first stab. Bah. Fingers in stranded knitting are my new definition for "fiddly." Seriously, even Bunny didn't require this much messing about. I see now why large sweater size swathes of stranding are attractive - because it's mostly a flat surface; needle changing required only after many many stitches. Instead of say, 3.

Oh yes, and I'm off by a stitch so I gotta rip the whole pinky out tonight. GRRRR

The yarn is this amazing merino-alpaca blend from some Denmark company that has just randomly shown up at the unfortunately-located-2-blocks-from-my-work yarn shop. And oh, I am in love! It's a pleasure just to knit with this stuff - so soft, with a bit of alpaca hairiness, but still some sproinginess from the wool. The colors are, I admit, all on the muted side, but I chose a gorgeous heathered brown and a kind of cross between turqouise and steely blue that I think complement each other nicely. It just *feels* luxurious.

It's fairly evenly spun and makes some gorgeous colorwork. Luckily for me it is not quite up in arm-and-leg territory in regards to pricing. Hey, cheaper than Koigu! (Sigh. I know that's not very cheap). I bought 2 skeins on impulse for the gloves. I left the skein of Handmaiden unicorn-hair-and-fairy-dust I'd been oggling on the shelf, and told myself I had some self control (ha)

Sorry, enough with the yarn adoration. (Should you wish to be sucked in, the label says 'Isager 2' and it's a 50/50 alpaca/merino fingering weight 2-ply. Here's a Ravelry link. Oooh, look at that, a Knitter's Review article! Although, I really disagree with the "sport weight" designation for this yarn; it's definitely a fingering, and a light one at that. I'm working on 0s/2.5 mms, getting probably 8 stitches to the inch, and it's not a compact fabric.)

---------

I'm coming down off the local plague that everyone in my office seems to have gotten. A nice little head cold of which I feel grateful I only picked up a light case (I slept for 6 hours yesterday, during the day). Now my sinuses are all full of gunk and my voice is echoing around my ahead and sounds all sad and wimpy. Bleh. But I think I'm definitely working towards just the regular set of dribbling nose and sneeze allergies.

Happy Halloween! Yo ho ho and a bottle of nasal decongestant.

Happy Halloween!

With The Bone Tones and Friends!

Contest!

No, not mine! Zardra's got some new digs, so go on over and give her a shout out at her new place. She's got yarn!

Also, don't you already know about Dizzy Blonde Studios!? La's new (well, not so new now) hand-dyed yarn and pattern shop! She's really doing some gorgeous stuff; go take a look.

Let them eat donuts

Frances got the last of the staples out today and is officially donut free, as long as she's good about not biting or scratching or licking things open. She's ecstatic about that, and I'm pretty happy too. She isn't even hiding under the bed tonight. I think she spent the whole day licking herself.

Here's Ms. Bacon while she was still under the donut, snapped after she decided she really needed a very close look at what I was doing.


Me, I've started another set of stranded gloves. I know they're not on the Christmas list. Don't judge.

Mars Needs Sock Toes

Greetings from the land of Startitis


The problem with commuter knitting is that it's hard to try on socks while you're on a train. Well, without getting them dirty, you know.

Odd Thoughts

I was walking to the train to go to work this morning and thought, my cat with only 3 legs will never be able to ride a bicycle.

It took way to much time to remind myself that Frances' bike future was nonexistant, even before surgery.

--------

My niece just turned 6 months old. Check out that peach fuzz hair!

Fall stuff

pumpkin bread
apples
apple pie
apple crisp
apple cider
Did I mention apples?
Oh yeah, pears
shorter days
scarlet
maples
turning on the heater
hibernation

I finished the other glove last week (minus the thumb). It went a lot faster (finally). I guess my cussedness has paid off at last. You may mock me and my October glove fixation, but I'm the one laughing after it froze this weekend (the National Weather Service issued a 'frost advisory' Fri-Mon. I don't know why I find the idea of a frost advisory so funny). Of course, I bet they'll be warmer once I get the thumbs on.

Frances is doing pretty well. She takes the stairs without trouble, although she still can't make it onto the bed. We tried setting up some step-boxes and she completely doesn't get it. We'll try to find some kind of ramp.

She is still annoyed at us for making her wear the donut collar. Which only works marginally with our super-yoga kitty who is able to contort herself around it. It's better than the elizabethan-style collar, which she managed to get off 3 times. The last time she pulled it down and it was stuck around her middle at the incision and I had to cut it off her while she cried. At 3 am. When I took her to the vet to get stitches out this morning I discovered she'd pulled out 3 or 4 of them already. I suspect that most of her annoyance is because of a side effect: she cannot fit under the bed while donut'ed. Bonus for us, because it makes her much easier to catch for all these damn vet visits.

I'm sorry I haven't been around. I don't feel like I have much interesting to say; as I told my brother on the phone last weekend, I've just been doing a lot of hanging out with the cat and knitting. Oh, and nursing an addiction to Bejeweled. Send wine and cookies.

Smell the Mitten

Thank you, all, I really appreciate your kind words. Frances spent the day mostly hiding under the bed, although she comes out to eat and for litter box breaks. Last night was hard because she likes to sleep on the bed but she doesn't have the balance to ascend or descend that far yet. She's already gone up and down the stairs though. It makes me cringe; she's still trying to get the hang of it.

Back of the mitten

Mitten palm. The thumb is still missing but the top is finished. I am so. damn. slow. at stranded knitting.

The alpaca at Oregon Flock & Fiber says: "Adore me, for I am gorgeous."