Kitten Smitten!

First off... some day I'll post some finished items and works in progress, I have good knitting things, just behind in that part of blogging.

But in the meantime, after Beezy's death, Tigger kitty has been very lonely. He has been crying, he doesn't like being alone all day by himself so I made the decision that it was time to look for another kitty for him. After some back and forth last week, enter our new baby girl. She is from Shelter from the Storm, a very nice rescue center. Her name was Petunia but that just wasn't going to happen. I was calling her Miss Kitty, just to have something to call her and it's sort of become Missy. She comes running so I guess she's picked her name. She's just over 3 months old right now.

Tigger wasn't sure of her at first, but to be fair, when they met we were all at my parents' house where they have Scout-puppy who Tigger isn't too fond of. The picture below is from the early meeting. Once we got back home to our place, they've been getting along fine. Playing chase, following each other.... he licks the top of her head now and then. They will be just fine! Now if I could just get them to sit still long enough to show a picture together. They are both Zoom-Kitties!!







And my favorite pose.... Upside Down Kitty!

My Beezy Girl, may she be at peace

Years ago, a 21yo girl attempted to sell vacuum cleaners. She wasn't particularly good at it but in her travels she found a little chocolate brown kitten. The kitten had a frostbit half-ear so the owners did not want her. The girl took this little kitten home....

I already had two other cats that were known as "The Cat" and "The Little Cat" so this new kitten became "The Little Brown Kitty". (ok, I'm not so good at names) Little Brown Kitty eventually became LBK and later Beezy through interference from my mother who seems to think pets should have real names.

Beezy was always fiesty. The first day home alone, she managed to terrify the other two cats, both fully grown males, and claim dominance over the room in the apartment that had the food, water and cat litter. She remained little but never lost this independence.

The other cats moved on. "Little One" went with a boyfriend during a break-up. "The Cat" (renamed Trax) adopted other members of the family. But Beezy remained true, and while, over time, I went through bad times and good, rough periods and wonderful events, Beezy was always there, a constant companion for 17 years.

She has always been a wonderful, healthy kitty. She loved the new condo because she could run and play with her toys without Tigger realizing and pouncing. As a kitten she was always grumpy but amazingly she became incredibly loving the older she got. She had the loudest purr ever and would purr at the drop of a hat.

Then a couple weeks ago there was a significant change. My poor girl would not eat. Not even her favorites. She passed up KFC, she passed up ice cream. Within a week she became skeletal and she appeared to have given up. She would not purr, she kept hiding and if you tried to find her, she would drag herself to a new hiding place which was sad to watch.

It became apparent that it was her end and as I tearfully said good-bye, she finally looked at peace again.

Beezy was extra special and I will miss her.

"you love them all but sometimes there is one that just grabs your heart"
- My Mom

"Sometimes it's like two old souls finding each other"
- A new friend

Amigurumi family, of sorts

Just a quick picture post. Sally the bear, Smirk the hedgehog and Ellie the elephant.

Stitches Midwest

Went to Stitches Midwest today with friends. I'm so glad I got to spend the day with each of them!!

In purchases today, I got a Fibersphere kit with an extra container. The containers can attach to each other, making it easier to work with two yarns at once. The kit came with one container, the clear project bag, a measuring pen and the wristlet.




This light fingering weight was an incredibly good price and I love the teal color. It's 60/40 cashmere/merino. Yummy!!


Creatively Dyed, this isn't my normal colors but I love it!


I've been wanting to try a Herbert Niebling pattern, and this Lyra kit was beautiful. There was a completed one there and it was gorgeous! (Rav Link) The yarn is super soft 5% cashmere, 95% Australian merino



At the same place, I bought this pattern, but not the kit for this one. The kit they had was the same yarn as the pictures, this was also done up in the booth. It was beautiful, although I'll probably eventually do it in something else.


A small thing, but fun, a "yarn" bracelet. I've been wearing it all day since I purchased it.

Bombadil Hat Pattern Available

The Bombadil hat pattern that I mentioned a couple posts ago is now available for sale! A Few Stitches Short: Bombadil Hat

Little Bear

I took an amigurumi class at Loop Yarn Shop, mainly to get myself back in the crochet mindset. I started this little bear there. I've named her Sally, no idea why, she just is.

Note: her dress is actually brick red, not hot pink but these are pictures from my phone and I didn't bother to try to correct them.

Finished Projects (and kitty)

Bombadil Tam by Susan Pandorf
(pattern available soon, on Susan's site)
Ravelry details can be found here







Enchanted On-Hold Socks




Silly Kitty Pose

It's been a long time!

So today I finished a pair of socks and thought "wow, I haven't posted in a long time". I call these the WW socks because I only knit on them while at Weight Watchers meetings. They are a thicker weight yarn than usual which meant I didn't have to go to meetings for 5 years just to finish them. Now I need to figure out what the next WW project will be.

Anyway, the pattern is my own concoction of other people's ideas. The toe is Judy's Magic Cast-On and the heel is Fleegle's. Both of those are linked on the side bar. The stitch pattern is stolen from Froot Loop Socks on Knitty. The cuff is my own, I combined a standard 1x1 rib while continuing the mini cables where they existed in the pattern. And then the bind-off is the new Jeny's Suprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off which I'll add to the side bar when I'm done with this post.




I'm still working on the Evenstar shawl that I posted way back in March. I'm at exactly the half way point in the border repeats. They are knit perpendicular to the rest of the shawl and are a bit slow for me. Only because I keep getting myself distracted. Yesterday I finished one repeat in 25 minutes and another one took me 2 hours... guess which one I was actually concentrating on? The full pattern is now available for sale on Susan Pandorf's website, plus you can see what a finished one looks like. I decided not to use the beads. They were taking a really long time and my bead selection was not adding anything to the beauty of the shawl. I've seen others that just look stunning, mine didn't have the same pizazz (right side has beads, left doesn't). I'll find another use for them eventually.



I'm also working on an Odelia sweater out of Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Merlot Heather. The color is much richer than it looks on my screen here. I wanted a sweater that would still work for me if I continue to lose weight and I wanted a color that can act as a neutral, so I can throw it on over almost anything. Maybe even the air conditioned office if I get it done.



I also have a pair of socks I'm working on randomly. They are from Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up. I'm using yarn that is leftover from my Enchanted Wood shawl finished in February. I'm a lot further than this but don't have current pictures. I am actually finished with one and starting the gusset on the second sock.


Oh, and I bought new shoes today. I needed brown dressy sandals for work.


finally an obligatory silly kitty picture.

Evenstar Clue 1 finished (spoiler pic)

Evenstar is a circular shawl designed by Susan Pandorf. This is a mystery shawl, meaning that we get "clues" or pieces of the pattern at regular intervals. With this one, we get a new clue every other Friday. The sign-ups for this particular mystery are now closed, but the complete pattern will be made available for sale after the mystery is done, sometime in May.

Evenstar marked the kick-off of Susan's Fellowship of the Rings series. That series subscription has just recently become available and this post has swatch pictures of the upcoming projects.

Anyway, here is a picture of what it looked like at the completion of Clue 1. Since we are a week into Clue 2, I'm hoping that this isn't a surprise spoiler to anyone who is participating.


P.S. The Enchanted Wood shawl from the last post was also a mystery pattern. For that shawl, the clues came every week and I didn't post anything until the very end.

Accomplishments

I know, I don't post very often, but here's a couple things....

First off, I finished another shawl. This was a kit and knit-a-long from The Unique Sheep called The Enchanted Wood. The beads were supplied by Ellen from Earth Faire. It was a great experience. I need to take some other pictures that do the yarn color justice but you can see the beautiful pattern.




Friday, I wore it to the office. This isn't the best picture but it's proof that I did. My manager said it was nice to see me actually wearing what I wore instead of carrying it around in a bag. (also you can't tell but another new accomplishment, that's my new office, it has an actual door, this is a huge deal at work to be out of a cubicle)



And last but definitely not least, I've been working to lose weight since Halloween. The picture on the left is actually the picture that got me started. Today I passed a major milestone and a friend asked for a pic. When losing weight slow and steady, it's hard to see sometimes, but putting these side by side shows a difference I'm proud of!

New Paint Color

Ok, yes, I'm posting two entries just a couple minutes apart but they are two different things.

Been painting son's bathroom this week, it's been pink and he had asked me to re-paint and picked out a nice taupe color. For the record, I hate painting, with a passion, and this experience did not change my opinion, it reinforced it. But below are pictures of the pre-paint color and a post-paint color. I think it's an improvement
Old Color


New Color

Finished Shawl in 2009!

I finished this shawl at 11:59pm! (ok, not the end weaving or the blocking but close enough) Lace knitting resolution complete *grin*

Below are the pre-blocked and blocked pictures