Monthly Archives: February 2006

Contests

Contest!

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I’m a little crabby and a little crampy (why, yes, these are directly related) and a little chilly (it’s -3F here right now) this morning. You are all going to be much funnier than me today, so please caption today’s picture in the comments.

Caption comments made before 6 pm Central Standard Time on Monday, February 20, will be numbered and then I’ll use a random number generator to pick a number. The prize will be (you’ll never guess… really… never in a million years…) yarn! (What?! You guessed?!!)

Progress update: Sweater body to armpits, one sleeve done, and about 15 rows left on the second sleeve. Tonight I’ll finish the second sleeve, attach both sleeves to the body, and begin knitting the yoke. However, I’m going to lose quite a bit of knitting time this weekend… Details to follow on Sunday or Monday.

Get captioning! I need a giggle this morning.

Randonymity, Those Cats

In which I attempt to redirect his attentions…

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For those who were curious, here’s the mini dressmaker’s form that Chaos found so intriguing yesterday. I picked it up Tuesday for a little decoupage experiment after the Knitting Olympics. (Does the word “decoupage” give anyone else a total flashback to ’70s craft projects?!)

Something very cool and serendipitous happened yesterday. I was over at Pink Rocket’s and saw that she’s opening a store in the very near future. I left her a comment, asking if she’d take an order for a black cat softie. Then I went down to get my mail and found a box from Pink Rocket… Meet “Girlfriend”!!

“Wow, she’s pretty cute. But she doesn’t smell quite right…”
“Mom!!! She’s taking over!!! Mom!!!”

I think she’ll settle in just fine…

Thanks again, Pink Rocket!! I spent most of the evening just grinning at Girlfriend as she stalked along the top of the cds… while I wasn’t knitting away on my Olympic sweater, that is. Body done up to the armpits, sleeve one done up to where it will join the body, and sleeve two about 6″ along. And I think a bit of pinot noir really helped on the gauge issue… at least I didn’t care so much about it!

Alongs, Knitting, Those Cats

In which I actually post a progress picture

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Here’s my progress as of Monday evening – body done up to the armpits and first sleeve about 1/2 done. I’ll warn you that this is not a particularly photogenic project – look! Black blobs on the carpet… but wait? Where is the black blob? Hmmm…

The sleeve and I have have gone a few rounds of ripping. (Carole had warned me of hubris and offending the knitting gods in the comments on Sunday and she was so right.) I knew I didn’t want the bellshaped sleeves in the pattern, but I didn’t think through what I did want until I had cast on, sealed up the hem, and knit merrily away for a while. Finally, denial just didn’t cut it anymore. Rip rip rip, refigure the numbers, and off we went again.

Tonight I go home and take a hard look at the gauge on that sleeve compared to the body gauge… I’m thinking that, because knitting the sleeve is sort of like knitting a sock and I knit my socks tightly, my gauge on the sleeve is too tight. It might be mandatory that I drink wine while knitting the sleeves – what do you think?

Oh, I tracked down that missing blob:

“Go away. I haven’t forgiven you for that incident earlier. It’s not my fault when you lead me into temptation.”

Update: Go check out Gale’s pictures – she went and saw the care packages getting packed up for the Red Scarf Project! Thanks for letting us know, Norma!
Contests, Those Cats

In which I receive a prize

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I recently won lost a contest over at Knitting on Trial, but I was so persistent that Christine awarded me a prize anway. The prize arrived Saturday – a cute dachsund card, a lovely skein of Opal, and a very fun skein of Sockatta. Thank you, Christine!

Christine included a present for Chaos without even realizing she’d done so – tissue paper. Chaos loves him some tasty tissue paper.

“Oh, this yellow is simply scrumptious!”
“That’s too bad, all you got was yarn.”
“Tissue paper makes me itchy, but it’s so good!!”
Alongs, Knitting, Those Cats

In which I have some setbacks and an alarming realization

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Jeanne has posted her pictures from Friday night! Head on over and check them out for a slightly different perspective on the evening – or if you’re morbidly curious what I look like when slightly tipsy and being menaced by the Bugman.

First, the minor setbacks of yesterday. I briefly left my Olympic knitting unattended and returned to find it partially off the needles. Hmm. A puzzle. I wonder how that happened. No culprit was in sight.

“Bwah-ha-ha!”

The sweater was easily returned to the needles. However, about 16 rows after changing to a new ball of yarn, I discovered that the extra skeins of yarn I ordered are nowhere near being the same dyelot as my originals. A dark and dramatic line was readily apparent. Argh. So I ripped back to where I’d added the new ball (losing about 2800 stitches in the process) and switched to one of my original skeins.

In the process of removing the sweater from the needles, I learned the source of a mysterious “drag” on the cable of my circular needle – some small nicks, similar to what one would expect from sharp little fangs. Hmm. A bit of work with some buffing emery boards took care of that.

But… Here it is, nearly Day 3 (I’m not even 48 hours into this) and… I’ve reached the armpits of the sweater. I’m about to start knitting the first sleeve. Oh oh. It appears that I’ve radically underestimated the time it would take me to knit this sweater.

Alongs, Festing, Knitting, Those Cats

There was baleful glaring last night…

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But only from the Malevolent Bugman… Jeanne swears it’s something I bring out in him. She also swears that he’s warming up to me. Hmm.

“You will submit to my will, puny human. Go get me some Kitty Kaviar and be quick about it.”

First we got comfy in our sweats and readied our cameras.

“Chris, if you post this picture on your blog, I might have to kill you.”

We loaded up on wine and snacks.

I was settled in with a cat on my lap – truly, all the comforts of home.

“Don’t be honored by my presence – it’s because you’re sitting in my chair.”

We watched about three minutes of the opening ceremonies, found ourselves wondering WTF, and switched to Shrek 2, The Princess Bride, and Pitch Black. We did manage to switch back right in time to see the torch lighting extravaganze.

“Let me know when they’re going to light the torch.”

And at the end of the night (around 2 a.m.), we both had respectable progress to show.

Randonymity, Those Cats

Countdown to the Knitting Olympics…

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“Hmm, there’s something happening up on the table…”

Chaos was right – there was something happening on the table – the pre-Olympic photo shoot:

“Whoa.”

Starting from lower left, we have

  • the corner of my pillow (Celestial Sheep flannel – we’ll talk more about those Celestial Sheep another time)
  • a cat (not part of Olympic preparations)
  • the yummy black Four Play yarn (including swatch on my beloved super speedy Addi Turbos)
  • the pattern in the book
  • some pinot noir
  • some brie (not pictured are several other fun cheeses) and Blue Diamond Nut Thin crackers (go check out the nutritional info on these – you can eat the whole box for less than 500 calories – amazing. Plus they’re gluten-free!)
  • my copy of the pattern (annotated with the many corrections and my own changes)
  • tips on the Hourglass Sweater gleaned from the experience of those who’ve knit it before me

The pinot, brie, and Nut Thins are all anxiously awaiting a trip to Jeanne’s house this evening to watch the opening ceremonies and knit. And, obviously, drink and eat fatty snacks (Jeanne’s providing cable, garlic-stuffed olives, and flourless chocolate cake). The pillow… well, let’s just say it has the potential (what with all that wine and frantic knitting) for being a sleepover knitting event. We could just start out by calling it an Opening Ceremonies Knitting Pajama Party and go with that.

“This is very interesting… I wonder how it tastes with tuna? Maybe while Mom is out tonight, I’ll invite one of those lovely furry ladies over for a midnight snack. Now, how to decide which one… I’d hate to start a catfight!”
Alongs, Those Cats

C is for…

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Chaos! (Like, duh.) Yes, I joined the ABC-A-Long. I’ve enjoyed reading what everyone’s been writing, but I thought it was closed… until a few days ago, when Heather posted that she’d just joined. I’m so there! (Thanks, Heather!)

I’ve missed A and B and I’ll go back to pick them up… after the Knitting Olympics. We’re going basic services for the duration of the Knitting Olympics. You have been warned.

Anyway. C is for Chaos, my utterly chaotic cat, whom I’ve known since his birth (and even before – I felt him kicking inside of Riley!). He became mine at a rough point in my life; having his warm, purring, busy self helped ground me then and now. He is an endless source of companionship, entertainment, and exasperation. What more could I ask?


“Psst… she means to ask all of you for more tuna, please. She just forgot.”