Missing a friend I never met

Yesterday I dropped off a 16 lb sack of Meow Mix, a 4 lb bag of Purina Kitten Chow, and two bundles of large trash bags and tall kitchen trash bags at the Nashville Humane Society.  Some puppies there tried to call out ot me, but I resisted.  Don't you know, when I went to their website earlier, and looked at their donations page, it opened to a picture of a tiny ginger kitten in someone's hand...and Duncan was ginger...Sigh.  Teh catz haz such efer epfem short little lives.  Cat folks have to learn to deal with missing them.  I like to remember some of mine, especially The Snow Baby.  If she was days from delivering kittens, and soaking wet, she might have weighed six pounds.  The Snow Baby was a white, mostly-Persian little lady of a cat.  Her eyes were a dark gold in color, and her nose and ears showed pretty pink accents.  Always ready to play, I could play with her all day and never ever get scratched--such lovely manners!  She pretty much liked everybody, although she did give the shepherd pup a bad scratch to his face.  She was provoked!  The dingy dog put his nose right in her tummy; she probably thought she was about to get eaten.  He never did that again.

Goodbye, little friend

I am so saddened to see that Duncan Donut, The Glorious Dogcat, has passed away.  So often his exploits, related by Zoom at knitnut.net, brought a laugh to my day.  Duncan was a shelter cat, and I think it would be nice if we could all make a small donation of pet food, volunteer some of our time, or maybe knit up some washable cuddles for other shelter pets in our areas, in his name.  RIP, Duncan!  So sorry for your loss, Zoom!

Knitting challenge for the duration of the Olympics

 My challenge to myself this time is to finish as many WIPs as I can.  So...during the Opening Ceremony I wove in ends on my beautiful Janet Beret, then during the first commercial break I tossed it and a lacy headband into the sink for a nice soak.  I left them there for about 30 minutes, and at the break after that I put them into rinse mode.  After a few minutes of draining, during which I collected an old towel, both got rolled up in the towel and squeezed nearly dry.  I pulled out one of our 12" plates. s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d it over that huge plate, then threaded a tapestry needle with about 5' of size 10 crochet cotton.  Using that folded in half, I put the needle through all the edge stitches around the brim, then started pulling -- and pulling -- and pulled the opening closed to about 6" across.  I tied a bow in the crochet thread.  This opened up the lace, and drew the brim down so it would dry smaller, and fit better.  Which it does!  Love it when a plan comes together.

I've worn the headband to work, it looks really nice and as I recall it was a really quick knit.  The only issue I have is that the lace I used is stockinette based, and wants to curl in at the side.  Blocking improved that, and of course you won't see that when it's wrapped around a skull, so it's ok. 

 

2/20/14 Update:  Over the weekend, Disco presented me with two pairs of fishhook dangly earrings she'd made for me!  I wore one pair up to the office yesterday and had 3 ladies ask if she had anymore ready!  Are you listening, DiscoDame?   I need to get some pictures, and put them here.  Also, Disco has said she'd model the Arden mitts for some photos, and I mean to hold her to that. 

 



I will be so glad

...To see the back of this week!  The arthritis in my back has really been kicking me down lately, sometimes waking me up & other times just making it very hard to get to sleep.  This is a problem, but I can & will soldier on -- with more frequent breaks in the knitting and trying to avoid holding any heavy books open to read 'em.  Got a scare Thursday:  The Plaidman hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days; around 11 a.m. Thursday DiscoDame called to let me know she'd called an ambulance for her Dear Old Dad, as he felt he needed to go to the ER but didn't think he could drive.  Disco doesn't drive at all.  So I told her to see if she could ride in the ambulance with her Da; she rode shotgun in the cab.  No, they didn't use the siren.  So, I waited to hear something more from her.  And I waited.  And waited some more.  She called me again about 2 p.m. to let me know that tests were ordered, but no definite diagnosis was established yet.  Then she called back at 3 with the diagnosis, and asked if she should call a cab to get home.  Heck no!  I left work at my ususal time of 4 p.m. and went straight to the hospital to pick them up.  We have a high deductible plan, so this is going to be expensive enough.  So he's been puny all weekend, only started back on solid food this morning.  And he had a call from his sis last night; his aunt's oldest son had committed suicide on Valentine's Day.  Not a great holiday for this family.
In the slightly better news, I did get some of my WIPs finished up.  I washed & blocked the Janet Beret, and a lace headband.  I finished the first of the Arden mitts, and wow is it handsome.  Take a look:

Have you seen it from this angle?

 





Please note the background ... my new favorite for photos!

So, I've still a good bit to do on this pair of mitts.  And I really REALLY need to finish the Bunny Hop sweater for the Peerless Princess.  Of course, that involves sewing, so no telling when I'll work up the gumption to get 'er done.