Problem Solved!

After pondering my yarn quandry for the felted hat, it occured to me that I still had an extra skein of Frog Tree Merino that was left over from Maddy's mitts and it was in the perfect beige shade I was looking for! Whew! It must have been a senior moment--something that I am having way too many of lately. I vaguely remember that same yarn in a brown, so I zipped over to Cloverhill after work and lo and behold they had it.

Now the next quandry is whether or not to return the teal Cascade 220 and matching Quattro yarn or just keep them for some felting project. I tend to think they will be added to my ever growing stash. I think I will still plan on making the purple and green hat, depending on how the brown one looks.

My son informs me that Maddy has a birthday this weekend. I wish I had known sooner as I would have made her something. She loves the hats and Fetching Mitts and I would love to do a scarf for her but can't possibly get one done by Sunday--well, maybe. I'll think about it.

I came to realize today that I have work to do where my kitties are concerned. Check out Nora, the Piano Playing Cat and you will understand! I'm the musician! I should have been giving Mokey piano lessons instead of dressing him up! Who knew?

Went to the 4th Wednesday knitting meetup tonight and it was fun as usual! I have to do the last 2 fingers on the first glove then it will be done! Of course then I just have to make myself do the second glove! I now understand why people only knit one sock! Fortunately DH wants these by March 17 for an outdoor function, so that will keep my ass in gear!

Kitty Fashion Show Continued

I have to admit that I've joined the Mokey Fashion Show bandwagon. I caught myself checking out the clearance doggie, er--I guess I should say "pet'--yeah, that's it--clothing at Pet Smart this weekend. I just couldn't help myself so I bought Mokey a nice preppie argyle sweater. I wanted to get him a pink one but Ems insisted that pink was just too girlie for such a macho guy like Mokey.
Here Mokey models the latest in spring fashions for the collegiate young feline.

Actually, the preppy look doesn't suit Mokey. He's much more of a biker dude. I guess the next outfit will feature leather and chains!

Hat Quandry

So I've been dying to make the cloche hat pictured in my earlier post. The quandry for me is finding just the right yarn. You know how it is when you get a preconceived notion of what you want then you simply just can't find the yarn that you've pictured in your mind anywhere on the face of the earth. I had pictured a neutral tweed in a caramel brown with a lighter shade of tweed for the brim. I know. Those of you who know me are thinking, "hmm, that's pretty subdued for Vicki." Well, that is true, but I was thinking Classic 1920's Cloche--not funky modern cloche. I went to All About Yarns and couldn't find anything that fulfilled my expectations so I decided on something totally different--Cascade 220 in Teal and the coordinating Cascade 220 Quattro for the brim. I like the yarns, but I'm not thrilled. I think they will look neat felted, I'm just not sure that they turn me on for this particular project!

So I went into Michael's this afternoon and found some Patons Merino Classic that I think I like better for this hat. It is actually a color combination that I am more likely to wear.


I received my patterns that I ordered from Kpixie . I got Rusted Root , Marigold , both by Zephyr Style and the Sahara sweater by Stitch Diva Studios .

My other yarn news is that I found a new online source called Fabulous Yarn . They have some of my favorite brands like Artyarns and Blue Sky Alpacas which All About Yarns doesn't happen to carry. They discount 20% when you hit $50! I ordered some Blue Sky Alpaca Silk to do the Clementine Wrap in the newest IK. I can't wait to caress it when it comes!


Today was a half day for the kids at school so I got to act like a grownup and go out to lunch! What a treat! Another treat was that Trader Joes just got their flower shipment in. I love to have fresh flowers in the house so I picked up 3 bunches of tulips for my big vase!
I always think about that scene in "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan tells Tom Hanks that daisies are the happiest flower. For me it's daffodils then tulips are a close second!

Kitty items--I caught Harley doing the "cow" as we call it. I've never seen a cat sleep like this. He tucks his front paws under and sticks his elbows out while stretching his neck out and putting his face flat on the floor!

Mikey is hanging with me on the couch while I write this!

Snow Day, Take 2!

So today has been a beautiful snowy day which comes as a bit of a surprise. The weather people were calling for maybe an inch of snow wih freezing rain. When I woke up there was nothing, but around 9:00 a.m. the snow started and continued until around 4:00. It was the kind with the big, wet pretty flakes that is a bitch to shovel!


That's the view from the front porch. It looks like we got about 4 or 5 inches.

I used the day to pamper myself a bit. Yesterday, Ems came over and we went to Davidson Beauty Supply. It's certainly an advantage having a kid who is in beauty school! We got some Paul Mitchell Shines which are transparent demi colors. I mixed two of them and used that today. It turned out great in that it imparts incredible shine with deposit only color. I try to match mine to refresh it between visits to the salon. I was happy with the result.

The other treat yesterday was the trip to Borders. I had my 30% off one item Borders Rewards coupon that I was itching to use. I was hoping to find the new book Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel. She had designed a Top Down Cable sweater in the Spring issue of Interweave Knits which I fell in love with. I like the idea of the top down, no side seams knitting! Anyway they didn't have the book on the shelf at Borders. As I was browsing through the knitting books, along comes Denise from the knitting group, carrying a copy of the book! She had special ordered it and told me that they got in 2 of them. So I was able to go to the check out and pick up the other copy! What are friends for! This book has loads of designs that I really like. Here are the "must haves:"

The last one I like, but I would like longer, possibly belled sleeves on it. The back is really nice in that it is very form fitted with the eyelet design going down both sides of the back where the shaping is.

The other book I bought was one called Felt It by Maggie Pace. This book has some funky designs that I really like. I fell in love with the cloche shown below:

I would love to find 2 totally contrasting colors to do that in. I'll know them when I see them! The other design that intrigued me was the Flower Pedal Scarf.

There were several designs with this same type of construction--a flower choker and a star wrap. They are done in alpaca. I really like the design.

WoW! Another plus for this snowy day is the fact that Gone With the Wind is on Turner Classic Movies! There's 4 hours gone!

Mikey has the right idea for the afternoon!

I'm almost finished the first Pop Up Paw glove! I will post a photo when it's done! I wonder if school will be affected by the snow! I doubt they'll let us know until the morning!

The week from hell!

I haven't blogged all week because I have been a zombie! It's always a major adjustment after being off --getting up before dawn. I don't care what people say. Some of us will just never get used to that. My ideal job would allow me to go to bed at 3 a.m. and sleep until 10 or 11 a.m. which is basically what I did on all those snow days! I am counting the minutes until I get out of school today. The kids have been stir crazy and the adults have been exhausted this week, so I think all of us are anxious to hit the parking lot this afternoon! I, for one, will be going to happy hour at the Rams Head which is something I haven't done in too long of a time! They have the best Reisling there. I have to remember to ask them what brand it is!

And now--from the "you know you're getting old when" column--I was thrilled to get a cortisone shot in the base of my left thumb on Tuesday. Isn't it sad that I would look forward to something like that? I don't think all the knitting has helped, but the shot is finally taking affect and the hand feels much better!

Wednesday there was a reception at MSTA headquarters in Annapolis for the new NBCT's which was very nice! What a great location for an office--right on Main Street, across from the Ben and Jerry's! I would weigh a ton if I worked there!

It will be nice to sleep in tomorrow. I've spent the last few Saturday mornings taking Mikey to get his glucose checked. Unfortunately the vet is only open until 1 on Saturday and the test must be done 6 - 8 hours after he gets his insulin shot. So I found myself getting up at 6 a.m., feeding him, injecting him and going back to bed. Bummer! I get to skip this week even though his glucose was over 400 this past weekend. Hopefully, it will come down with the increased dose of insulin twice a day!

The pop up paws are progressing nicely. There's a long ribbed cuff and I'm actually on the hand part of the first one. I haven't done much with it but hope to get at least the first one done this weekend!

My last day of freedom!

This is my last day of freedom as can be evidenced by the fact that it is almost 1 p.m. and I am still in my pj's. One nice thing about being off is that I've been able to spend some quality time with Peanut, alias Deke. He's 17 years old and in failing health. Given his symptoms of extreme weight loss, drinking a lot of water and peeing excessively and everywhere; he either is diabetic or has renal disease. I will probably take him for a diagnosis, but I won't put him through any extensive treatment. He won't take pills and reacts almost violently if he has to stay over at the vet. He's just too old to go through that. He's so skinny and it's hard to believe that he was once actually on weight reduction cat food! He's been cuddling next to me on the couch when I sit to knit. It's difficult to pet him because his spine feels like a stegosaurus due to his arthritis. He's in a good mood and gets playful sometimes. It makes me sad to see him in failing health.

I was excited to see snow yesterday afternoon, but it turned out to be just flurries. The cold wind remains and the twins, Samantha and Harley, have been competing for space by the portable radiator.

One of them ends up sleeping there all night.

I started the Pop Up Paws. This project is reaffirming my realization of being a yarn snob. I am making them in Plymouth Suri Merino yarn and it feels to incredibly good! It makes it hard to put them down which means I should finish them quickly! A sweater out of this stuff would be an absolute dream! I'll post a photo when what is on the needles actually looks like somthing! Right now it is just 10 rows of ribbing!

The mystery is solved!

Dorothy and I took an entrelac class today and I must admit to being totally surprised as to how easy the technique is. It is basically nothing more than a lot of short rows! WoW! Who knew?! That wasn't the only thing I learned, however. I learned that I was a much bigger yarn snob than I thought. We were told to bring scrap yarn so I stuck a couple of colors of Cascade 220 in my bag. When we got to class, we were each handed a ball of yarn and told that we would pass them around for each row of squares. The first ball I got was beyond awful! It reminded me of that craft rug yarn we would use for weaving in girl scout camp. It was nasty stuff! The next ball was some acrylic worsted which was a little better, but not much. For the third row I just pulled my own stuff out of my bag and it felt 100% better! It really doesn't matter since it's just a sample, but the cheap stuff just didn't feel good in my hands. I've been told that I'm way too anal about my tools and materials, but nice stuff feels--well--nice! If I'm going to spend hours with this stuff in my hands, why wouldn't I want it to feel nice!

Here is my sample. The different colors really help you to see where you are. Now I have to see how I do with a self striping yarn and garter stitch entrelac. I have some Noro Silk Gardent to do a scarf.

I got out of Lovely Yarns with a minimum amount of money spent. I almost bought some Crystal Palace Popcorn yarn but I didn't like the color selection. I found a wider selection of colors online, but I don't think I'll buy it until I know I'll really use it. As I was getting ready to leave the store, I saw a gorgeous little scarf on display which was made out of a new Bamboo tape which was very nice! It looks like Rayon in that it has an incredible sheen with some higher shine spots which give it almost a metallic gleam. The scarf pattern is a simple lace which I thought would be nice for spring and summer which is why I picked out a light beigy color.


Before we went to the class, we stopped at Cloverhill where I found some nice green sock yarn for the Fiber Trends Leaf Lace Sock Pattern that I have. That pattern needs a solid color to show off the lace pattern and I have been looking for a green. They had Louet Gems 100% merino sock yarn which is gloriously soft! I also broke down and bought the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook.


It is going to be a major adjustment going back to school on Tuesday after almost a full week off. Talk about being spoiled! Tomorrow is my last day of freedom! I think I will go start David's Pop Up Paws this evening. I'm leaving off the flap and just making the fingerless gloves for him to wear when he plays his fife. He wants the style to be as historically correct as possible. I didn't tell him that I'm using a merino alpaca blend yarn. Granted it's all natural fiber, but in Colonial times they probably used some scratchy old wool which I refuse to do. It's bad enough having the little woman sitting at home knitting these things. That's already taking the authenticity to the extreme!

SP10 Questionaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I LOVE merino, alpaca and silk. I also like the cotton blends that have come out recently like Classic Elite Premier and Berroco Touche. Needless to say that I also love Cashmere. I absolutely do not like acrylic. I tend to stick to natural fibers and rayon. I love hand dyed yarns.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have a shaker box that says "knitting needles" on it that I bought at a home goods store. I keep meaning to make a nice fabric case for my better wood needles and I bought the fabric to do so. I keep my double points in a round stand-up wine bottle gift box! I need something for my circulars which remain in their original packages crammed in the box with the straights!

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting since I was 10 years old which is over 30 years! I would consider myself to be advanced.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I have an Amazon wish list! You can find the link on my sidebar!

5. What's your favorite scent?
That's a tough question! I like natural scents as I find artificial ones to be overwhelming! I like the smell of cinnamon or hot apple cider. I also love the smell of fresh roses!

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Do I ever! My main vice is dark chocolate. Milk chocolate is too sweet, but I LOVE dark chocolate and eat it frequently! I love dried blueberries and other dried fruit. And I love cinnamon hard candies!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I do a lot of sewing, beading and metalwork. I played around with paper crafts, bookmaking and pottery. I like to do surface design on fabric and play with fabric dyes. I would like to start dying my own yarn. I don't spin.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I have very eclectic taste. I was a music major in college so I am well-versed in the classics. I like female singers of all types and some of the standard jazz singers like Tony Bennett and Mel Torme. I like to try new artists and recently have discovered John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae, Madelaine Peroux, Sarah Barielles and others. I listen to the Dixie Chicks, some classic punk like the Clash, Queen, Bon Jovi, Classic Motown. About the only thing I don't listen to is rap. I can play mp3's on my computer.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I love earthy tones that are on the bright side--orange tones, rust, olive and yellowish greens, teal, turquoise, browns, darker purples. I don't do pink unless it is in an earthy variagated yarn--never a solid pink! It's just not me!

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I am married with a daughter who is in beauty school and a son who is a music major in college. I have 5 cats and a turtle! The 6th cat went to live with my daughter!

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wear scarves, ponchos and wraps of all types. I love shrugs. I ocassionally wear hats and I don't wear mittens but love gloves and fingerless gloves.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Items that are quick! I lose interest sometimes and tend to put extensive projects aside for long periods of time. I love knitting hats and scarves. I also like knitting sweaters in the round since I don't have to sew any seams!

13. What are you knitting right now?
I am currently knitting the pop-up paws pattern for my husband, Lucy Neatby Sea Lettuce Scarf for myself, a bulky alpaca sweater from the Vogue Knitting Winter 05-06 issue, and a Colinette Point 5 oversized sweater. The sweaters have been put aside to complete numerous scarves, hats and mitts for gifts.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Absolutely! I LOVE handmade gifts!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Lately I've become fond of short needles so I find circulars the most comfortable to knit with. I prefer Addi Turbo circulars, slick wood straight needles--Lantern Moon ebony is my favorite, and slick plastic. I love the Pony Pearl needles since they are slick and don't have the drag that wood has. I dislike aluminum needles.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes to both!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
I have a sweater that I've been picking up and putting down for the last 4 years! I have an older one that has been knit but not stitched together. I have to make myself do that!

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas, without a doubt!

19. Is there anything that you collect?
I love antique sewing and needlework tools. Scotty dogs and cats, unusual buttons and handmade or specialty cookie cutters. I also collect handmade snowmen.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I subscribe to Interweave Knits. I would love to get my hands on some Artyarns Silk Rhapsody. I saw it for the first time last week and fell in love with it! I love any handdyed merino or silk blends. I would love some undyed merino, alpaca or silk yarn to dye. That's something I want to begin dabbling in. There are quite a few books that I long to own. I have placed them on my Amazon wish list.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Entrelac. I'm taking a class for that, however. I would love to learn Magic Loop knitting. Everyone that does it seems to really like it!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I haven't knit socks yet, but plan to do so in the very near future. I have an average size foot. I wear a size 7 - 7 1/2 shoe.

23. When is your birthday?
April 8.

Cold Spell

Well it seems that the extreme cold spell may be coming to an end. It's been horrifically cold!

I found Harley nestled between the portable radiator and the baseboard heat! He ended up sleeping there 2 nights in a row!

I finally finished Maddy's mitts! I've decided that the Frog Tree Merino was worth the trouble. Of the three pairs of Fetching mitts that I've made, these are by far the softest and the most comfortable. They will probably be the warmest as well. I forgot to bind off using smaller needles, but the picot edge turned out just right!


I do hope Maddy will like them! I wrapped them up with some gummy bears for her Valentine gift and put it with Bird's gift--the Greek hat and gummy bears--on the bed so they'll see them when they get in from College Park. This is assuming, of course, that they are seeing straight after being in College Park. Things tend to get a little crazy over there!

Greg was waiting on the bed all evening for me! He is the only cat I know that, as the saying goes, "sleeps like a dog!" He doesn't wake up! He sleeps like a teenager!

I'm excited to be taking an entrelac class tomorrow! I hope I'll like it! I hear people either love doing it or they hate it, so we will see! I'm also excited to participate in Secret Pal 10 so I'll have to get my questionaire up tomorrow as well! Time for some shut-eye!

I love surprises!

Who doesn't love surprises! I was thrilled when my package of yarn from Ewe-Phoria Yarns came today. This is an Ebay store. Leslie hand dyes much of the yarn and she showed this skein which I fell in love with. It is 50/50 merino and silk--much like Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb only with a twist! She dyed 2 skeins in this particular colorway upon my request. They are huge skeins--over a half pound each!

I bought this yarn for the Clapotis pattern on the Knitty website.

My other treat came when I was leaving All About Yarns. I had stopped in to get a skein of Cascade 220 to contribute to my friend Dorothy who is knitting a prayer shawl for a colleague of ours at work who has cancer. As I was leaving the store, I saw that they had the spring issue of Interweave Knits which I thought didn't come out until Feb. 20. I had seen three projects from the website in that issue that I have to make: the Ribs and Lace Tank , the Clementine Shawlette , and the Cable Down Raglan . Of course we all need more projects that we will never have time to finish, but I am getting much better. I've decided that the Sea Lettuce Scarf will be a long term thing since I see very little progress on it with each session! The bulky alpaca sweater will be my next priority. Actually I have to make the Pop Up Paws for David first. I've been carrying that Suri Merino yarn around in my bag for way too long!

Maddy's mitts are almost done--just have to pick up the stitches for the thumbs! While I didn't like knitting with the Frog Tree Merino, the end result is wonderful! Of the 3 pairs of Fetching mitts I've made, these are by far the softest! I'll be curious to see how well this stuff wears! That's it! I hear Bird and Maddy in the driveway! Gotta Go!

The Final Frontier!

Snow days are wonderful things for catching up on those things that have been put off for indefinite amounts of time. Two tasks in the Knitting Universe fit this category: Blocking and Seaming! Blocking is easy--particularly since I have a large padded blocking board and a heavy duty steam iron with a separate water reservoir. I have a basket of stuff that needs to get done! I pulled out the Oat Couture Shawl that I knit last summer. This shawl was the first lace knitting I've done. I like this design because it is asymmetrical. It is a pleasure to knit because it is done on circular needles. The knitting begins at the neck edge with increases before and after the many stitch markers. I actually sought out the yarn specified in the pattern which is Classic Elite Premier, a 50/50 blend of cotton and tencel. It has the most delicious feel and is a lovely shade of lime green which just doesn't show in the photos. I couldn't find it locally, so I called a couple of Boston yarn shops since I was to leave for New England within the week. I found it at Woolrich & Co. on Harvard Square in Cambridge. That is one fabulous shop-tightly packed with loads of luxury fibers!


Here it is with the lovely Gita Maria bone shawl stick I bought at Cloverhill a few weeks ago.

The bummer is that I bought a fabulous pin specifically for this shawl at All About Yarns last summer. It had a silver wavy stick with an unusual freeform fimo bead in purple and this same shade of green. I remember putting it in the sewing room and it obviously got misplaced when I reorganized that room a few months ago.

I finally fixed the neckline of my Colinette Point Five sweater. I knit this one a couple of years ago but got frustrated when it wouldn't fit over my head! The photos of the sweater in the booklet show a wider neckline. With this sweater, you seam one shoulder then pick up a specified amount of stitches arount the neck, knit one row, then bind off. I had to rip that out and bind off on larger needles. It is still a tight squeeze getting it over my head but it looks okay. It is blocked and waiting to get stitched together. I dread that. I'm not sure whether I should stitch it in the Point 5 which is very thick, or find a coordinating worsted weight yarn to stitch it with. If I do the mattress stitch properly then the stitches won't show so worsted weight wouldn't add more thickness to the seam. That is probably the way to go.

That will be my finishing project for this weekend. I bought a nice black silk Trina Turk top with a slim fitting body and full poet type sleeves which will look great under this sweater. I like the look of the long, full silk sleeves under the shorter sweater sleeves.

Another project needing construction--my Deborah Newton Hooded Chenille topper. This was in an old issue of Threads--1991! It was one of those projects that I worked on intermittently for several years--mostly when I was at the beach or at the pool with the kids! Anyway the article in the magazine was about designing knit garments with hoods. This is knit in a thick chenille and the reverse stockinette stitch is on the outside.

The other quandry with this sweater is the button. It has one big button and finding the right one has been challenging. I'm really anal when it comes to buttons. Nothing screams "homemade" as opposed to "hand crafted" more than the wrong choice of buttons! I've been know to spend more on buttons for a garment than the fabric when sewing and the same applies to knit garments. I haven't found anything I liked in the stores so I decided to experiment with Fimo since I have such a stash of it.

I should've put a ruler in the photo to show the size of the buttoms that I made. The largest one is about 2 inches in diameter. I played with the brown Fimo and foil bits first (the ones on the left) but they didn't turn me on so I refered to instructions for creating faux stone and mixed the brown and transluscent Fimo with fine glitter. I like that look much better and I'm leaning toward using the button on the top right. I like the irregular shape of that one and the scale seems right when placing it on the sweater front.

Maddy's mitts were started last night. I am having a love-hate relationship with this Frog Tree Merino Worsted weight yarn. It has a lovely feel--incredibly soft and cushiony. It doesn't have a twist though. It is almost like roving. Since these mitts are knit on a size 6 needle to create a denser fabric, the yarn flattens and spreads on the needles and it is hard to see the individual wraps. It also pulled apart when I pulled on it to tighten up the first stitch on one of the needles--something I always do to avoid the dreaded ladder which often appears on items knit on dp's. I think it would be a dream to knit on larger needles. I bought two skeins and I think it will only take one so I have to decide whether or not to keep the extra one for a hat or to return it. You can see the structure of the yarn in the tail in the photo below.

I guess it will be back to the old grind tomorrow. I'm going to assume that school will be open. Time to get back to Maddy's mitts so I have them done when they come home tomorrow!

It's all Greek to me!

Well I finished the Greek hat and it turned out better than I expected! First of all, the challenge was what to do with all those gold yarn tails. I wove them into the hat but found that they showed through on the right side when the hat stretched so I pulled them out. I decided to knot them. I knotted two together, then took one and knotted it to the next one and so on until I got to the last one. It created a row of what looked like a vertical garter stitch or something. Typically I wouldn't do this inside a hat because I'd be afraid that the wearer would be able to feel it, but Bird has such thick hair that he would never notice! It may not be the "right" way to handle this situation, but it turned out okay.

And here's the finished product!

Harley is definitely confused! I've never known a cat to willingly go into a carrier, but he loves sleeping in the new one that I bought for Mikey. When he's not in there, then Sammy is. I guess that will change if they ever take a trip to the vet in it!

I have started Maddy's Fetching Mitts using the Frog Tree Merino that I bought last weekend. It is interesting yarn. It is one ply and loose--almost like roving. I'm used to using yarn with more of a twist. This is really soft stuff though. I think they will turn out very comfortable in this yarn!

Fair Isle Faux Pas

So I started Bird's hat which looks really good from the outside. It's the inside that is the problem. I didn't think about the implications of doing a fair isle design on just a section of the hat. I carried the gold yarn in back but when I get to the end of the Greek letters, I can't carry the yarn around the hat! I ended up cutting it and leaving a tail to weave in later. That means that I will have a tail of gold yarn at the beginning and end of each of the 15 rows of the design! I wonder if there was a better way to do this! Maybe I could have wound 3 bobbins of yarn and used one for each letter, letting the bobbin hang. Then I would just have to cross the gold yarn over the 10 or so stitches back to the beginning of the letter for the next row. Does that make sense? I'll just have to see how the inside looks when the tails are all woven in!

And here is what the right side looks like so far!

I'll post a photo of the finished hat tonight!

Kitty Fashion Show Spring '07

Many of you have seen the photo of Cosmo (alias Mokey) in the hoody that Ems knit for him. Well, in honor of fashion week, Ems decided that Mokey should grace the runway and exhibit some haute couture for felines. Funny, I never thought of him as the model type, but here goes!

Here we have Mokey in a spring hoody suitable for the park, the litter box or a trip to the vet!

Next we have the essential polo shirt for prowling by moonlight when the ladies are in heat!

Finally, A lovely end to an afternoon on the slopes, this stylish ski vest is perfect for lounging by the fire while dining on the newest variety of Fancy Feast!

Needless to say, the other cats aren't the least bit jealous!

Snowy snafu!

So of course the meteorologists are saying that "this" storm is tricky to call. I guess that's just one way to cover one's posterior! We went to school on time but we were dismissed 2 1/2 hours early. Before going on dismissal duty, I received a lovely delivery of flowers from my sweetie as an early Valentine's Day treat! I figured I'd repay him by getting half the driveway shovelled. Granted, there was only a couple inches of snow, but I figured I would clear it and treat it with ice melting pellets.

When I went upstairs to get my slippers on I noticed a strange lump in the bed.

Upon further investigation, I found Greg hiding from the world!

This has been a strange time for the cats! Sammy has a new love. I brought home this huge metal cup type trophy and she has spent hours staring at the cat in the reflection. Ocassionally I will see her reach up and pat at the kitty in the cup!

So here it is almost 4:00 and I'm sitting in my Uggs with Mikey by my side getting ready to watch Oprah! This is indeed a rare treat! I am hoping for no school tomorrow. I have to catch up on the Valentine knitting projects mentioned in my last post! I'm getting ready to start Bird's hat since I pooped out last night after 24! I've got the beans soaking for Pasta e Fagiole (Pasta and Bean soup) which is my usual snowday ritual. If school is cancelled then I'll make the Pepper Parmesan Baguettes to go along with it. I hope they make a decision tonight! That would be the icing on the cake to just sleep in! Right now it's time to fire up the old espresso machine!