Ladybugs & Yarn

My AY Secret Spring Santa parcel found its way to my doorstep yesterday!. It took two full months to get here, further proving that the mail service in this area sucks like a very sucky thing, but the goodies were absitively posolutely worth waiting for. I squealed.

Lookie, there’s Twilley’s Freedom Spirit in lovely autumnal colours. And a hat knit in a different colourway of Freedom Spirit, which is currently on my head–it fits perfectly. And a “Hogs & Kisses from Scotland” postcard (hee!). And LL Shepherd Sport in prettypretty Desert Flower. And a v. cute sock pattern. And a tin of Lip & Hooter Balm (ha). And and and and and HipKnits laceweight silk (which has been on my knitting wishlist for a million years!) in delicious bright pinks.

I am thrilled. <3 Cairi, you are awesome.

The half-hexagon spider’s web shawl from Victorian Lace Today will be gorgeous in that silk. I must behave, though, and not cast on for it immediately even though I’d love to. I’ll start it in a couple of weeks, once I’ve at least finished the back of my pink cardigan.

I have a few more photos to show.

This loveliness arrived this morning from Buttermilk Creek on Etsy. It’s a memory wire wrap bracelet made from polished amethyst chips and glass beads, and she sent this little bonus as well:

They match the bracelet, and I do love drop earrings.

I think you people might have to keep me away from Posh Yarns on Sundays. I’m never there for the start of the sale so I always miss the lace, but I did get these two squishy skeins of Emily for a Sea & Shells stole.

Cold meds fried my brain last night so I resorted to knitting washcloths. On the third one, however:

At least now I know what size to make if I want to squeeze out one per ball. I could have used another colour to finish it off, but my cotton stash was running low and I need a few new washcloths anyhow, so I picked up not only another ball of the colourway I needed, but several more as well:

It was on sale.

Time to crawl back into my nest of pillows, I think.

Two days ago, it was below zero with a damp wind, and the gardens were a mess of raked earth, dried leaves, and twigs. Today, it was 20C with clear skies, and in the middle of the lattice garden were these:

When I lived in Nova Scotia and it came close to this time of year, I used to forgo the direct route to the main street in favour of the long way around, which took me down a curving road with hundreds and hundreds of crocuses blooming in front yards and gardens between lots. Not just purple, either, but yellow and white as well. Halfway along the road, there was a forested park with a small lake and dirt paths around the water–I wish that I’d had a good camera at the time, because we used to walk there late at night when the mist was hovering on the surface of the water. At the end, where the road intersected with the main street, there was a town park with a stone-walled pond and huge old oak trees; it was nice in spring, but admittedly best in fall when the leaves turned red and gold.

It’s the kind of place I can see myself moving (back) to, when I’m more settled.

Pirate got a rare treat today.

He’s an indoor cat, but I let him come out to the backyard today with me, and he was so fascinated by everything that he talked nonstop the whole time. I followed along behind him–not that he would have strayed far, but he’s the baby of the furry family–and took a few photos, but I’d forgotten to put my polarising lens on the camera and the sun was too bright for good results.

Time to forum-surf for a bit while my hair dye sets, then some knitting before I crash into bed.

I’ve been in a rather LiveJournal mode of online journalling lately–posting on-the-fly and often, with several short entries rather than one long summary ramble. It has some sort of connection to the books I have on the go, because the more I read, the more I’m write, and if I can’t be working on fiction for whatever reason then I’m journalling, instead. At least here in blogland there’s no f-list for me to feel guilty about cluttering up, right?

Anyhow.

It’s Pirate’s first birthday today. I like having an exact birthdate for him, rather than just an approximate like with the rest of the kitties. I looked at photos of him today, ones I took when he was a small, fuzzy, bright-blue-eyed kitten… he’s still very small as cats go, but he’s grown a ton, of course.

He hasn’t grown out of wanting to sleep in my bed, preferably curled up on/beside me, and I hope he never does. I like it. And yes, I’m almost as bad with my cats as some people are with their kids–these four-legged furballs are my children.

Anyhow!

The postman has been kind to me this week.

A bag of lovely pink JoJoland wool for this cardigan, and a skein of Posh Yarn’s Emily for Shedir.

This month’s KP print catalogue is lace-themed. Mmm. As well, I have a skein of Cherry Tree Hill’s new Supersock DK in Java, and two skeins of Artyarns Supermerino in Neapolitan ice cream colours. Well, one skein of Supermerino left, because I’ve already knit the first of a pair of lovely squishy bed socks.

The ribbed leg + top of foot makes them extra squishy, and worsted-weight yarn means they’re super-quick to knit, too.

… I may have placed an order with Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The order may have involved STR in Downpour, Lunasea, and Socktopus. I may already have more sock yarn than I can reasonably knit in the next several years, but I may also be unashamed and actually pleased about that.

And now I must sleep before my forehead hits the keyboard.

Well, earlier this evening, I washed some dishes, baked chocolate-chip cookies, made a casserole for supper, and did some errands for myself and others; so, for the past hour, with gale-force winds outside, I’ve been curled up amongst pillows and blankets with a sock WIP, various TV dramas, and a warm kitten.

The sock WIP in question is the first of a pair of Undulating Ribs from Favorite Socks. (It pains me to spell favourite like that, it really does.) It’s a nice variation on traditional ribbing and looks great with variegated yarn. I’m using some handpainted prettyness in camouflage shades from an Etsy store–I have a strong suspicion that the base fibre is KP Bare merino fingering, which suits me just fine as I’ve always liked it.

If I could figure out a way to knit and read at the same time, I’d do it, but I have nothing on which to rest my book. It has to be close to my eyes, as I’m rather blind, and anyhow, I look down at my knitting too often to make it feasible. I’ve been reading The Historian and am loving it, but I keep waiting until too late at night to crack it open and end up falling asleep after only a dozen pages or so.

When I was in junior high and high school, I used to read books almost exclusively in one sitting. I’d bring one home after school, start reading before supper, and keep reading all evening until I was finished the book, regardless of how long it took. I remember staying up until five in the morning a couple of times because I’d gotten two new novels and couldn’t wait to get through both of them in the same night; I also remember fighting to stay awake in class all day afterwards. I’m still a quick reader by any standard, but now I like to take a little more time and savour rather than devour.

Tonight I’m not going to wait until midnight, and the book is calling.

Once again, I leave you with a photo of cats.

I spent some time with a different set of needles last night: the ones on my sewing machine. I’ve had the pattern I used for this tote for quite some time, but I hadn’t paired it with fabric until I saw that pretty gold-accented oriental-print yesterday afternoon. Start to finish, it took less than a couple of hours–super-cute and super-fast, how’s that for a great combination?

It’s hard to see details in photos with dark fabric, but there are pleats on the front below the top band. It’s wider at the bottom than at the top and has some diagonal cuts on the low corners to fill out the bottom and give it less of a rectangular shape. The lining is red, and I think I might put a red ribbon between the handles to tie it shut–either that, or just some ordinary magnetic clasps, because I don’t like my bags to gap and expose their contents when I’m out in public.

I should sew more often. I’m far more disciplined with my fabric stash than with my yarn stash, mostly because I never know how much I’ll need for a given project and I don’t like to estimate.

It’s fabulous to generally be on the upswing again, but it means that if I crash, it’s further to fall. And crash I did, this week. Going back and forth from mostly-normal to basically non-fuctional several times over the course of a few days is unsettling, to say the least, but both fortunately and surprisingly there was actually a simple explanation. I find medical jargon strangely comforting, but I’ll skip it this time–basically, it turns out that in rare cases, Ativan (a fast-acting sedative that I have on hand as a just-in-case to take if I feel a panic attack starting, although it doesn’t work on the serious ones) can heighten the symptoms it’s supposed to relieve (kinda like how the wrong depression med can make depression worse). I’ve used it before, months ago, with no problems, but the meds I’m on now are more complex and work on two chemicals in the brain rather than just one, therefore, the changes they’ve made have probably rendered Ativan rather incompatible with my noodle.

Yep.

Enough about that. Turn your attention, instead, to these lovely entwined furry feets:

Aww. <3

I bought the cats a tent last week to deter them from sleeping in the merino. It looks just like a regular pup tent, with poles and all, but the ‘floor’ is fluffy fake sheepskin–the cats love it so much that a) they’ve abandoned the wool, and b) I’ve even almost had the bed to myself a couple of nights! Granted, all five of them don’t fit, but all three boys can cram in there if they really try, and this means all I have are two little girls on the foot of my bed.

There’s a pet fountain just outside my door, and yet the furries still insist on drinking the water out of my bowl of floating candles. And my little zen fountain. They also like to suck on any knitting I place in a bowl of water to soak before blocking. Shadow eats snow, Stevie likes the condensation on the side of the bathtub… weirdos.

Hmm. Mental problems, cats, and yarn. I’m going to be a hell of a stereotype in thirty years, aren’t I?

Pattern: Monica from Knitty
Yarn: KnitPicks Shine Worsted in Reef and Sea Spray
Needles: 4.5mm circs

This was such an incredibly quick knit, even more so since I adapted the pattern for working in the round rather than knitting flat and seaming. The yarn’s butter-soft with a lovely sheen, and a pleasure to knit, especially on KP’s own needles. Next time (and there will be a next time, because it’s an adorable pattern) I think I’ll sub a seed-stitch border for the one in the pattern, as three rows of garter stitch didn’t seem to be enough to keep the ruffle from rolling.

It’s a gift for a long-distance friend’s three-year-old daughter. And if I had the motivation, I’d so make an adult version of the pattern with a lace panel down the front.

In other craft-related news, I pounced on one of these gorgeous skeins of lambswool/cashmere/angora in Posh Yarn’s latest sale and I can’t wait to have it in my hands. I also snagged an adorable little pincushion on Etsy.

I was going to waffle on a bit about some RL nonsense, but I think I’ll save it for tomorrow. Sleep now.

Pattern: Scarf is Mistake Rib worked over 17 stitches; hat is 60 sts in the round with a three-needle bindoff to finish
Yarn: Patons Astra in Candies
Needles: 4.5mm, I think

I barely squeaked this pair of stashbusters out of one ball of Astra–I’d like to have put bigger tassels on the hat, but I ran out of yarn. These are going into a box I’ve been filling for an acquaintance on the AY forums who knits for Romanian orphans. I’m sending her a bunch of yarn oddments and odd balls, but I also figured I could knit a few little things and include them as well.

(Also, yeah, the blog is extremely pink right now–spring’s creeping forward so the snow theme had to go.)

Birthday booty!

KnitPicks Options? Oh yes.

Fake bling, which is the best kind.

More prettyness, and you can totally see the reflection of my camera in the green stones.

A new Sims 2 stuff pack, and one of my current favourite TV shows on DVD.

And the red purse hunt comes to a successful end.

This is the Fleece Arist Celtic Vest kit (with Scotian Silk yarn, mmm) I’ve been ogling at my LYS for a couple of months.

More Fleece Artist, this time in the form of merino sock yarn in beautiful colours.

A lovely, totally unexpected gift from the LYS. It’s done in pewter, by Perl Grey for Fleece Artist.

I’ve heard great things about this book. I actually bought it myself with the gift card one of the bakers at work gave me.

All in all, I’m feeling remarkably spoiled by my gifts. And I still have cake in the freezer.

Must share a few more photos before I go…

This is what I came home to yesterday afternoon. My boys. <3

I have no idea why Shadow is licking snow. Also, yeah, snow. It’s April, and we had a storm yesterday, with another one predicted for tomorrow.

My name was on the radio yesterday morning. The morning show host announced that it was my birthday, and told all to go on up to the coffeeshop, as I’d be giving away free coffee all day. Ha. I found out that afternoon that it had been my manager who’d called the station and requested that. The baker put a lit candle in a donut for me, too. Nutcases, all of them. They let me leave an hour early, too, since my family had dinner reservations and it gave me time to get ready.

We went to a lovely new-to-me restaurant, one with cut flowers & oil lamps on the tables and a fireplace in the corner. The food was delicious, too–I had chicken fettucine alfredo with caesar salad and garlic bread. Mmm. I spent most of the evening snuggled into bed with knitting, ice cream cake, my shiny new Criminal Minds DVDs, and a bunch of cats.

Tomorrow, I shall photospam with gifts.