random threads

This week, I’ve been concentrating my knitting efforts on getting socks to the right stages so I can demonstrate turning the heel and binding off for my Toe Up, Two-at-a-Time class at Baskets of Yarn on October 4th and 18th. So, I have my Roman Rib socks all the way to the 1 inch of plain ribbing at the top, ready to be bound off. I do like this stitch pattern quite well. Easy to do and very cushy!

My Chain Rib socks in hot Regia Crazy Colors are now ready for the heel–the foot gusset is done. This stitch pattern is a bit different: every 4th row you knit in the stitch 3 rows below and drop all the subsequent stitches. It condenses the fabric, such that the sole of the foot is now longer than the top of the foot, even tho’ they have the same number of rows. I think it will fit and wear fine, tho’.
Next, I have been knitting a bit more on my dyed sock blank socks, which I am calling my Rainbow Socks.  This stitch pattern is an alternating 1×1 rib, which I don’t like as well as the Roman Rib. No cush-factor, and the 1×1 rib doesn’t pull in/stretch out very much in width. The colors are pretty and it is interesting to see how the flat color design is represented when knit circularly. First at the toe, there were a lot of green and purple stripes, and now it is mostly orange/yellow with a stripe of purple here or there. Next color section should transition into mostly blues and greens.

Lastly, I have started blocking the Two Musketeers sweater (Athos/Aramis by Norah Gaughan). I always get to this point in garment construction where I need an extra push to complete the garment because I am afraid my work will all be wasted due to poor fit. We’ll see. After soaking and spreading out to block it, the sweater front seems shorter in length and not quite as wide as I thought it would be. I did compare the width to a tank that fits me and the size looks good there, but I do believe I will regret not adding more length. Of course, if the linen/rayon yarn (Berroco Linen Jeans) droops the way cotton does, it may ‘grow’ in wearing to the length I want. Cleo is watching the blocking carefully for any unexpected movements. Smart girl, she knows not to sit on the knitting when it is damp! I removed the temptation from her today while it finishes drying while I am at work and she is unsupervised…

In an effect to recover from the Ravelympics and my megathon of many projects, I have started some quick baby gift items to have on hand.  Two items were finished so far this week, and I found two somewhat-willing models to show off the completed garments:

Petal Bib from Leigh Radford’s One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit or Crochet.  Knit in Filatura di Crosa’s Zarella Baby, which while 48% acrylic and 52% wool, felt very ‘plasticky.’ I wouldn’t knit with it again. Miss Emma is demonstrating the usual bib position.  She’s willing to pose in this position in hopes of getting something to eat.  Don’t worry, she doesn’t go hungry around here.

Second item is based on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s work, but is from Maria Grace’s I am, Therefore I Knit’s blog, and is called the Mitered Square Baby Bonnet. I ran out of the Zarella Baby yarn but finished off the crocheted ruffle using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK (much nicer feeling than the Zarella Baby–and still considered machine washable. ) This time, Miss Cleo is modeling, demonstrating her best Southern belle attitude.

I thought I’d kickoff Caturday posts with some photos of my calico, Cleo. She is the shy one, timid when strangers appear, but can be demanding in her own way. When she wants to play, she will drag her gold cord to me so I can fling it about for her to chase. When she is hungry, she’ll sit on the arm of the chair, and dig a sharp claw into me, just to ensure I have the proper attention to her needs.

She seems to be doing OK on the special diet food (Hill’s Prescription Diet d/d Duck flavor), but did have a bout of vomiting this past week, the first in several months. I have a appointment next week for her to get a checkup and bloodwork since she has been on Enalapril for her heart condition for over 6 months now.
This is her ‘red bed’ that sits on the back of the sofa. She sleeps in it a lot of the day, but usually joins me in bed at night, on the foot of the bed. There is quite a bit of cat fur accumulating in the bed that testifies to how much time she spends in it. Occasionally, the ‘red bed’ has slipped off the back of the sofa and dumped her out, poor girl. She just shakes it off and climbs back in after I set it up there again. The back of the sofa affords a view out the window (behind her in the photo) that she seems to enjoy.

Miss Cleo went back to the vet last week. At least she has not lost any more weight, but had not gained any in the three weeks since we’d been there. Holding steady at a lean 9 pounds. She was vomiting less (although has done so twice in the 10 days since), but is still not eating much. My vet suggested a sonogram of her intestines since they seem thicker than normal. That was done the next day, but the general conclusion is probably not cancer (yet) but irritable bowel syndrome, which can lead to cancer.

So we are continuing with the special hypo-allergenic food and monthly checkups for now, since her vomiting was less and no diarrhea. Of course, her tummy was shaved for the sonogram, and it revealed both black and pink skin! So soft and warm to snuggle!

I don’t know what the future will bring, but am committed to enjoy her and make her life pleasant while I have her with me…same approach I’ve using with Emma, and I’ve had her for 7 years after her initial diagnosis of polycythemia. It is the pain of loving pets that they don’t live as long as we do–I suppose if you had turtles or an elephant as pets, they would approach or surpass human longevity, but that’s not my idea of a companion pet.

I’ve been knitting a lot lately! More than blogging, obviously. I finished the Chevron scarf in a week’s time, and it is 78″ long! I blocked it on the guest bed, by pinning it out and spritzing it with water until wet, and then let it dry. Miss Cleo came to help. During the pinning, she kept trying to eat the glass headed pins, or at least, pull them out with her mouth, so I had to keep yanking the pins away from her. Bad kitty! Above photo is after the blocking when she was performing the final inspection.

As you can see the two ends of the scarf are different, and that bugs me a bit. I pondered if there was a way to make them the same, but concluded that would required a section with no chevrons in the middle, then knitting from the middle to end or else, grafting together two halves, and decided that I should just get over my desire for both ends to have the gentle scallops instead of one end scalloped and the other with pointy tips.

And the prettier (IMHO) scalloped end:

I really liked this pattern, and plan to do more. I’ve already picked out the next color combination…more Socks That Rock medium weight, Backstabber is the maroon/fuschia and Chapman Springs is the Blue/teal/multi color.

My calico cat, Cleo, has been sickly as of late. About a month ago I took her to the vet for an infected wound on her face (courtesy of her sister’s claws), and we discovered she had lost 1 and 3/4 pounds since last fall. That’s a lot for what was a 10 pound cat, now an 8.75 pound cat.

She was put on a special diet that she did NOT approve of until we tried the flavor of “Duck and Green Pea.” That is acceptable to the royal princess. She is still vomiting frequently tho’ (3 times in the past week). We made a return trip to the vet yesterday, and the good news is she has gained 1/4 pound in a month, now at 9 pounds fighting weight, and her blood pressure (measured by a cuff on the tail) was good. She has heart problems, so that is a concern.

Xrays and blood tests are somewhat inconclusive. The recommendation was to continue the special food–she may have ‘irritable bowel disease’, and add hairball treatments (Laxatone) and bring her back in 2-3 weeks for a recheck. It’s a change from taking Emma to vet–she’s doing OK and due to return in a month.

Photos are from the Cat Hospital in Wheatridge CO, seen on my recent vacation. The calico cat in front of the building was about 5 feet tall.

As often happens when I re-start blogging, I tinker with the site. I might be revamping the theme, but for today, I’ve added tags, using the WordPress plugin, Ultimate Tag Warrior. Pretty easy to install, and easy to get started, but it looks like it has quite a bit of flexiblity. It even has a neat function to suggest tags for your post! I think I’ll be using tags for specific project names (a la Pagode), and avoid growing the categories beyond reasonable size. I do have to go back and re-tag old posts.

I’m also still not real happy with my photo gallery, currently using the WPG2 Wordpress plugin for Gallery2. I’ve gotten an account on Flickr and am checking that out for easy integration into posting photos. So here’s a test of that:

Miss Cleo demonstrating how all the little white hairs have come to appear on Pagode. A long stretch after a short catnap, showing her signature ‘tar toe.’