on the mend

Many, many thanks to all of you who left such thoughtful comments on my last post. Knitters are the nicest people! I have good news to report: Kylie's labwork came back A-OK, and she seems much better. She's still sneezing, but no longer suffering from her earlier (best left undescribed) ailments. Our vet actually called us on Thanksgiving!

Here she is at one of her favorite tasks: squeezing herself into spaces that are perfectly Kylie-sized.Capricha was also quite pleased that we skipped our trip to MN and stayed home with the kitties instead. It was odd not to celebrate with our family, but thoughtful friends included us in their festivities at the last minute.
Much progress was made on my Leaf Lace Scarf. Knitting scarves with sock-weight yarns is a slow task. At least the chart is easy to read and memorize; I can watch a movie while working on it.
The color is hard to capture on film during these grey November days. Here's another shot:
Both of my Christmas cacti have buds this year, which pleases me to no end. Last year I ended up with St. Patrick's Day cacti.

Thanksgiving worries

Kylie cat has been under the weather lately, and I'm very anxious about leaving her at home while heading to Minneapolis for the Thanksgiving holiday. A friend will check in on her, but still...
Please send some positive thoughts my way tomorrow morning at 9:30 when I take her in to the vet.

The first Newfoundland Mitt is almost done. What's underneath the mitten has been occupying most of my time lately. That, and celebrating Paul's 30th birthday. :-)

knitting things that aren't blue

Every once in a while it happens...
Leaf Lace Scarf is a free pattern from Twisted Knitter. I'm using the "Oak Creek Canyon" colorway of The Plucky Knitter's merino fingering weight yarn. The lace pattern would show up better in a semisolid yarn, but I like the effect of a pile of autumn leaves.

Newfoundland Mitts in progress:
Both of these patterns are Ravelry discoveries, and they're easy and fun to knit.

In other news, I received a wonderful and generous parcel from Tricotine for the Knitter's Coffee Swap 3 yesterday. Details here. Thanks again, Tricotine! Mia sent me an amazing package of books and yarn this week, too. I'm still sorting through all the quilting books. Photos over the weekend, I promise.

Schoolwork, tea, and knitting.

That's the story of my life, my friends. Watching The Office on DVD, too.

Midwest Moonlight is off the needles and ready for a blocking! Great pattern, marvelous yarn...

Pattern: Midwest Moonlight, from Scarf Style
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere, "cashmere blue," 5 skeins
Needles: Clover US 5 bamboo straights

Making this scarf narrower would work quite well, and it would make for faster knitting. I enjoyed every minute of this project, though.

Some top-secret gift knitting:
Like tea? See what the Onion has to say about one tea drinker. Good ol' Onion... I wonder how well tea would go over if it were marketed like energy drinks and sold with an electric teakettle advertised by George Foreman (or Brett Favre... yummy). :-)

chugging along on the gift knits...

Midwest Moonlight is growing by leaps and bounds. It's an easy lace pattern, and the yarn (Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere) is oh-so-soft. I did manage to screw up a bit while working on it at knit night, but the problem was easily remedied. I thought I had already learned the lesson not to knit lace at knit night, no matter how simple it is, but apparently not.
Holiday knitting is underway...

Milan Jacket from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits for Babies and Moms.

I'm using Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora bought in a closeout sale at WEBS. The yarn's a bit splitty, especially with Knit Picks metal needles; it's not so bad with bamboo needles. It's nice and soft to the touch, but it's hard on the hands and wrists, and I've read a couple not-so-great reviews of it (including this one).

Moment of Zen:

Capricha in one of her less dignified poses

holiday crafting

By now most of you have probably heard of the fabulous project at Sew, Mama, Sew! Beth is posting links to great holiday crafting projects every day of November. I've been ever-so-impressed.

Here's an inspiration for holiday crafting that I'm currently entertaining:

Garnet Hill is selling this very cute handmade hats and mittens Advent calendar banner. Now I'm not much for Advent-themed decor, but I do like wintry hats and mittens. This would be very cute with, say, the initials of each family member/pet done in duplicate stitch. And it would be a great way to use up some scrap yarn. Or some of my many balls of pill-tastic Patons Classic Merino, which is great for knitting but craptastic when it comes to wearing.

I knit just one Korknisse last year; this time I'm aiming for many, many more. All using Patons Classic Merino, of course. :-)

The new Knitty surprises? FABULOUS!!!

Nothing makes me happier than a knitting project with a classical theme. Juno Regina, you will be mine. Oblique is quite nice, too.

A full knitting update will have to wait for later, as blogger ate my photos this morning. Bad blogger... no donut.