CCCCatsitting

It's been quite a week. I've been catsitting for our friends Jennifer & Jim who've been on vacation. Here you see mug shots of the little darlings I've been entrusted with. First is Nala. My buddy, sweet and affectionate. Also a bedbug, meaning when I come to feed and check on the kitties in the mornings, she is in bed and stays there, along with Mittens whom you'll meet in a moment.
Next we have Ginger. The Hostess. Nearly always at the door to greet me when I arrive and anxious to make sure that food and water bowls and litter boxes are tended to in due fashion. Always the first to check the litter box after it's been cleaned, no doubt to make sure it's up to her standards! A very sociable kitty who enjoys a good body rub.
Mittens is the character of this bunch. She truly believes that if she works on me long enough that I'll relent and open the door to let her OUTDOORS! She climbs on me, rubs against me, licks me, purrs, and miaows ever so plaintively in hopes of getting to go OUTDOORS. She is a sweet kitty, but the cabin fever is getting rough on her, poor thing!
And the matriarch, the ever-so-above-all-this-outdoor-nonsense Killian. I'll just stay curled up here and nap, if you don't mind. You may pet me and rub behind my ears if you wish. I'll purr gently, but don't expect any rash displays of affection. The sweet, little-old-lady kitty.

And there you have "The Girls," as I've come to think of them. I do enjoy cats, and these four are special treasures. Their Humans will be home tonight, so my duties will end and Mittens will get to go OUTDOORS at last, along with Nala & Ginger.

Green Yarn, Knitting & the Fourth

I finished spinning the rest of my dyed roving.As predicted, it was a lot greener than the first. Or maybe because it's got a lot less yellow and practically no brown. About 160 yards, just over 2 oz.

It's okay, but I'm not wild about it.

I have reached the point of over-saturation with lace knitting, or even knitting in general. I mess up everything I pick up! I finally got extremely pissed off at the whole mess and decided to have a knitting moratorium until this phase passes. I think I was on overload or something with trying to knit two lace projects at once plus the Jaywalkers and wanting to finish them all. So we'll let it rest for a few days.

We went to Busch Gardens for the Fourth. Took in a couple of shows and enjoyed the aviary where the lorikeets tried to steal John's sunglasses and my earring.

Later we rode the train around the park and ended up having dinner in Italy.

Canneloni! YUM!

We experienced a few showers, but had brought our rain gear (poncho for him & 'brolly for me). The skies grew continually more ominous, and we feared the fireworks show might be in jeapordy. We went to the Festhaus for the eight o'clock show. It began to thunder on the way there, and we had enough time to find good seats when the weather got serious and the place filled up! We did enjoy the show, though, and by the time it was over the rain had slowed to a light drizzle. We joined the folks headed to the "fireworks viewing area" behind the Festhaus and waited for the display.

Busch Gardens has always had a really nice fireworks presentation, and this year was no exception. I was mildly disappointed that some of the fireworks were below our line of sight, and also partly obscured by a tree. I surmise this was due to there being several more viewing areas around the park than in the past, and an attempt to make the display able to be seen by everyone. Nonetheless, the spectacular finale made up for the few we couldn't see. I had hoped to get a little video to post, but didn't want to risk getting the camera wet.

We waited out the departing crowd with ice cream cones in France.

It was a good day.

Fergus says "Hello!"

I couldn't resist snapping a photo of one of our resident pond frogs, Fergus. (Okay, I know I'm a little off the deep end when it comes to animals, but doesn't he just look like a Fergus?) Fiona, the shy one, hit the water with a splash as soon as she saw me headed for the pond. The pair of them were on this rock, a favorite morning hangout. She's a bit larger than Fergus and has quite a bit more green.

NOW what's she up to???

I've been messing with this fibery stuff a while now, and keep getting in deeper! The thought of dyeing fiber to spin has been picking in the back of my mind siince I started to spin and saw all the yummy colors of fiber that people were creating.

A couple weeks ago, I got inpired to try dying some domestic wool roving I've had around for that very purpose. (It often takes me awhile to get around to trying something new -- on my own -- because I talk myself into its being harder than it actually turns out to be. Know what I mean?) I used some Wilton icing colors with white vinegar as a mordant. Here are the results:

The wool at the top of the photo was spread out on plastic wrap along the countertop. I poured dye in what seemed an "artsy" fashion, folded the sides of the plastic wrap across the middle to make a long worm-shaped packet, then rolled from one end to make a bun. I microwaved the bun (in a bowl), flipped it and nuked some more. All the dye was taken up except for a bit that leaked into the bowl when I flipped the package.

The bottom roving in the picture was done in a 2 1/2 quart pyrex bowl with a lid. I poured some warm water into the bowl, added the wool and then poured globs of dye over the roving, keeping the colors pretty much in separate areas (Wilton Sky Blue, Lemon Yellow and Brown) and purposely leaving one place without dye. I microwaved this one as well.

I actually managed to emerge from the ordeal without dyeing myself or my kitchen, thanks to plastic gloves and lots of newspaper and old towels. The color all ended up where it was supposed to.

I was somewhat less than impressed by the outcome of my efforts; parts of the roving were okay, parts were garishly blue or yellow, and overall the effect wasn't what I had in mind. BUT . . . what about THIS???

Sorry for the sloppy skein -- it's a personal shortcoming -- but ain't it purdy??? It's very nice in real life. 2 ounces, 140 yards.

Haven't decided its final fate yet; it's likely I will just have it around to look at awhile.

That was the bottom roving pictured. I am currently spinning the top one, which has decidedly more green; I'm not sure I like it as much. The colors bled together more when they were compressed in the plastic wrap and when I flipped the 'bun' .

Now I have the dyeing bug, and lots more fiber!

I see blended batts. . . .

KALs

I thought it'd be fun to try a KAL (Knit-A-Long). For the uninitiated, it's a group that knits a project together through an on-line forum with a moderator (usually the designer) who posts patterns and gives assistance when needed. In this case it was a Mystery KAL; we knew we were to be knitting a lace stole, but not what it would look like. Pattern sections are given out as "clues" and knitted to solve the mystery. Several friends had done KALs before, and it sounded like fun.

Well. Let me tell you. The first KAL I decided to try turned out to be a bust. It was the first KAL for the designer, too, and I've a feeling she bit off just a bit more than she could chew. Well, at least it wasn't my fault. I growled and whined a few days -- had purchased 1200 yards of Zephyr and a new Addi Turbo Lace circ just for the KAL -- until my good buddies at Stitch 'n' Bitch told me about Goddess Knits KALs. Checked it out, signed up for not one, but TWO of them. The first, coincidentally, called for the same amount of yarn I'd already bought, so life was good. Wow. At least I thought it was. This lace knitting is a whole new thing. Now I knitted Jarred's Hemlock Ring, which was lace on a grand scale (heavy worsted & size 10 needles). I've also done a couple of scarves and a smoke ring with lace weight yarn. And charts, too. So I wasn't a total novice. Now I admit to not being the fastest knitter in the world, by a looonng shot. But this gives slow a whole new meaning. I have also learned the value of lifelines. Never mind it took me three or four attempts to get enough knitted to put in a lifeline!

I was late getting started with the KAL; it had been going a couple of weeks before I joined. Silly me for joining the second one! I figured I'd whip through this one and be ready for the second, which was scheduled to start the week following this one's completion. Hah! Clue 6, the final pattern, was published today. I am two rows shy of completing clue 2 !

Meanwhile, the overachievers (what I call anyone who's faster than I) have been chomping at the bit for the last clue. Here's what I've knitted so far:

Okay, I'll get there. Somewhere along the way a light has come on, and things aren't quite as hopeless as they once seemed. I was determined to conquer this challenge, and I'm too much of a tightwad to not use thirty-five bucks' worth of yarn and needles! (we won't speak of the stash. . . )

So now we are Three Clues into the second KAL. It's a circular shawl, and going to be a lot of fun. Yes, I promised myself I wouldn't start this one until the first was done, but seeing online pictures of others' shawls was more than I could bear. Combined with not a little bit of urging from a certain individual (I won't mention any names, but her first initial is Bereni), I relented and cast on. Since it's a circular shawl, the stitches and rows increase with each group of clues, so the first two clues went really fast. I did clue 1 on Wednesday and clue 2 on Friday. They were quick and easy. Yesterday I downloaded the third clue. Didn't get to it right away, and later found out there was an error in the pattern. The corrected clue was posted today, and it awaits my attention, as well as the last 2 rows of the Other Shawl.

That being said, I should go and tend to my knitting!

I did go to Colonial Fiber Arts in Yorktown this afternoon for Nettie's Sunday Spin-In. We got laughing so hard we nearly peed on ourselves! It was a wonderful time; three of the four of us are "biker babes," quite a coincidence. We need to start some sort of fiber/biker guild.

Now I really am going back to my knitting.

& Spins . . .

I've finally finished spinning some Louet pencil roving I got at Colonial Fiber Arts in Yorktown last winter. The name of the colorway escapes me at the moment, and I can't find the bag, but it looks like this:

On the bobbin:

And finally, a delightful 725 yards (5.25 ounces) of 2-ply SKINNY yarn! Ask me why I didn't measure WPI? Duh.

I am just happy with it. IMHO, it's the best yarn I've spun yet in terms of consistent thickness and twist. The colors are yummy. I had passed on buying this roving before, but was at Colonial Fiber for a Sunday Sit-n-spin session and decided to chance it. Spun a bit in the shop on my drop spindle and decided it was a keeper. Put it aside for a while to finish other spinning projects. Finally got to it.

Now I don't know what to knit with it, but am toying with a Leaf Lace shawl from Evelyn A. Clark's "Knitting Lace Triangles." I think the yarn and pattern would both be shown to advantage.

If only I could finish the other 42 things(at least) I have going. Let's see -- a pair of socks, three lace shawls, a hat, a sweater for DH, an Einstein jacket, 2 or 3 bags to finish & felt, a vest of sari silk yarn I'm committed to. That's knitting. Spinning-- 2 partial fleeces to finish carding, a pound or so of llama to card and spin, alpaca, bamboo, soy silk, angora, a bunch of icelandic pencil roving to spin & dye (or an EZ Adult Surprise Jacket??), targhee, rambouillet, some hemp tow (toe?) and an ounce or so of hair from a friend's cat. There's more, just can't remember. Then beadwork -- 2 major projects going that need finishing soon, a host of smaller things, and stock to replenish for the fall craft show. Oh -- Weaving--TriLoom shawls to be done for the show as well, and I've got an old rigid heddle loom that's been calling out to be warped for a couple of things. And let us not forget the remains of the skinny yarn roving -- I've spun that quickly and rather texturally with the thoughts of trying my hand at coil yarn or something else artsy to use on the RH loom.

So what are YOU doing to keep off the streets?

Ms. Pixel is feeling a bit more sociable this evening:

. . . And on the Alien Crystal front, the local fauna are not impressed. They continue to enjoy the imported flora during the dark hours, in spite of the glow. And we've observed it blinking/pulsating in the early pre-dawn hours. We figure it's signaling the Mother Ship. . .

in the light of day . . .

All has been revealed! The glowing alien crystal has surrendered to daylight and taken refuge among its fellow plastique allies to recharge its solar cell and await the darkness.

Fergus and Fiona (our two resident pond frogs) don't seem impressed by the new additions, nor has the glowing orb served to dissuade the deer population. They continue to devour most of the things we plant, and one went so far as to leave a donation between the pond and the bluebird house this morning. And speaking of bluebirds, our latest batch fledged Monday morning. As usual, I didn't see them; I believe you have to be watching at daybreak. I don't watch anything at daybreak. This is the second batch of young for the bluebird couple this year. It will be interesting to see if they go for a third.

We took a bike trip over the weekend to attend a rally in North Carolina. It's one we try to attend annually, held at High Country Motorcycle Camp near Wilkesboro. The rally is put on by the Airhead Beemer Club, who are BMW riders of Airheads (air-cooled engines as opposed to liquid- or oil-cooled). Anyway, the weekend always makes for some nice riding as well as good beer and great comeraderie. This year was no exception. As always, it was over too soon and we had to head home.

On the knitting front, I am proud to say that I did Knit In Public on Saturday. As publicly (is that a word?) as I could, that is, while at the rally. There were many comments, all positive, and lots of encouragement. It was also brought to my attention that I was using awfully small "string," and that I'd be done faster if I'd use heavier. I guess sock yarn on size 0 needles does pretty much look like string to a non-knitter. The Jaywalkers are progressing. Not as quickly as I'd like, but then I have to keep reminding myself that there will be no second sock!

My Goddess Spring Mystery Shawl is chugging along. Meanwhile, more clues are posted, and [ACK!] the Anniversary Shawl KAL has begun! I have yarn and needles, but am fighting the urge to begin until I've got the Spring one done. That's gonna be hard. It will be easier if I stop now and go knit!