Blocking is hard on a kitty.

Man, fighting those blocking wires and attempting to eat the t-pins just knocked poor Beezer out. He spent a good hour "helping" me block my Rock Island shawl.

The slog.

So my Rock Island has been the disaster shawl of 2012.

It took forever to finish the trim.

I screwed up the very simple first two rows of the lace charts about 16 times before getting it right.

After I FINALLY got going on the lace charts, a coworker grabbed my knitting out of my hands as I was knitting it (because she "just wanted to touch it to see if it was soft), and ripped about 50 stitches off the needles, causing me to have to rip back to my lifeline and reknit about three days of work.

And now, I'm slogging through approximately 10 billion rows of garter stitch.

But the end is near! (I hope)

Here it is in progress, with Beezer's tail, and our new rug:

Spinning

I recently got bitten by the spinning bug, and after about two months of whining about not having a spinning wheel (or wanting to spend the money to buy one), I broke down this weekend and bought a spindle, and Abby Franqemont's book and video, Respect the Spindle.


 By the way, I blame Monika, and her absolutely gorgeous handspun yarn for this problem of mine.

Here's a picture of my fiber mess and the beginnings of my spinning.

Spinning on a spindle is HARD. Looks easy, but is not. At all. I tried and failed for about two hours on Sunday.

However, I'm really loving a new skill, and I can honestly say after reading Respect the Spindle that I understand yarn a lot better than I did before. This is really giving me a much closer connection to the tools that I'm using, which is awesome, because I am all about context in terms of how I learn and operate.

On the personal front, things have started to calm down. Thank goodness. I'm doing fine, Beezer is doing fine, Bruce is healing, and Georgia continues to delight and amaze.

I'm currently inundated with reading materials, with an enormous stack of books sitting by my bedside, and a whole bunch on my kindle that I haven't delved into yet. Oh, and I also have a pile of magazines sitting here that are demanding attention.

I'm also studying to become a LEED Accredited Professional, which is a certification for people who are involved in the green/sustainable/eco building industry. Which I am, as I work for an engineering firm. The process is fun, but a little tough. There's a lot of memorization involved with learning the materials, but I'm still enjoying it.

And, as always, I'm listening to music while I knit. At the moment, I'm on a Latin music kick, listening to Celia Cruz (official Goddess of Salsa), Bebel Gilberto (Brazilian. I know. Whatever), Rodrigo y Gabriela (rockin Spanish guitarists from Mexico), Los Amigos Invisibles (crazy funk/disco/jazz party band from Venezuela, saw them in concert this winter), Bomba Estereo (awesomeness from Colombia) and a little Shakira for good measure.

Bruce's Hat

I finally got pictures of Bruce in the hat (my rav link) I made for him:

Pattern: Los Muertos (rav pattern link)
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needle: US 7 (4.5mm)

And I think I'm starting to get back into the swing of things, with regards to life, the universe and everything.

I've cast on a sweater for my mother, and a shawl for my vet friend who helped me out so much with Beezer when he was sick last month. Beezer seems to be fully recovered now, thankfully. He's back to his normal self, and doesn't seem to be in any more pain.

Hugs to everyone, and I'm hoping I get more time to catch up soon.

Still Alive

It's been a busy and tough couple of months. However, knitting has happened, amazingly enough. Blogging unfortunately, hasn't. It's been so long since I've even logged into blogger, that the platform has changed completely!

I finished my Cria cardigan, though I haven't had the wherewithal to weave in the ends or sew on buttons. I should probably do that one of these days.

I've knitted two hats, my first colorwork, and even managed to get some photos of one of them (they're both the same pattern, one for Bru and one for Georgia. Different colors). I haven't managed to figure out duplicate stitch embroidery yet, but I'm sure that'll come soon enough.

Anyway, here's Georgia's hat (my rav link):

Pattern: Los Muertos
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needle: US 7 (4.5mm)

Aside from the knitting, on the personal front, I'm feeling better, after a rough March, and part of April. I haven't had a head cold or sinus infection for either of those two months, so obviously, taking care of the other issue which-shall-not-be-named helped out on the entire health front.

We also bought a (cheapo used) car, which gives us a great deal more freedom. We drove out to Western New Jersey for a mini vacation at the beginning of April. Did some hiking and felt better about the world. We also had no idea how pretty that part of NJ is, given that most of our experience has been on the I-95 corridor, which is decidedly NOT pretty.

Also, my beloved cat, Beezer, fell ill, and we've been having a tough time with him. He keeps getting better, getting sick again, recovering, falling ill... it's been bad. Right now he's in an ok phase, however he's doped up on kitty morphine, and I feel like we're going through a feline version of trainspotting.

Georgia is doing great. She's a fabulous kid. I can't have possibly asked for better. Bruce is also doing well. I'm hoping things are on the upswing now. Incidentally, speaking of husbands and cats, here are both my husband and my cat in a video Bruce did for his work.

I shall post when I can, and will attempt to get caught up on everybody's blogs. It feels like forever since I've been able to check in with everyone.

Finished Object: Chinook

I got the Chinook (my rav link) as a kit from Knit Picks a while ago (actually, I got two, one in each colorway) and for whatever reason didn't knit it, even though I absolutely adore it.

It was a fairly quick knit, less than two weeks, even with some pretty huge breaks due to exhaustion. Easy, although there were some typos on the pattern which caused confusion. The finished product is HUGE, easily wraps fully around my body, and hangs down to my butt.

I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to keep it, as I already have a crap-ton (totally technical term) of shawls and one of my coworkers, who is moving to France next week, fell madly in love with it. It may be hers. I haven't decided yet. Many other people have also fallen in love with it. For now, I'm wearing it, and have no plans to take it off.

What do all you other knitters out there do with all your shawls?

Anyway, I think KP is still selling the pattern, and I've seen some gorgeous versions with other yarns out there.

Pattern: Chinook (rav pattern page)
Yarn: KP lace weight, various, held double throughout.
Needle: US 8 (5mm)

In other news, my Vermont Shawl from the last post did not hold its blocking AT ALL, and the maple leaves shrunk from my hand sized down to about Georgia's hand size. It went from being a fairly large shawl to a shawlette. I'm not sure what to make of this, as I wet blocked that sucker, pinned it out completely, and it is 100% merino wool. Go figure. Also, it is very hard to photograph. I tried again today. FAIL.

New FO: Happy Yellow

Here's my Happy Yellow (Rav link) shawl. I finished on Leap Day, and it's my one FO for February. However, it's a doozy.

Pattern: Vermont Shawl
Yarn: madelinetosh prairie in chamomile
Needle: US 6 (4mm)

The middle picture is closest in color to the actual.

And it's a crappy gray day, so I couldn't get enough contrast in my colors to get a good shot of the pattern, which is gorgeous. I'll try to photograph again in the near future.

The procedure yesterday went well. I'm fine, but in a little pain, however, it is manageable. I'll get final pathology results back next week, and will put up an update.