There Will be Bunny Nuggets

When the Philosopher and I first started hanging out, he indicated an interest in learning amigurumi in efforts to make children's gifts for friends who are starting to have children. I was blunt in that my talents with the crochet hook are rather limited and that I much prefer the pointy sticks. He was amenable (especially after watching me knit and eat, knit and walk, knit and talk, knit and sleep--wait, that's just a hopeful wish) to learning to knit.

I set out to find something small and stuffed animal like that he could learn some shaping on and remembered that I'd seen Laura L talk about making Monster Chunks for her student workers. I didn't want to make Chunks but I found another Rebecca Danger pattern that I did like: Bunny Nuggets.

And, if a girl is going to be knitting Bunny Nuggets, why not just go down the path of knitting monsters and inflicting them upon unsuspecting friends.

Gypsy approves (and the Incredibly-Patient-Mother has already picked out her favorite monster).



I wish I'd known about these when I was knitting with my kids in La Crosse. It simply teaches techniques, gives you rapid gratification, and can be altered a million ways to use up scraps!

Happy Independence Day!!

For those of you in the US, Gypsy and I wish you a Happy 4th of July!

Gypsy's Birthday

A year ago, when I brought Gypsy home, I decided upon her adoption date of December 10 as her official birthday. She's three and has fluffed out into a fully mature 8 lb cat.
It's been a fun first year. Gypsy is very social, strongly prefers women to men, is described as a busy cat (read--nosy), and is much better at snuggling and chatting than the house plants. She's a decent car passenger, an early riser,  a big fan of ham and Cheetos, and a bit of a klutz.  She's firmly convinced that she can jump higher than she's actually able to and this is pretty entertaining and occasionally frustrating as she knocks things down.
Here's a picture taken right after she arrived at Chez Hedgehog.

Hanging out on the balcony--she obviously misses going outside here but with the cold, her skittish nature and the large dogs next door it's not really an option. Hoping to make use of a harness next summer.

Once I lay something out to block, she considers it her property--though she's surprisingly good about not bothering my knitting/yarn other than to lay on it.

And stealing the shot...

Happy Birthday Gypsy! Tuna fish for supper tonight!

(This entry cross posted at Hedgehog Librarian)

Birthday Yarn and Fall Baskets

Alright I know I said I'd stop with the stash yarn but I  never showed you my birthday yarn, did I?

The Incredibly Patient Mother has a spinning wheel (though I need to nudge her back towards it) and Sibling the Elder sits down and a lace shawl falls off her fingers when she stands up five minutes later.  These are good women to have shopping for you when you are a bit of a yarn-a-holic. Which I might be. Perhaps.

Anyway....back to birthday wool.

My sister knows I love all things blue and teal and purple and green and such. I'm in good company, if the Sanguine Gryphon and Wollmeise updates are anything to go by--those always seem to be the first colors that sell out. 



So she went in search, this sister of mine, for yarn that bore my name and was of a proper shade to fit in with the rest of my stash.




Isn't it pretty? :) Apparently, there is only one store in the United States that carries this particular type of Schaefer yarns. Others carry Schaefer Anne and other such but not Abigail. She tracked it down, called the shop and put in a special order for 2 skeins that are a gorgeous shade of blue with hints of gray. Lovely and squishy.

She also knit me a stunning shawl.  (I know, I'm incredibly spoiled) But I have not been in her presence or that of a certain Cartoonist or Restaurant Man of late and I need someone with a good camera. We'll do something at Christmas probably to rectify this error.






Now, my mother is also wise in the ways of the Hedgehog. Wise mother has heard me lament--at great length--that indie dyers aren't doing black and teal combinations. Brown and teal I can find in excess but not black and teal. I'm fussy, I want black. So what did she find me for my birthday?



Blue Ridge Yarns--in black and teal. Not just pretending to be black and teal but truly and vibrantly black and teal.

No clue what I'm making yet but isn't it stunning?






She also got me some handy yarn storage.  I'm sure she probably meant it for other uses as well but really, in this apartment, it's yarn storage.



Now, there are three of these, progressively smaller. And it was to my surprise not that the cat claimed them but how. She likes to sleep on top of the largest one. When she curls into a round, it's perfectly cat sized. We're still having discussions about not using ones claws on them but she's doing pretty well.

Happy and Healthy

I've been wool shopping again. Would you believe that I'm actually down from the last two years running? I started tracking my yarn purchases two years ago in a spreadsheet and was just slightly frightened when I got to the end of the year and realized what the total number was. I did slightly better in 2009 and I'm hoping to again lower that amount in 2010. I know, it would easy to say "Just stop buying" but there's so many gorgeous yarns out there, plus special projects I can't necessarily plan for, and I'm helping keep at least one LYS in business.

I did catch the 15 minute window of Wollmeise Lace a couple of days back at The Loopy Ewe. Firefox Update Add-On for the serious win. But I am a somewhat realistic hedgehog (stop laughing, I said somewhat) and I don't knit with laceweight more than once in a blue moon. So I caught my sister, who also happened to be online, and suggested she pick out a color for her birthday. Birthday shopping for one sibling checked off. Most Excellent Mailman brought it by today, bless him--he hasn't asked yet what one earth I need all this yarn for and never looks at me funny when I've obviously just stumbled out of bed to answer the door. 

I was down to Ewetopia the other day for Viroqua's "Crazy Days."  I'm not quite sure what prompts those but it meant all the stores were having sidewalk sales. I went for the bakery and the yarn--I'll be honest. I got a loaf of sourdough that I'm almost through and picked up some needles from Kathryn. I got the 9" sock circulars and started a 2x2 rib on the 1s. I'm going to have to take it off and decrease the number of stitches, I cast on 60 stitches and considering the last 2x2 on 1s that I did were over 52 stitches...my guess is that it will be to big. It's in Ewetopia Fiber Hand Dyed and will be purse knitting at some point. It's currently on the living room chair of doom, marinating with about 7 other projects.

This morning we went to the veterinarian for some shots. Gypsy is now up to 8.4 lbs and that's not just fluff around the middle so apparently there was one last growth spurt waiting to happen. Dr. Jean describes her as a "very busy" cat. Personally, I think that was rather polite--nosy would be my description. Gypsy was all over the examination room, trying to get into the cabinets, attempting to escape through the door to where they do the testing, etc. She also panic shed all over my tank top, which necessitated a change of clothes when I got home before I could go out again. But she handled the shot and didn't bite or claw or show any other particular bad manners. Apparently our new challenge is teeth cleaning. So if I start showing pictures with bandaged fingers--you know why. She came home and promptly sacked out for a nap.

 

Another Week in Which I Barely Knit

Hi all--did you survive tax season? Are your papers and money sent in? I did mine once I got correct documents from one of my freelance clients (insert grrr here) and had that all off by the end of February/first of March? But I just sent in first quarter check for estimated. The joys of working for yourself--not only do you get to lose time in the evenings but you get to send in huge amounts of that money to the government! Yay.

It paid for my braces though, so I'm trying not to be bitter. And it looks like I'll have another/more opportunity(ies) for medical editing coming very soon, which is excellent. 

Knitting content?  Oh right..knitting blog. Hmmm

There hasn't been much knitting at Chez Hedgehog of late and I can't really explain why. I've been home in the evenings.  Some of it has been reading time--paperbacks and pointy sticks don't quite work. Yes, I know, i could invest in a very expensive e-book reader and then buy masses of books to read on it while it's on a kickstand of sorts--I'm a public librarian. I get most of my books from work. (Not counting the half dozen or so that have come this past month new/used from online sources....)

I did finally get the pictures up from the Knitting in Public Day at work--about which I'll actually be blogging over at Hedgehog Librarian because it was a library event. But the work pictures, taken by me and valiant assistant Laura, are here. I'm the one in the b/w dotted swiss blouse with a red tank underneath. Because both of the socks I had with me that day were at points that required more thought than I could devote to knitting, I cast on yet another sock that day, which I've since ripped out. Plain vanilla socks for me are 2x2 rib....I'm having some kind of issue with stockinette socks. 

More from the mailbag soon--because the postman has been buy with pretty things. I was leaving for work on Tuesday and passed him coming into the building. He knows I'm home Tuesdays to let him in for me or other tenants--other days he knows to try and get someone else to buzz him in to leave my boxes for me. He's really nice and doesn't seem to mind just how much I prefer to have shipped here rather than going to the mall.

In the interim, Gypsy's meerkat impression:

Happy Easter

It's a beautiful day here and I'm going to go put the ham in the oven to torment Gypsy.  No worries, she'll get a bite or two.

Wishing you a happy and blessed Easter with your family.

Gypsy Friday: Frankenmousie Picture

Regarding Frankemousie

Frankenmousie with new navy stitches, a full view of Frankenmousie, and my attempt to get a picture on the floor.  Note the gray cat head sneaking into the frame with full intent of stealing the mouse and running. 

My Clapotis

I did, with great help from the small furry gray one, finish my Malabrigo Clapotis while still in the month of February.

Begun early, this was an on again, off again project for about six weeks.  The middle straight rows seemed never ending and I can safely say I'd probably not make it out of Malabrigo again.  The yarn is wonderful, super squishy, a gorgeous color--and it sticks to itself like glue. Which would be great except for the fact that Clapotis has a drop stitch row every 12 rows throughout the entire piece. 

Gypsy was very helpful in the supervising and appropriate application of cat fur to the Clapotis.

And finally, it was done.  All the stitches dropped, the couple of ends woven in. 

 

And while, no, Gypsy isn't a particularly large cat, you still get a sense of the size.  It's almost 6' in length.  

 

It then promptly went to work with me so it didn't become a full time cat bed. I'm wearing it a lot at work and expect to even during the summer. Such are the challenges of keeping a building cobbled together over the years cool during 90 degree temps.   

I used 4.5 Skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Azul Profundo on size 8 (5mm) needles. 

Olympic Knitter Skating...

Gypsy has pretty much had it with me.  Not only did I stay home for two entire days in a row, for three nights now I've plopped down with laptop and knitting needles and the television (which is never on this much at Chez Hedgehog) to engage in Olympic Knitter Skating and Commentary.

Commentary has been kept on Friendfeed, where I and some other library chums have communed with witty comments, judgmental opinions, and much appreciation for the grace and athleticism we saw. Together we gasped at the missed jumps, cheered the Chinese teams to silver and gold, and most recently wondered what the hamsters some of the men were wearing. Ruffles, corsetry, and a tassle all in the same male figure skater's outfit, really? 

I also figured out this evening where a small gray tabby has been hiding the bag of catnip.  She hadn't quite figured out how to open it yet, but I imagine it was only a matter of time.  And it explains why she wouldn't stay out of one of the cupboards. 

But there has been knitting!  I've worked on my Knitting Olympics Project:

I'm down the leg of one of the socks!  This photo was taken at the end of pairs skating last night.  Not bad for Opening Ceremonies through Pairs Gold, in my opinion. Particularly considering I had to completely rip it out and redo on smaller needles. That was a wise choice, btw, the rib is much snugger now and it will be a better fitting pair of socks. 

I'm using Beyond Basic Knits Sonoma Sock in the Brilliant Colorway of "Red-Purple" with size 2.5 (USA) needles.  It's squishy, knitting up very nicely, and it's a darker shade in the red family, which I prefer if red is being introduced into the palette. 

I've also been finishing the very last of the Christmas knitting. Yes, I'm aware it's February.  *sigh*  I have great ambitions each year.  This year I think everyone is getting a box of chocolate.  Well...everyone at work.

Anywho. Christmas knitting was most of today's knitting at Kiwanis and my Kids Group.

Then I made a mad dash home for the last two groups of men's figure skaters short program.  I didn't want to try and turn the heel on the sock while also typing and trying to watch the tv and mind a cat who has just about driven me crazy. So instead, back to February's project: My Clapotis.

I'm still working on the straight rows. I'm not-quite-halfway-through-the-3rd-skein-of-Malabrigo number of repeats into said straight section. 

For size reference, I'm knitting on 14" needles.  It's over three feet long at this point and it will be a little over two feet wide. I've not dropped all the stitches to the bottom because Malabrigo is sticky, which makes that a bit of a chore I save for when I need something truly mindless. I have another 1.5 skeins of straight to go and then a final skein for the decreases.  This sucker is gonna be massive--it's defense against the AC in June at work. 


And finally, a meta/pairs picture of my own: The sock on the Clapotis.  Fourteen days til both projects need to be off the needles. 

Friday Feline: Meet the Widget

It couldn't be a real knitting blog without my cat, right?   I can't promise she'll make an appearance every Friday, she's quite sociable but not always amenable to posing for the camera.

Gypsy, also known as Mini-Widget, Widge or Mouse, moved in late last November.  After evicting one pot of parlor ivy and chewing the shamrocks into submission, she's usually content to chase after catnip mice, beg for an extra treat or two, and scale tall bookshelves in a single (mostly successful) bound.

And this is her favorite position, draped halfway over my shoulder.  It makes it hard to go to work in the morning when it means setting down a snuggly, purring hot water cat.