Whew! July 7, 2006
Posted by Laura in FO, Pets.add a comment
Got these puppies done in the nick of time!
I started these back on June 25th, that would put it taking a little less than 2 weeks to knit this pair. Yeah, it’s not Wendyspeed, but it’s an improvement over the last pair, so I’m happy. And just in time too. These socks are intended for a lady friend in our Roman historical reenactment group, and we’ve got an event this weekend. I certainly hope she likes them.
STATS:
Pattern: Original from Miz FKD (she loves me so much she writes patterns for my lame ass…). I hope her computer problems get resolved soon, I’m dying to see what a hot flash looks like! Anyhow…This pattern is knitted cuff-down with a beautiful eye-of-the-partridge heel flap. The original pattern calls for a Special K toe, and I think we all know how I feel about that, right? Yeah, so I altered it to a rounded toe. Besides, it looks a bit more rustic – a touch of vintage that way, a little less polished, which is exactly the look I was going for. And I’ll keep telling myself that until I believe it.
Yarn:2 balls of Knitpicks Essential in Pumpkin. What a gorgeous shade of orange.
Needles: Bamboo DPNs. Casted on over 2 needles in US size 2, and knit the first 2 rows, then switched to US size 1 for the rest of the sock.
Notes: I really enjoy this pattern. I loved the way the texture emerges and the way the heel flap looks.
How do you like that artsy-fartsy shot? Talk about some mad photography skills, huh? Think I maybe missed my calling? Uh—yeah…riiiiiiiiiiight!
This is the second time I’ve knit socks with this yarn, and I have to say, I’m enjoying it. And what an awesome shade of orange! Now, a while back I condemned the color orange to the 8th circle of hell, claiming I would never ever get near it. Well, ok…here’s the SECOND exception, the first being a gorgeous pair of socks a special lady knit for me. So you know how pretty this particular color is for me to compliment it.
After I threw the socks in the washer for their blocking soak they got so soft! Wha???? Why are you looking at me like that? It’s superwash, for cripesake! Hell, it’s not like I said “dryer” or “shredder” or anything…sheesh!
How about a bit of the Sassy…
Funny enough, the remarkable thing about this photo ISN’T the fact that the cat now greets me at the door every night when I come home from work. No. The remarkable thing about this photo is that it is evidence that my tiled entryway is finally done. Whoot! Only took 6 months…but that’s a rant for another day.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Beasties… July 5, 2006
Posted by Laura in Pets.add a comment
A recent conversation in a pet store:
DH: (pointing to a cute Moze-colored Maltese) You know, if you really want to get a cuddly pet, you can’t go wrong with a small dog. They’ll get up in your lap and snuggle with you all night long.
La: Well, that’s nice and all, but they have to be house trained. If I found one that could already use a litter box, I might consider it.
La: Then there’s all the barking and whining and howling…I don’t know if I’d want a little yapper. And they’re so needy all the time. Too needy…and they get to smelling bad, and they drool.
DH: So what you’re saying is the perfect small dog for you would be another cat?
La: BINGO!
This conversation took place just a couple weeks after Momoze died. I was so desperately trying to fill the void that was left by his passing, I was considering ANYfurryTHING as a new pet: another cat, a little dog…the possum that eats my FIL’s figs. I didn’t care. I was lonely. I missed my Moze, and it still hurt…a lot. So wrapped up in my loneliness, little did I consider that there might be others in the house missing Moze too, others whose only voice was the plaintive yowl of mamacat calling for her lost little kitten. Then the most amazing thing happened.
Now, for those of you who have been reading Fibercrack’d for any length of time have read about my other cat, Sassy.
The queen of Aloofstonia; little Miss Poops-wherever-she-damned-well-feels-like-it (hint: rarely is it the litter box); pick me up and I’ll squeal like a piglet; Lady Nagsalot-feed-me-now. Yeah, we’ve got a million names for her, most of them not very flattering. Basically she’s a beautiful tortoiseshell calico with luxurious fur whose most friendly characteristic was she’d suffer pattings from me every now and again…if she must; was being the operative word here.
In the past couple of weeks I’ve noticed a dramatic change in her behavior. She is no longer aloof and touch-me-not. She constantly seeks me out whenever I am home, and if I enter a room she’s lounging in, she’ll immediately look up, meow, and stretch out her paw.
Now, it could just be my imagination, but the DH has noticed it too. Sassy’s blooming.
Granted, she’ll never be a snuggler, but she’s definitely become more social and approachable. Also? Poops landing outside the litterbox are now the exception, and no longer the rule.
I’m now glad I didn’t get another kitty right away. It gave my existing cat time to come into her own. I’m feeling a little guilty that it took 9 1/2 years for it to happen, and that I never realized that she was the way she was partly because Moze was so dominant and, well…Alpha, and partly because (and here’s where I feel like shit) I didn’t pay as much attention to her as I should have. Now SHE gets to be top cat. She talks to me all the time, takes naps with me on the weekend, she plays, chasing flies and spiders (but mainly her tail). And even though she only suffers being held just long enough to give her her kaopectate, she initiates petting sessions every night, and in the evenings you can often find her right beside me, occupying the arm of the couch…that place that used to be Moze’s domain.
I will eventually get a second cat, a kitten that Sassy can lord it over for her few remaining years (she’s 12). I’m just not in an all-fired-up hurry to do so anymore.
In the meantime, I’ve got my Sass, and you’ll now have to suffer the multitude of pictures of her, but at least she’s interesting.
