The Giant Wound on my Head

So we have this kitten.

She’s adorable, but naughty as heck.  Matt doesn’t believe me, cause when he’s around she’s all purrs and rainbows.  But she’s recently learned that she has very sharp teeth, and will bite me constantly.  She bites if petting her; she bites if I’m not.  She bites if I’ve just walked out of the bedroom and hadn’t invited her in.  She bites when I feed her.  She bites when I’m minding my own business, knitting.

I’m talking break-the-skin-bleeding-mess bites.

So when Matt’s SIL suggested isolating her when she does something she’s not supposed to (since we determined that squirting her with a spray bottle does nothing to deter her), I’ve taken to putting her in her kennel with a firm “NO” when she bites me.

Until today, when I leaned over to put her inside, I smacked my head on the top of the kennel.  How did this happen?  I am not usually so uncoordinated.

So here is my gash:

You can barely see it, can you!  Let me tell you, it feels like a giant gash.

Anyway, here is what I’ve been working on:

My Laminaria, which I screwed up somehow and totally frogged,

My first Boyfriend Sock, which are actually for me, and unfortunately I do not have any pictures yet.  But Sock #1 is about 4 rows away from being finished

But mostly I have been working on my first ever quilt for my niece Sophie, who turned 1 this week:

This thing has taken forever!  I started it months before the wedding, and kind of had to push it aside until recently.  The whole thing was exhilarating, however, and I am going to make many more I’m sure.  My other niece Miriam has her first birthday in October, so I will definitely have another one ready by then.  I also need to make a duvet for our nice new down comforter.

Isn’t it funny that as crafters (or maybe its just me) we automatically think of making one before buying it?  I wouldn’t dream of buying a duvet when I can sew.  More often than not, though, I have these lofty ambitions
of making rather than buying- and I end up getting frustrated/busy/tired/lazy/broke and I end up buying the stupid thing anyway.  Oh well, its the thought that counts, right?
I haven’t been doing much knitting cause I have, like, a hundred thousand projects that I picked up after the wedding (I hadn’t been knitting in so long!  I was deprived!!), and honestly that’s a good way to get nothing done.

I’m going to try to do more, though.  I need to get my stupid craft room organized.

I think I’m in love…

With this sweater:

Its Little Birds by Ysolda  Teague.  You can download it here in the first issue of Twist Collective- which seems to be a very cute little knitting magazine.  Yay!

Traveling…

I’m going to be away for a few days.  Matt and I are going to “the cottage” – a place that needs no other explanation.

I did knit a little scarflette out of my handspun.  I can’t decide what to do with it.  I will post a picture when I get home.

I’ll be back Wednesday!

Potentially the most beautiful thing I’ve ever made.

I showed you what I dyed last night, right?
Well here is one of the fruits of my labor:

“UNICORN”

60 yards
100% Wool (Its from New Zealand, so it might be merino?)
Plied with magenta cotton thread and gold metallic thread
Dyed with Wilton food dyes

I love it so much I could puke.

I love it so much, I want to cuddle with it as I fall asleep every night.

I love it so much, I want to keep pictures of it in my wallet.

Sigh.

PS…..

PS —–>

I got married!!!!!!!!

PPS ——>

We got a kitten!!!!!

I’m back

Let me first explain why I never update.

It is a huge pain in the butt to upload photos.  First, I have to upload them to iphoto.  Then I have to rotate them all and stuff.  Then I have to export them as jpegs.  Then I have to name them all.  Then I have to upload them to photobucket or flickr- which is the worst of all, because the internet makes me want to throw up sometimes.  Then I have to write a blog post.  Every time I take a stupid picture, it takes like an hour to get the photos taken care of

This will all be resolved soon, however, because I am getting my very own web space!!!

That is right, I am getting a domain and everything.

In the meantime, I will be trying to update ravelry as often as possible, and I’m getting heavily into spinning.  I opened up an etsy shop and everything (I’ll let you know when I have items in stock!).

So here is what I’ve been up to:

Why don’t you go check them out on ravelry?  I have all the details there.

The last three pictures, however, are my new project.  I dyed a few ounces of roving with Wilton food dyes.  Hopefully by tomorrow it will be dry and I can do some spinning…

in my

BRAND

NEW

STUDIO!

Errr, spare bedroom.  But I think its a studio (Pssst don’t tell Matt, cause he thinks its his office.)

Back again just in time to leave.

My wedding is in three weeks exactly.  Does this excite me?  Yes.

But it also means that I will be, because of the party wedding moving birthday etc etc etc, MIA for awhile.  Yeah, like that’s anything new.

But seriously, I will be pretty  busy.  What is really hard to comprehend is why I committed myself to regular blogging if I will be up to my friggin cranium in stuff to do.

So what have I been up to?

Meeting some seafood:

(ladies and gentlemen: my future husband)

Having a fire:

Following a mama duck:

And riding my new bike!!!!:

Watching Lake Placid with Jenna and Dave (both standing up in the wedding):

And not really any substantial knitting:

Okay, well, that’s all.  Talk to you soon!

Charlie

I’ve posted before about my birds, and I just wanted to let you know that my favorite parakeet, Charlie Flannel Pajamas, died yesterday. It was very unexpected and I miss him already. Gwen misses him, too. 

Thank You, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

for saving my Green Thing.When I first knit my Wandering Aran Fields capelet (ravelry link) from Wrap Style, it was beautiful.  Then I blocked it, and the neck seriously stretched out.  But recently, the Yarn Harlot wrote a blog post about adding stability to things with crochet.  So here is the back of my Green Thing before the crochet:And here is the backside after the crochet: Here is the frontside before:Here is the frontside after: Yay! 

Its finally here-

 
Presenting:  the bane of my existence for the past year.  The thorn in my side.  The gigantic wool monster.  The largest thing I’ve ever knit:  
Lady Eleanor
Size: An astounding six feet in length; about 1.5 feet wide.
Yarn: Six skeins of Cascade 220, bought at the Black Purl in Wausau. 
Needles:  US Size 10 1/2
Mods:  I’m pretty sure I did more “tiers” than the pattern called for in order to make the colors work.
The picture above is only half- the teal color on top is actually the middle. 
I’m not really a huge fan of the giant color discrepancy  between the greyish/greenish color (second from the bottom).    I had bought these colors + white, originally, but decided against the white and returned to the store to purchase more in the same dye lots.  I didn’t know that there can be a difference in dye lots, so on the other side of the shawl, there is one section of the greyish/greenish yarn that is actually greyish/tealish (my original preference).  Sigh.   
If anyone ever mentions it to me, I swear to God that I will smack them down. 
I haven’t blocked it yet; the thought of dragging this huge wet mess out of the tub and finding a place to dry it (it is actually approximately the size of my living room) makes me want to vomit.  What do you think?  Do you think I should block it anyway?  I think its pretty the way it is.  Plus, it would probably be huge-er.
So far I love wearing it.  Its much like a giant blanket that no one thinks twice about you carrying around.  
I haven’t gotten many comments about being “old” yet, though I’m sure they will come (see, some people think its strange and “old” that I knit, and even more strange and “old” that I would actually wear some of these things.  How can I be fashionable/popular if I’m always busy knitting?  Oh, I pretty much gave up being fashionable and popular when I got glasses).
 
Its so pretty hanging in my closet, that I might just forego decorating and leave it there forever. 
 
This is me trying to be kickin’ in my coat with my sweet scarf/shawl/schawrfl.