Wonton

I am making 8-9 of these (6 are gifts for friends, well their cats but is there much of a difference?). I will take a picture of all of them when they are complete. I have 4 done. They are quick to whip up. The pattern is from Knitty (Feline Dim Sum) and the yarn is Patons Classic Merino Wool.

Progress

So I've started the MS3 - I only have pictures of my swatch (sorry, the floor is a mess and the lighting is poor right now...) but I am about half way into clue #2. Right now there have been 3 clues posted so I am behind, but around the middle of the pack in terms of where other people in the group are.



I am knitting in Jaggerspun Zephyr Ebony (one of the recomended colours). I had no laceweight in the pile that is supposedly my stash (it is small, other knitters smile and nod when I tell them the size of my stash - they know it will grow). Most of the yarn in my stash has a project attached, including the other Zephyr I bought (Crimson I think).

I finished the Hanging Garden Stole but have not blocked it yet - the blocking wires are on order from the LYS (they have to order some in).

Here is a cute kitty picture to distract you from the fact that there is no lace picture here...



I am trudging away at the cabled cardigan - I have put the fronts on the back and am knitting the collar (shawl collar - holy cow it takes time and yarn!). I hope I like it when it is done - still not sure if I will.

I'm pretty worn out from work. That is the trouble with making your own hours and having a "get sh*t done" job. I have a list of things to do and they need to get done in the next month or two. The problem is I always had something to do every week since before Christmas - I think I took 3 or 4 days off at Christmas. Other than that it has been a lot of work work work. I have a lot done - in fact I have more than half of the major experiment in my thesis done. But I am tired. Soooooo 4 day weekend - tomorrow is my Friday. Well sort of, I'm going to work a bit on Thursday but from home, and seeing as I have two cats and a husband at home right now - I'm not sure how much will get done. I will have a window by where I work though - this is an improvement on my office and lab which are both in the basement of a building.

Too much talking and not enough cute kitty pictures, here is another distracter picture... Zoie, it took me 10 pictures to get a good picture of her (and the lighting is off a bit) because she likes to move, unlike Ellie who seems to be the type of cat that loves having her picture taken.


Zoie likes being brushed so much that today after brushing her I found a bald spot, well a less hairy spot. Oh dear!

I am doing the gym thing too. I gained a lot of weight over the winter somehow (possibly related to depression and anti-depressant drugs). I've been exercising for over a month now but see no results. sigh. well, I'll keep with it and hopefully I'll see something. I have to change my eating patterns too but that is very difficult for me. Any recommendations? Any idea about a yarn reward system? My problem is I like food and I like sweets. Oh, and I have little self control.

My mom and dad are coming Thursday night for a few days - gotta clean house and tidy. It is the tidy that gets us. With 900 square feet to clean it isn't bad - it is the clutter and seeming inability to put stuff away that gets us messy. Perhaps I'll send a Salvation Army donation bag home with my mom (I don't know where to drop it off here in Calgary).

And on a final note, it was our 1 year anniversary on the 8th - here we are, it is my intention that we should have a picture of us as a couple every year on our anniversary - we'll see how long it lasts. This is a self portrait because we forgot to have one taken when we were at the restaurant.



ETA: Oh yeah, and I took a spinning class on Saturday at Make 1 Yarn Studio. I ended up with two drop spindles and a pound of fiber (half of which is already spun!). I am addicted. The spinning wheels didn't agree with me (the whole drafting while you spin didn't work) but hopefully in a few years the drop spindle practice will make me much better with that part. At that point I know I'll fall down the rabbit hole (and hard, of course the wheel I liked best was also the most expensive - or the one that I would have liked had the spinning wheels agreed with me). I will post pictures of my handspun after I have set the twist (likely will do that tomorrow so that I can show it off to my mom all finished and pretty). I want to keep a little bit as a reminder of my first handspun but with the rest I think I will make a scarf. Not sure of the pattern I want - something simple. The colour has a bit of varigation in it but not much. Not enough for another "my so called scarf"...

Greetings

I havent' posted lately because I've had no new knitterly things to say. My hanging garden stole is finished but not blocked (I've ordered some blocking wires because I think that I'm about to get obsessed with lace). I'm gearing up for Melanie's Mystery Stole #3 (MS3) - no yarn yet so no swatch. And I'm working on the cabled cardigan I mentioned before. I had to make a deal with myself - no new project until one more piece is complete (ex: a front). This is good because it has forced me to work on it and figure out the changes to be made. You see it is a good pattern but the yarn is smaller than called for. The yarn store said it would work but... well it is working, I'm just not sure I like the result. I next want to make either the Cardigan for Arwen or the Central Park Hoodie. I also have other projects lined up.

I'm on Ravelry - what a cool concept. My username is catiephillips. Not original but whatever.

I'm in the MS3 KAL. Never been in a KAL before but it ought to be fun. The group is huge (2000+ knitters) so there are tons of emails - several digests (25 posts per digest) per day. I've ordered my yarn - from Sarah's Yarns - JaggerSpun Zephyr in Ebony. There is the option of adding beads so I'm gonna look in the stash to see if I have the ones called for - 8/0s - in a good colour. My user name for the KAL is catie_phillips. I really love the concept of a mystery knit - we'll see how much I like it at the end though... I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up wiht the clues though. That just means that the mystery will be reduced if I look at what other people have produced.

Well I'm going to sign off now - this post has been brought to you via a paper towel in the lab - I was bored and didn't have a computer or an internet connection.

8 Random Things

Okay, so Amy (link over on the side: A Yarning to Write) tagged me with a meme. I've never been tagged before so this ought to be interesting. At first I thought it was 10 random things and was thinking hard about what I would write. I thought I would have to stretch my mind - I was wrong - I am totally wierd. So here is my list:

1. I married my first (and only) boyfriend - his name is Cory and he is a wonderful person. We will have our 1 year anniversary on July 8th, 2007.

2. I have a scar on my appendix without an external scar. I had a huge case of appendicitis when I was 13 and should have had it out. But I had mononucleosis so the doctors waited a little longer than they normally would have. The inflammation went down and I still have my appendix. But if I ever get appendicitis again, no matter how minor, the appendix must come out because it is weakened.

3. I have always had a cat - seriously I have gone less than 24 hours without one. For awhile my cats did not live with me - but this was because I was in university and the cats didn't move with me - they stayed with my parents. Those cats are still with my parents but now I have 2 with me. Penny and George (the cats with my parents) are my cats, technically, but live with my parents because they dislike change and have more freedom at my parents place.

4. My nieces and nephews and I are closer in age than my siblings and I (with few exceptions). My nearest niece (Lucy) is 8 years younger than me, my nearest sibling (Andrea) is 15 years older than me... The same happened with my mom and her aunt (7 years difference), the same thing has happened with my new niece (Emma) and her sister (Lucy).

5. In grade 8 (still elementary school where I was living) I spent 4-5 months living with my grandparents in Italy (Cernusco Lombardone - outside of Milan). My parents were with me, as was my cat (Penny). I refused to go without the cat and my parents caved. I'm very glad they did. While there I went to school, made friends, and learned the language.

6. My first major knitting project was a double wide garter stich blanket in an acrylic boucle yarn. I love it but I don't think I could do it again though. It took a long time but is done.

7. Listening to the clothes dryer helps me fall asleep. I guess I was always able to hear the dryer in my parents house growing up. Other sounds also relax me such as the sound of the shower going while I fall asleep. The vaccuum does not put me to sleep.

8. I recently stopped taking my antidepressants (under medical supervision) and am now on a bunch of vitamins and natural supplements. It is kind of working. I take 11 different types of pills - most of them twice a day. I'll take a picture of them one day - it is that funny.

Okay, so now I gotta sign off but I hope these were random/wierd enough for you.

hanging garden stole continues

Not much to say about knitting right now - the stole is almost at 5 repeats (10ish rows to go I think) of 12, looks a lot the same. Work is interfering with my progress I suppose. Next week my mom and dad come to visit which means I'll do less work at school so hopefully that will translate into more knitting time. I'm mainly posting because I don't want to go much more than a week at a time without posting. We'll see how long this lasts...

Ah ha! Catie has returned to the land of the blogging (and the living). The paper that I did not enjoy writing was handed in on Thursday. The marking that I did enjoy but did not have time to enjoy properly was completed on the date due, Friday. And the past few days have seen me testing mice. But never fear, I will get a weekend - it will just come on Tuesday & Wednesday this week. But what have I been knitting you ask?

Majik (or magic or whatever...) bag - it is filled with beans and you are to microwave it and put it on your neck. I need a different type of bean cuz the kind I have now stinks when you microwave it. Thus it is just a pretty piece around the house and not in use at all. But I like it and it turned out the way I wanted, with the exception of the stink of course. I didn't follow a pattern but it is just a rectangle thing so I was okay. And it has my first 3 button holes ever, well actually more than my first three because I kept messing it up, but you get the idea





I like this second picture because it looks like a stuffed animal. The yarn is Cascade 220, the colour is 9434.

And coming up we have a sock in progress that has halted due to misbehaviour. It is knit in Samurai Yarns Techno Blah. I love the colour (pretty accurate in the picture) and the yarn. I also love the pattern, by Amy Swenson of IndiKnits, Universal Toe Up Sock Pattern on Knitty. It is just that I've done the heel 2 times and as you can tell from the picture, I've also ripped the heel out twice, the foot was too long both times. I'll get back to the socks soon. But I am currently obsessed with lace because of the following piece:




This is Hanging Garden Stole by Siva Harding. I took a lesson on this at the LYS to get me started. It has beads on the cast on and cast off edges and I love it. It is being knit in Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in Turquoise. I love this yarn and this pattern. Right now I am about 3 rows away from completing my 4th repeat, there are 12 total.



and a detail shot, with my attempt to show the pattern



I can hardly wait for blocking to show the pattern.

And because I adore how some people put up pictures of their kitties and I am obsessed with mine, I present to you one (of two) cats that live in my house. This is Ellie and she is sleeping on a quilt I made a few years ago.

Scared

I am shocked and scared by yesterday's shooting at Viginia Tech campus. My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by yesterday's events. For those of you who may not have heard, 33 individuals were shot and killed with many more injured, yesterday, including the shooter.

When shootings like this occur on a university or college campus it makes me question my safety at work and school. The universities try to do all they can to give us security but still things like this happen.