Meet Madelyn

I've been planning on adopting a cat for some time now, but first I had to move to an apartment that allows animals, and then I needed to finish unpacking.  Finally, I'm done- and I almost immediately fell in love with Madelyn.

I adopted her from Last Chance Animal Rescue (LCAR).  They have agreements with several PetSmarts in the area to put Adoption Centers in the store.  PetSmart provides the space; LCAR keeps them stocked with cats and takes care of them.  The cats come from all up and down the East Coast- LCAR reps rescue them from kill shelters and bring them down here.

Madelyn had come from a shelter in Delaware.  LCAR had named her Shelley.  She was asleep when I first saw her; in fact, I was looking at a different cat when the LCAR volunteer let her out of her cage to stretch her legs.  She (the cat, not the volunteer!) jumped in my lap when I made kissy sounds at her, put her paws on my shoulder, and touched her nose against my lips.  I looked at the volunteer and said "this cat knows how to get adopted!" A few cuddles later, and I was completely sold.  LCAR has a policy of sending cats home with their new owners that very evening (I'm not entirely sure this is a great policy, but I'm not going to go off on that tangent right now), so I rushed home to pick up my cat carrier, then back to PetSmart for my new baby.  She made things a little bit difficult- she kept lying on top of the clipboard with the adoption paperwork and trying to chew on my pen.

Poor Madelyn went by several different trial names for a day or so- I was having a lot of trouble picking one that fit her.  Finally, I settled on Madelyn (Maddie for short!).

She's 8 months old, and just about the sweetest cat I've ever met.  She loves to play, but most of all she really loves to cuddle.    I love the way she rubs her cheek against mine.  The first night, she woke me up several times for snuggles, but she is getting better about letting me sleep through the night now that she realizes that she can have cuddle time on a regular basis.  She even lets me knit, as long as I let her lie on or next to me and take frequent breaks to pet her.

I took Maddie to the vet a couple of days after I adopted her, and it turns out that Maddie has small amounts of three different parasites.  The treatment takes 10 days (5 days of powder, 10 days of pills), then we have to wait three weeks before the vet does another test to make sure that they're all completely out of her system.  Until then, Maddie doesn't get to meet any other animals.  We've finished the powder days, and just have 5 more pill days left.  Honestly, though, of all things that could be wrong with her, this is not as bad as it could be.  I'm just grateful that it's not worse.  It's inconvenient, but she doesn't seem to be uncomfortable since she has them in such small amounts, and it's fixable.  Besides, Maddie is totally worth it.

FO: Socrates Gloves

I made these gloves for my aunt's birthday, which is today.  However, since I'm also in the midst of packing for a move (moving date is December 17th!), I cut this really really close.  I finished the thumbs and wove in the ends last night!  I had to settle for a steam block, instead of my normal nice blocking bath, because I was concerned that they wouldn't dry in time.

I chose the Socrates Gloves pattern because it looked nice and simple with a bit of interesting lace.  For a first pair of gloves, I didn't want to do anything too complicated!  The Knitpicks Palette came from my stash.

The pattern was easy enough to understand, and I did enjoy working on them for awhile- however, by the time I was done I was cursing the fact that humans have 10 fingers!  Glove fingers are kind of fiddley to work (although they went much faster when I switched to 4 inch DPNS instead of the longer ones I had been using.)  Additionally, you have to join and break the yarn after each finger.  Including the original cast-on tails, that means that there were 22 ends to weave in.  On the bright side, I did get a lot of calls to get utilities set up for my move while I was weaving in those ends....

Nevertheless, they're done and they look and feel very nice.  I think they should keep my aunt's hands nice and warm this winter, and be a nice birthday surprise!

Pattern: Socrates Gloves
Source: Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette
The Verdict:  I love these gloves, and I hope that my aunt will, too!

This post is part of Tami's Amis' Finished Object Friday. Head on ever to see what everyone else has accomplished this week!

WIP Wednesday: 11 Shawls 2011

I’ve been rather absent on the blog as of late- to be honest, I keep composing posts, and then something goes wrong!  I forget to post them, or I can’t find my camera, or something.  I’m going to try to be a little bit better about this in the future.

For today’s Work In Progress Wednesday, rather than show you pictures of my current WIPs (has anyone seen my camera cord, by the way?), I’d like to talk about my year-long Work In Progress, 11 Shawls 2011.

I joined the 11 Shawls 2011 group in January with the goal of, you guessed it, knitting 11 shawls this year.  So far, I have completely finished six:

• A Girl’s Best Friend
• Revontuli
• Spring Meadow Clapotis
• Pecan Clapotis
•  Fanette 
• Summer Mystery Shawlette 

I have three shawls in progress:

•  
• Truly Tasha’s Shawl: I have been working on this one since January.  It’s kind of boring, because the main part is all garter stitch. Additionally, knitting bulky-weight yarn on size 5 needles requires me to push the needles through a lot more, and I was wearing a hole in my finger.  By the time I found a leather thimble to combat this problem, it was so hot I didn’t want a big wool/alpaca project in my lap.  Now that it’s getting cooler, however, I think I might be able to make more progress.  
• Summer Flies Shawlette: I’m finished knitting this; all I need to do is weave in the ends and block it.  I’ve been putting off doing this because I started doing Pilates, and the area on the floor where I would block it is also the same area that I need for my exercises.  I may just have to skip the Pilates for a few days or try to find somewhere else to block it.  
• Seascape Stole:  I’m about half-way through this pattern.  I really enjoy working on it, but it requires a lot of attention and is not something I can work on while distracted, so I’m limited in the times that I can work on it.

This brings us to a total of 9, leaving 2 more shawls that I need to knit.  For the last two, I think I will make:

• Hawthorne: I bought the yarn for this at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and have been meaning to make it for awhile.  I love Susanna I.C.’s designs- crescents are  such a flattering and versatile shape!  I’m going to knit this in Miss Babs Wowza in a gorgeous deep red color.   
• Kudzu Shawlette: During the last Dizzy Sheep Spin-Off, I purchased 2 Bags of Knit.  These are $10 paper bags filled with mystery yarn.  One of the bags had three skeins of Classic Elite Firefly in a gorgeous light burnt-orange color.  I had never seen this yarn in person before, but I love the sheen it has to it.  I probably would not have ordered this color for myself (I’m not normally an orange person), but it is beautiful, and I’m glad they sent this one to me!  I think it wants to be a flaming Kudzu Shawlette.

I think I’d probably be further along towards my goal of 11 shawls had I not rediscovered my love of knitting socks- I think I’m going to aim for 12 socks in 2012!  Is anyone else working on the 11 Shawls 2011 challenge?  How are you doing with it?

Head on over to Tami’s Amis’s Work in Progress Wednesday to see what everyone else is working on!

FO: Fanette

When I saw Fanette in the Summer 2011 issue of KnitCircus, I thought it was pretty, and it went into the queue. However, it probably would have sat in the queue for a while longer (my queue is long!) had it not been for a Knit-a-long going on in the KnitCircus Ravelry Group. It seemed like a fun idea, however, so I decided to cast on and join in!

I love the lines that the slipped stitches make down the body of the shawl. I ended up adding two extra rows to the body, because at that point, it seemed like I had so much yarn left that I figured I couldn’t possibly use it all on the lace portion! It’s a good thing that I didn’t add any more extra rows, because I was worried about running out of yarn towards the end there- I only had 2 grams (of a 100 gram skein) left!

I used Malabrigo Sock yarn for the shawl. This is probably one of my favorite yarns. It’s super-soft, and the colors are gorgeous. I happened to have a skein of it in Velvet Grapes in my stash that was absolutely perfect.

I really enjoyed working on this. The pattern is simple enough that I didn’t get frustrated, but complicated enough to keep me interested. My only complaint was that the lace pattern moved every row. This made it impossible to separate the lace repeats with stitch-markers. I think it was worth it, though!

Pattern: Fanette

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock

Colorway: Velvet Grapes

Yardage: 431.2 yards

Modifications: None

Ravelry Project Page

This post is part of Tami's Amis' Finished Objects Fridays. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

FO: Alison Shawl

I finally finished my Alison Shawl. This shawl was a long time in the making. I start it in 2010, and I honestly can’t even remember why it ended up in hibernation. I found it in my UFO bin*, and decided that it was about time that I finished it! I am thrilled with the finished result, and am not sure why I put it off so long! I wish I could count this in 11 Shawls 2011 but, alas, since it was started last year it does not count.

This thing is really big and warm. It’s a great size for wrapping around me when I’m freezing (which is most of the time, in my office building!). Not only is it functional, but the lace pattern adds a bit of elegance. I love the color, too!

Berroco Ultra Alpaca is such a wonderful yarn. It’s soft and makes you just want to cuddle up with it and the colors are gorgeous. It also has fairly decent stitch definition, but is fuzzy enough to be a little forgiving of mistakes.

The only downside is that this shawl is kind of heavy. I’m a bit afraid that it will stretch out. I suppose if that happens, though, a good sock and re-blocking will fix it.

I made a few modifications to the pattern. First of all, the pattern calls for K3tog. Knitting three stitches together hurts my hands when I’m doing a bunch of them, so I decided to do a centered double decrease instead. I slipped two stitches knitwise, knit one stitch, and then passed the slip stitches over. It’s way less complicated than it sounds, I promise!

I decided to omit the four rows of garter stitch at the end of the shawl. The shaping of the shawl through the lace pattern naturally makes points at the bottom, and I felt like the garter stitch smoothed out these points a bit, even more than blocking could fix. I was concerned that the pattern would curl without the garter stitch, but it seems to have blocked out okay. I only wish that I had decided to omit the garter stitch before knitting those 1,124 stitches, then having to rip them out!

I also decided to go without the picot edging. Picot edging can be really pretty, but it seems like the only way to get it to lay flat is to pin out each one of the little picot bumps. I have neither the patience nor sufficient pins to make this happen. Additionally, when I tried the picot edging, some of the little picot peaks were lining up kind of weirdly with the natural points in the shawl, looking off-center. I ended up just doing my favorite nice, stretchy bind-off. Basically, instead of the typical bind off, you knit the two stitches together instead of pulling one stitch over the other.

Pattern: Alison Shawl

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca

Colorway: Oceanic Mix

Yardage: 806.3

Project Ravelry Page

Modifications: Centered double decrease instead of K3tog, no garter stitch at the end, no picot bind-off.

This post is part of Tami's Amis' FO Fridays. Head on over there to see what everyone else is working on!

*“unfinished object,” not “unidentified flying object,” for those of you who are not knitting initiated.

WIP Wednesday

It’s been a pretty decent week for knitting this week! We went to Kings Dominion on Saturday, and the drive gave me some time to work on my sock.* I am currently working on the leg. I’m not sure how high I want these socks to go- I’m kind of tempted to just keep knitting until I get close to the end of the skein, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m going to keep trying them on as I go until I decide they’re the right height, I think. I am loving the texture that I get from the pattern, and the sock seems to fit really well so far.

I bound off the Summer Flies shawlette. The picot bind-off took a while, but it was worth it. Now, I just need to weave in the ends and block it. I need to figure out exactly how I want to block it out- I’m thinking about maybe pinning out each of the picot points, but I may need to buy more pins if I do that. One of my sets of pins seems to have gone missing!

I restarted my Seascape stole. I had started knitting it last year, then it got put aside and forgotten. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember what size needles I was using,** so I ended up biting the bullet and frogging my progress. Luckily, I hadn’t gotten too far, so it wasn’t too huge of a tragedy. I’ve started on chart A, and I’m not too far along yet, but I am remembering why I liked this pattern before. I also love the yarn- the colors are perfect for the wavy-like pattern, and it doesn’t really pool.

Last but not least, I have been working on knitting some catnip mice. I made a couple of these for the boyfriend’s cat, Zoey, for Christmas, and they went over really well- so well, in fact, that the cat kept stealing them out of his bag when he was packing them to bring with them to visit his parents. The pattern is really simple, and the nupps for the ears are much easier to knit using the tutorial on the Knitty Blog. I’ve decided to use the left-over scraps of yarn from other projects to make these. I’m hoping to have a bunch done by the next time I go to visit my parents, so that I can felt them in their washing machine (I have to use the communal one in the basement to do laundry at my complex, and it costs a lot of quarters!) After felting, they just need to be stuffed and sewn up. One will go to Zoey, because hers doesn’t seem to be very catnippy anymore,*** one will be saved for the cat that I intend to adopt as soon as I move to a cat-friendly apartment next winter, and the rest will be donated to shelter kitties.

What are you all working on this week? Head on over to Tami’s Amis to see what everyone else is doing.

*The boyfriend has complained of the noise my metal needles make when he’s in the car with me, so I packed a bamboo needle project.

**Bad knitter! Always make notes in Ravelry!

***This probably has something to do with the fact that she kept dunking it in her water bowl and making catnip tea.

Book Review: Outlander Series

Lately, I’ve been reading a series of books that I have been thoroughly enjoying, and I wanted to tell you all a little bit about them, too, so that you can enjoy them if you want. The books are part of the Outlander series by Diana Galbadon. I’m currently on book 4, Drums of Autumn.

The basic premise is that the protagonist, Claire, accidentally walks through a gap in time from Scotland in the 1940s to the 1740s. In doing so, she leaves behind her husband, Frank. As you can imagine, her modern(ish) clothing and attitude does cause some significant clashes and problems while she is there- most notably, she was thought by the first locals that she encountered to be a prostitute, because of her knee-length thin cotton dress. Although at first she wants nothing more than to escape back to her own time, she begins to settle in and make a life in her new world. She had been a nurse during World War II, and her medical knowledge proves to be very useful in making a name for herself as a healer. She also ends up forced to marry again, a handsome Scotsman named Jamie.

One thing that I found really interesting was that the author never actually intended to write the first book for publication. She started writing the novel as a practice exercise, and it pretty much took on a life of its own, and started a whole series!

I don’t want to tell you much more about the series, because I’m afraid I’ll give something important away and spoil the books. They’re incredibly good, though. I’ve been checking them out from the library on my Nook, because they’re kind of long and I’d really rather not have to tote them around. The problem, however, is that I can only borrow a book from the library for two weeks (and I can’t renew because there is a waiting list). Each of these books seems to get successively longer. The Drums of Autumn, which I downloaded on Wednesday, is 1,050 pages long. I think (hope?) I can manage to finish it in the allotted time, but I’m concerned what will happen when I get to the end of the series, if they books continue to grow in length!