Mighty Hunters

Since the weather has suddenly turned warm enough to open doors and windows, the cats have a compelling new hobby, watching the 'out', now with interesting smells and outdoor breezes.


This morning they're teaming up, though they quite often choose vantage points on opposite sides of the house, to cover all approaches.

As you may remember, Cookie proved his prowess not long after coming to live with us by stalking and killing a mouse who foolishly did not take the advent of a cat as an eviction notice. (It's so gratifying...I haven't heard so much a single scamper in the walls in months.)

Biscuit, on the other hand, is happy enough to watch wildlife but has had little opportunity inside the house, though he did find a lady-beetle last week that was good for half-an-hour of entertainment before he finally ate it. With every evidence of enjoyment.

So yesterday morning when I heard a buzz, and saw Biscuit go racing to the window, I thought, "Oh, good, a fly." I figured it would be a little fast for him, but I could go after it with a flyswatter when he got tired of it. But in minutes, he had it slowed down to toy speed, and was chasing it across the floor- which is when I got a good look at it, and realized what he had was a quite large wasp! I dropped my knitting and leapt up from the couch, seizing a magazine and beat it until it stopped moving. (I don't like wasps. I'm not phobic, but I've been stung several times over the years and it is never a good time. A good wasp is a dead wasp.)

Biscuit wasn't stung, so I can only assume that his impressive volume of fluff protected him. He was a little disappointed that I put an end to his fun, but being a cat of little brain, he got over it fast, and enjoyed the praise and pettings he got in compensation. His victory roll:


It proved so comfy he just hung out there for a while, or at least until Cookie came along and sniffed his belly, and he wisely decided curl up before he got pounced on.


Honestly- mice are pesky but fairly rare...bugs, on the other hand, get in all the time. I'm pretty pleased to have a Fearsome Bug-Slayer in the house!

I'm So Proud

The other day my husband came home and said, "I saw a woman sitting and knitting socks at the train station today. In self-patterning yarn."

"Cool," I said, nodding.

"I've been around knitting long enough, I guess."

"Hmm?" I said encouragingly, counting stitches.

"Well, I not only recognized what she was doing," he explained, sounding rather surprised at himself. "But I also recognized the sort of yarn she had."

"Were they toe-up or cuff-down?" I asked.

He thought for a moment, then answered confidently. "Toe-up."

He's going to learn to knit in spite of himself, I swear.

Biscuit and Cookie have continued as happy playmates. The other day, they both cuddled up side by side. On my favorite polar fleece jacket. No wonder it looks more like a cat fur jacket most of the time. (Before you ask, I didn't throw it on the floor- it was over the back of a chair when I set it down. How it got on the floor, I couldn't say. But I don't think it was an accident.)


Which is not to say that all is sunshine and kittens. Biscuit has continued to wander the house meowing in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes he's looking for Cookie (in which case the meowing is followed by a thunder of paws racing around the house, interspersed with mysterious thumps, sounds of things being knocked over, and the occasional yell when someone nips too hard). And sometimes Biscuit just seems to want people to Do Something Interesting. He hasn't quite figured out yet that what he tends to get under these circumstances is a human who scoops him up and banishes him to the sun porch, where he can talk indefinitely without waking us up. But then we've concluded that figuring things out is definitely not Biscuit's strong suit. For example, here he has failed to figure out that there is a mouse on his head.

What? Why is everyone looking at me?

And in knitting news, I took a break from knitting mittens only to be caught by a hat pattern. It's the Thorpe hat. It's a fast knit and very charming. I cast on one Friday, finished it Saturday, cast on another Saturday, finished Sunday...at that point I wanted to knit one in a different color, but I've got almost no suitable bulky weight besides the red at the moment. So I converted the pattern for worsted weight, of which I have a plenitude, and improvised some colorwork. Thanks to the vicissitudes of employment, I didn't finish the third one until today.

Here they are, in all their FO-ness:


Such delightfully cozy earflaps and cute little braided ties...I may have another one coming on.

April Fools

Alas, it is not that I play a joke on you, dear readers, but that Mother Nature has played a joke on me. Happy Spring, everyone:


Yes, that is my backyard this morning.

And while I'm posting (and since I'm feeling alliterative), I will also show you my myriad mittens:


Last night I finished the last pair, got everything labeled with size, fiber content and washing instructions, and decided that I should either have a wee lie-down, or else knit something else next. So I did both-cast on a hat and went to bed.

This morning (at far too early an hour) Biscuit was experiencing a state of general unspecified wantingness that manifested as roaming the house, meowing piteously. I tried food, water, an excursion onto the sun porch, patting, brushing etc. He liked all of these. However it was only when the humans ceased trying to lie down in a boring fashion and got up to add scenic interest to the house that he was satisfied. I think he's now settled down for a nice sleep- he's had a busy morning. And I'm about to have a busier one, as it is time for me to swallow the last of my badly needed caffeine and brave the roads. Hasta luego, amigos!

One of Those Weeks

It's been the kind of week when I'm perpetually a day behind, thinking it's Tuesday when it's really Wednesday, and Wednesday when it's really Thursday. This led me to work late as there were a couple of deadlines that hadn't so much rushed toward me as crept around to my back and were preparing to cosh me from behind.

Having hacked my way through thickets of paperwork, I figured it might be time to blog about the craft stuff, before I forget all the stories that go with these photos!

This is the project formerly known as 'secret', now revealed as a scarf. Technically, it's the Reversible Herringbone Scarf by Sammie Carraher, though I did substitute a seed stitch edging for her perfectly charming garter and rib edging. I'm not sure why, actually, except that it's the sort of thing I do, abusing perfectly good patterns in the name of individuality.

The yarn was Rowan Tapestry, which is very pretty and soft. I've been referring to the scarf as 'ocean ripples' for the delicious shading of blue into lavendar and back. I quite liked the yarn, though I did find 4 knots in 3 skeins, which was a bit more than I would have expected, especially since they're not overly large skeins.


The scarf was for my mother, whom I saw this week and who loaded me down with goodies. There was a present for Cookie and Biscuit. (They were fascinated.)


I need a long pole to put up the bird feeder, but I predict it will be popular. This was what happens when there is just one bird in the bush outside the window:


I think that a constant stream of birds will make for excellent cat entertainment.

There was catnip, which Biscuit had off the top of the refrigerator less than ten minutes after I put it up there. Fortunately I caught him before he managed to tear the bag open and scatter it all over the kitchen. (He reports that it's very good stuff, and not too old as my mother had feared.)

There was yarn for me, and some needles and notions and a book of patterns, generously passed on to me by friends of my mom's who are destashing:


I'm quite delighted- I'd slacked off in the mitten and hat department, because most of the yarn I had left was light colors, and I needed more that were bright, or at least darker. And now I have them. The blue and brown sitting on the floor are wool. So I've been distracted from casting on a new sweater by the need to cast on bright hats and mittens and sample the new yarn. Also distracted from housework (not that it takes much with me) and various other worthy projects.

I'd take some photos and blog more about it, but I have to go knit mittens now.

Serendipitous

I've been lusting for a set of KnitPicks Options interchangeable needles for a couple of years now. It's actually a good deal- if you tried to buy each size of circular needle in several lengths of cable you'd very quickly exceed the cost of the set. But of course you don't actually ever need a set all at the same time, so I kept picking up inexpensive bamboo circulars as I needed them, generally in the longest cable length I could find for maximum flexibility. But with the set, I don't have to put up with that. I can just use a shorter cable. So I finally bit the bullet, unlimbered my credit card and placed the order. They arrived this week, just in time for me to try them out on the cowl:


I originally cast this on the wooden circulars, but found both that the long cable was unwieldy and the wood has more friction with the yarn than I like. I tried switching them for DPNs, which solved the cable problems, but my long DPNs are all wood as well, and the yarn is really quite sticky. But on the new needles with a shorter cable, it worked perfectly. I was quite tempted by the wooden Options needles- they're awfully pretty- but on consideration I went for the metal tips. I have a decided preference for metal, the smoother and slipperier the better. And these worked very well. The cable joins are very smooth and don't catch the yarn at all (one of my biggest complaints with circulars). And I bought extra tips to fill in the large sizes I don't own in any type of needle, which will give me more options (no pun intended) when working in bulky weight yarns. They did (as I'd read in reviews) eventually start to come unscrewed with use, but not so often it was a problem.

I finished up the cowl yesterday, and this afternoon my sister called to say she was in the neighborhood. So there was no delay at all in getting her new cowl to her.

She was hoping to finally meet Biscuit, now that he's a little calmer, but he still isn't calm about potentially cat-eating strangers- he disappeared under the bed as soon as he heard her at the door. Still, he's hanging out in the living room and relaxing more now that he's settled in. (Sorry, Kate- maybe someday you'll actually get to meet him as opposed to just peering at him under the bed. Until then...cat pix!)


Fortunately, Cookie was there to meet and greet. Also sniff her possessions thoroughly- Kate has three cats and a dog, so there was a lot to sniff.

So this isn't all I've been knitting, but I'll save talking about the other project until I have some idea how it's going. (If it turns out that I end up stomping up and down on it shouting swear words, I'm probably going to spare you some of the gory details.)

Two-fer-Tuesday

First up, we have two socks, two days later than expected.


These are the socks that were delayed by being left at my office over Christmas. I got up to the cuff on Saturday while enjoying music at the Boston Celtic Music Festival. And they would have been done on Sunday, except I came down with a rotten virus. Not an especially bad cold as these things go, but I blew off all plans Sunday to lie on the couch with hot drinks, books and cats.

Speaking of which, Biscuit is still skittish, but he's decided that JT might not be an evil cat-eating monster after all.


Biscuit and Cookie are not quite buddies yet, but they're getting along pretty well. They circle around, touch noses and chirrup at one another. And they play chasing games, where one of them will jump out at the other, paws flapping, and the other will go tearing off across the house. A few minutes later they come tearing back with the positions reversed. Really we're quite pleased--there has been lots of romping, and a little playful batting, but no growling or hissing or serious conflict at all.

They have also discovered a common interest in cat toys:


Cookie is definitely the superior in his stalking and pouncing technique, but Biscuit makes up for lack of skill with commendable enthusiasm. Although his short Persian legs are not suited to leaping so much as propelling himself across the floor like a very fluffy mop.

Now I'm on to the next WIP, the tulip scarf, though if I get a few minutes I do need to cast on for some baby things. I'm fresh out of stock, and I've got a co-worker with a new grandchild coming in the spring. And I like to have a gift or two made up in advance, in case I need it without a lot of notice.

Happy New

1. FO- yes, the first FO of the new year is off the needles! I started it last week during the finishing marathon, got four rows in and decided it was never going to be fast enough to be done for New Year's Eve. But I liked it, so I just dumped it into a basket. However a garter rib scarf in bulky weight turns out to be just the thing for party knitting.


The New Year's Day party lasted until the wee hours, and we maxed out our spare beds if not our total crash space. (We were total wild people. We played board games and ate snack food until 2:30 AM. I even had a glass of hard cider. Like I said, wild and crazy.) Sunday the last groggy guest staggered out at noon. Jonathan and Cookie stretched out on the couch and emitted waves of sleepiness. I drank lots of coffee and went to my knitting group....

2. ....where I was given the gift of new yarn. A skein of Cindy's incredibly gorgeous hand-dyed silk. It's got to be a scarf, I think. I'll want a pattern with organic kinds of curves for the yarn. Maybe beads. Or would that be too much?


3. Cat. I finally managed to catch our newest family member in a rare moment of not hiding:


Biscuit is possibly the most timid cat I've ever met. Nevertheless, feline curiosity is bringing him more and more often out from under the bed. This evening, he even ventured briefly into the dining area. Cookie is mightily curious and not a little weirded out. For the first time today they got to within three feet of one another. And Biscuit hissed and ran away and Cookie retreated to the very top of his cat castle.

Poor babies--we can't help laughing at them, even while we feel guilty about weirding them out. But we're making progress...very, very slowly!

Satisfying

Family gathered, food eaten, gifts opened, and for an extra special gift, our new kitty Biscuit came out from under the bed and let me pat him. And tomorrow we have nowhere we need to be and nothing we need to do--and a weather prediction for 6-10 inches of snow. A perfect Christmas weekend! Hope yours is being just as lovely.

Cookie got lots of presents- we're doling them out over time to avoid toy overload. He has given his new catnip mouse a test drive and pronounced it excellent:


And my 'secret' projects have gone to their recipients...both pairs of socks (it's been a big year in socks). Here are socks for my mom, in yet another self-patterning sock yarn. My mom admired them at an early stage of production and so I saved them aside for her:
(They were project #65, so it was a while ago.)

And here are the mammoth woolly house socks I made for my sister. She was hoping for toasty warm socks and lost no time in putting these on. Super-bulkie yarn, so they're extra thick and cushy.


And I did cast on a new project Friday and finished it on the drive home, but I need better light to photograph it, so that's a post for another day.

Merry Christmas, all!