Shaved Kitties

So, Molly and Loverbunny were outside cats until we moved. We live on a main road, so it was too dangerous to keep them outside. When moved in, however, they still had the outdoor mentality of "must eat food before someone else does". So, they have no idea of when to quit eating. In the last few months, they have gotten a little chunky. I noticed they also weren't cleaning themselves as well as they should be, and so.... they are now on a diet, and they got their hair shaved. They aren't too happy about their diet, but I do think they like being shaved... Molly especially. She has been prancing around and showing off since....

 

 

I know she doesn't look happy in the picture, but she always looks grumpy... really, she is acting very cute with her new look.

Still working slowly on the pea pod baby sweater. I'm on the sleeves. I've been working the last three nights, so that has really slowed me down on it. Maybe I'll make progress this weekend! I also haven't forgotten my Brea bag, but I'm having trouble ordering a handle... I also plan on finishing up the sewing on my little Crafty Alien raccoon this weekend.

I also finally got an invite to Ravelry. It is well worth it's wait!!!!!!! You can find me here.

Well, I'm off to go scrape a little wallpaper in the library. We've had in four electricians, two heating and air people, a plaster person (what title do they have?), a plumber, and a roofer. So, once we choose who we want to hire, and get the finances straight, we'll be ready to work.

If you have nothing nice to say....

I've been feeling down lately, so I haven't blogged anything.  You know, the whole if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all kind of thing.

Still working on my pea pod sweater.  I'm close to finishing the body, and will be starting on the sleeves soon.  I'm thinking about the socks I am going to make my mom... thinking maybe the  monkey socks would be good with the safari Lorna's Laces I got.

One of my friends was in from California last night, and we went out to dinner, then she came over.  The first thing she said was that she couldn't wait to see Amos.  It was sad... I had to tell her he passed away in December.  He was such a good kitty, everyone liked him.

Maybe next time I blog, I'll have something more exciting to say.

pea pod baby sweater

 

The pea pod baby sweater in progress. That big brown string is a make-shift stitch marker.
Speaking of stitch markers, a girl in my town makes jewelry, and I am going to hire her to make me some cute stitch markers. I hope she doesn't care that I am getting ready to promote her etsy shop... but she is very talented. She has some cute earrings up right now! E.T.B. Accessories.
We went to Louisville, and I went to a LYS there called the Knit Nook. It was such a cute shop, friendly staff, and I highly recommend checking it out if you are ever in Louisville!

Quick Edit to add the link to the Pea Pod Baby Sweater pattern and picture!  It's a free pattern from Interweave Knits.

Pea Pod Baby Sweater and a Silent Paint Remover

Well, I have cast on (and already frogged) the Pea Pod Baby Sweater. I am now on the 1st repeat of the Leaf Lace Panel for the sweater, and I'm just not sure how it's going to look. I haven't done any lace except for a sock, and I question how good I am doing. I am using my Knit Picks Options #5 (I knit flat stuff even on circulars.) and Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

Right now, I am currently sitting here waiting for a delivery. Our Silent Paint Remover. It requires a signature upon delivery, and well, our doorbell isn't very good. If I go upstairs or to the back bedroom, I won't be able to hear it.

Well, after I got over my sickness, I went on a yarn store spree. I went to all three yarn stores within an hour of my house, and I bought something from each and every one of them. At Magpie Yarns, I bought the newest Interweave Knits magazine. Then, at ReBelle, she was getting in a shipment of Crafty Alien kits, and I just had to buy a kitten and the raccoon. (In fact, I bought them before she could get them on the shelf.) My raccoon is ready to be sewn together soon:

To end up my yarn store spree, I went to the Stitch Niche and got my Debbie Bliss yarn for this baby sweater.

One other very cool thing that happened..... I got an email from Guido of the podcast, It's a Purl, Man telling me I won from a contest he was having! He had a survey about his podcast a while back and by answering the survey, you were entered in the drawing. I won the book Hollywood Knits, and I can't wait to get it. Check out his podcast if you haven't heard about it yet!

Tomorrow, I am going to go with my husband to Louisville. He has a work conference, and I'm tagging along. While he does his conference thing in the day, I am going to shop and find some knitting stores.

Sick knitting

I missed some work this weekend.  I've had a stomach virus.  This is what I've done:

Bats and the 7 Things Meme

Well, I have no knitting updates, and really nothing too exciting to say, but I don't want my blog to sit unattended for days.  I work this weekend, so I thought I'd add a post now.

First of all... how do you get rid of bats?  I *thought* we had bats in our attic because the last two times I was up there, I thought I heard one.  Everyone, including my husband, tried to appease me.  It was mice, birds, my imagination....  Even one of my patients, who knew my family, assured me that it was probably just squirrels.

But, last night, we took some friends up there, and a bat nose dived at us.   I took off running with the female friend right behind me.  The guys tried to act macho and stay up there, but I could tell they were shaken up a little.

Now, on to the 7 things meme.   No one tagged me, but I'm doing it anyway.

1.  I have two degrees, BA in Art and my BSN (nursing).  I also finished up all Pre-Pharmacy courses.

2.  My family jokingly calls me the cat whisperer.  Give me enough time, and I can make friends with any cat.  Also, it seems cats randomly find me.  I've saved several cats in the last few years.  The latest was Poe, who now lives with a friend's daughter, who I found bleeding from the mouth and nose in the middle of a road.  (She is a happy, healthy kitty now.)

3.  I grew up in Eastern KY.   My family didn't have city water until I was almost a teenager.  When I was a baby, it snowed in our house.   I have pictures.  I didn't realize we would have been considered poor until I was an adult.

4.  I have been to China.  I can speak a little Mandarin, but not well.

5.  I have a thyroid disorder, hypothyroidism.  It makes me unusually tired at times.

6.  We bought our home to restore in November of 2006.  It's our dream home.

7.  My dad has 11 brothers and sisters.  I have 22 living cousins from that side.

Planning future projects

I finally had time to knit a little today. I am working away on the Brea gusset still. Will order my handle and button today, too. By the time it gets here, I should be ready to sew it all together.

I've been daydreaming about future projects. I really shouldn't be because I have too many unfinished ones....

After the plumbing is fixed, we will be redoing the upstairs bathroom. There is this wooden window shutter that has four open panels. Right now, some really nasty stained fabric is in the openings, but I am thinking of knitting some lace panels to replace them with. You can see it in the photo below.... any ideas of what pattern I could use? Or what yarn? I am going to put some new white bead board up, wallpaper, tear that stuff out from around the tub, and put up a Victorian tub shower attachment.



Also, I am still trying to figure out what to do with the yarn I bought at Shakertown. It actually makes me nuts to have stuff in my stash that doesn't have a purpose..... an assigned "to do". I have 630 yards of 100% wool Red Clover... here is a picture... any ideas?


Back to work tonight.

Oh, and someone emailed me asking why I didn't blog about nursing anymore. Well, I started out blogging about nursing school, but that's over. I don't like to mention even vague references about anything or anyone because of the privacy laws. You just never know. I also do so much nursing these days, I don't like thinking too much about it at home. I practically live at the hospital it seems, so I enjoy the other parts of my life while at home. Hope that explains it.

Sealed door open!!

I have absolutely no knitting to show you. I haven't done any knitting all weekend. Not even the hint of stockinette stitch. We have been tearing this house down.... the ceiling of the butler's pantry got torn out so they can fix the upstairs bathroom plumbing.

The best thing this weekend, though.... we got a sealed door open. A pocket door at that. It sealed the soon to be library shut from the foyer. Whoever owned this house sealed it shut by locking it, then caulking around it on both sides. The door is off it's track right now, so it doesn't open or close smoothly... but that will get fixed whenever we can find someone who understands the mechanics of pocket doors.

Maybe now that we've accomplished some things around the house, I can rest and knit some tonight.