Knitting Sandwich

squares of joy -april edition

the april square for my square-a-month blanket for bundles of joy is completed:

it didn't turn out exactly as i envisioned... there were less of the darker blues left than i thought (all but the navy blue is from my first ripple afghan) i threw in a little navy there at the end (from my march ripple afghan) but still, it's not quite right in my mind.  but i hope once it's mixed in with the other eight squares it probably won't look so odd.

three down, six to go!

in other news: eight years ago today in an abandoned lot in austin, tx the best cat in the entire world was born.

happy birthday to my sweet sweet pippin!

-melissa

making time for spinning

while lindsey was visiting she asked to see my spindle, and as i got it out i realized that i couldn't remember the last time i had used it!  the fiber i was spinning i had started waaaaay back before leaving for claire's wedding in october!

i made a point of making time to finish that braid of roving last week.

i named her peachy-green jelly bean (and i thought of rizzo from grease every time i said it).  she's 196yds of 100% handspun corriedale.

i seem to keep forgetting how much i like to spin!  i need to be more conscious of making time to spin.  because goodness knows, if i was left to my own devices i might just ripple away until the end of time.

i don't know if you remember or not, but back when i first began to spin i started making a log cabin rectangle with all the little skeins of yarn i was spinning up.  i've kept adding to it from time to time and have managed to create a decent sized rectangle.

it's reached the point where i need to decide what i'm going to do with it.... claire had suggested making a cushion cover.  i thought this was brilliant and so my next spinning project is going to be spinning up this natural fiber from smokey mountain fibers on etsy to make the backside.

can't you just almost smell the sheepy goodness?!?!  oh i can't wait to get my hands in there and start spinning!

-melissa

ps - a while ago rachel asked how luna was doing because i only seem to post pictures of my cats.  so today when i was outside photographing yarn/fiber i decided to get rach a picture of luna.  turns out luna's scared of my camera and wouldn't come near me.... so i just zoomed in as far as i could and this is what you get:

 

yarn along 03.14.12 - kittycat edition

joining up with ginny at small things for the weekly yarn along.

this week i am rippling along (pattern: neat ripple by lucy at attic24 - rav link) and have just finished reading the cats of rockville station by jean craighead george.  the book is my pick for the new bookclub that lily has created.  here are the "rules:" there are only two members - lily and i - and we each read a book, then trade and read the other person's book.  then we meet at the coffee shop, eat a giant cookie and talk about the books.  

we're supposed to have our first meeting next wednesday after school and we still need to trade.  she keeps changing her choice of books though (every book she finishes she decides is the book she wants to choose), so i need to pin her down before i start reading.

and speaking of cats..... here's some completely adorable shots i got of peapod this past weekend:

books, yarn, and cats... what more could you ask for?

-melissa

deadline knitting

lily's birthday is this friday, which gives me just two more days to finish up her birthday top.  i'm on pace to make it with maybe even a wisp of time to spare... but pippin's keeping a close eye on me just to make sure.

a stern yet handsome taskmaster.  who can argue with that?

meow.

-melissa

it's only fitting this project ends with a tribute

i began my pair of turkish bed socks (rav pattern link) copying claire because she was making a pair and i wanted some for myself.  so it seems only fitting that i end this project copying claire with a tribute to her completely charming photo shoot.

i'm totally in love with these socks.  i've been wearing them around the house almost constantly since finishing them (usually over another pair of longer socks so my ankles/calves stay warm).  

i had a couple thoughts while lying in bed having brian take pictures of my socks, (a) my bedding is no where near as coordinated as claire's, and (b) it sure is hard to stage a photo shoot involving bed covers without getting some assistance from kitten.

claire - was lama as helpful as peapod?

-melissa

luna's loss could be your gain

luna got this book for christmas from my mother-in-law's insane cat.  a very funny gift, but as it turns out i already own a copy.

i decided luna doesn't really need her own book, since she can't read and doesn't even have thumbs she can't really do many crafts anyway.

sooooo.... if you'd like your very own copy of "crafting with cat hair" (and who wouldn't?!?!) just leave a comment.  if more than one person is interested, i'll come up with some clever way to decide who wins.  (if you want to up your chances you could leave a cat hair themed poem or somesuch silliness.)

i'm happy to ship anywhere - spread the cat-hair-crafting love, i'd say.

-melissa

introducing peapod

i am happy to announce that we have a new furry member of our family:

introducting peapod the kitten.

needless to say, we are completely and totally in love with her.

happily, she is getting along very well with both pippin and luna.

i dont' think we could have possibly asked for a better, dare i say it... more purrrrrfect kitten!

-melissa

twas the knights before christmas

like it?  i've got more... "oh holy knights"... "silent knights"... "it came upon a mid-knight clear"...

i swung back and forth between christmas puns and saying things like "silly english k-nig-hits" and "it is but a flesh wound!  come back and i'll bight your legs off!" while making these little guys.

aren't they just the cutest?  they're cork knights (pattern by lucy ravenscar - rav link).  

two good knights and two bad knights, so they can battle.  then i decided they needed something to battle over, so i crocheted up a castle, complete with drawbridge and moat (thanks for the moat idea claire).

it came out a little floppier than i had intended, but overall i'm really pleased with it.

i hope the recipient likes it as much as i do!

in other, non-sweatshop news it's still snowing.  here's today's accumulation:

i just love snow days!

-melissa

p.s. isn't pippin handsome?

 

and the pupper makes eight.

yes eight.

that would be:

three humans

two cats

two guinea pigs

and now, one dog!

introducing our dear luna.

she's a 3 to 5 year old husky-mix.  we adopted her from our local shelter a little over two weeks ago and we just couldn't love her more!

she's sweet and smart and is just the perfect addition to our family.  

even pippin is getting over his fears, coming out of hiding once in a while, and getting used to living with a dog.  (which is good, because i have been missing my constant kitty companion.)

-melissa

wheep! wheep!

i don't know if i've mentioned our guinea pigs on the blog before or not, but we have two - petunia & leaf.  petunia is the grey one, she's 10 mo old and leaf is the two-toned cowlicked one, she's only 5 weeks old!  (claire's been asking for updated pictures of leaf, so here you go clairey!)

we were out of town last weekend for a wedding and we asked one of lily's little friends (along with her parents) if she would like to pig-sit for us while we were gone.  she loves our little furry friends almost as much as we do and she was thrilled to help us out.

as a thank you i crocheted her up this little stuffed guinea pig.  it's the fuzzy guinea pig pattern by june gilbank (pattern or rav link).

the pattern called for bulky weight yarn, but i used some dk weight i had in my stash, so she came out teeny tiny.

she was well-received and christened "olive" by her new owner.  lily has already promised her friend that if she pig-sits again i'll make her another stuffed pig, so expect to see more of these little guys popping up during the next few months!  

-melissa