Warm

It’s snowing right now and I have this rice heating pad and cosy all warmed up and wrapped around my neck.  As soon as I finish writing it up, I’ll post the super easy one-skein pattern.

Happy Holidays

The Mr. put together this little holiday card for me and I thought it was so wonderful that I’d share it with y’all.

While sitting on my lap

When it’s cold out, I always have my shitty kitty sitting on my lap to keep warm. I love the fur poking out of her ears, just like an old man. Kally, Kally, old man ears!

And I can’t help but adore her short little stub of a tail. She makes knitting a little bit of a physical challenge - I haven’t yet mastered knitting behind my back - but she’s so much better about getting into the yarn. She knows that the millisecond she tries to eat the alpaca, she gets kicked off the nice warm lap onto the cold, cold floor.

Happy Holidays Interwebs!

The Cuteness

Dear Camera Battery Charger,

Where are you? Because I can’t find you, I did not capture the cuteness of shitty kitty stretched out in a sunny spot of the rug - the eggplant rug that is kitty crack, you know, the rug she can’t walk past without scratching, the one she’ll actually stop chasing Teenie Sardini to scratch, and she loves chasing Teenie Sardini. Not only did I miss capturing the cuteness, but I could not share the cuteness with the internets, and we all know the only reason for the internets is cute cat pictures. Seriously, where are you?

Best,

Picture-less eliza

P.S. I love this hat.

I *heart* Ravelry

Since joining Ravelry, I’ve totally neglected this here blog. And I’ve had a major case of KADD - so I’ll distract you with some cute stuff like the little munchkin in her February Sweater (and her totally cute moma).

Speaking of baby sweaters, I knit the Pea Pod Baby Sweater for a silent auction.

I lurve the ducky buttons, but not the formica glare from my lovely desk at work. I used 1.5 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Taupe to knit the 12 month size.

Speaking of cute - check out this alpaca from the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair.

Mr. Jasper is from Heber, Utah, and his fleece is so insanely soft - I’m using it for the Clementine Shawlette from last spring’s Interweave. Mmmmm… Home-grown alpaca… Must keep completely hidden from Fraulein ShittyKitty…

A long, long time ago, I knit a small version of the Counterpane Carpet Bag from Handknit Holidays using two skeins of Manos and setting it up for different handles. It’s almost finished. I still need to sew a lining (already have the linen) and attach the handles (already finished using KP’s tutorial), but I just haven’t felt compelled to finish the bag.

It’s so pretty (I highly recommend making this bag in Manos!), but I haven’t carried anything other than my school bag for so long…

Speaking of a long time ago - I finished these socks, but only have this old in-progress photo:

Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks with Reynolds Soft Sea Wool. Completely delicious sock yarn that makes a nice dense sock. Just don’t let the Mr. put them in the wash. They went in the dryer and I can still wear them, but it takes a lot of work to get them on. Perhaps a finished, post-dryer photo shoot is in order?

Thermal. Motherfucking frustrating. Both sleeves are finished and the body is giving me a massive headache. It’s knit in the round and there is a problem with things lining up the way I like them. I’m really fussy and super picky and I’m sure if I were actually able to not be so fussy, not so insanely crazy about the little details, I would be like everyone else who didn’t have a problem with this sweater. I’d probably be wearing it right now. But, in my size the right sleeve is centered around knit stitches and the left sleeve is centered around purl stitches and I.CAN’T.DEAL.WITH.IT. I’ve been trying a few things here and there to make it work, but I’m not there yet… so I’m working on socks.

Super bright and happy fire on the mountain hippie socks, reusing photos and thinking about a holiday gift for shitty kitty.

Guilty little pleasure…

I was flipping through the Webs catalog when I saw this photo

I turned to Kally and said, “Holy shitskee - a contestant from America’s Next Top Model is actually working! She really is lovely and those eyes are still so intense,” and Kally said,

“Dude, trying to nap.”

“But Ms. Shittykitty, you know America’s Next Top Model is so much fun to watch.”

“Seriously. Will you go away if I say ’shtykity has napin?’”

Dish Rag Tag

My dish rag is all pack up and in the mail… GO TEAM!

And look what I happened to find in my dish rag drawer:

While on vacation

Shhhhhh… be vewy, vewy quiet, I’m hunting gwasses, heheheheh.

Socks, Socks, Socks, Socks and Thermal

I haven’t finished the modified Artichoke socks yet.

I’ve been knitting as fast as my little fingers will knit to try and finish up a pair of socks for my sockapalooza pal that needed to be in the mail last week.

Oops.

The good news is that I washed them last night and they’ll be in the mail today. I used Socktopia’s Eleanor pattern, but added a slip stitch heel and lined up the gusset decreases to follow with the eyelet pattern. On the second sock, I knit the eyelet pattern going in the opposite direction for a little fun.

I wouldn’t feel so bad about getting my socks out a week late if my pal hadn’t been on time. I received my socks on Saturday.

They are the Undulating Rib Socks from Favorite Socks, knit by blogless Jodee. I have to say, she picked out the most beautiful yarn! Look at those lovely greens, blues and purples -

The yarn is hand-dyed by Sophie’s Toes in the Tapestry colorway. Simply stunning! And the socks fit wonderfully.

I’ve also been trying to knit up this ball of STR that is so bright. Insanely bright. But I LOVE the colors. I’m calling them my hippie Jaywakers. I think I’m the last person on the planet to knit these socks. Seriously. I’ve tried to knit this pattern before and struggled with the fit, but I’d never tried with STR. I’ve also tried several patters for this yarn and the pooling was unbearably fugly. It seems that the Jaywalker pattern and the striping nature of STR go together very well, making a pair of very happy hippie socks.

I’ve also been plugging away at a Thermal sleeve in Cocoa Gloss,

starting with a tubular cast on and a lot of thinking and tinkering to get the increases to line up the way I wanted them to. My fussiness gets worse with each project and I find myself modifying so many things - pretty much using the patterns as guidelines.

I’m going on a much needed vacation next week and am packing Thermal with me. I think it will be a perfect in-the-car project. And we’re going somewhere where the temperatures are lower than what I’m used to for mid-August - I don’t think I’ll mind a bit of wool in my lap. Just in case it’s warmer than I’m planning, the socks are coming with me too.

It looks like the shitty kitty is bored. I guess it’s time to go play. Mrawh!