Blurry

I don't know why I didn't realize it, but bottlefeeding kittens is a time consuming affair. My morning/evening knitting time is spent with them for now until they can eat solids. Highland Triangle has another two inches finished and I've managed to traffic knit to the heel flap on a second sock (the blue/black ones). Last Saturday I indulged myself at my LYS and bought a few things:

• Bamboozle in Ember Glow to make Shaped Lace Tee from Knitting Lingerie Style. I swatched, got great gauge and cast on. I knitted about 8 inches of the back and thought it a bit small. I hadn't noticed the ball band has a notation "Due to elastic content use one size larger needles than you might expect to use". Arrrr. I don't like tight fitting tops much anymore so will have to rip and try over. I may try it in the round this time also.
  

• Yarn and pattern for Annie Modesitt's Ruffled Roses Scarf. This scarf is just adorable and chic and knitting the ruffle - what an ingenious idea!

• A lovely ball of On Line Supersocke Tropic.

Busy

We've been having a neighborhood cat problem for the last year and a half. Someone across the street "let out" a bunch of cats (rumor has it 30 or more). We've spayed 8 or 9 so far and placed I don't know how may kittens in homes and/or shelters. I found an abandoned litter yesterday (won't get into where) and look at this wee fellow:



He's purring! There are three (one died last night) and they are only a week old. The mother is gone so I have been bottlefeeding them. Believe it or not, it is easier to bottlefeed than it is to catch kittens or semi-feral cats. Still, it is an awful situation that could have been remedied so easily. I've been trying to trap a pregnant female for a week now and she's been the trickiest little thing.

I finished a sock last Thursday, and cast on for the second. I just love Opal sock yarn! I can't believe how fluffy and soft they are compared to the ones I knit four years ago though.



Highland Triangle is going to be very big I think. It is coming along nicely. The wool is very hairy so it is hard to see the pattern but it will block out beautifully.



If there is anything I love as much as knitting, its gardening. Flowers are starting to bloom, broccoli is coming in and we've had strawberries and lettuces for a couple of weeks now. Yellow squash is on its way, and tomatoes.



The wigelia is blooming, the roses and bridal wreath.



This is a smaller garden that is a mix of perennials and annuals. My gardening is kind of like my knitting. I do well with small areas, but have trouble "seeing" big. Come to think of it, both are rumblety-tumbley too.



Off to clean the wool room. I have Dulaan things to get out this week and need to finish them up!

Women in Art

Amazing

Oh my goodness - look at these cupcakes! What genius!

Contradictions

Renovating your house can be the worst experience ever and yet you are so glad that a decade of waiting is finally being accomplished. We did the bathroom this week. I won't bore with details of color choices, wall textures, etc., but suffice it to say, with only one bathroom in the house last week was the absolute worst experience in home repair I have ever had. It doesn't help that if your husband is a contractor, friends come to do the work so you can't behave normally when things are taking five days too long. The toilet commuted in and out of the house each morning and night. The old tub sailed out and the new tub back down the stairs (but didn't exactly sail at 450 lbs). One of my jobs was to haul out the old wood, nails and sheetrock. I managed to bag 12 contractor bags of the stuff from one 6' by 5' space!

Thursday was the worst day of all. Hot and humid - still no shower or bath since the Thursday before - it was 10:45 p.m. when I looked up to see friend contractor's 110 pound German Shepard running around the house with the resident Attic Cat hanging out of its mouth. (Attic Cat meaning the poor little thing was found very young and deprived and hence is sorely deficient in brain cells.) Hoo boy, I bellowed to holy heaven. Attic Kitty was thankfully fine, but for getting squeezed and wetting herself. SHE got a bath that evening and we spent a bit rocking in a corner.

The rotting floor has been replaced. The north (cold) wall is insulated! The tub is now a new/old claw foot tub six feet long with a proper shower enclosure. The rest of the walls are half finished. The toilet turned in its EZ Pass. I didn't get one single stitch of knitting done this last week, but I'm okay with that.

I bought an absolutely lovely knitting book last week! Knitting Lingerie Style, by Joan McGowan-Michael. Wonderful stuff.