Ravelympics

It's been a busy week or so since my last post. (Why do I wait so long between posts?)

First up, Carmine is no longer with us. It turned out that he was older than a year old, and was FliV (I think that's right -- feline leukemia) positive. Very, very positive. I know we made the right decision but it was tough. On the other hand, we've seen a lot more of Lenny and Squiggy since they basically disappeared while Carmine was around.

Greg has been very busy with his new tools!

He sprayed some coats of polyurethane on the aquarium table:


And here's the finished table:

Isn't it gorgeous? It'll sit for a few more days to let the finish really harden, and then we'll get it set up in the living room with the fish tank.


Thursday night Greg and I went to see the opera Rigoletto at the Tulsa Opera. It was great! It was the final dress rehearsal, so our seats were really good. It's wonderful knowing people behind the scenes who got us tickets (thanks Lena and Somer!).


Friday was the school carnival at the kids' school, which was torture for the adults but the kids loved it.

They entered the Twinkie decorating contest, and here are their entries:


Those are Gillian's penguins, and Ryan did a car ("it's NOT a train, it's a CAR!"):

They both won ribbons so they were thrilled.

We won one of the class baskets! It was filled with all kinds of gardening stuff:


Now we're eager for the weather to warm up so we can get started on the garden.


During the Olympics, there's an event called the Ravelympics during which knitters (and other fiber crafters) attempt to finish certain projects. I managed to finish a pair of socks for the WIPs Dancing (Work In Progress) category, and I ripped out an almost-finished pair of socks for the Aerial Unwind category (no pic at the moment since they're just two balls of yarn again).

Here's the finished pair:


I really like the heel on this sock, and I'll probably use it from now on. There's no picking up of stitches!


I also got a quilt done for Calista, again using glow in the dark thread. Cute, huh?


That's it for the moment! Thankfully I don't have a lot going this week so I can concentrate on getting another two quilts finished. (I hope I haven't just doomed myself. LOL!)

New Furry Family Member

Last night Greg got adopted by a kitten. :-)

He went out to his truck after work and heard meowing, and finally coaxed a kitten out from under the bed of his truck. He was cold, dirty, and *very* hungry. (The kitten, not Greg. LOL!) I think he's around three months old, and he's really friendly.

As soon as we brought him into the garage he headed right for the food bowl and chowed down for about five minutes.

Gillian came out and said "What happened to Lenny???? How'd he get SMALL?!?!"

So now we have three orange tabby cats.





He's very, very friendly. He really wants to be picked up and held, which is great because Lenny and Squiggy aren't into that so much and Gillian would be perfectly happy carrying around a cat all the time.

This kitten has managed to chase off both Lenny and Squiggy, who outweigh him by quite a lot. So far there hasn't been anything more than hissing on the new kitty's part so we'll see how things shake out. Lenny and Squiggy don't seem too put out, thank goodness. We put out a second set of food and water bowls so that all the kitties can eat without too much fuss hopefully.


On to other things. I realized that I never posted about my eReader! Greg bought me a Sony Touch Reader a few weeks ago, and not a day has gone by that I haven't used it. It's fabulous!

I even keep knitting patterns on there:

I love that I can make notes and write on the pattern just like on paper:


I love it!


Now I need to go be productive while I have time today, since tomorrow is my huge day (volunteering in the lunch room at school, then bowling for me, bowling for Gillian after school, then Panera for knitting that evening).

I hope you're all having a great week!

Quill Lace Socks finished, with Pictures!

Today I managed to finish the Upside-Down Quill Lace Socks!

Those are the finished socks, with the amount of yarn left over from each ball. The small pile on the far left has only 1.5 yards!!! I weighed the larger one and by my calculations it has more than 17 yards. That's quite a discrepancy! The socks are just a tad shorter than I'd like, but I still really like them.

The kitties had to come and investigate, too:


And then they had to "help" because of course I wanted them to help model the socks, didn't I?!?!

Right sock, with Lenny making sure the camera wasn't going anywhere (by rubbing on it, of course).

And Squiggy, making sure that he's not left out. (Lenny is behind my feet).

I'm pretty excited to have these finished because now I can start on the Scroll Lace Socks for Rebecca!

It's Like Christmas!

Today the mail man brought me THREE packages, and they all had yarn in them!

First up, the yarn from The Knitter:

One ball is from the contest at I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can and I bought the second because I'm always paranoid about running out of yarn towards the end of a project. They're Zephry wool/silk in the color Basil. Yummy! This came super fast! I emailed Judy at The Knitter and explained about having won the yarn from Susan, and could I please order a second ball, and all that was Wednesday. The yarn arrived today, Friday!! I couldn't be more pleased with how quickly this came.

I can't wait to get started on my Spring Things Shawl! I'm making myself finish the pair of socks I've got on the needles right now (my Upside-Down Quill Socks) before I start this shawl though. And here's why I have to finish the Quill Socks now:

That's the yarn for Rebecca's socks. She gave me a pair of socks that didn't fit her, and I want to make a pair of socks for her in return (hopefully a pair that fits her). The colorway is "peace" and it's a nice mix of mossy greens that I hope she'll like. I figure that I can always over-dye them a little more blue if they're too yellow now.

The third package on my doorstep this afternoon held these four skeins:




Aren't they gorgeous!!

The top one doesn't have a name, but it's 100% wool, 119 yards , 100 grams. The bottom one is 60% silk, 40% angora. Both of them came from Romni Wools in Toronto. The green is from my Aunt Louise and the Angora Silk is from my sister. Thank you both so much!!

I feel so spoiled!!

I think it's really funny that all of the sudden, all kinds of green yarns are showing up. I'm definitely working my way away from all blues and reds.

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I'm almost finished with my Panda Cotton Quill socks. I'm doing some ribbing on the top, basically until I run out of yarn. I'm getting pretty close! It would be neat to finish them tonight but we'll see. Pictures tomorrow when it's light outside.

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Today we attempted to wash the kitties!

Yesterday I picked up a waterless, foaming no-rinse shampoo for kitties, and they emerged unscathed and not mad at all, amazingly. So far I think it's helped with my allergies. Thank goodness!! We'll probably do it again Monday, since they're going to DD's first-grade class Tuesday morning for about a half-an-hour. Could be interesting!!

Here's Lenny, stalking Squiggy (in the next picture):


Of course Squiggy is stalking Lenny at the same time.

And here they are playing:


On the allergy front, I'm back to wearing my contacts instead of glasses (THANK GOODNESS) and my runny nose is gone. Now if only I could get rid of this cough!!

Thank you to everyone who has left comments or emailed suggestions for dealing with my allergies!

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I'm off to go work on my Quill Socks. Of course I should be working on the K.N.I.T. Guild newsletter since it needs to go out on Tuesday at the latest, but the socks are calling me....

Happy Labor Day to my fellow Americans!