Month: March 2009

Case in point—

Melissa and I drove by these the other day. A beautiful pair of striped, fingerless mitts with carefully worked thumbs, sitting on top of someone’s car along a busy street.

If you are the knitter who made these as a gift, you may want to consider something store-bought next year.

It’s not that I’ve been supplanted in Melissa’s affections, but I am having to share her. With whom? With Miss Timmy Belle BonChance. Let me tell you, Melissa has fallen hard for this girl.

Timmy started out a skittish little thing—grateful for the food, but careful to keep her distance.

But in the last few weeks, Timmy has suddenly come around.

She wants pets. She enjoys company in the yard. And she has made clear her dream of becoming an indoor cat. Poor Melissa has had to gently ease Timmy away from the door on more than one occasion.

Archy has had his booster vaccines. Next up are Damian and Maggie. After that, Timmy will get hers—and then we’ll see what happens when Melissa doesn’t stop her from walking through the door.

One of the first friends melissa made after moving to Santa Cruz was Kimlin, who is also a reader of this blog. Knowing the love both of us have for our cats, and knowing my love of knitting, Kimlin picked this book up for me on her travels—

It’s written in (I think) Japanese and is just hilarious. One of the patterns is for a minature aran cape that would look darling on Maggie, but we’re not too sure she’s eager to take up a modelling career, given her disdain for the paparazzi.

I think Melissa and I may need to frame a copy of this to keep at home.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Meanwhile, I am chugging away at the Japanese shawl (two more rows and I’ll be done with the 42-row section, leaving “only” the 16-row and 62-row sections to go). I’m worried that my penchant for bright colors may not serve me well on this project. It will be pretty in the abstract, but I’m not sure that a great sweep of lime and magenta is what I need about my shoulders.

I’m impressed with the new Knitty. I will definiely be knitting Sourwood soon. Aeolian and Shipwreck are also calling to me. Be sure to scroll down for the full picture of Shipwrech so you can appriate the lace patterning.

I am cleaning my desk at work—no small feat. I could use a geologist to help me with the stratigraphy. Among the finds I’m unearthing is the following list:

1. butterfly
2. butterfly √
3. butterfly √
4. balcony
5. fish
6. fish √
7. fish √
8. fish √

I have no idea whatsoever what this is about.

P.S. Go check out Magnatune if you’re not familiar with it. They offer a host music of services for (very reasonable) fees, along with a variety of frequently updated, free, on-line playlists. I am currently enjoying this week’s harsichord set. Click on “collections” on the left side bar for the biggest variety of choices.

My friend Jo is quite taken with this Eileen Fisher sweater and is wondering if anyone knows of a knitting pattern for a similar garmet. If you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments where she can access them.

Thanks!