A New Mouth To Feed

Meet Bettie.


She just came home from the Jacksonville Humane Society. Now she's hiding inside my desk.


Don't worry, we'll bring her out of her shell soon enough.

Getting Acquainted With My Singer

Among my house-related projects, this one really let me venture into largely new territory. I've had my sewing machine for a couple years now but its efforts have mostly gone to hems and tiny mending jobs. This thrift-store chair is my first venture into three-dimensional sewing.


From a distance it looks darn good, I'd say. Just don't look at it up close. Particularly around the zippers.

And even with all the (major) imperfections, the new cushions are still a humongous improvement over the old ones.


For some reason I didn't get a "before" picture of the chair itself. I'll let you imagine the dings and scratches that have been covered up by this glossy coat of black paint.




Knitting update: I finished that first argyle sock... and it wouldn't fit over B's heel. So I frogged the whole thing and I've started over with a simpler, stretchier pattern. Still, the whole thing has been fairly frustrating, and has led my knitting attention to wander to other projects. I've been working in a pretty non-committal fashion on three different projects over the last couple of days. Once I start moving confidently in any one direction, I'll post something of substance.

Central Park

Pattern: "Central Park" from Fall 2006 Knitscene. (KAL!)

Yarn: Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran in color 141, "Blossom," 85% merino wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere. 11 balls total. A birthday gift from my mom (thanks Mom!). It's a great yarn, if a bit on the pricey side. Very natural look to it, lightweight yet warm, and it shows off the cables superbly, plus it's nice and soft especially after blocking with a 1/2 cup of white vinegar.


Time Spent: Approximately 2 weeks, though I had an unusually high amount of knitting time within those 2 weeks. I was knitting like a fiend! It's taken me as long to get these finished pictures taken as it took me to knit the thing.


Notes: I made the 36" size and am very pleased with the finished fit. Pre-blocking, the sleeves seemed a bit tight, but this yarn definitely loosened up and stretched out in the blocking process. There are a couple of errors in the pattern, but Knitscene has given corrections and they are posted on the KAL's website: on the Left Front, Row 2 of ribbing should read "K2, P2" rather than vice versa; the Right Front, Row 2 of ribbing should read "P2, K2" rather than vice versa; under Finishing, Hood, Dec row should read "...k2tog, k1, sl m, k1, ssk..." instead of sl 1. These little errors were pretty obvious though, I thought. Modifications, well, I didn't have any, though I did opt to put buttons on it (given in the pattern as optional).

I think it turned out beautifully, and it might be my favorite thing I've knit. It could easily be mistaken for storebought, which I consider an achievement in my knitting.

My Poor Neglected Blog

It has been way too long since I posted. In fact, I haven't even been keeping up with the blogs I read. It's shameful.

I chalk it up to the dedication I've been putting toward getting my house together. I'm declaring my house one massive WIP. In addition to the unpacking and organizing (now done! except a few boxes for B to go through when he gets home on Friday), I've been doing a lot of cleaning, yard work, refinishing furniture, sewing (yes, it's true), and so forth. There's also been job hunting, errands galore, and even meeting some new friends.

It's hard to find time for KnitBlogLand in there.

Not to say there hasn't been any knitting, because there's been a little.

An "argyle variations" sock for B. Definitely not expecting to finish the pair before he gets home in a couple days, but I might get through this first one.

PS, yes, I know, I owe an FO post on the Central Park. At this point, I'm waiting until B comes home so he can take better pictures than I would take in the bathroom mirror (again). So, Saturday? After that, my mother-in-law and her mother are coming to visit us for a few days next week. So it's doubtful that the posting will get much more frequent in the immediate future.