Riley's Identity Crisis

Sometimes Riley gets a little confused. Like when he noticed Bettie playing with her new toy - one of those things with the catnip mouse that spins inside a circular plastic case - and decided he wanted to play too. He spent the better part of the evening trying to get at that mouse.




I apologize for the darkness/low film quality... This was recorded with my cheap old still camera. B didn't even realize the thing recorded video; thus you hear him commenting about still shots, etc. In fact, it was 20 minutes or so into the action before I remembered it had that capability. You can tell Riley's breathing pretty hard by this time. But he went on and on and on and... Unfortunately I didn't capture either of the times he wound up flipping the thing over and then trying to right it again.

One of these days I'm gonna get a REAL video camera.

Bettie's Worst Nightmare

But it sure is adorable!

Lots To Cover

First of all, Bettie is doing wonderfully. She still spends a good part of the day lurking under the bed, but isn't that what cats do? And she hangs out with us looking for attention pretty often - especially when I'm trying to knit, or Brendon's on his computer, or somebody's generally trying to focus on something other than her. Again, typical cat.

She and Riley are doing about as well as expected together. She is rather timid when he's around, and he's alternately jealous of the attention she gets and fascinated whenever she moves at all. Basically, the dog has been operating on high alert since we got her, to the point where I finally had to remove her jingling collar so everybody could get a moment's peace. They are still working out their dominance balance, and there have been some stand-offs but so far no injuries. Then there are occasional harmonious moments like this.

And she is the recipient of a new crochet project. ("Recipient of," "excuse for," call it what you like.) Bettie's blankie! Currently it's a dining mat, but the food dish setup is still in a temporary state, and eventually the blankie will probably end up on the couch as a cat hair buffer, instead of picking up cat food crumbs.

It's so small and so basic (HDC's worked in a square with a shell edge), and took me so little time (2 evenings), and made of such a non-notable yarn (I lost the ball band but I think it's So Soft) that it doesn't even warrant FO status - just worth mentioning in passing. Especially since there hasn't been much crochet content recently... But I wanted to prove I still break out the hooks every so often.

My other current projects are a little more deserving of attention. I got re-motivated on B's socks; the first one is done and I've just finished the pattern part of the second. And they actually fit over his heel! Hooray.

Up close:

But since I didn't feel like dragging this sock to any more knitting group get-togethers, and have just been working on it at home, I've been working on this in the company of others.

So far it's just a bra, but eventually it's going to be a sleeveless cotton top. The band up close:

So, that's what I've been up to yarn-wise.

Sharp readers will perhaps have noticed a sudden increase in photo quality. That's because B got himself a fancy birthday present. I've played with it a little; B has taken probably close to a thousand pictures in the last week. Turn my head and there's a camera pointed at me. It's a bit unnerving. But after spending that much on a new toy, I'd be highly concerned if he didn't play with it incessantly.

And I apologize for not keeping up with this thing on a regular basis. I blame two things. Number one, I've been doing a lot more social knitting, and I think perhaps when I go out and share my knitting with others and they share theirs with me - in person - well, I don't feel as strong a need to do the exact same thing online. Number two, my biggest frustrations lately have not been about knitting, and I haven't wanted to post about them on my knitting blog (but mostly they have to do with not having a job, and not being able to do much about it, while I wait on one thing so I can wait on another..). I will try and do better, but until I have some other life changes, I make no promises.

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.