Fabulous!

My socks are now all dried and blocked and I tried them on....

OMG, they are fantastic. I loved them before but I more than love them now. They are fantastic! I want to make socks for everyone now so they can feel the awesomeness of handknit socks! AH! I'm in love!

I Can't Decide!

Success! My first pair of socks are done!

Well, okay, not done done as technically I am still in the process of blocking them. But they will dry without any more input from me, which means that while my socks aren't 100% wearable yet, they will arrive at that state through no action of my own. Thus my part is done.

I'm rather pleased with them - they fit wonderfully (or at least did before the blocking, so fingers crossed on that perhaps) and they are rather ridiculous, which always seems to increase the pleasure I take in a knitted finished product. Of course, we are heading into spring so my timing could have been better for knitting wool socks, but then Texas doesn't have an especially long knitwear season so meh.

But now I have a problem: I wasn't mentally prepared to finish my socks for another day or two - the end of the project kind of snuck up on me. (How something that took approximately 34 hours to accomplish can be sneaky I have no idea but there we are.) So I now find myself at a loss of what to knit next. I had previously targeted another cardigan, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for a big project quite yet. Part of me wants to make another pair of socks but I haven't hit on quite the right pair. So I'm floundering. And stalking patterns on Ravelry.

Maybe I'll pretend I'm still working on my socks and just watch them dry.

Knitting Magic!

I've been working diligently on my socks and have gotten quite a bit done. Today I got to experience the magic of turning a heel first hand! Turning the heel is knitting the shaping that makes the heel of the sock actually heel-shaped. Logically, I knew how it was done, but apparently I'm a hands on learner cause it didn't click 100% until this afternoon when my socks magically developed heels!

Also, I have to say that this pattern has the most adorable heel flaps. It starts as 2/2 ribbing and uses six cables over ten rows to make the rib cross and twine then separate back to 2/2 ribbing. Sadly, though, since my yarn is multi-colored the ribbing and cables don't photograph all that well. But still, amazingly cute.

I still have a ways to go - I'm just now shaping the gusset then have the normal foot portion and the toes, but I'm hoping to get these done maybe by the end of the month. Too exciting!

(Also, out of curiosity I have been sort of tracking how much time it takes me to knit these. I say sort of because I'm more tracking what I watch during my knitting instead of the exact minutes, but it still gives me a ballpark figure. And since that current ballpark figure is about nineteen hours, I might regret tracking this. Cause seriously, that's a lot of time.)

Feet Mittens

Check out what I'm making now: socks!

Or rather, they will be socks. At least, if I do everything correctly, they should be socks.

This is my first pair of socks and so far they are going swimmingly! I might have knit through three movies today. Just maybe. The pattern is a bit addictive.

And isn't the yarn delightful? I'm enjoying watching the colors as they come up. I'm knitting one sock from each end of the yarn cake so they won't match exactly, but honestly, I don't know if identical matches would be possible with this yarn. (It's Schoppel-Wolle Wunderkleckse, if you are interested, a lovely gift from my in-laws last year.) I look forward to seeing how the colors develop on these! Honestly, I anticipated these being less colorful based on how the yarn looked in the ball, but I'm really grooving on the great, vibrant colors.

I was worried when I started these that they would be a bit too small for my calves (which apparently are thicker than normal based on my zip-up boot buying history) but after some great Ravelry advice, I decided to make the calf part of the socks with a slightly larger needle. And it worked! They feel like they are going to be perfectly sized. Exciting!

Here's hoping I'll be able to say the same thing once I get to the heel and foot!

Mothy Goodness

I think I like alternating big/complex knitting projects which quick/simple ones. After finishing my very first sweater at the beginning of the month (and I totally love it - I wore it 4 days last week!), I felt the need for something a bit less involved.

So I knit a moth.

He's filled with lavender and his purpose in life is to help keep my yarn moth-free. Well, not completely moth-free. But rather to keep the moth population to one.

I think he looks happy there.

As an aside, when I was young (eight-ish or so) a moth got into the house and managed to fly down my nightgown. Much unhappy squealing commenced. I'm still a little freaked out by moths at night. And yet I knit this. Which kind of makes him even more ridiculous but that's kind of why I like him.

Next up: socks!

I Will Never Work in a Sweatshop

I am done! After four and a half months, I have finished my very first sweater!

Honestly, it shouldn't have taken as long as it did but I ended up not working on this for several weeks all totaled because of things like traveling, my arm being in a sling and hurting my back. (Gah! I really need to be more careful when stay-at-home-wifey-ing. I need to stop hurting myself!) But it's all done now and it is awesome!

I'm just really tickled at how this turned out. I used a different (smaller) needle size than the pattern called for so I had to rework the pattern based on my new gauge. Math told me to follow the directions for the large to get the sizing for the small (factoring in how much the yarn loosens with blocking) - and it worked! I know that math makes sense, but I always have some level of stress after making math-based changes to a knitting pattern until the project is all done and it is proven that yes, my math was correct.

I made a few other changes from the pattern, too, which calls for a rolled stockinette edge on the sleeves, bottom hem and collar band. I'm not a huge fan of rolled edges so I tried a few different thing. First, I did a folded hem (with a row of purl bumps for a fold line) on the bottom hem.

I really like how that turned out. It flared a bit before I reblocked it to flatten it out, but post-blocking it's nice and flat that blends nicely but is also subtly set off from the sweater back which, I think, makes it look nicely finished. I can't say I loved how long it took to sew the hem down so I might try something different the next time I'm in a similar situation. And that different thing I might try is what I ended up doing on the sleeves.

Initially I thought I'd do a 1/1 ribbing but, meh, I just didn't like how it looked. So instead I went straight from the stockinette to double knitting and then grafted the two sides together. I really like how it turned out - it's pretty much exactly what I wanted! I didn't change the stitch count before starting the double knitting, but for something larger, like the back band, I think I would double the stitch count on the first round of double knitting and then go from there.

The last change (I think) that I did was on the collar band. I did a 5/1 ribbing hoping that it would prevent the stockinette roll (I had tried 2/2 ribbing but it pulled in too much and I just didn't like the looks as much). It did reduce the roll greatly but not completely and I wasn't thrilled with having the bind off edge be the edge of the fabric (it didn't look as finished as the other edges), so I folded the edge over by about three rows and stitched it down.

This pretty much eliminates the roll entirely and gives it a nice almost decorative edge. (It also seems to help keep the ribbing from flaring. Bonus.)

Funnily enough, making my own knitwear has made me less protective of my store-bought knitwear. Not because it is store-bought but because I don't want to make knitted things and not wear them for fear of kitties or other damages. I make my knit goodies to be worn and used! And if I'm determined to wear my handmade knitwear (which, thankfully, I know how to fix if a kitty claw damages it) there's no reason to be more protective of machine-made sweaters. I suppose it's a bit like using the good china for a regular dinner.

Anyway, so there's (way too much information about) my first sweater! There is more detail (shockingly, it is possible) on my Ravelry project page if you want it. Now I find myself hoping for a cold snap so I can wear my new sweater! And I'm looking forward to starting another one (which will be after about two or three smaller projects). I have discovered that love knitting sweaters! Honestly, I think it is something about the sleeves. Perfectly fitting sleeves is awesomely exciting. I love it!

Events Have Happened!

First off, sorry for the less than stellar cell phone pictures. But Dan and I went somewhere to which I figured I didn't need to drag my big camera. Yes, that's right, Dan and I had an event! And guess where we went?

Surprise! Somewhere beer-related! Specifically, the brewery of a local craft brewer, Rahr & Sons.

We went to their "VIP Pairing", which is basically a fancy excuse to drink beer and have some snacks. And even though I'm still not a big beer fan, I thought it was pretty cool! We had six different beer "samples" (in quotation marks because these samples were a generous eight-ish ounces) paired with six different mini-dishes made to accentuate a quality of the beer (or the beer to accentuate a quality in the food, for example the hops in one beer accentuating the heat in the jambalaya).

Check out the ABV of some of those beers. Yeah, Dan and I both were feeling fairly relaxed afterwards - and I only had half glasses of things!

  
  

Fortunately, there was a brewery tour after the tasting so I was able to work through the much smaller amount of beer I had had in order to safely drive us home. Dan, however, had not had small glasses (and had even had some of my beer) so he got to come home and put in an after-hours call to one of their work vendors while feeling... pleasantly relaxed.

The brewery tour was nifty, too. Rahr is a pretty small place so the tour (and the tasting before it) was actually run by their head brewer. So we got good information and got to poke around a tiny bit. It was surprising to see how small they were - easily the smallest brewery we've been to.

Beer folk always seem to be such an interesting bunch. Not necessarily home brewers like Dan (and a few of the other folks there) but the guys that make beer for a living. They seem to be a special breed - their style tends to be a bit homeless hipster with thick beards. And, naturally, they have their own brand of humor, too.

Yes, that says "Beer Recycling Facility (Restrooms)". Ah, beer folks.

Speaking of beer, why is it that I end up with so many beer-related things on my blog? I still don't really like beer. (Well, excluding a tiny number of wheat beers that I enjoy, but Dan tells me that I'm extremely particular.) But really, thanks to Dan's home-brewing I have an appreciation for the art of beer-making even if I don't typically like the (commercial) results. Even with my personal lack of beer-love, I totally give our first real event of the year a big ole thumbs up! I wouldn't be surprised if we end up doing more tastings there.

Hmm, I wonder if there's a place that runs regular tea tastings...

Pie!

Today is Dan's birthday - he's a whopping 34 years old! Which means he's the same age as me... for at least another five months. Happy birthday, Dan!

In celebration, he had a horrible day at work and I spent all day cooking. My day was tastier and, fortunately, helped improve his day. Why? Cause I made him a tasty birthday dinner!

Dan's birthday meal sounds a bit like it is out of a kindergartener's nightmare: liver and onions with lima beans. Of course, he loves all of those things so it wasn't the punishment it might sound like.

Honestly, it's not the prettiest meal but you can't really expect much from organ meat, can you? It got Dan's stamp of approval so I'm taking it as a success. Personally, I'm not too sure if I like liver yet, but I had some difficulty cooking it (well, difficulty preparing it - the cooking went fine) so I feel the need to cook it again (and again) until I have defeated it. Which means we'll be having it again so I'll have time to decide if I like it or not.

One thing I don't need to decide if I like ('cause I totally do) was Dan's dessert. I had asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he mentioned angel food, which is my least favorite cake ever. And honestly, if I am going to cook a dessert, I'd like one I am willing to eat. So he mentioned apple pie. Yeah, sorry, you've now managed to pick my least favorite pie.

Feeling a bit lost, I stumbled across a recipe for my favorite pie and fortunately it turned out that Dan liked it too. So his birthday cake was key lime pie!

It's super tasty! It's got lime zest in it in addition to the key lime juice so it's got a nice added tang over the more typical key lime pies. And the crust turned out perfect, which was pretty darn exciting! Honestly, I'm stuffed to the gills but I'm seriously tempted to go have another piece of pie. Yummy.

Anyway, my last bit of cooking for today wasn't technically part of Dan's birthday. The key lime pie used some egg yolks which meant I ended up with some leftover egg whites and a few hours before I had to start cooking the liver. So I made almond meringue cookies.

It might look like tiny albino elephants went through the kitchen and left us presents, but no, meringue cookies. The original recipe I found was for strawberry meringue cookies, but I didn't have strawberry extract, so I let Dan pick between orange and almond extract. The recipe didn't work at all as far as cooking times, but once I consulted my Joy of Cooking, things turned out much better and we now have tasty cookies.

Not that we need more sweets with a pie hanging out in the fridge, but at least I didn't waste the egg whites!

Anyway, happy birthday to Dan! I hope you enjoyed the culinary evidence of how much I love you! (Hmm, which apparently isn't angel food level of love, but somehow I think liver levels of love are much higher.)

MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

Last post, I mentioned how my sweater-in-progress and I had hit a stalemate. Well today, I broke it! I finally (freakin' finally) figured out how to finish off the sleeves!

I had planned to finish the sleeves off with a 1/1 ribbing but I didn't like how it looked, so I frogged it. I tried a couple of other things and then gave up for a bit to noodle on it some more. Today, I had something else I wanted to try and, lo and behold, it worked!

My solution? Double knitting!

I did [Round 1: *Knit, slip* around; Round 2: *Slip, purl* around] seven times, creating two layers of fabric which I then grafted together. I love it! When it stretches out (when the sweater is put on) it creates a nice almost-ribbing look that differentiates from the stockinette sleeve but it looks a lot neater than the ribbing. It still needs a good blocking to even out the stitches, but I'm so happy that I have a solution!

One sleeve is all one and I'm half way through finishing off the cuff of the second sleeve. Then blocking, hemming, sewing in the ends and then WEARING! Whee!

Update-y Type Things

It's been a bit since I've posted, so I thought I'd do a nice update catch-all post.

First off, the reason I've been sorta MIA is that we've had internetular issues lately. The provider replaced some equipment and it took them a while to get things straight but even now we have short outages and massive slowdowns. It's super annoying and, during the worst of it, I was avoiding my computer because of the frustration it would induce. For the most part we are okay-ish now, but there is still room for improvement.

In other news, ONK (outdoor neighbor kitty) is still outdoors and still belongs to our neighbors. She really wants to live with us, though, given by the number of times she tries to sneak in an open door.

After accidentally trapping her in our garage three times (she's a sneaky thing), we've taken to leaving our garage door cracked so she can come and go at will. I had an old cat bed out there while I tried to figure out the best way to wash it and ONK has claimed it as her own. A couple of weeks ago when it got so cold, we ended up putting her claimed bed in a box and putting a windbreak around it and, later, we ended up putting our old electric blanket in it. So yeah, she's got a sweet set up in our garage. Now that our other neighbors have moved (they also had a bed for her in their garage) ONK seems to spend every night with us. And most days she's camped out on our porch. She also typically follows me to the mailbox and back. So yeah, she wants to be ours. But we've been good and haven't stolen her. Yet.

Of course, with a kitty in the garage, you can bet my car looks stellar. She likes to walk on it and it rained a bit ago, so yeah, muddy paw prints all over. Fun, yes? No. Not at all.

But less fun is this:

That's my windshield. Or it used to be. I was on the way to the chiropractor when this ping-pong-sized rock flew across the road and smashed into the middle of my windshield. The divot it made was practically quarter-sized. So now I have a new windshield. Yay! (I still have muddy paw prints, though. I need to fix that.)

In hobby news, I've hit a bit of a delay (again) with my sweater. It seems that I cannot simultaneously knit and plan what I am going to do with it. The minute my mind begins questioning, "What's the best way to do this part of it?" I find myself incapable of actually knitting until I figure out an answer. My current question is "what's the best way to finish off the arms?" I've still got an inch or two to knit before I have to do whatever it is I'm going to do (I'm thinking a half inch of 1/1 ribbing with a tubular bind off, but I'm not sold on the idea yet), but still, I've stalled with the actual knitting because I don't have a definite answer. Though before my brain popped up with this question I did manage to get most of the sleeves knit, so that's good. Which means I just have to knit a couple of inches, finish off the sleeves (tubular bind-off, hem, rolled edge, seed stitch?), block and then sew up the bottom hem and fold over a bit for a hem on the collar band (to give a cleaner finish and stop any rolling). Which sounds like a lot, but honestly, I'm so close to a wearable sweater that I can taste it! If I could just get back to knitting it! (Any thoughts from anyone as to either a 1/1 ribbing or a folded hem (the two I seem to be debating) would be more than welcome to help me end my mental stalemate.)

Dan's hobby seems to be going better than mine right now. Not his beer, one, his sound-related one. He used to be big into speakers and sound system stuff when he was younger but has sort of migrated out of it (the speakers in his car are even stock!) but he still has a love of those expensive electronics. So when our receiver started going out, Dan got the chance to express that love by buying a new one.

It's kind of insane - not only does it have awesome sound but you can even control it through a computer or phone app. No joke, this is fancy. I don't even want to think about the cost, but he got a good deal on it and it has good sound, so if I start thinking, "OMG, how much did we just spend?", I can just turn up the music and let it drown out my thoughts.

In Gidget news, we had a dental check up for her and she was given a tentative all clear. She is doing great (no pawing or air chewing) but the tentative part comes in simply because of how fast her other teeth went bad, one after the other, and the dentist is concerned that her three remaining canines will be next. So she wants a recheck in six months and, if things are good still, Gidget will be given the full okay. My fingers are crossed that Gidget gets to keep her remaining teeth, if only because having to lose them would mean she went through more pain and that's not cool. Interestingly enough, Gidget's case was so special because of how fast her healthy teeth went bad that she's been presented to dental and veterinary panels. Such a special girl.

And I think that is about it! I'm sure there have been other little things, but nothing huge (or picture-worthy) so they can be skipped. Assuming our internet cooperates, I'll try to be better about posting. Hopefully I'll have a completed sweater post to share soon!

I Disagree

There is snow on the ground outside.

Not a lot of it. But still. Boo.

Random Propaganda

It is winter here, and while Texas winters don't get that cold, they still get plenty cold for me. Normally during the winter, Dan and I use our electric blanket. It's a lovely thing that makes for a nicely warmed bed at night. But it is old and made of some sort of synthetic material that sort of creeps me out if it touches my skin. So last week we decided to order a heated mattress pad. I had heard good things about them so I wanted to try one. (Plus, we got it from Costco so we knew we could return it easily if it wasn't awesome.)

It came in on Monday and... it is awesome. I'm actually almost sad that the weather has warmed up a bit! Even on the lowest setting it makes the bed toasty warm and there are no cold spots like I'd sometimes get on the electric blanket. (Apparently in the fight of electric blanket versus my cold feet, cold feet win. Not with the heated mattress pad though!) It's just this great, cozy warmth from heat to toe. Totally fantastic.

Anyway, totally random post but the heated mattress pad really is so awesome that I had to share. So if you've been thinking about getting one, do it!

The Adventure Continues

I've been feeling all domestic these past couple of weeks. Which is good since, you know, housewife. But I've been cooking a lot more and trying new recipes, which is exciting. The increase culinary adventurousness seems to have unintentionally corresponded to the new year so it's like I've made a hidden resolution or something, but I haven't. It's simply because my shoulder is feeling like normal (finally!) so I can once again do things like use kitchen implements.

Poor Dan - for a while frozen pizza was seen much too frequently at our dinner table. But hey, it was painless to cook! Of course, now that all cooking is painless, I can get back to the fun stuff. Such a crawfish étouffée.

I don't know why Cajun food intimidates me so. Perhaps because my favorite gumbo recipe takes three plus hours to make and includes both carving a chicken and shredding it once it is cooked. Or maybe because of the roux. Anything with a roux both excites me and makes me a bit nervous. But in a good way. I love roux-making. But, for whatever reason, I had been too chicken to make my planned étouffée until just recently. As in Monday.

I used a combination of four recipes, all from the Talk About Good Cookbook. And I feel a bit dumb being intimidated by it because it ended up being fantastically easy. Which is good because it also ended up being fantastically delicious so I will be making this again.

I'm not sure what's next in my culinary fun-ness. Well, I do have plans to make Alton Brown's Good Eats meatloaf, but it's meatloaf so I don't think it is that adventurous. Plus, Dan and I (finally) inventoried our freezers so I'll be picking out some recipes to use the goodies we have in there - lots of pork and venison. Fortunately, I have a few good venison recipes that I really like (a wet hash and a barbecue dish) but I might branch out a bit. See if I can't substitute venison in some lamb or mutton recipes.

Anyway, it's nice to be back really cooking again. Yay for non-hurt shoulders!

(Of course, last week I improperly lifted something heavy so my lower back is killing me, but I'm going to ignore that for now because it's gonna go away soon. It will. I am determined. Denial is a lovely thing!)

Technical Issues are Still Tasty

Dan is dangerous to go grocery shopping with. When I go on my own, I do a strategic strike, going directly to the things on my list, grabbing them and leaving. When Dan and I go together, though, we meander through the aisle and end up with a fair number of random non-list things in our cart.

Our last Costco trip, for instance. We walked by some canned clams. Dan oohed and said he liked clam chowder. I said let's get it and I'll learn how to make chowder. So we did. And I did.

As you can see, for some reason, making clam chowder for the first time wasn't a big enough challenge. I decided I should make bread bowls, too. That didn't go as well as the chowder. The dough wasn't firm enough so the bowls-to-be kept spreading outwards, looking more like hamburger buns. Eventually, I decided to cook them like one does biscuits, setting them next to each other so they have to go up instead of out.

That worked, but it meant my bowls ended up looking more like large dinner rolls than any bread bowl I've seen. And not having the sides exposed meant they didn't form a hard crust so they weren't exactly water (or chowder) tight.

However, they certainly were tasty (as was the chowder)! Which is good because we did get the clams at Costco, which means I have another 51oz can. I'll be making this again.

We're Off to a Great Start!

Dan and I have been feeling fairly traveled out so we didn't drive my parents' house today for the traditional New Year's meal. Instead, we traveled to the (much closer) grocery store. And since we were missing the extended family traditional meal, we decided to do one of our own.

For those not blessed to be Southern, it's a common tradition to eat leafy greens and black eyed peas on New Year's Day. Neither of which Dan and I had on hand, so we picked up some fresh peas and spinach (collards are more traditional, but I was in a spinach mood). Tradition, however, does not dictate an entree. Pork is common, but not required. Not feeling all that pork-inclined, I determined I would start the new year with a new culinary experience.

I decided to make fried chicken.

I've never made fried chicken. I'm still pretty darn new to the frying thing and find it somewhat intimidating still. But I whipped out my Alton Brown and followed the directions (well, as much as I can follow directions). The end result?

Numminess!

I'm so happy with how it turned out! I pan-fried it (another first) and it resulted in probably the moistest, juiciest fried chicken ever. Seriously fantastic.

There are a couple things I'd tweak next time, but it was good enough to ensure that there would be a next time. And even more of a bonus, now I know what I can do with the blocks of lard I got when Dad and I bought and split a pig!

Mmm, a New Year's dinner of chicken fried in lard. Notice on my previous post that weight loss is not one of my goals? (Okay, it probably should be. Especially if I keep frying things in lard for the rest of this year.)

Happy 2013!

You know, a month or so ago I actually caught myself writing 2010 on something as the date. But 13 has always been a good number for me so hopefully I can remember what year it is this year.

The past two years, I've made book-related goals. This year, I'm going to kind of skip that. Kinda. I still want to continue to read "real" books but I'll see how I can do without the pressure of a goal driving me and instead focus on reading some of my kitchen-related books. I've been skipping then because, while they would have counted for my "real" book goals, they weren't exactly going to be plot-driven reads or anything and some of them I want to use as a reference while doing some stocking up (because I am determined to buy more me-friendly knives this year) and that will take longer than just reading a book cover to cover.

And speaking of previous goals, Dan and I missed our 2012 savings goal by just under two grand. And that shortage can easily be explained by the unexpected (and rather expensive) dental needs Bitty and Gidget had this year. So even though it was technically another goal that we did not accomplish, I'm really pleased with what we did. We set the amount to be challenging (but not impossible) so to have gotten so close means we really did a good job. It's a nice feeling. For 2013, we won't be so hardcore - we've decreased our goal amount for savings a tad but mostly to adjust for the increased amount we can put in an IRA and to better save for future emergency issues. Thrilling, yes? Hitting that will be this year's saving's goal but honestly, it shouldn't be one we should have to work at much. (Hopefully those don't go down as famous last words.)

Other than that, I don't think I/we have any New Year's resolutions. I'd like to increase my upper body strength (never that good, horrible after all my shoulder issues) but that's something I've been working on the past month, so that's not exactly New Year related.

Oh, I'm wrong! I do have one more goal, and this one isn't as nebulous as the previous "read kitchen books" and "save money" goals. I want to knit! Specifically a pair of socks and a cabled or yoked sweater. I'm sure I'll get more than two knitting projects in over the next twelve months, but those are three things I really want to do. Socks because I have yet to knit any and I think I'll like doing them (given how much I enjoy doing gloves, mittens and the like) and a sweater because it's a big project (bigger than the sweater I'm making now even) and it's always nice to have a goal that can push you, you know?

I think that's it. Yay for goals!

Toothlessness

Cocoa has started a trend. Five years ago, she ended up having all of her teeth removed because of stomatitis. Then this summer Bitty managed to have ten bad teeth that needed removing, leaving her with just her very front teeth (and not even all of those). She's not totally toothless, but most of the teeth she does have are the tiny little front ones so her "real" teeth count is two.

This has apparently made Gidget think that all the cool kitties were going toothless. This summer she only had two teeth removed and that apparently wasn't enough for her. A few months ago, she had another tooth removed. And Friday, she had her three remaining molars removed. She now matches Bitty fairly closely - all of her remaining teeth are at the very front (though she has one more "real" tooth than Bitty does).

Yep, the dental drama has not ended. Well, hopefully it will be over in a month after her recheck appointment. When we got back from vacation, Gidget was still air-chewing and started pawing some again. I was worried it was an ear infection or something non-dental that we were missing because we were doing dental-related hunting so we went to our regular vet and nope, still tooth-al. We thought we needed to remove two teeth but turns out three had "undergone root changes".

The good news is that if something has happened that has made Gidget's teeth go bad one by one, she only had a handful left to go bad. She's got so few teeth left, if we have to do another surgery I think Gidget will be sporting the toothless look, just like Cocoa.

Oh the Drama!

It's been a while since I've done a knitting post so I thought I would remedy that.

First thing: Christmas knitting! For multiple reasons, I'm not a fan of foisting my random knitting projects on people giving handmade gifts. Last year, though, I managed to give everyone on my list something knit. (I'm still not sure how that happened!) But this year I did much better and managed to only knit one!

Meet the Christmas Birdie!

I think he's is quite charming. I'm not entirely sure why I keep finding myself attracted to Christmas ornaments when, thanks to the kitties, Dan and I don't really decorate. And yet...

I did manage to put the poor birdie's legs on slightly incorrectly but I tacked them down to make them more where they should be. Otherwise, though, it was a fun little knit - and it let me learn how to do duplicate stitch. Yay!

Slightly related to Christmas knitting, I knit something for myself over Christmas! We were traveling to visit family and my sweater project is so not a travel-able project. So I decided to make something that was portable and not too complex.

Now I officially have a pair of fingerless mitts! They are nice and toasty - I enjoy wearing them. My one complaint about these is the yarn. I used Crystal Palace's Mochi Plus and I totally adore the colorway, but ugh!, the yarn is so loosely spun that it fuzzes like mad. So while I've worn the mitts for three days (mind you, I wore them for a fair number of hours on those three days) and now they look like I've been wearing (and washing) them everyday for months. Disappointing!

The pattern, however, was super-fun. I didn't follow the directions exactly (apparently I knit like I cook - I can't follow anything exactly) and I did something completely different than called for on the thumb. Anyway, I'm really pleased with the pattern (and my changes). It makes me want to make more - but in a less fuzzy yarn.

And now the drama... my sweater. Here is where I currently am on it:

I think I'm insane. First off, I have four balls of this yarn. It's lovely yarn - not just the color but the texture and how it knits up... I love it. But almost all of the balls are different - one is more color intensive, one is pale and two are almost smack in the middle of the other two. (Gotta love hand dyed yarn.) So I've been alternating all four balls as I knit my sweater. It's been... interesting but I'm pleased with how well all of them are blending together so it is worth it.

But now I've gotten to the sleeves. And I hate keeping track of row counts. And I have a past history of making things that should be the same size noticeably different sizes (due to gauge) when I don't make them at the same time. So I'm doing the sleeves two-at-a-time. Which means that I am rotating through four balls of yarn. On each sleeve. That's right, I'm knitting on something now with eight different yarns feeding into it.

But wait, there's more!

Right before we left for Christmas, I realized that I was knitting the sleeves with the wrong size needle! I had decreased needle size when doing the ribbing on the front band and forgot to switch back. Ack! I thought about just going on with it but this afternoon I ripped out the sleeves (which I hadn't gotten too far on) and started over. Ultimately, I knew the mistake would niggle at the back of my mind forever if I didn't fix it. Plus, a larger needle should maybe make the sleeves go a tiny bit faster.

Faster is relative, though, since rotating, untangling and keeping track of eight (EIGHT!) different balls of yarn slows things down a lot. But I'm in a pretty Zen place about it now because I really think this will end up awesome.

At least, I hope so. Oh, lordy, please make it turn out awesome.

I Want My Money Back

The world still seems to be here. No pole shifts, no meteors, no massive Yellowstone volcano... This whole Mayan apocalypse is totally overrated.

I guess that means we need to go buy some Christmas presents.

The Saga Continues

Well, apparently our dental issues with Gidget aren't done. She had stopped chattering her teeth in pain and progressed to a slow air-chewing expression of discomfort. But a few days after we got back from the cruise, she started pawing again. Nothing as severe as when this all started, but still. Pawing.

We went to our regular vet (the dentist is great, but I had a nagging fear that it wasn't tooth-related and honestly, if it wasn't I didn't expect the dentist to pick up on it) but the vet confirmed that she's all healthy. She suspected that the discomfort was coming from her top two molars, the only molars she has remaining, and recommended we have them removed.

Now Gidget has a dentist appointment scheduled for after Christmas to remove those two teeth. Naturally, as soon as I made the appointment, the pawing stopped (or has seemed to, at least). The air chewing has drastically reduced, too. But reduced is not stopped so I think things are still on schedule for another extraction.

I hope 2013 will be a pain-free dental year for Gidget! You know, if the world doesn't end tomorrow and all.