Crunch

Just got a call from Dan. He was driving on the highway, the person in front of him hit the brakes, he hit the brakes, the person behind him hit him...

Dan is fine. He says he's feeling a bit tense and his back is getting sore but he's not damaged. I imagine tomorrow will be pretty miserable for him, though.

He's still at the accident site getting stuff straightened out. Fortunately, the accident happened near-ish a repair shop we have used (and liked) in the past, so looks like he'll be going there and hopefully getting a rental car from the onsite rental company.

Poor Dan!

This Is More Like It

After excessive felting, Dan's slippers are all ready to go.

Honestly, they are probably between half an inch and an inch longer than they need to be but I just don't think they'll felt down any more. But Dan's happy with them (and is used to slightly long, floppy slippers) so that's what really matters!

Dan's New Slippers

I've been sick lately but I finally seem to be coming out on the other side. My evidence for this is the fact that I felt up to knitting for the first time in days. I wasn't able to work on my current project (my Owlie socks - delightful, but a bit too detailed for sick-me to wrap my head around), so instead I made Dan some slippers!

Okay, okay, technically they aren't finished yet. They need to be felted to, you know... fit. Theoretically that's what they are doing right now since I have them in the washer.

Fingers crossed that it all works out!

In Other News

Olive likes being tall.

And she does it well.

The getting down thing, not so much.

Taking Shape

Yesterday was gunite day.

It was pretty loud and they started at seven in the morning. Fortunately I had the chance last night to apologize to two of our neighbors. I'm sure they love the early morning construction as much as I do.

But thanks to that early morning loudness, the hole in our yard is starting to look like an actual pool!

Tuesday is scheduled to be coping and tile. Deck and plaster won't be for another week, though. That's apparently what's going to take the most time since there's a lot of rock work to do.

I can't wait!

Still a Hole

Here's how things had progressed as of yesterday.

Plumbing is all done and steel is (maybe?) done. (I say maybe because we aren't sure. It was pretty dark when the guys left yesterday and we aren't sure if they left because it was too dark or if they were finished.)

Gunite is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow. Not sure what that "tentative" is dependent on though.

Activate Force Field!

The anti-kitty cover for my knitting bowl is complete!

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I had a few mishaps during it's creations, the biggest of which was running out of thread. I was using a completely unidentifiable thread (likely something I inherited from my grandmother) so I had no way of getting more to finish the project. Instead, I compared it to a couple other things in my yarn cabinet and came up with something that was the closest match. Unfortunately, "closest" means it doesn't actually match.

The new thread was a bit lighter but it wasn't really noticeable - until blocking. Once I got everything wet, the original thread turned dark tan and the new turned white. Yikes. Fortunately, I had run out of thread at the end of the doily proper so I only had to do the crocheted edging with the new thread. Add in the fact that I also beaded the edging and the color change looks pretty intentional. Thank goodness.

The finished doily is right at 17.5" across, which is a perfect size for my knitting bowl. And the three rows of beads add a nice weight to the edge to keep things down. All in all, I think it worked out pretty awesomely.

I did manage to unintentionally skip two beads on the last row of beading. I think I'm just going to ignore that, though.

More pictures and notes as well as a link to the pattern can be found on my Ravelry project page.

It's a Hole!

The excavation hit non-"diggable" rock so they had to pull out the rock hammer.

Please notice the front track up off the ground. Yeah, it did that a lot today during both digging and hammering. That poor backhoe driver - his teeth probably rattle in his sleep.

Things are all done for today, which means Emmett and Olive have crawled out from under the couch. Most of the kitties handled the noise well, though. Tomorrow should be steel and plumbing. Not sure of the schedule after that but we've been told it should be four to six weeks from start to finish.

Right now, though, it's just a big hole in the ground.

It Begins

Progress Is Happening

My future anti-kitty force field is coming along swimmingly.

I'm through 46 of 90 rounds but I'm not actually half way through like that might sound. Almost each round increases the stitch count so while round 45 has about 180 stitches, round 88 has over 300 and the final round has almost 400. So yeah, progress has begun to slow down a bit. I think it will take me a lot longer than three days to get through the second half of the rounds.

That's okay though. It will give me a chance to decide what socks I want to do next, owls or sheep? Decisions, decisions!

This Happens Constantly Now

More Dan Socks!

Dan now has a third pair of hand knit socks!

They are a simple stockinette sock so I was able to really whip them out pretty quickly - one week from cast on to bind off. I also used a new heel that is fantastic - Fish Lips Kiss heel which gives a way to figure sizing based on a cardboard foot template you create. It's pretty fantastic. And the heel is awesome. So yeah, if you knit socks, check out that heel. The pattern is a dollar but it is well worth it. I'm now itching to make cardboard foot templates of everyone ever. Because you never know when I'll need to make them socks!

Also, these socks mark the beginning of a year-long Ravelry challenge I am attempting: 12 Socks in 2014. Yes, that's a pair a month. I have plenty of socks that I want to make and I need loads more than the just five pair I currently have, so hopefully this challenge will help me in filling up my sock drawer. It's already helped Dan!

I have time before the February sock challenge so I've started work on a knitted doily to go on top of my knitting bowl as a kitty repellant.

I'm not too far into it but I only started last night.

I'm also using this lace project as a chance to try out the Knitter's Pride Karbonz DPNs. They are carbon fiber with metal tips and they make also interchangeables with the same stuff so I wanted to give them a little test. But I'll be honest, I'm not loving them. First off, I'm using a 2mm needle. How can something so small be so dull at the tip? But I'm having trouble doing something as simple as knitting through the back loop so yeah, super-blunt!

Also, the metal tips (which I assume are there for either added pointiness (which doesn't work) or to make them less breakable) create a join that my stitches catch on. I'm used to joins being a potential problem on circs but DPNs? Bah! Who thought that was a good plan?

I was really looking for some HiyaHiya needles for this project but the yarn store I went to only had these in the right size so decided it was an opportunity to try carbon fiber. But yuck. I am not a fan. I'm only on round 15 of a potential 90 (depending on the size I make the doily) and these needles already make me grumpy. HiyaHiya has spoiled me so. I think there are other pure carbon fiber DPNs (no metal tips) made by other manufacturers and those could be interesting because I do like the texture of the carbon fiber and how it feels in my hand, but the tips of the Knitter's Pride version just kill it for me.

Oh well, hopefully the lace won't take too terribly long and I'll work on some fun socks next month.

Yarn-Themed Christmas

I no longer have 28 miles of yarn. Because I had a yarn-themed Christmas.

Or maybe I should say I had a bit of a knitting-themed Christmas because it wasn't all yarn. I got two much desired knitting books (The Knitted Slipper Book and Scottish Knits)(and used a Christmas gift card to pick up three more: Knit to Flatter, The Sock Knitter's Workshop, and the visually insane Op-Art Socks). Each book has at least one pattern that I want to cast on for right now but I am making Dan more socks, so I will have to wait a tad.

I will also have to wait until I finish a bit of lacework that I have decided I simply must do. Because I have something pretty that needs covering to keep kitties out: my brand new knitting bowl!

It's fab and I love it and it is amazing how much easier it makes knitting. It even works well to move my yarn around lap- and arm-rest-kitties. I only used it for a day before we went of to St. Louis and I missed it while we were gone - that is the kind of difference it makes. Delightful.

Of course, there was yarn in my knitting-themed Christmas. I met a new yarn store in St. Louis (Knitorious. It's awesome. If you are in STL, you should go there. Even if you don't like yarn) which was delightfully dangerous. And since yarn stores are like potato chips, I was not able to stop at just one. I ended up with yarn goodness from the in-laws and from Dan for Christmas (and a little from myself, too). Okay, maybe it was more than a little.

               

So yeah. Now I have 31.7 miles.

Eh. I'm okay with that.

Christmas

Last week, Dan & I were in the Midwest, visiting his family for Christmas. It was a good trip, but I'm not going to lie: I'm happy to be home with the kitties. I missed them a lot. (Poor Emmett is still so new he squeaks and we were worried about how he'd take us up and disappearing. (The answer is: freak out, hide from the pet sitters and be scared of us when we came back before (eventually) deciding to be a massive love Emmett. He woke me up at absurd o'clock this morning purring incredibly loudly, tromping all over my head and shoving his head violently (and repeatedly) into my hand).) The kitties are happy that we are back, too. (Gidget has stuck to my side since we've gotten home like she's afraid I'm going to leave again. She is currently using my wrist is a pillow. Not helpful while typing.)i

Anyway, while it turned out nice, the trip didn't start out all that great. This was what we ran into in Oklahoma:

Oklahoma is not normally that white and ice-covered. (Though it is normally that boring.) Of course, after the ice and snow started, the roadtrip became even less stellar as we (Dan) got a speeding ticket. 69 in a 55. Oops.

But then things got better because were got to where we were going (without additional snow or speeding tickets) and got to visit with family and do Christmas-y type things. (There might have been a yarn-buying trip or two in there, too, which I'll get to in a later post.) Aside from normal family-visiting-type things, we did have a bit of touristy fun. We went to the Missouri Botanical Garden's Garden Glow.

It was massively crowded and quite chilly, but very pretty. And I enjoyed it even more because it resulted in a picture of Dan and me that looks like it was shot on a bad 70s background.

That picture amuses me greatly.

And speaking of amusing, we ran across this somewhere in Oklahoma.

Hot Mama Pickle-in-a-Pouch. And even more amusingly, the part of the pouch that is covered by the box? It says "Sassy Pickle". Yep. Just what everyone needs when dealing with the boringness of Oklahoma. A Sassy Hot Mama pickle. Yum.

Dan Socks

Dan now has a second pair of knit socks! These were his (slightly belated) Christmas gift.

They are the first pair of socks I've made without a pattern, so I'm quite pleased with how they came out. If I were to do them again, I'd probably change the chart up a bit to make the pattern pop more, but overall I'm happy. Especially since Dan likes them and that's kind of the point, isn't it?

And, lucky him, I'm working on another pair of socks right now that will also go to him. (Birthday present maybe?)

(And yes, I still have a sweater to finish. I just need to put on buttons and sew the button band flat. It's on my list!)

Emmy & Ollie

Emmett and Olive are becoming quite the little friends. Most of the time their interaction is play-fighting, but recently Olive has started licking on the other kitties, particularly Emmett. Of course, their grooming sessions seems to devolve into roughhousing, too, but I think they enjoy it. And they are really cute.