A New Knit!

I have played a little with yarn this month! I've been trying to work this into my over-scheduled life this month and didn't make it before seeing my sister on Christmas Eve so she'll be getting this tomorrow. I took a couple days completely off and worked on this two evenings while watching movies.

yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease in chestnut tweed

Not the best stuff around (or even in my stash), but I know my sis wouldn't hand wash and I had a ball of this in my stash that I thought would go nicely with her jacket. It works up much softer than expected.

Hopefully, it's worth the wait. This is The Very Braidy Cowl (ravelry project page). I love it! I did a provisional cast-on and then grafted the ends together to eliminate a seam... not being a fan of seams where they're not absolutely necessary. =) My kitchener stitch needs a little work so it'll be more even, but when I handed it to my mom (a knitter), she didn't find the seam until I pointed it out. heh I suppose we're always our own worst critics. My sister doesn't knit at all so I'm not expecting her to even notice. I did add an extra 4 rows between repeats 1 & 2, 3 & 4, and 5 & 6 for a total of 12 extra rows. I wanted it to still fit close enough to block drafts, but not too close so it would be more comfy and not quite so turtle-necky. Perfect! Yeah, I'm definitely making one of these for myself!

Have a Furry Merry Christmas!

I made cookies to take to my vet and put together a collage for inside the card and thought I'd share. Yes, I have a zoo. =)

Don't freak, some are on there twice! heh Actually, they all are and Cosmo got three pics this year. =) My vet asked once if I had a pic with all the kitties together. I have an older one from right after I moved to Spokane and were all hanging out on my new bed (incl Mugsy), but this one is from today at lunch. Food is the great equalizer! Couldn't get them to look up at me though. lol Furry pile-ups are common around here, but there's usually at least one missing from the mix.

Mugsy - yellow lab mix, 13y
Reilly - minpin/chi, 4y

the kitties, left to right in the bottom pic
Cosmo, 13y
Phoebe, 7y
Baxter, 8y
Sebastian, 13y
Xander, 8y 

They're a lot of work at times and I spend probably more than I should on them too sometimes, but they're worth it and keep me sane. =) Still, cheaper than kids!

Busy. Shopping. And a lack of yarny fun.

Hey, strangers! It's been awhile, huh? I've been busy lately. Busy. That's such a relative term. The past few weeks have been much, much busier than normal, but I finally took an entire day off this week... and it. was. awesome. A much-needed break. I hadn't actually had a full day off work in over 3 weeks and I was definitely feeling the burn(out). Two almost-full-time jobs'll do that to ya. It's only temporary though and for a very good cause (moving!) and it'll all be worth it in the end. =) Things have lightened up with job #1 too so I'm feeling a bit less over-committed this week (and more thankful for job #2 too!) and it looks like the next couple weeks will be more of the same. Ahhhh. Much better.

With the new time commitments (combined with being an hr away from any decent stores), I decided I needed an alternative to running all over buying gifts this holiday season. Enter: online shopping! Yeah, yeah, I've done it before of course, but this year, I pretty much did it all online and took better advantage of some of the great sales. Packages have been showing up and so far, only one shipping snafu. I received a package with a packing slip that didn't match the contents of the box. Good thing the missing item wasn't for a gift! Yeah, I got myself a couple of Christmas/birthday presents too. =) Hey, at least I know I'll like what I got me. heh

There has also been a definite lack of yarny relaxation time. I did pull out one of Reilly's sweaters and re-knit (this is twice now) the neck. A certain little dog can't be trusted in knitwear unsupervised - he tries to undress himself in the only way he knows how... with teeth. I've pulled out yarn to make him a new sweater. Alpaca and wool - perfect for a little dog with basically no natural coat and scrawny little legs and single-digit temps. I've learned a lot since making his other sweaters so I'm confident this one will fit even better... if I ever find the time to work on it. My camera's also been collecting dust. I can't wait until I'm moved and settled back in the NW and can start really living my life again... Limbo kinda sucks. Just a few more months... =)