Random rambles

Wednesday randomness again, since I have no particular ideas for today’s blog entry.

Knitting excitement of the week was teaching myself Norwegian purling. I’ve been knitting continental and either purling by throwing in my own special very slow throwing method or by “scoop” (aka “combined”) purling. Combined purling produces a twisted purl stitch, so it’s great for, say, seed stitch in the round where you can knit into the back of the stitch next time to untwist it, but pretty much sucks for ribbing. Norwegian purling rocks. I can’t believe it took me so long to try it!

A few weeks ago, I wandered into Tuesday Morning to get some notecards and see what oddities struck my fancy. Imagine my delight at finding this candle:

“Why did you get an icky cookie candle? Didn’t they have a tasty tuna candle?!”

Here’s a shot without the lid – those are little wax chocolate chips that are loose on top of the candle:

Tragically, the candle turns out to be too strongly scented for me, so it’s gone to live with my brother. Maybe the angelfood cake or lemon meringue pie wouldn’t be quite as strong…

Last week, I picked up some Vesper sock yarn in the Strange Little Mama colorway. Fun! I think that covers all the yarns I’ve been craving…

Not to worry about Chaos not being in that picture. It’s a sunny morning here, so he’s busy lying on the floor in a sun stupor. He had a rough night. I pulled out the stove yesterday evening and rescued six or seven sparkly mice. Chaos hopped behind the stove as soon as I pulled it out, snactched SRM, hopped back out, and got busy playing. Some of that busyness included dropping SRM on my face in the middle of the night, trying to get me to play fetch instead of sleeping… exactly as relayed to Chaos from Cricket in the comments yesterday. Thanks a lot, Maeve!

“……………………………”

34 thoughts on “Random rambles”

  1. I love those candles but they’re always too strong for me too. And then there’s the fear that I might think it’s a cookie and actually eat it.

    That’s a great Chaos shot (the last one). Love the lazy eyes.

  2. mice in the stove??? real mice???..
    I wonder if its a black cat trick to drop toys on Mom’s face at night, in the hopes of playing fetch… our little Miss Em does the same thing!
    You know, I’ve been tempted to teach myself to knit continental, but then up pops a project that I’m inspired by, and I forget all about the ‘other’ knitting,

  3. >Tragically, the candle turns out to be too strongly scented for me, so it’s gone to live with my brother. Maybe the angelfood cake or lemon meringue pie wouldn’t be quite as strong…

    Goodness! Give me that candle! Hee. Actually, what brand is it?

    Poor Chaos. Picasso does that to me all the time, and ignoring him is Not An Option. Stupid cats who know they merely need to poke me to death 🙂

  4. A lot of those candles are too strong for me too.

    When Katie wants to play in the middle of the night, she will pat me in the face with her claws out just enough so I can’t ignore her.

  5. You can too use combined knitting for ribbing!

    Just wrap the wrong way to twist the stitch (aka scooping). On the next row, you knit or purl through the back loop to untwist the stitch in the row you just knitted. BUT, you also wrap the stitch the wrong way at the same time, and this twists THAT stitch.

    So you are untwisting Row 1 and twisting Row 2 at the same time. You can do it!

  6. Norwegian purling looks really interesting- I will definitely have to try that.

    That last picture of Chaos is a beauty! I love it when their eyes are so slitted like that, and his are the loveliest shade of spring green. Plus, awwwww, kitty nose.

    That Vesper looks fantastic! I can’t wait to see what you do with it.

  7. Norwegian purling, eh? Very intriguing! I don’t usually knit with the yarn in my left hand unless I’m doing two-strand knitting, but purling has always frustrated me. The Norwegian style, with the yarn in the back looks much easier! did you look at the Finish video, too? She kept the yarn in the front but it still looked easier than what I’d been trying to do.

  8. Toys dropped on the face, things knocked off bureaus and bookshelves, cats ON bureaus and IN bookshelves, whaps in the face from clawless paws, cat sitting on my chest purring in my face, all at 2 or 3 am. Evil little beasts…I love them so…

  9. Mmmm… lovely yarn. I feel like Chaos looks, I think. I wish I could lay on the rug and bliss out like that.
    Poor Chaos, Momma wouldn’t play fetch with you in the dead of night? Doesn’t she know that’s the best time? 🙂

  10. That covers all the yarn you’ve been craving – for the moment.

    Poor Chaos. He tries so hard to include you – it’s what all the couples therapists advise to keep a relationship strong……

  11. Is there such a thing as too much scent? I suppose if the candle were in a small room…

    That last picture is superb. I love how you can see his sun-slit pupil. I was thinking when I saw it this morning that if you lined up several black cats, I’ll bet I could pick Chaos out. I feel like I know him because your pictures really capture his personality.

  12. Chocolate chip cookie…candle? I’m not sure I could get over the mental hurdle of setting a chocolate chip cookie-like substance on fire ON PURPOSE. I do that enough by accident.

  13. Until just now, I was laying on the floor in a sun stupor. It was too chilly on the patio. If I had an SRM I’d probably hav batted it around for a while. I’m feeling very “cat-like” today. Lovely yarn. More socks? Huh, who’d have guessed?

  14. So Chaos is tired, but how about you? I was woken up several times by a playful cat last night. Between the cats and the kids, I’m surprised I get any sleep.

  15. Man, I hide that SRM and you keep finding it. Now what to do to drive you crazy when SRM is missing and Chaos is lonely for it??
    Thanks for the liner and the treat!! You are a peach.

  16. Oh no – those chocolate chips look too realistic – must resist urge to eat…… I wonder if anyone has come up with a tuna-scented candle 😉

  17. Yum. That yarn is lurvely. And if you’ve run out of yarn to covet, I bet I could find some more for you!

    Chaos is obviously conserving his energies for another round of SRM in the early hours.

  18. Wonderful shot of Chaos there! Just a little creepy too though (eep) I love how broad his nose is — very recognizable, like a black panther.

    Our code passed its first test at work! So that is off my brain for a bit.

    Congratulations on the Norwegian purling – quite an accomplishment! I think I knit something like continental… I need some project ideas to get me knitting again.

  19. Ah, yes — middle of the night cat visits. Believe me, I’m familiar with them, and the only thing that stops Simon is for me to get up and feed him. It’s a 4:30 a.m. ritual.

    And I don’t knit with any kind of style. I just grasp the yarn firmly in my right hand and toss is around. I keep thinking that continental should come naturally, because I crocheted for years (although that was like 20 years ago!). But shouldn’t the wrap-around-my-left-hand seem natural? I certainly crocheted that way. But nooooo…..

  20. i’ve woken up a few times to find felted mice in bed with me… apparently i went to bed too soon for cosmo, who wasn’t done playing yet.

  21. That’s so funny that Chaos dropped the mice on you during your sleeptime. What a funny cat.
    Strange Little Mama is a great color sock yarn too. So fun!

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