Mraow?

Hi!! This is Mayhem!! Mom said I could do the blog today because she’s all groggy from staying up too late watching 24 and heeling her sock – she muttered something about “that demon television” as she turned on the noisy old espresso maker a few minutes ago.

Anyway!! This is Mayhem, but my mom calls me “May-May”!! My favorite thing is playing fetch. I can play fetch for a very long time, but Mom never wants to play that long. And I’m very cute. I think I’m much cuter than the big kitty. And I’m getting big!! See? I took a picture so you could see! I think it’s very good for being my first picture. Ok, I have to go now. I think Mom’s going to feed us!!! Bye!!!

My new sock hates me, this I know

Carole edited the most recent issue of Yarnival – check it out, because there’s lots to read and think about!

For those tracking gas prices, that same Holiday gas station hit 1.879 this morning. Before you all start thinking about moving here, the current temperature is -5°F, with a windchill of -15°F. Brrr!

We had a few more inches of snow Sunday night.

A tiny drift even formed on one of my window ledges, causing Chaos to have to crane his neck to see outside.

“The conditions under which I must live! Shocking, isn’t it?” -C

A few weeks ago, the wonderful Deb gave me skein of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn in bright charcoal. I was in such a hurry to get it rolled into a ball Friday that I forgot to take a picture of it in the skein – whoops. Anyway, sock attempt the first was a dismal failure – the stitch pattern (from Kristi’s very cool Gentleman’s Sock) just wasn’t right for how the colors played out in this yarn (but I will be using that stitch pattern for other socks). Plus my usual sock formula and 2.0mm needles didn’t work for this slightly heavier-than-fingering sock yarn. RIP!

I went up a needle size to 2.5mm, cast on fewer stitches, and tried a garter stitch rib (one round K2P2, one round knit). The stitch pattern worked, but the sock was way too big, the fabric too loose, and the pooling bad. RIP! (I was starting to feel a bit like Goldilocks at this point.)

Fortunately, I had some 2.25mm needles, and things were going great – the sock fit, the colors were spiraling instead of pooling, and all was rosiness and light. And then… The pooling again.

Here’s the sock from the top. See that nice light grey spiral starting where the stitch pattern starts? That made me happy.

I had trouble getting a good picture of the bottom of the sock, due to the *a-hem* assistance I received – but do you see the black blop on the bottom center of the sock? That’s pretty much just going straight up the bottom of the sock now – no spiraling at all.

“Do you see the problem there, May?” -C

“Wait, I’m not sure I… Oh, I do see it, big kitty!” -M

“What do you think, big kitty? Can this sock be saved? Or should Mom just give us the yarn to play with?” -M

In your dreams, Mayhem, in your dreams! Any ideas on how to force the sock to keep spiraling instead of pooling? I’m usually ok with pooling, but sometimes it just doesn’t work – and this is one of those times. (And I’m not sure I have it in me to rip out and start over again!)

Pajamas and contests and cats, oh my!

Mark Super International Pajama Day on your calendar – it’s Super Bowl Sunday (February 4). All you need to do is stay in your pajamas all day and relax. Ahhh….

Debra is having a National Delurking Week comment contest. Leave her a comment by midnight, January 16, and you could win some sock yarn, stitch markers, and chocolate.

Anne is celebrating her one-year blogiversary at the beginning of February. Send her an email by midnight, February 2, and you could win one of many lovely fibery prizes.

Lucia is having a contest in which you submit a picture of yourself knitting socks in public. The contest is open until the end of January and you could win some mysterious sock yarn. For every entry received, Lucia will donate $1.00 to MSF.

I got home Friday from an absolutely hellish week at work (I can’t remember the last time I worked five days in a row) to discover a wonderful package from Tink! (Let me just straighten things out for the knitters – even though her tagline is “I Tink, therefore I am,” she’s not a knitter; it’s short for Tinkerbell.)

Tink sent me a lovely black cat travel mug. She also sent an extremely appropriate bowl for Chaos and Mayhem, along with some sparkly mice and a bottle of catnip-flavored bubble blowing stuff.

“Is she mocking my tail with this??!! And who’s she calling pampered, anyway?!” -C
*sniff sniff sniff* -M

“Oh, this reminds me that I haven’t seen my beloved SRM for many, many months…” -C
*sniff sniff sniff* -M

Um, please ignore that tail sticking out of the litterbox on the right side of the following picture. I just noticed that… Whoops!

“This mouse is pretty cool! It jingles and sparkles and is easy to carry by its tail!!” -M
“Hey!!! Give a guy some privacy back here!!!!” -C

I’m particularly fond of the travel mug because it’s quite similar to my favorite coffee mug.

“Dum de dum de dum de dum…” -C

Ok, this may be a better comparison shot:

“I’m still not convinced that my tail isn’t being mocked…” -C

Finished Object Friday!*

(*Idea shamelessly stolen from V!)

But first… I can’t even remember the last time I saw gas prices this low. Be sure to check out the lovely grey skies, too! And yes, that is some snow in the background – while Minneapolis only had 4″ of snow on New Year’s Eve, the ‘burbs out where I work had twice that much.

So here it is, the second week of January, and I already have four FOs! I blame 24 for this surge in knitting productivity. It will come as no surprise to any of you that my first three FOs were… bibs. The two in front are for a shower gift; the one in back will go to a craft sale to raise funds for Knittymama’s local greyhound rescue chapter.

“If I sit on the damn things, she can’t put them on me.” -C

Nothing wrong with his logic – but, alas, Mayhem didn’t pay attention to Chaos’ words of wisdom.

“Hmph. Usually I’m better off if I don’t listen to the big kitty.” -M

“Do I at least look like a superhero?” -M

And the fourth FO – the purple and black stripey socks, from the yarn Jeanne dyed for my birthday! Do you like my new sock blockers?! I can’t believe what a difference they make for modeling finished socks!

“Yay! She didn’t make me model the socks!!” -M

For those who were concerned about the lack of ‘nip in yesterday’s post…

Way back in mid-December, I received a delightful surprise package from Jane – it contained a gorgeous calendar of her photos (she thought of me because July features a photo of a black cat) and some catnip toys for Chaos and Mayhem. Thanks, Jane!! (Remember that you can click on the pictures to see them larger.)

Chaos and May appeared to enjoy the toys… (That rug is proof that I once knew some basic crochet… in about 1989.)

*kick kick kick bite bite bite*

“Sheesh, May, chill! You have no tolerance.” -C

“You’re not the boss of me, big kitty!” -M

“Why, you little whippersnapper…” -C

Playing catch up

At some point last month, I got really behind in posting some things, so I’m going to try to catch up. Maybe if I get caught up with last year, I’ll feel ready to look ahead to this year.

We had our work white elephant gift exchange in early December. You will be amused at what I came home with!

“I hope these aren’t real cats, because they have atrocious fashion sense.” -M

TB sent me a tasty birthday/winter care package – belated thanks, TB!

“Hmph. None of this is catnip.” -M

My neighbor gave me a really cute little ornament that much intrigued the cats.

“I wonder when I’ll get to the squishy soft center?” -C
“Whatcha got there, big kitty?” -M

“Big kitty, I don’t think there is a squishy soft center…” -M

The ornament was rescued and hung out of reach.

For Christmas, I received One Skein Wonders from my brother and SIL. This book has some really cute projects in it and will probably be  a lifesaver for last minute holiday and baby gifts. As an added bonus, unlike the book One Skein, all of the projects in this book actually only use a single skein of yarn. 😉 On the left are some great little knitterly cards that my other friend Deb made for me – thanks, Deb!

“Still no ‘nip – what’s up with that?!” -M

Randomly random

Ok, the needles? I have no idea what happened to them. Wouldn’t you think I’d remember slamming my purse in the car door or my purse getting run over by a truck?! As far as I know, I put the needles in my purse after a work meeting on Friday afternoon, proceeded home as usual, and opened my purse the next morning to find perfect right angles. Purse gremlins?! I bent them back and now they’re just a little wavy. Perhaps I should apologize to all the knitters traumatized by the sight of those needles, who now must worry if they will open their knitting bags to discover the same thing…

I finished watching the first season of 24 last night – whoa! I so did not see that ending coming. The next two seasons are already on their way to me… *twitch twitch*

Please drop by and wish Deb a belated happy birthday and Jeanne a happy birthday (Jeanne’s link features her cats modeling hats…)! I’ll wait… 😀

Jenn’s having a contest to guess how many balls of yarn are in her stash. Leave a comment by 10 pm CST, January 14. Very brave of you, Jenn! I definitely do not want to know this about my stash – too scary!

Janna’s having a blogiversary contest – simply leave her a comment before 10 pm CST, January 15, and you could win sock yarn or a copy of Knitting Without Tears.

Reading Update
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez -Reverte. I was several chapters in before I realized that this book was the basis for a movie I’d seen, The Ninth Gate, starring Johnny Depp. I remember being a bit disappointed by the movie; I’ll have to revisit it now that I’ve read the book. I enjoyed the book and although I figured out little bits of it, I didn’t figure out the whole thing and was amused at the ending.This was the second book I completed for the From the Stacks Winter Reading Challenge.
Immoral by Brian Freeman. This thriller is set in Duluth, MN. It was pretty good, although the middle segment contained too much techy court stuff for my taste.

So, I think May might be up to something – perhaps ultimate evil… What do you think??

“Bwah-ha-ha!” -M

Chaos could not be reached for comment.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -C

Ack!! Ack!!

Ok, I’m not feeling very coherent, since I watched the first 21 hours of 24 (season one) over the weekend (damn you for lending me the DVDs, Amy!), so I’ll just tell you about a few things going on around knitblogland.

On Friday, Margene had a nice round up of a contest and some recent ‘alongs that’s definitely worth checking out.

Stephania’s having a contest for her birthday – drop by and guess how many fathers she has (!!!!) and you could win some fun yarn!

You knew it was coming – a Victorian Lace Today Knitalong.

Lolly’s announced Project Spectrum 2.0! It starts February 1 and the colors are combined a bit differently. Also, each group of colors gets two months, so hopefully things will feel a little less frazzled.

(I’m sitting back and scoping out all the various ‘alongs that are appearing and biding my time. I’m trying not to jump on all the bandwagons, since that inevitably means that I fall off most of them.)

Oh, all the “acking” in the title?! Look at what I discovered when I pulled my sock knitting out of my purse Saturday morning. Sorry these pictures are so terrible – I was distraught.

May quickly took advantage of my distress…

“Hee hee – I’m sure Mom won’t notice me running off with this little bag of yarn right now.” -M

Happiness is…

Sheep pants and black cat slippers. Yeah, baby. That’s what I’m talking about.

*sniff sniff sniff* -C

If you’ve been reading for a while (ok, ok, over a year), you might remember the black cat slippers. The “real” cats are used to the slippers. The newly arrived Counting Sheep Fleece Pants (apparently a return, as they were only $16.99) seemed to cause Chaos some consternation.

“What the hell are these fuzzy little critters, May?!” -C

*sniff sniff sniff* -C

“These fuzzy little critters look like they might be good to eat, but they just don’t smell right…” -C

“Well, nothing to do but try ’em out!” *CHOMP* -C
“OUCH!!!” -me

2006: The Knitting Year in Review

But first – thank you all so much for your well wishes! I felt quite a bit better on Wednesday. Whew! Oh, and Chaos and Mayhem are quite full of themselves for receiving the Cutest Couple Award in the 2006 JenLas. I fear prima donna behavior ahead…

How Did I Do on My Knitting Resolutions for 2006?
So so. Out of my five resolutions, I did some knitting from stash – but I also significantly added to my stash. I didn’t look very hard for a new weekly knitting group, but I did meet a lot of great local knitbloggers who I enjoy hanging out and knitting with. I didn’t go to a single knitting retreat. I did knit quite a bit more in 2006 than in 2005, when I only finished 17 projects. Finally, I did knit several things for the community – a scarf for the Red Scarf Project, a hat for a local homeless shelter, and some cage liners for animal shelters.

Finished Objects: 45 total
13 pairs of socks
12 baby bibs
5 scarves
4 baby sweaters
3 bags
2 hats
2 cage liners
1 afghan square
1 baby blanket
1 iPod Shuffle necklace
1 Hourglass Sweater

Works in Progress
I’m actively working on my stripey black and purple socks (although I ditched the lace and am doing 2×2 rib), a baby bib, and a fortune kitty.

Skeletons in My Knitting Basket
Um, everything in this post is still a UFO, except the baby blanket and the purple Trekking socks! However, I am going to tear out the moebius cat bed. (Those cats have an entire love seat and 1/2 of a queen size bed to sleep on! They don’t need a cat bed!) I might tear out the sock yarn baby sweater, too.

Favorite Project of 2006
Hmm, that’s challenging! I love the Hourglass Sweater that I knit for the Knitting Olympics, but I am also very pleased with the baby bolero, the baby sweater I knit in October, and the baby sweater I started December 26 and finished December 31. That one doesn’t sound familiar, eh? 😉 It was knit from classic light purple Mission Falls cotton that I had in my stash.

Here’s a closeup of the buttons:

And if you survive through the rest of my 2006 retrospective, there might be a few pictures of May and this sweater at the end…

Major Knitting Accomplishment
Completing my Hourglass Sweater for the Knitting Olympics and completing it early.

Favorite Yarn
The Brooks Fiber Farm Four Play I used for the aforementioned Hourglass Sweater. It was the best silk and wool blend I’ve ever used.

New Techniques
Again with the Hourglass Sweater – I learned how to do knitted hems… and how to do them without sewing.

Whew! We’ll see if I have enough ambition to look ahead to 2007 for Friday, or if I save that until next week.

“Oh oh, this looks like it might be an article of May-sized clothing!” -M

“Drat.” -M

*nonchalant whistling* -M

“Although I must admit, it is a comfy place for a little intimate bathing…” -M