Randonymity, Those Cats

Black cat fever

38 Comments

Today we shall celebrate black cats. (What? You think I do that every day? Um, well, maybe so…)

Last week Trish posted a picture of some very cool cat stitchmarkers she’d purchased. I went and checked out the lovely stitch markers Karen makes and ordered a set of black cats for very small needles and another set for medium needles.

“Hmm, these seem a little small and not furry enough to be cats…”

Aren’t they great? These are the ones for small needles.

And here are the markers for medium needles – Karen included a bonus marker for me – recognize Chaos’ brother Diablo there on the right?!! Now I need to start a shawl or something that will use lots and lots of markers…

Last week I took care of my neighbor Anna’s cat Sweets while Anna was in Hawaii. One of the best things about living in my building is that we exchange catsitting duties – so I went down the hall and visited Sweets a few times a day and one of my neighbors will do the same for Chaos while I’m out of town. Anyway, Anna brought back some very fun black cat swag for me!

“Well, this is bigger, but it still doesn’t seem like a cat to me.”

From the left, swizzle sticks, a very cool black cat nodder, and one of my wine glasses decorated with a little black cat that hangs from the rim by its tail.

Um, do you think Anna’s trying to tell me I should have a party?!

“Where’s the wine, Mom?! A glass of a fine tuna or catnip wine would really hit the spot right now.”
Hmm, do you think I should tell him that he’s not old enough to drink?
Randonymity

Randonymity

47 Comments

Congratulations to Sydney (aka “Doctor Dirt“), who was lucky number 15 and the winner of the Chaotic Playlist Contest – a package will be heading her way very shortly. Sometime this week, I will post a list of all the songs that were submitted – they were great! Thanks to everyone who participated.

Anyone want to hazard a guess how I missed this bit o’ yellow in my life?! *smacks forehead*

Over the weekend, I finished another pair of socks…

“I’m warning you – it’s not going to be pretty if you try to put those on me again.”

Some recent sock yarn procurement… From left, Dicentra Designs in Kingsfoil and Pelennor, Sunshine Yarns in Denim and Gryffindor (I am so happy about that skein), Brooklyn Handspun in Ramblings, and the previously mentioned Treadsoft in Sunburst and Burples.

Another fun booklet from the thrift shop, for knitting accessories flat and then seaming (for hats, socks, mittens)…

Annotated with these words to live by:

Contests, Tales of the Neighborhood

In which I seek orange and yellow in my neighborhood

33 Comments

Mrs Pao has been taking some great Project Spectrum-related pictures during her walks around her neighborhood and has inspired me to do the same. So on Saturday, I grabbed my camera and headed over to Lake of the Isles – one of my very favorite places to walk in Minneapolis. (You’ve already seen one picture from that walk.)

The city of Minneapolis, known for its many lakes, doesn’t have any privately owned lakeshore. Most of the lakes have small parks with walking and biking paths around them. So all of the large houses around Lake of the Isles are set back away from the lake, on the other side of a one-way parkway encircling the lake. I thought this yellow stucco villa with orange tile roof fit the PS bill nicely.

Minneapolis also has lots of sculpture around – here’s a very cool pale yellow propellor peeking over a wall – doesn’t it look like it’s blowing in the wind?

It’s a little early for ducklings, but we’re prepared.

Some nice bright safety features that I noted during my walk.

Although we don’t have any greenery at all yet, people getting into the Easter spirit provided some spots of color.

We’re big on Charles M. Schulz here, since he was born in St. Paul.

Some paintings brightened up an alley:

And this sad sun mosaic seems to be waiting for greenery to hide behind.

“Where were you?! I was so worried. What if you didn’t come back in time to feed me?!”

Alongs, Randonymity, Those Cats

A is for…

16 Comments

Abundance. (Hey, cut me a break – I joined the ABC-Along late! I’m caught up now. Well, after this entry, I am.)

Blogging has brought Abundance into my life: Abundance of laughter, of tears, of joys and sorrows shared… Abundance of friends I would never have met otherwise.

You’ve probably participated in or at least noticed the Abundance of Pal exchanges (be they Secret, Better, or other) and contests in the knitblogging community as we reach out and share with each other, getting to know each other better, getting to know each other beyond the blogosphere. That was something that I never expected when I started to blog – but I’m definitely not complaining.

I love to get postcards from my friends on their travels, but over the past 10 years or so, the cards and postcards have dwindled as the internets increase. We send more email and virtual cards and fewer physical cards. It happened so gradually, I don’t think I really noticed. Until recently. The cards below are all from other bloggers. How cool is that?!

“I’m sure Mom won’t notice if I get up on the TV right now…”

As part of getting to know some other bloggers and sharing the Abundance, I participated in a little spring exchange with Peeve, Mrs Pao, and Eileen. I thought I’d share some pictures of a few of the fun things that have arrived.

Yum… A package from Mrs Pao, with some alpaca, Regia Silk (which I’ve been dying to try), and Fyberspates (which I’ve never seen before):

Along with a very fun goldfish wand toy for Chaos – I love the cat picture on the package!

And the aforementioned chocolate bunny (really, when the hormones hit in a few days, I won’t have any qualms about devouring that bunny), some cute mini knitting needles, a ball of Scheepjes (another yarn I haven’t seen before), some tasty gluten-free biscuits…

And my very own toy mouse, made from some gorgeous fruitwood! We’re having a wee spot of trouble with this mouse right now, since Chaos insists on knocking the mouse down from wherever I put it. Apparently, all mice are his mice.

Along with more gluten-free biscuits and steamed pudding/cake thingies (not available for this photo *ahem*), Peeve sent me Kafka on the Shore, with the far superior non-US cover…

*sniff sniff*

And a “Cat Garden” kit. Although the box says it’s for things like catmint and catnip, I think I’ll be growing a crop of little tabbies and torties and tuxedos. 🙂

One out of one tails exposed to this kit agree!

I highly recommend participating in a Pal exchange, be it one of the larger ones or simply a small one that you organize. It’s a lot of fun, and spreads the Abundance of blogging.
Knitting, Randonymity, Those Cats

Random rainbows

55 Comments

I’m enjoying the playlists y’all are sending in for the Chaotic Playlist Contest! You still have plenty of time to email your playlist to the contest line – remember that all playlists received by 6 pm Central Daylight Savings Time on Monday, April 10, will be included in the random drawing.

Let us all pause a moment to curse Daylight Savings Time. I’m still not back on track after springing ahead last weekend. Yeah, yeah, that extra hour of light is nice – but maybe we could just stay on DST all year instead of switching back and forth? Just sayin’.

There’s still time to buy tickets for the Geek Prom… No, I’m not going – why ruin my perfect prom non-attendance now? (Besides, skipping the cow eye dissection sounds like a wise move.)

Brace yourselves – is this not the cutest chocolate bunny you’ve ever seen?! Thanks, Mrs Pao!! But here’s the problem – I’m not sure I’ll be able to actually eat this twee little bunny. I want him to come home and live with me always!

*sniff*

Right now, the poor little bunny is hidden in my desk, away from my evil and menacing coworkers who have threatened his continued existence. Hmph.

Yesterday Danielle wondered if I’d been doing any knitting or if I was just hanging around admiring my cabinets. So last night I mostly finished my pair of Ranbow Jays – I have about 1/2 inch of ribbing left to do on one, plus weaving in the ends. (Thanks to Sandra, who inspired me to use my “Fun Nation” yarn for Jaywalkers!) And no, the heels aren’t uneven, altho it sure looks like it in this picture:


Yup, this was definitely my April Project Spectrum knitting project.

“Doody doody doody do… Whoa. What the heck is going on here?”

“So… bright… must not look directly at the socks…”

Randonymity

The cupboard over the fridge

27 Comments

Kate is having a very interesting contest – show her the contents of the cupboard over your fridge. Now, at first I thought this wouldn’t be worthwhile, since I use that cupboard (heaven help you if you’re less than 5’9″ and need a paper towel in my kitchen, is all I’m saying). But when I actually took a look at it…

I obviously use it less than I thought. From the left, some boxes of Nut Thins, the aforementioned paper towels, a mongo jug of salsa (*mental note to cross salsa off grocery list*), the smoothie attachment for my blender (the blender attachment was my wakeup call), more paper towels, and party type paper plates, cups, and cutlery. You can’t really see my collection of Chipotle napkins behind the center bar, alas.

Within moments of opening the cupboard…

“Oh, what’s in here? Tuna? No… paper towels! Mom, you know I love to shred paper towels! Why are you hiding them in here?”
“Hmph. I will sit on top of this cabinet and meditate imperiously upon this injustice.”
Contests

Contest!

25 Comments

Chaos, pink was last month! No need to stick out your tongue now. Or are you going to taste test the yarn?

“Hmm, is that a hint of melon I detect?”

Interested in winning that lovely skein of Project Spectrum April-appropriate sock yarn you see pictured above by Chaos’ paw? It’s a skein of superwash sock yarn from ebay seller lotusblossom in color Sunburst. (No, Scout, the skein of Burples next to it is not the prize.)

If so, send an email to the contest line. In your email, list five songs (artist and title) that you would include in a playlist inspired by the Cat Chaotic, along with a few sentences about why you picked those songs. The winning entry will be chosen by random number from all entries received. Emails must be received by 6 pm Central Daylight Time on Monday, April 10 so the yarn can go out in the mail on Tuesday and you can get knitting! If the winning entry belongs to someone who isn’t a knitter, said person will receive a completely different prize and a second entry will be chosen by random number.

An operator is standing by… Um, Chaos? Hello???

“Leave me alone. I’m busy.”
Knitting, Project Spectrum, Those Cats

In which I actually knit something and also find some yellow and orange around the house

32 Comments

Yes, the slightly misshapen object below is a “necklace” for my iPod shuffle, based on Kristi’s Nano Necklace. All the lumpy lopsidedness is my own doing – Kristi’s Nano Necklace is gorgeous! What I needed was something to hold my shuffle while I walk around the Lakes this spring and what I got is very functional for that purpose. It was knit flat on an Addi Turbo 2mm for the body and Inox steel 1.75mm for the i-cord. The yarn is Regia Cotton Jacquard leftover from the first pair of fingering weight socks I ever knit (awwwww…..).

Please excuse the lighting – it was a bit dark outside when I finished…

Moving right along to Project Spectrum’s April colors of yellow and orange, Peeve started things out right by sending me this fabulous color appropriate card:

See Chaos there in the middle, begging? I think he’s flanked by Jeanne’s cats Bugsy and Pud. 🙂

I didn’t think I had much yellow and orange around and feared I would be reduced to taking pictures of the lemon dish soap and the Saran Wrap box. However, I did find a few things. Here’s a little cat sculpture that usually sits way up high, out of Chaos’ reach:

And here’s most of the yellow and orange media I found. Heck, there’s even some yellow in the upholstery on my futon couch that I hadn’t really noticed before:

“Whoa, what’s all this stuff on the coffee table?!”

“And the winner of the Chaos Booker Sniffer Prize is Children of God Go Bowling by Shannon Olson!”
Randonymity, Those Cats

Chaotic rambling, with Sundara

33 Comments

The Monday after Daylight Savings Time starts (aka today) is always sort of brutal for me (and for plenty of others, I’m sure). So I’m a bit bleary and crabby this morning – bleary enough that I forgot to put chocolate in my desperately needed mocha. Blech. Don’t mind me.

What I didn’t expect from Saturday’s Stash Flash: that seeing my stash would make so many of you happy to discover that you didn’t have stashing issues in comparison. Hmph. However, I must now send you to see Dawn’s mind boggling stash, which cheered me up immensely. Here’s her office stash and her home stash (she has sofa and suitcase stashes!). I’ll wait. Back? See? I have a very reasonable stash. Moving right along…

For those wondering how one breaks a windshield while changing wiper blades: I had finally wrestled the old wiper blade off and the “naked” wiper arm slipped out of my hand and smacked into the base of the windshield. That’s it. Instant spiderweb.

A week or two ago, I added some of the lovely Sundara sock yarn to my stash. The color is Black Lagoon and the pictures below don’t really do it justice – the color depth and intensity are better than a lot of the Koigu I’ve seen recently!


“Why is this yarn in a bag, Mom? Don’t you trust me?”
Can you spot the cat in this picture?

Art journaling, reading, knitting, and cat parenting. It's a wild life.