Is It the Time Of Year?

So, I was under the impression that this is "the most wonderful time of the year." At least that's what Andy Williams keeps telling me. LIAR!






What is it about this time of year that makes people...different somehow? I don't know. I try my best to remain static. I really do. However, I often get kind of depressed in December, a feeling that originates around Thanksgiving. And this year, my feelings of frustration, anger, sadness, depression, etc. seem to be more intense or acute than they have usually been in other years. Gee, I wonder why?

Also, lately, I've noticed a change in several people. Subtle things, really. Distant, less patience, less understanding, less compassion, less consideration, and just an overall general ambivalence towards other people's feelings and situations. It's hurty. :-(

I'm trying to press on and just get to next week, when my sister and her family arrive for the holiday. I've been focusing my energy on this visit and the week off I will have to finally decompress a little.

This has been a terrible year for many people, myself included. Here's hoping 2009 is better. Cheers!

In other news: Titus' eye is pretty much back to 100% normal. What a relief. I am nearly done with all my holiday gift knitting, which is also a relief. Now maybe I can get back to all the other stuff that I have put on hold for like a year! My poor mom, I've promised her that knit kimono for like 2 years!

Think Titus Loves Me...A Little?

If I Were To Ask You...

...How many cats are on this bed?



First you'd say, "Um...too many?" Then, you'd say, "Three." From top clockwise: Hercules, Sophie (near my pillow, GORRAMIT), and Ophelia.

Good answer!


But WRONG:



Yes, that's Titus holed-up in there. (Love Fi-Fi's surprised/concerned look there, too.)

Come out of there, you goofy Squinty McFootball Head!



Here's Mr. Chesterfield poking around. He's really found his way around the house well. He's a lovely cat and super smart too.



And now, some close-ups:

Ophelia, looking very, very concerned (as usual):

Hercules, looking very, very confused (as usual):

And Luna, looking positively evil (as usual):

What's wrong with this photo?:




If you said that it has obscene amounts of yarn in it, then you are only partially correct.

Keep looking...

...see it yet?

This next picture will help....



Yup, Titus again. He just thinks everything is for him, you know?

Cats, OY!

Caption The Cat: #6

Do you mind? I'm posing for heads of the $.03 coin of Catopia

Portrait Of A Football Head

I seriously love his football head....

Titus Every Morning

Notice how much the bed is all scratched up. Yup. Ours too.

Babies, Cats, and Knitting

Hey, everyone. So I just returned from visiting my sister and my new baby niece, Aubrey, in North Carolina. Oh my DOG, she is so cute. I took TONS of pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Here's Aubrey having a "chat" with her mom. She is so alert and really wants to communicate with all of us. She is only 3 weeks old, but she really wants to talk to us!

YAAAAAAAWN...

Awwwww.

Here she is with the hat I made her as part of that kimono/hat/booties matching ensemble. It fits her perfectly! Now I am going to make her more hats. Because, hey, babies with hats are like over-the-top cute:

Yeah, so, my sister recently got a pure-bred Siamese (the cute, apple-head, non-cross-eyed kind). They named him Neko, which is the Japanese word for cat. I think he's about 5-6 months old now. He is awfully cute, and a very sweet cat too. And he has THE bluest eyes I've ever seen. Just magnificent. He also...well...really loves the baby....

He would periodically sneak in there with her whenever we weren't looking!


Here are my sister's 2 other cats:

Molly

Mitzy

(who is actually a boy, but, well, it's a long story....)

And here is the baby blanket that I had been working on for the last few months. I finished it and did a semi-block on it the day before I left. Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out. I think my sister really liked it, too.


While I was in North Carolina, I made a dishcloth to match my sister's kitchen. I happened to have with me the cotton yarn that my Dishcloth Swap spoiler from the last round gave me! The dishcloth is actually the same pattern as the blanket above. I absolutely love that pattern. It was a free one from the Dishcloth Boutique website.


I also managed to finish one sock out while there! I switched to Addi Turbo needles (size 2 on 12" cables) and it was infinitely easier. Like, WHOA. Now I am working on the gusset portion of the second sock in this pair. So it looks like I will actually finish my first pair of socks ever! And I DO see more sock knitting in my future. Thank you, Addi Turbos!!! My only beef with the sock is that I made the foot portion too long for me by about 3/4 to 1 inch. But, hey, for the first pair ever? I think that's ok! :-)



And I leave you now with pictures of a couple of my cats being very, very silly:





Sophie

Hercules











Titus

Wrongfully Accused

Do you remember when this happened?

I do. Very well, thank you.

Recall, if you will, that I automatically assumed that it was Titus. I made this assumption based on his prior atrocities, such as this and this.

In a great, loud disturbance that I had yesterday morning at 5:30 am, it was revealed to me that I had, indeed, wrongfully accused Titus and that it was actually Hercules that managed to knock everything off my dresser and onto the floor. Yes. Hercules. Allow me to divulge the full epiphany on you:

Despite the fact that our house has central air-conditioning, for the last several months, we have had a window-unit air conditioner in our bedroom window. Why? Because the central air just does not make it upstairs. And I can't take heat, especially when I am trying to sleep. So we popped a window-unit in there. It's great. Well, apparently, the neighborhood birds think so too, but probably for a different reason. They love to come tuck themselves under the thing or on the side, or build a little nest in the corner of the window outside, using the air conditioner as a supporting wall. Plus there is a big tree in our front yard, and its branches do touch the master-bedroom window---the very same window with the air conditioner. These birds make quite a ruckus. And the birds, in conjunction with the tree make for some interesting moving shadows all around the bedroom.

What does this have to do with anything at all ever in the history of time? I'm getting there. Bear with me.

Ever since we picked up Hercules off the street (literally) he has been intrigued by sunbeams, and shadows and how they drift and change around the room. Why, I recall many a day when he sat on the steps in the living room (at our old house), absolutely rapt, for hours watching as the sun would move in the sky and change the shadows that it cast on the stairwell wall. And, indeed, nearly every early am since we've had that air conditioner in our bedroom window, there's been Hercules jumping around from dresser, to chest-of-drawers, to lingerie chest, trying to catch the shadows.

Usually we are aware of what he's doing, and manage to hit him with the water in the "NO, NO, BAD CAT" spray bottle that we keep on the nightstand. He'll scurry away, only knocking off one or two things. Well...yesterday at 5:30ish am there was an ear-drum-shattering CRASH across the room, which came from the chest-of-drawers. Hercules had miscalculated his trajectory and managed to drag down the table runner (WHEN WILL I LEARN: 5 CATS = 0 TABLE RUNNERS) and with it every freakin' thing on the chest of drawers. I knew it was Hercules because:
a) only he jumps around in the morning on the bedroom furniture.
b) only he chases shadows and sunbeams and
c) Titus, the usual suspect, was nestled in the elbow pit on my arm, licking away, as is his custom every morning.

Shut up. I know they are spoiled. And Titus seriously thinks I'm his mother. It's...kind of cute.

I did not take pictures because I just did not have the emotional energy to do it. So later that morning (I was off yesterday; I am recovering from tonsillitis), I started picking everything up. And Titus was right there at my elbow, completely intrigued by the mess and how I was cleaning it up.

BAM.

Epiphany.

Hercules jumps around on the tops of my bedroom furniture. Hercules chases shadows and sunbeams and has been doing so for 3 years. So it was Hercules that actually spawned my "I can't have nice things" post, NOT Titus.

So, my dear Squinty Fuzzimous Sean Connery Football Head McGoo, even though you can't read (I assume), this apology goes out to you.

Caption The Cat: #5

Caption The Cat #5

Um...mom? Please take these oven mitts off me! Oh, wait, those are my paws....

I Can't Have Nice Things

Remember when your mom would say that in utter disgust when you and one of your siblings accidentally knocked over a chair or dropped a dish in your childhood clumsiness? And the WAY she said it too, with a sigh and a tone of just the most defeated frustration you've ever heard? Yeah. Also recall, if you will, how you snorted under your breath and swore on your Trapper Keeper, Depeche Mode albums, and posters of Knight Rider---all the priceless treasures that you held near and dear---that you would never allow yourself to speak such silly, silly words over such trifling things as furniture, china, art, antiques, jewelry, and crystal?

Well, I'm very sorry to have to inform you---here, now, sit down, that's better---it grieves me to have to tell you now that your mom...was right. Whatever she said, I don't care; it's all true. All of it. She couldn't have nice things. Not while anyone under the age of 17 lived in the house, anyway.

And now, dear readers, I found that I have truly begun my great transformation into my mother because I uttered those very same words this evening upon the discovery of this in my bedroom:


Yes. I know. Oh in case you can't see it, here's a close up of that yellow vase, which landed in the middle of my overturned and splayed make-up case:


Notice how it's broken. I assure you, it was not that way this morning when I left it, resting, peacefully, without knowledge of the atrocity in its near future. Also worth noting is how that little vase was a handmade piece of pottery with a sculpted green dragonfly on it. There is not another like it.

I would, in addition, like to point out the ivory, hand-painted, floral jewelry box that somehow managed to be flung to the opposite side of the bedroom, its contents spilled out all on the carpet:

Those are all my good earrings in there---well, now all over the floor: Gold, pearls, the lovely diamond earrings that my grandmother gave me about a week before she passed away.

I remained.

Now, I've always heard that a criminal almost always returns to the scene of his/her crime.

Voila!


And it's none other than Squinty McFootball-head Magoo (Titus). Why am I not surprised?

Sigh. What can I say? I can't have nice things.

Four Out of Five Cats Prefer the Window

Well actually, they all like the window. It's just that Sophie won't get up there if there are more than two of her siblings already there. We got this cool bench from Ikea that opens up for storage. It's the perfect dimensions for a window seat for our front windows. The cats love it:

So from left to right it's: The Fuzzimous Sean Connery Squintified McFootball Head (Titus), Hercules, Ophelia (notice how LARGE her posterior is), and Luna.

I only wish it would provide enough entertainment to keep them from horribly scratching the furniture up. I swear, we bought a sectional about a year ago and it's already like shredded to pieces. RAGE.

Too Cute

I swear, if he wasn't so freakin' cute...

"Um, mommy, look at my fuzzimous ears and how super cute they are attached to my sleeping football head. Then you'll forget that I put tooth holes in your birthday cards, scratched your walls, broke the glass in daddy's picture frame, and knocked every item on your dresser onto the floor the other day. Also, mommy, please note how achingly adorable my chubby paws are, particularly the one covering my smoochy face and you won't care that I made a wee-wee in the foyer closet, ripped up your curtains, and made pulls in all your furniture."

Caption The Cat: #2

Caption the Cat #2

"Get...down? What is this crazy language that you speak?"

Caption The Cat: #1

I'd like to introduce a new, fun feature here on my blog called: Caption the Cat. So here's the first picture eagerly awaiting your witty captions:

Caption the Cat

I'll start:

"Yeah, go ahead and leave that tribute of gold and jewels over there with the rest of that crap."

Happy New Year!

Hey there! Happy 2007 to everyone. Looks like the Mummers are wussing out in their golden years; the Mummers Parade was postponed until Saturday. What-ever. I mean it barely drizzled all day. I remember some Januaries in times gone by where it was like -10 degrees outside with snow coming down and there STILL was the parade, trudging its obnoxious, drunken, motley way up Broad Street. Today it was like 56 degrees and drizzling. Lame.

I don't even like to watch the Mummers Parade. I just like complaining about it, of course. :-P

So I finally finished two of those Mason-Dixon washcloths! I used Bernat Cotton Tots yarn. I really liked using this yarn. It has a much nicer feel to it than the Peaches 'n Cream. Not that I don't like the P 'n C yarn, it's just that the Cotton Tots seems to hold together better --- no splitting of the yarn at all. Here are a couple of photos:

I did the pink one first and then the blue one. Ok so here's my problem. What the crap is wrong with the way I cast on? Seriously. Why oh why do I consistently get a wobbly, loose edge? You can see it on both of the washcloths, but particularly the upper edge of the blue one. Casting off? No problem. I do that very well. Now, the pattern says "cast on loosely." In fact, most patterns I've seen command me to cast on loosely. So I do as I am told. I don't think they mean it. LIES! Next time I do anything that says "cast on loosely" I am going to completely ignore it. Just to see what happens.

What projects are on the table for 2007? Well, so far:

• a hat with cat ears for my sister-in-law, Wesley. I need to find my Stitch 'N Bitch book because I know there is a pattern for one in there.
• a cabled scarf using that loverly light blue alpaca yarn that I got from Roxy's on ebay. This will be my first cabling project.
  
• the felted bathroom rug.
• more dishcloths!

AND, probably most importantly...

• lots and lots of baby items, as my sister, Helene, just found out that she is PREGNANT! We are all very surprised. I mean, my nephew is 12 years old now, and Helene is 38. But after the shock wore off, I think we're now all excited and happy. And, honestly, we need this. My family has had a lousy time of it for the last couple of years, seriously. Lots of death, sadness, and problems. We all hope 2007 is a much better year for all of us.

I now leave you with a picture of Titus, looking like Sean Connery...if Sean Connery had a football head:

Christmas Knitting...Almost There!

Ok so I've mentioned in a few previous posts that I am making a bunch o' scarves as Christmas gifts for four young girls and a little boy that are the children (and one neice) of two of my friends. Ouch, that hurt my brains.

So, anyway, here are the three scarves for the three daughters of my friend, Dana:

The ivory pastel one is for her youngest, who I think is 4-5. This was done using a ball and a half of Lion Watercolors in Shell and a skein of some random, light-purple, fuzzy eyelash yarn that I got in the $1 bin at Target. The pink in the middle is for her middle daughter who is 6-7. That is done with about 1/2 a skein of Patons Divine in Floral Fantasy (which is actually really nice yarn to work with) and one skein of Patons Carmen in Rose. And the purplish one on the right is for her oldest girl, who is 9 or close to it. That is done with 1 skein of Bernat Boa in Toucan and about 1/2 a skein of Joann's Sensations Angel Hair in medium purple.

I am also making another one of those purplish, feathery ones for my friend Julie's neice, who is also around 9. That scarf is about 1/4 done. I have to finish it by this coming Sunday. I think I will be able to do it without a problem.

Now for Julie's son, who is 3, I made a hat and I am about 1/3 done a matching scarf:

I am using 2 strands together of Lion Brand Homespun in Williamsburg Blue and the red parts are 2 strands together of the last, sad remnants of Lion Brand Kool Wool that I have in my possession. Sniff, sniff. I loved that yarn. So super easy to work with. Sigh. Anyway, I finally am doing a ribbed scarf. And it actually looks halfway decent. I like these colors together, too!



So that's my progress and what's been taking up most of my time. Oh, but I did manage to finish another Moebius scarf. Actually, as I was sitting in the dining room at my laptop checking e-mail earlier, I noticed Titus go trotting across the living room carrying it in his jaws. Nice.


















Now I still need to finish that Mason-Dixon Washrag. And I want to start up on that rug for the bathroom. And I want to do my first cabling project, too. Too much to do and so little time! RAGE!

All My Children

Here they are, all in one place at the same time --- a rare event, to be sure. They are all looking out the back door into my yard. Oh, actually, I should write it as: "yard." Yes, in Philadelphia, your backyard is in actuality an 18' x 10' concrete rectangle, which contains your central air-conditioning unit, a trash can, and a few weeds and is enclosed by a chain-link fence.

I have no earthly idea why these animals (the boys in particular) are so intrigued by the yard. Todd has let them out there a few times. The girls choose to stay inside. Thus proving that girls are smarter even in the animal kingdom. But Titus and Hercules can't wait to run out there, especially Hercules. Sometimes, he cries and paws at the back door when it's closed because he wants to go out there.

One of us is usually there to supervise when they go out. We have to, because of Titus. See, the cold fact is that Titus is smarter than Hercules. When Titus goes out there, he scopes out the confines of the yard and examines the perimeter for any weaknesses he can exploit. Yeah. One time, he tried to jump the fence. I caught him, though, before he could do it. Hercules just wanders around sniffing the air. When we go over to him to pick him up and bring him back in, he runs over to us, tail all up, happy to see us. When we go over to Titus to pick him up and bring him in, it's another story entirely. He wriggles out of your grasp and out of reach, then he flips himself over onto the ground, completely stretches out, and stiffens up so that you can't pick him up without like jamming your fingers into his soft belly, which he KNOWS I won't do because I don't want to hurt him. See? Smart(er). Yet, as smart as he is, Titus is still too dumb to realize how good a life he has in my house. I let him get away with murder, seriously.

This morning, in fact, I discovered that sometime in the middle of the night he stole one of my nice earrings. I have no idea where he put it. He probably ate it. Sigh...I guess I have to keep an eye on the contents of the litter boxes during the next couple of days. Swell.

YAY! Thank You, Secret Pal!

Well after a rather blah day at work today, I came home to find some packages waiting for me at the door, which always cheers me up. I ordered a bunch of yarn from a couple of places, so I was happy to see that it arrived so quickly.

Also peeking out at me was a brown, soft parcel from Canada. I was so excited to see that it was a package of goodies from my Secret Pal!

I am absolutely thrilled with everything contained in that parcel! Thank you so much for your very thoughtful gifts. I have taken some photos of my goodies! :-)

Here is a picture of everything she sent me:


Left to right: 2 BIG balls of gorgeous red yarn, a bag of coffee, magnets, a toy kitty, a notebook with a polka-dot, 4-way reversible cover (how cool is that?), a tin box of exotic teas and a really pretty card!





Ok that little yellow toy cat...could you just DIE from how cute is? I mean, really. Look at it up close! And guess what? IT WINDS UP AND WALKS! To the left of my new little kitty pal are really cute magnets!















I am so excited about trying the tea! They come in silken bags! How luxurious! I love tea, especially herbal teas, which these are. These are almost too pretty to use! Here's a close up:





















And now, the yarn! First of all, it is a gorgeous, deep, rich red. Like a candy apple! Apparently this yarn came hot off the presses, so-to-speak, from my secret pal's local spinner! It's so beautiful and the skeins are HUGE. And, I am a very sensory person, so I tend to smell everything, even if it's something where the smell is not even a factor. Like, for instance, yarn. Who smells yarn? I do! I know, I know; I'm nuts. Anyway this yarn smells so good! So natural and earthy with nutty and cedar undertones. I love it!
















How does that poem go? ...Nothing gold ever stays....? Yeah, well then the cats started swarming around. Here's Ophelia:















Then Titus. This is a funny photo because if you look closely, Titus is just about in the same pose as the little wind-up toy cat:














Now these next photos are of some of the yarn I bought. I decided to try Lorna's Laces. This is one of her chunky yarns in 80% wool and 20% silk. It's SUPER soft. Just gorgeous. The color is called "mineshaft," which I forever keep wanting to call "Drive Shaft." Damn you, Lost! But I digress. Anyway, the photos just do NOT do this color combination any justice. It's like a very light mauve into silver into charcoal into taupe. It so beautiful. And Titus thought so too...:














Oh and I just HAD to get it because...well...see, my main character on World of Warcraft is a Dwarf hunter named Lorna. Seriously. And well, this yarn is Lorna's Laces and the color is "mineshaft," and my Lorna is a Dwarf, after all, so naturally I gave her mining as a profession...so...it was just meant to be. Right? Ok, look, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.