She's evil!

My mother is an evil, evil woman!

First, knowing that I have lots of Christmas knitting to do, she sends the pattern for this:

The Tea Leaves cardigan. Now at first I wasn't overly impressed.. but then I started thinking about it.... and looking at it... and thinking about it and the I totally fell in love with it.

I don't know if it's the shape, or the simplicity of the design or the fact that it's worsted and will total knit up quick... but I decided I had to have it. And I have to have it now!

But I don't have any worsted yarn in my stash - well I do... but it's been promised to Dave's sweater.

So I started looking online... I found some lovely handmaiden Lady Godiva (50% merino/50%) silk... but it was a little out of my price range.

We talked about dying some.. but our supplier is out of worsted, and right now with all hours at work, I don't have time to dye anyway (Mom's been doing all the dying for the shop lately... I have pics of her newest and will put them up at the end of this post).

And then mom sent me a link for some lovely Madeline Tosh - Tosh Merino (what the pattern is done in) and just as I was about to empty my bank account to buy it (okay, it wouldn't be empty, but I probably should buy groceries instead) when she offered to buy it for my birthday (which is next month)

I chose Kale:It's on it's way and should be here just in time for my birthday... which means someone might not be getting socks for Christmas.. but blame Mom. (Thanks Mom, you rock!)

So, until it comes I'm occupying myself with the baby cardi:I made a lot of progress tonight... body is done, all that's left is the sleeves. There is going to be a lot of work for the next four days though, so I doubt it will be done this week.

And, as promised, here is a sneak peak at the yarns that will be up in the shop soonThe bottom right one might not make it into the shop... it may make a detour at my stash

It's called multi-tasking

Whew - what a week. My editor is still off, so between the two jobs I pulled in more than 50 hours this week.

Needless to say, that didn't leave much time for knitting, so you wouldn't think that I would have anything to show you... but I do!

Yesterday, while sitting there, bored out of my mind at Job#2 (I answer the phone, and it doesn't ring all that often) I said screw it... I'm gonna knit. Normally I read - but I've got Christmas deadlines looming - so I cast on for the second maroon sock:

I got the ribbing and two whole pattern repeats done while I was there. The rest I've done in the past few hours - one more repeat and I'm to the heel. I am flirting with the idea of making a men's version of this sock, but I'm still undecided - what are your thoughts?

Hip to be square

My editor is off because of back problems (who knew they were contagious) so I'll be working A LOT for the next little while. I worked late tonight, so it really cut into the knitting time, and tomorrow and Thursday, I work evenings at Job # 2, so no knitting on either of those days.

Despite the late night, I did manage to knit the pieces for two more Nip Nuggets.

These are for a blog friend's kitties, so stuffing them without my kids getting a hold of them is going to be interesting. I think I may have to barricade myself in the bathroom when I do it.

In other cat news - some one is staging a rather messy, silent protest here. Every day since I went back to work after the most recent back flare up, I've been coming home to this:
He's not doing it because he's using the plant as a bathroom - he just pulls it out and dances in it. I think he's trying to tell me he wants me to work from home. Some days I'd like to tell him to find a new home, but it's really hard when he looks like this:

Blankets & broken promises

Yesterday I said I would have a proper update on the Crackghan, and here it is:
It's up to a whopping 16.5 inches long - only 43.5 inches to go!

If you're a regular blog reader, it's not a big stretch to assume I haven't been working on it steady. All the cardigan, shawl and sock knitting has gotten in the way. That's why, since the last update a few months ago, I've only added 5.5 inches.

That... and these squares are really freakin' small. Each one is only about 2.5 inches, and takes about a 1/2 hour. So - 111 squares so far = 3330 minutes, or 55.5 hours - yeah this blanket isn't getting finished any time soon.

But I don't care. I love it. It's just starting to get big enough to cover my lap as I knit, and it's like sitting under a pile of your favourite socks. Of course, as you can see from last blog, Tux loves it too for the same reason. As soon as I pull it out of the basket, he's there!

Tonight however, I set it aside and cast on for some Christmas knitting.

Yes, I know - I promised myself I was going to be totally selfish, and not do any Christmas knitting this year, but cash is a little tight this Christmas, and I have a pretty decent stash - no need to buy yarn, so knitting it is.

I already have some of it done. The pink Berry Hill socks are going to Dave's mom. The fan shawl is going to his grandma. In the summer I went on a little binge and knit a bunch of hedgehogs - those are going to my neices. I test knit a baby sweater for mom, and that is going to one of my friends babies. When I get the second maroon sock done, it will be wrapped up with the first and gifted, and I will probably cast on a couple of other pairs for other recipients.

But that's not what I cast on tonight. Nope... this one is for another baby - the youngest edition to our friends' circle of spawn. Her name is Olivia and she's the baby I designed Little Princess and Baby Janes for. I was going to design a cardi to go with Little Princess since I have lots of the yarn left, but then I found this:
A nice feather and fan cardigan already designed for me!

Of course this means I'm no closer to getting the sock pattern to you, sorry. I'll cast on for it soon... I'm sure... well before Christmas anyway...

Picturefied

I didn't cross much off my to do list this weekend - Dave wanted to go antiquing, all weekend which definitely wasn't part of my plans - but I did manage to do one important thing - I got a card reader so I can download pictures. So, without further ado, here are the grey socks completed:
And the lone maroon sock:As you can see, this isn't a great camera - it's just a basic Fuji point and shoot - I'm use to a professional SLR, but well, beggars can't be choosers right? It will do for now, but I am definitely in the market for something with a little more functionality - or at least a macro setting.

I barely got any knitting done this weekend. I didn't cast on for the second maroon sock, so sorry, no pattern yet. All I accomplished was just a few squares on my crackghan... which pretty much looked like this:
He thinks he's helping. I'll do a better update on the blanket later, but for now I'm beat from all that driving and treasure hunting.... time for some tea, cookies, and a few more crackghan squares before bed.

Crappity crap crap

Well I got another camera. I took pictures of the grey socks and the lone maroon sock; of rocky and the mess he made of my Japanese Peace Lily; of Peno and her water dish shenanigans, of Tux in all his fat roly poly glory.... but I can't show you any of it because I can get the @$^&#&*** camera to download... on ANY of the THREE computers in the house.

It just keeps telling me the USB device is not recognized, and I swear if I see that insipid, unhelpful bubble pop up one more time, I'm gonna hurt someone - so I've given up. Dave can fix it... that's what he's for, right?

It's not the USB ports, other devices work fine. It's not necessarily the camera, as it did this to me with my last camera just before I got this one. It might be the USB cable I suppose... but the other camera used a different cable, and what are the chances they are both screwed? I guess it's possible but unlikely.

So, tomorrow I'm going to take it up to mom's and see if it will work on her computer.

Until the, I'll leave you with the lovely new yarns in the shop...

Continuing the Wicked line we have........ Bad Moon Rising Sleepy Hollow

and Belladonna

There are also more Poison Apple and Witching Hour up if you wanted those and missed out last time (Belladonna is gone now though, as is Darkwaters - if you really wanted either of those email me at wanderingcatstudio@hotmail.com and I'll see what we can do).

We also got more naked yarn today, so expect to see more coming soon. And stay tuned for a special contest announcement.

Nothing to see here folks...

... because I'm between cameras at the moment. So, sorry - no pictures, even though I did manage to finish the maroon sock and cast on for the second grey sock. The Regia Silk (maroon) was nice to knit with, but it just doesn't compare to our Top Cat. I think it's the cashmere. I think the only thing that could make me love it more is if had silk in it.

A few of you have asked, and yes, once both pairs are finished, I'll make the pattern available. Provided there are no dire emergencies, it should be by the end of next week.

I think I had more to say, but my brain has decided to stop working (picked up and extra shift at job #2 tonight, job #1 was crazy (getting caught up from last week) and I'm doing it all on four hours sleep. It's time for a hot bath and a comfy bed I think....