It's sleepy kitten time

In the absence of much knitting progress (apart from an afghan square) - I finished a whole square at the hospital today, I bring you Hecate relaxed.

I am happy, I have a 3 month reprieve before we decide if steroid injections or surgery are needed, I breathed a big sigh of relief, shook the specialist warmly by the hand and got out as quick as possible.

There is always a bit of Hecate drooping over the edge of any surface as you can see.

Hecate inside the back pack I use for work, I don't think I'm likley to miss her added weight when I set out, however much she might want to come with me.

Two Arklow egg cups, one was free as it has a hairline crack in it, I'll keep a look out for one in good condition some time, but not until after Christmas!
What have I achieved this month?
I've knitted (I think) 14 scarves, the front of my Spirit waistcoat, part of the back and 4 afghan squares, and for a change, not a single sock, which proves that I'm not addicted to sock making after all.
I've also sorted out the light box, taken some major steps in reorganising my life without the ex around and am feeling really positive, this is most unusual for me in winter, I normally just want to hibernate.
December is going to have to revolve around frantic present knitting, I have still fairly ambitious plans which I have every expectation of not actually achieving, especially as I have a busy weekend this weekend and don't anticipate much knitting.

Is this what is known as recruiting?

This, this is the work of my neighbour, she's often very poorly as she has a number of medical problems, primarily causing her to have to use oxygen a lot of teh day. She tried doing counted cross stitch again last year and found she couldn't see well enough. She's seen me knitting when I call in to see her after work each day and asked me several weeks ago if I had some yarn and needles that she could try. I cast on for her and joined in the new balls of wool when needed, today she handed it to me to cast off and sew in the ends. I'm really delighted, it's the first time in ages she's really been able to achieve something and I feel good taht I've helped her find it.

Hecate sitting next to my keyboard all ready to hunt my fingers - little sweetheart!
Tomorrow I'm off to see the surgeon about my feet, fingers crossed it goes well as they are a little improved, I'm gradually increasing the distance I can walk without too much discomfort. I don't know if I'll have any news tomorrow or if it will mean X-rays and so forth though.

Sidetracked knitter

I've got hardly any bus knitting done the last 2 days, for some reason every bus I've caught has been packed to bursting, that doesn't leave room for knitting needles, not even my short ones. I have got some more of my Adriafils shawl done and I've finished one of my afghan squares, the last 2 scarves have made very little progress, but I'm in no rush for them, not yet at any rate!
The good news is that the supplements I've been taking seem to be helping still, I'm finally beginning to be able to walk further and more easily and my light box is helping my mood, things do seem to be looking up finally.

Supervisory kitten

Hecate does like to watch me, even when I'm blogging, although as I type this she is curled up in my left arm! I do a lot of one handed typing at the moment.


She likes to be high up, I think it's a feeling of safety and superiority.


Today's finished scarf, then I got sidetracked by the afghan squares, I don't have long periods of concentration on any one item as you may have noticed!

Not much to show

Part of yet another scarf, one of the last three on my to do list though, there is another one two thirds done but the picture came out with such advanced camera shake I decided to leave a picture of it until tomorrow!
It's been a lovely day here today, glorious sunshine, enough to inspire me to go out for a walk. I've had a good weekend, very productive and much improved by my light box yesterday and the sunshine today. Hecate has been happy and purring when not asleep next to me. I've been doing some major sorting out. I packed away the afghan I was making for the time being as it had some bad associations for me and I made a square in red and white for a smaller version intended for a friend. If blogger behaves I'll try and get a picture uploaded to the learn to knit afghan blog, but as it took me ages to get into this blog I may not manage it!

Watching kitten watching

I've never had a cat before who watched television so often, quite what Hecate made of Michael Palin travelling in the sahara desert I don't know!


It's been a productive day, in part because I have my light box set up again properly so I'm geting sufficient bright light, I've been much more active and in a far better mood since I got organised and started using it again. The Wendy Chic scarf is finished, it doesn't look terribly big in this picture,it knits up thinner than the eyelash type yarn, but it's six feet plus long.

Another of the eyelash yarn scarves, I do like this colour, it reminds me of the colour of my favourite felt pen from when I was a child, I have more of this so I may make one for myself sometime when I'm not scarve dout, I have 3 more to finish and I think that will be it for this year! I think I've finished off 10 or 11 so far this month, which is quite enough. I've doen a bit more of the bright green today, I think I've reached the armhole and V neck now, but I need to write the pattern out for myself before I start on the shaping.

One of us has been busy

But it wasn't Hecate, pictured here reclining on her back looking as if she has no intention of moving ever!




The back of the waistcoat is growing steadily if not very quickly, I've mostly been working on comissions for scarves.

The second astro turf scarf is finished, it will be washed tomorrow to reduce its scratch potential ready for sending to its new owner. The Wendy Chic scarf is on ball 4 now and if I can keep working at it this weekend may be finished by next week. I finally sorted out my lightbox for the winter this week, just in time as it has been a very grey dull week and the weather forecast for tomorrow is dreadful, full of gale force winds, we're planning a quiet and cozy weekend indoors!

Are these me?

When I'm bored I do quizzes, then I save them until I remember to post them, so here are a whole bunch for you, I'm not sure how accurate they are though, I leave it to those of you who know me to decide!

Your Christmas is Most Like: The Muppet Christmas Carol

You tend to reflect on Christmas past, present, and future... And you also do a little singing.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

You Are Dancer

Carefree and fun, you always find reasons to do a happy dance. Why You're Naughty: That dark stint you had as Santa's private dancer. Why You're Nice: You're friendly. Very friendly.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

You Are A Fir Tree

You love anything beautiful, and you have extraordinary taste. And while it's hard for you to trust, you care deeply for those close to you. You are a social butterfly, and you have many friends. You handle stress well - and you are a master at relaxing after a hard day. Overall, you are modest, talented, unselfish, and very reliable.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

Your Theme Song is Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd

"There is no pain, you are receding. A distant ship?s smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves." You haven't been feeling a lot lately, and you think that's a good thing. The comfortable part is nice... but you should really work on numb.

What's Your Theme Song?

You Are Incredibly Logical

Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic You think rationally, clearly, and quickly. A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer!

How Logical Are You?

You Are A Good Friend

You're always willing to listen Or lend a shoulder to cry on You're there through thick and thin Many people consider you their "best friend"!

What Kind of Friend Are You?

You Are: 40% Dog, 60% Cat

You and cats have a lot in common. You're both smart and in charge - with a good amount of attitude. However, you do have a very playful side that occasionally comes out!

Are You More Cat or Dog?

You Are a Traditional Christmas Tree

For a good Christmas, you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You already have traditions, foods, and special things you bring out every year.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

How many scarves to go?

I confess I've lost track, but if a certain person is reading this she'll see that I started the other astro turf scarf, mostly because washing the first one softened it a bit so I want to get this finished so that I can get it washed and dry by th etime I've finished the Chic scarf. This one will be a bit narrower as I don't have as much yarn left as I used in the first one, but it's growing OK.

I'm about a quarter through the third ball of Chic here, I left Hecate in for scale and because trying to keep her out of pictures is a waste of good knitting or blogging time. I didn't get around to blogging last night, I was knitting happily, then I woke up and found that I'd stopped, which is probably just as well, I'm not sure if knitting in my sleep is either possible or wise!

The back of the waistcoat is almost at the end of the first 50g ball, the trouble is Hecate loves this yarn so much that she steals the knitting unless I shut it in a drawer while I'm at work. I can't knit this on the bus, the needles are too long and my 4mm circular needle still has a lace shawl on it.

The Ariafils shawl is one ball large so far, it mostly only gets worked on while I wait for my computer to do something or whiel I'm on the telephone, it will be a slow job but it's jogging along nicely. I'm debating whether to go to the Trafford Centre knitting group tomorrow evening, it will depend on the weather, today the rain has been torrential, I got soaked going to work this morning and I don't fancy doing that again. If I do go out there'll be no blog tomorrow

Sleepy blogger

I'm on the third ball of the Chic scarf, but I'm absolutely shattered and having an early night, so there won't be much progress today. I've spent an hour in total waiting to see my Dr and then waiting to get my prescription filled out, worthwhile though as my Dr has given me the supplement I've been buying on prescription as it seems to be working, it may even be enough to prevent me needing immediate surgery on my feet. I like my Dr, not all of them will give supplements on prescription and this one costs around £17 a month to buy, and as I pay for my medication with an annual fee it's a huge saving for me. I did get some of my bus scarf knitted while I waited in queues, but it didn't grow as much as I'd hoped, I'm knitting in teh black hole of knitting today, nothing seems to be growing much!
Melissa and Sibille, thanks for the good wishes for my feet, and Cathy - don't worry about the needles, I'm actually kniting from a pattern, using the correct needles and knitting to gauge (well close to gauge) for a change!

Onwards

As you can see, the left hand front of the waistcoat is done. once I've started the decreases in those benighted patterns that tell me what to do on every row on one side and every fifth row on the other I have to keep going until I'm done or I forget where I'm up to!



I've decided to cast on the back next, it's going to be very dull just doing stocking stitch to the arm hole and I'd rather do this big bit next before I cast on the comparitively less boring right front. I've done another chunk of the Chic scarf, I'm still on ball number 2 but I'm over half way through.

This is a non commissioned scarf that I can do on the bus, if I keep knitting the fancy yarn at this speed I may empty my stash of all of it this winter, according to my records I've knitted my way through 2 kilos of fancy yarn this autumn, it's little wonder that I'm really enjoying the pure wool of my waistcoat for variety. In the very bottom left hand corner you can get a sneaky lok at something i've been knitting as a Christams gift, I finished it today - I have a great feeling of achievement!

I have absolutely no idea why Hecate decided to sleep in her carrying coop today!

Much business

Well, I've been busy, I can't say much about Hecate, she seems to be doing very little here! I've been working on a christmas gift that I can't show you here and knitting more of the Wendy Chic scarf, it hasn't grown enough to be worth taking another picture yet. I've been sewing in ends on some of the finished scarves as well.

I've nearly finished the first front of my waistcoat, I'm still deeply in love with this, although I am debating whether or not I should make the back in 2 panels, or at least with 2 balls of wool to make the faux fairisle the same width on the back as on the fronts. I suspect the may be taking pedantry a bit too far though!

I finished off this scarf, another item crossed off on my schedule, I've been watching Michael Palin in Full Circle this weekend, the episode in China has several women knitting in it in the backgrounds, including one knitting with 4 DPN's, long ones though, not what I think of as sock needles. I'm getting a bit concerned that I won't finish everything I want to make for Christmas, but I'm not doing badly, even getting on a little with my waistcoat and jacket.

Sleepy again

One way or another this has been another tiring week, you nearly didn't get an update tonight as Hecate and I fell asleep in front of the television,I was watching a DVD of Michale Palin travelling Pole to Pole, this bored Hecate, unlike a short programme earlier in teh week about robins that nest in the Eden project, that drove her mad with delight, she tried to hunt them on the screen and I ended up having to turn it off for fear she'd do damage!

This arrived from America today, a small addition to my collection of shamrock patterned pottery, not that I'd risk leaving anything in a shallow dish like this, the feline thief would have it emptied in no time at all.

This is, believe it or not labelled as an Arklow piece, it's tiny and most unusual.

This, this is another finished scarf, my neighbour will be picking out which ones she wants next week, after that I can just crack on with the Chic scarf that is on order. Unfortunately for me, having seen the astro turf scarf I've been asked to make a second one, a little shorter and narrower, nevertheless, I'm debating if I can bring myself to knit more of it!

Helpful kitten

Much to my amazement, astroturf scarf is around 6' 8" long and is cast off waiting for ends to be trimmed and sewn in where they aren't already woven in, then I plan on washing it to soften it before sending it to it's new home. I'll be sending it with thw Wendy Chic scarf when that is done. I got quite a lot of this done last night while I was out with my friend, he doesn't mind being seen in a pub with me knitting - very tolerant of him. We had a great evening, for various reasons we hadn't seen each other in ages and it was great to catch up with him again.As you can see, Hecate was determined to get in on the act.

Wendy Chic scarf, the first ball is done, I'm putting it on one side until the weekend as it's much easier to knit at home, I tried on teh bus today but the yarn splits easily and on a bouncy bus journey it isn't a good idea.

The left front of my jacket has reached the yoke and the start of the collar shaping, looking ahead in the pattern I see some instructions I don't understand so I'm adopting the policy I used when I first knitted sock, I knit in blind obedience to the pattern and hope they printed it correctly! Hecate started getting a bit too keen on the yarn in this picture and had to be disentangled from it at the end. She keeps stealing my waiscoat front, now I have the knitting on it's needle but the other needle is missing, irritating as I'm only 3 cms from the armhole shaping.

This is my solution to having a kitten that climbs at the Christmas tree time of year, this is about 10" high and has plastic decorations that I'll tie on tightly, pre Hecate I had a tree with glass baubles on it! I did ponder a black plastic tree but decided that was a little too goth for me. The only other real news today (apart from my employer announcing further plans to get rid of large chunks of the work force) is that my appointment to see the surgeon about possible surgery on my feet has arrived, I'm still hoping to avoid surgery as it would make getting to work pretty much impossible for rather too long for my peace of mind. There is a possibility that cortisone injectoins may help so I'm crossing my fingers!

The astro turf goes ever on

I've christened the green scarf astro turf and knitted another 50g of it today, I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll have it done by the end of the weekend so that i can wash it and see if it softens. I haven't taken anoterh photograph of it, there are only so many pictures of mounds of green stuff that I can bear to inflict upon you. Instead I'm offering you by way of slight relief at least in terms of colour the beginning of a shawl in Adriafils Stars that I bought at the beginning of my rediscovery of knitting. This is my pick up/put down easily knitting that I do when I'm bored with everything else, it doesn't grow much but will be finished eventually.
Better news is that I've started the yoke on the left front of my chunky jacket and that when Hecate stole my waistcoat front (she fell in love with the ball of yarn) she didn't do any harm despite dragging the knitting round the flat and taking the ball of wool downstairs. I'm going out straight from the office tomorrow for a meal so goodness knows what sort of chaos she'll cause in my absence. I may well not have time to blog until Thursday but I should get at least some of the green stuff knitted up - I'm sure you will all be on the edges of your seats in eager anticipation!
Hecate is less kitten like everytime I look at her, and when she falls asleep in the crook of my left arm she seems extremely heavy, then I see her leaping around the flat as light as a feather and as energetic as a kitten and I'm not so sure!

Scarves and kitten

The jade green scarf is growing rapidly, I'm determined to get it completed as soon as possible without abandoning everything else I'm working on. The left hand front of my chunky jacket is ready to start the yoke, I'm keeping that jogging along in teh background as although this week is forecast to be warmer (and sadly much wetter) there are bound to be some cold days at some point.






I've got a little more done to the Chic scarf, this is less than half a balls worth, it being so light and fluffy it feels as if it knits up slowly, in addition kitten is fascinated by the sparkly bits, I tend to knit on this when she is safely asleep, provided of course that she hasn't fallen asleep with her head on it!

Here we have kitten sleeping peacefully, I think I'm going to have to refer to her as a cat soon, she's grown in every direction and is capable of great athletic leaps and bounds around the flat.




You might not imagine her an athlete when you see her reclining like this, I've found that an hour of snuggle time when I get home from work makes her much less stroppy about being left while I go to work (some chicken out of the home made soup helped too)