A minion's work is never done...

As cute husband was heading out for work this morning, he came across a certain minion engaged in what can only be described as felonious activity of the highest degree. He found said minion on the floor with a blob of what was once a skein of Frog Tree sportweight alpaca, arms shoved in up to the armpits, nuzzling the yarn with his pointy little nose (can't say as I blame him for that part).

I'm not mentioning any names, but he has a lot of toes, is always busy, and was too inexperienced (or dumb) to realize he was even doing anything wrong. Cute hubby reports that he appeared to be quite pleased with himself and was enjoying the felonious activity immensely---so much so that he didn't even bother to stop or run away when caught! (Which begs the question... exactly how long CH let him continue before he stopped him....ahem).

Since the two older minions probably had the good sense to run away, I'm not sure he was in it alone, or if he got to it after prior assault by minion-y accomplices, but here's the result...

Busy, busy, busy---A minion's work is never done.

We Love Surprises!!

While reading one of my favorite blogs, Chickenlips Knitting, Sharon posed a question in her post about Rod Stewart that only an older-than-dirt person like me would probably know the answer to. It wasn't a contest, but just a question that amused me in my ancient-ness, and so I answered in my comment.

Imagine my surprise when, while later reading her next blog entry, I saw my name mentioned at the bottom of her post....together with the words "I wanna send some yarn." Whaaaaat? For moi?!! In case you don't know, Sharon is a yarn-dyin' Diva of the finest degree and her yarns are lively and colorful and---I have drooled over them many times! It couldn't have been more than just a few days later when.....

"Hey, Mom! Is that the mailman?"

Why, yes! It was! And this is what he brought.....

A wonderful surprise for me! A yummy skein of Sharon's Stitchjones sock loveliness, called "Closer to the Heart." It's hard to capture the colors accurately, but trust me, it's gorgeous! And so soft, too.

Thank you so much, Sharon! I love the yarn and it will truly make a rockin' pair of socks that I can show off under my clear Converse sneaks! So sweet of you to send me such a nice gift, and the note you sent along was equally lovely!

"Can we make some socks from this yarn for me as well? I do have extra toes to cover, you know!"

"Hmmph. I don't know about this sock thing...and more yarn?. I think I disapprove."

"Oh, don't listen to him....he's always a grump. I approve!....Now about those socks...."

We do love a surprise around here---especially in the form of the gift of wool from a very nice person! Thanks again, Sharon! (And BTW, who would have ever thought I'd receive a knitting-related gift for knowing something about Rod Stewart?...and being old enough to know it...heh.)

(If you'd like to see some more of Sharon's great yarn, be sure to go take a look at her new online store.)

Thanks, Nikki! :)

A few weeks ago I entered a contest on Nikki's blog, and I won! I was so excited to win her contest, even though my history with blog contests has not been the greatest (more about that another time, so as not to detract from the thanks to Nikki and the display of goodies...).

Nikki was so sweet and actually "stalked" my blog to see what I might like. So not only was she nice enough to send a prize, but she cared enough to personalize it as well! She sent some lovely wool in shades of denim blues for a future felting project, which I absolutely love, some stitch markers (always very handy and used often by me), and a cute little sheep figure and sheep card. She even sent a prize for my precious minions as well---a catnip mouse!



Thanks so much for the lovely prizes, Nikki, from both myself and the minion posse! You are a lovely knitblogger, indeed!

While the wool was well-protected from the mitts of ravaging minions during the picture-taking and put away snugly after the photos were taken, unfortunately I cannot say the same about the fate of the poor mousie. I had to beat the minions off of the unfortunate creature long enough to get a picture, but then the carnage began---there was nothing I could do. First the toe-cat had a go at him...


After some fierce, extra-toed abuse, this was followed by a steal by the techno-cat....


who then gave the ill-fated mousie an advanced level thrashing of the worst kind....


....the dreaded bite-claw-kick combo! Ouch! Poor mousie. Let's just say he's not looking so good right now.

However, the cat posse would like me to say in their defense, that the mousie had a snarky smirk on his face from the minute he arrived here that they just didn't like, and he had the nerve to come around smelling like catnip, so of course he had it coming to him! They would never condone an unprovoked attack. Almost never. Not sometimes. (Well, mostly always...but they are minions, after all).

Thanks again, Nikki! We all love our prizes :)

>^oo^< >^,,^< >^--^<

Happy Holidays!

I wish all of you love and blessings, and someone to stay warm with....

Fit problems

Here's the finished and felted moebius basket that I showed in the unfelted state a couple of posts ago...

I think it turned out pretty nice. I like the way the yarn pooled into a lightening bolt pattern around the basket. I was sort of envisioning it as a cozy cat basket, where perhaps a sort small cat could have a cozy little nap. Though, it was an experiment of sorts because I really had no specific pattern and was knitting it from stash, in a size much larger than any I have made before.


The rim of the moebius strip was knit from a different yarn from the rest of the bowl to make sure I didn't run out while doing the I-cord bind off, and I also wanted some contrast. So as it felted, the yarns shrunk down at different rates. This is fine and is something I was anticipating----however, unfortunately for some small cat, this caused the rim to shrink to the point where the basket is better suited for a nap if you are a cobra rather than a cat.....

"Hey, here's that basket that mom made, lying on the floor again! Let's just see here.....If I climb inside I can have a warm nap again....mmmmm...nap."

"Something seems to be wrong here...."

"HEY! WTF! I know I fit in this thing just the other day!"

"Mom's shrinkin' stuff in the wash again. Hmmmmfph. This just won't do...."

Oh well, better luck next time for the cat basket idea. I guess I'll have to knit one the size of the sofa before felting to get it to stay big enough for a cat to fit into! However, after dragging this one up, sopping wet, out of the washer several times to check the felting progress, I don't think my biceps could take felting anything any larger. Just about killed myself dragging this one up and down out of the water---felt like about 30 pounds of wet wool! I'm sure it wasn't quite that heavy, but it certainly seemed like it was I think the minions will be getting a nice unfelted cat bed!

This large felted basket can be currently found holding a nice little portion of my yarn stash, and it's working out great!

But don't ask the Toe-cat his opinion on the matter....

Can you say "spoiled?"

So, I thought cats were supposed to like to cuddle up together and sleep in a pile. Apparently, I would be mistaken in that notion. Because when it comes to the Knottykitty household, there will be none of that! Everyone seems to be happy now that they each have their own bed. And Lord knows, we wouldn't want anyone around here to go without their own special, individual place to sleep.....

When there was one bed, the Chief Minion, Mini (the black one) was being constantly squished within an inch of his life by the Toe-cat (center). We finally managed to remove what my friend Emma called Mini's "barnacle," by getting the 2nd bed, in the center. But the struggle continued between the Technocat, Mochi (sleeping on the left) and the Toe-cat, to see who could squish whom out of that bed (Mochi lost out again---can we begin to see who the troublemaker is in this group?), which led to purchase of 3rd bed on the left.

So I bring you this rare moment of domestic bliss caught on camera. BTW, let's not even talk about the most expensive, FOURTH bed that is upstairs, currently being rejected by all of them! Yes, the little bastards are incredibly spoiled. However, I have stopped short of buying them outfits to wear and giving them birthday parties---I do have some sense after all!

Oh, and did I mention?...These are the DAY beds! At night, the 3 little darlings can be found trying to simultaneously shove cute husband and I off both edges of our bed while they occupy the middle....together. That is, until the wrestling, fighting and rabbit-kicking on the bed begins around 4 am--again, courtesy of that cute-as-a-button little Toe-cat. (He really didn't have a "troublemaker" label attached when he was sitting there all cute and innocent in his shelter cage, looking at me longingly to take him home with me....)

Oh well. They are minion-y and eat their weight in cat food every day, but they are mine and I love them dearly. Why, if they weren't here, who would remind me that I really want to get up every morning at 5 am, to let a cat out of the bathroom who stands up and slams the bathroom door closed with his paws from the inside and locks himself in? (Toebi's new daily trick...yay--he's a clever one...). Funny enough, he never performs this trick during the day.

You just can't buy that kind of help. I'm not complaining mind you, just counting my blessings...counting my blessings...yep....

>^..^< >^..^< >^,,^<

Poses, Noses, and something for my Toes-es

It's really hard to blog when you seem to suddenly have no life other than getting ready for work, traveling to and from work, the work itself, and doing all the things you need to get done because you're always at work....sigh.

With the above said, is it stating the obvious that my knitting time has been severely curtailed of late? Not to mention time to blog....or anything to blog about....Yes, I could tantalize you with tales of rush hour on I-405, or titillate you with tidbits about packing my lunch, or anecdotes about the many patients I talk to every day, who act like I'm a telemarketer selling a used Flow-bee when I call them to talk about their health. But no, I am not a cruel woman and I will spare you this.

So, what does that leave a frustrated and time-squeezed knitter to blog about? Yes, that's right---it's time to bring out the dog and pony show.....or, um, in my case, the cats and sock-knit-on-toothpicks show!! I know, you are so excited you can hardly stand it.....so let us begin with some minion-y cuteness, shall we?......

Here's a picture of Toebi and Mochi doing their best imitation of a Calvin Klein ad....

Toebi: I must go, and take your catnip mouse with me...

Mochi: No! Don't leave me!....Well okay, go ahead, but leave the mouse....

Here's another of the toe-cat (Toebi) and the technocat (Mochi) enjoying a moment together on the cat tree...(well, Toebi enjoying....Mochi, not so much. Mostly doing his best to ignore Toebi and not get squeezed off of his prime viewing area...)

(I can't believe my little toe-cat is growing up so fast---he weighs as much as Mochi already!) Lovely large mitts, no?

And finally, here he is in all of his grand minion-y-ness, making a rare blog appearance---mostly because I can seldom get a picture of him that isn't either blurred (he's a little ADHD, you know...) or so black that he looks like a spilled puddle of pudding with eyes in the middle---

Mini!

Not a great picture of the Chief Minion himself---but the best I could get out of 30 pictures of a blurred black blob with a double-exposed head! Even the action-shot setting doesn't work on this one! I keep hoping he'll hold still one day soon---in the light---with his eyes open. Problem is, when he sees the camera come out, he runs up to me to very excitedly see what I'm holding.....

And on the knitting front---

Seems the only projects I've been able to complete lately are the cold cup cozies. I've finished a couple of more of them, because I like them, they are quick and can be worked on one or two rows at a time without messing up anything---perfect to bring along to work for the occasional 5 minutes of knitting I might get to do on my break! No pictures, but cute, colorful and they work great!

A little progress on the Tofutsies socks, which is hard because the only time I can work on them is in broad daylight with the addition of a miner's headlamp and a magnifying glass! (kidding). But damn, this yarn is teeny! Having not gone completely blind yet, here is three pattern repeats done on the cuff....

Yes, this picture is to scale. They are about 3 inches long. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, but let's just say it is taking a LOT of knitting to get some distance on these socks! Also hard to photograph the pattern with the bright raspberry colors and the variegation in the yarn. Here's a little closer view, but not sure it's any easier to see...

I'd love to report some fabulous progress on some of my other WIP's, such as my Mermaid Shawl, but unfortunately, other projects sit unattended and lonely in the knitting basket at home while I'm away most days....

BTW, looking for good suggestions on how to get fired (in a good way, of course, with no repercussions to myself) so I may continue my formerly happy life of actually getting to knit once in a while.

In the meantime, you know where to find me if you need me....at a secret nurse boiler-room operation somewhere near Seattle, trying to sell some used Flowbees, cheap, to some unwitting patients who don't want to talk about their damn health anyway....

Keeping the Socktoberfest Spirit alive.....

....Or that's my excuse, anyway. Yes, as embarrassing as this may seem, I proudly present my (finally) finished Socktoberfest socks!! (recently renamed Parade socks)

It IS still October, right? (never mind that calendar situated to the left of the socks...) Okay, so I'm a little late. But I'm still representin' for the Socktoberfest Spirit! Someone had to knit the last completed pair, right? (help me out here, I'm justifying as fast as I can.....). At this rate, I'll be completing a whopping TWO pair each year! I wasn't actually working on them for the entire five months, so that lets me off the hook a little bit. Considering the humongous size of my sock yarn stash and how many possible years of life I have left, I now have an excuse to live to the ripe old age of around 120 years old to make sure I knit it all up into socks!

Had a fun weekend---On Friday night went to a pajama party at VY&T. Bought some great new yarn from the Yarn Pirate. I got a great colorway called "Rosie," which has the bright, beautiful colors of one of those fun, vintage oiled tablecloths with the cherries and picnic baskets on it---shades of pinks, blues, greens, red and white. (sorry, no picture yet...). I can't wait to find just the perfect sock pattern and knit it up!

On Saturday, went to lunch at Blue C Sushi and hung out in Seattle for a while with cute husband. I love going to Blue C. The sushi plates are on a moving belt that goes past in front of you---see it, like it?, grab it, eat it! Very fun and delish.

On Sunday, met a friend for a fun afternoon of gabbing, lunch, more gabbing and off to a Sunday knitting group, where of course, there was lots more gabbing with knitting thrown in! All in all, a fun weekend! Hmmm, maybe that's why it takes me five months to finish a pair of socks---too much gabbing?.......Never!!

Thanks to Rachel, I started on a very cute dishcloth that she created for St. Patrick's day. Still need to sew up the seams on those felted clogs so I can felt them, but I've been suffering from a bad case of sewing avoidance.

Here's a so-cute pic of Toebi from this past weekend. Now, that's a kitten really knows how to get his nap on. Wish I could sleep like that!

Have a great week!

>^..^< >^..^< >^..^<

Yes, there has been a little knitting.....

The blog posts have been leaning a little more toward kitten than knittin' the last couple of weeks---I guess that's what happens when you bring home a new baby! But between all of the extra feeding, cat box scooping, refereeing sibling spats and keeping the new toddler from accidentally doing permanant damage to himself or the house, I have managed to squeeze in a tiny bit of knitting. Of course, that doesn't mean this post will be kitten-free----maybe just kitten-light...

The felted clogs are almost finished! Just need to sew up the bottom seam and weave in ends, and they'll be ready for felting.

Here's the pre-felted clogs with the foot of their intended owner (the human foot, not the minion foot....)

Of course, Toebi has to try them on for size as well. He thinks they fit just fine without the felting....

I've also started on a pair of Peekaboo mittens. I have been looking for a good "convertible" mitten pattern for a while, but since I've never made mittens before, I was also looking for some that weren't too complicated for my first go at it. I happened upon this pattern on MagKnits, and it seems like just what I'm looking for---functional, but not too fussy.

With a few episodes of frogging at various points, here's what I've got so far...

The Technocat is inspecting for his approval of my work so far. I just need to kitchener the top of the hand portion, and pick up the thumb gusset and add the thumb, and the right mitten will be done! I'm a little apprehensive about the thumb part---not quite sure how to arrange the stitches and get them made into a "thumb," but I'll figure it out at some point. I really don't want to mess up the entire mitten trying to learn to do the thumb, so perhaps a little lifeline might be in order for those stitches on the holder, so I can rip back and try again if I don't quite get it the first (or second) time.

Another new skill for me was casting on stitches in the middle of rows without holes or strange stringy things stretching across the gap. After a couple of tries and a few frogged rows, I think I got it!

I also found that knitting the mitten on two circulars is working out much better than dpn's for me. I tried to be a purist and do them on the dpn's, but the cuff was not looking as pretty as I knew I could make it, and too much fussing with needles. So I frogged the dpn version cuff and started over with circs, which has been working out great so far. Now, if I can just figure out that thumb thing, I can finish and move on to the left mitten...

Love is in the air....

Getting to know your new big brothers can take some time and effort! You can suffer some outright rejection at first. But, if you hang around the edges long enough.....

....and make yourself available for some mutual bathing chores......

...you can wriggle your way into the hearts of even the most unwilling cat big brothers.

And who knows? If you try hard enough, you might even find yourself a new mushy, warm and willing nap buddy, just in time for Valentine's Day....

Hope your Valentine's Day is warm and fuzzy. And if you follow Toebi's example, you might find a new friend to have nice nap with! (But you'd better bring a catnip mouse gift to seal the deal....).

>^..^< >^..^< >^,,^<

The minions are multiplying....and so are the toes!!

We got a new kitty!!

While on our normal trip to P**smart to buy food for the minions, Purrfect Pals was there, in the center aisle of the store, with lots of little orphans needing homes! Most P**smart stores have a cat adoption area, and I usually visit it every time I go. It's always hard to resist the lure of an innocent, cute little face needing a home....but this time they pulled out all the stops and put them right smack in the middle of the main aisle! What an evil plot!

As I walked by all of the cages and cooed at all of the cute kitties, this one caught my eye for lots of reasons, but most especially because of this....

LOTS of extra toes!!! (Sorry for the blurry pic---moving target....). Is he cute, or what? I have always wanted a polydactyl cat, and here was this one, needing a good home and all. With my poor husband groaning in the background, the ladies of Purrfect Pals asked if I would like to hold him.....How could I refuse?

However, while it was love at first site on my part......for my husband, not so much. First of all, having two cats to begin with is one too many as far as he is concerned. So of course, obtaining a third minion to run the house was completely out of the question! Also, he said that the whole "extra toes" thing kind of "creeped him out." Obviously, he has no appreciation for the truly unique! He went on his way to shop, hoping that would lure me away from the kitten temptation.

Ha! Obviously, he also has no appreciation for the lure of a beautiful kitten with extra toes, available for the taking, to a kitty-lover such as myself. I finally gave up.....for a little while....and we went about our shopping.

As we came back down the aisle, the Purrfect Pals girls lured me in again with their siren song...."would you like to hold him again"......"we can do the paperwork right now"......"are you sure?...we'll be here until 4pm!" (These girls are GOOD!) However, my husband has great sales resistance, unfortunately, and we checked out with our purchases, but without the kitten.

We got out to the car and got in. And yes, I'll admit it........I resorted to pleading and whining! I even threw in the part about reconciling our cosmic balance sheet of buying our other two minions, by adopting at least one orphan in need of a home. (I have had some guilt about this issue, since I have always adopted my cats from shelters until the most recent two.....we were renters when we got them, and could not get the "landlord permission letter" that was needed to adopt from the shelters, since they were not allowed at our apartment---so we bought from a breeder).

And then a miracle occurred----my husband----who would be quite happy to have no cats, let alone THREE....actually gave in and we went back and got the kitty! (It's not that he's a cat hater----just slightly allergic...) The Purrfect Pals girls were laughing when they saw me-----they said "we knew you'd be back!"

We have named the new minion "Toe-bi" (I know, but the toe thing was too good to resist....). He has two extra toes on each front paw, and one extra toe on each back foot, for a total of SIX extra toes! (For you non-cat-owners, cats usually have 5 toes on each front paw, and 4 on each back foot---a total of 18.) He is completely adorable, with a sweet personality and a BIG purr. And he is absolutely great with the "politics" of inserting himself into the domain of the two existing (and spoiled) feline residents! He approaches each of them with gusto, then promptly rolls over on his back in proper submissive respect, and allows them the first move, or sniff, or paw swipe, or whatever!

Things seem to be progressing along well in the mingling and socializing department, with a surprising minimum of hissing, swatting or disagreements. The Supervisor is properly intrigued, but is more interested in getting to Toebi's kitten food than anything else. Technocat is neutral to slightly disgusted by the whole issue, and has chosen to pretty much ignore the existance of the unworthy invader for now. Fine with me.....better than hissing and spitting!

And as for the kitten-resistant husband......every time I turn around to talk to him he has disappeared....into the bedroom where Toebi is staying while everyone gets acquainted!! Geez, I can't keep him out of there! And as for his "creeping out" about the extra toes....all he can talk about now is how cute the kitten is with his big "paddles.".......

Kitten: 1 Husband: 0

The kitten reels in another victim!!

>^..^< >^..^< + >^,,^<

Look what I.....uh, WE got!!

Recieved a fun box from my Winter Wonderland Swap pal, Dawn! This was my first knitting swap, so I was excited to receive the box! Look at all the fun stuff she sent...





You can't see them in the picture, but there are some really pretty red opalescent stitch markers on top of the angel cloth in the middle. I also love the SnC yarn colors she sent!

I barely had time to arrange and admire all of my goodies for a nice picture, when THIS arrived....


Yep, that's right, 14+ pounds of minion-y goodness clumped itself right down on top of the carefully arranged scene. The Supervisor had arrived. Very graceful----sort of like Godzilla tromping through Tokyo... After some covert surveillance while I was arranging things, he then proceeded to launch an all-out attack on the poor, unsuspecting contents of my gift box....


Perhaps feeling he could not complete the job alone, he called in reinforcements....


Perhaps the Technocat should join in for a little technical advice and support.....



Finally, The Supervisor surveys the battle scene and admires his handiwork. There were no casualties, but unfortunately, the ballband from the sage green yarn took one for the gift box and was torn. The chocolate espresso beans were quickly reunited with their stocking after the minion retreat.

I am happy report that the ballband has been repaired and is recovering nicely. **No other gift contents were harmed in the launching of this attack.**

In all fairness to the minions, there was, after all, a bottle of "catnip bubbles" amongst the items---so they are claiming they were taunted into an assault....

Thanks, Dawn! I.....um, WE really enjoyed all of the gifts!

>^,,^< >^,,^<

Happy Halloween!

Official Halloween Ballband!! :) After the ballband bug bit me, I immediately had to cast on a second one, and decided that Halloween was a good color inspiration....


.....and making his first appearance on this blog, the Official Halloween Minion!

This is Minicat (he's not really that mini, but that's a long story...). He's also known around here as "The Supervisor." The supervisor must, without fail, involve himself in absolutely anything being done around the house, and immediately insert himself in the middle of it to run things....whether that's the way you want them or not! His other job is to continuously torture the other minion, Mochi (the technocat), and make sure that he can never have a quiet moment! Min is actually very adorable.....in a very minion-y sort of way! What better reason to make him an official Halloween icon?

>^oo^< >^oo^<

Long weekend in Portland, OR

Just returned from a fun weekend in Portland, OR with cute husband. I must say, he was a saint to put up with being dragged to ALL of my fiber-related follies over the weekend. Stayed at a great B&B in a great area, Portland's White House. The house was a huge and fabulous mansion built in the early 1900's. We stayed in the Canopy Room---gorgeous! Lots of great pics of the rooms on their site. The breakfasts were fabulous, served in this dining room---homemade waffles and baked Swedish apple pancake with fresh, local fruits, all served on fine china. Now that's what I call breakfast! (Is it really worth waking up that early otherwise...:) It was hard to get up and out of the huge feather bed in our room, but it was worth it for such a nice breakfast.

Then it was off to the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in Canby, OR. Spent a few hours there roaming through vendor booths, shopping, watching spinners (including some men!), and best of all, looking at all of the fabulous fiber animals!

Found these Washington spinners having a great time, and one of those spinning men I mentioned....The alpacas are my favorites.

This one even came home with me.....I know he's not a live one, but he also doesn't need to be fed or cleaned! Actually, he is needle-felted with unprocessed alpaca fur, very cute. Here he is getting acquainted with Mochi, the technocat...

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*WARNING*---Next section contains material some might find offensive. If that's you, click the scroll button really fast...
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Yes, the alpaca is anatomically correct to include gold "family jewels"......(unfortunately, can't say the same for the technocat....meee-ooooow!)




And finally, a technocat and his alpaca enjoy a quiet, new-friendship-kinda moment before the alpaca leaves to fulfill his duties as guardian of the stash....(Stash Alpaca??)...

Overall, the OFFF was fun and a new experience for me----haven't seen that many bags of fur since I tried to felt one of the cats!.....(note to PETA: JUST KIDDING!).

Later that night, had a great dinner at one of the local downtown Portland restaurants, then back to the room to rest up for the great Yarn store tour on Sunday.....more about that later! Overall, it was a great weekend and had lots of fun to celebrate my upcoming **th birthday!

>^..^< >^..^<