kmkat and her kneedles

Knitting accomplishments.

In 2009 I pwned that four-row lace pattern on the chemo hat.

Not pwned:

Pwned:

 

Encouraged by this tiny success, I engaged another, quasi-lace project, the Montego Bay scarf. This was an extremely complicated pattern, involving two (2!) stitches, repeated but offset over a two-row (2! row!) repeat.

After the catastrophic mental strain of the Montego Bay, I conquered short rows heels and toes and learned how to do them so I didn't get holes.

Before:                                                          After:
 

And then I took it easy for the rest of the year, knitting perfectly ordinary hats and socks and scarves. The end.

2009: That was the year that was.

January.

Well, there was this (bad).

And there was this (good) (from left, Wendy, me, Chris, and Susan).

On the knitting front:


 

February.

Good intentions.

 

Snow and cold.

Knitting:

March.

Winter melted away.

Knitting.

April.

Spring arrived in earnest.

Yarnover.

End of tax season.

Taste of St. Croix.
 

Knitting resumed after tax season.

 

May.

I scored big at Macy's sale racks, I helped Norm go away, I celebrated Mother's Day in an eco-friendly way, the bears and the ticks came out of hibernation, I picked up trash, I enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend, I bid farewell to our local librarian, and Hannibal discovered the joys of catnip.

Knitting was primarily of a stealth nature, but did include scientific swatching and the F'ing of a couple of O's that had been OTN for nearly, and over a year, respectively. (I am rather proud of that sentence -- and its punctuation -- awkward though it may be.)

 

June

June was for knitting and vacation and celebrating that brief magical time that is summer in the north woods.

 

 

Lots of knitting.

 

 

July.

July was for more vacation -- the rest of the one in Wyoming and another on the North Shore.

And summer.
 

And injuries.
 

And knitting.

 

August.

It was a very good month. I turned 60, had a contest, and laughed. We went to a concert.
 

I learned the difference between eagles and turkey vultures, and I had surgery to remove some extra/unneeded bits and pieces and repair that torn cartilage in my knee.
 

Knitknitknit.

 

September.

In September I had lots of cats on the blog, it was my turn to give the prayer at the beginning of the monthly county board meeting, the county budget process blew up, and the most gloriously gorgeous month of the year was here.

 

The knitting, she continued.

 

October.

I became a biker by proxy,

more new-to-me music found its way into my iTunes, and we celebrated 35 years together

by not-camping on Lake Superior.

The kneedles continued to fly.
 
 

November.

The van that took us on some wonderful vacations met up with an unfortunate bear on the road and was replaced by an older but bigger and more customized van.

Cold weather arrived, and once more I cooked and baked.

 

Mostly, though, I knitted.




Apparently I can crank out hats like other knitters crank out... sweaters

December.

I continued to be thankful (there is a lot to be thankful for).

With the help of Matthew and Maggie, I decorated for Christmas. This decorating thing is never a given.

I showed you my ornaments, y'all showed me yours.
 

We ate well.
 

A bit more knitting* for others.

I pretty much finished my Christmas knitting. (Shhh, the Calorimetry is a surprise.)


The medical mittens are still OTN -- stay tuned.

*For someone who doesn't like pink, I sure knit a lot of it lately...

Thankful Thursday: the random (and possibly superficial edition).

I am thankful for:

1. ...Neil Gaiman, who posted, on 12/31/2008 "...I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind." Those are exactly the things I would wish for myself. (but for myself I would also add courage)
2. ...the warm afghan(s) wrapped around my shoulders. It's chilly in the house, and the extreme warmth of the wool and mohair afghan I made several years ago plus the extreme softness of the one Matthew and Maggie gave me last Christmas is very welcome.
3. ...the enormous New York strip steak I am going to eat for dinner this evening, with fresh asparagus. And perhaps ice cream with warm blueberry sauce for desert.
4. ...my comfy recliner, the lamp next to it, my iPod cum audio book on the iPod dock on the table, and my knitting. Those things together always make me happy.
5. ...#1 Son being able to come home for Christmas. He is about as stressed out as he can be by med school, and I am happy he can come home to relax and recuperate.
6. ...#2 Son and Maggie coming back this weekend. It is always good to have them visit. He always makes me laugh.
7. ...warm furry mammals to keep me warm. I may have mentioned this one before, but I do love my furry mammals.
8. ...the plentitude that surrounds us. We want for so little.
9. ...Smokey, who has learned to chuckle over my occasional irascibility and to let me recover my equanimity with dignity. (say THAT five times fast!)
10. ...another year on this earth. Life is good.

Pink.

Have I ever mentioned that my least favorite color is pink?

And that my least favorite shade of pink is hot pink?

Here's my latest FO.

 

Hot pink is, however, the favorite color of Maggie, #2 Son's gf. And these are for her. Because I am willing to sacrifice my eyeballs (and sanity) in the cause of love.

Yarn: Sock That Rock heavyweight, colorway Hot Flash.
Needles: Addi Turbo, US#3 (foot and ankle) and US#4 (leg).
Pattern: Wendy's generic toe-up pattern, with a cable thrown onto the sides of the leg just because I am really, really into cables right now. Worked on 42 st except for second leg, which was worked on 44 st b/c the first leg was a little tight. I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, which works a treat. It will now be my go-to bind off for things that need to stretch. If you haven't used it yet, I highly recommend it.

Wendy's pattern linked above has become my go-to, toe-up sock pattern. I really like that I don't have to fiddle with casting on at the tip of the toe. It uses a provisional cast-on of half the total stitches on the top of the toe, then uses short rows to form the toe. Tidy and easy, perfect. My next goal is to learn to do a slip-stitch gusseted heel on toe-up socks. I know there are patterns out there, just haven't done the requisite research yet. If any of you know of one that is easily adaptable to any gauge and/or size, sing out in the comments.

Note: there seem to be a plethora (there's that word again!) of hot pink socks being thrown up on people's blogs lately. Cookie (not that that is a surprise; that grrl loves her some pink), Cookie again (these for Our Joan), Carole (hers are mittens, but still very, very pink), Diane. I guess hot pink is The Thing this month.

Druggies.

When I was in Minneapolis to pick up Andrew from the airport last week I was able to squeeze in a visit to Twin Cities Green, a really great little store that sells good stuff. I got two catnip slugs as recommended by Chaos and Mayhem Chris, plus picked up a couple pounds of Peace Coffee (not available in my area).

Later I emailed Chris to relay Hannibal's and En Esch's ecstatically enthusiastic thanks for the reccy:

I took some video of them when I first gave them the toys this afternoon. Then we all left to run some errands and eat lunch/dinner. When we returned three hours later both cats were in the same place, still licking their toys.

Andrew was filling their feeders when I initially gave them the toys. The feeders have been empty for a couple days, so both cats were pretty hungry and were prowling around him meowing, telling him to hurry up. But when I threw them the slugs, they totally ignored Andrew and the Science Diet. That speaks volumes for how great that 'nip is.

Eating our way through the holidays.

On Christmas Day Andrew, Matthew, Maggie (the boys and #2's girlfriend), and I ate Christmas dinner at a rustic local restaurant, said dinner sponsored and prepared by the local commercial club. #2 and I had done this a couple years ago, and we all decided to do it again. (Actually I decided, but since I'm the cook, I'm also Boss Of The Meal).

 

The turkey qualified as mystery meat, but the rest was pretty good. And there was a plethora (thanks, I love to use "plethora") of homemade desserts.

 

Besides the eleventy-seven dozen cookies, many of which were so heavenly delicious I cannot possibly describe them, there was pie -- cherry, peach, pumpkin, blueberry, and perhaps one other I cannot remember.

Afterward we rolled ourselves out to the car.

* * * * *

One of Smokey's and my traditions is to feed Andrew very, very well when he is home. He loves and appreciates good food and doesn't get a great deal of it when he at school. Of course, we do this out of sheer altruism. We get nothing for ourselves out of this deal. Nothing at all. We eat pb&j whilst #1 son gorges himself.

Well, maybe not.

Here is the note that greeted me when I got up this morning.

 

 

However, I decreed that those humongous New York strip steaks and the porterhouse were way too big to be paired with the lobster, and replaced them with some delightful little tenderloins instead. (The big steaks are being saved for tomorrow.)

 

Smokey had a very, very attentive audience while he ate.

No bit of edible lobster went to waste.

The post-dinner destruction:

 

There were no steak scraps for the dogs, but they did get to lick our plates. Enthusiastically. Cats, however, must be persuaded that lobster is yummy and that we are not plotting to poison them.

 

* * * * *

Stay tuned -- tomorrow there may be actual knitting here!

Want to scare the kiddos?

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Found at GeekTyrant.com via tweet from QI.

The last thing the shrew/mouse/vole saw.

Happy day after Christmas!

Above belongs to a biking friend of #2 Son. Said friend decorated his bike for the holiday with jingle bells attached to bike with red and green zip ties. Festive!

And now I am being paged and implored and begged to please make waffles! for everyone so that everyone will get up and then we can wake Smokey and then we can open presents. Not that the younger generation is materialistic or anything...

Greetings!

To All My Democrat Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To My Republican Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Shamelessly stolen from an email from a friend in California.