Entrelac Success!

Entrelac

Dexter with catnip fishey

I spent Friday afternoon at the Knitter's Palette in Lakeville with the incredibly awesome group of knitters there, and got some expert advice on my entrelac, thank goodness. I had printed out some of the directions I got links to, but still needed help at a few spots. I have to say I am now trucking along with my entrelac. No idea what it is going to be, but it's sure fun anyway!

I also spent part of today making more catnip fishes for the boys. I planned on making 10 or so, but only got 4 out before my sewing machine ticked me off. It has the bobbin that opens underneath with the 4 or so parts to it that seem to continuously jam on me. It's a Singer model I got about 6 or more years ago, so I asked for an upgrade for Xmas. I picked out a nice Brother machine that had great reviews on Amazon, a drop in bobbin with auto winder, 1 step button hole, and a few other extras I now want. I have fabric and everything for a nice curtain for the mudroom, but the machine frustrates me so much, and cleaning and taking it apart doesn't help.

Dexter and Itchy both love the fishes though, so I will certainly be finishing off the rest of them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another thanksgiving chicken with Eric and the cats, only one more cat to add to the thankfullness this year.
I am thankful for Malabrigo, Knit Picks Options, wool winders, swifts, stitch markers, needle caps, Jordanna Paige knitting bags, rosewood needles, and boxes that close so that cats can't make away with your sheep covered tape measure.

I am not alone

Even though I don't get the regular comments that other bloggers of note do, it would seem that I am not alone in the world of knitting/cat/whatever bloggers and people DO read me. Case in point, blog about needing help, and you get wonderful people replying to you. Suzygirl & Holly have both given me wonderful links to explore for the world of entrelac.
If only I could count to 7 now, I will be on my way.

Ahem.. help?

I know someone out there has tried entrelac. I know I am not the first person to rip it out 4 times, throw it aside, and say "uh.... crap..". It can't be that freaking hard. What the freak am I missing?
Actually, I think it's that I can't count. And that I have never seen what it's supposed to look like, just the finished piece. If someone could just tell me about that first part where you think it's wrong, it's probably wrong, but might be right, I would appreciate it.

Is it my bumper sticker?

Lantern Moon project bag

Yarn for entrelac scarf

Dream in color "starry"

Doohickey

Today I had the day off from work and decided to head down to Lakeville to pick up the doohickey (Scotch tension knob) that had come in for me. While on 35 south, I ran into traffic of the kind that makes you wonder if you had just been teleported to LA or New York city or something. And of course every time I get on that particular stretch of highway I forget that my exit is on the left, not the right. So I have to merge. 2 whole lanes. in traffic. Standstill traffic. No one lets me in. (Well, no one ever lets anyone merge in MN, but I take it personally). It dawns on me as I sit stalling my lane from moving the 4 inches a minute with my blinker on watching driver after driver not even look at me while not letting me in, that it could be my OH so leftist bumper sticker. Eh, oh well.....Maybe as retribution I'll let EVERYONE IN FRONT OF ME IN to get back at those jerks.

I did eventually get to the Knitter's Pallette though. While there I got my doohickey, some lovely Dream in Color Starry that has actual silver flecks in it (ooooooh sparkly socks are coming!) and some other yarn to try entrelac with. Oh, and I picked up a project bag/cube that Lantern Moon just came out with. A bit of a splurge, but I love everything that Lantern Moon makes, I feel like all of their products are little luxuries, (like the rosewood needles I love) so I got one.

All in all a very lovely day. Especially when 4 people in the store exclaimed "Your'e Mulderknitter!". That was fun.

Is Mulder's diabetes a big deal?

I was at knitting night tonight, and again, I got a reaction to having to leave to give Mulder his shot that I'm not used to. People seemed amazed that I have a diabetic cat that I give shots to twice a day, and that it's ok with both me and Mulder.
I've had this reaction before, but secondhand, from coworkers of Eric's, so not usually am I confronted with someone that thinks it's unusual for me to devote so much to my cat. According to him, a lot of them would have put him down, which is ridiculous to me.
Really, it's been 2 years. And while it kinda sucks to have to make sure I'm home around his shot time (it doesn't have to be specific) it's not so bad really. And he's my guy. How could I not?
So is this really weird, or are other people making a big deal out of normal cat ownership behavior? Do you do something special for your cat?

Cat butt alert!

I've been spinning for the last few days and got out yesterday this lovely BFL that I got on my trip to my Moms for her birthday. Never tried BFL, and if I could get my tension knob to work right I'm sure it would be great.

You know how you spin and sometimes some of the fiber doesn't want to spin, so you just take that small piece and set it aside and keep going? Well, I was doing that, didn't realize Dexter was watching alertly, looked next to me and saw the last of the purple fuzz going down the throat. It wasn't much, and it wasn't spun so I don't think it will hurt him, but I did alert the DH that if he sees purple fuzz coming out of Dexter's butt it's just some wool. No worries.

More stupid amounts of fun!

A member of Ravelry posted a few days ago that she had found a spinning wheel on Craigslist, but because she has never spun on a wheel, she wanted someone to go with her to look at it to make sure it was in working order. I took a look and it was the exact model as the one I own, and looked pretty decent to me. LALALALALALA of COURSE I will go on a trip to see a wheel and enable you in buying it! I don't know you, but you knit and use Ravelry, so you must be a friend I just haven't met yet!
Turned out to be the most lovely day to do so! Not all of you know, but I hate driving (especially on the freeway) with a sincere passion and will usually avoid it if I can. But since buying the VW it's gotten a bit better, and it was sunny and about 65 here today, and it was for fiber!
Turns out the wheel was an absolute bargain! The darn girl got out of her van and I thought, she needs this wheel. Right. NOW. The excitement was dripping off of her. The woman selling the wheel was moving and just didn't use it enough, and had never gotten any extras for it, so she was selling it for a great price. Read, if I were more evil I would've snatched that darn thing so fast no one would know it was me. I brought some wheel oil and she spun like mine never did in the beginning. Read, jealously seeping off of me. She took the fiber without even needing to draft, that's how lovely she was.
Why is the wheel a she? I don't know. Probably because she'll be temperamental and never spin that nicely again unless you oil her and speak softly.
The woman that I was actually testing the wheel for wanted to buy me lunch or something, but I really think that would've been like robbery. I can't have that much fun and ask for something in return!

I'm under attack

I finally got out some yarn to start another oddball pet blanket. Got about 3 inches in, set it down and walked away. Came back to yarn across the whole living room, in the water bowl (Mulder) and chewed in half (Dexter).
Good thing it was only my orange acrylic. Hold ur horses on the next blanket, it may be a while.