New skills

It seems that many of us in my household are learning new skills lately. I’ll start with the most exciting: Kai! Mostly, Kai has been fearful of me. He hides behind the toilet when I visit him. He hisses when I reach into his carrier.

I was thinking of moving him to another foster home because he just wasn’t making progress with me. But lo, and behold – Kai loves me now! He started this morning just as surly as normal, but when I scratched his ears, he started to purr almost imperceptibly. I put him in my lap so he could help me with my blog post, and now he’s purring like crazy. He’s also sucking on my t-shirt, but I’m not complaining. The more I rub his ears, the louder he purrs! Congrats little buddy!

Lani is developing her super model skills. She posed for me this morning and I got this lovely shot of her:

I’m still worried about the FIP thing because her belly is still a little fatter and firmer than I like. I’ve seen lots of kittens in my time. They all tend to be a little fat for awhile, and then they get skinny. The fat is usually soft, though, and hers is not. Kai’s is much better, so I think that Lani will get better, too. I would be so relieved to learn she just had an infection. I like her too much to have her put down.

Poor Wisteria is learning about all sorts of new things these days. She has had diarrhea for awhile now. Diarrhea is VERY common amongst bottle-feeders. I have no idea if it’s the formula or the way we feed them, but it is almost guaranteed. The only bottle feeders that survive it are older and bigger. Almost every time I visit Wisteria she is covered in poop, which means she gets a bath. I also have to put cream on her poor, sore bottom. She hates me touching her “there”.

Her life is just completely miserable right now because she is also experiencing the weaning process. Wisteria loves her bottle. I thought at first she just didn’t like the food I was offering her. I tried several types.

She would eat them all from my finger or a spoon,

but just as quickly as she started eating from the bowl she would stop.

I tried feeding her formula from a saucer, but she didn’t want that. I then had the idea to see if it was the vessel and not the food she was objecting to. I made a mush of formula and wet food, cut a bigger hole in one of her bottles’ nipples, and tried to feed that to her. I was finally successful. She’s been consuming food that way since yesterday. I moved her to a bigger box and added a litter box and food bowl to her space. She still hasn’t really touched the food, but it’s available if she wakes up hungry. She only uses the litter box about half the time as well, but I think she might just be fastidious enough to get the hang of it when the diarrhea goes away.

I, too, have been expanding my skill set. I finally started to spin yarn in class. My first yarn from the wheel was not nearly as good as my first yarn from the spindle. Every time I read about spinning, it is always advised that you start on a drop spindle. I don’t know why – it is a very different skill. I was excellent at drafting on the spindle, but my hands were in a different place and had to do something different for the wheel, so it didn’t translate. It took me longer to get the right rhythm.

On Monday I worked on my homework. We were given two different (natural) colored pieces roving to spin. Next week we are going to ply it. In any case, that went incredibly well. I was able to spin while – get this – talking on the phone and watching TV.

Get a load of the singles I made – I am impressed with it myself. (Oh yeah, did I mention I am re-learning Calculus, too?)

I only have 2 bobbins, so I think I am going to spin some of my own roving before making the second singles for class. I have a week and incredible enthusiasm, so I figure that it’s doable. I separated about 175g of roving in 4 colors for my own project. You know, I really need to invest in a niddy noddy (a tool for winding yarn off of a bobbin into a skein) soon…

Serra likes my spinning, too. She just had to take her turn after I left.

And finally, today is Buttercup and Wesley’s birthday. They turn 7 today! Hold cow – I am the mother of 7-year olds. How did that happen?

From Hovering to Hoovering

Two of my adult cats are food motivated. Around 8:00pm every day when we open their can of Wellness and divide it out on their plates, Wesley and Buttercup are hovering near the kitchen counters. They get underfoot and nearly kill us, and they meow like this is their first meal in days. They both have been obese and are now merely a bit overweight, so they aren’t starving. I think Wesley isn’t even in it for the food, to tell you the truth. He just likes to be fed. He’ll take 2 bites of the food after it goes down and walk away seconds later. Buttercup generally stays at the bowl, hoovering every bit she can stuff in so she can barf it up a few minutes later. She’s gotten better about it in the last year or so, but she does tend to eat too fast.

Wisteria is a bit like that with the bottle. She now flails and howls until I’ve gotten the nipple into her mouth. Even then she has to hold the bottle with one or both of her front paws, I suppose so that I can’t take it away until she has finished.  She only stops for a breath, then starts snuffling around for the bottle again.

It has been such a sad thing to her that in the last few days we have started the weaning process. She has pretty good teeth right now – I’ve been bitten in her attempts to eat wet food from my fingers, and let me tell you, it hurts! I have to make sure that Wisteria is hungry so that she will try to eat big-kitten food in lieu of the bottle. She will eat the wet food from a spoon and she can be led down to the bowl. She eats for just a few seconds, though, and then steps in the food on her way to look for the bottle. I make her try for about 15-20 minutes, then I let her have some KMR. She thinks I hate her now, but that will pass. It’s funny how they go from “that’s not food” to “I can’t wait for my next meal”.

I had to take Lani and Kai in to see the doctor this week. The two black kittens got sick and their bellies seem to be full of fluid. We are concerned that they, too, have FIP. Apparently it (like the ringworm) is also an epidemic this year. None of the kittens who have come down with FIP have lived in the same room, nor did they live here at the same time. They didn’t catch it from each other. It’s baffling and quite sad. We’ve put Lani and Kai on antibiotics. They are more lively now, but their bellies are still firm. I am hoping that it improves and turns out not to be FIP.

I took little miss screamy pants (I got my wish for more noise) to the shelter when I took the other two in for their checkup. Everyone there adores her. Untold numbers of people handled her until she passed out. It was good for me because I didn’t hear a peep out of her until late that night. Boy, when that girl gets adopted, she will be so spoiled! I wish it were going to be that easy for the others. Their fur color alone makes it unlikely that they will be adopted quickly. It’s a shame because Lani is quite affectionate. Kai needs some work, but he’s going to be great, too.

I am hopeful for my black kittens. They eat well (the 2 of them eat more than all 3 of my adult cats) and gain a lot of weight every day. Lani is still bright and friendly, but Kai tends to be quiet (but that may be because of his socialization level). Keep your fingers crossed that they get better.

Lots of Yarn

This is the first wheel that I got to borrow from my spinning teacher. It’s really pretty, but after practicing treadling, I think I want one with a double treadle (two foot pedals). I also need either a cat-free room to keep it in or a cover. Serra loves the wheel. She keeps visiting it and trying to make nice to the drive (the string that connects the big wheel to the bobbin and another part that I cannot recall the name for). I can’t wait to start making yarn!

Despite not being able to spin yet, I managed to acquire quite a bit of yarn this week.

It started out a a legitimate need. A month or so ago, Linnea had the brilliant idea to actually use her Knitting Guild membership and take a few of their correspondence courses. She wants to do the Masters Course, but she started with the Basics, Basics, Basics course just to warm up.

I thought Linnea’s idea was fantastic! I do not belong to the Knitting Guild, but I am a member of the Crochet Guild of America. Since the Crochet Guild has similar courses, I figured it would be cool to get a masters cerificate. I sent off my application (and the fee, of course) and waited a few days. On Monday I got this in the mail:

Woo-hoo! I read the course like a recipe to see what ingredients I had and which ones I needed. I had all but one of the hooks I would need, but I had none of the yarn. You need a light colored, smooth yarn for the swatches. I had light colored and fancy, I had dark colored and smooth, and a few things that were both light colored and smooth, but not in sufficient quantities. Not a big deal – I do love to go yarn shopping.

For a course like this, I decided it was best to use inexpensive but decent quality yarns. I think wool-ease is a good standard yarn to work with. You can get plenty of it, it isn’t expensive, and it comes in several colors.

I chose this for my main color.

This one is my contrast color (this one is allowed to be bright).

This one is my sport-weight yarn.

And this one is the crochet cotton.

I’ve made a few swatches already. I won’t post them all here just because I am not really sure what the guild does and does not want posted on the internet. However, it doesn’t hurt to give all the crocheters some sort of teaser!

I apparently picked a great time to start my crochet masters course. The craft store was having a big sale this week (you have to go to the brick-and-mortar store – the online store is different) on a lot of yarn that I already like. I have received a lot of requests for dishcloths (from family, mostly), so I bought a bunch of Lily Sugar and Cream. As a side note, if you are in a bind at Christmas and need to get a gift out fast, make dishcloths. When you give them to the recipient, the first thing you get is a mildly disappointed look. She (or he, but for grammar’s sake I’ll say she) has no idea at this point what she is getting. A few weeks later the recipient will just try the stupid dishcloth, and she will see that it is so much better than any other dishcloth she has ever owned. In fact, she may even be inspired to call you and tell you how wonderful that thing is. In a few months she’ll be asking for more because the ones you made will wear out and she will discover that she can’t go back to store-bought. This is an opportunity for you. You can either: A) teach this person to knit her own, or B) make the (quick and easy) dishcloths as gifts for the rest of this person’s life. Either way, you win.

Clearance is a great way to enhance your stash as well. There was some Vanna’s Choice yarn on clearance (probably last season’s colors or something) and I decided to give it a try. I mean, for $0.97/skein, you can’t go wrong. It’s acrylic, but it feels relatively soft and it comes in good colors.

I got a few other random sale yarns as well, and one of them I will use for a Kristy hat. Speaking of which, I finished a sixth hat at the Stitch-and-Pitch game in San Francisco. Carisa gave me the yarn for this one to use for the Kristy hats. It is another colorway of some yarn we got for free at the Knit and Crochet Show when it was in Oakland. My friend Melinda thinks that her mother would like the yarn, so I gave her the leftovers.

Our knitting group has finished quite a few hats for Kristy. We have more than the 15 I was sure we could do, and we’re still going. This is a great way to use up stash yarn.

I’ll leave you with some shots of the Tuesday night Stitch-and-Pitch game.

This is the first time I’ve seen string quartet play the National Anthem at a baseball game.

Our seats were decent. We got to see the Giants hit 3 homeruns!

One of the big reasons I like to go to the ballpark is the food. The garlic fries are always exciting. Sometimes they are so garlicky that you taste it for weeks, and sometimes they are milder. We got milder fries this time.

I got to see Melinda for the first time in forever. She moved to Oakland not long ago. Melinda brought along a crochet monkey – this is his face.

It was a good night to be out with fellow stitchers!

Comings and goings

Cupcake was the healthiest kitten I’ve ever had. When the others caught a URI, she was unfazed. The other kittens caught ringworm, and she never even got a smidgen of hair-loss. She was healthy, fun-loving and affectionate. So it comes as a surprise that, as of a few days ago, she is dead.

The shelter I volunteer for is the city shelter. They have had a partnership with another privately funded shelter in the city for many years now. This partnership allows the city shelter to transfer its overflow so it doesn’t have to euthanize for space. Cupcake was sent to the other shelter because Biscotti had eye boogers, marking him as a possible URI case. Since the others who were with him were exposed, they had to be moved to the private shelter as well. The city shelter really can’t afford to treat sick kittens, so this has worked out in general.

I have a much harder time tracking my kittens when they go over to the other shelter. I used to volunteer there, which would have made it easy, but I no longer go for reasons I would not like to discuss here (although the following story does illustrate one of my reasons). I have my friends look out for my babies in my place. I am glad I have these people because I would never have known otherwise. Apparently, Cupcake’s belly started to fill with fluid and she developed a fever. It came on pretty quickly, so the other shelter ran some tests. You see, they expected she had FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitus). I know that the other shelter has a few misunderstandings about FIP. They think that if one kitten in a litter gets it, all will get it (we’ve almost never had more than one kitten in a litter develop FIP at the city shelter). If the kittens are genetically related, the other shelter will kill them all. I had to get the city shelter to make the private (and might I add, very wealthy) shelter promise to return the other kittens in the litter or at least wait and see if they, too, develop FIP before killing them. They gave us a line about genetically related kittens being nearly guaranteed to catch it. We had to prove that the 3 kittens in that group were not genetically related and we told them our postition on the matter. The other shelter was ready to just make a few assumptions and kill them all, but my friend and I saved Biscotti’s and Milkshake’s lives that day. Why so quick with the killing, I wonder?

Back at home, I had more kittens to deal with. Wisteria learned that the bottle is her friend, and now she asks for it a little more often. She’s still pretty quiet, though. She was constipated for about 4 days. I gave her 0.1mL of vegetable oil, and a few hours later she passed a really hard (like dried pasta) poop. I gave her one more dose that night, and she passed a few more. It’s a good thing, because constipation can be just as deadly to a kitten as diarrhea. I figured she needed more bulk in her diet (she just sprouted teeth, too), so I’ve started adding a tiny bit of wet food to her bottle. I also gave her some KMR 2nd step (it’s like rice cereal for kittens) via a syringe. It seems to help her bowels keep moving. Most kittens are like a poop vending machine – put in a little milk, tickle their tummies, and out pops a turd. Wisteria is more difficult than that. Some kittens just are, I guess.

I had some overnight guests this weekend. These little boys were about 24 hours old when I got them. You can see in the picture of the brown kitten that he still has his umbilical cord attached. A mother cat left a few kittens in some construction machinery, so one of the construction workers brought them home so he and his wife could raise them. It didn’t take long before they realized that these kittens were way too much work for them to handle (they cried for food every 2 & 1/2 hours, which is more than any other kittens who lived with me needed), so they contacted our rescue group. After the way the Stars turned out, I decided I didn’t want to take kittens that small again. It just takes a lot of resources and the chances of their survival are slim – I’m thinking less than 5%. Fortunately, there was a cat at the shelter who was due to give birth any day now. I cared for them in hopes that they could be added to the litter, but I had to pass these kittens to another foster parent because we had a few unexpected things come up this weekend.

Lani and Kai are still here as well. Lani is getting friendlier by the day, and Kai has learned to at least tolerate us – it’s progress. They are growing like weeds. This is a welcome change from the last kittens. Some of them really held out there.

I started my spinning class this weekend. I am enthralled, to put it mildly. I got to take an Ashford Wheel kind of like this one home. I’ll include a picture tomorrow. I had to cover the thing up because as soon as I got it home, Serra figured she should make friends with it. It isn’t mine, so I have to be extra careful that she doesn’t hurt it. My homework assignment is to practice treadling. We didn’t get to spin this week because the teacher thought that learning to use the treadle and draft yarn was a lot to do all at once. She is ok if we try to spin this week, but she didn’t show us how, exactly.

I learned a lot yesterday. The teacher showed us new tools and the rawest of materials for spinning. She had a fleece that she divided up for us to take home and wash. It’s kind of easy, but I think I felted the grey one a little. I’m not sure how – they were all in at the same time. I should have gotten a picture of them before I washed, but maybe I can get a shot next week at class (I forgot my camera this time- crud).

We all were given a few pieces of skirted (washed) fleece to practice carding and making rolags (pronounced roll-logs). The bright pink stuff at the bottom is something she gave us to blend with the white stuff so we could practice blending. I’ll get some pictures of the process when the fleece I washed at home dries.

I was pretty proficient at carding. I made rolags like they were going out of style – the teacher decided that I needed more fleece to take home so that I wouldn’t get bored before our next class. I truly love this whole process. I think I was born in the wrong era. Oh, well.

I daresay I am a natural with this fiber making jazz. I showed the teacher the ball of yarn I made recently with the drop spindle, and she was genuinely impressed. I like that I have found a hobby that I have some natural talent for. Now I just need to buy a stinking house so I have room for a wheel. Sigh.

A good trade

I went in to the shelter yesterday and offered Blaze to one of the other foster parents. She is going to take it home and try it on. So, she may have gotten a nice gift.

I also got something nice.

This is Wisteria. She barely looks like a kitten at all – more like a burrowing animal. Her fur is so unusual and soft! It was love at first sight! I officially have a crush on a second kitten this year (I sure do move on fast, don’t I?).

Wisteria is pure cute. She is the quietest kitten I have ever had. I mean, I haven’t heard a peep out of her except when she is dreaming (and she’s an active dreamer – you should see her twitch). She sleeps more than I remember other kittens sleeping. She even sleeps through the night. I know it’s sacrilegious to say this, but I wish she would make a little more noise. It’s just that it makes me worry that something is wrong when she isn’t asking to be fed.

Wisteria isn’t so good with the bottle either. I waited 8 hours after her first feeding at the shelter to even try since she wasn’t calling for food – she was just sleeping. She rejected the bottle, and I’m talking full-on temper tantrum. She turned her head away, pushed my hands out of the way – she wasn’t having any of it. Finally, I got her to take milk from a syringe. I tried again today with the same result. I tried offering her a bowl of KMR mixed with a tiny bit of wet food. I know Nebby seemed small when I got him. He, too, rejected the bottle. But he was just a little bigger than Wisteria. His teeth were out just a little more than hers. She’ll be ready for weaning very soon, but I don’t think she’s really ready now. Just as I suspected, when I offered her the plate of mush, she dropped her face in it and made no attempt to eat. It was a conundrum. In a last ditch effort, I tried the bottle again. I squeezed it gently to get the milk on her tongue (she keeps her mouth open when I have the bottle in it, so I can easily see what is going in). All of a sudden, she started to suckle. She didn’t get much, but I’ll take it. I have a feeling it’ll be like this for the next few feedings at least.

For now, I’m going to aim for her to just maintain her weight and stay hydrated. I’m sure that it can’t be easy for her to lose her mother and have to learn to drink from a bottle all in one day. All I can do is wait. Just like with the sweater. I’m starting to detect a theme.

Hold Me

/\__/\__/\__/\________________________________________________

Beep…Beep…Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Alas, the patient didn’t make it. The neckline may have drawn in some, but not enough to keep the thing from falling to my waist when I put it on. It’s almost like I knit a larger size than I intended. My next thing is going to be to find someone who can actually wear it. Regardless of the trouble it gave me, Blaze is still so pretty and so soft.

I am going to take a break from knitting sweaters right now and concentrate on other projects. I am still making hats for Kristy, but at a slower pace. I plan to cast on washcloths for Alicia. And I cast on Clapotis. I am using Bamboo from South West Trading Company in Sahara. It’s very soft and drapey with a little shine.

I think it’s time to update my WIP list again. I think this will be interesting:

1. Clapotis
2. Jen’s socks
3. Kilt hose
4. Blaine’s blanket
5. Tunisian crochet cat bed
6. Romantic Cardigan
7. Carisa’s afghan
8. Cat Afghan
9. A Kristy hat

Given the sheer number of blankets on my list, I think I will be finishing at least one of them up soon. I was inspired to crochet a cat motif for my Cat Afghan last night. There are only 4 more left, then I just add the finishing touches. It’s been awhile since I’ve completed a blanket, so it will be welcome. If I wanted to, I could complete the cat bed and the hat this week (but with the hat, I’ll just be casting on another right away). I seem to have a thing for having 9 projects going at a time. I wonder if I can get it down to 6 before I cast on something else. Of course, I may just be setting myself up for failure, given how much I like to start new projects.

I do have a bit of exciting news! I learned that there will be a spinning class in Mountain View starting this Sunday. It’s a long drive to be sure, but I am so looking forward to working with a wheel that I don’t mind. I have to go sign up for it now – can you believe that they are having trouble getting enough students?

/\__/\__/\__/\_ (Beep…Beep…Beep)

It’s like someone is recovering from surgery. I’m waiting. I can practically hear the heart monitor with its rhythmic beep…beep…beep.

Last night I was the surgeon. The only seaming that needs to be done in this pattern is a small seam in the underarm on each side. So here’s the problem I mentioned in a previous post:

In the pattern at the end of the section for the body it says:

“Work 16 rows of Cable Pattern until work measures 13 [13.5, 14, 14.5, 15, 15.5] inches. IMPORTANT: Take note of which pattern round you end on, and write it down! The sleeves will have to end on the same pattern round.

Ok, I did that.

Again, at the end of the sleeve section it reads:

“IMPORTANT: Make sure you end with the same patt round the body ended with. This is much more important than the sleeves being the right length, as it will ensure that the cable patt flows smoothly into the yoke of the sweater. “

I did that, too. The pattern implies you can finish anywhere in the 16 round repeat and it should work out. Well, it didn’t. I finished on round 16 of the pattern repeat. I counted the stitches properly and the top part of the sleeve did join seamlessly with the body of the sweater. I didn’t suspect anything was wrong at that point.

When I looked at the area that needed to be joined, though, I found a huge problem.

You see, there should be matching knits and purls at the top and bottom of this seam; however, this is not the case. If you look from right to left (because that is how knitting and crocheting work, right to left), on the top it looks like: kkppppkkpppp. On the bottom it reads: pppkkppppkk.

Put them on top of one another:

kkppppkkpppp
pppkkppppkkp

It doesn’t work out! It’s like DNA with mismatched nucleotide bases. Instead of matching up A’s with T’s and C’s with G’s, you have A’s trying to get with G’s and T’s trying to bond with C’s! It’s anarchy! An unstable DNA structure. KABOOM!

I did my best to sew it up despite this. I used to be a type A knitter. If there was a mistake I woud rip that sucker out a million times to get it just right. I wasn’t above going in with scissors and chopping out the offending portion and reconstructing the area with a yarn needle and a length of yarn. While that did help me become proficinent in repairing knitting, it didn’t help me complete projects in a timely manner.

Even after the fudged sewing job, there were more problems. In this picture, you can see that the neckline is bigger than the body of the sweater.

I tried it on. Can you guess how I felt about it?

Once the surgical wound was closed, I had to get the patient to recovery. I washed it in preparation for blocking.

I placed the sweater/patient on the table and scrunched up the neckline, hoping that it would draw in a bit. All I can do now is wait. /\__/\__/\__/\_

Trying not to

I’m not going to lie – I am avoiding finishing Blaze. To finish it means that I may have to deal with a huge failure. It means I put tons of time into something that wouldn’t come out well (just like jury duty). I am in denial. I do know that if I just finish the stupid thing I can block it and maybe get somewhere. It can be good. I Just have that feeling in the pit of my stomach that it will not be OK. Ugh.

I’ve been doing everything else in the meantime. I’ve finished all 5 hats I wanted to make for Kristy:

Plus a washcloth for myself (at least that was something I worked on before I began avoiding Blaze).

And I am thinking about casting on some dishcloths for my sister in law. Maybe a few more hats for Kristy. Maybe I am going to cast on Clapotis…if I can figure out what yarn to use…

Things that I would rather do today than find out Blaze was failure:

1. Clean the bathroom
2. Sterilize the kitten room in phaze 1 of Operation: Obliterate the Ringworm
3. Organize my entire office (wow, that’s a big one…)
4. Step in a fresh (or heck, let’s go with cold and gooey) pile of cat vomit

I think you get the idea. You know what – I’m going out there right now to face my fear. I’ll graft the arms, wash the shirt, and pray. At least it will be over with.

Making things for other people

This job I have is tough. I’ve been talking for the last week about sending the big kittens on to be adopted. I’ve been looking forward to ridding my house of the dreaded ringworm. I even got new kittens to overlap my last few days with the last of the big kittens.

Still, it was hard to let them go. They all look good. Nebby really changed into a sleek, handsome young gentleman. His daddy adopted him today, and he is going home as soon as he can get neutered. Cream Puff came back from near death to fulfill her mission to get adopted. And would you look at Merry – he is gorgeous! He was so awful when I got him the foster coordinator thought he might not make it. Ah, the memories. I did feel guilty that I had to leave the kittens in a cage, but honestly, they will be adopted. They are too pretty to be ignored. Just like with knitting, you’ve gotta finish your project sometime so that the person for whom the project was made can enjoy it.

I’m a bit on-call tomorrow, so it should take my mind off of being big kitten-less. This morning a litter of 6 2-3 week old kittens came into the shelter without their mom. By the time I got in, someone had managed to trap their mother, and they did not need to go home with me after all. The catch is that the mother had not started feeding the babies by the time we all left the shelter today. She is feral, so she was pretty scared and sat curled up in her litter box. I am hoping that she relaxes a bit overnight and starts taking care of her kids. I love the tiny ones, but they are A LOT of work. If she doesn’t feed them, I will be called in to do the job.

As for my other finished projects, I’ve finished yet another hat for Kristy. This one is made of the yarns I mentioned in my last post. I used a pattern I found on Ravelry and crocheted away. I am going to work on the next hat in my queue, the Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I do have an ugly yarn for that one, but I think that it seriously won’t look ugly to someone else. You’ll see.

Trouble in paradise

Meet Lani and Kai. Their names mean sky and sea, respectively, in Hawaiian. We thought it would be nice to make the “plain black kittens” seem more exciting by giving them exotic names. These two kittens are undersocialized, so they are going to need behavior modification work. I am concerned that they will also contract ringworm given that I still have 3 from the previous litter in the house (but in a separate room). They’ve got at least a month with me anyway given their current state of affairs.

Lani has lice. The nice thing about those bugs is that they are feline specific – people can’t catch them. I do have to keep her away from my cats until the Advantage has killed them all off or I will have a bigger infestation on my hands. I pretreated my cats just in case. She’s made progress since I picked her up on Tuesday. I’ve given her a spoonful of baby food once a day, and now she is ok eating and roaming around the room when I am in there.

Kai doesn’t have lice, or at least has too few for me to notice. He has really shiny, incredibly black fur. Lani is a little brown in comparison. Kai is more undersocialized than Lani as well. He hisses when I look at him. It’s really cute when a kitten that size hisses at you – he is so tiny, yet he thinks he’s fierce! I cannot resist kissing him when he gives me that angry hiss. He was very quick to warm up to baby food, so I am betting that by next week he’s going to think I’m not so bad.

At knit night, I cast on and finished a hat. I think it will fit a five-year-old kid. I just grabbed 2 partial balls of yarn from my stash, cast on 36 stitches onto size 10 3/4 dpns, and knit away. Carisa has a goal of knitting 5 of them – I think I can do that. Shoot, with big needles I can knit a ton of them. I am just going to knit hats until Carisa mails them off. Wow, what a great excuse for casting on tons of new projects! I love it when the world steps in to validate my addictions.

Charity knitting is a great way of getting rid of yarn in your stash that you just hate. Poor Linnea was given a gift of yarn several years ago. I never would have known that could be a bad thing until I saw this pile-o-nastiness. No one who has seen that yarn has liked it yet. And wouldn’t you know it, Linnea acquired this yarn in a big garbage bag. She loaned it to our friend Melinda who made a blanket from this yarn, but still there is a mountain of it left. I think the picture represents 1/4 to 1/3 of the leftovers. The nice thing about this project is that kids tend to like brightly colored things that adults consider hideous. She can make many, many hats and be rid of at least some of it. Maybe some of the others of us in the group should make some hats from that yarn too, just to relieve Linnea of the burden…

In any case, not all of the hats I will make will be ugly by my definition. I actually like my first hat, and I intend to crochet a hat from my favorite cheap yarn of all time. Currently I am planning to pair it with yarn I have leftover from a skirt I made last year before my anniversary cruise to Hawaii. That should make it nice and fast warm.

I’ve avoided talking about this for the whole post, but there is a reason I entitled this one “Trouble in paradise.” Blaze looks awful! I got pretty far on it after I finished untangling all of its yarn. I got to the neckline, used a smaller needle than the one I used for the rest of the body, reduced nigh on 100 stitches, and yet somehow when I cast off I discovered that the neckline is bigger than the rest of the sweater. I am going to graft the armpits closed, set up my explanation of what I found wrong with the pattern, then try to shrink that bugger. I am hoping this is an issue of blocking. Seriously hoping. My husband suggested I stop trying to knit sweaters for myself from patterns. This is my second attempt that went way awry. My first sweater was a pink cashmere/merino thing that was too big for me, but fortunately fit my aunt who happens to love pink. It’s still in the family. The odd thing is that when I design a sweater myself, it tends to fit the recipient well. I cannot believe that I can do a better job than people who have published their patterns. Maybe I really am just that hard to fit.

It’s a good thing that I view failure as a challenge. My next step is going to be to find a yarn that I fall madly in love with and knit it into a sweater of my own design for myself. That one will fit. Period.