Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

A couple months ago, our veterinarian suggested adding a little bit of pumpkin to the cat food. His Imperial Majesty Copernicus was having some lower digestive tract issues, and a high fiber diet had the potential to improve the situation. The fiber does seem to have helped His Highness. And I think the vitamin A may also be helping. (If there are any veterinary students out there looking for a thesis project, the effect of high doses of vitamin A in geriatric cats might be a topic worth evaluating.) In any case, both critters eat the same food, so both critters have been eating cat food with pumpkin for a couple months. Today I decided to carve my Halloween jack o' lantern. Because I didn't feel like cleaning off the kitchen table -- be very afraid when the postal carrier has a rubber band around the stack of mail-order catalogs -- I decided to simply sit on the kitchen floor and carve. And this is what happened: Yes, that's Sophia at top right. The pumpkin is on ...

I'm writing this post in response to Amy's post here . She writes: It makes me wonder (and I don't KNOW - these are ONLY my own thoughts) if life really IS so expensive? Or is our over-advertised, over-privileged, over-expected, over-processed American lifestyle inspiring us to feel 'poor' instead of blessed and abundant? It's a great thought. Yes, there are some days we feel poor. There are many wonderful expensive luxurious things one might do in the world. Travel. Collect something fabulous. See all the best shows. Make some major upgrades to the house. But what do I, personally, most need to feel happy? A little food. Potatoes are my main comfort food -- give me those good ol' time carbohydrates. Hot tea is my beverage of choice. Games are good. Yarn to knit with. Books to read. A few favorite movies. Some good music. Clothes that make me feel like me. My zippy sippy so I can get around. And, of course, my big Cuddly Hubby, my critters,...

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. Doesn't sound too dangerous, does it? Okay, here's a wide view of the main market area: I would like to point out that I was very well behaved. I bought one skein of TOFUsies in a colorway that I could have bought earlier in the summer, but had balked and it was gone. And I bought a nifty little wooden box thingy for transporting in-work projects on double-pointed needles. I did spend a lot of time talking to independent dyers about a whole lot of special sock yarn, which is part of why I was so well-behaved. This was my first time at SAFF, and I really didn't know what to expect. I went up on the bus trip that Elyse of Only Ewe and Cotton Too had organized. Many thanks to Elyse and Bill! There were lots of AKG and NGKG people on the bus. We left about 7:15 AM. Had to ask the bus driver to turn on the lights so that we could knit, because the sun wasn't quite yet up. But it was a lovely morning with beautiful fall color by the ...

By the current standards of the household, this is a very good picture. This is a good picture because it was taken earlier this afternoon, and there are two happy critters, both enjoying their late afternoon naps. Copernicus (in the hidey-hole) had a seizure Monday evening about 4:40 PM. The Cuddly Hubby was home at the time. I had just set Copernicus up on the kitchen table so that I could administer his daily electrolyte fluids. Copernicus started spinning around in a circle. I picked him up and held him closer to the floor, so that he wouldn't fall off the table. After about 30 seconds, I started to figure out what was happening. Still hanging on to the cat, I grabbed my purse and told the Cuddly Hubby that he was driving. The seizure had let up even before we were completely settled in the car, but we drove over to our vet (Cat Care of Vinings) anyway. She did some blood work tests but couldn't find anything wrong. She did send us home with medicine to be admini...

Ok, this may sound really bizarre, but we did a mitten knit-along in Atlanta in August. Really. People knitting Fair Isle mittens in the Deep South in August . The Fall 2008 Vogue Knitting arrived at the shop. Several of us were batting around ideas for the Wednesday morning Knit-Lit / Knit Along. The shop had gotten in the kits for the Potpourri mittens featured in the magazine. People had been talking about wanting to learn Fair Isle. The next thing, somebody said we ought to buy the kits and make the mittens. In fact, so many people signed up and bought kits that the shop had to order extra! The kits contained two standard 50g skeins, one each of Claudia Handpaint blue boy and natural. There's about a quarter of a ball of citrus and just a few yards of cherries. I used my handy kitchen scale to weigh everything ahead of time. I used about half or a little more of the balls of blue boy and natural. I used most of citrus and just a few yards of cherries. Koigu and J...

A friend and coworker of the Cuddly Hubby's has a fondness for European vacations. The Bard and his wife like to take a couple weeks in France each year for hiking and bicycling during the day, and eating amazing food at night. The Bard also knows of my love of textile goodness. And the Bard's harp teacher is also a knitter. So, returning from France with good yarn is a way to please two women at once! Additionally, the Bard visited an old mill with 19th century spinning equipment. Very cool! So, I am adding to my stash, courtesy of the Bard (thank you, thank you, grovel, grovel, thank you) 105 grams, approx. 100m Artisan wool, color mulberry 25 grams, approx. 90m 70% angora, 30% merino, color bright turquoise 25 grams, approx. 90m 70% angora, 30% merino, color pale peach And I must admit that I love how the angora seems to be glowing in the photographs. Its halo is glowing brightly.

I haven't put gas in the zippy sippy in over a week. Partly I didn't need it, and partly I did not wish to be any part of the feeding frenzy that is happening here. I truly thought it would blow over by now. I was wrong. Tonight I knew the tank was getting low. And I want to go to JapanFest on Saturday, which is over in Gwinnett County. And I want to go game with friends in Dacula on Sunday -- that's almost exactly 100 miles round trip from my house to theirs. So I knew I was going to need gas tonight or tomorrow. My drive home from the shop in Woodstock involves cutting across Cobb County. Now, Woodstock has been out of gas for most of this crisis, but the city itself is only about a mile off I-575. I figured that as I got away from the interstate, I'd find gas. In fact, my plan was to just drive to the place where Cuddly Hubby and I always fill up. I couldn't help but notice on my drive home as I passed several gas stations, and they were all empty. E...