moonfrog

First up, a fun memory of the summer that is slipping away so quickly. On a hot day in August while on a motorcycle trip with friends, we ended up browsing around a kitchen supply store in Jacksonville, Oregon. We almost walked blindly past this cool kitty in a pot. She certainly knows how to beat the heat under her own little (liberally chewed) palm tree. She slept right through our noisy picture-taking and exclamations of her cuteness.

Yesterday, in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, I dug up the yarn I bought vast oceans ago for the We Call Them Pirates hat. I even joined the KAL, but it was too early to start the hat, which is to be a birthday present for The Bearded One. I have two months from now to complete it. I want it to be a surprise, if possible. So me sights be set, the piratey flag be raised. On with it! Arrrrgh! (As soon as I find my needle tips, that is. Those smarmy interchangeables have gotten off with themselves.I’ll be moving up one size to fit the biggish head that will be a-wearin’ it. )

Now back to cute cat tricks. Our children have been wonderful about caring for our cat, Pesto, when we leave town, but with our extended absences this fall we needed to find a way to accomodate our wild adoptee. Rather than cut a hole in the door, which is quite high off the steps anyway, DH (the same Bearded One mentioned earlier) came up with a brilliant solution. He built her a cat ladder and put the cat door in the window. Too cool!

The top platform leads right into the laundry room (see my new iron in the window?) where there is a tall cat tree that kept skittish kitty safe from annoying dog (who is pictured in the blog header.)

Here she is coming down her ladder, which still needs to be painted. She was quite shy of the ladder at first, but learned to use it fairly quickly. She still fusses at the door, though, preferring to use us as butlers, opening the house door constantly for her whenever we are home. She does like the freedom to come in and out at night to check out the after-dark activity.

I was surprised to find so many cat ladders on the internet when we first thought of making Pesto one. There’s even a blog all about cat ladders called Katt-Trappa. Some of the ladders are amazingly complex.

So enough of the cat tricks, how about some knitting? Besides just putting hat ingredients in a bag, I’ve actually finished a child’s hat. I started out making the Djevellue or Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap from Gros’ blog. It’s a really cute hat with an elfish styling to it. I gave it a try, but after some frustration decided to try to translate the pattern into crochet. That also turned into an exercise in frustration, but I persevered to the end. It’s not my best outcome, but it certainly kept me occupied for a time.

I used Debbie Bliss Cathay, a cotton and silk blend DK weight yarn. I got this yarn for a summer top, but it has an odor that silk sometimes has that I find unpleasant. It’s one of those things that some people notice and others don’t. I’ve decided that silk is not a fiber I can use for myself.

The cap is blocking on a spaghetti squash that my dad grew. We went up to harvest them yesterday. I couldn’t believe how many there were! Along with over a dozen acorn squash, there were about three dozen spaghetti squash. We are trying to pass the joy around since we can only eat a few of these babies in a season.

My knitting goals include finishing up Rose, making a knit Djevellue cap, starting DH’s hat, and casting on the Rib Warmer. That sounds like enough for a month the way my schedule is going lately!

No reading in the past two weeks. Well, the only reading has been a book on increasing the metabolism. I read little bits each night or morning. I haven’t picked up the ipod for a while for some reason. Just not in the mood, I guess. Maybe it’s the changing of the seasons that has me kind of restless in my knitting and my reading. Do you feel like that too? Looking forward to a more productive week ahead. : )

Life is a little unsettled at my house lately. Actually, it’s not really at my house, since I’ve taken a house-sitting job that has me gone most of the week for the next two months. My internet availability is limited to a dial-up connection most of the time. Now I know how truly spoiled I am with my dsl service. Ah, well. Posting will be unreliable during this phase.

I managed to start a new project for my commute. Since the Socks That Rock club yarn is piling up with no socks in sight, I grabbed a skein and started the Montego Bay Scarf in the Interweave Knits summer issue. The pattern calls for Handmaiden Sea Silk, so I am using the STR Silkie, which has 19% silk content, the rest being merino wool. The color is called Walking on the Wild Tide.
The pattern is a simple fishnet lace, but my counting skills are once again called into question. Lace is not an easy road for me! I have knit at least twice this far, but frogged half of it. I am alternating rows with the two ends of the skein to prevent some pooling I didn’t care for that started in the first few rows. I’ve never tried alternating rows this way before, but I think it is working pretty well. I’m hoping to make a nice crocheted beanie to go with this scarf. A perfect, light-weight set for our milder California winters.

I’ve also spent some time working on Rose (Soleil w/sleeves.) The body is totally done — ends woven in, crochet edging around the neckline — all done! Now it’s just the sleeves, little short sleeves.

I have one sleeve made from a year ago, when I started this top. It has a pretty obvious ladder, though, from using two circulars. I think I will frog it and make two fresh sleeves. It’s funny how all the parts of this sweater have been restarted this year, even though the humble beginnings commenced over a year ago in July.

I’m really looking forward to finishing this project. It is so close! It fits great, which is a miracle since I am not exactly the same size myself. I’m anxious to see if wet blocking will ease the wavering tension of my stitches. This just needs a bit of a push to bring it to a close.

In KAL news, Knitters Tea Swap 4 is coming back at the end of this month. Suzie, our hostess, may be opening it up for more participants, so check it out.

I’ve also signed up for the Anne of Green Gables Read & Knit Along.
We will be reading six of the series from October through December. Keeping up will not be easy, but I’m looking forward to it.

While Dish Rag Tag is still racing along, the first teams have completed the coarse. Rapid Rag Relayers came in fifth. I think our progress bar gave us false hope that we were in the lead until the very end, which actually made it very exciting. It was tons of fun, but I’m glad the stress is behind me.

AudioBook Blurb

My recent audiobook read was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I don’t remember ever reading this, although I may have way back in high school. I started listening to a free recording from Librivox.org. Volunteers read for these free recordings, and even though they do a wonderful job, the change in readers every couple chapters distracted me from the story. I found a copy on CDs at my local library.

Jane was an interesting character, a radical mix of opposing traits. Sometimes it seemed that the opposites in her behavior were too drastic. Just when I thought she was a strong, independent women, she proved to be a true romantic.

I’m glad I finally took the time to read this classic. My recent read, The Thirteen Tale, alluded to Jane Eyre thoughtout, so I figured it was about time I read it.