In Loving Memory

Mouse passed away peacefully at home early last Saturday morning after a brief illness.She was a cat who always did everything with quiet dignity, her passing was no different.  She was 17 years old and would have been 18 if she'd lived to August.

Mouse came to me because Squish was incapable of being an only cat and I think she spent the next 15 years waiting for her chance to be an only cat. It wasn't until after Squish passed that she really came out of her shell; maybe she was just letting him talk for both of them. I will never know.

She loved yarn and used to have great fun stealing my expensive sock yarn, she always chose the most expensive yarn available, so she could pull the ball apart while making blood curdling yowling sounds. She never ate the yarn, she just loved to pull the ball apart and then lie on it so it was so full of cat hair it could hardly be used. She also never chose the cheap acrylic for this unless there was no other yarn to play with.

Rest in Peace little Mouse-cat.

2017 Year in Review

Pets

I hate leading off with bad news but I must sadly say that I lost Squish this year. He had been ill for a couple of years with thyroid and, more recently, kidney failure but when he suffered a stroke (I think it was a stroke, he showed all the classic symptoms that EMTs tell you to watch for in a human) and was left partly blind and unable to walk I had to let him go. Rest easy my Squishy-cat; I miss you still.

Mouse has adjusted to being the only cat quite well and has embraced her Siamese genes by mewing constantly, mostly when she wants food; which seems to be every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, she has suffered from IBS for most of her life and has now added pancreatitis to her list of ailments. Watching her suffer through a flare-up is horrifying; the poor little cat is clearly in agony when it happens. And there isn't anything the vet can do for her, no medication or anything; all we can do is watch and hope she doesn't get worse.

Eclipse has not had any change in her health status but she does have cancer so I don't know how long she will be with us. Could be years could be months, with cancer you just never know.

Soccer's kidneys have started to fail so he's on medication for that. And he developed a fat lump on his side very quickly just before Christmas, monitoring for now and it has not become hard so far. He also seems to have a depressed appetite, food doesn't seem to interest him much and I had to move him onto a prescription vet diet; at least he'll eat it, he was refusing to eat anything for a couple weeks last spring and he's not a dog that should skip many meals given that he's always been a bit scrawny. For now he's still eating and doesn't seem to be in pain so we're monitoring.

Ahab seems to be that last healthy pet in the house and still loves playing Scent Hurdle. I'm keeping him running only one heat per race otherwise he seems to be really tired before the end of the tournament.

Knitting and other Fiber Arts

And now, let us take a look at the fiber accomplishments of 2017. I spent most of this year unemployed so my production level was high.


First completed project of this year was a pair of socks for my Niece. My Nephew's socks were completed in 2016 for his 2017 birthday so they show up on last year's review.










Followed immediately by a pair of socks for myself.

Then my Calgary Sister texted me a picture and asked if I could make her a hat like the one I had made for my Niece for Christmas 2015 in black or grey. How can one refuse? I called it Space Wurm not because of the colour (a true black) but because I was watching space documentaries while knitting it. Colour would have been a good reason to call it Space Wurm too.




Next, having learned that my Wee Niece's mauve Wonderful Wallaby just barely fit, I made a larger one for her. I have actually seen her wearing this in several video calls with her! Now, that's the way to get yourself hand knits. Or for your mother to get you hand knits. Either way.





Then came a pair of John Deere socks. I had originally intended these as a gift for a friend but one ended up longer than the other by about 1cm so I'm reluctant to gift them. They're waiting for me to make a decision.




Next I completed the first three of a series of Hats. I had some old Wool-Ease in my stash that I could never think what to do with. I can't even remember what I originally bought it for; so I made it up into a bunch of hats. This also lead to an important question - What do you call a group of hats? My personal favourite was a friend's suggestion of a "snuggle of toques".

Then came my UK Vacation. There were many adventures, but of relevance to knitting - while on the train from London to Edinburgh it broke down so I had lots of time to work on a pair of socks. I knit most of a sock while stuck on the train then completed the pair in the lounge of the hotel in Edinburgh. They're in my Scent Hurdle team's colours and I've been wearing them to tournaments, well, in winter that is.







And I finished another entire pair of socks while visiting with my Sister in Aberdeen. These went to my Mom for Mother's Day, which is celebrated in March in the UK so she got them early since we were in the UK and they were finished and it was UK Mother's Day. She did not get a second pair for Canadian Mother's Day but only because I didn't have time, I would have if I'd had time.


Upon returning home the hats continued to drip from my needles, it helps that Wool-Ease is a really chunky yarn, giving me a total of nine in various sizes. I originally intended to give these to charity, except for the medium green which I kept for myself, but they kept getting claimed by those who saw them on the table at the front door. In the end I kept the medium green, the solid red went to my Mom, the large charcoal to my brother-in-law, the blue with red stripe and grey crown to my Niece, the large green to my Nephew, the charcoal with red ribbing to my Sister, the small blue to my Wee Niece, and only three went into the charity box. Still, they all found a good home.

Then I did some experimenting with loom knitting, I would like to do more of this but I'm having problems finding the right tools. I have a feeling this could mean I'm pushing the envelope here. Cool beans. I did a small blanket that I ended up not liking because I chose the wrong cast off and messed up the pattern, this may get frogged yet. Plus, I have since found that double knitting works really well when you are working with two colours, so I really I feel I should be pushing this technique more and using three or more colours.


Next a sweater for me. I wore this lot through the cold snap over Christmas and New Years.











Then socks for my Dad for Father's Day.




Another sweater for my Wee Niece. The colour in the picture is completely wrong, it's actually a light blue. Since its in Scotland taking a replacement picture is tricky.






I enlarged the fish from the "A Recipe for Fish" blanket pattern and made a dish cloth.






Followed by a couple of Aww-Poo Bags. Still working on perfecting the pattern for these as I'm not 100% satisfied with it.

A flaming red 10 Stitch Blanket. My awe for the genius of Frankie Brown continues unabated. No particular plan for this at this time. I'm not worried; there's always someone having a baby.






A blue blanket. I had no recipient in mind when I made this but it worked out well when it went to a friend of my Scottish Sister who had a baby boy this year. The friend lives in Canada so there were no shipping costs incurred.




Some cotton socks for myself as I always seem to run out of summer socks. Not that I wear socks much in summer but it is good to have some.






Next some boring and practical dish cloths. As you can no doubt tell from the Franken-Cloth I was using up old stash to make these.

Another Aww-Poo Bag, this one came out a bit small, so still working on perfecting the design.











Another baby blanket, tentatively thinking of trying to sell these. And if that doesn't work out then I have plenty of baby gifts. There is a diamond pattern in this blanket, you can't see it at all in the picture but I assure you, its there.




Reached into my stash and worked up a baby car-seat blanket. The picture may not show it well but there are holes you can buckle a baby car-seat through. That way the baby can't kick the blanket off. This was this year's only crochet project.





I had purchased some alpaca sock-weight yarn to go into my Mitered Square Sock Blanket but I ended up with too much orange so I used the alpaca (why wouldn't you choose the alpaca?) to make mittens instead. There is a finger hole in the right mitten so you can text or use your GPS without removing your mittens.





Then I finished the first Christmas present, my Nephew's Star Wars Scarf. This was my first try at double-knitting and I have fallen completely in love with the technique; it is awesome. Also, I love this pattern and am still debating doing one for myself. I fear that if I do though I'd better also do one for my brother-in-law.




There was enough alpaca left after the mittens for a headband. It is currently far too cold to wear this.






And Christmas present number two, more double-knitting to make a Horse Scarf for my Niece. The colours in the picture are really off, the background should be light beige, same as in the Star Wars Scarf picture, and the scarf itself is dark purple and mauve.



And then another little blanket, blue with a leaf pattern. This picture is pre-blocking, I suspect the pattern will calm down and it will look much better once I take some steam to it.





And finally one last blanket with a single snowflake pattern but mostly stockinette stitch. Finished this on Dec. 30, although like the blanket above it still needs blocking, so it just squeaked across the wire.






Completed this year:
38 projects
36 knitting projects
9 chunky hats
7 little blankets
7 pairs of socks
3 sweaters
3 dish cleaning apparatus
3 Aww-Poo Bags (experimental)
2 double-knit scarves
1 wurm hat
1 pair of mittens
1 headband
1 loom knit project
1 crochet project

Current Weather
A balmy -20C and sunny. After over a week of -30C temperatures -20C feels positively warm.

Family

It's been super busy around here this summer with some extended family visiting - my Scottish Sister's in-laws came to visit.  They went on a few road trips on their own but there were a couple of weeks where we had 9 people staying here. The three of us who live here, my Scottish Sister, her husband, and my Wee Niece, plus my Brother-in-Law's parents and sister. Whew, what a crowd. Mom was brilliant at arranging home-cooked meals for 9.

My Scottish Sister and her husband held a vow renewal this summer so her Canadian friends could attend. It was a very informal ceremony held at our parents' recreational property (they own a part-share of a private campground). A friend of my Mom's conducted the ceremony and she kept it really light-hearted, even referencing my Dad's goof in writing Vowel Renewal on the calendar. We all had to review our vowels.

My two Nieces totally stole the show. My Canadian Niece was made a last minute junior bridesmaid, my Sister was not going to worry about it but decided to let our Niece have some fun participating in the ceremony. She was also in charge of keeping her young cousin (the bride and groom's daughter, my Wee Niece) entertained so they were both front and center through the ceremony. It was wonderfully cute and off-the-cuff and fun.

The reception was just 'burgers and 'dogs with some salads on the side. Much fun was had by all. Although I had to leave early to care for Squish.

Which was of course the saddest part of the past month; saying good-bye to one of the cats who have been with me for my entire adult life. I'm still shocked at how big a hole a 5kg cat can leave behind. Fortunately Mouse seems to be adjusting to being the only cat quite well, one might almost say she is embracing it. She has been meowing more and more, I don't know why she's suddenly decided to 'talk' to us lowly humans so much more but it is terribly fun filling in my half of the conversation. Example:

"Mew."

"Yes Mouse, I know it's hot, we don't have a/c."

"Meow."

"I'm afraid there's not much I can do. You could try going downstairs where its cooler."

Which advise she promptly ignores; you get the idea.

My Uncle and Aunt also came to visit while on their cross country motorcycle trip and we invited another cousin and her husband who live nearby; we don't get together with them nearly often enough. We tried to surprise Dad with his brother's visit but we were undone by a chicken. Basically, we wanted to prepare far too much food for the number of people he knew were going to be attending dinner that evening so he guessed there would be extra guests coming. We tried. It was still really nice to see them.

Kitting

Knitting was done while the guests were here and even some finishing.

Another dog poo-bag holder, I think I'll call them Aww-Poo Bags. This one came out a bit too small I think.

Pattern: not finished
Yarn: Schachenmayr Regia Pairfect Cotton in Ocean
Needle: 3.0mm
Gauge: 42 stitches and 49 rows in 10cm

I have also been working on some baby blankets and a sock weight cover for my bed. That one's a long term project.

Speaking of baby blankets, the Blue Pennants blanket was gifted to a friend who recently had a baby boy. It should keep him nice and warm once fall arrives.

Oh, and a number of dish cloths. Just used up some random cotton I had lying around to make these. I just cast on a few stitches, increased to the size I wanted then decreased again.

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: cotton from the stash
Needle: 4.5mm
Gauge: not critical

The frankencloth already has a story to tell; it had barely made it into the cupboard to go into circulation when I accidentally slammed by elbow down on a dirty wine glass breaking it and cutting my elbow quite badly, my Scottish Sister was there (it was early in the morning so I'm glad she woke up early that day) and she thinks I hit an artery; it would make sense considering how much such a small cut bled. In any event, the frankencloth was called into service to stop the bleeding; which it did quite well. Of course, since I'd broken a wine glass and dripped plenty of blood on the floor my sister had to clean up the kitchen before first aid could be applied. She cleaned the cut out for me and put a band-aid on. It seems to be healing nicely but there also seemed to be a lot of bruising inside my elbow; I had difficulty using it for a couple of days. Two days later I sliced my finger open on a piece of glass that somehow got caught in the sink drain, fortunately that was considerably less dramatic. This is good because this time I was the only one home and had to do first aid for myself. Everything's pretty much healed now.

And there were socks. Keeping these for myself.

Pattern: improvised
Yarn: Schachenmayr Regia Pairfect Cotton in Ocean
Needle: 3.0mm
Gauge: 42 stitches and 49 rows in 10cm

Ocean Socks

Current Weather
21C and Sunny. We should get up to about 28C this afternoon.

2016 Year in Review

Let's take a look back at 2016.

Pets

Eclipse is still trucking along up at my friends' place. I suspect she loves retirement.

No health crisises from the felines this year. Squish continues to take his thyroid medication and he's actually not too bad about taking his pill twice a day. Other than that the cats are maintaining the status quo.

Soccer has another raging ear infection to finish off the year, I hope I can get this cleared up soon. He also seems to have slowed down a lot in the past few months. I hope it's just age as he turned 12 recently, I don't know his exact birthday as he was a rescue but I put it at sometime around the end of the year.

Ahab loves, loves, loves playing Scent Hurdle. He earned three titles in 2016. He started off running every heat in every race but starting in the fall I cut him back to one heat per race. He's old and I don't want him to get hurt playing the game. He sure gets excited if I pull out the barbells for a little practice.

Knitting

First thing finished in 2016 was a pair of socks for myself. Made from leftovers from a couple other pairs. I'm imposing a personal minimum of three yarns before they're Frankensocks.

Then I finished a sweater for myself. It didn't end up fitting as well as I'd hoped it would so I don't wear it much. This may end up in the Frog Pond yet.

Then came John Deer Knubbelchen in preparation for my Wee Niece's visit in the summer. Oh, and my Sister and Brother-in-Law came too but we all know who the important visitor was.

Next up more socks, for my Nephew this time. He's having a green phase which has continued into this year as he wants sock that are "green with maybe purple" for his birthday. Never argue with another person's colour choices.

Then some irresistibly cute Monster Pants. I made these too big for my Wee Niece but better than too small when it comes to kids.

Socks for my not-so-Wee Niece, she's still totally into pink. I live in despair that she will ever discover that other colours exist. No, not really; but I personally just don't care for pink. It's a harsh colour to my eyes. That's just me though.

Then I realized that if I was going to give my Wee Niece a toy upon her arrival I had better have one for the other little girl who was coming. My sister traveled with a friend who also has a young daughter. So I made a second Knubbelchen. I've been told since that this has become one of her favourite toys. How thrilling!

I wanted to try making more three dimensional toys but decided to break into the genre slowly so I made myself a Wee Little Bunny. He's presently sitting on my desk at work watching over my (dying) computer. The colour doesn't show particularly well in the picture, he's actually a soft yellow.

A friend of my boss had her gallbladder removed and since I'd knitted a "replacement" for myself as a joke when I had mine removed he asked if I could make another for her. Why not?

Feeling a bit more confident knitting three dimensional items I made a rabbit for my Wee Niece. When she received him on her birthday she kept putting him in a mixing bowl. My Mom decided we should call him Basil the Bunny because she was clearly trying to cook him up. We'll have to wait and see if that sticks.

Then along came another sweater for my Wee Niece. If you're sensing a theme here you'd not be wrong.

My sister who never wears socks (different sister than my Wee Niece's mom) asked for a pair of purple socks. How could I resist such a plea? I mostly knitted these while watching some exceedingly boring SQL training videos. They kept me awake.

At last something for myself. This sweater has been seeing a lot of wear. It's made from sock weight yarn so it can be worn indoors. This is a basic bottom up seamless sweater. I love seamless sweaters, mostly because I hate sewing. Learned that after making a couple of flat knit sweaters.

Found this pattern and simply could not resist making a dragon for my Wee Niece. I may have to make more of these as they're so terribly cute.

The first sock weight sweater was such a success I made another. I have a third on the needles and yarn for two more after that.

Some summer socks for me. These are mostly cotton so they're nice and cool for summer. If we get summer, which doesn't always seem to be a guarantee around here.

Then came the Great Sweater Crisis. I started making a Wonderful Wallaby using the colours found in a Hudson Bay blanket but it looked like it was going to be too large. So I made this little Mauve Wallaby which I greatly feared would be too small, have now spoken to my sister and it fits, just barely. It's made from sport weight yarn using the smallest Wallaby pattern with the sleeves and body shortened a bit.

In the end I did finish the Hudson Bay Wallaby and I sent it over to my Wee Niece with my folks when they went over for Christmas this year. I'm so jealous of the fun they must be having over there.

And because I had so much fun making toys I finished off with a Polar Bear. I think she's a girl we'll see what my Wee Niece decides. The sweater is not part of the bear so I predict lots of "take the sweater off, get someone to put it back on for me" from my Wee Niece.

My older Niece and Nephew also got toys this year. They don't look like much but who couldn't use a Hacky Sack? Maybe they'll become all the rage at the hockey rink. They also got books for Christmas although they were delivered on Boxing Day. The Hacky Sacks were a great hit and we spent close to half an hour playing with them, guess who got to help demonstrate them?

The tentative plan is to knit three more for each of them for birthdays or Easter so they can have juggling balls. Maybe I'll use the leftovers from their Birthday Socks; that's a thought anyway.

Then socks for Mom for her birthday in early December. These were late and are presently waiting for her to come home from Scotland.

Since I'm using up some vacation time at the end of the year Dad's birthday socks got finished in plenty of time for his birthday in January.

And finally socks for my Nephew. This puts me ahead for 2017 as his birthday isn't until February. He specifically asked for "green with maybe purple". And so I deliver. Colours are much darker than they appear in the picture.





Let's break down the numbers, just because:
24 projects completed
8 toys
8 pairs of socks
7 items for my Wee Niece
7 sweaters
3 items for my Nephew
2 items for my not-so-wee-Niece
2 bunnies
2 knubbelchen dolls
1 dragon
1 bear
1 human organ
1 pair of pants (trousers for any UK readers)