TJ

We had to put our cat TJ down today. The poor thing hadn't been eating and gave himself liver failure. I feel horrible. I feel like if we had known him better maybe we would have seen something was wrong sooner. I feel angry because I'm pretty sure now that he was probably sick when we adopted him. I feel like I have let him down.

He was a crazy skittish cat. Even though we only had him for six weeks he will be greatly missed.

The Tea Saga Continues

The Bug and the two kitties having tea. I sadly didn't get a picture of her having a tea party with her dolls. She only has to two cups so she was drinking straight out of the tea pot. Pretty funny stuff. I have made the saucers for the cups.
If I can give any advice for this pattern it is cast on Loosely. See how the one curls up a bit that was the first one; I learned. Even with the cups the first has a tighter top then the second.

It has been pointed out that these toys are lead free. Now I don't want my child missing out on such milestones of her generation. So I was going to start knitting while listening to this but amazingly we have none. So along with a bottle, meat, and "getting" to sleep by herself she will have to miss out on the lead poisoning too. Poor child....

Novelty Yarn

is for toddler knits!

This is the Little Bug's first scarf. I got the yarn at Hobby Lobby, 99 cents a ball, one ball of each color. Can't really beat that price. Silly puffy stuff with a bit of sparkle and very bright colors. Just perfect for a Little Bug who is very into bright lime green and bright orange (or ohja, as she says it). Crazy simple scarf, cast on 18 stitches on size 15 needles knit garter stitch for just the right length. Little Bug wanted to help knit. It turned out that meant weaving the needles in and out of the balls of yarn. One of the big pluses to using circular needles as straits is that you can put the stitches down on the middle part and the kid can't get them off by just waiving the needles around. Altogether it was a fun knit. And not something I would have made if I didn't have a Little Bug.

"It comes in Pints?!"

By far one of the most used lines from LOTR in this house. This is a finished Left Front/Sleeve/Hood and the very beginnings of the Right side. Coming right along hopefully it'll be finished while it's still cold outside.

Tea for Two

Tea pot and almost two tea cups. The one needs the crochet base and handle. They are SO CUTE! Oh my gosh! The picot edging too adorable. So tiny and sweet. I abosolutley love this tea set. Oh, and Little Bug likes it too. She is having a tea party as I type. So far, this is a really easy pattern, aside from the headache of learning to crochet. The first cup took a day to knit, finish and sew in all the ends. I did the unfinished tea cup while watching the Night Rider Movie. Fast And Easy And Cute. What more can you ask for? The pattern only has you make two cups but I think I'll make four; more of a party then. Of course there is still the cake platter, the serving platter, the saucers, the creamer, spoons, the sugar bowl, the cutest little sugar cubes, and of course cupcakes. I am having way too much fun knitting this set!

And for some reason Blogger won't check my spelling anymore. I apologize for all the spelling errors, I'm sure there are lots.

Crochet=Headache

Look Crochet!

It took me half the night to figure out what I was trying to do the the rest of the night to do it. The next day I woke up with a head ache. Maybe it wasn't the crochet, maybe it was a coincidence, but I don't really believe that. But I do love the little green ball thinger. Cute! I started off using the booklet "I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting!". I can't believe anyone could learn to crochet from that book. Susan Anderson has crochet directions in her Itt Bitty Nursery book. These directions are clear and to the point. Once I read them all went a lot smoother. Or as smooth as I think crochet can go, one needle unatural thing that it is.

Side view:

Doesn't look much like a tea put huh? Well it is getting a handle and a spout. The handle is knit up just needs to be sewn on and the spout is on the needles. Little Bug really likes it. She's been carrying it around and cuddling it. You haven't lived until you've cuddled a tea pot!

Shut Your Eyes

and imagine you are back in your own bed....

-LOTR Fellowship of the Rings

The grafting of the sleeve went amazingly well. Woo!

One and a half

I finished my mittens! And I love them! They fit great, they look good, and they are so cozy! They are the Broad Street Mittens with Louet Gems Sport Weight. I rather liked the yarn. It is soft but not so soft that it won't hold up to mittens. I think they will be quite warm. It is supposed to be in the 20s tomorrow so I'm sure I'll find out. I just need to find the right buttons to hold down the flappy bits.

I also finished one sock. You know the sock I started back in September. Socks are a slow thing here. I used to only work on them when I was out. Now I've learned how to knit and read to the Little Bug they will go a touch faster. These also took a long hiatus during the dishcloth extravaganza.

I need to get a good close up they really do look like dragon scales. And no, they are not done in this picture. This is when I tried them on and realized I only needed to do one more repeat and the ribbing. You get the idea.

I fixed the problem with the Arwen cabling. Wasn't a big deal and I actually learned a lot about the cable because of that mistake. I don't have to keep track anymore I can tell where I am. Very nice. Tonight I shall start my LOTR marathon as is appropriate for such a knit.

Monday night I shall learn to crochet. I'll let you know how that goes...

Drowning in Snot

I have felt so horrible this weekend! Yesterday was so bad I couldn't even knit!! The Little Bug is feeling pretty crummy too. Oh to not be sick!!!