What a boHussy!

I am sooooo close to finishing the Bohus ...

Just the button bands and general tidying up. There's about 2" of rolled fabric in the front to be dealt with. Edging, tuck in the ends, find a fastener for the front ...

Oh, and find some way to magically make the arms 4 or 5" longer. 

I figure I have two choices; either pick-up-and-knit from the medium-purple cuff down a few inches ... or steek the sleeve cuffs, snip them off, pick-up-and-knit from the dark purple part of the sleeve, then re-attach the colorful sleeve end.

What do you, the viewers at home, think?

A: Knit 4 more inches of medium-purple seed stitch border on the bottom of the sleeve cuffs

B: Steek the sleeve cuffs, snip them off, knit more dark purple, re-attach cuffs.


I honestly thought I'd be working on this all winter. Once I saw how close I was to being done, I promptly looked for new projects.

Owl booties! So cute! If you look closely, you can see the first owl head.


Don't worry, the finished product won't have peppercorn eyes.


Maybe.







And I've been spinning. I finished the lovely purple merino, but I don't know how much there is of it.

It's lovely! I'm very happy with it. I think it will have to be a shawl. Something that won't get pulled or tugged too much, because I spun the merino very lightly.


I wanted a big fluffy warm effect.

More of the mixed fiber ... very itchy stuff. Don't know what I'll do with this, but it won't be something worn next to the skin!

And I put my plastic tree up.


I don't like a lot of decorations, as you can see. I like just white lights and a few red splotches.


I crocheted the white garland thing years ago. And over the years I've knitted or crocheted little things to put on it...

Ribbon candy ...

Bells and stockings ...















It isn't very sophisticated, but I am frugal, and I have a lot of yarn.

And cats. I have a lot of cats. Styrofoam balls with knitted covers do not shatter on the floor when a cat bats them off the tree.

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for WIP-Wednesday!

Went on a Binge

A spinning binge, that is.

These were partly done already; maybe a half-bobbin of each color. Then I stopped spinning for months, because handling wool in the warmer months in a barely-air-conditioned home is just not fun.

Yesterday, I started looking through my Ravelry groups, the spinning and spindling groups, and I was bitten by the spinning bug. I settled down at the long-neglected wheel and spun until I had finished off the purple merino, which I bought at at the 2011 MD Sheep and Wool ...

100% merino from Yarn Barn of ... Kansas? Hard to see the label, and of course I don't have it now.


Several blogs ago I posted about this yarn; I am plying it as a single with a strand of purple crochet cotton. It's beautiful, it looks very wavy and plush. I'll post the finished pictures soon. It's not easy plying thick singles with thread, but it's such a pretty effect.



The yellow and pink was purchased at the last S&W.

I spun the yellow up almost immediately, on spindles, but used the wheel for pink. I finished up the whole thing yesterday, but still have to ply the rest of the pink.

I'm making arm warmers for a Christmas gift for a 7 year old.

Since my socks always wear out at the bottom of the heel, I'm switching to giving arm warmers as gifts.

Here's what the bobbins look like next to an intrusively curious tuxedo cat.

And finally, I Trindled a bunch of Alpaca-wool-Angelina blend. Fiber by Little Barn.












The big Bohus is about 40 rows from being finished. I fear it will be too tight under the arms, so I'm going to have to unseam it there and pick up a few rows to make it looser. I don't know how it will work, though, and still fit in the armholes. It's that, or completely undo a dozen rows, separate the five pieces, and make everything a titch bigger. I really don't want to do that!

 Coraline and her mother Momma Girl enjoy a cozy warm snuggle

And winter has finally settled in over Baltimore. We've been extraordinarily fortunate so far, with temperatures in the 50s (13C-ish) during the day and barely freezing at night. But today it's only in the 40s (5C-ish) and blustery.

Coraline's baby picture. This coloring is not unusual in this neighborhood, where there are a lot of stray black cats and stray orange cats.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Bohus and More Bohus

It's hard to believe that's a sweater, isn't it? Keep that picture in mind for when it's finished!

I decided it would be easier to work with if I started the seaming, instead of finishing the colorwork on the collar. Right now it is hard to do anything with ... it's impossible to turn it around to start a new row when it's in five different pieces! It just flops and tangles itself up.

That, and while it was in five different pieces, it seemed as if I'd made the back longer than the fronts ... this worried me so badly that I had to stop and pin it down and make sure everything matched!

I think the sleeves will be a mite short. Otherwise, the dimensions look okay.

I got out my favorite book of finishing techniques ...

And got to work.

To me it seems counter-intuitive to seam on the right side, but that's the way to do it for side seams.

It amazes me how the seam just vanishes.










Except for the lighter color, where decreases made it hard to find the right spot to insert the needle (I make the clumsiest decreases ... it's embarrassing).



I know it's not even (the light part where it joins) but I can live with it this way!









In other news, this past weekend I ran my sixth 5k for the year. I normally post stuff like this on the fitness blog I share with my two friends, but I am so pleased with myself I wanted to add it to this blog as well. Six 5ks! Last year I mostly walked just one 5K. Before that, none. This year I've done two in Columbia; two more sponsored by my workplace; one in nearby Catonsville; and one in Gettysburg (it was too hot for me to run much of that one). I have one more scheduled for 1 December with my running friend from the fitness blog (who just finished her 2nd half-marathon and I don't know how many 5ks this year).

I didn't do very well for my age group, but I beat Miss Pink Shirt and Ponytail, who appears to be quite a bit younger than I am, so I got that going for me. 

Petunia reminds you to stop by Tamis Amis for Work-In-Progress Wednesday!

Cat Mat -- 90 Minute Project!

Modeled by Petunia. 

I've blogged about these before. Just simple squares made out of 3 or four strands of inexpensive acrylic yarn, crocheted or knitted into an oblong. I put them outside in the boxes I set out for the strays, or donate them to a shelter.

 I have a lot of acrylic ... some I bought, but most was donated to me (whether I wanted it or not; "oh, you knit, here, have this yarn! I've had it for years.")

 The mats don't have to be too big, just enough for a kitty to curl up on.









Here, Coraline demonstrates:

 If you look underneath her, you'll see one of the mats. They get dirty fast, but since they're acrylic, they're indestructible.

 She's not evil, really. She just wasn't happy with being woken.

The lights are just 60-watt bulbs in metal clamp-lamps, attached to an Ikea outdoor table. It really helps them keep warm and cozy in the winter.

The mats aren't necessarily pretty ...

....but the kitties that use them are!


This is Spot. She is not a stray, she has a home, but they don't provide her with a warm box to sleep in, so she stays at my place at night.

She wouldn't move so I could put the mat down.

She looks a lot like Petunia, doesn't she?

See Spot. See Spot Glare

I used size 17 needles for this mat ... 12.75 mm! I don't like knitting with them much, but the project sure goes fast!













I really wanted a finished object for Tamis Amis' Finished Object Friday ... my Bohus won't be done for weeks yet! So I knit this mat up in about 90 minutes or so.

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for Finished Object Friday and warm snuggly kitty love!

Sweaterus Interruptus

I was all set to put the sweater on one needle for the colorwork yoke section ... when I realized I forgot to buy a long circular size 9 needle. Never mind that All About Yarn, my LYS, is almost within spitting distance of where I go for yoga classes every Sunday ... and I even considered going to the yarn store for no other reason than to go, this past Sunday ... but, I was feeling strong and virtuous after yoga, and denied myself the visit, for fear that I would buy more yarn. The visit in which I might have remembered that I need a 36" size 9 circular needle.

In any case, one sleeve still needs 12 more rows of armhole-shaping. I'll do that tonight, then perhaps tomorrow I will run into All About Yarn with my eyes closed and exact change in hand and ask the nice lady to get me the needle and not let me buy anything else nomatterwhat. I have enough yarn and unspun to keep my busy for years, right? Right.

Thank you everyone for the commisseration comisseration  sympathy and well wishes for my lingering illness, which I am halfway through an antibiotic course for. Despite the hacking and coughing, I managed to score a personal best in a 5k this past Sunday (yet walking up a flight of stairs nearly kills me). My running friends were off doing the Rock-n-Roll half-marathon in another city, so there was no one to take a picture for me to post ... so just imagine me there. I did great.

I don't really have anything else to post about knitting, so here are some cute animal pictures. 

Petunia, Molly, and Edgar

The green fabric on the middle right is my legs ... I'm under all this cattery

Georgie Girl was jealous

I'm not a very neat housekeeper, and I don't have a problem with clutter, which is why my pictures are never House Beautiful-worthy.  But as you can see, we are comfortable and happy with it. And it amuses me no end that if I set a cloth or towel or any fabric down, it will immediately attract cats.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis on Wednesday, for WIPnesday!

Colorwork!

I like to call it "Fair Isle," but I know that is a specific style of color-work, and doesn't apply here ... so I'll just settle for "color-work." This is the sleeve cuff of the Bohus.

The purple seed stitch at the bottom is the bottom of the cuff, and then it goes up to the dark purple which starts the rest of the sleeve. I wet-blocked these to make them look neater.

I'm not happy with the rose-colored blocks in the light pink field ... I don't like how the light pink purls intrude on the rose blocks, but I don't know how to keep that from happening.

From here, I knit in one color in stockinette stitch for 14 inches, then I attach everything on a really big circular needle -- which I have to go out and buy, because all I have is 36" and that is not long enough -- and from there, knit the shoulder colorwork. I have the bulk of the knitting behind me, I think, but the most complicated part is colorwork while simultaneously knitting the yoke. Yikes! Then I will have to block it as one large item.


The plus is that I am home sick all week, with my yearly sinus infection/chest cold, so I have lots of time to knit. The minus is that I hate being stuck inside. I spent a good deal of my childhood alone in my bedroom with a humidifier, stuck in bed, with my mom bringing me trays with food and little cups of penicillin and other medicine, and not allowing me to leave my room except for the bathroom. My classmates would send me a box of get-well-soon cards, but the teacher only let them write "get well soon," and nothing else. Isn't that a funny memory to have! That big box of cards, but no personal message. Here I am a few decades later, with the humidifier and a nasty cough, thinking of those little handmade cards. I am just knitting, reading, refilling the humidifier, and walking the dog a couple times a day. The pets love having me home all day, they pester me for treats constantly.

The other thing is that the cats have taken over the sofa on the rare occasion I leave it.

Fat Petunia, Molly-Glaucoma-Cat, and Edgar Allen Poe

I tell them over and over that since I bought the sofa, I should get to use it too ... but they just yawn and look pointedly at the desk chair. Whatever, Human. There are other places to sit, intiendo?

Bohus, Full Speed Ahead!

Onward Bohus!

That is what it is supposed to look like. I promise to forgo the vapid expression when I model my version.
And the ribbon. I'm a bit too old for such frippery. I'll find a nice hook. 

So far:

I am using Cascade 220, because it was available at my LYS, and I really like Cascade. I have done the back and two sides up to the yoke point; now I'm doing the sleeves, which is where begins the colorwork! So I have to go wind some hanks into balls and carefully mark out which colors are which, because since I didn't use the recommended yarn, I clearly didn't use the recommended colors. I hope it won't be too garish!

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for WIP Wednesday!

Finished Object Friday, Finally

Ahhh, a Finished Objet d'Art for Friday!

The Socks.

The pattern is from Socks a la Carte Toes up, and you can sort of see the Star Toe pattern.

Yarn is Tofutsies.

And yes, I have big calves. All that jogging. No ankles, but I have no explanation for that.




And in other (good) news, Molly Cat's glaucoma has been successfully treated.

The first medicine by itself didn't work, so about 5 weeks ago we switched to a stronger option, and her eye pressures are both back to normal now (18). Even though I'm only treating one eye, they both have gotten better. The doctor said that is not unusual, but she couldn't explain why it happens.

Okay, I'm off to refresh my memory of how to knit the Swing Bohus ... that's all (hopefully) I will be blogging about till it's done!

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for Finished Object Friday!