Meet Smudge

Last Sunday I went off the deep end...in love with a kitten, who I couldn't leave behind at the alpaca farm. Could you have?

Here's another pic...



And another...

My dog is not cooperating. She wants to eat Smudge. We may not be able to make this work. If not Smudge will go back to living at the farm where we'll visit her every week. And we'll be very sad. But I can't have my dog in an atmosphere that impacts her mental health. She's crazy enough already. Think positive thoughts.

In the meantime, I'm making good progress on the Snowdrop Shawl; I'm 2/3's of the way done, and I can't WAIT to finish. I'm so in love with it I'm going to wear it every day. It's the colour. I'm really loving the colours I'm working with lately: the deep sensuous red of the Snowdrop, the intense teal of the baby llama for the Juliaca, and the vivid forest green of the corriedale I'm spinning.

I also continue to add measurable distance on my Fabel sock. And on the Juliaca sweater. And my spinning is coming along too. It seems like the green corriedale is never-ending (sigh), but I am making some headway there. I seem to be keeping up with the spin, although my single is not perfectly consistent yet, but I'm sure that'll come. I'm having a problem with string breakage, dang it all. Not sure what'll cure that, except more practice. I want to get through the corriedale before I attempt the Harley fleece, and the Harley fleece is calling me. Not sure how much longer I can ignore it. And I should be receiving Harley's cria fleece (his first shearing) soon. No pressure. Really.

Ghosties in the Needles and Cosmos Shifts

I've been working on the Snowdrop Shawl and it's coming along nicely. I'm managing to overpower the mohair most of the time. Right now I've got about five snowdrops on each side of the center column. In this last pattern set of rows, something odd's been occurring...I do the pattern row which increases the stitch count by 2 stitches. Then I count the stitches to be sure I have an odd number of stitches. When I'm satisfied the count is correct, I work the mostly purl row where there are no increases or decreases. But when I count again...I've got an EVEN number of stitches!!! [cue Psycho shower scene music] This happened about 4 times in a row yesterday. What the... How do you go from an odd number to an even number without increasing?!?!? Of course, all this uncertainty leads to OCD stitch counting....just to make sure I haven't counted wrong...the last 40 times I counted this row...



I'm pleased to say though, that each time, I took a deep breath and investigated the cause of the off-numbered rows. And each time, I was able to correct it without too much stitch OR hair pulling. After those 4 errant rows, things have gone better. Not sure if the ghosties are in the needles, the wool, my fingers, or my head, but I seem to have run 'em off.

I completed the first of the Fabel socks. Now I'm just starting the second. Socks are my travel knitting, so these puppies haven't seen a lot of action lately.



My family was recently hit by a nasty flu and we're all just rolling out of our death beds, shocked and glad to still be on this side of the daisies, pinching ourselves to be sure. Yesterday, in our infirmity, my daughter and I watched an Alfred Hitchcock marathon. It was great to relax and enjoy time with her again. She's 15 and Mom really doesn't rate most of the time. And...there must have been a shift in the Cosmos somewhere...a mighty shift...she wanted to knit too. What a gift.