Bad News..

I went to the specialist and I'm scheduled for an ultrasound and endoscopy on Monday. I'm not excited. Apparently my stomach and colon are broken and working very slowly. I'm..well, stunned might be the right word.

So I'm ignoring that until Monday. Between now and then I have two days of Continuing Legal Education. So I guess if I look at that and Monday as fun days, it's a five day weekend, right? Somehow I have an inkling that it won't be fun.

I finished my Kaffe Fassett socks. I'm casting on my Dye Trying yarn. I need plain stockinette therapy.

Picture Pages...

So I'm still feeling wonky. Fortunately there is good news:

1. I have an appointment with a GI specialist on Wednesday.
2. I have my own office! With my own desk, credenza, bookshelf, and file cabinet. There might even been a chair involved. I left early Friday after getting sick. Hauling all my stuff to the new office made my stomach flip over in a bad way.
3. I have CLE on Thursday through Saturday of next week. That will be a fun change of pace, hopefully.
4. I have pictures of finished projects. I finished my Hogwart's Socks (not pictured) too.

But first, here is the picture of my package from my Secret Pal. That yarn? Purple and green mohair/wool blend which will soon be a Branching Out for me. Purple and green are my permanent favorite colors. I rotate out other favorites depending on the season. This summer it was pink and yellow. Right now it's browns and reds. The reduced fat milk was not part of the package. Folk Socks was.

These are my finished Waterfall socks. The pattern and yarn came from Miss Babs through the Woolgirl sock club. This was an awesome first installment. The yarn and pattern were accompanied by a sock club journal and pen, (which I use to write down names of books at Barnes and Noble to request from the library, notes during my daily bible study, or presents Josh or others mention for Christmas), lip balm from an etsy seller, and the most gorgeous stitch marker I've ever seen. Well, besides the ones I got in the package above. I don't think you can see them. I need to start a shawl so I can show them off. The sock pattern was simple and so quick with the sportweight yarn. They are shorter than I usually knit though with a longer toe than I prefer, but it was fun to try something new so I stuck with the pattern and I'm pleased.

Mr. Lulu is making his happy face, glad to have new admirers in his harem of women. Was it Chris Rock that said every woman needs two boyfriends, the gay one and the straight one? Mr. Lulu is very happy to be a gay boyfriend to any girl cats out there. He'd love to shop at Target with you, watch Bridget Jones Diary, or just eat some Ben and Jerry's. He won't judge you. If you share.

I've been putting together a final package for my Secret Pal. It's definitely autumnal in nature. I'm putting two more things in on payday and then shipping it out. There's no sense in going too over the top, is there?

I've been making....thrummed mittens! They are hell on the hands knitting the thrums through (say "thrums through" ten times fast!) but so soft inside. I can't wait to send these to my Ravelry Mitten Exchange pal in Minnesota. They would be essential here maybe two days out of the whole year.

I also found a pattern for the alpaca from my first Secret Pal package. Aren't these gorgeous?

Well....

I am not better. It's not pregnancy or hepatitis. I'm getting a gastroenterologist referral tomorrow, or arrested. One or other. I have to see someone who knows what they're doing in the stomach department.

I finished two pairs of socks. Tomorrow me and my Gatorade are going to work. I can have that constant throwing up feeling there just as well as here. Though there aren't nearly as many sock projects at work. Just legal research.

In good news, I will be moved into my new office soon. Also it stopped raining here. That's all I've got. My tummy hurts.

Sick part II

I've decided never to cook again. I'm ridiculously sick and I know my pasta salad last night is to blame. I feel bad about taking a second sick day this month, but my breakfast is not staying where it's supposed to be. Maybe I'll feel better after some actual sleep, it was a rough night, and then I can finish a sock or two and post some pictures.

I am almost ready to turn the heel on my second Hogwart's Swap 2 sock, which means they'll go out this next weekend. I haven't been knitting anything else.

Still here!

I have finished two socks, and received one swap and one Secret Pal package and scheduled another swap (sent my end). I've cast on for the mates for the two socks, and the mate for my Hogwart's Pal. I've taken pictures of all of these things, but am procrastinating the upload so I can post some insights first.

1. Sport weight yarn is lovely for socks. This ends the very shortlived and nonexistant really, sock yarn fast. It knits up ridiculously quick. If I ever have a sock swap disaster, remind me to buy some sport weight. That will solve your problems in a weekend. I received sportweight from the indie dyer Miss Babs in my first Woolgirl package. I swapped for a variety of Bryspun DPNs with a lovely Ravelryer (sending her some Duets) and cast on. This yarn was jaw dropping amazing.

2. Regia. Where have you been all my life? I finished the first sock of the Kaffe Fassett yarn from my Sock it To Me Pal's package. I made it extra tight. The entire time I was knitting my husband kept commenting at how my knitting skills have improved drastically. I took that as a sign and swapped for some Regia in black to knit him some Christmas socks. I love the wooliness of it, and the fact that it's washer and dryer proof.

3. I'm being spyed on. I don't know by who, but whoever my Secret Pal is, she can read minds. I was knitting the Regia socks, thinking since it was plain stockinette I'd do a different heel and toe to learn a new technique. I did a band heel, which works nicely for my narrowish feet (they're really average width, I just like a tight sock). Then I couldn't find a toe pattern I could understand, so I just did my usual. Yesterday I arrived home to a package with Nancy Bush's Folk Socks in it. I instantly remembered that I had looked at this every time I was in Barnes and Noble because it had all the different toe methods clearly laid out. That was only the beginning of the package, but that's another post, post-upload procrastination. She also sent yarn that will become my personal Branching Out. I am still pondering the ball of alpaca from the last package. I wound it into a ball and I'm now plotting what it should be.

One Hogwart's Sock down, one to go..

I am not casting on until Sunday though. I need a break from the project. Also, I know once I cast on it will be a mad dash to the finish.

In other news, have you seen the Knitty Halloween surprise pattern? Oh, you saw it already....nevermind. I may make it for my little brother in law. He's a huge Nightmare Before Christmas fan.

Lulu says hi. Here he is with his Sidekick II. Holla at ya boi!


*Old picture, no mohawk at the moment.

Mr. Lulu

Who is cuter Mr. Lulu or Wendy's Lucy? I think Mr. Lulu, though he doesn't have his own colorway...yet. The above is when I decided the groomer should give him a cat mohawk. And that outside the window was our biggest snowfall last year. Two inches, I believe.

Mr. Lulu got his name because his first owner thought he was a girlkitten. Mr. Lulu was born in Spain. My friend Jenny found him while she was an au pair for a teacher at her college. Can you imagine a free trip to Spain as a babysitter? Me neither. Somehow, she decided to fly him back to the States, NYC more specifically. He has his own cat passport. Everything in it is written in Spanish. When she moved from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Washington D.C. I volunteered to take the Lu-ster. Nevermind that my husband has a cat allergy... I was/am selfish.

So, we call Mr. Lulu the "gay cat." His favorite designer is Issac Mizrahi. You say the name and he will meow and preen. He has been both neutered and spayed by a vet who didn't check his sex before making the spay incision. Yikes! That was prior to my adoption. When he's shaved down you can see his spay scar.

And yes, though no one asked, at some point, I will knit him a cat sweater. Probably in his favorite color. Hot pink.

He does have his faults though. He is randomly sexually aggressive toward our Pollycat. If the automatic litterbox gets stuck with the canister flap up, he will pee on the nearest squishy thing. He's prone to UTIs, and because of that, both cats are on a grain free diet (That's the alternative treatment to a Science Diet formula, but don't get me started on that. I'm a pet food snob to the extreme, though I do let them have some "junk food" every now and then like Pupperoni or Whisker Lickins.) The other alternative treatment for UTIs? A very expensive cat sex change operation. I'm not making this up. It's not funny because he gets so sick, but it's fitting he'd have something where the cure might be a sex change.

My goal this weekend is to finish two socks and cast on for their mates. I swapped some languishing Duets for a ton of DPNs on Ravelry.

I messed up majorly last month, being very irresponsible. I won't get into the details, but I'm glad to have a husband who lets me fuck up and still loves me. It's a financial boo-boo, a fixable one, but my budget now is limited to swaps, gas, and groceries. I'm going to be ebaying some things to try and pay back into our account what I messed up. The sooner I get it paid back, the better off I'll feel. Time to grow up. But I can still knit hot pink cat sweaters.

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed...

...one stayed home sick, but look what came in the mail. Monkeys!
That's the box. Isn't that a boring picture?
That's the inside of the box. That project bag is absolutely fabulous. I was just thinking the other day that I either need less projects, or more bags. I vote more bags.

The loot! Swedish Fish. Evidence that I still feel awful: they're still here and not eaten yet. Two skeins of Regia's newest line by Kaffe Fassett, lavender shea butter, and a cute notepad. Oh, and the Monkeys:

They fit perfectly but don't photograph well. Ignore the half chewed dog bone in the picture. Photo composition may be lacking, but these socks are gorgeous. They are a true red and purple. Somehow together that photographs blue and pink with a dog bone. Strange...

I am so happy, thank you Channon!

In other not thinking about throwing up news, we have Mr. Lulu, who got a haircut a few weeks ago. He's thrilled. Seriously, before you get upset at someone who has their cat groomed, he's miserable in full coat. He carries around 4 lbs of hair, which produce painful hairballs, and those hairballs cause him to get seriously aggressive. This is about the best method we've found, in combination with a prescription hairball remedy.

No, I don't know why they left his full tail. Typically they just leave the tip of it fluffy. He looks like a squirrel now. Look at that man-cat fat!

In Socktober news, I will be knitting exclusively from gifted sock yarns. Yep, with the Kaffe Fasset acquisition today, that's four projects in one month in addition to the two sock projects already on the needles. I just cast on with the Kaffe, and I'm ready to go! I'm knitting in the reverse order in which they were gifted, so we have: Regia, handyed yarn, Panda Wool, and Tofutsies.

Tomorrow is payday. I am going slumming, in search of cheap yarn in which to make a shrug from. I'll report back from Hobby Lobby tomorrow. Unless I'm eaten by a fake fur monster. Or unless I keep throwing things up. (Things? Makes you wonder doesn't it. Could be anything..like golf balls, or paperclips, or whole works of fiction that I've eaten. Sure feels like it!)