Ugh.

Sometimes, things just don't go the way we hope they might.

Thursday, I woke up with a nasty cold and a fever. When you wake up with a fever of 100F, the rest of the day is not likely to be fun, so I called in sick. On my 4th wedding anniversary, the day we had a pretty big meeting at work, 2 days before the LSAT. Not good. These have been a rough couple of days. I don't recommend this particular virus to anyone, it's most unpleasant.

No knitting pictures because I was too sick to knit. No LSAT because I'm still not feeling all that great, and I'm using the weekend to rest up for work on Monday. Fortunately, I was able to change my test date to December (the Internet is amazing! Can't even imagine how this would have worked before), and I only had to pay $35 to make the change. Much less than I thought they'd charge me, so I'm happy.
Thanks for all the good thoughts. I'm going to make good use of the extra prep time. I would have liked to get my application in a little earlier than that because all the schools I'm applying to have rolling admissions, but if I submit an amazing score later, that won't be so much of a problem - or so I hope.

Because there is no knitting yet (I don't dare knit the ILG socks with only half my brain working, if that), here are some cat pictures.

Merlin and Morgana with one of their favorite toys, the laundry basket Mr. Batty bought for less than $5 about 20 years ago. They love it. The game works like this: One cat gets in, the other cat moves the basket around, grabs her tail, or wrestles her out of the basket. It's fun.


By now, we've found out that our cats don't just have quirks, they are downright deranged. Here is Morgana, hoping to get into the room with all the pointy things (blocking supplies) and the big wooden cat toy that spins around and around and is ever so amusing. She thinks she can escape my notice by sitting on the banister. Right on top of it. What is she thinking?


Lastly, Merlin is a dope fiend. Mr. Batty catnipped this scratchy, and Merlin is scratching and rolling and slobbering away. If you click on the picture to enlarge, you'll see a big wet spot where he's been slurping out the catnip.


Now there's a great name for a band: Dope Fiend Kittens!

Hiatus

I haven't disappeared, but I will not be blogging until October 1. Our 4th wedding anniversary is coming up on Thursday, and I'll be taking the LSAT on Saturday. If it weren't for a cuddly black study buddy who flops right on my feet for hours on end, I'd probably be far less sane than I am right now.

I'll see you on the other side of the dreaded Law School Admissions Test!

Jaywalkers and Catnaps

They are done. I have officially joined the ranks of knitters who have made Jaywalker socks. Usually, I'm not one to follow trends, but when everybody is knitting a pattern because it's just plain cool-looking or fun, I don't see a reason to resist.


Details:
Pattern: Jaywalkers
Yarn: 2 skeins of Shepherd Sport in Amethyst Stripe, but I have quite a lot left over
Size: Small
Needles US#0
Modifications: One heel with slipped stitches, the other without (see below).


The one with the slipped stitches fits just a tiny bit better, but I'm not ripping because of this. Who is going to stare at my heels? I am, however, going to make sure I'm carrying both socks next time I'm knitting a second sock -- and reading the instructions carefully. Bad things happen to knitters who get too cocky. "Oh, I remember how to knit this heel from the first sock, from about 3 months ago" is asking for trouble. I got off lightly, all things considered.

And because it's late and I'm sleepy, I'd like to share the Cat Nap Special. Morgana's favorite sleeping spot is this corner of Mr. Batty's computer desk, right next to the monitor. She prefers this spot to beds and laps.


Merlin likes the upstairs landing. Here, we see him sleeping in his favorite spot, right between the two cat beds we placed in front of our bedroom door for their convenience. Who would actually want to sleep IN a cat bed? That would be boring.


Also not boring is the inside of our laundry basket. I wish he hadn't moved because just before I took this picture, he had burrowed under a bunch of clothes, and only his tail was sticking out. Merlin loves the laundry basket, and he'll purr like a mad fool when he's in it.


We don't have any pictures of the wet cat. His Merlinness decided to investigate the bath tub while Mr. Batty was taking a bath. And he fell in. This cat is fast! I chased him down with a towel, though he didn't really want to be held, not to mention scrubbed dry. Poor kitty.

The Morehouse Merino mini-haul is up next. Possibly also another FO... I'll try.

Sock Hole

No, that's not a new swear word, though goodness knows, it could be. Rather, I'm referring to a puzzling event in sock knitting, the unilateral hole between heel and instep.
See here, one side of my second Jaywalker. No hole.


And here, the other side of the same Jaywalker. Hole.


It's always the same. Somehow, mysteriously, I always get a hole on one side, but no hole on the other. Usually, I pick up two extra stitches while I'm picking up to attach the heel, then I knit those together with an instep stitch each. No hole. But with Jaywalkers, this didn't work, because the row where I would knit those stitches together has a slipped stitch in that exact spot. No can do, therefore hole.

But why is it only one? Is it something about the way I slip my stitches? Is it some unalterable cosmic law that will not be broken? Have any of you found other ways around the Sock Hole? Inquiring minds want to know!

And, because we can't not have kitten pictures, I'll conclude with a picture of Morgana with the Snakey. Morgana is smart. We keep the Snakey in the coat closet downstairs, which has a door that opens by folding in the middle. She has figured out how to open the door, get the Snakey and bring it to us so we'll play with her. She's a smart kitty.


The Jaywalkers are almost done, by the way. I'll be posting pictures of them, as well as some pictures of my purchases at Sheep's Clothing, the yarn store attached to Morehouse Farms. I didn't go nuts, but I want to see you walk out of there without buying anything!
Yeah. Didn't think you could, either. ; )