Happy Halloween!

Have a Happy Halloween, everybody! It's my favorite holiday, not that this comes as too big of a surprise. Mr. Batty brought home a pretty bouquet of orange, purple and green-ish flowers last night, complete with black and orange paper and little fiber light things that blink orange. So pretty, I couldn't stop looking at it.

This being trick or treat time, people coming here should not have to leave entirely empty-handed. So, without further ado, here's a little something for everybody. Enjoy!

Halloween goodies!

Some days are just better than others. Friday night, I got back from work, and a package full of Halloween goodies was waiting for me. Look at the spoilage! Two of my favorite kinds of chocolate, some orange tape with bats, stitch markers, a sheep pad and sheep soap that has a wonderful vanilla smell.


And then there is this scarf/belt/headband/all-purpose fabulous item. Such pretty colors, and the sheen is simply incredible. Because it all came in a cardless package from DeKalb, IL, I'm guessing that my benefactor is none other than CelticCoyote from the knitty board. Thank you so much for all the great stuff, it really made my day. And the chocolate... well, most of it is gone.


Yum.

Several people have asked about my cat and the consequences of his encounter with my knitting. Here he is, the sock shredder, having fun in a laundry basket. It's one of his favorite toys.


He's lucky he is cute -- and that the sock damage was hideable. With wear and stretching, it will probably even back out. I haven't tried yet, but I will as soon as the second sock is done.

The Incident

So, about the Incident. Let's first start with a little bit of background story. I've been having a fairly bad time lately, knitting-wise. Seams that don't look right, projects that leave me uninspired, or set-in sleeves that don't fit into the armholes on my Tangerine Twist because I decided to try seaming without blocking. See where my finger is peering out of a hole? That hole is created by extra sleeve fabric. Block before you seam, people. It'll avoid this unfortunate scenario.


But I digress. The Incident started out pretty harmlessly. I had finally knit something I really liked, something that made me feel better about my knitting. I was happy. Here it is, a shot of my I Love Gansey sock for the Six Socks Knitalong. You can't see the heart pattern or intricate cables very well in this picture, but you get the idea.


This will be important in a little while. I left the house for a trip to Jo-Ann's because I had a coupon. I love coupons, particularly when they make knitting books affordable. I was very happy when I came home and talked about knitting. To this, Mr. Batty said something along the lines of, "Oh, the cat did something with your knitting bag." My heart stopped for a second. "It had something to do with that gray sock you were making."
Gray sock. Gray sock. Gray sock. There's only one gray sock in my knitting bag, and this is it.


I lunge for my knitting bag as Mr. Batty tells the story. "I came up the stairs and saw the funniest thing. Merlin was on the landing. He was standing on his hind lags and he had your sock clutched between his front paws with the claws dug in. He was spinning in circles like a hammer thrower at an athletic event. It was so funny!"


These may not have been his exact words, because the entire time, I'm frantically digging through my knitting bag thinking, oh no, my sock, my sock!

I found it. The damage was not as extensive as it could have been. Once I calmed down enough, I noticed that most of the stitches he had pulled out of my beautifully even stockinette and my pretty cables were not entire stitches but single plies. I pushed them into the inside of the sock, and even though the yarn is superwash, I'm hoping that wear and blocking will do its work and pull the damaged plies back into place.

There is always hope.

Generosity, bats and an Incident

The generosity of knitters never ceases to surprise me. I was having a crappy day, the kind that starts out with the train being late, continues with the computer at work crashing, and ends with dinner not turning out quite the way it's supposed to. I was less than happy when I noticed a padded envelope I hadn't been expecting. When I opened it, I found this sign and a great Halloween card from Sue. It made me smile. Thank you, Sue, for turning a sucky day into great one.


The next day, as if one person caring enough to think of me during my favorite holiday season, I received a package full of Halloween stuff -- most of it bats. And we all know how I feel about bats! And in case you're wondering what the little spider web bag contains...


... take a look at this. Sock yarn hand-dyed by the fabulous Ms. Pixie Riot herself, in my favorite colors, named Spooky Girlfriend. I'm swooning. I'm groping. I feel truly blessed to have such generous people in my life.


Thank you, Pixie. I'm serious, you and Sue made me feel all warm and fuzzy. there is just something special in knowing that there are people who care enough to think of me for no other reason except that they're nice, thoughtful people who care.

Speaking of bats, I bought one of Momma Monkey's sock knitting bags (another one... I think I'm addicted). This one I couldn't resist. I mean, bats! And it matches my bat dress.


And finally, the Incident. Right now, I'm just a little too upset to write about it. Let's just say that this picture is a clue to what happened. Yes, this is my cat Merlin, and he is about to stick his face into the bag I use to lug my knitting to work.


But more of that when the impulse to turn him into a gray and white pair of fuzzy slippers has passed. Not that I'd actually do that, but right now, the thought is not entirely unappealing.

Enough Boring!

Enough is enough. Back to blogging!

Plenty of news and no pictures, though there will be lots of those soon. We have been very busy at Casa Batty! Merlin got neutered and Morgana got spayed. The paperwork the vet's office gave us said to keep them from running or jumping for 7 days. Ummm.... yeah, right. They're kittens! We've been doing the best we can, and the cats are feeling better, it seems.

We have put our house on the market and are looking for a more urban abode, and I have applied for jobs in our probable future neighborood-ish. And I've been knitting. Slowly, but I've been knitting.

I'll get caught up reading/stalking people's blogs soon. Now, I'm off to make sure there is no illicit cat wrestling!

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. ; )

Da Box, Tangled Yoke Yarn, and... Politician Hair!

Yes, I cut my hair. Click on the picture for a larger view. I was just a little shocked to discover that I looked... like a politician! Vote for me, willya?

Thanks for all the lovely compliments on the bat dress, by the way. I did get the skirt too. Because I can't resist. And I already have the yarn for the Flower Petal Shawl from Elann... except, knit in black, it's a bat wing shawl. So I'm thinking ahead.

Now, without further ado, I give you the contents of The Box! Yorkie, I had to get over the iridescence of the greenish/blueish/orangeish/glittery yarn in the box. There's something so outrageous about it, I'm afraid I rather like it! It makes me think Cthulhu. Don't know why. But it will want to become tentacular trim, I can already tell!


Of course, weird yarn wasn't the only thing in that box. It also contained the incredibly yummy mint cake and toffees. Yum. For the most part, what you're seeing is empty box. I wonder how it got that way!


Thanks, Yorkie. The Box really cracked me up. I was expecting to win at least one weird thing in a Pope picture caption contest!

Have you all seen pictures of the Tangled Yoke Cardigan in the Fall issue of Interweave Knits? I saw it and thought it would make the perfect work garment. Except in a different color. Something that would add a bit of pizzazz to corporate couture. And I came up with this.


Purplish/fuchsia-ish tweed. Very professional, n'est-ce pas?

Bats, cats and a birthday gift

I know, I know, I've been pretty sporadic about the blogging lately. With a new job, frantic finishing of secret knitting, and my upcoming LSAT (I think I'm insane, I must be, because all my lawyer buddies tell me you have to be to apply to law school, but I want to go so badly, I'm doing it anyway), I haven't had much time to devote to projects that lend themselves to posting about. On the bright side, I just finished all the frogging and knitting on said secret project (Jacque, you're gonna love it!). And I haven't been led astray by any knitty people with excellent fashion sense. Unlike, say, the time chemgrrl tempted me into checking out a site with wonderful clothes, including this bat dress.


Yeah. It's a summer dress. With bats. How am I supposed to resist?

Then, there are the kittens. This is their new favorite toy, a cat scratchie with a ball. Morgana is all happy and perky, which makes me very happy because we had a bit of a scare this morning. You see, Mr. Batty saw her running out of the bathroom like she was being chased, and he noticed that she was pursued by something she thought she'd buried... attached to her butt with a strand of my hair. Of course, I freaked out, because I was afraid my hair was going to cause a blockage in her little kitten tummy. So tomorrow, I'm getting a haircut. I love my kittens, I want them to be OK!


See the little make-up bag sitting on top of the lime green monstrosity? It's part of my birthday gift from the fabulous Rosi. It turns out her birthday is a day before mine, and we decided to do a gift swap.


I'm extremely happy with my gift! Even before I read the sticky note that was attached to the make-up bag, I thought, "Oooh, it's the perfect project bag!" -- and that's exactly what she had intended it for. It's a sock knitting bag, not a make-up bag, and it even has a compartment for notions! I also got some wonderful soap that looks like she made it herself and smells wonderful, candy in a future stitch marker box, and yarn. Pretty purple yarn, in mohair and in alpaca. I'm thinking either a hat and a scarf, or a hat with both yarns held together. We'll see.

That's it for today, but I promise to get back to you soon with pictures of some actual knitting. I just got the yarn for Eunny Jang's Tangled Yoke Cardigan. It's pretty!

Cats and... knitting!

Let's start with the cats. Aren't they cute? This is one of their few quiet moments. They love my computer desk, it's one of their favorite hangouts.


Next, the promised knitting picture. Excuse the frumpy nightie and completely flumped pose. It's a Saturday morning, and unless I have to go grocery shopping, I'm staying in my nighttime frump.

Morgana is watching me knit. This is before her brother decided to chew on the cable of my Addi Turbos. She saw him do it and picked up his bad habit, and now, they're impossible to knit around. As I'm typing this, they're shredding some Kleenex tissue while chasing each other through the cables behind Mr. Batty's computer desk -- after Morgana clawed a deep gouge into my left thigh while trying to climb me like a tree. Fun times!


The snakey is still a hit. Merlin, too, is completely enthralled.


Next up, pictures of some actual hand-knit objects, not just of me knitting. Promise!

No Birthday Knitting

Not for me, at least. Yes, it's my birthday, but I'm going in to work. There will be some knitting on the train, though, and Mr. Batty is taking me to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Yum, cheesecake!

I got a wonderful birthday package from Rosi G., of which I will post pictures soon. I even decided to take a later train so I could open it this morning and look at the goodies. They're wonderful!

OK, now I have to go to work. I hope the catalog behaves for me today.

Early Birthday Bliss

Friday was an amazing day. It started off with the usual attempt to wake up at 6 am and the habitual dash for the train only 45 minutes later. I went to work and did loads of cataloging even though I was excited about heading out to Newbury Yarns for my lunch break. Birthday yarn!
Yes, I know, my birthday technically isn't until Tuesday, but I wanted yarn, and my birthday is coming up, so I bought some.

And here it is, red sock yarn. Louet gems in a bright red that will make amazing socks. Very in your face, nothing subtle about it, just the way I like it.


That was supposed to be it, but then I saw this. It's CTH laceweight in teals and purples, with black bits here and there. It's incredible, as is the yardage: 2400 yards! That's enough for a whole triangle shawl and a stole. Who could say no to that? Two projects for the price of one, or so I keep telling myself.
Yarn diet? What yarn diet?


On my way home, I sat next to a woman who was knitting. She saw my yarn, which was sticking out of my bag. We had the greatest yarn and knitting chat. We were clearly having too much fun because the poor guy next to us decided to change seats when he got the chance. Oh, well, he doesn't know what he's missing. She gave me her card so we can get together and knit sometime. Yay for knitters on trains!

When I got home, I showed my yarn to Mr. Batty. I was all excited and so was he, because he wanted to know if I'd like my birthday present early. And then he came up the basement stairs with a box. This box.


I'm not often lost for words, but this time, he really did it. Add this to the other 999 999 999 reasons I love my sweetie. He saw me oooh and aaah over this wheel after I tried it out at Mind's Eye a while ago. So he went and bought it for me. Figured out a place to get it all by himself, ordered it, and managed to hide it from me. I was just going to take a picture of the box before my birthday, but suddenly, it was all put together, and I was ogling the pretty roving that came with it. Wonder how that happened.


And speaking of my wonderful sweetie, here he is entertaining the cats. The green fuzzy teaser is Morgana's favorite toy, but as you can see, Merlin is not averse to the occasional stalk and pounce either.


Morgana, on the other hand, goes spastic. Not sure if she's actually airborne in this picture or if she's just on her hind legs. These kittens can jump, though. She can make it through our entire living room and reach the stairs without touching the floor once, bounding from couch to couch.


They're both taking a nap as I type this. I'm finally getting ready to knit around them. Depending on how that goes, I may take a chance on trying out the big wooden spinning cat toy, I mean, my brand new spinning wheel.

Almost knitting

I know. This is a knitting blog. As my friend Margaret remarked, though (Hi, Margaret!), there hasn't been a lot of knitting content lately. One of the reasons is obvious. This is me on the phone with my mother, cuddling a kitten. The other kitten is scampering around somewhere else.


The other reason is that I'm finishing up the secret knitting. The Baltic Sea Stole is growing exceedingly slowly, and I'm bored with the second Jaywalker. I have two feet. Not one and a half. My dad's sweater needs knitting, and I still only have half a sleeve for Tangerine Twist.

So... why did I stop by the yarn store during my lunch break? Why is it that I feel the urge to cast on something new every time I have a surfeit of WIPs? How do other knitters deal with this? I feel awful because knitting should be fun, it shouldn't be a chore. And yet... I can't just live with hundreds of unfinished projects around the house, can I?

Takeover

Our lives have been taken over by two adorable fuzzballs. This is a knitting blog, but there has been very little knitting this past week. That's partly due to my new job and the efforts of getting used to a set of new tasks, but the other part has to do with two energetic felines.

See? Merlin, with the bookshelf. In an attempt to get at his sister, he has thrown out Foucault and The Making of the English Working Class. His sister is hidden behind the books, contentedly chomping on Orientalism. They are orphan kitties who were weaned too early, and they have an oral fixation that would have delighted Freud. Everything needs to get gnawed, but for some reason, they particularly like to gnaw on books. Oy vey!


Merlin also enjoys chasing the gray snake that follows him around wherever he goes. Occasionally, he'll go after the black snake, which he likes even better. When you bite down on the black snake, it doesn't hurt. Now, if he could only figure out why it ticks off his sister!


And speaking of little sister, Morgana is a real nerd. She loves toys, she loves to chew on cables and the wireless router, and she has discovered computers. Mr. Batty is trying to play Civ, but she has her little nose almost glued to the monitor. There are things moving around, but when you try to grab them, they're not really there. Is that weird or what?


And, finally, the reason for the lack of knitting content. My comfy chair has been usurped.


So, now you know what's going on at our house. There will be knitting in my next post, I promise. I also promise to catch up with everybody's blogging activity over the weekend. Working full-time and learning to be a new kitty parent sure cuts into a person's free time!

Kittens!

Meet Merlin and Morgana, our new kittens. They were found without their mommy, only a few days old and starving. A friendly animal control lady fostered them until they were old enough to find a home where they could be loved and fed and cuddled -- ours.

At first, they were rather shy. This is Merlin. He's a feisty little guy who likes to play and cuddle. They both still spook easily, but he has come up to me for a cuddle and even walked all over my chest. I think he'll like it here.


Here, we have Merlin's sister Morgana. She's the shy one and she gets scared easily, but at least she no longer hides the second we enter the room. She's still a bit suspicious of this whole new home and people thing, but she'll come around. Oh, and that green thing? It's a cat toy on a stick and her new favorite thing. She'll drag it all over the house and even play with it by herself.


Here they are, stuffing themselves. The scratching post doesn't interest them in the least.


They do love to scamper up and down the stairs. Merlin is too funny, he'll be chasing his tail up and down the stairs, and his sister will look at him like she can't believe he's such an idiot. Of the two, she's clearly the smart one. Oh, and did I mention that she chased around the animal control lady's mastiff when they were in foster care?


Click on the pictures to enlarge. There will be more once they let us get closer!

We saw the Harlot!

Last night, Eileen (aka lindydiva) and I went to see the Yarn Harlot in Burlington, MA. It was a fun and eventful evening, starting with a little involuntary "detour" that landed me in unknown yet creepy parts of Pawtucket, RI. Thank goodness for cell phones with navigation!

In spite of this initial setback, I made it to Eileen's and we set off for Burlington. There was some confusion over Barnes and Noble (which I'd been to before) and Borders (had to use navigation to get there), but we made it just in time to sneak into the back row.
The view was amazing. Knitters everywhere. And the Harlot.

We knit.


We waited in line (person to the right is Lick My Sticks!).


And then, we met the Harlot! She held our socks, we got to hold her sock, it was amazing.


And thanks to Eileen's direction sense, we took only one wrong turn on the way back. I can't claim any credit for getting us back home.

Update on the kitty situation: we fell in love with two adorable kitties, but they're still being treated for ringworm. We're going back to the shelter tomorrow, when the feline care coordinator gets back from a trip, and we'll learn when we get to take our new babies home!