KooKoo for Koigu

We all have our weaknesses... this happens to be one of mine. I have been trying really hard to reduce my stash to a more manageable size but things happen... things like bag upon bag of Koigu at the LYS... what's a girl to do? At least I have found some fantastic patterns that call for Koigu, these cute patterns from Churchmouse. I especially love the beaded beret.

I am afraid to jinx myself by saying I am almost done Mara, what a long haul. Compounded by knitting the border a total of three times! My knitting has become very boring as I am on a finishing bent and trying really hard not to start new things.

Seeing as my last contest did not garner any takers... the answer was "The Hanger" and I call him that because he works at an airport. I shall try again.

Tell me your favorite project that you have made that either was made or could be made with Koigu KPPPM. A link on Ravelry would be nice so I can see them. I will draw on April 1st and send off some sort of fingering weight yarn and assorted fun stuff to 2 lucky winners. Don't forget to tell me your favourite colours.


Also, the reducing diet I put Simba on has only had the effect of making him annoyed, he doesn't appear to have lost any weight. He takes out his annoyance on poor little Ginger. Oh Simba.

I'm not fat... I'm poofy!

Oh Simba... you are not poofy... you are an over weight kitty! I suppose it's the after effects of having been abandoned. Simba eats like there may never be food again and so, he has taken on a distinctly pear shape! So, when I went to get Ginger her special food at the vet, I asked for recommendations to help get Simba's weight under control. The food specialist there assured me that it is not uncommon for abandoned kitties to develop an over-sized appetite... it's self preservation, they starved once so they aren't going to take any chances, if there's food... they eat! With my vet's help, I am hoping Simba will go back to being a more reasonable weight. I'll keep you posted.

Also, I am very excited to be the new Saturday girl at TKR, I hope people will stop by on Saturdays. This past Saturday was my first day on the job, it was fairly busy but the day went by very quickly and I had a great time!

I think it might be time to boost my reader ship by running a little contest for my knitting pals in honor of Anti-Valentines Day. If you know the nick-name I've given to my guy pal* who I love for his wicked ways... but who often drives me totally bonkers... PM me on Ravelry. I'll enter you twice if you can guess why I picked that specific nickname for him. It's Gingersnaps on Ravelry and everyone who PM's me BEFORE Valentines Day will be entered, I'll do the draw on Valentines Day. I'll make it something good. Don't forget to include your favorite colour.

*Hint: We've been pals for over 8 years... and he's still a bad... bad... boy...

Time Flies...

Wow, so it was June last time I posted... what happened there?

I think it was a phase where I was processing a lot of things... lots to think about but not a lot to write about. My old computer went Kaput so there was that. My camera wasn't working properly, took a while to figure out my son had borrowed it and messed up the settings. You know... stuff.

Oh well, new year, new start... onward ho!

So what's new? Well... lets see... I had a birthday, I'm getting to the point where I choose not to mention my actual age, ever. Twice recently, I've mentioned that I have a 16 year-old & got the response," Your son is HOW OLD??" I'll take that as a complement. I'm more than old enough to have a 16-year-old son, several friends in my age range are Grandparents (hopefully not me any time soon).


Ginger and Simba are both doing well.Ginger turned 12 in November, she's getting to be an old lady with her little gray paws and snout.


Simba is fitting in well with our little family, he's in remarkably good shape for an older cat. He's a bit of a clutz though, constantly knocking things over... he is a big guy. He is a social guy too, loves attention... they both do. I don't know what I would do without the pair of them, they make me laugh every day. Im really glad I bought light colour chairs...Simba loves them!

Speaking of big guys, the boy is closing in on 6'3" and size 13 extra wide feet... no socks in his future, nope. He dwarfs me. When did that happen?


Still loving the knitting... knitting, reading and coffee... the three things I can't live without. I was so sad when Calgary Farmer's Market closed at the Currie Barracks... it was such a great location and going there was a part of my weekly routine. I look forward to checking out the new market when it opens.

My stash is under control... for now. Budgetary constraints forced me to scale back. I finished some projects... nothing spectacular... a cowl for a friend and a shawl for me. Both from the same yarn, Fleece Artist Big Merino. I love the yarn and these were both quick and satisfying projects.

Cherry Garcia Cowl

Mistaken Rib Shawl

I do finish things once in a while.

And that's it for now... I will try to be a better blogger.

The Animals love the Mo...

Oh yes they do!

I needed a quick fix project and I found one. This easy mohair shawl, I'm going to keep going until I run out of mo... that's it. If, that is, I can get Simba and Ginger to leave it alone! Now if it would just stop raining so I can go canoeing.

What to Do...

When you have a three day weekend... every weekend SCORE! I've gone down to a 4 day work week for the Summer at least. It's perfect, LOVE it. I never quite seem to be on top of all the things I love to/have to do. Usually it's the HAVE TOs that suffer most. I really don't HAVE TO have a clean fridge... do I? Do I HAVE TO mow the lawn EVERY week? I will have to make some minor financial cut backs to do this/fewer fancy coffees, fewer pizza nights. but that's easy, one day of work less a week=one less latte, & one more night I can make a scratch dinner, one less magazine purchase/one more day I can go to the library instead. But the idea of a whole extra day... heaven.

And here's some more heaven: Prairie Rose, I can't get over how well written this is... I'm use to being totally confuzzled by lace but I seriously love this!

Last Saturday, I took a course and started this: ten stitch blanket. Sorted out my corner issues at home. My secret to all difficult tasks in life is if I can draw it... I can do it. I even got the top mark in high school geometry (and I was some kind of hopeless at Math) simply because I could draw it. The corner issues were simply sorted with a diagram 1st half of corner: SIIIIIIIIW Wrap towards the Slip 2nd half of corner: SWIIIIIIII Wrap Away from the Slip. I draw this when I do a corner and check off the knit stitches as I wrap them. SO EASY!!

And finally a question: does this happen when you knit? I sit, critter's descend on me.

The dog and cat are waging a cold war but they appear to have achieved detente as long as they don't look at each other, they can share a chair and nobody needs to die.

It's like I'm knitting with a strand of heaven...

Seriously, I get this qiviut thing now. It's lighter than air, it's unbelievably soft. I mean, I've been practically sleeping with it under my pillow at night, like a yarn wubbie but actually knitting with it... awesome! So thanks to the tips, I figured out my mystery stitch, it was also in the book... doh! Lace tends to defeat me a bit... I start off OK and fall rapidly into confusion... but this seems to be a relatively straightforward pattern, easy to follow and understand. I will not tempt fate by saying it's going well but so far... it's not going badly.

I am working regularly on Mara, my Noro Silk Garden Socks and Rooibos. It would be nice to have some finished objects to show... may be if I just stuck with one of them.

Simba is cracking me up! He's such a funny cat. Today he hopped up on the table and I was very stern with him... NO SIMBA! So he crouched down and hid behind the vase of tulips on the table... of course he's such a huge cat it just looked ridiculous.

Oh Simba...

He already thinks he owns the joint! I don't know how anyone could have abandoned this cat once yet alone twice. He was abandoned and rescued from a shelter once, then abandoned a second time in a basement suite. Now he is my foster cat and I already love him! He is very personable, friendly, chatty, curious still a little iffy about Ginger but he's definitely coming around. He is every inch the gentleman, patiently letting the boy and I brush him. Yep, he's a keeper. Now I just need to load up on lint rollers.

So I got through my stash on the weekend. Everything is priced and sorted. There are one or two items that may still go into the blue bags but for the most part I'm ready. People are PMing me on Ravelry if anything catches their eye. There is a fair bit for sale that never got put into my stash on Ravelry so I may add that in too as I have time. I'm trying so hard to de-clutter. All the stuff is getting to me.

I did start something new... when I bought my qiviut/merino/silk in Banff at the amazing 30% off it was with a specific project in mind. The Prairie Rose Lace Shawl from the Knitter's Book of Wool. I'm still working on finishing other projects but I really want to attempt to make this. I will not speak of how it's going as I do not wish to anger the knitting Gods. but I am temporarily stuck. What the heck is a Sk2p?

An Undertaking...

If ever there was one. I am trying to clean up my stash, pare it down to what I really love, get rid of what I don't. As I go, I am sorting everything into sealed zip-locks, labeling it and storing it in large clear storage bags. See the big blue bag, that's all being destashed, by the time I'm done, there should be two blue bags full. Most I am hoping to take to the guild garage sale to sell, It's also on my trade/sell page in Ravelry. I've never done this before so I'm not entirely sure about pricing, I know what each thing is worth retail... it doesn't seem fair to mark full price but I'm not giving it away either, I've made up lots that I'm not breaking up. I'm trying to be fair. We'll see... any hints, comments, personal stories of de-stashing trauma etc are welcome!

I worked on Mara and Roibos last week, Mara is painfully slow now, one row is somewhere 800+ stitches of 2x2 ribbing but it's also almost finished.

Also, we have a new addition in our home... Simba! We are his forever foster home. Simba is 15-years-old, he was abandoned in a basement suite by his former owner. No one is going to take on a 15-year-old cat, he wouldn't stand a chance at the humane society. The rescue agency asked me to be his foster owner, they can't keep him in the shelter because of his age, he would have a high chance of developing breathing problems. They'll help out with basic vet bills, I just have to provide a comfortable home for the old boy. Ginger is none too pleased, Simba is none too pleased either, he hasn't touched his food. They need time. For now, Simba is living in the bathroom. The door is open but there is a barricade to keep Ginger out.