Dog Days

It was a lovely time in St. Catharines. The wisteria and lilacs were starting to bloom, and everything was green and refreshing. Nice after a long, long winter. And if you needed more proof that warmer weather was close at hand - a little surprise waiting for me on my sister's back deck.

A robin's nest with 4 squawking baby robins! If you look closely, you can see the fuzz on one of their little wee heads.

It's amazing how quickly they grew. In 4 days, the went from fuzzless little rubbery balls, to having wings and feathers, and being able to see their heads from the top of the nest. Mom and Dad birds spent their days catching worms and other...gross...stuff.

Yum.

Finnegan acting shameless. A small dog...a large cat...pretty much the same.

Here's Finnegan sleeping another one off. He's somehow managed to wedge his head under his favourite Sheepie (um, yes, that would be from me. Yes. It's a sheep.).

It may have rained, but that's OK. I had a great time, full of yummy eats and good laughs! It's great to get away and spend time with Finnegan and his Moms. And it's also nice to come home!

"Hey, you're back. Well woop-dee-do."

I was well received, despite the long-ish absence...

And while I was away - a little someone had a birthday!

Look at how tiny he was!

"Happy birthday to me...happy birthday to me...lalalalalalalala...and I look like one too..."

And as far as knitting... I did finish my first Mork sock, and got started on the second one. I also made good progress on my Twice as Nice t-shirt, however I'm growing less and less fond of the colour. Stay tuned for that one...

Finnegan is pooped out after my visit. You know, the life of cat and that of a dog - pretty similar in some ways.

Next post - I'll show off some gifties from Lorraine, as well as my flowers. And hopefully an FO. Hopefully...

The Home Stretch

Guess what? No, really - guess. Lorraine ran all the way over to my place and tagged me. So, while she's catching her breath...

The rules: Posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer. Play nice, children.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Um, let's see... Oh yeah, I had just moved in to this apartment, after a "major life event".

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today - in no particular order? OK - clean the bathroom, brush the little Dudes, find the cheapest price for a new tire/inner tube for my bike, make my travel list for my trip to St. Catharines next weekend (shhhh, the guys don't know yet...) and re-do my toe nails (Diamond Strength my ass).

3. Snacks I enjoy - chocolate pudding, chocolate mint anything, gluten free fig newtons.

4. Places I've lived - Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vienna, Austria.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire - Spread the joy to family and friends, travel, buy a house in the country, give to animal charities and hire a cleaning lady and private chef. Because I can.

6. Peeps I want to know more about - Let's see... Nicole, Carrie K., Shannon, Sonya and Bridget. I'll say Tracey too, but you know. The due very soon pregnant thing...

My little bud Stewie. The cheeky little guy now comes up to the door, waiting for me to put something out for him... At least he's not looking so scruffy.

"But...I...Wait! Stewie! I just wanna play! I'm sorry I chased you that one time, honest..."

So, as I alluded to above, I'll be heading to St. Catharines to visit with my sister and sister-in-law next weekend, as it's a long one up here in Canada. And of course, I get to cuddle and play with the little Dudes' cousin, Finnegan! There hasn't been a Kitty Counsel meeting yet on whether to allow me to go guilt-free or not... So, I plan on letting them know 2 minutes before I'm out the door. Heh.

You know what I discovered this past week? Gingko Leaf is a 3-year old WIP, and not 4 years, as I'd thought! The published date on the pattern is 2005. I feel that much better. Just a smidge. It's the home stretch peeps... I'm on the last pattern repeat of sleeve #2. It does look a bit shortish, but will stretch out after a wash. Heh, this is the only knit I've ever done that instructs you to throw the FO into a washing machine AND dryer in order to block (gentle, of course). It will soften up even more.

But hey. Um. I have a question. Should I be concerned that I'll have nearly 4 skeins of this stuff left over...? My gauge is...OK. So I may have started off a bit tightly, but not 4 skeins worth. Oh well. *sigh* I'll just be glad to finish it, I suppose.

"Atticus?"

"What?"

"Is Mom really our Mom? You know, like Mom-Mom?"

"Wha'?! Dude, of course she is! OK, so she's not a cat Mom, but you know. She feeds us and stuff."

"And picks up poop and barf too!"

"Um. Yeah. You really have to slow down when you eat. But, she also brushes us, and plays with us, and gives us treats just because, and we can cuddle with her and lie all over her knitting and she doesn't get mad."

"::cough:: You've been getting a lot of treats ::cough:: Well, that's good enough for me! Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!"

Change Is Good...And All About Sleeves

Well, for me it is. A little change on the layout, and I feel as though I have a new wardrobe. OK, maybe not a new wardrobe...just a few new things. It's spring, what can I say.

Don't be deceived by her sweet, soft face and gentle disposition. Mae snores.

"Yeah, and sometimes she gets windy too, if you know what I mean!"

Gandalf on his "It's-Easy-To-Be-A-Tough-Guy-From-Up-Here" perch, looking out the window.

In my books, it's a good week when I actually make tangible PROGRESS on my WIPs. They may not be FOs, but they are that much closer to being finished:

Columbia is on the bottom. She's a Starmore design from "American Portraits". Marina has a completed one. We may have started knitting Columbia at around the same time, but Marina has considerably more discipline than I do when I comes to sticking to one or two projects. Because, you know. I'm not known for doing that.

And if I had, my Gingko Leaf tunic from Fiddlesticks Knitting would have been done sometime in 2004 when it was started. I really don't know why it's taken me so long to finish it up. Oh wait, I do actually. Lace. On both the right and wrong sides. And knitting with the Ecoknit cotton. It's incredibly soft yarn, but it tickles the nose... The finished sleeve is on top.

Laleli and I have decided to kiss and make up. I started work on the first sleeve yesterday. Every time I start knitting stranded/Fair Isle after having been away for awhile, I'm amazed I stayed away for as long as I did. It's love, kids... I made it through the day without messing up the chart or the colour placements. AND I remembered the differences between right and left, up and down, and how to count.

And the Mork socks? No, I haven't given up on them. I'm actually enjoying them, funky weird colour stripes and all. Um, they've actually been frogged (again...) and restarted. I tried to do a slip stitch on the top of the foot as well as the leg, but decided I didn't like the way it was turning out. So...once again. At least I know this is some pretty tough yarn. Despite all the pulling (and swearing) I've put it through, it's holding up quite nicely, with hardly any splitting.

So...have you heard about this? A new (to english North America) knitting magazine out of Europe - Verena Knitting. I haven't seen it yet, but as soon as I do, I intend to pick it up. Has anyone seen a copy yet?

Have a good Sunday everyone!