Stash Flash

I've been asked a few times in the past week to show off what I've got. No, not that. Be nice.

This.
You get only one guess as to what this is. My stash, in all its glory. How do I even go about putting it up on Ravelry?!! OK, so what's not in the picture - um, there are two small bins sitting under the laundry basket with my work stuff. And my basket of sock yarn is on the floor, below one of the big honkin' Ziploc bags. Oh, and the shelf? Is actually a bit bigger than it looks. It holds all the stuff in kit form. Although the stuff in the bags in the upper left hand corner of the picture is actually sitting on my dryer, so it's not as bad as it looks.

*silence*

OK. It is. Yes, in upcoming posts I will show you how it's *somewhat* arranged. As much as I can arrange it.

And to be fair: My WIP table. Which would probably be somewhat less busy if it weren't for Marina queuing pretty much the same stuff I want to make. Like now. (Say in Jerry Seinfeld voice - "Marina!" like "Newman!".)

Oh, ok. Because someone is bound to ask:

Most of my knitting books. Most of them... You know, because some are in use...

Yesterday was a banner day! I had visitors from Knittingham, as in Lorraine and her daughter Laura. As always, we had a great day. We went on a yarn crawl, Atticus and Gandalf successfully sucked up for treats, and I got pressies!

"Look! I rearranged everything for you Mom! You're welcome."

It's near impossible to get a half decent picture with Gandalf around... But, you can see pretty much everything - a huge honkin' hank of Brooklyn Handspun Superwash merino in "Earth", 2 skeins of Lorraine's handdyed yarn (the stuff I coveted in the summer - it has orange, pink and fuschia! Love!), some Body Shop stuff, tea, treats for the Little Dudes (not pictured for obvious reasons) and a super special pressie -

No, not Gandalf. The pretty shiny thing resting on him! It's not easy to photograph, but it's a handmade necklace. The little shiny things? Cat heads. The dangly thing at the bottom? A mouse with a movable tail. And what I'm stupidly covering up with my hand at the top? The clasp, which is a cat. It is too cute, let me tell you. I'll have to lock myself in a room, and take a better picture next time around. It's just so funny!

"Funny? I'll tell you what isn't funny, and that's that camera. Let me relax a little. My life is hard you know."

The cat bed is a hit. I think they have a rotating schedule - Atticus in the morning and during the day, Mae is usually there after dinner and throughout the evening, and Gandalf during the night. For the most part. Unless he feels the need to muscle in on Atticus.

He doesn't muscle in during Mae's rotation though.

"He wouldn't dare. Punk..."

Mae would send him away with a growl. He listens to her...

Oh, and before someone asks about what I picked up yesterday during our yarn crawl. I didn't show it for a reason - you'll see next time around. Yes, that means another WIP.

Heh.

Where Did My Self-Discipline Go?

"Hi. Are you my big brother?"

People ask me all the time - was Mae really that cute a kitten?

What do you think? She was adorable (and of course, she still is). And she LOVED Atticus - she followed him everywhere, and just wanted to be around him.

"Must...reach...big...brother..."

These were taken on her first day in her new home. Did I ever mention - Atticus and Mae had the same Mom.

And yes, Atticus was much slimmer back then.

"I still rock."

As a little experiment, I picked up a "pet bed", and see how it would go over. I figured if the guys went for it (cats and change...you know...), I'd pick up some more.

"Oh yeah."

I'll be picking up some more. Right now, Mae has taken over the bed, and Gandalf is trying to muscle his way back in. Atticus, ever the Mama's boy, naps behind me, even though this room is a tad cool.

"I am NO Mama's boy. Go show your knittin' stuff, and get that camera out of my face. And vacuum this place, geez...mama's boy...pffft..."

Heh.

Apart from this lovely bit of fabric, I have been all over the place with my WIP's. Isn't she purty??! I am now about halfway to the underarms, and you can really get a sense from the picture above how it's going to look. I can't tell you how lovely it really is, and the picture really doesn't do it justice. The colours fit perfectly together, and the peeries and Fair Isle patterning flow so nicely... *sigh* I love her. Lorraine did such a great job in designing this vest.

But as for everything else...I wish I was as enthused. Actually, to say I'm not enthused is not a fair assessment. I'm just not able to concentrate on any one project. I'm all over the place - I want/need a pink scarf/wrap (which I may have started...); I need/want a flowy cardigan (which I may have started...); I want to use up this stash yarn; what's easy for TV knitting? And so on...

Then there's the whole mittens situation. I really want to make the Druid mittens - I have more than enough Shetland Spindrift in pink - but one strand of 2-ply just won't cut it. I have delicate girly hands, and they won't be warm enough. Yes, I could use a double strand, but they will end up way too big, and I don't know if I want to rewrite the pattern to decrease the stitch count. So, I'm on the hunt... Lorraine has these queued - actually, they're done now (damn those knitting monogamists...!) *sigh* I confuse myself. I'll have to hunt through my sock yarn/2 ply stash. I'm pretty sure I'd have something, somewhere.

And yes. I have other WIP's. I blame it on the time of year, you know? This weather makes me want to just knit everything I see.

Discipline? Who? Me?

Have You Ever?

You know... Have you ever mentally prepared for a post, only to discover that you can't seem to find one important piece? Like, your camera cable?

"What?...Why do you assume it's ME? Here. Lemme help look for it. Atticus, move out of the way, you're blocking my search grid."

Pretend if you will that Windsor Waistcoat has 4 inches or more of patterning. Just think of how much more there will be next week! Bonus! And, you're guaranteed to see something new. Just sayin'.

So, in lieu of our regularly scheduled knitting photos, I bring you a 20-questions sort of thingy (courtesy of Bridget) to keep you interested.

Have You Ever…

1. Gone on a blind date? Um, yeah. One, and only one. Ew.

2. Skipped school? Well, I never skipped school, but I did skip the odd class in high school.

3. Been on the opposite side of your country? Sadly, no. Either direction. But soon I will be a regular visitor to Nova Scotia!

4. Swam in an ocean? Yes! The Mediterranean. Cool. AND I got stung by a jellyfish. NOT cool.

5. Had your booze taken away by the cops? Um. No. What the hell? Who wrote this stuff? I didn't get drunk for the first time 'til I was 18.

6. Lettered in a high school sport? Huh? I'm guessing this means participating in high school sports? No. Although I did really like playing soccer.

7. Cried yourself to sleep? Sure. Who hasn't?

8. Played a musical instrument? Oh, that is FUNNY. But no.

9. Sung karaoke? Yup. I was working on a kibbutz in Israel when I turned 20. I remember singing to Tina Turner in our little volunteer's pub, which was in an old bomb shelter. The other volunteers were there, as well as some of the locals, and we had a grand ol' time! Best birthday I've ever had.

10. Cheated on an exam? No! Not too toot my own horn, but high school didn't exactly challenge me. So, I didn't really need to cheat... However - even in math, at which I excelled at sucking at, didn't inspire me to want to cheat either.

11. Played spin-the-bottle? I think so...

12. Laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose? Dudes. C'mon. Of course. This is me we're talking about. I once laughed and coughed so hard at the same time a Tic Tac I had in my mouth came out of my nose. Seriously. Like last year.

13. Watched the sun rise with someone you care about? Sure!

14. Ever been arrested? Nope. Although I did get pulled aside and had my luggage thoroughly inspected when I left...somewhere. Can't remember where. Oh wait, it was at LaGuardia airport in NYC, and I was coming back from Israel.

15. Gone ice skating? Oh. C'mon. I'm Canadian. Have I gone ice skating!? I only grew up in Ottawa - home to the Rideau Canal, the longest outdoor skating rink in the world.

16. Been skinny dipping? No. Sorry, not even a funny story to go along with that one. Not to mention the answer to #4. Once burned...

17. Been on television? No, but I did accidentally walk onto a set of the James Bond movie "The Living Daylights" when it was being filmed in Vienna, Austria in the late '80's. What? They should have marked it off better.

18. Thrown up in front of a date? No, but I have afterwards. Maybe one day I'll tell you about the time I threw up after a dinner date, which consisted of eating some very fine Hungarian goulash and red wine. Um. Only I was uh, kinda asleep when it happened...

OK! So, it's actually only 18 questions.

Let's ask the guys a couple of questions.

"Atticus, what would you say is the most destructive thing you've ever done?"

"Hmmm...Well. We'd have to go back to my younger days... But probably the time I got up on top of the fridge, then made it over to the shelf where you had your cookbooks and some crockery pots. Remember? Oh yeah! Then I knocked them down! On the floor! One was full of rice, and the other was full of like, dried something or other. That was back in your serious vegetarian days. I seem to remember you vacuuming rice and stuff for a long time after that. Come to think of it... Even though I was pretty pleased with myself, I don't remember you being that thrilled..."

"And what about you Mae? What's the most destructive thing...oh wait. You haven't really done anything. Um. What's your first memory, Mae?"

"Oh, I remember being 7 weeks old, and following Atticus EVERYWHERE. I was so. cute. A little fluff ball. Didn't you always say that the cutest thing I did back then was flop down the stairs after Atticus? Remember? I was like a little grey puff ball rolling down the stairs, with little back feets sticking out? I was awesome."

"So, what about you Gandalf? Uh, what do you have to say for yourself? What silliness have you been up to?"

"Gee Mom, that's a loaded question. Let's see... Um, I like dogs, especially my cousin Finnegan; I've fallen into the toilet twice; eaten fruit, sweet potatoes, bread and licked curry sauce from your plate (that was on a dare from Atticus); I've hidden behind the toaster oven; fallen asleep in the kitchen sink; gotten sticky packing tape caught on my nose (and I couldn't get it off!); bonked my head a few times against the window... Oh! Remember the time I scared you when you found me hiding in your back pack?! And the time I fell off the bed when I was rolling around? Oh, and Atticus once sat on me! And then there was the time I meowed to the TV everytime that dog food commercial came on; oh and..."

Right. That was a loaded question.

Tune in next time for more excitement, and pictures!