Knit One, Purr Too

Completed cat bed

My first felted cat bed is finished. It took the equivalent of 3 skeins of Lamb's Pride bulky wool (if I factor in the length of tapestry wool I had to use to finish it off), and the mohair in the yarn is what gives it that wispy effect. I ran it through the washing machine twice on hot in order to get it to the size I wanted, then blocked it by forming it over the bottom of my huge canning pot (which was conveniently just the right size).

Here it is in all its lovely glory.

The cats were, of course, being predictably uncooperative, and all of them refused to pose. However, I finally convinced Azzie to sit in it for an 'action shot', even though his version of posing involves more wrestling with the cat bed and less actual sitting.

This thing was such a quick knit that I'm tempted to make at least one more for the Petfinder's kitty bed knitalong. The knitting store in Davis has a weekly knitting session on Friday afternoons, so perhaps I'll take advantage of that, trade in the too-small DPN's I bought last week, and make that second cat bed this coming weekend.

Of course, in the meantime, I think I have some sleeves to sew onto sweaters so I can finally have access to all my Denise cables (and cast on more projects to replace them!).

Progress

Just a quick update. I got up this morning, ran around and took care of a bunch of errands, and then sat down and zipped through the rest of the knitting for the cat bed. Turns out 2 skeins of Lambs Pride wasn't enough, but luckily I had some dark maroon tapestry wool I could double up, and there was enough to finish it off. So the sides will be maroon and the bottom will be brown - almost like I planned it that way!

Right now, though, it just looks like a strange brown (upside down) jello mold.

I just tossed it into the washing machine - my first time felting anything (on purpose, at any rate). We'll see how it turns out.

Stocking up on WIP's

I think I may need to set a new rule for myself. When I have so many projects started that I start running out of cables in my Denise Interchangable needle kit, maybe it's time to finish up a few of them before I start anything else!

In case it wasn't obvious from that new rule, I haven't touched either the cardigan or Seabreeze since the last time I wrote. Instead, I went out and bought the sweetest pile of blue and white swirled baby yarn, and immediately started working on this.

The pattern is a basic feather and fan pattern I found online, using an 18 stitch set of increases and decreases. I'm using smaller needles so it's kind of a fiddly project, especially since there's 240-something stitches that all have to be either increased or decreased every 4 rows. But I love how it's turning out, and I think it's good I started so early. The recipient is not due until the very end of December, but considering how fiddly this pattern is, it might just take me until then to finish it.

And then, this afternoon on the way home I swung by the yarn store in Davis and picked up a set of double-pointed needles and two skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky in russet. It turns out I got the wrong size DPN's, but luckily I was able to cobble together a replacement through the judicious use of my size 13's from my Denise kit, a few uneven lengths of cable, and a large circular needle in size 13 I had iin the stash. After dinner, I sat down to watch an extremely sappy movie and got started on this.

It's a knit cat bed! Once it's done I'll toss it in the washing machine to felt it, and then mail it off to Petfinders for their Adopt-a-Senior-Pet month in November. This is actually all Wendy's doing, since she organized a cat bed knit-along to support Petfinders. I've been eying Wendy's felted cat bed pattern for some time now, so this was the perfect opportunity for me to give it a try. I could, I suppose, feel slightly guilty for making beds for other cats and not for my own, but I *did* make two afghans that they've claimed, and the little catnip-filled knit wonton toys I made a while ago still occasionally travel around. Plus, Sebastian has been 'helping' me knit the cat bed by hopping up beside me on the sofa, grabbing the skein of wool, and wrestling it firmly into submission, all the while purring his furry little head off.

I'm hoping I can finish up the cat bed by Sunday, and maybe get another one or two made by the end of the week so I can felt them and still have plenty of time to get them in the mail. But then, no excuses. I really have to finish those two sweaters, if for no better reason than to make more cables available the next time I decide to cast on for something new.

Stash Enhancement

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of some of my latest acquisitions (or, proof that I really need to stay far, far away from eBay and discount yarn stores on the internet). I'm going to have a lot of knitting to do in the future - my stash is growing by leaps and bounds. Here's three of my latest.

Finally, my pretty pink yarns! I think the soft Mimosa might become something lacy and entirely inappropriate for winter (I am even pondering making Blaze out of this, or perhaps ZigZag). And the candy cane striped pink yarn I had to buy, even though I don't have any projects in mind yet. It was just too wonderfully bright and colorful to pass up.

Some Filati Wonderful, in a colorway called Pumpkin. I love these autumn colors, and I wish you could feel how soft this is - just enough mohair in the mix to make it the type of yarn I keep wanting to go pet. This is going to be another cardigan, because after two projectst straight of gift knitting, it's time for something for me!

On another note, I've joined the Bloglines bandwagon along with everyone else. You can subscribe to this knitting journal via Bloglines by clicking the nifty button I just added.

Still in sleeve arrest

No new pictures yet, but that's mainly because I just haven't gotten around to dragging out the camera. I ended up riipping out the entire body of Sonnet because I realized that my guage was just too tight, and the resulting fabric turned out too stiff. I switched from 10 to 12, and voila, a looser knit, and a softer cardigan. A lot of work to rip out to the very last stitch, but it couldn't be a project of mine without at least *some* significant frogging, so really, this was only to be expected!

Buttons were procured Friday night on the way home from the monthy knitting circle at the library - pretty purple ones that match the color of the yarn almost perfectly. Shoulders are seamed and I'm finishing up the last sleeve. I still have to attach sleeve #2 to Seabreeze, so I sense much seaming in my future in order to finish these two off completely.

With those two sweaters out of the way it's going to be hard to decide what to do next. There's two huge skeins of an incredibly soft wool, acrylic, and mohair mix in muted shades of autumn that are goiing to become another cardigan, but beyond that there are all manner of new things in my stash from recent eBay purchases, and there are all manner of tempting patterns to try out. The newest Knitty has a few I'm definitely going to have to make. I've joined a knitalong for Blaze, but I think ZigZag is also calling my name. And as fall approaches I am starting to think more fondly of afghans again, so Cozy looks like it might have to join the list of projects-in-waiting. Plus there's three new babies coming along in the next four or five months and I've been poking around looking at patterns for baby blankets and eying soft fuzzy acrylics and cottons for those. Oh, choices, choices.

Composing myself a sonnet

I finished up the sleeves for Seabreeze and at craft night this past Friday night I seamed the first one on. Seaming is always so tedious, but it came out rather well in spite of myself. It helps now that I know what I am doing (I have an olive colored cardigan which is my first attempt at seaming and...well...lets just say I didn't have a clue back then. Wince).

I could have attached the second sleeve and been done with the whole thing. Really I could have. But I started poking around my stash of bookmarked patterns and I just happened to have a pile of Reynolds Candide in a lovely shade of grape (with flecks of red and blue) and so Seabreeze languishes, uncompleted, while I have spent the past several days furiously working on this.

The pattern is Sonnet, from Knitty.com, and so far it's an amazingly simple one. It's knit from side to side, which makes for some new techniques, but the loveliest bit about it is that I don't have to worry about whether or not it's long enough - that's easy enough to tell right at a glance! Phew. Also I can fit it as I go - making sides or back wider as necessary.

I admit to being quite tempted by Haiku (the child's version) as well, and Christmas *is* coming, but I may yet be able to restrain myself.

The wool I'm using is stiff and thick. On the one hand, it knits up quick; on the other the stiffness is making my fingers ache. But I'm so happy with how it's turning out that I don't mind all that much.