Thermal

 My Thermal Mitts are done and just in time for yet another Arctic blast from the North. Temps in the teens almost seems like the norm these days. Notice how well they match. I did not do that on purpose. I just knit using the ball until it ran out and they did that matchy thing all on their own. I couldn't have done that if I tried. Thanks again, Wandering Cat, I love them!

As soon as the mitts were a done deal, I cast on a doggie sweater using the same thermal stitch pattern. I have a feeling that February might turn out to be as brutal as January. I really hope I'm wrong. Normal temps around here are supposed to be 40 not 4.

Almost a Quilt

 Since Christmas, Son's quilt has taken up residence on the dining room table.

 Every day I try to spend at least a few minutes stitching in as many of those ditches as I can.

At first it seemed like I was getting nowhere but lately I can see the whole thing starting to come together.

 I've even had to put pins in the ditches I've missed because there aren't too many I haven't already stitched.

Thank goodness Son lives in a upstairs apartment that gets more than enough heat even on the coldest of days or I might feel rushed to get this done before winter was over and you just can't rush machine quilting. Notice the little furry behind under the table. That's another reason things aren't moving as fast as I'd like. She's not much of a help. Especially when she is trying to eat the project.

Mislabeled

Last Christmas The Mister bought me this Yankee Candle in the Warm Woolen Mittens scent. I don't know what I was expecting (mothballs, maybe?) but it doesn't smell anything like wool, warm or not. I've had many pots of wool simmering on the stove and I can tell you that this flowery smell is not even close. They should have called it Mittens That Have Been Soaking in Fabric Softener. The next time they want to use wool for a base scent, they need to send someone out to a barn in August. That'll do it.

Completely Flabbergasted

Speaking of Olympic sweaters (yesterday's post), early in the new year, I was contacted on Ravelry by someone who had seen my Lillehammer sweater and wanted to know where I had got the pattern. I found it on Patternfish for her and she was very grateful.

 I checked back last night to see how her project was going only to find that she had finished it. Yes, she had finished a sweater in ten days that took me four years. I should say that hers was in a child's size and mine was an adult large. I should also say that hers is in sport weight and mine is in fingering but still....who does that? That's just crazy, right?

Somebody Stop Me

In case you haven't already seen them, here is Ralph Lauren's 2014 contribution to the USA Winter Olympic team heading to Sochi. The unveiling was met with some rather unkind comments, the kind usually reserved for ugly Christmas sweaters. Even I, the Queen of Bad Taste, have to admit that they are a bit overboard. Ahem.

The hat's not bad.

Neither are the mittens. I can see both of these being knocked off left and right.

 Dale of Norway who usually puts out the best Olympic sweaters came up with this for Sochi. Yawn. I am thinking this is some kind of political statement. They weren't even trying. Is this even a sweater? It looks like a fleece with knitted cuffs to me.

 It does work better for babies-kind of.

All this Olympic talk has me looking at all the other Dale of Norway Olympic sweaters and fighting the urge to cast on another four year challenge when I already have three other sweaters in various stages of being ignored. I think I like this one and I even went so far as to fill my cart with the yarn the other day but I don't really need it. Do I?

Sunday Pupdate: This Too Shall Pass

I've had one sick little puppy for the past week. We weren't sure what was going on. She was coughing and choking until she gagged pretty much all day and even worse-all night. I was worried sick.

After yet another expensive emergency visit to the vet, we found out she had a sinus infection. Whoever heard of a dog with a sinus infection? We put her on an antibiotic and an antihistamine and ran the vaporizer night and day but she was still hacking and snuffling a lot of the time.

The Mister and I noticed she was fine in some parts of the house and not so fine in others. Wherever the cats liked to stretch out were the worst places so we stripped the house bare and washed everything we could to get rid of cat dander.

After all the cleaning, she was almost right as rain but now we have a dog that is allergic to cats in a house full of cats. Can you get any crazier than that?
Lucky for her, I am also allergic to cats so I know the drill very well. I already order Allerpet C by the gallon. Now I just have to use it in all the doggie places, too. Sigh....

Separated at Birth

Now that I have a really good reason to get these done, I went full speed ahead on them but my twofer socks had to come undone today. When I was picking up the stitches for the gussets I somehow went in the wrong direction and ended up without the loop part of the Magic Loop. The surgery was successful but an aggravation all the same.

 When I did get them back on the same needle, I was very happy to see that the red was showing up in the same place on each heel. Hopefully the feet will have matching stripes. I like matching stripes.

They are going to be so pretty with my favorite red Crocs, aren't they?

Surprise Package

As soon as I saw this on the outside of the packet, I knew who it was from.

It was my major award from Wandering Cat Studio's contest but wait-there was something extra.

In with the sock yarn was some of the Paton's SWS that I had mentioned I was looking for.

I had made a pair of gift knit mitts out of it and had lamented not buying enough for a pair for myself because now it was discontinued. With the help of the last of the Christmas Dots, I sat right down and cast on a pair of Thermal Mitts for me.

In only two puppy naps (all time is measured in puppy naps these days) I had one of the pair done and the other cast on.

The colors remind me of my favorite ice cream, spumoni which is perfect for these "I'm sick of winter" days.

 As for the sock yarn, it is called Four Leaf Clover and I am trying very hard to control the urge to cast on the pretty Elm Street pattern right now. I keep telling myself I only have the feet to finish on my Peppermint Stick twofers that I want to have for Valentine's Day but  it's not working. All that white out there makes me want the gorgeous green all the more. Let's see how long I hold out.

A big thanks to Wandering Cat who managed to do all this while nursing her cat through a very difficult surgery. I know I've said it before but I have to say it again: Knitters are the nicest people!

Snow Day

 There was a lot of excitement over the biggest snow storm in years. This is how much we got. Don't laugh. It looks like a lot from here.

It wasn't a very pretty snow. It was more like a sandstorm when it was coming down. Gale force winds and icy flakes made it a stay inside event.

It didn't even stick in the trees because of the wind.

When it was all over it was sunny and cold. Single digit cold.

I only went out long enough to take a few photos. I couldn't feel my fingers.

 It was too cold for any puppy snow pix. She was inside pitching a fit when I left her alone. She took it out on her new favorite toy-one of my hand knit washcloths.

My poor fingers are her other favorite toys. Ouch.

The best part of the day was when the mail lady dropped this off. Come back tomorrow and I'll show you what's inside.

Trompe L'Oeil

Looks like there's a whole lot of knitting going on around here.

Not.

It's what's been keeping The Mister busy when he's not pup sitting. It took him three days.

January Daddio Update

 Daddio's back in business.

  After wearing himself out in a Christmas frenzy, he has picked up the needle and thread once again.

 His tumbler quilt is starting to go together.

 Speaking of Christmas, his Christmas rag rug came out great.

 Gluing the strips together was a brilliant idea. Now I'm putting him to work on some non-Christmas fabric strips. That should keep him busy for a while.

 We recently spent an afternoon making a quilt sandwich.

His flannel disappearing nine patch is going to finally be a quilt and it's going to be mighty cozy.

 We've also had a little more of this going on. We spent another long night in the ER. This time I had Middle Sister for company so it was like a weird pajama party. Daddio's fine. He had a headache and some dizziness that would have probably been minor if he would just eat something once in a while. It doesn't matter how much we put in front of him, we just can't get him to eat anymore. I know what the vet said about Dear Old Doggie when she stopped eating. I guess it works the same for humans.

Another Puppy Tale

So sorry about going on and on about the new pup but seriously, that's all I'm up to. I don't have a moment where my attention is not focused completely on her. She is so bad. She isn't even napping much during the day anymore. I did find one thing that she likes. She likes to rock in the rocking chair while I spin. The motion seems to calm her crazy arse down. At this point, I'll do anything for some peace and quiet.

 She has also outgrown her one and only sweater so I had no choice but to make her a new one. After looking closely at this one and reading up on some patterns, I realized it's just two rectangles with a collar.

 The rectangle for the underside is just ribbing and the leg holes are just where you don't sew the two together. She hated the collar so I skipped it.

I had some of this in the stash for no good reason, so I gave it a try

I held my breath hoping the floral part would show up before I ran out of dog. It just did.

I found out I could knit this simple thing and walk at the same time so I followed the little demon around the house for a few hours while I worked it. When she took a brief nap I used my sloppy mattress stitch on it and when she woke up she had a new sweater.

It is much more comfy that the store bought one as it has lots more give. It did fit but I could have made it a few inches longer and wider. I have plenty more yarn in the stash so I'm pretty sure there will be another one in the future.

I also made her two new blankets out of some fleece Joanne's had on sale. That's my kind of project. All I had to do was to cut the yard in half and then snip some fringe. Done.