Mothlady

Furry creatures

First of all, thank you for your kind words on my previous post. I really appreciate them. Bettina was diagnosed with chronic renal failure about ten years ago and we knew it was a steadily progressive disease, but it still came as a shock how quickly her condition deteriorated in the end. We're just sorry she got to spend only a little over three weeks in our new home. She loved the backyard garden and went for walks on leash, even on the last day. No-one would believe she was 18 years old. If you look at the picture in my previous post, she was sixteen at the time. She got a few grey hairs and got skinnier over the years, but that was all.

Finally, here's one of my favourite pictures of her when she had been with us just a little over a month.

Notice the chewed up plant on the left, with two young cats and one kitten there wasn't a live plant in our household for years. (More cute pictures in this old entry.)

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Last week I noticed some holes in our tiny front yard and said - half-jokingly - to my SO that two animals dug such holes, rabbits and rats. He didn't pay any attention to it at the time, but on Monday morning when he was ready to leave for work, he opened the door and saw "something big and dark" (his words) scurry into the hole. He was quite shaken by the encounter and was soon contemplating between selling the house and buying a shotgun. With his *cough, cough* comprehensive knowledge of biology, I knew it could have been anything between a field mouse and a beaver, but I must admit that the idea of a RAT made me a tad nervous. A friend of ours said that it could be a water vole, which sounded much better. It's also called a water rat, but it is a vole nonetheless. I wanted to see the culprit, so for the last few days every time I've gone out, I've followed this routine: I slam open the door and eye the ground suspiciously, then I cautiously step out and stomp my feet a few times. I've had no luck yet on seeing the RAT rodent, but the neighbours are starting to eye me suspiciously. I'm sure it's just some harmless creature (who really needs to get a snorkel ASAP with the rains we've had lately, the holes are full of water), but the idea of RATS furry creatures skulking on our doorstep gives me the creeps.

The house feels so empty now

Bettina

June 19, 1989 - September 11, 2007

Black hole

I've been away for a long time and the reason is that we've been sucked into the black hole of house-hunting. Yes, the prices are very high at the moment and yes, everybody is saying that the housing market is so overheated that It. Must. Crash. At. Any. Moment. That's what they said a year ago, and then the prices went up another ten per cent. So it's the worst possible moment to be looking for a new home, but we're fed up with our current apartment. The neighbours are noisy, the bugs are eating my wool and we need more space. So we went to the bank.

I'm sure we're not the first couple who got their nest egg by playing casino games and poker but we didn't want to take any chances, so we took extra care to remove any telltale signs before going to the bank. (You know, the Party Poker hats and the BetGameDay T-shirts.) We met the bank guy, he gave us the green light and off we went house-hunting.

Pretty soon I noticed certain things about me. I can be patience itself when I knit something (it's the process, not the product etc.). Unlike some people, I don't mind being short-stacked at a poker table and I very rarely go on tilt. But trying to find a new home for us is driving me bananas. Thank goodness going through the ads is fairly easy nowadays thanks to the Internet, but after that things get complicated. What kind of house are we looking for? And where? How far are we willing to move? Should we make an offer and if so, how much? And what about home inspections, renovations, bus routes and neighbours? The list goes on and on. Argh. We find it very curious that people are willing to make a snap decision after seeing the place only once. (Usually houses for sale are held open between 45 minutes and one hour, but sometimes it's just 30 minutes.) I guess that's overheated market for you. Of course, if we were to find our dream house we would be ready to make an offer right away, but it seems that the houses in our price range (we absolutely refuse to pay a ridiculous amount of money, we're only willing to pay a slightly ridiculous amount) always have a catch or two. So you have to be careful. We just heard of a friend who's going to court after having bought a house which turned out to be mouldy.

All in all I'm pretty stressed-out right now, so I've been trying to relax by knitting.

I finally got pictures of mom's scarf.

The pattern is Here and There Cables from Pam Allen's Scarf Style. The pattern is ingenious, it consists of six identical rows and one cable row so it's a perfect project whenever you need mindless knitting.

I used five balls of Online Linie 170 Kim (75% merino wool, 25% silk). The lady in the yarn shop said that it would turn out to be a luxurious scarf and she was right. I'm tempted to do one for myself, too.

Here is Aranmor's back (minus one shoulder).

Handsome, eh? Just looking at it makes me want to cast on for the front.

I've finished the back of Cable-trim Jacket and started the left front.

And I started the second Pomatomus sock.

I may have also started something else entirely. *cough, cough*

What is it about purple cables that is so soothing?

Much to Bettina's joy, our local pet store now sells Greenies.

She thinks they are very yummy. She also had her biannual checkup and everything is okay, or as okay you can expect with a 17 year old cat.

The sun is shining and I don't have a job deadline today. I think I'll do my blog rounds now for the first time in ages.

Knitter's revenge and other Christmas presents

I hope you all have enjoyed the holidays. I was still tired after my hospital visit, so I decided to take it easy this year. I wanted to knit socks for mom, so I started the Pomatomus socks with Fleece Artist merino in the colourway Burgundy. It's a wonderful pattern, now I know what all the excitement is about.

I got this far with the first sock when I began to worry that it might not be ideal for mom. You see, she had a bad allergic reaction to a dressing on her leg and it's still bothering her, so the long cuff might irritate the wound. I was also afraid that I might run out of yarn (again!).

I knew she liked the Fuzzyfeet slippers I gave her last Christmas, so much so that she had darned them several times. Being my boring, repetitive self I decided to make her new ones. The floors are quite chilly at her place, so she wears slippers all the time.

Last time they felted almost too much, so I made the cuff 6 inches long (the pattern suggests 3 inches) and the instep even longer this time. Despite all this I giggled hysterically when I took the slippers out of the washing machine: they looked like they would fit a five year old. Severe stretching and tugging ensued, and they turned out quite nice after I'd let them dry on my feet.

The yarn is from stash, some leftover Alaska in green and red.

Back in October Twig asked what my mom was going to do with the Fleece Artist yarn I gave her. Well, now we know :)

I had to use a flash, so the colours are a bit off. The feel of this yarn is wonderful, and the socks are surprisingly warm despite the thinness of the yarn. Thanks, mom!

Here's a long story. Back in summer I bought some cotton-acrylic yarn although I normally wouldn't touch it (I prefer wool). But it was cheap and it reminded me of linen, so I decided to give it a try.

I finished the body of the sweater and it looked okay. The neckline was even stylish. (The pattern can be found here.) So far so good, although the shiny yarn was beginning to get on my nerves. And it always got snagged on my nails and needles.

When I started the sleeves, I began to doubt.

Roadkill octopuses. What on earth was I thinking when I bought this yarn? Still I plugged along. I finished the sleeves and sewed the seams. This is how they looked like.

Nice holes, baby. I got furious and frogged the whole thing.

Here it is in its shiny fugly glory.

But I wasn't done with this yarn just yet. I wanted my revenge. And what's a knitter's revenge? Crochet.

I decided to crochet a thick blanket and toss it on the bathroom floor. That would be my sweet revenge, poetic justice. Because, frankly speaking, this yarn was so horrible that it was only fitting to have it under your feet. No-one would like it. No-one would even touch this thing.

Oh... I see.

Let's just say she got to pick her Christmas present this year.

I also got myself a Christmas present, a swift and a ball winder.

It may be second-hand and old, but boy is this thing fast!

I may have gotten a bit carried away with my new toy.

Tee-hee.

Holiday snaps

Now that I've gotten over the flu bug (although I still sound like Eartha Kitt) I'm ready to show you some holiday snaps I took while we were away.

The first train journey went okay, but the second was rather awkward because the train was full of people and the weather was extremely hot. To top it all, we had the only window that had no curtains (Somebody had yanked them out and placed them on the top shelf. Gee, thanks a lot!). The third and final journey was the most difficult one. According to my calculations, there were six dogs with their owners - and us. One woman took her dog to Bettina's cage and when I asked her not to do it, she burst out: "Oh, but he loves cats!" Be that as it may, Bettina doesn't love dogs. Of course the weather was hot again and the heat and the presence of other dogs was too much for one poor dog, who kept howling, barking and growling for the whole time. Now, imagine two hours of that... And guess who were the lucky ones who got the roll-up window shade that didn't work? Argh.

Otherwise we had a really fun time. We met old friends, ate and drank well and got some much-needed sunshine. And we spent one day in a spa (a facial and a massage, thank you very much).

Although Bettina is a seasoned traveller, she doesn't like being in a cage (who would?).

"You just wait until I get my hands on you, you dirty rotten..."

The sky was blue...

...the strawberries were sweet and juicy...

...and I even got some fresh peas from the market.

Don't be fooled by this healthy-looking prawn salad, I've eaten enough pizza to last a lifetime :)

As we were at the seaside, there were always a couple of seagulls waiting for scraps.

By now, Bettina had forgiven us. Sort of.

I love old houses and barns, so I spent some time taking photos of them.

And I love flowers.

Seriously though, this was the fourth time we rented this cottage and Bettina recognized it immediately. But it's hard work for a city cat to watch all the birds and chase ants and bugs...

We spent the second week in an apartment that was worth every penny (and it wasn't even that expensive, it was cheaper than a hotel room!). This is the lakeside view from the balcony.

Of course I managed to do some impromptu knitting as well. This is going to be a scarf out of Brooks Farm's Harmony.

And even though we had fun, it's always good to be back home.

Yes, it's vacation time!

We decided not to take the house after all. It turned out that the real estate agent had been rather 'economical' with the truth when it came to certain aspects of the house. No wonder she didn't like it when we said we'd like to take a closer look. It was a tough decision, but I'm just happy we found out before we moved in. Oh well, I guess we'll find our dream house some day.

Moving on to happier things: do you remember the kittens I saw at my sister's? This is what they look like now.

I thought they would be grey, but they're black. And still cute.

I managed to lock myself into a train yesterday. I was waiting on the platform and a train pulled in. It was the end of the line, so all the people got out and I went in. There was plenty of time before the train left, so I started reading a newspaper. After a while I realized the train should have been moving by now, so I looked around. I thought it was unusual to be the only person in the carriage, but then I realized I was alone in the train. It was the wrong train of course, so I decided to get out, but the doors wouldn't open and I couldn't see any conductors outside. It was a hot day and the air-conditioning wasn't on, so the temperature in the carriage was well over 40 C (104 F). I contemplated briefly on yelling and banging on the windows. You know, "Help! Help! I can't get out of this stupid train!", or something along those lines. Ahem. At last I remembered I had my cellular phone with me, so I called the railroad company's service number. The woman who received my call didn't chuckle, but the guy who came to pry open the doors a few minutes later did. Boy, did I feel stupid :D

We're leaving on a two week holiday on Monday morning. The first week will be spent relaxing on the seaside (and without the Internet), but for the second week we've booked an apartment that should have an Internet connection. We'll see how that works out.

Get out and enjoy the summer!

Newsflash

Bettina had her 17th birthday on Monday.

I bought five skeins of Harmony from Brooks Farm's sale. (If you're interested, there are still a few items left under Widows & Orphans).

This is one of those yarns that is devilishly difficult to photograph, the colous are never accurate.

Miriam guessed right, I'm crocheting a blanket. The hotter the summer gets, the more I want to play with colours.

And last but not least: we rented an old house! Eek! Well, actually we rented the second floor of the house, there are tenants on the first floor, too. We've got four rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom (the shower is in the cellar), a glass porch, an attic (we don't even know what's in there yet - hopefully not bats!), a shed and old farm buildings. The piece of land is huge, 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres), so only the hum of cars going by on a nearby road reminds us that we're still living in the same city as before.

We've got five weeks to do everything: we have to get the pest control people here to nuke the carpet beetles, then we have to go through everything and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. And then there's packing and fixing and painting the new place, and we have booked a two week trip that can't be cancelled. And then there's work and the World Cup and... Well, I guess I'll remember this as the Summer of No Sleep :)

Old nemesis

Hmm, over a week has gone by since my last post. What has been going on?

• I've been working during the days and watching the World Cup in the evenings.
• We've got the first heat wave, but I haven't been able to enjoy it much (see above)
• I reinstalled XP on my computer and at the same time got rid of Anonymizer. I wouldn't recommend this software to my worst enemy, their support is virtually non-existent. When the program suddenly stopped working (and with it my Internet connection!), I emailed them to ask what was going on. After several days I got a reply that my subscription had ended. Why didn't they tell me that beforehand? GRRR...
• Bettina had a small lump on her back. It was removed and turned out to be a benign cyst. Whew!
• We've done a bit of house-hunting. We're still not buying a house (the prices are too high), but we're considering renting one. We're going to see one on Monday night.
• My World Cup project was supposed to be Kaffe Fassett's Geometric Star jacket, but I didn't like the candy colours, so it went to the frog pond.

• So I took out my old nemesis.

[Spoken in the voice of Jeremy Brett] "Ah, we meet again, Moriarty!"

• Contrary to what I said before, I decided that my summer project should be as easy as possible (and my crocheting skills are, um, limited).

A good weekend

I'm officially blogging less often than Stitchy McYarnpants used to (although nowadays she's cranking out posts like there's no end in sight). But don't worry, regular knitting and blogging normal life will resume soon because I'm taking six days off from work. I still have a bit of work to do before that and I need to get one document and send one letter on behalf of my dad, but then I'm all set for Easter, woohoo!

I had to work in the weekend, but we still had time to visit my sister and her family on Saturday. I had of course Lillehammer with me.

But I didn't knit a stitch after I saw these cuties.

Four kittens, aren't they adorable? Here's my recipe if you're a bit depressed or stressed out: something cute and furry (see above), something colourful and beautiful...

...and shome of my favourite wine.

Errr, let me rephrase that: a delightful wine with a soft finish.

Mmm.

How tired can you be?

I've sleeping a lot lately, but I still feel tired. It seems I can't concentrate on anything for more than five minutes at a time, which is having a drastic effect on my work and knitting. And it snowed today, a lot. Usually this would cheer me up, but today I could have used the sunshine. Anyone else having the spring blahs?

Alyssa wrote:

Yowza! That's some big money! More yarn? :)

Yes, more yarn for the moths... No! I'm determined to use some of my stash before buying yarn. (This doesn't apply to any silk or cotton yarn I'm buying. Don't look at me like that, I have to get some summer yarn.)

And Cookie wrote:

Oh, cute kitty! Did you know the cat would like the bed before you made it? I've been thinking of knitting one for my cat, but she doesn't usually sleep in things like that, so I don't know if she'd use it.

Yes, I did know that Bettina likes to have an array of various beds and blankets. And if it gets too cold, she'll crawl under the sheets and bed covers (last picture).

Cookie then continued:

As for mohair, my skin is pretty sensitive to it too. I don't have a problem knitting it, but my arms and neck would have a problem with rubbing against it. So maybe not an allergy exactly? I'm not sure how that works.

I think she could be right, the rubbing seems to be the reason for the "rash" (if that's what it is). And yes, Agnes, the long-sleeved shirt takes care of that problem. The sweater is very warm as it is, and with a shirt underneath it I'm ready for an expedition to Antarctica.

Speaking of warm sweaters, Lillehammer is crawling along at a snail's pace.

Heh, I'm determined to finish it though.