Who will help me choose?

As mentioned in my previous post several projects are nearing completion, which means a lot of sewing up (yuk) and a lot of casting on (Yippee).
Ophelia was cast off last night and I am very pleased with it. It was a lovely pattern to knit, the lacy rib was so simple and yet looks beautiful. I used Serenity from Patons, which is a cotton and bamboo mix. It is so much nicer to use than straight bamboo but has a certain amount of drape and movement to it. Plus it feels so smooth and silky. It needs to be treated a little gently though, no rushing the stitches or it can split the yarn. Overall I am pleased with it, but wish I'd carried on a bit longer, I have a feeling that it is going to be quite short and I had visions of it falling gently and flatteringly over my hips. My 16 year old daughter has her beady eye on it, but I am not feeling generous. Ophelia still needs to be blocked lightly, the shoulder seams sewn up and then ribbon threaded through the holes, but which ribbon to choose.

I went into a haberdashery with my knitting to be greeted by a most unhelpful and downright rude shop assistant who snapped at me with a very terse " you'll never match that colour. I suggest you try silver or black" Hmmm. I didn't stay long. Just as well or my normally good manners might have deserted me and that would never do. Clearly the saleswoman hadn't received customer service training or perhaps she doesn't like selling the things in her shop. I went next door to Wild and woolly where Fran has about 10 ribbons to choose from but she had the greeny grey ribbon which is a pretty close match I think. I was tempted to nip back to the first shop, blow a bit fat raspberry and wave the ribbon under her nose, but everyone knows I'm in the navy so she might have complained.
The third shop yielded the brown and cream ribbon so now the dilemma is which is best.
Peri made a concerted effort to help me choose after studiously pretending he wasn't interested.

But I know my cat and caught him in the act.

Have a stack of books I want to get through, but it is the school holidays for the next two weeks and I only have 6 days official leave (the rest will be half days and working from home) so I might be doing a bit of wishful thinking here.


Wit's end has actually just come out here as The Case Of the Imaginary Detective. Wonder why the different title?

PS.The rat (Previous post) was pretty tame and apart from making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and making my tummy feel decidedly fluttery whenever he moved it wasn't too bad. No way could I have coped it he'd been black or brown. But as far as my kids are concerned I was way cool for posing with him. look closely and you'll notice it's not so much a smile more like a frozen grimace.
I much prefer being pink cool.

Knitting tips.

Saw this over at Maddy's blog and thought it hilarious. Go and check it out.
I have also decided that I just have to knit Ophelia, this cardi is soo cute. I might even break my bamboo out for this one.
I have a knitting tip for you all. Never put your knitting away half way through a row - I am sure you all knew this but do you know why? It is not because the stitches at the point where you left off will stretch unevenly. This might happen but the real reason is so that when the pesky cat decides to play cat's cradle with your knitting the stitches won't all slide off both needles and begin monumentally large ladders. Ladders so large they would make firemen scared. Please do not tell me it's my own fault. I know that. Believe me it doesn't help. There is absolutely nothing funny about returning from a pleasant shopping trip in which two pairs of bamboo needles were purchased (Two sets of mine had mysteriously vanished) to be unable to enter the living room because the cat had woven wool between the table, the bird stand and the ironing board creating a very effective barricade. We mangaged to get in via the front door and discovered that the cat had been very busy indeed. The havoc continued down the hall and into our bedroom where Peri had taken the trouble to wrap my knitting around the rocking chair for good luck. I could have cried. It took several hours to finally unravel the wool from all the places Peri had found to wrap it. He was very thorough and quite inventive at times. I didn't even know there were springs under my chairs. It wasn't fit to be saved. I couldn't even bring myself to take a photo. It was too horrific. But the last laugh is on the cat. It was a blanket for him. It will be a while before I feel like picking up the needles for him I can tell you no matter how loudly he purrs. However the most important knitting tip to be learnt from this is Never and I do mean never leave a cat alone in the same room as your knitting. Well not my cat anyway.
You can see how tired all that activity made him.

Oh and the missing needles turned up miraculously when I showed the girls my new needles. They both said, "oh well as you have new ones we might as well keep the old ones we hid."
Mother's Day tomorrow had better be good.

My cat likes

My cat Peri ( Syrian) for Sprite loves lots of things. Some of the time he manages to be a good little kitty but he's only four months old and still has a lot of energy in him. His top five likes right now are:
1. To sleep on my pillow so that every so often during the night I get a mouthful of fur, or some rather loud purring in my ear.
2. He likes to watch me have a bath or shower. He leaps up onto the edge of the bath and is very interested until he gets splashed by water. He shoots out of the bathroom and then complains loudly until deciding to come back in.
3. Playing with my wool, in particular a ball of green acrylic. He will hunt it down wherever I hide it, and will then parade with great pride past me with it in his mouth.


4. He like to play with his toy mice, but mostly their fluffy tails are the attraction.

5. He likes feathers, loose ones and thankfully not while attached to any birds. We have two Cockatiels and a Rainbow Lorikeet he totally ignores

So that's the low down on Peri, he's developing his personality and growing into a very loving cat. My hubby is constantly surprised by how affectionate Peri is. I did try to tell him. I had a cat several years ago that looks just like my widget cat and was called Darcy, but Peri has helped me to get over missing him and the dreadful decision I had to make about leaving him in the UK.



Today I have started to read Christie Dickason's The Principessa as part of my reading what's on my bookcase.
The opening pages starts with Sofia's rules for survival and it made me think of my own rules
Always find the good in a situation ( if possible)
Take a leap of faith ( when safe to do so)
Be grateful (for everything, even when you're not)
Smile (it saves on wrinkles)
Be positive (everyone else moans enough)
Give to others (when you can)
Expect good things (they have to happen to someone)
Love a lot (it's lonely otherwise)

What rules do you have to live your life by?

Animal antics

Feeling a very strong animal theme right now after stumbling across this gorgeous pattern at Lickety knit.

So I had to visit Ysolde and get my own pattern. I tried hard (ish) to be strong but Elijah and Sophie were totally irresistible.


I just had to have him and Sophie. I am off to my social knitting group tonight held in my LYS to find some blue and pink wool. I just won't tell DH that I'm buying even more wool. I can only give up one thing at a time and it's books right now. I can't waiti to get stitching on these cuties. Everything else will just have to shift a little further down the pile.

So to continue with my animal theme....
if you were an animal, any animal, what would you be and why?
I would choose to be a cat, not just any cat, but an oriental cat because I regard myself as definitely high maintenance and without sounding awful really need to know that I am adored. (I know the kids do ) I love attention. I am also quite independent and like to have my own space around me and I can at times be incredibly perverse. I have done things just because someone said I couldn't and I cannot tell you how much trouble I have sometimes had to extrapolate myself from. I can be cute and cuddly but watch out I can hiss and scratch if I need to. I am a bit highly strung and a very active whizzing from task to task, and multi-tasking is a given but I can also be lazy and chill out in the sun while contemplating the birds in the sky and just how do they manage to fly? As the saying goes...


I think my servants must be lost in the post.

So over to you. What animal would you choose to be? Any other cats out there?