MICE! ! ! ! Catnip mice, that is. I just stuffed my mice this evening and I still smell like catnip. hehehe Glad I don't have any cats around right now.

I love all the prizes in the Mouse-a-thon! Though, I do already have the pattern and yarn for St. Moritz, I do hope that I win one of the others. The new blue jacket might be too long for me as I am 1/2 inch under 5' tall but I love the three other sweaters and would happily give any one of those a home. I'm going to keep everything crossed that I get lucky.

I'm totally amazed and happy that Wendy has received over 1000 mice already and hope my six will find good homes.

What do you think of this hat and muff pattern? I'm in the SCA, Society for Creative Anachronism, which is a midieval re-enactment group. My persona is from the late 1500's and Knitting is period to that time. This hat and muff.... well, probably not period other than maybe in the look of the fake fur. I just thought it looked nice and toasty for some of the chilly evenings we have when camping.

It's made from Fun Fur and Fisherman's Wool and is felted. It comes in a kit from Lion Brand.

What do you all think?

Alicia, making the Enchanted Forest pattern into a throw is definitely an idea. I definitely hate the baggy look. I didn't like it in the 80's either... for the same reason, I'm short and look rather young for my age and baggy stuff makes me look like a kid wearing Mommy's clothes. ehheehhe It's still a way off in my list of things to knit so I have plenty of time to decide what I want to do with that pattern.

Got my copy of Vogue Knitting Designer Knits a few days ago. I got it because I kept hearing so much about the Enchanted Forest pattern. I do really like it but...... isn't there always a but somewhere???? I hate baggy sweaters like that!

I'm very short... half an inch under 5 feet tall.... so wearing something baggy like that will make me look like I'm a kid wearing Mommy's sweater!

The gauge is 10 stitches and 22 rows over 4 inches. That sounds huge! 2.5 stitches by 5.5 rows per inch. I wonder what would happen if I used a much smaller gauge!? They have a finished measurement of 58 1/4" at the underarm with the sweater buttoned. I'm no skinny-minnie but my underarm measurement is only 39".

Does anyone out there have any suggestions or comments on how I would be able to make this fit someone my size?? The pattern says it's one size fits all with size variations in the sleeve length.

Not the best of pictures as the sun was really setting and not at a good angle. You can see the cat tail and hiney in the center, the paw prints still aren't showing up clearly but they are there, and you can see the tails of the fish and the part of their bodies that are done so far. I'm now at the point where I work the front and the back seperately. The under arm gussets are on stitch holders and won't be worked on again, till after the front, back and collar are done.

I tried to get to this point before doing a picture in the hope that the pattern would show up better but, chat-a-holic that I am, I was chatting and knitting in the Yahoo Socknitter's Sunday afternoon chat. I just couldn't knit as fast as I needed to to get the better sun angle. eheheh I was busy chatting/typing.

After dinner, while there was just a bit more of sun left, I planted pansies in our front flower bed. They actually winter over here fairly well. They go dormant and look wilted but, once spring comes, they perk up and bring a bright splash of color fairly early in the season.

Now, time to take the gansey of the pillow and start working on it again. :) Of course, I'll probably be in the evening Knitting Chat online, too. The chat starts about 10pm Eastern time and everyone is welcome.

Here is Fuchsia from Dale's Svale book. I remember seeing someone working on it in red but I like the white version. I've not worked with this yarn yet so it will be interesting once I get to this pattern.

I love getting pattern books and picking out the designs to add to my "To Do" list. I just wish I had more time to work on all the things I want to make.

Currently, I'm getting ready to leave for a class. I've packed my Cat Gansey to take with me. My knitting bag is big enough to hold the sweater, an extra skein of yarn (or more), a notebook, pen, pencil, pattern, needles, and all the extras we always find we need when knitting..... oh and a big bottle of water. :) Lots of pockets on the outside to slide a bottle into. It's actually a gardening bag I found at Walmart for a whopping $7.99 and it works great and the colors aren't bad being blue with tan. :)

Off to class. Hope everyone has a great Saturday!

I'm still very much in love with my new chair!!! And so is my back. ::grin::

I know our weather is getting cooler but I like the style of this top. It's Symre from the Svale book by Dale. I would do it in a different color, though. Since I have plenty of sweater projects I already have the yarn for, this one can wait till warm weather starts rolling around again.

I'm still working on my Cat Gansey. It and the matching cap and a pair of socks are all I have left of my MidWinter gifts to make. Then I'll get back to doing stuff for myself. I have a tank top on the needles as well as a pair of socks. With the weather turning cooler, the tank top might just be put aside in favor of some of the new sweaters I have yarn for.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the hurricane on the east coast is not strong and that she does little to no damage.

I work Thursday and Friday so don't have any idea what condition I'll be in when I get home other than tired.

I couldn't resist this chair when I was at Costco. My old computer chair was well worn and didn't not work with my very sore back. I sat in this one at the store and WOW! Comfort!!!!!. Took it home and put it together immediately and it is so very comfortable. My old chair has now been relegated to the sewing machine where I have been using a dining room chair so things have worked out all around.





As promised, a picture of one of the projects that I want to do. This is Lotus from Dalegarn book #121. I don't know if I'll do it in the colors shown or maybe in blues since I already have yarn for another sweater in similar colors. There also is a darker color using more of a Winterberry color of Daletta as the main color but I'm not too fond of black and marine blue with the other colors which make it look a bit dark.

My new chair is soooooo comfy! Time to get back to knitting.

Woooohoooooo, after 5 days of back pain that only was getting worse, I tried the medication I was given for my shoulder injury, Bextra. It worked great! One dose and things are down to a very managable dull roar. What that means is that I can sit and knit again!!! I had been in so much pain that I couldn't concentrate so I didn't do any knitting. I tried but I just couldn't get comfortable. :(

Now, onto the second Wooooohooooooooo ! ! ! ! Three books. Norsk Strickhedesign, Savle Family and Dale #121.

Dale #121 has a pattern that I want to make eventually... Lotus. Savle Family has the cover sweater I want to make and, Norsk Strickhedesign... wow !!! So many that I want to make, including Virgins that Wendy turned from a cardigan into a pullover.

I'll try to have pictures of the ones that I like tomorrow captured with my scanner so they will be much clearer but I couldn't wait to share what the mailman brought today. eheheeh Wheeeeeee.

Doesn't everyone have a purple dragon??? hehehehe

I didn't get a bunch of knitting done today as I did some shopping and then started in on straightening up one corner of my computer/knitting room so I could move my OttLite over to the comfy chair for when I want to knit during the day. In the evenings, I sit at the computer and knit and type to all my online friends.

I still have more straightening up to do. Unfortunately, I'm a horrible packrat. I need to go through periodically and throw away old magazines (no not my knitting ones, they get filed into holders) and get rid of all the stray papers and notes I've scribbled all over the place.

Happy knitting, everyone! I'll be working this weekend... eewwwwwwww.

I'm still knitting away on the Cat Gansey. I'm on row 31 of 95 of the chest pattern. :) One thing that might be holding up the speed of getting this done is my chair at my desk... I think it's giving me a back ache. ::grumble:: I really don't want to have to buy a new one. Maybe all I need to do is re-pad the seat.

On to contimplative things.... Where were you when you heard about the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon and the other plane crash?

I was at work. Everyone was in shock. All the patients had their TV's set to the different channels watching the news reports. My Nurse Manager was frantic after hearing that the Pentigon had a plane crash into it since one of her sons work there. It took hours to find out that he was on the opposite side from the crash and was safe. The best friend of the older brother of a patient lost his fiancee on one of the planes. So many people were lost that, even out here in the South West, we were touched by the tragedy.

I hope that everyone's spirits rise again and we all can enjoy life. Hugs to everyone and lots of knitting.

Not the best of pictures as I took it while the sweater was in my lap but I hope you can see the curve of the cat's tail and, just to the right, one of the paw prints. There wasn't a chance to take a picture outside today since #1, we had a very gloomy day and #2, we had RAIN wooohooooooo ! ! ! ! !

I'm really enjoying knitting this sweater. I don't know if it's because I just plain old enjoy knitting, I enjoy knitting sweaters, or this is my first attempt at doing a design. Yes, I used parts from the other gansey I did but the Cat and the paws were my idea and they seem to be coming out better than I thought. ::grin::

Had a call from work.... can you come in and work... just four hours... p l e a s e ! ! They got my usual answer of NO! I already work full time and I value my time off and away from work where I feel like a burned and charred piece of toast.

Now for some knitting and chat in the evening online knitting chat we have on Knitting.about.com We usually can be found in the chat room around 10pm EASTERN time. (9pm Central, 8pm Mountain, and 7pm Pacific time). Come in and join us!

Work is coming along with the Cat Gansey. Hopefully, I'll have a picture soon, that will show some of the stitch pattern. I've finished row 21 of the chest pattern which is a total of 95 rows so I still have plenty of work to do.

I couldn't resist some new sock yarn.... I know. I really didn't need any more but one is really pretty and the other is PURPLE! heeh This is the newest Opal to hit the shores of the US. Lollipop is the name and #1009 is the pretty multi color one and #1015 is the purple.

Typical of a night after 12.5 hours of work, I'm too tired to knit. I'm afraid that I'll make a mistake so I'll just head off to my evening online Knitting chat and veg out for a bit before bed. Tomorrow is another work day.... uuurrrgggghhhh. Thank heavens the pay check pays the bills.

Here is another picture by the same artist who did the little girl squeezing the dragon. This one is "First Flight". The baby dragon is hanging onto Mom's muzzle for all he's worth as he doesn't really think he's ready to fly solo.

And on the knitting front.... I just started the first of the chest panel. I'm excited to see how things actually work out so, keep your fingers crossed (great excuse for typos, too) and I'll keep working on this and hopefully will have some knitting pictures to show once the pattern starts to show up more.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I'm still working on the body of the gansey so not much to show as it's all just stockinette stitch... round and round and round.... eheheh but here is a nice picture of a drawing that I purchased at a craft show. Kids today get puppies and kitties and bunnies... but in the world of magical history, a little girl sure could have received a pet dragon. I love the expression on the little dragon's face as he's being squeezed!

Happy knitting everyone! I'm working for the next two days so please send good thoughts in my directions!

Whhoo, long day. I've been up since 3:30 am. Fun day, though.

Not a lot to see here but this is what I have done on the Cat Gansey so far. The plain stockinette part will be 12 inches in length before I start the chest pattern so I have about 2.5 more inches to go. I'm currently working on one circular needle but will switch to using two when I start working on the chest pattern part.

I'm actually anxious to start one of the new sweaters for me but.... I have the pair of socks to finish that are a gift and I did start that Shapely Tank Top for me earlier to I had better finish those before I start one of the new ones. I'm debating between St. Moritz and the Hovedoen as the next project for me. Right now, it would have to be Hovedoen because I don't have all the yarn for the St. Moritz yet. We'll just have to see what I have all the yarn for when the time does come for me to start a new sweater.

Off to do some knitting.