sheep and no city

One week

ago...

...I had just finished the first of my blue Embossed Leaves socks. It took me a bit less than a week to finish the second one. Even with ripping back and shortening the toe on both socks about one pattern repeat.

Have you seen some of these socks in this fabulous pattern around in the Sockapalooza circus? I particularily like the white version Peggy knit. Alison had even collected together some more links of Sockapalooza's Embossed Leave versions while I was still busy linking to hers. Ah, the internet. Too fast for me.

from now...

...I will have finished my first day of work after spending 3 months on sick leave. It will also be a new job. It's kind of exciting, even though the job is not that exciting ... really....

Two weeks

ago...

... I finished Shedir. (PDF-link to the special cancer issue of knitty.com)
I substituted the yarn called for with Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino (colour 203). Since I was way off the row gauge, I had to break into another skein. Consequently, the plan is to add a pair of ankle socks matching the hat. They are just not completed yet, nothing to show.

from now...

...I will be off spending a week in continental Europe! In France, to be precise. Another thing to look forward to.

Three weeks

ago...

...I finished this Lopi cardigan. Brace yourself for appropriate and necessary exclamations of outrage: Even though everything was handpicked by the recipient (pattern, colour combination, even the buttons) he didn't even bother to TRY IT ON once. Since completion the cardi resides now in the coatrack for three weeks. I should have known that something like this happens. Oh, well... I'm proud of it anyway. I'm not often knitting b i g.

from now...

...we are going to have a new family member. After the first alarming incident and my untimely farewell to Willy, he left for real! He's been missing now for a months and we are about to abandoning hope that he might come home again*. We miss him so very much. Though we cannot replace him, we decided to carry on with sharing our house with a feline. So, after the holidays the time is ripe. I am already checking out the page of the local cat shelter on a daily base. Firstly, to check of course if somebody registers Willy and now, secondly, to find "our" new cat.

Okay, enough jumping around in time. Looking at the result, I feel kind of optimistic and that's definitely a good thing these days.


*Poor Willy was still suffering from his involuntary diet and was so weak that the vet had to force-feed him with via transfusion!
He headn't really recovered when he took off again. Because of that, he unfortunately wouldn't have the reserves to survive another long stroll (there's not much wildlife here to live from for stray cats)
Three pictures of finished objects justify just another shot of Willy, don't you think? Here he is not playing with my plötulopi yarn - no! He just grabbed the hanging strands and hugged them in his sleep. Oh, so cute!

See, sometimes, you've got things that are cute and they are tiny.

But sometimes cute goes XXXL.
Last weekend was the final round up of a French Art Festival (Pourquoi pas?) which had lasted since February. Obviously, it had to end with something extraordinaire. And so it did.
A huge marionette stamped through the city, incidentally looking for her father, the giant.
He left hints and traces where to find him.

It is such a funny idea and I was amazed that such a "simple" show can lure thousands of people onto the street. I mean, in times of Godzilla digitally remastered and all. It was literally great!
I think, for a couple of days you can still follow this link to see the news footage on the giant little girl's stroll through town.

But back to the little things. These baby booties are made out of scraps from Regia rainbow stripes I received from Judy in the good old sock scrap swap (September 2005!).
The design is by Dorothee from d.knit, you can find a link to the pdf file on her site.

Aren't they sweet? My new friend, the neighbour's kitten, thinks so.

I also have some normal size knitting to show. Long way back when it was time for
Toasty Toes, I liked the socks I knitted for Cynthia so much that I decided to made myself a sibling pair.
Same pattern, same yarn (Kid Mohair/Merino Sock Yarn from Crown Mountain Farms) different colour ("More Teals"). They are almost too warm for May, even in our climate.

Talking about socks.. uhm, who is talking about anything else these days, anyway?
I have heard from my sockapalooza pal via comments but forgot to mention it the other day.

Hi Pal, thanks for reassuring me, there's somebody out there knitting for me!

There seems to be some confusion this time with the contacting part. All the previous rounds have been quite silent and secretive on this matter, haven't they? But with over 1.000 participants it is quite understandable that people get nervous.

Okay Pal. Your comment is very much appreciated but please don't feel like you have to contact me. I know it can be a bit tricky trying not to give your identity away or you might just not be the secret message person. That's okay. Because, I know you are there now and trust in getting socks in the end ;-) Thanks.

Before I take action in the sockapalooza business myself, I thought I'd sign up for a challenge.
To warm up, you know. I am going to knit a sock in a day! This sounds absolutely crazy just the right thing to do now that I am beginning to feel a lot better in my back (thanks for all your comments on this, you definitely sent some good karma!). Nonetheless, I am strictly advised not to do anything silly (like gardening or painting the roof for example, both in the top seats of the to-do-list). However, I didn't dare to ask my therapist if this challenge would be a sane thing to do in my condition. I am too afraid, the physical immobility might have had an impact on my brain.