pawz socks

I've been refining my generic sock recipe for a while now, and I've finally settled on one I like.
These fit my little feet (size 5.5/6 US women's), but they can be easily adjusted.  This is just a general recipe and assumes previous sock knowledge.

Cast-on 64 stitches using the German Twisted Cast-On. (see http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/german-twisted-cast-on for a quick tutorial)

Cuff:  knit in 1x1 ribbing until there are 20 rounds.

Leg:  Switch to 3x1 ribbing until there are 80 rounds (including cuff).  Around round 78, rotate stitch placement, or just knit it as *k1,p1,k2*
Rotate by 2 stitches:  Before starting the heel flap, rotate the placement of the stitches on the needles so that the stitch pattern per needle is (k1, p1, k2)*  This just makes the pattern along the top of the foot look more balanced.

Heel flap:  standard (sl 1, k1)* on RS rows and sl 1 (p)* for WS rows until 16 elongated stitches (or 32 rows).

Turn the heel:  knit half + 2 (18 stitches), ssk, k1, turn.  sl 1 wyif, p5, p2tog, p1, turn.  sl 1 wyib, k6, ssk, k1, turn.  sl 1 wyif, p7, p2tog, p1, turn.  continue, increasing by 1 each time until all stitches are worked.

Gusset:  pick up stitches (about 18 on each side).
Odd rounds:  knit across needle 1.  work in pattern across needles 2 & 3.  knit across needle 4.
Even rounds:  needle 1:  knit to 3 stitches before end, k2tog, k1.  needles 2 &3:  work in pattern across instep.  needle 4: k1, ssk, knit to end.
Until back to 16 stitches on each needle.

Foot:  work in pattern until there are 65 rounds from the pickup along the heel flap.

Garter stitch short-row toe:  Start working on the bottom of the foot.  Knit to 1 before the end, slip, wrap, return final stitch, turn.  Knit to 1 before the end, slip, wrap, return, turn.
Knit until 1 before previously wrapped stitch, slip, wrap, return, turn.  Repeat until 8 stitches remain unwrapped.
Do ONCE:  Knit to wrapped stitch, slip, wrap, return, turn.  Knit to wrapped stitch, slip, wrap, return, turn.
Knit to wrapped stitch, knit 1 wrapped stitch, slip next stitch, wrap, return, turn.  Repeat this until all stitches are worked.  Knit one more row, slipping first stitch.

Kitchener toe to instep.
Weave in ends.
Done.

my kitty has cancer

This is going to be one of the hardest posts for me to write and eventually come back and read.

On Wednesday, 10/21/2015, after a week of uncertainty, the specialist vet called me to let me know that Callie has small cell lymphoma (a type of cancer).  She is only expected to live for 18-24 months.

On Friday, I decided to go with the recommended chemotherapy medication in addition to the prednisolone we started on 10/15/2015.  The order for the Leukeran was placed this morning and should arrive in a few days.

Some history:
Callie has been throwing up about once a week this summer.  The previous summer, she threw up about once every 3 weeks.  A few weeks ago, she refused to eat more than a few bites for 3 days, at which point I took her in to see our regular vet.  They did blood work and couldn't find anything wrong with her, so they wanted me to take her to a specialist for an ultrasound.  She started eating again after the vet visit, so I put it off for a few days until my work schedule calmed down.  The ultrasound revealed inflammation in the small intestine, so they did an endoscopy.  The initial results were inconclusive, so we had to wait for the more detailed test.  Given how long this has been going on in a low-grade manner, I was shocked with the diagnosis came back as cancer (as opposed to IB).

The prednisolone seems to be helping her feel better, and she wants to eat again.  She is especially thrilled with the Pill Pockets (chicken flavor) which hide her pill every night.

I've been taking lots of pictures of her, since I know our time together will be limited now.  She is my perfect angel, and I'm having a hard time grasping the thought that she will be taken from me much too soon.  She is only 11.

Patchwork Parfait - another needlework eclass

I've been interested in needlework pieces designed by Laura J. Perin for years.  I remember seeing a booth of her designs at the San Mateo Quilt Show many years ago.  Recently, I found her online, and I've been watching for one of her classes to come along that I wanted to participate in since then.

My supplies for Patchwork Parfait showed up today, and the class starts next Saturday.  It's an e-class, so I'll get instructions and can complete them when I want.  No deadlines, just fun.

Once I had everything laid out, Callie came over to give it an inspection.

It was going along well until she noticed one of the threads was on a spool.  She gave it a few bats initially to see what would happen, and then (with a little encouragement from me), she decided it needed to die.  I'm so proud of her.  (It's very difficult to convince her to play, so I take as many opportunities as I can.)

When she was satisfied, I put everything away and went to Exclamation Point to buy 16" stretcher bars.  I think I'm all set now for the class to start.

I feel a little guilty, but I haven't done much stitching on my other needlework e-class.  Some people posted pictures of their progress, and I realized I didn't like the way my chosen color-way was working up (way too much white and not enough color).  While I was at Exclamation Point today, I picked up 3 additional threads that I hope to substitute into the piece in place of the ones I don't like.

approximately equal progress on 3 projects

My current knitting projects have been in a weird state for the last few weeks.  They all ended up in time-out or on hold for various reasons at about the same time, and they're all now back into an active state.  I think I've spent an equal amount of time on all 3 of them over the last week, which is odd for me.  I usually like to have one main project to focus on and a few fallback projects.

I finished purple sock 1 of 2 on Saturday night, and I cast on the second sock on Sunday.

I decided I do like the cast-on for my colorful striped socks, so they've been living in my purse and getting worked on while I wait for various things, like dinner.

I came up with what I think is a brilliant time-saver for my sweater.  On the final purl row before separating the sleeves, I used the hole in my interchangeable needles to thread in a "life-line".  I then cut it in half (mid-back), removed it from the front/back sections, and left it just in the sleeve sections.  Ta-da!  The sleeves were all set on waste yarn with very little effort on my part.

Now that I've got a few rows of the body, I need to knit my sweater onto a longer cable tonight and try it on.

the sweater - fixing a mistake

I was super happy with my sweater progress.  I managed to finish an entire ball of Cascade 220 Superwash in 5 days while on vacation.  When we got home, I joined the second ball of yarn and knitted it onto a longer cable to try it on ... and noticed I had completely messed up one of my raglan increases 8 rows back (it veers off to the left at the marker).  This is not a mistake I can live with.

First things first, the sweater went into time-out.  I was upset, and that is no time to be trying to fix a mistake that involves increases.  The brain is a wonderful thing, and within a few days I had a plan of attack for how to fix my mistake.

Some of the tactics I used:
1.  I specifically picked Sunday, early afternoon, when the sun is at its best in my living room.  I have a nice light carpet to use as a background for the dark yarn.  I put on the Oakland Raiders game so there was something in the background, but nothing I actually needed to watch (they lost, again).
2.  I used a size 1 circular (recently freed from a sock, so it was easy to grab) instead of a lifeline to mark a good row.
3.  I used some size 4 dpn's (again, recently used and easy to grab) instead of size 7's (which is the needle size I'm using for the sweater).  I put one in place for exactly the stitches I intended to rip down to, which was one row above the "lifeline".  I selected 4 good stitches and got a second opinion.

4.  I followed those edge stitches up and placed markers on my cable so I knew which stitches I would be dropping.  That was 12 stitches.  I used a fresh size 7 circular to knit up to the first marker and then dropped the 12 stitches.

5.  This is my favorite idea that I came up with - I used a hair clip to get all of those squigly bits of yarn out of the way.  I just left the one strand of yarn I was using free for each row.

6.  I carefully knit across using the size 4 dpn's, making absolutely sure I got my increases right this time.  At the end of each "row", I had enough yarn left over that it was still easy to work, and then I carefully redistributed the yarn back across the row so the stitches were even.  Since I was using dpn's, I could knit every row instead of turning and purling.  (increase row, knit plain row, repeat).  There's still a but of unevenness at the edges of the drop section, but I'm pretty sure it will block out.

7.  We celebrated with chocolate (for me only) and by watching the San Francisco 49'ers game (which was going really well until the second half).

sweater the second

Something went click in my brain when I actually completed my first sweater and realized it actually fits.  I wanted to try knitting another one :)  I did a bunch of brainstorming while I was on-call on Saturday and came up with what I wanted to do.  A quick trip to Purlescence later, and I had my yarn and was casting on.  This one will be a cardigan, because that is something I wear all the time.  I did just enough rows to set myself up for airplane/travel knitting.  My project page on Ravelry.

Oh, and my knitting model is back.  I missed her.

my knitting model is on vacation

OMG, I finished a sweater!  And in less than 30 days.  This is the first sweater I've ever finished.

Unfortunately, my normal knitting model is currently on vacation, so you'll have to put up with a bad photo of me instead.  Ravelry link.

The ends have all been woven in now, and it's ready to be washed and blocked tomorrow (Saturday).

---

After a horrible week, I think the ants might be under control.  I worked a 16-hour day on Wednesday and came home to find them everywhere.  I left yet another message for my spray company.  They called back Thursday morning and said they would go under the house to spray.  I took a quick shower, packed up Callie, and took her over to my parents' house.  I'm still finding a few ants, but I've been promised they should all be gone by the end of the weekend.  The house smells pretty bad, and I know it makes Callie sick, so she gets to stay with my parents for a few days.