I don’t care how many things I have on the needles!

I’m casting on my almost safety orange Featherweight Cardigan.  You can’t talk me out of it.  Oh!  Look at that!  I just cast on 76 stitches and away I go. 

Happiness is…

a wee box picked up from the post office:

Gratuitous skein of Noro for scale:

Tiny right?  Would you believe there is enough yarn in there for two cardigans?  Well there is!  One for me and one for yarnpiggy.  I’ll show you mine but it’s strictly up to yarnpiggy to show you hers!

Yep, I totally caved.  That’s four skeins of Malabrigo lace in Tiger Lily.  Grrrrrr!  Gonna make me a Featherweight Cardigan in almost but not quite safety orange!  Yay.

I ordered from Valley Yarn on Friday night, shipping confirmation received Saturday morning, card in my mailbox yesterday to pick up parcel today.  Sweet!  Mind you, Valley Yarn is almost a local yarn store for me so shipping to other further afield addresses would take longer.  There was also a nice little sample of Soak in the box, I’ll send that along to my co-orderer/enabler.  I already have this scent.    Shall I pop your yarn in the mail tomorrow if you wish, just drop me a note tonight.

Everything inside the box was wrapped up in a biodegradable plastic bag so it was all ecofriendly too.  Super service on this little mail order and really good prices.  Plus, added bonus, free shipping in the US and Canada on orders over $75.00.  Okay, my sales pitch is over. 

Now, I have to go soak my feet in some epsom salts.  I wore innapropriate shoes and then walked way more than was a good idea.  Oh vanity, thy name is strappy sandals on a sunny day!

The Beentsy entrée of the day will be leftover steamed salmon with some dried organic turkey liver.  The Mr & Mrs Beentsy entrée of the day will be tuna salad.  In case you were wondering.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Toes in the sunshine

It is officially spring.  I present to you, bare toes in green grass:

Truly, this is one of the most wonderful sensations in the world.  It does seem a little strange that we are only a little over three weeks from summer and this is one of the first days I’ve been able to tickle my toes with blades of grass.  (ETA – I’m an idiot, it is not three weeks to summer at all.  How embarrassing!)  A late blooming spring indeed.

You’ll also notice that I’m still wearing long pants.  There are two reasons for this.

1. I have the palest legs in the world normally and this being the latest spring ever, they have not actually seen any sunshine since, oh, about early October.  I don’t think my little Canon could take a decent picture of something that white.
2. It’s the playoffs.  The Canadian men grow beards until it’s over and the Canadian women, well, some of us that is, don’t shave our legs.  Sort of a weird lazy tradition. 

Oh!  You must go have a look at Bethany’s new etsy store.  She dyes yarn in the most sumptuous colours!  Mmmmmmm, pretty yarn. 

Happy Tuesday everyone.

PS – the Beentsy entree of the day was poached salmon.  I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t get wild caught but hopefully next time.    She didn’t seem to care either way.

Monday, Monday

So, remember those cupboards that I said were not long for this kitchen?  I came home to this today:

Huh, would you look at that.  I’m psychic. 

Thank you to everyone for all your kind words for Beentsy.  She’s currently lounging in the back yard on a cushioned lawn chair in the sun.  She also wants everyone to know that she is completely enjoying this whole spoiling and feeding thing.  Today she particularly enjoyed the dried buffalo liver that I brought home and later on she will be enjoying the organic holistic salmon in broth cat food that was purchased for her.

What’s that?  What are the hubby and I having for dinner tonight?  Hot dogs & homemade coleslaw.  Teehee.  Please understand, it’s by choice.  I didn’t blow our whole food budget on kitty yum yums.  We actually like barbecued hot dogs.  Plus, baby is trying out a new coleslaw dressing recipe tonight.  Whoo hoo.

Again, thanks guys.  It’s just really great knowing y’all are out there.  A huge hug to everyone.

Not a great Sunday actually

So Beentsy the wonder cat was not feeling very well last night.  She had peed on the bathmat and then she peed on our bed.  The pee on the bed had blood in it though.  Off to the vet today to see if there was some sort of urinary tract infection or stones.  She also needed her semi-annual blood test to check her thyroid so it was a two birds, one stone sort of thing.

Blood was taken, urine was collected, and an xray to check for stones.  Everything came back normal.  Even her thyroid levels were good, and that’s the first time in over a year for those.  Unfortunately, the x-ray revealed that Beentsy’s lungs are all a dark mass.  We’re going to treat this from the positive side first and treat for possible fluid on the lungs.  So she’s on diuretics for two weeks and antibiotics to knock down any possible infection.  We’re really leery to do a biopsy as she’s almost 16 and general anaesthetic is to be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

I feel a bit numb and just really sad.  Been has lived with us since she was about 1 or 2 days old.  The hubby found a litter of six kittens at his work in a nest under a paper pile (he worked at a paper recycling plant).  The mom had been run over and he brought them all home.  Bottle feeding and total lack of sleep ensued for me.  I’m positive this was the final straw in the childless by choice decision process for me.    She’s been with us ever since.  Being hand raised she’s a little different than other cats.  She fetches and actually comes when she’s called.  More than I can say for the dogs.

It’s just shitty, really.  Oh well, I’m going to be a glass half full person and think good thoughts for fluid issues until I’m told different.  Her next appointment is May 16, unless something goes funny before then.  She’s completely enjoying the level of spoiling that has been in the offering since we got home.  Nothing like a bit of smoked turkey and kitty treats to make a cat forget the indignity of having their temperature taken.

Once more into the breach!

Today was ‘install a nice shiny new window that actually opens’ day at our house.  Now, you know what that means, right?  Yep, let’s talk about structural integrity and why, apparently, it is completely not necessary in our house!  As previously mentioned, we still have yet to find any good supporting walls in this old house of ours.  Years ago there was an episode  of Saturday Night Live and Kevin Nealon was doing a mock up of “This Old House’ called ‘This Damned House’.  It was brilliant, him looking over a bubbling red pit in the basement and in his best Bob Vila voice, “Whatcha got there is your basic hellhole!”  We’re starting to feel a bit like that.

Anyway, on to Saturday’s festivities.  First the old window,

had to be taken out:

This sort of gave the house that kind of lived in/drive thru feeling.  Not exactly what we were going for, but the air circulation was fantastic!

Then, the surprises started.  ‘Cause you know there had to be surprises.  Let’s have a look at some of the beliefs held by the previous owner of our wee house, shall we?

1.  If you don’t have shims, heck, strips of shingle will do:

2.  You need a minimum of three layers of drywall on any wall.  This is to make up for the fact that there is no insulation in the wall.  An outside wall.  Where the cold and such is.  Sigh.

3.  No 2 x 4, or any other wood for that matter, needs to actually be in one piece.

They can just sort of butt (he he, I said butt) up against each other and that should be fine.  After all, it’s happy thoughts and sunshine that hold a roof up, right?

Yep, all those things are just fine.  Gravity means nothing, you just go ahead and build it how you want!

Anyway, here is our nice new shiny opening window.  In all its installed glory.

Love it!  See those cupboards off to the left?  Yeah, their days are numbered, they are going to start getting ripped out tomorrow.

Oh, and in honour of Les Nessman, Mr. Beentsy drew out the placement for our island, in blue tape.  Oh yeah, we’re cool!

Okay, that’s enough of that.  I’m going to go knit on something mindless.  I’m betting it has Noro in it too.

Who knew? Not me

I had no idea that I, Robot had been filmed in New Westminster!  I thought it was all done in Vancouver, so I was not linking the benches with the filming at all!  Chris looked it up on IMDB and Kyrsten lived in New West when it was being filmed.  Kyrsten has also given me a hint where to find the next bench!  I love a quest.  Apparently, it’s down on Front Street.  I wonder if I can sneak out tomorrow while hubby is doing renos?  Hmmmmm.  I want that fourth bench!

Oh, and I’ve ordered I, Robot from the Surrey Public Library.    I should have it next week.  I wonder if I can read it before the next semester starts (May 4) and all the fun reading stops?  Hmmmmmm.

The Three Laws of Robotics

I was in New Westminster a few weeks ago and came across something sort of interesting.  In front of the New Westminster Police station was a bench that had a bronze plaque on the back.  The plaque read:

A little way down the road was a second bench:

A bit further and boom, there was another one:

Cool, right?  Unfortunately I could not find the fourth bench with the third rule on it.  Drove me crazy all the way home as I had not read I, Robot by Isaac Asimov.  Thankfully Wikipedia was there for me when I got home and I now know that the Third Law of Robotics is:

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Note:  I almost went back to the New Westminster Police station and asked them where the fourth bench was.  Then I realized what I was about to do and also realized that they would think I was a loon and that’s never a good thing in a police station.

It’s not all booze and fun around here

The head cold continues apace.  Ugh!  I have actually been getting some knitting done too.  See:

That’s my Charlotte’s Web.  I’m just starting the third colour and need to move up to the next longest needle to accommodate all them there stitches.  I’m a tidge worried though.  It’s not quite as big as I think it should be based on what row of the pattern I’m on.  I’m going to go with blocking will cure a myriad of sins and make it much bigger.  It’s all I’ve got for now. 

The sun has been making a rather concerted effort of warming our area lately, as evidenced by the mighty Beentsy:

What you can’t see in these photos is the entire other cat hiding behind Beentsy, who is also sucking up as much vitamin D as is felinely possible.

So far, I’ve not ordered the Malabrigo for the Featherweight Cardigan.  So far!

Public Service Announcement (PSA) v 2.0

Because I care, I am going to share this very painful and vaguely embarrassing bit of info with you in hopes that it will help you and save you heartache and expense in the future.

When you are drinking gin do not order yarn.  There, it’s that simple.  Not that either of these things is a bad thing, when taken separately.  It would be fine to order your yarn then drink, or just order yarn, or just drink.  It is the fourth option that causes a problem – drinking gin then ordering yarn.

When I finished my last class I placed my first ever order with Blue Moon Fiber Arts for some Socks that Rock.  I’m in their sock club but I’d never just ordered some skeins.  So, after my final exam I had a large gin and tonic in celebration of finishing said final exam and then I hit the internets with my paypal account in tow.  Wrong!  It’s not that I ordered too much yarn, it’s that I completely forgot what yarn I specifically wanted to order for a specific project and just ordered whatever I thought was pretty at the time.  Duh!

Granted, it is very pretty and I do love what I picked but that does not take away from the fact that I”m an idiot and I didn’t order what I actually wanted after waiting like 2 years to place and order with Blue Moon.  This is just a huge fail as far as I’m concerned.

What did I actually get?  This:

All are lightweight and the colours are from top to bottom:  Spawn of Brawn, Farmhouse, Lemongrass, Puck’s Mischief, Fire on the Mountain, and Kaw Kaw.

Hmm?  What’s that?  What did I actually want to order?  Oh, I wanted two skeins of medium weight in Watermelon Tourmaline and Farmhouse to make the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  Sigh, la fail for me.