Still Knitting

Why hello there!  I've been busy.  How about you?  Good good.  Well yes, yes I haven't been blogging.  Hm?  No, no nothing like that.  Why would you say that?  Geez.  Huh.  Well okay.  Well let's see here.  I moved.  Yup.  That was awful.  Never moving again.  Niece and nephew are all good.  Big changes in kitty land.  Spike's diabetes just never got better.  It was harder and harder to find someone who could take care of him.  He was having a lot of visits to the vet due to stress, and most of those visits cost extra because they had to sedate him to get tests done.  One time when I left for four days I came back and his back legs had seized and he couldn't walk.  Another time he had missed around three of his six shots due to his behaviour and scratched up my friend pretty badly.  It came to the point in the summer where I was having to decide between insulin for him and groceries and I couldn't go anywhere because, rightfully so, there was nobody to take care of him while I was gone.  I put him down with the most caring vet I've met.  Harder things have happened to me, way harder things, but this was the hardest choice I've had to make, and then carry through with. 

After Spike, I sent Lala to a home that had another kitty in it (a kitty who is affectionate and snuggles, unlike Spike, who bites), two flights of stairs to run up and down (she's totally a more fit kitty now), and a loving family with the best four year old in the world who assures me that he gives her chin scratches every day. 

Photo courtesy of Jenn

They even got her a Christmas tree. 

In knitting news, it was hard to blog because I lost my camera when I moved.  Thankfully I joined the Pre-process Knitters Group on Ravelry and had to go through my stash.  I found my camera in the stash.  Some people think that's really funny. 

I don't have photos or records of all my knittings of 2012- three projects I knit and sent to Calgary in the span of three weeks I couldn't even remember the pattern names and had to do research afterwards to put them in Ravelry.  Here's some fun projects.

I can't remember if I blogged about this but I knit The Shattered Sun Shawl by Felicia Lo.  Could see myself knitting a lot of these. 

I finally knit the kit that Mom got me for my UNBC grad.  It was for the knitting olympics and it went to Hazel for her first birthday.  Here's Lala showing it some love.  

For a photo contest I crocheted a mini Cthulu (technically a 2013 project but meh) devouring Vancouver.

 Do any of you know the SNL skit 'Being Quirky with Zooey Deschanel'?  Kristen Wiig came on it as Bjork.  She nearly lost it delivering the line 'I'm knitting a sweater for an octopus.  It has nine armholes, eight for its arms and one for its hopes and dreams'. 

 Yeah he's pretty awesome.  Pattern is Octopus by Hansi Singh from Amigurumi Knits.  I crocheted the sweater on him free form.

I'm working on lots of projects right now.  I may organize them all soon but for right now I'm going to show you my Pomatomus socks by Cookie A.  I avoided these for so long because I thought it was a hard pattern but it's not!  Requires concentration but is very straightforward.  I'm enjoying knitting them a lot.  

For Christmas I got a gift certificate and was planning on getting hot pink and cherry red for the Colour Affection shawl but alas!  There were no such colours in the yarn store.  Which was really shocking.  I was pretty put out and was mulling over the blues and greens and purples when I decided to go outside my comfort zone and get some lovely warm browns and creams.  Also, it cut the cost of the shawl in half so double woo!  I'm pretty excited to get started but I have to finish my Acer cardigan first. 

 I also did some quilting.  I have a peer who designs quilts and he asked me to test quilt his latest pattern.  My suggestion was to change the 'easy' label to 'AUGH HARD SO HARD WHY GAWD WHY?!??!?!". 

 It worked out in the end due to the forgiving black stripes but holy.  Cutting yarn on a bias?  Way too hard.  I'm getting the pattern for my Aunt and two of my friends who can actually measure because it's a beautiful quilt and a great way to use up scraps. 

I'm off to play video games now.  Trying to see if I can get through a Sunday without any semblance of adult responsibility.  Fingers crossed.  Here's a photo of the sunset the other night.  I like my new place.