Kung Fu Knitting

I love my little cat Gunter, but sometimes I feel like he puts too much pressure on me. You see he's not an ordinary cat, but I suppose most people might say that about their pets. The thing that sets him apart from other cats is his utter devotion to me. He's really quite more like a dog: he follows me around, waits for me by the door, sits by my feet, etc. The thing that has really been getting to me lately is that almost no matter what I am doing he always there just staring at me waiting for me to look at him. It's kind of creepy and it's a heavy burden know that his world really revolves around me. That he's just there waiting. Like right now if I look down he's going to be there looking at me. Yep. It's lovely that we've bonded so, but, correct me if I am wrong, don't cats normally have a lot more going on in their inner lives? They're investigating, hiding, lording around the house. My other baby cat, Teeny seems to keep herself more tha...

It's for my sister-in-law. I hope it sews up nicely.

Yesterday my mother's christmas gift arrived. I wanted to get some fiber for her to spin. She recently bought a drop spindle and has been itching to get started. Teyani at Crown Mountain Farms suggested pencil rovings as an easy starter fiber. So I chose a nice colorway that she dyed herself. It's called autumn and as you can see it's aptly named not to mention gorgeous. What amazing service - they shipped it the day I ordered it and it came right away even with the Thanksgiving holiday. It's really soft and light, not scratchy at all. The thing that I really like about this gift is that if my mom decides that spinning is not for her, she can use the roving to knit with. There are some great felted items on the Crown Maountain site made from this roving. There hasn't been much kung fu this week as my teacher has been out of town and classes have been cancelled for the holiday. It's a good thing since I have been sick and my body needed some recovery time. Tomo...

I was picking a couple of things up in Wegmans yesterday. It was packed with people doing holiday shopping. I think it could have been a little bit stressful, but I was walking around smiling because of all the beautiful handmade scarves people were wearing. Some were simple. Some very well worn. But they all were quite lovely. It's nice to see such a local display of skill. I had been working all day with a plugged up head and scratchy throat, but by the time I got home I realized that I was really going to get sick. So eventhough I was feeling like crap I went to the Ithaca St'n Bitch. There was one other person there already. We knitted the night away. I was working on Christmas scarves and my KR gift elf present. By the time I got home I rally needed some nyquil, but opened a bottle of wine instead. I had to prepare stuffing for today. Anyway, I feel terrible today. By the time I got the turkey in the oven and the stuffing in pans, I couldn't really taste anything and ...

Wow it's hard to put in a "life line" for frogging on short rows.

I finished the collar for Eris a couple of days ago. I would be excited, but I am seriously contemplating frogging the left side of the collar again. The row gauge is fine for both sides. It's the knitting that's bothering me still.The first side I knit is a lot looser and rowed-out looking. I think I am going to contemplate this over the coming weekend and see how I feel.

There are some really great people coming to the S'n B lately. One of them likes to 3-d knit. She's made some cool things, and about the coolest so far was her ammonite. Actually, I think she has a sea creature collection. I hope she submits them to Knitty because there is no way the patterns for these creatures wouldn't be just snapped up.

I went to my LYS the other day looking for instant gratification. I wanted a nice skein of yarn that I could knit into a panta and wrist warmers that would look good on me. I did find that skein, but I found something else as well. Somehow I managed to walk out of the store with a $20 hank of sock yarn. Not that I don't have 3 unused skeins already. See the thing is that My LYSO had talked up Mountain Colors Bearfoot to me before: It's the softest, it's got the best colorways, it's just plain fabulous, your fingers are not going to believe it. Blah, blah, blah. And back in June she told me that she sent in an order and that she should have it soon. I kept on checking and checking, but it never showed up. Well she finally got that order. The UPS man delivered it right when I got into the shop and she opened the box for another customer that was sock yarn shopping. That was my downfall. All the beautiful yarn! OMG! It is the softest sock yarn evah. It's got 15% moha...

I have been sucked big time into martial arts lately. So much so that I have kind of ignored this blog and I even haven't been reading KR (that's saying something). It's all the fault of the UFC and the reality tv show The Ulitmate Fighter . (also here ). The guys on this show and in the UFC have so much skill and talent. They train in so many different martial arts that it's amazing. I never used to like boxing or fighting. In fact, I thought it was rather barbaric. I think part of my thinking was due to how my body reacted to this kind of stimulus. My pulse would rise and I could feel the adrenalin start to flow. It's a primal reaction beyond your control. I didn't really like that. I enjoy that now. By doing so much kung fu I have slowly acclimated myself to the idea of fighting. At first I didn't understand how much was involved with mixed martial arts (mma): how difficult it is, how demanding on the body and mind. I didn't get it until I tried it. ...