DSCF8457, originally uploaded by criosa.

longtime, no chat, eh? sorry. I’m still knitting, I just don’t keep up with the blog much.

So, story time…

My boss (well, he’s the owner, more than my actual boss, but whatever) has a cabin up in Annandale. Someone was staying there and left a kitty behind. They soon realized she had kittens.

Anywho, he asks me a few weeks ago if I know anyone looking for a cat. I told him that I’d been looking for one. Fast forward, she had her spay surgery on Friday and she was dropped off tonight.

She is set up in my bedroom. Wolfie will sit outside the door when I’m in there and meow his fool head off. She’ll growl at him from her side of the door. This will be fun, I’m sure. (*rollseyes*)

more pics of her here

she still needs a name.

*sigh*

so yesterday Kashka went in to the vet to see what was what. and it turns out that she had a tumor destroying her teeth and jaw. (we opted not to do the xray, so I’m not sure how bad the damage really was). since it was a tumor, we had her euthanized.

I think I’ve (finally!) matured as a quilter. that or I just care enough about the FO to behave myself.

Tonight I finally started my BOTM quilt that’s going on my bed (eventually). (it’s the gold one mentioned about halfway through this post here.) the first block was in September, which I bought in late Oct/early Nov. It’s a bitch measuring things constantly, but so far my square in a square in a square (which will be the center of the quilt) looks pretty darn nice.

(I’ll post pics when I finish the square.)

in knitting news, I went to my friend Kim’s yesterday and we had a Harry Potter movie marathon in anticipation of the new movie coming out this week. since the last time we tried this we only made it through the first two movies, Emilea and I decided to start with the third movie. and as is usual for me, I fell asleep during the fifth one. anywho, I took the intarsia bag (started back in March ‘05) and managed to figure out where I left off (row 5 of the chart) and managed to get through the chart and beyond. I stopped at the part where I have to miter the bottom of the bag cuz I started overthinking things.

I’ve been trying to focus on the WIPs. I keep sort of joining ‘focus on the WIPs’ type groups on ravelry, but my knitting enthusiasm has been kind of low lately. at any rate, I’m sort of participating in the WIP Wrestling group - the intarsia bag has had good progress, and I’ve also been working on the Harry Potter book scarf this month. and I really want to get all the things that just need the ends woven in finished. we’ll see how I do.

in spinning news, I signed up for the Tour de Fleece - the goal being to spin every day with the Tour de France. I started out good, but haven’t really done much spinning since last weekend. so much for spinning a little every day. and the grand plans I came up with for the month. ah, well. at least I’m being crafty.

in other news, Kashka’s been sick the last week and a half or so. I took her in to the vet, and it’s either a tumor or just some really badly infected teeth. she’s been on antibiotics, and she seems to have improved a little bit. (the greatest evidence being her enthusiasm at chasing and pouncing at a moth that she and Wolfie found in the apartment. she’s been pretty lethargic since she’s been sick.) at any rate, she’ll be going in to have surgery soon to either figure out if it’s a tumor (I hope not) and, if not, have her teeth sorted out (cleaning, removal, etc). so if you’re so inclined, healthy kitty thoughts would be appreciated.

I’ve been working on the stashbusting baby blanket on and off for a while now. nothing too exciting - just a big pink rectangle of stockinette. was figuring I’d end up finding a baby to give it to (my cousin’s due in November - so if she has another girl, I’d have a gift at the ready). It’s been on my desk (I worked on it the other night while listening to the first chapter of Twilight.), but I tossed it onto the floor while trying to clean my desk off earlier.

hmmm… maybe I’ll be keeping it:

that was earlier.

this is now.

(and if my sister’s reading this, the blue up in the corner is the hat he pulled out so he could sleep on the other hat.)

I have been knitting lately, just seems pretty boring working on the eternal WIPs. I’ve been heading down to Burnsville on and off the last few weeks to knit with Nancy & Rina and whoever else happens to be there. I went to Drunken Knitting Night at Merlin’s Rest with Kim and Becky from dance (and we encountered Dave, also from dance. He was one of the musicians, not knitting.) oh, and I knit ’round the campfire at my cousin’s fall gathering last weekend, where I was told that the two petals of the flower washcloth looked more like a bra or bikini top. hadn’t realized that, but he was oh-so-right.

Projects I’ve been working on lately have been the Positive Energy Stole (mostly at Burnsville), seaming the HP POA scarf, the flower washcloth, the short-row scarf of doom (aka Sea Lettuce) and the Zucca blanket. I bought a few needles for needle felting and a bit of blue fiber (I haven’t made anything more than a couple blobs yet) - I blame my sister for that. (ever since she got interested, I’ve had it in my head that I need to copy her. I figure I’ll add some designs to a felted bag or something in the future.) In spinning news, I finished the Miss Babs fiber and have started one of the Seawools from Creatively Dyed.

In non-knitting news, I wandered (well, drove) around the Twin Cities today for a quilting shop hop.
This is what I got:

and this is what the finished quilt would look like:

I only got the fabric for the squares right now (I can buy a kit with all the fabric for the borders and such to finish it up), and I only have 6 of the squares. (missing the yellow & green square in the center right and the green one with the red X in the center top). I’m thinking I might make a table runner or something instead of the quilt as shown.

I also fell in love with one of the shops (located next to All About Yarn) Block of the Month quilts:

It’ll be queen sized when finished - which is perfect since that’s what size my bed is (which is also good cuz the kitties try to crowd me - usually one on either side of me). It started in September (with the medallion in the center), so I’m not too far behind.

and, in parting, some kitty pics…

Wolfie napping (or attempting to, before I found him and grabbed the camera) on the treadle of my wheel

dinner time. Wolfie weighs nearly twice as much as Kashka. though most of him is still fluff.