Today I Was The Statue

I mentioned that one of our cats has an idiopathic chylothorax. She had done very well for 2 to 3 months and then the fluid built up again and there were a couple of visits to the vet. After the last visit, the vet suggested some additional supplements and some different food. The food worked well as I think she was happy to have a change. The supplements not so well.

I am already breaking open the capsules of rutin, mixing with hot water and administering by syringe. So I crush the vitamin tablet and add to this mix but I also have to give her a special oil. I tried some. It's tasteless and odourless. Great I can add it to her food. Well it's not odorless to my cat. I added 1/8 teaspoon to her wet food - she didn't touch it. I waited a few days, added 1/8 teaspoon to the bottom of her bowl of dry food - she didn't touch it.

I need to get this stuff inside her. As I am already syringing her 2 to 3 times a day. I decided to add a little of the oil to the mix. I suctioned up the multi-supplement mixture pushed the bottom of the syringe, syringe pointing straight up..... and woosh the plunger moved very quickly and I was wearing the green mix.

Clothing Needed in Calgary

I have mentioned that I periodically check the knitting and crochet books in the local library. Late last year I checked out Guy Knits: The Best of Knitter's Magazine. It included patterns for hats, sweaters, sleeveless pullovers and even an afghan. Some of the patterns were very male suitable and some were of the "a man would never wear that" category.

There was a hat pattern that I thought would be suitable for hubby and in a mad moment I decided I would knit it for him for Christmas. I had to buy yarn and work on it when he wasn't around. Three different colours were needed for the hat. It was difficult to find 3 male friendly colours in a yarn I thought soft enough to wear on the head. I purchased 3 balls of yarn and started the hat but soon came to the realization that
1. I was not going to finish by Christmas and
2. the yarn colours were not working in the pattern.
I abandoned the project.

I still wanted to make the hat so when the yarn store had their after Christmas sale it was a chance to buy suitable yarn. I ended up with 2 colours in an Australian merino and a third colour in a different yarn not quite as soft.

The white and grey yarns are Pear Tree Supersoft 10 ply and the red yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca.

As the original project was to be a surprise I kept this version a secret too. The difficulty being that everytime it was really cold, hubby would work from home preventing me from finishing a hat that he could really use. Anyway it was finally completed and worn as it was still very cold. The hat is reversible therefore double thickness and very warm.



This is a picture of the complete hat.



This is the first version of the hat and you can see that the colours blend together and hide the pattern.

February Knitting

Two pairs of socks and two dishcloths in January. Was I able to continue in February? No and yes. Although I posted two pairs of socks for January, the January mystery pair was not finished until 19 February. I started a sock on 1 February to fit the theme but had to admit that not only was it too big but the yarn didn't show the pattern. I put aside all thoughts of socks in February until I finished January's mystery. February's socks were subsequently started on 19 February and I have finished one sock.

I fared better with the dishcloths making both the patterns.

The one for the beginning of February is smaller which I find better for dishcloths. If I had known this, I could have used left over yarn but that is all part of the mystery. I sent this one to my Mum.

 

Here is the one for the middle of February. By the number of cast on stitches I realised it was going to be bigger so used a new (in the stash) ball of cotton. This was a good thing as it took 40 grams of yarn. Although this could have been worked in two or three colours.

January’s Socks

Of course I am still knitting socks and following the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. Every odd numbered month there is a mystery sock, so for these months I am aiming to make two pairs of socks – the mystery and another pair to fit the challenge.

The challenge for January was: Technique: Mosaic - Slipped Stitches/Socks for a Cause; Designer: Janel Laidman; Mystery Sock designed by Nicole Masson (stefanina)

The mystery sock is always based on the technique for the month so it would be a mosaic or slipped stitch pattern. I purchased yarn in Gina Brown's post-Boxing Day sale especially for this challenge. The yarn was Cadenza by Estelle; 80% Merino and 20% silk. Here is a picture of the two colours before being wound into balls.

When I purchased the yarn I didn`t notice how it was dyed. I don`t know the correct terminology but basically the yarns changes from dark to light in various parts of the skein. When you see the picture of the completed sock you will see that it doesn`t matter for the pink but I don`t like it for the red as it looks like the yarn is faded rather than deliberately dyed this way.

 Here are the finished socks



And here is a close up of the mosaic pattern.



 

For the other pair of socks for January, I made Socks for a Cause. The idea for this was to buy a pattern where funds were donated to a charity. I had pink yarn and I had a breast cancer awareness pattern but the pattern was free so I chose another pattern Pearl`s Diamonds Socks where all proceeds go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The socks are OK; not the best I have made. The gauge for these socks is 7 stitches and although the yarn label showed a gauge of 28 to 32 stitches, these would look better at a tighter gauge. The yarn is Fine by Spud & Chloë which I bought on the yarn crawl last September. And, obviously because it appears that I had my own sock theme going for the month, this yarn is also 80% wool, 20% silk.