See the “Knitting Chatter” button on the side bar for more information.

Bring your knitting, come and relax and enjoy.  It’s not always coherent in here - but it’s always a good time!

To my surprise, the new members of our household have settled in more quickly than I expected.  I had thought it would take them quite a while to relax but that turned out not to be the case.  I’m very glad - I hate to think of an animal being unhappy.  I may know that time will take care of things, but I have no way to convey that to the animal.

First, meet Cocoa Puff :)

This little one is probably about four weeks old and had arrived in the pet store with all his gerbil brothers and sister only about an hour before we did :) So he had a very active day!  Most of his first 48 hours here were spent asleep with the occasional foray to the food bowl or the water bottle.

Now he’s begun to sit up and take notice.  As all gerbils do, he is beginning to manipulate his environment.  Using bedding and hay, he’s already developed a set of tunnels and stuffed his little house completely full.  He shows a fondness for toilet paper tubes, but isn’t interested in egg cartons yet - maybe when he gets a little bigger.  Right now, he’s slightly less than two inches long, though his tail more than doubles his length.

The reason there’s only one picture of him is that when he’s up and active, he never stops moving :) Makes him the very devil to photograph!  Oh, and I’m using the term he generically.  We won’t know what his gender is for a while yet :)

And we have a pair of newcomers - new folks to us, but more than welcome :) This is Butch and Sundance :)

They are degus and their progenitors came from Chile, originally.  In that part of the world, they seem to fulfill the same sort of role as squirrels do here and, like squirrels, are often considered pests.

However, as pets, they are gentle, active and curious.  They’re like gerbils in some ways - the long, furred tail with a brush on the end, for example.  In other ways, they are similar to guinea pigs - vocalization and dietary needs.

These came from a breeder and he knew (so we know) that they’re both male.  That’s fine, they won’t fight and degus require company as they are very social critters.  From everything I’ve been able to read, you should never get just one degu - always a pair.  A solitary animal will pine - be depressed and not eat. 

This is Butch - he’s a little larger and a little darker than his roommate.  He’s also a bit braver :) When we came home Wednesday evening, we discovered that Butch had managed to escape from his tank (did I mention they’re climbers?) and was lurking behind the refrigerator.  We did, eventually, manage to corral his little fuzzy butt and get him back in the tank but not before the both of us practically had heart attacks!  Of course, Butch didn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest - wasn’t frightened or anxious at all.  Which is good because, you know, one of us had to be calm :) Of course we took steps to make the tank more escape proof too!





Sundance is a little more timid.  He was longer to come to us than Butch, but we seem to be making real progress.  Sundance is extremely fond of blocks - little wooden baby type blocks made for small animals.  He chews on them, picks them up in his teeth and carries them around.  Now that he doesn’t bolt every time I put my hand in the tank, he’s also interested in my ring - always nibbling on it - maybe to see if it’s edible this time?

Degus are considerably bigger than gerbils and live a lot longer - 5 to 8 years on average.  They don’t have the fearless demeanor of gerbils, but they seem to adjust quickly :)

We are thrilled to welcome them all and hope they’ll be happy too.  Believe me, we’re wasting no time in spoiling them rotten :)

Chatters is on tomorrow night - the usual time and place.  Bring your knitting and come and relax :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

It felt like a spring day when I went outside this morning - all sun, soft air and cool but not cold temperatures.  This is January, right?  I’m kind of two minds about it.

1.  It should last which would give us a mild winter and lower heating bills!
2.  It should go away because who needs a three-month case of spring fever?

I’m having a busy week :) Out all day yesterday, CT scan and blood tests this morning and out all day again tomorrow.  This may be the only post of the week, depending on what I actually accomplish (if anything) but I will try to get back here on Friday!

I’ve been spending some time on Ravelry, trying to get patterns sorted and photos uploaded.  And, thanks be, I’ve managed a little :) Ravelry now considers me a designer (please, please tell me that doesn’t sound horribly pretentious?) so I can edit and add photos.  This is good because, well, these are my babies and I want to make sure that they’re represented properly and accurately :)

Now I need to catch up the .PDFs and go through some of the older stuff and proof them again, carefully.  There are a couple of things I cringe to even think about which I probably won’t bother with - no, don’t ask :) However, everything will remain available on the blog even if it doesn’t get shared with the bigger, Ravelry world.

The blanket is proceeding - a bit more slowly than I’d prefer, but I can’t manufacture time to work on it.  When the 24 hours is up, the day’s over :) No biggie.  I have added another couple of colors to the mix…

Initially I thought the yellow was going to be too bright, too much of a contrast.  However, now that I’ve looked at it for a while, I kind of like it.  The colors all together remind me of crocuses in the spring.  Of course I’ve been trying to think if I want to use only these colors or do I want to add more.  I thought a green might be a good addition and set out to dye me some.





This is still wet and there’s a good possibility that it won’t be quite so...intense...when it’s dry.  It’s not a bad color - for St. Patrick’s day but I’m not sure it was quite what I was after for the blanket.  I’ll have to live with it for a while and see.

There have been some new additions to our household but right now they’re all a little camera shy.  Actually, they’re all a little shy period.  Introductions will take place in due course but for now, we’re letting them get acclimated to their new homes and to us before barging in on them like paparazzi.

I can tell you this though, they’re wicked cute :)

Just a couple of things I wanted to pass along…

My Picot is a pretty nice crochet site complete with instructions for reading diagrams, symbol explanations, stitch patterns, motifs and even some clothing patterns.  If you’re a crocheter you may want to check it out - it’s good - and promises to get better.

The other thing was a cartoon that had Myria and I howling most of yesterday afternoon. CaturdayMorning is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and if you also happen to be owned by a cat...well, just watch it.  But don’t be drinking anything and have a couple of tissues handy because you’ll laugh till you cry!

Chatters is on for tomorrow night.  Bring youir knitting and your new year’s crafting resolutions - if any :) Hope to see you all there!

...and the first post of 2008!

New Year’s eve was quiet - we stayed home, watched movies and drank a little wine to toast the event :) I knitted, Myria played World of Warcraft and we passed a pleasant evening.  There were fireworks in our area, which surprised me as I hadn’t know the city planned to do that.  It would probably help if I read the paper once in a while - well, more than the comics and the crossword puzzle anyway :)

Yesterday, dad and I went to lunch at a local place - Owen and Ollie’s.  We had planned to go up-country, but it was snowing heavily when dad got to my place and we felt keeping things closer to home might be a good idea.  Now, I am an unabashed lover of corned beef and cabbage.  Most of the restaurants around here offer it as a special on and around St. Patrick’s day but Owen and Ollie’s offers it all the time.  And it’s awesome :) In fact Myria and I had the leftovers for lunch this afternoon and damn if it wasn’t almost as good as it had been yesterday!  This is a simple meal and Myria does make it at home from time to time - but again, usually around the middle of March when every market in New England is running specials on corned beef.  It is a real treat to be able to go to a restaurant in the middle of winter and have this wonderful meal!

I wore my Sunset Tiles shawl yesterday and am pleased to report that it’s large and warm and cozy - everything I wanted :) It was, however, a little damp when I got home because of the heavy snow.  Even just going from the car to the door, you acquired a serious bit of frosting :) So I draped it over the back of a living room chair to dry out before I put it away.  And guess what?  It acquired another admirer!

Backing up a little, to Christmas eve, in fact… I mentioned that dad and I went to his sister’s.  While we were there, my aunt’s mother-in-law came by to say hello and pass along season’s greetings.  This woman is an astounding 91 years old but you’d never know it.  She doesn’t seem to have the creaks and slow-downs that seem to trouble most older folks.  Her mind is whole and sharp and except for a bit of deafness, she’s in very good shape.  If you met her on the street, you wouldn’t have thought she was any older than 65 - tops!

When she hugged me, I could tell how cold her hands were - like ice!  I know that one too; it’s the reason I have three pairs of fingerless gloves floating around the apartment.  I couldn’t get through winter without them.  So I decided to make her a pair.  This required a little more work than usual because she is absolutely tiny - about the size of a 10 year old - with commensurately small hands.  So I did some research on children’s sizes (and why was almost everything I found for babies or toddlers?  There was almost nothing for a mid-sized child!).  Finally I had my measurements ready to go and I completed the first glove last night.  I believe it will fit her perfectly :)

That’s my Glacial Gauntlet there in the background.  My hands are a little bigger than average - but this lady’s hands are a lot smaller than average.  I should have the mate done in time to maybe deliver them this weekend.

And last but not least, there’s more color at the The Dye Pot.  This one had a somewhat different process - well, different ingredients anyway - than the others.  Check out Raspberry Fields Forever if you’re interested.

I think this mad dyeing kick I’ve been on has to do with the blanket in process :) The next batch (which I am already planning) will probably be done on the stove because I want to dye 300 grams of yarn and the poor crock-pot just can’t take it.

Heheh...life is good!