And Another Baby Gone to the Bridge

My sweet ol' man Tonk has left to join his beloved sister, Meezer, at the Rainbow Bridge. It's been almost two weeks and I've yet to cry. He was so sick, cancer as best we could tell, and the tumor got bigger, but his love of life was strong, and I kept him with me till I was sure he was ready, at least somewhat, to leave.

My happiest of cats, the perpetual teenager. My Tonk-a-Tonk. The Silly Boy.

I miss you darling. Kiss Meezer for me, and you two keep each other happy till I get there.

My Sweet Baby Girl

In healthier, happier times.

Very Sad News

It's taken me a week to finally be able to let you all know that my dear Meezer went to the Rainbow Bridge last Wednesday morning. She'd been dealing with unresponsive diabetes, something known as Chyle, and of course her standard stuff. On July 4, we met the vet at the clinic and I helped drain some of the chyle from around her lungs, making her more comfortable, but the next morning, I found her with her head in a puddle of water from her dish. She simply didn't have the strength to move. I rushed her back to the vet, but the decision was that things were just too complex and she wasn't responding as we'd hoped she would. I made the hard decision to let my baby girl go.

You all have spent many years of her life with us out here, and while I'm unsure whether anyone is still stopping by, I didn't want you to think I cared so little as to let you know of her passing.

She's at the Bridge now with CC and BB waiting for me. They'll keep her company. But oh how I wish we'd been able to go on. She was my dearest darling girl, my best knitting and blocking assistant, Nana Sadie Rose's best sewing assistant. I'll keep her photo as my Ravatar, because I'm known that way. And that way, she'll be a little part of me as I go forward without her.

The Meezer

As of this moment, she's okay, but I wanted to share with you that she's having health issues, primarily at this point uncontrolled diabetes. We are taking insulin twice a day, but so far it's not coming down. She's still a lovable almost 16 year old (her "Birthday" is mid-August, so I chose the 15th.

Please enjoy this short video of my girl... and keep her in your thoughts if you will? I'm hoping to keep Her with me a good long while yet.

Wrapping Up 2015

I cannot believe how long it's taken me to get back here to the blog! One of those reasons, of course, is that Facebook takes up a lot of my time...and is easy to just float around on and lose track of time, too. The other is that this fall was really busy, with 3 small shows for Nana Sadie Rose in September, a two day show in November, and then in my REAL job I had two business trips in October. Then add in the holidays and the annual audit in my real job, and it just has seemed as if life is speeding up for me, tho' I'm hopeful that's mostly in the past now.

I've been knitting tho'. So I have a few things to share. I can't put them in order, I don't think, because I've just been getting them up on Ravelry (at least I do stop in there once in awhile!), and that's where you'll find the order of everything as well as the details. But here are a few photos of the finished items this 2015 that haven't already made it to the blog:

My Noro Yoga Socks. I'm hoping to jump back into yoga in January, so these will get some use finally!

My purple and brown tweedy fall socks took a lot longer to knit that usual, because of these:

I made two trips to DC via train, and these were my travel companions.

This was a contribution to our annual NoSoKnit charity event. It's Mousseaux. I loved knitting it - and it went fast. Too fast, actually because I pushed it and cause some tendinitis in my left hand that I've been struggling with ever since.

And my peek a boo mitts. I'm not sure I'll get to wear these. This has been a ridiculously mild winter - with temps in the 70s over the holiday. I'm hoping we'll at least get a bit of snow this year, but...who knows?

Unhappily, a colleague has needed a chemo cap and I was happy to provide it, but not happy at all that it was needed. I enjoyed seeing her face, tho' when she put it on. She's been wearing it ever since. ;)

So as you can see, I've been knitting. I'm working on another charity shawl that the yarn was donated for. I'm hoping it will be finished in 2015 (3 months before the deadline!), and I really think it will because I've only got a few more rows and the bindoff. Then blocking. I'm off till after the first of the year, so there should be no trouble getting that done!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, I did. Very glad to see this year come to a close, and have so many plans for 2016. I'll be back with my "One Word" (which is actually two) for 2016 post, along with some of the plans I'm putting together. And I PROMISE - one of them is to do a better job of posting here on the blog...tell your friends - those who used to stop by, okay? I hope to see everyone back again!

(((((((hugs)))))))

A Fast Faux Project

This week has been unbelievably stressful, what with the loss of two of Roanoke's own shining stars...I needed something mindless - but a bit challenging - to keep my hands busy, after I did a few bags in preparation for the two shows in September. So I started something that some might consider fool-hardy: a faux fur mobius cowl. It helped. It was fast, I needed to keep my mind and eyes on it (unlike socks which I can almost knit in my sleep, and have once or twice lately). It will be appreciated in the winter. I think I love it. Yarn is Paton's Moxie (two skeins of which I picked up at Tuesday Morning a few weeks ago). The pattern is Easy Mobius Cowl. I think I love it.

A Friday Drive-by

Just because I haven't been here for awhile, I thought I'd share a recent photo of the newest member of our family, Moji. He's come a long way since April, and we're pretty happy about that. Still something of a touch-me-not, he only comes to me for attention when I'm a captive audience...as do most kitties, he likes to invade the bathroom when I'm in it, and only will position himself beside the wall and me for serious petting sessions. Otherwise? He's not much on getting love. I figure he knows that I'm truly under his whims and biddings when he corners me there...anyway, rather than offer TMI, I'll share this - one of his favorite resting spots, the back of my sofa:

He's a cutie, eh?

A Little Nana Sadie Rose News

We've made the decision and the fees and applications have been mailed and approved: We will be doing two small church craft shows in the Northern Virginia Area in September!

The first will be at St. James Episcopal Church in Alexandria on September 19. The second, the following weekend, September 26, at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, on Fort Hunt Road in Alexandria.

Both are small, short shows, only on Saturday during the middle of the day - it makes doing a show manageable, and a lot more enjoyable! I am hoping that those of you who look for me at the National Capital Cat Show every year, will consider making the trek to Alexandria one of those two weekends to see me ;)

I'll be sewing up a storm the next few months in preparation, so look for some photos here soon. And remember you can always look for my things in the etsy shop!

Ten on Tuesday! I'm Back!

Okay, it's Tuesday again. And I liked this one, knew I could easily do it, and so here I am!

This time it was to name 10 tracks on your favorite Pandora Channel and that channel is the Zuill Bailey channel. Don't know that name? You should. He's an amazingly gifted cellist. There's a bit of a family connection in that his sisters took violin from my sister's husband (I believe I've got this right) and they lived nearby my sister as children (in the Northern Virginia area). He's an artist who has performed with my beloved RSO at least three times in recent memory (tho' I missed his last concert when I was ill - DD got to enjoy my ticket and she brought me one of his autographed CD's as a thank you!). Yes, you can read more about Zuill at his website. The solo cello pieces listed below were all performed by him.

1. Meditation from Thais by Massenet (this was a violin piece and is probably my single favorite piece of all time)

2. Clair De Lune by Debussey

3. Suite for Solo Cello #1 in G Major (Bach)

4. Donnie Darko film score by Andrews (I was totally unfamiliar with this piece, not aware of the film...guess I should look it up, as the music was very nice)

5. Suite for Solo Violin #5 in D Minor by Westhoff

6. Passacaglia for Solo Violin in G Minor by Biber (not Justin, I promise you) - this is also known as the Mystery Sonata

7. Fantasia for Violin by Telemann

8. Suite for Solo Cello #3 in C Major by Bach

9. Suite #4 in G Major by Demachy

10. Love Story Film Score by Francis Lai

Immediately following were two film scores I adore (one film I've seen, the other I've not) - Chocolate by Rachel Portman and The Hours by Philip Glass.

I'll just say that virtually everything on this channel I love. There are a lot of other channels I listen to (from Fleetwood Mac to 1940s Swing to Chris Botti - Jazz trumpet - and back to Joshua Bell, violinist), but this one is probably my favorite. I love that I get to hear things I know well and enjoy, and that I can learn about new ones that otherwise would not cross my radar. I invested in the "premium" channel of Pandora so they don't get to me with ads, and it's been well worth it. For $5 a month, I'm listening at work, at home, through the night. It's truly an affordable luxury.

A Flyby Post

Still having trouble touching base here, but I did finish a pair of socks! I don't know why I love these, the colors make no sense for me, but I do love them...

A New Addition to Knitnana's Family

Four years ago, I brought home this little bundle of fuzz you have come to know as The Tonk. He had a head injury and spent his time, when on his feet, spinning like a top. Months of steroid treatment later, the spinning slowed finally to a stop, and he became the fat and fuzzy Tonk you all have come to know and love. Even The Meezer loves him.

Last week, a friend here in town posted a photo and link to a nearby county's Humane Society to my Facebook page...It was what appeared to be a little Siamese who had some injuries and had had surgery, but was looking for a home. I have no idea why that little furball stuck in my mind, but, since I no longer had to worry about the one-time-sweetheart's restriction to two cats only lest I become a "Crazy Cat Lady" (What? Become? Who's kidding whom here? I am a Crazy Cat Lady no matter how many I have!), I phoned the only person that mattered in the decision-making process, my landlord. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my landlords? They are the nicest couple, and have only ever taken great care of me and my humble abode. I somewhat apprehensively asked if he would consider stretching the limits of the lease from 2 cats to 3 so I could take in yet another kitty with a disability...and he said "Since we don't really even know that you HAVE the two that we KNOW you have, what's one more?" and with that, I adopted Moji.

Any resemblance between the two is coloration and skinny/scrawniness only, I promise you, because The Tonk is a Tonkinese mix, and Moji is a Himalayan (yes, probably a mix). Moji, it seems, was probably caught in a fan belt. And if THAT doesn't make you start rapping on the hood of your car in the mornings before you leave the house in the cold/cool weather, I do not know what will! His fur has been shaved, no doubt to be sure they had all his injuries accounted for. He has a nasty wound that has been beautifully sewn but is definitely NOT healed yet, and then that patch above his eye. The injury is all the way down to the eyelid, but he CAN see. Both my "Best Cat Vet in the Whole World" and I were pretty worried about that. But he can SEE!!

I won't bore you with the attempts at getting this poor little guy a name. Suffice to say, it's probably the highest number of comments I've ever received on a Facebook posting. We finally, at the Mosaic Yarn Shop manager's suggestion, started thinking of knitting terms. And the gal who originally posted his photo to my page said, "did you know that the Hindu word for 'sock' is Moji?"

Well, what does the Knitnana knit? I give you my little Moji (and he IS little...6 lbs 3 oz!) - but then, so was The Tonk as you can see from that photo above...and look at him now:

And this was Moji last night (he's a cuddlebug)

We had just settled down for the night, he's lying ON me, and sort of beside me. I'm so not used to that, but it's nice...at least while he's little. (and he may never get big - because the vets all think he's about 3 years old.

My little Himmie.

And just in case you were wondering?

She still rules the roost! :)

Hi, There! Remember Me?

I've really been a bad, bad blogger lately, and I'm going to try hard to remedy that. Promise. So how about I share with you a few things I'm working on? I'll begin with the two pairs of socks I'm working on for me. The first is a pair of black socks in Knitpicks Stroll for the symphony. I almost always wear black slacks to concerts, and I do not have a single pair of black socks. So that's the first project, and no, I don't have a photo because, well, because they're BLACK. What's there to see?

So the second project is this pair of socks in Regia Design Line by Arne and Carlos. The colorway is Fall Night, and that orange? Well I almost walked away from it, but my friend, Annette, who manages Mosaic, was knitting it and I just couldn't take my eyes off it. I kept thinking - change is good, you need to spice things up a bit...so even tho' I had the lavender and pink colorway on the table in front of me, so I got this one and set it beside, too, and I could only get one...and well...

You can see what I have on the needles. Shaking things up - it's a Good Thing (to quote a famous person).

I'd already mentioned buying the Zoom Loom, and so you can see I've been adding to my fiber library, right? Those two magazines are the ones that pushed me into weaving. I had finally gotten all of my Piecework Magazines loaded to Ravelry one snowy day when I had a bit of free time. And suddenly noticed that this issue was missing. I looked it up, to see why I hadn't bought it. And realize it was because of the weaving. I located a copy of it, and in the process learned of the Handwoven issue with a pattern for a bag using Weave-it squares (the precursor of the Zoom Loom).

And then I had to add these two books, of course:

So this weekend I decided I wanted to work on something a bit different than the worsted tweed I shared with you last (and I have several skeins of that on the way here so I can do a throw in these squares). So I picked up a partially used skein of sock yarn, Berroco Sox Metallic to be exact:

And I've fallen head over heels for the drape of this fabric it creates. I have another skein on the way, and this will grow up to be a vest to wear over a chemise, or possibly a turtleneck in the winter. I love the way the sock yarn plaids in varying arrangements, don't you?

So, I'm back. Let's see if I can stay awhile?

OH! And one more thing: Last weekend we did a show in Williamsburg VA - History Unwound. If you get a chance to go next year? I think it's probably worth your time. They had great instructors...(all of them Rock Stars in the fiber world). And one of them stopped by my booth for a chat and photo shoot:

Did I say Rock Star? Yup!

New Hobby!

I'm Zoom Looming!

Hi There, 2015!

I promised a photo of the hats (most of them) I made this year. Here is a photo of my daughter's family modeling their new hats (yes, every one of them got a new handknit hat!).

Each of the boys got a Robot Hat with their favorite color for their robots (green for DGS1, blue for DGS2, purple for DGS3). The two girls got the Baby Bow Hat in matching colors, and the parents each got a black hat - dad got the Seaman's Cap I've made many, many iterations of. Mom got the Republic Hat, and I added a glitzy hair clip to make it sparkle.

I did make another of the Baby Bow Hats, for a friend of my sweetheart, and I think I've posted that one before, so won't do so now.

Now for my 2015 plans? Well, I mentioned that I need to finish up Sweetheart's Jazz Strings socks (I'm almost finished). And then I have two pairs of socks started for me that I want to finish. This is good, because over on Myrna Stahman's Shawls and Scarves group on Ravelry, we've begun our third year of a finishitis KAL. So there are three pairs of socks right off. I'm going to also go out on a limb and say that I need to make more socks...sooooooooooo:

I think I'll do another Stash Sock Club. This one will only be 6 pairs over the twelve months, beginning in February (hopefully I'll have the three pair mentioned above finished by then). So every other month. I've already packaged them up and they're ready to go:

Only one of those bags is for my Sweetheart tho' - because his feet are very long. It takes a long time to make his socks. At least this time, the rules are simple: My Plain Vanilla Toe-Up Sock pattern that I've pulled from 3 or so different sources to combine to make the sock that fits us well. Absolutely NO patterning. I can't make socks fast if I do that.

I have a few other items I want to finish up, too, so I'll try to get at least a few of them done this year. And start making things for Christmas now...maybe (not necessarily hand knit items, but hand sewn perhaps, too!).

Happy 2015!