Though at the office we sometimes call it “WTF Friday.”

Okay. I hate mail order catalogs. In fact, when they appear in my mailbox, I throw them away on the spot. I live in a high rise condo so my mailbox is one of a bank of mailboxes in the lobby. Building management has large trash cans thoughtfully placed by the mailboxes so we can dispose of our junk mail then and there. No fuss, no muss

The other day I got the Gorsuch catalog in the mail. I didn’t pitch it because they always have a bunch of drop-dead gorgeous Dale of Norway sweaters in their catalog.

This time was no exception.

There is a Dale sweater on page 33 of the catalog (which as of this writing is not online at the Gorsuch website) called the Peace Sweater that I think is da bomb.

And most of the time the Dale ready-knits are not available as knitting patterns. I know the amazing Flor has charted patterns from photos of sweaters. Worth a try, eh?

I was showing the photo of the Peace Sweater to my coworker Monica and bemoaning the fact that it wasn’t good enough to chart from. Monica says, “Buy it, chart it, and then return it. What’s their return policy — 30 days?”

This woman is brilliant. You can understand why we hired her.

I looked at the return policy (now this is all in fun, you understand — I wouldn’t actually buy it, chart it, and return it) and it’s only 14 days.

Monica says “Well you’d have to take a couple of days vacation then.”

And we had a good laugh about it. Me calling in to my boss “Hello, Kay? I need to take a couple of days off — the sweater arrived!”

Mouse-a-thon News

Our Mouse-a-thon is featured on the Capital Animal Care website. Check it out!

And I put together a mouse package to show you all. Lucy is very proud of herself.

Map Hijinks

Ooh! Ooh! Wanna see where I work?

The upper arrow points to my building — the funky t-shaped thing. The lower arrow points to the U.S. Capitol.

So if you’re in the neighborhood, wave, okay?

Sock Yarn-o-Rama

The box of Regia I showed you yesterday? Purchased from Wool Needlework in Canada. Check ‘em out — their Regia is dirt cheap.

In yesterday’s photo, the color numbers are, from left to right: 5296, 5294, 5173, and 5343.

Contest A-Go-Go

August contest will be announced on Monday! Very cool prize . . .

And the Most Fun of All

I finished Frogner! I finished Frogner! Yahoo!!!!!!!

Zee front:

And zee back:

Official photo shoot this weekend.

Work on the Mystery Aran commenced immediately. Can you figure out what it is?

Maybe not. But there’ll be (hopefully) lots more progress to show Monday.

Have a wild, wacky, and wooly weekend, all!

By the way . . .

By all means, please do knit mousies for your own local charities. Use my pattern! I think that’s great! Gezunterheyt, as Deb might say.

Wouldja say that, Debala?

But don’t forget: you have a chance to win fabulous prizes with every mousie you send me.

And I think group projects are fun.

And I’d like to say a public “thank-you” to Katherine for her August 6 blog entry.

Speaking of Fabulous Prizes . . .

We are going to have the August contest next week. Stay tuned to this station! Win fabulous prizes!

And Speaking of Just Plain Fabulous . . .

Here’s Lucy, in her glamour pose. She really really wants to be the model on the label for the mouse packaging!

More Fabulousness

This came yesterday! In with my order for Daletta to knit Lotus, from the fabulous Bea Ellis.

I’ve only skimmed through it quickly, but I can tell already that it’s a gem. If you are interested in traditional Nordic knitting, it’s a must-have. Lots of old photos and descriptions, and charts, and patterns. Yum!

Even More Fabulousness!

Mmmmmm . . . Regia sock yarn!

The word for the day is . . .

. . . wait for it . . .

. . . fabulous!

I got this sad story from Andrea via email yesterday:

This is your yarn:

This is your yarn on cats:

Any questions???

I purchased 2 skeins of “Digit” yarn from Nancy’s Knitknacks (.com) which is a washed wool (they take a Jagger-spun yarn, wash it to slightly full it, then re-skein it). I foolishly left them out on the kitchen counter last night, and my husband brought up the second skein this morning. Apparently my 3 ruffians were wilding last night, and I never even knew it. Fortunately, the skein was still tied, so it straightened out just fine with a few good tugs. Let this be a lesson to us all!

Thanks, Andrea!

Speaking of sad stories, I’ve heard from some of you that your cat friends are not very charitable! It seems that they have been helping themselves to mice that are supposed to go to help poor little orphan kitties.

I hope these shenanigans don’t give Lucy ideas . . .

It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humidity

It may be trite, but it’s true! The temperatures in the DC area are only in the 80s this week but Jeez! The humidity!

When I go down into the subway to go home in the afternoons it’s almost unbearable. The other day I had to wait 8 minutes for a train and I was gasping for breath by the time it arrived.

I thought hot air rises so it ought to be cool underground. Not.

Lucy knows that the key to being cool is to to remain properly hydrated at all times.

Uh huh. She lolls around in the comfort of her air-conditioned home all day. That’s how she stays cool.

Mystery Aran

I’ll be starting the mystery aran soon! Here’s what I’m using to knit it.

Y’all remember this yarn? Sheepswool from Brunswick. I used to love this stuff. A good basic worsted weight wool with high yardage, reasonably priced, and a nice range of colors. Which of course got discontinued. I found this on eBay a couple of years ago.

Yes, I’m actually using some of my stash yarn! Get me!

Frogner

Here’s the second sleeve in all its glory:

Mouse-a-thon Update

I received the first mouse package in the mail yesterday! This was from Caroline in Baltimore. Thanks Caroline!

And we have a second Volunteer Mouse Stuffer — thanks Rose!

Yesterday Jessica revised my mouse pattern to make a slightly easier version — there’s a copy posted here. It’s also linked to from the main Mouse-a-thon page.

Thanks Jessica!

I’m already getting lots of emails requesting my address so you can send me completed mousies. Wow! I think we’re going to have a lot of rodents to donate!

In the interests of keeping Lucy’s spirit of generosity intact, it’s a good thing that I have a guestroom where I can store incoming mice and keep the door shut. This is the room where most of my stash resides, so I keep the door shut anyhow. Lucy is pretty good about not messing with my yarn, but I don’t want to put temptation in her path!

And she looks so innocent, doesn’t she?

As I receive mice from you all, I’ll post at the end of my blog entry who I received mice from the previous day (first name and city only) — that way you’ll know your package reached me.

And don’t forget — if you can’t get catnip where you are, or if you live outside the U.S. and are concerned about mailing catnip, let me know — I’ll put you in touch with Jen, our wonderful Volunteer Mouse Stuffer. She’ll stuff the empty mice you send her and mail them to me.

I’ve got an extremely warm fuzzy feeling about this project!

Ian and I discussed how to package the mice and he came up with a great idea. Yesterday I ordered a case of 4″ by 6″ ziplock plastic bags, 4 mil thick. These will make perfect mouse packaging, keeping them fresh, but displayng them nicely. Now I need to design a label that has the pertinent information — handknit mouse, made from wool or wool-blend yarn, stuffed with catnip. I’m going to do my durndest to get a good photo of Lucy with her mouse, so she can be the covergirl for the label. I think 3.5″ diskette labels that come on sheets that I can run through my printer will be just the right size.

I have a feeling that Ian and I are going to spend more than a few evenings sticking on labels and putting mice in bags. It’s gonna be fun!

Frogner

I’ve got a fair amount done on the second sleeve, so the end is in sight! I ought to be able to finish up Frogner by the endof the week.

I can tell you now . . . the next project will be texture, not colorwork.

Ah, but what pattern?

I’m not telling.

Just for grins, I’ll post progress photos each day and see how it takes before someone figures out what it is.

Yes, I can be very annoying at times!

But I Will Show You . . .

The Opal Inspiration color #5026 socks. They even match!

That’s the second pair in a row that I’ve gotten to match perfectly. I’m leading a charmed life.

Okay, what the heck am I Wow! Wowie, wow, wow-ing about this time?

You guys, of course! And . . .

The Great Charity Mouse-a-thon!

What a great response I got from you guys. So . . . we’re on!

I wrote up a description of the project and instructions. It is posted on The Great Charity Mouse-a-thon Page. The page is also linked to from my sidebar.

The cute graphic was created by Michelle of The Knitting Project – I swiped it off her blog.

All information about how to participate is on that page.

There is also a link there to a page of blank raffle tickets. If you have access to a printer, print the page and cut the tickets apart. Fill out one raffle ticket for each mouse you are sending me, and send the tickets along with the mice. This will make it much easier for me to manage the raffle. If you don’t have a printer, you can just write the information requested on slips of paper and enclose those with your mice.

What could you win if you participate?

The Raffle Prizes

There are multiple raffle prizes! The lovely and generous Catherine Smegal, she of the gorgeous Ragdoll kitties and beautiful Norwegian knits, has donated two wonderful prizes for the raffle. Lucy says, “Thank you, Auntie Cat!”

And I have donated another prize, in addition to the one I mentioned Friday, so we have four prizes to raffle off. Check out the prize page and read all about them!

The project ends on September 30, 2003 and shortly thereafter we will draw four entries, one for each prize.

Lucy is just worn out with the excitement of it all!

Frogner Update

Yes, I did get a bit of knitting in, even with all the Mouse-a-thon excitement going on this weekend. I finished the first Frogner sleeve.

And I made a start on the second sleeve.

Happy Monday, all!