Today’s blog entry is brought to you by the color PINK.

Lucy says:
“Photoshop is evil. Photoshop is evil. Photoshop is evil. Little longhaired daschunds should not be allowed to use Photoshop.”

Speaking of Lucy . . .

Shirley asked:
I notice that Fancy Feast now comes in delicious kibble. Has Lucy tried it yet. That white Persian with the green eyes eats it out of a crystal goblet, and seems to enjoy it.

Shirley, we got some last weekend to give to her as treats. She loves it! And it’s funny, she’s gone off the canned Fancy Feast just recently. She flat-out refused it last night, so I’ve stopped giving it to her. She eats as her “main” food Artemis dry cat food, but I give her Science Diet Dental Formula and now the Fancy Feast kibble as “side dishes.”

Lucy gives it all “two paws up.”

OKC

In an effort to distract your attention away from Lucy’s humiliation, here is a photo of the left front of Deli:

And I’ve started the right front.

But not all is pink. For this arrived in the mail yesterday:

This is qivuit roving. I purchased it from the ebay store Mountain Shadow Ranch. I hesitate to spin it, fearing that I’ll screw it up.

Cotton Question:

Allyson asked:
What do you think about using cotton cashmere for a lace project? I am working on the flower basket shawl from IK and was thinking of knitting another for summer evenings in a cotton blend. What are your opinions on cotton for
lace? Specifically lace that is not knit using microscopic needles

I’ve used Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere for two sweaters: my Lucy and Luanne designs. Lucy has a lace edging and Luanne has an all-over eyelet pattern. I loved using the Cotton Cashmere for both of these sweaters. It blocks beautifully and the lace looks fabulous.

Now I’m trying to decide what to knit after Deli, which is currently the only project I have on the needles. (I finished knitting the kitty bed Tuesday night.) I’ve got some yummy La Luz that’s calling out to be knit, but I have several other alluring things as well: for example, Cashcotton 4-ply to knit Fruity (sans beads) as a couple of knitters across the pond are doing.

Have a good weekend!

Thank you for all your excellent suggestions in the comments for how to deal with stinky yarn! I think it’s worth collecting them all and putting them on one page so that they are available for future reference. I will do that, hopefully in the near future.

Today was a day that started in Dental Hell and ended in Knitting Nirvana.

I can think of no better way to erase memories of dental hell than to acquire yarn.

Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere (in pale pink and pale green), to knit the cute cabled sweater in the new Vogue Knitting.

I also purchased this:

A green chibi, as insurance against when they run out of green plastic and start making them in another color. *snicker*

I sucked it up and finished the left side front of Deli. Because I neglected to photograph it, you’ll have to take my word for it for now.

Lucy held down the fort at home.

Ever vigilant, she is on the lookout for pink frilly outfits and tiaras.

On my office windowsill this morning.

I Got Deli

I did finish the back of Deli last night, and embarked on the left side front. The back seemed interminable, and while I know it will take me as long to knit the two front pieces as the one back piece, psychologically it is so much more pleasing to me to knit two small pieces instead of one large one.

There is some shaping at the bottom front of the sweater — see?

Stinky Yarn?

Pam asked a question in the comments yesterday about what to do with stinky yarn:
I bought some nice colinette yarn from an e- bay auction for me to make up a poncho, got it for a nice price too, BUT the yarn has an odd smell, not cigarette smoke but odd, I DO have other colinette yarn ( did the throw kit once) but in that kit, no smell, of course.

I was thinking maybe I could try washing it up ( I have had luck with simple shampoo on wool before) , so I thought tomorrow I would go for it,, hang it out again til it smells fresh and clean before I work with it.

Pam, I think hanging it outside to air out, as you are doing, is what I would try. In the comments, “Knitterlady” suggested Febreze (something I’ve never used, so I have no experience with it). Does anyone else have any suggestions for Pam?

Moving Day!

Both Claudia and Melanie have moved their blogs (but you probably already know that). Go say howdy to them in their new homes. Ladies, if I could show up on your virtual doorsteps with a casserole in hand, I would.

Lucy’s Heritage

There was a bit of confusion about the feline photos I posted yesterday. The first photo was indeed of Lucy, zonked out. The second photo, the lovely lass with the white mittens, is not Lucy. It is Shelley’s Miss Kitty. Also zonked out. Lucy does not have white paws.

In answer to questions about Lucy’s breed, as Andrea said in the comments, Lucy is a ragdoll. She is a seal colorpoint ragdoll. Miss Kitty is (I’m betting, though I don’t know) a mitted ragdoll. What’s the diff? There’s a good description of ragdoll “colorways” on this page at the Cat Fancier’s website.

Something creepy on that page, however, is the “Ads by Goooooogle” box that displays. The first ad that displayed when I accessed the page read:

Discount Ragdoll Kittens
New & used Ragdoll Kittens. aff Check out the huge
selection now!
www.eBay.com

That’s just bizarre.

Anyhow, the descriptions of Ragdoll characteristics and temperament fit Lucy exactly.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Who here would like to see a picture of Lucy dressed in a frilly pink outfit, having a tea party with some teddy bears?

Just kidding.

P.S. to KnittyKim:

“We’d better not risk another frontal assault. That rabbit’s dynamite!”

Because I got one of my WIPs (that being Mel) off the needles and into the FO list, I resumed work on the kitty bed that I haven’t touched since I last mentioned it in my blog, about two weeks ago. I worked on it yesterday evening, and every time I put it down to attend to other things, Lucy picked it up. Hopefully, she’ll be as happy with it once it’s completed and felted.

Kathy in Mpls asked if Lucy was taking a break in her training schedule. Kathy, she’s back on track — see?

After seeing the photo, below, of her competition, she jumped back into her regimen with renewed . . . um . . . vigor?

This is Shelley’s Miss Kitty who is clearly also in training.

Marnie was the first of several of you who identified the quote in yesterday’s blog entry as being from Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out.

(I’m in agreement with the commenters who said “A Close Shave” was their favorite W&G film. How could I not love Shaun the Sheep?)

I remembered hearing something about a W&G feature film, and Becca mentioned it in the comments, so I did some Googling and came up The Wallace & Gromit Movie: Curse of the Wererabbit — here’s the movie website. Here is the main Wallace & Gromit website. According to these sites, the movie will be in theaters in the U.S. in October.

I wonder if the wererabbit is any relation (a descendant, perhaps?) of the killer rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

Deli

After taking some time out this weekend to complete Mel, I’m back plugging away on Deli. Here’s the back:

Once the kitty bed is done, I’ll be down to one project on the needles. I may have to break down and cast on something. I do have the lovely La Luz I bought a couple of weeks ago at Knit Happens.

I think it’s time to give some thought about what that might become. I’ve got the germ of an idea that I need to consider further before I decide whether it’s good and worth pursuing or lame and deserves to die. It’s a fine line.

Cuteness Alert

If you want to see extraordinarily cute photos of a tiny doglet posing with yarn, go here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Susan asked:
I just went to check out “Luanne,” and I noticed that it’s knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmere Cotton (or vice versa). Can you let us know if you prefer one over the other? Rowan’s CashCotton vs Debbie Bliss’, or how they differ, if you like them both for diff reasons?

They are very different yarns. The Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere is 85% cotton and 15% cashmere and has 109 yards per 50 gram skein. Suggested gauge is 5.5st/inch on a US size 5 needle.

The Rowan Classic Cashcotton DK is 35% Cotton, 25% Polyamide, 18% Angora, 13% Viscose, 9% Cashmere, with 142 yards per 50 gram skein. Suggested gauge is 5.5st/inch on a US size 5 needle.

The Debbie Bliss yarn has a much higher percentage of cotton, so it has a much more “true” cotton feel to it. The cashmere in it gives it a lovely soft touch, however. If I picked it up and didn’t know what it was, I’d guess it was mostly cotton. Duh.

The Cashcotton is like no other cotton I’ve experienced. (“I dunno, lad. It’s like no cheese I’ve ever tasted.” Extra points to you if you can identify that quote.) If asked to guess its composition, cotton would not be my first guess.

While the gauge for the two is very close, they knit up into very different fabrics. The Cotton Cashmere knitted fabric doesn’t feel as fragile as that of the Cashcotton.

Which do I prefer? They each have their place in the Great Pantheon of Yarns, but if I had to choose between the two, I’d choose the Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere.

I’ve not used the Manos Cotton Stria, by the way, so I can’t comment on it.

I did, however, finish my Blue Sky Organic Cotton sweater, Mel.

I also sat down at the spinning wheel for the first time in over a month. A couple of weeks ago, Brittany gave me this:

Lovely Fleece Artist handpainted merino. It now looks like this:

Brittany, I’ll leave it at Knit Happens for you on Wednesday.

Holtz & Stein Needles

A couple of people have asked me where I get my Holtz & Stein needles. Mine were all purchased at least a couple of years ago. It looks like nobody has them any more.

Lantern Moon is manufacturing ebony needles, but just dpns and straights, as far as I know. Anyone have any idea if they are planning to make circs as well?

What’s a Chibi?

It’s a little plastic case made by Clover that contains darning needles. I bought mine to live in my “travelling” knitting bag, as opposed to the cache of tools that I keep at home (in a ZipZaps® Micro RC Pit Kit Carrying Case).

So apparently Chibis are no longer being manufactured in pink. Can’t live without a pink Chibi? There are several up for auction on eBay — one here. And another one here. And one more here.

No, none of those are my auctions. I found them by searching for “Clover Pink Chibi” on eBay.

Happy Spring!