I actually took pictures last night with the intention of blogging today. I did. But now I can’t find the cable that lets me transfer the pictures off the camera. I know I took it to work, and somehow the camera made it home, but now I can’t find the cable at home or at work. This is very very sad.

Anyways, I finished the kitty bed - I just need to felt it. At this point, a very cute stuffed polar bear sitting in the middle of something that looks a lot like this:

That was the first cat bed I made, and i used the same yarn in the second.

Then, I decided to pick back up Alice Starmore’s Queen’s Anne Lace. Kevin helpfully pointed out that in Stillwater, the title page for Queen Anne’s Lace really says Queen Annne’s Lace.

It was easy enough to find my spot in the chart, but I found myself befuddled. See, if you are making the largest size, you actually start on the last 11 stitches of the chart at the side seam. That way, the motifs are centered on the front of the sweater. So, you do the last 11 stitches, and then circle back to do the 1 through 33. I set up my markers with the start at the beginning of the chart, which works perfectly. Except for when you get back to the side seam - you have to remember to jump up to the next line of the chart and do those 11 rows.

It’s not that hard to do, unless of course, you pick it back up for the first time in four months, and completely forget why it appears that the last 11 stitches are totally wrong, and you carefully rip downward and “fix” them. Which, of course, leads to utter confusion when you get back to that seam, and realize that you have totally lost your mind.

So, after rereading the instructions, and realizing I had it right the first time, I had to rip down two rows, and carefully fix the 11 rows. After that, it was smooth sailing. I worked on it all weekend, and ended up with maybe another inch. I did take a new picture, but the camera is holding it hostage. So, here’s the old picture. Just imagine another three colors added to the top.

This picture is from _April_. I should be put in Knitters Jail for letting it languish so long. It is so much fun to knit - its very slow going, and you feel like you are making no progress at all, when suddenly you realize that you can actually see a new motif.

Oh, and if you’ve made it this far, KnitPicks has a bunch of new yarns on Clearance, including a lot of Interlacements. I’m controlling myself, since I’m going to ThreadBear this weekend with my knitting group. I have no idea what I’m going to get, but if they have the Jamieson books, I’m going to consider Book 2 - its the one with the Arans in it. I have a boyfriend who wants an Aran sweater - not that he’s getting it until we’re engaged, dammit. I mean, if you already have sex with him, fold his boxers, make dinner, and live with him, you have to hold _something_ back. I know, I’m very silly.

My mom wants me to knit a sweater for her boyfriend (it seems so weird to call him that - I mean, they live together, own a house together, and have been together for years. They just aren’t married. There should be a better term for it, I think.). It’s not nearly as cold in Colorado as it is in the midwest, so he would get much use out of a heavy wool sweater. I’m thinking that perhaps a gansey would be better. Unfortunately, they aren’t coming this weekend until late Sunday, so I can’t buy something at Threadbear, since I don’t know Mike’s taste super well. I’m planning on torturing them by making them look at knitting books. We are going to Knitche in Downers Grove on Monday, but they don’t really have a lot of basic yarns - they have Cascade 220, but they don’t have the more basic Rowan yarns. On the other hand, they do have some lovely alpaca. I should at least be able to get good ideas about color.

And, they have the all holy Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk. Not that I need yarn for another sweater, but I’m in love with Lara. But, do I really want yarn for my birthday? (But, of course!) My mom was talking about a vacation with her and my sister, since this is a “big” (I turn 30. Eeek!) birthday. But, I think I’d rather she save the money and add it to my “Gail goes to Churchill to see the Polar Bears and Hopefully Not Get Eaten” fund. Or, have the money towards a new kitchen stove. I hate my stove. I hate it with a deep passion. But Kevin told me that was the silliest idea he had ever heard of, and then got all puffed up and cute, and said he’d take care of the stove issue.

And, at last, I just read on Knitters Review that there is now a Yarn of the Month club. Mainly, for 6.95 a month, they send you 4 sample yarns and a free pattern. It’s sort of a more frequent Elann sample newsletter, I suppose. I havent’ made up my mind - I still have 19 zillion little sample skeins from the year I had the sample newsletter. But, it was fun to get yarn in the mail.

buy chocolate brown yarn.

Even if it is on sale.

Even if it looks really groovy.

I will not.

That’s the only interesting thing I saw in this week’s Herrschners Yarn Sale. They do have Crocheted Aran Sweaters for relatively cheap, but that book frightens me. It just seems wrong to crochet an Aran Sweater.

I went Knitting tonight, and it was fun. Dee (hi!) has dived into blogs, so I’m giving her a shout out.

Oooh, I could answer questions from comments!

Monica wants to know if the Sims people knit. I am sad to say that they do not. They really should - I wonder what skill it would improve? Certainly not Cleaning or Body. Maybe Mechanical or Logic. Ooooh - Creativity. Of course. Duh.

Um, I don’t think I had any other questions from the comments. But I love getting them, so even when I’m lame and don’t respond (which is, well, often), I still love you all and appreciate you. Honest. However, I did accidentally insult all of the poncho wearers out there tonight. Poncho Wearers, you are all lovely. However, I’d really recommend you just go to your local department store and buy one. Why? Because they are cheap right now. I know, I’m just jealous because if I wore a poncho, I would look truly terrifying.

In knitting news, I am almost, almost done with the cat bed. Once I finish it, I think I’m going to pick back up with Queen Anne’s Lace. The tivo is truly backed up, QAL has been neglected for far too long, and I feel like I’m minus knitting elite points. Well, okay, knitting elite points don’t actually exist.

Finally, I wanted to thank everyone for all the kind things you said when I had to put Jacqueline to sleep. It really meant the world to me, and really helped.

My sister’s shawl is finally done. It took about 7 and a half balls of Crystal Palace Shimmer, and one ball of K1C2 Sprinkles. It’s from a pattern from , and it ended up very Victorian looking, I think.

Here’s one end, with the fringe all disordered. I made the fringe very long - I thought it needed the length to keep the elegance.

Here’s one of it hanging off my arm.

It won’t necessarily hang that long when worn properly, but I was tyring to give you an idea of the lace pattern.

Steph (I think its Steph! Eeeek!) finished her Clapotis, and its actually very nice. I’m not going to knit it, but in the Knitty pattern pictures, it looks like that the author of the pattern is being strangled when used as a scarf. However, in Steph’s pictures, its not nearly so bulky.

I”m finishing up a cat bed for my sister, and then I think I’ll go back to Queen Anne’s Lace as my couch project. I’m not sure what my portable project will be - I probably ought to go back to one of my scarf projects to finish it up. Winter is coming soon, after all. And I still need to put together Salt Peanuts. I should just spend an evening weaving in ends.

I also want to knit a Big Sack Sweater like I knit my mom for myself, but I don’t necessarily want to reknit the same sweater. Also, the yarn I have might be a bit bulkier than the Rowanspun Chunky. Mainly, I might just put in a different cable, and instead of rolling the bottom hem, use some ribbing. I liked the roll neck.

First, I really did have a fabulous blog entry all planned out. I did. It was going to be saved images of my own Sim doing all the things that I had been doing other than knitting. She was going to be washing dishes, cleaning, cooking, and, well, playing on the computer.

But, I was too busy playing Sims 2 to actually, you know, save pictures and edit them. I have managed some household chores, which have not extended to putting away laundry, or even folding half of it. I made dinner last night, and even washed the dishes. Well, except for a pan.

What knitting I have done has been very slight. Part of the problem is that the boyfriend’s computer is still upstairs, so he’s stuck listening to whatever I watch on TV. And I listen to truly wretched TV. While I’m more than happy to knit away listening to American Justice, which involves much murder and mayhem, he finds it a bit depressing. Especially after the third episode in the row. Yay, Tivo. So, I don’t just sit around and knit as much as I used to when he was in the basement.

On the other hand, its actually very nice to have him upstairs. I get more attention that way.

I do like that we have separate hobbies that we do on our own. I think we need a lot of “alone” time - by the time I get home from work, I often don’t have the psychic energy to keep up a lively dinner conversation, much less keep it up for a whole evening. We take the train downtown together everyday, where we usually read and just share random tidbits. The other day, he kept having me pronounce words. See, I pronounce most words very oddly, according to him. For example, Pint. I say pint the same way I say lint. He says pint like might, with a big i. He’s reading a book about language, so he’d test the theories by having me pronounce words. It was cute.

So, knitting. I haven’t done much. I’ve been playing the Sims 2, which is amazing amounts of fun. But, I have done bits and pieces. I’ve finished the fifth ball of yarn into my sister’s shawl. It’s going to be a stole, and meant to be draped across the back and over the crooks of the arms. On me, (and I’m a bit wider than my sister), its not quite long enough after it gets hooked in the crooks of the arm.

I am worried that I might have made a poor yarn choice, or maybe I didn’t design the right stole based on the yarn. I’m using Crystal Palace Shimmer, and knitting with it fairly densely. It’s a very heavy yarn, which makes for a heavy stole. When I looked at my back while wearing it, it seemed like it was collapsing in on itself, and losing the lace pattern altogether. I do need to do some finishing on the edges - probably some simple crochet. But, the pattern itself is lovely, and I think it’ll look nice in front. I haven’t decided on fringe yet - if I do it, I’ll make sure that I keep the chevron pattern, and not do straight fringe across.

I also started a kitty bed out of Big Kureyon for my sister’s cats. I was getting really tired of the stole - I don’t really enjoy knitting with the yarn, and having some nice wool in my hands again was very soothing. Plus, it made me feel a tiny bit better about Jacqueline. I’ll probably make another cat bed to donate as well. I need to find a size 13 24 inch needle - I didn’t have any available 10.5 inch double points, so I grabbed some size 13 ones I had for some other reason. In my last cat bed, I switched back down to 10.5 inch needles, but I think that made the cat bed fold in on itself - mine won’t stay open.

Thanks to the lovely boyfriend, who renewed his Downers Grove Library library card and paid the 190 dollars you have to pay if you don’t live in the city (or village), I now have library books again! Yay books!

How did repay this kindness? I deleted the season finale to Reno 911 after I finished watching it. Um. Oops. I think he was forced to go to bed with a book instead.

Anyways, if you scroll down, you can see what I have checked out from the library. Their knitting section is a bit smaller than the Naperville Public Library, but they do have some quite nice titles. And, better yet, they are part of a library system that has .

As for knitting, I haven’t gotten much done. It doesn’t help that I had to put one of my cats to sleep this weekend. That link takes you to the post I made on the Knitters Review forums about it. My personal blog also has some discussion. I’m just so exhausted. I’m worried that I’m becoming just plain maudlin about it - I’m trying to continue to do what I’d normally do, but I’m not sleeping well. Well, okay, I’m doing great at sleeping on the couch all afternoon, but when it comes to beds, not so great. But, everyone has been taking very good care of me. Including my other cat, Katie. She seems very confused, and keeps sitting in all the spots Jacqueline would sit in.

I looked at Petfinder today, and of course, I was immediately drawn to all the special need animals. Heh.

In knitting news, I’m bored with my sister’s stole. But, I’ll continue on - I’m actually very close to finished, and I need to decide on fringe, or if I’m going to do some simple crochet to help finish it off. It is turning out lovely. My hand is really tender still, so I’ve only managed a bit of knitting.

I really should go back to Queen Anne’s Lace - I bet it’d be very soothing. Or to my colinette afghan. When it gets chilly, it’d be lovely to snuggle under.

Anyways, here’s a picture of Jacqueline to close things out. She was such a gorgeous cat. But, while I know this is silly, I just keep telling myself that now she’s in kitty heaven, where she can run and play and chase mice and only get pets when she really needs them. There’s no one to walk to fast past her, or to play with the computer mouse a bit too loudly. She has birds to watch, and she never gets into trouble.