More Tonto, Plus Bike, Laptop, Hockey, Head (Yeah, it's a long one)

 Here is the picture they had of him on their website ... until I get daylight to take my own!

I probably don't have to tell you that I wasn't planning to bring a new cat home last night. Right? Here's how that happened.

Over the past ten days or so, I've sent out inquiries on a few cats. The first one, they said, wasn't fully socialized yet. The second, it turned out after a few days of no answer, had already found a home. The third I still haven't heard back about. The fourth was not Tonto, but was at the same shelter/organization. I inquired about her, and they suggested I come to their event last night to meet her.

I went innocently off after work, and found myself in the basement of a house in a nearby town, small and full of cats (and the associated smells, not blaming them, but slightly warm and pungent down there), some in cages, some wandering around. They actually foster the cats in volunteers' homes, but bring them to the shelter and to pet stores for frequent events. (Which, clearly, is a winning strategy. After all, if I'd been able to go meet the one, and didn't like her, I wouldn't have a second cat yet. But there he was!) I met the cat, a young female tabby, and didn't feel any particular draw to her. She didn't seem that interested in me, and while not unfriendly wasn't friendly either. She also hadn't been introduced to the general population yet, having only been fixed the day before, so no saying for sure how she'd be with other cats. I talked to the people about how I was looking for a cat who would be friendly to me and to Carlos, and they pointed out a few: there's this cat, he was in a home with other cats (he gave me the hairy eyeball from a distance), and then there's Tonto, he's never met a cat he didn't like. Tonto was walking around, so I put out a hand to him, and he rubbed against me enthusiastically. He seemed friendly, so I carefully picked him up, at which point he curled up, settled down, and started purring. Well, then. I patted him and rubbed his head, he purred up a storm, and I started to think, well, I could...

I had to run back home for the carrier and my checkbook, and proof of owning the condo*, so I told Carlos briefly about what was happening (not that he understood me, I know, but anyway). In the car, I had a few qualms, but hearing the song All Mixed Up, and the lyrics to "trust your instincts" gave me a good reminder. It just felt right.
*I imagine that after I left, they were asking each other who comes to a cat adoption event unprepared to adopt a cat...

The paperwork didn't take long, once it was my turn; I'm glad to say they were busy adopting out animals. (In case you felt bad for the cat I went to look at and didn't take, I should mention that a family came in shortly after I did, and they were looking at her when I moved on to Tonto. By the time I got back with my carrier, she was gone. She got her happy ending, too!) Tonto went into the carrier without much fuss, and strangely to me, did not meow all the way in the car! We were home in short order, and I brought him into the office and closed the door, then let him out of the carrier. I had moved a litter box in, and brought in a bowl of water, and he moved around, sniffing at everything, and rubbing against me frequently. I called my mother to tell her the news, and we talked while I watched him explore. After I was off the phone, Carlos started meowing outside the door, and I went to see him. Tonto was all ready to join me: OK, where are we going now? I was laughing as I told him he had to stay in solitary for a while; in the end, to get out the door, I had to pick him up, open the door, step out, then turn back and pop him in before quickly closing the door. So curious!

Carlos didn't appreciate the whiff of change in the air, metaphorically speaking, and snubbed me a little before later settling on my lap again. I went in and out a few times, giving them both time, and letting Carlos smell Tonto on me (he didn't seem too interested, but he didn't get upset anyway, which is good). Tonto was very relaxed, which was a wonderful thing to see. I brought him in some toys, which he found interesting. He has some major hooks for claws, and it's clear he's not used to having them trimmed, but he doesn't mind his paws being touched, which will be a big step, and I got a few of them done, here and there (he's a big kneader, so they need to be done, ow). I don't think it will be long before he accepts the process without a problem. Finally, I had some cold pizza and got ready for bed.

This morning when I went in to see him, he was on the perch by the window, but was VERY happy to see me, purring up a storm, rubbing and butting into me. I tried brushing him, and he seemed to like it. I went in a couple of times, but eventually had to get ready and leave for work.
 
He is almost 100% black, just a couple of white hairs, down to nose and paws (his paw pads are dark grey). I think even his whiskers are all black. He has plushy soft fur, and is just slightly bigger than Carlos is. Friendly? Check. Affectionate? Check. He gave me more love last night than Miri did in almost five years put together. He's a head-butter and a happy drooler.

I called the vet this morning, and they'd actually had a cancellation for 6 tonight, so I was able to get him in and checked promptly. Probably wouldn't hurt to introduce them before he's checked, but hey, I'll take a quick convenient appointment, thank you. And the vet loved him; she said she's worked there ten years, and could count on one hand the number of cats who accept attention from her like he did. While she listened to his heart, she commented, "So that's what a normal heart rate sounds like," and added that she had to try to hear it around his purring. Yes, he purred up a storm at the vet.

The shelter estimated him at 2 to 3 years old, though their vet-check said 4. He was part of a trap-neuter-release program a year ago (which is why his ear is clipped), and was found to be so friendly that they adopted him out. The person who adopted him recently couldn't keep him, so he gave him to a friend, and she's the one who gave him back to the shelter (they're a no-kill shelter, so they're pretty adamant that you give the pet back to them if you can no longer keep it). Thus freeing him up for me! And Carlos.

*****
I got back on the exercise bike a week ago, and in that time have ridden it five days out of eight, for 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12 minutes. Better than nothing, and getting better! Plus, that's that much more sock done. Just keep knitting, just keep knitting...

*****
Three weeks ago, my boss spoke to her boss, who agreed that I should get a laptop.

Last week, her boss asked me in passing if the IT guy (in NY) had talked to me yet about it, and when I said no, she said she would have to remind him.

Monday, one of my coworkers spilled a cup of tea on her laptop (I looked up to see her holding it upside down, liquid dripping off it). Five minutes later, the boss is unlocking the IT room to get her another laptop to work on while hers dries out.

Uh-huh.

I wasn't quick enough on the draw at the time (being preoccupied with thoughts of that phone interview) to comment on it*, but today, when the boss was going back into that closet to get a laptop for someone else (whose Word kept crashing), I asked whether she had heard from the IT guy yet, and she said that since there were, in fact, spare machines, I should e-mail him (copying her) about what he needs to get it set up.
*One of my friends at stitch and bitch that night suggested I should have asked her to grab one for me while she was there.

And in the end, it's on my desk. For now, until it gets fully functional*, I'll keep the desktop. Progress, at any rate.
*Which supposedly will happen after it finishes the 138 updates it needed, which was hardly half done when I left, and is rebooted a few times ... but I'm not holding my breath.

*****
As I mentioned the other day, the Bruins won their game on Saturday 6-1. Monday night, they beat the Islanders 6-3. Tuesday night, they beat the Panthers 6-2. This has been a fun stretch of Bruins fandom, and tonight, it's Montreal! Unfortunately, it isn't starting well. Plenty of time for a dramatic comeback, though!

*****
I mentioned PMS the other day, and along those lines, I had a mild headache Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. It really wasn't bad, but it reminds me of how much better my head has been* recently, and how amazingly grateful I am for that.
*And the associated upset stomach. My consumption of Tums has dropped dramatically.

If 2014 is The Year the Migraines Weren't a Big Thing for Me Anymore, that would be so amazingly awesome, words fail me. And you know that doesn't happen often!

The Vise Tightens

My head was moderately bad today; right now it's not bad, but it was troubling enough this afternoon that I passed on stitch and bitch to come straight home instead (which is a bummer, as I was looking forward to showing my cuffs and new yarn).

I composed this little poem today:

Pain
Washes in and out
Like the tide
It gets less, and raises hope
Then more, and smashes hope
Pain

You don't have to tell me that it's not my best work; it would be odd if it were, really. Migraines are crazy things, and lead to crazy thoughts. Like, "If it hurt more, I could go home and not try to work through it." Or, "Sitting up takes So Much Energy."

Speaking of which, I think I'll go to the couch now.

Of Head, Bad and Hopeful

The bad news is that my head is bothering me tonight, and work is total month-end crazy this week. The hopefully good news is that I had a first meeting with a chiropractor tonight, then went off for x-rays so he can see just where my spine needs work. Maybe! Hopefully! Fingers crossed!

No Choice

In a recent conversation about our headaches, my mothers and I agreed that it's frustrating when people say to us, "I don't know how you stand it," because it's not like we have a choice: when you have a headache, you have a headache.

More than 24 hours into this one, I'd love to choose not to stand having it. Tell me how to do that, please.

Ow, ow, owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

Rhinebeck, Day One (after a short un-health update)

Well, here I am, such as I am. After having a slight headache yesterday, today I woke with a slightly stronger one, that got worse through the morning, until I had to leave work because I couldn't concentrate (on much beyond how my head hurt and my stomach was rolling, anyway). Funny how an editor needs to have her brain to work!

I came home, got in bed with a blanket wrapped around my head and a purr-ball by my side, and dozed for a few hours. Got up around 4 with the head much improved, but the stomach still crazy-upset. My system is weird, right? I've tried a ginger ale and some Tums, but it's still rock-and-rolling down there. At least the head is better! I hope that lasts. Meanwhile, I am making hay while the sun shines, so to speak. Let's talk about Rhinebeck! I don't have pictures of Sunday's haul yet, but we can cover some ground with what I do have.

As always, it's a short trip with a lot crammed in, and so is a little stressful for me. That said, it's wonderful, and I can't imagine I'll ever not want to go. We did talk about going up Friday afternoon one year, to have time to look around the area since it's so beautiful, so we'll see if next year is that year.

Saturday morning I drove to the house of the friend who borrowed her sister's van so we could road-trip it. She's a very experienced, knowledgeable, and fearless knitter, so we'll call her the Wise One. I left my car there (since overnight on-street parking is allowed where she lives), and we went to pick up the others in our party: first, a New Knitter who we had lured into coming with our tales of Rhinebecks past; next, a knitter who belongs to our stitch and bitch group on Ravelry though she Never Comes to Meetings, and who we'd only met when she joined us for the North Shore yarn crawl a few years ago; and finally, Wise One's niece, who I think is 13, and who came last year as well. She's a nice kid, but with an appalling amount of energy (more on that later). Then we were away!

We left the final pick-up around 9:30, and arrived at the festival around 1 o'clock. The drive was pleasantly uneventful, with the foliage still beautiful though past its peak. I ate my lunch sandwich early (since part of the fun of being a grown-up is that you can eat your lunch at 10 if you want to), and then took my turn of driving the second half of the trip. And you know where my first stop was:

Hooray for The Fold! Look at all that Socks That Rock, and that's just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Wowza. I had some fun there (Saturday and Sunday, in fact, but let's stay chronological).

I had a commission from another knitting friend who couldn't come this year (giving the lame excuse of a 25th anniversary trip, whatever), and asked me to get her a skein. I've talked up my STR love so much that she recently decided to try it herself, but the skein she got was mediumweight, and when the socks started coming out too large, she decided to give them to her father (who loves the socks she knits him) and get another skein for herself. I was able to find a skein of lightweight in a similar color to the one she got and liked, so let's hope it will do for her.

I met Drin while I was there, which was fun: I was telling Niece that the button that I'd picked up with the mushroom on it (picture to come) was for the designer, Mushroom Knits, and how she's the designer of my all-time favorite sock pattern, and she was right behind us! We talked about her patterns (which were why I went back Sunday), and she showed me how her Ribbed Mitts pattern looks with yarn held singled versus doubled, as well as with and without a thumb. Cool!

And for me? Two skeins of the lightweight:

Then I got a skein of mediumweight, in a nice teal, for the fingerless mitts. Drin's pattern!

After that? Well, it's a happy blur of yarns and yarn things and yarn people, who are by and large very happy with where they are. I only experienced two not-happy people the whole weekend. The first was on Saturday: I was in line to pay for some yarn, and the woman behind me was a total crab, muttering about how the women at the front of the line were "having a coffee hour" and should "just go on the internet for lessons", presumably instead of talking to the woman from that booth. I can't comprehend how you can stand there with your arms full of wonderful yarn and be so cross! I said something about how I'd only been there for an hour, so I was still excited about it, and she said that she'd only been there an hour, but she was fed up and had decided to get some yarn and go. Huh!

[The second woman was in a different booth; I'd seen her talking to another customer, and thought she worked there, but when I asked her to be sure, she gave a very short, "Yes." So I asked her how much the lovely skein of 100% cashmere was, and she snapped, "Eighty-five dollars," as though I had criticized her mother. So, you're working in a booth that doesn't price the yarn, either on the label or with a posted list, so people have to ask, it's really nice and therefore expensive, and this is how you treat someone who might give you money? Well, guess what, honey, I can afford your yarn, but I choose not to. Thanks anyway.]

Back to Saturday! I had a wonderful wander through a lot of the booths, without feeling the pressure to see everything; hooray for being able to go both days. At one point, I stepped aside for a little out-of-the-crowd time; the area that on Sunday was to be crammed with people watching the punkin chuckin' was quiet and lovely Saturday afternoon.

And as long as I was there, I took some pictures of the yarn so far:

Specifically, the STR that you already saw above, and... a skein of Sock Dream from the Periwinkle Sheep:

I'm hesitant about the color, since knitting in dark yarns really needs good light, but by the time I got to the booth*, it was this or purple, and I think I would wear dark grey socks more than royal purple ones. This is the same yarn that I got last year, with birthday money from my grandmother; it has 10% cashmere, and I really love the socks I made with it. Possibly not the most sensible fiber to use in socks, but really, nothing about hand-knitting socks is that sensible.
*I guess next year, this should be my second stop!

Then there's some lovely blue sock yarn from the vendor that I see at Apple Festival and at Rhinebeck.

I saw this skein before I could reach it, and I knew it was meant for me when a customer nearer to it reached out a hand and I panicked, thinking she was going for it. She wasn't, and I grabbed it as soon as I could. Mine! Blue, soft, and again, 10% cashmere.

There was a non-sock yarn purchase, as well. When I saw this one, I told the woman that she couldn't have dyed it better for me if she knew me. My colors!

There were two skeins, and I took them both (thank you again, mama, for the birthday money!). They're half tencel and half merino, wholly soft and completely lovely.

Wait, I forgot a sock yarn! And yes, another that's, say it with me, 10% cashmere. This one is a new brand to me, from Bittersweet, a line called Glamour Gams.

So squishy soft. Love. And also love this, a little project bag for carrying my sock around in. A little variety soothes the soul.

Photography finished, I took out the sock to work on it a little, which is also soothing. Here's where it was.

Wide stripes are a fun change. This is Felici from Knit Picks. A few rounds, and I was good to go on. I liked this building:

And was so stunned by this man's hair that I had to Kinnear him. Is that all one dreadlock?

It really seemed as though it was. Whoa. Just, whoa.

Now, some lovely mittens on display:

I love that poem.

That's it for festival photos on Saturday, but I did get some pictures of the fun menu at the Eveready Diner, where we had dinner (and breakfast, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

I think I will leave you there for now, as NESN, god bless them, has another Quest for the Cup 2011 game on tonight, and it starts shortly. I heated up a chicken pot pie that I hope will settle my stomach down, and since that's ready too, I believe I will take the hint and get off the computer.

Coming soon: Sunday at Rhinebeck!

A Better Sunday

The baby was sleeping in the window today, very relaxed, paw up in the air. He works hard for his living.

I'm feeling better today, not 100% headache-free but close enough. I even went up to Woodman's for a late lunch today; summer is fleeting and in a few months, these 90-degree days will seem far away. Have to enjoy them while I can, when I can. Now I'm wrapping up the laundry and resentfully eying the clock. It can't be bedtime yet! I want to knit, but since I finished the first part of the Tardis shawl yesterday, the next step is picking up many, many stitches. I don't really want to start that at a time when I can't finish it.

I pinned it out, halfway to be exact. Unpinned, it sort of curls into itself, as you can see on the left. Pinning it, as on the right, opens it up.

It's a pretty pattern, when you can see it.

But it will have to wait for another time. Perhaps I'll Wingspan a little before bed.

Head Ow.

After how I felt on Thursday, it was a great relief to feel better on Friday: some cramps, but no headache, normal stomach, overall much better.

Which made waking up with a headache today feel like a huge betrayal. No! No, it went away! Not my weekend! My precious weekend!

Ow.

Cautiously on Monday

I am currently tiptoeing around my head (metaphorically speaking, that is), stifling any impulse to report a lack of headache because knock wood, cross fingers, throw salt over the left shoulder and spit, do something to appease the spirits in charge of such things.

Which means that last night was awful (at one point I actually said, "Hello, rock bottom, we meet again," which actually was not rock bottom, since at rock bottom I am nowhere near so coherent, but I could see it coming in like a tsunami), and today it doesn't hurt barely at all* but I am deathly afraid it will come back. Which, when you have a headache that ebbs and flows over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, is not an unreasonable fear, if you ask me.
*I call this level one, aka "I am aware of my head"

Meanwhile, the cats continue to be cute while exercising their superpowers of sleep.

Don't let the relaxed appearance fool you, she would flee in a nanosecond if I got much closer.

The fluff kills me. Meanwhile, his highness raised his head when I came in, so technically, he's awake here.

 Just about 1/16th awake, I estimate.

The Tardis shawl is on hold while I knit some love for someone who needs it.

Hearts in yarn form. Best I can do for now.

How I Am Tonight

As is often the case, when I don't feel well, Carlos is there to lend me comfort and aid. When I had cramps yesterday, he sat right on my lap, instead of next to me as he more usually does. Furry hot-water-bottle replacement.
He stretched out sideways so that he had to prop his paws up, but he didn't seem to mind. What a good boy.

Mind you, when I get a headache, I can't get him to drape himself over the back of my neck, but perhaps that will come in time. Yes, I got another migraine starting yesterday afternoon, damn the hormones. It had actually been a few weeks without a bad one, but this was bad enough that I had to ditch my plans for last night (which weren't exciting, but even networking would be preferable to pain) when I realized, freshly showered and half dressed, that I wasn't up to going out. Phooey.

It was better this morning, then slightly worse, then enough better that I was able to watch the Bruins (they won this afternoon over the Islanders, 6-3, yay), and go on to my evening plans, seeing Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with friends (and it was good, too). Right now my head doesn't hurt, but my neck is stiff and sore down into my shoulder blade, which I strongly hope is just the pain moving out, not the headache crawling back upstream.

I'm happy to report that my new slippers arrived safely yesterday. Can you guess which are the new ones and which the old?
I'll give you a hint: the dark bits inside the old ones are where the lining is completely worn away.
The new ones are, by size, slightly larger than the old, but there's so much cush in the cushion, they feel slightly smaller! It's amazing, the difference. I bounce a little as I walk.

I've been knitting, something to be revealed later, but full of wooly love. See?
X and O. Hugs and kisses. Made with sticks and string. Knitting is a miracle of its own, I think.

A Lost Day

I'm hoping that the worst of this headache is past, but only time will tell. Nothing good came out of today, unless you count that it's snowing*. Otherwise, it was nasty head pain, napping, an hour of wishing I could just throw up already before I finally did, more napping, and an uneasy evening playing the "is it getting better or worse?" game. Good times.
*You know I'm kidding about that being a good thing, right?

However, I do have something for you. I visited the cuties on the bed last night, and despite the dim lighting, had to take some pictures.

Of my boy, just because he's that cute.

And of the princess:

And her awesome, if out of focus, toe floof. Leslie, this one's for you.

From this angle, it looks a little like an out-of-control mustache, I think. Or is that the headache?

Small Head Plans, and Knitting News

I've been out of work for three weeks now, and I've certainly had more headaches (major and minor) in that period than I would over your randomly selected three other weeks of my life. There are, of course, and this is the maddening thing about headaches in general and migraines in particular, many possible reasons this could be happening, and by many reasons I include both singular and combinations of reasons.

Whew.

So what I want to say is, much as I dislike this, the answer is that it depends. Over the several years that I saw a neurologist to try to figure out The Answer, I learned that well and good. I do, however, have some theories for most likely reason(s).

1. Keeping an irregular schedule. It's much the same way that I love chocolate unreservedly and without limits, but my stomach thinks there is such a thing as Enough Already, or in the way that I love the sun and would happily be in it all day long but my skin occasionally draws the line. I find being able to stay up as late as I want, sleeping in, and eating when I'm hungry instead of by the clock to be satisfying and refreshing, but it's possible that my system does not appreciate this. "They" do say that you should keep to a consistent schedule to minimize headaches*, so I should try to limit the late nights and see if it helps.
*Though "they" also claim you shouldn't get too much sleep, but I'm not trying to cut that back, thanks.

2. Stress. While I am not consciously feeling super-alert stress levels, it's possible that my subconscious is more worried about how long it will take to find the next perfect job. I don't know how to reassure my subconscious that we are fine for now, and have a safety net for the immediate future. Hypnosis?

3. Regular caffeine. Over the last five years or so, I've gone from someone who had a cup of coffee every year or so to someone who had one just about every morning at work. I was thinking about this yesterday, and about how possibly the fact that even when I was working, I got headaches on Sundays more than Saturdays might be related to that. And perhaps predictable levels of caffeine helped my head regulate, or at least my system got used to it. There is, after all, caffeine in Excedrin; it's known to have an effect. So, meet the new toy:


With a 20% off coupon for Bed & Bath, naturally. I'll see if some regular caffeine helps regulate anything.

You can see how interested Carlos is in the topic.

No, really, it's fascinating. Let me close my eyes to concentrate.

Perhaps he'd prefer to talk about knitting? A week and a half ago, I showed you the little shawl I was making, and that I was up to ten points. After I made 12, I decided that was enough, given the amount of yarn left. I started the next part, had sudden misgivings about whether it would be long enough, and if I would run out of yarn, and I put it aside to simmer. Sometimes the back burner is the place for something in doubt. Instead, I started the bunny baby blanket, which is now to here:


First bunnies, second bunnies, second bunnies reversed, and working in garter toward the first bunnies reversed. Fast knitting! And I like how the buns are coming out. Can't wait to adorn them with tails.


Today, though, I was finally ready to pick up the sunset shawl and look it over. My first question was will it be long enough, and I decided the answer was yes. But as I knit on toward the end, I determined that the answer to the second question, will I have enough yarn, was no.


As shown over the beginning end, with the remaining yarn. Does not compute. Rip!

I tried decreasing, doing ribbing without a pass-through, and making the end look somewhat like the beginning does. First try I didn't like too much:


Rip! The next one, I did the ribbing and then increased a little, to make it a bit more like the beginning.

Beginning:

End:

Overall (not washed/blocked, just laid out):
And on:

Cautious optimism! I think I like it. We'll let it simmer and see. Meanwhile, back to the bunnies.

Yup. Head.

Outside it's dark and cold and raining.

My arms are peeling.

The cat just threw up on the bedroom floor. Not even the favorite cat, either.

And I have another headache. Up and down, but pretty bad, since last night.

I would be crying on the couch, but experience has taught me that getting upset does make it hurt worse.

Since I can't read, or watch much TV, or do anything I would like to, I'm off to wash some dishes now. (Laundry is a more pressing need, but it's out in case things get much worse and I have to stop before it's done.)

Two bad ones within a week may be a new low. I hope this is it for a while. For that matter, I just wish my head and stomach would stop hurting already.

Please.

Hi there! I've been knitting!

So, sorry for the recent radio silence here. Saturday was fine, I just never got to the blog, and then Sunday, well. Trying to find the bright side of both unemployment and migraines, at least these days if I get a migraine on a Sunday, I'm not extra-pissed to be messing up my precious weekend, and starting the week on the wrong foot.

Not that either migraines or unemployment are particularly bright. But anyway. I'm trying.

Meanwhile, let's talk of something else. I have a story to tell you! This goes back to before I was born, when my grandmother made a baby blanket for me. She made it blue, to trick the fates into giving my mother a girl, and it had bunnies on it with fluffy white tails. My mother has never forgotten this blanket, but her memories of it are bittersweet, as it was somehow lost in a move early on.

Now my cousin is having a baby, which means baby! knitting! time! and though she already knows she is having a girl, I thought it would be a fun tribute to our grandmother and that story by making her a blue blanket with bunnies on it.

White fuzzy tails to be added later, but here's the start of it.
Kind of cute, even before the tails are added, yes?
This isn't the pattern my grandmother used. Though it's entirely possible that she kept the pattern, and it's in her attic somewhere, I decided that the tribute blanket could be my own design, or rather compilation, since I found a really cute bunny washcloth pattern that inspired these bunnies. I liked how it popped out of the garter background, and they'll be even cuter with white tails.

While I wanted to do garter stitch (quick, simple, social knitting), I did find the idea of a whole blanket of it a tad overwhelming. So after knitting a good solid section of it, I found some different bunnies to do, which you can just see at the top, by the needles.

I know, it doesn't look like a bunny yet. Have faith. I imagine that after these bunnies are done, I'll do more garter, then repeat these and the first bunnies going the other way. Though I may change my mind, as I did about the ridge I was trying Friday night. (I may yet do a border after I finish this, but for now, I like the way it looks.) Totally making it up as I go along.

Now, I have a cautionary tale to end with. If you find yourself with all the dirty forks in the dishwasher, and decide to use a plastic one for your hot pizza, be careful.

It's hard to use the fork once the tines have melted like that.