Whoops

When you are a very cute kitty, you even sleep cute.

And unfortunately, sometimes the camera disturbs your nap.

Sorry about that, buddy.

Blocking Tales

As I mentioned, on Sunday I blocked the magic striped shawl--which by the way is magic because of the yarn, not the pattern. But I also half-assedly blocked something else this week, so let me show you that, first.

I was working on the second half of the lace shawl, Puncia, at stitch and bitch, and it occurred to me that I could block the first half, to see what a difference blocking was going to make, and it would be kind of fun to have the two halves to compare, instead of just before-and-after photos.

Here it is, just laid out before its soak.

And here, wet and pinned out.

Quite the difference! It opened up nicely, which bodes well for how it will go when the whole thing is done and joined and properly blocked.

One thing that I thought would happen, though, is that some of the uneven spots would smooth out, but there they still are.

It doesn't bother me much, and I don't expect it will be very noticeable when I wear it, but still, hmm.

Now, back to stripey! It's funny how I think I've laid something out straight until I see the pictures.

Before blocking, the bottom edge was not exactly rolling, but kind of folding over itself.

Like this:

 Once wet and pinned out, the edge went much better. It wanted to be flat even before I pinned it.

And the whole thing just pleases me.

The pattern (hardly necessary, really, if you've ever made a triangular shawl like this) is the Simple Yet Effective Shawl, except I did all stockinette instead of alternating with garter. I did a few rows of garter at the bottom, then used the Two-Row Bind Off from the book Cast On, Bind Off by Leslie Ann Bestor.

The magical, magical yarn is MCN Fingering: Shawl (self-striping), from Caterpillargreen yarns, in the Concrete and Tulips colorway, and I used all but a gram of the XL skein.

I'll have to block it again at some point, as I stretched one side out a little longer than the other, but it's nothing too obvious when you see it in person. And it's light and soft and warm and stripey. Ahh, happy knitting.

Another Blow from 2016

And now Gene Wilder has died.

I have had it with this year. Extra-extra-crazy, inescapable politics! And lots of your favorite actors and musicians dying!

Bite me, 2016.

It's Blocking

There is nothing so motivating to getting blocking done quickly than finishing a project that you really want to show off, but that really needs a little blocking magic.

Details to come, but things are looking very good. Ah, so satisfying.

So shines...

I had a haircut after work today, and when I left, I realized I was down the street from a bank branch, and needed the ATM. So I pulled in, parked, and walked over to the door. An older man was walking to his car as I went in, where I found the machine asking, Do you want another transaction? Wait, I didn't put my card in yet ... oh, wait, I bet that's his card in there! (I think in Europe, you swipe the card and it doesn't stay in the whole time. Why aren't ours like that?)

I hit No and sure enough, his card popped out. I took it and went back outside, waving him down, and gave it back to him. Good deed accomplished!

More Rating-ness of the Movies

It's been a while since I shared some of the movie ratings that amuse me so (and hopefully some of you, as well).

Even if this one was rated higher, I'm not sure I want to know what "necro-bromance" looks like, you know?

I've seen "brief rude humor" before, but that last one is new.

Not for the first time, I sense a little judgement in the tone here.

Different kinds of satire.

It doesn't seem like a lot to get an R rating, does it?

Heaven knows I'm not a fan of smoking, but that's something to be warned about?

And again, so I guess it is.

Would you pick the last one, with meaninglessness, or the one before it, with allegory?

Wait, they're warning you about the allegory and meaninglessness? Picture me puzzled.

Still Feeling the End of the Weekend

I had what even I would admit was an overly ambitious to-do list for the weekend, so it isn't surprising that I didn't get to everything, but I didn't get as much done as I had hoped I would. Part of that is thanks to the time I spent reading a book that I wasn't fully enjoying, but wanted to know what was going to happen, only to have it end by, rather than explaining even part of the "why" behind the concept, just making it more opaque. Argh! Not going to read more of that series, so there. I mean, I can deal with cliffhangers, if reluctantly (for instance, when waiting for the third book in a really good trilogy to come out, I can be a little crabby), but literally not resolving one thing? Making the core mystery more mysterious? Gee, thanks but no thanks.

Anyway, Sunday night I somewhat abruptly decided I was Olympic-ed out, and rather than watching the closing ceremonies, I started watching Sherlock instead (which I got from the library on DVD [season 1], though really I could just watch it on Netflix, and will for the rest). It's good, isn't it? Have you watched it? I am not on the bandwagon that thinks Benedict Cumberbatch is is super-handsome, but he's certainly doing interesting things with this role. Watching on...

End of Weekend Random

Time for a random list of things!

• Carlos was asleep this afternoon when I went out for some groceries, and clearly only woke up when I returned. He came into the kitchen, blinking, and tried to summon his usual disapproval of my having gone out, but it was unconvincing. "How dare you leave me? Um, you were out, right? Were you gone long? Um, how could you?"
• Last night I watched the Olympics and knit on the second half of the lace shawl, finally getting it past the patterned part, to where it's social knitting again. I plan to finish up the rainbow stripe shawl first, since I just have to get through the rest of the blue stripe and the last of the grey, then it's onward with the lace. Woo-hoo!
• I don't think I've ever seen a horizontal lightning bolt, but it's pretty cool! (It also cracks me up that it apparently happened in Tampa, home of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning.)
• It's fun to check on an author whose book I liked, and find out there's another one out by her.
• Finally, I found this video about the true size of the world versus the Mercator map very interesting. I did know that Greenland is very misleading, but a lot of the other stuff, like Japan next to the East Coast of the US, was startling.

A Tale of Two Kitties

Hey, it's the weekend! High six!

But that's not the cat you were looking for today, is it? Here we go.

Little Miss Coco. Cocoa? I don't know how they're spelling it, and they mostly call her the little one anyway.

The photos don't give an accurate idea of how absolutely tiny she is.

She was two pounds when they got her, and now she's three. Basically, it's all fluff.

Lovely blue eyes.

And here is big sister, aka Kitty, the one they got last Christmas.

She was napping on the chair most of the time I was there.

Or if not napping, resting.

Seriously cute.

Right?

Meanwhile, Little Miss took a break under the couch. I don't understand how her skull fit in that tiny space.

When she came out, I tried to get her to play, and found that the camera strap was a toy she could not resist.

She also attacked a paper towel roll with gusto.

 It kept getting away from her.

"Why, yes, I am adorable. Thank you for noticing."

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful." (Remember that commercial?)

I don't think she was actually anxious here--but I can't help reading into her expression.

I squatted down to get closer to her level, and she immediately came over and curled up between my feet. Oh...kay?

I mean, I would have thought that being under the scary-big person (which, to her, I have to be) would be scarier than being across the room, but apparently that's not how she rolls.

My friend took my camera when kitty put her chin on my foot, but of course kitty moved to see what she was doing. Still cute.

I think I could have stayed there for a long time, and she would have been fine with that.

She came into the dining room with us, though, and napped there instead.

Big kitty was still on her chair. Fortunately there were more chairs than people, so she didn't have to move.

Honestly, how cute?

 They weren't really interacting when I was there, but clearly not fighting either.

 Another size comparison.

She goes a little too well with the couch, right?

I have to look at this one twice before I can tell what's kitty and what's pillow.

And thus endeth the tale of the first visit to the kitties.

TBT: Kitten Edition

No, I don't have any kitten pictures of Carlos; that's one of the downsides to adopting an adult cat (another is not knowing for sure how old he is, but really, overall I'm not trying to discourage anyone; obviously you can really lucky out with an adult cat, I did!). But it's how I can explain what I did last night, when I wasn't here.

Remember back in January, when I went to visit the kitten my friends gave their kids for Christmas? And then in April, I got to visit her again?

Well, they decided to get another one, to keep the first one company (she's so social, they were hating to leave her alone, like, ever).

She is wee, this new one. The photo doesn't fully convey how teeny.

Her bigger sister is, of course, bigger, but more than that, there's solid under her fluff! I mean, I don't know how much larger she looks than she did a few months ago, but when you pick her up, wow.

They aren't identical, but they're not easy to tell apart in photos at a glance. This is the best shot I got for a size comparison.

Anyway, I took tons of pictures, but they'll have to wait for the weekend, I have a busy schedule of swimming and then collapsing in exhaustion tonight.

Almost Friday!