Thank You……

…….to each and every one of you, for your lovely words of support, your hugs and love. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

It has been a very difficult month but I’ve had the support from my family, friends and blog friends to help me through. Like everyone has said, in my own time, the pain will be less hard, my heart will feel less heavy and I will remember and treasure all the good, happy and fun times she has brought into my life.

I will miss the “hmmmmm” she does when she greets me

I will miss her walking over my face in the morning, lying on top of my head, sleeping under the duvet with me and resting her head on my chest

I will miss our race in the morning to get down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast

I will miss her greeting me at the door when I come home

I will miss her loud purring

It gets easier, I know.

 

R.I.P Holly……

I am finding this post extremely difficult to write. My life is totally shattered, my heart is broken, it aches terribly, I’m crying out for you every minute of the day.

My life without you by my side is really unbearable, I must be strong.

1993 – 15. 10. 2009

You will always be in my heart, forever. I miss you so so much, it hurts, really hurts. I am trying to accept you are gone, I am trying very hard.

Rest now, sleep well my baby. There is a special place in my heart….always and forever.

I Love You Xxx

Hello…Holly Here…

Seeing as my mom hasn’t blog since god knows when, I thought I’d jump in and say Hi and tell you a little of whats been going on. My mom is being a little lazy these days with her blog so here’s my chance to tell you what happened to me.

I was poorly again, blood, pain. stress, discomfort.

I was diagnosed with cystitis. Emergency vet very late one eveing, two injections….relief. One  more visit to the vet next day for another antibiotic injection, 3 weeks later, I feel like a new woman!! But I think I’m going a little deaf, must be my age.

Me having a bit of a siesta time in the sun 🙂 Mom is knitting something, I’m sure she will blog about it soon. I pinched a photo of her new project 🙂 Shhhhh…..

Have a nice day!!!

Blanket Cardigan….

Finished!!!! What a relief it is too, all that seaming…argh was driving me up the wall. My neck, my head, my eyes, the black yarn! Believe it or not, its my first attempt at sleeve seaming. I followed the tips from Finishing Techniques for Hand Knitters by Jane Crawford. A nice little book with some very handy tips! I have to say, my second sleeve is much neater than the first.

Sublime Cashmere Silk Merino DK in Black

Needles 4mm

Amount used 12.5 balls

Size M

I added a seed st to the collar as I knew that its going to curl no matter how hard I block it. I’m so kicking myself now as I should have done that on the edges at the start of the sleeve and the body to prevent the curling too…..I’m dumb! I knew in the back of my mind that stocking stitch curls no matter how hard you block it and me being me, just followed the pattern as it is! That’s just me, I very rarely make changes to a pattern and I know that as an experienced knitter (can I call myself that? or should I call myself that?) I should have made changes.

Now after blocking it again, the edges still curl. I guess I will have to sew some grosgrain onto all the edges. So my advice….if you’re planning to start one, add some seed st before you start the stocking stitch. Makes less sewing !

I’m really pleased with this cardigan (apart from them damn curls.) It’s a perfect fit, with a lovely drape. The yarn is lovely to work with but I did find that the dye did rub off onto my fingers a little but thats to be expected from dark yarns…I keep saying to myself. Guess who I found sitting on top of the pieces each time I blocked……Ms Holly AGAIN and this time, she managed to catch a few sts with her nails!!! Shriek! Horror! Naughty Cat!  Somehow, no matter where I block, she finds my knitting and Mr Snobs is no help, he leaves the door open for her!! Yeah..mummy just finished her knitting, go and put your mark on it! I feel like picking Ms Holly up when she does her pee and putting her on his lap…..there Holly, go put your mark on him! MEN!

Brassiere Caresse Point Mousse…..

I really really love this cute little gilet. Lovely pattern by La Droguerie.

It’s such a shame that they don’t publish their patterns in English as the designs are so chic and I am feeling the love for their designs so much. Such a simple design, yet so wearable for the Spring, a cute little number for my wardrobe, don’t you think? Now I just gotta wait for the weather to warm up a little so I strut this little number!

Yarn: RYC Baby Alpaca in Chifon 212 7 balls with just a tiny amount remaining.

Size: L.

Needles: 5mm.

Kindly translated for me by a fellow raveler. Thank you.

My choice of yarn gave the gilet a lovely fluffy effect and a pleasure to knit, however I did find it a little splitty at times. I used the Russian join method to attach new balls. This is my new method which worked well. I also chose a size slightly bigger size as I wanted the gilet to fit more around my bust area, rather than have a gaping gap.

The colour has been very difficult to capture. It’s more of a wine colour as in the first photo. I also chose to have buttons rather than a shawl pin but there are some lovely shawl pins around, but I much prefer buttons. Finding just the right place to add two buttons holes proved a little difficult. I had to frog back a few times, it was either too close to the edge or too far back. I still think it’s a little too far back so at times it tends to curl over but I can live with that………and you all know me by now, I like to make two of everything. Yes….I have some Rowan Kid Silk Haze on order for another together with maybe some Drops Alpaca which I will knit together to make another extra extra fluffy one!

……and guess who I found sitting on top of this in the morning? Yup…..Holly. Bad cat.

Champagne Holly….

Thought I’d show you some pictures of Holly, after all you haven’t seen what an improvement she has made in the last few months since her illness.

She’s on the bottle! Don’t worry, she’s not drunk at all, just tipsy!…..and a little on the small side, or is she a ginormous cat??

Wisteria – I Love Cables….

I’m feeling the love for cables at the moment, now that I’ve mastered the technique without a needle. I love how the cables construct, twisting and winding with the stitches. I was working on my Arwen when I was distracted by Wisteria, another great design by Kate Gilbert from the new Twist Collective online magazine. It was the cables that attracted me, how they twist around the neck line, on the bottom of the sweater and arms. I had to drop everything and cast on and to try and take my mind off what Miss Holly was going through, but yet still try and keep her as comfortable as possible. I’ll give you an little update on her at the end of this post.

Photographs of the sweater are modelled on my sister as no one here yet can take proper photos yet and they are before blocking.

Yarn: Dream In Colour Classy Black Parade

Needles: 4.5mm

Amount of yarn: Used a little of the 5th skein approx 4.9 skeins.

Size: Medium

Mods: Shortened the length of the sleeves, I’ve got short arms! Length of sweater as in pattern.

Comments: I love how the sweater turned out. The construction is clever, knitted from the top down. I’m wanting to make another but maybe in a bigger size. Its quite a fitted sweater so if you’re wanting a more looser effect with a bit of ease, go for a bigger size. I was worried about the finished size before blocking, it was ever so tiny and no way was it going to fit over my huge head. My mom was saying why on earth did you knit something so tiny!!! It will never fit you! Thanks Mom!

After blocking, it fits my sister who is a size S, not as fitted but with a bit of movement around the waste and bust area and she’s got her eye on it already. She’s already asked to “borrow” it sometime in the winter……”borrow” means keep in her wardrobe and claim it as Mine.

I do have an inkling that as Classy yarn stretches when blocked, it will shrink back to a small size in the wash, so maybe I won’t ever wash it so she can’t get her mitts on it 😉

Cable details are just beautiful.

I’ve started on another cable project. I am modifying this sweater to a cardigan. It really is testing my knitting capabilities. It requires a lot of concentration already at the neckline and modifying it to a cardigan changes the cable construction totally and having to re-write the cable pattern. Thankfully the designer has been really helpful and its coming along nicely but slowly.

MIss Holly update:

Thank you so so much for all your well wishes, your hugs and vibes for encouraging Miss Holly to recover. We thought she was doing great, back on her food and eating and purring as normal and the 4am starts, were back on. A few days after she got back from her surgery, she decided she didn’t want to eat again. She started to be sick quite a bit after eating and her ability to swallow food was not good. Again she lost so much weight. So it was back to the vets and more antibiotics and painkillers. It appears that she hasn’t fully recovered and is still sore around her throat and choking.

We discussed the options for Miss Holly and decided that as she is drinking normally, we’d mix her prescription food with water and hey!!!! Results, she is eating her food and milk!! We kept her on this eating method for a few days and the vet decided that maybe we should knock her out again and do xray to see what is blocking her throat. So yet again, another visit to the vet but when we got there and discussed the options, we decided that maybe we should give her a little time for the healing process to take place. As she is eating the liquid food and playing about, purring and still alert and active, we decided that we’d give her a couple of weeks and hopefully her throat will heal and she will be back on her normal food.

I’m hoping giving her time will aid her recovery.

Stoopid, stoopid…..

Thank you all for your well wishes for Miss Holly. Just when we thought we were making progress with her, she deicides she does not want to eat yet again. So, it’s back to the vets where, again, her throat is swollen and more injections and steroids. I’m praying that this time, she will fight it.

OK…Laugh all you like, cos I feel so silly! You know Miss Holly mentioned in my previous post that I felted her Hemlock blanket. I really don’t know what came over me, what was I thinking?  Am I mad? I must be, totally, all that hard work, all those weeks, ALL THOSE STITCHES!!!

Well, you see what happened was this, I took her and her blanket in the cat basket to the vet and she had an accident, well two accidents, so I had to wash it. It’s been washed several times on a cool wash before so I’m totally not sure why I put it on a hot. I blame my lack of sleep, my exhaustion, my stupidity, my washing machine and MYSELF.

Ok….here’s some pictures of it requested by many of you. Don’t be frightened of what it looks like.

Go on…laugh!!

It looks like some weird creature from outer space, some creature that lives at the bottom of the sea!

A rather nice effect, don’t you think?

My first attempt at felting! Normally it’s Mr Snob that felts everything!

and it even has the ability to hold its shape too!

I think I may sew the edges together and make a cushion out of it!! The fun’s over. Now for a sneak preview of a finished project.

Recovering Well…..

Hello reader! It’s Miss Holly here. Let me tell you something about myself. I am a tabby cat, an old cat of about 15 years or maybe 14 and I belong to Mr and Mrs Yarnsnob.  Here is a picture of me taken by Yarnsnob.

She often takes photos in funny postions, this one was on her back on the floor. i was wondering what she was doing on the floor and was ready to pounce on her belly!

The blog’s been very quiet the past few weeks because I became rather ill. I developed a viral infection that attacked my nose, mouth and throat. On top of that, I had sore gums and toothache. My mom was really worried, I often see her in tears as she is trying to comfort me. I could see she was sick with worry, she was very tired looking and exhausted. She was up most nights comforting me and telling me to get better soon, don’t give up.

Im not sure why or how I caught this but I’d was in a lot of pain and I was retching all the time and choking. I heard my mom say I developed a third nostrel on my nose. Oh how I wish I could see myself in the mirror. I must have been a sight! I lost my appetite and couldn’t eat for 4 days. She’d give me a 5 course meal each day and night to try and get me to eat something. It smelt delicious but I just couldn’t eat at all. My throat and tongue ached so much.

My mom decided to take me to the vet were I saw a lady with very red cheeks. She was very nice. I heard them talk about tumour in the nose, ulcers, lacerations, teeth extraction, gum disease. I heard my mom cry again and asked the vet to do all she can to help me and comfort me. She gave me injections of antibiotics, vitamin, and also something to make me feel hungry. The vet tried to open my mouth but it was so sore. I kept it tightly shut and could see her cheeks getting redder and redder and hands shaking as she tried to open my mouth. I was so scared, my heart was beating so fast, I hid under my moms armpit. I want to go home.

Everyday, I could see the anxiety in my moms face, often there would be tears in her eyes. She’d say…” Poo Poo breath, please get better.” Im not sure why she calls me that but she does it all the time. Ok…I do have bad teeth and gum and maybe my breath does smell a bit, but not of POO! She would sit beside me with her knitting, I’d hear the faint click click of her needles and then she’d stop and tickle my head. I wonder what she is knitting.

I visited the vet almost everyday. I hate that place, the smell, the dogs, the other animals, the cat basket. I just wanted to stay at home. I saw the red faced vet almost everyday for one whole week, daily injections of antibiotics and painkillers. One day I was sick on the floor and I saw my mom in histerics. She rang the vet and rushed me to see the red faced vet. I had so much acid in my stomache and was given something to calm it but she was told to check for any signs of blood. The vet then came up close to my face, sniffed my mouth a couple of times. I thought she was going to give me a little peck! ” We have to knock her out and see whats going on in that mouth and throat.

One week later, I am eating a little and I do feel better but I cannot feel my nose. Its dead, its white and it’s still sore. Im going in to have my teeth out, I’m frightened. I want it to be over quickly. My mom takes me in at 8am, I see her walk away saying, don’t worry, everything will be fine, you’ll be back home soon poo poo breath. I can’t believe she calls me that in public!!!

Few hours later, I wake up, Im drowzy and want to sleep. I’m in a cat kennel and there are two other cats here too. One above me wouldn’t stop meowing, not sure what she’s in for and the other, well he had some sort of bladder infection, quite bad actually. Wish I can meow to them they will all be fine but my mouth hurts. I feel chilled in here, its warm and I do feel better. I’m on a drip, there is cat food, water and litter tray. Hey!!! I see my moms face, she’s smiling!!! They tell her I have to stay overnight just to make sure I’m ok. It’s not a bad place actually but Id rather be at home on my leather footstool.

My mom and dad pick me up the following day, I’m so excited to be going home. I see their smiling faces, they are happy. My nose feels better as do my mouth, throat and tongue. I had two teeth taken out. I’m so glad they didn’t take all of them out! I see the red faced vet chatting to my mom and dad. I hope this will be the last time I see her.

I’m home now, in my bed, with my mom and dad. My nose has almost completely healed and I am able to eat more and more each day. Sadly, I don’t get the 5 course meal I was once offered but I occasionally get a treat of Philadelphia cheese and some chicken. My mom is much happier now, she is smiling at me and she has finished her knitting project too. It’s rather pretty. It’s blocking on the floor so I think I will have a lie down on it.

“Poo Poo breath, where are you, food time!” Oh I wished she stop calling me that, my name is Holly! I wonder if I will get my 5 course meal tonight?

PS Photos are taken before I became ill. I don’t believe what my mom done to my Hemlock Blanket….She felted it!!

Early Birthday Presents….

My birthday is coming up, something I’d rather forget but my lovely friend Christina made me something so wonderful and very useful for my knitting. Fabrics chosen by her DD, hasn’t she got an eye for colour? The stitching is so neat and professionally made and it even has an inside pocket for my mobile phone! How cool is that? It’s beautiful and it matches my small pouch she made for me earlier this year.

I know what all the fuss is about now. My first Piddleloop pouch.

Thank you so much for your time in making me this beautiful project bag. I love them all 🙂

Psssst…Ene is finished! Pictures to follow once blocking is done :)http://mickandchristinas.blogspot.com/

First Class, Second or Airmail?

Some of you may know I haven’t been too well recently, hence the lack of posts on my blog and etsy. I neither had the energy to do any dyeing or knitting 😦 and spent most days just sleeping. I’m happy to say I am slowly on the mend and my energy levels are slowly coming back and so is my knitting, but I have to admit, not much has been done.

Holly has spent most days and nights with me, sleeping by my side, on top of my head and on top of me. She can sense when I am ill but now that I’m slowly on the mend, she has found a new place to sleep…..

….in a huge mailing envelope that once had my yarns in.

Excuse me, but I was having a cat nap then!

Shall I seal her up and post her off??

The Hemlock Ring Blankets….

Phew….what a blocking session I had over the weekend, on hands and knees, pin pricks, wet patches on my knees…ugh but look what I got to show you all….

2 Skeins of Cascade Ecological Tarnish…(and a bit!)

DPN’s Size 5.5mm

Knitpicks 120cm circulars 6.0mm needles

15 pattern repeats

Bind Off using 5.5mm needles

If it wasn’t for Debbie, I don’t think I would have completed it. Thank you again 🙂

There were some issues about the ripple effect on the blanket. As you can see, its very slight in some areas but I block hard….very hard. The width of the Hemlock measures 145cm across, very big huh? I wet blocked it, wrapped it around a towel, stood on it to get rid of as much water as possible. I think some people on the KAL have steam/blocked theirs and have put sections of it under the iron to flattern the centre and the ripples. My centre star is very very flat. Overall, I am very pleased with it.

I had to get an extra set of helping hands from Mr Snobs, who pulled and pinned one section whilst I did the other. It was really difficult as each section was coming undone whilst I did the other and the lack of space wasn’t helping either….and soggy jeans…eeewww!!

Someone has claimed possession of my Malabrigo Hemlock already. I don’t know how she avoided the pins but there’s one stuck right in the centre of the star!

I never let Holly near my knitting or my yarns, she has no interest in them whatsoever unless it’s something I am knitting for her but this morning, I found her on my Malabrigo!!! Arrrrggghhhh!!!!! I forgot to shut the door last night and I believe she rolled around in it this morning. How could I shoooo her off? She looks so happy and comfortable. I guess it has her name on that one now….It’s Mine!

4 skeins of Malabrigo Orchid with 35gm left over from the 4th skein.

15 repeats of the feather and fan section

DPN’s 4.0mm

Knitpicks 5mm circular needles 100cm cable

Bind Off using 5mm needles

Size 122cm full width

Overall I am very happy with the results, a little heavy in weight and sore on the fingers but a pleasure to knit and to watch it grow and grow into something beautiful. Thanks to everyone who have wished and hoped I’d find that *extra* bit of yarn and special thanks to Debbie.

Tears For Sebbie, Hemlock For Holly….

Today is a bit of a tearful day for me as it’s two years since out beloved family cat Sebbie died. He was 18 years old (human years.) It feels like a member of the family has gone forever. People who do not own any pets may not understand what it feels like to lose a much loved pet. They become part of your life and your family. He was such a special cat. We spent most of our childhood with him and as we all left for college, we saw less of him but he was always there to welcome us home. My father loved him so much. Sebbie was his baby 😦

Some things which make Sebbie so special to us….

* He loved steamed tiger prawns. My parents would steam a few for him as a treat, which we never got to eat! They were just for him.

* He has a second home…the greenhouse. That was his holiday home as he’d loved to sit in the greenhouse and dose off in the warm sunshine. He would take shelter in there when the rain poured down and wait until my parents returned home.

* My father made him a special bed for his holiday home…….a ginormous plant pot 🙂

* He would often follow my parents for a walk round the block, they would exercise, so would he.

* He loved to follow us to school and often, we would have to carry him back home and lock him in the house….which meant we were always late for school.

* His meows were often silent, he would open his mouth to meow and nothing would come out.

* We once found him on the window ledge outside our bedroom, don’t know how he managed to get up there but we had to call the fire brigade to rescue him.

* He was very ill at the age of 10 and the vets said he only had 50/50 chance of survival and suggested we put him to sleep. I made the decision to give him that 50% chance and he came out of that operation to give us a further 8 years of happiness. Vet fees were really really expensive but it was worth every penny.

Sebbie, we miss you so much and you’re always in our thoughts xx

Sorry if you’ve been a bit bored with that but I really miss him so much.

MINI SAMPLE HEMLOCK……

Someone took a liking to it the other night before I had the chance to block it…

Holly was totally flat out under my hemlock.

I did a couple of rows of the feather and fan and jumped onto the scallop edging which I have to say is beautiful. The blanket comes alive when it is blocked, it is so beautiful.

 

Have you cast on yet?

So Slooooowwww, So Tired….

I was completely zonked out last night. I worked on the tiling and grouting all day. It took absolutely ages. We had to apply it on then polish it off and wipe everything down. I NEVER want to grout or tile again 😦 You see I have a deadline to meet…Friday 10th as I have my sister over for a couple of weeks and want to get it done before she arrives. I hate deadlines but I’m really pushing myself and I’m so tired. Will post pics soon but at the moment, its looking like a real mess. Oh…..the curtains are up too and they look great 🙂

Last night I crashed out and not even the snores of Mr S or the cries of Holly wanting food could wake me…..Nope, I was totally gone. If I had the chance to sleep all day, all week….I would. But before I crashed out and despite my arms feeling like lead and me feeling like a  zombie, I did the 5th repeat of my Hanami stole and its coming along really slooooowwwwww.

I haven’t gotten very far with it have I? I can’t decide whether just to do 6 repeats on it or the full 7 as my yarn is just a little tad short or whether to do less on the other section. I love it and really enjoying it but during times like this,  I do need a brainless knitting pattern. I must knit faster tho.

Lazy days…….life is so wonderful for my Holly? She looks more tired than me!!

Oh and don’t forget, the free shipping is still available on all my yarns in my store.