Beating the heat

This hibiscus drink is an effective way to stay cool. So is a pool.

Mexico Cami

Finally, a little something done for me! Since my knitting clock is all mixed up and I'm dreaming of sweater knitting, I wanted to make a simple garment that would incorporate waist and bust shaping. Honeymoon Cami by Julia Trice to the rescue! This is finished just in time for our upcoming Mexico vacation. Yay!

Since I am incapable of following a pattern from start to finish and I am really short, I made a few modifications. The most noticeable is that I substituted a vine lace for the border instead of the twisted rib eyelet used in the original pattern. I like the scalloped edging that vine lace produces. I also used Elann.com Sonata yarn in the Spring Orchid colorway. This yarn is leftover from the Curve of Pursuit blanket I made last year - I ordered way too much yarn for that blanket, and I still have more left.
Since I substituted yarn and I like a tight fabric, this led to various stitch calculations due to my gauge and my measurements (which I will not post here, thankyouverymuch).

This is also done in time (OK, a little late) for my blogoversary! I've been knitting and spinning for 2 years now, which seems odd because it feels like I've been doing this forever.

The super secret project is almost finished. Hopefully, I can give it away and post it here soon.

Adios, amigas!

MeezerManx's Not Amused Cats

MeezerManx strikes again, this time with the International Cat Hat: USA. Methinks Abbey and Lucy look more pissed than Greaseball!

Kitchen Vespa

Vespa inhales her breakfast and Mingus takes his sweet time. Sometimes, he doesn't even want to finish his food, however nothing gets his appetite going like the threat of Vespa inhaling his food, too. Since he isn't too fond of that idea, I found that the perfect way to get Mingus to eat is to keep Vespa in the kitchen until Mingus finishes every last bite.

Vespa and I will do simple sit/stay exercises, and if I see Mingus stop eating, I'll have Vespa walk over to his bowl to investigate. That usually gets Mingus eating again.

Today's exercises included a little modeling.

I call these shots "Vespa is not amused."


This shot is titled "Give me the damn treat already."


We like to call this shot "Why do you torture me so?" This is alternately known as "Person behind the camera cannot shoot and hold a dog treat."

This final masterpiece is called "Half Head" or "Look at how big my ears are."

International Cat Hats Revisited

MeezerManx sent me some lovely photos the other day of her cats sporting the International Cat Hats, and she was gracious enough to let me repost these on the old blog.

A Siamese cat in the Thai hat? Genius. The fact that Lucy looks completely pissed? Even more genius.


Abbey is is not amused, either. I love how the Thai hat looks in variagated yarn.

So what happens if Abbey wears Le Mieux? Still. Not. Amused.


Many thanks to MeezerManx for the hilarious photos! Folks, if you knit any of the International Cat Hats, be sure to tell me so I can link your blog or post your photos!

In these rough economic times, remember this: furmiliating your cat is free.