All Set

Nothing like doing things at the last minute. I have been waffling back and forth for the last few weeks trying to decide what to do, and what yarn to do it in, for the Amazing Lace. Last night, I picked up the skein of Twinkletoes lace, and wound it into a ball (by hand, while I was watching "Surviving Christmas"). This yarn is beautiful. It is shades of green, blue purple, and reminds me of ocean colors. Come to think of it, I think the name of the colorway IS "Ocean". Anyway, I have been trying to decide between this yarn and Helen's Lace in "Jeans", which is a blue and grey colorway, which also reminds me of the ocean (well, it is summer, after all!). So, I think I'm going to cast on with Ocean.

I haven't done too much knitting lately, and the reason why is I finally got my camera. I bought a Canon Powershot A540, at a very reasonable price. And, the nice thing is, I didn't even have to dip into my checking account to get it. I sold a lot of my NCLEX study matierals on ebay, and made more money than I thought I would - enough to get the camera. I have been playing around with it this week, and am finally starting to figure out more things on it. I've been having a lot of fun with it, and the nice thing is, I can delete the not-so-great-pictures right away. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to get them on a service like Flickr or Photobucket, and then I can start transferring them to this blog. The picture at the top is Calvin, our one-eyed cowcat. I didn't want the picture there, but i'm still working on getting pictures where I want them.

I still have several flats of impatiens I have to plant. Chris has been digging up around the yard, so I need to wait until he is done. However, the temperature is climbing, and I know I feel like a vegetable during the summer, so I need to get these things in the ground this week, or they're not getting in at all. My shade garden is looking good.

I am nearly up to my frogging point on Clapotis. I really like the way this is turning out, and I think it is going to be a very warm shawl. However, it takes forever to wrok those ladders down. This is a "fuzzy" type of yarn, all that silk notwithstanding, and the fuzz really grips the stitch above it. I work the stitches down when I am too tired to knit.

More trips to the vets this week. I'm starting to feel like I live there. We took Alex and Murdoch this time. Both sweet cowcats. Alex is large and fluffy (Hence, his nickname - Fluffypuff. Good thing he doesn't know it, or he would probably die of shame. But, he is a fluffy cat.) Alex has conjuctivitis and an URI. Murdoch, who is smaller, and has a sweet babyface, has some dental work to be done this week. Both cats need meds, which none of us are thrilled about. I wrap Alex up in a big bath towel - known as as a "kitty burrito" around here - and get his meds down with a syringe. Baby face or not, Murdoch is another matter entirely. I think we both need tranquilizers - him beforehand, and me after the process is done. He freaks out at the sight of a bath towel, and has ripped his way out, so I am trying to hide his med in some cat food. Which hasn't worked too well so far, but I'm out of ideas.

I have the next two days off from work, so I'm hoping to get some knitting and gardening done, but right now, both are getting a run for their money from the book I am reading - Elie Wiesel's "Night". I started reading last night in bed, supposedly for just a few pages, but I read 66 pages (it only has 121 in the book). I wanted to finish it, but I couldn't. It is so intense, I needed a break. I cannot imagine living through this kind of horror. I can't imagine that he had so much trouble getting this book published. More people should read this. My son said it was required reading in his high school English class, and I'm glad it was.