Total Project Success

The felted cat bed is an unqualified success:

Who couldn't love this face?

Jake also loves the cat bed, though he juuuust fits in it.  I've decided to make a second, since it's obviously the best cat seat in the house.  When I knit I hope that the finished item is loved and used.  I only dream of a reception this positive. 

Spring's Demands

While the world comes back to life in spring, so strongly that cherry blossoms bloom on bare branches and crocus sprout from nude earth, there is a downside that few people see or imagine.  It takes great reserves of energy to initiate a year's growth; however not everything has that energy.  Some animals and plants are too weary after winter's hibernation to face the rigors of spring.  Instead of life renewed, they enter the afterlife.   

This is a truism I learned this year and it's a side to spring I never expected.  In previous years I was full of vigor: excited and energized by the sun after a long dark winter.  This year, I feel the pull from receding winter.  I understand the family members and friends lost to past springs.  The disparate sensations at a memorial last year: still-cool air on my skin while the sun warmed black-tight-clad legs, were a physical metaphor for spring's abundant yet demanding gifts.  This year I feel bare, insufficient in my efforts to absorb and store the sun’s warmth.  Instead of spring hurtling me into summer, I push myself forward, as though stealing energy from the sun as it rises higher in the sky each day.  This year I fear for loved ones who may prove unequal to spring's demands.

Courtesy of Randy Kochis, kochis.net

The M Word

The most dreaded of creatures to a wool devotee, clothes moths!  I saw one last week, and an emerging larva on Sunday, so it's time to take stock and lock down any wool left about.  Which made me realize just how much wool I have: trousers, jackets, coats, some yarn, fiber, the list goes on.  Thankfully the bulk of my wool knitting yarn and wool sweaters are safely locked away in a cedar chest, which not even moths can breach.

I think these moths came in on a pair of thrift store trousers.  That or a feather fascinator.  I'm hanging the trousers in the sun, and have shaken and inspected them thoroughly.  The feathers I just thought of last night, so into the freezer went the fascinator.  Thankfully my silks and cottons are safe.

Clothes moth

I don't think of my clothing as temporary, not the nice pieces anyway.  I think of warm wool sweaters as friends for decades to come, and wooly trousers the same way.  Even cotton t-shirts have a lifespan from day wear to PJs to rags.  So to consider damage, potentially serious damage, is quite a surprising thing.  No matter how careful we are, life will out.  Just another proof that spring is here! 

Not Much Progress

The trousers are still on hold.  The big scratch on my leg is mostly healed at least.  Knitting has been slow since arthritis made a comeback.  It turns out the medication I was on that made me nauseous much of the time was actually helping, I realized after stopping it, so I started taking it again.  Only to get twitchy, jittery, fatigued and just feeling off.  My doctor kind of shrugged her shoulders and suggested I taper up more slowly.  Hopefully I can tolerate it again since it really did help the arthritis pain and swelling.  I was hoping it would make me feel better, not just keep things from getting worse, though.

I have a lace shawl idea if I can just get my energy level up enough to start working on it.  Lately I just feel like napping most of the time.  At least spring is here and longer days are very welcome!

Lace Mohair Sweater

The trousers are in timeout after crossing me one too many times.  Instead I'm focusing on knitting and have made good progress on a mohair sweater.  It's my own design: knitted sideways with a large scale lace design, slightly bloused body and sleeves with narrow ribbed midriff and forearms.

I've knit the front and back and am starting the first sleeve.  The Coral Cable sweater is pretty slow going so I pick this project up to really feel I'm making progress.  If we get a sunny day I'll try to get a photo of me in the sweater-thus-far.

The lace design, ~4", 10cm wide