A cold, yoyo yarn, yoyo the cat and hoops!

Let me tell you a wee sad story; this time last year my daughter's beautiful cat, Truffle, died. He (and she) fought a long brave battle with his kidney failure, but in the end we had to kiss him goodbye.

I cannot tell you how we have grieved and mourned, but on Sunday these two tiny kittens (the picture makes them look much bigger than they are) became adopted by my DD. They had been found, worm infested and flea ridden with two other cats, one of which was dead. A kind soul associated with an animal charity took them in, and made them better. Now they are about 10 weeks old and gorgeous. They are a colour that is somewhere between faded apricot/rose and ivory.

The one looking at the camera (YoYo) is a gorgeous shy girl, while her brother is a bounding ball of excitement (and called Hoops). So, as DD was at work on Monday, I had to drive for an hour (and a bit) to her house, to kitten sit! Boy do these little monkeys like knitting. They love the needles, they love my arms moving, they love the yarn, and they love the ball band. I laughed more than I have done for ages - I very nearly stole them! Watch out, I may yet.

Anyway, back to my knitting of the past few days ... I have had a cold (only a girl cold, but still rubbish). So I knitted and knitted. I have finished my recycle jumper, but couldn't sew it up (my eyes have been streaming) and my icecream sweater is gorgeous, but I needed something to take my mind off the continual sneezing and eye watering.

So, for my second ever pair of socks, I fall in love with the Slip Stitch Delight pattern, (Thanks Terry L Ross) and decide I will knit them for my DD as a wee gift at Christmas. I decided I was knitting this with classic rib top (cuff) and not with fancy X top; I adore the mock tweed rib, which is gorgeous. However I was more than a bit dismayed at the poor quality of the Noro K sock yarn, which is a bit like a yo-yo dieter -veering alarmingly from way too thin, then ok, then way too chunky, back to way too thin, etc, etc. The colour is gorgeous … but don’t know whether this is just a duff skein or whether this is typical of the sock weight yarn (although I have shared these feelings with another user who is suffering the same weight issues!).

Once they were finished I took a snap and decided I am a better knitter than photographer … the socks look weird in photo and ok in reality .. perhaps it is being short … I can't get the perspective right.

Then I actually decided to reinforce one part of first sock with duplicate stitch, as yarn went almost invisibly thin on one part of sole and I know it would wear out in a heart beat. :( I cannot believe I am now pre-darning socks.

As a quick win I moved on to the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf by Karen Baumer, which I am knitting in Lang's Mille Colori. I have to say this yarn is gorgeous … having just finished the socks in Noro K sock yarn where, quite frankly, the yarn was all over the place in thickness, this yarn is beautiful and, consequently, the scarf is going to be beautiful. Despite being all knit stich (and I DO get bored VERY EASILY) I have mentally ordered several more scarves from myself as Christmas gifts … well, perhaps the diagonal knitting will stop me from hanging myself with 50% wool/50% acrylic.

I did see something similar in the Per Una range in Marks and Spencers at £25 … YES that’s £25!!! and that was 100% acrylic or poly. This will take 2 skeins and work out at £6 ish. (shop around and if you can't find it for that price email me and I will give you the name of my source.

Wherever you are and whatever you are knitting, I hope a laugh or two bounds into your life to make you smile.

Sending hugs
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