Monday Bunday - Goose's Favorite Things: Sofas with Blankets

Monday Bunday - Chillaxing

This is how Goose spent his Monday, when he wasn't begging me for treats.

I really need to wash that blanket. He just finished a molt and it's covered in Goose fluff.

WIP Wednesday - Ninja Bun!

Ninja Bun was languishing in the WIP Basket and I decided he had to be finished this week. I need him for super secret missions, like keeping an eye out for Santa.

He has a weird parallelogram face. I don't know what's up with that. If I make more ninjas, I'll do some doctoring. I didn't have the patience for fiddling today so I just followed the instructions.

Also, frogged the Fetching. I'm pretty okay with it now since I wasn't crazy about how the cuff was rolling. Just need to find another pattern for that super soft Plymouth Yarn Suri Merino, which I've just found out has been discontinued - gasp! Why do they keep discontinuing yarns that I like? Why?

So, that's two things off the Stuff I Need to Get Done list. As a bonus, here's Goose scoping out Ninja Bun:

Monday Bunday - Motivation Fail

There's been some talk in my circle of friends lately about bunny obstacle courses. I've seen videos of these feats of legendary lagomorph prowess over my years as a bunny slave, most from areas outside the US. More recently, some fluffy obstacle course masters were featured on the Amazing Race, which I don't usually watch but had to tune in just to see the bunnies.

Here is my lame attempt at getting Goose to jump over something, which happens to be a knitting needle because those are the types of sticks I have. Clearly I need to brush up on my powers of persuasion.

(And, yes, I do have a 4x4 foot playpen in the middle of my living room because that is where Goose likes for it to be, and he throws a fit if I move it. Though he has free range of the apartment when I'm home, it's "his room" and sometimes he just likes to hang out in there.)

(And... When I told Goose he was a very smart bun, I may have been fudging the truth a bit. He's not the sharpest carrot in the garden, but he's super cute at being dumb.)

~ Meg

WIP Wednesday - The Basket

I'm taking a page out of my friend Tiffany's book and starting some regular weekly blog posts, the first being WIP Wednesday. I don't have anything majorly exciting on the needles at the moment, except the Christmas present that I can't talk about yet even though I'm pretty sure my sister doesn't read my blog, but that doesn't mean I don't have all kinds of WIP craziness.

My stepmom gave me this huge basket for Christmas a couple years ago. It's become the metaphorical cave for all my hibernating WIPs. And it's stuffed to the brim.

As a much needed reality check, for my first WIP Wednesday, I'm going to list everything in that basket. As a bonus, it also becomes the Stuff I Need to Get Done list. (I would add "Before I Start Any New Projects" to that title, but, really, who am I kidding?)

WIP aka Stuff I Need to Get Done:

• Daddy & Me Field Cap - For my nephew, Kurt, but going to be frogged since I made him something else.
• Asymmetric Cardi - Knit-along with Tiffany and Deb. Back piece, which is the biggest piece, is nearly finished but I haven't touched it in a couple months.
• KidLin Shawl - This isn't coming out like I thought it would. I may just finish it, and either frog it or keep it depending on how much I like the finished shawl.
• Throw Rug - Started this because I figured the best way to make my stash look smaller was to knit up all my bulky yarn. Still really love this rug, so this will get finished.
• Newfoundland Mittens - I like these mittens, but I may frog them and use the yarn for something else. I got about six more balls of this yarn from my friend Melanie recently, so I'm thinking bigger.
• Shaelyn - I love this shawl so much, but I got to the point where I couldn't complete a repeat in one sitting so I abandoned it in favor of instant gratification. This will be finished.
• Loopy Lace Scarf - This is only a couple inches in. It's meant to be for my grandma, so I should probably finish it, though I kind of think she'd like a baby doll instead.
• Ninja Bun - He's so close to being finished! I just need to suck it up and do it.
• Clementine Shawlette - This was part of that 11 shawls in 2011 delusion I had earlier this year. Going to finish at least this one, but it so won't be before the end of the year.
• Best Bunny - All I have left to do are the arms and legs and seam everything together. That's actually kind of a tall order. Seaming is the worst.
• Fetching - Ran out of yarn with only a few rows left, so these just need to be frogged. :(
• Breast Cancer Awareness Scarf - I really like this scarf so still want to do it, but given that I started it in February 2008 and haven't touched it since, I'm going to have to rip it back and start over.
• Brr Baby Beanies - Making two of these for my nephews as birthday gifts. Almost done. I feel really bad about how late they are. :<
• Magic Loop Two-at-a-Time Socks - Knit-along with my knitting group. Grr. But dammit, I will finish them.
• Purple Flames Scarf - Based on a stitch pattern in the Vogue Stitchionary. I've only done a few inches, but I still like it after a year or so so I think I'll finish it.
• Dustifur - Dust Bunny snuggly that I'm just making up as I go along. He needs ears and a tail.

And that is my WIP list. I may have a few other WIPs floating around that haven't made it into the basket. Since I don't have proper links, here are a couple pics of the purple scarf and an earless Dustifur:

And speaking of Tiffany, she supplied the basil Goose is munching in this video:

Peace, Knitting & Bunnies,

~ Meg

Monday Bunday: Recycling

I try to be a good green sort of person and dutifully put aside my recycling. What usually ends up happening is that I just collect recycables instead of actually recycling them. My current laundry bag full of newspapers and junk mail is one of Goose's Favorite Places.

I always know when he's there by the very distinct sound of ripping paper.

"What? You're a slacker and I'm just trying to help you out. Don't you know that you should shred your papers before tossing them out?"

Monday Bunday: Circles and...Gah! What is that?!

Bad Knitting Mojo

Everything I've tried to do this week, I've jacked up in some way. Was hoping to finish a pair of Fetching (for me!) in some super soft Plymouth Yarn Suri Merino - ran out of yarn. Multiple attempts at starting the Spritely Hat (first attempt at starting Xmas knitting!) - can't get gauge. Tried casting on for a Snowflake, and while the cast on went without a hitch and I knitted along the first row, I then realized I forgot one tiny "K1" at the beginning of the row. No wonder multiples of 20 were not adding up to 261. Gah! So everything is ripped out, and I'm giving up on knitterly pursuits for today.

Meanwhile, I tried for sympathy from the only other living being in the house, my disapproving furkid Goose, who just stared at me with a look that distinctly said, "Aren't you forgetting something? Dinner. Now." I think I can at least manage that...

To top it all off, I totally forgot about a major yarn sale this weekend at a LYS! Dang. Technically the sale runs through Tuesday, but with my luck all the good stuff will be gone. Will swing by tomorrow, just in case...

And...I ended up frogging this:

Wispish - a slight variation on Knitty's Wisp. I was originally making it to wear to my sister's wedding, decided that it wasn't going to work, and then further decided today that it was never going to work. It was so close to being done...oh well. As it turns out, I have something else in mind for this yarn that I think I might actually wear. So, frogged & repurposed.

On a more productive note, I started a Ravelry group, Pound of Caring Challenge. The general gist is that you commit to knitting a pound of yarn for charitable organizations of your choice each year. It was originally a personal challenge to myself, but, lo and behold, I found some others who were willing to knit along with me. My first project for the challenge is Little V-stitch Blanket:

Not such a fan of Lion Brand Pound of Love. While it's convenient and cheap (especially with a 40% coupon), it splits like crazy, it's kind of plastic-y, and just doesn't look all that great. I was particularly enchanted with how the yarn pulled out of the center in a big tangled mess. :)

Perhaps my luck will return after another sleep?

Monday Bunday: Time for Bed!

Without fail, every night when it's time for bed, we have a wild Goose chase. This is the beginning of last night's. Goose is in his hidey hole behind the chair in the living room and giving me a little attitude to kick things off. It's very "You're not the boss of me!"

Pom-Poms make me happy.

I started knitting hard-core because of eyelash yarn. I picked up needles for the first time when I was 19 and knitted off again, on again (mostly off) for a few years, until at age 24, my stepmom brought home this funky eyelash yarn and I was intrigued. I had never seen anything like it, only having knit with Red Heart and the like. Since that first eyelash scarf 6 years ago, I have been knitting non-stop, although I've moved beyond the novelty, thankfully.

While novelty yarn isn't my favorite, there are a few exceptions. The first is Yarn Bee Infatuation. I used to make drop-stitch scarves out of this yarn for the Heartland Rabbit Rescue craft fairs when I lived in OK. It is super soft due to the nylon, kind of quirky, and always a big seller and therefore a good thing for the bunnies. Sadly, since it is a Hobby Lobby brand, I can't get it anymore since I moved to Raleigh. The second is Moda Dea Dream - so soft, but disappointingly discontinued. I still have some in my stash, but I'm hoarding it 'cause I know that it's all I'll ever have.

My newest novelty yarn crush is Red Heart Pomp-a-Doodle - little puffs of happiness on a string. I ran across it randomly at Michaels and decided to knit a few scarves for my nieces as birthday presents. Here is the result:

Each scarf only took one ball and about an hour to make. Now, I wouldn't personally wear one of these scarves myself, but I loved knitting them. My favorite colorway is the blue-green shoreline and I would like nothing better than to knit an entire coverlet out of it. Both the knitting itself and the snuggling afterward would be pure bliss. Never thought I'd be raving about pom-pom novelty yarn, but there you go. ;) Try it folks, it's perfectly delightful.

Gratuitous bunny shot: Goose in a pile of pom-poms...

On another note, I also finished this today:

The pattern is Baby Berry Hat, and I think I would have enjoyed knitting it more if I had picked different yarn (Caron Simply Soft & Bernat Berella 4 - not a fan but have sooo much of it in my stash). Very cute little hat, though.