Bad Shrimp
When most people hear that, they think 'food poisoning!' I think - bad moggy. Shrimp is short for Shrimpton, as she and her sister Twiggy came from the Celia Hammond Animal Trust. Firstly, she does believe that she rules the roost here. The other evening I decided to cut out a new sewing WIP - I've never made trousers before, but I was spurred on by a knitting project* and so cleared off the kitchen table to cut. Within 2.3 seconds:
"My table. Mine"
Possibly because I swooshed her off there, or maybe just because she is an ornery little critter, she decided to take it out on my iPod earbuds. Whatever they ever did to her.
What's really Bad Shrimp is that she also went for the spare pair that I had found, the ones XH doesn't use because he has posh Sennheiser ones. Little rip, as my mother would say. The problem is that I look at those wide eyes, and usually just laugh. There's no feline discipline in this house.
How many months ago did I say that I'd never knit a pair of socks? But look!
They are mainly finished due to Pauline making me - cheers my dear! - she showed me how to do Kitchener stitch and I thought I was screwing it up so wanted to do something else instead, but she set me back on the path...I really like the fact that they are similar but different, I purposely didn't start the wool at the same point. Who am I kidding, I just started knitting the second ball without a thought. I love the different coloured heels. Encouraged, I have started a second pair, self-striping, which were to be for me, but now will be a birthday present for a friend who's 30 at the end of the month. It's almost like pre-planning. However the camera has deemed them too psychedelic to be photographed (at this time of day anyway) so we'll have to wait for their completion/the start of British Summer Time to get a better shot.
Denise got her package, hurray! I meant to share photos of what was in there, but um, I forgot to take them. I hope all you gals are having fun with your swap stuff. I went to the Quilt Room in Dorking yesterday and was tempted by all sorts of things... I was mainly shopping for Zach's quilt, my last commission. Here's what I picked up there:
And then I'm working on this as a stash present - there's a baby arriving in February and I want to have a boy and a girl quilt ready, so that all I have to do is the label. I've got two boy's ones stashed - well, one completed quilt and one top, so this is the girl's one.
It's just going to be strips sewn together, might do something a bit more interesting with the quilting but I've wanted to do a 'bar' one for ages. One of the strips in the photo will be disappearing, and the pink that you can see on top will go in instead.
I went to see a friend (who's expecting the baby in February) the other day, she's an old flatmate, and a witch. Ok, she's not a witch, she's actually a devoted Christian, but I swear that she can see inside me, inside my head. In fact when I sent her a card to thank her for lunch, I asked that she only ever use that particular superpower for Good. It's quite incredible to have someone listen to you, and then fill in the blanks with all the bits that you haven't been telling everyone, because they know you so well they can look into your eyes, and see it all. We've seen each other through various trials and tribulations during the years but she's also the most insightful person I know. Perhaps because she's an educational psychologist? I've also been inspired to get in touch with lots of old friends that I haven't seen for ages, for various reasons, and lots of people are coming back into my life in a huge wonderful demonstration of synchronicity, as well as making lots of new friends, mainly through knitting and craftyness (thank you so much to all of you for the comments and encouragment on here)
In a last few days of madness before the job search begins in earnest, I'm going for my own personal Knitting In Public record - Tuesday at Foyles, on the train to and and from Dorking yesterday, last night in town, today at Canary Wharf and tonight at Liberty! I may need support bandages tomorrow...
What sad little ear buds (and a cat with no remorse!)
Good luck on the job-hunting front!
Posted by: Ali | Thursday, 11 January 2007 at 13:02
Ah, cats, what fun. Ours are taking it in turns to bring us a mouse every couple of days.
Posted by: ruth singer | Thursday, 11 January 2007 at 22:22
She does look very pleased with herself! We had cats for years and I miss their feline presence. The socks look great - looking forward to seeing the next pair - there is something about the light at this time of year which buggers up decent photography - roll on those lazy, hazy days of summer!
Posted by: Julie | Friday, 12 January 2007 at 11:15
I'm so proud of you and your fancy socks! They look incredible. Hurrah for Flibbertygibbet! Rah! Rah!
And I'm happy to hear that knitting has been a good source of comfort and happiness for you. It really does do magical things.
Posted by: Leslie | Friday, 12 January 2007 at 22:19