Life and Canadian boots.

I used to go really mental for boxing day sales [day-after-xmas sales, for you yanks]. But I haven't for years.

Except this year, I found myself at three shops on the 27th, when discounts were flowing like watah, I tell you, and I kind of lost my mind.

Item one: an insane, but very useful, indulgence. YES, I have perfectly good-but-ugly winter boots. But they're not cute and they definitely don't have red elastic gores with a maple leaf on them and "eh!" on the pull tab, like my new Blundstones do. Because I bought last year's style [without the cute toe cap], they were only $99. I can't rationalize paying $80 extra for a toe cap. These "eh boots" [should you be searching for them] also have great winter treads. The warmth will have to come from the appropriate sock. I <3 them.

I also added more undyed silk hankies to my stash, plus a little pack of dyed hankies by Treenway Silks. And a new Beach sweatshirt [locals will understand], half off.

I'm stopping now.

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p.s. I'll post the picture later, but it's really kinda scary around here. Squeeze is building a nest. Boeing is just restless, but Squeeze is collecting bits of newspaper and obsessively creating a little warm home for the babies she'll never have. My poor bunnies! 6 days to the spay.

My holiday present to you...

Handmaiden, the maker of my favorite silk, has started a blog. Enjoy!

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MIL's scarf is almost done, and now I'm obsessed with this: I've got one perfect skein of Handmaiden Lopi Silk in deep blues, purples and greeny-bronze -- a gift from Lorena at The Sheep and want to knit something perfect to wear to the hub's family xmas party on Sunday. Miraculously, it looks amazing with the Artfibers Hana silk that Dr Steph gave me for my last birthday. It's a soft purply-pink that has some grey in it. They look amazing together. So I'm going for a sideways Sally Melville again, except this one will be very subtle and so sexy that I expect strangers to fondle me as I pass.

Summary: eeeeee!

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Mostly, happy holidays to everyone. A whole bunch of holidays seem to be uncharacteristically converging around one or two days this year, and that's gotta mean something about harmony and getting along. Or at least all of us sleeping in at the same time.

Stay warm. Be happy.

Two weeks to spayday!

I admit, fully and with no reservations, that I chose Boeing because she was a cuddlebun.

And then we brought her home and within two weeks, Squeeze had terrorized her into prolonged hiding. All I wanted was my big cuddlebun.

Last night, I came home and seeing that she seemed to want company, scooped her out of the corral and sat down in the big chair with her. And she purred for me. For like 20 minutes. I love how BIG and heavy she is. I always wanted a big big bunny, but didn't realize we'd gotten one until Boeing started becoming herself and exploding in all directions. She's huge, she's solid muscle, and she's so comforting to hold.

Boeing doesn't fight being picked up. It's an amazing thing to me, though I know it's not unheard of. Just rarely experienced by us. None of the other bunnies we've lived with have been this laid back.

Trying not to think of what the actual spay means [major surgery x 2, anesthesia, hours where we hold our breath, followed by a few days of worry and incessant bunny-tending], and just hoping that all will be well on the other side of it, with nicely healed tummies, quick elimination of unnecessary hormones from their bodies, and resumed Squeeze/Boeing cuddling sessions.

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Meanwhile, in MIL knitting news, all is moving along well. I resisted the urge to knit a sock for my new iPod [chanukah present from hub. he upgraded me and it's insanely great]. Besides, I ordered this in magenta, and it shipped the same day I ordered it. Quite impressed with that. So a sock will, hopefully, not be necessary.

Thanks to my beloved, I now have the entire first season of Lost in my purse. Will be MOST excellent when I'm waiting in the airport in January.

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January? Where am I going?

TNNA. SO excited! Potter Craft, the imprint of Random House that's publishing Big Girl Knits, is sending a whole bunch of their authors to TNNA to celebrate their launch. So Jillian and I will be flying out with the lovely Fiona Ellis, and we'll get to meet Ann and Kay, The Yarn Girls, and Margrit Lohrer! Ms Morehouse Merino herself!

I can't stand it, I'm so excited!

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It's cold in the office. Feh. [Still, cold is better than hot.]

Blogging helps bring closure.

Edit: Dec 29, 2005 -- Just heard from the person who's bought the business from Adelaide, and as I'd wondered, there was a good [but not happy] reason I'd heard nothing. Adelaide isn't well, and I'm really sorry about that. It was nice of the new jewelry person to write me, and I wanted anyone who was following this to know that circumstances beyond her control caused the situation.

Life. Sigh.

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Since I've had no satisfactory resolution to my online shopping problem...[edit]

Paypal has told me my claim against them was granted. In fact, Adelaide didn't even respond to Paypal. But since there are no funds in Adelaide's account, I can't be reimbursed. And Adelaide's website says their collection is "currently offline", but you can sign up to be informed about when it's back.

Um, I'm not signing up. I'd just like my stinkin $42 back, please. And thanks for my birthday earrings, not.

Dear Kiddo,

Yes, Kiddo, we still have bunnies peeing where they're not supposed to. But thankfully, not everywhere.

We had a big thick box full of stuff they could chew, like a John Grisham paperback and a grass mat and a piece of cardboard. And they like that. They now also like to take turns peeing in one part of the box. And there's still chewing going on in that same box. Yes, you can say "eeeeew". We do.

Meanwhile, the detente continues. Boeing has been spotted licking Squeeze's nose through the bars. [See why we still have hope?] Squeeze mostly runs up to Boeing, and then runs away, waggling her long bunny tail from side to side in some clearly delusional mating dance. It's all freaky and we're still counting the days to the spay.

Two weeks, 1 day.

---

No baking yet. Depending on how today [the potential day from h-e-double-hockey-sticks at the day job] goes, I might make the dough tonight. Roll and bake tomorrow. Ice Wednesday. Which means gingerbread cookies at the office on Thursday. We'll see.


And that is all, folks. Short update today.

i gave in.

Because the recipients don't read this, I can blog it.

Steph, despite my pompous pride-filled attitude at your signing when I was the first to sit down [after you asked, "how many of you are knitting for the holidays?"], I have given in.

It's like this. The receptionist [but she's so much more] at our office is funny and I like her. She often gets lunch for anyone who wants it, and there are 11 of us, so that's a lot of bags to carry sometimes. When I started at the company two years ago, I gave her some sweeties from Starbucks to say thanks at the holidays. And despite her protestations that "I do it for everyone", I gifted her similarly again last year.



This year, when I realized I was sick of my day job secret santa copping out and giving me chocolate [aka "I know nothing about you so here's something you probably won't hate"], I realized I'd been doing the same damned thing for her. So I pulled out four freakisly matching yarns from my stash, and made a trip to The Sheep for a fifth with some bling, and whipped up my first sideways knit à la Sally Melville. See above. I hope she'll like it...more than the chocolate, anyway.


As I was knitting this, I realized I haven't knit anything for my mother in law for I can't remember how long. And that's not very nice, is it? So she's getting a Mimi Verylong from some shimmery Blue Heron rayon with bling [above]. As Steph says, I have till NEXT weekend to finish that, and that I can do.

What about my family? This year, I'm not leaving home for the holidays. I'm staying put. That means that I have till my next visit -- likely February -- to knit anything for them, should I finally figure out what that might be.

See, Steph? The secret is simple: make your parents move to Chicago.

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The bunny corral, for your perusal:



That's Boeing doing her business in the back. You can see they've both got room to move but are separated, when we close the cage door. It's not a bad temporary setup. Please, god, let it be temporary.

And yes, we have two litterboxes, lest you think we make the one out of the cage hold it or something. But we move one of them out of the corral to go with the bunny who might need it. We are all about containing the piddle in the Knitty househould.

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And for Scout, who asked two weeks ago:



Just a quick, vaguely blurry snap. Sorry. Busy day [we're off to the MIL for the traditional pre-xmas snorfing of caloric intake]. To the right is our blanket box/coffee table and another matching chair for Hub. Across the room is the toob of boob.

I'm particularly fond of the little silver table. That's a vintage steel typewriter table, bought at an estate sale. When I'm really flush, I want to have it sandblasted and powder coated [a la Martha] in some killer color.

The picture of Le Nemrod looks like this:



It makes me particularly happy. It was taken on my APS Elph in 2000 and was totally a gift from the photo gods. It was our last night in Paris and we were heading to the Eiffel to see the lights. The sun was setting and Le Nemrod had just turned on their signs, so I stopped for a second to snap our favorite place and then we headed onwards.

I was stunned when we developed the roll and it was absolutely perfect. Dusk against neon lights and totally in focus. And when I scanned the print of the photo, I was able to blow that tiny APS-format 28mm negative up to wall size and it looks stunning. I love good photo karma.

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So we're off. And we'll be coming home with supplies for my annual baking extravaganza which consists of one thing: really, really good gingerbread. I use Martha's cookie ornament recipe because it tastes amazing and is firm and travels well. Clearly, I'm going to have to ship some to my mama.

clearly you are divided.

about half of you think my watch affectation is adorable.
a quarter think it's just old.
another quarter thinks i should be ashamed of myself.

right now, my sweatshirt sleeve is covering the sleeve of my turtleneck, so no one can see exactly HOW i'm wearing my watch. perhaps for the good of the blog, we'll leave it that way.

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Rabbit update, day 3

People, we have reached detente. We are pleased about this.

In our home, detente means one bunny out at a time, and two bunnies never in the same enclosed space at once.

So one is in the cage [that'd be Squeeze, since she can escape the corral -- we haven't yet figured out HOW, though], and one is running around the house. Or one is in the corral and the other one is hiding under the dining room hutch.

Squeeze has gone from being terrified all the time to giving kisses again and being more herself. We, as bunny caretakers, feel good about this, because it's all we've got.

We've also noted that, at night, when Squeeze is tucked in the cage and Boeing is tucked into the corral, they spend a lot of time nose to nose through the cage bars, calmly and peacefully. They *want* to be together, but their hormones won't let them. Again, this is something we take as a good sign.

Also, I have no idea how I'm going to clip Boeing's back toenails. She is at least 5 pounds of solid bunny muscle and she will not tolerate it in any position. In this case, Squeeze can be hypMOtized but Boeing will have none of it. You should see the state of my wrists from the attempts. Owie.

Two weeks, 5 days till spayday.

I don't want to cause a riot...

but I don't think it can be helped.

Socks that Rock yarns are now available online, direct from the people that make 'em -- Blue Moon Fiber Arts. So far, just the 100% superwash merino is available.

Hey! Where'd everybody go?

I like it this way. It's more comfy.

Day three [2 weeks, 6 days to spay]

Well, it's a complete about face. No, they don't want to be together, but now Boeing is top bun and it's really kind of sad. It's funny when the little one bullies the big one, but not so funny the other way. Mind you, Boeing doesn't really bully. She just follows Squeeze wherever she goes, at top speed. Squeeze, consequently, is terror-ridden [not sure why; clearly it's an overreaction, since there's no hurt being inflicted upon her that we can see].

So as of today, they won't be allowed out together at all until after the hormones go bye bye. Two weeks, 6 days. Then, once they're healed, we can start putting them together for short periods on neutral territory and hope we can re-bond them. Which is exactly what we didn't want to have to do. But we'll deal.

Questions about spaying, briefly answered. Whenever you put a rabbit under a general anesthetic, it's a risk to their delicate systems. For boys, the operation [as I understand it] is much simpler to recover from and so they can tolerate it at an earlier age. But for girls, it's a full removal of ovaries and uterus, plus the anesthetic, so it's recommended not to do the surgery before 6 months if you can.

The humping is SO clearly not about pleasure, Dr. Steph. It's about innate urges these little freaks don't understand in the slightest. Being a prey animal isn't much fun, and though bunnies have been housepets for years, they haven't been domesticated as long as cats or dogs. There's still a lot of wild in them. It's all about self preservation and reproduction.

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In other news, I'm getting more done with the new living room arrangement. It's easier to be a sack of potatoes on a couch than in a nice chair with an ottoman. The work does include knitting, which means that progress continues on the slate Frog Tree cotton v-necked raglan. Back done, front 1/2 done. I'd like to finish it over the holidays, but will not push. We'll see.

My new watch came, and it's lovely. It glows in the dark with no pressing of buttons required. Nice.

Research materials for No Sheep continue to arrive, and I'm building quite a decent fiber reference library. One of the books I'd never have wanted to even open a year ago, but now I'm ecstatic to have my own copy, cause it's full of actual scientific data and stuff. Real data! Based on experiments and tests done by a real scientist! Even!

It'll be nice to be authoritative about this stuff when the time comes. No, I can't be more specific than that.

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In other whimsical news, looks like I'll be published in Japan shortly. Well, not exactly as planned, but still! A new Blythe book is coming out and it was supposed to have a hat pattern in it, designed by me. But there were complications with the way Japanese patterns are written, and so instead, my hats were photographed on cool Blythes I've never met, and the picture is in the book with a URL to the English version of the pattern on the Knitty site.

Thankfully, though I was a bit brain dead when I had to send the hats to Japan [right after the accident in Cape Cod], I did have the presence of mind to take pictures of each hat on one of my Blythes, which means I'll have a nice pattern page to share with y'all when I can. In a few weeks, probably.

The book is called Darling Blythe. Eee!

Rabbit update, day 2

[2nd day past the point of no return, so to speak]

Spay is booked for Jan 3.

Last night, Squeeze was miserable. Honking [that's the bunny mating call] and trying to mount any part of Boeing that wasn't moving. I went over to Squeeze, who was cowering in the back of the cage, honking, and tried to calm her. It's not working well.

This morning, the balance of power shifted. Now Boeing is chasing Squeeze all around the house and Squeeze won't stay still for 2 seconds. It's all pretty pitiful.

Exactly three weeks today, snip. It can't come soon enough for all four of us.

Life with rabbits

We've never had two at once before, except for a brief attempt to bond Noot with another sweet bun, and that's a long story that didn't end well. [Not Noot's fault, btw.]

So this has been an, um, interesting experience. We've found ourselves pulling out the rabbit handbook frequently to reassure ourselves that we're not taking care of four-legged mutants. And we're not. We just happen to have two very hormonal babies who shouldn't be spayed for another two months, but really need it now.

Squeeze, in particular, is queen of dominance. She tries to hump poor Boeing whenever she feels the need, and especially after I pet Boeing. That'll teach me, eh? If I pet them togther, I can sometimes avert the trauma. Mostly Boeing runs away whenever Squeeze gets behind her. So that means she runs away a lot.

Keep in mind that Squeeze is maybe 3 lbs, and Boeing is surely 5 by now. It's a ridiculous sight, and one that made me very anxious for our vet's affirmation that we really did have two girls. Which we do. And yes, Boeing occasionally attempts to mount Squeeze. Which is even sillier.

The furniture swapout has gone well so far, with the buns too interested in the change in surroundings to explore any black leather objects for more than a second. But still, they get less time out of the corral for now.

And then last night, after we'd gone to bed, I heard a rabbit screaming, which I haven't heard since the a few days before Noot died. Not something you ever want to hear, a rabbit screaming.

We both got up, ran to the cage and they were just sitting there, looking wide-eyed and freaked, but not injured. Because along with the attempted humping, there's circling which is just one step short of fighting. Sigh. So we made the outer corral into Boeing's cage last night, and left Squeeze in the cage proper. Both with their own food, water and litter. This is, as you can imagine, not how we planned our little rabbity family to work out. But we'll deal. We can put them to bed like this for another few months, if it will help, till the spay. They can still see and touch each other, but no panic will result.

We're putting a lot of faith in the power of the spay.

Postscript: This morning, they were cuddling. Hormones suck.

[And yes, pictures of the living space and my knitting zone to come. Maybe tonight, if there's no bloodshed.]

Resolved, we hope.

The ultimate bunnyproof chair, also from Ikea. Seriously. Super thick poly. Nothing to eat! There's even a little hole in the center to let the pee drain out. :-) [I know, feh.]

And it's surprisingly comfortable for a hard plastic chair. But not comfortable enough to be our primary hanging out spot, even with a tushy cushion. So we got two of the chairs below, which are quite comfy, and two matching footstools.

Tomorrow, we have to haul the crappy couches out of the house, and then we can let the bunnies explore a little. But as Kim wisely said in the comments, we will set our boundaries a little tighter than we had. Hub finds this harder to deal with than I do. I will continue to work on him. My authority is the HRS website, and if they say it's okay, then it really is.

Also, tomorrow we finally get to pack holiday hampers for the PWA group in town. We meant to go last year and I don't know why we didn't. But we're going this year. And the bunnies will be safely tucked in their corral while we are gone.

calling all bunny people

Does this Ikea chair look like it would be reasonably bunnyproof? Clearly the metal bottom is right on the money. But I haven't seen any rabbits living with leather chairs or sofas in person, so I don't know how they'll react to the leather. I *do* know we can wipe down leather easier than we can clean fabric.

I also know how rabbits react to leather shoes [they eat them], but shoes smell like foots, which has to be much of the attraction. Plus there will be no jutty-outty edges to grab on these chairs, like there are on the soles of shoes or tops of boots.

We have a tiny house with a tiny living room, so two chairs with ottomans [ottomen?] seem like a better idea than two couches that are 15 years old, rabbit eaten and recently peed on.

Ricky Gervais... Obviously.

What not to do on a very snowy morning when you are unusually predisposed to losing your footing on uncleared sidewalks: listen to Ricky Gervais' new podcast.

People, there was nearly pant peeing. I stumbled from the giggling more than once, and walked down the streets of this huge metropolis, laughing my ass off out loud, even.

Thankfully, no one was injured.

I had the best seat in the house

Thanks to Dr. Steph's either intuitive or cunning choice of seats, we sat in the best place to hear the other Steph -- Ms Harlot -- speak. Right in front of her kids.

Steph Harlot in front of a large audience is, as she has been one-on-one, funny and charming. But it's exponentially more hysterical to hear her read her story about her holiday knitting obsession and how it quickly goes from manageable to out of control...while her kids are providing whispered commentary in the background.

When she got to the part where she no longer sleeps in order to make her self-imposed knitting deadline, I knew it was coming before she read it. Cause the girls behind us said, giggling, "that's when she doesn't sleep!"

Should you have the opportunity to enjoy one of the Harlot's presentations while sitting immediately in front of her progeny, I would highly recommend it.

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Anecdote: as I was writing this, Squeeze peed on the slipcovered couch*. Squeeze pees on the couch quite a lot.

We're counting the days till the spay.

*our couches are both total writeoffs after 11 years with Ms Noot and her amazing chewy habits. so it's not like we're losing valuable upholstery. but MAN, will we ever be able to replace these horrid old couches with something bunnyproof? steel, perhaps?

Nooz! Nooz! Eee!

Popular “1824 Cotton” Yarn is Back
As Mission Falls Finds New Home
 
 New York—December 6, 2005
 
CNS Yarns announced today that it has licensed the exclusive rights to distribute Mission Falls yarns. CNS is bringing back the celebrated 1824 Cotton, an Aran weight 100% cotton, easy care yarn, which had been discontinued. They will also distribute the 1824 Wool yarn—a 100% superwash merino, and all the pattern books and buttons under the brand, Mission Falls. Designer Mags Kandis, whose eclectic vision has made Mission Falls yarns, and both adult and children’s clothing designs international favorites, will continue to design for the brand. Mags will design new 1824 Cotton patterns for Spring 2006, and a new 1824 Wool line for Fall 2006.

“We have always admired Mags Kandis’ designs,” said Paul Nichols of CNS Yarns. “Mags’ designs are both sophisticated and down-to-earth. She is one of today’s most talented and inspired designers. We are extremely proud to be teaming up with Mags and continuing the Mission Falls brand.”
Mags Kandis has spent the last 18 years perfecting her distinctive style for Mission Falls. Her designs appear in many publications including Vogue Knitting, Knitter’s, Interweave Knits, and Vogue’s Knitting on the Go. Her trademark fresh, “do-able” knits are a reflection of her home, a 19th century Gothic farmhouse in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

“I want to wear knit garments that look amazing with the least amount of knitting grief,” Kandis says. “In most of my designing I look for simplification. Colourwork that is logical. Simple stitch patterns that are ‘mindless’ but, in the end, make a lovely fabric.”

Mags is pleased that the both the 1824 Cotton and the 1824 Wool will be back on the market and the magic of interchangeable patterns will once again be available to inspire knitters.

For more information, visit www.missionfalls.com.

The sweet aftermath

What does the editor does after the magazine goes live? She buys herself a new watch.

It's cool, it's way big and it glows in the dark without any buttons needing to be pressed. It's legible and it's lime and it makes me smile. If you are similarly fond of big watches, check out the St Moritz M1 on eBay -- best prices I've found.

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I've been deeply unimpressed with my ability to multitask lately.

So I'm sitting here with a cup of low-fat hot choc, trying to slow down. My brain has been on hyperdrive the last month, mostly because of Knitty, but also some lagging Big Girl issues, and some new No Sheep issues.

Now Knitty is happily to bed, most of the surprises are ready even, but I'm gonna make you wait for them, cause I'm a cruel, heartless thang, plus it's no fun to open all your presents at once.

And now, I have to turn my full attention to No Sheep.

I've been gathering research materials for the last few months, via Alibris. With Big Girls, I ran up some huge library overdue fines. Better just to buy the damned things outright and read them at my leisure. Now it's time to read them. And put little post-it sticky flags all over the pages. I bought a new larger Moleskine for the task [not the floppy covered one, but the nice, rigid one that's about the size of a small trade paperback, lined]. I have my favorite pens at the ready.

And soon, I'll be able to tell the time in the middle of the night from the irregular numbers on my lime-faced watch.

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And hopefully you've gotten a chance to peek at my piece on silk hankies in the latest Knittyspin. Because, when I was going on and on about how much I love spinning on my spindles now...THIS is why.

Interestingly, as happy as these make me, they make my new friend Lorraine grimace in pain. The sound of the hankies as they're drafted is kind of crackly and nice. To me, anyway. But to Lorraine, it = fingernails + chalk board. I find that fascinating. If Lorraine didn't have the entire huge world of four-legged animal fiber to spin, I'd almost feel sorry for her. :-)

Winter Knitty is here for your enjoyment

Oh, this one is a biggy. I, and all the Knitty folk, hope you enjoy!

A little caveat for those who are obsessive internet shoppers [like I am]

Nothing like this has ever happened to me, but I am pretty careful to limit my larger $ purchases to retailers I'm familiar with [or those recommended by friends].

I'm currently out $40 with an online jeweler [an indie who was listed at StyleBakery] because they seem to have gone under between my sending them payment and their shipping the item. Paypal can't pull the $40 back into my account because their account is empty, and may not be able to recover it. Lesson learned. This is also the first time that a bad transaction may not be recoverable. In the past, usually the retailer has made it right eventually or Paypal has come to the rescue in a few rare cases.

[eta: by the way -- I originally ordered something different from them in spring, and THAT never arrived. But back then, the seller responded and refunded the money. So I thought they were cool people and this was just a glitch. Interestingly, both orders made use of a 40% off coupon that they'd e-mailed me. Is that why they never fulfilled the order?]

In addition to reading this amazing story, note the valuable information in the first comment, from some smart guy named Eddy:
"I have a tip: before ever buying anything I always go to google and type "company name+scam".

By doing that, Eddy found tons of complaints about the retailer Mr Hawk dealt with. Thanks for the tip, Eddy!

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And from Jenn in the comments, we learn about this link:
http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

Cool. My guess is that you need a US address to file a complaint, though.