Whew!

What a crazy day! 

I woke up to my male cat doing this:

He was still there two hours later,
and I did not want to know what he was doing. 
Or hearing.  Or seeing.

It couldn’t be good.

Later, when I was in the next room, I heard crazy noises, like someone was trying to break into the house.  I knew somehow, though, that the cat was in the middle of it.

Sure enough, he was now in the Mud Room, looking behind the door. 

Great.  Whatever it is must’ve made a run for it, thus all the noise when the cat pursued.

I moved the door shut to show the cat that there wasn’t anything there, and there it was -- a baby mouse!!!

Merciful heavens!  We’ve never had a mouse inside our home before.  Like, ever!

Oh, my mind went to thinking of all the places in our house he could hide where I could never get him out if he got into the main house again.  

How could I trap him or at least keep him in the Mud Room?

First of all, you have to understand that there is a gap of over an inch between the Mud Room door and the floor.  So just closing the door and leaving him in there and waiting for Mr. Man to come home wasn’t going to work.

Fortunately, we had a big box in the Garage that I found to use as a trap.  I taped the flaps up, prayed first, took a deep breath, and essentially shoved the box against the mouse and baseboard.

Thank heavens he froze when I did all that, and he just got scooped up into the box and I was able to carry it out back, where I released him in the woods behind our house.

Then I came in and poured myself an ice cold Root Beer and let my adrenaline calm down.

The cat took longer.  He stared at the door for a good 20 minutes and then slept it off all afternoon. 

Who knows how long he had been the best Hunter ever??

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

p.s.  So sorry I didn’t get a photo of the little thing.  Taking a photo for the blog didn’t really pop into my mind at the moment.  He was cute, though, and looked just like the little mouse I found in the deer corn bucket that day.  (link)

James 5 verse 11

For instance, you know about Job, 

a man of great endurance. 

You can see how the Lord was kind to him

at the end, 

for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.

(The Living Translation,

Bill Bright Discover God edition)

XOXO

♥

Picot Bind Off

Well, I did decide to go with the Picot Bind Off.

I tried it out on a little swatch and thought it looked nice.  It yields a border that goes well with the visual weight of the shawl and it wasn’t difficult to do at all.

I think it just freaks people out that it takes awhile.  I counted, and you do have to do 10 steps to bind off only 2 stitches.  That’s just gonna take some time, I don’t care who you are!

And you’ve already invested all this time (and hopefully some beautiful luxury yarn) into knitting the lace shawl, what’s another day or two?

(The way they talked on Ravelry, I expected it to take me a week!  LOL)

I really wanted to try it out at least once and see for myself, so I did.  It takes a lot of yarn, so I did a bit of calculating and knew I had enough, so, <whew!>

I like what the designer, Bev, said:  “The bind off is worth it, I promise!  My last one was huge, but I broke it down into pattern blocks:  bind off three pattern blocks, then empty the dishwasher, bind off another three, then fill dishwasher again, bind off another three, then clean the bathroom …   I finished it within a day and did so much housework.  Both activities seemed like a treat, as they were a break from the other.”

Now, I’m not as fast as she is, it took me longer than a day -- but I agree with her about alternating activities.  That really helped.  She is one sharp cookie.  And a brilliant designer.  I can’t wait to knit another one of her patterns.  (!)

Now!  Onto blocking!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

Fragile Heart

So, I have been busily working on knitting my latest lace project!

♥ ♥ ♥

I’ve also been fighting an upper respiratory bug, and I got so very tired of coughing.  There for awhile, I hurt in muscles that I didn’t even know I had!  <whew!>

But I’m so thankful that I am a knitter because, even though I was sick, I just love that I can still knit and get something done! 

(Because some other stuff is just gonna have to wait!)

Anyway, the pattern is called Fragile Heart by Boo Knits, and is a lovely crescent-shaped shawl.  (All of her patterns are terribly romantic-looking and gorgeous.)

I haven’t ever knitted a crescent-shaped shawl before.  And this is my first Boo Knits pattern to try, and I am already in love with her designs!

It is also a beaded shawl.  Yummy!  Now I’ve knitted with beads before (using the tiny crochet hook as-you-go method), but never in this amount.  So, that’s kinda cool.  The beads will not only sparkle, but they will also add a bit of weight to the shawl. 
I like that.

When I read the pattern instructions before beginning, it clearly showed that at certain places you place the bead before you make the stitch, and at other times it showed you putting it on after you make the stitch.  Well, that seemed kinda confusing to me, but when I got to that place in the pattern, it totally made sense and wasn’t an issue at all.  Thank heavens!

I joined a group on Ravelry that is working on this very shawl, so it’s been fun to read some of the over 5000 comments (on this pattern alone!!) and get some tips from fellow knitters.

They talk a lot about the Picot Bind Off at the end, and it’s not all good, so I don’t know if that will freak me out or what.  I saw a photo of someone’s shawl that didn’t use it, and it looked very pretty, so I guess I have options. 

I am working with a beautiful yarn that is 100% baby merino wool and it is so soft.  It’s very enjoyable to knit with, and even though it’s labeled as lace yarn, it’s not terribly fine.  In fact, for someone like me who is used to Rowan Kidsilk Haze (practically fuzzy thread!), this yarn seems almost like sock yarn.  So, it has been a very fun yarn to knit with for a change.

BUT.
I am already wondering what an all-lace version of this pattern would look like if it were knitted with Rowan Kidsilk Haze…! 

Should that be next??  :) 

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

I Need...

XOXO

♥