l RUV MARU the CAT!

He's got his mention on Boing Boing!

You can obsessively watch ALL of his antics on YouTube.

Here's a little tidbit to get you hooked:



How can you resist his cute little hind legs poking out of the box? i RUV Maru!

yep, genetic predisposition to all things cute

surfing the craft blogs the other day i came across alleluja's work and then went to her etsy shop to purchase this uterly adorable porcelain cat with a pin stuck in its heart (cute and sick at the same time). gotta love it. she sent me an email that the kitty was sent it off from tokyo japan today. check her work out. it's totally great!

Two more birds have landed in Berkeley

OhThat & Lukenlarry's & birds have joined Avesthel & Amaryllisroze's birds in relocating to Berkeley, California. All four birds are enjoying the temperate climate here and are aquainting themselves with each other.

Thanks gals! I'm waiting for one more bird...

Sabine is OFF hold. Hoping to finish it this weekend!

I'm on the last few rows of the right sleeve on Sabine. I have to review my notes and figure out where I am on the body. It seems long enough when I tried it on, but I don't recall where I am on the pattern with respect to it's increases and decreases. It seems there are more people showing/discussing their issues with the pattern on Ravelry. Maybe theyv'e been there all along, but I'm just noticing them now. View the peeps in process/have completed Sabine for an idea of how varied the results can be on this 'little' sweater. I would have preferred to see the author of the pattern show her garment on a person as opposed to the mannequin. It may show quite a different story.

As fellow Raveler, Susan points out, there seems to be a "new math" with this sweater. I too had/have similar experiences as Susan knitting this up. Although I was getting row gauge the length was all wonky and too short. My fix was to add several rows to lengthen the body and sleeves. Most others are getting or purposely knitting to 3/4 sleeve lengths. I prefer a little below the wrist and added enough to the length to achieve this. I also added stitches so the circumference of the sleeve was a bit bigger as well as omitted the decreases that come before the cuff portion of the pattern. The result is a sleeve that does not bell out as much.

The pattern uses Filatura di Crosa’s Superior (70% cashmere, 30% silk). I find that this yarn results in a fabric that is way too "sticky" to put on. You have to re-adjust and be careful not to pull or break the lace fabric when putting on the sweater. This is just too fussy for me to deal with. I like sweaters one can just throw on and not spend 10 minutes each time adjusting the sleeves and body because it's sticking to the t-shirt underneath. It's not a kind of sweater that can go without something underneath as it's so sheer and lacy. I'm not even sure if I'll wear this when all is said and done. Sure looks good on it's hanger though.

I've been notating my pattern mods and comments in the project notes section on Ravelry and will continue to update it as I finally approach getting this baby off 'er needles!

Birds coming in from all points to roost in Berkeley

I've received two of the five birds so far from my swap partners in the Craftster Handmade Bird Swap I'm currently participating in.

Here's #1 from avesthel (Florida):

Here's #2 from amaryllisroze (StL, Mo):

Thank you both! The birds are wonderful and I've placed them on a display shelf in my living room for all to see.

The next swap

So I decided on my next swap...it's the Underwater Sea Swap hosted  by WildAtHeartArt. There are a bunch of amazing artists participating in this swap. To be honest, I'm a bit intimidated and hope I didn't get in over my head, nor will disappoint my swap partner, which is yet to be determined. I believe sign ups are until May 8th, so there's still a few days yet for you to sign up!

Check out the participant's blogs and websites in the righthand column of WildAtHeartArt's site. You will not be disappointed!

 

Managed to finish ONE knitting project...Almeara Gloves is finally FINISHED!

Well, they're finally done. The knit-a-long group that I did the Jared Flood Almeara Gloves with finished theirs long ago, but I didn't get the right glove finished until last night. Oh well. I'm fairly happy with the way they turned out. I kind of want to rip out the thumbs and do them over as they are a little big around the thumbprint area and the cables look a little wonky for some reason. I modified the palm and instead of garter stitch as the pattern called for, I did stockinette. I prefer the stockinette. I also swapped around some right cables for left and/or vice versa to make the cables have a mirror effect from the left to the right. Now, to change my in progress status to finished in Ravelry!

The birdies have flown the coup

All five birds set off in flight to their various destinations (1-california, 2-ohio, 1-texas & 1-finland) yesterday, April 30. My favorite of the 5 turned out to be Erdos (above). He was the first one I completed too. He's headed on a long flight to Finland! I hope he makes it there OK. All of my swappees received the "green" light, so I got clearance to shoo the birds out of their nest all at the same time. Now that I've successfully completed my first Crafter Swap what should I do next??? I looked on swapdex and found these two swaps that piqued my curiosity:

1. Under the Sea Swap
   
2. Secret Monkey Swap

What do you think? Under the Sea looks a bit intimidating, but I'm up for the challenge. Take a look at all the fabulous participants/artisits that are joining the swap! Whew! The Monkey Swap looks totally fun too. All these swaps are seriously putting a dent in my knitting time...