Syndactyl Salutations

Thoughts on writing, knitting, and the world around me.

Saturday, December 31, 2005

New Socks for a New Year

Yes, I finished my Bearfoot socks. I have them on at the moment, actually. These are the softest socks I've made to date. It's too dark in here to take a flashless photo, but I'll take one tomorrow and post it eventually.

Hey, that's two UFO to FO transformations this week, sort of cool, huh?

I know I still have stuff outstanding in terms of UFOs, but I think I'm going to start the Flowerbasket Shawl tomorrow, because I really want to knit lace in 2006. Might as well start right off the bat, I guess.

I hope everyone is having a nice New Year's Eve. We're having a quiet one, which is just fine with me. We went to a party last night, which was nice, except that I drank one beer and my nose, cheeks, forehead and chin suddenly looked and felt as though I'd been out in the sun too long. My skin is still sensitive today, very strange.

Here's to a great 2006. I had an interesting 2005, and I hope that some of the things that were begun because of all that was interesting about this year take root and make next year something to look forward to. Best to all of you and all of yours.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

One Down

Finished the furry scarf, yay, no more fun fur!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Uncovered UFOs

I cleaned a closet in my house, where some of my yarn lives, and unearthed some UFOs. Here is a list of things I've started but not finished in the past few months or more, both ones I knew about this morning and ones I unearthed this afternoon:

1. Mountain Colors Bearfoot Sock socks -- completed gusset decreases on second sock. I'm hoping to finish it this week so that I have a new pair of socks to wear on the new year.

2. Ribbed scarf in blue, green, and grey Gedifra Living, to match the hat I made at Kripalu -- I'm only about a foot into it, but since it's for me, there's no rush to finish it.

3. Chamagne colored Fun Fur scarf -- I think I started this as a going-away gift for someone last year. I'd already made her one, and she insisted she didn't need two (wonder why?). It's only about a quarter finished, and it's probably the last fun fur scarf I'll ever make, but I feel the need to finish it since I found it. Besides, I can't see ripping a fun fur scarf.

4. Baby sweater, Paton's DK Wool -- I've only cast on for this, so I can still decide whether I actually want to make it.

5. Klaralund, Noro Silk Garden #65A -- 2-3" in, but I think there are gauge issues, so I need to figure out what I need to do, one way or the other.

6. Baby blanket for a now toddler, Baby Jaeger in various colorways -- 4 squares done, I should probably just turn them into a pillow at this point. I am a terrible friend, and ab incredibly slow knitter with a short attention span.

7. Sampler scarf from The Yoga of Knitting, KnitPicks Palette -- This will be a long-term UFO. I haven't done much on it since I've been home, but I'm going to get back to it very soon.

As we can see, I have not yet gotten a digital camera. My mother did, which is odd, but very cool, on several levels.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Goodbye Widget

Last night we had to put our four-year-old cat to sleep. I came home from four hours of Christmas shopping and magazine reading to find him at the bottom of the stairs. It's not unsual for him to lie at the bottom of the stairs, it is unusual for him not to get up shortly after someone comes in the front door.

When I realized he wasn't going anywhere, I went back to him and sat with him, trying to figure out what was wrong. I picked him up, and when I put him down, I could see that he couldn't use his back legs. He was meowing loudly and a lot, his pupils were dilated, and he was breathing hard. Of course, no matter how many times I asked him what was wrong, he couldn't tell me. Didn't stop me from asking, though.

I called Ebbie and left a message on his phone as I was trying to decide what to do. Then I called the emergency vet, to be sure they were open and to figure out where they were. Then I called Ebbie again, just to let him know where I was going. I brought the cat carrier up from the basement and opened it, then went down to feed our other cat, Osmosis. By the time I got back upstairs, Widget had dragged himself into the carrier.

By the time I had gotten the rest of my stuff together and was writing a note for Ebbie, he had come home from practice. I told him what was going on (he hadn't gotten my messages), and we both went to the vet.

It took almost no time for the doctor to tell us what was wrong and that it was all but untreatable. We discussed our few options, but they all would have meant misery for Widget, with no guarantee that he would even survive the treatment, and what happened last night was likely to happen again at any time.

I began crying then, and didn't really stop until we were on the way home, with the empty cat carrier and the invoice. The vet sedated Widget, and we stayed with him, petting him and talking to him until he was unconscious. When I saw my reflection in his eye, I knew he no longer knew we were there.

We're not going to bury him or keep his ashes. I can't imagine having to bring his body home for burial, and a box of ashes is not my cat.

Widget was my first cat. I wasn't quite sure about having an indoor cat when Ebbie first suggested adopting a stray farm kitten four years ago, but I pretty much fell in love with him as soon as he came home. He began nursing on me almost immediately, and kept the habit right up until I went away to Kripalu. He thought about nursing on me a couple of times since I've been back, but he never actually did.

He was such a good, loving, affectionate cat, I don't quite know what I'll do without him, and I'm not entirely sure I truly believe that he's gone yet. Osmosis is confused as well.

I have plenty of photos of him, but I just don't have the energy right now to find one, scan it, and upload it. Maybe in a few days, because I would like all of you to be able to see my beloved buddy cat. I'll miss him terribly, I do already, I did from the second the vet picked him up and carried him out of the examination room.