There was a picture today, but...

it came out blurry and I just don't have it in me to drag the camera (and myself back upstairs and take another one). So, I'll describe it to you. I've finished the second little sock (the seed stitch one) and started a sock for me. Its been about 2 weeks since I've had socks for me on the needles and I wanted to get going again. I'm using the hand dyed yarn from my Knitter's Tea Swap Pal and its really pretty. This isn't going to be a long blog post, I'm only blogging to kill some time until the ENT doc opens up. I woke up last night with a really bad earache and decongestants and sitting upright haven't helped the way I feel very much (Holy Skull Piercing Pain, Batman), so I'm going to try to see the doctor today. Happy Halloween!

UPDATE: I have an ear infection. I'm now on antibiotics and an antihistimine/decongestant, so hopefully, I'll feel more like an actual human tomorrow.

Cough, Gasp, Wheeze...

This weekend I was sick*. As in Please-Kill-Me-Now-I'm-Dying-Anyway sick. It all started with a really, really bad sore throat. (I actually lay awake one night seriously considering that decapitation couldn't possibly hurt this much - I've been reading a Vampire book, but still.) It also sucked all of the energy right out of my body. Climbing the stairs made me want to take a nap. Well, I'm not dead yet and thankfully Mickael was an absolute Saint this weekend and corralled Caleb and Finn for me. But what do you do when your whole body hurts? Knitting takes too much effort, but I found that I could spin. So spin I did. You are looking at the fourth bobbin of singles for the cabled Merino and Kid Mohair yarn. Did you catch that? I'm halfway through the last bobbin of this! Can I get a big WooHoo?! I'm in shock that I'm this close to finishing the singles. I think the plying will go pretty fast, even though I have to ply twice, so I'm looking forward to that part.

I've realized though, that while I blog about spinning fairly frequently, I don't think I've introduced both of my little spinning buddies. On the left is Happy, I think you've met her before. Caleb let me put her on my spinning wheel pretty soon after I got it (but he takes her away if I upset him and make him do something he doesn't want to, like eating new food or something horrible like that). We have two or three sheep from the various Fisher-Price sets we have around here, so logically, Caleb assumed one of them should sit on my spinning wheel, sheep being the source of wool and all that.

On the right is Gribolley Nibbitt. Caleb named him too, and he's only been sitting on the spinning wheel a couple of months, but he just got named a couple of weeks ago. I had realized that my little spinning dragon didn't have a name, so I asked Caleb what his name was. Now with Caleb you never really know what he'll name something. He named a stuffed cat that looks a lot like Ramius, "Post Office," but he wanted to name Finn, "Nice Doggy." He also just recently suggested "Pumpkin" for a name for a Jack O Lantern. So, I didn't really know if he would go creative or literal when he named the dragon. As soon as I asked him what the dragon's name was, he just said "Gribolley Nibbitt." No hesitation, no thinking about it, just blurted out the name. I thought that was a wonderful name for a dragon, but didn't know if it would stick, so I asked him again about a week later. Again, "Gribolley Nibbitt." I have no idea how he remembered the name. So, now you know. I spin with Happy and Gribolley Nibbitt. And we're almost done with the neverending Merino/Kid Mohair. We're thrilled!

*I'm not usually as sick as I've been this Fall, but I think its just the adjustment to school. When Caleb started Preschool, I thought he was trying to kill me with all the wonderful germs he brought home. Now that we're in a different school, there are different germs to develop resistance to. And aren't they fun?

Sparkley Thursday

Yesterday I did a little bit of beading. I picked up the stones and the heart drop at the bead store here in town. We're fortunate to have a really great bead store here. I'm not much of a heart person, but when I saw this heart, I really liked it. Its made by Green Girl Studios and its Pewter (I usually use Sterling Silver), but I kept coming back to it as I wandered around the store. When I kept going to look at it, I knew I'd kick myself if I didn't get it. I used it with pearls, some small aquamarine round beads, faceted onyx beads and a tablet bead of kyanite. I strung and knotted the whole thing with aquamarine colored silk with my Tri Cord Knotter. I'm really happy with the way it came out! Here's a detail of the heart pendant. On the back it says, "Love Gives Wings." I love it when artists do something like that - adding a little bit extra to a design that most people will never see.

You can see the attention to detail in the pendant better in this picture, as well as the beads better. This has made me want to do more beading. Its been a while since I've done much with beads, but I really enjoyed playing around yesterday.

Fur Babies Wednesday

You asked for some fuzzy eye candy, so here it is!Finn is growing like a weed. I'm not sure what he weighs at this point, only that I try not to carry him. I'm assuming that he's between 40-50 pounds at this point, but its hard to tell with all the wiggling. He and I are walking a mile and a half every day and I'm fixing to make it longer. You can see on his back, he is growing in big dog fur and it looks like it will have a little bit of curl to it. He looks more like a small, big dog now than a puppy to me (if that makes any sense).
Our house is covered in doggy toys right now, but he's doing a pretty good job of not taking Caleb's toys. I keep my knitting out of his reach and we've discussed spinning wheel etiquette a couple of times, so he's doing pretty well with that. He is completely potty trained and I think he did that really fast. We're working on basic commands now, he's doing pretty well with Sit and Lie Down, but Come is a bit iffy when he's off leash. He doesn't pull on the leash when I walk him, and he's learned to sit before we cross the street, but I haven't really shown him Heel yet. He's never even heard the Stay command. He has noticed that his tail seems to follow him everywhere, and does his best to discourage that kind of behavior, but so far isn't having any luck. He's big enough now to easily jump up on the sofa and chairs and has found that the chair will actually help to corral his tail for him, at least until Caleb tattles on him and I come over to get him out of the chair.
Ramius hasn't really changed his stance on the whole puppy issue, but is now swatting AND biting at Finn. Finn doesn't seem to like it when Ramius bites at him, but Ramius is still being pretty gentle so Finn hasn't quite gotten the point. Of course the fact that Ramius is purring quietly the whole time, probably isn't helping either. I've been working with Finn on lying down (instead of tackling the cat) when he sees Ramius and he's actually done it a couple of times without me telling him to. So to paraphrase Chief Inspector Dryfuss, every day and in every way, its getting better and better.

More Fronts

Or more of the same fronts, I guess. I'm about 1 1/2 inches from when I'll start the shaping for the neckline. This cardigan has a V neck, so shaping will be really simple. Once I finish the fronts, I will block them and the back, then sew them together (at the shoulders at least) and do the neckband ribbing so that can be blocking while I do the sleeves. I'm playing with the idea of adding a single buttonhole and button to this sweater, but I can't make up my mind. I did add some neck shaping to the back of the sweater that I didn't tell you about. The pattern had you do shoulder decreases (which will help the shoulders fit a person's natural shoulder slope), but the neck was just straight across. Clothing without at least a bit of a dip at the back neck (even 1/2 inch will make a difference), tends to "ride back" over your shoulders and you're constantly pulling it forward to get the shoulder seams in the correct place. I'm going for an everyday easy kind of sweater here and I don't want to be fidgeting with it all the time, so I added a little bit of neck shaping while I was doing my shoulder shaping. The reason I'm thinking about adding the button is based on the same things I was thinking about the back neck - it should make the sweater less fidgety. Part of me wants to see how it actually wears when I get it done before deciding about a button, but it would be hard to put in a buttonhole then. I could also pin it closed if I decide it needs a closure, or it might fit perfectly and not really need anything to close it. Anyone else have any ideas? Has anyone made this sweater before? I tried Googling "Order and Chaos Sweater" and got a bunch of physics sites, which is not at all what I was looking for.

Every Back Needs A Front - Or Two

Houston, we have Fronts! Or at least the beginning of Fronts. I finished the back of Order and Chaos over the weekend and began the fronts last night. I'm waiting to block the back so I can do it with the fronts, which is why there is no picture of the back. I'm knitting both fronts at the same time and I'm not reversing the cabling. I thought about it, but since the back is asymmetrical, it didn't seem to demand that the fronts be mirror images of each other. Also, since the design is based on tree bark, asymmetry seems to fit with that too. The weather here is getting cool enough that I could wear this now, so I'm trying to really get some work done on it. I'm enjoying the design quite a bit. There are 4 Right Side rows of cable crossings and traveling stitches that I have to pay attention to, but then there's a section where you just knit the knits and purl the purls. Its a nice balance of both concentration and the speed you can knit the thing at. I have no idea if that makes any sense, but we'll chalk it up to Monday and not enough caffeine yet.

Up and Running Again

Now that I know the sweater will be comfortably oversized the way it was designed, I'm back to knitting it. You can see what I got done last night because its so much narrower than the blocked part. The cable pattern is not a traditional one - Fionna Ellis designed it after tree bark. Despite the fact that it doesn't do what cables usually do, and the design seems more organic than a traditional Aran, there is a pattern to the crossings and meanderings which, while I still have to refer to the chart, is pretty easy to remember across the row. I'm really inspired to keep working on this sweater, especially since I don't have doubts about sizing anymore. I hope to get quite a bit done over the weekend.

I also started another wee sock yesterday. This one is Seed Stitch, and I'm ready to do the heel turn. I'm using a short row heel rather than a heel flap, since these are just decorations.

Molly of the Comments yesterday asked if I really was allergic to acrylic or was it just an aversion to it? Well, Molly, I really am allergic - as in, I get an itchy rash within 30 minutes of wearing it next to my skin. This was a problem growing up (I was born in the 70's) when my mom would put a hat on me to keep me warm, as soon as she couldn't see me I'd yank it off. I was so miserably itchy with the silly thing, I never even thought about what it was doing to my hair. We didn't realize what was making me itchy until a few years ago when I realized that everything that had acrylic in it made me itch. I could go into a store and try on a sweater and without looking at the tag, tell you if it had acrylic in it. The problem is, with the development of microfibers (these are synthetic fibers that are extruded to a diameter less than one denier - fine silk is 1.25 deniers), the high end yarn companies are using acrylic in their blends. Rowan's Calmer and Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino line are two examples that use acrylic microfibers. Most people find them very soft, but they make me crazy itchy. My biggest pet peeve? Yarn catalogs and websites that list microfiber as one part of the fiber content. Microfiber can be any synthetic fiber - polyester and nylon are also made into microfibers. Tell me what kind of microfiber it is so that I don't have to go Googling around cyberspace to get more information. OK, rant over. Have a great weekend.

Just Checking...

I was knitting a little bit more on the back of Order and Chaos and I started worrying about the size. The Knit Picks Sierra is a very bouncy yarn, but being all natural fibers, should block easily. It was very easy to smooth the piece out to the correct size (21 inches), but when left to its own devices on the needles, it would suck back into a very scary 14 inches. This had me a little freaked out, so onto a lifeline (the red yarn at the top is holding the stitches safely for me), off the needles and onto the ironing board where I pinned it to the correct size and steamed it well. It seems to have worked out just fine. I've unpinned part of it, but not the whole thing yet - I'll do that later today. It doesn't seem to be bouncing back to 14 inches, so I think I'll be alright. I did do a gauge swatch, but I'm using a different yarn (the designer used one with acrylic in it - I'm allergic) and a different needle size. I got gauge, but sometimes knitting gets tricksy and the actual project may or may not have any relationship to the gauge swatch. Hopefully I'm OK with this project and I can keep going.

Bits and Pieces

Remember this? Its the 8 ounces of Merino and Hemp I spun a while back. I had just over 500 yards of it and was thinking of making a smoke ring of some kind with it. The problem was, it was a really yellowish creamy white, which is a color I don't look good in. So yesterday, into the dyepot it went, and it came out this pale blue green color, which is one of my favorites!

The hemp didn't take the dye, only the wool, so the color isn't completely solid, it has that wonderful hand dyed look with the light and dark shadings in it. I hope to make up my mind on what to knit with it soon, because it really wants to get on the needles once its dry.

Of course, by now you've noticed the tiny sock next to the skein of yarn. I made this little guy last night. I thought it would be fun to put tiny socks on Christmas gifts this year. They'll pack and ship better than bows and they can be used as Christmas ornaments too! I did this one with the stitch pattern from the Blueberry Waffle Socks and I'm really happy with how cute it is. Tiny socks work up so quickly that they should be an easy, fun thing to get me started with Christmas gifts.

Spinning, and Spinning, and Spinning, and When Will it Ever End?

OK, so remember how I was spinning the Merino/Kid Mohair top and I was going to cable it? Well, I'm STILL spinning it. I've got two bobbins done - I'm putting 2 ounces on each bobbin, I have 8 ounces total- and I think that's part of my problem. I'm spinning this for socks (I know, you're shocked aren't you) and the average pair of socks takes about 100 grams or 3.5 ounces of fingering weight yarn. Theoretically, this means that once I got the first two bobbins of singles done, I had enough for socks. But, handspun yarn is usually spun tighter than commercial yarn, and more twist usually means a more compact yarn, so for the same amount of fiber, you get less yardage, even though the wraps per inch of the finished yarn might be the same as commercial yarn. On the other hand, I've never even come close to running out of yarn from a 100 gram hank of commercial sock yarn when knitting a pair of socks, so that should give me a little bit of breathing room. But, I don't want to have to go back and spin more if I run short on my knitting, because by then I'll have moved on to spinning something else. And if I'd just go ahead and finish the spinning, I should have enough for two pairs of socks and its not like I'm not going to knit two pairs of socks or anything.

As you can see, if you've followed all this, I've been kind of going back and forth in my head and trying to decide what to do. What I've been doing is nothing and ignoring the spinning in favor of knitting, but last night I decided to get going and really try to get this spun up. Then I won't have to listen to the voices in my head (unless they say something interesting).

I think the other thing that isn't helping me is that there isn't any interesting color things going on here- its just white. Its a really pretty white, very close to true white and it has a bit of shine from the Kid Mohair, but its white. Endlessly, monotonously, white. No speckles of other colors, no heathering, no shades of different whites, just white. I've promised myself that after I get this all spun up, I will spin something really fabulously interesting - and it won't be white.

Flower Basket, Continued

I got quite a bit of work done on the Flower Basket Shawl (IK Fall 2004) this weekend. I now have a yellow stripe, another pink stripe, and we're getting back into purple again now. At this point, I've knit more repeats of the center design than the pattern actually calls for, but I'm hoping to pretty much use up my ball of yarn on this shawl. The trick will be estimating how much yarn I'll need to work the 10 rows of edging without having too much left over, but with enough to bind off at the end. This should be pretty fun for you guys to watch, as I see all sorts of problems if I guess wrong. Since I get 4 new stitches every right side row, it will make guessing fun. At this point though, I've got plenty of yarn left for a couple more repeats of the center "basket" section. If anyone wants to distract the Knitting Goddess over the next week or so and say, knit something without doing a gauge swatch, try to redo a pattern for a completely different gauge its written for- as you knit it, or otherwise keep her busy, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

Sometime between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM...

Could someone please tell me who came up with that one first? I'd really like to strangle them. Yes, that's what they told me for the installation of the new Internet thingy and also the TV thingy. We upgraded to Fiber Optic stuff yesterday and you would think, that with a 4-6 hour installation time, they could narrow it down a bit more. No, they won't. (I think they could, but they won't - thanks) We had a total of 5 different installers from Verizon here yesterday and not one of them was James Earl Jones.* They took the full 6 hours to get it all done and let me tell you, I felt like they were here all day. Finn and I were glad to get everything finished and get them out of the house by the time they were all done.

So, what's a Pink Lemon to do when faced with a day of waiting and watching people hook stuff up? I started a new sweater. Above you see the back of Order and Chaos from Fionna Ellis' Inspired Cable Knits. I'm knitting it in KnitPicks Sierra (wool/alpaca) in the Mist colorway (yeah, I'm knitting with Sierra Mist). I'm doing the smallest size, which is 42 inches around. If you don't have this book, Order and Chaos is an oversized cardigan with cables inspired by treebark. For the last 3 or 4 winters, I have thrown on this huge grey hoodie that Mickael bought for himself when he got cold on a trip (its XXL- yeah - its really flattering). Anyway, I pretty much spend all winter in it running around the house trying to stay warm. So I realized that while it keeps me warm, I look pretty terrible in it. I like the color, grey is a good color for me and it goes with everything, and when I saw this sweater, I realized that this could be what keeps me warm now! Obviously, its going to need a good blocking, but I don't think that will be a problem. Its pulling itself in because its acting more like ribbing than cables right now, but it smoothes out to the correct measurements very easily. I'm about halfway done with the back at this point (yes, it knits up fast) so who knows, maybe next week you'll see a finished back.
On a slightly different topic, but still fibery, remember last week when I was finishing up Scheherazade and I said I wouldn't blog until I finished unless something really, really blogworthy happened? Well it did, and it turned out, I had too much forward momentum with Scheherazade to stop. My mom sent me some new tape measures and here they are. At the top left is a sewing one with spools of thread, needles and pin cushions. The tape pull is a spool of thread. Next to it is a tea one with tea pots and tea cups and a tea pot tape pull. Then at the bottom is the new Lantern Moon Bumble Bee. The stinger is the pull for that one. Oh, and you know how they put one black sheep in each bag of sheep tape measures? Apparently, there is one Queen Bee in each bag of bee tape measures. Mom got that one and kept it for herself.

*For those of you who don't use Verizon, when you call them, James Earl Jones is the voice that tells you to please hold and that your call is important to them and they will help you as soon as they can. When James Earl Jones tells you that, you tend to believe him.

Knitters Tea Swap 2

I joined the Knitter's Tea Swap 2 back in September and above, you can see the package for my giftee. It will be going out today- who knows, maybe its for you!

As luck would have it, I got my package yesterday in the mail. You know its going to be a good mail day when you get a box like this: Yes, there was a bit of excitement when this came in, I'll tell you. So I ripped into it as fast as I could and ... ...take a look at all the goodies! Some decaf Chocolate and Hazelnut tea, a tea sampler from Mighty Leaf (the brand of this tea cracks me up in a completely unreasonable way - no idea why), some chocolate pastery sticks, a little drawstring bag made out of the CUTEST fabric with cats playing with yarn and knitting needles (anyone know where to score some of this?), some candy made in St Paul, MN (this is where the goodies came from), a pretty mug with fall leaves on it, and (drumroll please) the handdyed yarn - in fall leaf colors! This yarn looks just like the trees in my backyard right now - mostly green but with lots of yellows, oranges, and reds showing up. Thanks so much Louise! I love it!

In other news, tomorrow we are getting the new Internet thingy! That means, however, I probably won't be able to blog tomorrow morning. Hopefully on Friday I'll be back and I won't lose Internet connections every time it rains, mists, or is cold. I'm really hoping this will be more reliable service. One of our neighbors has it and they love it, so cross your knitting needles for us!

Storyteller Socks Done

WOW! Thanks for all the comments about the Scheherazade stole and Storyteller sock pattern! You guys are so sweet. I finished the second sock this weekend so now I have a pair of Storyteller socks (and a picture to prove it for 200Sox!) The pattern for these is part of the Scheherazade Stole pattern, offered for sale in the previous post. I knit them on Size US 1's with the KnitPicks Color Your Own fingering weight yarn. As of this moment, right now, the only thing I have on the needles is the Flower Basket Shawl. Its nice, not worrying about several different things, but it feels kind of funny too. I've got things ready to go from the stash, but I think I might wait a day or so before I start something else. I'm really wanting to see what happens next colorwise with the shawl...

Scheherazade

Introducing Scheherazade, the design for Mystery Stole 2006. Named after the legendary Sultana who is the storyteller in 1001 Arabian Nights, the Scheherazade stole will add drama and luxury to the tale of your life. This charted design is a very easy way to learn the basic stitches used in lace knitting as well as teaching yourself to "read" your knitting. Worked from the center out to each end, it is finished off with a knitted on border at each end. Step by step directions along with large, easy to read charts will make it easy to knit your own legend. Design uses 4 ounces of Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight. (1260 yards) Shown in Ruby.
Also included in the pattern is a never before seen design for Storyteller Socks! Everyday life has a way of being less than glamorous, but these socks, inspired by the motifs from the Scheherazade stole, are a great way to add a bit more luxury to your day.
A large lace motif graces each side of the sock, while a small lace trellis accents the center front and back of the sock. Complete step by step directions and charted lace patterns make it easy to knit a lovely pair of socks inspired by the stole.

The total pattern package is 31 pages long and includes the complete patterns for the Scheherazade stole and the Storyteller Socks. The pattern is in a pdf format and will be sent to you for download as soon as payment is made.

$6.00

Click below to purchase.

Actual Knitting Content

TA DA! Look, up at the top of the picture! See the part where it's just beginning to turn a bit coral/peachy? I did that last night! Six rows! WOOHOO! No, I'm not hopped up on cold meds this morning, but those six rows represent the first Non Scheherazade Pattern Related Knitting I've done in about two weeks. I spent yesterday afternoon taking pictures and let me tell you, the Official Pink Lemon Twist Knitwear Model was in fine form. He did beautifully and I think we got some great pictures. I'll be glad to get this pattern finished up and get on with knitting some other things (as soon as I finish this Flower Basket Shawl, I'll be casting on for Icarus). I'm still shooting for the end of this week or the first of next week to launch it so stay tuned if you're waiting for it. Unless something so amazingly blogworthy happens to me that I have to share it (a Rowan truck full of Kid Silk Haze tips over in front of my house), the next time I blog will be with the pattern all finished. At least you won't have to listen to me get this excited about six rows of knitting again!

More Stash and Tell

I thought I'd continue in the potential knitwear theme since I'm still working on Scheherazade. (I'll update on that in a minute.) I picked this up the other day when I got the yarn for Icarus (thanks for all the encouragement by the way, I can't wait to see it either). Its Cascade 220 and the color on the right is Cranberry, but the color on the left is a heather and only has a number, not a name and naturally, I can't remember the number. Anyway, this is for what I'm calling a Saturday pullover at this point. It will be knit in the Cranberry color (I have lots more yarn the the two skeins shown here) with the purple color used as hem facings on the sleeves and hem of the sweater. I'll probably be the only one who ever sees it, but I thought it would be fun to use something different inside the sweater. I'm thinking of a slightly oversized pullover with a split neck or a V neck (possibly a deep V), and either modified drop shoulders or shallow set in sleeves. I just want something easy and comfortable to throw on over jeans and laze around in. The body will be either stockinette stitch or a simple pattern that I can memorize easily and not think about too much.

About Scheherazade, I'm still working on it. I've got most of the stole pattern done, I just have to add a few details, and take pictures of the finished stole. I'm working on the "bonus" pattern I'll include with the original pattern now. Once I finish knitting it (that will be today), I'll have to get pictures of it as well. Assuming I can get good pictures, I am hoping to finish up the pattern this week. There are a couple of technical details (computer stuff) that I have to get sorted out, but I think I know how to deal with them. If I do, the pattern will be for sale either late this week or early next week. If I'm kidding myself on the technical things, it might take longer, but this is what I'm hoping for at this point. I'll keep you updated as things progress. Please don't throw things at me if it takes longer than I hope (unless its sock yarn, then go right ahead and chunk it at me!).

Icarus To Be

I got quite a bit done on writing the pattern for Scheherazade (didn't even have to look up the spelling that time) yesterday, but the rough draft of a pattern isn't very interesting blog reading. Instead I'll show you a bit of stash enhancement and the parts of a shawl to be. This is going to be Icarus (I think its in the Summer 2006 IK). The yarn is Colinette's new Parisienne (laceweight kid mohair that can be substituted in any Kid Silk Haze pattern) in the New Storm colorway. I'm going to use the beads you see below the yarn, and the little bowl came from the bead store. They have a wonderful selection of tiny bowls to put your beads into so that your cat can get to them easier. I thought Ramius deserved a tiny bowl to knock beads out of, don't you think?

Fur Babies Monday

Late Thursday night, our Internet went out and it wasn't repaired until Friday evening. In a couple of weeks, we will be getting a new Internet thingy, so hopefully, it will be more reliable. Our current Internet thingy goes out any time we get hard rains or strong winds. (As you can see, by my correct use of the highly technical term "thingy," Bill Gates will be calling any minute now to hire me.)

The good news is that the Kleenex box and I are trying a separation and so far it seems to be going pretty well. I'm definitely on the mend and hope to have the use of both sides of my nose any day now. WOo Hoo! The bad news is that I have very little to show of a fibery nature, although I did get a bit more spinning done on the Merino/Kid Mohair. I've almost finished the second bobbin and I'm really wanting to ply and cable it and see what my yardage is.

So, what is the Pink Lemon to do when all she has to show is a bobbin of white singles you saw last week? Call for furry backup is what! So, here are the Fur Babies! Above, you can see that Finn keeps getting bigger. He's looking more dog like every day and less like a puppy. We can see what he will look like as a dog now, and we think he's going to be beautiful. He's over 30 pounds now. I think he grew last night (yes, sometimes he seems to grow like that), because he was easier to carry yesterday. I plan on carrying him for as long as I can. I'm looking into getting a bag for him. I figure if Paris Hilton can carry her dog around, why can't I? Can't you just see me walking into a yarn store with my cute little doggy? Stuffed in a large duffel bag? With maybe someone else helping me to carry him?
Finn wonders why he had to get adopted by the crazy people.
Ramius also allowed a picture to be taken. He would like to let everyone know that he is personally taking over the training of Finn. We have taught Finn "come" and "sit" and we're getting there with "lie down." Ramius believes that more useful commands would be "go away" and "kneel if you must be in my presence." He is actually swatting at Finn now when Finn crowds him, which is a huge improvement. Of course, Finn thinks its funny and swats back at Ramius, and considering that Finn's paws are the size of Ramius' head, the cat does a bit of bobbing and ducking. Finn has stopped trying to tackle Ramius though, so I think that either Finn is learning cat manners, or they are getting their own relationship sorted out, or both.