A Little Yarn On The Side

You may have noticed that there has been a tendency for all lace patterns of late to be "Begonia Swirl" shawls.  This is because I am madly in love with this pattern.  Can you blame me? Well TODAY I finally wore one for Me Made Monday.  That's right--I'm on my SIXTH Begonia Swirl shawl and the fifth one for me, and I've never worn any of them.  To be fair, packing and moving aren't shawl-events, and one of the shawls was finished shortly before the move and still needs to be blocked....found and blocked, that is.  And now I want to make 10 more of them.   I hadn't really intended to continue Me Made Mondays, but there were people who wanted to continue with the thread on Ravelry and I do have rather a lot of me-made items, so I have not missed a Monday yet this year.  I haven't even forgotten a Monday yet, which is the REAL news.  

I'm not sure if it's me or the quilt that Valentino loves, but one of us has his unfailing devotion.  I did get some quilting done while he was snoozing with Venus,  and later we all got together for my physical therapy exercises, so it was a busy Saturday.  I think I'm finally over the obligatory post-Christmas cold/bronchitis, so we were able to walk down to visit some of our favorite people in the afternoon. And I cleared out one of the last large boxes from the sewing room, so it was a really nice day all the way around.   Honestly, I've been dragging around with that cold for so long that any day I can breathe is a good one.  :)

And with a little less help, I'd be making progress on the tumbling blocks quilt.  At least I know the quilt is snuggly, and perfect for naps. When I started quilting this, I actually hadn't decided exactly what I was going to do, but  I like how the three lines of stitching in variegated thread look, so that's what I'm doing.  It's so nice to have a plan............ We're still unpacking, and of course the sewing room is kind of the last priority, but we found a filing cabinet at a thrift store, so my sewing patterns finally have a home.  I'll admit, everything is taking longer than it needs to because I sorted through all the patterns to purge anything that I really am no longer interested in making, and while that still leaves me with a crazy number of patterns, I have fewer than I started with.  Another box of books has also gone to the donation bin, so there's quite a bit less stuff to deal with--no matter what it looks like. Ravel...

Thank you. everyone, for your kind words and understanding.  Milo was such a lovable little kitten--I'm not sure we'll ever stop missing him.  Needless to say, Christmas was rather subdued here.  It's hard to say who is missing Milo most, but   there are three strong contenders.  I'm hoping the amount of grooming I've been subjected to is more about her loneliness rather than a statement about my personal hygene. So, after much debate and soul-searching, meet Valentino, who clearly understands sewing.  He's a Maine Coon, and while we have generally been animal shelter supporters, FIP is found mostly in shelters and larger catteries and between having a senior kitty to protect from disease and still being heartsick over losing Milo, we happened to find a small, local breeder with one kitten left.  It took a surprisingly short time for the kitties to all get used to each other, and I have (mostly) been left to my own devices for bathing....