More shawl talk.

March break is here, but only for some of the household. The two boys are off, but A only gets her break from the 7th to the 11th, and poor M doesn't get any time off at all. Kind of hard to plan activities for a 6yr old and a 15yr old. The 6yr old has informed me that all he wants to do is stay in pjs, play on the tablet and do math homework (we got him a Kumon math workbook for xmas, and he's totally into it).  I get it B, all I want to do is stay in my pjs and knit! Given that we're supposed to be in for some crazy weather the next couple of days-his wish may come true.

In knitting:

I finished my Coldest Summer shawl last night. I got the last couple of rows of lace done while stitch'n'bitching with mah knitta, and then after M went to bed, I stayed up to do the bind off. I forgot to change the needles to a larger size, but i'm hoping that because I used Jeny's suprisingly stretchy bind off that it will come out okay. (It totally did)

I ended up doubling the amount of stitches, instead of having a total of 80 when starting the lace, I had 160 stitches. Much happier with the size this way, and I blocked it (after leaving it in my bucket o' knittles overnight-whoops) somewhat aggressively, so I think it'll have a nice drape, and be great for the transitional spring weather.  Peektures: 

 I meant to take a picture of myself in the shawl since it was dry by late afternoon, but things got busy and I forgot. I'll take one for the next post.

I made a little bit of progress on Smash, I need to get to 100 stitches before I change to bigger needles, and I'm at about 80 stitches currently. I'll be able to devote more time to it now that I'm finished Coldest Summer,  I'm hoping to get to the lace part by the end of this week. I haven't taken any progress pics of Smash lately, except for this one-which I took while at the movie theater, waiting for the movie to start (we got there 15 minutes early) 

M and I went to see Deadpool. While not my usual genre of movie (I lean more towards Horror, Docs, Depressing or Indie movies) I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I think I'll be done with shawls for a little while, after Smash is done. I've made three (and half, if we count Smash) shawls this month and haven't knit anything else! I need to change it up a bit.   I really should finish up the Greenfield cardy. And now I'm itching to cast on the Harvest Cardy using my Julie Asselin Sevilla. Plus, a hat! I haven't knit a hat in months! I need to knit a hat-they're so quick, and satisfying, and vry, vry useful up here in Canada.  A has claimed my black slouchy hat (made from Spud and Chloe Sweater), I really should knit up a new one, black goes with all the things.

Sad news: Castiel, my sweet, gentle, old man rattie died on Friday. We knew it was coming, he was getting slow, his hair was terribly thin, he wasn't eating as much, sleeping more and his teeth were bright orange. We don't know how old he was when we got him, he was supposed to be food and hadn't been terribly well taken care of. He had gotten very cuddly in the last couple of weeks, so I made it a point to cuddle with him for 20-25 minutes a day. So when I found him Friday morning, I wasn't all that surprised, and I was sad, but it was when Crowley (who we jokingly referred to as his son-they came to us as a pair) kept head butting and nudging Cas as I removed his body, that I started to bawl. Heartbreaking. It truly stinks that animals as loving, smart and charming as ratties, have such short lives.                                   Castiel (and his curly little whiskers)

  Castiel and Crowley

Losing a pet, no matter how long or short the lifespan, never gets easier. I am so lucky to have had so many wonderful animals come into my life. Each one has had a special place in my heart.