First, a long-overdue thank you to Ali, who gave me this beautiful package for Valentine’s Day!

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Isn’t that the most beautiful yarn you ever saw? It’s Artyarns Ultramerino 4 - thanks for such a lovely present Ali!
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Did you think I’d stopped knitting, kittens? I almost had, which is why I’ve been silent these last two weeks. But here for you is the last thing I finished, and I finished them in a hurry, too:

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Emergency Gloves
Yarn: Artyarns Handpaint Stripes - 1 hank
Pattern: Basic Gloves from Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd
Needles: Size 5 bamboo double points
I like these, even though (as you can see from the picture) in just a few short weeks of use they’ve been pilling quite a bit. This yarn is pricey, unfortunately, but the good news is that I squeezed a pair of gloves out of just one hank. (We’d been told by Artyarns that you could get a pair of socks out of one skein, but I am here to tell you that is just a doggone lie. But gloves? No problemo. I’d even consider picking up another hank to make another pair, because despite the formidable pricetag it’s beautiful stuff.) In any case, they’re warm and they fit well… and they were an inordinately speedy knit. I think it took a week or so of fairly peripatetic knitting.

When I even think about knitting right now, though, it’s all about my many many unfinished projects. Foremost on my mind is my sad attempt at the Girl From Auntie’s Celtic Cap. Because I’m a glutton for punishment, I started this bad boy in black. Here it is, maybe 4 hours away from finished - since this is meant for Mr. KB’s very cold head, hopefully this will be the next finished object I have to report back to you:

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The Central Park Hoodie is so untouched as to not even deserve another photograph. To avoid thinking about it - something at which I normally consider myself a champion - I’ve started knitting this pair of socks:

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Yes, I’d have the toe sewn up for your sock-viewing pleasure, if only I could figure out what I did with my Chibi. The yarn is Fearless Fibers and it’s lovely. I can’t recommend it highly enough! It’s a bit of a PITA at 9 stitches to the inch, but the fabric is soft and lovely Since I couldn’t get too far on that one without a tapestry needle, in the last day I’ve whipped up the cuff of this Fleece Artist Thrummed Sock kit:

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Thrumming is crazy! This is one hairy sock on the inside!

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Finally, I’ll just say that Zoot is in a holding pattern.  We feed him as much as we can, and some days he’s perkier than others.  Thanks for keeping my little fuzzy gutbucket in your thoughts.

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There are a lot of reasons I’ve chosen to support Barack Obama for President. I’ll admit that first and foremost is a personal reason - Mr. Kitchener Bitch is a friend and former employee of Michelle Obama, who is one of the strongest, smartest, and kindest women I have ever met. It’s so rare to be able to give a personal endorsement of someone in politics, but I can vouch personally that over the years, Michelle and Barack have time and again shown us that they’re truly good people - the kind of people you can trust and depend on.
But there’s so much more. I’ve always been a sort of Blue State radical, it’s true, but I’m tired of living in a divided country. And the man that can bring us together has said, “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there’s the United States of America. ” Amen, buddy. I’m right behind you, with pointy sticks in hand, waiting for my chance to help mend the fabric of this country.

If you’d like to learn more about Barack Obama - and it’s worth it, because he’s a hell of a guy - go here. And if you’d like to join Knitters for Obama (it’s free! it’s nationwide! and it promises to be a good old time once we get some Knit-Ins scheduled!) go here. Yes, Virginia, there really is a Knitters for Obama. And feel free to steal either button (but not the bandwidth) for your own blog! *NOTE: PLEASE be patient with the Obama website over the next few days - their servers have been overwhelmed!**

Because together we can make this thing happen.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled knitting. Peace, people!

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p.s. Zooty sends his love to all of you. He’s a little better today! We’ve discovered that lamb-flavored baby food is key. More later!

Thank you all for your extremely kind words regarding my poor kitten Zoot. It’s meant a lot to me, as the last few days have felt rocky and dark for us, struggling with the specter of losing a cat that we love like he was a boy. His condition hasn’t improved radically since his visit to the vet last Monday, but at least for now, he’s fighting it out. The big issue we’ve got right now is that Zoot - my champion eater, my Big Booty Zooty, my 25-pounder of yore - has little if any appetite. We’ve got him on appetite stimulants and steroids, but they’re not working all that well, and he only takes a bite or two of anything we give him. And we can’t just let him eat what he wants now, either - we’ve been told that even a few more days of low appetite in his condition could lead to very dire consequences for his already compromised liver. This has led to our concocting sort of a Devil’s Brew of all his favorite foods mixed together. Tonight the menu included a slurry of A/D (a sort of Kitty Ensure) and cat treats whipped up with tuna water and cantaloupe. Tomorrow, the delicacies will include Tender Vittles, baby food, potted meat product, roast chicken, those tiny cat food tins of jellied shrimp, and clam juice. In our desperation to feed him we will leave no vile meat product untried.

…Have you got a suggestion on how to get a gravely ill cat to eat? If so, please, by all means do share it. I’d give him caviar night and day, if I only thought he would eat it. (He tried it once, mind you, but he didn’t like it.)

I know that the world is full of pain and suffering, and that it’s my privilege as a rich spoiled American to weep over a pet the way people have to weep over their real children every day all over the world. But it’s heartbreaking, to love a little creature so, and to know that he can’t respond to reason when you want to say “shut up and eat that, dammit, or you really will die.” Y’all’s kindness means a lot to us here at the Kitchener Bitch household. Again, thanks.

I haven’t stopped knitting completely. I don’t have a complete picture of them yet, but in a fit of pique with the weather I started and finished these gloves:

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It’s Artyarns Merino Handpaint Stripes, and it’s almost lovely enough to command its formidable price tag. (I did get a whole pair out of one skein so I won’t grumble too much.) They sure will be toasty, though, and at 15 below zero today I must say I can’t wait!  (Heh - that’s Bush as Nero in the background - I could write a whole ‘nother rant on that one, but I’ll spare you for now and stick to my needles, as it were.  Let’s just say that in this household, we spell “relief” this way: O-B-A-M-A.)

For now I must bid you adieu - there’s some horrible chum I’ve got to mix up for Prince Sickie, and then I’m off to what hopefully will be a long and dreamless sleep. Tomorrow I’ll share more knitting adventures, and we can talk Tofutsies. Until then take care, and hug your little furry ones at home for me.

I’m very sorry I don’t have a lot of knitting content for you folks this week.  This is what’s been taking up most of my time:

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Zoot, the greatest cat in the world, has inoperable cancer.  He’s an old boy - 18 - but we truly thought he would live forever.  We don’t know how long he has, but when the time comes, we’ve been told that we’ll know.

So say a prayer for my little fat buddy.  And I promise, more knitting and spinning and such once I get my head back on.