Sunday 26 January 2014

Of trauma and bloodshed

Morning folks!

Week in review - 

Up until yesterday, the week had been utterly uneventful. I could happily have had it stay that way too. 

Yesterday was housework day. I cleaned out the rats and usually I would have vacuumed today because both things stress the boys out. When you put the two things together it makes for very unhappy rats. While filling their food bowl I managed to spill some on the carpet, so I decided to vacuum yesterday. This proved to be a VERY bad move. Rusty started bouncing off the cage walls, stressed to the max and trying to escape the noise. I switched off the Hoover and then tried to calm him down, cooing at him and trying to soothe him. Next thing Ringo had Rusty by the mouth and was biting him. There was rat squeeling and panic! I was flicking Ringo to try and make him stop. Eventually they let go of each other and I could pick them out of the cage and check them over. 

Rusty was catatonic. He just lay in my hands in blind panic. I spent a good 10 minutes soothing him and his heart rate and breathing came down to normal. Ben noticed blood on his nose. I checked him over and realised quickly that the blood wasn't his own. It turns out Rusty was biting Ringo rather than the other way around. When I checked Ringo out he had a lot of blood on his muzzle which was swelling. I took him into the bathroom and cleaned him up. The bleeding stopped quickly, but the swelling is making him look like he's had filler injections! Trout pout! 

I went to the local pet shop and bought a travel cage for them. It's in their cage now so that they can get used to it. My plan was to finish the vacuuming today but to take them into Ben's bedroom first so that they're away from the noise. 

I got to test this plan earlier than I planned this morning. Bleary eyed, I stumbled into the kitchen. I filled the kettle and reached for my cafètiere. I was looking forward to a pot of Teapigs English a Breakfast tea. I put the cafètiere down next to the kettle while reaching for the box of tea........ and missed the counter top. The glass shattered and skittered all over the floor. Sigh! I cleaned up the big pieces and put the rats in Ben's room while I hoovered up the rest of the mess and finished up the living room which was put on hold by yesterday's trauma. 

Feeling the love - 

I did finish the first of my Scalloped Tulip socks. My plan was to knit the second sock using the pattern I've written to check for errors. I had hoped to get the second one done by this weekend and the pattern published. It hasn't happened. I blame Mel. It's all her fault! 

She told us about Friendship Fetish February. At some point, somehow we will find a new friend. We will share some of our sock yarn with this new friend and then knit a pair of socks together. I quickly decided that I'd like to knit the Thanks Socks by Regina Satter. They're a lovely free pattern with a simple lace eyelet pattern which flows over the foot. It's written with a heel flap and gusset which I wanted to change for my trusty Fish Lips Kiss Heel. I re-wrote the pattern to reflect the changes I made and I've put it on my project page. They're my In Preparation socks. I'll also put it here at the bottom of the blog. 




The orange/brown sock is the In Preparation sock. Is hard to see the pattern as it runs down the middle of your foot, but you can see the increases at the top of the leg and at the base of the foot. The original pattern doesn't tell you how to make your increases, and in the past when I've made these socks I've just picked up the bar between 2 stitches to make one. This create a hole which, in the original pattern, works well with the other patterning happening around the leg and foot. In my sock, it looks odd I think, and on the second sock I'll probably either knit front and back or pick up the leg of the stitch below. 

The purple sock is my Scalloped Tulip sock. From the angle of this shot, you can't really see the scalloped top, but I'm really pleased with it. 

So, this week I've made the first Thanks sock and cast on for the second; and I've worked on the leg of my second Scalloped Tulip sock. 

I DID finally spin a bit last night. Perhaps only for an hour, but it was lovely. 




I'm enjoying the humbug nature of the fibre and seeing how it barber poles in the single. This will be Navajo plied in the end and with any luck I'll make my first ever pair of socks with it. Fingered crossed!

On the Horizon - 

My task for next week is to finish these -


I've got, from  the left - my second In Preparation sock, my second Scalloped Tulip sock and both of Ben's socks! Oh, and I still need to get some work done on the Peacock shawl. And I want to spin. And I need to do housework. I wonder what might get done, and what might get ignored!?

So. I hope you all have a great week. I live in hope that I get lots done this week coming. 

Have a good one
Ellen x 


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