So ... when we last left off, I had two little kittens that I found in a shelter.  Going back to this time period, this was when I moved to Ft. Collins to work on my master's degree in Spanish literatures, and I also decided to do a "graduate certificate" in Women's Studies (it was sort of like a minor in a Master's program).  It was an empowering time in my life as I was living by myself for the first time ever, and I was learning, exploring, and growing.  (Sometimes, I really miss that time period.  This isn't really the life that I have now, as a mother of two little kids!)

I couldn't decide what to name "the girls" ... so I thought long and hard, probably as hard as I did with the naming of my own children. 

I finally decided that the little half-orange-faced kitten was beautiful, gracious, well-mannered ... and, well, French.  She had to have a French name. 

Meanwhile, the little orange-stripe-on-the-nose kitten was feisty, unpredictable, a little demanding, but very passionate in her absolute love for me ... and, well, Spanish (in a Latin lover kind of a way).  She had to have a Spanish name. 

So, I then made it a must that the kittens had to have names that began with C ... they were cats after all ... and I finally settled on Chloe and Catarina.  (Get it? Cat ... Catarina?)

They were the cutest little kittens around.  Really.   

Seriousy, they used to hang out in the window of my apartment above* and everyone in the building loved and adored them.  (With the possible exception of the property manager.) 

Meanwhile, the Big Sweetie had already entered my life the year before.  We met when I was working on my teaching certificate -- okay, I was a student teacher! -- at his school.  Around the time I went to Fort Collins, however, we really weren't sure that what we had was going to last.  However, as time went on, we would break up and get immediately back together as we just couldn't stand the thought of breaking up.  So, when the kittens entered the picture .... I will say that the Big Sweetie wasn't entirely pleased.  I think that he actually called me something like "insane" for taking on two cats.  (Hmm ... there's a pattern to him calling me that, now that I think of it.)   

In time, Chloe really took to him ... she thought he was great, and she has such a happy little personality, that all that she really wants in the world is lots of love and little bit of wet food.  (Actually, reverse those two, and that's what she wants.) 

Rini (as Catarina became known) did not take to the Big Sweetie.  They developed an intense dislike for each other, and we joke to this day that Rini is still mad at "The Big Mean Guy" (that's what she calls him) for moving in and taking time away from her one true love ... me.  In fact, Rini really hates everybody else in the world ... she doesn't really care for her sister that much anymore ... she intensely dislikes the children ... but she is absolute in her need to always be near me, no matter where I am in the house.  (She's on my lap as I write this.)  She's kind of crazy, but -- hey, she still my little Rini kitten. 

And those are my two little calico kittens!  More stories to come, as I'm running out of FO's to report ...

*I seem to be doing lots of annotated blog entries lately ... anyhow, do you want to hear a crazy story?  After the girls and I moved out of that apartment my second year of graduate school, and moved in with the Big Sweetie, there was another girl named Jennifer (and from my hometown!) who moved in to that place and finished my lease.  Guess what?  She was murdered in that exact apartment!! Isn't that such a horrible and freakily coincidental story??  Just had to share.

I was cleaning up my sidebar recently, when I realized that I'm still on the Knity Kitty blogring.  And ... how long has it seriously been since my two girls have made it onto the blog?  I feel like I haven't been "blogging" much lately, just "cataloguing" my FO's.  So, in an effort to be a better blogger, I feel I must at last re-introduce my two girls.

I have to tell you that I've been a cat lover my whole life ... so it of course worked out perfectly when I learned how to knit, as don't we all know that knitters love cats?  (Or rather, that cats love knitters [and their yarn]?)  When, at the end of my college years, my boyfriend (whom I was actually living with at the time) informed me that I "just wasn't the one for him" (loser!), I took heart because he was allergic to cats... and this meant that I could finally buy a cat of my own one day without having to make the choice between a significant other and owning a cat.

So, when I then went to graduate school and lived in my first apartment (alone, that is!), I went on the search for the perfect cat.  But, it had to be the perfect cat.  And, for some reason, I've had a minor obsession with both dalmatians and calico cats for years and years.*  (As an aside, I think it's the same reason I love Noro ... I just love random spots, blotches of color, and just absolute spontaneity in patterns.)  Well, the Dalmatian was not going to fit into a one-bdrm apartment, so off I went on a hunt for the perfect calico cat.  I went to shelters in Fort Collins (where I lived) ... shelters in Boulder (where the Big Sweetie lived -- yes, he was part of the picture then) ... and even to random shelters in Denver ...

... until one day I stumbled into a small little animal shelter in Denver, and who did I see peeking out of a cage at the end of the row but an adorable tiny calico kitten!  I knew at that moment that this is the one!  When I walked up, however ... guess what?  There wasn't one adorable calico kitten, but two in the cage!  Two little sister kittens, who had been found together with no others.  So, the first one that I saw was the most precious and beautiful little kitten with a half-orange face.  The second was a scrawny, terrified little kitten with a weird orange stripe down her nose that made her eyes look crossed.  The first, I just knew, would be perfect ... she was such a sweetie.  The second, I just knew, would be a complete loser and have serious issues to deal with.  But I couldn't leave her behind, could I??

I of course came home with both of them. 

The "girls" and I ca. 1996.  (Holy cow ... they'll be ten years old this summer!)

And guess what I just joined?  Yep, the Calico Cats webring.

*And, as another aside, did you know that calico cats are almost always females?  I don't know why, but the subversive feminist in me loves that only girl kitties get to be calicos.   But who ever knew that calicos were the official Maryland state cat? 

1.  So, guess what?  Do you remember that I posted about that Rockin' Sock Club last week ... it's closed!  I didn't even get a chance to join! -- bummer.  Grasshopper, just remember ... it's neither good nor bad.  (Okay, it's really probably a good thing.)

2. Are you as excited about that new Knitpicks yarn as I am?  Have I not been asking for a quality worsted weight cotton/wool for some time now??  Please tell me if you order this yarn what it's like ...

3.  And ... I thought I'd be coming out of the closet this week.  I mean, this closet:

(EDIT: Oop, sorry the photo of the closet should have gone here ... Off to take that photo ...)

Yes, this is the closet.

This is the closet that hosts the hordes of yarn that is saved for future sweaters.  Mostly just bags of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran and Aran Tweed ... and a lot of Noro.  (Remember I used to have that whole eBay-store-thing ... and that I got the Jo Sharp for 30% off wholesale ... wouldn't you have bought bags, too??) 

I sort of thought that I'd be able to let go of this yarn, because I'm starting a new phase of home-and-crafty-entrepreneurship ... I have yet to blog about it, but I'll be sharing in my trials and tribulations soon.  Meanwhile, I thought I'd at least be able to sell these yarns in order to finance my new venture ... and now I'm not so sure about it.  I can't explain it, but when I take the yarn out of the bags to take photos for selling, I start to get panic attacks.  I mean, my heartrate increases, and I get into my "The World Is Against Jenifer" mode, which (believe me, or ask the Big Sweetie to verify it) is no fun to be around.  (Very un-Zenifer-like.) 

What the f*ck is the matter with me??  It's just yarn!  There's always more deals around the corner (check my Friday posts of the last several  months just to prove it)!  Even that new Knitpicks cotton yarn!

So, maybe next week I'll be posting my link to my eBay sales ... Maybe.

*Anyone out there a Finnish speaker?  I, completely randomly, know about four in my area.  The Big Sweetie and I recently watched a documentary called "Winter of War"  about WWII in Finland, too.  (Yes, we do those kinds of things for fun.)  So, I guess Finnish was on my mind. 

FO Report: Shetland Triangle
Designers:  Evelyn Clark
Pattern Source: Wrap Style
Yarn: Kaalund laceweight (that yarn I bought last Labor Day weekend in Steamboat Springs) -- less than 400 yards!
Needle Size:  same as called for (US 6 I think)
Gauge: ??
Date Completed: March 2006

Woo hoo, here I am with another FO to report from Wrap Style!  And, I can tell you, there are at least three more projects that might be in my future from that book ...

I started this in January at some point, just thinking that I'd work on it here and there ... and wouldn't you know it, it's turned out to be the perfect project to come home to after I teach my two night classes.  I've been working one repeat at a time late at night -- the easy repeat was a must for this project -- and there's nothing like a good bit of lace knitting to settle my mind so I can get a good night's sleep.  I looooved working on this. 

The size turned out to be fairly small ... I was nervous that the one in the photo was pretty small, so I added one extra repeat, for a total of 9 instead of 8 repeats.  As noted, the width is about 4" longer with the extra repeat, for a width of almost 60".  If I do this again (and I will) I think I'll add even one or two more repeats.  It's really much more "scarf"ish than "wrap"ish.

I had no other issues or deviations to make about this pattern, until I blocked it ... and there's some really jagged edges along the top straight edge where my pins really distorted the blocking.  I think that some good blocking pins are finally in order in my house.

More silly photos:

The "Isn't it cute over my shoulders?" pose.

The "But then it barely covers my shoulders in the front" pose.

The "Is there a way to keep your butt from looking huge from the back?" pose. 
Unfortunately, not the " Check out my rockin' a$$!"  that Cathi suggested yesterday. :)
I mean it ... is there a way?

And what will my next lace project be?  I think it's perhaps time to finally cast on for that Fiddlesticks Lotus Blossom shawl ... hear that Kristi? :)    (Check out Deb's Lotus that she just finished.  That really does it for me, Deb.)  Now ... what yarn shall I use? ...

FO Report: Spiral Shell
Designers:  Deborah Newton
Pattern Source: Wrap Style
Yarn: DB Cashmerino Aran, only 5 balls (see below), not the 6 recommended
Needle Size:  8
Gauge: ??
Date Completed: March 2006

Hello ... My name is Jenifer ... and I'm a poncho knitter.  Yes, it's true ... After being on the fence for some time now about whether I was "pro-poncho" or "anti-poncho," I can no longer pretend ... I am a poncho knitter.  Let's get this out of the way here at the beginning ... we can call this a shell (doesn't spiral shell sound so elegant?);  or perhaps a wrap (wait -- that's what I order at Q-Doba for lunch); but we all know what this really is.

I don't care -- I love it. 

On to the details ... (that's what you really want to know, right?):

I knit the smallest size, and had no issues with this until I had just a tad too much wine at Thanksgiving last year, and then the spiral shell became a poster child for "Friends Don't Let Friends Knit Drunk," or in other words, I made a sudden jerky movement and about one and a half repeats ripped down about 6 rows.  Arrgh!  My absolute worst nightmare as a knitter is to drop multiple stitches on a lace project!   So, I instead threw this wrap into the naughty corner where Rogue is still residing (remember Rogue? -- which I cast on for in August! --he made the same offense to me some time ago [and yes, he's a he now]), and I just had the courage to pull this little shell out again during the UFOlympics.  (Rogue may not officially come out of the naughty corner until next August, I just decided.)

So, after I recovered from that point, I had no more issues until I came to the BO row ... and I ran out of yarn!  In the middle of the row!  More to the point, I ended my fifth ball of yarn and started my sixth ball on the BO row.  When I tried the poncho on, it fit WAAAAY too big on the top -- there was no semblance of wrapping around my shoulders, despite the fact that it looks perfect on Caitlin Fitzgerald (yes, that's Pam Allen's daughter).

So, I ripped back the ribbing on the top and just the very top repeat -- which wasn't too bad, actually, though I thought it might be.  I then decreased one more stitch in the FIRST row of that repeat by creating a P1 of the P2 section, and then on the last row of the pattern I decreased AGAIN by making a "YO, K2tog" where there didn't need to be a k2tog. 

In total, I turned the 12-stitch repeat into a 9-st repeat by the end, with three decrease rows total, instead of the just one dec row total.

I ended the shell with a k1p1 rib instead of k2p2 (I thought it might be more tightly fitting), and the result seems to have worked out pretty well. 

(Honestly, I still think I could have made the top even smaller.)

So, I love it!  I think it'll be so cute over a tee, over a tank, over a dress ... So, who cares if it's really a poncho?

The "Look, I can still put my hands on my hips" pose.

The "Check out how gracefully the Spiral Shell drapes across my back" pose.

The "Is that the FedEx truck coming with more yarn?" pose.

Come back tomorrow ... and you'll find another FO Report from Wrap Style!