Hi folks - I’ve got an out of town visitor this week and we have been hitting the shops, chatting, knitting, fiber fondling, spinning, getting ready for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival and having a general blast of a time.  I will have to catch up with you all next week.

While I’m not  promising - don’t be surprised if I get a break from the fun to catch you all up.  Have a great week.

So it seems like all of the LYS’s are having sales or have had sales recently.  It’s really hard to not buy anything when you see deals like 40%  and 60% off.

Now everyone who knows me, knows I love natural fibers, but sometimes a girl needs bling.  Since Coco is going to be in desperate need of  a new wardrobe this fall bling was in order.

First off - the two on the left.  The browns and the lime green I have planned for Coco.  Then I found the blue and pink marked 60% off and thought - ok Sophie and Max can ha something too. 

We can’t forget about them.  So a couple new wools and a couple from my stash paired up are going to make some delightful little pieces.

I was thinking some little scarf bandannas, but once I got home and saw Coco and Max again.  They may get little shrugs or just short sweaters.  I’m thinking Sophie may get her bandanna still.  I just want to use up the whole ball of bling.

Finally - I bought Coco a smaller more cozy bed for knitting on the sofa and I need to get one a smidge bigger for Max - who took right to it.

Or I could knit them a  felted cozy with stash handspun yarn (that I spun a million years ago when I was learning) and this delightful bling.

Oh - and I was up before dawn today - wide awake and got my tower just before the sun came up.

Well, I totally forgot about the ABC-Along.  Whoops.  So here I am catching up again.  I think we’re on Q for a few more days.

So two days ago, poor Faygo’s eye swelled up.  Off to the vet we went.  I think Anyway Faygo’s eye is looking much better, but still not perfect.

Hopefully it will be back to normal soon.

Coco is now 15 weeks old.  She’s getting big and is no longer wobbly on those legs.  Honestly, they move like lightening.

I’m still the fussy Mom - no jumping off the couch - it’s too high for her still.  I don’t want her to break one of those soon to be long legs.  They are just starting to catch up with her body.

Overall, she’s been an easy pup.  She loves her crate and accepts time outs as nap time and sleeps well over night.  She get’s along well with her big brother and the cats are tolerating her.  Sophie’s even doing better tolerating her as long as she doesn’t buzz the tower.

For Whisker’s on Wednesday this is my cover girl, Madison.  I got some gorgeous shots of her sunning herself.

Most people think I’m the crazy cat lady and if this is so, then DH is the crazy cat lady’s husband, who is the ultimate of softies for the furry kind.  He picked out this scraggle muffin of a kitten without me one day and brought her home.  I loved her from the start - she took a while to warm up to me, but I think she is now a fan of mine.  She became a beautiful cat and I’m a big fan of hers.

So yesterday was the most lazy day I’ve had in a long time.  Basically I knit and napped all day.

I worked diligently on the Danish Tie-Shawl and bound it off, but as you can see it back live and on the needles again.  It needed to be about 3-4 inches longer.  It was 21 inches once off and after trying it on, I think about 25 inches would be a lot better.  Anyway, I was trying to get away with just using the blues, but I’m just about out now of the blues.  So when I put the brown in it didn’t work before, so now I’m just decided to do two rows of each color at the end until I get to the length I need, working the browns in.

I think it’s working ok, but now I’m just like this thing needs to get done before I send it back to the frog pond.  I keep tellling myself that this is a ultilitarian piece and I’ll be wearing it with jeans and it will all be fine.  Although now that I’ve done this once, I’ll be planning my colors a little differently.

ETA - here’s another picture.

Well it started off stormy but by mid afternoon it was sunny, hot and humid.

Our biggest accomplishment for the day was getting Coco through her puppy class.  Yeah!  We’re signing up for the first session of training that starts mid-September to continue down a good path.

Well this is my third year living in this area and the first year I made it to Stitches Midwest.  What an awesome time.  A bunch of us went today together and met with other friends and it was a complete blast.  I’m so glad I jotted down some notes on what I was looking for, although I admit that didn’t stop me from impulse buying a bit.

I had three possible projects in mind - one shawl (with worsted) and two sweaters (one worsted and one bulky).  I decided if I found the right yarn at the right price it would be a go for one of these projects.  Well how does $2.99 a ball for 50% Baby Alpaca/50% Merino strike you?  Well, I said what a deal of course and picked out this lovely green.

I know my friend Kathy is totally cringing right now, but I’m on such a green kick and this emerald color is perfect for the Notre Dame de Grace sweater that was in Interweave Knits Summer 2007.

The next thing I had on my list was some Hiya Hiya needles.  These are fantastic.  Pointy, slick (but not too slick) and light weight.  I bought 4 pairs in various sizes.

Finally my impulse purchases were two skeins of Trekking, which I had to immediately cast one one.

I loved these colors and had them on my mind from when I saw them at another store.

Then a little sock knitting bag and a new needle roll.  I’m getting so many sock needles with all of the new needles coming out that needed an overflow needle roll.

Anyway like most shows they had some good deals and some expensive stuff.  This was a nice location and I hope they have it again there next year.

Max and Coco are really starting to tear it up, which is good because it wears the both of them out.

Off to Stitches Midwest tomorrow.  Yeah… I’ll post once I get back.

Happy Whisker Wednesday!  This is another of the kitties that doesn’t get near enough blog time.  So time to remedy that oversight.

Honey Butter was the name they had for her at the shelter.  DH wasn’t feeling well one day and I had nothing to do, so I ended up at the shelter where I found Honey and she went home with me.  She has always been the most perfect kitty.  Never an ounce of trouble.  She has the most thick gorgeous white fur with the orange spots.  The little spot on her nose is actually lavender and her eyes are sometimes green and sometimes gold.

We’ve always just called her Honey for short.  This is a perfect name for her as she is as sweet as honey.  Her personality reminds me of a perfect southern belle.  she is almost always nice and sweet with this gentle manner.  She is crazy about Shadow, whom I think she loved from the moment she saw him.  I think sometimes she stalks him and harasses him a bit, but he’s a mouthy kitty, so he deserves it.

The only thing about Honey is she never liked the kittens as they came after her.  She actually really hated Jack and Emma, but then again when they got a little bigger they pestered her a bit and wanted to sit with her and she would only spend her time with Shadow and/or Chrissy.  She pretty much got over it once they got bigger.  By the time the last ones came she just pretty much ignored them.

When you live with a menagerie you notice relationships and interesting things that develop between the crew.  There are friends, pecking order, spats that develop and go away.  My Mom thinks they would all work up into great children books.  I know nothing about this, so I just tell her someday.