more kitty woe

Thursday at the vet was rather eventful.

While Elvis was mite- free, he did have a bacterial infection in both ears. They think after we mite- treated him in December (and cleaned his grubby ears) apparently down deep there was some gunk left over. Gunk is infected.

My lovely boy, from shaking and scratching his ears, did a lovely combination of seperating the two layers of skin on his little ear, and burst the blood vessels contained therein. His swollen ear was not from pus or something ick, but backed up blood. They lanced his ear to drain the blood, shot it full of steroids in an effort to convince the layers to reattach and sent me home with a sad kitty, some ear washing gunk, and some antibiotic drops.

If luck was with us, this would solve the problem.

Unfortunately, its not looking to be the case. Friday evening his ear started to swell again.. its been swelling more each day- its refilling with blood. Elvis is going to need surgery to drain it and properly tend to his ear. Freaking lovely.

I need to be a little less broke, so that I won't have that guilty feeling- the one associated with me having to pause and figure out financing, and lamenting my cat's wounds because of how they affect *my* life. our first visit cost the gas and electric bills. This next one is looking to be like, half my rent.

Crap.

A week of trekking a long

Last Thursday was the kick off of the Trek-a-long, knit-a-long. I am pretty excited, having this be my first foray into socks. I've been playing with random yarns on DPNs for the last week or so, trying to get comfortable with the technique and ready for this endeavor.

My first trip into the wild with my trekking yarn, was at the Fontenelle Forest. On this particular visit, I went on the one mile riverview boardwalk trail. Its a great trail for those are easing their way into hiking, or those with small children or disabilities. As it happens, I went with my daughter (in a wheelchair), my two year old nephew (in a stroller) and my friends James. There are no stairs along this route and there are rails located throughout this trail. While there are some steeper grades, they are broken up with switchbacks and many benches and resting areas can be found along the trail. (perfect for sitting down and enjoying the wild with some knitting).

Trekking XXL in colourway #123

as modeled with two size 2DPNs and a couple of rows of my 'DPN practice'

Throughout the week, I spent some frenzied and frazzled time working on my first sock ever, a toe up thigh high number. Let's just say I made some mistakes. I kept chalking them up as "don't stress out, its your first sock." For about the first twenty mini mistakes (including too many rows on the toe cast resulting in a 'resevoir tip') this theory worked, finally as I neared the end of the in-step, i dropped/unraveled about ten stitches in an altercation with one of my cats. Needless to say I took this as the impetus to frog the darn thing and start (nearly) anew- going back to the first couple of rows of the initial toe casting.

Nearly all of the knitting has taken place out doors.. the park, the field... not exactly on the trail, but I'm making a concentrated effort to get as much "trail time" as possible, and do the rest "out doors". I hope everyone else in the trek-a-long has gotten off to a great start!



So this is where she sits now. I am really happy with the way the patten of the yarn is coming through. I think this sock is going to be really fun. (just don't ask me how I'm feeling when its time for me to turn my first heel).

call me the ever panicking mom

Monday, in addition to other events, like Cait smashing her face in being "independent", I came home to discover that Elvis's ear looks like its about to explode, and not in a good way. I called and tried to get him into the vet, and four of six are out of town this week, and tomorrow at noon is the first appointment I could get. Each day, his ear has gotten more swollen, tonight its discoloured and so inflated.. it looks like it wants to burst.

My baby is pathetic, I am guessing its some sort of abcess/ infection thing, that will result in antibiotics and them possibly popping it. I think that could completely disgust me.



my poor, poor baby kitty.

a public service announcement from the zodiac

Sometimes when the universe wants to get your attention, it taps you on the shoulder. Pay attention to what you might initially dismiss as a series of meaningless coincidences, or the next time, it'll use a baseball bat.


that was the ol' horoscope for today, which really, applies always. More often than not, you've heard me make reference to someone receiving a "giant cosmic brick to the face"

let's all try and avoid that, shall we?

Trek-a-long, knit-a-long

I've gone and done it.

Eliza (moderngypsy) conned me into it. Its in keeping with my desire to make those thigh highs I mentioned before- a great commitment considering I have never before constructed a sock. But I figure, if I'm going to do it, then damnit its going to at least be some socks I will wear and flaunt. I mean, I have these wicked long legs, I might as well use 'em.

The idea is that you combine yarn and the outdoors, getting off your couch with your needles. In a shared blog format, we take the the great outdoors (hiking is recommended, but you can do it urban style) and at some point throughout this knitting adventure you are to take a photo or two of you and your sticks in the wild. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for someone who fancies the outdoors like I do. Of course, the trick would be for me to put *down* my field notebook and stop looking at rocks.

This knit-a-long commences June 1 and runs through August 31. The super awesome part here for me, is that in addition to my regular outdoor adventures, I'll be camping in Montana and Wyoming over the course of this, but it will be sorta city camping (in a cabin, with electricity and running water) because I will be with the girl-child, so no back country adventures for me.

As an added bonus, no sooner did I begin to exhibit interest in this knit-a-long, the yarn fairy went forth and purchased not only the needles for this project, but the three skeins of trekking xxl its going to take. (actually, due to the thigh high nature of my project, I am going to need to acquire my needles in a 7" in lieu of the 5", but still.. fabulous).

I wasn't able to get my first choice of colourway due to availability, however the colourway I got swatched up awesomely (I'd post a pic but it was ripped out when put on the ball winder to get it ready). I should also mention, that in keeping with the theme, I swatched yesterday afternoon while sitting on a bench in the sunshine at the park.

I'll post a pic later of the skeins, and of a swatch. I plan on making another just to help me get used to the idea of double pointed needles, because well, I'd never touched them before my swatch of yesterday afternoon.

Typical Amanda, I'm likely in over my head, and yet lunging forward anyway.