FOs, UFOs, UFPPs, FPPs, Trout triage, Cat, and a Giveaway.

There has been a lot of action on the needles of late because

WTH.

FOs (Finished Objects)


Double cabled headband in Sapphire - no photo of this, as it went into the mail as soon as it came off the needles. 


Socks!  Only 9 pair to go!  These were my green ones.  Next up are a pair in Poison Candy, a hand-dyed yarn from Sweden.  Can't wait...


UFOs (Unfinished Objects)


Leggings for Sylvie*

Good use of a lunch hour

Who knew that my office chair had
the perfect 'span'?

#2 Legging!

I have one completed (other than weaving in the ends) and over half done on the second.  I am hoping to get these completed and mailed by Saturday. *This is now officially a FO!


Yet another ear warmer!

I love this pattern!

FUFO - Or, Finished Unfinished Object.  This was a knitted 't' shirt that made it all the way to just needing sleeves before I was honest with myself and realized I hated it.  Sooooo, I frogged it.  I do like the yarn (Noro), but not for this pattern.  It will, most likely, become a scarf.

Sigh.

Next up, stripey scarf.

UFPs (Unfinished Purging Projects) 


I don't know if I would bother to count all of the purging projects (endless), but I have decided to tackle all of my closets for the !Great Closet Purge of 2018!  So far, I have half a closet done.  Snort.  I will have the closet in the Cat/Canning room sorted out by the end of the year.  Then it is on to - gasp, gulp - the craft/office room.


However, on the FPP front (Finished Purge Project), I have finished the major purge of canned goods!  This involved masses of unlabeled jars of mysterious things being turned into compost or chicken treats.  Besides the seven boxes of empty canning jars that left the building a week or so ago, I have another five boxes that are going to another person this weekend.  That does not count the still-filled jars and the two dozen of each size that I have - just in case.  It is so nice to know what I have!  And it allowed me to make an awesome mincemeat pie for Christmas - although my sister and I had a good laugh when I hauled out two pints of what I thought were mincemeat, only to discover that one was canned black beans!  Luckily, I realized it before opening them.  That would have made some interesting fusion - British/Southwestern Mincebean Pie.

*****

Besides his new, self-warming bed, Slimmie Kitten got a toy.  Troutie!  I had seen this on Instagram and was mesmerized by the tubby, fluffy cat that appeared in the video.  It had Slimmie written all over it.**  He got it on Christmas morning and LOST HIS MIND!  I found, after the fact, that it was the kind of toy that needs supervision, as he managed to chew Troutie's face off in under 15 minutes.

Slimmie enjoying the self-heating
DOG bed - all beds are cat beds, in
Slimmie's eyes.

Pre-triage, with the ragged bits trimmed off.

It has a zipper in the bottom for refilling of
catnip

I took a video of him with Troutie - it's a little/lot dark, so I hope you can make out all of Slimmie's tubby gloriousness.  We call this "Trout-a-Rama".

Into the Arctic Wilderness that has become our world, a few (dozen) bright spots:

My Meyer Lemon tree.
Look at her go!

*****

 The Giveaway.  I recently was gifted with two great cookbooks, so something had to go.  I have one small bookcase in the kitchen that is strictly for cookbooks - it is packed to the gills.  You can't get a dime between the books.  Room had to be made.



For any of you who are contemplating baking with Einkorn flour, this is the Bible.  If you would like this book, let me know in comments by a) stating so and b) letting us in on your favorite cookie!  Due to prohibitive postage rates, this giveaway is only open to the Continental US.  I will draw the name of the winner on New Year's Day.

**A slightly incensed observation about customer service.  When I ordered Troutie from Amazingly Cats, the expected ship date was 14 days.  It actually arrived one day short of a month.  When I sent an email requesting the shipping status about 15 days in, I got a reply that informed me that the REAL shipping range was 14-28 days.  Mine took 29.  When I complained, I was completely ignored.  Fast forward to the purchase and arrival of the dogs' Christmas bed, ordered from Chewy.com.  When the bed arrived (two days after ordering), the box AND the bed reeked of cigarette smoke!  What the - ?  I immediately sent an email to customer service and they almost immediately replied that they were shocked and horrified.  Then they told me they were shipping off a brand new bed with their compliments and apologies.  They hoped I could launder the original cover and donate the original bed to a rescue.  Guess who is getting all my (considerable) furry business?