A Fish Tale

April 11th - Set up tiny 2 1/2 gallon fish tank, add 2 goldfish knowing that tank is way too small for one goldfish let alone two.

April 16th - Perform first cleansing of tank, marvel at the amount of crap siphoned out.

April 22nd - Grow concerned over the fact that goldies are gasping at the surface of the tank and perform second cleansing of tank.

April 27th - Goldies are once again suffering breathing distress and decide to repopulate the tank. Return goldies to pet store and exchange for two dwarf gouramis which pet store owner assures me will be fine in such a small tank. Float gouramis in their bag in the tank so the water inside the bag and the water in the tank become equal in temperature. Read all about dwarf gouramis on the innernets and how they are timid, non-aggressive fish.

Release gouramis into tank and watch as they attempt to kill each other.

April 28th - Purchase 3 guppies in an attempt to divert the gouramis attention away from commiting piscine homicide. Gouramis team up and try to kill guppies. All three guppies go into hiding behind the filter. Convince myself that everyone just needs a little time to settle in.

April 29th - Guppies still behind filter, gouramis swimming peacefully around tank.

April 30th - Return gouramis to pet store and inform owner that he sold me extremely territorial fish. Return to work to find three little faces peeking out from behind filter.

Rumour Has It ...

... that my blog needs updating. C'mon you guys, it's only been like ... 17 days! What am I, the Yarn Harlot? Well in my defense I have been battling a most persistent case of carpal tunnel. Major ouch. If you've been in my presence any time in the last two weeks you'll know what a walking bucket of misery I've been. I've hardly been able to KNIT! In fact, there was more than one day where I didn't knit. Woe is me.

So ... rather than rehash the last two weeks let's just move on. First up, new yarn in the house and very nice yarn it is. As we can clearly see from the label this is Elann's Highland Wool. My exceptionally generous friend, Valerie, gave me an Elann gift certificate for my birthday. I've never ordered yarn from Elann before (interesting aside - Elann's office is right across the street from the funeral home where my Mum was cremated. Hmm, maybe that wasn't interesting after all.) and I wasn't quite sure what to expect given how inexpensive their yarn is. I think this yarn was like 2 cents a ball. OK, maybe not that cheap. Anyway, I *love* it. It's not at all scratchy and the color is quite luscious.

My obsession with fingerless mitts has raised it's ugly head again. This is a Monkey Mitt. In Cascade 220 Tweed. It's a fun pattern. Which I tweaked a little and ended up making the thumb too small. Actually the glove in it's entirety is too small. And I got gauge! But I have fat hands. Therefore, when glove # 2 is finished it'll go live at someone else's house.

Now let's look at fingerless mitts that do fit! These were made for me by "ganiggle", a lovely young girl living in Canada. The Fingerless Mitts Fanatics on Ravelry had a swap and she ended up with me. Lucky me!

Finally ... if you were wondering what the weather's been like in Campbell, well ... here's your answer.

Fish Head

Fish Head (adj): One who is obsessed with tropical or salt water fish as pets.

That would be me. I became a Fish Head late in life, after my move to the wonderful land of America. I had taken a job as a payroll accountant and two of my co-workers were Fish Heads. Every day at lunch they would talk about their fish, what had died, what was still living, whether they really needed to clean their tanks or not. Since I was doing payroll I had been given a very large office, which my co-workers assured me would be the perfect spot to set up a tank. The rest, as they say, is history.

Within a very short period of time I had seven tanks and a small tropical fish business. I was ordering fish from as close by as Santa Cruz and as far away as Texas. Did you know you can ship live fish via the US Mail? Not the ones from Texas of course, they came American Airlines. I belonged to fish clubs, I hung out with other Fish Heads and I went to "fish meetings."

And then I got divorced. Had to downsize my living space. No more tanks. No more Sunday water changes. Three cats.

There's a lady that comes to Knit Night at the store. She's a new Fish Head so she's been asking me lotsa questions. And once again, the ugly addiction has raised it's fishy head. I now have a 2 1/2 gallon tank on my desk at work. "Debit" is a red cap oranda like the fishy in the picture at the top and "Credit" is a Ryukin, like the fishy in the second picture. Hopefully I can get pictures of them in the next few days rather than blatantly steal pictures off the Innernets. In a few months they'll probably outgrow their little home. But you know, there's a LOT of empty space here at work.

Bee Ess Jay

The first, definitely not the last. The ever popular Baby Surprise Jacket by ol' Liz Zimmermann. This is such a great pattern I can fully understand why it's so loved. Miles of garter stitch but enough going on with the increases and decreases that you sort of have to pay attention. I can sorta pay attention. Sorta.

I used a small part of my mountain of Rowan Pure Wool DK. Machine washable, affordable, tons o' colors, how can you go wrong? I did this up using US 5's because I like a finer gauge for baby clothes. So it came out a lot smaller than I expected (think going home from the hospital size) but since it's not destined for anyone in particular does it matter? There are a few mistakes and a few things I'll do differently on Version 2 (which has already been cast on for) but overall, big fun as the Yarn Harlot would say.

In other knitting news I'm also working on Haiku from Knitty. This is almost as fun as the BSJ. It's knit side to side so all you have to do at the end is insert the sleeves. And weave in ends. Always gotta weave in those ends. I'm using Rowan's All Seasons Cotton for that little number. Pics soon.

And last, but certainly not least, it is my dear friend Valerie's birthday. Do go over to her marvellous blog and wish her a very Happy Birthday. I, of course, am a day late and a dollar short getting her giftie to her but tomorrow, Val, I promise. Happy, happy birthday, Val!