Serious Score-age

The Koigu Blanket Of Love continues. I think I'm up to square 42 now. I had hoped to be further along by now but a nasty bout of the ol' carpal tunnel took me out of the game last week. However, the arrival of this little haul today has more or less obliterated the pain.

Koigu. Lots of Koigu. That's a lotta yarn. All told it's at least 8 full skeins worth by my calculation. Koigu's retailing here on the West Coast for $15.00 a skein so say ... $120 worth of yarn? But thanks to Ravelry, I paid $40.00. How frickin' awesome is that? "Snowmutz" was destashing her Koigu odds and ends and I just about had a little heart attack. I'm pretty sure I've got more than enough Koigu now to finish the blankie.

And finally, conclusive evidence that Andy is indeed, from another planet. Not that there was really any doubt before. Clickety biggity to see Andy's magically glowing eyes.

Free Cat - Inquire Within

And there I was, lounging on the couch this afternoon, engrossed in a delightful book and enjoying a cup of tea. DeeDee was in the bedroom, most likely sleeping / farting. Andy was out on the walkway hunting dead leaves. That is ... until bigger prey came his way.

At first I thought it was another lizard. Another damn lizard. I should have been so lucky. Lizards are fairly resilient. Nope. This time it was a bird. A LIVE bird.

Andy was quite pleased with himself until I screamed "Leave that bird now!" He translated this to mean, "Grab the bird and head for the bedroom." I finally backed him into a corner with his prize and wrapped up birdie in a towel. Now what? Do I take birdie outside and put him in a bush? I peel back the towel to see Mr. Birdie doing the avian version of hyperventilating with his eyes closed. Crap.

Go online. Google "Wildlife Rescues". Computer freezes up. Birdie is still wrapped in the towel, on my lap, and I can feel his little heart pounding.

Find out that nearest Wildlife Rescue is way the hell and gone over on the East side of San Jose. Dump DK yarn out of Rubbermaid tub and put birdie, wrapped in towel, in tub and angle lid so birdie can breathe. Jump in my car, which btw is broken and should not be driven long distances, and fly down the highway.

Halfway down the freeway I check the back seat in the rear view mirror to see if birdie is still in towel. Realize lid has shut on tub and birdie is probably suffocated. Pull over, open lid, anchor more firmly, head off.

Drive by Wildlife Rescue TWICE, missing driveway both times. Finally make it into the parking lot. Open lid and peel back towel as there is no sense in carrying in a dead bird. FLAP FLAP FLAP. Birdie flies into my forehead. Birdie is still alive.

Wait in reception for ten minutes while birdie flies frantically around in my yarn tub. Start banging on doors. Volunteers finally show up, give me paperwork to fill out and take birdie into the back.

Cat comes with one 5 pound bag of Purina Indoor crunchies and one catnip mouse.

I Have Small Balls

Yes! Yes, I do! Look, you can see them right here!

This is what happens when you decide to make a Sock Yarn Blanket out of only Koigu. You realize you don't have nearly as much Koigu as you thought you did and you need to purchase MORE. Enter Yarn Expressions, my new favorite online yarn store, that sells Koigu mill ends! Praise God for mill ends. For the price of two full skeins of Koigu you can get five mini skeins and have more colors to play with. I'm quite sure I've now died and gone to heaven. We're missing a picture of skein number five because a rogue skein of Kersti snuck into my bag and as beautiful as it might be, Kersti is heavier than the ol' Koigu KPPPM.

So I Rav-mailed the owner of Yarn Expressions and within an hour more mills ends were in the mail to me and I was told to just keep the Kersti. Customer service with a capital C if you ask me. Yarn Expressions sells full skeins of lots of other yarns as well so if you're in the market for more yarn, and who isn't, I quite heartily recommend them. Yay, The Koigu Blankie Of Love continues!

Mouzzs Room Mates

OK, before we get started, can I get a definitive grammar ruling here? Should it be "Mouzz's Room Mates" or "Mouzzs Room Mates"? I'm pretty sure it's Mouzzs Room Mates but that just looks so wrong to me. I confess, I'm an apostrophe addict.

And speaking of Mouzz and because all I have knitting-wise are more blankie pictures, let's meet Mouzz's (Mouzzs) room mates.

These are cockatiels, for those who are not bird savvy. On the left we have Seven (as in 747) and on the right is Bo(eing). Get it? Boeing and 747? Yeah, well I didn't name them. My friend adopted these two little nutcases about 8 months ago. Not only did he get the birds for free, he got the cages and all their "accessories" for free as well. The original owners had to give them up after having them for SEVEN YEARS because their neighbors were complaining about the noise.

Seven, pictured above, is female while Bo is male. They're not breeders although every now and then Bo will get a twinkle in his eye which results in a lot of squawking and feather flapping on Seven's part. Seven doesn't wanna be tied down to any ol' nest. I've never had birds before and I still don't, these are not MINE, but talk about personality plus. Bo is about as dumb as a box of rocks and is prone to walking in circles, staring at the floor. That's when he's not doing his car alarm impressions. Seven is a sneaky little minx and very opinionated. But then, she's a female.

Tomorrow night, a blankie update! Exciting! Wow!

Apparently ...

... I did nothing worth mentioning in the entire month of February. Even turning a year older wasn't worthy of note. For the record however, I'm at the last stop before 50. At which point I plan on throwing myself off the coffee table because frankly, I don't want to be 50.

There has been some mad crocheting going on here at Chez Insanity though. If you can consider two lap blankets in one month "mad crocheting." I'm beginning to think that 2009 will known as the "Year Of Creating Mindlessly." To wit, Brain Dead Afghan #1.

And to wit again, Brain Dead Afghan #2.

BDA #1 is for the friend who is sharing custody of Mouzz, The World's Best Rat EVER. In crocheting a lap blanket for someone who is 6' 4" tall, one must consider cost. Therefore, you see before you the beauty of Vanna's Choice 100% Ickrylic. At $3.00 a ball and with a life span of 8 bazillion years, this is truly a good deal. And it comes in some decent colors. AND it barely squeaks.

BDA #2 is for the Absurdly Ginormous Kitty, child of the always hilarious Sheepish Annie. In an attempt to make the AGK look a trifle smaller than he actually is, I chose colors that would blend with his beautiful coat of orange and white. Resulting in an afghan that looks as though it was crocheted in 1972. But for now, I am a little weary of the Brain Dead Afghan so he'll have to live with it until I'm inspired to create him a new one.

Switching from crochet to knitting, next up is the latest project, The Insanity Blanket.

Yes, it's a little small but I only started it yesterday. Over the past two years or so I seem to have accumulated a bit of Koigu in the old stash. Combine this with the fact that I'm on a bit of a blanket craze these days and it seemed only natural to start the Sock Yarn Blanket. Not only natural, but insane as well. Each of my little squares is 3 1/2". I'm not even going to try and calculate how many I'll need to make a blankie. Because then I'd just get discouraged and quit. Which would deprive me of the need to buy more Koigu. And that was the plan all along.