Arwen’s Infectious Affections (Long Post)

It has been a very crazy 24 hours. After work on Friday, I picked up a printer cartridge for Rich then helped wrap presents at Barnes & Noble to help raise money for Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue until 11PM-ET. Afterwards, I went to the grocery store and picked up the ingredients for the leche flan (caramel custard) I was making. Literally by this time (2:06AM to be exact) yesterday (it is early Sunday now), I had put the leche flan in its water bath to bake away for Heidi and Jim’s Christmas party (which doubled as a surprise birthday party for her Mom, too). Little did I know that using the convection setting in my oven would stretch its 1-hour bake time into a 4-hour one. I never did get to sleep until about 6:30AM-ET, and I had a list of items I wanted to get done: namely to finish writing the rest of my Christmas cards, and to get a couple of packages together to ship by Monday. Here are a couple shots of the flan before I brought it to Heidi and Jim’s bash. With exception of this really ignorant idiot girl who is definitely proof on why blonde jokes exist, I had a fun time.



I must vent about this girl whom I discovered is a knitter. I honestly did try chatting with her by introducing myself when nobody would (I mentioned she could visit “Some Bunny’s Love” and a few other sites) and asking if she had read any of the magazines. The Yarn Snob in me (think Manolo’s voice talking) finally took over, especially when she said she bought the Lion Brand Funfur at her LYS in Attleboro. I have decided that anyone over 25 years-old that proudly wears a loudly tacky black/red slutty boa scarf in eyelash and gushes how she is knitting all her Christmas presents in it (sorry my dear Heidi!), AAAUUUGH!!! Note to self: Beware of LYS who sell yarn that can be easily bought at salvage stores for half the price. And no, she is not in any of these party photos… Heaven forbid, she would have broken the camera! 😉



That is not my only comment on this person. She finally broke the camel’s back (should I say “alpaca” or “angora” in my case?) because she said something else that was quite upsetting for me — while I was getting some dessert in the dining room, she laughingly bragged to a bunch of folks sitting around the dining table on how she “LOVES — WEARING — DEAD — BUNNIES” in a high girlish pitch. EEEWWW!! It took all I had not to become unglued. I ended up leaving the party then because I could have physically hurt her with my claws! For those who wear fur, I can be quite tolerable if the circumstances require it. I have actually wanted a mink-lined leather trench coat. But to brutally declare “I love wearing DEAD BUNNIES” at a party that you are an unknown guest at?? Geesh!! (Kimberly withdrawing her claws back to normal now…)
EDIT: I forgot to add that she also said that her being vegetarian made it socially acceptable to declare her “I love wearing dead bunnies” statement. (Rolling eyes on THAT one!)



I feel better now. I really needed to get that off my chest, and I knew others would understand. Honestly, I tried giving her a chance when none of the other party folks approached her, but I should have seen her horrible self when she trounced into Heidi and Jim’s house as if it was her own. Now to write it down on paper, crumple it up, and toss that ball into the wastebasket. And because of her, I put up a new button on Sweet Binks‘ 3rd Annual “Dreaming of a White Bunny” adoption campaign. Caesar, our cuddly red-eyed white albino, is right here waiting for me to feed him more hay as I write this post.

Though the cards still need to be done as we speak, I did manage to put the packages together. One of them contains these small gems that little girls could enjoy for Christmas. I present all the finished headbands for the Soaring Eagles Project. Regretfully, I was only able to knit up headbands instead of the hats and mittens. I also thought that I would only get 4 done, but I was able to squeeze out a couple more out of that one skein of Filaro mohair. Thinking in the lines of “girly and sparkly” along with “bright and shiny” I hope the girls that do receive them will be wearing them with holiday dresses.

Like the Saturday Sky? When I awoke around 10AM, I was so happy to see the sun show its bright and shiny face. There was not a cloud in the sky for that moment, and I became excited about taking a pretty sky for everyone to see.

For those who have spied it on my KAL buttons, there is a sweater that has been on my mind since I read about it on this blog. In the recent Interweave Knits Winter 2006 issue, “A Cardigan for Arwen” is another brilliant creation of Kate Gilbert, who is quite known for her well thought-out patterns. For this cardigan, I really wanted to be spot-on gauge. I have been swatching away by using the considered yarns in my stash in other projects. Here is what I have found so far in this quest:

• I discovered that Tahki Charles’ New Tweed would be perfect (at 3.00mm needles mind you!) when I knitted Shalyn’s Fetching mitts. The problem is that the color I have enough yarn for is a 2-toned tweed of black and lilac. Basically, the cables would never show up. (Sigh…) Scratching that one due to color…
• Last year for Christmas, I knitted for my dearest friend Anita, a pair of fingerless gloves (my own pattern for her) out of dusty pink Horstia Silk/Wool yarn. Though I so badly want to knit the jacket with the rest of that yarn in my stash (1200m exactly), I do not think she would appreciate a cardigan that would be tight-fitting since she is still nursing baby Aidan. Instead I may knit her the Somewhat Cowl that I purchased a few months ago for the SKC. But if I really wanted to knit up Arwen with this yarn, I may have to use my burgundy Horstia, which after knitting Cathy her pair of fingerless gloves, I think I may have another 14 skeins worth. Hmmm…
• Finally, with all this swatching, I figured I better start practicing the cabled pattern. What better way than to knit up these cables than in a headband or scarf? Well, in Brown Sheep Company’s Lamb’s Pride Worsted, the fabric could be a bit too thick as a scarf for my taste, but its thickness is PERFECT for a headband! What do you think? As for a thin scarf version, I noticed that using US8 needles with Frog Tree’s Alpaca Sport weight gave a wonderfully soft fabric that was dead-on gauge. I just may have a project for the lilac Frog Tree Sport in my stash! Arwen reminds me of the ancient perfume commercial line, “Your Windsong stays on my mind.” Along with my charity knitting, this pattern has been occupying my mind. =:8