2012AdventCalendarScarf Day 22

Hello!

We have finally decorated our tree.  We used to have a plastic tree.  Well, we used to have a real tree, for years and years until we got our little cat, Selena. 

She was born in the summer, and came to us on Halloween.  Our friends' parents live on a ranch in Montana, and they have lots of cats, but they are all OUTDOOR cats, working cats.  None of the animals on the ranch are "pets."  The cats' job is to keep down the rodent pests.  Selena was not interested in an outdoor lifestyle.  She snuck into the house every chance she got.  When Mrs. Kelley went to sit on the sofa, Selena was asleep on a cushion.  OUT went Selena.  When Mrs. Kelley went to read after supper, Selena was on the chair.  OUT went Selena.  When Mrs. Kelley went to bed, Selena was asleep on the pillow. They called us and said, "Do you want a pet?  Because we have a kitten who is determined to be a pet." 

Selena quickly found our heater vents.

She was fun and silly.  The only problem was that she loved to climb.  She was up in our trees more than she was on the ground.  This was a real problem when we brought a tree inside.  She knocked the Christmas Tree down at least 5 times the first year.  We had to get a fake tree.  But, the kids never liked it.  Last year, a strand of the lights on the fake tree would not light.  After trying new bulbs all along the string, we just couldn't figure out what was wrong, and decided to get rid of it.  This year, we bought a real tree again, one of the perks of living in Washington State is that we have lots of choice with many local Christmas Tree farms.  And the Doc put a hook in the big beam in the living room, and roped the tree to the hook.  Selena is about 11 years old now, but she still loves to climb, and she is still a very silly cat.  She has not even looked at the tree.  It is amazing.  If I drop a piece of fluff on the carpet, both cats are all over it.  What's that?  What is that new thing on the rug?  Is it a toy... etc.  But, a tree, a large tree suddenly appears in the living room, and they don't even care.


We will leave it tied to the hook just in case. 


On to the 2012 Advent Calendar Scarf by Kristen Benecken, aka wollkistchen on Ravelry.

The pattern today is another fairly easy one, with no difficult stitches.  It does involve a lot of stitch marker shifting, if you are the kind of knitter who uses stitch markers.  I am. 

I had to shift my markers on rows 1, 3 and 5  the irritating way.  By that I mean that you can't complete the repeat without removing a marker.  So I would knit up to the last stitch, take off the marker and usually bite it, knit the stitch, place the marker, and begin the repeat again.  At least it wasn't the kind where you have to either k2tog or ssk and one stitch is before the marker and the other after it.  I hate that.  you have to slip the stitch, remove the marker, then place the marker back on the left needle before you can do anything.  That gets fiddly for me.  But, I am still not secure enough to just remove all of the markers, and go by counting and reading.  I need my markers!

On rows 7, 9, and 11 you have to shift the markers the other way.  This is my favorite kind of shift.  I like to keep an extra marker handy.  I knit up to the place where the marker SHOULD be, place my extra marker, knit the next stitch, remove the old marker, and set it next to me.  Then I finish the repeat, place the marker, knit the first stitch of the new repeat, remove the next marker, and so on.  This feels faster to me.  It probably is not, but somehow I have the illusion of speed.

Here is today's pattern:

2 days left.
Peace.
Yours,

f1bercat
shaping the planet with Day 22