And he strikes again....

After seeing my knitting books ripped to shreds, you'd think that I'd learn not to leave books out in the living room for the very rambuncious kitty to gnaw to pieces. Sadly, I didn't learn my lesson that day.

Instead of a knitting book, this time it was my other passion... an animal book. A very nice animal book I might add. One of those Smithsonian, cost-you-more-than-it-costs-to-make-a-nice-scarf type books.

Here's a bit of the evidence...The inner pages have definitely seen better days...I've done my best in taping it, just so I don't lose that page altogether.

I particularly like the corner where it looks like he just took a bite right out of it.You'd think that I wasn't feeding this cat and that he's just looking for sustinence elsewhere, but his sizable waistline tells a different story...

And the wait is over.

I managed to get down to see Jill and pick up that extra ball of yarn I needed to finish Va Va Voom. It took me a little while to actually find the time to do it though. Classes are beginning to get crazy. I have some really exciting things lined up which I'll get to in a minute... Without further ado...

Let me present Va Va Voom:The yarn I used is a lot sturdier than the yarn it called for (Kidsilk Haze) so it isn't as flowy as the pattern's picture, but I still really like this sweater. It fits well and it's classic looking. I always go for the classic looking sweaters. All I need to do with it now is sew in the ends. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you already know how much I dislike sewing it ends. I think it's my least favorite thing of the whole process of knitting something. But it must be done so I'd better just suck it up!

Now for what's been going on this semester. In so many words, the program I knew last semester no longer exists. There have been major upheavals at the zoo that we learned at, so much so that students are no longer allowed there until they work all their own issues out. My poor professor has been scrambling to try to pull something together for us this semester instead. What that has ultimately turned out to be is for us to go to different facilities and job shadow there.

What I've been able to set up is very exciting. I'll be spending three days shadowing at the Buffalo Zoo, then two half-days at the Niagara Aquarium and (here's the part I'm most excited about) two half-days at Marineland in Canada to watch research on the killer whales there! I've also, just recently, found out I get to spend a day at the Syracuse Zoo as well. So I have some pretty cool things lined up.

All of these things aren't happening until March but we've had some projects we've been working on such as getting prepared to go on TV....TWICE! I'm going to be on the local news here for a quick 5 minute spot. Then I'm going to be on the PBS station for close to an hour talking about animal enrichment. (It won't just be me on either of these, but I'm still gonna be on TV!)

This is all well and good, but what happens when school is over? That question has been churning around in my head for several months now. I just didn't know and I couldn't figure it out. Well, just the other day, an opportunity fell right into my lap that I would be a crazy person to pass up...

I'm going to be interning at the Toronto Zoo this summer! I'll be living up there, working at the zoo and spending my free time knitting with the Yarn Harlot, how lucky am I???

Averting disaster and playing the waiting game...

You may be wondering right about now why I have yet to show you any finished pictures of Va Va Voom... There is a reason for this. As I was knitting along on the collar I began to get the sneaking suspision that I wouldn't have enough yarn left. You know the feeling, you keep measuring the piece, and eyeing the ball of yarn, sometimes giving the ball a squeeze to see how much is really there. I thought I would have enough yarn seeing how I had an entire ball to work with. Sure enough though, the tail end of yarn snuck up on me and my collar still has another few inches left to go. This is where I averted disaster...

I got the yarn from my wonderful friend Jill. She happens to have several balls left so I will have no problems finishing the sweater. This is the part where I start playing the waiting game....

You may have heard in the news about all the snow that NY has been getting. Well, I'm on one side of that snow, and Jill is on the other. I had planned on going down to see her and pick up the yarn but the snow had other plans for me.

It gave me a day off from school on Wednesday. Granted, this was very nice and relaxing, except for the shoveling that had to be done. I was able to get ahead of a lot of school work and knit a little bit on something else.It may not look like much all bunched up like that, but believe me, it's so much more than just a heap of knitting...This is my first attempt at lace knitting. So far so good. That is, if I have a nice quiet space with no distractions. This is not something to knit on at a stitch n' bitch or with the TV on. Nope, too much the pay attention to. I think that's why I'm really into it right now though. It's not a mindless knitting project and I feel like I've been doing nothing but those lately. This particular piece is the Candle Flame Shawl from Knitpicks. I plan on giving it to my mom since the colors are very much her colors and I know she'll love it.

But all this lace knitting has gotten me thinking about making some lace for myself. In fact, I was thinking about the Print O' the Wave stole. It would really be gorgeous in a dark color. At least, that's what I'm thinking at the moment. I have yet to buy any yarn for it. Maybe when my tax refund comes in!

Cats: Love them, hate them

I truly can't imagine ever living without cats. There's just something about them. They're independent, but will seek out your attention. They're aloof, but can only hide the fact that they want to be near you for so long. And there's nothing quite like knitting while a cat sleeps on your lap. It's undeniable how much I love them.... however, they have a dark side.

They steal your yarn. Not only that, but one cat I live with in particular will pull finished sweaters off my shelf and drag them into the living room. As if the yarn itself was not enough to appease his curiosity and playfulness, he needs the finished product. And now, he's turned evil... pure evil. He's taken to destroying my knitting books. Case in point:I'm sure many of you know how expensive Rowan books are. I won't even ponder that particular fact at the moment. Right now I'm concentrating on not killing him.He looks so innocent looking up at me doesn't he? Don't let him fool you. He's got a devil inside and it's hell-bent on destroying my knitting things. I've taken to putting everything even remotely knitterly up on high shelves. Luckily that's deterred him for a little while. But books??? Seriously, what's so fascinating about a book that would make him want to rip the crap out of it? That question will probably go unanswered. After all, I don't speak cat.

I haven't let it get me down though. In fact, I've finished all the pieces of my sweater.Hopefully I'll be showing you a finished Va Va Voom very soon. We'll see if I get my schoolwork finished with lots of time left over to sew this thing together.

Snow day!

It is a rare occasion when work calls and tells me not to come in. Today, it was because of the snow. Lots and lots of snow. Feet of snow in fact. It seems winter is finally here. The driveway has been cleared a total of three times today. During one of those times I thought I'd take a picture of my car...It's under there somewhere.

The kindness of neighbors never fails to astonish me. Our neighbor has used his snowblower on our driveway twice today. We never asked him to, he just did it out of the goodness of his heart (or an insane desire to be out in this:I believe a batch of cookies is in order.

As for what I've been doing with all this extra time... I started the sleeves. In fact, I'm nearly finished with sleeve number two. You may have guessed by how quickly I'm finishing them that I decided to go with the 3/4 sleeves. I'll spare you a picture since we all know what sleeves look like.

There's only so much knitting I can do in one day though. At least, this mindless sort of knitting I've been doing. Surprisingly I haven't quite gotten cabin fever yet. A bit of homework got my brain working for awhile and shoveling the driveway got my blood pumping, plus some much needed house-cleaning have all been keeping me busy. I guess having a snow day isn't all bad.