Hits, misses, needles and such

Hits and misses -- last weekend was gay pride and although I had friends in town for the event and other friends who wanted to connect up in a not our party so let's get out of the 'hood thing -- it was a big no connect weekend. Lots of cell phone activity but also lots of wrong numbers, can't hear, dropped calls and miscommunications.

Kali (aka girl kitty) gave me a bit of a scare on the weekend. I couldn't get her into the vet until Monday afternoon which left my day wide open for the visiting friends connections but there was a lot more phone than face time and plans to connect up so I do him a mitzvah dissolved.


Kali, being her own charming self, was less than cooperative about allowing the vet to extract urine in the the vet's preferred method. This, of course, required a return visit on the Tuesday with Monday's outlook being less than promising.

On Tuesday, the blood work for popoki showed that her kidney function is remarkably good for her age but once again she was not down with the needle to bladder thing but this time they had a test tube at the ready to at least capture something in a sterile container. So we came home with two weeks worth of antibiotics and a less than clear prognosis/diagnosis.

Also less than clear was WTFO with my relocating friend who was still out of contact by mid-afternoon. I am a very low maintenance friend but I am not a door mat and taking me for granted is not well advised. So when friend and stuff to stow finally arrived I was short, not so sweet and out the door rather than have a nonproductive and potentially destructive conversation.

I really hadn't planned to pop down the pub but I was so irked that I needed to decompress and I was rewarded with good company and the pleasant surprise that I'd not acquired a new less than desirable super power.

Also in the needles, hits and misses departments for the week -- Knit Nite at the JCC on the Wednesday (and a joy to see Zoya again), a good prognosis for Kali, a less than bruising blood draw for me on Thursday and thumbs up for dining at South Park Bar & Grill and Knitting Salon at the Grove.

Onto more needle news

Everything currently on the needles seems to be on size 5 US needles.

The major portion of the popoki shawl is on a no-name-plastic-thrift shop find needle.

The edging section is on a pair of very sharp metal straights.

The bear parts were on metal straights until my finger tips just couldn't take the abuse any longer (swear to gods I am going to knit my fingerprint off that finger yet) when they got transferred to a Bryspun circ.

This was my first test drive of the Bryspun circs. Since a lot of the problems with circ come from where the metal or wood joins with the plastic of the cable, a needle, like the Bryspuns made of a single material (like the no-name thrift shop plastic) should be a better solution.

No problems with the join and perhaps this needle would have been okay for a looser tensioned project but the firm fabric required, tight gauge and lack of give in the Lion Brand Suede gave rise to a stress fracture in the point portion of the needle. The good news is that I was knitting at home at the time and could coordinate the transfer of stitches but I don't see a repair being a viable option for these.