Knitting, rambling, and special bugs.

It seems like I haven’t posted in ages. Really, it’s not even been two weeks, but I’ve spent the past several very long days in bed with some kind of plague. Getting up and moving around this morning kinda felt like coming out of hibernation.

I’m still not 100%, but I did manage to pick up the needles and finish a scarf that’s been lingering in the WIP basket for a month or so. It’s drying on my new blocking mats at the moment, and since the yarn is a heavy silk blend–Handmaiden Lady Godiva–I expect it to take a couple of days.

I got a very tiny but very perfect gift last night–a bright spot in an otherwise craptastic week. Dad works away during the weeks now, and comes home on weekends. He came home last night with something for me; said he found it a few days ago in the bathroom of the place he stays, and almost washed it down the sink before he realised what it was. He put it in his shaving kit, and took it to work with him during the day to keep it warm. It made the four-hour trip home in the car, in the shaving kit, near the heater vent.

What was it?

A ladybug. A tiny, wiggling, red-orange ladybug, with seventeen spots.

I think you all know how much I love ladybugs. I’ve settled her into a tiny makeshift terrarium, with a wet paper towel, a bit of non-acidic fruit, and a couple of leaves from one of my succulent plants. Ladybugs don’t hibernate, but are rather sedentary in the winter; they don’t eat much, but live off their fat reserves. As long as their water supply is consistent, they can easily be kept in a small enclosure during the winter, and then set free in the spring.

I am secretly amused by the mental image of my accountant father bringing a ladybug to work, and also secretly thrilled that he went to all that trouble to bring me home my favourite bug.

I tried to get a photo of her, but she’s so teeny that it didn’t quite work.

Speaking of pets, I’d like to introduce a pair of Japanese Shubunkins named Taiyou and Tsuki:

Photo is crap, but they’re very striking fish, and at already about four inches each, they’re likely going to be ginormous.

I used to have several large aquariums, and while not necessarily wanting to go down the million-fish road again, I missed the pretties and also thought the white noise from a filter might help me get some proper sleep for a change. The aquarium they’re housed in right now will do them well for eight or ten months at least, and then, once they’ve grown, I have a much larger one to move them into.

I have to admit, I prefer the aesthetic of a large aquarium with a few big fish rather than a similar size aquarium with tons of small fish like I had before. The Shubunkins are interesting, but relaxing, to watch, and so pretty.

The filter seems to be doing what I hoped it would, too. It’s not loud, but generates just enough of a hum to help camouflage the constant noise filtering through my thin bedroom walls. I’m still not sleeping well, per se, but markedly better than before.

On another note altogether, I was expecting my spinning wheel this week or next, but turns out it’s now backordered and will be another 3-4 weeks. I’ll be making a day trip to Moncton to pick it up when it does come in, which’ll give me the chance to visit a few of the places I miss most.

It’s been wicked cold here all week; I did have to venture out today to pick up more sinus meds, and cursed at myself (inside my head) about thirty-six times in the hour I was out. Why? Because I have no mittens. Yeah. Despite being a wool-loving knitter living in a cold climate, I’ve somehow managed to knit myself exactly zero pairs of mittens in the past three years.

I went stash-diving this afternoon and picked out yarn for a few pairs. There will be mittens. Mittens and mittens and mittens, and not one of them will likely match or even coordinate with any one of my hats.

My scarves don’t, either.

After I knit eleventy-four mittens, I think I’d like another triangular scarf/small shawl. I’ve narrowed my choices down to four (unsurprisingly, all Evelyn Clark designs): Baltic Blossoms, Hyacinth Lace, Deciduous Lace, and Shetland Triangle. I haven’t made up my mind, but there’s a skein of Malabrigo Sock in Tiziano Red that’s calling to me.

Note to self: Less rambling, more knitting. Now.

You may have noticed a link to my new Etsy shop in the sidebar. It’s very small, but I figured it was time to test the waters.