The PC is definitely dead, probably a fried motherboard. It was 7 years old so it lasted pretty well. I'll be getting a small new one (all I really need) with Windows 7 (which is heaps better than that bloated monstrosity Vista; I've been on XP) and then we'll have to bring all my data and software across.

It's better news about the cats. Sebastian is much better and eats his probiotic mixed in with his breakfast with gusto, and enjoys yogurt too (another form of probiotic) so I now have two flag-tailed yogurt cats. It takes two of us to pill him but he doesn't bear a grudge; he's straight into his special soft food afterwards. I doubt he'll need any more treatment once this is finished.

He's a really friendly, happy, smoochy playful little guy, and Ashley liked him from the start. Jasmin, the cat who protested so (too?) much, is getting on well with him now. They were sitting in the sun upstairs before, and I just saw them both outside on the deck and managed to get a photo of Jasmin going for Sebastian's tail. :-) I think he's brought back some of the girls' kittenhood.

I have lots of cat-related photos to post once I have a PC. :-)

It's Saturday so I went down to Spotlight to buy the makings of a crocheted Totoro. While I was there I saw a nice selection of felt which I could use to make sewn plushies, but I'll have to cost it to see if knitted/crocheted ones are cheaper. I also saw a notice that next Saturday is a knitting day when they'll show off new yarns and patterns so I'll turn up for that; could be fun (and expensive). I resisted some beautiful thick-and-thin Italian yarn but if I think of something that would show it off well, I may go back and get it.

OK, here are the things I made in 2010. I don't seem to have done as much as in 2009.

( Finished objects )

I wonder if some Americans can enlighten me. I'm puzzled by how many of you knit dish cloths--and give them away as gifts. There are lots of patterns around for them, many of them wonderfully geekish, but please tell me why they're so popular and how you use them?

Are they used for washing dishes in a sink? For drying them? I can't imagine wool or acrylic working well in either case. And are wash cloths another sort, or used for the face?

Here are two popular patterns.
Here's one pattern.
And a Dalek one

And this is what finally sparked this query.


This is for people from the UK. Why do you wash dishes in a plastic bowl in the sink rather than directly in the sink? Is it to save water, to keep the sink clean, to be able to toss debris over the side, to protect dishes from hard metal, or for some other reason?

Just so people know my dish-washing habits, I rinse dishes to get loose food off and put them in the dishwasher. I wash delicate glassware (only used for dinner parties or special occasions) in the sink with a microfibre cloth, and pots and pans with a brush which goes through the dishwasher when it needs it. I dry any hand-washed dishes with a tea towel, and no, I don't know why it's called that. "Dish towel", as cited by an American, makes more sense.

The only reason I'm asking about dish washing is because of seeing so many knitted dish cloths on a knitting site. It's not normally a subject that exerts any fascination.

Good news, everybody! [/Professor Farnsworth] I seem to have formatting and icons back on LJ! At least, they've been here for a few hours, so I'm optimistic that they're staying. :-D

Since I finally finished the last of my help_haiti commissions, I can post about them.

( Jewellery, knitting, and art )

Here are some photos of the knitting I've done recently.

( Graduated colour scarf )

I finished my Moebius neckwarmer a few days ago, but I decided to wait to post till I made the matching ninja mitts.

They were both easy once I sussed the Moebius and the magic loop techniques respectively (I hate using double-point needles; circulars are so much easier), but they took longer because of frogging and redoing. I frogged the neckwarmer twice, first because it had too big a circumference, then again because I decided the moss stitch (US seed) didn't suit the yarn. As for the mitts, I was very pleased with the first one I made, but Ashley got at it while I was watching TV and mauled it so badly I had to unarvel it and start over.

( Photos )

I still feel horrible and limp and bronchitis-y, but better than I have been for the last few days. I might be getting better. :-)

I finally finished the first Doctor Who scarf I started, in very non-canon colours because they were all I could find in the same brand in the little shop I went to. Like the other one, I did it in Fibonacci numbers, rounded to even when necessary, so all the stripes were 8, 12, 20, or 34 rows. The colours may be wrong (the green is very bright, and the brown far too dark, but I like them, especially now I've added the tassels. They're much more my colours than the autumn ones of the canon scarf.

( Photo of scarf )

I finally finished my Doctor Who scarf yesterday with three days to spare (the knit-a-long finshes with the year). It's a modified pattern in which I used Fibonacci numbers, rounding down if they were odd, so all the stripes are 8, 12, 20, or 34 rows. This also made it the length I wanted, just to my knees. I'm enough of a klutz not to want anything more I can trip over.



( Two pictures, one of extreme dorkiness )

Another hot day today! I had to go into town to meet my sister for lunch at a place she swore was wonderful, but where we ate very substandard pasta (she apologised and said it was really good for dinner which didn't really help). She was buying material for an outfit for a family wedding next month which I'm really pissed off about because it's on at the same time as the Wings Over Wairarapa air show where they'll have a Spitfire. A Spitfire! Newmarket was hot, crowded, and noisy and it's taken me over an hour to cool down.

I have however finally sewn my knitted teleport bracelet together, done using wolfma's pattern here.

( Three photos )