In Knitting News...

Well since I don't have good news to share with you (I don't really even have terrible news either) I figured I'd better post about that bear I mentioned a while a go. He's very small - maybe 4 or 5" sitting. I thread jointed his arms and legs so he can sort of stand but I think he looks better sitting.

Pattern: Oliver from The Knitted Teddy Bear by Sandra Polley
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Wool
Needles: 3.25mm


I'm in the process of doing another one with the knit side out but that might be put aside because I have a sudden urge to make myself some mittens (debating fingerless mittens or full on gloves... Haven't really decided yet).


In kitty news, Finnegan is still at the vet... He's very slowly getting better - we're basically waiting for the pH of his urine to be more acidic to dissolve the last of the crystal chunks. The amount of large crystals has decreased but it only takes one to block him back up. We're hoping a special food will be in for him in the next day or two because that should really get things going. He'll be home very soon if the food is in and I'm not really 100% sure what will happen if the food isn't here by tomorrow. It's been rough waiting and thinking about those tough decisions.


Temperature: +7C
Sunrise: 6:28am
Sunset: 11:12pm

Update...

Just an update to let everyone know, Finnegan is back at the vet's.

He reblocked on Thursday and I took him back in early Friday morning. The vet had troubles with the catheter but finally got it inserted this morning (Saturday). Finnegan is doing well (considering) and is on IV fluids & antibiotics and still has the catheter in place.
The vet wants to keep him hooked up to everything for another 72 hours at least - he said the crystals in Finnegan's urine are so bad that when he put the sample on the slide for the microscope then put the cover slip on it, it actually "crunched" *sigh*
Finnegan will likely have a few more shaved spots when he comes home too because the vet had to extract urine with a needle through his abdomen when the catheter wouldn't go in.

Cross your fingers that things continue to get better the other alternative is a very drastic (and not 100% successful) surgery.

War Wounds

Well, we've gone through quite the ordeal & emotional roller coaster the last few days.
My (youngest) cat Finnegan got sick on Friday and because of our lack of high-tech vet equipment up here it was a bit of a long process figuring out what was wrong with him. First we thought he might've swallowed something, then we thought it might be a kitty disease and then on Monday the vet felt a mass in Finnegan's stomach. We made the heart wrenching decision of deciding on exploratory surgery (it was that or send him out of town and at that point we thought they'd end up doing surgery anyway) and made what could've been the "good-bye visit" at the vet's. Thankfully before the surgery part came, the vet discovered that Finnegan was experiencing urinary issues (yay for catheters!). Finnegan is back home recuperating, on antibiotics and will be on a special diet for the rest of his life.

Finnegan sporting a shaved leg from his IV (he chewed it out the first night, little bugger!!)

I hope I never have to make any of those heart wrenching decisions again. And I wish that pet care didn't have to come down to "how much are you willing to spend to save your pet's life?". I'm thankful the vet is a family friend and extremely compassionate but also very frank about what problems and risks we were potentially facing.
I ended up having to take two days off of work because I was so upset and because I wanted to watch Finnegan to see if he was getting sicker (he started getting sick on Friday and I ended up taking him in for fluids on Sunday night because he wasn't eating or drinking and kept throwing up - he was still peeing a tiny bit though which was probably the only thing that kept him going for so long).

Like children you're not really supposed to have a favourite and I hate to admit it but he's my favourite. I love my other cat Tilley (she's 5, Finnegan is 3) but she wants nothing to do with me. It's a female thing - she LOVES Glen. Finnegan is THE MOST affectionate cat ever and will cuddle and snuggle and purr all day long if you'd let him. He runs to greet me at the door and follows me around the house. He also spends a lot of time laying across my shoulders (where he is right now) - it's either that or carry him around in my arms all day. He reminds me a lot of one of our first cats. We called him Boogity (Boogie for short - his mum's name was Squirrel - lol) he slept on my bed with me, under the covers with his head on my pillow.

Me with my buddy Boogie.

Unfortunately Boogie got into the neighbour's antifreeze and passed away at a very young age (probably not long after that picture was taken). I'll never forget the day my mum met me half-way on my way home from school to tell me the news.

I don't really want to end on such a sad note so I'll say that I finished knitting a small bear. I'll post about it another day though. He's quite cute and I've already started another.


Temperature: +11C
Sunrise: 6:08am
Sunset: 11:44pm

*Achoo!!!*

I have a cold... Colds should be illegal in the summer - especially during the Arctic summer - especially, especially during an Arctic summer in August when it's 18C after being rainy and cold for a week. humph...

I'm glad it's August only because my poor picture folder is about to explode (by all other accounts August = shitty because summer is practically over then we're back to evil, cold winter)... I had to do more sorting today (I start getting paranoid when my folder takes a while to load) and hopefully organising things into MORE folders (251 folders in my one huge "Megan's Folder") will help my "July 2008" folder a bit... I still haven't uploaded photos from the last photo session either... eek...
I'm getting the itch to set up my studio set again... I need to find the time to clean the space I need and then the time to actually set everything up... And then I need to find a willing model lol... Glen is not a fan of having his picture taken (especially with my honkin' lens) so he's sort of out... hmmmm

We're looking at getting one of those portable hard drive thingies. Does anyone know if there's much difference between different brands? I found a site that does cool coloured/customisable ones for a decent price. I don't know about anyone else but it's hard for me to resist fun colours (evident in my Elann Peruvian Highland Wool collection) ;-)

Not much knitting happening. I'm getting bored with felted clogs (already). I'm going to try to pace myself and make a few pairs between projects instead of trying to do like 10 pairs at once like I'd sort of planned. The hard part is deciding what I should do next... Another toy perhaps?

Here's a pretty picture to make up for a crappy post:

(the bees are getting really dopey - this one just sat there - we thought it was dead then I blew on it and it started moving a bit)

Temperature: +18C
Sunrise: 5:12am
Sunset: 12:43am