my CATS have FLEAS

'though it's hard to tell around the poison ivy rash.

I'm willing to bear the pain - I think I exterminated the ivy that got me last year. Yea!!

The thing about cats and poison ivy is that it's ivy, it's a vine. So, it's long and string-like. This means that after you pull a tendril and it breaks off above the root, you need to dispose of it immediately. Otherwise you'll look around to find a kitty rolling in it and biting it as if it were a ball of yarn. Pulling it has it's own dangers. It sends the vine snaking through the grass like a particularly attractive rodent.

Luckily, no adverse effects. On the cats.

Not being willing to gain the 20 pounds I did last year, I'm forgoing the prednesone and helping the itch with Aveeno Body Wash and Benedryl Itch Stopping Cream. They help enough - for about two hours after I wash and apply the cream, I'm fine. Then I reapply the cream as necessary.

So, my cats have fleas. My plan is to go to the vet's before work and get that (expensive, but effective) Advantage Flea Control. So, I went to bed between 10 and 11, thinking I'd get up between 7 and 7:30 (when the vet's office opens). Sweet dreams. Henry started yowling for his wet food at 6:30. So I rolled over and put in an ear plug. At 6:45, Orpheus, who's allowed in the bedroom started wreaking havoc. This isn't fair. On the other hand, they hate the flea stuff. And I'm not going to feel one bit guilty about applying it to the little b@$%@&*s.

On the knitting front: I went to see the knitting guru, Jolie, at Purly Gates. You know how my collar folded over on my first adult sweater? It was because I sewed it so that you couldn't see the edges, so they came together like this: = , on the inside of the sweater. This was pushing the collar over. I picked off the back part and re-sewed it to display my sloppy edges.

Jolie shares my passion for the knitted, three-dimensional construction of cloth. What gets her going is flawless technical knitting. She's doing a cardigan that is knitted and folds in such a way to create no seams. A knitter's knitter. I, on the other hand, am in my third year and have huge mistakes in each of my pieces. Thankfully, knitting is forgiving and I can quietly repair and hide my boo-boos. Except for that short-rowed jog on the bottom of my 1st adult sweater.

I showed her my lace cardigan, the bottoms of the sleeves are curling. Yes, I bound off my picot too tightly. She recommends steam and, if that doesn't work, backing out and binding off more loosely. Jolie suggested either going up two needle sizes, or (how do I explain?) not dropping my bound off stitch from the needle right away. You work the second stitch on the left hand needle before dropping off the first stitch. Then you work the third stitch before dropping off the second stitch.

They got in some more of that el cheapo acrylic mohair, so I am going to be able to do the reversible-ribbed cabled shawl in the Vogue book. We'll call it the Vogue shawl, since I'm not yet doing garments that have names. This will be a nice stepping stone to the complicated cables in Rogue. Sigh. Which is what I'm working up to with the socks and all.

BTW, I LOVE socks. Fast and simple, yet intimidating for most knitters (little do they know). Lovely. I've just completed 1 1/2 of my first pair, using the wonderful, wonderful directions in Simple Socks. I'm planning to do a pair for a Friend. A pale blue merino, with a design done in a self-striping yarn. I'm considering buying an hour of 0ne-on-one from Jolie to learn to do instarsia. I do pretty well out of books and off of patterns, but I always miss something small that's just not there.

Anyway, it's 8 am and I'm already running late.