WIP Wednesday

I thought I'd share with you an update on the fate of one of my Blog Hub Swap gifts. On Day One of the swap, my package contained an extremely cute Mousie for Mr Fidget. Paula posted some more photos of the mouse before it made the epic journey across the ocean last Friday, in which she says "it's rumoured that the cat was pretty pleased, as well".

Fidget really lives up to his name when he's had a bit of catnip

I think it is safe to say that he is more than just pretty pleased! That mouse moves around the living room floor a lot, for an inanimate object!

I take my life in my hands every time I try to steal that mousie away!

Still, it keeps him away from my giant ball of yarn that I'm using to knit my Hooded cowl, so that is another point in its favour! Speaking of which, I have defeated the magic loop demons, and reached the part of the cowl where I have enough distance between the collar and my needles to be able to knit completely flat.

According to the pattern, I only have about 20 rows to go before I start decreasing to turn my flat sheet of fabric into a hood. I'm not convinced it will be big enough at that point, but it's very hard to tell while it's on the needles, and I'm not sure I want to go to all the hassle of slipping all those stitches onto waste yarn just to see! I think I'll put a lifeline in when I get to the decreases, so I can always rip back if I decide to make it bigger.

I tried to get a decent shot of the patterned border, but it's grey yarn
and it's not exactly light in here, so this is all you get

I'm really enjoying this project, actually. The large part of the hood is just plain stocking stitch, but the cute lace and seed stitch border makes each row interesting enough to not want to put it down. As a result, it's grown really quickly.

Progress is going much slower on my latest work in progress - packing up the house before we move in April. It will be no surprise to you all to learn that my house is simply bursting at the seams with stuff, as all of our hobbies and interests seem to involve owning a multitude of things. We decided to start early, and get as much packing as we could done in a leisurely fashion over the next few weeks.

15 boxes packed so far

All we've done is books. 15 boxes of books. There's still two bookcases to go! It's a good job I've got my Kindle, or I'd have nothing to read at all for the next few months!