I'm back for real now.

I'm here and I'm posting a somewhat picture heavy catch up post. These are all the things that I'm actively/currently knitting.

This is half of an Eunny Jang Endpaper Mitt. This is my first try at fair-isle, I like it! I'm using the two handed method with one color in each hand, which is also kind of teaching how to knit English style (which I think is the one where you hold the yarn in your right hand) I normally hold the yarn in my left hand. Much more efficient. The yarn is Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift, colors 1020 Nighthawk and 1160 Scotch Broom. I think they might be a little small, so I might end up starting over with bigger needles... Do a gauge swatch next time Katie... Jeeze. I really love this yarn and this pattern. The yarn is just so earthy and sticky and wonderful. The pattern is so classic and beautiful, it's simply complex and complexly simple.

This is Elann.com's Luna Moth Shawl. I'm using Crystal Palace Kid Merino in color 9798 Red Cinnamon.
I haven't done enough to start to see the pattern yet, so it's boring so far. I need to find a better needle for this one, the cable is misbehaving.

This is the Shetland Triangle from Interweave Press' Wrap Style. This shawl is the main reason that I bought the book, I saw it everywhere and it was beautiful.
The yarn is Elann.com's Baby Silk in Aubergine. Remember the Razor Cami I was making? This is that yarn, I got tired of the cami. I originally wanted to frog the cami and make Thermal, but maybe my first sweater should be made of something a little thicker than fingering weight yarn, no? Anyways, this is far along enough to see the pattern and I think it's going to be really beautiful.

News break. I'm going to a friend of mine's prom on May 25. I'm his date! I have a pretty dress and everything! I'll try to get a picture of it for my next post. I'm so pumped for this. I get to see some old friends and dress up and I just, you know... I get to go to prom! I didn't think I would get to. I'm not graduating for another couple of years and I don't really go to a school. I hope to be able to get three proms worth of wear out of this dress, my friend's, my old school (being a date for a girlfriend), and I plan to have my own prom this summer for anyone who didn't get to graduate or just wants to have another chance to wear their dress.

This is yarn that I made with the Ashford Kiwi I got for Christmas. And it's pretty damn good if I do say so myself.
I plan to re-dye it, the color's pretty icky and blah right now. Like a gray sort of lavendery-pink. I was going for lavender, but I think I ran out of blue. I'm not sure yet what I want to make with it. I might just put it on permanent hank-display.

I've been using the leftover hemp from these hats for a scarf/belt/hairband thingy. It's almost done.

I learned Brioche stitch. It's kinda cool. Took me a while to figure out that it can only be done in the round. Well it probably could be done flat, but the directions I was going by were in the round. This is the yarn that was formerly skully mitten.

This is a Clapotis. In Artyarns Ultramerino 6 in color 127 (my dream color and thats a freaking beautiful picture in that link) I think this is kind of a person's rite of passage into the knit-blogging world, if your a knit-blogger, you've probably made a Clapotis.
I've made two drop rows so far. It's a lot of fun.

That must be it for pictures, so I'll give you some more news. I quit my job at the Zoo, because I'm going back to school in may and I would like to be able to have more hours and the Zoo closes at five. I got a new job (within a week, can you believe that?) at The Body Shop in Chinook Mall, I start Tuesday.

Oh and my dad got an awesome new car, I really love it. It's red.

Oh! I've gone vegetarian! It's really great actually. Aside from the health benefits, I'm no longer participating in the cruelty to animals raised for slaughter and I'm no longer risking the effects of poorly regulated meat products. I've taken the PETA 30 day pledge for Vegetarianism, I started on the 28th of March, so I'm officially done on the 27th of this month. I'd like to keep myself vegetarian permanently though. I'm very proud of myself for taking this kind of initiative in something like this, I'm not very good at keeping promises or anything like that so this is a big deal for me. I'm actually starting to miss meat a lot less now, sometimes it even grosses me out. The other day my mother had a steak out on the counter that she made herself for dinner and I just had no desire for it. I've found many really delicious vegetarian recipes with meat substitutes. Like a really wonderful chili that my mom made and she just threw in TVP (textured vegetable protein) instead of the chicken that the recipe called for. For dinner tonight I had this 'Just Add Veggies' kit, it had rice, soy protein nuggets and teriyaki sauce, I added green pepper, broccoli, snap peas and onion to it and it was wonderful!

One thing I could never do is go Vegan, there's just too many things I love about that kind of stuff. I love to bake, and I refuse to use margarine or any kind of milk substitute, it's wrong. Butter is better for you anyways, I don't really drink milk, of any kind, I use soy milk on my cereal because dairy milk makes me feel yucky. I do use dairy milk for hot chocolate and baking like I said. Also, I love wool... All kinds, Alpaca, Merino, Cashmere (I mean it's just basically a haircut, whats the big deal) and I love silk too. I don't really wear leather, except for shoes. Yeah...

I have dreams of owning a Happy Vegetarian farm where animals that would normally be raised for slaughter or labour can be raised as happy companion animals. Cows, horses, pigs (pigs!), chickens, goats, sheep (of course I will shear the sheep), etc. It'll be pretty awesome and I'll probably give tours or something and maybe someday be associated with PETA... Maybe.

Sometimes I don't like the way that PETA talks. They kind of force veganism on you and make you feel guilty for eating meat. They don't really cite their resources either for a lot of the things that they say. They seem to be very preachy at times, they treat you like a bad person if your a meat-eater and even sometimes just a vegetarian, but they treat you like a saint if your a vegan. Those of you who know me know that I am the farthest thing from preachy and I'm very open-mined and I really dislike preachy people.

Veggie rant over I think... :) I like to talk about myself. I guess that's why I have a blog, right?

PS When I have companion animals of my own, They'll be vegan. Just because cats and dogs can't really be just vegetarian, because they don't eat or drink any dairy (cat's shouldn't drink milk, it makes them sick) or, you know, wear leather and knit with wool and stuff.

It is actually more of a challenge to have vegan cats than it is to have vegan dogs.

See dogs are natural Omnivores, so they're okay not eating meat. Cats, on the other hand, are natural raw carnivores. They need the taurine (an amino acid) that is in raw animal flesh. (read that wiki page, the link) They also need more acid than dogs, for urinary health. Urinary problems seem to present more in male cats on vegan diets than females, PHified vegan cat foods are available which give the animal more acid. Vegan cat foods also contain synthetic taurine. Synthetic taurine is often added to animal foods containing meat too, I think the taurine kind of goes away when the meat is cooked. Please go here for more info on cat and dog food.

The reason I would have my companions be vegan is not entirely because of the same reasons I am a vegetarian. It would be because whatever meat the FDA or whomever deems unfit for human consumption, often gets thrown into companion animal food. I would be choosing a vegan diet for my friends for their own safety, I would not want them to eat diseased meat, I would not want them to eat anything that was unsafe for humans. I believe we should treat animals as friends, not things to give your leftovers or scraps to.

This is mostly unrelated, but please visit this site to learn about the cruel acts performed against circus elephants and visit this one to see how they can be living in peace instead of fear.

Also unrelated, check out this cool music video, it's a pretty good song too, and it's knitting related!