Cracked.

I finally did it. I finally broke down and went to bloglines. They have a Konfabulator Widget. I couldn't help myself.

It will also be easier to keep track of blogs I read and not waste their bandwidth while I am at it.

So with the exceptions of the Sucky Knitting Girls and the blogs that don't have a feed.... Everyone I read is now listed on bloglines and I am just linking to the feed list there.

Woo! A shorter sidebar is born!

Also, my love Paton's Classic Elite Merino for Aran Rose came in. It's nice, and my goodness the skeins are rather largish. I am determined to finish that stupid strap and some other UFOs before I start it however.

Progress, of sorts.

I swear, I am never going to get this stupid strap for this stupid felted bag done. EVER! I am so tired of this funky I-cordish thing. I am about...35 inches in out of 90. And it's all I have knit on since Tuesday. Perhaps if I just keep plugging away, I'll get it done. Perhaps not, but it is all that the felting job is waiting on, so it's holding up the works.

Waves of Relief.

After hours of angst, and talking to shmoo, who was great and supportive the whole time, I cracked and called my mama! She was great and supportive too, and after I stressed out on her and started crying, she said, "Let me talk to [shmoo]!" (It really upsets mom when I cry, so now that is her new thing, talking to shmoo while I am upset. They agree on things, and then I can relax and know that the important people in my life agree I am not making a huge mistake by following my instincts instead of my ingrained Responsible Gene.)

So I made the decision to decline. When I called this morning, the interviewer (who was great btw..) asked if I minded telling him why, and I said no, and I did. I told him I thought that there was no clear definition of what the position is and everyone on the Executive Committee seems to have a different vision. I told him I didn't like being pressured to commit to programming on software I had never seen, and that I felt like my integrity was questioned. I also told him he may want to check on the tech consultant with another tech consultant, or at least tell him to password their open wireless. And then I said, knowing what I knew about their network, and then being questioned by this man, like I was lying about my skill base was very upsetting. He said he more than understood, and he had been thinking about it last night as well, and thought I would lean towards the decision I made. He also said that he was embarrassed about the way things were handled yesterday. That made me feel better, like I wasn't imagining things or being overly sensitive.

It's a shame really, the guy that interviewed me was a really nice guy. He loves his job, and the company, and he is willing to invest in the people already working there instead of just replacing them out of hand. That was something I really liked. Traits like that aren't easily found these days.

But I have to say, after having made the call, and speaking calmly about why I have come to my decision, I feel SO MUCH BETTER! Clean! Happy! Relieved!

Thank you all for your words of advice and encouragement. It helped tremendously.

Decision Time.

I have been offered the job I applied for. They have offered me everything I asked for. But.... I am still unsure about accepting. I said I would call with my response in the morning.

I have reservations about accepting. I feel like they have more issues than they are telling me about, and want me to come in and wave my magic wand and solve them all. And I can't. And I was very honest with them today when they asked about more advanced things. I haven't even seen the software they are using yet, told them I am entirely unfamiliar with it, and they still wanted me to promise them the moon. I didn't.

And at one point, their consultant tech guy absolutely pissed me off. He wanted me to answer questions he didn't know how to ask. I think he is snowing them about how much he knows about things and didn't want to get busted. He brought me a page of supposedly raw EDI, but it wasn't and I said so. And then he was asking about the segments, and I told him the ones I remembered off the top of my head. And when he asked what kind of document it was, I immediately told him the number and official name for it right off, and then he said ok that was all. Then the guy trying to hire me had to go to meet with him and some of the other Executive committee suits to discuss whether or not they wanted to offer me the job.... again.

I was furious. I made it clear what I could and could not do. I don't lie. I won't make promises about software I haven't seen and a job description you can't be clear on. Furthermore, it was all I could do not to bust the guy's networking skills in front of everyone once he pissed me off. I just smiled, and played nice until I got out of there, but now I have a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing.

And part of me says, "screw it, take the job, if it doesn't work out, leave." And the other part says, "they want more than they are telling you. What they want should cost them at least 50k, minimum, to start, and that's not you."

And I am supposed to decide this by in the morning? I think I will have to call and postpone another day or so because at this moment, I just don't know.

Your Knitting Style Sucks!

That's the tongue-in-cheek motto for our brand-spanking-new Columbia Knitting Group. It was great! I had such a good time meeting everyone. It's cool to meet people that you had no idea were so local to you that share your interests. Poor shmoo, I was a little late getting back because I just kept blabbling, and he wasn't worried....yet. Had I been 10 minutes later getting home, he would have started calling.

It was great fun dishing about the LYSs and who had the best deals and the nicest staff. I learned a lot. I am always wanting the best deal and the nicest staff when I want to spend my money, so I filed tons of information away for later.

If you want to check out who else was there, their blogs are listed in the sidebar under "Columbia Knit Nighters." Otherwise, you can just take my word that Coleen, Sarah, Lolly, Amie, and Eunny are all great people. I look forward to the next meet up!

Knitting Podcasts.

I was going to do a review today on what I thought about several of the knitting podcasts our there. But I have changed my mind. Generally speaking, I don't like most of them, and those people are really putting themselves out there and I wouldn't want my opinion to discourage them, or anyone else who wants to podcast about knitting.

But I will say this. If the podcast plays music in it, I don't like it. This mostly means that I usually only listen to "Knit Cast". And today, I was going to recommend "The Knitting News" as a good podcast that didn't make me cringe or my brain bleed out my ears. In fact, I was even getting ready to subscribe to this podcast, but listened to the archived ones first.

Well, someone went and screwed it up. They told her she needed to liven it up and play music. WTF? Aren't there enough people out there playing "pod-safe" music that I don't want to hear? (*cough* Cast On *cough*) In fact, the semi decent podcast named "About Time" almost made my I-possibly-could-listen-to-this-every-month list, but.. SHE TOO PLAYS MUSIC.

Why people? Why? Why must you encourage people I want to actually want to hear speak, play music? If I wanted music, I'd turn on the freaking radio. I want knitting content. NOT MUSIC! I want to hear about what these people are knitting, or tips and techniques, or interviews with designers. (Knit Cast pretty much has this last one covered.)

As my frustration with the knitting podcast community grows, I really want to make this clear.

To all of you who do knitting podcasts, or who are thinking about it:

It's not that I don't want to hear what you have to say. I do. It's that I am not going to stick around to hear you say it when you keep playing music that I can get elsewhere on my own. If you want to do a music podcast, then do that, but when you say it's about knitting, well, that's what I want it to be about.

Curses, Foiled Again!

I moved the shawl to my US 5 Bryspuns, but my goodness that join is horrible!!

So I started over on US 1s. I like the fabric better, and the lace pattern is more apparent over all. So I have trucked along.... And am now at the same place I was before, Row 19.

As I was completing Row 19, disaster struck. One of my US 1 Addi Natura circulars snapped! The one in my right hand to be specific. Right at the join of the bamboo and the metal. *Sigh.* *Cuss.* *Mutter.* I suppose I wanted to go to the LYS today after all, I just didn't realize it.

Hrmm..... I have some metal sock dpns, perhaps I can use those without going crazy.

EDITED TO ADD:

Further Frustraions.

I am now on row 32 of chart 2, and it's going along fine, but there are other problems cropping up with this KAL, and I have decided that instead of stirring up the list, I will just say them here, in my space, where no one is forced to observe my opinion unless they seek to do so.

There were problems with MS2. The charts were wrong several times. Many little errors here and there. The designer polled if people would be willing to pay a small fee in order to participate, and most said yes, but it was clear that if paying, they would want to be able to see the finished product first if they so chose, and they would also want no errors in the charts, and none of the problems that had occured with MS2.

And thus MS3 begins. And we all paid $3 dollars this time just to participate. And we are able to view the final product, and it IS indeed beautiful. But the charts have errors. The charts have errors because the designer uploaded the wrong charts.

Now then, here is where the ranting begins.

The fucking charts are wrong... again! I ( and currently 214 people besides the designer) paid $3 dollars to test knit this damn lace shawl. I JUST FREAKING PAID SOMEONE TO TEST FREAKING KNIT SOMETHING FOR THEM. She knew she had incorrect charts and uploaded the wrong ones. WHY would you keep charts that were incorrect? Why? And why wouldn't you check them before you upload them? Every time someone posts something they think is an error, many hours later, or the next day, she confirms it as correct, or says "oops sorry!"

And one lady on the list expressed her frustrations along the same lines as mine, and immediately someone responed about how the designer was doing us a favor letting us knit this shawl so cheaply, and how she's available to us at any time, and we should be more appreciative, blah blah blah.

Excuse me? The last time I checked, you didn't pay people to test-knit their shit. They either ask you nicely because you are a friend, or they offer to pay you. So I don't feel appreciative about all this. At this point, I am irritated and grumpy about the whole thing. I have paid $3 bucks for something that, while lovely, is flawed. And to get an unflawed copy of this pattern, I have to pay another 3.50 once all this crap is over, for a total of $6.50. And I am test-knitting. And I am frustrated because she even promised before we got started that she was knitting from these very same charts herself and there would be no problems with them. So far there have been 9. And I have to replace my Addi Naturas.

And this is only the first week.

At this point, I think I am done with MS3. I will do some other lace pattern that doesn't make me want to cry in frustration, and write off my lost 3 bucks and the cost of new addis. I have not given up on lace, just on this KAL.

Mystery Shawl 3 Begins

Today was the first clue. At this moment, I am on Chart 2, Row 17. I knit lace so very very slowly. It's almost painful. I am enjoying myself however and that is what counts. I have a nice stretched out picture, courtesy of shmoo's hands. He's a sweet boy for being so co-operative whilst I was taking the picture. Actually, he humors my knitting very well.


So far the only modifications are In chart 1, Row 5, I added a YO to correct some math issues between charts, which 10 minutes later was corrected in a new chart, but I didn't want to start completely over. I used Emily Ocker's circular cast on method, and it's so damn fiddley with dpns right when you first get going. I wasn't going to go through it a third time if I could help it.

I also modified chart 2 row 13 because the symmetry was off and it felt wrong. I just made the left side mirror the right side and kept going.

This is my first time doing a lace pattern with a lace yarn, and the first time I have used a life-line, but I feel it's necessary. Hopefully, I won't need them and will just cut them out when I am done.

I have 46 rows left before this first chart is complete. But so far, I am pleased with the pattern.

Project: Not a failure after all

Ok so yesterday, I boiled that damned hat. BOILED IT. No shrinking. I washed it with a load of jeans on hot. No shrinking. Finally, in desperation, I threw it in the dryer with the jeans. At last! It shrunk right back up to it's original size. YIPPEEE! But now I have to get the lint off of it.
Here is my lovely model, lint and all.

I the mean time, Hello Interweave Knits Spring 2006! I love finding you in my mailbox. What I really loved, was the picture of the sweater on the back in the add for Classic Elite's new book, Boathouse. OMG! I want! It's....lovely.

As for inside the mag, I liked the following, but of course that is no guarantee I'll get around to making them, I still haven't made the other things on my list from older IKs.

The Caftan Pullover (page 26). I love the way it looks. I love that it's written in my size and I don't have to play the "MathGame" with it. I don't quite like how low it goes and I hate moss stitch, but damn the detailing on this thing is F-I-N-E fine.

Trellis Scarf (page 56). Another little lace item. But I like the way it looks, and the pattern even uses Knit Picks yarn so I wouldn't have to dream up a substitution.

Aran Rose (page 60).Wow. I LOVE this sweater. Shmoo said he likes it as well. Direct Quote: "That's very nice." It isn't in my size, so MathGame it is. But I do love it. I might even make it in pink!

Simply Lovely Lace Socks (page 64). Ohh so cute! And they look great for spring and summer. Unfortunately all the sock yarn I have is variegated or in manly dark shmoo colors, so this would mean acquiring more yarn. Something I am trying to stay away from right now. But I will certainly keep them in mind for future socking.

prairie Tunic (page 88). I like this a lot. Clean, simple, but nice details. Also, no MathGame for it either. On the downside, I would need a strapless bra, because while the back detailing is really nice, there's not much in the way of straps going on. Also I feel like it would just show too much chubby skin, and that's just not attractive. So while I like it, I don't really see it getting knitted up any time this decade.

And that's it. My summary of IK Spring 06 is complete.

Also, today I have a job interview. I hope I end up liking it. I am not worried so much about the interview. More about if I will actually like the job if I get it. I also hope the company is receptive to ideas, because I already have a few for it. We shall see.

It's always best to let sleeping dogs lie, don't you think?

EDIT: Interview went really well. And Joann's is having a sale on Patton's Classic Merino wool. The yarn called for in the Aran Rose pattern in IK spring 06. AND.. free shipping from the code on the front of the website. I ordered the yarn to do this sweater, even got the same color. I think this is the first time ever I have not subbed. Woohoo.

Gotta Bitch

If listening to me complain is not your thing, I'd pass this one by.

I used to have soapturtle.com. Used to. It was a gift from an ex for my birthday. And he wanted to make it difficult to transfer over. So I said fine, just let it expire, I'll renew. Well the company that had it, didn't make it available, and then I found out their policy was 40 days if they recieved no word from the customer. Well the ex emailed and called them and they still didn't release it, and then 40 days passed, and still not released. So I check it on Monday, still not released, but getting close. The status is now something like "almostreleased". So I check it today, and another url company bought it, ON MONDAY and it now belongs to a division of that company called afternic and they want 200 dollars TO START for this url.

Excuse me? Has someone lost their mind? TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!! No. No way. In hell. I don't sell but MAYBE a bar of soap a year, if that. I mostly use it for my email server and to host my picture gallery. I'll change everything about my "soapturtle"ness first. I mean.. soapsalamander has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

After much debate, I just do the easiest thing and register soapturtle.net. Then I emailed afternic and told them they could keep my .com and I hope they enjoyed sitting on it. And now I am working out the particulars with GoDaddy to get it pointed back to my server so I can have my website back.

So to sum this up:

Dear Afternic,

Die in a fire.

Kthx.

Project: Failure

Project: Failure

I was making a stealth knit hat. It was being made with Lana Grossa Bingo, in color 20 (100%merino). It was to be shmoo's Team Zissou hat, and it was to be his Valentine's Day gift. I loved the way it knit up. It was thick, and it had sproing! It would have been wonderfully warm.

Unfortunately, it left pink streaks across my hand, and turned the tips of my Addi Naturas pink. To me, this meant I was going to have to wash it to insure my beloved did not end up with random pink about his person.

So I gave this wonderfully, tight looking (it looked like stockinette, despite being 1 x 1 rib), perfect hat a cold bath. The yarn decided the water was really really relaxing. It unfurled, and stretched, and GREW. I cussed.

I laid it out flat to dry, because I knew that the-glass-head-formerly-known-as-mr-wooley would keep it too stretched out. Alas, it was no use.

Instead of Team Zissou, it's more like Mush-mouth from Fat Albert. Even if I were to fold up the brim and sew it up, it would still be too big. I am going to try to felt it, but the hand tests so far aren't turning out well. It's not superwash, so it should do just fine, but it's not felting up at all. Perhaps a turn or two with the jeans will do the trick.

Hey! Hey! Hey!

Heavy Laden Branches

To the delight of shmoo, it snowed yesterday. I took pictures for my family back home. It would seem the lovely Georgia winter in Maryland has come to an end. The trees are heavy laden with their burdens like tired old men shuffling up the drive to their doors.

This was yesterday as it started to snow.

This was early this morning as shmoo went to work.

This is our porch, covered completely in snow.

This was several hours later as things started to warm up.

Ok, enough with the weather. On to the knitting!

I made some progress on my felted bag Friday night. Not a lot, but some. I am just (barely) over the halfway mark now and hope to be done and felting by the end of this week.
I also started yet another project. I know, I know.. I have enough already, but…I had to! I am donating some yarn to a local group that does stuff for project Linus. As I was going thru the stash, I came across the Lion Brand Thick n Quick Chenille I used for hats last year. I asked shmoo if he wanted one made of it because it is really warm, otherwise I was giving the yarn away. He said he thought it would look like a pimp-hat, but would take a look at a swatch. So I swatched. He didnt like it, but I thought it would be great in the square entrelac panels that make up Knittys Danica. So I started it last night, because it doesnt count when the project is stash-busting right? I am using size 11s and it is about a foot and a half across. It is going to be a huge scarf. I have different amounts of yarn left so the color pattern will progressively become monotone as I just use up what I have until nothing is left. It should be interesting anyway. And who doesnt need a warm scarf with all that snow?

I leave you with a picture of a pitiful Daisy, desperate for love and attention from shmoo. I remember when she was my dog. *sigh* :)

Knitting Olympics/State of Affairs

(All current projects highlighted in bold)

Today at 2pm your local time, The Knitting Olympics begins.
I will be cheering everyone on from the sidelines, just as I do with the actual Olympics, because I am not participating.

Don't misunderstand. It's a great idea. Fabulous in fact. But it's just not for me this time around. Instead I will continue to tinker as I normally do and perhaps try to finish up some projects I have open. But not because it's the Knitting Olympics, but because MS3 shawl starts next Friday and I would like to have some things cleared up before then so I can focus on it. The first week and possibly the second, it won't matter, because the clues should be small. The last weeks will be a bear and I want to be ready. I am sure I will be a frogging queen.
And oh yeah, regarding that swatch, mine WAS wrong. It was a bit of pattern from knitting done in the round, so you had to make adjustments on each side to make it match the chart. I still like the leafy bits better. I did about half of a reswatch, and I am considering going down to sz 5 circs. Maybe if I can get some Bryspuns in time. :)

In fact, I had to frog the entirety of my second Odessa hat last night because I had a mistake I couldn't fix, my lifeline didn't work, and finally I just gave up in frustration and started over. I am almost back to where I was before frogging.

Tonight we are baby-sitting so I figure I'll work more on the felted bag, since it's just stockinette, and while I don't want to do 10 inches of stockinette in the round, I do want to be done with this bag. And besides, it's not hard to fix plain stockinette when you are interrupted. I think we are taking the Fraggle Rock box set with us. Good clean entertainment for kids of about their age.

Then there are the socks for which I need to make mates. Jaywalker and Geisha. And my Clapotis, that needs to be done too. I also need to start Clapotis for the Mother's Day gifts I am giving.... That's a lot of clapping!

And then there is that Batman Intarsia project that has sat neglected. It's really still in idea phase. And I do think about it now and then, but I would like to actually have some physical progress done on it so I know if it will really work or not. But that has to wait until the Clapotis are done. Deadlines come before ideas darn it!

Do you remember?

'Cause I do.

Some Confusion

There seems to be some confusion in the MS3 KAL about what the sample swatch is supposed to look like. Some knitters are upset that their swatch does not match the chart exactly, and the knitting is not perfectly symmetrical. Some claim the chart is wrong, and they had to change it to make it match what the chart looked like. Some claim you shouldn't think that just because the chart is symmetrical your knitting will be.

I am among the latter group. After the panic started yesterday, I reswatched in leftover Rowan Felted Tweed, because while having substance, it's still thinner than most yarns I work with.

Yeah, see that? Still curvy. No panic here. In fact, I like the shape it makes. I think it's a leaf.

Everyone is waiting with baited breath for the list mom/pattern writer to respond to all the questions of "which swatch is right?" I don't really care one way or the other, I like the leafy shapes, and I am sure that regardless of whichever one is deemed correct, mine will turn out leafy shaped.

And yes, I broke and cast on for another Odessa last night. In variegated no less. I am a sucker for variegated yarn, every time. It's starting to worry me. I even bought a bag of Silk Garden Lite (No. 2017) at a yarn sale this past weekend when I don't even like Silk Garden that much. I admit, it's starting to grow on me, but I still don't LOVE it. But my God! The colors! So vibrant! This colorway makes me think of trees in early fall, when everything is starting to turn, but there is still plenty of green. I practically drooled on the bag.

I plan on making a Lady Eleanor with it. But I am also planning on it being a Christmas gift for someone so I won't be starting it any time soon. I have to get done with mother's day gifts first!

MS3 Swatch

I finished up my swatch for Mystery Shawl 3 along this morning. I am using Knitpicks Shadow. This is the first time I have done lace in lace-weight. I messed up the motif in the upper right hand corner, but other than that I think I got the rest of it correct.

I look forward to making this shawl despite having difficulties getting started when using the lace-weight yarn.

Live Dangerously, Don't Swatch Hat

Mr. Woolly models the hat.

Pattern: Live Dangerously, Don't Swatch Hat by Susan Lawrence.
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, color 225, less than one ball.
Needles: Swallow Casein US sz 9 dpns, purchased from The Knitting Zone. (picture below)

Modifications: None. However, I did use the k2 p2 suggested rib for the body of the hat.

Swallow Casein Needles, made from skim milk! How freaky is that?

Laid out under a "Reveal" lightbulb so you can see the colors clearly.

Check out that I-cord edge!

Thoughts:

I made this hat for a young man I know, whose birthday is this month, though I am not sure exactly when. He has another gift, but since his brother was the recipient of the Bobby Socks, I don't want him to feel left out in the hand knitting department. Honestly, I don't know if he likes hand knits or not. Hopefully he'll like the hat.

The pattern was really easy, and it was neat doing a hat from the crown out instead of starting at the bottom like I normally do. I also learned a new technique, the I-Cord cast off. I really like the edge it makes, despite my confusion as to what to do when I got to the end of it.

I still don't LOVE Noro Silk Garden like everyone else who has used it seems to LOVE it, but I don't hate it as much as I did. I really do like the way the colors shift, but it's no Lamb's Pride.

Bri sniffs at Mr. Wooley

Odessa.

Mr. Woolly modeling the hat out on the patio while it's drying.

Pattern: Odessa, by Grumperina, from Magknits.
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, Shade 142, Melody.
Yardage: Less than 1 ball (I used 29 of 50 grams, so just over a half really)
Needles: Addi US 4 circs, Lion Brand US 6 plastic dpns
Modifications: Besides the yarn switch, I didn't do the beads. I have nothing against the beads, but I really wanted to do this hat in the Felted Tweed, and felt it had enough texture on it's own and the beads would make it too busy.

Thoughts:
I really like this pattern. I am sure I will do it again. Perhaps even using beads. Just like I found with the Jaywalker pattern, it's a simple repeat that has a great visual effect. I can see this hat made with all sorts of yarns. Calmer, Silk Garden, Random Cotton for summer time, and even Acrylic for a quick cheapie when things are tight.

As for the Felted Tweed. I liked it too. I don't think I will seek out projects in it because of it's price, but for something like this hat, it was lovely. It was fine to work with, and has a lovely texture when knitted up, and I am all about the textures. I almost have enough left over to make another hat from it, but not quite. This was the first Rowan yarn I have used, and it encourages me to try more, as long as the projects are small.

My bits and bobs after completing the hat.

A side view of the left-over ball.

The hat laid flat once the ends were all woven and tucked away.

A view of the crown and it's spiral.

A closer view of the crown (with better lighting).

I really think it's a lovely hat. Sadly, I don't look so good in the close fitting hats. I feel like a melon-head when I wear them, so this is going to be put away for gifting to some worthy person.

Poetry Reading.

Everyone seems to be doing silent poetry reading today in knitting-blogland. I thought I would share this one.

Richard Cory
By Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -
And admirably schooled in every grace;
In fine we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

We read this the first day of Honors English in 9th grade. It was our teacher's first day ever teaching. It was our first big scary day in High School as wee leetle freshmen. We remembered and referred to this poem over and over again for the next 4 years.

In fact, I still do. Every time I think someone has it all together, and a life that should be wonderful, and I don't understand their attitudes or behaviors, I think of this poem.

Sometimes you need a reminder that just because you don't see someone's problems, it doesn't mean they aren't there. That's what this poem does for me.

Turtleneck.

Pattern: Dog Turtleneck
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft, Lt Orchard Peach
Yardage: No idea, less than a skein
Needles: Addi Natura circs in US 6, Brittany Birch US 4 dpns
Modifications: I didn't use that froofroo fake fur stuff, I shorted the leg cuffs by 1.5 inches and the collar by 1 inch.

Sometimes I give in to the urges of having a cute little dog that likes to wear clothes. This took about a day and a half. I am considering making another, not using the garter stitch at all. I think ribbing for the entire thing would be better, especially because Daisy is so big in the chest for such a tiny thing. It would also be more flexible in general, and I think she would like that better. At least now she won't be shivering when she goes out on the porch.

The serious pose is at the top, the cute pose just below, followed by the "I am bored with this now" shot. :)