Finished Objects!! Finally able to post...

Whoo Hoo!! With Blogger download problems this month and extremely SLOW dial up service, it has been extremely frustrating to try to blog. Hopefully things are on the mend.

Here is the 2nd Noro Striped Scarf which I knit for a surprise for a good friend of mine, Judy, in WI. I used Noro Silk Garden: 2 balls of #34 olive/brown/lavender and 2 balls of #88 soft neutrals of tan/grey/lt green. I loved how it turned out. The pictures here make it brighter than it actually appears.

I finished it at the end of the year but I had to wait for Judy to receive it and for Blogger to work in order to post it. Thankfully, she loves it too. With this cold snap, hopefully it will be a welcome addition to her wardrobe.

The Felted Kitty Bed is finished and since I held one strand of alpaca and one strand of miscellaneous, Noro Silk Garden, grey merino and handspun together, I used up 1022 yards of stash which goes towards my knitting a mile for Stash Knit Down 2008. YIPPEE. I followed Wendy Knits pattern but did an extra increase row and knit several rows after that. For the decreases, I did 3 decrease rows with 5 knitted rows after each decrease. It blocked to a diameter of 17". I wanted it bigger to accomodate various sizes of cats: 5 lbs, 7 lbs, 14 lbs and 17 lbs. Since my colors were so muted, there was not a lot of variation in the piece after it was felted. After finishing this one, I decided that the cats would just have to share. One was enough for this household. So....

Olive has graced it with her mouse on a string but hasn't taken to sleeping in it.

Jaguar and Pinky were snoozing and grooming.
And Tigger found it a cozy place to cuddle. Good thing I made it extra large! All of this was done on the first day it was on the floor. So the results are in....(drumroll please)....

3 out of 4 cats prefer the Felted Kitty Bed. :-D

Pinky's Seal of Approval

Mary asked me if I thought the cats would actually use the Felted Kitty Bed. Pinky couldn't even wait until it was finished and felted! She snuggled right up in my lap while I was knitting. I am SO close to getting the knitting finished; I keep adding odds and ends of yarn. However, it is quite the challenge to knit in the round with a kitten inside! :-D

Stash Knit Down and Kitty Beds

Noro Silk Garden #88 and Alpaca With a Twist worsted from my stash to start the Knit A Mile Challenge on Stash Knit Down 2008. The purpose of the challenge is to knit a mile, 1760 yards, out of yarn from your stash from Jan 5th to Feb 19th. I've been a little late in starting. I have a few smaller projects picked. However, I decided to knit Wendy Knit's Felted Kitty Bed. So I started this one Tues afternoon. This is the progress so far:
I love how the one strand of the Noro Silk Garden and one strand of the alpaca are knitting up together. I can't wait to see it finished. It should be soft and cuddly.

Why the urge to knit kitty bed(s)? Well, if you read my post, Animal Tales, you already know that I have two cats , Tigger and Jaguar, which were abandoned on the road as kittens. We found them just in time. They are great cats and deserve kitty beds. However, they are now just getting acquainted with their two new sisters:

Meet Olive. In my post, Animal Tales, you may have read how my daughter lost her best buddy, Shadow the hamster. Well to fix a broken heart, she needed a new buddy. So last Saturday, we found Olive at the Humane Society. She is a little over a year old, is 7 lbs of fluff. Poor Olive has been at the shelter since September. There is no other history on her. My daughter picked her out from a roomful of cats and said to me, "Mom, meet Olive." She said the name just popped into her head as soon as she looked into Olive's HUGE bright green eyes (which look like olives). Haha. Cute name so it stuck. Olive came home yesterday and is in kitty quarantine in the downstairs bathroom for three days while she is being treated for fleas and earmites. She is a wonderful, laid back, lovey cat who likes to chatter to you. Meet Pinky. She just came home Tues night. A. had seen Pinky's picture posted on a pet store bulletin board and that was where we were headed when we stopped at the Humane Society. As soon as I held Pinky, it was love at first sight (or purr). She is a little lovey motorboat purr baby. She is a Blue Cream Torbie ( I'll have to look that up on the internet as I've never heard that term before). Anyway she is buff/cream colored with light grey and her belly is very light cream with grey dots. It looks like a snow leopard's. Very cute. She has the most beautiful amber eyes but when her pupils are dilated, her eyes look so dark compared to the rest of her.

Pinky was named by the animal rescue foster home. She is 5 months old and ended up in foster care 3 weeks ago. She was found living in a car with a woman and 7 cats. All except Pinky and another kitten were euthanized. How sad! Pinky fostered in a home with 5 dogs and several cats so eventhough she is TINY, she is not fazed at all by our 80 lb Collie, Simba. She takes all the animals in stride. In fact they are more cautious of her than the other way around. Jaguar, 14 lbs, thinks she's fun to watch. Tigger, 17 lbs and scared of his own shadow, chooses not to look at her when she is sniffing him. It's like "if I can't see her, she's not really there." Too funny!

We love the name Pinky. I have a friend, Judy, in WI who has a cat named Pinky and we always loved that cat and name. I apologize for not the greatest of pictures. Neither cat wanted to stay still; they are more interested in being petted.

So it looks like 4 kitty beds will find their way to my knitting needles!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wishing everyone, laughter, love, health, and prosperity. Enjoy the ones you love and engage in the pursuits that make your soul sing.