Kitties




Does your cat use your face for a pillow and/or demand to be petted all night? Tiger is one of the cats that we inherited along with this house. He's the runt. And he wormed his way in enough to earn housecat status. He goes out to play with his brother any time he likes (sometimes Fluffy gets to come in too, but shhh don't tell Mark, not like he doesn't read this). Don't feel too sorry for the outside cats either - they have access to the garage, woolroom, and outbuildings where the sheep and goats are, so they stay plenty warm. And they all have names. I just don't hold you responsible for learning all their names at this point. Tiger is just so good at demanding to be loved. I think that it is normal for cats to be a little like an autistic child. They are smart. They can become totally fascinated with the smallest details sometimes. They use people as objects - a means to an end. They even tolerate affection, but it has to be on their own terms. And they don't like their routines to change at all. Forget new people - that's too much change. But some cats are more affectionate than others. There are cats that don't purr a whole lot, and cats that can't help but purr even while making it obvious that they don't want anyone to know that they are happy. Tiger just purrs, loudly, any time that he is being touched by a human. Including when he climbed up on my bed last night and laid himself down on my shoulder, purr box right up against my ear. And he walked on our faces, and wouldn't leave us alone until he was being petted. At three or four in the morning. Lucky for him he's so darn cute.

Suzie and Tiger do not like each other. The kids put both of them on the bunk bed, with a blanket between them, and the two cats stayed put, but they sure didn't look happy about it. Tonight, Tiger was under my bed, and Suzie kept approaching him, and they kept growling at each other. Nosie broke up one cat fight. Better her than me, I say. We love Suzie too, but she's more the kind of cat that sees people as a means to an end. But at least we are good for entertainment. And so is she.

Mark got this toy truck tonight for his birthday. Suzie couldn't decide what it was, and whether she wanted to get it or hide from it. But her curiosity would not let her leave it alone either. It was even more interesting than the orange marmalade menace under the bed.

A couple more self-explanatory Suzie shots:

You may notice that Nosie isn't usually in the pictures. That is because she doesn't sit still that long. She often does things that I want to take pictures of, but when I get out the camera, she comes running to help, or to lick me, or something. Mark doesn't get in too many of my pictures either. He doesn't make it easy to catch him, but sometimes you might see a foot or a hand or something.

Clapotis

Now you can start to see that it is knit on the bias. The diagonal intentional runs are not showing up all that well in the picture, but they are there. I was showing someone how to knit one night, and she happened to ask me if I ever drop a stitch on purpose for decoration. Clapotis was in my bag, and I showed her. Besides just leaving runs like this, one could also take ribbon or a contrasting yarn, and weave it into the runs. That's a pretty neat effect also.

I've gotten a little farther, actually, than this picture shows. Just past the half-way mark. And started the second ball of yarn a little bit after crossing half-way, so two balls of yarn will be perfect. I'll have another two balls leftover, so I could knit another one, but I'll probably do something else. This yarn would make an interesting teddy bear or something. Or something to add to the stash until it's just right for something.

The Wool Room

I almost forgot, but here is the wool room. See, there is even a heater! I'm thinking about putting the kids to work washing fleeces, since they still think it's fun. Even if I'm too busy with jobs and stuff, maybe eventually this could become a business they could run. Meanwhile, would anybody like to come over and play with wool and processing equipment? It's a bit monotonous if you do it alone, but not bad with a little company.