Sponge Duncan

We (that means Don) got the bathroom floor down and grouted. Duncan has claimed the bathroom as his own, and he has decided that a grouting sponge makes a great pillow!

Hey Teach!

It's been a rough summer with the bathroom remodel going on and on and on. I'm afraid I've quite abandoned my blog. Since I've had two requests in one day, I'm going to try to get back on the job again.

This summer's big knitting project has been this "Hey Teach" sweater designed by Helene Rush. It's knit from Second Time Cotton yard, which wasn't too bad to work with for a cotton. Hopefully, I can wear it fairly early on in the school year. You have to admit that the name of the pattern is appropriate!

I Don't Understand! (Posted by Mikey)

Why does she now keep her knitting needles in this bag that I can't open? I need thumbs!

My Assistant

Pattern directions are always rather hard to understand. It's a good thing I have an assistant!

Don's DYI Bathroom

Our bathroom has needed remodeling since we bought this house many years ago, but it's always been to expensive and too overwhelming to do. Well, the day has come. The toilet started leaking, and when Don went to replace it, he discovered that it has been installed wrong to begin with, and had been leaking for a very long time. So long, in fact, that the subfloor in that area is rotted. We realized that it was time. And we also realized that this would have to be a DYI project. Thankfully, Don can do most of it.

Here is the lovely bathroom tile. Isn't that '50's pink gross? We were so happy to see it go.

And here is the demo in progress. Go Don!

Most of the walls are done. Tomorrow he'll finish that off, and then it's on to the ceiling and floor. Ugh!

In My Defense (Posted by Mikey)

In my defense, I'd like to make it clear that, since the incident involving the kitchen sink, the sprayer, a bottle of shampoo, and my fur, I have not touched a single knitting needle, nor have I encouraged or inspired any other cat to touch any knitting needle. Heck, I wouldn't wish that bath on a dog!

Mikey Made Me Do It! (Posted by Duncan.)

Do I look like the kind of guy who would chew up a set of double point needles? Of course I don't! It was all Mikey's idea! I'm innocent. Really! I am!!!!

We Interupt the Last Week of School to Bring You...

School's out! And I'm sooooo glad. This was the oddest last week of school ever. I was stressed, as I always am at the end of the school year, but I thought things were pretty under control, and they were. Until I got a phone call telling me that Mikey had been hired to be part of a very special add campaign for Baker and Taylor Publishers. Now I could have said no to almost anything at that point, but Baker and Taylor are a huge publisher of library books, especially children's books. What teacher could resist? So in the middle of the last week rush, Mikey and I made a trip to Philly for a really cool photo shoot. We drove down Wednesday afternoon, stayed over at a motel, did the shoot on Thursday, then drove back for the last day of school. It was worth it.

As you can see, my stress had absolutely no effect on Mikey.

I'd really like to be one of my own cats.

Revenge? (Posted by Mikey)

Is this her revenge for those knitting needles I chewed?
I'll never touch another one!

Socks for Sanity!

At this point in the school year, I'm so tired and so brain-dead, that I can't do any really complicated projects. I need something easy, cheerful, and amusing to work on. So I dug into my stash and founds some Online Supersocke 100 sock yarn. This yarn is dyed to be self-striping and contains many fun colors. I never know what color is coming next, so I'm totally amused with little to no effort.

Here's the first sock to date:
The color is called Tropic, and I bought it at Webs long ago. (Let's not talk about the length of time some things have been in my stash.)

With a sock like this to play with, I may survive the school year!

Duncan and Jenna

I love Teddy Bears. I have a whole collection of them. A couple have even found their way to our bed. One of these is my one and only Build A Bear Workshop bear, Jenna Marissa Jane. She used to be mine, but now she's been adopted.
Jenna is the only bear Duncan will sleep with. He absolutely loves her, and will even hold paws with her at times. Duncan is a one bear cat!

Never Judge a Cat by His Cover

This is Mikey:

Isn't he adorable? Doesn't look like the sweetest, most innocent thing you've ever seen?

This is what Mikey did to my knitting needles last night. Look closely at the tips.

Good thing he's cute.

I Think I Grew Something!

I am easily the world's worst gardener. I hate to garden, but I love pretty flowers and fresh produce. It's too early for produce, although my lettuce is coming along, but I actually have some flowers!

Maybe it's not hopeless after all.

It's a Sweater!

I'm back. I finally have a new camera, so I feel like I can really blog. I didn't realize I was so photo dependent!

Lately I've been working on a new sweater. Of course we all know how important it will be for me to have a new wool and alpaca sweater in July, which is probably when it will get done. However, that's irrelevant. The sweater needed knitting immediately. What can I say? You can't reason with knitting.

I have both the back and front done. One sleeve is also done, and the other is getting close. Here's what I have so far:

This is the front of the sweater. What you can't tell from this picture, is that the length from the armhole to the shoulder seems waaaayyy too long. Not sure what I'm going to do about that.

Here's the neckline. This is what drew me to the pattern in the first place.

And here's the sleeve. I had to shorten it some. I sure hope I did that right.

Now to finish up the other sleeve and face the terrifying makeing up. I hope it all works, because you never know when you'll need a heavy sweater in July!

PS I didn't bother to show the back, because it's boring.

Cats 101

Our Scottish Folds and I had quite an experience. Back in September, I got a phone call from someone from Animal Planet. They were doing a series called Cats 101, and they had heard that my Folds teach my class. What started as a few shots and an interview ended up as three really cool people coming to school at about 11:00 am, staying there until 6:00 pm, then coming to our house until the cats decided it was bedtime at about 9:15. The result was a really cool segment on the show which first aired in December, and continues to pop up when I least expect it.

Here are some scenes from Cats 101:

The Guys playing on the stairs. They sure thought that camera man was nuts to watch them for so long!

Mikey was described has having round cheeks. I guess that goes along with his nickname "Squirrel".
Yes, Duncan does need a bib when he eats. He's rather sloppy!

DK was the purr boy. The funny thing is that he was the worst behaved on that day, but they made him look like the perfect cat. He always comes out smelling like a rose!

Cats 101 was fun, but I'm glad it's over. The cats are back to their regular jobs teaching second graders. They like that, because their pictures do all the work. Hmm, too bad that doesn't work for humans!

Providence Wintertime Farmers' Market

Here in RI, the Farmers' Market moves inside for the winter. The winter location is about two minutes from our house, but until this weekend, I'd never been there. I meant to go, I wanted to go, I intended to go, but it never happened. Yesterday was finally the day. Of course there wasn't much produce in March, but there sure were lots of other cool things.

I picked up some of the best feta cheese on earth from:

http://www.richeeses.com/.

The mozzarella and ricotta I got from them was awesome too.

Then there was the bread from:

http://www.farmfresh.org/food/member.php?fn=22.

Oh man! We got sourdough raisin and walnut and Italian bread. Yum!

There was even some yarn there, although I was a good girl and didn't buy any. Now if it had been alpaca, I might not have resisted. Thankfully, the alpaca people weren't there. I guess that's a good reason to go back! Or maybe it's a good reason not to go back. Gotta think about that!

http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farmersmarkets_details.php?market=29

$23.70 Room Re-do

(Before I start, please forgive the quality of the pics in this post. Our digital camera is beyond repair, so I took them with my ancient cell phone.)

Our spare bedroom, also doubles as my craft area and yarn stash storage. It's kind of "my territory", and Don has the entire basement workshop for his. I was sick and tired of the room looking so yucky, so I decided to re-do it. Only problem: money! There was no way I could justify spending a whole bunch of money at list point in our budgetary lives, so I set a limit of $30. I only ended spending $23.70! Here's what I did:

1. Declutter! Mostly old books and dusty cat show ribbons. Cost: $0

2. Wash hardwood floor. Cost: $0 (I used white vinegar from my shelf.)

3. Buy 2 on sale pillow forms from Joanns. Cost: $6.59

4. Tea dye quilt with tea already on hand. Cost: $0

5. Buy two- 1/2 yard cuts and one 1 yard cut of Thimbleberry's fabrics from RYCO to match the throw rug in the room. Cost: 14.96

6. Buy 1 yd ribbon from Lorraine Mill. Cost: $1.34

7. Recover lamp shade.

8. Cut apart an old throw pillow to get the "guts".

9. Make three new throw pillows.

10. Hem curtains to bottom of the window.

11. Make trim from leftover fabric and sew to bottom of valance.

Here are a couple of truely horrible pictures of the result!

Anybody know a good place to get a camera cheap?

It's me, Wally!

Hi, everyone, it's me! Wally! Mommy asked me to guest post here, and I think it's a great idea. As boss of this household, I can let you know all the good and bad things about my life with Mommy and Daddy. Here we go!



Good Stuff:



-I have three really cool little brothers, who know that I'm in charge. They're snuggly too.



-I get treats every night.

-Mommy pets me on demand. Daddy does too, if he's not busy will DK.

-We have zillions of cat beds.



Bad Stuff:



-My parents abandon me most days to go to work. Very sad.

-The vets. Yes, there are two of them, The Man With the Needles and The Lady Who Steals Teeth. I don't like them at all.

-The human's bed. It's too small. I need more space.


My life here can be pretty rough at times, but I love my Mommy, so I'm staying.

Thank You, Duncan!

I owe our youngest cat a big thank you. Duncan has Irritable Bowl Disease aka IBD. IBD is a treatable problem, and Duncan's had been controled with prescription food. He eats Royal Canin Green Pea and Lamb food. The only problem is that the dry variety is absolutely disgusting, so he's forced to eat canned. He's never been a canned kind of guy, even when he still lived with the breeders, so he really doesn't understand how it's done. Literally. The little guy smooshes the food into his plate, then can't get it off. We have to "fluff" his food several times to get him through a plate. Hence, my thank you. Since this is a prescription food, and should not be eaten by the other cats, Duncan eats upstairs in the spare bedroom. It got to be a bother to run up and down the stairs for fluffing duty, so I started staying up with him. Between fluffs, I started to quilt. Now I have a wallhanging done and a table runner at the quilting stage. (I'd post pictures, but the camera is broken!) I'd almost forgotten how much I love to quilt. Thanks, Dunc!

I am soooo sick. I actually stayed home from school today. Do you have any idea how much work it is to stay home when you're a teacher? Fortunately, the feline nursing staff was on full duty. If only they'd share the bed.

Never, Ever, Ever...

...watch a presidential inauguration with second graders without explaining what a 21 gun salute is. It's not pretty when they think the new president's been shot. It puts a damper on the moment.

On the other paw, it's great to be able to show young kids what the peaceful transfer of power is. It's also cool to teach them about segregation, and have them not believe that it's possible for that to happen. It's cool that they don't see what the color of the president has to do with anything. I guess we should teach them about 21 gun salutes, and they should teach us what really matters about the president.

Although, if you ask them, they'll tell you Barak Obama should be president because he has a daughter just their age. :)

I Didn't Even Knit!

Today an amazing thing happened. Don and I went to a Providence Bruins hockey game. I got him the tickets for Christmas. Don watches sports of almost every kind on TV, and while he watches, I sort of follow a little, but mostly I knit. The combination of being neither athletic nor competetive, doesn't make me a good sports fan. Before we left for the game today, I made sure I had some knitting tucked into my bag. But shock of all shocks! The "in person" game was so interesting, I didn't even knit! I have to admit I didn't much care that we lost, but the skating was unbelievable to watch. Who would have thunk?

http://www.providencebruins.com

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

Yesterday I had I truly horrible migraine. I get them every so often, although I've been able to discover some of the triggers, and thereby eliminate many of them. Migraines always make me feel depressed. To cheer myself up, I posted a thread on my favorite Ravelry board (Reclaiming the Home aka my mothership). The thread was based on the song "My Favorite Things" from the movie The Sound of Music. In the movie, the VonTrapp children were frightened by a thunderstorm, and Maria tells, well sings, them to think about their favorite things. This cheers the children up, and it worked for me too! So, here are some of my favorite things:

-a pile of cats on a chair

-clean sheets on the bed

-digging in my yarn stash and finding yarn I forgot I had

-coffee early in the morning

-second graders playing with stuffed animals

-my husband saying you'll feel better if you buy some yarn

-turning off the alarm on Friday so it won't go off on Saturday

-binding off the last stitch

-rubbing Wally's belly

I could go on and on, but now it's your turn. What are your favorite things?

Yarn Wind'ear and Swift

I was so pleased when my husband got me this swift and the yarn winder that goes with if for Christmas a year ago. I've gotten a ton of use out of it, and it's saved me a whole lot of time. It's also useful for entertaining Scottish Folds.

Possibilities

There's nothing like a fresh, uncut piece of fabric. All those possibilities dance before my eyes. Well, if I can see the fabric.

A Tail of Two Icarus Shawls

My friend Kim sent me the book "The Best of Interweave Knits" for a gift last March. She wanted me to knit the famed Icarus Shawl by Miriam Felton, which she was also working on. Kim knits a lot faster than I do, but I'm almost as obsessed as she is with knitting, so I gave it a whirl. It was definately harder than she said, but it was also more addictive than she bothered to mention.

This first shawl, I made for Ev out of Suri Elegance. Only one problem. I ran out of yarn! Thankfully, the ladies at my LYS dug through the shop and found this nice complimentary silvery gray. I can't remember what yarn it is, but I'm eternally thankful to the ladies of Fresh Purls.

Having succeeded in saving the first Icarus shawl, I had the crazy thought that my sister Lisa could use one to keep her warm in her freezing school nurse's office. (Strange place to not heat.) So I set out to make her one in Rowan Kidsilk Night. Not having learned my lesson, I ran out of yarn again! I did manage to find another skein on E-bay, and it even turned out to be the right dye lot. Another shawl saved!

What are the odds I'll buy enough yarn for the next one? Maybe I should try a different pattern.

Welcome to My New Blog

Welcome to my new blog! Having my own blog hadn't occured to me, until my friend and coworker Keri, suggested it. Well, I did it, Keri!


Of course, the first order of buisness here must be the cats. My husband and I have four beautiful Scottish Fold cats. Actually, they have us! Scottish Folds' are known for their folded ears, big round eyes, and a friendly disposition.

This is Wally, my very special black and white boy. He runs the show around here, that's for sure.

Here's DK. DK stands for Don's Kitty, and Don's he is! My husband is DK's favorite person in the whole world.















This is Mikey. Take a good look at his eyes, they're rarely this open! Mikey is a sleep-aholic!















This is our youngest cat, Duncan. He's grown since this picture, but he still a total cutie!











I'm out of time here, but in my next post, I'll talk about another favorite thing, knitting!