The minions are multiplying....and so are the toes!!

We got a new kitty!!

While on our normal trip to P**smart to buy food for the minions, Purrfect Pals was there, in the center aisle of the store, with lots of little orphans needing homes! Most P**smart stores have a cat adoption area, and I usually visit it every time I go. It's always hard to resist the lure of an innocent, cute little face needing a home....but this time they pulled out all the stops and put them right smack in the middle of the main aisle! What an evil plot!

As I walked by all of the cages and cooed at all of the cute kitties, this one caught my eye for lots of reasons, but most especially because of this....

LOTS of extra toes!!! (Sorry for the blurry pic---moving target....). Is he cute, or what? I have always wanted a polydactyl cat, and here was this one, needing a good home and all. With my poor husband groaning in the background, the ladies of Purrfect Pals asked if I would like to hold him.....How could I refuse?

However, while it was love at first site on my part......for my husband, not so much. First of all, having two cats to begin with is one too many as far as he is concerned. So of course, obtaining a third minion to run the house was completely out of the question! Also, he said that the whole "extra toes" thing kind of "creeped him out." Obviously, he has no appreciation for the truly unique! He went on his way to shop, hoping that would lure me away from the kitten temptation.

Ha! Obviously, he also has no appreciation for the lure of a beautiful kitten with extra toes, available for the taking, to a kitty-lover such as myself. I finally gave up.....for a little while....and we went about our shopping.

As we came back down the aisle, the Purrfect Pals girls lured me in again with their siren song...."would you like to hold him again"......"we can do the paperwork right now"......"are you sure?...we'll be here until 4pm!" (These girls are GOOD!) However, my husband has great sales resistance, unfortunately, and we checked out with our purchases, but without the kitten.

We got out to the car and got in. And yes, I'll admit it........I resorted to pleading and whining! I even threw in the part about reconciling our cosmic balance sheet of buying our other two minions, by adopting at least one orphan in need of a home. (I have had some guilt about this issue, since I have always adopted my cats from shelters until the most recent two.....we were renters when we got them, and could not get the "landlord permission letter" that was needed to adopt from the shelters, since they were not allowed at our apartment---so we bought from a breeder).

And then a miracle occurred----my husband----who would be quite happy to have no cats, let alone THREE....actually gave in and we went back and got the kitty! (It's not that he's a cat hater----just slightly allergic...) The Purrfect Pals girls were laughing when they saw me-----they said "we knew you'd be back!"

We have named the new minion "Toe-bi" (I know, but the toe thing was too good to resist....). He has two extra toes on each front paw, and one extra toe on each back foot, for a total of SIX extra toes! (For you non-cat-owners, cats usually have 5 toes on each front paw, and 4 on each back foot---a total of 18.) He is completely adorable, with a sweet personality and a BIG purr. And he is absolutely great with the "politics" of inserting himself into the domain of the two existing (and spoiled) feline residents! He approaches each of them with gusto, then promptly rolls over on his back in proper submissive respect, and allows them the first move, or sniff, or paw swipe, or whatever!

Things seem to be progressing along well in the mingling and socializing department, with a surprising minimum of hissing, swatting or disagreements. The Supervisor is properly intrigued, but is more interested in getting to Toebi's kitten food than anything else. Technocat is neutral to slightly disgusted by the whole issue, and has chosen to pretty much ignore the existance of the unworthy invader for now. Fine with me.....better than hissing and spitting!

And as for the kitten-resistant husband......every time I turn around to talk to him he has disappeared....into the bedroom where Toebi is staying while everyone gets acquainted!! Geez, I can't keep him out of there! And as for his "creeping out" about the extra toes....all he can talk about now is how cute the kitten is with his big "paddles.".......

Kitten: 1 Husband: 0

The kitten reels in another victim!!

>^..^< >^..^< + >^,,^<

I hab a code.....and a felted moebius bowl

I keep reading on everyone's blog and hearing from my friends that they have all had colds or flu. Lucky me---I didn't catch it----until yesterday....Uggghhh..... I've had a sore throat since yesterday and am all stubbed ub. Yuck! I'm not feeling up to doing much creative blogging, so I'll return when I'm feeling human again. Rachel tagged me last week for "6 weird things about me," but I can't really think of anything right now, even weird things about me. So, I'll leave that one for after I'm feeling better.

For now, here's a felted moebius bowl I finished last week. I really love the color---reminds me of the beach and beach glass, so I have officially named it "Beach Blue Bowl." I know, very original....but what do you want from someone with a clogged brain?

Anyway, this bowl was very fun to knit. It's made from Fleece Artist wool, by knitting a moebius strip with a I-cord bind-off. Then all of the stitches along the edge of the moebius strip are picked up under the I-cord, and the basket portion of the form is knit. The pattern is from "A Second Treasury...." by Cat Bordhi. If you have never checked out this book, I highly suggest you do! Lots of fun, creative projects.

The only modification I made to the pattern was to leave off the felted fringe around the bottom edge of the rim---I thought the color of the bowl should be the main focus since the color is so brilliant, and that the fringe would detract and not look great in this color.

Of course, I had to get a cold right before I'm going to spend a couple of days at The Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat later this week. (I'm sure my fellow retreat class members are going to LOVE having me around.....with my blankie and box of tissues in tow!) Not to mention taking an all day class when I feel like crap. Hopefully a couple of days will make a difference. Besides, the registration was a little too pricey to cancel the class!

I'm going to have fun if it kills me!

>^oo^< >^--^<

Boing Boing Boing...Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

Check out the live pinball action on this video! The fun of this year's winter in the Northwest just keeps on comin'! I've had about all of the ice and snow I can take for a while---I promise, I'll NEVER gripe about the "45 degrees and rainy" again. (Well, at least not for a while.....).


>^..^< >^..^<

Look what I.....uh, WE got!!

Recieved a fun box from my Winter Wonderland Swap pal, Dawn! This was my first knitting swap, so I was excited to receive the box! Look at all the fun stuff she sent...





You can't see them in the picture, but there are some really pretty red opalescent stitch markers on top of the angel cloth in the middle. I also love the SnC yarn colors she sent!

I barely had time to arrange and admire all of my goodies for a nice picture, when THIS arrived....


Yep, that's right, 14+ pounds of minion-y goodness clumped itself right down on top of the carefully arranged scene. The Supervisor had arrived. Very graceful----sort of like Godzilla tromping through Tokyo... After some covert surveillance while I was arranging things, he then proceeded to launch an all-out attack on the poor, unsuspecting contents of my gift box....


Perhaps feeling he could not complete the job alone, he called in reinforcements....


Perhaps the Technocat should join in for a little technical advice and support.....



Finally, The Supervisor surveys the battle scene and admires his handiwork. There were no casualties, but unfortunately, the ballband from the sage green yarn took one for the gift box and was torn. The chocolate espresso beans were quickly reunited with their stocking after the minion retreat.

I am happy report that the ballband has been repaired and is recovering nicely. **No other gift contents were harmed in the launching of this attack.**

In all fairness to the minions, there was, after all, a bottle of "catnip bubbles" amongst the items---so they are claiming they were taunted into an assault....

Thanks, Dawn! I.....um, WE really enjoyed all of the gifts!

>^,,^< >^,,^<

Happy New Year...and more felting!

Happy 2007 to everyone! Hope you all had fun ringing in the New Year in your own way. I spent a quiet evening at home with hubby and the minions on New Year's Eve, which was fine with me!

Had fun working on a few little fun projects between Christmas and New Year. I loved the felted mini-baskets I made a couple of months ago so much, I'm making more in larger sizes to see if they come out as well as the tiny ones. Made this one in "manly" colors for my hubby, which I think came out pretty. He put it on his desk at work with candy in it. I again used the Paton's SWS soy/wool blend, which felts up beautifully and very solid.

For size comparison, this basket is the equivalent of one size larger than the original, business-card-sized basket. In fact, the original mini-basket nests into this slightly larger one perfectly. I'm going to increase the size again on the next one, to see if the walls of the basket hold up in a larger size with the way it is constructed.

I also knitted these hot pads, which are from a free pattern on Knitpicks called "Hot out of the Oven." I used the yarn suggested in the pattern, which is Wool of the Andes Bulky. I also used the color shown in the pattern, called "spumoni." (It really does look like spumoni ice cream...).

These were very quick to knit, but I'm not real pleased with the way this yarn felted up. If you look closely at the square hot pad, you can see the lines where there were decreases on either side. I felted these for about 1-1/2 hours, and this was the tightest it was going to get. It is actually more noticeable in the photos than it looks in person, so no big deal---they are only hot pads, after all! I do think they are cute and funky, though, so I will probably make another set and see if they turn out differently.

I also worked on a moebius bowl that has been lurking as a UFO in my knitting basket since last April. I have finished all but cutting and applying the fringe, and then it will be felted as well. It is knit from some beautiful Fleece Artist yarn in a bright turquoise-blue/green blend, which I'm hoping will retain some of it's vibrant color when felted. Don't have a picture of the basket yet, because right now it looks kind of like a really large, floppy hat with twisted brim---not a very good subject for picture-taking in it's current state!

>^..^< >^..^<