There have been lots of happy things in the past week!
I’ve spent lots of time drinking tea…
Making (and consuming) fall-feeling desserts, like this Cardamom Gingerbread…
Staying inside while perfect, gray days unroll outdoors…
And hanging out with my furry, occasionally cuddly cat!
There’s a lot of knitting going on, too – but most of it is secret, for now :)
I haven’t posted a cat-on-a-knit picture in a long time!
This one is a super old throwback to when my cat was a teeny little kitten. I made the shawl pictured, Multnomah by Kate Ray, in the summer of 2010 when my cat was only a few months old! That’s why she looks extra tiny. In the photos she can’t be more than 5 months… she’s three years old, now! Whoa.
And, I guess she’s only almost on the knit. How respectful of her! :)
Look! A cat on a knit!
These photos are of the lovely Thorn shawl, designed by Kitman Figueroa and knit in Baah! La Jolla yarn in the Blue Sapphire colourway. I knit the shawl in August of 2011!
The shawl definitely gained feline approval, as you can see :)
Today, before-and-after cat on a knit photos.
Knits laid out to be packed for a trip:
And the same knits in a post-trip-to-be-washed pile.
(Both, obviously, equally perfect spots for sleepy cats :) )
Pictured knits:
Coral shawl: Damask by Kitman Figueroa in Shibui Knits Staccato
Yellow shawl: Moonlight Sonata by Shui Kuen Kozinski in Miss Gusset Sock
Blue shawl: Thorn by Kitman Figueroa in Baah! La Jolla
Blue sweater (in second photo): Tea Leaves by Melissa LaBarre in Juniper Moon 2010 CSA Share Yarn
Gray sweater (in second photo): Bergen Street Cardigan by Alexis Winslow in KnitPicks City Tweed DK
Today, I’m in the middle of managing some deadlines (because I’m dumb and didn’t manage them when I should have…)
And I’ve been doing some secret knitting for a gift project, so I can’t even show you that.
Instead, I offer you a photo of my cat on a knit :)
(I looked through my stash photos the other day, and realized I have kind of a lot of photos of my cat on knits or near stash. So I’ll be posting them now and then!)
The knit above is the Hooray Cardigan (pattern by Veera Valimaki), which I knit in Juniper Moon Farm’s share yarn in the (limited edition) Ojai colourway. I wrote a series of blog posts over at the Juniper Moon blog as I knit the sweater! My cat approved.
So, I rooted around in my stash last night, and came up with a tiny bit more yarn in the right weight for my crocheted cat nest.
Although red isn’t really a colour we use in household decor over here at casa-barf-green, I really like using up leftover yarn (in this case, the red yarn is from slippers I made my brother-in-law for Christmas one year), AND I want to keep this project as cheap as I can… because my cat is wonderful and I love her, but she’s also hella fickle.
While she looooves the cat-nest-in-progress right now…
Maybe she won’t love it forever, and if I spend a lot of money on the yarn, I’ll be sad.
I’m hoping I can use some coupons at Michael’s and pick up some (Lion Brand) Wool Ease Thick & Quick to continue the nest!
I never thought I’d be saying this, but… crochet is really fun, people.
So, I’ve barely made any progress on my crocheted cat nest project…
But I did get the highly important feline stamp of approval!
I did something crazy last night.
It’s something I haven’t done for years, since I was much younger.
I CROCHETED! :)
I’m nearly always a knitter, although I did learn how to do very very basic crochet way back in the day. Last night, I saw this adorable pattern for a cat nest, and I knew it would be perfect for my cat. She loooves to squeeze into small cozy spaces for naps. After much googling and some helpful youtube videos, this…
Turned into this…
in the span of a couple of hours! I’m using a 9mm crochet hook. The green yarn is leftover Brown Sheep Burly Spun (from the first sweater I ever made!), and the gray is leftover Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick (from some Christmas gift slippers).
Okay, my hands are a bit sore this morning, and okay, I’ve now run out of bulky stash yarn to use. But the idea of a cozy cat nest is too adorable not to see it through! I’m stashdiving to see if I have some heavier worsted I could hold triple or something.
Excited! Cat Nest!! :)
barf green is best 