$600 Hat

 

Monday morning started out like every other Monday, laundry day and I had a hair apt.  

Around 9am this flies by me:

Sunday I had cleaned out my church bag and put my current hat on the work center in the kitchen.  Somehow Chunky got up there and got the yarn chewed off in 2 places and wrapped around his tail.  I spent most of the day chasing him through the house and finally got the yarn cut down to about 12", there are 2 pieces here about a yard long.  He got under the bed and I went to see if I could see the yarn and cut it off. I noticed one piece was about 4" long, which meant the other part was somewhere, did he eat it?  So I called my vet to see what I should do, he suggested since it was almost 5 to take him to ER vet, so off we go in rush hour traffic.  

ER vet said since I did not know if he swallowed any yarn it would be hard to probably see anything with a scope or xrays.  He suggested I take him home and keep an eye on him for 48 hours.  There are no meds to induce vomiting for cats that really work.  So back home we go.

Tuesday morning I was awakened to hacking, figured it was Chunky, nope the kittens were all on the bed. It was BigBoy.  He tried to hack something up but nothing.  Then he walked a few steps with his back legs spread like maybe he had poop stuck.  Then he laid down and kind of froze.  My first thought was he had a seizure.  My vet was open so I scooped him and off we went.  Good news is no seizure and his numbers were the best they have been in a while.  Vet thinks he was overly stressed from Monday with Chunky.  He kept him a few hours to watch him and when I went to pick him up he was a happy little boy.

This morning all seem to be fine and Chunky has not delivered any yarn at either end. So I am thinking maybe he did not eat the yarn but now I wonder where it is.

So this hat was supposed to go to the homeless, but since it cost me $600 in vet bills, I am keeping it for the rest of my life.

Book 4: The Gentle Art of Domesticity

 I read this book a couple of years ago as a read along on a blog I follow.  You might want to check her out.  https://www.elefantz.com/

The author starts out talking about how women of the olden days had to knit socks, make clothes, make bread, make clothes, basically they had to make everything because there was no Wal-Mart or Amazon.  I sometimes think we should go back to those days.

Today you can buy anything you want and have it delivered.  I have a neighbor who hardly ever leaves her house.  During the lockdown there were several deliveries a day to her house and she has continued it.  

This book is about domesticity and the pleasures and joys of the gentle domestic arts of knitting, crocheting, baking, stitching, quilting, gardening and homemaking.  It gives us the opportunity to express ourselves.  When I was little I never sat still, well I still don't.  We lived in a little house behind my paternal grandmother who crocheted and knit to relax.  At age 4 she decided I needed to learn both in order to keep my mind sharp and mostly to sit still.  In High school I took Home Ec mostly cos I loved to cook and sew: it was an easy A class.  

You know how it is you go to the store and buy things and after you wash them they fall apart or they just don't last the year.  Yet I have dishcloths I have made for over 10 years now and my niece will probably inherit them some day.  There is something satisfying about making a new dishcloth and then using it, just a happy thing.

There is inspiration everywhere to do whatever art you wish to make your home your own.  How many hours do you spend on Pinterest?  This year's library winter reading challenge is right up my alley, works of art and my house is full of them.  Even that simple dishcloth is a work of art.  

This book is another one where I just like to look at the pictures and dream of the next "work of art" I will create.  The pictures are full  of color and there is a lot of humor in her life stories.

And So It Begins

 So I have a King size bed and in order to make my book afghan I did some measuring, yes there is math in knitting.  I finished my first square which is 7x7 and I need 15 in each row for 15 rows, so that is 225 squares.  Last year I read 124 books so this may turn into a 2 year project or I need to only read and make squares for the rest of the year.

I have read 6 books so far this year so I am gonna take a break this weekend and catch up on my squares and attach as I go.  

Do not even ask me how ends there will be to weave in, all the more reason to attach and weave in ends as I go.

Stay tuned.