MISSING IN ACTION

Sad news,  Furgus disappeared on the 30th of March and no amount of searching, door knocking, posters and phone calls have turned up anything.  He had dinner then the usual backyard stroll and instead of coming back inside he just vanished. I think he was following the possums and something happened.  These are the last photo's I took of him and he's going bonkers with the wool, which now has orange cat hair through it.  I just had to let him keep it until he got bored, that was always the best way to handle him,  not forgetting  heaps of  praise,  affection and food.

VIVA LE TOUR! WITH HANSA MITTENS

It's been almost  two months without blogging, here's just a sample of the hectic last month.  Family member in intensive care after operation then goes home then back in hospital again,  phone line down for over a week! can you believe it, all calls redirected to mobile then internet connection down, that was fixed pretty quickly thanks to netspace. This month I decided to join the ravelry  Tour de France 2011  knitting kal, my project would be one pair of mittens using two colours Scandinavian style.  Colour selection was tricky the fingering balls I liked were just too expensive for a first project as there was going to be some frogging going on. On the second trip to my yarn shop and armed with at least ten different patterns all I came away with was another set of needles and several balls of black. I had some green DK that had four strands of yarn so I spent the evening unplying and rewinding to make a ball of fingering in a nice easy to see green.  All of my procrastination took up the first week of the tour, mitten on needles actually being knitted was on the first of the mountain stages. I chose the Hansa Mittens by Tuulia Salmela because of the nice pointy top and the gusset thumb, the colour pattern isn't  too  hard for a beginner. The bottom photo shows the gusset, Tuulia Salmela can be found on ravelry as Tuulia and her blog is   Knitlob's Lair-Louhittaren Luola . Will I get both mittens done by the end of the tour?  I don't think so but I'm sure I'll have one done. We had to take Furgus to the vet today he's having his teeth cleaned it's the first time I've had to leave him there. His meowing was so sad but the nice vet after hearing his cat home story let me leave my mohair scarf in his cage. There's always a risk with anesthetic so I'm waiting for the O.K. call.

KNITTED SLIPPER BOOTS

The weather has been cold and wet, time to start wearing my ugg like boots (Skecher's). It seems I still have trouble with the top of my foot aching whenever I wear a firm shoe. I've tried to knit slipper boots before but the result was not very successful. They were to big and the wool did not felt well, I did several test squares and they felted fine so it must be something  about  the whole kitted object versus a flat test square. I even tried boiling them for an hour or so but that just made the house smell like wet sheep. After a pattern search  I found the perfect pair. The photo shows the boot before the added top band.

Felted Slipper Boots by Biscotte

I've used two strands of Lopi so they are extra thick and firm, I've also closed the front slit, picked up stitches, joined and knitted around the top to make them longer. All I have left to do is the top on number two, Furgus loves to help by killing the wool balls and any hand he can reach. On Sunday I cooked a very simple and totally satisfying dinner, sausages with potatoes and last of the summer vegetables from my garden. The cold weather has almost completely stopped the zucchinis and I only managed to freeze a small bag of peas, the rest were enjoyed raw.  Flatmate brought home a CPR practice kit with a very creepy plastic man, I wonder who designs these sort of things. To top off another week of live micecapades Furgus gave me an extra special gift one young live rat. The one thing I have a phobia about, stand on the table screeching kind of phobia. You know when Furgus has something alive by his meow so I went into the kitchen ready to deal with a mouse instead there was a panicked rat. I jumped onto the kitchen table while Furgus played with it, I was screeching and pointing , the rat was screeching and that made me screech even more finely he took it outside. Three hours later I found the rat in the kitchen again this time almost dead but not quite so the poor thing had three hours of Furgus torture. I wrapped it in a tea towel and it had pleading grateful eyes all I could do was ask flatmate to deal with it when he got home from work.

 

ZIGS AND ZAGS

On Thursday we went on  a drive to Mount Field and on the way flatmate was pointing out landmarks it's sort of a game, animals are included we have to see at least one native animal a trip, anyway he called Mount Direction and I thought what a good name for my mittens. I think crazy zigzag for the top, something like a mix of zigzags from the photo above and stripes on the palm and a gusset thumb with stripes. On the walk to the waterfall we spotted a pottaroo  but all I managed to photograph were little glowing eyes and native fish. The little mouse is one of the many Furgus has been playing with inside, it's a native mouse and they make a whistling sound to communicate. They don't seem to eat meat and they're not garbage mice so saving one or two doesn't seem so bad.

LIONS AND TIGERS

On Sunday we went to Zoodoo with a couple of friends to see the white lions, they're only half grown and the male already weighs 160 kilos. Zoodoo actually let you into a caged section so you can take photos without the glass in the way. They came right up to us the male charged the cage playfully and just before he was looking right at me when I managed to take his photo it was just like a domestic cat  pouncing. They also did the same with the tigers and they even let you hand feed them a piece of meat with a pair of tongs. I'm not big a fan of animals in captivity but  Zoodoo is part of the breeding program to save the gene pool, also if they don't want to play or eat in front of an audience then they don't have too. None of the big cats seemed to mind people watching them and the white lions were showing off and playing with toys. The photo of the tiger below you can just see the caged section where you can go in and see them up close, that's right where I took his photo when he looked at me. Furgus is completely better and spent an evening guarding the remote control. His open mouth means will bite hand, arm, fingers so I just had to leave him to it.

FELT FRIENDS

 

I just could not resist this little craft book by Naomi Tabatha and it's in English which is good because I have a bit of trouble deciphering Japanese how to pictures. The stitching is so neat and small, this will be the hardest part as my hand stitching is still a little uneven. It's raining today so I have the perfect excuse to start sewing I'll try a kitty first as the shape isn't as complicated as some of the others. Furgus came home with a bleeding paw on Wednesday night and he would not let me look at it. He hissed, snorted and growled as I chased him around the kitchen and the floor ended up looking like a crime scene. So a trip to the vet was booked, it's so sad that whenever we put him in his travel box he thinks he's going back to the cat home and gets really upset. The sore paw turned out to be a bite, the nice lady vet gave him an antibiotic injection instead of tablets, it lasts for fourteen days so much easier. Furgus was so well behaved at the vet he didn't bite and he only snort-growled once when his teeth were looked at. A little extra spoiling when we came home made him a very happy cat.

NEW YEARS EVE

The year has flown by and the house anniversary has already been celebrated.  My new year resolution is not to make any,  so it seems I have made one after all.  I've spent today updating my links list, paying any unpaid bills, putting away Christmas decorations and poking around in the potato patch (the little potato above is almost to cute to eat).  Furgus is trying his best to stay cool,  I had to cut off some knotted fur as he just will not let me brush him. He bites,  hisses and then when you think he's forgotten about it he will ambush you and bite the back of your leg.  Five brush strokes is all he'll put up with,  it used to be three so maybe by next new years eve I'll be up to ten. 

Have A Happy New Year.

BUNNY LOVE

This is what happens when you have a cat with a strong personality and who thinks the sewing table is his personal space. I had to give in and let Furgus have his afternoon siesta in peace otherwise there would have been a fang and claw situation. The cat material is a flannelet  and has been in my stash for years, perfect for a cat stocking. How do you draw a good Christmas stocking shape? my first attempt looks rather more like a stumping than a stocking. I'm almost tempted to make bags instead,  just straight lines! no funny bits. Look at the lovely bunnies, I have a thing about all white objects and I wish these three could come home with me. Sensibly I thought  there are still presents to organize for other people, bunnies will just have to wait.