Well, I currently have a tendon injury in my left hand that prevents me from knitting at this time. AND, even though-- you wouldn't think that the left hand does much more than just sit there 'limp-ly' holding the knitted stitches on the left needle... while the right hand does all the work-- tossing yarn, making yarn overs, purls and knit stitches. I found out the hard way (or should that be the painful way?) that even though it doesn't appear that the left hand is doing much of anything-- when 'tendon injuries' are involved- there's more going on than you can see.
So, I thought that I'd share some knitting to prove that I can knit, have knitted, and photos showing proof of knitted items. Of course, you'll have to take my word that I did the actual knitting. :D
The first cat in the story is: Miss Kitty a current kitty resident of Atlanta, Georgia. A friend of mine was adopted by a stray that he named: Miss Kitty. She had 'look deep into your soul' green eyes, had a fondness for sleeping on my friend's clean shirts at the foot of the bed that she claimed as her own "Miss Kitty" bed nest.
So, last year for Christmas- I decided to make Miss Kitty her own soft, grey kitty bed. Since, I live overseas, without any access to sewing patterns, I didn't have a 'cat bed' pattern and just winged it. I did some measuring and I taped pieces of newspaper together to make my pattern template. I used an old foam bed mattress pad that arrived in a storage shipment to pad the bed for comfort. I found some 'so soft you wanted to pet it' grey fur for the inside of the cat bed and a cute blue mousie print for the outside. I thought that they grey fur on the inside would hide any 'grey cat hairs' very well.
It involved a lot of straight pins, eye-ball measuring, and more muttering than I care to admit to. And finally the bed looked like a bed that any cat would be happy to claim as their own.
Well, it seems that would be true of any cat.. but, Miss Kitty. She wanted nothing to do with it, would step around it, and stopped sleeping in favorite chairs- if the bed was placed on the chairs. My friend even tried to lure 'Miss Kitty' with catnip on the bed, she was a smart kitty- even though she loved her CN.. she knew it was just another trick by the tall human and she wasn't falling for it. After all, she had to keep some balance of control.
I didn't give up and knitted her a fish that I felted so it could be tough enough to withstand: kitty attacks, being batted about and gnawed on by sharp cat teeth.
Well, 'Miss Kitty' and her sharp teeth didn't like the fish either and by now- I'm beginning to take the shunning and rebuffing from the cat as being personal towards me. My friend told me that I shouldn't take it personal - she's a cat. I know that in my mind.. but?
A few more months go by and I received a letter from one of my friends, one of the former librarians in my hometown, who had retired, right before I moved away from my homestate, 18 years ago. She told me about the stray cat that had showed up at her home and that she had named: Troubles
So, determined to knit something that some cat somewhere will actually play with- I knitted the cat "Troubles" a mouse that I felted and mailed to Oklahoma.
I received a delightful 'Thank You' note from my friend. She told me that 'Troubles' was in the house laying down on the living room floor. As she opened up the package containing the mouse, the rustling of the paper, moved the mouse's body and the bell jangled. She said that Troubles 'jumped up' on the couch, batted her hand out of the way, grabbed the mouse, jumped down in the floor and immediately started playing and attacking the mouse.
When my friend in Atlanta moved- I asked him to send the 'unappreciated' cat bed and fish to Troubles the cat in Oklahoma. I got a letter from my Oklahoma friend and she said that she placed the cat bed in the floor, under the ceiling fan, and Troubles walked over to the bed, sniffed it, put one foot in.. leaned down to 'do some immediate grooming' in case anyone noticed he was now in the cat bed. He then laid down and went promptly to sleep in his new bed. He also loved the fish and uses it for his outside deck toy.
I made Troubles a new toy and mailed it last week. It's a knitted version of a very common food here called: KimBop. It is wrapped in black seaweed, and has rice and veggies on the inside. It's like sushi with vegetables instead of fish. It is served in slices- but, since this was made for a cat- I decided to leave it in a 'log' shape-- so, it will stay intact during 'cat play.'
Moral of the story? Knit only for those who appreciate your knitting, Never try to please a cat, or Never give up. Select the one you like best.
If anyone is interested I can figure out how I made the Kim Bop and I'll post a pattern.. (eventually- don't forget the injured hand)
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