Outdoor Exploration

The weather here is beautiful, though rapidly heating up. We've been spending some time outdoors enjoying the weather...

The Young Miss of the house sits nicely for a Portrait

The cats have been joining us outside while we try to take on weed control (at least picking weeds out of gravel/sand/crushed rock seems to be much easier than pulling em out of dirt like I did while growning up)

"Hey" she says, "You're not going to be happy when you see what Troy is doing"

And just what is our wee one doing?

Indulging. In a dirt/dead leaf bath. And he couldn't possibly be more pleased with himself. Sorry for the slightly blurry photo - he wouldn't stop rolling about. Not even when I tried to clean him off before letting him back into the house. Apparently this cat is statically charged for maximum dirt attraction!

Stay tuned, I've got a project fresh off the needles, with another closing fast :)

Wishing...

...you a warm and wonderful day with your family. We're celebrating with naps :)

It's that time of year again...

When the cats are extra affectionate and enjoy the knitwear as much as I do ;)

Hope you all are staying warm! I'm taking advantage of the cool weather to revel in my handknits! And by revel, I mean piling on the handknit socks, fingerless mitts, sweaters, cardigans and the occasional hat...all while still indoors. (I'm being stubborn and haven't turned on the heat yet).

And now...

...an interlude. While I knit like a mad woman, the cats practice synchronized sprawling. If you make like you're going to rub their bellies, they usually will roll to the side:

See? Excuse the extraneous fluff on the carpet - clearly, it's time to vacuum again!

a knitter's excuse

If ever you wonder why the knitting progress can be slow going, now you know. Would you want to disturb this kitty if she was sleeping on your handknitting projects when it is just as easy to grab a project that she *isn't* sleeping on?

Arrr. It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

In honor of talk like a pirate day, I stopped with the procrastinatin' and did up the hems and front bands of Avast. (Avast means "Stop" in pirate-speak, don'cha know?) Determined to make said sweater more useful than ballast, I stuffed it in me booty bag (that would be the bag all the yarn goes into) and hauled it and its zipper off to the local tailor. (I daren't feed handknits to the beast that is called a sewing machine that lives in my household.) It should be ready for its finishing touches next Monday. Now if we could just talk the weather into being a bit more reasonable I'll be set :)

Ancestral Feline?

Not too long ago, I had a chance to brave the heat and hike down into Horseshoe Canyon to view the various pictograph panels that the canyon is known for.

Imagine my surprise when we rounded the corner to view the Horseshoe Panel - and the first image to catch my eye was of a 4-legged animal facing a humanoid with a funky hairdo - the 4-legged creature bore a remarkable resemblance to my cat.

Witness the evidence here:


I really wish I had a Feathers McGraw doll - or even a rubber chicken for Troy to look at in the photo above - it would have made the two images a perfect match ;) Incidentally, my cat does indeed walk around like that - with his tail raised high overhead and curved over his body - he's always been that way!

While I do have wishful thinking that the animal in the pictograph is a feline, I highly suspect it is not some ancient relative of my Troy - rather I think its a dog. Apparently there is good evidence that canines have been companion animals for quite some time - and have even made it into panels such as this one.