What's the collective term...?

At our house, I think it's called "an OBSESSION of cats."

Yes, I finished the Persian (and I never EVER want to do loop stitch again) and she (of COURSE, she's a she...) is in fine catty company here. 

 

We have "Fur Real Friends" (made in China battery-operated feline-eque monsters that meow and move like real cats.  Freaky.)

 Catty drawings EVERYWHERE - these ones copied from a "How to Draw Cat Doodles" book.  (And I'm sayin' nothin' more about that book title).

 Cats crafted from toilet rolls and paper towel tubes...

Every imaginable catty craft kit.... paper cats...

 Paper CLAY cats....

Big fluffy chenille pipe-cleaner cats...

The skinny-mini version, using (non-craft-kit) normal chenille pipe cleaners.  (These are the go-to gift of the moment.  Look sideways at the wee girl and she'll make you six of them.  They sometimes wear jewellery.)

 

Then there's the experimental cats... made out of uncoventional materials, like Fast2Fuse (no idea how she got her hands on this... I came home to find the finished cats).  These cats have collars... sometimes with diamantes (of the stick-on kind).

  I love the structural trussing on the inside.  Ingeniuous, non?

And it's got me thinking about the fine and fuzzy line that separates genius and madness..... I keep looking at this Persian cat, and then looking at the rest of the book of knitted cats - all different and all designed with such attention to detail of form and character.

How does one work these things out.... and WHY?

Can you spot the rows knitted by the wee girl?  On the first leg, she named me "purl girl", so I'd knit every second row (and do the increases and decreases).  By leg #3 she did one or two rows, and from there on, when she said, "Let's work on the Persian", it meant ME knitting and her talking incessantly and/or doing somersaults off the back of the couch.

And when she goes to bed.... I take photos of the real cat.

 This was taken when the man of the house fell asleep on the couch and the adoring cat fell asleep, cuddling his feet (...well if that ain't love, what is...?). 

So.... does "Obsession" fit the bill?

Design Challenge of the Day....

Left to my own devices, I like to set little design challenges for myself. I get an idea in my head and work obsessively at it until I solve the puzzle. Occasionally I have a case of the I'm-so-bloody-clevers.

Exhibit A - the new purse pattern (yet to be fully revealed). I'm in love. (I love the I'm-so-bloody-clevers).

With the wee girl setting the challenges, I'm just glad when I come out the other side with something that approximates her vision of what is possible.

Case in point... Today, while visiting my parents (talking to my sister and knitting the Acacia in that rainbow cotton yarn...), the girl presented me with a cactus spike and told me that it was "a needle". Next came various forms of garden foliage - "the fabric" - and some sort of soft-but-strong shrubby bits, named "the thread". I was expected to make.....

... a cat. (Yes, really.)

Exhibit B - People of Blogland, meet Agapanthus the cat.

Between you, me and the gatepost, I reckon that poor old Aggie looks more like a bat.... but she passed muster with the design police (wee girl) so I can wipe my brow and sigh a big PHEW-got-away-with-that-one sigh.

My sister and I laughed that the wee girl will probably continue to play on my never-say-it-can't-be-made attitude... just for sport....

We pictured her telling her university friends, "Just watch... get her talking, hand her a pile of stuff and tell her to make it into [insert impossible outcome].... It's a hoot!"

Satisfied with the challenge being met, she then kept herself busy with drawings of Cranberry the cat, to show Granny and Grandad what he's like.

Cranberry chases butterflies....
Cranberry climbs the apple tree....
He sleeps on the armchair. (I love how she's drawn the piping around the armrests).
And he chases the goldfish.
In the car on the way home, the wee girl announced, "Mummy, you have to follow your dreams because if you don't, they won't come true. I'm going to follow my dream, and my dream is to fly." (I somehow think she will).

My little fledgling is about to fly off to her first day of school tomorrow. I'm torn between teary remembrances of my little baby, fears about her exposure to the big bad world and excitement in knowing how much she'll love learning and playing there....

But I can't help thinking of the teachers..... I don't think they know what they're in for....

Slow daze....

I'm trying not to think too much about going back to work next week (although I've been in the office several days in a row lately, unpacking the unpacked and sorting the un-sorted... not working and - strangely - not sewing).

These are the last days of hanging around in pajamas half the day.... (and yes, contemplating a tad more eye-surgery for Quackie).

..of sitting under the enormous lemon tree....
...of marvelling at spiders' webs and ripening apples...
Just hanging out at home, mostly. Settling in to the new house.

Soaking up the last pre-school days with my baby.


Knitting.

(... and doing laundry and vacuuming).

I even went for a swim sans-kid.

We also adopted Cranberry. He's soot-black and full of kitteny wonder and energy. A delight.

He spent the first day hiding from an exuberant, excited 5-year-old. After a calm night in the company of relaxed adults, Cranberry found his confidence and has learned to tolerate the 5-year-old. The jury is still out on whether he actually enjoys the company of the patting-machine (5-year-old).

I've also been on holiday from my hair. The idea has been swimming about in my head since I heard this radio programme a year or so ago. Inspired by Leonie, I thought I'd sieze the holiday time to discover what lies beneath 20-odd years of hair colour.


It's a bit scary.

I'm not completely sure about showing my authentic self to the world just yet. I'll finish reading this book and see if it can convince me not to tear a path to the nearest hairdresser before work on Monday. This may or may not be a space to watch.... (it may be the last I mention of it...).

We're hoping to organise some sort of family outing over the next few days, a few catch-ups with family and friends.... But things are happening slowly here.


We're just soaking it in.