A Little Yarn On The Side

As it's the weekend, it's hard to really say whether I'm still on vacation or not--especially considering how much kitty-care has been happening during my "vacation," but there was some ornament progress yesterday, and I am only 29 ornaments away from my goal!  I'm going to can some tomatoes this morning, but the jars and lids are already cleaned so it should be a pretty quick project, so I'll have some time for crafting this afternoon, so maybe there will be two more cat ornaments by the end of the day.  That little mass of fabric in the center is an attempt at a candy cane ornament from a cookie cutter, and is being such a pain to turn inside-out that it may never get past this stage.  I had hoped to finish a bunch of sewing projects this past week, but next time I'll know to check with the cats to see what their schedule is going to be.  Theo seems to resent the attention Calisto is getting, and is refusing to eat his supplement-enriched foo...

So I was going to wait until January 1 for the sake of simplicity, but after a second visit to Joann's yesterday, I'm not setting foot in that place again for the next 2 months anyway, so Crafting Buying Ban #2 kicks off today.  This year I will make one exception up front:  I didn't get another embroidery card for Jeeves, and the dealer I use is a 4-hour round trip drive away which I won't be able to do for a while yet, so if I need one next year, I can go get one.  Otherwise, no new crafting anything until November 9, 2014.   Andy's plane was arriving yesterday, so I decided to run to Joann's for the black fabric and the grocery store for chicken soup before heading to the airport.  I do not say this lightly, but the grocery store was WAY more fun than Joanns.  For those of you who don't have Joann's Fabrics , it's a big chain store that depends on volume, not loyalty.  They closed two smaller stores here a few years ago to implement a "Supe...

I have been to a fabric store WITHOUT going crazy!  Actually, I've been to two.  The morning started with tracking down Calisto and dropping her off at the vet's on my way to physical therapy.  I was worried she might have worms, and decided that even I have limits on my vacation, so thought she was best in the hands of professionals.  I grew up on a cattle ranch and have wormed horses and done all sorts of bizarre things, but Calisto has never been given medication of any sort outside her normal shots, and before risking life and limb to do it, I wanted to make sure it was necessary.  And I have been rewarded for my sins with 10 days of antibiotics to give her twice a day.  Because what's more fun than medicating one cat--why, medicating TWO cats. Not surprisingly, my back was was pretty wound up for therapy, so the massage was painful, but I finished up just when the stores were opening at 9:00, and decided to take the plunge anyway.  I had a "25...

It seems I spoke too soon. Theo was able to pee Monday morning, but by evening not so much.  He could get small amounts out, which is usually the sign the trouble is going away, but it's not been followed by getting worse.  So Tuesday morning, I packed up Theo in the cat carrier and bustled out the door first thing so I could have my little buddy at the vet's when they opened at 7:30......which would have been a much better plan if the VETS arrived at 7:30 as well.  They, however, roll in at 9:00, so to add to his stress issues, Theo spent 3 hours at the vet yesterday in addition to getting his pain shot.  I was finally able to pick him up and by the time we were back home and everything taken care of, my little buddy and I both needed a nap. Not to be outdone, I woke up to find Calisto had done unspeakable things in the guest bathtub--tracking it all over the floor and carpet for extra fun.  Theo's vet visits always freak her out a little (I'm not sure why...

Theo can pee!!!!  Day two of my vacation WAS going to consist of cramming him into the cat carrier and dropping him off at the vet's while I went to my appointment with the physiatrist.  It would probably be more of a vacation if MY appointment got cancelled as well, but as only one of us was facing a rather unfortunate episode involving a thermometer, I can cope my own appointment.   And in the I-can't-believe-I've-made-it-this-far category, I'm starting day two of my vacation with 321 ornaments done for the year so far and 44 to go.  I think making Christmas ornaments is actually going to continue as a regular part of my hobbies, but I do have to admit that the idea of making something slightly larger than 6 inches is alluring as well.  Guess size DOES matter.  :) I finished one of the blue kitty ornaments, which is cute, if not very Christmas-y, and the ski boot is stuffed and sewn up, but looks a little bit boring.  Maybe this is why I ...

And because this is what we do when Andy is gone, Theo is having trouble peeing again.  I've been a bit more lax on his supplements as we ran out and I ended up having to order some, and I'd relaxed on the de-stress capsules a bit because he seemed so much happier when I didn't give them to him.  But, now we know better, and if he's still having trouble in the morning, I'll drop him off at the vet on the way to my appointment with the physiatrist (do I know how to vacation or what?), and we'll get a pain shot for him and he can sleep the next 3 days.  Meanwhile, Calisto enjoyed some time in the sewing room this morning watching the snow.  which is really hard to photograph, but here you can see it collecting on roofs  across the street.  Of course, it's pretty well melted off by now--without killing the zinnias or tomatoes, by the way--but it does set the right tone for making ornaments.  I finally finished off the acrylic colorwork ornament, ...

As it turns out, even those who have been having a bad back week CAN jump out of bed in the morning with the proper motivation.  This turns out to be the noises of a cat scuffling with a "gift" it just caught for you.  And being the first day off a year-long spending ban didn't hurt either......... Luckily, Theo's gift was dead so I didn't have to practice my mousing this morning, and once I had coffee going I could tear into this: I had no idea how excited one could be about thread!  By 6:01 I had taken care of my "gift," poured coffee, and purchased my new lace ornaments, gotten them downloaded and saved,  then transferred to my embroidery card.  The last two are actually not new designs--they're from the ornament collection Andy gave me for Christmas last year, but I haven't made them yet because of the shortage of white thread.  So, they're "like new."  I'm rather proud of myself, as there was moment when I looked th...