Yarn, Books & Roses

I Remember.

It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They could take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles. Let ’em take out San Diego.

Donald Trump, 10/5/26

Palm Avenue, Imperial Beach, California. I used to live on this street.

I came to age in San Diego. Today I heard what had been said yesterday by the president, and I have been flooded with memories all day. This is the San Diego that I remember.

I remember sitting on Point Loma, between Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery and the lighthouse, on a beautiful summer day, watching a stream of naval ships sail out of the harbor, past the point, and into the Pacific Ocean. The South Bay stretched out before me, and I could see Coronado Island where my sister used to work as a civil servant, where I learned to drive, and where I went to parties on the beach as a teenager. I could almost see to the south of the bay were I once lived and went to high school in Imperial Beach. I could see the submarines moored along the point, the ships at the docks, and the shipyards along the bay. I remember.

I remember Balboa Park, the Zoo, the Presidio, and the Mission. I remember walking through Old Town and buying churros from a vendor on the street. I remember the Embarcadero and touring the USS Midway there with my son. I remember attending theater in the park. I remember the rich history and cultural heritage of San Diego. I remember.

I remember flying into the city, swooping over the city and freeways right before touching down at the airport. I remember the take offs, the planes clawing their way into the sky above Shelter Island and the point. I remember.

I remember the years at the University of California, San Diego where I received my biology degree. I remember how beautiful the campus was. I remember the eucalyptus trees and swallows. I remember all of my incredible experiences there, and I remember the wonderful friends that I had. I remember the cove in La Jolla, the pier at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and I remember dragging my son out of the surf at La Jolla Shores. I remember living in student housing, watching jet fighters screaming west towards the ocean after taking off from Miramar Naval Air Station. I remember.

I remember working in a research lab in La Jolla after graduation, and jogging past the biotechnology centers and the Salk Institute on my lunch hour. I remember coming out of the building at sunset, the hang gliders sailing above me as they flew in the updraft from the oceanside cliffs to the west. I remember.

I remember going with my mother to University Hospital in San Diego for a consultation to see if she qualified for inclusion in an experimental cancer treatment program. I remember.

I remember sitting by my mother’s grave on a hillside in San Diego, under a podocarpus tree with wind chimes hanging from it. All around me were the hills and valleys of the San Diego valley. I remember.

I remember a swanky hotel along the harbor, a weekend running wild with my cousin and aunt, attending a beautiful wedding for my niece at a country club, the lights of the city in the hills around us. I remember.

I used to be a biology teacher in a large high school. I remember one particular homecoming assembly in the gym there, the wild energy pulsing through the air as I climbed the bleachers towards the top of the gym, the students a crazed, screaming wave around me, confetti in the air, pounding music and glitter everywhere. I remember the student body president on the floor, a young man of 17 with incredible presence, announcing the class standings of the spirit week contest. At one point in the celebrations, as the winning class was announced, the collected freshman class began booing.

That student body president, without hesitation, stopped them. “No,” he said. “We don’t boo. We cheer for our own teams, but we never boo others, because we are ALL PROUD RAIDERS.”

And there it is. We are all Americans together. We push for our agendas, seek to persuade others to share our beliefs, and cheer for our own team; never, ever, should we accept the loss of an American city to be a small price to pay.

Never.

Because we are ALL. PROUD. AMERICANS. Together.

Vote, my good people. Vote.

Hannah and the CoalBear: Transition into Sock Chaos.

Hi. I’m Hannah.

Look at the quilt the Mother of Cats is making!

Things continue to be busy here at Casa de Mother of Cats, and there has been lots and lots of knitting going on. I loves the knitting because… yarn chomping!!! The Mother of Cats keeps her eye on me, so I don’t get to partake in my favorite yarn related activity often, but you never know… Anyway, before I show off the knitting, I think that I should show you all this quilt that we have been working on.

This is an art quilt that involves fusing lots of fabric pieces of fabric together to make a picture. This week the Mother of Cats and I got the biggest part of it done.

Look at what the quilt is looking like now that all of the pieces are attached. Some of the pieces will be hung on a string that isn’t on the quilt yet, but all of the fabric pieces are in place so you can see them. Look at how cute this is!!!! Do you see me on the quilt? Of course you do, because I am the most special part!!! Here are some of the cute details so far:

The Mother of Cats says we need to use the sewing machine to sew all of these little pieces down next. Yay! I also loves the sewing machine. This is going to be fun.

Now, let’s get to the socks. I’m pretty concerned about all of the yarn that is piling up to make socks.

When the Mother of Cats cleaned out her yarn stash last week, she found lots of fun yarn to make socks. Then she bought some more yarn to go with the sock yarn that she already had. Then she found some more yarn to buy. She is so happy about fall, and loves all the trees changing colors (whatever… I personally like the crickets and the birds that flock in the yard) and has decided to focus on socks for the next few weeks. SHE STILL HAS SOME SHAWLS TO FINISH!!!!! Is the Mother of Cats being reasonable? No, she is not. Look at what she has been up to…

She loves these colors and wants them to be socks right away!!! She keeps saying stuff like… so cute, so cute…

Mother of Cats, you only have two feet!!! This is kind of crazy…

Is the Mother of Cats listening to me? Not so much. This is MORE socks!!

So, the Mother of Cats is ramping up to do some major sock knitting. There is all of this yarn. Then she thought… I wish that there were more greens and reds in the colors… and she bought more yarn. This is out of control. But… this is also going to be so much fun as I try to get some yarn chomping in. I wonder if she will remember that there is some nice purple in the stash, too.

So that was the week. We got the quilt through the “make all the pictures” stage, and now we will start the sewing stage. The Mother of Cats is getting ready to make ALL THE SOCKS, and the CoalBear and I are just a little concerned.

This is Hannah signing out.

Send tuna!

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The quilt is Wind in the Whiskers by Pine Needles. I’m debating about whether I want to make the two lower blocks for the quilt. It is already pretty large, and I like the story with the tree as the central character with the cats.

I did finish a shawl!!! Here it is, the Age of Gold done in pinks.

Hannah and the CoalBear: Sock Season Arrives.

Hi. I’m Hannah.

Do you see how calm I am? It has been quite the week.

It has been a crazy week. There have been thunderstorms. The Mother of Cats decided to move a bunch of furniture. The Mother of Cats replaced the broken television in the downstairs room with only a LITTLE help from me. Then the washing machine broke during a big thunderstorm. Strange men took it away and installed a new one on Friday while the CoalBear and I hid the whole time (Hello… strange, scary men… hey, we helped with the television, right?) Then the Mother of Cats decided to reorganize all of the yarn in the craft room. Yay!!! We went crazy wild helping her with that!!! She says that it is time for Fall Knitting!

Listen, I am a fan! I loves the yarn!!!

There is a lot of yarn for socks, so the Mother of Cats decided to focus on sock knitting for a while. She is also concentrating on a shawl (while ignoring two other ones), and there is yarn for a new sweater, too. Do I believe her when she says she is going to concentrate on socks? No… not really. But it is cooler now and she is wearing socks again, so I guess it is sock season.

She finished one pair and is making progress on a second pair. She says that the yarn on the purple sock is purple zebra yarn because it has black stripes in it. Whatever. Who cares about zebras? Cats are better right?

After looking at several different pink, grey and purple yarns the Mother of Cats picked this pink to be the lace trim on her new shawl.

The Mother of Cats also chose this berry-colored yarn to go with her new Spincycle yarn that she will knit into a sweater.

While the Mother of Cats was deciding on yarn color matches and taking the pictures the CoalBear and I looked for bunnies. No bunnies! No raccoons!! The backyard is getting pretty boring now that the weather is getting colder. Good thing there are still birds and squirrels…

So that was kind of the week. Lots of things moving around and general commotion as the new television went up and the washing machine left for a new home. There was some knitting, and we got to play with yarn. The Mother of Cats moved all of our cardboard boxes around so the CoalBear thinks that they are new toys (not too smart, that boy!) and I mostly helped with the knitting and tried to chomp yarn.

The Mother of Cats is also thinking about working on her new quilt again now that the octopus is done. I love the smell of freshly ironed fabric, don’t you?

This is Hannah, signing off.

Time for tuna!!

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The shawl is Age of Gold by Joji Locatelli.
The sweater that I am making with the Spincycle yarn is Antipodes by Andrea Mowry. I found that berry-colored yarn in the stash and I’m hoping that it will knit okay with the bouncy Spincycle yarn as it is a slightly lighter gauge. The Spincycle’s name is Dirty Little Secret. 🙂
Those are Frankensocks made from a mish-mash of other patterns and tricks picked up over the years.
I had to take a couple of down days in the middle of the week because of a covid-vaccine triggered flare. This time the shot hit me pretty hard, but the upside of a new covid vaccine should be a couple of weeks feeling pretty good as my autoimmune disease usually calms down: Vaccine Holiday!! Why does this happen? I think that triggering an immune system response with the vaccine disrupts the sad little inflammatory feedback loop that is part of my chronic autoimmune disease (systemic sclerosis). It doesn’t last more than a couple of weeks, but it is nice while it is happening!! For some reason the covid vaccine works the best.

Seven Strands, Eight Arms, and One Octopus: He’s Done!!!!

It has been quite the adventure creating my version of Opus the Octopus. The designer, Cate Carter-Evans, notes in the introduction to the pattern that he is modeled after Octopus vulgaris, but without the scary beak. My octopus has a backstory that is kind of meaningful for me, but before I go into it, here is how he looks today in all of his finished knitted glory.

Isn’t he pretty darn cute? He doesn’t have a name yet, but I am a huge fan of Murderbot, and I’m tending towards Octobot.

I bought those blue yarns that make up his body years ago at a fiber festival in Estes Park, Colorado. I love Estes Park, and I used to look forward to going to this show every single year, loading up on lots of yarn, cool fleeces, and an infusion of creativity as I ran amok with my friends.

Estes Park is the front door to Rocky Mountain National Park. Look at the view!!!

One year, I bought all of this yarn from a vendor that I liked, and it languished in my stash for years as the colorful vest that it was originally dyed to create no longer interested me. Poor yarn. I began to joke that I would knit a big octopus out of that yarn. In a fit of unbounded creative craziness this summer, I wound and cast on the body of the octopus with this yarn.

The 5 strands of the yarn (4 merino lace strands, and 1 silk sport weight) were all hand-painted in blues, greens, and purples: all of this created a complex knitted fabric that could be the envy of any fashion-minded octopus.

I was slowly working on the octopus along with several other projects (okay, a lot of other projects…) when suddenly a couple of tough days hit. My cat needed to be rushed to the vet for ANOTHER bowel obstruction, and I hit a low spot emotionally as I struggled through a number of doctor appointments to rule out every conceivable cause of my profound shortness of breath episodes (while ignoring the actual conditions that I am ALREADY DIAGNOSED WITH!!!!!) A nurse suggested that I was to blame for the struggle because I was not handling my heart failure well. (First time someone told me I had heart failure… it seems a stretch to chastise me for mismanaging a condition that I didn’t know I had and no one educated me about handling… just saying…). I was told to always wear oxygen while up and about. I was told that wearing oxygen like that would hurt me. I was fussed at for not drinking enough fluids (kidney disease) and then informed that I was drinking more than I should (heart failure). Doctors batted me back and forth as they debated whether my heart or lungs were to blame. The most probable scenario was outright dismissed by one doctor because it was *too rare* while another doctor confirmed the hypothesis: it is a form of my activity-induced pulmonary hypertension complicated by a hole in my heart. They debated stopping my immunosuppressant drugs, then decided to not do that after all after looking at my latest lung scans. Finally, since there is literally nothing that they can do to help me, they decided that I just NEEDED MORE EXERCISE.

Look, I was ready to bite someone at that point. Instead, I began to knit on the octopus around the clock. Knitting is exercise, right? Certainly, the mental health benefits of knitting would help.

So, here is the whole octopus journey.

Each arm was knitted with 5 strands for the upper surface, and two purples held together for the lower surface. I did learn how to handle the twists of yarn at the color changes effectively without using bobbins because that would have just been crazy right?

The arms, knitted but not yet stuffed and stitched shut, looked so great I took the octopus out for a little snack.

Pulling myself together, I finally finished the arms by stuffing them with merino roving torn in three different lengths, and then stitched them together using mattress stitch.

And just like that after knitting for days and days, he was done. He is sooo cute, and did you see the little purple gleam in his octopus eyes?

While all of this knitting was going on, I gradually improved and no longer had to use daytime oxygen. I read all of my test results carefully and found a note about a possible ischemic event in my heart imaging (as in a heart attack?). I made an appointment with my primary care physician (an internist) and went over the whole medical misadventures of the last few months with her. She agreed with my assessment of the situation and ordered up a slew of new tests that continued to eliminate things that might be contributing to my shortness of breath. Iron is still low, so we are working on that. My potassium is a little low, but the supplement I started a couple of months ago has made a positive gain. Exercise… yeah. That is a problem as I struggled to not pass out on my last 6-minute walk test, and the recommended exercise options (walk, bike, swim…) were not good ideas for a plethora of reasons. We decided that I would work with my Fitbit in a mindful way, making sure to hit the recommended number of fitness and cardio minutes each week without doing dedicated workouts. That is working! Slowly, week by week, I am completing the minutes with one eye on the Fitbit, and the other on my readiness levels, and I am getting better. The Fitbit (that sly rascal) increases the goals as I successfully meet my numbers and gives me reminders to not overdue things.

Yesterday I mowed my lawn and watered: 61 cardio minutes!! Yay! Carrying in groceries and putting them away: 15 cardio minutes. Knitting: NO CARDIO MINUTES!!! I guess you can’t have anything, but it is great for depression, and anxiety and facilitates decision making.

So it goes, little by little, getting better week by week. I still struggle with low oxygen levels with every low atmospheric pressure event, but I kind of know what is going on now, and my doctors are right: doing what I can to improve my exercise tolerance is helping. Did I mow the lawn on a day with high atmospheric pressure? Why yes, yes I did!! That is smart management, too.

Don’t you love this sunflower from my local garden center?

That is my octopus story. I made him during a difficult recovery time, and today he is done and I am more than pleased with how he came out!!

What does this Fitbit and atmospheric data look like? Here it is:

Did you miss Hannah? Here she is!

Hannah and the CoalBear: All the Cute Photos

Hi. I’m Mateo the CoalBear.

Yes, I am standing in the trash basket. I don’t want to talk about it.

I’ve been really busy helping the Mother of Cats as she works on her little projects. She quilts sometimes (and I have discovered that if I am in the trash under the sewing machine she will spend lots and lots of time talking to me!!), she sews bags for donation, she knits, and she spends time out on the catio reading her books while I hunt for grasshoppers and stuff to chase. I just love it out on the catio! The Mother of Cats took an old cat tree out there for me to hang out on, and that is even more special. Look at how cool I look!!

I keep my claws sharp on this old cat post!! Do you like my handiwork?

The last two weeks the Mother of Cats has been making lots of trips out of the house, and when she stays home with us, she works on her octopus. Hannah loves the octopus!!! She always visits while the Mother of Cats is knitting to try to get a little taste test of the yarns. Hannah is really tenacious (Hello! She’s a cat!!!), but so far, she hasn’t actually been able to actually chomp any yarn and the octopus is safe. Do you want to see how he is looking these days? The Mother of Cats took him out for a little trip to the rock stream in the front yard.

He has 3 and a half tentacles done now, but he is starting to really look good, huh!

The Mother of Cats has been taking lots of pictures lately of fun things, so I thought that I would spend the rest of the post today showing off the pictures. Are you ready? Here we go!

Hannah always watches the Mother of Cats when she goes outside. Here she is at the front screen door watching the octopus on his outing this morning.

Or maybe she was watching this rabbit hanging out in the front yard…

Anyway, let’s get back to the silly stuff the Mother of Cats does. She bought these fish for her rock stream in the front yard. I want a real fish!!! Why doesn’t the Mother of Cats pay better attention to my needs. Tuna fish would be best!!!

While we’re talking about fun… do you see who came to visit me out on the catio? The Mother of Cats wouldn’t let me play with him… Why does she act this way?

Well, that is all for the day. The Mother of Cats just took the octopus out again EVEN THROUGH IT IS TIME TO GO OUT ON THE CATIO and I’m going to go have a few words with her about her priorities. Maybe there are some grasshoppers out there, and if we wait until it gets dark my raccoon buddy might stop by.

This is Mateo, signing off.

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The octopus is Opus the Octopus.

The bunny has a beard growing on his face that is a viral infection that is benign and not contagious to cats and humans. I call him BlackBunny.

I’ve stopped putting out seed for the birds because… raccoons!!! There were five of them in the yard the night I took that photo.

What is a rock stream? This one travels down my front yard carrying water from the downspout to the street. Cute, huh!

Hannah and the CoalBear: Octopus Days

Hi. I’m Hannah.

I have been helping the Mother of Cats for days and days while she knits on her octopus. It has been a lot of work, and much more fun than you would think. The Mother of Cats is using 5 different strands of yarn at once!!! I love to taste test the yarns from time to time (Yep. They taste great!!!), and if the Mother of Cats doesn’t keep her eye on me I climb into the yarn box to sleep with the growing octopus and all of his yarns. I love the yarn!!!!!

There are three colors here and two different types of yarn. The thin ones are merino lace, and the shiny one is a silk blend. Whatever. They all taste great!

For some crazy reason the Mother of Cats decided to use a combination of 5 of these yarns to make the octopus. This is what it looks like:

Do you see how the Mother of Cats is managing this? Lucky for her, the little yarns like to stick to each other, and because they are doing that the silk behaves itself. (I wish that the CoalBear would behave himself!!!) The Mother of Cats has all of the yarns organized in the plastic yarn box and the strands behave themselves when she pulls out more yarn. Well… they mostly behave themselves. I have to help her every single time they get a little tangled. Why does the Mother of Cats get grumpy so quickly? She is soooo lucky to have me. I needs some tuna…

This is how things have been going with the octopus all week…

Look at that!!! Last night he got some eyes!!! The Mother of Cats is really happy with him, and today she pulled out the yarns to knit his underbelly and the bottoms of his tentacles and wound them up. He is going to look just fabulous!!!!

Can you see that the octopus has purple eyes? Of course he does!!! He is so excited about the new yarns that are going to be his underneath. I’m so excited to taste test that violet colored yarn!!!!

This is Hannah, signing off.

Note from the Mother of Cats:

After a couple of uncharacteristically quiet days I had to rush Mateo to the emergency vet again this week; a lot of the body of the octopus was knitted in the car in the parking lot outside of the emergency facility as I waited to find out if he would need surgery again. The vet carefully prepared me for a possible need to euthanize him if it was too bad. In her opinion, the obstructions are happening due to adhesions from his emergency surgery last summer, and this may not be something that can be managed. Sad octopus knitting time in the afternoon heat…

After a 4 hour wait, he finally got his ultrasound, and in the time while he was waiting for his turn the IV fluids and pain killers made all of the difference: the obstruction was gone!!! The vet had his tummy hair completely shaved off, and most of his fur on his rear end is also now gone. I swapped out all of the litter in the cat boxes to the non-clumping type, and the vet feels that the best bet now is to keeps his fur shaved and to put him into little playsuits to stay warm in the winter. He is already on a special diet, and I am very careful about keeping all strings and whatnot out of his reach (did you notice that my knitting is in a latched plastic box? Yep. Cat-proofing.)

Tonight Mateo is completely back to normal, if a little odd looking with shaved parts.

Little does he know that a shaver is on the way to our doorstep…

No, I don’t let Hannah chomp the yarn, but she does keep trying…

Hannah and the CoalBear: Crafting Chaos Continues….

Hi. I’m Hannah.

Do you see me waiting for the Mother of Cats to start writing?

The Mother of Cats continues to be completely out of control with all of her knitting, sewing, and other crazy crafts. She just keeps moving from thing to thing all day long, but NOTHING GETS DONE! Really, the CoalBear and I would be having concerns about the Mother of Cats, but she did manage to finish one very important thing this week. She built us a new cat tree!!!!

I hung out with the Mother of Cats the whole time she worked on the new tree, and I managed to keep an eye on the front yard bunnies too. Look at this tree!!! The CoalBear and I are spending all of our spare time hanging out on it. So fun. Now let’s talk about the crazy crafting…

She decided to get started on the octopus. Yep. She just abandoned all of shawls that she was knitting, pulled out the bin of octopus yarns, and cast on. Then she spent all of her spare time working on that for a few days.

She is knitting 5 strands of yarn together while making the octopus. That’s a lot of strings to chase, let me tell you!!!! I was just getting used to the octopus knitting when suddenly the Mother of Cats decided to work on the quilt for a couple of days.

The quilt is now three blocks big, and she says that there is a lot more of the tree to come in the next block, and… are you ready for this??? There is a cat that looks just like me on the next block!!!!! I can’t wait to see it, but did the Mother of Cats start working on block 4. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. She pulled out her new overlock maching, had a friends come over to help her, and then she started sewing a pile of fabric totes for donation. Seriously?!!! The sewing machines are noisy, and I stayed on the new cat tree the whole time she was working.

Hey, these totes are kind of fun to sleep on…

After the tote sewing episode the Mother of Cats got busy knitting… hexagons. I know. I don’t understand it either, but here we are. She is knitting little balls of left over sock yarn together to make these hexagons that she hopes to make into laps blankets to take to the infusion center. She likes the colors, and for some reason she keeps casting on JUST ONE MORE to see what the new yarn combination will look like.

I have to admit, the colors are kind of nice. Will the Mother of Cats let me sleep on the hexagons? No. She. Will. Not.

See how busy things have been. I’m lucky if she remembers to give me my tuna on time. She has been so distracted, and busy with all of the building, sewing and knitting, and I’m not even factoring in the new clue that arrives every Friday from Sharon from Security that she uses to knit her Tabby Road mystery knitting adventure. She is in clue 3 now and the shawl is starting to look kind of cool.

It has been growing, hasn’t it. The Mother of Cats can’t wait to get to the colors that more blue, but it is still pretty cool and she is learning lots of new stitches as she works.

Well, that’s most of it. The Mother of Cats has been checking out kits to knit socks on her computer, and I am seriously concerned that this is spiraling out of control. When will it end? When will something get finished? Why is she getting out more fabric to sew tote bags…

I guess that is all for now. The CoalBear (AKA Mateo) and I have to catch another episode of Bird TV while the Mother of Cats works on even another shawl…

This is Hannah, signing off.

Hannah and the CoalBear: We May Need an Intervention Soon…

Hi. I’m Hannah.

I just love hanging out in the catio every morning!!

The Mother of Cats has been staying home with us every single day lately. Why is this happening? Look at what is going on in the afternoons…

Yep. It is really hot, the air pressure is pretty darn low, and the Mother of Cats doesn’t do very well when the air gets like that. Hey, I’m a cat. I just roll with it and spend the day sleeping, but for some reason the Mother of Cats stays awake all day and does stuff.

To be fair, she does give me lots of attention and cookies, but mostly she crafts ENDLESSLY. There is so much going on, and the CoalBear and I are starting to get a little concerned.

She has been working on her quilt. I like the quilting, and I help her as much as I can. Look at the two quilt blocks that she has been working on over the last two weeks.

The next cat that is featured in the quilt will be a tuxedo like me. Not as cute as me, but still, it is nice that she will have a quilt showing how absolutely superior tuxedo cats are. I think that there is also a squirrel and a tree involved, so that is perfect, right?

Now, let’s get to the knitting. That is where things have really gotten out of control. First there are the shawls…

That’s right: four shawls!!! The first one was really fussy and hard on the Mother of Cats hands, so she ripped it out. (Good job, Mother of Cats) She said that she obviously can’t be expected to knit a shawl that was too complicated to let her listen to an audiobook or watch Netflix

Mateo: I’m terrified of Netflix!!! That huge red N is too much for me to deal with. No one should be subjected to the…TA-DUM!!!!

Hannah: but Mateo rushes into the room EVERY TIME the television gets turned on just in case it is… NETFLIX. CoalBears can be so silly.

Let’s get back to the shawls. The Mother of Cats has a lot of yarn. She isn’t making hats right now because it is hot, and there are too many hats at the infusion centers right now, so she decided to make a shawl or two. Since the first shawl was soooo complicated, she started a simple Age of Gold shawl in pink yarn. Then she started a Sharon Show shawl because she saw one hanging up in the yarn store. Then Tabby Road started, so she had to knit on that, right. This is just kind of insane because at the same time…

The Mother of Cats decided to knit some octopuses… Yep. All of that yarn has now been wound. Hold onto your tuna treats, because I’m not done yet. The Mother of Cats, still upset about not knitting hats, and hugging a huge box of left over yarn balls (why doesn’t she give them to me?), decided to start knitting a BLANKET that will be made of a bunch of different octogons that kind of go together.

She made this holding two little balls of yarn together while she knitted. Did she let me chew the yarn while she worked? No. SHE DID NOT!!!!

Do you see why I am concerned about needing an intervention? She has been crafting nonstop for days in a row. Okay, it has been really, really hot for days in a row, but still. NOTHING is getting finished and she just keeps picking up yarns and starting new projects when she isn’t fusing down little pieces of fabric for the quilts. HELP!!!

I’m pretty sure that I need an intervention here.

This is Hannah, signing off.

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

There is a giant octopus that I hope to knit in the blue yarns: Opus

Did you want a few glimmers? Check out this picture of the moon and a baby bunny…

I’ve also been reading a lot while sheltering indoors away from the heat, but that is another post. 🙂

All the Glimmers

It has been a week. I had some high stakes (for me) heart testing last Wednesday to see if my pulmonary arterial hypertension has advanced. Since I am already being treated fairly aggressively for PAH, an increase in pressures would be bad news. Nope. Pressures were normal. That would be a huge “YAY!!” everyone. Of course, it also means that there is something else going on that is causing my shortness of breath, but for the time being I’m happy and seeing glimmers everywhere.

This was the moon a few days ago. Glimmer.

There was this bloom on my favorite rose bush.

And my birdfeeder is seeing lots of action!

I’ve been making lots of progress on my knitting, too, since I’ve been staying inside due to the heat and the smoke of wildfires in our state.

I finished my Cloudbreak Tee, cast on a shawl for a knit-a-long that I am doing with friends, and bought some yarn so I can knit the Tabby Road mystery knit-a-long that starts at the end of the month. Did you want some links for these fabulous yarny projects?

I know that it looks like I am in a pink phase (and I kind of am…) but I want to let you know that I bought the Hey Mewed yarn kit from Miss Babs that will be greys and blues.

Did I look for a pink kit. Yes. Yes, I did. I wanted all the colors in the graphic, but finally settled for the sedate Hey Mewed. I smile every time I think of knitting a Beatles themed shawl on a mystery knit-a-long tour (magical!!) that is being run by snarky, flamethrower carrying Sharon from Security. You know, Casapinka’s cat with the questionable attitude, original spelling, and outrageous spunk. I totally need a mystery adventure with this cat!!!!

Do you see what I’m dealing with here at home? Mateo hasn’t figured out snark yet.

I should be kinder to Mateo. His every move on the catio is judged by this squirrel…

So, that was my week. Medical testing, knitting, wildlife (and moon) watching, and some reading on the side. Our heat wave will continue all week, so I should get a lot done while I wait for my doctors to decide what’s next. I’ve been assured that they are actively considering options, and I can hardly wait to hear what is next.

Okay, I am kind of in scleroderma purgatory, but hey… I have the glimmers!!

Yes, this is a bunny that has decided to hang out in an empty pot on my deck right outside the catio. Mateo is beside himself.

Choose to be happy!

I almost forgot this huge glimmer. The bald eagle eaglets, Sandy and Luna, have returned to the nest for yummy fish meals and to spend time together. It makes my heart swell to see them sleeping side by side in the nest after a day flying around. In the days to come they will learn how to catch their own fish.

You can watch them yourself at the Big Bear Valley site online.

Crafting in the time of the Blood Moon

I live in the state of Colorado, which is in the western part of the United States. We are in deep drought here, and it has been hot. There are several, very serious wildfires burning to the south and west of where I live, and I am in the smoke plume. The light outside is… strange. The Rocky Mountains, just west of where I live, can no longer be seen. The strangest effect is the moon.

That crazy red cast of the moon is caused by smoke. Last week was the Strawberry Moon, but here in the area where I live, it was the Blood Red Moon.

Every day another air quality alert is issued: Unhealthy for Sensitives Groups. I’ve been staying indoors with the cats and my air purifier, happily crafting for days. This is what I’ve gotten done over the last week.

I’ve been assembling an art quilt this week that required fusing precut pieces of fabric together to make motifs that are later assembled onto a background to make the larger quilt block.

This the first block of the quilt. Only 5 more to go…

Can you see the individual elements on the finished block? The stuff in the middle is laundry that will be hung on wash line hung between trees that will appear in the future as more of the blocks get done. Do you see the tuxedo cat with the laundry? Obviously, this cat is the one hanging the laundry out, and there will be clothes pins involved eventually. Tuxedo cats are such great help, right? Of course, Hannah was right there the whole time I was working on the quilt block, helping tremendously.

Hannah: The Mother of Cats is so lucky to have me helping her!! More tuna, please…

In addition to the quilting, I also made a lot of progress on my Cloudbreak sweater. I have finished the first sleeve and I plan to cast on the second one as soon as this post goes up. No sleeve island here!!

I spent some time with my rigid heddle loom on a new scarf that I am really liking. The yarn is mostly grey with a little strip of color in it. Look at how fun it is as a woven cloth!!

It has been a pretty productive week! I’m concentrating on the knitting this week so I can get that sweater done as I’ve signed up for a knit-along at a local yarn shop in town and I feel I should reduce the number of works in progress before I cast on that big shawl. Maybe there will be some sewing…

I have been going out onto the catio with the cats in the evenings because you can only expect cats to stay indoors for just so long when there are BIRDS and SQUIRRELS and BUNNIES out there. This week, just for fun, I added a string of fairy lights to the cat netting that makes the walls of the catio. Look at how fun these are!!! We usually sit out there every evening until the kitty lights come on; that’s how we saw the blood moon.

What else happened this week? The baby eagles that I watch left the nest last week (one FELL OUT and accidentally fledged, and the other flew off the next day), spent a couple of days learning how to fly well as their parents fed them, and returned to the nest to hang out together late last week. Yay Sandy and Luna! They are hanging out together now, flying around in the vicinity of the nest while the parents continue to deliver food, mostly FISH!! These eaglets love their fish! Eventually they will learn to catch their own and become independent, but for now I’m still following them in their adventures.

Speaking of adventures, Mateo got his tummy shaved this week, his sides trimmed down, and has been combed every single day no matter what he says. Now every trace of the winter coat is gone, and he is sporting a sleek summer coat. Gosh, look at that white patch on his chest. As it turns out the CoalBear is actually a little MoonBear.

Why does Mateo look a little sad? I had just finished shaving his tummy when I took the picture. Poor guy. Here’s a picture of him in his winter coat so you can see how much fur has come off

He’s a whole new cat, right?!! In the winter I tend to forget that he is actually black under all of that floof!

It is a sad time here, don’t get me wrong. The lawns are all dead (drought) and the county just sent me information on how to prepare for an emergency evacuation in case of wildfire. Fireworks were banned this year. I am keeping the car full of gas. Resources from cities are being send to battle wildfires. I sew for some of the emergency response agencies in my region, and this week I plan to sew a pile of fabric tote bags to go to an agency that will stuff them full of essentials to deliver to people displaced by the fires. Keep us in your thoughts.

It is the time of the Blood Moon.