Hi. I’m Hannah.
In my last report I shared how the Mother of Cats left us for the weekend to go play with her son’s kittens. Hello! We’re kittens too, right?! Well, in our hearts we are. The Mother of Cats says that I’m getting chunky and that I’m hard to pick up now… what is up with that?! If she would let me bring grasshoppers into the house so I could chase them without burning my little feet on the hot deck I’m sure I would slim right down, but does she let me have any fun? Nope. Not so much…
Anyway, the Mother of Cats finished up her first clue of the Sharon on the Trail MKAL shawl and then put it away to wait for the next clue.
I gave it a little grooming before she put it away, and we both thought that it was pretty cute. Then the second clue dropped last week and the Mother saw what it looked like knitted up… and immediately decided that she didn’t want to use these yarns anymore. She never took the shawl out again all week and just worked on her new sweater.
She steam blocked the part that was knitted in the sweater (it is called Alpine Bloom) and while it was drying she hunted and hunted for new yarns to knit the Sharon on the Trail again.
I personally don’t care because it is really darn hot here and we spend every afternoon just waiting it out. The Mother of Cats reads books and I just sleep in any coolish spot that I can find. My favorite spot right now is on the paper from the Chewy box in front of a fan.
Anyway, once the Mother of Cats had located her new yarns for the MKAL you’d think that she would have cast on and gotten busy knitting, right? Nope. You would be wrong. She saw a sock pattern and went crazy casting on to start them. Then she got an email from her community knitting buddies that made her knit some more PICC line covers and start hunting for yarns to knit little toys and hats. SHE IS COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL!!! Like, she is worse than Mateo at the moment.
So, I’m just kind of going with the flow and hoping to get some tuna soon while she is ignoring the shawl, pretending that it is TOO HARD to put that blocked sweater back onto the needles, and saying things like… why should she knit socks when it would be more fun to make some toys (hearts and little mice and maybe some tiny kitties…) to go to with the PICC line covers in a couple of weeks when the next Frayed Knots meeting happens.
Sigh. She should make me some knitted mice!
That’s all for now. I’m going to go find another cool spot to sleep in…
This is Hannah, sighing off.
Notes from the Mother of Cats: I’ve been reading like crazy because several books arrived in my library account all at once. Yay!
- I’ve been reading All the Sinners Bleed as an audiobook while driving around in the car. The main character is still dealing with the trauma of his mother’s death from… (wait for it) …scleroderma!! I heard that part of the book while driving back from my rheumatology appointment this week. Crazy. In the book the mother suffered from extreme muscle pain, and I had just finished talking with my doctor about increasing my immunosuppressant dose because of my continuing muscle/tendon pain.
- I also raced through Killers of the Flower Moon recently. What a great book!!! It’s about a cluster of abuses and murders linked to conspiracies to steal the oil generated wealth of Osage Nation members in Oklahoma. The center of the Osage territory is located in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, a place I’ve been to since I have family located there. While flipping through all the footnotes in the book an interview with the author, David Grann, came on the television. How crazy is all of this!! He has written a new book called The Wager that I already have a library hold on.
- I continue to be stalked by synchronicity, obviously.
- The community knitting/crocheting group that I knit for has been expanding. We now are donating to other medical centers that have requested sewn PICC line pads for seatbelts in cars, heavy winter hats for homeless shelters, and now we are partnering with the Denver STAR program that provides emergency (non-police) responses to people in mental health crisis, or who are homeless, or any emergency that is not violent or criminal in nature. They need blankets, amigurumi, health items, and hats. Lots of knitting (and crocheting and sewing) needs to be done!
- Do you see why I just fell off the trail? For something like this I might even try to crochet some little amigurumi.
- Now I’m reading The Covenant of Water. Holy smokes, this is looking to be another really good book! Do you see why the knitting has stalled?
- Hannah: Get off the computer, Mother of Cats, and get me come tuna!!! Also, a knitted mouse would be nice…
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Wow! Your sweater is gorgeous! Love the colors!
Thanks! The raspberry colored yarn was a one-of-a-kind buy and I’m really happy with how it turned out against the grey.
You have lots of things going on, and that dreaded heat can’t help. I love seeing your kitties, but I’m sorry you’re dealing with the heat. Your Catio is terrific. I’m forever in awe of your knitting projects, along with your good heart.
Thank you so much. The heat is really starting to wear me down because I have to go onto oxygen in the daytime, but as soon as it cools down in the evening I get things done. Thank goodness it is dry here so the temperature drops off pretty quickly in the evenings. 🙂
You approach all your challenges with an amazing attitude. You inspire me.
G’day, Hannah ! – yes, I do indeed wish I had a catio. I hope you realise how lucky you are – but you know what ? .. I kinda doubt it. Never mind; as long as you realise how loved you are, all’s well.
I agree that it does sound as if the M of C has got out of hand (what’s that ? I should say ‘gotten’? Naah; only you lot up there make up words like that ! [grin])
That is a beautiful picture of your tummy – about which I am indeed sorry to learn of the rash. It seems that even totally beautiful people suffer .. just ask your mama !! I’m the mother of a cat called Boodie, who suffers from feline acne; so I put dark orange cream called Betadine under his snow-white chin. Pretty offensive, those coloured medications.
It is also a lovely photo of Mateo, don’t you think ? – a classic, in fact.
OK, ‘bye for now: I have to speak with your mother ..
That sweater, Marilyn !!! – it is gasp-making .. a work of genius, done by a knitting genius. Get all those stitches back on a huge circular RIGHT AWAY and get on with it, woman !!!
Yes, definitely gold for SotT, rather than the unimpressive colour on the left – definitely definitely.
Garden’s looking a picture.
I hope you’re feeling not so bad. Pathetic wish, but from the heart.
Many big hugs administered very gently.
Hannah: Oh, I am so sorry to hear that Boodie is abused, too. Not only did I have that bath, but then I had to sit through a blow dry. Then she took all of my bedding away to wash it, and SHE CUT BACK MY COOKIES so that I barely get any at all. I do like the sensitive skin food, but the absolute best is the pheromone diffusion device that she plugged in near my favorite place to sleep.
You don’t say “out of hand”? It means that the situation can’t be controlled any more. Like Mateo.
Bye. Please send tuna.
Mother of Cats: I am really happy with the sweater. I did some risk-taking on the size based on some comparisons to other sweaters, and the shaping is a little different, but it fits!! Yay! I have been admiring it as it hangs to dry, but I am working myself up to putting it back onto the needles.
I just put the gold into the project bin for that shawl.
I’ve been kind of struggling, but the heat is breaking this weekend and I think it will be better. 🙂
You all up there in the northern hemisphere are doing it tough regarding climate change; but I think that once summer is done things will improve at least a bit. And meanwhile we down here are feeling smug: it won’t last, I promise ! – our day will come. 😦
We have been having crazy cold winters because the jet stream is wonky. Last winter we fell down to -24 degree F, which is serious cold!!
It’ll get wonkier, alas ! Which do you prefer, heat or cold ? I find cold easier to deal with; but then we don’t have snow .. Yet. 😦
Listen, seeing Goodreads listed in your sidebar, I meant to tell you that my memoir is listed in there somewhere. Said Goodreads listing is a story in itself: my publishers offered a free copy to selected reviewers, and various (less than ecstatic, I confess) reviews followed. The publishers forgot all about it, and I, the author !, was obliged to chase down the freebies from them. Not one word of apology.
“And Then Like my Dreams” – you might even still find it ! 😀
Thanks for letting me know about your book! I will absolutely look for it.
I do better with the cold because I have all the knits, boots, and gadgets to help keep me warm. Hot is horrible because there isn’t enough oxygen in the air for me then.
I had never even considered that really hot weather takes oxygen from the air. I know how much you love having to have an oxygen mask – one of the things that makes you feel helpless, I would guess ..
Not to mention how heavy the tanks are! I need oxygen to carry my oxygen…
My husband had his tank on a little trolley .. but he was an invalid by then, so it didn’t come in to play.
I walk with a cane because I have a bad hip (that can’t be replaced due to tendon damage) so I can’t manage much weight. The bottles that I have are very small so I have a very short window if I have to use them. Today I had a new pulmonary function test and he told me that I shouldn’t try to go out without oxygen anymore which was a huge bummer.
I can understand that, Marilyn; but don’t forget that sometimes you have proved your medicos wrong .. You just might be able to in the future, again ..
“Pretty darn good” and then some. It’s a knockout!
Hannah, you are so self-centred. Marilyn, it must be good to see scleroderma featured in a book.
Hannah: That is Princess Hannah to you…
Marilyn: it was kind of a shock, but I’ll take it.
I’m not managing to keep on top of comments but I am still reading. Just need to adjust to now working and finding time for things. Everything looks gorgeous, even that pink belly patch.
I struggle to keep up on the reading. Hannah heads in to the vet Monday and I hope that she likes that belly patch too!
The sweater looks lovely! I think the MKAL shawl looks cute, too, but I know what you mean about wanting to change yarn. This is one reason why I seldom do MKALs anymore. I’ve had changes of heart too many times during them in the past. 😉
I’ve been pretty disappointed in the new clues being posted online and I’m still stalling on starting over. Why knit it if I’m not going to wear it…
Good point!
Your new sweater is beautiful!! Sometimes the MKALs just don’t click for whatever reason. And it sounds like you have a ton of fun projects lined up anyway. And lot of charity crafting to do!
Hannah, you are a beautiful girl, and I hope you get some tuna and some new toys 🙂 And Mateo is such a handsome boy!
I am still stalling on doing the MKAL because, as you said, there is lots of other stuff to knit that I will actually love and use. 🙂 This MKAL just isn’t clicking for me this time. I continue to watch what other people are producing and I’m kind of underwhelmed by the pattern.
The cats are so spoiled lately; I bought them two cases of tuna from Chewy.
Sometimes it turns out that way. And like you say – lots of other cool patterns to make! Your cats deserve spoiling though – such good babies 🙂
Hannah and Mateo: we are the best babies ever! Please send tuna.
LOL! Such cuties!