Hi. I’m Hannah.
Deep cold has made its way into Colorado. It started Friday with an overnight snowstorm that descended with frigid flakes that piled up in the catio along with dropping temperatures. The stars broke through as the snow ended, gleaming unusually bright in the frigid air, and the temperatures continued to drop. Tonight, a new storm has arrived with more snow, and the falling temperatures and wind will make things truly dangerous in the next couple days for anyone outside without sufficient protection. The Mother of Cats says that applies to cats, too. She is so mean to us!!
Here’s the warning alerts that arrived today on the Mother of Cats’ phone from the local news station:
Those temperatures are Fahrenheit, by the way. Luckily, the Mother of Cats had lots of time to prepare for this; her windows are wrapped, and she has a blanket over the largest one in the family room. The fridge is full of groceries, she got all the tuna, and she has yarn wound up and ready to go onto the knitting machine. Take that, cold weather! We are going to have days of chasing yarn while the Mother of Cats makes her little hats on the knitting machine.
Speaking of the knitting machine, the Mother of Cats took some action to make it easier to work with it. She loves the Sentro machine, but it wobbles around, and it is a little bit of a battle for her to handle the yarn, the machine, and the cranking all at the same time while a certain little black CoalBear tries to whap the yarn as it races into the machine. Ugh. I told the CoalBear to be a good boy, but he never, ever listens to me!
Anyway, this is what the Mother of Cats did yesterday to the knitting machine. She attached the machine to a small unused shelf that was lurking behind a bookshelf downstairs. She used the sticky strips that come with Command hooks to attach the feet of the machine to the shelf, and then the shelf with the attached machine can be clamped to MY coffee table. Why did she have to put it onto my coffee table right where I like to hang out in front of the space heater. The Mother of Cats never talked to me about this before she did it. So far things are going well with her setup and the worst problem that she is dealing with is a certain cranky, under-stimulated little black cat. I prefer to hang out under the coffee table where I catch the best heat from the space heater. Now that the knitting machine is easier to work with, The Mother of Cats is making a couple of hats a day, and she is also getting some handknitting done too!
Look at these fun knits!! The Mother of Cats got the new DK weight arm warmers done just in time for the cold weather, and she also knitted up some more of the emotional support little chickies. I think that the new chickies make good cat toys, but she put them away to donate to her community knitting organization.
So, that was pretty much the week. The only other thing that has been going on is my new wooly blankie. Look at what the Mother of Cats gave me!!!!!
I really love my new blanket. Like, I really, really loves it!!!! I’ve been grooming it all the time and it is gradually getting nice and soft and fluffy. PERFECT!!!! Okay, the Mother of Cats was a tiny bit upset when she first saw what was happening, but she loves me so much she is letting me keep it. Also, Mateo has been pulling out strands of yarn with his teeth, so it is ours now!!
The Mother of Cats says I can keep the blankie as long as I leave her sweaters alone. Hey, it is a deal. Do you see how much I love this blankie!!!
So, that’s it for the week. I’m still trapped indoors with the CoalBear, and he is really causing a lot of commotion as he wants to go out onto the catio really, really badly. I stuck my face outside yesterday, and I do have to say, the Mother of Cats is right about this one. It is too cold for any CoalBears, no matter how fluffy they are. Maybe I should go chase him around again for a few minutes to give the Mother of Cats a break. Then we are going to make another hat. That will cheer Mateo up for sure.
Note from the Mother of Cats
If you are wondering what the pattern for the arm warmers was, I kind of wrote it up in my last post here.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
I do understand that the Sentro is perfect for swift production of hats, Marilyn; but I’m very relieved to learn that you haven’t stopped your own, beautiful hand knitting. You’re one of the cleverest knitters I’ve come across; and it would be a crime if you were to stop doing that to concentrate on making things on the little machine.
Your WEATHER ! How in the name of any of the gods do you lot cope with those temperatures ??? It does occasionally get down to around a few degrees, here; but nothing even remotely like your winters. I hope your son comes to check on you often during these times …?
As for Hannah the Elegant and Mateo the Monster [grin], they continue on in their usual fashion – fairly self-absorbed, the pair of ’em. 🙂
The beauty of the Sentro is I can crank out hats (literally) using up my yarn stash and still do some handknittng for myself. I have bins of cute yarn in my favorite colors that I hope to get used this year and at the same time I should get lots moved out of the stash.
This cold spell is another Polar Vortex slipping out of place and descending lower onto the continent than it should. Sadly, this is happening more frequently and is part of climate change. Sigh. I am sick and tired of people pretending that it isn’t happening…
And not only the pretence, but it’s accompanied so often by aggro: “Oh, you’re one of those, eh ? – you believe in so-called ‘climate change’ ?! – wake up to yourself, it’s just cyclical !!”
Yep. If cornered, I tell them that a belief is something that you accept as true without any evidence. In the case of climate change, I have accepted the validity of the evidence which happens to be overwhelming.
Minus 20⁰F is minus 28⁰C its weird how it flips round to C being colder as the negative temps happen. Anyway it is definitely colder than we have had in my lifetime. Minus 17F (27C) is the lowest on record we have had in Scotland. Did you see on my blog I made an ESC? I am already making a 2nd. I hope the cats and you don’t go too stir crazy staying in and that your plants survive.
It’s because there are 32 degrees to go after freezing before you hit 0 in the F system. I just hunted down your chicken… OMG, she is so cute, and the handspun looks great! It makes me want to pull out some of my and to get going on more chickens. The new year brought some cute, cute, cute patterns for knitted blankets that I thought I could use the handspun for, but Hannah’s aggressive grooming of the shawl I gave her put that to bed. Chickens it is!!!
I’m kind of thinking that the plants in the garage are toast…
What a clever way to stabilize the Sentro! I became so enthused over your Sentro that I watched a how-to-use video of one. I’m not usually a machine person, but this one makes sense for quick, simple gift items for next Christmas. I’ll have to mull that over.
I don’t like sub-zero weather because the frigid air can whistle through the electrical outlets backing onto outside walls if they haven’t been well insulated. Thankfully, I left that problem behind when I moved to a more temperate climate all those years ago.
Enjoy your comfort foods, books, and whatever you like to stream when snowbound.
The Sentro is doing much better for me now that I have it stabilized. There is an issue with the Sentro that I should mention… it does great with fingering yarn, but it really doesn’t like heavier weights. It is perfect for me to make those hats as I have a lot of superwash fingering in the stash. The Addi machines are more robust and handle yarns that are more like worsted weight.
Thanks for the tip about the Addi knitting machine. I’ll check it out.
Those little chicklets are so cute! They’re going on my to-do list, but it will be a while before I get there. Work knitting comes first!
I haven’t knit any toys for the kitties here; I don’t want them to think that woolies are meant for them. Calvin has already had a field day with the little cork people!
The chickies are a fast knit, and I made four of them from one skein of yarn. I have made the kitties knitted toys before, and they ignore my sweaters unless they are being blocked after washing. Then I have to be very, very careful to keep them away from the cats. Wet wool is irresistible to Hannah, evidently.
I block in my studio/office, on the floor on blocking mats. I turn on the ceiling fan and close the door to keep the kitties out! Which makes them all the more curious about what’s behind the closed door.
I block on the floor on blocking mats too, and then I cover the wet fabric with towels that are pinned down so the cats can’t tunnel or pull them up. Since I live in the land of single digit humidity, this works and things block well in just a day or so.
Mateo: there will be NO CLOSED DOORS in this house!! I will rip up all the carpet trying to tunnel under the door…
Hannah: Yeah, he is really a jerk like that.
I love your post Hannah!
What a beautiful “blanket” for the cats. Perfect for this frigid weather. Glad you are stocked up to survive the winter.
Brrr! Looks like it’s really cold out there. Stay safe and warm!
Today it is a blistering 40 degrees and the CoalBear got to go outside. Happy, happy cat!!
Happy cat, indeed!
It is not as cold here, thank goodness. Today’s high was 22 F, which is a relief after yesterday which barely got above 10. Hope you stay warm!
Hannah, MoC is definitely right about this You and the CoalBear would be seriously cold if she let you out there. You are much better inside with the yarn and the tuna! All of you take care – stay safe and warm!
Mateo: But I’m a SNOWCAT!!!
Hannah: You see what I’m dealing with here?
Hahahahaha!!