Hi. I’m Hannah.
The Mother of Cats has been knitting like crazy lately while listening to Erik Larson audiobooks. She just finished The Demon of Unrest and is now deep into Isaac’s Storm. She says that the books are interesting, and I guess that they are because she sure listens to them a lot. She should spend more time running around the house and letting us play outside (and giving me TUNA), but nope, she has been knitting. Look at what came off the needles yesterday…
She really like the sweater, and wanted to write a post about all the little nice features in the construction, but I said that I was more than able to do that for her. I’m not just a pretty face with sharp claws, right? I have skills!! I have spent hours and hours watching her make this sweater, and I know what I’m talking about.
So, hang onto your tuna treats and chirpy toys: here is the grand tour of nice things about this sweater. The first picture (top left) show how the color of the yarn has some subtle changes in intensity that kind of softens the strips. That was a feature for the Mother of Cats, but I personally couldn’t care less because it all looks nice with cat hair on it. The picture in the middle of the top row shows the nice decreases that show off the neckline. (Yawn… the Mother of Cats spends too much time appreciating things that aren’t important, right?) If you thought she was kind of silly with the neckline, then you will love the shoulder seam at the top right. Look at how smooth the seam is!! This is the first time that she has picked up stitches to start the front of the sweater where if looks… perfect. Even more perfect is the fact that there are several short rows in that knitted work that I absolutely can’t see because they are just PERFECT!! While we are talking about perfect, can I mention how much I like catnip? A little catnip right now would just set me up…
Now we are up to the very best parts of the sweater.
The bound off edges of the sweater were all done with hand-stitched tubular bind off. The whole time the Mother of Cats was sewing the edges the yarn was flipping all over the place and I… just… had… to… grab… it a little with my claws from time to time. Just a little bit. Look at how nice the finished edge of that sleeve is!! I’m positive that my contribution really helped make it look that nice. Finally, there is the huge ribbing at the bottom of the sweater. The sides of the ribbing aren’t supposed to sewn together, but the Mother of Cats has decided to stitch the two sides together anyway. Yay. More flipping yarn to chase!!!!
The Mother of Cats has been really working steadily on this sweater for over a week. Why you ask? Because there are lots of exciting things on the way for the end of the week and she wanted to be able to wear her new sweater when it gets cold again. Can you believe that there is a Bomb Cyclone on the way??? And a Blood Moon?? At the same time?!! Doesn’t that sound kind of thrilling?
Maybe I’ll get extra tuna in the excitement!!
This is Hannah, signing off.
>^..^<
Notes from the Mother of Cats:
The sweater is the Winter Albina by Caitlin Hunter; I altered the pattern to make it crew necked. I’m both ecstatic to have it off the needles and morose that the knitting part is over. I’ve spent part of the day hunting for a new sweater to knit, but I do have a blanket that I should get back to first. But… there are so many pretty sweater patterns… and pretty yarn possibilities…
The coming storm is a problem because the air pressure will drop really rapidly when the low comes over. As many of you know, low pressure means painful joints; it also means swelling in my lungs and low oxygen levels. Here’s the projected pressure graph and what happened to me in the last low pressure event.
At almost the exact same time that the pressure starts to drop like a rock the blood moon will arrive. That’s not ominous at all, right? Hopefully all the finishing work on the sweater will be done before then! I do have to mention that it is a little eerie to be listening to an audiobook about a massive hurricane as this thing forms up just due east of me…
Yarn, Books & Roses 
the sweater is beautiful and happy birthday !
Gorgeous sweater and I love the kitty pictures! Happy Birthday 🎉 !
Hannah, you are a very knowledgeable critic. Marilyn, I do hope the pressure drop doesn’t cause too much pain
I have taken things easy and I’m doing fine. 🙂
You are right about that sweater. It is gorgeous, and I love the details. I have added it to my queue. Take care of yourselves during this ominous time! 🌑
I did the finishing on the sweater today and sewed the deep bottom ribbing together: it fits fine, with lots of room. Next up: blocking!
I know absolutely nothing about knitting so it’s just magic to me. How you change colors, how you transition from a flat section to a round neckline, how you stop and finish the last row at the bottom, etc. And you end up with something beautiful and very useful! Just in time!
I learned how to knit at 8 years old… did I mention that my mother was Swedish-American? By the time I got to college I had become a life-long knitter and at this point I do admit that I have some skills. 🙂 It is wonderful for stress management, but it is also what you said; I end up with something that is useful, hopefully it looks good, and it gave me joy while I was making it.
Marilyn me lamb, I can’t respond today because I have been bleeding since Boodie stabbed me by mistake yesterday and I’ve since been in Emergency twice. Will reply I hope tomorrow.
My gosh – I hope you are OK!! Take care!
Extremely civil of you – many thanks !!! 🙂
Oh, no. A stabbing??!!!!!! Boodie was the villain???!!!!! I await the blog post with great anxiousness… Please get better fast and STOP BLEEDING!!!!!
What a scary injury to have! I read the account of it in your post. It’s too bad that you weren’t given the sticky pressure dressing the first time you went into the hospital/clinic. Anticoagulants, which many my age take, don’t help the situation, either, although you appear to be much younger than I. As a result of your tale, I think I’ll keep kitchen roll/paper towels and duct tape handy in my medicine cabinet in case something like that were to happen to me. I’m sorry you had to go through that ordeal.
Very civil of you, Bea – many thanks !
Howsomever, m’dear, I doubt very much that I’m much younger than you: I’ll be 82 in July. [grin]
Your sweater turned out fantastic. Hope you do okay through the weather change.
Thank you. I can’t move without panting, but other than that I am doing better than I thought I would. Yay. In a couple of hours, the pressure will start to rise again. Right now we are at 29.2 inches of mercury and still dropping… that’s 741 mm in metric.
I thought about you all week as the barometer two-stepped across your state. It’s back to 29.7 today, I notice, while wreaking havoc further north, so I hope you’re out of the woods, so to speak, …or almost there.
Last week, a fairly new teacher was apologizing to me about how badly her kids were acting when I walked into her classroom to support some of my special-needs kiddos there. “Look out the window,” I said. She did, noting firs bending in the wind and inky clouds racing over the mountains. “It’s normal. A Front’s blowing in, and the barometer’s dropping, so kids often get that way,” I said. “No worries. They’re little and can’t help feeling its effects maybe more than we do, so cut them a little slack for now.” The look of relief on her face was priceless.
May your future be blessed with higher lows or a series of stationary highs, pressure-wise.
I have had labs backfire because of abrupt air pressure changes! It is absolutely true that the kids go wild when the pressure changes, but as the head of a large science department, let me tell you that the staff is even worse.
Happy birthday, beautiful Hannah!! Your new sweater is gorgeous, Marilyn, and what beautiful details! You really are a very skillful knitter, and the tonal yarn really does add something extra to it 🙂 I am trying to stay up for the blood moon tonight, so hopefully it won’t be clouded over here. I hope you do OK with the weather coming in – take care of yourself!
The yarn makes me look like a better knitter than I am, but I do pride myself for pretty even tension. I could not be more pleased with the MadTosh Vintage yarn. It is a nice round yarn that is kind of firm because of the twist; I love the dye job and I don’t think that there will be any pilling. Yay! I just went out to check the moon and it can’t be seen because of the clouds. Boo!
Happy Birthday Hannah! The jumper looks lovely. Do you just prefer how it lies with the sides sewn together?
The ribbing is pretty deep: about 6 inches. It was drawing in and leaving a pretty big gap at the sides which wasn’t a great look for me, and it also was making the smooth knitted fabric bunchy. When I sewed the side seams together it made the ribbing stretch enough to allow the sweater to stay smooth without being tight at all across the tops of my legs. I’m guessing that the MadTosh yarn that I was using is a little softer then the designers and that contributed to the pulling in phenomenon with the sweater. I think that blocking will help too, but I just went crazy with the needle and sewed it shut this evening. Tomorrow is blocking day!
Hannah, are you lying on YOUR FINISHED BLANKET ? Did I miss something ? Last mention of it I recall, it was definitely not yet complete. So if that’s it, please ask the MoC to post a pic of it ?
As for her knitting right now, you must have been extra helpful; because it’s simply wonderful. I know no-one like your MoC for beautiful knitting; but more than that, for deriving huge pleasure from its technical aspects ! 🙂
I can say only “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HANNAH !” as a post-day tribute; but I can also berate you for not telling us how old you are. You couldn’t conceivably be anywhere near my age, so there’s no need to be embarrassed about it, you beautiful tuxedo !
And that’s a lovely photo of the SnowBear – although he ain’t no more the SnowBear, eh ?
Now for you, Marilyn … I am going to have to worry about you with this damned stormfront approaching (or is it already there ?). Please keep us updated on how you’re coping ?
I shall put a post onto my own blog about what my furry child did to me the day before yesterday, rather than occupy lots of space on yours. 🙂 Happily, I’m a very good healer; so once they’d managed to stop the bleeding, all is well.
Hannah: that is not the blankie… the Mother of Cats gave me a shawl that she never wears to sleep on to see if I would damage it. Oh, you know that I groomed the shawl into fluffy soft puffs that make it the perfect bed for me to snooze on every night. The Mother of Cats has abandoned any thought of joining one of the MKAL sweater groups. She is still slowly knitting on the new blankie, but it makes her hands hurt, so the going is slow.
I bought three different compression sleeves for my bad boy knees and I’m getting around okay in the house, but it has been a week since I went anywhere. That’s okay… staying home works pretty good for me as I am more functional if I don’t waste all my energy on an outing. Today I’m finally feeling better and my oxygen is back up to the mid 90s. Yay! Meanwhile the huge storm is causing death and destruction as it barrels across the US, so I’m counting myself lucky.
I just read the post on your blog about Boodie… yikes!!! I will comment over there.
You poor bastards up in the northern hemisphere have so many different kinds of storm to worry about … But I’m tickled pink that your oxygen is UP ! Keep that going, eh ? (If only you had the power to control it.)
Beautiful sweater details and colors! Always nice to read Hannah’s narratives.
Hannah, do you and your mom need rescuring from Sea Glass Island? We can call out the Coast Guard if you say you need it. I’ve not seen your blog in weeks. I hope all is well enough and that Mateo is being nice to you. I didn’t include him in any rescue plans because I figured he might be too stubborn to admit he needed a ride to the mainland. Dealing with stubborn kids is one thing, but cats – an altogether different story and not happening.
Hannah: She is well and truly shipwrecked. Not only is she stuck here on Sea Glass Island, she is also NOT KNITTIN AT ALL!!!! You may need to call the Coast Guard to get me some TUNA delivered, because she is really slacking, let me tell you. Even Mateo is whining about the lack of service.
Midnight: Yeah. My hands are just crap. I pulled myself together after a couple of weeks resting them to make an Emotional Support Chicken and they are once again broken. Even typing is hard. I saw my pulmonologist Monday and his assessment was that I needed another drug intervention, fast. Having said that, I do have the concepts of a post that I’m slowly putting together.