Catnip mouse details and other bits and bobs

The lovely Elizagrrl shared the details of the much beloved Red Catnip Mouse:

The mouse is from the Cat Warming Set in Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation. I used Lamb’s Pride Worsted, size five needles, and a combination of M1L, M1R, SSK and K2TOG for symmetrical shaping. For the insides, I made a little rectangular pouch for the catnip (a 3×3 piece of cotton folded in half and stuffed full of catnip), and wrapped it in a rectangle of quilt batting for loft…. Per my vet’s recommendation, I buy catnip in the bulk section at Wild Oats and Kally seems to prefer the toys made with it. Hopefully it doesn’t make Chaos too crazy! Kally was so mad that I didn’t give her that toy; I eventually caved into her whining and made one just like it for her. How she has me trained!

You must go see the picture’s of Eliza’s kitty Kally playing with Doppelganger Red Catnip Mouse! Too cute. Kudos to Knotty Mouse for correctly identifying the source of the mouse pattern yesterday – go check out Mouse’s very fun Maryland S&W buttons. This is my favorite so far (even though I’m not going):

Did you know that you can put a wicked crack in your windshield while changing your wiper blades? Or at least I can. And did. Curses. My inclination was to be lazy and have a shop replace them for me, but I decided I would be thrifty and change them myself. Heh. Let that be a lesson to all of you!

You may or may not remember that I won a contest over at Yarnivorous. The package from Lynne arrived at work yesterday. I had to take a picture of the wonderful Australian gluten-free goodies in my cube so that I could rip them open and chow down. I highly recommend the sticky fig and ginger cookies, er, “bikkies.” Yum. (My coworkers were a bit bemused by my picture taking. Best not to enlighten them.)

The package contained some gorgeous variegated blue sock yarn that Lynne dyed as well as some of her totally luscious handspun merino plied with purpley silk. (No, Jeanne, you cannot have my lovely blue Australian sock yarn…)

*sniff sniff* “Wow, this yarn smells so exotic!”
“Hey, I can knock things off the coffee table with my tail and make Mom scramble for them!”
“If I fit in here, do I get a return trip to Australia?”

34 thoughts on “Catnip mouse details and other bits and bobs”

  1. I saw your comment over on Knitting on Trial. I hate that they are renaming Dayton’s Macy’s. Of course they renamed Dayton’s Marshall Fields years ago and we still call the store Dayton’s. I think we stick to Dayton’s and confuse the hell out of non-Mpls-ites!

  2. Wow. I had no idea that changing a wiper could be that destructive. Maybe it’s you? Sweetie? You just don’t know your own strength.

    I love the yarn!!!

  3. What great goodies from Lynne. I can’t believe you cracked your windshield just changing your wiper blades. My kitties said I must knit them a catnip mouse since Chaos has one.

  4. That is some beautiful yarn! I’m jealous!
    I’m sure if I put on my own wiper blades, I would do the exact same thing. I get my dad to do mine.

  5. Oh man, bummer on the windshield! Whouda thunk?

    That blue sock yarn is sooo pretty- and I love the picture of Chaos trying to mail himself to Austrailia!

  6. Could you just put Chaos into the Priority Mail envelope and send him to us for a few days? I’d love to watch Chaos and Bella playing ball………

    We’d send him back Express Mail….

    Great stash enhancement, btw!

  7. Ooh.. foreign packages of food- that sounds exciting! Thanks for the plug about the buttons.. I’m sure my husband is going to be crossing his fingers that I don’t actually bring home any livestock with me from MSW!

    Just don’t tell Chaos about that ” shrimp on the barbie” bit or he’ll be wanting to mail himself to Australia!

  8. Thanks for linking to all the great MD buttons. Those of us who are going will try not to make you too jealous 🙂 This will be my second year. So much fun!

    Bummer about the windshield 🙁

  9. you know, if chaos addressed the envelope properly and stuck himself in the mail around, say, the first weekend in may, he could sleep on the aerobed and get a ride to sheep and wool… he’d probably love to chase the sheep around!

    😉

  10. I love love love Chaos in the bag! Exactly what Picasso or Matisse would do too, except Matisse wouldn’t be able to put more than his head into the bag, and that would sort of pathetic. Hm. Does Chaos sit in boxes like my herd does?

    And I love the blue yarn! YUM!

    And? Thanks for linking to my blog! I feel a little bit spiffy. Hee.

  11. About that windshield crack… if it’s smaller than 6 inches, you may be able to repair it without replacing the entire thing. If it’s bigger, e-mail me. I may be able to help.

  12. Regarding the windshield – look on the bright side, at least you cracked your own windshield, rather than someone else’s, which I did several years ago while helping a friend change her wiper blades. Erk.

    But that kitty butt picture makes everything better!

  13. *sigh* I wish I didn’t need the “I’m not going” button. Stupid East Coast with all the stupid great knitting stuff….

    So…Taos, right?

  14. Cracked your windshield while changing your wiper blades? That takes talent.

    I don’t think Chaos would like the treatment on his flight over. It’s not even up to coach standards. And not a drop of tuna in sight.

    Yum, goodies.

  15. Glad you and others like the goodies… I reckon that you might miss Chaos whilst he sat out six months in quarantine on his return flight to Oz!
    I left a “bullet hole” in my windscreen for ages and came back to the car on a hot day… crack right across it! Had to get it replaced….Now I’l be extra careful replacng the blades – my old man always said don’t just flop the blades back on the windscreen.

  16. Poor you – is it a crack that can be fixed or is it a whole new windscreen?

    After Chaos has been to Oz, can you put him in the envelope to the UK so he can meet Jasper and play with some Culpepper’s mice, please?

  17. How did the windshield crack happen, exactly? I have new blades and was about to put them on… now I’m worried 🙂

    My kitty likes to poke his head in bags, though sitting in boxes (and chewing on the flaps) is his absolute favorite.

  18. Eeep! How exactly did it crack?

    Great goodies ;o) That blue sock yarn is gorgeous and so shiny!

    Kally was very cute in the pics you linked to – and Chaos is as cute as ever, trying to ship himself off to Australia!!! Doesn’t he know they won’t feed him as much tuna and catnip as you do?

    Our girl’s mom brought out two MORE kittens for everyone to see today – she is so proud… and they look like mixed versions of our girls! There goes that theory… too cute, they will be hard to resist :o(!

  19. Cat’s line of thinking: If I can’t see you then you can’t see me ….. no matter how much of my body is visible.

    Bummer about your windshield

  20. You’re going to have to explain to us exactly how you cracked the windshield….. And it appears that Chaos has been talking to Simon about good things to do with your tail. Simon knows exactly where to sit to knock stuff (remote, nail polish, knitting) off with his tail.

  21. That is a shame about your windshield! I don’t fully understand how you went about cracking it though, I’ve changed wiperblades quite a few times with no trauma (except cold wet hands and a dirty coat from leaning on the hood to do it).

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