Category Archives: Those Cats

Contests, Those Cats

Mayhem has eaten my brain

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Heather’s giving away a Project Spectrum pink/green/yellow themed cd – leave a comment about what you like about spring before midnight MDT, April 6, and you could win a copy.

You could also win a Dyson vacuum cleaner from Five Minutes for Mom, but you have act quickly – the contest closes at 1 pm EDT today, April 4!

It snowed last night. It’s snowing right now. Waaaaah!

The pet food recall has expanded a bit. However, neither of the Science Diet dry foods that Chaos eats (w/d and c/d) contain wheat gluten (it’s the m/d that’s being recalled by Hills), and May eats a grain-free food called Innova EVO. For treats, they get Feline Greenies (fortunately, they chew their Greenies and don’t bolt them, so no choking/breathing problems), which don’t contain wheat gluten, either. Thanks to everyone who has inquired! We all appreciate your concern – especially since I don’t watch TV and missed the initial furor. Jeanne’s looking out for me now and making sure I’m up to date. 🙂

Work is still crazy. But I’m done early today for the Yarn Harlot festivities and I’m taking tomorrow off. Woo-hoo!

“Mom’s brain was pretty tasty! But there sure wasn’t much left after work ate most of it Monday and Tuesday.” -M

Contests, Those Cats

RIP SRM (This post may not be suitable for those sensitive to sparkly mouse carnage)

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Elspeth is having a contest for “WIP It Out” on March 31st. There will be a prize for identifying the movie quote, and another lucky participant will receive one of E’s frogged WIPs.

Cindy is having a contest – leave a comment about any Greek affiliations you may have had in college (or just leave a comment if you were independent and unaffiliated). Comment by 11 pm CDT March 29 and you could win some sock yarn. Although I wasn’t in a sorority, I was in Xi Sigma Pi, the National Forestry Honor Society…

Sallee the Knitnana is having a contest to celebrate a comment milestone. Leave a comment about the Meezer by midnight EDT March 30 and you could win a Nana Sadie Rose sock bag (a new design)!

So perhaps you are wondering about the post title… I think a picture will speak a thousand words.

Yes, that is the skin and skeleton of Chaos’ beloved SRM. If I hadn’t witnessed Chaos demolishing SRM, I would’ve blamed Mayhem, known to be very hard on her toys… Compare the picture above to this picture of SRM, taken in January of 2006:

When asked why he would treat his beloved toy in such a fashion, Chaos didn’t have much to say for himself.

I guess we’re left to find our own answers about this senseless loss of sparkly mouse….

Those Cats

Killing you with the cute

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Aw, thank you all so much for the kind words about my refined raglan and yesterday’s self portraits! *blush* Today? Today, even though I am working from home a second time this week because of a little snow, I am brain dead (mocha me, baby!), so I will try to distract you with a whole lot of cuteness – additional entries for La’s contest. Yesterday, I picked up a Daft Catâ„¢ catnip toy made by the Scrub Your Butt Soap Company of Rochester, Minnesota – isn’t that about the best soap company name ever?! You briefly warm this toy up in the microwave – according to the website, “Kitty will love the warmth and the smell of catnip will fill the air!” I couldn’t smell it, but Chaos and May sure could.

“I must rub this toy over my entire body and then hug it!” -M

“Mmmmmm…. nippy.” -M

“Well, not nippy as in chilly, because it’s really quite warm and nice…” -M

“Maybe just a little nap…” -M

Chaos got in on the Daft Catâ„¢ action, too – he’s taking a little break in this picture:

And simply because May’s paws haven’t been featured before on the blog, while Chaos’ have – here are May’s cute fuzzy little paws, first the fronts and then the backs:

Knitting, Those Cats

Should it stay or should it go?

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A long, long time ago (May 7, 2005, to be precise), I started to knit a mobius cat bed for Chaos. Here’s a picture of Chaos with it from December, 2005 (no knitting progress has been made since then):

“I wonder if I can gnaw off this little plastic doohickey? Mom probably won’t notice. I love plastic doohickeys!” -C

What do you think? Do you think these cats really need another cat bed? Here’s May on her cat bed (what some of you might incorrectly call a loveseat)*:

“Like, duh. This is a cat bed!” -M

And Chaos on his cat bed (what some of you might incorrectly call a chair):

“….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….” -C

Let’s take a closer look – do either of these cats look deprived of a cat bed to you?!

“Mmmm… maybe Mom will screw up and not hide her yarn from me when she goes to bed.” -M

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….” -C

So, what do you think? Finish the giant mobius cat bed (directions involve blocking it on a bike inner tube! 😮 ) or rip it out and make some other felted thing from the yarn (Woolpak in forest green, plum, and black)? You can probably tell I’m not feeling the love for this project anymore!

*The camo blanket is a poncho liner left over from my National Guard days…

Contests, Those Cats

A dastardly secret is revealed…

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Leave a comment for Nicole about the worst Valentine’s gift you’ve ever received, and you could win some “yarny goodness.” Leave your comment by midnight EST on February 14.

Charlie is a kitty who has inflamatory bowel disease (IBD) – and so does one of his humans, also named Chris. (But that’s a he-Chris, not a she-Chris like me.) Anyway! Since I am an IBD sufferer, too, this one’s near and dear to my gut. Charlie’s human is doing a three-day, 210-mile charity bike race (Get Your Guts in Gear) to support the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and other similar organizations. If you make a donation, you will be entered in a prize drawing for yarn or bike shop gift certificates! One of the humans will draw for prizes the last weekends of March, April, and May.

“Dooby dooby do… Don’t mind me, I’m just hanging out on top of this cabinet, appreciating my feline agility.” -C

“I wish I was a big kitty so I could get up there, too!” -M

“Ha! But you aren’t and you can’t!” -C

“Shhhhh… Let it be our little secret that she could get up here if I didn’t keep biting off her whiskers and messing with her balance! Bwah-ha-ha!!” -C

Knitting, Those Cats

TGIFO

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Behold – the 70s Kitchen Socks are complete! Although it doesn’t look like it in this picture, they are the same size. I knit one from each end of the ball of yarn, and the sock on the left turned out quite a bit more orange than the one on the right.

So, let’s sit back and see what happens when you leave a freshly knitted pair of socks on the floor around here, shall we?

Oh, look, it’s May!

“I’m pretty sure they aren’t bibs, big kitty!” -M

“Hmm, better let me check, May.” -C

“You’re right, May, these are definitely not bibs. But I’m not sticking around, just in case Mom tries to put them on me anyway.” -C

“Don’t worry, big kitty! I’ll keep an eye out.” *slurp slurp slurp* -M

“You know what – I bet they’re a fancy new cat bed! Hmm, very cushy…” -M

Reading, Those Cats

Breaking sock “rules” and providing a negative image

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Jen has some additional tips on taking pictures of cats that you might find helpful.

The Obsidian Kitten has written a brilliant treatise called The Anatomy of the Feline Unit. Highly recommended if you want to laugh yourself silly.

You know how the Barbara Walker treasuries are full of great stitch patterns, but sometimes that’s hard to tell from the small blurry black-and-white pictures? Check out the Walker Treasury Project, where volunteers are knitting and photographing full color swatches to supplement the books.

Reading Update
Trap Door by Sarah Graves. This latest Home Repair Is Homicide mystery was ok, but a bit confusing at times in the way that it set up for (I can only guess and assume) the next installment of the series.
A Single Eye by Susan Dunlap. This is a brand new mystery series featuring stuntwoman Darcy Mott. The first book is set at a retreat in a Zen monastery in northern California. (Boggles the mind at the niches this fills, doesn’t it, Kristi?!) I enjoyed Dunlap’s Jill Smith (Berkeley homicide detective) series and was sad when the series ended several years ago.

Here’s my entry for Maryse’s “sock rules” contest (post a picture of a sock/shoe/clothing combination that spectacularly breaks her friend’s “socks should match your shoes and/or pants” rule before February 15 and you could be randomly selected to win a prize):

Ultraviolet purple socks with black stripes. Hmm, not really too far out, come to think of it, since I was wearing black shoes and a black sweater… Ok, how about this?

No black in those socks! Speaking of no black…

No, no, you’re not at Cabin Cove and that isn’t the lovely Miss Lulu! That’s Chaos’ brother, Diablo. Maybe only the eyes give their relationship away… What do you think? (Besides that Diablo has exceptionally clean ears – he still lives with his mother!)

“What do you mean, brother?! I don’t remember any brother! He better not come to visit…” -C

Contests, Reading, Those Cats

If Mayhem had a superpower…

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When I drove to work this morning at 6:15 am, it was -15°F, with a windchill of -30°F (-26.1°C and -34.4°C respectively). Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Just in case you missed it, Friday’s post contained links to a lot of contests. Here are a few more:

Wen is having a contest for Knit From Your Stash participants – take a picture of a “crime against yarn” that you committed, post it to your blog, and leave a comment with the link for Wen before February 9 at midnight PST. She has some lovely yarny prizes for you to win!

Julie’s having a two-part contest. For the first, leave a caption for a very cute picture of her cat, Mr. Mugatoo. For the second, guess how much Mr. Mugatoo weighed when he went to the vet Friday. Prizes include a skein of STR, Fred Flintstone colorway. She’ll take entries until February 8.

Limedragon reviewed various bookholders last week, with a particular eye to how well they would work for reading and knitting. Her summary with links is a valuable resource for knitting readers and reading knitters alike!

So, if Mayhem had a superpower (as the amazing Kitten Girl), it would be making everything into a dangerous toy.* I am sure many children also have this superpower.

Behold the seemingly innocuous knitting bag, perfect for a sock project…

“Mom, there are other kitties on this bag!!! Is there something you’ve been meaning to tell us?!” -M

Now somehow turned into a tourniquet around May’s middle!

“Well, if that doesn’t beat all…” -M

“Help! Help! I’m hit!” -M
“Melodramatic much, May?” -C

“Tell Mom I love her…” -M
“Sheesh, May, tell her yourself, since she’s standing right there taking pictures of you in your shame!” -C

*For the curious, Chaos’ superpower is meowing.

Randonymity, Those Cats

Secrets of Cat Photography Revealed (Part the First)

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Two things have inspired me to write this post. First, I promised the info to Michaele at least six months ago (whoops – sorry, Michaele!). Second, I regularly get emails and comments asking me how I manage to always get good cat photos.

Ha. I get plenty of pictures like this:

and this:

Can’t spot the cat in the above photo? That’s because the cat left the shot while I was taking it…

I have an Olympus Stylus 810, which is an 8 megapixel point and shoot camera. It has 3x optical zoom, macro and super macro modes, and lots of other spiffy features that I rarely use. For the extremely basic photo resizing and editing I do, I use FxFoto. FxFoto is free, although I do have the paid version, which offers more features and doesn’t have an annoying nag screen.

Probably the number one secret of cat photography is to take lots of pictures. Lots and lots and lots of pictures. The more pictures you take, the better the chances you’ll get a keeper.

Number two is to use a camera with sports mode. Cats are busy creatures who care nothing about you trying to take their picture – sports mode increases your chance of getting a non-blurry shot.

A lot of people probably get decent pictures like this, in which the cat part of the picture is perfectly fine, but there’s a lot of distracting non-cat stuff in the picture:

Simply cropping and resizing that picture produces this:

Much better. Here’s a similar shot, only taken much closer to the subject so cropping isn’t required:

Here’s virtually the same shot taken without a flash, which produces a slightly different effect (such as fully open kitty eyes!):

For natural light pictures, I recommend a small tripod (the one I have is about 4″ tall) and a sleepy cat who isn’t moving around too much! The picture above was taken with the camera balanced on a pillow on the ottoman.

Here’s another example of an ok shot with too much non-cat stuff in it (I cannot believe I’m showing you my messy unmade bed!).

And the same shot cropped and resized (plus the messy bed isn’t quite as noticeable):

Can you even stand the cuteness of Mayhem watching snowflakes fall?!!

Sometime in the indeterminate future I’ll show you a few more simple tricks for improving your cat photography in Secrets of Cat Photography Revealed (Part the Second).