Category Archives: Those Cats

Dyeing, Those Cats

Flashback: Getting in the Dyeing Spirit

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I joined Dye-O-Rama. It’s been a while since I sat down and dyed any yarn, but a few years ago, Jeanne and I and some other friends hunkered down and dyed up a storm one weekend. We wound a lot of yarn on our handy dandy homemade niddy noddies. (Note that Chaos wasn’t even born at the time of this dyeing adventure, but he was more than happy to check out the niddy noddy when I pulled it out for a picture earlier.)

“I think this might be just the thing for my little tool use development project…”
Yikes, you can barely see Jeanne behind all that yarn!

We gathered supplies…

The foaming, frothing pink isn’t something from Snape’s Potions class – it’s what you get when you mix vinegar and lots of magenta Easter egg dye tablets.

Here I am, very focused on dyeing some variegated sock yarn with Wilton’s before popping it into the microwave. You can also use Wilton’s in a dye bath for solid colors. Here’s a color chart with color mixing ideas, plus another mixing list from Wilton’s.

And finally, our yarn drying, as much out of the sun as we could manage.

“I wonder if I can make a spear out of this?”
Festing, Those Cats

Hitting the road next week

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A while ago, I mentioned that I’m going to the Midwest Master’s in Neenah, Wisconsin. I just realized that I’ll be hitting the road for that a week from tomorrow! Woo-hoo!! It’s been way too long since I took a road trip or took any knitting classes.

I’m taking three classes – two from Anna Zilboorg and one from Merike Saarniit. I’ve taken a weekend seminar from Anna before and met Merike at that. I picked classes that sound interesting and that should also challenge me:

Exotic Stitches for More Than One Color – Anna Zilboorg (3 hours)
“Multi-colored knitting need not be stranded; many fascinating patterns are developed with one color at a time and a few simple techniques.”

  • The multi-colored knitting I’ve done has been mostly self-patterning sock yarn and the occasional strawberry hat for a baby, so this is definitely a departure for me!

Twisted Travelling Stitches – Anna Zilboorg (6 Hours)
“Austrian twisted travelling stitches create patterns in high relief that resemble woodcarvings. They are easy to do with a few special techniques and a little practice.”

  • Again, I’ve done a limited amount of textured knitting. I have a Door County Cable Sweater on the needles… but two years ago I hit a point in the pattern that confused the heck out of me and haven’t picked up the sweater since.

Rainbow Dyeing in the Microwave – Merike Saarniit (3 hours)
“Experiment with making your own hand-painted yarns or rovings in an efficient, no-mess, no felting or fulling, low water use method!”

  • Gosh, does this sound like the perfect lead in for Dye-O-Rama or what?!

If anyone’s going to be at Neenah or is along the route between Minneapolis and Neenah and is interested in getting together to knit, let me know!


“I wonder if I can sucker extra food out of the catsitter… Mmmm… food.”
Alongs, Those Cats

H is for…

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Height.

I’ve been 5’9″ since I was in fifth grade. Haven’t grown even a fraction of an inch. This is good, because when I was two and they were estimating my future height based on normal growth curves and my height then, it looked like I was on track to be 6’5″ by the time I was 16! I’m easy to pick out in my class pictures from grade school – I’m the one looming in the middle of the back row. And I played a lot of basketball during grade school and junior high, even though I was terrible at it.

Interestingly, I don’t really think of myself as tall most of the time. I do when I’m shopping for clothes, since womens pants are nearly always too short for me; I mostly wear mens jeans. I also thought of myself as tall when I was doing the internet dating thing – it turns out that most guys might say they’re ok with dating women taller than they are, but in reality… they’d get weird about it.

That second piece of tape in the first picture? I was trying to figure out what Chaos’ Height is. Let’s just say that it’s not easy to measure a cat and this is the best guesstimate:

“Mom! How can I maintain my cat of mystery status if you share all my secrets?!”

“Hey, it’s kind of fun to pull this off the wall.”

Shortly after this picture was taken, this piece of tape became his new favorite fetch toy… No idea where SRM* has gotten itself to.
*Sparkly Red Mouse, Chaos’ all-time favorite fetch toy
Knitting, Randonymity, Those Cats

Where I’ve knit and a shocking revelation about Chaos

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Kat is having a contest – list five places other than your home or a knitting store where you’ve knitted. Here’s my list:

  1. With Christine Lavin before a concert (she signed not only a cd, but her chapter in Knit Lit, Too)
  2. During team meetings at work
  3. Out at happy hour with my coworkers
  4. The Ghost Ranch (where Georgia O’Keefe did a lot of her painting)
  5. Walking around Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis (this caused a runner to run backwards for a while to watch me)

And the place I always mean to go knit but never quite manage to make it to… The Smitten Kitten (a feminist s*x toy shop about 10 blocks away), which has a weekly knitting group on Sunday mornings.

I finished the cage liner and will send it off to Chris tomorrow! Although there might be a bit of resistance about that…

“What do you mean, this isn’t for me?! I demand tuna in restitution!”

What I particularly like about this picture is that, if you click on it and make it larger, you can see the tabby striping on the side of Chaos’ face. Chaos is not exactly a black cat – he’s a stealth tabby. He has ultra black tabby markings on a near black background. You can only see the stripes when he’s in bright sunlight, illuminated by a flash, or if you spend some time around a cat who’s really, really black, like Chaos’ mom Riley.

I’ll give you some time to cope with the shock. Do you think I need to bow out of the Black Cat Web Ring?

Contests, Knitting, Randonymity, Those Cats

Scattered in the sun

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A few oddiments… I’ve made some progress on my Sunny Sock.

Most of it while I was hanging out with some coworkers after work on Thursday. It was 82F. In April. In Minnesota. We drank and were merry.

I’m also making quite a bit of progress on the cage liner that I’ll send to Chris on Monday for her local Humane Society. Sadly, I’m almost out of orange Canadiana, so I’ll be switching to all black or to green and black.

“Helloooo? Is anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me.”
“Smells… orange.”

Here are a few more songs for the playlist – some from the comments yesterday and some from cds I picked up at the library:

  • Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) – Nanci Griffith
  • Under My Thumb – The Rolling Stones
  • Year of the Cat – Al Stewart
  • Slappin’ on My Black Cat Bone – Tony Glover, Dave Ray, Big Joe Williams, & Spider John Koerner
  • Devil’s Gonna Get You – Bessie Smith
  • Black Cat Moan – Tiny Parham & His Musicians
  • Black Cat, Hoot Owl Blues – Ma Rainey & Her Tub Jug Washboard Band
  • Black Cat Bone – Lightnin’ Hopkins
  • Black Ghost Blues – Lightnin’ Hopkins

It’s sunny and warm here, so I’m going to clean up my bike and hit the trails. Have a great weekend!

Contests, Those Cats

Chaotic playlists

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Here’s the list of all the songs I received. I think the songs with the most suggestions were Love Cats (the Cure), Stray Cat Strut (the Stray Cats), Black Cat (Janet Jackson), and Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent).

  • (I can’t get no) Satisfaction – Cat Power
  • 666 – Iron Maiden
  • Accidentally Kelly Street – Frente!
  • Addicted to Chaos – Megadeth
  • Addressing of Cats from the muscial “Cats”
  • Ain’t Misbehavin’, Django Reinhardt
  • All Eyes On Me by Goo Goo Dolls
  • Am I Evil? – Metallica
  • Anarchy in the UK — The Sex Pistols
  • Apres Moi – Eartha Kitt
  • Back in Black (AC/DC)
  • Bad Hair Day – Weird Al Yankovic
  • Be Prepared(Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice–from The Lion King Soundtrack)
  • Been Caught Stealing, Jane’s Addiction
  • Big Strong Cat (My Puddy Tat Sylvester) to the tune of Big Strong Man (My Brother Sylvest) – Bard Marc Gunn
  • Black Cat – Janet Jackson
  • Black Kitty Paw to the tune of Black Velvet Band – Bard Marc Gunn
  • Black by Pearl Jam
  • Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair – Nina Simone
  • Blister in the Sun — The Violent Femmes
  • Boys of Summer by Don Henley
  • Burning Down the House — The Talking Heads
  • Canned Heat by Jamiroquai
  • Cara Santa – tekameli
  • Castles in Spain – Buster Poindexter and the Banshes of Blue
  • Cat O’Nine Tales from “Cat-a Tonic” by Haynes/Walden
  • Cat Scratch Fever – Ted Nugent
  • Cat Nip Fever from “Cat-a Tonic” by Haynes/Walden
  • Cat’s in the Cradle – Harry Chapin
  • Catalyst by Anna Nalick
  • Cats under the stars, by Jerry Garcia, on “How Sweet It Is”
  • Chaos – The Church
  • Chaos Reigning – Kim
  • Chaos by Skold
  • Chaos is Constant, by Chuck Thurau, on the album “Embracing Chaos”
  • China Cat Sunflower, by the Grateful Dead, on “Hundred Year Hall”
  • Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz
  • Closer – Nine Inch Nails…
  • Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
  • Consume Me by DC Talk
  • Copycat by the Cranberries
  • Crossroads – The Black Cat Blues Band
  • Cruel to be kind – Nick Lowe
  • Daughters of the Kaos by Luscious Jackson
  • Devil Inside by INXS
  • Devil in Disguise – Elvis Presley
  • Don’t Feed the Rats by Stephen Duffy
  • Doris Day (or Pink Martini) – Que Sera Sera
  • Every Breath You Take, UB40 (50 First Dates Soundtrack)
  • Every Day by 27
  • Every Move you Make by the Police
  • Evil Woman
  • Flight of the Bumblebee Composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, arranged by H.W. Davis
  • For Once In My Life (Michael Buble or any version)
  • Fragile by Sting
  • Fresh Berries for You – The Mountain Goats
  • From Chaos – 311
  • Fun For Me – Moloko
  • Hep Cat’s Love Song – by Cab Calloway
  • Hero from Spiderman, 1st CD
  • Hesitation Blues – Hot Tuna
  • Hungry like a Wolf – Duran Duran
  • I Walk the Line – Johnny Cash
  • I Wanna Be Sedated — The Ramones
  • I love being here with you by Diana Krall
  • I will Follow Him – Lesley Gore
  • I’m Too Sexy – Right Said Fred
  • I’m a Believer – by Smash Mouth
  • I’m not Down – The Clash
  • Ice Cream – Sarah McClaughlin
  • Idle (the rabbit song) by HEM
  • International Playboy by Buster Poindexter
  • It’s Oh So Quiet – Bjork
  • It’s all about Meow from “Cat-a Tonic” by Haynes/Walden
  • Johnny B. Goode – Jerry Lee Lewis
  • Jumpin’ Jack Flash – The Rolling Stones
  • Jungle Boogie – Kool & the Gang
  • Katmandu – Cat Stevens
  • Literbox Boogie from “Cat-a Tonic” by Haynes/Walden
  • Livin’ La Vita Loca – Ricky Martin
  • Look What the Cat Dragged In – Rolling Stones
  • Looks that Kill – Motley Crue
  • Lovecats – The Cure
  • Lying in the Sun – Stereophonics
  • Martha, My Dear – The Beatles
  • May the Bird of Paradise by Jimmy Dickens
  • Meow Mix song
  • More than Friends – Idle Chaos
  • Morning Has Broken – Cat Stevens
  • Mother – Danzig
  • Mr Lucky by Henri Mancini
  • Mr. Mistoffelees – from the Cats soundtrack
  • My Doorbell – The White Stripes
  • My Perogative – Britney Spears
  • My Perogative by Bobby Brown
  • Notorious – Duran Duran
  • O Solo Meow from “Cat-a Tonic” by Haynes/Walden
  • One Step Beyond – Madness
  • One by U2
  • Open that Can – Anne Price
  • Our New Rock Kitty, by Ray Brigleb, on “Our New Rock Kitty”
  • Pads, Paws and Claws – Elvis Costello
  • Pads, Paws and Claws – elvis costello
  • Pass the Dutchie by Musical Youth
  • Pink Ears in the Window (sung to the tune of “Red Sails in the Sunset”)
  • Princes of the Universe – by Queen
  • Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat), Digable Planets
  • Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash
  • Rock Lobster – B-52s
  • Sex and Candy – Marcy Playground
  • Sexy Boy – Air
  • (S)He’s a Maniac – Hall and Oates
  • Siouxsie and The Banshees – The Staircase (Mystery)
  • Slave to Love- Bryan Ferry
  • Sledgehammer — Peter Gabriel
  • So Called Chaos – Alanis Morrisette
  • So Right from the movie Bell, Book and Candle
  • So-Called Chaos – Alanis Morissette
  • Sprung on the Cat – by Sir Mix-A-Lot
  • Stray Cat Blues – Rolling Stones
  • Stray Cat Strut – The Stray Cats
  • Superman by REM
  • Take Five by Dave Brubeck
  • Temple of the Cat by Ayreon
  • The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota – Weird Al Yankovic
  • The Bumble Bee Tuna Song – Mephiskapheles
  • The Jaws Theme – John Wiliams
  • The Look – Roxette
  • The Siamese Cat Song – from The Lady and the Tramp soundtrack
  • The Wind, or alternatively, If I Laugh, by Cat Stevens, on “Teaser and the Firecat”
  • The face I love by Andy Williams
  • Theme Song from Get Smart – Irving Szathmary
  • Tiger – Tangerine Dream
  • To the tune of “My Favorite Things” – modified for cats
  • To the tune of, “I’m a Little Teapot” – I’m a little kitty-cat small and black
  • Top Cat theme tune
  • Trouble – Pink
  • We’re in this love together by Al Jarreau
  • Werewolves of London by Adam Sandler
  • What’s new pussycat? – Tom Jones
  • When Worlds Collide(Powerman5000)
  • Why Can’t I be You – the Cure
  • Wild Cats of Kilkenny – The Pogues
  • You Belong to the City – Glenn Frey
  • You’ll Never Get to Heaven if You Break the Skin (sung to the tune of “You’ll Never Get to Heaven if You Break My Heart”)
  • You’ve Got to Change Your Evil Ways, Baby
  • Zombie Autopilot – Unearth

Inspired by the lists you sent, I put together a Chaotic Cat mix. I was surprised at how few of the suggestions I had in my music library, but I did my best.

  • Black Cat Blues – The SaNa Band
  • Cat Blues – Yoko Kanno (Cowboy BeBop soundtrack)
  • Cat People (Putting Out Fire) – Giorgio Moroder & David Bowie (Cat People soundtrack)
  • Cats – Holiday Ranch
  • Fat Cat Keeps Getting Fatter – Squirrel Nut Zippers
  • The Lovecats (Acoustic) – The Cure
  • Some Cats Know – Connie Evingson
  • Mean Eyed Cat – Johnny Cash
  • Devil With The Green Eyes – Matthew Sweet
  • Black – Pete Yorn
  • Black – Okkervil River
  • Why Can’t I Be You? – The Cure
  • To Speak of the Animal – Mark Mallman
  • Soak Up The Sun – Sheryl Crow
  • Speak Of The Devil – Chris Isaak
  • Devil In Disguise – J.J. Cale
  • In the Sun – Joseph Arthur
  • Sun Is Coming – Matt Wilson
  • The Tigers Have Spoken – Neko Case
  • Black Cat Blues – Buddy Guy

Thanks again to everyone who submitted a playlist! You definitely got me thinking, laughing, and inspired.

“You know I don’t approve of all this music and crazy dancing, so I’ll just hang out here in the cat carrier until things are calm again.”
Randonymity, Those Cats

Black cat fever

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Today we shall celebrate black cats. (What? You think I do that every day? Um, well, maybe so…)

Last week Trish posted a picture of some very cool cat stitchmarkers she’d purchased. I went and checked out the lovely stitch markers Karen makes and ordered a set of black cats for very small needles and another set for medium needles.

“Hmm, these seem a little small and not furry enough to be cats…”

Aren’t they great? These are the ones for small needles.

And here are the markers for medium needles – Karen included a bonus marker for me – recognize Chaos’ brother Diablo there on the right?!! Now I need to start a shawl or something that will use lots and lots of markers…

Last week I took care of my neighbor Anna’s cat Sweets while Anna was in Hawaii. One of the best things about living in my building is that we exchange catsitting duties – so I went down the hall and visited Sweets a few times a day and one of my neighbors will do the same for Chaos while I’m out of town. Anyway, Anna brought back some very fun black cat swag for me!

“Well, this is bigger, but it still doesn’t seem like a cat to me.”

From the left, swizzle sticks, a very cool black cat nodder, and one of my wine glasses decorated with a little black cat that hangs from the rim by its tail.

Um, do you think Anna’s trying to tell me I should have a party?!

“Where’s the wine, Mom?! A glass of a fine tuna or catnip wine would really hit the spot right now.”
Hmm, do you think I should tell him that he’s not old enough to drink?
Alongs, Randonymity, Those Cats

A is for…

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Abundance. (Hey, cut me a break – I joined the ABC-Along late! I’m caught up now. Well, after this entry, I am.)

Blogging has brought Abundance into my life: Abundance of laughter, of tears, of joys and sorrows shared… Abundance of friends I would never have met otherwise.

You’ve probably participated in or at least noticed the Abundance of Pal exchanges (be they Secret, Better, or other) and contests in the knitblogging community as we reach out and share with each other, getting to know each other better, getting to know each other beyond the blogosphere. That was something that I never expected when I started to blog – but I’m definitely not complaining.

I love to get postcards from my friends on their travels, but over the past 10 years or so, the cards and postcards have dwindled as the internets increase. We send more email and virtual cards and fewer physical cards. It happened so gradually, I don’t think I really noticed. Until recently. The cards below are all from other bloggers. How cool is that?!

“I’m sure Mom won’t notice if I get up on the TV right now…”

As part of getting to know some other bloggers and sharing the Abundance, I participated in a little spring exchange with Peeve, Mrs Pao, and Eileen. I thought I’d share some pictures of a few of the fun things that have arrived.

Yum… A package from Mrs Pao, with some alpaca, Regia Silk (which I’ve been dying to try), and Fyberspates (which I’ve never seen before):

Along with a very fun goldfish wand toy for Chaos – I love the cat picture on the package!

And the aforementioned chocolate bunny (really, when the hormones hit in a few days, I won’t have any qualms about devouring that bunny), some cute mini knitting needles, a ball of Scheepjes (another yarn I haven’t seen before), some tasty gluten-free biscuits…

And my very own toy mouse, made from some gorgeous fruitwood! We’re having a wee spot of trouble with this mouse right now, since Chaos insists on knocking the mouse down from wherever I put it. Apparently, all mice are his mice.

Along with more gluten-free biscuits and steamed pudding/cake thingies (not available for this photo *ahem*), Peeve sent me Kafka on the Shore, with the far superior non-US cover…

*sniff sniff*

And a “Cat Garden” kit. Although the box says it’s for things like catmint and catnip, I think I’ll be growing a crop of little tabbies and torties and tuxedos. 🙂

One out of one tails exposed to this kit agree!

I highly recommend participating in a Pal exchange, be it one of the larger ones or simply a small one that you organize. It’s a lot of fun, and spreads the Abundance of blogging.
Knitting, Randonymity, Those Cats

Random rainbows

55 Comments

I’m enjoying the playlists y’all are sending in for the Chaotic Playlist Contest! You still have plenty of time to email your playlist to the contest line – remember that all playlists received by 6 pm Central Daylight Savings Time on Monday, April 10, will be included in the random drawing.

Let us all pause a moment to curse Daylight Savings Time. I’m still not back on track after springing ahead last weekend. Yeah, yeah, that extra hour of light is nice – but maybe we could just stay on DST all year instead of switching back and forth? Just sayin’.

There’s still time to buy tickets for the Geek Prom… No, I’m not going – why ruin my perfect prom non-attendance now? (Besides, skipping the cow eye dissection sounds like a wise move.)

Brace yourselves – is this not the cutest chocolate bunny you’ve ever seen?! Thanks, Mrs Pao!! But here’s the problem – I’m not sure I’ll be able to actually eat this twee little bunny. I want him to come home and live with me always!

*sniff*

Right now, the poor little bunny is hidden in my desk, away from my evil and menacing coworkers who have threatened his continued existence. Hmph.

Yesterday Danielle wondered if I’d been doing any knitting or if I was just hanging around admiring my cabinets. So last night I mostly finished my pair of Ranbow Jays – I have about 1/2 inch of ribbing left to do on one, plus weaving in the ends. (Thanks to Sandra, who inspired me to use my “Fun Nation” yarn for Jaywalkers!) And no, the heels aren’t uneven, altho it sure looks like it in this picture:


Yup, this was definitely my April Project Spectrum knitting project.

“Doody doody doody do… Whoa. What the heck is going on here?”

“So… bright… must not look directly at the socks…”

Knitting, Project Spectrum, Those Cats

In which I actually knit something and also find some yellow and orange around the house

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Yes, the slightly misshapen object below is a “necklace” for my iPod shuffle, based on Kristi’s Nano Necklace. All the lumpy lopsidedness is my own doing – Kristi’s Nano Necklace is gorgeous! What I needed was something to hold my shuffle while I walk around the Lakes this spring and what I got is very functional for that purpose. It was knit flat on an Addi Turbo 2mm for the body and Inox steel 1.75mm for the i-cord. The yarn is Regia Cotton Jacquard leftover from the first pair of fingering weight socks I ever knit (awwwww…..).

Please excuse the lighting – it was a bit dark outside when I finished…

Moving right along to Project Spectrum’s April colors of yellow and orange, Peeve started things out right by sending me this fabulous color appropriate card:

See Chaos there in the middle, begging? I think he’s flanked by Jeanne’s cats Bugsy and Pud. 🙂

I didn’t think I had much yellow and orange around and feared I would be reduced to taking pictures of the lemon dish soap and the Saran Wrap box. However, I did find a few things. Here’s a little cat sculpture that usually sits way up high, out of Chaos’ reach:

And here’s most of the yellow and orange media I found. Heck, there’s even some yellow in the upholstery on my futon couch that I hadn’t really noticed before:

“Whoa, what’s all this stuff on the coffee table?!”

“And the winner of the Chaos Booker Sniffer Prize is Children of God Go Bowling by Shannon Olson!”