Gratuitous post about Uncle Herbert. It has taken us a while to fully appreciate his many qualities! We were lucky enough to meet his mother, Lily, and he is just like her. Sweetest boy ever.
Still haven’t done any knitting.
L x
cat
Mad Cat Baskets are finally here!
Whew! It’s taken me long enough to finalise this design, but here it is. Listed and live on Etsy and Not On The High Street.
I’ve even updated my profile to show them off.
Mad Cat Baskets in 5 funky colours
After getting to grips with the quirks of t-shirt yarn, I’m really enjoying working with it. Many, many hours of working and reworking and unpicking and re-calculating have gone into these five cat beds. Because the yarn is totally unreliable – could be super-chunky, or just a bit chunky – each basket comes out a different size.
But they will all comfortably accommodate a small or medium-sized cat.
And Herbie, at a push.
All tucked in!
Till next time,
L x
Purple and yellow cat baskets
Some fab new colours have arrived from Hoooked Zpagetti.
New arrivals
So far I’ve made a purple basket
and a yellow one. But Herbie has chosen purple.
I love the bright colours and how the light makes the giant stitches pop out.
More colours coming soon – and a cat cave!
Till next time
L x
Uncle Herbert is pretty in pink
How about a shocking pink knitted cat basket? I think so!
The basket is normal-cat-sized. It’s just that Herbie is BIG. Still, he’s happy to model for me.
The pink basket is going to be part of my new range of cat beds in all the colours of the rainbow. I’m using upcycled t-shirt yarn, and it has many little quirks. One of them is that each cone of yarn is a slightly different thickness. Which means that every time I start a new basket, I have to assess the thickness of the yarn and decide whether to use a double strand or not.
On the plus side, the range of colours is glorious and never-ending, so inspiration is never far away!
Oh, and Monty likes the pink basket too. But he kind of flattens it.
More yarn, bigger baskets!
Till next time,
L x
Knitting and Me are Back On
I knitted my cat basket in t-shirt yarn. It turned out much better than I expected.
I have had this cone of t-shirt yarn on the shelf for more than 6 months. I never thought it would work. T-shirt yarn is quite floppy, not stiff like the semi-felted wool I was using before. That’s why I thought it would never work as a basket – the sides have to stand up unsupported. But I was wrong. The sides stand up beautifully.
Until Larry came along and curled up on top of it.
Larry flattens the new basket
It was good to get Larry’s seal of approval. But I have to make an adjustment. The new yarn is thinner than the semi-felted wool, so the basket knits up smaller. Larry is using the entire basket as a pillow.
Time to make a bigger basket. Here goes with the next size up. I’ve got just enough t-shirt yarn left to make the medium size. This works out a lot better for Larry.
Larry in the medium basket
The t-shirt yarn is delightfully easy to work with, maybe because of the generous stretch it has. Fortunately I can use the same set of doublepins I already have. Most exciting of all, t-shirt yarn is easily available in every colour under the sun. Wow, how exciting is that?
I went online and ordered a load of fabulous colours.
Knitting – me and you are back on!
Till next time,
L x
Knitting again!
Such a long time since I picked up the needles. Crazy busy few weeks in the day job since January.
I had the pleasure last weekend of knitting a bamboo flute warmer for a musician friend. The size was 60 cm long by 3 cm diameter. So I knitted a long, long rectangle, eyelets at one end, and sewed it up. I added a double ribbon drawstring and a few beads. It was simple and quick, and my friend loved it. I thought, how I’ve missed knitting!
Now I have a few days off the day job and some space in my head for other things. I finally got the t-shirt yarn out which I ordered ages ago, and cast on using 12mm needles.
It looks OK! But does it stand up?
Yes it does!
I see potential. Could this be the start of a new range?
Till next time
L x
Sold the last cat basket!
The very last cat basket I have is a size Small which I made a while ago and sent as a sample to Anthropologie. They didn’t go ahead in the end, which was just as well, since the wool has been permanently discontinued. So they sent the sample back to me and it’s my very last one.
Then today my boss announced she has just reserved a new kitten in the local rescue centre – a ginger and white cutie – to keep her older cat company. Could she buy a cat basket for him? A pleasure that my last wool basket is going to a home where I can see it again! The kitten is going to be called Jimmy – how adorable is that?
In case my own cats are disappointed, I’m sure I could pull together some scraps and offcuts, maybe undo a couple of smaller prototypes, to fashion the very very last ever basket to keep them happy too.
Herbie would appreciate it.
Till next time,
L x
No more giant wool in the UK!
This week I got a great order for TWO medium cat baskets from a lady in France (thanks, notonthehighstreet.com!)
I realised I was down to my very last cone of giant wool and this order was going to use it all up. I contacted my supplier to place another order, and was shocked to find out the the wool is no longer available.
I contacted the only other supplier in the UK that I know of (who were more expensive), and sure enough they told me the same thing. This yarn is discontinued.
A google search yielded nothing remotely like it. Which didn’t surprise me because it was hard enough to source any kind of giant wool in the first place. One of the suppliers helpfully sent me some samples of their undyed yarn. But their thickest offering, a soft wool roving, was not even in the same ball park as the giant wool.
So with great sadness I will fulfil my last order for extreme knitting cat baskets this weekend.
Unless anyone out there can recommend a supply?
Till next time,
L x
Cat Tree is a Hit
I just got this new cat tree for Herbert.
It’s less of a cat tree, and more of a cat barrel. I wanted it to have a small footprint and not be a hideous monstrosity, so it fitted the bill.
There is a comfy bed on top and three dens inside. The bottom two dens connect, and the top den is self-contained. There is even a fluffy mouse on a piece of elastic suspended inside, for hours of fun.
Monty and Larry, checking it out
Trouble is, this cat tower is standard cat-sized. Not Maine Coon-sized. They fit on top OK, because they fold up really small. But they can’t get their great backsides and tails inside.
Hey, I don’t fit!
Still, it’s useful for storing toys and pulling bits of string through. And it’s covered in sisal so they can give it a good scratch, instead of the bookcase.
The reason I got it for Herbert is that he hasn’t really got a perch to call his own in the kitchen. Larry has the laundry basket, where he has his special cushion. Monty has the top of the bookshelf, where he likes to look down on us. And now Herb has his own cat tower. I really hope it will help to build up his confidence and stop him over-grooming.
Zzzzzz
Till next time,
L x
A Love Affair with Wool
One of the reasons I fell in love with knitting is the wool. The texture, colours, feel and even the scent of pure wool were very appealing – and still are. When I was little I used to go and stay with my aunt who was a spinning and weaving teacher. Needless to say she always had a wool-related project to keep me amused. I remember sitting in her garden one summer’s day, handling some raw wool fleece. My job was to loosen the fibres by tossing it into the air, teasing it out, and letting the air in. I loved the feel of the wool under my fingers and the scent of lanolin it left behind. To this day, handling pure wool is happily evocative of those times.
The giant wool I use for my baskets and cat caves is not that far removed from raw fleece. It’s had minimal processing and still retains its characteristic aroma. I had a lot of fun devising my giant wool baskets and my cats love modelling them.
So I was thrilled this week when my extreme knitting cat baskets were featured on the Ovis-A wool blog. Many thanks to Katherine for the mention!
Ovis-a.com is a new site which aims to promote and celebrate British wool and wool designs. From their Facebook page – “The overall ethos is to promote a forward thinking and contemporary way to showcase British Wool products, using a directory and showcase service.” They are also on Twitter.
This is a great idea and I wish them all the best with their venture!
It’s not finished yet, Herbie
Till next time,
L x
