The Bionic Knitter

So this is the nice new piece of hardware I received in my right arm a week ago today, after I was hit by a truck on the way to work on Valentine's Day.

I have a few other assorted injuries and am still having trouble walking, but it looks like I'm on the mend now. It's been a hellish week with lots of pain and frustration, and hubby's been run off his feet looking after me. And yes it has occurred to me more than once that I won't be knitting for around another two months. My helpful MIL suggested I take up French Knitting or crochet - haha. Never!

Be careful anyone who rides a bike or scooter - we are just roadkill waiting to happen out there. No matter how careful you are there's always some other person who's not. I just hope that truck driver looks next time before he turns across traffic.

Well, der.....

A while back I was looking for some graph paper for creating intarsia designs - that is, something printed with rectangular boxes instead of square. I can't believe I use Excel for data every single day and it never occured to me to just make my own graph sheets!

I wasn't sure of the exact measurements for cell width compared to height - maybe someone out there knows - but here 'tis. Just print it out and use coloured pens to fill in the rectangles and create your design, or use the computer to colour the cells and print out on the colour printer.

Here's my first attempt:

I promise to draw something more interesting when I actually come to using this to knit something.

Breaking records

When I posted about the knitted digestive system a while back, I really thought I had seen all that the world of anatomically correct craft could give to us. But I was wrong. Here I give you the sewn foetus:


See it for yourself, and read the motivations behind this stitching marvel, at Craftster.

From one cat to another

My Mum heard about my new friend Tim, and sent this for him with my birthday present (yes it's my birthday soon - way too soon if you ask me):

From her cat Demelza. I know what you're thinking - shocking name. I think Mum mentioned she named her after a character in the Poldark series that was shown on telly in the 70s. Apparently the character had a similarly hard start in life to Mum's cat. Demelza the cat was found as a kitten one morning on the vet's doorstep. Someone had left her and three other kittens bound tightly together inside a small package. The other kittens had died from the ordeal but Demelza was just clinging to life. It's astounding to see the things some people are capable of.

A cat's right to choose

I feel just so happy when I see this little face.

This is a cat that I discovered loitering around our yard over the past week. He was in a really bad way - really thin and dirty with mangey scabby fur. I assumed he was a stray because of the terrible shape he was in. He was very nervous so I just left some food for him outside for a couple of days and when he started to get a bit more comfortable I gave him a bit of a cuddle (avoiding said nasty fur areas). It's only been a week but a transformation is already happening. His fur looks so much better - you can actually pat him and pick him up now without wanting to run and wash yourself! And he has the sweetest little nature. Very very affectionate - as if he had been starved of cuddles and alone for a long time. I adore him and would love to keep looking after him - but of course I had to check if there was someone else out looking for him.

After a few days he let me get a hold of the tag on his collar long enough for me to read the phone number on it. I got in touch with the owners and we tried between us to get him to go back to them - I stopped feeding him, but still he came back to me and never went back to the previous owner's place. My mum always said you don't choose a cat, a cat chooses you. And why shouldn't he have a say in where he lives. The other people have a couple of young kids and two other (bigger) cats and he just couldn't get the attention (and I'm guessing peace!) he needs. So we agreed that I should take him on permanently. It's a bit of a big thing for me as I haven't had my own cat for a few years. I think dogs are easier than cats in some ways because you can take a dog with you on holidays without worrying too much. Already we've had to postpone the weeklong camping trip we were going on in a week's time. I don't have the heart to leave him in a cattery this early on or lock him inside with someone doing food drops once a day just yet. Not for a whole week. And especially not since he is still so anxious for attention. In fact he still seems less interested in the food than he does in just being patted and played with. Poor little chookie. I can't wait to see how he looks once he's put a little weight on those bare bones.