My day went sideways when I found out that I had a big whalloping error in my  crocheted Shadow pattern. ERG!

I re-did the chart and fixed the error in the text and sent out the corrections to all the people who had ordered the pattern.

Then…. I noticed….. that….. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH……. there was another typo!

I ran, screaming from the room….. and then came back and fixed it, and sent the correction off agaaaaaaaaaaaain!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Through all the ‘ruptions’

Ms Kitty was keeping me company,

purring away,

and looking all squidgie eyed at me,

telling me that she still loves me,

even though

I was having a horrible

terrible, no good  awful day….

It’s so nice to know that

even when the day falls

off the charts, that

Ms Kitty still nobly

loves me through it all.

My husband also loves me and ‘there, there’d'  me and consoled me.

I wanted to pay crochet tribute to them both,  but I couldn’t find any patterns for crocheted husbands.

It’s so much easier to find crocheted cats….. soooooo…..

I am hereby having a mini  Carnival of Crocheted Cats.

Starting off with my own tribute to the crocheted cat: I love crocheting cats, and designed a book of them several years ago:  Noreen’s crocheted cats That book’s not free, so I needed to find a few free cat patterns for you.

Here’s a whole bunch of free kitty patterns:

A whole page of  many many many Cat_Theme_Free_Patterns

And more free-crochet-stuffed-cats

Amigarumi crochetedCat

As we all know, cats love toys, so here are a few links of some crocheted Cat toy patterns:

Cute cat-toys-free-crochet-pattern

another-cat-toy-pattern-crocheted

Cats and yarn and crochet hooks- what a natural combination!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Yup. He’s a kamakaze sneak thief who  has super natural powers.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The problem is that he has psycho-kinesis down pat .

He can gaze at an object until

it simply drops off the table or desk

and lands in his mouth.

Then….

he takes off like a

shot with us in wild

pursuit.

He’s small, but

has jaws of iron,

and the 1/2 of him

that is chihuahua

makes him very large and fierce.

And the 1/2 of him that is dachshund makes him VERY determined…. so you could loose your arm if you just grabbed the purloined object.  (BTW, in the pic, he’s sitting closer to my husband, who took the pic, than he is to me, so he looks bigger than he is. But, that’s okay, because he is convinced that he is a VERY LARGE dog.   Oh, and did you see how nice my hair looks in the pic? It’s pics like this that keep me humble.)

Anyhow… when we hear the stealthy keeerunch, chomp, pause-  (Can you see that I have just stolen your ____?)

our feet hit the ground running, and we don’t head for him…. we head for the cat food dish.

Blush.

We grab a few pieces of kitty food, and throw it madly so he’ll drop the stolen object and we can grab it up.

Sigh.

And, oh, did I mention that he is in total kahoots with Ms Kitty? Ms Kitty is the cat that lives on my shoulder.

This cat and dog hate each other, but she will scoop things out of drawers and off any surface, and drop them on the floor for him.

Seriously.

So, not only is he able to levitate stuff off my work spaces….

but he’s got the cat trained to commit wickedness for his nefarious ways, too.

Sheesh.

The other day,  I was deep in thought, working hard on a manuscript, and I heard that specific, ‘Oh oh’  sound….

Oh no no no, Small Dog!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The little booger

had grabbed one of my

Cordelia Cord makers

and was chewing it

while running and

snickering at me

over his shoulder.

Oh no no no!

I thought that it was toast,

but, I was able to file and sand

and re-paint it.

It’s rescued, and it’s mine for life, I guess….

You can see the ‘distressed’ toothmarks where he has left his mark.

Ah, never a dull moment.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

If your cat or kitten is your best friend, you want to make something for her/him for Christmas, right? Fortunately, you can whip up a crochet gift rather quickly. Here are some ideas for the furry feline in your life — and all of these patterns are free: 

Crochet chicken (or other bird) – Perfect for stuffing with catnip

Kitty sweater – Because what cat doesn’t just love to wear clothes?

Catnip mouse – More catnip

Snuggle tubbie – Although meant to provide a safe and comfortable place for shelter animals, this is great for any pet  

Octo-puss toy – Great for using up scraps

Want more kitty? Be sure to hop over to The Kitty Blog, where feline fun happens all the time. 

Image: Photos.com

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

It isn’t just cats that get into the yarn…. arghhhhhhhhh………. our little guy is a dyed in the wool, card carrying yarn trasher!

AND! he constantly cruises the studio, snarffling up anything that might work for extortion purposes…. he grabs and dashes with anything that hits the floor – and won’t give it up until he gets a piece of cat food.

The cat is in total kahoots with him on this! Kitty knocks  down  something and grins from ear to ear while the mad dash to retrieve  the object in question all unfolds.

never a dull moment…

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

We live in the country on a small farm. We have 2 dogs that we walk twice a day.

This morning, when we were walking our boys, a huge fox came up out of our neighbour’s ditch and shot across the road into our grove. Not an unusual event, but we were glad our cats were safe in the house.

After lunch, we hopped on our bikes and road the mile or so to the mailbox to pick up the mail. We noticed that the neighbour’s RV door was open, which seemed weird. Then we heard a kitten bellowing, and I stopped.

A tiny kitten shot out of the woods, and ran straight up my leg and wrapped itself around my neck!

Jim hopped off his bike and we thought for a minute what to do…. he walked back to the neighbour’s to close the door of the RV, while I cuddled the kitten.

The silly little thing was all over me like a dirty shirt! We figured that it would be a quick meal for the fox, so decided to take it home with us and leave a message for the neigbours.

What a scallywag! He’s a total sweetheart. He stole my heart, but I was really relieved when our neighbour’s daughter phoned and said she was coming for her kitten.

We are a full house, and can’t take on a kitten right now…. but, oh, even so…. he is sooooooooooo adorable!

I really hope that she keeps him in the house. He’s such a sweet little guy that I would hate for him to meet an untimely end!

He sure played havoc with my work schedule, though – yikes!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Can I spin my cat’s fur?

And the answer is: That all depends….

If your cat has fur that is long and silky, and he or she

lives, L O V E S, pleads to be groomed daily….

and you get a handful of soft fine fluff each time you groom him or her…..

Note: This is what our big boy is depositing in the grooming brush…. lovely when gathered in the brush,

but truly horrible if fished out of your teacup…..

Then, the answer to the ‘Can I spin my kitty’s fur’ is:

Y E S !

This is one large cat. That’s a 6 inch long spindle.

What will I do with his yarn? Spool knit, weave, crochet or knit with it. Yarn is yarn, no matter where it came from!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Especially since it was a fairly arduous journey to get to the shape that I loved for the hooks!

I had a happy old time out in the workshop:

and eventually, another fine and fancy feline was beaming out at me!

Mrow!

Speaking of cats and all things feline, did you know that b5, the blogging company that I write for, has a pet blog?

AND a very cute blog focused on goofy cat pics? 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

A couple of days ago, I carved a crochet hook that is a puppy. It only seemed right to carve a hook that would be a love song to all the cats who have brought joy into my life.

So, I got out a piece of wood and a pencil, and asked one of our cats to sit still long enough for me to sketch her…..

She’d rather cuddle than model.

It took me H O U R S and hours and hours to finally get the hook to express what I was feeling….

but eventually…….. after I loosened up and let the hook tell me where it wanted to go, I finally got it!

So, here it is……. a Valentine to all the cats whom I have loved over the years………

What kind of Valentine would you make for the cats, dogs, horses, frogs, ferrets, rats, gerbils, birds, fish or other critters that you have loved and been loved by?

(Friends of ours are vegetarian, so when they found a sow bug in their house, they couldn’t kill it and it was too cold to put it outside. So, they declared it to be a roommate, and put it in a jar with some munchies. Personally, I won’t be making Valentines for bugs…….. )

Post from: Hankering for Yarn