I still have the trail cam set up to watch the water bowl behind the coop. It turns out that there are at minimum five raccoons washing in the dish. Hm.
I’m not the only one watching. Mr Tom was caught keeping an eye on an opossum coming in for a drink.
I finished recycling my Bernat blanket yarn mermaid tail into cat mats. In total, I made 7 large mats, 3 crate-sized mats, and one round basket liner. The yarn used was taken from the old unused blanket and scraps from other projects.
To make the mats, using a 8mm hook or a hook that makes a tight but not difficult stitch, chain 30 for a large mat, or 20 for a crate sized mat. Single crochet each row until the mat measures about 17”. I donated most of the mats to the local no-kill cat shelter.
It is hard to write on your music as you are listening to learning tracks when the kitten jumps up and lays on the paper. He wasn’t there to cuddle, he heard the crinkling of paper, which is his second favorite sound after the opening of a can. He was ejected for foul play. I just need to remember that the claw hole is not a breath mark.
I’ve been slowly working away at my recycled yarn cat mats (which I first blogged about here), and decided to line the cats’ favorite basket. I started with a magic circle and used single crochet stitches. It starts as with any flat round crochet work, with increases spaced by single stitches that gradually increase in number, but as it climbed the walls of the round basket I found that I was still adding increases but not increasing the singles. That sounds more complicated than it was, huh. Here are some cat pictures.
I didn’t write things down as I went, I was crocheting by feel, but here is the approximate pattern, for those inquiring minds that want to know.
Mr Tom and his Shadow still come over to get brushed. I use a small wire pet brush to remove the burrs and give them a good once over. If they had it their way I would spend all day brushing them. At least the matts on Mr Tom’s belly are down to just a couple small clumps under his arm pits. And I know I did this to myself, working so hard to get them accustomed to the brush. Now if Momma cat would let me help her, although of the three, she does the best job grooming her long fur on her own.
Critters and Craft 