Monday, March 15, 2010

Where's that sun?

Because I really miss seeing my shadow.

The gloom. The long continuing, uninterrupted feeling of oppressiveness and gloom. That feeling of waiting and waiting for something, and then figuring out that what you're building up all that anxiety for is just for the appearance of light. Will that sun ever come back? That's all I think about these days. The sun.

It is gloomy outdoors and twice as gloomy inside and it just seems like nothing but the sun can bump me out of this inertia. Except for maybe knitting.

Thank Gawd for knitting. It sure can get me through a lot of restless moods. One of my favorite things to knit are kittybeds for Violet.

One is blue...

...the first one I ever made and it's way too tall.

But it can be rolled down.

And smashed, if necessary.

I made this red one for a charity auction. While I was photographing it, I tried keeping it out of Violet's sight so she wouldn't jump in it and claim it as hers....

But she jumped in it and claimed it. Hers.

She then gave it a few kicks to really claim it and so once it got to the charity auction, I had to bid on it, win the bid, pay for it and then bring it right back home.

I knit this one during the Winter Olympics (which is why it is photographed outdoors in the snow).

An orange one...

And one that is just all girly and garish for no reason. Oh, she has a lot of these things.

If you look in the bottom of that last one, that circle in the middle almost looks like a sun in the center of a solar system. Doesn't it? At least it does to me because the only thing in my head these past few weeks has been sun, sun, sun.

Well, even though it's not a real sun, those kittybeds are warm and to Violet, that's kind of the same thing.


Yeah. I'm desperate for some sun. I sure do hope it comes out tomorrow but if it doesn't, at least there is the promise of something blooming that is sunny and bright...

If the squirrels don't get to them first. :-/

20 comments:

Hilary said...

Those kitty beds (and the kitty) are beautiful. I hope you're selling those. They'd be so in demand. Nice to see some budding happening there. Ours is still a little ways off but yes, that sun will be welcomed if it ever shows up.

Mental P Mama said...

I think you could finance your new digs if you sold those on Etsy!! I love every single one!!

Toon said...

So how does she pick which one to sleep in? Can you gauge her mood by her color choices? Personally, I'd go with the tall one every time.

Leenie said...

My kitty wants one. He is very jealous. But it would have to be size XL. He has already put dibs on any box or laundry basket left on the floor. Wishing sun for you. We a l m o s t have sun here.

Sandra said...

These cat beds are just adorable!!! I think if my cat saw them she'd want them, too!!! If you play with the idea of selling them, I'd love to read about it.
Sandra, all the way from Slovenia

Linda said...

I'm more than impressed with all the kitty beds! Violet is a very lucky girls. Hope you've gotten your sun by now. Love all your animals.

Maureen said...

Can you knit one that's human sized?

Rural Rambler said...

I want me some sun too. Now. Been gloomy now since last Wednesday when the sun went behind the clouds at 2:50 pm. Violet Kitty is a funny sweet fuzz face and the kitty beds are cool, very cool. I love how Violet has her way with all of them. Fun post with some great pictures of a KITTEH!!!!

Kimberly said...

Would you consider making and selling these for us kitty-owners who are doing without? They're awesome!

Shelly Cox said...

I would so buy one of these, our own sweet little Casey-Kitty would love one. They are so unique and special.

ChicagoGrrrl said...

i want one of the kitty beds. how do you make those? is that a pattern i can find somewhere or did you create it? fabulous.

Maria said...

Oh you guys. Thank you so much for all your nice comments about Violet's kittybeds. Oh I could make tens and tens of dollars making those things and I would...but the pattern was created by someone else and ethically I wouldn't feel right making money from someone else's idea. But, if you know how to knit, they're not hard to make. Really. The pattern is available here:

http://media.wendyknits.net/knit/kittybed.htm

Basically you knit in the round forever on huge needles. You then throw the thing into the washer and put it through a couple hot water cycles and then the kittybed comes out shrunken and felted. I put my beds through the washer probably one more time than I should and then stretch and pull them over a 14 inch wide plastic hatbox to dry. If you don't let them dry over a form, the bed ends up kind of shapeless. I'm not into that look. Cats don't care what it looks like though, they just like the wool.

Speaking of wool, you have to use 100% wool. No synthetics or blends because synthetics and blends don't felt. I pretty much use just Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride yarn because there's a little bit of mohair in it which is kind of pretty and the colors are gorgeous. Bonus is that the yarn is mothproof.

If anyone has any questions if they're making one, I am more than happy to answer any questions.

Maria said...

Hilary-Still no sun here. STILL!!!! Aaaaagh!

MPM-All of my big moneymaking schemes never seem to earn more than tens and tens of dollars. Hahaha. I do have to come up with something for Etsy one of these days though. Thanks for reminding me. :-)

Toon-The only reason I started writing about the kittybeds was because I was writing my long pouty run-on paragraph about how I was missing the sun and Violet was driving me crazy walking back and forth on the keyboard so I picked up one of the kittybeds, set it by the keyboard, she jumped in and relief, I could finally type again. Whew. She doesn't stay in them too long but luckily when I wrote my post she did. Oh-she likes the tall wall ones the best too.

Leenie-Where the heck is that sun? Does anyone know where it's hiding?

Sandra. Seriously. Slovenia???????? Oh my goodness, that IS farrrrrrrrrr away. LIke, really farrrrrrr away. I don't know if you know this but there are a lot of Slovenians and Croatians here in Kansas City (by the way-your country looks totally gorgeous). Thank you so much for visiting my blog and leaving such a nice comment!!! :-)

Linda-Aw thanks. I usually love just half of my pets at any one point in time. Hahaha. Turtle season is coming up because they've been pretty restless to get out of their tanks and do something. Restless turtles usually means that spring will happen very, very soon.

Maureen- snort!

Pix-Wow, you actually have the time written down when the sun disappeared. I liked those blurry images of the fuzzy bed and the fuzzy kitteh too. I just wanted to get her off my keyboard (Violet is excellent at finding weird keyboard combinations that change the resolution of the screen, etc.). It was a nice little bonus to see something so cute while I was typing away.

KImberly-Ohhhh. You're making me feel sad for kittens without knitted beds. :-( But I do appreciate your very nice comment. <:-)

Shelly-Dang. I'm now feeling twice as sad for kittens without luxury knitted beds.

Amy-I emailed you earlier with the pattern information. Really, if you decide to make one and you have any questions, just shoot me a bunch of emails. I think the whole secret to the way mine look is by using the fabulous colors that Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride comes in (they all seem to coordinate with each other too) and to make sure the bed is stretched and dried on a form. When I pick my colors, they're usually close to each other on the color wheel. I never, ever put all six colors together (yellow, orange, red, purple. blue. and green)...you know, like those gaudy supermarket bouquets of flowers? That's not colorful when you're using every color in the world, that's ugly. Just mho. :-)

Kimberly said...

While I'm resigned to the fact that my Eli will have to do with my soft robe for a bed, I must insist you continue to post - now THAT's something I don't want to live without.

Julie said...

Love your kittybeds Maria ~ the colors are gorgeous! I wonder if I could get either of my scotties to use one ~ that is, for sleeping rather than shredding?!

Maria said...

Kimberly-Maybe you'll feel less resigned to hear that Violet hardly ever uses them. They are sort of a last resort when there aren't any of my clothes or a lap available. And I'll keep posting....it's just taking a looong time to get out of this blogging slump. But Spring is officially here tomorrow and I will be driving out to Kansas and right now the sun's out and it will be in the 60s......but tonight.... the crazy weatherman trying to get the most ratings ever said there's a possibility of getting 20 inches of snow. That is not a typo. Not 2. TWENTY.

Miss Julie Reed-I'm not sure the scotties could do a lot with thick felt. Could they????? The kittybeds are just 14 inches wide so I don't know if a Scottie could even get into one. Maybe a slipper to shred would be a more appropriate challenge. I just made a couple pair of felted slippers from an ingenious pattern that are so darn cool. Check them out here....

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eddiebird/felted-slippers

abb said...

They're just beautiful! Do you sell them?

Gina Martin said...

Ok maria...I have to tell you I made one of these...so fun! I don't have a cat but mom has 3 that I think might appreciate new places to nap. I was pondering where I could get a plastic hat box to block it when I suddenly remembered the giant stock pots I have stored in the garage. Perfect size I think for tiny Abby, but Hammy & Stewart are what one might call zaftig so we'll have to see. Thanks for the pattern!

Maria said...

TSAnnie-I don't sell them but am now feeling bad that I DON'T. I'm sort of kittybedded out but might knit a couple for charity next fall. I'll let everyone know if I decide do that. Thanks for the nice comment. :-)

Gina-Any pictures?????? Please don't tell me you made one in a "simple" fair isle. Ha ha ha.

Gina Martin said...

lol...fair isle....hmmmm....that's a thought...