I have been saving this topic for a rather non-crafty day like today when I really don't have much to show. All I did today was go to mothers group, do some washing, wash the biggest furry visitor with Austy, do some food shopping, make baby food and cook dinner (as well as feed a teething baby a hundred times since she won't eat her solids with those sharp little canines trying to push their way through her tender gums).
I also worked on that mochalicious zest blanket but it would be rather boring if I just showed you pictures of that with a few more rows added each day, so I'll save that for when there's a lot more done. So far I'm about a quarter of teh way through. I like the way my pattern is knitting up, I love the chocolate colour, but the wool is horrid. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration but it's certainly not as soft as some of the lovely stuff I have been knitting with lately. As a result I am thinking that it will most likely end up as a pretty blanket for our future kitten's hideyhole, and I have the perefect sewing pattern to make a matching cat tent for it to go in. It should go nicely in our living room and give our newest family member soemwhere to escape to when the kidlets are having their roudiest moments. Our smallest furry visitor has shown us that hideyholes are very imporant for little kittens trapped in a room with two young children!
So now, let me introduce our furry visitors. First up, the big one, who I have featured here a few times before as we love to look after her when her people are exploring the countryside. Meet Lulu, a very playful, very friendly and quite huggable retriever. She loves kids, and Austy always has a ball with her. She's not too fond of baths though, depspite the fact I wash her in a toddler pool filled with lovely warm water and rinse of with fresh buckets of equally warm water. She is always excited to see me bring out the towels and waits for me to tell her "All free" as I unleash her and watch her run madly abnout the back yard and roll on the lawn. She doesn't complain though - I think that she has worked out that she always gets more cuddles after her bath. Once she is dry, I spend ages brushing her (and today I had to use a tiny cat brush as I forgot to ask her people for her own brush when they dropped her off with us) and then she looks like a big fluffy bear with silkn fur that I can't resist wrapping my arms around her and giving her a good squeeze and a pat. She really is a lovely dog.
And this is the littlest one - a new member of the Virgo family, Maggie. She's very quiet, quite timid, but loveable all the same. We haven't seen a lot of her (hence the rushed photo!).
The first day she spent hidden behind the washing machine until I prized her out and stuffed the gap with an old blanket to stop her hiding in there again. Since then she has been in hiding a lot - behind the washing basket, under the shoe rack, under Austy's desk, behind thre different curtains, under the computer desk... We onder where else she might hide tomorrow. Austy gave us a fright this morning as he exclaimed "Maggie's gone outside! I let her out and she's disappeared." as I came back from my shower with Madelyn. We all had a good look, calling her and wondering if we'd even hear her since she has the quietest cry (and the loudest pur to match!) but she wasn't anywhere to be found. Then Andrew saw her, hiding under Austin's desk trying to blend into the wall. She gets brave occasionally and lets Austin play with her, but then he gets a bit too much for her and she has a bit too much carrying around and retreats to a new place to hide. Since our own cat has died, I have been reading Austin "Goodbye Mog". Mog gets old and dies, but her ghost stays to watch over the family when a new kitten arrives. That kitten is a lot like Maggie. Mog calls the kitten a "stupid kind of kitten" because it's so afraid of the family but in the end Mog helps the kitten learn that the family are okay, kind of like how Maggie is adapting to having little children around. Although it did sound a little strange when Austy referred to Maggie as a stupid kind of kitten.... Seriously - who writes "stupid" in a book for preschoolers?!!
Tonight I was reminded what it is like to knit with a kitten in the house as she jumped on my lap, stole my wool, nibbled my needles and chewed on my knee - all in good fun! I kept losing my place and packed the knitting away to give her some cuddles instead. It will be so nice to have a kitten again, I'd love another dog too but Andrew isn't as sold on that one yet as puppies take a bit more time to train and we'd like to take it to obedience training like our last one so we need to wait until the kidlets are a bit older.
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