Kitty Blankets

Okay, okay...will you people all just simmer down? I know, we've got a lot to go through...so why don't we all just take our seats...Mildred, Leafa...are you about done? Thank you, now...

The first order of business concerns the creation of a new blog. Yes, yes, I know...it's quite exciting but just...Bob, sit down...you'll have plenty of opportunity. Alright, now...I've called it K2P.com and it'll be the new location of "armchair political commentary." Basically, I've picked up my soapbox and set it down about halfway down the block. I started this blog, right here, as a place for my adventures in knitting with my cats and a little gardening thrown in for good domestic measure. I wanted to attract other knitters (with or without cats who may or may not garden) and, though I feel strongly about certain things goin' down in the world, we knitters come from varied and diverse backgrounds and I want to turn no one away. Politics and social commentary can be polarizing so...we moved them up the street just a bit.

So, on to the knitting, shall we? Harvey, Gladys, Mabel...so good of you to come but the cookies and punch are for after the meeting...okay?

I was so excited when I got home from work. Look what came in the mail!

It's the newest issue of the Knit Picks catalogue! For those not in the know, Knit Picks is a really great, economical, online knit shop with an astounding array of options. You can check 'em out HERE. This is by far my favorite issue...the layout and organization is just superb and oh, what's this...is all about autumn, my favorite time of year. Since I've also been conducting Yarn-Over 2010 since the beginning of the year, this is about as close to shopping as I get.

Speaking of Yarn-Over 2010, it's progressing along quite nicely, thanks for asking. A brief recap: I vowed to go all year without buying any new yarn. No, seriously...it could be given, traded, gifted...so long as money did not change hands, it was good. I meant for it to be both a stash busting and budget balancing event, which it definitely has been. I can honestly report that since the first of the year, I have purchase only 2 balls of yarn and, in my own defense, those 2 were for a project that was started well before the beginning of the year AND said project was for someone other than myself, THEREFORE...what's a guy to do? Leave a pretty German lady out in the cold without a hat? You see my point. Aside from that, however...no new yarn.

People...people...don't make me call in security like last time, okay? I know it can be upsetting to some of you, all this talk about "no new yarn" but I assure you, it's much less jarring than you might imagine. In fact, I recently got to bust out of my stash some "vintage yarn" that I've has lying around for some time. This yarn has got to date back at least to the 80s, if not before. I mean check this shit out, yo...

I mean, Just take a look at the labels, the color...it was $1.49 a skein!

But wait...oh, what's that...what's that down in the corner of the label? Hah! It's the Amoco Oil logo...on a label for YARN!

I'm sure this is pre-BP ownership days but still, I knew I had to make something charitable out of it, if only to put something BP/Amoco/petroleum-based to good use. So...I present to you...

...kitty blankets, or CatMats, as I like to call them. I'm making a total of six for a local feline shelter, called Tenth Life. Though they don't yet have a physical building, they do have a network of foster homes and they focus on kittens and cats with extreme medical needs for which other shelters might find difficult to bear the financial weight. Though I can't adopt or foster, I can and do knit...and as any knitter with a cat will tell you, they just love to lay all over your stuff. I've included the pattern below, though you could probably come up with your own just as easily as I did. I added bit of left over sock yarn from the Sock Yarn Blanket in order to give myself some variety in color and to add some stripes.

Using any worsted weight yarn with US10s or US10.5s and using the knitted cast-on, CO 82sts.

R1-10: Straight garter stitch. Then...
R11 (and every WS row): K7, p68, k7.
R12 (and every RS row): K all.

This will give you a blanket approximately 22" wide. For the length, you decide. My shortest clocked in at just 16", the longest at 25". Really, the length is usually decided for me based on the sock yarn scraps I'm using to make stripes or patterns. When the blanket is as long as you want, then do another 9 rows of garter and bind off.

Now, that's all I have for this evening. I know you might be anxious to see some early pictures of the Bitterroot I'm working on but, as with all lace projects in their early stages, this one just looks like panties all bunched up...and, frankly, no one wants to see that, not even if they're your own, so...let's just move on.

The comment box is in the back, as always...and there are cookies and punch on the table back there. Thanks for your time and attention...I'm tired, shit.