While I admire qualities like tenacity and persistence (in people) I was a little bit perturbed this morning to come out and find ghost poo, bubblewrap and shredded tissue all over the living/dining areas. I’m super curious to know how you managed to get the box open, since I’d (I thought, anyway) cleverly folded the box flaps over/under/over/under in such a way as to keep the box shut overnight.

I realize that the fault is entirely mine for not entirely removing the box (and thus temptation) which contained these base Epic-Mother-Of-All-Messes-making materials, and that expecting 5 VBK(tm) to resist such an opportunity is perhaps a trifle unrealistic.

My bad. It won’t happen again.

Love,
Mommy

Dear Eldest Offspring,

While I admire your creative process and always want to make every single resource at my disposal available to you, I would like to reiterate the following request. When you take the card reader into your bedroom and it then becomes lost in the morass of clutter residing on your floor, I cannot download pictures from my camera into my computer. Especially when the card for my camera is IN the card reader, meaning that I couldn’t take pictures in the first place. This, of course, is because either you or your sister broke the port that would enable me to use the camera sans card by shoving the wrong plug/cable into the hole and making it fit, which incident (and my feelings regarding same) we have covered in previous communications.

When the card reader and by extension my camera card both disappear, I cannot take pictures of Epic Mother Of All Messes Made By Very Bad Keetonz(tm) and post them on the internet.

This irritates me and thwarts my creative process. It also disappoints the legions of VBK fans who are, I am sure, eagerly anticipating the next installment of the never ending fun from Casa Way Too Many Freaking Tuxedo Cats.

I’m just saying.

Love,
Mommy

PS: Happy New Year!

And I thought… “I found it.”

She makes scenes like these possible:

And these videos of little Captain Pugwash, also an Amanda rescue who was found under a dumpster and sent to Miss Kimberly’s – you’ll want sound with these:

The woman who is the subject of the above linked blog post is one of the folks who saves litters of kittens and passes them on to Miss Kimberly’s Finishing Academy for Wayward Kittens. Very often these are tiny babies who must be bottlefed and if it were not for her, they would be killed immediately. When they make it to Miss Kimberly’s, they are liberally pre-sweetened and placed in good forever-homes like mine. I have four Kimberly Kittens, and two of them – Bonnie and Ollie – came to Kimberly’s via Amanda. When it came time for them to come live with me, Amanda helped out by getting them tutored at her cost.

Just look at the videos above. Kimberly Kittens eat their greens, y’all.

She’s done this for so many kittens and a few puppies, getting htem vet care, tutoring, and shots at her own expense. The vet’s office where she works gives her a deal, but her bill is still very high.

I think I found my holiday spirit this year by giving a little bit back via Miss Kimberly, who is spearheading a drive to pay off Amanda’s vet bill so that she can continue with her compassionate and heroic rescue work.

I’m linking here as a part of that, to see if I can’t help add to the total.

If you have it, if you can, if you want to, there are a lot of animals who have been helped and yet more who stand to be helped by Amanda and I say that’s splendid and I thank you. And if you can’t, if you are utilizing resources to help other people and causes this season, I say that’s splendid and I totally thank you. Because really, no matter where it goes, we are all made better when we reach outside ourselves. My cause may not be your cause. It’s like Faith says, we can all pick that one thing that is meaningful to us, and we can fight that one battle, trusting other people to pick up the ones we can’t take on. Whatever your cause is this year, I hope it helps you find the reason for the season.

The holidays are totally happier when we’re doing nice things about them!

I started off with some Rambouillet from Funky Carolina (a fiber club offering from last spring) and plan to ply that against a merino/silk blend (also from Funky) that’s a really lovely bright springy greeny yellow. I adore Funky Carolina, her colorways and fiber choices are always really inspired, beautifully prepared and a joy to spin. She’ll still be doing her Etsy store, but says she is taking a break from the subscriptions for a while. I’ll definitely be watching to see when she picks it back up.

My goal is to spin for at least 10 minutes per day. I joined a very inspiring Ravelry group, to that end. It really is amazing how much you can spin up if you just do a little bit at a time. It is also endlessly amusing to watch the kittens, who are transfixed by the spinning wheel as it goes round and round.

Since there is about to be a new influx of fiber into the Big Bowl O Handspun Yarn, I figured I probably should use some of the old handspun in actual projects. I suppose there’s this part of me that doesn’t want to use yarn unless it is “perfect” but what that leaves me with is a lot of handspun I’m not using. Because I’m so, so, so not perfect. I’m just flyering by the seat of my pants, right? I’m trying to get over myself and use it up.

So I started another one of those “Noro” scarves that everyone is knitting up. Only this one isn’t Noro. It’s my handspun. And I could NOT be happier with it. I love how it feels, how it is knitting up into a squooshy fabric and blooming… oh it’s wonderful to use something I made!

How gorgeous is that, right? I love the color variations, even in the mostly solid colorway. It’s a blend of different fibers, wool, alpaca, silk, and some glitz. What fun!

And then #1 Daughter requested one of those silly little cowl/neckwarmer things that I’ve been turning out, and she asked me to make it for her in some bright orange handspun that I was despairing of ever finding a use for.

I like this idea of making actual warm and useful things, not just stashing the skeins in a big bowl on the mantel! And nowhere in the concept of “actually warm and useful” does it say “perfect.”

Sold.