Still Kicking (and knitting and sewing)

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words regarding our poor Sidney cat.  We toiled long and hard about what to do with our sweet boy and decided that we’d wait it out a bit longer.  Mr Wonderful (the hunky hubby) bought an herbal supplement and a contraption that aerates the water to make it more appealing , I suppose.  It’s a right noisy thing, but the cats are amused by it. 

So yea, Sidney is doing quite a bit better, to be honest.  The supplement seems to be helping and he’s eating again.  His appetite is generally for treats and a few nibbles of kitty pebbles here and there.  I’ve been trying to coax him into eating various concoctions of wet food: ground vs flaked and  fish vs. meat vs. poultry and gravy vs. no gravy.  Sidney says “nothing doing.”  He gives it a couple of licks here and there and a general sniff around while the other two cats break into a full-fledged conniption fit.  And people say cats have no personalities…right, right.

All the while, I have decided to start 2008 off right, with a brand new cardigan.  The Central Park Hoodie, to be exact.  I have finished the back (progress pics to come this weekend) and have started on the left front.  So far, it’s moving along in such a lovely fashion.  I chose to use the suggested Tahki Yarns Donegal Tweed in the Dark Chocolate colorway.  It’s so yummy…all chocolately with flecks of tomato red, royal purple and mustard yellow throughout.  I must admit that I haven’t really been a huge fan of tweeds but I am quite appreciative of Tahki’s choice of colors for their tweedy bits in this line of yarn.  It will definitely be a potential go-to yarn for future knits.

In other craftiness, I have finally signed up for a sewing class.  It is a beginners’ course to familiarize ourselves with a machine, patterns and some basic techniques.  While I have no real sewing skills to mention, I am not a complete stranger to the sewing machine.  I’ve made a couple of panel skirts and a Pocahontas costume for a Halloween several years ago.  I am itching to dive right in, while the instructor seems to think that we should take a bit more time to discuss threading a machine and pattern cutting.  Boring.  I have recruited my pal, Monique, as my sewing mentor, as she is becoming quite the accomplished seamstress while having a knack for perfection that I could only dream of achieving.  We’ve scheduled a sew-in this Saturday to help me get started so I can be off and running by my next class.  Can’t wait.  Expect progress shots of my sewing adventures this weekend too.