Stinker's Favorite Project

Have you met Stinker?

Stinker is my sweet baby (insert disgusting baby talk here) kitty. She is black with gray swirlies on each side of her tummy. When we picked her up from the foster home she was just a kitten. She had been sleeping in the litter box and was a little ripe, so in case you're wondering how she got her name, there you go. She must have been abused before I got her; acclimating her to people has been a hard, sometimes heartbreaking process. She is now to the point where she will not only hang out with us, but will even hang out with the girls when they come over.

But this isn't Stinker's life story. This is the story of her favorite project.

Stinker has always been, uhm, different. When I first adopted her, she promptly holed herself up in my mother's disaster of a closet, only coming out to eat and use the litter box (thank goodness). She is violently allergic to Friskies dry food, but loves it canned. She is not interested in all the yarn I have hanging so invitingly from my yarn shelf. I have knit and crocheted her little toys, to which she showed a polite interest before dropping the charade and abandoning them for some cheap Walmart mouse-hussy. Even dangling it in front of her would not hold her attention. Until now.

She is mad for the $1 sweater I brought home and destroyed. She slept on it when I brought it home. She stared intently as I butchered the poor thing, winding the first batch onto an empty toilet paper roll. She pawed at the unraveling stitches as I started making proper skeins out of it. She sat on her hind legs like a groundhog to watch as I used my makeshift un-winder (toilet paper holder) to get my first yarn into skeins like its sisters. I washed the skeins in the sink and rinsed them in the tub, then left them hanging from the shower-rod for two days with a fan on them and a candle lit in the room to keep some heat in the room. I hit them a few times with the hairdryer. It was cold and damp work, so she kept her distance during this portion. She was back as soon as I started winding the skeins into balls by hand. The smallest skeins I just curled up, hoping I won't need it for the project. She has had some great fun playing with these tiny skeins!

And what will I make? Something for Stinker? Nope. Well, maybe a toy from the scraps. I have decided to dub my project the Sweet Pear Shawl, named after the candle used to keep the bathroom above freezing. I will be using the Knitting Geek's simplest shawl pattern and making a cotton shawl for my grandma's birthday (I hope it's done by then).

And no, I haven't forgotten about Dad's birthday socks either. They are both nearly done, the afterthought heels are all that's left, and since I have nine size 1 needles, both are standing by fully needled and ready to go! I should have them done this weekend, in plenty of time for my March 20 deadline.

And the finger-puppets for Ava? I think she'll like these better.

CONTEST UPDATE:

I got a response! Only one response, but, beggars can't be choosers. I'm trying to become part of a few blog-rings and get some more circulation, but I haven't heard back from any of them yet.

There is one problem with making Jen socks: she's allergic to wool and I haven't found any cotton sock yarn I don't hate. She is interested in learning, so I'm going to put together a nifty kit for her with some pretty yarn (prolly recycled silk), a scarf pattern, a beginners book, and the solemn promise that I will help her. Not everyone has dreams that teach them to purl.