LOL the Big Reveal

Hello everyone,

I really wasn't sure I'd make it to the computer today - I've been in bed with a migrain. but I am feeling a bit better right now.  Sooooooooo here I am.

Yesterday's mystery items where Knitting Nancy's, Knitting Knobbys, Bizzy Lizzys or a mired of other names.
I first learned of then as Spool Kniters and my father made me my very first one - way back when I was in first or second grade., by pounding 4 small nails into a spent wooden spool.

As you can see from the picture the distance apart of the pegs makes a big difference in the tightness of the knitted rope it makes.  For my Muffs wrist strap I used my clear knitter .  I also used it to make a rope for around my great nieces neck when I make her a little muff for Valentines day.

The others became toys for My favorite mancat - Genghis Khat.

Hey these are great.  You don't mind if I just help myself do you?

They kept him entertained all morning long.

That wasn't nice Pellie!  I will get back at you for making me look so silly

That's much better-  Thank you Sir Knight for taking a picture I can be proud of.

I slept and he played till he was exhausted then he came and snuggled  - what a wonderful day it was.  Headache and All.

Hugs,

Pellie

What is it Wednesday?

Hello everyone,

Today I decided to try something different and along with Genghis's Wordless Wednesday - I would hostess a few -  -   "What is it Wednesdays?"

So What do you think the items in the picture are?

These particular items are relatively new - but I used to use a similar type item when I was a very young girl.

I'll tell you all about them tomorrow.

Hugs,

Penny

P.S. It rained yesterday but it was warmer - so guess who had to take a short nap outside?

Purrs,
Genghis

Thinking & Creating

Hello everyone,

Do any of you recognize these cascading ruffled kind of scarves?

Have they made it as the next best thing in your neighborhood or are they on there way out of fashion already where you live?

Cheers

Well this fall,  they were hot in my neck of the woods.     And so I spent hours making them for Christmas presents for my family and friends.

Summer Garden

 The holidays are past and everyone has received their scarves.  So now I can now show off the ones I made for myself without letting the cat out of the bag so to speak.  Aren't they so nice and feminine?

 Yesterday while visiting a few of my blog friends - I had one friend who was showing off her winter head gear and while she was as cute as a button in her simple crochet/knit? hat - -  I do not.
I bemoaned to her my displeasure about what is available on the market for us older ladies who - prefer a more dignified yet feminine look than what is marketed mainly for the tweens & teens.  I don't want a moose.rabbit or any other kind of critter on the top of my head  nor do I want to look like Elmer Fudd.
By the time I got off the computer yesterday - I had my rankles up and decided to quit complaining and start doing something about it.

 I became a lady on a mission.

So I went downstairs and retrieved this old faux fur coat I had purchased at the Goodwill a while back.

I ripped it apart at the seams  and with the help of U-Tube and A Pattern by Jo-Anne Fabrics - I made myself this beautiful hand muff.

My hand are always cold  and gloves don't work very well, so I hope this does the trick.  It has two layers of batting and I used fleece as the liner material rather then the suggested satiny lining material.   It came out more like an envelope muff rather than the old fashion barrel muff I had hoped for but I figure it is a start.

                                

I made a wrist strap for it and crocheted the flower to decorate the outside.  

Now that I have the muff and scarf - I need to get out to the store to get a pattern for a hat I can adjust to my taste and need for warmth.

If any of you know of a elegant winter hat pattern , please let me know.  I really would appreciate it.

For now stay warm and have a great day

Hugs,
Penny

Rest & Recouperation

Hello evfurryone,

Wow!  The lats four days had been hard on me.

Sir Knight was home sick last Thursday & Friday so I had to really keep myself moving back and forth between Him and Pellie. Yea I know Pelllie was fine but I just couldn't ignore her and stay with Sir Knight -Could I?  Heck no. her feeling probably would have gotten all bent out of shape.  I mean -  it is my regular job to protect her when Sir Knight goes off to work and believe me he was in no shape to protect her so I had to do two jobs; protect Pellie and help Sir Knight feel better by the laying of my paws on him.

So today I've been taking it easy to recoup my strength.

Have a great week .

Purrs,
Genghis

National Handwriting Day

Hello everyone,

Just a short note in Celebration Of National Handwriting Day; which is Popularly observed on the birthday of John Hancock to encourage people to write more often and more legibly.

Look at these lovely old written pieces I gathered up at the "Graphics Fairy's Blog" .  Aren't they just beautiful.  

Way back when I was in school,  we reached 3rd grade and  learned to write by the Palmer Method.
We were never allowed to go back to printing again and I must admit I never looked back.  My handwriting has changed many time over the years but it still carries a bit of that old Palmer Teaching and remains legible.
No one ever complained about my penmanship and I was glad.

Especially when years of Nursing sent me screaming trying to read the handwriting of most of the doctors.

Well Sir Knight is calling, and I must rush off.

Please have an exceptional evening.

Hugs,
Penny

Check out my first swap items for the year.

Hello everyone,

In trying to get back into a routine - I decided I needed to get back into the habit of doing an ATC swap or two.  So I headed over to my favorite place to swap. Blissful ATC Swap and signed up for the January Swap.

The theme was vintage wallpaper -- say what! --- hummmmm what am I going to do with that???

What's that you say- we are exchanging three cards apiece - oh dear - what did I get my muse into?

My partner for the swap was Wendy from Art By Wendy.  This girl has an amazing blog and makes some pretty incredible art.   If you haven't ever visited her blog you might want to check her out.

These are the three cards she sent to me.  Aren't they  awesome. A lot of work and talent went into these.

I really love them.   Thanks again Wendy.

Then there was the question of what I was going to make - so I went to Wendy's blog and settled in reading some of her older post and things.  I kind of concluded that she liked Steampunk and that was a theme I could get into  - but how to incorporate that with vintage wallpaper?    Think.  Think.  Think.  

 These are the Cards I made for Wendy.  The background for all three card has some Vintage wallpaper That was left at an old Victorian house I owned in the 80's (1980's that is I'm not old enough for the 1880's)

The first one with the pretty young lady and her cat. is titled:  Going Steampunk to Winter Carnival.

The second one with my own version of a steam powered carriage parked in front of the house ( yes the wallpaper is visible through the window the carriage sits in front of) is titled  Steampunk Horseless Carriage.

 

And Last but not least - this one where all the accoutrements of the party are thrown willy nilly around the room  is titled:  After the Party.

I felt my muse pulled through for me after all and was quite happy with these cards. Sure hope Wendy liked them.

Well I best get busy with some of my other project.

Hugs,
Penny

A Cold and Crisp Winters Day for Mancat Monday

Hello evfurryone,
 Today it's really really cold out - but this past weekend - Oh man it was heavenly.  We had a nice warm 50
degrees and I made sure I headed out for a short snooze on my favorite chair and a little game of chase with my friend squirrel.   I don't know about you guys but i'm ready for summer.

Today is National Dress your Pet Day - I intend to go into hiding as soon as I finish my post - so Pellie doesn't get any ideas.  This mancat don't do dress up.

Oh oh, better go.


Purrs,
Genghis

Book Beat Friday

Hello everyone,

I have decided that the second and fourth Friday of every month I will have "Book Beat Friday".  It is at this time I will review the books I have read for the mystery challenge I entered  -  as well as any other books or items  I've read that I feel you might be interested in.

Sooooo without  further ado .   -    Welcome to my very first Book Beat Friday.

I decided to start this challenge off with "The Cat Who " series by Lillian Jackson Braun; because I had listened to one of the books in the series as and audio book on a car trip a friend and I made awhile ago and enjoyed it very much.  I always thought I'd read the whole series someday - but up until now never have.  So it looks like someday is here.

Title:                                  The Cat Who Could Read Backwards
Author:                               Lilian Jackson Braun
First Published:                 1966
Current Publisher:            G.P. Putnam's Sons  / New York

 From Inside dust cover:
"More than thirty years ago, Lilian Jackson Braun wrote the Cat Who could read Backwards and launched the phenomenally successful Cat Who ... mystery series...
The New York Times" raved that they were 'the New Detectives of the Year'"  and the Los Angeles Times called the book "a delight from beginning to end."

My thoughts and mussing:  

 That dust cover needs to be updated - its been 47 years since she wrote that first book.

With all the crime and violence we are witness to in our current society and on our TVs on a daily basis.  I wanted a mystery that was well written - yet on the light side. and this first book did not disappoint me.

In this first book we meet the main (human) character Jim Qwilleran.  Jim is a veteran reporter and war correspondent - who's life had taken a turn for the worse, with alcohol playing a big part in his downfall.
When our story first opens We find Jim trying to pull himself up by his proverbial bootstraps - he has taken a job with a very small town newspaper(one of the few even willing to give him a chance) called the Daily Fluxion.  His first day on the job - he is assigned to the Art Beat - not as Critic for that position is already filled - but rather to write fluff feature articles on who's who and what's up in the local art community.
Right from the get go Qwill (as his friends & co workers call him) is not impressed -  but he needs the job, so he agrees   The only bright spot in that awful situation is that Qwill's best friend from childhood, Arch Riker, will be his boss.

As he moves around and acclimates himself to the art community he finds that there is much more than first meets the eye.  George Bonifield Montclemen  the Fluxion's Art Critic provides rather shape tongued criticism that is responsible for most of the unrest Qwill hears and sees.  Montclemens provides more than that though - he offers Quill a wonderful apartment in his brownstone and introduces him to a very special Cat named  Kao K'o-Kung, who only dines on gourmet faire.  Since Montclemens travels a lot Qwill becomes obligated to take on the additional job. of cat sitter.  Koko and Jim do become fairly good friends and when the art community turns inside out with a stabbing death at a high class gallery and then the murder of Montclemens himself; man and cat go through some adjustment trying to understand the other but they work through it and in the end solve the mystery to everyone's satisfaction,


All in all - it was a light and fun read which I enjoyed very much and I hope all the rest are as well written.

Wordless Wednesday

Back for Mancat Monday

Oh! Hello Evfurryone,

I was just lying here entertaining myself (as you can see) when Pellie asked me if I wanted to do today's post.

So here I am and here you are too.  Great; Now I can begin.

Today if we are so inclined we can celebrate a number of fine things

For instance it is "I'm Not Going to Take it Any More Day"  and come on admit it who hasn't felt like that every once in awhile), it is also  Harlem Globetrotter's Day , International Programmers Day (and where would all us computer people be without programs) and to round things out it is also "Thank God, It's Monday Day"

Oh and today we at our house celebrate the "La Befana" the Christmas Witch.  Blasphemy you say- no not really. The Befana was just a nice little old lady who lived alone; and the towns people called her a witch- but she really wasn't,   Sir Knight is of Italian Decent and of course we all know that everyone has slightly different beliefs; and in Central Italy they have the Befana.

This is the story as related to me by Sir Knight.

 Christian legend of la Befana starts at the time of the birth of baby Jesus. Befana spends her days cleaning and sweeping. One day the magi, also known as the three wise men, came to her door in search of baby Jesus. Befana turned them away because she was too busy cleaning. Later that night  Befana notices a bright light in the sky; she thinks this is the way to baby Jesus. She brought some baked goods and gifts for baby Jesus put them in her bag and took her broom to help the new mother clean and began her search for the wise men and the baby Jesus. She searched and searched for Baby Jesus, but never caught up with the wise men and never found Jesus because He and his family had already headed to Egypt to avoid the slaughter of the infants that King Herod ordered.  

Befana still searches today, after all these centuries.

Befana comes to a house where there is a child and leaves a gift because the Christ Child can be found in all children

Now isn't that the coolest story.  She brought me a new nip mousie - cuz I  was such a good boy this past
year.

Well I hear Pellie taking a shower- so I think I'll head off and take a nap

Purrs,
Genghis


FYI

 Tomorrow is National Bubble Bath Day.  Now I know Pellie likes this one.  there is nothing, and I mean nothing she likes more than taking a bubble bath.

It is also Earth Rotation Day.  Well of course the earth rotates and it does it very well every day - but this  is the day way back in 1851 that Physicist Jean Foucault, proved it to everyone's satisfaction ( other scientist and even the Church; who prior to this believed everything rotated around the earth.) So how cool is that????   Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

Behind already! Oh No!

Hello everyone,
Wow!  It's hard to believe we are already 3 days into the New Year.

Genghis has scolded me that we are behind in our newest resolution.( To post at least 3 times per week.)  Oh well. I guess I spent too much time pausing and thinking over the year that has passed, and looking forward to what may come
Which goes to prove that no matter how much things change -  they really stay the same.

Hopefully when Sir Knight goes back to working his regular hours on Monday; we will also get back in to a normal routine.



New Year's Are A Chance For A Beginning
                        by William Byrd

New Year's are a chance for a new beginning
Even when there hasn't been an end.
Wheels turn in an interminable bend,
Yet, marked in one spot, seem to wobble spinning
Each year we hope to do a little better
Although we know that really nothing changed.
Reason thinks that everything's arranged,
So we must dream if we would fate unfetter.


In closing I'd like to say:

May this New Year be a step forward, in leading you to a new adventure, a new road to explore and new successes to reach.

Hugs,
Penny

P.S.   I did my first crafty thing of 2013 and made this cute little memory jogger for when my muse tries to run off again.