Yet again, Simon Tofield brilliantly captures cat behaviour.
Watch his earlier films on his site. Hilarious!
Friday, July 31
Wednesday, July 29
5-year Anniversary Feature, July
This is the last Wednesday of the month and I am posting what I was up to that month for the past five years. I hope you enjoy the trip down the memory lane with me.
2004, Stockholm
Playing around with my camera.
2005, Stockholm
I got a job in Dublin.
2006, Dublin
2007, Stockholm
2008, Stockholm
A vacation in London, Edinburgh and Battle of the Hearts event.
Monday, July 27
I Haz a Sad
Yesterday we visited C's brother to leave Mao with him. I lost Ursus in May and now Mao is gone too. This is not how I thought my life would turn out. I though that they'd be with me for much longer than this. It was not to be.
There were many reasons for giving Mao away. First and foremost is that he did not get along with the only female cat in the house. He wanted to be the dominant cat and she would not yield. We kept them separated, but every opportunity he got, he went after her to fight. That had to stop.
Also, he changed from a content, happy lap cat into a tense cat who didn't want to be on my lap at all. He instead chose the highest place he could to keep an eye on things.
We thought that Mao and the kitten would get along well and play together. That didn't happen in the three months he was here. I could see that he was unhappy and bored.
It was one of the hardest decisions of my life to give him up, but I want him to be happy. C's brother lives close to Stockholm, but in a house with a yard in a quiet neighbourhood. There is plenty to explore and investigate. Trees to climb, horses to sniff and dogs to make friends with.
They have two very well trained dogs that greeted Mao with friendly curiosity and enthusiasm. Mao, of course only saw these two huge things that came too close and smacked one. To which the owner's responded: "Good, he needs to learn to leave cats alone". That made my mind a lot easier, they are sensible, level-headed people who will take care of him and won't be upset when he behaves like a cat.
We stayed there for a few hours and during that time Mao had inspected the house. He looked careful, but didn't cower from the dogs and let the humans pet him. He backed off from the kid, but that's not odd, considering he has not met any before.
I hope that he will be happy there. I've known for years that given a chance, he'd be happier as an outside/inside cat, but I could not let him out in the city. Now he has that chance.
I believe that I made the right choice, but why does it hurt so much, then?
Friday, July 17
Spinning
Speaking of spinning, buying the spindle whorl spurred me on to spin up a modern project I've been contemplating for a few years. I like the look of 2-ply yarn where one ply is solid and one ply has long colour variegation, resulting in a barberpoled yarn.
An Estonian spinnery has been making a pre-spun yarn I've used for spinning earlier. It is a very thin roving, so thin that it does not require any drafting at all. This is called "heie" in Estonian and is marketed as pre-yarn for knitting or crochet in English. Heie is the last stage of wool before spinning, so I thought, why not use it for spinning? One is not limited to what a manufacturer says their product is for.
I'd spun and plied some of it on a wheel, and used it to get the hang of the medieval spinning technique. It is good to learn wheel or spindle management — no need to learn drafting at the same time.
It also comes in striped or solid varieties, exactly what I had in mind for this project. I bought one solid black cake and one that has red and black sections. I intended to ply the solid and striped singles to get solid black stripe separating red/black stripes.
This is the red/black cake being spun on a ButterflyGirl's spindle.
I bought 120 grams of both pre-yarns, this should be enough for a winter neckerchief. The singles ought to come out the same length as well. Roughly the same length anyways.
That was the plan right until Wednesday night when I came home to discover that the cats had destroyed the black cake yet again. Argh! This is the second time it has happened. I'll finish spinning the red/black, but I'm seriously considering not buying a third black cake of pre-yarn.
Wednesday, July 15
A 16th Century Raeren Spindle Whorl
Drop spinning has interested me for a long while. I have acquired a few spindles over the years and practised different styles of drop spinning, mostly modern. I've also tried to spin in medieval style, but have been having trouble with the spindle.
The spindles I have are too heavy. A potter in Estonia once made me three medieval style spindle whorls, but two of them are too heavy to use at all and the third is borderline too heavy. I've been stubborn and trying to use it anyway, but it hasn't been working well. The spindle whorls I've seen in the museums are much smaller than the ones I have and I've suspected that mine were too large for long. Now it is certain.
A few weeks ago there was a reference to a 16th Century Raeren spindle whorl on an antiquities site on Ravelry. I bought it. It was simply irresistible. I've been wanting a good whorl for years now. Isn't it beautiful?
This is the top.
The bottom of the whorl.
It is interesting how the whorl is not a perfect sphere, but slightly flatter at the top. It is tiny compared to the others, and especially the modern whorls. The hole is conical, not a straight cylinder. This fits with the shape of the extant shafts that have a slight bulge.
I have not tried it yet because I didn't bring my medieval spindles with me when I moved. I will do so as soon as I fetch them.