cat nip banana cat ass is too funny - thanks for the Hump Day laugh

Being the library nerd, I'll suggest that if Martine really wants the pattern you used for the mitten, the local library may have a copy of the book it's in (or may be able to borrow it from another library).

I love your cat pictures. I have 6 kittehs and still I can't get enough of looking at pictures of other peoples' cats. Their babies? Nah. Their vacations? Nah. But their cats? Yes! Tell me all about them! Let's talk cats!

Love the pics!

Forget knitting for the cold. I have decided that the main reason to knit socks, mittens, and scarves is to dress cats up in them and then take silly pictures.
I am looking forward to a picture of Sobakowa wearing mittens.

i LOVE kitty toes.

Miss Laurie, i emailed you a question about your book, but considering the email hell you've gone through over the years, i'll ask here.

Do you plan on publishing your book to the Amazon Kindle? Feel free to email me the answer if you wish. I work for a REALLY BIG BANK and we email constantly, thus i am an emailing fool.

Go Frankie! You show that banana who's butt is boss! And Bob toes! How much more adorablelishiousness can I take on this Hump Day?

Thanks for the pics!

TS - do you work for a REALLY BIG BANK that is in AMERICA -hint, hint? I work for that bank and we are emailing fools to put it nicely...

It must be something going around because I spent all morning thinking it's Tuesday too. I was freaking out about a meeting at work this afternoon that I already went to yesterday!

Charts aren't so bad once you get used to them and then you can knit lace! I was all worried about learning to use dpn's and knitting round things while you were merrily knitting away on hats like it was no big deal. I still haven't tried a mitten and I can't imagine getting addicted to socks. Think of all the swatching that would need.. Ugh.

Yay for kitty photos! The banana toy is awesome.

Looks like Frankie snuck out and saw "Kung Fu Panda" (wherein the Panda subdues his enemy by skillful use of his rear end) and then decided to come home and whip some panda kung fu moves on the banana toy.

LOL at the picture of the mighty hunter sitting on the banana!

That was exactly what I needed to see today...so thank you for that!

I, too, love your patterns. I'm not a pattern reading whiz by any stretch, but i can read and understand yours. nice. I tried a sock and screwed up the ribbing, which is pretty pathetic, so I gave up. I have enough stress in my life without having to deal with an inside out bizarro ribbed top of a sock. hmph.

Kelly

LOVE the catnip banana! I need to try to find one for my two furbabies - - was it a Target store find?

I love your blog and don't know what I would do without it. You express so well some of the same things I feel. But mostly I love your humor and Frankie's skill and subduing the banana threat.

Must. kill. banana. must. disembowel. banana

::grin::

If I could figure out how to upload video on my live journal I'd show you my dark gray long-hair (Gandalf) chasing his tail. I've never, ever had a cat so enamoured of chasing his tail, it's hilarious!

TS -- I actually responded to your email but it bounced back. I think maybe the email address you typed in was off a letter or something? Anyway, I have no control over the publishing company and their decisions on anything about the sales or marketing of the book, but I forwarded your request to someone at the publishing house.

Too bad about the mitten pattern. Actually, it was less the pattern and more the tips on how to get that thumb made that I am interested in. I have had 1/3 of a fingerless glove stuck on my needles for eight months because the directions for the thumb have completely stumped me. And I live in Estonia and if you think mitten thumb directions are tricky, you should try learning Estonian. Thus, asking at the yarn store is pretty much out of the question too...

On the other hand, I also found you because of your your completely perfect roll brim hat recipe. I just love sitting down, doing some math and cranking out a hat. With wine! Some people like socks (my second one never seems to match the first) and some people like mittens and I like hats. It's good enough for me!!

have been busy, but want to say your mitten is FAB-YOO-LESS!! That looks like great yarn and I will have to get some. Great job and thanks for sharing your knitting! Knit Fearless, Knit Proud!!
Hear me roar, I did a headstand in yoga class today(with help, against the wall, but still!)

Liz J -- I bought the banana at my local pet shop, it's this family-owned place in a strip mall and they have all kinds of wacky cat toys.

And Molly -- I plan to do a complete step-by-step on the thumb! I figure since the original pattern is so hard to read I'm not going to follow it at all and I'll just explain how I did the thumb. It wasn't hard after I did it but afterwards I went back and re-read the pattern (after I made the thumb) and I STILL couldn't understand it!! LOL

So I know I won't be violatin' the law just for the thumb, seeing as I will write my own set of instructions.

The only reason I knew today was Wednesday is my Wednesday volunteer showed up. (I'm a solo librarian at a hospital library and I live for my volunteer help!) So hard to keep track of the days. . .

Hee! Frankie butt! Bob belly! Hee!

Catnip Banana: Isn't that the name of a band?

I rubbed Bob's belly with my cursor.

Mittens, cats, Wednesday...whatever. The real thing I am savoring about this post is the hope that "the Tipster" will get her music-censoring a$$ tossed out of "Big Al's" place and will be replaced by someone much more deserving...You!

You should write the City and complain about the parking. That's ridiculous!

Cute Kitties! I love the way the mitten and the red coffee cup look together.

Beth,

I used to work for a bank with the initials c.o.m.e.r.i.c.a. but now I am with a MUCH larger global bank. In fact, if you look at Forbes... you can find my acronym on their top 1 list lol. i know who you work for :D a friend of mine here worked there for years.

Laurie, i am a bad typist :( thanks for the response and letting me know!

KnittingKel, i like that pic too :)

Thank you for confessing that you can't read a pattern. I feel so inadequate when I think to myself (because I could never tell anyone!) I can't read a knitting pattern!

And charts? Are you high? They make no sense at all.

I have been crocheting for years (over *ahem* 30) and I can barely read a decent crochet pattern. But a knitting pattern? Forget it. Seriously.

I love your wordy patterns. Why can't people do wordy patterns? You should write a wordy pattern book. It would sell like hotcakes to us pattern challenged people.

We have a catnip carrot that is very popular - the kittehs like to grab it and wrestle with it like it's one of those people-sized pillows. But I don't think I've seen any of them with the victory-butt like Frankie has.

It's only wednesday?? Damn! I was hoping it was friday. :(

Seeing the kitty cat pictures ALMOST helped me with the hiccups I woke up with this morning. (a half hour ago! argh!)

I laughed at the banana butt pictures, and didnt hiccup for at least 5 minutes. But, the hiccups came back.

I guess I'll go drink some water, upside down, from the wrong side of the glass. (that usually works)

I work at a bank, too. Today I am trying not to kill people who think they are designers and want to tell the real designers how to make stuff. With all their expertise using things such as Microsoft Excel I am sure they know vector logo design much better than I do.

I am wishing it was already 4 p.m.

I used that same yarn in another color to make the beret, and yeah, it does shed like crazy, it's fabulous though!

I can't even tell you how happy that last picture made me. NO, DON'T ASK ME, I CAN'T TELL YOU.

I like that Frankie sat on the toy to neutralize it...my niece does that same thing with toy threats.

Bring on the cuteness!

So I notice you have a nice little rug in your living room (I assume, I seem to recall a little floor-replacing incident) and I detect no signs of cat puke in your photos. I have two cats who like to form hairballs (it is a hobby that apparently has turned competative in this house - who can form the most hairballs? the biggest?) No amount of brushing or hairball-be-gone gel really helps since 1) Lily refuses to be brushed 2) Mary will eat the Pounce hairball treats but Lily won't, and I'm not sure how effective it is anyway, and 3) neither cat particularly like the gel stuff such that I have to put it on their feet for them to lick off since they won't touch food "contaminated" with it and the foot method only works so-so since much flinging commences after application. Anyway, what's my point? Oh yeah, how do you keep your carpet so nicely puke-free? Because I am really tired of cleaning up cat puke.

:)

Oh Laurie, fear their mad spreadsheet/graphing skillz

*insert eyeroll here*

Carrie -- they puke a lot but I just clean it up as best I can. I gave up on getting it perfectly clean, now I just use some Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap in a little hot water and wash up what I can and call it a day. The rug is spotty in person but in pictures it looks OK LOL. I need a new one but I'm not buying one ... at least not until January.

Awesome. I applaud your derring-do on the willingness to try mittens. I was recently entirely defeated by socks (screwed up the very simple ribbing AND the basic stockinette, but got the heel turns and toe decreases right, how sad is that?!) My son now has two really ugly bright orange socks riddled with mistakes. At least they are both the same size, and he doesn't notice that they're retarded, he just loves them. However, there's a third sock. I got bold enough to try a second pair and the third sock is even worse than the first two. That's where I decided I should quit while I was ahead. Or, afoot.

I think it must be in the air.. the last few weeks I've woken up on several occasions and thought that it was 2 days in advance of what it really as. Today? I was sure it was Thursday this morning. Turns out.. not so much :/

Beth and TS y'all are crackin' me up with your bankspeak. TS do you love your Kindle? I hope Santa brings me one. I agree, Laurie, that you should publish a wordy knitting pattern book. Definitely a hot item.

Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap - thanks! I've been using some pet-stain-odor-remover that I've had for a while, but it isn't organic or anything (but I'm not throwing it away - wasted money!) As soon as it is gone I'll seek out the Dr. Bronner. :)

And word to the wise (which you probably already know) - do NOT (when you do buy a new one) get the kind that is "textured". I have one of those from IKEA and another, nicer one from Pier 1 (kind of like their "jute chenille" rug, but without the chenille!), and they are both really really hard to clean cat puke out of because of the texture-y surface!

Mocha does exactly the same thing with catnip toys. I made her a little knit mouse that came with catnip to stuff in it. Not only did she beat up the mouse, she also discovered the rest of the catnip (which was in a different room) and tried to chew through the bag. It had to go in a plastic box for safety.

Most of her toys (strings and the like) end up at her food bowl after she has "killed" it. I'm guessing the cat process is something like "I killed the vicious string, now I will drag it to my food bowl and eat it. Oh look - food!"

Carrie I had a textured (like shag) rug and OMG, I think it lasted two months before the cat puke and hair just grossed me out to no end. This rug I have is from IKEA and I have had it for years and years and it still sheds like crazy which I hate. I have to vacuum every other day, it's gross.

And about the wordy patterns, maybe I will one day make a "knitting for the pattern-impaired" book! I know some people think I am silly with the over explaining but I need patterns to speak to me as if I were a very young, very dumb child.

I am already thinking my explanation of the thumb, which is basically an inch and a half of real knitting, will be longer than War & Peace LOL.

Laurie, you make me laugh!!! Neutralizing the catnip banana with her butt!!! And, itty bitty kitty toes. I try to kiss all of my Joey's little toes, but he can only sit still for four.

Do you remember Rudie from the Cosby Show and how she called her little friend "BUD" even though his name was not "Bud?" Do you remember the way she said it... "Buuud" Well, I can't tell you how happy I am to see pics of CAT BUUUUTT. Keep up the good work.

Just say no to shag in a cat-home. :)

Laurie, do you read TECHKnitting? She describes various knitting processes (I don't know about creating thumbs though) and she describes everything step-by-step and has really excellent illustrations to, er, illustrate them!

Lara - I LOVE MY KINDLE! it's amazing and easy and fabulous!

And Amazon? great customer service. i got mine before the price went down. the Manfriend called them about it, since hey why not? and they sent me a credit for the difference. so we bought more books lol

I'd love a wordy knitting book, i just CAN'T knit and if i had a wordy book, i'd probably figure it out.

*hint hint hint*

That Kindle thing looks amazing. But I'm wondering is it hard to read off a computerized screen?

One of my cats puts her very favorite toys in the food dish. I think she thinks that she's feeding them. She used to put them in the water dish, but she seems to have stopped that since realizing that some never come back after that. (The little poof balls just never recover well)

That was a big concern of ours, Laurie, especially with the cost. but it really isn't. it's almost white, with very dark "print".

we looked into other e-readers and this was by far the best all around.

i put my work email this time, if you want to chat, plus i can let you know where to find free e-books, etc.

Great minds think alike: Bossy just wrote a post on Monday about how grateful she is every day that she's not a Wildlife Photographer. Oy, the patience.

OMG, my name in lights! Again! Thank you!

The chart is really just for the colorwork. Without the colorwork the pattern would be really truly dirt simple... so, coming soon, I will have a really truly dirt-simple mitten pattern. With pictures, even, and without those pesky abbreviations. See what an inspiration you are?

OK I have 2 catnip bananas for my cats and they sit on them too!!!! How weird is that?!?! Must be some strange weird cat thing!

TS and Laurie - I am in Marketing and am AMAZED at the number of people in this bank that are marketers TOO! Even though their job title includes finance or product or even operations, somehow they are very capable of doing my job as well.

Beth your comment is strangely comforting. Apparently my misery really does love company ;)

You're the only person I know of who takes more kitty pictures than I do. I really enjoy them (and your funny captions)--keep 'em coming!

ct

Beth, I am an Executive Assistant. NO ONE wants my job :D

I have to tell you, at the risk of alienating all those wonderful pattern writers out there, knitting patterns are not well written at all. You are absolutely right Ms. Purl.

I'm a technical writer/instructional designer and so my education, experience, skill set (whatever) is around communicating how to do stuff.

That being said, I need to prove my point and write up some of my own patterns!

'knitting for the pattern impaired' would be a best seller for sure!
The city needs to get with the program and make more spaces available for parking. It seems like such a no brainer!

oh it is soo good to know that i'm not brain damaged because i can't read a graphed pattern. i bead (i used to knit but i can't purl any more due to tendonitis.) and there are all these graphed patterns for loomed and peyote/brick stitch things. OHMIGOD are they impossible.

and now the magazines all have pattens that say "pick up 3 ABs and 2 Cs" and you have to look at the index to see which beads those are. argh!!!

Voice of reason here: I'd write the city a thank you note for the 20-minute (1 mile?) walk that helped me save both gas money and expend calories. Wear decent shoes, carry your heavy shoes and get more fit! The parking lot is probably not insured and the city doesn't need to be sued if anything happens there, if they even own or lease the land. The neighborhood doesn't want your cars parked there because delivery, repair, friends and family might need the parking spot. I know. I'm such a bitch to point out the obvious. That's why I'm not signing my name.

Just wanted to second Annie's suggestion to check your library for the book--I checked out that particular book from my lovely local library, and if I'm not mixing it up with the other awesome library knitting books that have passed through my home, it also has a neat pattern for a knitted backgammon board that can be buttoned onto a knitted bag.
But probably what Martine really wanted was a pattern written with Laurie's helpy-ness; I can relate! I've been meaning to thank you for posting your mistake rib scarf, and the proof that it ought to be knitted up on larger needles. The mistake rib scarf that I began immediately after reading your post was by far the nicest thing I have ever made (the passing of time has not yet moved me out of the beginner stage), and I will probably churn out three more by year's end, spreading joy and deceptively easy ribbing across the land!

My cats love that banana, but also the tomato, the lemon, and the cigar! High quality catnip, I guess.

If you were able to re-write the knitting pattern with a slight change, such as adding ribbing, (etc), then it is suddenly a new pattern and it is no longer the original pattern out of the book. And then you could give us your explanation of the thumb, making it a very different, easily understood pattern!

My mom was an artist and she would often paint the same painting more than once - changing some small details, colors, etc, making it a new "original"!

That picture of Frankie sitting on the banana toy, along with your accompanying commentary, had kiddo and I cracking up. Having pets = definitely having some sort of laugh every day.

You should feed that chihuahua fish - the ultimate brain food - then those squares would be no problem. I'm just sayin' is all :-)

You have the cutest kitties! I have a slightly less cute kitty, but that's partially because she runs from the camera. I can't achieve photographic evidence very often. I love your cat pictures.

Now Frankie's butt smells like catnip!

THAT cracks me up!
.

Hahaha, I laughed so loud my kids had to run in here to see what was so funny! How freakin' cute is that Bob tummy? However, we do need some new "baby brother" pics soon, lest we forget his adorableness.

my very first knitting project was a mitten... it turned out looking like a lil-itty-bitty lobster claw. thats when i learned that i need to think REALLY loose when knitting. the second mitten was big enough for my 5 year old... thats when i learned about size of yarn requirements... i never remade either of them... they were supposed to be my size.

i think there has to be some fun making socks. seems that everyone ends up making socks! i have not tried yet... although i covet the ones i see made in wild colors, and even better if unmatched... unmatched homemade socks with clogs. that says warm fuzzy winter days to me....

the other thing i see lots of folks making is lacey shawls. i dont think they ever get worn. they're old fasioned and girlie, and perhaps to delicate for today's styles? i dunno.

love the cat pics. what are they thinking when they sit on things like that!

Your composition in your still life is fab-yoo-lus! I have to know, what type of camera do you use? Your pictures are delightful. I never use that word in real life - delighful that is. Happy Hump Day!

This morning, I totally thought it was Tuesday too!

Banana-butt is very funny, our cat hides things all over the place but never under her bottom. Love the cats!

My kitty, Muffin Matilda, (RIP) used to always sit on her toys and then leap up like she had no idea they were under there and then fling them around for a while and then sit on them again. Lather, rinse, repeat. It used to crack me up to watch her fool herself over and over.

HEY, LAURIE! You're happy your "dorky" patterns get used? Today, this very day, I ordered the yarn to make FOUR berets as Christmas presents for my daughters-in-law. That ought to make you postively tingle with happiness! :-)

I did the beret months ago, and it came out perfectly. So I decided it's going to be this year's Christmas gift for the girls. And at last, after two years of last minute hysterical knitting (and not even getting the whole job done in time last year!), I've decided I'm smart enough to start early.

See? You're happy, I'm happy, those berets will make them happy -- it is, indeed, a wonderful world. :-)

Laurie, I just received your book through my library's provincial loan service. It is sitting here like a big Christmas present. I broke my no-buy rule and bought a bottle of Soave to drink while reading it.

I doubt I shall make it to the long weekend here in Canada (starts in three days) before I crack open your book and the Soave.

I thought it was Thursday. ::sigh::

I love your "dorky" patterns and have made your scarf with my handspun wool as well as commercial alpaca-silk blend. I used Drew's tip about the 3 stitches in garter on either side and found that always slipping the first stitch purl-wise on all rows makes a smoother edge. I can hardly wait for your mitten/thumb directions. The thumb has kept me from finishing mittens and I know I can do it with your help. Thanks for your wonderful blog and patterns. I've had 12 corgis and 14 cats over the years and love seeing your cat pics and those of your little brother. Cheers from a Californian now living in Western Australia

The cat butt on the banana is a riot!

I just placed an order with Knitpicks - I don't shop for knitting stuff often but it was a great deal and I had b-day money left over. I scored 2 books - Cat Bhordi's newish sock book and Victorian Lace Today - normally outside of my price range (they retail for about $30) for about $17 each. And to go with the lace book, I picked up 2 skeins of their laceweight for $6. I'm pretty pleased.

I love your still life with the knitting and the coffee. BTW, I have the same coffee cup.

Thanks for the banana butt pictures, they made my day.

So glad you mentioned the blogads. I subscribe to your blog via bloglines and the ads don't appear in the summary window. I clicked over to your site just to see the pretty ads. Yes, I placed a KnitPicks order. So thanks for helping me spend $147.57. It was either books & yarn or 30 gallons of gasoline. :)

"victory butt" - what a great concept, Pegkitty. Someone should submit it to the defense department. Or what if it could be used in politics? - C-SPAN viewership would skyrocket.

Personally, I think you would look good in orange. But don't do anything illegal for me 'cause I don't knit. I come here for the cats - oh and the bumper stickers. Frankie made me laugh out loud for real. Not just LOL.

LOL ...yes, out loud @ frankie sitting on the banana. i didn't even read all the posts before posting this. i don't care if you've heard it 90 times already.

that
is
funny!!!

i'm confused - first you say you don't make money from the ads then you say that the money you get offsets the server cost. Huh?

You had me at 'still life with mitten', then I lost my diet coke at the Frankie neutralizing the banana. Wonderful writing. Sweet sweet kitty pictures.

On the rug/cat puke thing: I don't have puking cats but my dogs puke some and I bought flor carpet tiles and made a rug out of them. Now if the dog pukes, I pick up that section of the rug, throw it in the sink to wash it and then lay it outside to dry. Then use some new stickies to lay it back down on the floor.

wow - the coffee & mitten still life is actually quite the striking photo. it's publish-riffic!

and i love, love, LOVE all your kitty pics. frankie's buttnana is claaaaassic. ^_^

Thank God I'm not the only person who ends up sleeping with cat toys. I don't know why my littlest girlie thinks we should sleep with them.

Once again I have a clear idea of why I'm single. ;-)

Maybe the banana honked for badonkadonk.

I love the pictures of your cat Frankie. My first cat Critter could have been his sister they look so much alike. Thanks for sharing your pictures and insights with us.

donna

Can I just say that I love reading your blog? I saw "Southern obssessive-compulsive knitter" and "cats" and knew I would enjoy! I'm from Georgia, I am new to knitting - but adore it! - and, yes, I have a cat. Cheers!

Dear Confused,
First -- so sorry your mama named you that awful name!

Second, in advertising you have pay-per-placement billing (which is how these ads run) or pay-per-click. Since this website does not host pay-per-click ads, I do not get paid more when someone clicks on an ad. However, clicks are still counted and calculated as a click-through ratio, which tells an advertiser if a website is a good ad buy for the CTR or not.

Each ad is a fixed price but no one will buy an ad if the CTR is dismal. You can click on the link to blogads and read all about their business model there. If you have more interest in web advertising in general, you can read all about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_advertising

Thanks,
Laurie

Sheesh. I just read this post today, Thursday, and actually for a moment thought it was Wednesday. You're not the only one confused, apparently.

Thanks so much for answering my question. I might try a book as Annie suggested but your explanations are always the clearest so I will probably just wait...

Thanks again.

I cheated! I, too, am trying not to buy "stuff", particularly on the computer (me+computer+credit card=baaaaaaaad), so I emailed the Knitpicks website and a list of my favorites to my husband, for purposes of anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, etc. I even told him about the sale AND asked him first if he wanted the info. Yay, me!

RE: Being the wildlife photographer is hard work

Bob and Frankie look very much like my cats, Popcorn and Tuffy. If my cats are missing, I'll call you!

Have you ever tried to take photos of the cats after a doze of catnip? It's just as challenging as when they are sober -- but are cats ever sober?

I recall once, after several attempts at taking a photo of Tuffy with my daughter, all I got was one best shot, when the cat was just leaving the setting and coming straight to me -- So if anybody wants to see a photo of a dressed up little princess and one straight tail as if it was to say "up yours", I've got it!

Cats!

How funny! I thought my cat was the only one to neutralize prey by sitting on it!

Agreed on the still life, Laurie - it looks like something out of Martha Stewart Living, but with more presence - gorgeous!

Next time someone tries to "improve" on your ideas at work, whip out the photo and ask them to critique the composition and color harmony. Bet they leave ya alone after that!