Sunday Funday Silence

I know I've been pretty quiet over here for a couple weeks.  Things have been busy at Chez Blackbird, but they only reached fever pitch two Sundays ago.  Want to hear the story?

So, I have this cat, Jashu.  He is, 98% of the time, a wonderful, magnificent, goofy beast.  I have conversations with him more than I'd like to admit.  And he'd never really shown an interest in my knitting! I counted myself lucky that I was able to knit with him next to me or on my lap, and he'd never try to catch the yarn or get in the way.

 

The not-so-wee beastie in question.

So, the Saturday of the 14th, I finished a sweater that had a deadline of May 1st for pattern and sample.  No sweat! I thought, merrily got it blocking on the blocking mats on my floor, warned Jashu off the pins until at least a day had gone by (he likes pulling them out), and ignored it for the rest of the weekend.  I've blocked tons of things there, never had a problem except for the aforementioned pins.  Tra la, I thought, I have plenty of time!

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon, when I am working away on the loom on my project of many (chartreuse) hues, when I saw Jashu make a beeline to lie down on the sweater.  Not good, I say to myself and head over to shoo him off.  When. . . I see it.  Them.

The holes.

The large, shredded, gaping holes.

 

Any shaky camera work is entirely due to the "oh my god what have you done" adrenaline running through me at that moment.

Jashu apparently really liked this sweater.  Enough to use it as a scratching board.  Upon closer inspection, it turned out that all the holes were above the armhole split, but that still meant about thirty hours of knitting gone in the swipe of a tiny claw.  After copious wailing and some choice words and maybe a stiff drink or two, there was nothing for it but to r-r-r-rip!

 

Evidence.  I hope this cat knows how lucky he is to be alive.

All other plans for the week were abandoned, and every waking moment was devoted to re-knitting this sweater.  It came back off the needles this past Saturday, and, after a trip to Home Depot for some wire shelving, went straight on the blocking boards.  It is covered by wire grid and a towel and I am thinking of investing in an air horn for when the cat gets within two feet of it.  But it's done, and after this coming weekend, I may have some Sunday Fundays to myself again!

And the cat?

 

Try as I might, he's just too cute to stay mad at.  But just don't let him near my knitting again.