Baby, it's cold outside!

Tis a cold snap! We have snow – as do many people I imagine. Our snow is somewhat pathetic although it is now better than the pictures of Alfie walking as it snowed again yesterday. Me and Ding chose that time to go shopping up the High Street – I’ve never seen the High Street in snow before, which is nice as what with moving and all we probably won’t get the chance again.

Me on the side streets

Ding on the High Street

I suppose I should tell you about the 3-legged one! I adopted Alfie from a cat rescue a few months ago. He initially caused havoc, winding up the other cats, knocking things over and trying to escape. He escaped once and got stuck between two houses, eventually running back to me in terror. The desperate rush to escape has worn off a little, but he still loves it a lot. I adopted him because I liked him when I met him (always a good start!) and because I wanted young Spock to have someone his own age to play with before he got too old to play; the older two cats don’t play and Pumpkin can’t, so Spocky seemed to be getting bored. The first few days were filled with splutterings and hissing as Alfie is a rude cat constantly trying to intimidate the others, but as you can see, Spock (being exceptionally well brought up) has accepted him completely. Spocky quite likes other cats really. He tries to groom Alf but Alf usually turns it into a playfight. Alf named himself by the way. The name he had didn’t fit him well and he didn’t answer to it, so we tried to think of something else. Finding nothing that worked, mum in the end said “Well, what is your name then?!” and Alf in his Bengal voice said quiet clearly “AWWF?” So Alf it was.  Alfalfa when his naughty. He responds to “Alf” as long as you say it in his voice!

One weird change is that since Alfie joined us Spock has started kneading, which he never did, even as a kitten. He also takes advantage of alone-time (when Alf is elsewhere or asleep) for cuddles, so has become more affectionate. They will often combine forces to trap you in your bed (as seen here).

One of the problems with Alf is that he is Bengal; that is, bred from domestic cats crossed to wild cats, though not for the last eight generations or so. He has a great desire to go outside, but because of his leg (and probably because he’s an idiot) he’s exceptionally clumsy and destined to be killed on the roads/by a dog/by his own incompetence. So he does go outside, but with supervision. And on a lead.

This rather cool harness was shipped from the US as the normal nylon strappy ones we have here just aren’t strong enough for a 5kg cat with a deathwish, and this one also is more suitable for a missing front leg. It’s called a Walking Jacket. Only in the US lol. Stupid expensive but they really aren’t available here – someone on ebay makes similar things but they secure with velcro – again no use for Cat of Doom. The lead is a extendable cat/small dog lead from Pets at Home.

Alfie has two modes. Awake and Asleep. If Asleep it doesn’t necessarily mean he is unconscious, but it’s like he’s one of those little robot toys and someone’s flicked the switch off – he will NOT get up, you can reposition him and everything and he will not move – he is Alseep, donchaknow. When Awake, you can’t hold him without him wanting to be somewhere else – he has a lot to do and so little time.

Spock felt left out of the photos…

Yes – that is about 6 inches of suspended cat. He is resolved to pretend it’s comfortable, apparently.

What else – ah yes, I have learned a new craft! Quilting! I’ve been cheating a little though – it’s not quite up to the level of the colonials. It’s only been one day though.

A quilt! Originally for Pumpkin, it’s now going to be Chilli’s present to stop her leaving black fur over the seats. It’s only one later of wadding so it’s definitely a quilt, not a pillow. It’s a cheat as it’s one piece of fabric with quilting stitching along the lines of the pattern. The binding looks awful close up and I had to redo several bits by hand – I am probably doing it wrong.

This one is double thickness, so is more of a pillow. This is still for Pumpkin 😉

I had some leftovers so got a bit carried away:

I made a tree skirt! Ignore tatty carpet underneath – it’s to protect the floor from the tree’s legs. This is not just any tree skirt, it has 3 pockets on the underside into which are placed 3 bricks. Why? Because last year Spock climbed the tree as he does every year, but last year the weight of a fully grown cat (vs the kitten of previous years) brought the tree down, and every breakable ornament was broken. We always put bricks on the base for this reason, but evidently they were not secured well enough last year. So far he’s not expressed an interest in artificial arboreal ascendency, but the tree is now exceptionally well weighted.

Then with the remnants:

There are patterns for quilted slippers, but I made these using a crochet pattern idea (crochet a square, stitch it into a slipper). Which results in slippers that slip off easily and (as the toe doesn’t curl in non-crochet) also try to make you slip. Fun anyway though!