Kelly, Lead Crochet Tester
Whenever I crochet something, Kelly can hardly wait for it to be big enough for her to knead and settle down on. I got up to take something out of the oven and when I turned around she had already made herself at home on my partially-finished project. You can’t hear it here, but she is purring mightily. Perhaps it’s because the yarn nearly matches her eyes.
Kelly refused to give up her claim to my partially-finished legwarmer, so I let her give herself a full bath and purr on it, the true test of a crocheted item’s worth and durability, until she finally grew drowsy and gave a big yawn. Since I was making two of these I simply started from the other end of the skein and began the second one.
Other feline members of the household also enjoy crocheted items, but they don’t make a profession of testing them out as Kelly does, they take the easy route and simply curl up for a nap.
Kelly entered my home at about age four, but at probably 16 she has barely changed a hair in all these years, always looking like a young kitty, slender and graceful and very, very vocal. I can see her pupils aren’t as dense black as they once were, but her irises are still vivid clear green, not showing the striations usually seen in senior cats’ eyes. Her eyes also used to be perfectly round and are now a little flattened top and bottom. And she had completely black whiskers, but in the past year has one by one developed three white ones.
Cats LOVE crocheted items. They probably love knitted items as well, though I crochet much more often and I notice that many of my online crochet friends have images of cats on their blogs and websites and as avatars for their online identities, and even have feline-oriented words as part of their online names and e-mail addresses.
This must be good stuff if Kelly finished her bath, rested a while, then curled up on it. I’d guess it meets with Kelly’s approval.
Well, I wish I’d had the time to add a few other photos of her process, but I was a little pressed for time–I actually caught her bathing and twirling around and also sitting and looking wise. Kelly owns ALL crochet, it’s one of the activities we share, though I have to be careful to crochet items for sale where she can’t see since even someone who buys a pawprint doesn’t necessarily want someone else’s cat’s fur embedded!
Ingrid, Kelly’s eyes inspired a block print, “The Roundest Eyes”, and whether it’s on paper or on a tee or anything else that I hand-color I have a special color of dye that I mixed to match her bright green eyes.
Tamar, she only charges a lap and a nap to break in a new crochet project! She has two whites close together at the top of her whisker pad along with the third at the bottom. I tell her we’re going gray together.
You may *think* you’re making legwarmers, but what you’re really making is the purrfect cat bed. And it’s clearly meant for her, since the color matches her beautiful eyes.
I think you are right Ingrid!
Loved this post – great photos and such lovely observations about your sweet Kelly!
I see two of her white whiskers!
How much does she charge for her services I wonder?! 🙂