ARDIRI

Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive--Some Blankies Delivered & a Kitty Adopted!

Yesterday I delivered about 30 blankies and twenty or so doggie toys to the Valley Animal Center and the California Feline Foundation in Fresno, California.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I wasn't able to get any pics of the 200+ cats and 6 dogs that are currently awaiting adoption.

However, we did bring a cat home!!!
Meet Bella!  She is a darling 2-year-old cat with the best manners--i.e. no jumping on counters or using furniture for scratching posts--and the sweetest disposition ever known:

She is a Persian and she looks like a little lion at the moment since her hair is all shaved short (except for her face and the last inch of her tail!) by the shelter to avoid heat sickness in the super hot valley.    She has gorgeous lilac-ish/blueish eyes, the sweetest snub nose, and loves to be held.  I will work on getting a better picture of her before I leave (she's really squiggly when it comes to getting her picture taken!).  Although I am completely in love with her, she's my parent's kitty as I've already two cats and can't take another.  Plus, Mamoko is having a conniption fit thinking he's being replaced by another kitty.

Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive--The Prize Winners!

Drum roll, please!

And the winners are...

• In the prize category of handcrafted knitting journal created by Lain of While You Were Sleeping and ScrapHappy, the winner is Amanda of Knittin' Busy!

• Kate of I'm a Crafty Girl is the lucky winner of two beautiful skeins of Classic Elite Provence (donated--once again--by sweet Lain):

• Christina of Christina's Attic won two skeins of KnitPicks Gossamer in the colorway Blue Jeans (donated by me, sleepily modeled by Mamoko):
• And these pretty, pretty stitch markers made by Super-Lain go to Angela of Random Thoughts on Everyday Boredom:

And a humongous THANK YOU goes out to the rest of the participants:
Devorah of Squid Knits, Karen of In Knitting News, Debby of She Knits by the Seashore, Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos, Elaine of Kim-Chi Crafts, Victoria of San Francisco,  Jennifer G. of Pittsburgh, PA, and my mom.

Together we made a total of 91 Blankies and collected 25 toys!  We rock!

06/18/07--Edited to add--I used this Random Integer Generator to create random numbers for participants and then again to pick random numbers for winners.

~As soon as I can get these blankies to the shelter (some of them will be going to shelters in Fresno County and some to shelters in the San Francisco Bay Area), I'll try to get some shelter cat and doggy pics.~

5 Blankies from Christina!

Christina of the blog Christina's Attic sent five wonderful,

soft-but-hardy,

cuddly blankies!

Thank you so much, Christina! These blankets will be perfect for some needy shelter animals!

Tomorrow, I will announce the winners of the prizes for Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive!

7 Gorgeous Blankies from Amanda!

Straight off, I have to say that this is my absolute favorite blankie from Amanda of Knittin' Busy:

Isn't it such a pretty log cabin?  The colors are so vibrant and jewel-like in real life.  I think between seeing this blankie in person and ogling Brainylady's latest blanket creation, I am again wanting to learn how to crochet (I tried when Debra Stoller's book Happy Hooker came out, but did not succeed beyond making a single chain!).  It seems like crocheting is the way to go for making blankets!

Mamoko gives this blankie 2 paws up!  (BTW, in this picture you can see Mamoko's man-nippley's if you look at the picture real close!)

Amanda also made these 4 other blankies:

And now Mamoko would like us to know that he  is all worn out from modeling all of Amanda's wonderful blankies.  Time for a nap!

Amanda also made me five lovely stitch markers which I needed very much so!  As soon as I got them in the mail they were put to work:

Amanda, thank you for the wonderful card, super-squishy-comfy-blankies, and the stitch markers!  I appreciate the time and love you put into making these blankies in honor of my dear Cyrano!

A question:  Anybody up for a stitch marker swap?  I certainly am!  Leave a comment here or email me and I'll set it up.

Wowzers! Blankies Galore from Angela!

Look at these WONDERFUL blankets from Angela of the blog Random thoughts on everyday boredom:

And look at this Humongous! Fluffy! Squishy! and Cute! blankie as modeled by Mamoko:

A super-duper thank you goes out to Angela of  Random thoughts on everyday boredom.  You have warmed my heart and will make lots of kitties and doggies comfy-happy!

OH! And many thanks for sewing up four of the blankies I was unable to take care of when my sewing machine conked-out!

Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive--Finishing Up!

A Humongous THANK YOU to everyone who participated in or posted about Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive! 

The deadline for blankies was today, June 2nd,and I will be waiting about a week and half to receive the final blankies as the Post Office in my town seems to be stuck in a time warp when it comes to getting mail expeditiously!  At that point--or sooner if I receive blankies from everyone who said they were sending blankies in--I will hold a !PRIZE! drawing and send out the wonderful prizes donated by Lain (of While You Were Sleeping and Scraphappy) and me.  Just in case if you forgot what those superb prizes were from Lain, click here.  I bought 2 skeins of KnitPicks Gossamer Wool in the colorway Blue Jeans for a prize donation and will be figuring out some more prizes over the next week!

Even if you were unable to participate in this drive, please remember that there are plenty of shelters that could use blankies, towels, toys, food, money, your time, etc.!  Check out the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (the ASPCA) or if you'd like to donate snuggly blankies, check out the Hugs for Homeless Animals website for a needy shelter near you!

We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals.  Animals suffer as much as we do.  True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them.  It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it.  Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.  ~Albert Schweitzer, The Philosophy of Civilization

A !Humongous! Blankie from Jennifer G.

Look at this beautiful, humongous, super-soft and squishy handknitted blanket from Jennifer G. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

This blanket is so big (34x36 inches) that even my fat cats had plenty of room to lollygag about.  I believe it will make a perfect blankie for a big dog or a bunch of puppies (or both).  Thank you ever so much Jennifer G.--you are fantastic and so is this blankie!  It will most definitely make some doggie(s) so very happy!

A note to those of you who are still sending in blankies (deadline June 2nd): Please let me know if you have any on the way or if you still need my address!

This --> <-- Close!

I am this -->  <-- close to being done with this semester!  Yet within that small space of time and energy, there is sooooooooooo much to be accomplished:

I have a massive project to finish up with my group for my Tuesday night class that comprises something crazy, like 60% of our grade.  I am essentially done with my Thursday night class, as I only have to turn in a single unit plan that is a teeny-tiny part of the aforementioned massive project.  When those two things are done, I will have earned my Post-Secondary Reading Certificate which will assist me in getting a tenure-track community college English teaching job in the super-duper competitive job market of the San Francisco Bay Area.  YAY!  I will have accomplished something BIG and have more courage to go forward and rock my thesis!  Yes, the dreaded thesis that I fear as if it were Hantavirus or Ebola ( I so think "Ebola in the Toilet" would make a great punk rock band name, don't you?)  Anyways, as I was saying: I shall attack my thesis with great confidence and energy as if I were a starving shark sighting the pudgy, dangling legs of a tyro teenage surfer.

In addition to finishing up final projects, there is packing to be done.  Ugh, packing.  And deciding how to take all my yarn and knitting books home with me this summer in my parent's small SUV--in addition to needed books for school, clothing for  a mountainous climate, cats and all their gear (litter box, food, toys, and so forth), and--lest I should forget--my tent for camping out in the backyard.

There is also moving household items--bed, books, books, and more books, dressers, bookshelves, kitchen things, etc.--into storage. Double ugh...Ugh. Ugh.

Oh, and there is the dealing with lovely sinus pain--it's either allergies or general-end-of-the-semester sickness.  Yippee.  Looks like I'll be taking a short break from running (the Slrog).

And now, before I set down to do some late night work on the crazy-massive project, I shall share some knitting and other pictures with you (or rather, I shall procrastinate just a bit more!):

A gift for a teacher:

My messy, FEMA-Disaster-ish desk, complete with Tab for energy:

TOYS! donated by a classmate, Victoria, for Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive (displayed on the blankie made by Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos):

A bit of progress on my Glampyre's Fitted Knits Boatneck Bluebell Sweater:

And a view of my hometown that I'll be heading to next Friday:

Now, I shall be a good student and slave away on The Project and get a few hours of sleep before I meet my Project Partners at World Ground in Oakland to slave away some more.  (BTW--I am NOT the Holly F. who left that nasty review of the place.  I love World Ground--especially their hummus & bagels.  I used to live across the street from this cafe and it rocks.)

A Blankie for Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive!!!

Cathy Westbury--who appears to be blogless and hails from Colorado--sent in this LOVELY blanket for Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive:

Zoe would like everyone to know that she does NOT have a big butt and she is not a running-back for football, despite those huge shoulders,  and that it's all about perspective in getting a nice, slenderizing picture.  And dammit, she doesn't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a modeling shoot and she really just wanted to smell the fresh air, not take photos, thank you!

Up next--an update on the AWESOME final package--the BIG reveal--I received from my Sockret Pal,  Hope, of the blog Procrastinknitter.

Also, I've made two little neckwarmers for The Dulaan Project

Finally, there's another group who needs 8x8 inch squares--Hokie Healing--for the families of the victims of the VA Tech shooting.  I shall definitely be making at least two.

With a Little Help from My Friends...

Today, after sewing up nine more blankets, my tired and angry sewing machine decided to go on strike!  Despite all my mechanical machinations in an attempt to divert it's strike, the sewing machine saw through my cunning plot to repair it and return it to its former status as a sweatshop slave.  So I have 12 blankies all pinned-up and ready to be sewn and no machine to sew them with (and I am not likely to get my sewing machine fixed for a few months, at the very least, due to costs) and thus I am asking for a little help from my friends!

Friend(s):  "Will you please help me sew up these last 12 blankies for Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive?"

All you have to do is sew them up and trim the edges.  It'll be easy-peasy (if your sewing machine isn't on strike!).  You would just have to do steps 3-6 of my tutorial (which are SUPER EASY STEPS!).  I'll mail them to you and take care of the shipping back here to California or we could just donate them to a shelter near you.

Email me if you want to take any or all of the blankies to finish them up.  Muchos thanks in advance!