Christmas Cardinal Follow-Up

I am still working on the cardinal Christmas ornament.  As I worked on it, other matters came up.  One was the fluid leak under the car and a lengthy trip to the garage.  I was very glad the car could be fixed right away.

I was also trying to memorize three stories to tell.  I can't remember how long ago it was that I tried to do something like this.  I can't memorize a story and follow knitting instructions at the same time.  After telling the stories, I had to work on my mother's Christmas present, the beginning of her genealogy scrapbook.  I couldn't work on that at the same time I was learning stories because it was like another story and I couldn't fit another in my head.  I finished enough of the scrapbook for Christmas and Mom liked it very much.

I encountered a problem with the bird.  I didn't knit a shape that let itself to a  bird-like silhouette.  I had to knit another and change the last several rows to knit or purl 2 together to get a nice, rounded bottom as I saw one knitter on Ravelry make.  This body looked much better.  I sewed it up with the mattress stitch, stuffing it as I went.  I knitted the black mask and sewed that on all right.  When I sewed the wings on, I got them  lop-sided.  I decided to take one off.  Unfortunately in removing it, I cut a stitch in the body!  I managed to darn it and I don't think my friend will notice.  However, the ends on the wing I took off are too short so I have to knit another wing.  At that point I needed a little break from the birdie.  I really would like to finish it this week. 

Cat Sweater

I've decided I'm going to knit a sweater for Molly.  Here she is when she crawled into an unfinished sweater vest to take a nap.

She's always trying to steal her sister's heated cat bed in the winter, and she doesn't have much of an undercoat, so I think she has a problem staying warm in the winter. She might like the sweater.  I've seen that at least a few cats do. 

Most pet sweaters on Ravelry are for dogs.  Chihuahuas and Yorkies are smaller.  (Dogs smaller than my cats have always amused me.)  She's also not proportioned the same.  Although you can tell from her face that she has Siamese ancestry, she certainly does not have the Siamese physique.  She's a full-bodied kitty and her body tapers differently than a healthy dog.

I did find a sweater pattern for her sweater.  It is the The Perfect Fit Dog and Cat Sweater Pattern Generator from Travelling Tree Designs.  I have an extra skein of purple worsted that I can use for it.  I'm not sure if she'll like the idea of pulling a sweater over her head, but that will be faster than trying to button a sweater on a cat trying to get away from the sweater on her.