Friday, July 01, 2011

Diogi, Mouse Hunter

I'm home today, partly for vacation and partly to meet with another electrician for an estimate. My son came upstairs this morning and looked really groggy for someone who went to bed before I did. Seems he didn't sleep much at all last night. He fell asleep for a few hours only to be awakened by Diogi meowing and jumping on his bed. Jumping off to chase a mouse and then back up again. So he sat up and petted her, read for a bit and drifted off to sleep only to be awakened by her again, meowing, jumping up on his bed....with a MOUSE! A mouse that she was just toying with. My son took the mouse and tossed it outside. Wide awake...it took hours for him to get back to sleep. And then I woke him up by gathering up the garbage for trash day.

If it had been me and a cat jumped up on MY bed with a MOUSE in its mouth.......I suspect everything within five feet of my reach would have been dead. Or me, from fright. I don't like pets in my bed and keep the door closed night and day. I wonder why?

But it did inspire me to tat this cat and mouse to preserve this moment in our personal history. (BIG SMILE) The cat pattern is from Nancy Tracy. Sign up for her newsletter and you get a free pattern every month. This is one of the first ones I got and one of my favorite kitty patterns. Diogi IS a fat cat and looks just like this when she is sitting except she is short haired so there is nothing fluffy about her.

The mouse pattern is on the blog Suzann Does It All, but she says it is really from Brenda Bonilla who has the copyright. The pattern is written for needle tatters but I used the shuttle. I did change the head slightly because I wanted to use beads for the eyes so one stitch after the ear picot, I slid a bead from the shuttle thread on and then tatted 6 stitches, adding another eye bead on the other side at the appropriate spot. Aren't they a cute pair??? And exactly where I like to see them the most. On the screen, not in my house!

The thread is Star Tatting Cotton. I would guess it's either size 70 or 80 because it does NOT say anywhere on the label. It DOES say "60 yards" which many people, including me, mistake for size 60, ignoring the "yds" right after it. An example I found on Ravelry says size 70. The cat is about 1 1/2 inches tall and 1 inch wide. The mouse is 1/2 inch long not counting the beaded nose. The beads are a pale pink which don't show well in the scan.

11 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous beastie!

    My mother's cats used to catch mice then jump up on her in the bed and eat them! I have no idea why she let them do this - seems awful.

    Most of the time if cats bring you a present, it's because they know you are no good at catching these yourself and need help. And they want praise! Good kitty!

    Love the tatted pair....

    ReplyDelete
  2. both are cute, exactly as you say, on the screen not in the house.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm okay with tatted cats and mice, but a cat showing up on my bed with a mouse... YIKES! I think you'd hear me scream all the way at your house!

    ReplyDelete
  4. A-dorable! The story AND the tatting :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice post, Gina. Gave me a chuckle and brought back some nice cat memories.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh dear. I used to find birds' heads under the couch... The bodies never showed up. A killer in our midst.

    The tatting is so whimsical! Adorable. Wish the colour and the beads showed up.
    Fox : )

    ReplyDelete
  7. I didn't know whether to laugh or scream when I read this! It's funny as all get out from 'afar', but if it happened to me, I'd have totally freaked out! I would have had exactly your reaction! I'm so glad I'm not the only person who gets hysterical over things like mice and other crawly things. One of the reasons I don't have a cat (although I enjoy playing with and watching others' cats) is precisely this kind of scenario!

    So then you somehow had the time to tat the adorable cat and mouse! So cute!

    Have a great Holiday Weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  8. OMGosh! That is a funny story about your son! He is quite a guy to sit up and pet the cat and get the mouse out and not be to peeved about it! What a cute cat! I am currently trying to tat Martha Ess's Cat Critter pattern. In PINK ha ha ha! I was demonstrating yesterday at an Art Center in Bountiful, Utah and the doily I was working had a ring that wouldn't close and I couldn't get it open so I grabbed what I had and it was pink thread and the person I was with had green beads for the eyes (I had some copies of Martha's pattern and gave a copy to my friend as "payment" for the 2 beads, ha ha ha!) and started on a new project so I would have SOMETHING to tat for the passers-by and the photographers (The papparazzi) ha ha ha! Anyway...I'll have a pink cat to show sometime...my first critter I think because I'm more of a traditional tatter...I just got 2 kittens last weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a beautiful, mischievous cat! Your inspired tatting is so whimsical. I loved your story.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Neat cat and mouse! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your Kitty just adores your son so much that it was the best gift he could find on a quick notice! Such a generous kitty!

    (heeheeheee)

    ReplyDelete

Emails and comments both are welcome and always read.