The New Baby!

My plan for Monday was to go to the monthly Blue and Gray hook-in. 

On Sunday I realized that most of the more intricate part of my Forest Secrets rug was already finished.  I needed something easy to do so I could talk and not have to concentrate on hooking.

I needed to dye background.  When I plan a background, I like to get out my least favorite leftover wools and overdye them to get them used up.  I had lots of dark green that I had used in other rugs that I wanted to overdye with some dark blue to get a very deep blue-green.

I started with one teaspoon of dry royal blue, simmered the wool for a half an hour and then let it sit until the water was clear, about an hour.  The royal blue hardly showed at all over the dark green.  Darn!!!  So I dump in another teaspoon of dry dye and did the whole thing again.  Still not dark enough!!!
The next time two teaspoons of dry dye went into the pot.   Well, that took all morning and into the afternoon!    Finally some better looking results. That's what so frustrates me about dying.

The picture looks a lot lighter than the wool really is.

At least I now have a good mixture of bluish greens.  They hooked up nice.  When you look at the rug the background really looks almost black.

The Blue and Gray meeting was well attended.  Doris did a great job of reporting the highlights on her blog Moments in Time.  She also has many more pictures.  My intentions were good, I just talk too much!  Here's the only picture I took, Marions breathtaking rug with peacocks.

And now for the baby pictures.

On Tuesday evening we went to Jill's (Jill's Life in Stitches) to pick up our new kitten.  Jill had kindly found a little calico for me.  Oh is she adorable!!!  I held her in my arms all the way home. 

We have a very large bathroom so that is to be her space until we can introduce her to Deiter and Tipper.  We usually quarantine a new kitten until the vet clears her healthwise and she gets her FeLuke test.  She made it through the night without a fuss.  I think she was tired out from the ride and being in a new place.  Today when I got up she was ready to go.  I wanted to get a first picture and asked Zip to hold her.  She was very wiggly!  He looks like he's putting the strangle hold on her!!!  (she survived!)

Oh,  we named her Penelope.  AKA Penny or Little Peanut.

She loves playing with Mommy's shoes.  You can see how tiny she is!

Today we took her to the vet for her first checkup, kitten shots, flea treatment, and worm medicine to give later.  She came home feeling really lousy!  The shots always seem to slow them down, but her little shoulder where they gave the injection was hurting her.  She cried a few times.  I got a soft pillow and laid her on it and sat in my easy chair and held her.  For hours. 

This is like having an infant!  But she is sooo cute!!! 

This evening she is feeling better.  She finally got off her pillow and walked around a bit.  I'm hoping by tomorrow morning she'll be back to her energetic little self.  I will save the worm medicine trauma for a few days.

Have a good week!