Cat VS Shark

Mally breaking out the bunny kicks

Picture it:  Another day in the carpeted jungle, smellovision (aka an open widow) is wafting the seductive scent of catnip throughout the apartment.  Creeping around the forest of chair and table legs is the majestic and predatory fluffy panther.  Her prey?  The Land Shark.  It's call?  The high jingling sound of small bells just like the call all birds and small rodents make. Ok, so rodents and birds don't jingle.  Mally apparently did not get that memo.  To me it's adorable, but to her it's serious business.  She'll pounce and wrestle with it, and if she's feeling particularly saucy she'll throw in a few bunny kicks so that Mr. Land Shark knows who is boss.

We came to acquire our version of the SNL Land Shark after I made her those little blue balls.  I noticed that occasionally when Mally gets especially fired up her back legs begin pumping in unison.  Alas, these devastating attacks met no purchase with those too small spheres of yarn.  This tragedy had to be rectified, and quickly.  Her next toy needed to be something long enough for her to sink her clawed (and tufted) back toes into while being able to bite it in order to achieve maximum cat satisfaction.  Honestly, I think I was influenced by this:

Land Shark - still looking pretty good despite months of abuse

Onward to Ravelry!  Here, amidst my fellow fiber friends I found Erika Olimpiew's Sharky Stuffed Toy.  While being a delightful and fun pattern to follow, I was not able to complete the embroidery details due to intervention of an impatient pet.  Mally's lack of self control might have been influenced by the stuffing being 10% fiberfill with the remaining 90% being catnip.  As a sidenote, I acquired an embarrassing amount of catnip by going to Amazon.com and searching for "Catnip Herb" - it's not as potent as the more expensive stuff, but I received about 1 pound of it for around $15.  The jingle bells also came to the front door via Amazon prime and were rather inexpensive.  These things plus a bit of previously purchased acrylic yarn have made for hours of serious (very serious) fun.

Anatomy and Physiology in Alpaca and Polyester

Again, I'm guilty of blog negligence.  Part of the reason is that I'm back attending courses at a local community college.  By some miracle I was able to get into a General Human Anatomy course; mostly because the professor prides herself on being challenging, and not for those faint of heart (nyuck nyuck anatomy pun).  During lecture and lab, I confess, I found myself daydreaming about some projects I had seen that kept springing to mind.

First, there is an amazing knitted replica of the human brain.  Along with being quirky and colorful, it's also anatomically correct.  If you're interested in this creation by Karen Norberg, check out this Scientific American article.

Another favorite of mine was originally introduced to me while reading Interweave Knits Summer 2011 magazine.  Even down to the teeth, this entire skeleton was knitted by artist Ben Cuevas.  Now, I wouldn't mind studying this anatomical model.  Check out his blog if you want to know more about him or his other anatomical knits.

Curious about knitting your own digestive system?  Don't worry about it being uncharted territory; Matie Trewe has gone to the effort to write down the pattern.  Although the blog has "expired"  you can still get it via the Way Back Machine by clicking here.

The next anatomical knit is by Emily Stoneking, and I fear that she may not make it to regresty's page only due to talent.   Then again if she is featured, it will probably be in the same warm fuzzy light that was shed on a review of Ben Cuevas's work.  Her work, entitled Biology 101, has me longing to watch prosections of knitting creatures (even if he does kinda remind me of Kermit).

We're ready! Now what?

I don't know if I can accurately describe how much courage it took yesterday for me to cut off dangling ends of yarn.  It's ridiculous, but it meant being finally done with my Hobbes project.  I've been done with the individual pieces for months now; but whenever I finished sewing on an ear I immediately looked at it, and unsatisfied, I'd rip out the stitches.  To give you an idea of how long Hobbes has been on my slab in Frankenstien-esque parts, here's a blog post from early August when we began our little journey together.

Calvin would be ashamed of me.  Probably more accurately he'd be hovering near my elbow peering over my shoulder fretting that I wasn't working quick enough.  Then again, Calvin would probably relish his Franken-Hobbes while pretending to be a Mad Scientist.  Alas, I digress.  Hobbes came together while I was visiting California last month, not surprising considering he was the only project with me.

I'm afraid that this horrific neglect will continue, and may even get worse now that the tiger's all put together.  Daniel asked me yesterday what I was going to do with him now that he was done.  Honestly, I don't know.  I no longer have space adventures, go back in time or even play my own version of Calvin ball.  The kind of magic required to spark life into my little FrankenHobbes disappeared before I was 12.  Somewhere out there, Spaceman Spiff is exploring the universe, laughing in the face of peril, and missing a side kick who can be his best friend.  Where are you Calvin?

Thanks again to Sukigirl for providing a pattern to all us Waterson fans.  Thank you for making my first amigurumi project something so memorable (and good to learn on).