...11.4...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...lots of photos of orange kitty parts...

...and like with the head these vertical stripes on the body are much more difficult than horizontal in row stripes but I think this is the way stripes are actually oriented on real kitty-cats...

...just continuing the body shaping...

...and I also continued the white underbelly up under the chin...it was one of the specifications...

...and even without stuffing I'm really impressed with the shaping on this pattern...

...I'll just hold the unfinished head here for some reference...I still have to make ears and whiskers and such...

...working up the neck...I did deviate from the pattern because I don't want to go back and forth as the pattern states because the back side of single crochet does not look the same as the front side and I want it to have the exact same look as the rest of the stitches...

...so I'm simulating going around and around by just carrying the yarn to the beginning of the next row and doing the single crochet in the same direction...I realize that probably doesn't make sense to you if you're not a crocheter...

...to build up the neck portion...

...and change the colours row by row...but make it look like it was crocheted in the round...

...stuffing as I went I stitched up the back portion...

...the cute little rear-end...

...I just think the shaping turned out so adorably...

...the stuffing really makes it look like a kitty-cat...

...the back seam and the line-up of the vertical stripes...

...a couple of photos of the underbelly and legs...

...in natural light...

...and each side...

...showing off her stripes...

...and here she is standing...still headless...

...but she easily stands up on her own...

...and her little bum is so cute...

...and like the unicorn before her...her stance makes me think she's ready to play...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!

...11.2...Over the Weekend...

...homemade English muffin sammie for brekkie...

...I also had my golden mix...which is turmeric, ashwaganda powder, fenugreek powder, pepper and cinnamon...with just a shot of almond milk...it tastes like a mini chai latte...

...after breakfast we headed out for shopping...the bag of apples are McIntosh...because the Man wants to make homemade applesauce and those are the best apples...

...Aldi had organic Black Pepper...I'd not seen that before...and I try to buy organic when I can...

...and Stuff-Mart had these drinks on markdown...it was really really good too...so I'll be looking for them again...but they're probably being discontinued...

...and before we started on the BIG project for the weekend I needed a snack...so I had a Brazil nut...I have one every day to make sure I get enough selenium...

...and then I chopped up a bunch of muesli ingredients and made a cup of tea...

...instead of oats I mixed the muesli fruit and nuts into a bowl of corn flakes and it was very yummy and filling...

...after the grocery shopping and snacking we headed here to do some sod shopping...not really...no shopping I mean...we have centipede grass on the rest of the lawn so we're going with centipede beside the driveway too...

...then of course it was time to get started on the MAJOR project of the weekend...

...which involved digging up all of the sedum we had planted a couple of years ago...after the lavender failed to flourish...I had already dug up a couple of plants and taken them up to Mom last weekend because I knew this was coming...

...it wasn't really that the sedum was dying the way the lavender did...but more the constant weeding that I wanted to stop doing...

...I pulled up the edging that I had so painstakingly put down...

...it was really difficult and required our largest set of pliers to pull it out of the ground...I was surprised at how difficult it was to remove...

...anywhoo...I'll be repurposing that...of course...

...then I scooped all of the pebbles into garbage bags...

...then I got out the tiller and tilled up the strip to get it ready for sod...just thinking back to when we bought the house and it was just grass and that seemed to be doing ok...we're not going to try any other 'fancy' solutions...

...then I had to get rid of all the pebbles...they were really really heavy...so I rigged up an old luggage cart to move them...

...and by then it was getting dark...

...but I was really happy with the progress...

...so the next day we got busy laying some sod...

...which is not very difficult but does involve a lot of heavy lifting and bending over...

...and in no time we had a fresh new strip of green grass beside our driveway...

...I just took baby steps all over it to get it seated...

...and gave it a good long drink...

...the goal will be to keep the monitor in the 'moist' area for a couple of months until the new sod is well established...

...good luck to the new grass strip...

...while all of the sod-laying was happening...a loaf of delicious bread was baking the bread machine...

...after the setup it involves no input from me

...but I was really happy to get to come inside and have a nice warm crusty heel of bread slathered in vegan butter with a cup of tea...it was the perfect break...

...after my break...I headed out front to reposition the edging that I'd pulled up along the driveway...

...and it was the perfect length to border the new gardenia garden out front...so that was a win...

...also very happy and thankful that the gardenias all seem to like their new home as they were struggling in the heat and sun in the back yard...

...and I picked up a couple of curbside 'deals' on my bike ride...this basket that I think will hold some yarn or something in the laundry/craft room...

...a half-full bag of potting soil...

...and a hanging basket also full of potting soil...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!