Photo a Day in July #19

19.  Animal/Insect/Pet

I had taken pictures of our sleepy kitties and was set to post them when I remembered something!  Every year, we make a Christmas ornament to add to our tree; it always captures some theme or big event of the year.  Our first Christmas we did a "Our First Christmas" ornament using leftover supplies from our wedding and reception; for 2010, we did an owl-themed ornament since we moved to NW Arkansas and into our Owlery.  Since I was sick at Christmas, we didn't get to make our ornament until much later.  I actually made it all this year after Zach approved of the design.  Dinah was a BIG addition to our family in 2011--in fact, she was our anniversary present, standing in for cotton--and I felt it was better to focus on our kitties rather than my illness (which I find it hard not to talk about everyday since it shapes everyday...).  I got around to making this not too many weeks ago, but I never posted a photo on Facebook because something else more important would arise for my photo post of the day.  So I thought it would be appropriate to debut 2011's ornament for this photo challenger.

As I mentioned, I decided on a cat-themed ornament.  I felt it was appropriate to knit it since cats are associated with balls of yarn, and our cats LOVE to attack me when I am knitting.  I looked for a pattern online, found a Hello Kitty one, and altered it and improvised as I went along.  It ended up being shorter than I thought it would be--not to mention I didn't know how to make it ball-shaped at the time--so I wrapped yarn around the ornament and slipped the band over it.  The wrapped yarn recalls those yarn balls the kitties love to chase.  Then I decided on adding some feathers since they are often part of cat toys, and I chose ones in the colors of their fur (white, tan gold, and black with white dominating).  The feathers are also tail-like.  :)  Finally, I tied it up with some gold ribbon because they also love playing with ribbon, and I added '11 on the ends.  It's not the prettiest ornament I've made, but I think it's the most creative.

Hobie is facing the camera:

 You see the gold spot above his eye on the ornament?

And then Dinah is reflected in the mirror:

She has Groucho eyebrows in gold and black (which are reversed in the photo above).  She looks smaller than Hobie in this picture from our fondue party last weekend, but she is actually LARGER.  Man, I still need to post photos from the par-tay...

I just love these two!

And, for funsies, since it's the third anniversary of our engagement:

Zach likes to creep in photos with his "mustache," and since it was late and he wasn't feeling well, I could only talk him into a funny photo, which really are THE BEST after all.  I don't know what is up with my eyebrow though; it always looks kind of funny, but the point of Zach's glasses aren't helping.