Closing Time and Blogiversary

If you would have asked me when I started writing this blog what I thought I would be doing a year from then, I would never have guessed that I would be closing on a house in Colorado.  I might have told you that I hoped to have purchased a house, but I would have thought that house would be in San Francisco. I didn’t know that I was going to learn to spin yarn, much less that I was going to acquire a spinning wheel. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that I would passionately love 2 little girl kittens whom I would have to give away (I’ve always loved my kittens, but in a more impermanent way). It just goes to show that no matter what plans you might make for yourself, surprising things just come up.

The closing on the house today went smoothly. Michael spent the morning making sure that everyone had all the documents they needed (it turns out the companies involved in the transfer process procrastinate to the point of endangering an on-time transaction), and by the time we had to close, everything was in line. We signed a billion documents. We chatted with the sellers and our respective agents. And in the end, we got the key to our new house! The sellers are still moving out tomorrow, but we will be coming in Saturday morning to do a few things to the place before we go. Holy cow, we’re homeowners!

I’ve started 2 projects, both in commemoration of the house purchase, and because these are things Michael and I will need for living in a slightly colder climate.  Michael needed a scarf (he tells me he has never actually worn a scarf before. Really? He was born in Pennsylvania…) and I needed gloves. I’ve made more progress on Michael’s scarf than my gloves, largely because his project is a little simpler and quicker to complete. I also tried to stop myself from starting the gloves because I had other projects that were really long past due. I’ve completed many of those projects, so I now feel I can work on the gloves. I’ve picked out a stitch pattern and cast on the ribbing. I think I’ll post the pattern for both of these projects when I’ve completed them.

(The lighting for these pictures was kind of poor – the only white background I had here in the hotel was in the bathroom.)

I am happy to say that, of the works in progess I had a year ago, only one of them remains uncompleted – Carisa’s afghan. The afghan is an active project as of a few days ago, and I expect it will be finished before I leave San Francisco. Shall we see what is on my hooks and needles now? I’ll include links for those of you who are on Ravelry.

1. Carisa’s Afghan. We knew this. The only holdover from last year, and first on the priority list for this one.
2. Colorado Scarf. The second priority, a project of my own design. Michael is going to need this. Apparently, we’ve chosen to move during the months in which Colorado gets the most of its snow. Fabulous.
3. Colorado Gloves. Pressing, but not too big of a priority. Also a project of my own design. I’ll need a good pair of gloves for snow-land, but I do have serviceable store-bought ones to tide me over.
4. Blaine’s Baby Blanket. Fortunately, this is 1 of only 2 afghans on my list. I meant to have fewer in progress so I could enjoy the satisfaction of completing a project more often. I’d like to get this one done by Blaine’s birthday in June, and hopefully I can deliver it to him myself given that we will only live 7 hours away from my brother’s family by then.
5. Earl Grey. I started this when I joined the San Francisco one-sock-a-month group on Ravelry. Sadly, I have only completed maybe ½ of one of these in the 5 months since I joined. Oh, well.
6. Clapotis. I like the pattern, it’s just that the poor thing had to go to the bottom of the queue in order to make way for things I was giving to other people or things that I needed more urgently. This in only decorative, I’m afraid.
7. Cat Couch. I’ve been meaning to make something for my cats to call their very own. My kitties are so very appreciative of all my yarn projects. The like to lie on the blankets, they’ll snuggle with a sweater, and they give a fair shake to all the toys I’ve created for them. They deserve something nice. Maybe it should be higher on the priority list.

I notice that I have 2 fewer WIPs than last year. I wanted to reduce the number of things I had going at one time. While I wanted to remain below 6, I think it’s ok to be where I am, given that I actually have utility projects on the list. I have plans for future projects, but none are afghans (whew)! I am going to design a sweater for myself, given that I have yet to find a pattern that works for me. Strangely, I have no desire to cast on something new right now. What have I become?!

Lady

If I’ve counted correctly, I’ve just accepted the 50th kitten this year into my home. This lovely creature is Lady.

I brought her home on Tuesday. She was being socialized at the shelter, but she wasn’t coming along fast enough and she needed to be sent to a home. This is where I come in. Lady cowered and ran from me the first day. She howled all night long. She didn’t even like the other kittens, so she was alone in the crowded kitten room.

On Wednesday, she came around. Yes, that fast. I had to wash some poop from Lady’s tail (she doesn’t raise it high enough when she does her business – you can see it in her picture), so her little behind was all wet. I sat down on the floor with the other kittens, and lady slunk into my lap. I guess it pays to be the only warm spot on the floor. Later that evening, Michael and I took Lady and Sprout out of the kitten room to watch TV with us. You would swear that this kitten was always friendly, the way she loved on us. Lady climbed up onto our shoulders, purring into our ears and asking for kisses. So much for being a tough nut.

It turns out that Lady is a fan of my yarn-craft. To put it mildly, I am a multi-tasker: I was snuggling Lady and Sprout, watching TV and crocheting all at the same time. On one of her trips behind my head, lovely Lady stopped to knead a pile of squares for the Crochet-Along Afghan, purring her heart out. I am almost finished with that blanket – 3.5 squares to go.

So, let’s take a look at my WIP list, shall we?

1. Crochet Sampler Afghan (Crochet-Along)
2. Earl Grey (for the one-sock-a-month Ravelry group)
3. Blaine’s Baby Blanket
4. Carisa’s Afghan
5. Donald’s Kilt hose (I haven’t been to class, and a lot of my stuff has had deadlines lately, but I feel really bad about not getting these to him – ugh)
6. Clapotis
7. Cat Couch (from e-patterns.com)
8. Repairing Blaze

I also have many washcloths planned (and about 2 on needles as I type), but I’ve decided that these do not count as WIPs because I can make them quickly. Plus, I need to deny to myself that I have a starting problem. Don’t judge me, and I won’t judge you. Deal?

The kittens I have now are much easier, so I believe I can knock out a few of the WIPs in a hurry. Plus, I have a plane ride for Thanksgiving in which I can complete a lot of knitting/crochet.

Number 8 may seem like a surprise to anyone who has been reading over the summer. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to get the neckline to reach a reasonable proportion to the rest of the sweater. Now that I have some distance from the project, I think that I can get a little more creative about fixing it. The first thing will be to rip out the existing mess, then redo it on much smaller needles. I may even have to decrease a bit more than the pattern calls for. How’s that for perseverance? Then I can give it away to someone I like and never, ever see it sitting in my mending pile again.

One last note about the kittens – Sprout got an eye infection . Instead of withdrawing because she gets meds every day, Sprout actually started warming up to me. The last time I visited the kittens, Sprout was waiting by the door for me. Now, she is totally comfortable letting me bend down to pet her while she sits in the middle of the kitchen. Apparently, she succumbed to Stockholm syndrome as well.

In deep

I have no idea what’s wrong with me. I keep taking on projects despite my new, self-imposed 6 WIP limit. Here’s what happened:

Earlier today I received my Lion Brand email. They talk about new products as well as offer free patterns, pattern stitches, advice, etc. This time they tempted me into a Crochet Along (CAL). I have plenty of stray Lion Brand Wool-ease around, so I thought, “Sure, I should do this.” I mean, it’s an afghan – it should take lots of yarn! It has the added benefit of reducing my stash. I was merrily putting all my new WIPs on Ravelry when – tartar sauce – I discovered that this one makes 7. I wanted to stay at or below 6. I’m going to defend my decision to do it anyway by pointing out that there is a time limit here – 6 weeks. Maybe I can give it to someone as a Christmas present. I should have the baby dress done within the next 7 days, so I won’t be above my limit for long.

The baby dress is coming along well. The measurements are coming out spot-on (for the moment) and it’s working up quickly. The pattern is easy to remember – there are 3 stockinette rows and 1 row with a 9 stitch repeat. The yarn is just fabulous! I love Berroco Comfort in all its different weights. It’s nylon and acrylic, washable, and soft as can be.

In other news, I sent Sunshine to the shelter today. They are going to see if she is accepted by the other shelter we work with. If not, I’ll pick her back up and try on my own to get her into a good home. She has been super nice, and she did well when she was handled by all the staff at the front desk. As soon as she was put into a cage though, she cringed in the back and flattened her ears. Moonlight has been hiding since I took Sunshine away. I’m worried that they are bonded and need each other for security.

Wisteria is getting close to being available for adoption now. I’m guessing 10 days away. I’m not sure I am ready to give her up…

It’s good to want things

I’ve realized that for once in a long time, I have a list of things that I really want but can’t or shouldn’t have now. The top of that list is probably Wisteria. I love her so much. The thing is, I also love my other 3 cats and my husband. Of the 4 of them, I think only Serra would be happy if I adopted another kitten. Sigh.

What else is on that list?

• Well, there’s a spinning wheel. I have a favorite at the moment, but I am planning to try out a few more and wait until I have a house with a craft room for it.
• I also want a drum carder. I understand that brand isn’t so important. I can get that soon because it’s smaller (and I can still spin the fiber on my spindle). The thing is, I am waiting until August 30th when a spinning (and knitting) supply store with set business hours opens here in town. I have high hopes for Urban Fauna Studio. I talked to Blas, the proprietor of the store, and he was so nice. I think he spoke with me for about 20 minutes about what the store will carry, what events they have planned, etc.
• I want/need a niddy noddy to skein my handspun yarn. I have to wait for the store to open for that, too.
• I want a freaking house! The housing market is so expensive here in San Francisco. A modest house (I’m talking small 3/2) goes for about $1,000,000. No, I didn’t add an extra 0. We weren’t hit by the housing crisis, and what’s more, houses in the safe neighborhoods near public transit have continued to appreciate in value.

I believe that if you don’t want anything (and I’m not just talking about material posessions here) then you have no reason to live. What’s the point in waking up in the morning if you don’t want to accomplish anything? I think that’s why a lot of people die right after they retire: they want nothing else from the world. Me – I’m not going to die for a reason like that. There’s always something else to knit. Besides, I always want to do something to make the world better, from raising foster kittens or making the entire country no-kill. Those are some mighty big goals.

Speaking of big goals – I have completed every goal I set for the Ravelympics. Jen’s socks were my final goal. I finished them with just a few hours to spare. I had been sick (still am, actually) for most of the day and I thought that I might miss my goal. I guess ambition won out here and I got them done. I won’t be mailing them until I finish designing a cat toy for Jen’s cats, but that will go much more quickly.

It feels good to be down to 3 (and a half – I still need to make a second kilt sock for Donald) WIPs. All I have left is:

1. Blaine’s baby blanket
2. Carisa’s afghan
3. Clapotis

That’s it. Ideally I’ll keep it down to 6 from here out. I do have to start a set of 3 dishcloths soon since my brother’s family will be here in a few weeks and I want to send them home with the cloths. I think that those will take at most 3 days. I also want to start a piece of cat furniture from a pattern I got here. After Buttercup burrowed into a shelf of my stash yarn, I promised to make her something if she just didn’t do that anymore. I don’t mind her sleeping with the yarn, but she tends to wreck my nice, neat, and (for once) organized piles. I haven’t made anything for them in a long time and they keep snuggling the cat afghan I just made. It’s sweet, and I want to give them something of their very own.

So, I am going to go to sleep with just a few things left on my WIP list. I wonder what it will feel like..?

I’ve got knitting to do – back off!

On our Wednesday knit night, Kristy came to visit. She wanted to pick up the hats we had made thus far and to meet some of the people helping with her project. She was late to our gathering, but she had a very interesting story to tell. Apparently as she was racing away from work to get to the train in time, a guy driving in front of her just jumped from his still moving car. Many other people had stopped and called for help, so she kept going. I think she was feeling a little guilty about not stopping, but honestly, if too many people stop it creates a bigger back-up and makes things worse. It was a bit of a Weird-Al moment:

Kristy said all she could think was “I’ve got knitting to do – back off!” Don’t worry, you’re not a bad person – quite the opposite.

Kristy has far exceeded her original 300 hat goal. She had knitters from across the country, from foreign countries, and knitters who learned the craft solely so they could donate to her cause. It is truly amazing to me how generous people can be. Our group only committed to 15 hats and we sent her home with 30. Dude.

I tried to finish my 7th – and final – hat for her project while she was here, but I had hostessing duties and I just missed the goal despite furious knitting. Carisa will mail it to her for me, but still, I wanted to finish in time. In any case, here it is in 2 views:

At 11:59pm on Thursday I finished my 4th Ravelympics project.

The Romantic Cardigan, in all it’s imperfect glory. There were a few problems special design features in this one. First of all, the pattern was full of mistakes. There are comments on Amazon about this issue. I couldn’t get the stitch count correct for the main body portion, so I had to count the stitches on every row and fudge the rest. The border for the main body has some instructions that are impossible if you complied with earlier instructions. I had a hard time finding the written errata for this pattern, but I didn’t think to look in time to do anything about it if there was something. Oh well.

I also had something happen with the yarn in this project. The ball bands all claimed that the yarn belonged to the same dye lot. When I got to the actual crochet, I learned that this was a huge LIE! In person it isn’t quite so obvious, but the camera tells no lies. I wonder how this happened. Maybe the ball bands came off and someone just randomly replaced them? Maybe it was a factory error?

As for the kittens -

Cute as ever. I got the orange guy’s tongue by accident. He begs for his food by holding my leg and meowing while I am busy scooping it onto the plates. Tiki was having a “cute session” – she was sleepy and lying in bed, lazily posing for me. The picture of Sunshine yawning was actually part of the same picture of Tiki yawning.

We are keeping (for foster) the 3 kittens that I acquired this weekend. We do not yet have a name for the mostly white kitten – any suggestions for the comments? We’re calling the black and white girl Panda. The orange fellow is Puddles. That boy just tinkles anywhere, even right in front of his food. He’s just learning, so I’ll give him a break. The others have already caught on to the whole litter box thing. The only time they miss is when they have diarrhea.

Which brings me to the next challenge. The boys and Panda have the vomit virus that the Constellations caught months ago. It is accompanied by diarrhea. You know, it almost looks like food poisoning, except that all of the kittens eat from the same plates, so they would all have it. The sick ones are on antibiotics and fluids for the moment. I knew that continuing health was too good to be true. Puddles feels so bony – almost like Moonlight did when I got her.

Sunshine made weight yesterday. She is adoptable now, but she won’t pass behavior at the shelter. I am going to have to advertise her on Craigslist or something like that and make appointments for her adopters. She is a total sweetheart – if she is in the kitten room. If she is in an open space, she freaks out and runs for a hiding space. Michael and I are trying to give her intense snuggling while we watch TV, but she is trying to resist rehabilitation. She’ll need a home with patient parents and no small or particularly loud children. Sunshine will need to be confined and only gradually allowed access to the rest of her new home so she can gain confidence. This process may take a lot of time. By the way, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to adopt her, please leave a comment. I’ll follow up in email.

Moonlight, on the other hand, is a total snuggle fiend. She hides if left to her own devices, but if I stick her in my lap she forgets everything else and starts rubbing herself all over me. She loves to be scratched under her chin and kissed. Moonlight purrs constantly when she’s held. When she makes weight I think her behavior will have dramatically improved given her progress thus far. She’ll also need a quiet home (maybe with Sunshine?) but maybe she won’t need as much time to get comfortable.

Anyway, I’ve got knitting to do if I am going to finish the Ravelympics with the gold medal. All I have to do is finish Jen’s sock. I feel a little torn about Donald’s kilt sock. My goal was to have a sock made that I could take to another fitting. I did that, and it still needed to be altered. Is my goal met? Do I have to make it fit before I can call that one complete? I didn’t plan on making the entire pair, but am I cheating if I call this one complete when it still isn’t quite right?

A different sort of WIP

I have a WIP that will never turn into an FO. At least I hope not. I’ve been married for 6 years today.

Michael and I met in college when I was 17. He was 19. We were on St. George Island in Florida on a beach weekend organized by my campus church. Michael asked to sit next to me every chance he got, and before the whole thing was over, he asked if he could kiss me. We’ve been together ever since.

A marriage is not an event that you attend and then never think about again. It’s a constant negotiation. It’s caring for the other person when he/she needs you. It’s compromise. It’s trust. It’s understanding.

I won’t deny that our relationship has had it’s tough points. Before and after the wedding, Michael and I have had times we just wanted out. At first we didn’t agree on the big things like religion, kids, the role of our parents in our relationship, etc. I actually told Michael in the first week we were dating that I didn’t think that our relationship would work out because of those things. He wanted to stay together because he thought I would change my mind as time wore on.

Eventually we had to confront each of those big issues. These battles were not pretty, to put it mildly. Over time though, we grew together in our beliefs and goals (or more honestly, Michael adopted my positions – I knew what I wanted and he was still figuring it out). It took 4 (long) years of dating before we made the union legal.

Michael and I still work at this whole marriage thing. The fights are smaller now (generally) and they are over mostly inconsequential things. We are getting better at reading each other’s needs, whether they are expressed or not. Every day we become more and more part of the other person. I think that we share a brain currently.

Michael helps me raise all the kittens and our big cats (can you believe he didn’t like cats before me?). He provides income for our family. He loves me even when I am pretty sure the rest of the world wishes I didn’t exist. He even supports my yarn habit!

Michael has learned that the biggest way I express love is with handmade gifts. He paid attention to what I said was my favorite yarn, went to the yarn store, purchased said yarn, asked my knitting friends to teach him how to knit, then knit me a scarf. What’s more, he knit it mostly in public because he didn’t want me to see him doing it. He knit at a football game so that he could get it done in time for our anniversary despite the heckling – from a woman, no less. (This is why I do not like football – the fans are often jerks.)

Many old couples tell us that they think we will be together forever. There is a woman I know who talks about how she can always see how much Michael loves me. Quite a few of my friends think that we have a perfect relationship (that doesn’t exist, for the record).

I am grateful to have someone in my life who likes me for who I am – farts and all. Sure, he’s a project (aren’t all husbands?), but he’s fun to work on – may he always be my WIP.

Crisis in Crochet

I was working on my cat afghan, inspired by the idea of getting down to just 6 WIPs. Except for substituting the color of the cats in this afghan (the original pattern calls for blue cats), I left the pattern unmodified. For the first time in my life I checked gauge for an afghan (usually I don’t worry because, well, it’s a blanket -it’ll fit). What could possibly go wrong?

When I got here , I noticed that I was running low on the burgundy yarn. No, big deal, I’d get some more from my stash. I went to the box where I was storing this WIP and reached in.

“That’s odd,” I thought. There was no more of this yarn. I dumped the box out. Still no more. Oh, crap. Luckily, I had the original invoice from when I bought the yarn, so I knew where to look if I needed to buy more. I had a ball band with the dye lot. I looked on Ravelry to see if someone had it in their stash. Only one person did, but I didn’t notice if the dye lot was the same. Still, I had 2 possible sources.

Later that night as I worked, worry crept up on me. I could swear I had enough yarn. I thought I was going to have at least one skein too many early on in the process. As I watched the skein I was crocheting from disappear, the worry began to eat at me. I put the afghan down to search some more.

Nope, not in my notions basket.

Not in the dining room.

Not in the office.

I sat in front of the computer and thought, “I’d better place the order for this yarn so I don’t run out of ambition. What if this yarn is discontinued? What if the dye lot is hideously different?” In the end I decided I should wait till morning. I mean really, is there that much demand for a mass-produced acrylic yarn?

It grew later – 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. I couldn’t fall asleep. I panicked more and more.

Then I had an idea. I grabbed the flashlight and tiptoed into the bedroom. I grabbed the handle on the yarn trunk by the door. It’s kind of sticky, and I didn’t want to wake Michael, so I yanked it quickly and hard. Michael sat up. “I thought someone was breaking into the bedroom,” he said. “Go back to sleep,” said I. “OK.”

As quietly as one can with plastic bags, I began removing other WIPs and pre-assembled project kits from the trunk. One by one (holy cow, do I really think I can make all of these?) they came to rest outside the trunk. When I got to the back, my hand felt something soft and familiar. All right! A skein of this brand of yarn – not necessarily the right color (I am making Blaine’s baby blanket out of the same type of yarn). I grabbed several skeins and tossed them into the hall. I quietly put away the rest of the projects. Then I went into the hall to see if I was in luck…

Whew! I had plenty of the burgundy yarn left. Crisis averted. I brought it into the living room and put it where I could find it again. Finally, I could sleep. Soon, I’ll be sleeping with the new afghan.

Speaking of accomplishing things, I spun the white roving for our plying lesson in spinning class. I’ll show you the finished products when I spin it all. That’s a story for next time, though.

I acquired 2 more kittens today. They are just about the same size, maybe a little bigger than Wisteria was when I got her. They are both on the bottle, about every 8 hours. I think they are 2 1/2 to 3 weeks old.

The black and white one is named Ling Ling. The lady who named Wisteria named this fellow as well. The calico girl is unnamed, however. Does anyone have a suggestion? Please leave it in the comments. There are just a few criteria:

1. The name should be uncommon, but not too weird. Patches is out (although I love that name for a calico, all the calicos in the shelter are named Patches).
2. The name has to be family friendly.
3. The name should be suitable for a girl kitten (or at least gender neutral).

I’ll let you know whose suggestion we went with in a few days. It’s not a contest, and there is no prize except bragging rights. But naming kittens is fun, I swear.

Thank God Almighty, I am free at last

Holy cow – jury duty is over. It ended yesterday with the jurors coming to a decision on most of the questions asked of us. We could not come to an agreement on the final question, though, and we had to declare ourselves hung. I was the presiding juror – the foreperson. I feel a little bad that under my leadership we could not make a decision, but I am getting that maybe the lawyers could have done a better job making their cases. Oh well, water under the bridge.

On my first day of jury duty, before the jury selection, I began crochetting the baby blanket I am making for my nephew for Christmas. His mother reads this blog, but he can’t read yet (I’m not sure that he can walk yet…), so I’m cool posting the pictures. I learned rather quickly that I could get away with bringing my knitting to jury duty, so I dropped this project like a hot potato and worked on a few things that needed to be finished. On the jury duty form it says you can’t bring knitting needles, but I think they only care if the needles look scary. Sock needles and sizes 6 and 8 circulars aren’t quite in the scary category.

Tomorrow I am taking Merry and Cupcake to the shelter to get adopted. I plan to stay there with the kittens for a few hours, playing with them and trying to interest people in taking them home. If I am not successful, I will leave them at the shelter to try another day. As soon as Nebby’s daddy is ready, I am going to meet him at the shelter and hand over the object of my recent affections. Sigh. I know I’ll fall in love again, it’s just sad to say good-bye.

Now that I am in control of my life again, I plan to update at my previous rate. Thanks for waiting this long.

Almost there

If all goes well, my jury duty will end tomorrow. We’ve heard all the evidence, and we are just waiting for the closing arguements and we can go into deliberations. Woo hoo!

I’ve finished up a lot of last little bits of my knitting projects while we’ve been on our breaks. I need to untangle more of the yarn to finish Blaze, but then I have maybe 2 more inches and the last few rows of the neckline to go. Then I can graft the underarm seam and show you the pattern problem. So close!

I have finished the first sock of the two separate pairs I’m working on – the kilt hose and Jen’s socks swatch. I cast on a sock for Jen since the swatch came out ok. I am waiting to start the next kilt sock until I am sure the custom sizing is correct. I’ll know of Thursday if the recipient shows up to dance class.

 

I think it’s time again that I list the many projects on my hooks and needles, just to keep myself in line.

1. The kilt hose (1 of 2)
2. Jen’s socks swatch (1 of 2)
3. Blaine’s blanket (for Christmas, unpictured thus far)
4. Blaze (almost finished!)
5. Tunisian crochet cat bed
6. Romantic Cardigan
7. Carisa’s afghan
8. Cat Afghan

Wow, down to 8. If I discipline myself I can knock out a project or 2 before casting something else on. Oh, but here I go again – I want to knit hats for this person. (By the way, if you want to help, she needs the hats by September 5th) My sister-in-law Alicia asked me to make her some washcloths as well – some for her and some for a gift. All of these temptations are ruining me. At least I am at a low since I started keeping track. You know, I can totally finish that cat bed tomorrow at knit night…

Several of the kittens have made weight now. Gigantor(aka Milkshake) is nearly 3 pounds, but still flourescing a bit under the blacklight. Nebula just made 2 pounds and his daddy is checking in on him. I am going to check if he still glows tomorrow. I hope not – I want his daddy to get him soon and maybe take a friend. Cupcake made weight as well. That little purr machine (and pants climber, but let’s focus on her sweet side) would make a great partner for Nebby. Plus, she has no ringworm spots. She never got any fur loss, in fact, despite a few glowing flecks near her nose. I’m keeping my fingers crossed here.

Merry and  Scotti are getting close, but not quite yet ready. Cream Puff is lagging behind. She’s eating, so I’m not sure what the problem is - maybe she isn’t in a hurry. When they move on I am sticking to bottle-feeders so I can leave the kitten room empty for a month or two while I sterilize that room and the kitchen. I know it’s been an epidemic this year and I want to get rid of it!