Smitten with Kittens

The foster kittens are growing fast.  These photos were taken last Thursday and I can see a huge difference between the way the kittens look then, and they way they look now, just over a week later.
One of the most noticeable things is their ears.  When they are born, kittens’ ears are folded forward, and flat against their heads.  The ears gradually stand up more and more.  In these pictures the ears are about halfway up.  This morning I noticed the ears are all now straight up!  (I’ll post more recent photos very soon so you can see the difference!)
They are also walking around a lot more, and a lot less shakily.  Sometimes I see two or three in a very unsteady wrestling match.  It’s pretty funny.  They haven’t started chasing things, like a ball or piece of string, but I expect it won’t be long.
Yesterday Mike and I moved them into a large mesh-style cage loaned to me by a friend.  They have a lot more room in there and, when they aren’t napping, will be able to watch what’s going on around them.
They absolutely charm everyone who sees them.  My friend, Susan, brought her daughter, Jenny, and granddaughter, Maggie, to see the kittens.  Maggie was especially enchanted!

She was very gentle when we let her touch the kitties, almost like she was in total awe of them.

Kitty, kitty!

They are nursing very well now, even the brown-striped kitten (center of photo, above), who was the slowest to catch on.  Kinda strange since she’s always been the biggest of the bunch and the very smallest kitten, the little calico, was the first to catch on to the bottle.

Ozzie

Isabel

Mindy

Of course, they are still spending most of their time SLEEPING!
Awwwww!
{Thanks to Susan & Jenny for these great photos!}

Warm Up America - The Pile is Still Growing!

Yep, my little stack of crocheted and knitted squares is still growing! I now have 31 in the pile; only 18 more to go and I will begin the process of sewing them all together into an afghan. The afghan will then be sent to the Warm Up America Foundation to be donated to a homeless shelter or hospital.

I've been using yarn given to me by Rose Rich a couple years ago when I was visiting her in Utah. I love being able to put that yarn to good use! Of course, I also have lots of stray skeins, partial skeins, and various sized balls of yarn hanging around from past projects, or projects that I never did get to. I'm digging into it all.

I got tired of the crocheting the same patterns (the ones provided at the Warm Up America Foundation's website), fun though they are, so I started looking around for more stitches to try. I dug up an old (unfinished, natch) afghan project I started a long time back. The pattern I was using is in a booklet called "63 Easy to Crochet Pattern Stitches - Combine to Make an Heirloom Afghan." The 63 patterns all make squares so I've just been modifying them to make a 7" x 9 " rectangle instead. It's been really fun trying out the different stitches.

I've found I can easily crochet at least one piece per evening, if I'm watching television; sometimes I will do more - just depends on how much time I spend in front of the t.v., which usually isn't a whole lot.

I've never actually joined a bunch of squares into an afghan before, so that may prove to be a bit of a challenge in spite of all the tips given at the Warm Up America Foundation's website. It'll certainly be something new to learn.

Any suggestions??