Please welcome my guest!

Today I welcome a special guest! Donna Druchunas is here to talk about her new book "Kitty Knits." One look at the title and you know that this would appeal to me!


Welcome Donna!

Hi Vicki, thanks for inviting me to visit your blog as part of my
Kitty Knits blog tour! I'm familiar with Crazy Cat Ladies, because my
sister is one. She has ten cats. That's the limit under the law where
she lives, or I'm sure she'd have more. She regularly catches strays
and has them fixed, and tries to find them new homes, too. Kitty
Knits is dedicated to "my sister June and her feline friends, Oliver,
Bob, George, Peter, Chloe, Samantha, Stewart, Greg, Bonnie, and
Clyde." I only have 2 cats, but will soon have 4 when my mother and
her two furry friends move in with us this spring.

I'm impressed with the variety of designs in the book. Where did
you get your inspiration?

I just make things up. I hope that doesn't sound flippant, but it's
really the truth. Not everything is totally from scratch out of my
head, though, because I can't draw and some of the designs required
the touch of someone who could. For the more pictorial designs,
Susan McBride sent me little sketches
that I then converted into charts using the free KnitPro software
from mircoRevolt. Here are the sketches that Susan made that became the Needle Felted Carpetbag and
the Appliqué Felted Pillow. The cat on the carpet bag is one of Susan's cats chasing a butterfly.



Which of the knit items for kitties are your cats' favorite?

My cats love anything they can lay on, so they are partial to the
baby blanket and the afghan. I like both of those, too, because
they're easy to knit, with fairly simple textured patterning in a
solid color, and the kitty accents added with embroidery. I love
embroidery, but I don't do much of it any more so this was a fun way
to work it into a knitting project, and to add color to these
projects without doing intarsia.

Which project in the book was YOUR favorite?

A few people have asked me this question already, and I've answered
it in different ways. Because of your emphasis on YOUR, I'll tell you
about the project that I'd most want to make for myself. That's the
ballet cardigan. I don't have any sweater in this style, and I've
wanted to make one for a long time. Although I'm not lanky or thin, I
have an hourglass figure and my waist is a good feature to show off,
so I think a sweater like this would be very flattering on me.
Because of the book's schedule, the yarn I originally chose being out
of stock, and because my first test knitter had other obligations
that came up so she couldn't make the sweater, I ended up having this
made in the smallest size. It would fit a teenager (or the skinny
model on the book's cover), but it certainly wouldn't fit me! Someday
I'd like to make this for myself.



I've always been amazed at the differences in cat personalities.
They are all such individuals and form different types of
relationships with each other. Tell me about your kitties and how
they get along. Do they have any particular quirks?

My cats get along great. I got Uno when he was 4 months old, and
Deedee was a little over a year. She thought he was her baby, so she
kind of raised him. At that time, I still had Sparkles who was about
14 and had cancer. He was pretty crabby and would hiss at the little
cats a lot. His companion, Tipper, had died of cancer about a year
before that. Sometimes Sparkles would try to lick Deedee and Uno, but
because he was a lot bigger than them -- they each weighed about 6
pounds at the time and he weighed 20 pounds -- and because he hissed
at them so much, they were afraid to let him come near them. The two
of them are great friends, now. Sadly, they do not miss Sparkles at all.


Donna and Dee Dee

Do your kitties get into your yarn and/or knitting projects?

Not really. They used to when they were younger, but now they are
pretty well behaved. I don't take any risks though, and I keep my
projects where they can't get into them, especially if I'm knitting
lace or using exotic fibers that might attract their attention. They
can't seem to resist angora, for example! And they don't just want to
roll in it. They want to chew on it.


Donna and Uno

Thank you, Donna, for stopping by!

Thanks again for letting me stop by as part of my tour.

I finished the kitty toys that were in the book: Two felt mice, a felt tube and a fringy felt ball. See my last post for the kitties' review!