A Stash of a Different Kind

As a knitter I have a yarn stash and a needle stash. As a musician I stash instruments and programs from performances. As a self proclaimed Brit I stash tea. As a woman I stash lotion, purses, and shoes. And my cat? She stashes catnip mice. We have a veritable infestation. I found 6 of these while poking around under the couch and chairs looking for stitch markers.
Penelope was infinitely happy. She immediately attacked 1 and then proceeded to guard the rest of her "babies" protectively.
Why was I looking under couches for stitch markers you ask. Well, because I couldn't find my little box of them. I thought that it may have fallen off the coffee table (the last place I saw them) and bounced under the couch. In the meantime I have been trying to make paper clips work.

These tend to snag though and having to use more than one is cumbersome and obnoxious (not to mention pokey, ouch!). I did manage to locate one lone stitch marker earlier this week.

It had come loose from the herd and was hanging out on the edge of the coffee table. I was hoping to find my markers not just because I needed them but I could just see Penelope trying to eat one and choking. That's all I need. So, a search began.

After checking under the sofa, coffee table, chairs, and tv cabinet, I looked in my knitting bag (the logical place) and in my desk drawers. I looked in all the decorative baskets. I checked the needle basket (again, I had already looked there 3 times earlier this week). I was completely stumped. I checked every place I'd already looked one more time. Then I came to the knitting bag again. There are all these cleverly hidden pockets on the thing. This time I made sure to open all the pockets and zippers and snaps. And then I lifted a flap and noticed a zipper I hadn't remembered was there...lo and behold....

Ummm, yeah. That would be them. Now I can go back to knitting on my sweater vest for Warm Woolies.

This is the pattern for their seed stitch center panel vest. It's made using two strands of worsted weight wool held together. I choose Patons Classic Wool in Natural Marl. I love this yarn (but then again I love most yarn). It's soft and it smells like a clean sheep! I know most people would think that sheepy smelling yarn wouldn't be a good thing but I grew up 3 doors down from the county fairground. I have smelled a lot of animal and clean sheep is definitely one of the better animal smells.

I'm also very excited because as I was knitting I found this:

A little bit of twig or a brier or something. It makes me feel rustic. It also makes me want to take up spinning and start a sheep farm but I digress...