Number 21. Ginger Toms!

Another cat post!.....(this may be a long post so better sit down with a cuppa!)
Well cats are soooh variable they almost count as different species ( except that they can interbreed!), different enough to blog seperately anyway!
Siamese cats with their blue eyes, Burmese cats, Persian, even Manx cats with no tails. Just read that there are 36 recognised breeds of pedigree cats around the world. Most common tho are the Moggies found in almost every household, Tortoiseshell ones, Scary/Lucky Black ones, Tabby ones, Black and white ones and my favorite the Ginger cat.
So this time I am tatting Ginger cats, are they the same as Marmalade cats I wonder, or do they have more brown in them.

This time I am going to start with the most complicated pattern I tatted. This one is by Inga Madsen from her book of Tatted Animals.



When I first tatted this cat in 2005 I came across T.S.Eliot's poem the 'Old Gumbie Cat' and for me Inga's cat will always be a Gumbie cat even tho' my cat is not quite the colouring described in the poem.
I hope that is is ok to quote a few lines from the poem

THE OLD GUMBIE CAT by T.S.Elliot

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
Her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots.
All day she sits upon the stair or on the steps or on the mat;
She sits and sits and sits and sits—and that’s what makes a Gumbie Cat!

But when the day’s hustle and bustle is done,
Then the Gumbie Cat’s work is but hardly begun.
And when the family’s in bed and asleep.
She tucks up her skirts to the basement to creep.
She is deeply concerned about the mice
Their behaviour’s not good and their manners not nice;
So when she has got them lined up on the matting,
She teaches them music, crocheting and tatting.

Tatted in variegated Flora 10 he is 9cm wide and 12cm tall. It is a lovely pattern to tat especially if you enlarge the diagram (it's a diagram only pattern) and colour in each ring and chain as you tat them so that you know exactly where you are.

Jane has also designed some Ginger cats,standing , sitting,and sleeping but I just haven't got around to tatting them yet.

I did try Mark's scary Halloween cat (see last post in this blog) in ginger threads and boy does it look as if it is about to spit!



Jane gave me a tip to leaving the scanner lid up to get a black background and it works a treat.
The big cat is in Coats Floretta 20 variegated and measures 5.5cm from toe to highest part of arched back the little cat is in vintage J&P Coats tatting thread 70/80 and stands at 4cm tall.

Next up are my favorite cute cats by Martha Ess from New critters on the block. These cats are so cute that I couldn't stop making them.


This one is made in Flora 10 variegated and is 5cm tall.

Next a smaller one in variegated Oren Bayen 50 (tats like a 30) he is 3.8cm tall.



This is such a rich colour mixture and I am getting to like the Turkish threads for tatting animals. I would just love to have thread like this that had some darkish brown in it too, as lots of animals have that sort of colour range.

Getting smaller still a teeny weeny kitty in vintage J.P.Coats tatting thread a 70/80.
Again a super colour combination.



He is 2.6cm tall and has a bead for his nose.

Here you can see the relative sizes.



When ever anyone sees my work they always ask me what I am going to do with it and I usually answer nothing, I just make them and look at them. But this time I actually made a card with a cat on it. It's for my SIL's (son in law/son in love) birthday.






Second photo gives you a better feel for the materials, the T shirt is origami made with black crepe paper and it is mounted on gold holographic paper which really makes it 'zing'.
Why the black T shirt...his favorite colour.
Why the cat.....well. My daughter and SIL moved into a new house in the summer and with the house they inherited a cat...as you do!
There are 3 gorgeous ginger toms living near us and there is almost always one draped on my car or flat out on our deck..think one of them particularly likes to get away from grandchildren!
Sorry I digress...back to their cat, Mrs Norris (Harry Potter fans will recognise this name!) Mrs Norris is a stray, fed by several households!

............'Dogs have owners, Cats have staff' ..Anon... Now how true is that!

She (probably a he!) was NOT a house cat,NEVER came into the house but had a smart little house of 'her' own outside. 'She' seemed to be the perfect pet especially as my DD has allergies to animal fur. She loves cats but this one was not a lover of people, HATED to be stroked or fussed over, not that they could get near enough to 'her' to try.

I had expected 'her' to be a scraggy, grumpy old cat but when we went to visit found that 'she' is a very pretty cat indeed.



'Twas true that whenever anyone went near 'her' she would always turn 'her' back and walk away.



"For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a cat."
- Anon

'She' was quite happy to eat 'her' meal just on the other side of the patio door, in fact 'she' would wait there in hope but never ever ventured inside.



Within a short time my husband who has a certain love of all animals remarked that Mrs Norris DID like to be stroked, in fact purred with contentment. Had he found a way through 'her' shell of indifference!!

Imagine our surprise when the next time we went to visit there was Mrs Norris as happy as only a cat can be, on her own blanket in an armchair, admittedly near enough to the door for a quick escape if necessary.






I wonder what will happen next!