For me, the transition from one season to another is often filled with what feels like too many things to do — the tasks of the season that is beginning are piled on top of the tasks of the season that has not yet ended — and as this spring comes roaring to an end and this summer begins, the too-many-ness of it sometimes makes me a bit dizzy, like a child who has gone one too many revolutions on a play yard merry-go-round.

It is in those moments, when I feel that I am swimming in air, that I most want to reach for a hook and yarn to slow things down, and even if I cannot bring the worldto a stop while I catch my breath, once I make that slip knot that slips, throw the yarn over the hook, and then pull it through to complete a stitch, my perspective of the world shifts, and I am better prepared to juggle all that is in front of me.

My current “go to” project for those times I need a paradigm shift is a series of scrap cats.

So far, I have completed two:

but my goal is to complete an entire rainbow of them, and since the blue one in the above photo is destined for my oldest son’s cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, I need not only pink, orange, yellow, green, and purple cats, I also need another blue one.

At the moment, however, I am working on a cat whose most predominant color is Red Heart Super Saver shocking pink:

One of the things that has surprised me as I have begun work on the cats is how much personality is expressed simply in the choice of color for the bottom of the cat and the face.

To my mind, the red cat looks bossier, somehow, the blue cat looks both more collected and playful, and the pink cat (at least at this point) looks more mischievous.

Meanwhile, as I work my way through my assorted scraps, I am collecting the longer pieces into a yarn ball that I will use to crochet a ripple project of some kind:

And while I wait to get enough long yarn scraps for this future project, it seems that the yarn ball just might keep the shocking pink scrap cat amused until I can crochet it a ball of it’s own: