Today, I did my best to enjoy what is forecast to be the last bit of warm weather for awhile.

This afternoon’s temperature, under humid gray skies, reached 71º F, and at one point in the afternoon — after I had finished with a task that required me to use what my youngest son refers to as “my brainy parts,” and before I needed to leave to get my son to his orthodontist appointment — I was able to take my cat runner project outside and work on it while waiting for rain that threatened, but never quite arrived.

I enjoyed the warmth of an overcast early afternoon as I joined the remaining pieces into rows (right sides together, slip stitch through the back loops only). Too soon (for my taste anyway) it was time to head out to the orthodontist’s office. I made a strategic decision to just take the large center panel that had many ends in need of weaving in.

After making a mad dash upstairs to grab a large Clover bent-tipped yarn needle when the bent-tipped needles I had been using seem to have disappeared into thin air, I headed out with my son in tow, and once I was situated in the waiting room, I got to work.

My son’s appointment was over in near record time, and I gathered my work, scheduled his next visit, and headed out the door toward home.

Here is how the central panel of the cat runner looked before the ends were trimmed:

and here is how it looked after:

No longer constrained by what would fit on my lap in a waiting room, I got out the pieces that still needed to be joined, and just before the sun set on a gray and misty day, I was able to get this photo of my progress:

Tomorrow will be blessedly free of errands, but as the day’s high temperature is forecast to be one degree higher than today’s low, I don’t expect that I will be spending my afternoon or any other part of the day crocheting outside, but even with what will most likely be grayer skies, I will, with my riot of colors, persist, and maybe, just maybe, the cat will get her runner.