Knitters 4 Critters Update and First selected Story

When I broke my second size zero wooden double point needle of the evening, I decided it was time to take a break from my sock knitting and write the Knitters4Critters update. I will switch to a long bamboo circular tomorrow and hope those will stand up against my apparent Hulk like strength.

First I would like to begin by sharing one of the many stories about animal rescue that we received. I must say that every submission was amazing and it was incredibly difficult to select only five to share with everyone. In the end it was more of a random selection than a contest.

Our first story was submitted by Danette. Thank you for sharing with us. I hope you enjoy your goody package. We will update this post with the package info after you receive it so we don’t spoil the surprize.

During the spring of 2014 our two dogs (rescues from area shelters) were going crazy in our backyard. Upon investigation, I found that a young mother cat had her litter of kittens in our yard behind a small shed. Our Boxer/pit mix and Rhodesian Ridgeback mix were not open to the idea of sharing the yard or befriending the kittens since they had no cat experience. For the safety of the cat family, we moved them to our garage and provided food and bedding and free access for mother cat.

The next day the mother cat moved her kittens to a neighbor’s yard. I went out to the garage to pick up the food and bedding and discovered that she had left one kitten behind. I observed for a few hours from afar to see if the mother cat would return. After a while the kitten began mewing because she was hungry, so I kept an eye on the kitten while my son went to the nearest pet store for formula and bottles. When it was apparent that the kitten could not summon her mother, I began hand feeding her. For the next several weeks I bottle fed the kitten 6-7 times a day, reminiscent of my days as a new mother, while training the dogs not to hurt her.

Our family has dogs because we are all allergic to cats; my husband has the most severe allergy. After weeks of bottle feeding then weaning, we considered placing the kitten in another home, but she was now part of the dog pack and definitely one of the family. She became a very spoiled little kitten with an abundance of toys and towers.

A year later we have learned to live with sniffling and taking daily allergy meds. Biff’s Kitty (B.K.), named after the Boxer/pit, is happily hanging with her dog pack and humans. One of her favorite hobbies is to “sort” Mom’s yarn. B.K. is learning the lesson of “this is not your yarn,” but enjoys her own stash in the hidden compartment of Mom’s armchair.

We will be sharing more stories throughout the month of July. If you are on facebook I hope you will share the link from our page to help inspire even more people to know the joy of rescuing an animal in need.

On June 5th we held the Knitters4Critters in store event and silent auction with proceeds going to benefit our local animal shelter Spokanimal. The event involved every knitters favorite thing, discounted yarn, and featured Ancient Arts Yarns Meow and Woof Collections. Ancient Arts also made us a custom Spokane colorway just for the event. Everyone who attended had a wonderful time and was treated to culinary delights prepared by Amanda Hillman of The Wandering Table. The silent auction items were a big hit, especially the highly coveted Knitting Journal donated by OnicaHanby. I’m very pleased to share with you that through the generosity of our customers and the silent auction donations Paradise Fibers was able to send a check to Spokanimal for over 1700 dollars. Spokanimal brought dogs and kittens which were available for adoption to the event and four of the animals found their forever homes that day. The fundraiser went so well that we have decided to turn it into an annual event. I also want to give a special thank you to Meghan Jones for doing a wonderful job of organizing the event.