I did indeed finish the second sleeve on Rowan’s Christmas cardi, but it was not under good circumstances.

The majority of it was knit between midnight and 5:30. on Saturday morning as I waited for Relic to come home. He had gone out at 3 on Friday afternoon and hadn’t come home for dinner on that evening(he’s a very scheduled cat, so I was already on alert). Then. he didn’t show his face at all Friday night. When midnight hit, and as the hours ticked by, I sat staring at the back door, trying not to panic, while the needles went click, click, click.

Relic is a very street-wise cat. He knows where he lives, so if he wasn’t coming home, something had happened. Either something fatal had happened (I wasn’t too worried about this, as I said, he’s very street-wise), someone had taken him in (unlikely, he’s wary of strangers), or he’d gotten stuck in someone’s shed or garage.

By 5:30 a.m., I was casting off, but there was still no Relic. I managed to catch a couple hours sleep, but was up again at 7:30, posting to lost pet groups, notifying the microchip company, and checking the local shelter’s intake list. Still no Relic.

By 10 a.m., I had a pile of posters and was hitting the road around the neighbourhood.

When I returned home, I sat by the door and picked up the cardigan again, this time picking up the hood. Obsessively checking in with the facebook groups, my email, and messenger, I only got an inch or so done. The hours dragged by, still no Relic.

Running on two hours sleep, I tried to get a little shut eye on the couch. But of course, I kept opening my eyes just incase Relic showed his face at the door.

Around 7 pm, Rupert woke up from his 16-hour nap and came downstairs. He took up residence on my footstool, which faces the door.

Dave was at the computer, and I said to him that I could probably finally get some sleep because we now had a perimeter alarm set up. Rupert would let me know if Relic came into the yard.

About five minutes later, I was just starting to drift off, when I was pulled back to wakefulness by a loud “mrrrrrroooooooooooooow!” (Rupert is a small cat, with a big voice). I sat up, and there was that sweet, unrepentant Relic face staring back at me through the door!

I opened it, and he booted in and went straight for the food dish, confirming my theory he got locked in somewhere. If someone had taken him in, he wouldn’t have been so hungry.

He filled his belly, then immediately took over the couch.

I’m happy to have those sleeves done, but I’m even happier to have my couch hog back where he belongs!