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When I first met my husband, he had two young cats, Lena was almost 2 and Tigi was just five months old. Her mother had abandoned her and my husband, who had just lost Lena\u2019s sister to an illness, gladly adopted her.<\/p>\n
She was a cuddly lap cat, until one day, when my husband came home from work, she had changed. She was shy and didn\u2019t want to be touched at all. We accepted that and celebrated each and every small progress she made again.<\/p>\n
It was several years later, when she suddenly went into hiding behind the living room unit for several days, that she was diagnosed with depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n
While anti-depressants for cats exist, they did not help her at all. They just made her even
\nmore depressive. It got so bad at a time that we began talking about letting her cross the
\nrainbow bridge. But then she got a little better.
\nAfter a few days, my husband asked if I had noticed it as well, and I sure had. It turned out
\nthat he had had the right instinct and stopped giving her the anti-depressants.
\nInstead, we found plug-in pheromones that helped and still help her tremendously. She
\ncontinued to get better and made progress. We could touch and pet her, and as long everything
\nhappened on her terms, she was okay with it.
\nWhen she was seven years old, it was just a few days before my birthday, I was sitting on
\nthe sofa with my knitting and she was lying next to me. Suddenly, she nudged me as if
\nshe wanted to say \u201cPut that away, I want to sit on your lap!\u201d. When I put my knitting away to
\nsee what she would do, she came on my lap and stayed there, happy to cuddle and be petted,
\nfor almost an hour. To this day, this is one of the best birthday presents I have ever had!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/knittedinswitzerland.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tigi-300x225.jpg\")
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Now, Tigi is a grandmother – She will be 16 in October. She\u2019s still doing fine, a cuddly lap cat
\nwhenever she feels like it, although a little hard of hearing.
\nThe baby cats we adopted after Lena\u2019s death in 2016 would love to have her as their mom,
\nbut she doesn\u2019t really want to play that role. She enjoys cuddling with them every now and
\nthen, especially with Orangina, and she lets them know when they should better leave her
\nalone.
\nSometimes, she even enjoys going outside on our terrace and lying in the shade, or she
\ntakes a look at the huge scratching post we have outside and considers if she wants to
\nclimb up there for a moment before she decides against it.
\nFor her shawl, I encoded the German words for \u201clove\u201d, \u201ccourage\u201d and \u201ctrust\u201d as well as the
\nword \u201cTigi\u201d. I\u2019ve mirrored the stitch patterns for love and trust, because we love and trust her just as
\nshe loves and trusts us. I didn\u2019t mirror the stitch pattern for courage, because only she
\nneeded it. Adopting such a wonderful fur baby didn\u2019t need any courage from our side.
\nThe order in which I\u2019ve arranged the patterns in her shawl – Love, Trust, Courage, Tigi,
\nCourage, Trust, Love – means that I always want her to be enwrapped in love, trust and
\ncourage.
\nI love that the pattern for courage looks like a path. It\u2019s not a perfect path, it deviates to the
\nright and left, but it always leads into the same general direction.
\nAlthough I hadn\u2019t planned it, I loved it when I realized how often the number 7 comes up in
\nthe courage pattern – just like the 7 years she was old when she made me the best birthday
\npresent ever.
\nFor the color, I chose a beautiful light, springlike green for hope, and a little accent of blue
\nbecause her mental health problems are part of who she is and nothing to be ashamed of.
\nI hope you enjoy knitting this shawl as much as I have enjoyed designing and planning for
\nit. If you like, give the pet in your life a cuddle from me!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/knittedinswitzerland.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3590_cropped-300x240.jpg\")
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And of course, don’t forget to check out the shawl on Ravelry<\/a>, Payhip<\/a> or Lovecrafts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I first met my husband, he had two young cats, Lena was almost 2 and Tigi was just five months old. Her mother had abandoned her and my husband, who had just lost Lena\u2019s sister to an illness, gladly adopted her. She was a cuddly lap cat, until one day, when my husband came …<\/p>\n