Kittens (real and pretend)

First - the real kittens (and kitties):

• Send Obsidian Kitten some good wishes please! Her little kitten Isis was sick with a high fever and really worried her! She is better now though.

• **Sent off Rebekah's shelter package**

And, the pretend kittens:

4" high
I'm making a LOT of these.
3 down, many more to go.

Japanese word: omiyage (gift/souvenir)

• article - the art of gift giving in Japan
• book - Omiyage: Handmade Gifts from Fabric in the Japanese Tradition
• kanji - on this page

Pink Kangaroos

I'm getting closer to the soft toy 'essence of kangaroo'
This is draft #4, made by putting 1's head together with 2
s arms and tummy, and adding a twist (the legs and bottom).
She still needs her pocket and her joey.

Chris - this is what I ordered for the other project!
There are a lot more underneath these, now I have to practice sewing
hexagons together!
I really have to catch up after that day (and a half) without stuffing! I have birds to make, and aliens, and a batch of kittens! If only I didn't have to sleep at least 5 hours a night ;o) ;o)

I think this is the wrong yarn

for this project...
The colour changes are really obscuring the lace pattern - or maybe it is the yarn itself? Well, it could also be my knitting.. :o( <
Should I keep going, or try another yarn?

Kangaroo #3 - for a 2 year old.
Think this will be good? I think I need pattern #4...
The kangaroo joey is coming, I ran out of the 'soft' stuffing first.
In other news: I have more stuffing today!

click to supersize - love those whiskers
and the claws, and the nose.. well, all of her ;o)
I wish I could be this comfortable in an 83 degree house
It's my Minnesota blood.. must be.

Two volumes out of three down in Calvin and Hobbes treasury (3 vol. set) -- I think my brain is starting to rot, err - convert to Calvin's philosophies... err.. ouch, anyway my brain hurts. I just KNOW when J and I have kids, they are going to be just like Calvin...

J got some 'Soyrizo,' or vegan chorizo sausage - which he is going to cook up. This should be interesting.

This Memorial Day: J and I took a moment to remember his grandmother, who passed last year. We went to have a talk with her when she first went into the hospital - she was a smart strong lady (who still had all her teeth at age 85. She told us to take GOOD care of our teeth.) and a wonderful warm personality. I only knew her a little bit, but I cried with him.

Knit a little bit here, then over there -- and over here...

We're not doing anything for Memorial Day,
other than a little drive around on Sunday.
I thought about using this Lopi to knit something for needy kitties.
Willow had other plans.
Never get up for coffee when a cat is at the table
She was really upset I took a picture and laughed at her!
I was looking for projects in my magazine stash and instead, found these. So, this is my revenge to Chris for her knitting mag tour this week, although bikinis were much worse ;o) - Some of this is crochet, some of it is knit.

The hat is blinding.
The date (as shown) is Fall/Winter 1971.

It says this is 'afghan stitch' - I ask.. why?

<Really now?

And, the good egg (knit) of the bunch.
It was this picture that convinced me to buy the magazine
for 25 cents at our library sale last year.

Blue Dyed Hands had a little 'expose' on needles that I found intersting. I hadn't heard of a few of those types.. but then I'm out here in the middle of nowhere and I don't search enough online for them.

My first test-run for Branching Out
in some white KnitPicks Palette.
Now I'm trying to finish the toe on my 10" foot-sized May/June sock. *sigh*

Linky:

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• Flying colors ship by ann wood, submitted to Whip Up's Whiplash competition. What a cool idea!
• Some resources on yarn and textile dyeing from Shannon Okey's Squidoo lens.
  
• KidsKnits: Online Yarn store that carries Dale of Norway, and takes Paypal! YAY! I fell in love with Dale yarns back in Fargo!
• Trying my hand at this pattern too. Kevät scarf just to see if I can do the stitches.

Nice Day - some knitting

House slightly more in Order

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After dishes, laundry and vacuuming were done, I finished the third prototype of the kangaroo - five cat toys for Rebekah's shelter sendoff, and then promptly ran out of stuffing. Yes, I ran out of stuffing! (well there were seven cat toys, but one latecomer went into the shop and the girls got the first one for their own - see below)

Knitting

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My PS-May swap partner sent a pretty card with three beautiful stitchmarkers attached to it! Thanks Jenifer! The little 'wish for a fish' marker especially made my day :o)
Project Spectrum Card from Jenifer
Beautiful stitchmarkers from Jenifer

The stitchmarkers made me think about knitting - and how rare it is around here. I made coffee, turned on KBAQ.org and wound my Monsoon 'Firey Winds' yarn into a ball. I'm currently listening to a sonata while learning ssk decreases and knitting Branching Out.

Movies

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We have 'Anatomy of a Murder' with Jimmy Stewart to watch tonight from Netflix - it should be good. We watched 'Over the Hedge' at the Parisian last night, and it was worth the tickets! ;o) J and I both enjoyed it. I'm glad X-Men 3 was sold out (I didn't really want to go to that).

Willow says these toys are 'cat-approved!'

I can see for Miles... out the office window

I'm always up for a photo meme, and Chris posted about Jen's 'what is out your window' meme - so here we are, except this is my office, not home. As you can see, it is quite rural.

First story - north from workshop door
Top story - out west window
Top Story - out north window
These are either very interesting, or very boring..
depending on how much you like trees :o)
That white square is the highly reflective metal roof

Our power went out (<--read under picture!) from 10 last night until 5 this morning -- so J and I read Calvin and Hobbes by candlelight and then I finished this guy in the car on the way to work.
No package yet - but I received another skein ordered from Etsy, in case I decide to participate in round 2 of Knitter's Tea Swap. I was feeling guilty for our lack of exotic LYS and teashops around here - but our store got in a whole line of brand new cool teas on Wednesday - as if they knew I already sent my package off last week! *smirks*

Strange News : if it quacks like an alien.... I don't know - the 'face' in the x-ray kind of looks like an unshattered light bulb or bottle to me... but at least their t-shirt is helping charity! If you want to help donate to this center list of needed items - Northern California and Southern California.

new blog find: Yarn with a Side of Coffee. She just finished her first pair of socks!

No Spaceship Yet

Look of Shock and Desperation
as modelled by blue alien

He swears he can make the repairs himself, but I noted that he has no thumbs. Gladly his ray gun was also confiscated and his mental telepathy doesn't work with our thin atmosphere. *grins*

Alien at J's "workstation"
I might not be able to put this one up in the shop!
Looks like J and the alien are becoming fast friends.

My Knitter's Tea Swap partner (I sent to) was Harriett! She has some great craft projects up on her blog too - and is going to cast on Maia's Dea Terra yarn for a pair of socks soon!

I'm still checking my mailbox every morning like clockwork ;o) I think maybe my package is being held hostage by aliens.. just maybe... *thoughtful look*

Linky: Another cool etsy shop - MrPuppets. This husband/wife team makes hand puppets. They look really well done!

Linky: Extremely cool functional baby gift idea! They look like animals, but they pull apart into baby diapers, socks etc!

The Aliens have Landed (sort of)

The New Arrivals
Lounging out in my biggest tea/coffee cup

I'm being silly

The aliens would have landed, but they forgot their spaceship. J said I had to make them one now... at least for the blue one. It's not done yet, but it's getting there :o) When we make up ideas together, things get a little out of control, silly, and usually very interesting!

'Mr.J' has a whole story worked up for these guys already - we really need kids ;o) He would put on puppet shows for hours if we had a toddler here. There are plans for an alien dog and a ray gun too... just to prove the point. But I have not abandoned kangaroo at all! Alien stuff is better done around three am.. the kangaroo will go to work with me today :o)

In a brief moment of 'Oh No!' Sally put a claw into blue alien and dragged him a few inches before I caught her -- she really wants me to stop making these things for 'other cats' and make her some more toys!

Cooperative plans

J's drawing for the pattern

The first alien results :o)

J says I need to make an alien like in the Calvin and Hobbes books (pic from Geocities fan site) he is reading. These are his drawings of the idea. I think it would look great purple with pink spots, hmm?

If there is anybody who wants to trade for supplies - let me know. I really really want to get my hands on about 10 sheets of mint green felt - I can't get that color around here. I'll trade toys for supplies too! Let me know, this is a big priority for me and I can't take time off to drive to Jackson anytime soon :o(

Yay!

I'm glad to be listed - Thank You!

Green Eyed Non-Kangaroo

Kangaroo making is hard! I'm not happy with this pattern either - so I'm going to have to go for draft #3 this week.

I tried HARD to save this little one's 'stuffed life' though - think a stuffed-animal version of ER (Nurse - pass me the green thread and the needle! Paint, I need Paint!)






So, what shall I do with her?
She would have to be just 'art'... probably wouldn't stand up to a lot of kid tugging, since she is a prototype.

Maybe I'll put her up in my shop for cheap and see if anyone wants to give her a home.

Thought of the Day:

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After going through all of this prototyping, I run across so many other toys -- some so generic looking (I won't link, thought about it though) that they make me wonder if I should keep embroidering mine.. Some don't even have more for faces than a few lines and an 'x'... is that cute? I was heavily influenced by my grandmother's dolls.. and they all had hand-embroidered details and happy 30s and 40s looking faces, as if they had come from an old transfer, but they were always her own drawings.

This lady makes some nice dolls that have their own unique details.

Here is another site with wonderful historical patterns for both dolls and animals!

Illustration Friday: Sorry

I'm not allowed to say this word anymore
They say I use it too much.

Swap Ahoy! -- and worktime!

Thank you everyone for your kind words for Radar -- his owner had been on a trip and is glad to see him alright! What trouble kittens can get into with a few hours on their own, huh? Especially this one ;o) I think his problem is he is too fearless!

My swap package is OUT in the mail - priority mail! I was waiting on things from Etsy and they arrived yesterday, YAY!

I hope my swap partner gets my package on time! I'm still amazed she hasn't found me here - even with a slight goof I might have made earlier that could have revealed my identity!

Prototyping fever has struck and I will soon shut down my computer (gasp!), clear my worktable, and then fill it back up again with fabric and thread :o) I have one last wire sculpture to add some details to as well - the man who bought my rabbit sculpture said I should make another one, life-size! (some nice people at Yahoo Answers told me what 'life-size' is, which was great! *10-14"(length)x5-7(breadth)"x5-7"(height-back)* with ears half as long as the body)


J stayed up ALL night last night, and didn't go to bed until 10 AM this morning! That is even worse than me! (and not usual, lately)

Cool stuff elsewhere:

• Etsy art knitting oriented
A flickr portfolio with beautiful dragons belonging to '2rokbotoy.'
• The 'Japanese Craft Book' tag search on Flickr - I get lots of ideas here!

Radar

Call it Fate, an Angel on his shoulder, or whatever...
This little guy is lucky to be alive today. We cut him out of a net
(around his neck) under the porch when we got to work today..
he wouldn't have lasted much longer because he was starting to flop around like a fish (which is why I noticed him, thank heaven!) Whatever it was that kept me at home an extra hour today... Thanks.

I don't know what I would have done if it had been too late.
He might not be ours, but I still love him.

Swap Stuff

Be sure you read Chris' post about the contest she is helping with!

Sallymander left these little prints on my binder at the office...
the pins are from an Etsy member
and they came in the mail today!

I was up till 5 am working on the gift tags for Dacia Ray's swap -- and I'm waiting SO impatiently on my items that I want to SEND to my Tea swap partner, they haven't come from Etsy yet!!!

I hope she doesn't think I've forgotten about her! Everything else is waiting in my cupboard -- I really should send a teaser, but I have this feeling anything I do will have my 'signature.' I don't think she has found my blog - which is good!

Dragon is a little further along, and I'm giving RomyBrett first dibs on the new bunnies that I was stitching up last night, while watching MacGyver DVDs from Netflix :o) The bunnies are a lot easier to do while watching 'tv' than kangaroo prototyping is.

This little pin really fits with the bunny-making :o)
I couldn't resist it ;o)

Elsewhere

• Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls has posted a new kitty doll that is great!
• These Cat pics from Jane_S made me laugh way way too hard!! You'll see why :o)

Kangaroo Dreams

Mr.Sloth is in the mail on his way to CarrieK!

First, go take a look at these Kangaroo pictures
on cute overload blog!
I've received a custom order for a pink kangaroo (and an orange tiger!) - and took a few hours prototyping last night.. although I'm not happy with certain elements of this attempt :o(




This kangaroo has been redrafted, and hopefully the next prototype will be better.

Mr.Dragon has been stalled for a little bit, although I should go ahead and finish him, since he doesn't have a lot more to go... There is coding to do at work, so I've got a 'hands-off-the-toymaking' rule while I'm there...(let's see how long that will last!)

Elsewhere:

• This lady on Flickr takes some beautiful pictures of her cats! (and other things too!) :o)
• This tiger on Etsy at cornflakegirl has the coolest fabric! I love the black and white swirls down one side.
• BFA in Toy Design, seen at Loobylu - I wonder, would my kitchen table experiments count for homestudy courses? ;o) j/k!

And...Radar says hello from the office
He is no longer known as Sally's mini-me
Our boss has decided to keep him, and he will live at his house near the office.

Dragon in Progress

Mr. Dragon toy in progress
original pattern, this is the prototype
and there are things that need working out!
My program was misbehaving last night, so I didn't get as much done on him as I thought I would -- and we have a dentist appointment and a big post office box to send out today. Thanks for the birthday wishes for the girls yesterday :o) They got to share a piece of fish with me last night for dinner, instead of cake!

Willowpede and Sallymander - 1 yr old!

Yes, they are cats, but it's their birthday. :o) They were born last year just before the hamvention in Ohio - I remember because I spent that week staying at the office while J and our boss went to sell computer equipment there. I stayed out there to let their momma cat in and out of the house :o) and other animal-related chores.

Then, as kittens, in our boss' house |	| And now, sleeping on my ironing board

Happy birthday girls - we'll eat your cake for you :o)

Hanging out with Mr. Sloth

Order a Custom Mr.Sloth from KnitOwl

He's Done!
Mr.Sloth is a handmade custom toy by KnitOwl
He will belong to Carrie K's brother!
The back of his head ;o)
I cleaned my desk this weekend,
but there is so much I can't throw out!
I really need to get organized... someday.
Kudos to J for the pose!
We watched the movie : A Sound of Thunder last night, which was based on this short story by Ray Bradbury. The story is much much better, but it was interesting, at least, to see an attempt. There were way too many 'gratuitous monster shots' for our taste.. especially where the girl gets grabbed by the icthyosaur just before they shoot out the window of a submerged subway cab.... totally unneccessary (and a little comical). Anyway, if you haven't read the short story, it's worth a look! I think we read it in high school English class way back when.

Carrie K: I learned a LOT making Mr.Sloth, and he is one of the biggest toys I've made in quite a while! He is 17" stretched out and has a clawspan of 15 inches. I started drafting him at 1 am on Saturday morning, and he was finished at 3 am on Sunday morning. (not continuous work of course!) He is entirely handstitched, not a machine has touched him. I hope your brother loves him!

I'd actually like to work out a supplies trade with you, if you're up for that -- instead of putting him in my shop. The only craft stores I have easy access to around here are WM, the thrift store, or a 1 hour drive to a JoAnns. If you'd like to do that, let me know!

Linky: Real sloth picture I used as reference.
Etsy linky: women's work magnets.. but the little black skulls on each one are such a turnoff for me, otherwise they would be cool.

Update on Calico kitty: I called my mom for mother's day and she told me that my niece gave calico kitty doll 'huggies and kissies' and that she loves her :o) :o) (My niece is three) My mommy said she would like lots of flavored tea, and that she got some nice planthangers from my sister for mother's day. I know she has so much stuff (like us) and I don't want to send her anything she can't use. I am on the lookout for more cute magnets for her though.. she always had so many cute ones when I was little (up so high we couldn't reach them!)

A Case of the Early Morning Softie Making...

Happy Birthday Boogie!

I wonder who this could be... coming to life here? I suddenly got the urge at 1 am to start drafting patterns and cutting fabric -- must have been all that HTML typing at work!

Well, I'm sure you know who he is ;o) and he kept me up till 5 am, but then I ran out of materials! So -- off to the store I go!



I got a softie swap today from RomyBrett too! But I need to charge my camera batteries -- so no more pics for today :o(

Seriously awesome linky: It's Your Life presents: crafting japanese compilation I'll have to try making one of those dogs!

Blog linky: The Blue Coat - she has some beautiful bunny softies made of wonderful vintage fabric!

Plans: After the 'you know who' is done, I have an idea that this pattern could easily be made into a DRAGON! Hmm.. lots of little fire breathers wandering around the house... sounds fun :o)

Illustration Friday: Angels and Devils

I had a hard time with this one! Here are some assorted sketches from yesterday:

Rollerderby Angel Kitty
Devil Kitty: A mouse in trouble!
When there are this many kittens, even a devil's plans are foiled!