Can you teach old cats new tricks?

Tricky question indeed... (can you even teach young cats old tricks? Can you teach ANY cats ANY tricks?)
This weekend might be hell, as I'll be trying to finish a bunch of my own work and do some fun stuff before crunching on a freelance job I just got. I'll leave you with these cute photos my sister took of our old cat Cleo. Hey, she's Suki's aunty, have some respect.

And the winner is...

Mazal tov, Tamar! You are the winner of my 100th post blog contest! Please email me at mwrightATmichalwrightDOTcom with your address so I can send you your excellent prize.
Seriously though, great job you guys! I loved reading about what inspires you, and learn how you deal with being "stuck". How inspiring! Is anyone surprised most of said that blogland was a source of inspiration? We collectively proved our case!

WIP Friday

It's another Friday, and it's time for the weekly WIP Friday! This week, I have some knitting stuff for you since all my sewing is still on my To Sew List. I've actually sewn something I'm really happy about, but I can't show it to you yet. So here's what I can show:
This is Branching Out in this great kid mohair and silk yarn from this lovely swap. As you can see, I'm knitting it with two strands held together. I love this yarn and this pattern is fantastic too, but the yellow is not exactly me. I'll have to apologize to the dear Jixichick and overdye it somehow, otherwise it'll be a wonderful and soft scarf that sits in my drawer for eternity. That would be a waste, no? Question is, how do you dye mohair/silk mix? That obviously won't be a Kool-Aid project...
Simple stockinette socks for Ant, made from this lovely Lana Grossa, knitted two together on two circular needles. I like the striping a lot, I just hope I have enough yarn for a decent length pair. The two half balls look a bit small-ish. The funny thing is, that Ant's feet are almost my size. Almost, meaning - slightly smaller. Yep, ain't that lovely... Hey, at least it means I don't need to disturb him much for measurement, right?


I'll leave you with some cuteness of the feline kind: Suki and I fighting over the mousepad. She'll sometimes com and sit on my mouse-working hand. Maybe I need to make her a pad for herself (a cat pad?). Did you know we have a gourmet kitty? She's already demanding ice cream and smoked salmon, but yesterday she went completely nuts for some brie. Brie! And a soft, smelly one too that was left outside for a couple of hours (I wonder if she'd like it as much if it was straight out of the fridge...). Too cute...

And please don't forget to participate in my little contest, you have only three days to enter! Hurry!

Goodness in the mail

I love it when I get stuff in the mail. When I was in college (wow! I can already talk about it in past tense...), it was a great cure for the loneliness of an international student. I think I probably bought too many books because of it (and the joy of finally being able to buy from Amazon). It just makes you feel like someone is thinking about you, and wants to suprise you and make you happy. The mailroom people must have felt very bad for me.
No longer a miserably lonely student, I still like the postman. And I think he likes me back. See what he brought in the past few days:


Remember my craving for this book? Well, I was looking for the link for that post, and saw that there was one left in stock, and "more are on the way". Yeah, and I would trust that... So now it's back in stock, but it costs a whole sixty eight cents more. Got a deal, ah? And of course I had to get the total cost up to get the free shipping, so I "padded" it with more moomin books (I was running out of them). Worth every penny.


A while ago, I won a contest with Strange Little Mama, and this week I got my prize! Check out the cool sock yarn! Perfectly Ant's colors. So finally I will get to knit him something serious. Thank you Carole!


And last but definitely not the least - the amazing collection of stamped recipe cards from Moki's swap finally arrived! And what an amazing collection it is. From top to bottom, left to right: Lain Enmann, Dawn, (missing name and blog), Kleas, Moki, Holly(?), Julie, Rose, Amy, and Frizzelstixs (a card and a card bag. Excellent bundle, ah? (To remind you, I made this for the swap. That was scary at first but fun. Thanks Moki!)

Quicky news

Because I've got tons to do today:

Check out my new portfolio website! It was (finally) finished last week, but I'm not much for self advertising. Shy girl like me, tzk, tzk...

Turns out that we live in a fantastic location bus-wise. The station across the street will carry me straight downtown, to evil places like the fashion district and little tokyo. Vey! I need a job fast!

And please don't forget to participate in my mini contest. It is very mini at the moment which makes me a little sad.

Busy last few days

So it seems like I've been finishing up things lately. Know what that means? It's sharing time (of pictures. I'm not sharing my TJ's chocolate soy milk. That's mine!):


Check out my cute new Hedra socks! I love this pattern, I really can't recommend it enough. Although Elfine was more complicated lace-wise, it was still a great challenge. Cookie's just a genius. Seriously, most of the sock patterns I've become fond of recently are hers. My only modification - I cast on a stretchy cast on (cast on double the stitches that k2tog, p2tog across) because although the fabric itself is nice and stretchy, the cuff was not. And for a bigfoot like me, it made a world of difference. I love those socks, though (and they're pink too! What's happening to me, ah?). Warmly recommended. More pictures here.


I finished my self-figured-out-pattern cosmetic bag, and I'm pretty pleased. I ended up adding a layer of thick interfacing between the outer fabric and the lining. It also has a pocket inside, which I'm very proud of myself for figuring out. And how I figured out the zipper, that was also too long. Big pat on the back. And I won't tell you how many times I took it apar because I made a boo-boo. Or how much I screwed up with the hand sewing finishing. More photos here.

And look at our cat neighbours! I wonder when they first discovered Suki, because both seemed pretty nonchalant. She was very excited, thoguh. Remember the mom and her kitten? We haven't see the baby for a while, but mom and dad are still around. We suspect that they belong to our human neighbour.

Good things

I swear I didn't fall off the face of the planet, and I even have some finished stuff to show... But I'm tired, and other such excuses, so updates will have to wait until monday. In the mean time, let me share some good things with you.

1. You have to be jealous of me because of this pretty and these too. HAVE to be jealous, got it? These are, of course, the amazing collages of Dawbis I got in return for some stuff for her bi-monthly trade catalog. I am lucky, oh, yeah. It doesn't hurt one bit that's she's a super nice girl too.
2. Get some good ice cream, you know you want it. Go to Trader Joe's and get the carrot cake flavor. Yes, carrot cake ice cream, and it's delicious. It has cinnamon cake bits in it. I kid you not. And it's perfect for vegetarian/lactose intolerant/egg allergic households like ours. Yum... Veronika, if you're reading this - since you can't get this in the Holly Land, you need to come visit.
3. (Like the number of bottles I've downed of this tonight) Very nice microbrew from the crazed minds of Hunter S. Thompson and friend Ralph Steadman that does bite. They don't seem to be selling the special edition Hunter memorial beer (designed to raise money for his Gonzo monument) anymore, but the Scottish Porter and Amber Lager are darn good. You should check them out.

Share some more good things here.
Have a good weekend!

Ouch!!!

Nothing's wrong, don't worry. This is just the word you were going to hear from me the most today, if you spent the day in my lovely So-Cal location. For some strange reason, I worked out legs at the gym for two days in a row, then took an advanced spinning class at the gym this morning. I kid you not, I need to grab my pant leg to bend my knees to a comfortable position on the chair (and "comfortable" is relative too, since my rear was involved in the action as well), and I can't wear my jeans. If a bear chased me right now, I'll be steak. Vey... Let that be the worst of my troubles.

Anyway, as promised, my five sources of inspiration as of late:

1. The Moomins - I loved those books as a kid to no end, but I somehow forgot just how great they are over the years. In the couple of years, I started re-reading them, and I'm oh so in love again! So much so, that we were going to name our cat (back when we though we'll have a male) Snufkin (hey, it's a feline name, right?). And the illustrations are great too. They're made even more difficult to resist since they're only $6.95 on Amazon!
2. Jay Ryan - Not only does he seem like a real down to earth dude, his work in inspiringly simple, thoughtful and fun, not taking itself too seriously. I can't wait for my first real paycheck so I can buy this book.
3. Tricia Frizzell Tharp - The genius behind Frizzel Stix and Frizzel Stitch. Everything she draws/paints/carves/sews makes me wish I had thought about it first. Her recipe card from this swap (pictures soon) is making me so happy I might just frame it. If you can, go visit her in the Detroit Urban Craft Fair (and get me something, because I can't...).
4. All of you fine folks who post tutorials on Craftster - They constantly remind me of the reason why I started knitting and sewing in a first place - to create unique stuff to wear, make for friends, give as gifts etc. It never ceases to amaze me how creative one can get (even if they're super broke).
5. Los Angeles, CA - I know, you'd be wondering what a city that's so dirty, gas guzzling, messy and got more issues than a teenage girl can be inspiring. Well, it's quite an amazing city, as a matter of fact (am I attracted to nuttiness or what?). I know maybe 1% of it, now that I live here, and I can't wait to get this LA chick better. It's so layered, so not cookie cutter (like the suburb I spent the past four years in), full of people, and noise, and little niches of awesomeness... I'm already an Angelina!

Now it's your turn! What's inspiring you? Tell us!

It's a triple digit here (and it's not the weather)!

The day has come! The day has come! This is my 100th blog entry in these caffeinated lands. Hooray! So much happened since I posted for the first time in December. I learned to knit socks, saw, finished a film (almost), graduated, started my own independent life... phew! And it hasn't even been a year! How time flies...
I also met lot of great people and cool artists, got inspired, exchanged my handiwork (and chocolate) with several people. Many are the pleasures of blogland. I even opened a second blog! Who'd have thank that this shy person here will be talking to the great void filled with 0s and 1s called the internet. With all the hiatuses, no energy to write, nothing to write about and no mood to write about anything - I'm still here. And I dare say, this blog will see it's official first birthday (at least).

And now - the moment you've all been waiting for: The first Yarn and Coffee Blog Contest!
Here it is and here are the rules:
You may know that artistically, I am just now crawling out of a major dry spell, and I'm out of you a lot because of you folks. Your work or work you have exposed me to these past few months, opened many doors for me and helped the cogs in my brain to start moving again after a very tough senior year. And this is the subject of this here little contest: Inspiration.
Share with me five things that are inspiring to you. These could be artists, books, food, people, animals, places, events - anything that has been very inspiring for you all your life, in the past few month, helped shape your artistic - anything. Share with the world what makes you and your work, you (and your work). And if you have less than five, that's ok too.
The rules:
1. You mast post a comment with your inspirations. If there's a link to your inspiration/s, please post it for other readers to see too.
2. Don't comment anonymously. Tell us who you are and what you do (and allow me to distinguish you from other commenters). You don't have to have a blog, that's ok. You can participate too.
3. Please fill the email address field. No one will see it, but it'll make it easy for me to contact you when you win.
4. Winner will be chosen at random, so comment freely. No idea is stupid.
5. I reserve the right to remove comments and links that are offensive (no porn, please).
6. Deadline to comment in August 14th, two weeks exactly. The winner will be announced on August 18th.
7. A prize is guaranteed to one commenter. The more people comment, the bigger the prize.

And that's it! I will share my inspiration with you tomorrow. Boy, am I excited!
Ready? Set... Comment!