'Tis All Hallow's Eve

Happy Howloween

It is All Hallow's Eve.

Today is the day that little kitties find mysterious puzzle boxes and...

...turn into big monster kitties.

Especially if you feed them mutant catnip mice...

...or give them strange toys like this Maggot in a Hoodie.

Morbid Anatomy

And just in time for Hallowe'en, I found an enthralling blog called Morbid Anatomy that addresses my fascination with the intersection of art, medical illustration, the history of anatomical study, medical museums, and Victoriana. And more.

Aside from admittedly having some rather morbid fascinations, while studying the history of photography, I quickly became interested in the corresponding period of time when industrialization was revolutionizing huge swathes of our lives. "Modernization" led to the rapid industrialization and commercialization of previously very private rituals, like births, weddings, and funerals. The industrialization of medicine itself, especially as applied to birth and death, is fascinating to me, and medical and science museums illustrate this transition so vividly--and poignantly.

A third fantastic image from Morbid Anatomy.


Isis' Howlowe'en Words of Wisdom

For your own safety, don't pass out in your costume until you get home.

Four Days Left to Win Sumthin!

Sock Yarn Bits and Bobs Contest!

You've got four days left to send me a bit or two of your leftover yarn and be entered to win one of three fantabulous prizes!

Email me now at sohopixieATyahooDOTcom for my address, send a bit of yarn in the mail by Friday, October 31 (Howloween!), and be entered to win one of the following:

~ A $25 gift certificate from Yarn Lust:


~ Your choice of any item from ObsidianKitten.etsy.com

~ Your very own copy of I Can Has Cheezburger ("full of awsum and kittehs")
First-drawn wins choice of the three prizes, second-drawn gets second choice, third drawn gets the last prize. Got it?

** The Fine Print: Postmark deadline is October 31, 2008. Odds and ends are great, ideally sock, fingering or similar weight yarns. Preferably lengths of at least five yards (4.5 m) (remember I can't knit with 2-3 inch bits) but short lengths (5 yards/4.5 m and up) are fine. I'm making hats for kids so bright/varigated colours are ideal; however anything is welcome; even fuzzy and/or novelty yarns can be used for the brims. Please note that I am well-stocked with Red Heart/acrylic type yarns, so please keep those at home. Many thanks! **

A Funny Little Guy, Dinah, and a Surprise

A Funny Little Guy


I was very excited to find this funny necklace at a store right by where I work. It's called Stella Gialla. I think he's perfect for Halloween.

His Halloweeniness attracted Isis' attention immediately.

Dinah

I found this lovely pendant at Hoolala on etsy. I was delighted because, of course, Dinah is the original Obsidian Kitten.

Isis, who is also an Obsidian Kitten (okay, make that Cat), couldn't believe that Dinah also makes her signature Surprised Owl face.

A Surprise

Yarn from KnottyMouse!

And stitchmarkers. Skulls, a ghost, a fall leaf -- and a ninja! Check out her shop. She is way too cool.

What tha--

New post at my new blog The Money Shot. It's got chocolate. For real.



Num num num...

Meet Me at The Money Shot

I'm starting a new project about how I've been overcoming fear of financial insecurity for the past, oh, twenty years or so. Pretty much everyone I know is resourceful and crafty (hehheh!) so I know you all will have some great comments and ideas, whether finances are the evil bane of your existence or you have a very zen attitude about the whole thing.

Trust me, it will be an uplifting, good time--not a gripe and whinge session! Come on, would I give you any less? *winning used-car-salesman grin*

Please come and check out my intro post. I bet a lot of y'all would have interesting stuff to contribute as the ball gets rolling because I know I'm not the only one who has spent time living (or still lives) on a shoestring. I already have about 20 posts planned so it should be good, especially if we get some conversation going with input from all my bright and innovative friends out there.

Thanks and kisses all round! ~ O'Kitten

In Which There Has Been Knitting, with Yarn Porn

In the Bag

Some of you were wondering what was in the bag that my dear friend Ros was holding at Jive Turkey about two weeks back.

In the bag there were more bags...

...and in those bags there was much wonderful yarny goodness. As I've mentioned, Ros is a friend I've known for some ten years who has now created Yarn Lust and whose hand-dyed and hand-painted yarns are simply to die for (hehhehheh, I made a punny joke).

In short, her yarn is some of the loveliest and easiest to work with that I've ever used, silky-smooth (deosn't split--love that) and luscious and simply wonderful. Colorways I got in my favourite tencel/superwash merino 50/50 blend include Secret Affair, Charity, Leprechaun, Tokyo Tea, and Gluttony.

She even custom-dyed some monstrous colourways just for my Monster Hat project, like the one you see here on the needles.

So far I've finished four (and a half) of the dozen or so hats for the holidays--sans eyes, ears, horns, and flashing wicked teeth, of course. But it's a start. After all the wee ones have been gifted with their monsters I plan to continue making monster headgear, so please do send in a bit of yarn in for the contest if you haven't done so already!

To enter, just email me at sohopixieATyahooDOT com for my snailmail address.

Just a Bit of Yarn Porn (Under the Guise of FOs)

One of the fun things about making Monster Hats is putting together odd color combinations. Okay, so this one isn't so odd but the green merino is pretty radioactive in person. The green-grey merino is a little softer, but still kind of monster-y--like a T-Rex behind a bit of foliage. Just wait until it has spooky little eyes.

Mmm...mauve, blue-green, and a rich and scaly copper colour. Truly prehistoric. I'm sure this one will have horns--probably three of them. The lavender/mauve and blue/green are both bamboo/merino/nylon/superwash (that's my swatch looking like a deflated snake at the bottom); the copper is 50/50 merino/tencel. Grrr.

Again the mauve and the blue bamboo blend, this time with a couple donegal/merino wool/nylon superwash and colonial wool/nylon stripes in the middle. Grr-arrgh, I say.

Pick the Halloween Cat from the Line-Up

Behind Door Number One we have Morgan Freeman LeFay. She says she is dressed as a little grey-striped ghost. Ha. All I know is that she is often caught spinning in circles which we believe are the precursors to spell-casting.

Behind Door Number Two: Emma Fife Peale. All I can say about her (aside from pointing out her general lack of Halloween spirit) is that she is decorated in perfect Halloween colors all year round.

And behind Door Number Three we have Miss Isis Kyle. I gave her a felted candy corn (note: it is a CANDY CORN) for effect. She looks cross because she does not appreciate my stereotypes about black cats and Halloween. But come on...it doesn't get much more Halloween-y than this, does it?

Bug Porno, Hitler, and Pissed Off Cats

So I Been Serbin the Interwebs

If you take this little quiz and then enter your results in the comments here, you can win some green stuff. Not soylent green, but a green tote, green speakers, eh, who knows. Green stuff.

It's actually a promo for Isabella Rosellini's Green Porno. If I didn't already adore her, I really love her now. Green Porno is a little series of brief PG-rated vignettes with Rosellini dressed up as various insects describing how they mate--which truly is fascinating--and they're hysterical. I highly recommend them.

If you've got kids, even better (although you might want to give them a preview first since they have to do with s-e-x.) I couldn't even tell you where to start since they're all simply wonderful.

If Your Cat Looks Like This...

...Or you find black-and-white mustachioed cats particularly adorable, here's a site just for you.

If you find it offensive, please direct your complaints here.

Kitler fan mail should be sent here, and pictures of your own Kitlers may, of course, be submitted as well.

...Or Like This

Coming soon: pissedoffcat.com. You know you want it. Submission guidelines can be found here.

Isis makes a lot of pissed off faces. This one resulted after I took away a mouse she had caught but decided to torture cruelly rather than extinguish. I removed her mouse and disposed of it. Hence, highly pissed off cat.

Morgan occassionally looks cross, too, although we're never sure why. I think she was fighting with something here. Maybe she was just laughing.

Isis began perfecting her look of doom at an early age...

...and has grown quite proud of her death stare, which clearly says, "Slink off and die, why don't you? Unless of course you might be coming round with tuna in a bit..."

Although I think she's beginning to have her doubts about the tuna.

Enter the contest or Isis' face will be frozen in this position forever!
Email me at sohopixieATyahooDOTcom for my address,
send me a bit of string and that's all there is to it!
Postmark deadline October 31, 2008. Easy peasy.

~~~

I Habe a Code

You haven't heard from me in a few days because I have been in bed with a bad cold. I make a really lousy sick person--whiny, lazy, needy, demanding to be waited on hand and foot and talking a lot about "soup". Fortunately that's only when I'm awake, which is rarely more than an hour or two out of the day.

I don't understand "troopers"--you know the type: They have a 104-degree fever and are still at work. To me a fever is the body's equivalent of a nuclear meltdown and signifies the immediate need to crawl into bed as far from human contact as possible.

A fever means that your body is fighting off some devious, possibly deadly infection and you should please get it as far away from me as possible. This is no time for heroics. Go lay down somewhere--anywhere, I don't care if it's under a bus--as long as your germs are nowhere near mine.

Aside from my constant sleeping and occassionally annoying demands ("more juice please" or "more Nyquil please") Mr. O'Kitten finds me very funny when I'm sick because I sound like a Mae West frog crossed with a three-year-old kid and everything I say makes him laugh and laugh. So I guess there's that.

If you don't feel good either, this site might have a few things to cheer you up, like this:

and this:


And Contest Contest Contest! Enter me now or I will remain very sad! =(

More Vegetable Attacks and a Trip to Balducci's

I cannot seem to convince the girls that these little ornaments I just needle-felted are not cat toys.

Good Cat/Bad Cat

Nor is a tomato a cat toy. Here I present evidence of another cat/fruit molestation.

Is this the culprit?

Isis is doing her best to look innocent...

...and I rather suspect that Morgan, vegetable and nature lover extraordinaire, is actually to blame.

Although this cat can certainly be up to no good.

In Which I Go to Balducci's

I just reunited with my fellow transplanted Southerner/New York gal-about-town/dear friend Susan on a gorgeous fall afternoon for a long chat and snack on the waterfront. We decided to grab munchies at--yep, Balducci's.

In the four years since I left NYC, Balducci's relocated from its small West Village quarters to a vast cathedral-like site that used to be a bank. This location long stood empty, not far from the meat-packing district, which is now also lined with super-chic shops like Stella McCartney and outdoor cafes. Not long ago eating on a Fourteenth Street curbside would have been unthinkable--I mean, really EWWW!

And now look.

Plus, A Birthday

Happy Birthday, Mr. O'Kitten! J'adore.