Bunny Rochester

In case you haven't noticed, I love photographing Bunny. That cat has an endless supply of downright uncat-like expressions. The one expression which he excels at beyond any others is the one I call Most Hateful Disdain.

It looks like this:

Now 99% of the time Bunny is a total lovebug. He likes to sit in your lap, he likes to purr in your lap, if you bring your face close to his he will smear his little wet nose all over your forehead most lovingly, and then attempt to kiss you by licking the corner of your eyes (I don't let him of course but he always goes for my eyes and I'm like WHAT THE HELL you WACKY CAT).

But the other 1% of the time that he spends giving me the most pissed-off looks are the ones I like best. So much material trapped in such a little subject!

I mean he is just so full of soul-crushing ennui here that he's silently crying.

Save me from myself, he says. Save me.

And then there are his moments of intense brooding where he gives Darcy and John Thornton a run for their monies. Or moneys. Not sure which.

He is plotting how to push his Lennie Small of a brother down the stairs and make it look like an accident.

(Do you like all my literary references? Heh.)

Comments [14]
Filed Under: Cats

Bigger is Better!

Boston skyline as seen from Spectacle Island and from the side of a metal bowl.
Not pictured: raw chicken wings inside the bowl.

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Wednesday is for Where I Live

Hold me

Just had a traumatizing frustrating afternoon at work. Need a martini to chug and a fat orange cat to hold.

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

VanBuren is the best

He took it upon himself to block my scarf for me. I didn't even have to ask. See how perfectly aligned his body is. What a professional.

His oversized underside is smothering this:

There is a slight cabling boo-boo on the right which I guess I am pointing out to you so that you know that I know it's there. The stitch is again from my Japanese stitch dictionary. The yarn is Sundara Yarn fingering silky merino in Winter Skies. My first time! I'm using size 3 needles. Probably could have gone bigger for a lacier scarf.

Although the current size is conveniently sized for effective cat-blocking.

Comments [19]
Filed Under: Cats

Plumage for the feet

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Sock in Limited Edition Peacock and Purple
Needles: US1 dpns

I modified a pattern found in my trusty Japanese stitch dictionary. It's basically a pattern of a pair of leaves, mirror-imaged at the "stems." I changed it to be mirror-imaged at the leaves (petals are back to back) (does that make any sense) and suddenly the stitch pattern looked like feathers to me, like a great plume you might see on a Vegas showgirl's headpiece.

The leaf/feather pair were then separated at the heel, with one half continuing down the foot. Threw in a stockinette runner so the beautiful colorway of the yarn wouldn't be completely obscured with complicated patterns, and some gutters in garter-stitch instead of the usual purl-stitch.

I won't lie: I mirrored the pattern after the Loksins knit for me last year by my Sockapalooza pal. I. Love. Those. Socks. Perfect color. Perfect fit. Perfect combination of yarn and pattern. I went through that stitch dictionary like a madman hoping to duplicate such a successful pairing for the Peacock and Purple colorway. Not sure if the stitch I came up with is totally successful...I'm thinking Pomatomus would have worked better...but then Pomatomus always works, Pomatomus looks great in all weather conditions, even humid ones, and besides I've filled my knitting quota on those. Very happy with these nonetheless. And you really can't go wrong with anything knit in Sundara Yarn, am I right? Right.

Comments [22]
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks

This town is all about the parades

First, on Saturday the Pride Parade rolled into town.

Afterwards all the bodies crammed themselves into a block party half a block from where we live. You couldn't get away from Cher and Whitney and George Michael all afternoon long, the music was all OOMPTUH OOMPTUH OOMPTUH, the floorboards were shaking, the cats were like WTF, and I was all I CAN'T BELIEVE I GET TO LIVE HERE.

Then yesterday, the Celtics Rolling Rally, which I stopped by on my way to anthropologie. Ha! Ha ha!

Boston. I love you.

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Life

Get your sangria here

It's sangria time. I promised to post a recipe awhile ago and I'm finally following through on that. I generally don't follow through very well, have you noticed. Like I still need to do a post on the bathrooms as mentioned ages ago (yeah that's right you know you want it), finish up Kooch, finish up Rambling Rose, and do an update on the state of my mom's dog Mocha...

I'm giving you not one but TWO recipes for sangria.

Red Sangria 1 bottle red wine 1 1/2 cups light rum 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup orange juice 1 orange, sliced into rounds 1 lime, sliced into rounds 1 lemon, sliced into rounds Chill for at least 2 hours.

Passionfruit Sangria Lighter and more refreshing than a red! 1 bottle dry white wine (sauvignon blanc) 1/2 cup brandy (or light rum) 1/4 cup triple sec 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup orange juice 1/2 cup passionfruit juice (like Goya brand, can be found in the canned beans section of most conventional supermarkets) 1 orange, sliced into rounds 1 lemon, sliced into rounds 1/2 cup blackberries Chill for at least 2 hours.

Now go make one!

While you do that, I'll be shaking up a martini. After drinking sangrias for two weeks non-stop, I started on the dirty vodka martinis as if tomorrow would never come. It's weird because on paper this is the type of drink I can't stomach, for the same reasons I can't drink Bloody Marys - cocktails aren't supposed to be savory. But now 5 o'clock will roll around and my taste buds will start tingling from craving the savory brine of olives that will then be washed down by a wave of ice-cold vodka. I had four Friday night, and at least two every night thereafter. So that's...a lot. I may have a problem.

Dirty Vodka Martini
Martini's are traditionally gin-based. But gin is yucky to me.

2 oz vodka (I prefer Grey Goose)
2 Tbs olive juice from the jar
1 Tbs dry vermouth (I leave this out and replace with more vodka :) )

Shake with ice, pour and garnish with green olives. Enjoy!

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Cocktails

This is the bomb

I recently scored a skein of Sundara Yarn in the most beautiful colorway ever.

It's called Peacock and Purple, and when I opened the box, the sheen from the yarn shot a sea-blue glow across my face, and I wept. I wept. Then I wound it into a shiny blue cake and I knit with it, I immediately knit with it.

Here is a preview of my so-far unnamed socks. It's going really quickly, so hopefully I'll have a finished pair to show in no time.

Yarn is awesome.

Comments [14]
Filed Under: Socks | Yarn Stash