New kitten in the house

I recently got a 6 month old kitten, Leeloo, to pair with my cat Apollo, who is 3 years old and has been a part of the family for a little over 10 months. We have had Leeloo for over a week now, and the introduction process hasn’t been going as smoothly as I would like. I apologize for completely diverting from my usual topics of crochet and book reviews, but I would really appreciate some insight from others who have successfully integrated two or more cats into one household.

Here is the back story to how we got Leeloo: a few weeks ago, my husband and I were walking around our apartment complex one evening playing Pokemon Go. As we were walking past a clump of bushes, I saw a little grey kitten dart into them. I managed to coax her out and check her collar– no tags. She was very dirty and felt a little thin, so we took her upstairs and put her in the bathroom with food, water, a bed, and some toys. Apollo was quite fascinated by her, though she just hissed at him. I spent some time with her in the bathroom to calm her down so she could sleep, and she was just the sweetest little thing: head-butts, winding between my legs, curling up on my lap, and purring like mad. When she stretched herself up to rub her face against mine, I felt a little tug on my cat-loving heart. 

WIP Wednesday – Plus thoughts on commissions

This week’s doll was a request from an old family friend after she saw my most recent crocheted “Little Me” on Facebook. When I asked her to send me a picture of herself that she would like to see in doll form, she said, “You pick one… I would SO cherish your artistic ‘interpretation’ of me.” She’s a very kind, creative, and eccentric woman. She has had several profile pictures on Facebook of her in a Viking-opera singer costume, complete with enormous metal boobs and a horned helmet. When I sent her a picture of the finished doll last night, she was ecstatic. Although this doll was a request from a dear friend and I did not ask to be paid for it, crocheting it made me think a lot about the idea of commission work. 

I Almost Gave Up My Dreams… Almost.

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I read a Mental Floss article a couple months ago about a study that showed that not following one’s calling in life is worse than not having any calling at all. According to the study, “those who do not feel called to any particular vocation report higher levels of work engagement, career commitment, and domain satisfaction and less physical symptoms, psychological distress, and withdrawal intentions than those who have, but cannot pursue, their occupational calling.”

Unfortunately, while the general premise of the study could resonate with a lot of people, it was rather narrow in its scope in that it only looked at how American academics rated their life and job satisfaction along with their physical and emotional well being (and considering how arduous it is to break into academia, I’m not surprised that these types of people would find it especially difficult to not pursue their dream careers). Nevertheless, I think it could be study that could be expanded upon to look at non-academics.

It has been over a year since I posted on this blog. I thought about it a lot and wished that I had some new crocheted doodad to show off, but life happened, as it always does. If I may have a moment of rather personal honesty, I dealt with a lot of emotional hardships that made it difficult for me to make time to crochet things that fall under the “mission” of this blog, let alone write about them. One of these hardships was a miserable job. 

Why crochet?

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I frequently have moments where non-crafters see one of my crocheted pieces and say, “That’s so cool! Did you knit that?” My own mother talks about how cute my “little knitted things” are. I’ve generally given up on trying to correct people and just try to appreciate the sentiment of admiration. However, there have been occasions when I’ve said, “Actually, it’s crocheted” and the response is often, “Oh ok… What’s the difference between knitting and crochet?”

Before I get to ahead of myself, I must confess right now that I am not a knitter. I learned how to do the basic knit stitch in high school and made a couple unfinished scarves (because I could not figure out how to get the fabric off the needle). Therefore, I apologize in advance if I come off as a little biased towards crochet, but I truly do respect the skill behind both yarncrafts. 

The Journey to Opening an Etsy Shop

Gimli, Son of Gloin (one part of the 9-piece “Fellowship” set from Lord of the Rings)

Like most creative types, I frequently feel an invisible itch in my fingers that urges me to make something: a hat, a scarf, a journal entry, a toy, a drawing. When the urge strikes, it feels like it will never be satisfied until I create something that fits my vision. And like most creative types, I’ve been like this my entire life. As a kid, I loved to draw and paint pictures of the things around me or in my head: horses, cats, castles, unicorns. My mom often enrolled me in arts and crafts classes during the summers, and it seemed like every Christmas/Easter/birthday, I got craft kits or art supplies. While I ended up getting a BFA and studied primarily printmaking and photography in college, I have grown more fond of the fiber arts in recent years because of their versatility to create more utilitarian objects, and my primary craft is crochet. Don’t get me wrong, I generally love art– I also have a Master’s in Art History and work with art every day between my two jobs– but a painting can’t keep you warm (though, arguably, the money a person can make from its sale might), and I want anything I create to be physically used.