Friday 3 September 2010

mice castles & the kitten in the flower box


yay finally a home i can keep all of my imaginary mice in!

its ok. they will fit. my imaginary mice are only 2cm long.
they are white and twiddle their whiskers when they smell biscuits.

the little birds on the roof dont eat mice. they eat seeds or grapes.

the other day ruby was in the window and it reminded me of something.

this was my very first book. its about a little white kitten who is lost. everyone tells the kitten to scat. but in the end a little girl named rosey runabout finds the kitten in her flower box and takes her in to say. she pushes her around in a blue baby carriage and they live so happily that roseys braids nearly stick straight up into the air. i read this book a thousand times and must have made some sort of sub-conscious wish.
yes, ill have one white kitten in a flower box please, thank you.

ill take you in! if it mews, ive got a saucer at the ready.

or, maybe a cupcake or two. no ruby didnt eat these. she only sniffed.

i have lots of relief just now. i finally finished the 2 patterns and article for yarn forward magazine and sent it all in yesterday. i honestly think that i did more work for that deadline than i did for my masters degree. it was nutty and made me a little mental. but i cant wait for the patterns to come out cause if i may say so... they are freakin cute. the second half of my relief is as follows: the mysterious and horrid pain i have been having in my chest for 3 months finally turns out to be just inflamed rib muscles! it can take months to heal. i thought i was at the end of my rope but seems i may have a little more time on the blue planet. i am trying to make the best of it. honestly. but its hard sometimes isnt it? thank god i found a....

spinning wheel!!!!!! it was at the charity shop down the road. its an ashford traditional and is good for beginners like me. i have already spun 2 skeins with the fiber that i had lying around the house. i was shocked at myself that as a non-spinner i had 4 bags of fleece at the ready. ? it seemed strange to everyone including me. i learned how to spin on you tube and then sat down at the wheel. i spun it fine-ish so it would take longer. im afraid its all gone down another rabbit hole.

lamby and roo keep nibbling on it. ive walked in to find bits of fuzzy alpaca fleece sticking out of rubys mouth so it looks like she has a beard. you may wonder whats up with lamby and why he doesnt visit here very often. lamby is his own cat. he has a job in the city now and really cant be bothered hanging around the house much. when he is at work he has a lot of filing to do so by the time he comes home, he just takes off his purple suit and gets in his basket.
also, dont touch his paws. ever.

one more thing: after i spun up all of my white alpaca/silk, i switched to some sort of brown alpaca i had. heather came over and i was teaching her how to spin with it. however, it is ungodly. it looks and feels like real human hair. it is so ick it literally feels like a dirty fourth grade girl cut of her big brown danky pony tail and handed it to me. heather said it looks like it came out of the drain. i thought what can i even make with it, slippers? no! then it would look like i kicked someone in the face and was walking on the back of their head. i can not stop laughing about this and promise to pick up some more downy alpaca as soon as i am able.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

God I love your cats so much. I have had 3 cats total, and one of them was a white turkish angora which is what yours are I assume? I miss cats a lot. But I have a very allergic boyfriend at the moment :( Please keep posting pictures of your lovely white kitties, I miss mine so much!

Anonymous said...

I'm such a cat person of late, and I'm debating flying to your house and stealing yours.

I have a few things I want to say to you, and because I couldn't find a contact email, I decided just to leave you a lovely comment.

First, your blog is quite possibly my favorite. It's beautiful, your photography is so muted and stunning, the things you post and just the general way you are sets my heart alight, and I find myself dreaming away in my own little world. You create something in my mind and it makes me so happy, so unique, so beautiful. So thank you for that.

Secondly, I'm a singer, and I had always wanted to do a little independent music on the side, exactly like the music you make. I've been listening to you all afternoon, and I'm just falling more and more in love. Your voice is so beautiful, it's one of the only voices in this world I can safely say I am blessed to have heard. You've got such a gift, it's wonderful to hear. I just wanted to leave you a comment right now, listening to Vinalhaven Harbour and falling so in love, and getting that tight feeling in my chest, and making my heart feel very light and lacking blood. I feel so much, just by listening to your music, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart when I tell you I cannot thank you enough for being you. For letting us hear your gift. For, in doing that, you have touched my heart, my life, and my own musical journey.

I just thought you ought to know.

Much Love,
Norah of let's run away
xx

http://thislittleblogbelongstome.blogspot.com

Clare said...

your cats are so cute!
I have recently started to learn how to do hand spinning on a little hand held spindle. its fun and quite theraputic but it takes time time.
my little misty cat also can't leave the fibres alone and its hard to sit and spin without her trying to join in! xx

Tabitha said...

hahahaha, it made me laugh to think about getting someone's hair caught on your foot!

E said...

the little castle is so adorable, i am sure your mice will love it :)

i remember that my grandmother had a spinning wheel, but she never showed me how to spin. i wonder what she did with the wheel...

<3

Anonymous said...

i love ruby´s first photo ♥

Cateaclysmic said...

So beautiful xoxo

Brian Sylvester said...

Everything that you post brings such a wide smile to my face! You are such a beautiful soul!

Thank you,
Brian

Caroline Ergy Erg said...

I think your imaginary mice will be rather pleased with their new hidey hole :D
Awwww, your cats are too cute, they're so perfect, just like the one in the book :D if i had one my rosey braids would stick straight up in the air.
The spinning wheel is such an amazing find too!
Aww, i really hope you'll be feeling loads better soon though! xxxx

Sarah Jean said...

That spinning wheel is beautiful. Did you find it hard to learn?

Valerianna said...

A wonderful post... the mouse castle is beautiful.... maybe I should find one for all the live mice Pasha cat brings in and then drops who hide and then die of injuries sustained... they need a castle to escape to - to die in peace - or, I'll hire a medicine mouse to live there and fix them up and send them out again.

Need to learn how to spin - just seems right to do storytelling performances while spinning wool, don't you think?

Emily's Moose - Karolina Kubikowska said...

The spinning wheel seems such a mysterious thing to me, I wouldn't know what to do with it! And I understand about the cat. Mine is a wild beast who occasionally lets me feed him vanilla cheese. They're cute anyway, aren't they? :)

<3
K

Aline said...

i am always amazed at what you find at the shop down the road...:)
lovely post as usual Ali xx

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

I wanted you to know that I featured your wonderful little hat on my latest post! I think everyone should have one!

Abigail Oliveros said...

you have such a lovely blog!

Jess said...

Ruby looks so beautiful looking out of the window with her perfect white fur! When I was little, my poor cat had to suffer me dressing it up and trying to wheel it around in my doll's pram! he didn't put up with it for very long :/ xx

Such a Wondrous Place this Faery Space said...

Ahh... glad I peeked in before I take my little hiatus from the computer fun. I have a chilly morning in Wis. today, crystalline and green. I loved seeing that you are going to spin. Always a dream of mine, as well, loved that scene in Practical magic, when the aunts are spinning and the girls are at the table... beautiful really. All the blessed goodness I send to you of warm ways and soft thoughts faery friend.

Such a Wondrous Place this Faery Space said...

Soo sorry, always forget to comment on something! Congrats on the publication! I was just published again in Somerset Studio (a glorious art magazine) it should be out in Barnes and Nobles now. I made Gladee Whirligig creating a Happy Halloween! Will you keep us aprised of when your article comes out dear? Thanks!!! Blessings and light, Amy

stephanie dosen said...

thanks fairies! wow what lovely comments!
i am overwhelmed by the suga :)
by suga i mean sugar .. you know.. the sweetness!

@periwinkling aw.. i know what its like to miss kittens too. i find i get lots of little puffy stuffed animals when im without them.

@norah oh wow if that didnt make me feel like my life had an actual purpose i dont know what would! :) thanks so much for the kind words. make sure you let me know where i can listen to your music (i checked your blog) thanks for making me smile! xoxo

@sarah it wasnt too hard to learn because i had spun a skein before using a drop spindle.. and i had seen lots and lots of spinners... after a little while i was doing ok.. but i think it must take ages to perfect it?
we will see when i get to the plying part!

thanks everyone who left me a little note. it just makes blogging so much sweeter to know all of you like-souls are out there. comfort & joy! xoxoxo

Yarrow said...

After a day when I felt I had no more tears left, you made me laugh so hard with your 'dirty fourth grade girl's pony tail'!!! (try saying that in a hurry or after some wine!)

Would you believe that I have TWO WHOLE FLEECES and no spinning wheel. Hubby's eyes have only just returned to Earth after that purchase (two years ago, haha).

Cats, what can I say, yours are so beautiful and precious with their magical whitness. It's my beloved orange cat of 19years that's causing me consternation. Would we ever be without them? I think not.x

Yarrow said...

ps. I forgot to thank you for the lyrics, doh!!!

Ingrid said...

I love your work!

Kiki said...

:D oh wow, such a cute post...
you made me smile a lot a lot :)
thank you!!!

cuddles

Nereida said...

Oh... I can´t believe you got a spinning wheel! If I had one, I´d feel everyday like Briar Rose.

Kittyj said...

SWEET! What is the name of the book? It reminds me of one I had as a child! Love it and your babes!

Elle said...

Which issue of Yarn Forward are you going to be in? I need to know which one to buy!

I asked the fairies, but they just giggled at me and rolled in the grass. Cheeky fairies. :)