Peanut & Purls and a cat house from UP

I've been planning on making Peanut her very own UP house for a while now.  On a Monday night, the urge became too strong. Four days later, and this is what I have. It's a monster of a cat house (quite large), but I love it! 

Peanut & Purls: New yarn

I know I've talked about how much I love Jared Flood and Brooklyn Tweed before, but it's because I really, really do! I just got my very first shipment of yarn from Brooklyn Tweed. I'm smitten beyond belief...

Away: Book Club (KITTENS!)

On Sunday, I ventured north to Tacoma for a monthly book club meeting. That's fine and whatnot, but the main point of this is that the host had recently acquired a kitten. A. Kitten. Be still my beating-kitten-loving heart...

cats on cats on cats

Rutherford Gibson mans the phones at IBKC fundraising headquarters. Photo by Laurie Cinotto

This is just a little reminder about The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee fundraiser. They're at the nine day countdown and still have a ways to go before they reach their $75,000 goal. If you're feeling generous, consider stopping by the IBKC's First Giving fundraising page and leaving a little something. If you're more inclined to look at pictures of adarlingable (yes, that is a mash-up of adorable and darling) kittens, check out the IBKC blog for sleeps, squints, meeps, nips, and frolicks.

And finally if, in addition to both of the ideas above, you need to drop some USDs on a frivolous bit of feline wonderment for your walls, please see the recommendations below.

1. An official IBKC poster by Boo Davis, with all proceeds benefiting the fundraiser!

2012 IBKC Fundraising Poster by Boo Davis

2. Cats of the World print by Gemma Correll from L'Affiche Moderne

Cats of the World

3. This rainbow cat poster, on sale at Urban Outfitters. SALE!

Rainbow Cat Poster 

4. This celestial cat print by Zippora Lux on Society 6.

The Persian and the Ashes of the First Stars

As always, this post was written with an active cat tail covering a good many of the keys and some little paws curled right up against my arm. As it should be.

cat tatts!

via Harriet Gray

The cuteness! The unbearable and unending cuteness! I just found out about these a couple days ago when Anabela of Fieldguided pinned them on her catsss board.  Pure wonderment. These cat tatts were created by Harriet Gray, an illustrator hailing from Telford, England. Harriet makes all sorts of delightful goodies. Take an online stroll over to her etsy store here. Or poke around her blog: Harriet Gray Illustration. Thank you, Harriet for existing in this world. 

via Harriet Gray

via Harriet Gray

Why didn't I know about these in time for Catherine and Monika's birthdays? Total misstep on my part. Apologies, sisters. I'll try harder next time. Also, please note: This was all written with a cat laying on a fourth of my keyboard and part of my arm. Matilda is just so happy to have me home!!

Kittens inspired by kittens 2012!

A couple of kittens manning the phones at IBKC fundraising headquarters. Photo by Laurie Cinotto.

It's that time of year again. Perennial Nicolai sisters' favorite, The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee, is participating in the annual Tacoma/Pierce County Humane Society fundraiser! Yup, Laurie and the IBKC gang are raising money to improve the lives of homeless cats and kittens in Tacoma and Pierce County, WA. Last year, $66,000 was raised by the IBKC! Isn't that incredible?

Cold in May

It's past the middle of May, but it's a chilly and rainy day in the Pacific Northwest.
You know that rainy days make kitties want to do?

It makes them want to be super snuggly.
Sometimes it is hard to tell where one black & white cat ends and the other begins.

zut alors!

I felted this narwhal as part of Catherine's Christmas present. I also felted a colossal squid for Monika. Of course, I took pictures of neither squid nor narwhal, so I'm forced to rely upon the proactive photography of my sisters in order to document the little beasties. Hmm. Still waiting for some squid shots. Oddly enough. Monika. Monika...

La la love you

Yep, that's a Pixies song, but it's also pretty dang close to La La Laurie of Laurie Cinotto Art and Craft fame. I'm thinking of Laurie because I saw her this weekend at the Artist Craft Fair at King's Books. I was way stoked when I checked Laurie's blog and saw that she was participating. I may have squealed, prompting Mom to ask, from the kitchen, "What are you doing back there?"

Anyway, Mom and I headed over to King's Books and each purchased a wee charm from Laurie--who is, I must say, unfailingly kind and gracious. If you have a moment, check out her craft blog (linked above) or her Etsy site, La La Laurie: Handcrafted Fancy Things. And as an added bonus, here are a few of her most recent lovelies from her Flickr stream.

P.S. Another reason to love Laurie: she's the headmistress of the IBKC. What's the IBKC? Why, The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee, of course! Hey, we're sporting an IBKC badge. Psst, to the right of this post...


P.P.S. And because the Pixies definitely deserve big time props for retaining their awesomeness, here's a little bit o' the Pix!

Photos by Laurie Cinotto

kitty in the window

Someone sat in the bedroom window today. 

Its Matilda! 

kitty cousins

Hey, did you notice our new badge? It's courtesy of The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. We're fans of the IBKC: big time.

Point number one: The headmistress of the IBKC blog, Laurie Cinotto, is a Tacoma resident and a super-talented crafter. To check out her craft blog, Laurie Cinotto: art and craft, mosey on over here.

Catherine's kitty, Genevieve, loves all kittens
(except for the one she lives with...Peanut).

Point number two: KITTENS! Yup, sweet babies: every day in every way. Laurie and her husband, Craig, foster orphaned kittens for the Tacoma/Pierce County Humane Society. The kittens (sometimes in singles, more often in families) stay with Laurie until they're old enough for adoption. So many success stories! It just makes us giddy beyond belief. 

Penelope, aka Peanut, wants to be Genevieve's BFF. 

Point number three: Dedication. Laurie gives bunches and bunches of her time at home (kittens are hard work!), keeps the blog updated, and participates in the Humane Society's annual fundraiser, which is in progress right now (hint, hint!). We really admire her selfless, good-hearted nature...and her kitten wrangling skills. Oh, she has skills like you wouldn't believe. 

Mom's kitty, Bruno, loves kittens, too.

If you'd like to add an Itty Bitty Kitty Committee badge to you blog, follow this link. You'll be pleased to know there are several to choose from. 


If you're intrigued by all this talk of kittens and would like to donate to this year's fundraiser-- over $40,000 has been raised in the past couple weeks through the IBKC alone! So awesome!--you can go here for details. 

Matilda definitely loves kittens (because she was once a kitten mom)!

Also, you should know that a new batch of kittens has just arrived at Laurie and Craig's. Eeeeek! Now would be a great time to check in on them.

The luckiest kitten in all of Olympia...

Tonight my kitten dreams came true...sort of.  You see growing up, I had dreams of finding an abandoned box of kittens.  If I found a box full of kittens, I would have to rescue them.  My mom would have to let me keep them--they would have to be rescued!
I was just telling Nick yesterday that for some time, after I got my license, I would stop and check boxes in ditches just in case they were full of kittens.  They never were.
Tonight I rescued a kitten, but instead of a being in a box, it was in a backpack.
Living in Olympia, one becomes accustomed to seeing the Olympia bummies walking around with cats on leashes perched on their shoulders and dogs galore.  These characters are a part of the downtown scene in Olympia, and both the animals and the bummies always multiply when the weather gets nicer.  It probably doesn't help that people gravitate towards Olympia, seeing it as the bummie/hippie Mecca.

Nick and I were the first car stopped at a red light a few blocks from our house.  Two Olympia bummies (hiking packs, grungy, sunburnt) walked across the sidewalk, one of them had a dog.  When they were about halfway across we noticed a little orange kitten sitting in the middle of the road right where they had just been standing.  We gasped, and I opened the car door yelled, "SERIOUSLY!?!" and scooped up the kitten.  Meanwhile the light had turned green but no one moved--(I mean how could they?) there was a kitten rescue taking place.  The one bummie yelled, "yeah, seriously!"  Then he saw that I had the kitten and said to the other bummie, "dude, your kitten fell out of your backpack."   The backpacked bummie turned, said, "oh," and started walking towards me for the kitten.  Even though the kitten's  little hindquarter was covered in kitten poo, I held on tight.  He reached forward for the kitten, but I didn't move.  I had become Charlton Heston and the poopy kitten was my rifle.  He waited a second and then said, "...unless you want it...I can't take care of it anyway."  I answered, "YES! I will take him."  A car or two started honking but I like to think that they were just out of view and didn't understand what was taking place.  The first bummie yelled something else about how I didn't have to be rude that they didn't realize the kitten had fallen from the backpack.  I didn't take the time to remind him that he was the one shoving kittens into backpacks and letting them shit all over themselves and how they probably shouldn't have pets if they can't even acquire shelter for themselves.  I climbed back in the car and we returned home.  The poor little guy was so hungry and thirsty and poopy.  He's sleeping on a snuggy right now.  He started purring the second his baby kitten paws touched the thin, foamy fleece blanket.  Fact:  All cats love snuggies.
Little kitten will spend the night at Glass Ave.  In the morning he will be taken to the local shelter where I am sure he will be scooped up by the sweetest family ever.  Orange kittens are always a hit.  I couldn't help but think that we were meant to be the first car stopped at that red light in order to rescue the baby-kitten-baby.  There's no doubt this kitten had a really rough day.  As I wrapped it's freshly-washed kitten body in a warm towel fresh from the dryer, I whispered to it that falling into the middle of an intersection from a bummie's backpack is the best thing that will ever happen to it in its whole life.
It kind of reminds me of when another little kitten's lucky day in Olympia...

Peanut, on her lucky day!

Cats and corgis!

Dr. Boris (Nick's corgi).

Time to display the latest crafty things I've done recently (that seems to be the point of this blog anyway). For Valentine's Day, I painted Nick a picture of his dog ( Boris lives in Tucson).  We need to find the perfect place to display Boris.

Boris is less cartoony in real life...

Don't worry.  I made sure that Nick received candy too. It's his favorite!

I don't know which is cuter, the Triple H candy that I bought Nick or the kitten candy from Sees that Nick got me.

While Peanut is in the picture, it's worth noting that she has been particularly bad today.  Bink has taken quite a hit and there's Bink fur all over the place.  There's no rest when Kitts is on the prowl.  

Whiskers on kittens!

The kitten, "kitts," has been extra cuddly lately. I think she's just cold most of the time, but she needs to realize that heating money doesn't just grow on trees.  We cranked the thermostat to 60 last night.  I had just finished crafting a present for a friend when kitts decided to settle in.  

Here is the present:

I made cookies...this isn't the best picture.

I knit a slouchy cable beret.

And I painted this mini portrait of her dog, Charlie.

IRL Charlie is cuter. I've never met Charlie, but his pictures make him look like he's cute IRL.

Since the beginning of this post, kitts has decided to snuggle right up next to me and go to sleep. At least she gives off some heat with her little kitten body.

Now it's time to go to homework. Boring, snore.

Still bad...all the time

Today I watched the last episode of The West Wing.  This was a really monumental event, and now I'm just left wondering now what the hell am I going to do? The answer was wrap your windows so you can turn the heat on.  Nick and I wrapped the hell out of the main level of the house. It's still real, real cold in here.

The front door with a shiny new seal on it.

Hold up...first I finished reading this book for class.  It made me realize that it's really not crazy that people believe in witch doctors.  It almost made me believe.

The kitten decided to be real bad today.  The following pictures are from the past couple of days.  She's good for a minute or two and then she turns into a terror.

Good (with sparkle ball)

Bad (with my scarf)

Good (with Bink...this is the good that comes with having a cold house--cuddling cats!)

Good (but this was deceiving...)

Bad (that yellow circle toy on the right is one of the pumpkins that she knocked off the steps)!

Good!

Bad (that's my highlighter)

Good (and cute).

Bad (scratches everywhere).

Good.

I know that she is probably just going through her bad kitten phase, but after reading this article, I'm going to be on alert. If Penelope starts speaking in a language she doesn't know, has a sudden aversion to  religious objects, or becomes unreasonably strong...it'll be time to call in the big guns.

She's bad all the time!

She wasn't being bad for a second.

Doesn't have anything to do with a bad cat, but it is my Halloween card that has the word "miscegenation" in it!

She had to be part of study time!

This is a broken cat that she broke. You can see her ready to break more things in the background. So bad!!!

I have like 5 of these pictures.

Don't let her fool you, she's about to be bad.