Den of Angels

Saturday tubbysnuggles is coming over ...
I am making Pancakes .... and Waffles
We are gonna have fun playing dollies too!

Confession: I have spent way too much time today obsessing over whether I have the right yarns to make these mittens, or this hat.

Kitten Mittens.




OMG is that not the cutest thing???

I envision it in brown and black, because I love my kitties and think the thumb would look just like Chester's stripey tabby tail. Also, I have some superwash wool (Knitpicks Swish) in a kind of sandy brown color... alas, the appropriately black superwash wool is currently being made into herringbone mittens. I am a *little* tempted to rip out the mitten so I can make these mittens (the purple in the herringbone mittens doesn't match my purple and black hat, anyways) but maaan, I've come so far on those mittens! I'm almost at the top! But but but kitten mittens! I do have some black regular wool that isn't set aside for any projects just yet, but it feels weird to mix superwash and non-superwash in the same project. Although I guess there's always the question of just how machine-washable KP Swish really is...

And yes. Hat. I mentioned a hat.

Witch Cats Hat, which features prancing black cats and a bunch of black cat faces. It is kind of dorky, and it calls for DK weight yarn, but it's so charming! I do have black regular DK weight yarn, and superwash DK wool in a purplish grey and a bright red, but am not sure either would quite work. There are some lovely purple-and-black examples on Rav... although, hrm, looking at the pattern, it's for a 20" hat, which is likely a smidge small for me. Looks like some people have knit it in worsted-weight to make an adult hat... but I still don't know what background colors would look good...

So yes. I've spent the day popping yarn in and out of my Knitpicks shopping cart, and cursing it every time it glitches and doubles the amount of everything in my shopping cart AND wishlist.

JAPAN AI IPHONE APP is OUT!
Users of iPhone and iTunes can click here to see the brand-new app version of Japan Ai! You can even download a sample chapter to explore for free! full press release here.

COMICCON BATTLE PLAN
I've suddenly decided to do a bunch of drawings by next week and publish them with some of my favorites from this past year as a sketchbook for Comic-con. I'm really happy with the ones I did last night! I'll be posting some of the outtakes and previews here later, but there should a big chunk of not-seen-before drawings in it! So please come by my booth! <3

I'll probably have some free temp tattoos to hand out, too... and as always I'll have copies of Japan Ai and my previous sketchbooks for sale. If you buy something, I'll do a sketch for you!
FIGHTO! FIGHTO!

IMPT. INFO
MY SDCC BOOTH IS G-9 (row 800...go towards the back of the convention center, right across the aisle from Missmonster) I'll be at the convention for the entire time (including preview night), but due to the Doctor Who shenanigans on Sunday, you're unlikely to find me much at the booth on Sunday except a couple hours before dealers' room close. Other than Sunday, if you come by and I'm away from the booth, my fellow booth mates can try to txt me to bring me back. I'll do my best. <3

I'll also have some artwork of Felicia in the Udon Darkstalkers Tribute Book which will be sold at SDCC booth 5112 and online.

In the course of doing potential drawings for my sketchbook, I drew this one, but I won't be including it in this year's comiccon sketchbook. It's of Ichi. (Ichi is a japanese film where the protagonist is basically a female version of Zatoichi the blind swordsman.)
you can see an english subbed teaser of Ichi here

Today, I smell like...

...herbal... something. Hrm. It starts out a really nice garden-y scent (actually, I initially thought this was a fizzy herbal soda) with something sharp and clean like lemon verbena and something basil-y and so forth. And then... not so much. Right now, I'm getting a kind of "perfume-y" "hothouse air" "light florals" sort of scent, which is doing nothing to help with my headache.

I think it's a little like some of the white tea-with-ginger scents I've tried in the past. Or... maybe a green tea scent, the kind that gets names like Zen Tea.

EDIT: I need to compare this to Catnip, if I still have it, which I described as "the plant equivalent of the freshly exercised smell I get from Possets' O Coracao".

EDIT 2: They have a similar initial herby stage, but Catnip veers towards BO (possibly coriander or cilantro or cumin or maybe it's just the salsa I ate) whilst Garden Snail wanders towards a lemony herb.

This, of course, would be the one Blooddrop Summer LE scent that I ordered a bottle of without testing first.

"Garden Snail (Helix aspersa)
Quite obviously not an insect, but most commonly found in many a garden. A beautiful, radiant bouquet of garden herbs and blossoms, and a sticky, glistening trail of honey."

Maaaaan. What gives?

It is a convincingly snail-y scent, though. I don't think snails actually smell like this, but... somehow, it conveys snail-y-ness.

In good news, I made peach-and-pineapple salsa for myself (okay: I tossed three peaches, 1/2 a can of pineapple chunks, 4 oz of green chili and two cans of tomatoes into the food processor and added a few teaspoons of basil, cumin, and chipotle powder) and yay salsa.

Dear Diary

Today I went to Stitch n Bitch at the local indie coffee shop and, as my husband looked on in uncomprehending horror, I attempted to first teach a seven year old about the proper terminology for Twi'lek and [Kit Fisto's race] head-tentacles, then taught him that beer can be used to kill slugs.

---

In other news... OMG NEW TOYS DOOD!

We went to Toys R Us today, having heard that the Battlestar Galactica Mini-Mates (and possibly the Ghostbusters Minimates too) were out. No Ghostbusters, alas, but we did find the latest Battlestar Galactica dudes, and we also found...

MURLOCS!



Yes, we found World of Warcraft Series 4, the Murloc 2-pack (available in green/green, blue/blue, green/blue and blue/green) and the Succubus.



Meanwhile, in the Pink Aisle, I found this Fairy-tastic Princess and these Fairy-ettes.



Also, Barbie and the Three Musketeers! Now, I totally ought to love this series (come on! Pretty dolls in pretty dresses that turn into caped heroes with cocktail swords! What's not to love?) but...





Seriously, Mattel? You had four chicks (and one dude), and you couldn't give us an Asian/Pacific Islander? It would have been so perfect, so very Captain Planet and the Planeteers! Blonde, AA, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander! I am pretty sure they had that exact line-up in either the 2009 Astronaut Barbie or the 2008 President Barbie, I forget which.

Speaking of adventures in Ethnic Diversity...



So In Style is a fascinating Barbie spin-off, in which Barbie's heretofore unknown African American friend Grace leaves California for the mean streets of Chicago, where she and her stylish (also African American) friends act as Big Sisters (or mentors) to young African American girls. The dolls come with one older doll and one younger doll, engaged in some sort of wholesome and self-confidence-building activity. "Mentoring is awesome!"



It's been a long time since Barbie's African American friends had their own storyline and doll line. I want to say the last attempt at something like this was the Shani doll in the 90s, but I could be wrong. (Christie, Steven, and Whitney totally don't count, as they were basically AA counterparts to Barbie, Ken, and either Skipper or Stacey, I forget which). The last Grand Experiment by Mattel was the ill-fated Flavas line from the early 2000s; I'll be watching SIS with interest.

Afterwards, we went to Target, where I failed to find those interlocking foam playmat squares that people have been using for blocking handknits. But I DID find a huge standee for an upcoming (for Back to School) Simone Legno line of STUFF for kids. Apparently there is also a kids' clothing line, but I was busy staring at the standee and thinking...

1. Simone Legno's a dude? I always kind of assumed Simone was a chick. A very Japan-obsessed chick. From Italy, judging from TokiDoki's URL.

2. OH MY GOD what is this stuff? What will it look like?? Can I hope for stationery and cute plush, or will it be backpacks and lunch bags? want want want!!!

Who is Simone Legno, you ask? The designer behind TOKIDOKI, basically.

( Behold his works! )

And he's having a Target line of some mysterious STUFF! For kids! First the Target-exclusive DOMO-kun stuff, then the plush robots for Valentine's Day... why is Target tapping into the disposable income-part of my brain???

---

So, my haul for the day.



Since I couldn't quite tell if the bottom Murloc was glued to the stand or not (logic dictated that they couldn't be a TWO-PACK if both were permanently attached to the same stand... but looking from the bottom, it kind of looked like the foot might be pegged in AND glued), I got both the green/blue and blue/green combinations. Also, I got one of the basic plush dolls in the G Force toyline.

G Force, for those who have managed to avoid the recent ad campaign, is a mostly-live action 3D Disney movie by Jerry Bruckheimer, about a team of government agents who are genetically modified guinea pigs. There is a sassy Latina guinea pig, and... uh... I think there's a tough guy, an explodey guy, an enthusiastic chubby slob guy. If we never get a "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman" (aka G Force, aka Battle of the Planets) re-launch, I think we can safely blame this film.

But... plush guinea pig! With a parachute! You throw it in the air and the parachute inflates and it comes down slowly! I even tested it in the toy store!

The Murlocs, as it turns out, are both non-removable from base AND non-poseable. So not cool. Why do they even call these "action figures"?

( A closer look at the murlocs )

My husband was looking into separating the lower Murloc from this stand, but it looks like the base might get torn in the process (mostly just the peg that plugs into the murloc's foot).

In other news...

Robot socks!

Pirate robot socks!

QUESTION TIME!
If I make temporary tattoos, what would you like to see me do? I was thinking of doing cute little octopusses or a froufrou loligirl. :) They'd be a free thing.

onward....

I have long and non-skinny legs, so it's very hard for me to find knee socks that will work for me. I've tried a TON of brands from USA and Japan with little luck. (Sock Dreams being an exception. <3) Recently, I've had some good luck with metamorphose's OTKs. All of these in my photo worked. these, however didn't. I'm not really sure what the difference is. Basically, there's something about the intricate design on the non-working ones that is a harder stitch, which doesn't stretch as much. Ends up looking wierd.
BUT LA-DE-DA I have several that fit now!

I ATE THIS TODAY:
(well, not the plastic candy hair barrettes... the edible cakes are from JJ bakery)


I'll be going (in kimono) to this art opening this Saturday evening at the Kyoto Grand with the LA Kimono Club. I think I'll wear my galaxy summer kimono with my july kanzashi. Haven't had time to dress in kimono for a while. *___*

Click for full info/larger image

Sadly, I could not attend the full four days of Anime Expo this year (stupid work!) but for the two days that I attended, I had a wonderful time. I had to miss the Moi dix Mois concert and panel as well as the Trigun and Gurren Lagann panels on Thursday and Friday but I heard the concert was amazing and the panels were very informative, well as informative as Mana feels.

On Saturday, I put on my costume and headed over to the LA Convention Center. Its not hard to miss with a plethora of costume clad cosplayers gathered around. Registration, like last year, was remarkably easy this year and we were off! Cosplaying as Yuuko from xxxHolic is fun. I love her hair, her clothes, her pipe, and her attitude!


For dinner, we ate at Curry House in Little Tokyo. I had never eaten there before but I found it to be very good and must return to write a review of that place. Little Tokyo (and Curry House) was full of cosplayers as well. I really enjoy having the convention at the LA Convention Center for this reason!

We took the shuttle to the Westin Bonaventure where we attended the dance there. I found the DJ was horrible playing the worse techno music. But maybe it was me. I'm an indie and gothic music fan. And this was not my scene. Now if Carlos D of Interpol was DJ-ing...

The last day of the convention is always the saddest for me because I know it will all come to an end very soon. Sadly, there usually is nothing to look forward to on the last day of Anime Expo. Anime Los Angeles scheduled the lolita fashion show on the last day giving attendees something to look forward to. Perhaps AX should think of something similar...

But the last day was the most magical for me. Dressed in my favorite Baby The Stars Shine Bright dress, we found out that Mana was going to be signing autographs! Quickly we purchased Moi dix Mois posters and ran over to the registration hall were they had us waiting in the sun for a while and none of us lolitas had brought our parasols! Thankfully we did not melt and were soon let into the hall. I have to say that Mana was beautiful wearing a blue Moite blouse and with large hair. Each band member signed our posters and shook hands with us. I shook Mana's hand. I only wished I had owned some Moite clothing and would have worn that instead of the black Baby The Stars Shine Bright dress I was wearing.

I also got autographs from the adorable Yun Kouga, manga-ka of Loveless, Yasuhiro Nightgow manga-ka of Trigun, and Satoshi Nishimura, director of the 2009 Trigun movie.  Sadly, as the day ended another convention was over. But I wasn't too sad. There were more events coming up soon...

If anyone is interested, you can view photos of my cosplay, lolita, and Anime Expo on my flickr...

I was reading the Craftzine feed on my LJ Friends page when I came across a mention of Mr.XStitch (a cross-stitching guru in the UK) and his support of Fine Cell Work, a UK charity that teaches fine embroidery to prison inmates in an effort to help them gain self-confidence and have a source of income to help dissuade from relapsing into crime when they're let out. Although I don't know how successful such programs are, I'm a sucker for any "knitting/embroidering/crafting in prison" charity.

This embroidered item in particular charms me. I don't know if this link will work, but it is a pillow. With lobsters on it. The lobsters are wearing tophats.

I am guessing that they *probably* don't ship outside the UK. But if there was a US program that likewise taught prisoners to embroider fanciful gentleman lobsters sipping champagne while wearing tophats, I would be ALL OVER THAT.

My husband, upon retrieving the mail, asked:

"Who wants Clothing and Fineries?"

I do! I do!

My latest order from Blooddrop Clothing and Fineries (Summer LEs!) included the limited-edition bath oil "Dollface". I'm not normally one for bath oils (I require my bath-things to fizz or foam or otherwise look interesting) but my skin has been awfully itchy recently, and I thought I might need some extra moisturization.

Since I noticed an eczema-ish dry spot on my hands, I splooshed on a bit of Dollface (Blooddrop's LE bath oils come in a big bottle with an orifice-reducer cap) and let it soak in. My skin is now beautifully supple with no trace of the dry spot!

The scent is described as:
"crushed raspberries and strawberries, vanilla musk, sweet marshmallow and the tiniest, tiniest hints of peppermint to refresh you!"

I would say it's a slightly cloying sweet scent with hints of fruit and something kind of herbal. I'm hoping that bathing with the oil rather than putting it directly on the skin will result in a less concentrated fragrance. I'm not a huge fan of vanilla musk scents (which has me scratching my head as to why I ordered Dollface rather than Peachskin, which is "heavy cream, peaches, amber, sweet orange, benzoin, pink grapefruit, palma rosa, and ho wood"). The bathing will have to wait until the weekend, though. Tomorrow I'll scrub down the tub and install some anti-slip strips in the bathtub, and those apparently need 12 hours to "cure".

I got the trial Spinal Cord Stimulator implanted yesterday! It helps my arm soooo much! My back is really sore though from where they injected the needles. Apparently that's from all the numbing medicine that goes in. It was done with anesthesia, knocking me out for the first part. Then they woke me up to set the thing up. Apparently (no recollection) I told them I liked it on the operating table.

With it on my pain goes from like 8-9 to 1-2. The pain from my back is kinda taking away all the good a bit *_*

* In a Saint Swoon!

* More Saintly Angels&Demons lurking on my personal horizon, too!!!!

* Rebuilding the Saint Army (tm to kittymaru) !

* Have been inundated with ideas for photo shoots! Now to get to work. A few things....I need props for...so I've got some Ebaying to do. A few needed props have arrived...so I've got some motivating to do. It's all good.

* Still....using the yos to nurture some sort of strange resin-child in myself. And it's all knotted up in some inexplicable way with my own children growing up....sigh. But I am enjoying myself tremendously. I'm thinking that Volks' classic minimal face-ups suit their children fantastically well. The yo proportions are really ideal - I did struggle with the incorrect proportions of the Fee...coupled with their overly mature face-ups and my two Fee were sold within a day of arrival. I know this isn't going to happen with my incoming yos because I very nearly stuffed a Neon into my pocket and made a mad dash for it at GoGa. :) It is the teensiest bit disheartening that the YoSD are quite simply the most expensive Tiny resin out there...but their clothing has been refreshingly affordable. It's  just a crazy competition to snag it out of the MP. Am looking forward to my first official Volks lottery win!

* WTB ads still working their krazy magick! One Anotherspace outfit down - more to go. As soon as I get some funds I am going to do a huge Anotherspace order. Yes. Is anyone on the flist familiar with their tophats? I need to know sizes and differences in the styles sold.

* Have given up trying to fight my obsession with Sookie and Bill and will travel down the hill tomorrow to pick up the last three books in the series. Also...will buy the True Blood discs. But THEN, then, I will crawl into some deep dark poetic prose. I've got an AMAZING book that I just dipped into yesterday....a gift from an astute friend and it literally knocked me sideways. Ingenious Pain. I am... spellbound by Miller's poetic gift. More on this poem to the heart and body later....Also, tried to dive headlong into Lawrence but accidentally grabbed "John Thomas and Lady Jane" from my bookshelf instead of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" - quite a different experience there.

* I'm feeling good. Had a very surprised neurosurgeon on Tuesday! Blood pressure is my characteristic low! That means that my pain has really, really lessened. And I lost three pounds in six weeks which is great! I'm still on the meds for another six weeks, but way low dosages and I can live with that.

* Emails owed.


ETA - no one told me that "Saving Grace" is about angels?!?!?! Am I understanding the show synopsis correctly?!?!?! Should I pick this series up????

♫
... and let a winner lead the waaaaaay?

HERE'S WHERE WE SEPARATE THE NOTES FROM THE NOISE
THE MEN FROM THE BOYS
THE MARA WHO HAS LOST 10% OF HER STARTING WEIGHT FROM THE MARA AT THE BEGINNING OF MARCH 2009
♫♫♫♫♫
✌

I don't have 5 minutes to watch this Yarn Porn at the moment (also: oscillating fan drowning out the squealing of the stars of the show) but for later perusal:

"It’s July and Winter has arrived! Get a sneak peak of the new colors and yarns Knit Picks will be presenting in the next catalog. We have a whole new group of Fingering, sport, DK and Heavy Worsted yarns in our favorite blends Merino wool/silk and Superwash/nylon."



OMG. I will love Knitpicks anew if they have sports-weight and DK-weight superwash-nylon sock yarn. I have so many patterns that call for Sports-weight, and it's pretty hard to find a good affordable DURABLE sports-weight. Or so I find, anyways. I'm intrigued by the wool/silk blends; I'm not sure I've tried any of their wool-silk. I imagine it'll be even pricier than the superwash, though it should make for some really nice mittens and scarves.

Also to watch later: a 6 minute video (?!?!) by the Knitpicks staff on how to wear a lace shawl without looking like an old lady.

We made it out to WA on the 4th of July. We were sooo jetlagged that we slept in most of the day.
We had time to get up and go to lunch with my parents. Most of the days were spent sleeping-_-;

Had the whole family with me so not much, but shopped a bit and spent time with my parents...
my goal was accomplished to have my parents meet my youngest child...But now its time
we head back...sorry again to all the dollyfriends I didn't get to meet. but these days have been
busy with just my family. No dolly with me on the trip-_-; hugs, gg

PS gosh 9 days when fast...

Today, I smell like...

...rich gingerbread cake, moist and decadent, accompanied by chocolate? And then becoming what I thought was pure ginger, but judging from the list of notes, is actually clove.

Guh.

Gingerbread Yule Cake: "Cranberries, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves, Whipped Cream and rich Gingerbread.

The "chocolate" may have been a phantasm caused by the whipped cream and cardamom (BPAL's Enraged Groundhog Musk has cardamom in it, so it's entirely possible that my brain associates the two scents with each other). I'm not sure I'm getting much of the cranberries. EDIT: It later died down to whipped cream and cloves.

I will quite possibly wash this off ASAP, since I am not a fan of cloves, and may try something else... maybe Sweet Talk.

---

After shower, I smell like...

...buttery something, plus the almost-burny scent of baked/fried goods. I think I'm getting an almost-chocolate scent off of this, too, and a bit of sugary fluff.

Sweet Talk: "Cotton Candy, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Butter Brickle Ice Cream and Funnel Cake."

Okay, I've got one last convention this summer and I'm catching the plane in the morning.

I have no idea how much time I will have for the internet, if I even have access to it. If anything happens between now and the 14th that I need to know about, email me or link to it here.