I didn't spend a billion freaking years getting my art degree and not learn a little something about design.  I know a lot of people who follow this blog are nerds for more than just knitting (I'm looking at you, Game of Thrones people), so I figured since I'm doing all kinds of self-promotion this week, I'd share a few of my shirt designs.

Here's my most recent one, inspired by the work of Karen Hallion, who creates beautiful crossover art of Doctor Who and the Disney Princesses. I created my own little crossover between Doctor Who and Game of Thrones: Daenerys meets the little blue box...

You and me. Fire and Blood. You watch us run.

I'm also a huge fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, which you should really read if you're at all in to urban fantasy. A much-beloved but oft-overlooked hero of this series is the Blue Beetle, the stalwart steed of protagonist Harry Dresden. Putt-putt-putting for great justice (in between trips to the repair shop).

How a  wizard who describes himself as close to 7 feet tall fits into a VW bug, I'll never understand.

Finally, I give you one design that has nothing to do with pop culture and everything to do with motivation.  I took up running recently in an effort to get in better shape (before a heatwave sapped all will to do any sort of physical activity). Sometimes it's hard to push through and finish a run, so I started imagining various things were either chasing me or waiting for me at the finish line. Here's the first of a whole series I have planned:

If his vision is based on movement, you'd better be able to haul ass.

Those are probably my favorite designs, but I've got a bunch more that I've made over the last 6 months or so. Here's a thingamabob the shirt website made to show you:

Thanks, handy-dandy RedBubble slideshow widget thingy. You're a champ.

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn this blog into a giant sales pitch. Just wanted to share.  I'm fairly proud of most of those designs (the Game of Thrones/Doctor Who one took forever and I just love it) and figured you might get a kick out of seeing them. I'm thinking of putting a small banner in the sidebar or at the bottom of the page, but if you think that's a bad idea or would be annoying, please tell me.

Later this week I'll be posting a review of the Interweave collection, Unofficial Harry Potter Knits 2013, which I purchased a few days ago. Spoiler alert: If you're thinking of getting it, please do, because it's pretty awesome.

I'm sick and it's terrible.

Getting a cold in the summer should be outlawed.  It's not fair. It's all sunny outside and I have a canvas ready to paint and all I want to do is curl up with a blankie and watch Tiny Toons on the couch.

Well, watch Tiny Toons and wind the undyed yarn for the Mint Julep colorway, which arrived today a bit behind schedule.

It's also my six-month wedding anniversary, more accurately called a "semiversary."  Pretty sure we're having grilled cheese with our champagne, 'cuz I don't know that I can even leave the house right now.

This is how I will look after a glass of champagne with a DayQuil chaser.

I'm no good at being sick. Please make it stop.

So bummed right now

Beware: This post has absolutely nothing to do with yarn or knitting.

I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but my husband and I just moved from San Francisco to Portland last month. We're still unpacking some things, but as we do it's becoming increasingly more obvious...

I have lost my Gargoyles comics :(

David Tennant knows how this feels.

I loved that show when I was a kid, so when I found the comics as an adult I was stoked.  The comics pick up the storyline after creator Greg Weisman's final episode, 3x01 The Journey, and completely ignores the whole "Goliath Chronicles" debacle that was the rest of season 3.  Weisman had so much more planned for series - including this whole time travel arc for Brooklyn, and a spin-off that takes place in the future and stars a descendant of Goliath and Elisa.  Alas, he will almost certainly never complete them, because even though Gargoyles was his creation, Disney owns the rights to it and they charge a whole bunch of money for licensing.  Not that Disney is ever going to touch the Gargoyles franchise again - they just don't want anyone else to touch it.

Anyway, sad face. Miss my Clan Building books.  I hate having to re-buy books when I lose them. Rar.

These are my cats.

Gonna take a break from yarn blogging and introduce you to my two fuzzy assistants.  Well, actually, at best they're distractions, and at worst they are tiny furry demons sent from the bowels of the earth to shred (both literally and figuratively) all my hard work.  But they're cute, so we have to forgive them.

Hard at work.

This is our primary fuzzy, Pandora, more commonly known as Panda.  She's 3 years old and Dear Hubby and I adopted her from the San Francisco SPCA as a kitten.  We had just moved in together and quickly realized we needed a cat.  We went to the adoption center a few times, and of course fell in love with every kitty there - including one older cat named Cat Benetar who we came thisclose to adopting, but on Decision Day she had already found a home.  The day we went to take home a kitty for real, there were a bunch of kittens in the shelter, and we of course played with ALL OF THEM. It was a beautiful day.

Panda took one look at us, decided we were her hoomins, and promptly fell asleep on my lap in the kitty ritual of ownership.  She's an incredibly snuggly kitty (most of the time), and will jump up on my or hubby's lap the minute we sit down, especially if there's a blanket involved.  You always have to be careful setting things down on our bed, because odds are good that there is a hidden PandaLump nestled under the blankies.  She's very skittish around strangers, probably because hubby and I are hermits who never have people over, so she's never really been exposed to other humans.  She regards us as her staff, tasked with feeding and petting and belly rubs (on her terms only), and in exchange we are allowed to bask in her fuzzy glory.  Favorite activities include snuggling while watching Buffy, batting around toy mousies, and stalking bugs.

She also likes to be Big Spoon:

And sometimes Bendy Spoon:

Then we have Olive.  Olive is new.  She started life as a stray who hung out on the hill behind our house in Daly City (about 10 minutes south of San Francisco) with a few of her fuzzy friends.  I looked out the back door one day and saw her curled up on the concrete patio and promptly had a heart attack, because I thought she was dead.  But the second I cracked open the door to check on her, she looked up at me with these gorgeous green eyes and I knew I had to be her friend.

Olive, before she had a name, suspicious of the box I left for her.

Yes, our yard was hideously overgrown. Oh well.

As you can see, she's missing most of her tail, which means she has kind of terrible balance/jumping ability in addition to the usual awkwardness of young cats.  I started leaving food out for her, and we slowly built a cautious friendship.  About 4 days before we were scheduled to move from Daly City to Portland, I finally got close enough to pet her and get a really good look at her... and realized she was pregnant. Well shit. I knew that no one would feed her after we left, and that she and her kittens would probably be in a lot of trouble without that extra food, so I called a local rescue.  They sent someone out to help me trap her (which was scary for both of us), and then took her to the SPCA to get a checkup.  Unfortunately, they had to terminate her pregnancy for her own health, but they also spayed her, microchipped her, and treated her for fleas and parasites.  Rather than release her back into the wild, hubby and I made the decision (along with the people at the rescue) to take her with us to Portland.

That was like 3 weeks ago.  She's just now starting to warm up to us, and she and Panda are on semi-civil terms.  So far her favorite activities include walking around talking to herself, hiding inside the couch (because there's a hole in the lining), and letting me pet her in exchange for treats.  The vets at the SPCA estimated her age at around 10 months, so she's still pretty young and very full of energy.  The other night she discovered that there was an outside to the couch as well, which she has since decided is kinda nice.