Create!

I have written about pigs before, here and here, and probably mentioned my struggle with liking them, but also, um, eating them. With all the veg-heads in my life, a bombardment of information about the food industry, particularly the meat industry, and a general respect for nature and life, I go back and forth about my animal-eating ways. I’m also a barbecue-lover and sadly can’t quite quash my cravings for political reasons.

With that said though, I will entertain both opposing sides: I designed the above (vegetarian) crochet organic cotton pig for my Etsy Shop and I also wrote a guide for Guidespot on New York barbecue. I know, such a cruel juxtaposition, right?

Sometimes I am completely taken in by advertising, succumbing to impulse buys purely because I judge a book by its cover, so to speak. In this case, I gave into the adorable faces of ike & sam, a kettle and a piece of popcorn. I’m sure there are others out there like me who make a purchase such as this one, just to have those faces inside your house? Right?

I do love kettle corn, though, and I unknowingly bought the caramel cheddar. Unknowingly? Yeah, I was completely entranced by ike & sam that I never even looked at the flavor written at the bottom. Love at first sight I tell you. Anyway, this is some tasty stuff, and it’s made in Brooklyn! Woot woot! I am already considering designing some crochet versions of ike & sam and pitching them to the company. I see a partnership down the road. Yay ike & sam!

We’ve all experienced writer’s block, myself included, at one time or another. But, crocheter’s block? Well, I’m currently experiencing this creative affliction! Help! I do have tons of ideas about future designs and patterns, but nothing that stands out to me at the moment. Do YOU, dear readers, have ideas? Crochet items you’ve only dreamed of? A pig with wings? Rainbow-colored gumballs? A smiling light bulb? Let me know in the comments or by email: aliciakachmar@gmail.com

In other news, check out my vegan chocolate cake recipe on Instructables! I wrote about it here once upon a time, but decided to enter it in their cake contest. Vote for me?

I have been taking a little break from my blogging here, as well as from crochet/Etsy, but just a few facts to report. Various freelance writing opportunities have been keeping me busy, among other things…

I have a very small piece in Time Out magazine about my “gripe” with New York post offices. “The gripe” is a semi-new, submission-based feature that is your platform for complaining about anything in New York. I have a much larger piece I occasionally add to, on account of my frequent post office trips, but I condensed it to this 200-word version.

I am the Manhattan “creative and local writing maven” for a fun new website called Guidespot. Basically the site will be full of guides for anything and everything: lonely old man bars, a guy’s guide to a marriage proposal, Patriot Day in Massachusetts, etc. Check out my content, thus far, and of course, spread the word.

I have rarely been one to play tricks on others come April Fools’ Day, though I have fallen for many to date! Nevertheless, it seems like an appropriate day to share some silliness via childhood memories.

When my sister and I were little, we fought over the little black hook in the above picture. It’s for hanging dry-cleaning on one of those handles at the top of a window inside a car. Well, I don’t think I’d ever been to a dry-cleaners with my family, but for some reason we had it. Since there was only one little hook, each one of us would move it back and forth to our respective sides. We called it “The Olive,” because it is roughly the same size as one, shiny, and black. Why didn’t we call it an “S” I now wonder? (But really, is there an actual name for these?)

At some point, The Olive moved on from the car (perhaps when that Mazda was covered in duct tape and finally kicked the bucket?) and into the house. The new game was much more complex: hide The Olive anywhere in your room, and when the other finds it, it’s her turn to do the same thing. (Man, remember when you used to play like this???) Sometimes it took hours, sometimes months to find it, but back and forth the game went to the tune of “I’ve got The Olive! I’ve got The Olive!” Until one day, I hid it and my sister couldn’t find it, and eventually, even I forgot where it was.

…ten years later (seriously!), I *just* found it! It was in my room, meaning that I was the last to hide it, but I have little recollection of the hiding place. I was cleaning out my room and noticed some containers of Play-Doh on a book shelf (yay!). I opened one and touched the top of it: yikes stripes, getting a little dried out! I began the motion of tossing the blue one out, when for whatever reason I thought, “Hmm, I wonder if this one is soft on the bottom.” Alas! The Olive was stuck into the bottom of the Play-Doh! My heart leapt, but only because for a split-second I thought it was a worm of some sort! Then the little memento registered in my head, and I ran down the stairs screaming to tell my parents! (I only wish it had happened a few days before when my sister was home as well!)

My sister and I have yet to decide how to proceed next: I hid it and also found it, so whose turn is it next? Regardless, good memories!

On a happier note, I finally received my copy of Amigurumi Animals, after taking 3 months en route from Europe. There are 15 patterns for crochet creatures, but I am not included in that section. I am in the back of the book as part of the Amigurumi Gallery section, where a bunch of Etsy sellers and other crochet designers have some pictures of their work and a short blurb. It’s really exciting, and I can’t wait for the day when one of my patterns is in a book!