how i do it

I'm still working on Babette #1. I'm actually making some progress. If I'm lucky, I'll get one whole side sewn together tonight and then just be left with the treacherous traitor known as the left side of the blanket. (I swear, if this thing had any mercy on me, it would sew itself together.)

I got a couple questions about this thing. One was an email asking why I'm working on it if its making me nuts...

Excellent point.

See, here's the thing. I've already made all the squares. And I have a great affection for things that look kind of old-ish (this reminds me of an old fashioned crochet blanket a granny would make) so I still love it. Just not in pieces.

I figure I need to at least get one together or it will be that project. You know the one. The one that you always think about as it sits in a paper bag in your closet collecting dust. The one that could have been so cool if only you had had the fortitude to finish the blasted thing. This blanket is one of those kind of projects. So onward I trudge.

The other was a comment left by Yarnhog asking if there was a way to crochet them together rather then sew them. The short answer is yes. I looked around at other people's Babettes when I finally finished the squares (and found many similar burn out stories on other blogs so I am not weak, I swear it) and there are apparently several options for the finishing.

Since my colors are all over the place on this thing, I didn't really want to crochet in a joining row. Which you can totally do but I felt (and still do) like that would ruin the random patchy look that is the basis for its charm by making nice little neat segregated rows and decided against that one. (And really, do I want to make this thing even bigger then it will already be? Oh the humanity...)

Other people were randomly attacking it with whip stitching. Which works but oh my...in some cases it could be the poster child for why we should take a break from projects that annoy us so we don't rush the finishing. Now in the whip stitch's defense, this technique works just fine if you are joining blocks that are all in the same color. But most Babettes aren't and I found that it showed too much. So I abandoned that one as well.

(Yes, you may roll your eyes at me over my pickiness. I did too.)

Then I recalled Anna's mattress stitch tutorial on her blog. Now I consider Anna a knitted toy genius. I love her stuff, very funny and very easy to make. (I recommend the Uh-Ohs, super fun pattern and I want to make such a long string of these that it will stretch from my house to my office an hour away. For some reason it feels appropriate.)

Even though her tutorial is for knitting, I figured it should work just as good for crochet so I gave it a whirl. Its not exactly the same but similar and I think its the best choice for this blanket.

So I figured I do a little quick photo shoot of how I sew these buggers together (also so you can feel the tedious pain that is the finishing of this blanket and choose to only knit/crochet things in one giant honkin' piece - consider this a public service announcement as well).


(1) I weave in all my ends on the individual blocks before I sew them together. It gives me hope for the finished project to see them neat. I do this and the sewing on the back side. (Crocheting in the round like this does produce a front and back.)





(2) Do your darndest to line up the first stitch so that you don't get all the way to the end of the row and realize they are offset of each other. (Although if you do that and squint hard enough, you can overlook it and just keep going.) I'm using a neutral yarn just because, well, I have enough colors in this thing to make me twitchy so it seemed like a good choice. (I leave a long tail at the beginning of the sewing, you'll find out why in a second.)



(3) Then I begin sewing. I go into the stitch right next to the one I just came out of and through the same stitch opposite. Notice that I'm going underneath both bars of the stitch, not just one. I feel this gives a more solid join and will help the blanket stay together longer.



(4) And repeat that all the way along the whole length of the seam.





(5) When I get to the end of the row, I sew the open corners together as well because I found that I swore repeatedly and in a way that would make a sailor blush if I hadn't done this and was sewing longer strips together. Trust me, its easier.



Weave in your ends from your sewing yarn. (That's truly the cruelest irony of all. This produces even more ends to weave in. But I am strong. I will not crack, I will not crack, I will not crack...)

(6) Now remember that long tail I left at the very beginning? Go back and sew those open corners together and then weave in that end of the sewing yarn. (Its easier when the middle part is sewn together to stitch the open corners, they're floppy.)




Ta da. Two blocks sewn together.


(7) Now there are limits to this method. We are not magicians here. You can still see the stitches. But they are neat and tidy and even though I intentionally picked the darkest color for this example, you can see how they aren't really that obtrusive.




(I can feel you looking at those longer stitches were the corners were sewn together. I am too. Don't worry about those because when you come back over those spots to sew on the adjoining blocks or do the border, they get absorbed into the mix and you don't see them anymore.)

Besides, my feeling is that if someone grabs this blanket and starts ragging on me because they can see these little stitches, they deserve to be covered in peanut butter and locked in a room with Dooley. (Little man looses his senses around peanut butter, trust me, this would be unpleasant. You would be licked from head to toe and completely covered in dog spit.)

Here's a close up of what it looks like from the front: That waviness relaxes once you handle it more.

And that's how this monster is getting put together. Stitch by stitch, woven end by woven end, swear word by swear word.

My back has been real bad the past few days which means I've been trapped on the sofa trying to convince it to be nice to me. So I've been picking at putting this together. There is a total inappropriate amount of glee every time I come across a block that already has its ends woven in. But most of them don't so I plod along and do what I need to.

I think it will be a beauty when its done. We'll do a couple quick rounds around the whole thing after its sewn together to get a border on (you do need to do this, it straightens out any wonkiness that may have been produced from sewing things together) and then lay underneath it and pet it.

What? What did you just say to me? Oh now, that's so not polite...


As a side note, we are having a full on summer thunderstorm right now. And Dooley is feeling the need to compete with the thunder. Every time it rumbles out there, he is giving it hell. I have a dog that barely stands a foot tall that feels he can battle nature. No one can say he is lacking in the confidence department.

random acts of toys

Okay, I admit it. The blog posts about the blanket that refuses to be finished and the antics of Dooley are bound to wear thin soon (if they haven't already. If they have and you've remained silent then I thank you for your tact.)

So since I am dreadfully lacking in anything thrilling at the moment, I wanted to tell you about a friend of mine who has tons of thrilling going on all of the time.

I give you Kate , a plushie nut.

It is rare to see her without a plushie in tow. And not only do they accompany here everywhere, she makes them - by the truckload.

As exampled below:

Sweet Handy Dandys

six pack of dolls

Encounters with Kate are always sure to be filled with plushies and smiles. (She is contagiously happy.)

But the thing that is outstanding about her amazing plushie production (all homemade, by the way) is what she does with them.

Check it out:

TTS Valentine Heart Drop 02

She leaves them in random places for other people to have as gifts. For no reason other then she wants to make people happy. She has a blog discussing her toy drops called Naner Lady Toys and a there is a grouping on her flickr site here.

If you read her blog you'll see that this is a movement now that began in Australia and has now been organized into a group called The Toy Society.

I find this incredibly kind and heartwarming and soothing. I thought you might too. Be sure to check the captions on all the places she leaves her toys. It'll make you smile.

serenades in my house

I've been having insomnia issues lately and have been staying up later then usual. It annoys little man in a huge way, mostly because the living room is, for all intensive purposes, his bedroom. So if I stay up late, so does he.

And he's already had a somewhat trying evening.

There has been much pacing and trotting and jumping against cabinets. And singing. Oh my, the singing.

I had no idea his voice could go so high (I apologized for the neutering that occurred when he was a puppy) and its been non-stop. He sort of warbles like he's being jiggled about. Its strange.

So what has him so worked up?

This:


Today is garbage day and the bananas were looking rather sorry so into bread they went. Apparently Dooley feels that it is heaven and baked especially for him and is, at this very moment while I type this, sitting in the kitchen guarding it.

This is what he looked like when he got a taste a few minutes ago:


Yes its blurry. He wouldn't stop moving. In fact, I hear him clawing the cabinets right now. He has sang to it, he has danced for it, he has performed every trick in his repertoire and is determined that the entire loaf shall be his.

I half expect to walk downstairs tomorrow morning and find an elaborate pile of objects built just high enough to be almost level with the kitchen counter.

And one incredibly stuffed and satisfied westie snoring in the middle of the floor.

Oh how he wishes.

Where I Stand Sunday

The beginnings are basic. Often overlooked. To say the possibilities are endless is trite, an underwhelming statement. It doesn’t know what it will become any more then we do. It moves and pulls according to the same whims, weighted by identical unknowns. The mystery is satisfying, consuming, balanced.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. (You can view Year One of the project here and the gallery for this year here.)

i'm a guest blogger on Subversive Stitchers

Nature's Couture: Spring
Lynn Krawczyk

I am incredibly excited to be the latest guest blogger for Dawn Goldsmith's blog, Subversive Stitchers.

The blog topic is about the exhibit I am curating for Cathy Arnett's Fabrications Retreat, Blurred Boundaries.

The exhibit seeks to honor mixed media fiber art for a week long exhibit. Check out the post for all the links to the information on how to submit your work and many thanks to Dawn for having me!

the neverending blanket

Behold. Babette Blanket #1.

I may not have the fortitude for this.

Please notice how the middle roll looks lumpier then the other two. That's because its folded over so it will all fit on the coffee table. (A certain westhighland terrier who shall remain nameless would not stop walking across it and ruining the layout.)

The sudden clean space made me want to work on some of the UFOs I have laying about. The Babette Blankets have been nagging at me for a while now so I decided to suck it up and go after one of those. (It makes me want to sob that there are enough blocks left to make at least one more of the same size. And there will still be leftovers after that. I'm thinking of making some small ones from that for the Linus project.)

This project has taught me two very important things:

1) Pay attention to the gauge of the yarn, especially when substituting brands. (This should be a no brainer considering I spend my entire day doing math but I was off the clock when that disaster happened so I can't be held responsible.)

2) Weave in the ends as you work. As it stands right now, there are five million ends sitting beneath those squares that are mocking me. I hate every. single. one. of them. And I don't feel the least bit bad about it.

I had the delusional thought that I would get it all sewn together today and begin doing the borders tomorrow. (Yes, the damn thing has borders. I told you it wouldn't end.)

If the blog goes dark for more then a week, then you know the blanket got the best of me. Send reinforcements.

told you so

I don't know how many of you doubted my last post. (I sort of did too, its okay.) But I'm extremely proud to report that I was successful in my mission.

I'd like to say that I floated in there with a smile on my face and hummed happily to myself as I picked through everything and put it in its happy little nooks where it sighed with glee at finally having a home.

But that would make me a dirty liar.

I didn't want to do it. But more then not wanting to do it, I didn't want it to be messy anymore. So I did it. Oddly enough, it only took three hours, no where near the epic event that I had built up in my mind. (Its given me courage to battle a mini mess downstairs. Wish me luck on that one.)

Lest you think I'm being overdramatic, I give you proof of the heinousness:



Nasty.

How does this continue to happen? I think I finally figured it out.

See this?


That there are the baggies of embellishments/threads/materials that I put together when I was in Open Studios at the International Quilt Festival - a year ago.

I'm a pile maker. And while the piles aren't messy, there are a lot of them and they don't seem to get put away until I become homicidally irritated with them and want to set them on fire. (What's even worse is that I've only finished one piece that I started then. Oops. When I realized that I left the baggies in tact so I could do the others. Do you see a cycle here?)

Last weekend Mary and I visited the almighty IKEA and each picked up some organizers from the children's section. I already had one and picked up a couple more. I ended up putting them all on top of each other and building a tower of organization.



It resulted in this:



And no, I did not simply push all the baskets into the hallway so I could fake photos of a clean studio.

I'm totally digging this arrangment. Pushing those two tables together have given me quite a sizable work space. I can't wait to make a mess in there again. (Although I am apparently concerned that the world will run out of scissors (I have seven pairs), glue (I lost count of how many bottles I had) and matte medium (I plead the fifth). I am all set on those three counts.)

Which is a good thing because I really do need to deal with this:

This is the pile of completed and work in progress pieces. Its big. I don't know what to do about it. Its something to work on.

My motivation is waning, it doesn't help that Dooley just jumped up on the sofa and laid his head on my leg while I'm doing this. Hmmm...soft warm westie cuddling, overcast grey day, big thing accomplished and no need to be anywhere. What a lovely day.

i'm noticing another trend

Every Friday, usually around lunchtime when the reality of the weekend is definite, I pull out a piece of paper and make my to do list for the weekend.

Mostly it just proves how delusional I am. It usually has between fifteen to twenty things that are all incredibly time consuming and would basically take me a solid two weeks of doing nothing else to accomplish much less two days.

So I jot all these things down at work when I'm in full throttle getting-all-my-crap-done-and-I-can-accomplish-all-of-this-no-problem mode.

Then I get home and I realize...I'm tired. I look at the list again and start weeding things down to a more doable list. And then I decide that there's no use even bothering to do the things left on the list because really, I won't finish them anyway so why should I even bother to try. (This is the reasoning that has resulted in the Babette Blankets still not being finished.)

That's when I end up sitting on the sofa eating a brownie and surfing etsy for yarn.

Another such list followed me home today. Its been whittled, its been scowled at, its been stuffed underneath a couple of books. In all honesty, there's no reason I can't get at least one thing done on that list this weekend. Its the first one in a while where I don't have something planned on either day so I've decided to sequester myself and take care of the mother of all problems: my studio.

I know I moan and groan about it but I've turned it into the biggest excuse for why I don't do things.

I'd finish that art quilt if my studio was clean.

I'd practice my spinning more if my studio was clean.

I'd photograph my new work and start listing it for sale on etsy if my studio was clean.

I'd make larger work if my studio was clean.

The studio has become an enabler of excuses. So I've decided that everything else on the list can wait except that.

The studio and I have a date tomorrow. I'm going to find the floor once and for all. I'm not going to do anything else but clean it. And I have this crazy notion that since I won't be in a huge rush to get it done, it might go more smoothly.

So I leave you with another photo of my furry baby. (Because I hate posting without pictures and because Cathy told me that she just loves all the pictures of him so I aim to please her.)

I chuckled when I saw Yarnhog's picture of her sitting on the sofa with the laptop and her dogs lounging with her. That's mine and Dooley's routine as well. But since I have stumpy little arms that will not allow me to take a picture of us both, I give you my view of him.



I'll post tomorrow on the cleaning status.

i'm noticing a trend...

I thought long and hard about what kind of blog post would be fun and entertaining to read and really, I came up bust. Life is about the equivalent of a month long root canal without novocaine right now and it does no one any good to listen to me gripe about it.

So I got to flipping through my photo library trying to find something interesting to write about and I noticed a recurring theme.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


Exhibit C:


Little man seems to stalk me wherever I go. Even though he flees from the camera when I take it out, he manages to wedge himself between it and me every chance he gets.

Here he is again in an unsuccessful stealth attack mode:



Employing the powers of his cuteness:





Inseparable:



No matter how bad the day is, its nice to know I come home to this. A bouncing furball of love.

Life can't be all bad as long as there is that.

Where I Stand Sunday

They are like a brief pause, a slight glance over your shoulder at something you were never really sure was there in the first place. They are tread upon with complete thoughtlessness where only one day earlier they were framed against the sky on the highest branches of the tree. Their temporary flash leaves an imprint in my mind, an idea that perhaps a few dramatic moments will linger longest out of a lifetime of steadiness.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. (You can view Year One of the project here and the gallery for this year here.)

Good News Giveaway - May's winner & June's artwork

Ginkgo Imprint
6"x6"
Materials: printed image from linocut, hand dyed fabric, painting, hand stitching

Its that time again so let's get to the fun part - who won May's Good News Giveaway?

The all-knowing and wise random number generator pulled number 14 so that makes Tina Marie Rey the winner!

Tina's good news was: After recieving a 50% scholarship to a workshop with Susan Shie this summer and had a very very kind and warm art quilter from the list pay for the remainder of the fee and even the supplies for the class. To know there are people out there in this day and age that are so generous with something that others hold so high on a pedestal that people like me have a hard time attaining extra of is so generous and kind. God bless her and keep her safe.

Congratulations Tina! Send me an email at FibraArtysta@earthlink.net and your little quilt will be on its way to you.

(Also, Elaine M.? If you're out there, please contact me regarding April's Good News Giveaway. Your little quilt is still waiting to be delivered!)

Ginkgo Imprint (shown at the top of this post) is the next micro mini art quilt that is up for grabs as the June Good News Giveaway. I printed several of these leaf images after experimenting with linocuts. I have a ginkgo tree alongside my driveway that is truly one of the most beautiful trees.

As before, the rules are simple. Here they are again:

Leave a comment on this post to be in the running BUT there are five golden rules you must follow concerning your comment in order to be included in the drawing:

1) Leave a comment about someone or something that is positive and helping to make your life or someone else's life less stressful.

2) NO ANONYMOUS COMMENTS. You have to use at least your first name and the first letter of your last initial. Why? Because there is no way to identify you if you don't. If you leave an anonymous comment, it won't go into the drawing.

3) Keep your comments to no more then five sentences. We don't want to torture Blogger with excessively long comments. (It can be cranky so let's not try.)

4) Comments must appear on this post. I'm a pretty regular blogger so take a gander at my sidebar on the right. You'll see a link list to each post that is a Good News Giveaway so if you don't come to visit on the exact day a new drawing goes up, you can find it easily and still leave a comment.

5) You can't post the same comment twice. The goal of this is to find things in our lives that are positive and make us smile, so look hard if you have to but find it.

You'll have until the last day of each month to comment to win that month's giveaway. The winner will be announced when the next month's giveaway goes up on the 5th of the new month along with the winning comment so everyone can enjoy it.


Happy commenting and thanks to everyone who participates!

i refuse to title this "random"...

...but it is a little bit.

When my stress levels start to go up, I begin to pull things apart. By that I mean I obsessively reorganize everything within an inch of its life. You've been witnessing the chaos of my studio reorg but I got to thinking...why stop there?

I'm working on moving my storage unit home and I've decided that before I do that, I'm going to repaint my bedroom.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Yeah, I thought so too until the question came: what color?

So I got to brooding about it and talked with Mary about it and came to a sort of conclusion. When I had my condo I painted every single wall a color. There was not a scrap of white to be found in the joint. I loved it. One of my friends called it the Crayon Condo.

But I don't think I want to do that again. My bedroom is on the smallish side and when I say "color", I mean color. No wimpy pastels (no offense pastel lovers out there), they were all of the rich jewel tone variety. I am not afraid.

There in lies the dilema: I don't want an overbearing color in a small space but I can't abide pure white walls. (I blame my aversion to white on living in the dorms for five years at university.) So I went to Home Depot and grabbed all these:



I love earth tones in an unnatural way so the plan is to paint one wall a strong color and the other three neutral. But can someone please explain to me why in the world there are five billion shades of neutral? Seriously, its enough to drive someone over the edge.

I'm leaning toward this combination:

What do you think? Light bedroom furniture, a grand old antique crazy quilt hanging on the wall and some sort of new rug that I have not yet located. Sounds like a plan.

On a another note, this is what a westie that is grossly overdue for grooming looks like:



His fur has overtaken his face in such a way that his ears and eyes are threatening to be consumed by it. I'm saving this picture so when he finally does get groomed, we can have a lovely little makeover edition post.

He is my wooly baby. He now has permanent bed head, all his fur sticks up in every direction possible. It is incredibly pathetic and just makes him all the more lovable. And no, I am not intentionally growing him out so I can shear him and spin his fur. The vet said we have to wait until his eye is completely healed. Which should be soon.

He also cussed me out for taking that photo. So much so that mom yelled at me to quit taunting the dog. Made me nostalgic for my younger days when I used to steal my brother's Han Solo star wars figure and and hide it in the dirty laundry basket. Heh.

Where I Stand Sunday

I hold in my mind enough words to fill almost five hundred pages. They sigh against the inside of my skull, waiting to make their way free. Thousands of strikes against the keyboard on my laptop will pave the way to their release. It’s a difficult side to share, one that is the most personal out of anything I create. I stand in awe of it, amazed at the pulse that runs through it all on its own, marching forward without me in a determined and resolute way.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. (You can view Year One of the project here and the gallery for this year here.)

Good News Giveaway #2 reminder

There's still a couple days to post a comment on the Good News Giveaway #2.

You've got until the end of the month so tell me something good! (And remember to leave the comment on that post, not this one. Follow the link.)

vote for your favorite cow

I am a total sucker for clever marketing campaigns. And the Happy Cow Contest from Real California Milk totally takes the cake.

I'm sure you've seen the commercials but the audition tapes are hysterical. I cackle like a crazy woman whenever one comes on. Here is my current favorite:



You can see all of them on the website (linked above). Be sure to watch the Deleted Scenes video so you can laugh like a geek like I did.

the battle wages on

Halfway through yesterday, I was lounging lazily on the sofa mentally calculating how many vacation days I have left. There were things that needed to be done and my stress levels have finally stopped acting like a cat whose claws are stuck in a screen door during a windstorm, so I thought what the heck, and took another day off.

I got all the must-do's out of the way early in the afternoon (one of which included yet another visit to the vet, Dooley is coming close to receiving his mail there he's gone so many times now), I decided to pick at my studio. (I blame the scarf for my lack in organizing in there so far.)

One of my favorite tools in my war against my studio (yes, I consider it a war. I believe its lack of cooperation in not cleaning itself is an attitude problem and if I shame it enough in public, perhaps it will change its ways. I don't know if it will work but it can't read so all I can do is shake the laptop at it and snicker, showing my snide comments about it. No, I don't have issues, why?) is this nifty little organizer thing from the kid's section at IKEA.

You can buy four different size drawers for this thing. When I got it during the last major battle, I considered it a triumph. Being a mixed media artist is really the polite way of saying, "I have a whole lot of crap that I make strange things out of." I love to do assemblage and I love to base my fiber art on found objects.

Once this became apparent, people started gifting me things. Now, I'm not complaining about it, I rather love it but it did cause me to stop and seriously consider how to house it all. My first attempt was using the boxes that embroidery thread can be organized in. It sort of worked. I had a lot of what I considered wasted space and all of a sudden I was kicking boxes and cussing at the nerve of the little plastic containers for taking up so much space.

So the unit from IKEA was like a gift from the heavens. I got so excited, I did this:


In a fit of gleeful stupidity, I simply dumped out all of the box's contents into the drawers. Thinking to myself, "Self, this will help you be more creative. Everything is mixed happily into a chaotic little pit of inspiration. Way to go, self, way to go."

Bah.

Dumbest move I ever made. It looked inspirational at first but quickly moved into cussing and swearing as I repeatedly drove things under my fingernails (those porcupine quills are a real &$@%) as I dug through it looking for something to use on whatever piece I was working on. In fact, it got to be such an annoyance that I even stopped going into them.

So I knew that it was on the top ten list of things that needed to be addressed this go around. Today I sucked it up, drug them downstairs to the sofa, and did this:





I admit that I cackled a little bit as I was shoving them all into little baggies. It was sort of like a sneak attack, the little buggers never saw it coming.

Some of them are sitting in a tote bag waiting to be whisked off to the fiber art group meeting I'm going to tomorrow. There were a couple bead collections that managed to somehow spread themselves out over five different bins. I admit without shame that I started to grumble insults at them as I kept discovering them everywhere, it was like a plague. I'm giving the ingrates away just out of spite.

I'm considering getting another unit to plop on top of the one I already have. I find it incredibly useful, the most useful out of anything I have in my studio. If I can track down someone who will be willing to help me put it together (that's the only bummer thing about IKEA, the whole self-assembly thing) then I'll go for it.

But don't tell the studio, it could be the offensive that finally turns the tide in my favor...

i'm not ashamed

I am in no way ashamed to admit that I am addicted to forcing a self-striping yarn to make more itty bitty stripes by alternating yarns - and finding it to be incredibly amusing in every way possible.

Granted, there are a couple muppet moment colors going on in there but I can't leave it alone. I must knit the stripes. Me and the stripes, the stripes and me.....

Do you suppose there is a support group out there somewhere for this?

when cathy came to town

I admit that I've had no life lately. (Really? You hadn't noticed? I would have thought the painfully boring blog posts would have been a good clue. But thanks for not pointing that out...)

This four day weekend I'm on right now sort of opened up the possibility that I could maybe crawl out of the house this weekend and do something non-work and non-chore related.

So naturally I called Cathy.

I think its obvious from this photo why.

We had no grand sweeping plans outside of not thinking about our everyday lives. It worked out well even if it was too short.

We started the day by meeting Mary for breakfast. Which resulted in a massive amount of giggling and staring from strangers but that's fairly normal when the three of us are together.

Here Mary is showing off her latest completed quilt, Indian Summer:


It is very oooohhhh and aaaaahhh worthy. Afterward we trooped off to the local yarn shop just up the road. Yes, I know I have too much yarn but I blame Cathy, its entirely her fault. She brought this with her to knit on:


This is the 1x1 rib scarf made out of Noro Silk Garden. You choose different colorways and manually stripe it to create even more striping then is Noro's habit. Brooklyn Tweed did a fantastic explanation here. (I LOVE his blog. His photography of his knits is stunning.)

I contemplated squirreling this away under a cushion of the sofa while Cathy was in the shower but I decided that I could just make my own. So that's the reason we scooted off to the yarn store, so I could procure some Noro Silk Garden of my own.

I did hit a little speed bump because their color selection was extremely disappointing. They only had two colorways in the Silk Garden and I only liked one. So I grabbed one of the Kureyon, exact same gauge but 100% wool rather then a wool/silk blend. They look pretty good together so far. Here's the start:


This scarf is crack. I read as the Yarn Harlot succumbed to it some time ago but really couldn't understand the appeal. I mean, I love scarves, I love Noro, I love ribbed scarves (they are super squishy) but really, its just a striped scarf, get a grip people...

The thing is, the colors change. A lot. Unfortuantely, in a cruel twist of fate, I hit sections on both skeins that blend really well so the striping isn't super evident yet. But its coming. I can see it. There is green coming up people, there will be orange and blue too. Its all there, it'll be striping like mad soon. Striping, baby, STRIPING!!!

I plan to knit this until I can't see straight anymore. The weather is cool from the rain that we got and Dooley is snoring and I have tomorrow off. Its a good combination for a I'm-not-doin'-nothin'-today-including-showering kind of day.

Cathy, the saint that she is, also did help me rearrange my studio to what I've been wanting to change it up to for a while now:


My work tables used to be pushed in a nice little line up against the wall. They are now perpendicular to it, giving me a good work surface to muck about on.

What's that you say? It still looks like a train wreck?

Au contraie, my loves. This is clean compared to what it looked like before we went in there. Cathy peeked in it when she got here, pursed her lips and muttered quietly, "I'm not afraid." I can't be sure if she was being honest or if she was trying to psyche herself up to enter the pit. Either way, she is saintly for helping me because it was no fun at all and she had a sinus headache from hell. All hail Cathy.

Now I can sort and purge when I feel like it and still actually work in there. Its been a point of twitchy frustration lately that I couldn't even get in there to iron a piece of fabric. Bah.

So today is a quiet day for me. I refuse to work on anything I should, instead I'm going to let my mind rest. I've been wanting to get back to my book too so maybe today will be a good writing day.

Or I could knit the scarf...you know, maybe I'll knit the scarf. Yeah, that's it, me and the scarf, striping all day long, happy striping, stripe, stripe, stripe...

Where I Stand Sunday

Its depths are the masters. Collectors of secrets, skilled at pushing down things unknown, unwanted. It is impossible to move around its edges and not feel its pull. Its enchanting allure is unmistakable and demands respect. I stood where the only thing that separated us was the insignificance of two steps forward and marveled at the power it bears, at its beauty,
at its purpose.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. (You can view Year One of the project here and the gallery for this year here.)

random, baby, random

Life is clipping by at a pace that is pretty much flattening me in the process. Its left me a bit weary and more then a little overwhelmed but hey, these things happen and they can't last forever so we are just going to roll with it.

So today I give you random babbling and a few random photos (and a couple that do match the babbling, its obvious to tell which are which) I've taken that have absolutely nothing to do with the babbling is about but just because I think they are pretty and I hate posting without pictures. (Run on sentence, anyone?)


1) My studio is the devil. There is no taming it, I'm beginning to feel like it is room 1408 (except it doesn't have John Cusack talking into a tape recorder and being all hot, which is most definitely a downside.)


2) Dooley is stuck to me like Velcro today. I have been working a lot of overtime, not getting home until 7 or 8 at night and he has taken issue with it. Note the impatient, irritated look:

He is ready to do some ankle biting if it doesn't change. Luckily he can't drive so there is no real threat there.


3) Season two of True Blood starts on June 14. I am a total and complete geek about the whole thing. So much so that I have two skeins of sock yarn that were dyed in colorways inspired by the two main characters, Bill Compton and Sookie Stackhouse. I'm thinking of doing a sock or scarf challenge and casting on during the season premiere and trying to get it done by the end of the season. Yes, you may mock me now.



4) I have a four day weekend coming up. Come to me now, my precious, come to me now.



5) I braved IKEA yesterday. I bought legs for one of my studio tables. How does one have a table with no legs? Don't ask, its a long sorted story that involves a lot of cussing and this is a PG blog.



6) I found the lid to my black gesso that had mysteriously disappeared way back in January. I just thought you might want to know since I whined about it in public.



7) The collage I purchased during Collage Mania came in the mail the other day. Its called "Do You Believe Anything is Possible? and its by Jill Kerttula (who appears to be blogless and websiteless - is that a word?). Here it is:

I loves it totally, its very whimsical and I love that the animal/pumpkin/clock head people really amuse me. I keep trying to think of what they are giving scores for (the deer is cranky, he only gave a 5 out of 10) and so far I've come up with three possibilities: 1) They are rating my stunning skill at wrestling Dooley during his eye medication dosings, 2) They are admiring my fortitude in thinking I can control my studio (in which case the 5 is clearly appropriate) or 3) They simply like those numbers and enjoy randomly flashing them at people.


That's all I've go. I'll leave you with a photo of the pretty tree next to my garage that has been giving me allergy fits. But its nice to look at so I can't give it too many dirty looks.

Where I Stand Sunday

The beginning borders on violence, as things at their start often do. A constant wash of wetness clings to everything, even on the warm dry days, even when the sky is full only of the barren sun. The whiplash of the growing season is rustling up the remnants from the last season, exposing its leftover decay. The nakedness of the past will be carried away on the pushy wind, leaving behind the scent of flowers and the settling of a new rhythm.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. (You can view Year One of the project here and the gallery for this year here.)

conversations with a westie

Me: Dooley...Dooley? What are you doing? Hey! Knock it off!

Dooley: {{silence/dirty look}}

Me: Come here Dooley, let me check your eye.

Dooley: {{firm stance in middle of living room that leads human to wonder if he is cemented to the subfloor}}

Me: I'll give you a cookie, come here.

Dooley: {{thoughtful consideration...slow approach}}

Cessation of dialogue as human attempts to wrestle wiggling westie to the ground for eye check...which should be easier due to sedatives in westie's bloodstream but westie has impressive ability to adjust quickly to medication, thus making eye check a sporting event.

Me: Quit pouting.

Dooley: {{hanging limply from lap of human, resigned and defeated as more junk is squirted into his eye}}

Me: {{long rambling explanation of why the torture continues and is necessary...yes, human believes he understands and is just being difficult because hey, everyone needs a hobby, right?}}

Dooley: {{contemplating escape from human's lap so that he can wipe the side of his face along the edge of the sofa - this is revenge since the medication is ointment based - stains on the sofa seem like a fitting payback}}

Me: Come on little man, let's go get some cheese.

Dooley: {{eagerly follows, westie is aware medication is in cheese but its cheese, so its all good}}

Me: {{swipe wildly (yet carefully) at westie's face in an attempt to blot away medication running down his fur, wonder what he would look like bald}}

Human and wesite stare at each other with determined resignation, wondering who will crack first. Human decides to relish in triumph over wesite for the day, westie decides tomorrow is another day and anything is possible.

Where I Stand Sunday

At every turn in the house there are soft sweeping flowers, curving in a sweet arc like her smile. She has blanketed each room in a layer of calmness and delicate trimmings. It is a direct reflection of her personality, engrained across every surface. My mind will always pull toward her, my mother, when my eye finds these delicate soothing designs.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. (You can view Year One of the project here and the gallery for this year here.)