Pocket Size Studios

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-30T00:16:00.000-05:00

It's been a while again, but I want to be sure to say happy holidays to everyone who reads my blog. I also want to participate in Michelle's latest Crusade, the goal of which was to simply get yourself in a picture. I didn't get in front of the camera much, but I do have a picture from when I finished a project for another challenge.

My favorite shop The Queen's Ink had a contest for decorating little houses for Christmas. Apparently the project came from the magazine Cloth Paper Scissors. Anyway, Mom and I did one each, and mine is a little alpine gnome home. This is how it looks all finished, with me in there for scale ;):

The roof has pine cone shingles and the candles in the windows are toothpicks. The curtains are paper doilies. And the gnome was a stamp from Paper Source. I had so much fun putting this together!

Of course, what makes things better is the iPhone game I've been hooked on. Cut the Rope. If you have an iPhone, Android, or iPad, get it. It's the cutest game ever. It's a puzzle game, where you have to get a piece of candy from where it is dangling from a rope to a little green monster named OmNom who eats candy. They released a holiday version for free, too, and it had a little holiday card generator where you could add OmNom to your own photos... so of course... he had to visit the gnome home.

This was Mr. Pocket's and my first Christmas married. We decorated our condo and hung stockings by the fireplace and everything. I was trying to make him a stocking but I ran out of time, but it will be done for next year.

In another photo for the Crusade, my mother in law got me an awesome Ravens hat:

Sorry there's not much crafty stuff to show in this post. Since the gnome home and a tag class at The Queen's Ink, I've been kind of burned out. I did do a few Christmas tags, but the photos of them are scattered across my phone and my real camera, so I might have to post those after our weekend away for New Year's. See you in 2012!

Nemesis

2011-11-18T23:00:00.001-05:00

You know, Pocketeers, sometimes things just don't work. I have been struggling with some of the most basic of stamping skills, and it's driving me crazy. But I realize that sometimes there's just something that is jinxed and you should be able to do it but it just won't come out right, so I have decided to share mine with you so maybe you won't feel so bad if/when that happens to you.

It all started with this:

I embossed the leaves using Gathered Twigs Distress Ink and clear embossing powder, then inked over it with Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink. Now, look closer:

The embossing powder refused to cooperate. I tried everything. I polled the GPP Street Team group on Facebook. I took their advice. I used a little brush to wipe away stray grains outside the stamp. I wiped it with a dryer sheet before stamping to avoid static cling. Nothing worked. Eventually, I found one discussion forum that talked about having no end of trouble with the particular brand of embossing powder that I was using, so I decided it must be a powder problem and accepted it. I inked the orange on first, dried it with a heat gun, let it sit overnight to be good and dry, and did my stamping over it. The result: little orange stray embossing dots. Better than off-white at least. And my background is finished.

That was last week. This week, I'm still having trouble with the embossing powder not distributing evenly, but at least it's not clinging everywhere it's not supposed to. But there is of course a new problem.

Ladies and gentlemen (do I get any gentleman readers?), meet my Nemesis:

I love these stamps. They're the "Pumpkins & Flourish" set from Inkadinkado. And when I ordered them I couldn't wait for them to come in. Now I am about ready to throw them out the window. I love clear stamps. I love the designs that come in clear stamps, I love that they're so compact, I love that I can see through them to position them exactly where I want. I do not love that my Distress Ink beads up on them more than rain beads on my Rain-Ex coated windshield. Because then you get this crap:

See how bubbly that looks? What The Fruitcake?!?! Even with the awful embossing, the regular rubber leaf of last week at least took the ink evenly. Without embossing, this is some of my copious amounts of testing:

(Ok there's a little embossing on the right side of this image)

That damn leaf will NOT come out solid. Not in this color, not in these colors:

Incidentally, Archival Ink works just fine:

Again I turned to the intarwebz. Taking advice from various online sources, I tried letting Archival Ink dry on its surface (FAIL - all it did was come off with the Distress Ink), I tried using an eraser to clean the manufacturer's finish off of it, I tried sanding it lightly with an emery board, I tried washing it with soap and water... All I got was a big bucket of FAIL. The best image I got at all with the inks I wanted to use was this:

Still not solid, still not crisp.

On a whim, I experimented with Distress Clear Embossing Ink. The stamp finally seemed to like that and gave me a clear, solid image. So I tried a different embossing powder.

It's obnoxiously perfect. So I guess all I have to do is not use Distress Ink in any sort of color on my clear stamps. Which is extremely frustrating. I use those inks because I love the colors! So I can either continue to beat my head against the wall (figuratively) by trying over and over again, or I can limit how much I can use in my work.

I don't like those options.

Stupid stamp.

Experimental Dinner

2011-11-04T20:43:00.000-05:00

I have to share my dinner with you. In a virtual way. Because I made it up, and I'm very proud of how it turned out:

I wanted to write down the recipe and share it, but I made it up as I went along, so I can tell you what I did but the measurements will be imprecise. In case you want it, here's the how-to:

Italian-style Stuffed Acorn Squash
Serves 4
You'll need:
2 acorn squash
olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
about a half pound of ground beef
about 1 1/4 teaspoon of dried sage
a handful of parsley, chopped coarsely
salt and pepper
a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
a little over 1 cup of stuffing mix or if you're like me, the heel of a small loaf of french bread, cubed and toasted in a skillet because you have that but not stuffing mix and you want bread cubes in the filling
grated parmesan cheese
a large skillet
a baking dish
knives and stuff... ok you get the idea

So you preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and while that's preheating, lightly grease the baking dish (I sprayed it with olive oil), halve the acorn squash, scoop out the seeds, and lay the halves cut-side down in the baking dish. When the oven is ready, put that in and set a timer for 30 minutes.

While that's in, coat the bottom of the skillet with olive oil, heat it over medium heat, and put the garlic in. Try not to burn it like me. When the garlic is nicely sauteed, stick in the ground beef and brown it.

Season the ground beef and garlic with the sage, parsley, salt and pepper until it tastes good. Really, this was trial and error. (Try to account for the fact that you will be adding more stuff and over-season it just a smidge - otherwise you'll end up adding more after the next step like I had to.)

Add your (drained!) diced tomatoes, your parmesan, and your bread cubes/stuffing mix. Stir it all up and let it simmer for a few minutes while the squash finishes roasting.

When the timer goes off, check your squash to make sure a knife will easily pierce the skin - that's how you know it's done (according to the interwebs). Take it out of the oven, flip the squash halves over so they're little bowls (yes they will probably roll around a little and not sit straight), and fill them with the mixture. Spray with a little olive oil to keep it all moist and sprinkle parmesan on top. Stick in the oven for another 5-10 minutes to get the cheese a little melty, remove, and serve. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! (As my Latin professor used to say.)

Okay, so I'm not likely to be publishing a cookbook anytime soon, and the world is a better, less frustrated place for that. But if this sounds good to you, give it a try and let me know what you think!

Once Upon a Midnight Dreary

2011-10-31T20:36:00.002-05:00

Happy Halloween everybody! Are you dressed up? After spending an exhausting day appropriately surrounded by mold and decay, I'm not actually dressed up tonight (except in my Halloween pjs and Little Miss Spooky shirt from Target...), but Mr. Pocket and I went to a Halloween party on Saturday, and... well, do you recognize me?

Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door.
Perched upon a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door,
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

...

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door...

(Dunno how well you can see it, but behind me in that pic is a "trick or treat" garland that my mom made me :) )

You know how much I love a good Raven reference. Ever notice that the Baltimore Ravens wear black and the only other color mentioned in the poem - purple?

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me---filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before...

Their mascots used to be Edgar, Allen, and Poe. Now there's only Poe, but it's ok because he's adorable:

If only the Ravens were playing Monday Night Football tonight. That would be appropriate.

So, are you giving out candy? Are you giving out good candy? We haven't gotten any trick or treaters, not that we expected many. We only had a few KitKats left anyway. I have no idea what happened to them...... Must've been eaten by ghosts....... or something.................... *innocent grin*

This is my I-didn't-eat-the-KitKats face :)

I Believe

2011-10-30T18:58:00.001-05:00

I believe I've been away too long again. But this time I have to get in before the deadline for Michelle's October Crusade. The Crusade is all about what you believe in and who you are as an artist. So I've thought about it off and on all month, and a few things stick with me. I didn't get around to creating anything to show it all, but I can tell what I believe in and what makes me make stuff.

I believe in aesthetics. I don't know anything about the whole philosophy of aesthetics, but what I mean is that I believe art should be attractive. Sure, express yourself, make a statement, whatever. Just make sure it looks good. I'm willing to make exceptions for realistic depictions of things that aren't pretty to begin with (spectacular zombie makeup, for example), but really, there's enough ugliness in the world. I believe in using our powers for improvement.

I believe in the power of art. Art in its many forms can be cathartic, uplifting, depressing, any number of emotional influences. I like it best when it puts a smile on my face, but any effect a piece of art has means it has an impact. As previously stated, I believe we can and should use this power to improve the world, even if it just means giving someone something pleasing for a few minutes on a bad day. Every little bit helps.

I believe in the power of little things. That thing I just said about giving someone something pleasing... it doesn't make life suck less overall, but it certainly adds to the awesome column. To put it better, in the words of The Doctor, "The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice-versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant." This is something that I find difficult to keep in mind myself, but when I'm feeling grouchy about things, I try to remind myself of what I do have going for me. When depression is getting the better of me, it's not the big abstract things that make me feel better - it's the little tangible things like a cup of tea, snuggling with my husband, re-reading a favorite book, or working on my art that make me smile. Accumulating enough of those little things gets me through until I balance out again. I guess if anybody is going to believe in the power of little things, it should be a tiny, pocket-sized person like myself.

A couple of parting notes. In the same Doctor Who episode from which I pulled the previous quote, an art historian says the following about Vincent Van Gough, and it brought tears to my eyes because it said a lot about what I love about art:

"He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again."

And lastly, this Cowboy mouth song really speaks to me and says a lot about my beliefs as well. Take a listen, and see if you feel the same way.

P.S. If you've never listened to Cowboy Mouth, catch one of their shows when they're in town. They just might change your life.

While there's Tea, there's Hope

2011-07-10T21:27:00.004-05:00

I am a tea drinker. Ever since I was a kid, I've loved tea. Even worked in a tea shop during summers home from college (I still order tea from our wholesaler, now that they do retail too). Now I don't drink as much as I used to when I worked at the shop, but I enjoy my morning cuppa at work, and sometimes take the time to settle down with a cup at home on the weekend. And every now and then, I'm inspired to create tea-themed art. Like a couple of weeks ago, when my mom told me about a new tea she'd gotten at Fresh Market. It's a coconut-lime flavored black tea. Wow. Even before I'd tasted it, it took me away to imaginary plantations in the British West Indies or something. And by the time I cut out of work and dashed off to my parents' house to play with paint to satisfy my sudden inspiration, I knew what I wanted to put together:

I took an 8"x8" canvas and brushed on a rich brown colored acrylic paint. Then I dry-brushed on white and lime green in layers, laying down a custom-cut tea stalk mask in between a few of the layers to end up with that silhouette there to the right.

I tore some tissue paper and laid it down, lime green first (what Mom had was actually a bit pale, so I painted it first with some of the paint I had used on the canvas), then a layer of white, and lastly, a piece of kraft glassine that I'd crumpled to get some good texture on. Then I glued down my little tea stalk.

The little bracket is a Tim Holtz thing, but the "Tea" sign in it is actually stamped from the very bottom of a Michelle Ward stamp that says "Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea." I've had that stamp since before I even knew who Michelle was. It was just what I needed for this, and I'm glad I know her now because I used a lot of her techniques here. Sorry to rip you off, Michelle... I hope I've Made It My Own well enough :)

To finish the edges of the canvas, I used Tim Holtz tissue tape. It doesn't stick very well, so I had to glue the end down, but it works.

In case you're wondering, the tea does taste as good as it sounds. It's in teabags, though, so it could be better. (Yes, I'm a loose tea snob, but I'm not entirely above using teabags.)

I've been enjoying more than just cups of tea, recently, too. I've gotten back into reading the tea shop mystery novels written by Laura Childs. They're wonderful cozy mysteries set in Charleston, with a sleuth who owns a charming tea shop. Yesterday, when Mr. Pocket told me I needed to take a day to actually chill, I decided I was going to enjoy the beautiful weather on our balcony and read my book. But being me, I didn't just sit and do that. I got myself a color-coordinated cup of tea. See, I happen to have red flowers on our balcony. And our chair cushions are red. So I chose carefully from my ever-growing collection of tea cups and pots...

Actually, I need a few more to fill in the gaps...

Brewed myself some jasmine green tea (it was old and a little stale, but it was ok), and brought out my tea and my book:

P.S. The flower pot on the table is an oversized teacup.

I thought the strawberry teacup went well with the balcony. Ok, it's a sickness. I must color-coordinate. But you know what? I had a perfectly pleasant afternoon with my coordinating teacup and my cozy mystery. I should do that more often.

Next post: Michelle's new crusade, on naming colors or colorways. Stay tuned!

Turn, Turn, Turn...

2011-06-22T21:42:00.001-05:00

It's been much too long since I played along with Michelle Ward's street team. I often meant to participate, but things kept getting in the way, and the month would pass and I would have not posted to meet the challenge. This month, though, I can't miss it. Michelle has asked her crusaders whether we notice a change in our palette or style with the changing seasons. Well, my dear, the answer is YES. That phrase from Ecclesiastes that the Byrds made so famous might as well have been written about me. I am such a seasonal person that even my taste in music and food change. I'm almost a different person in the spring than I am in the winter. Jeans remain a wardrobe staple, but instead of dark sweaters and boots, I'm wearing them with bright colors, especially green and white, and with mary janes until it's warm enough for sandals. I start listening to lighter, happier music. I eat more veggies and drink green tea instead of black (though I do still like a good cuppa black tea to get me going in the morning). The advent of cherry blossoms makes me gravitate towards Japanese art and motifs - this is when I re-watch Rurouni Kenshin and dig out my scraps of kimono silk that I've bought at quilt shows, thinking maybe this year I'll decide what to do with them. And my art definitely looks different. In my paper and mixed media art, red moves aside for green, compositions get more open and less cluttered, I use less hardware, I move from crosses and gears and hardware to flowers and birds and the occasional butterfly. Last year I showed this tag, which I think is one of my favorites of every tag I've ever made:

Very simple, two background colors and two stamps. But it just says spring to me. When yarn crafting in spring, I spin lighter colors into thinner yarns, I gravitate towards lace patterns in both knit and crochet, and I generally only work with light or bright colors. I wound off one of those skeins of yarn I got at the Homespun Yarn Party this year. Guess which one?

The color's a little washed out in this picture, but it's Downy Oshun, Hon! Baltimorean beachy glory. I've started a crochet project with it, but I don't like how it's coming out so I might frog it and start over. It just needs to be a light, lacy triangle scarf or shawlette. The only trouble is that it's wool. That's my other spring thing. I'd love to be working with cotton or silk. Unfortunately, all my favorite yarns in my favorite weights and colors turn out to be wool or some other warm fiber. Oh well. Air conditioning generally requires a warmer layer, so it'll do.

I wish I had more to show you. This spring has been a little busy:

(Okay, I know, I'm a showoff. But isn't he cute?)

Plus, having moved, my ability to do paper and mixed media art has declined. See, Mom and I share supplies, or at least we always did when I lived at home. Now that Mr. Pocket and I are on our own, I haven't built up enough supplies in my new home to really feel like I can do much yet. As I acquire more, I'll be able to put things together, but now pickings are still slim. On top of that, I haven't felt the knit or crochet mojo as much, so that's not happening. I definitely feel the need to create, though, so hopefully I'll build up more supplies or be able to spend some time at my parents' house enough to do some work. I did house-sit for my parents one night last week, and this is what I came home with:

It's a bit of a transition piece, spring into summer. Maybe later this week, I'll post about summer, because that's a bolder, brighter style for me than spring...

THIS...

2011-05-18T16:37:00.000-05:00

...is what makes Mr. Pocket the best.

It was waiting for me on our bulletin board facing the door when I got home today. +50 Good Mood.

Main Squeeze

2011-05-16T21:35:00.000-05:00

As you've seen recently, I cannot do anything in the kitchen without making a huge mess. Like tonight, when I pretty much spattered olive oil all over the stove frying sausage for dinner. Well, Saturday morning, I had just cleaned the kitchen when Mr. Pocket and I proceeded to make a colossal mess. You see, we had some lemons and some limes, all of which we needed to use before they go bad. And we have new citrus juicers. So... when life gives you juicers, you make lemonade, right?

Yum.

That picture was taken after we'd each poured ourselves a glass. It was a pretty tasty first batch of lemonade. Next time, I'm gonna try and make lavender lemonade.

Now, Sunday, the post-party letdown was finally starting to creep up on me. So Mr. Pocket packed me off to Mom's to do some crafting so I'd feel better. I did feel better by the time I came home for his German relatives' birthday party. His uncle and his other uncle's girlfriend have birthdays very close together, and since they're still here from the wedding, we were all celebrating both of them at his parents' house. So I made a card for each of them:

His uncle's was very mechanical, because he used to make tools. I had a lot of fun making it grungy and almost oily looking.

His uncle's girlfriend is very bright and cheerful and fun, so I knew I had to do something vibrant. When I asked what her favorite color is, she answered yellow. Oh no! The one color of ink I don't have! So I went with related colors, and did manage to find a paper with a little bit of yellow in it.

It was nice to be playing with papers and inks again. Now I just need to get back to yarn, too.

I Do

2011-05-11T21:12:00.000-05:00

Mr. Pocket and I are happy to announce that as of Saturday, 7 May 2011, we are officially married. Looking forward to many many years this way :)

So, it's been pretty busy around here in the Pocket, what with getting married and all. And that's without having done much DIY. You would think, being the crafty soul that I am, I would've DIYed a ton of stuff for my wedding. But no, cooler heads prevailed and I avoided that stress. All I did myself was, as you saw in the last post, the guest book. I did it with lots of help from my friends in the conservation lab at work, at lunchtime and after hours. Couldn't have done it without them. And now I have finished pics to show you, and time in which to post them...

I got the text block from A.Fain Books on Etsy. Such a godsend, as I do not have a board cutter or a large paper cutter. Though I did end up cutting new boards at work, on the recommendation of my friends in the lab. The decorative papers for the covers and end papers, as well as the book cloth for the spine, came from Paper Source.

I love this green lokta paper.

The end bands were an ordeal. I guess I should say that figuring out the end bands was an ordeal. I couldn't remember how to do them from last year when I bound my first book (and until now, my only book). So between asking my friend Vicki for her notes and scouring the internet, it took me a while to find the way I had done single-color end bands before. Once I had it figured out, though, it was a breeze. Used silk thread from Mom, sewn over the same tape that the text block is sewn onto.

Overall, I learned one very important lesson from making the guestbook for our wedding. I love it and I need to do more bookbinding.

Be My Guest

2011-04-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

Brief post this week. Been hella busy with the last minute wedding stuff. One of those things is legitimately crafty: I'm binding our guestbook. Slowly. This is all I have done so far:

It's sewn and rounded. I still have to sew endbands, back it, and actually attach the boards. Oh, and cover it. So it's pretty. I can do that in 18 days, right?

Best. Dinner. Ever.

2011-04-10T20:54:00.000-05:00

Confession time: I've been collecting recipes that I haven't been using. I have every intention of cooking for real, but with all the stuff I end up doing after work, usually it's up to Mr. Pocket to throw something together. Now, don't get me wrong, Mr. Pocket is quite the amateur chef. But usually he improvises, so the recipies I've been collecting just don't get used. Until now. This is one that Mom gave me, because she'd tried it and loved it. It came from Cooking Light, and the recipe is here. You should try it. Because oh my goodness, it's the best dinner we've cooked in the new place. Mr. Pocket even said so. I mean, look at this:

Mr. Pocket's second helping.

How can chicken, rosemary, thyme, potatoes, tomatoes, and olives ever be bad? (Okay, sure, if one of those things is something you generally don't like, but aside from that.) It's super easy, too. And roasting might be my favorite way of cooking. I don't care that it takes longer. Really, try this recipe. You'll thank me.

Meanwhile, an update from Mr. Pocket's World of Maille:

The dear gentleman hard at work.

There's been a lot of mailling going on. He's working on a hauberk, as you see above, in stainless steel. And he's been making some small items for friends out of aluminum rings and scale:

Gauntlet in progress...

Hiiiiya!

I, meanwhile, have lots of wedding things to do. Pray for me that I get it all done in time!

Back with Needles

2011-04-04T20:42:00.000-05:00

Finally! PocketSize has come back to yarncraft!

I'll forgive you if you don't get the reference.

Anyway, with the apartment getting settled, I have gotten a little knitting time. And with some small departmental meetings at work with people that know that I'm still paying attention, I've been able to crochet. So I've got a sweet little project basket kickin'.

Want a closer look? It's three shawls I'll show you, though one is only a few rows in. I've been really wanting more shawls, so that's what I've been into making. Here we go...

This one is Katika. I had started it back before Christmas, and got several rows in, but then let it sit for months. When I picked it up again last week, I dropped half a row and I realized I'd been leaving out an important yarn over for most of what I had done, so I ripped it back to the beginning and started over.

The yarn is Neighborhood Fiber Company in a one-off colorway. I got it at last year's Homespun Yarn Party. It's really nice and bouncy.

Next up, I'm finally knitting Damson. I've been trying to settle on the perfect yarn for it, and even though it's a few yards shy of the required yardage, I'm using another yarn I got at last year's Homespun Yarn Party, from Ashton Studio Arts.

Doesn't look much like a shawl in this pic, because I started it on the spur of the moment and grabbed straight needles to do so. Now I really need to switch to circulars, because it's getting a bit heavy.

It was really hard to get the color of the yarn right, and even this shot isn't really accurate. It's a gorgeous bluish lilac color.

This last one is my travelling project, because it's very simple and easy to keep track of. A couple weeks ago, I went to a yarn shop I hadn't been to before and they had Zauberball. I'd never found a Zauberball before, but I wanted one. So of course, one had to come home with me :) I had such trouble deciding on colors that I realized that I don't have any really neutral shawls, so that's what I got:

The pattern is Eva's Shawl, and it's a really simple three-row repeat. Which is what makes it ideal for department meetings and other times when I need relatively mindless work.

By next week I should have some bookbinding photos for you. My only DIY project for the wedding... So check back soon... :)

Homespun

2011-03-28T19:11:00.001-05:00

It's been a long week, Pocketeers. But I got to cap it off with the Homespun Yarn Party at Savage Mill. I caught up with some dear friends and had a lot of fun. And I even got to treat myself on a small budget :) I'll let the pics do the talking...

The Sanguine Gryphon:

Snallygaster Fibers:

To be honest, I bought the "Downy Oshun, Hon" almost as much for the name as for the colors. I almost bought a skein of "Bromo Seltzer Tower" too but managed to control myself. What doesn't appear here is the skein of "Poppies in the Field" that I got for my mom from Space Cadet Creations. But I'm sure she'll be posting pictures of what she makes with it pretty soon, because I happen to know she's excited to work with it :)

Also, I actually have some of my own handspun to show. Finally. Remember a couple weeks ago when I posted a pic of me spinning? Here's what I was working on:

Merino in "Primrose." I don't know who actually produces this, because it's one of a few blended rovings that a lot of vendors sell at MDSW. If anybody knows where this ultimately comes from, please let me know.

Out of the Blue

2011-03-21T20:21:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I moved my sewing machine and all my fabric to the new place. I haven't sewn anything in ages, at least not beyond shortening pants. And I needed something to wear with a dress I got for a friend's wedding. So it was time to revisit an old design that I've been wanting to do again. I had significant leftovers of blue silk noil from this SCA garb:

So I cut it into two long rectangles and started workin' my stitchy magic.

Stitchy stitchy...

And after a few hems and a couple of seams, I had a jacket :) I even got to work on it at a craft night at a new friend's house. Unfortunately, I don't have any finished object pics yet, because, well, it's not quite finished. But this gives you an idea (from the back, before the side seams):

It's very... solid colored. So it needs some embellishment, and I think I'm going to do some sashiko embroidery if I can find a border pattern I like. And if I can decide on a thread color. You know. Little things like that.

Ironically, I ended up not wearing it to the wedding with the intended dress. Turns out that I don't like the way the shape of it works with the dress. Oh well. I managed to find a perfect green pashmina really cheap at the mall, and it gives me more time to embellish the jacket ;)

Happy Pi Day!

2011-03-14T20:17:00.000-05:00

To celebrate Pi Day, and to celebrate the two March birthdays in my office, my coworkers and I all made pies for lunch. Mine was cherry.

Ok, so it was the easy way out, all I had to do was use Pillsbury pie crusts and a couple cans of cherry pie filling, but I'd been wanting cherry pie, so I finally had some. I also had...

Mixed berry pie, banana cream pie, quiche, and pineapple/blueberry pudding pie. There weren't as many different dishes as there once were at our office food days, but hey, there are only 5 people left in my department. It was still quite delicious. And there was a lot left over...

So this is a pretty short post, with not a lot to show. But there will be more later this week, because I've started a sewing project. Yay! It's just a couple of lengths of fabric at the moment, but it'll be something much better in a couple of days. Once I get my hands on an iron. And the right color thread. Hey, at least I've got my sewing machine.

Adventures in Cupcakery

2011-03-06T20:44:00.000-05:00

Settle in, this one is long. Today I spent all afternoon baking and icing cupcakes in preparation for our upcoming nuptuals. See, two of my aunts are baking Mr. Pocket's and my wedding cake, and have been asking me what kind of cake we want. My friend Joyce had posted a link last week to this blog: http://flour-child.net/2011/02/14/happy-valentines-day/. When she posted the link, I thought it looked so delicious and so festive that perhaps we could use that as our wedding cake recipe. Since my aunts live across the country, I figured I'd test drive the recipe myself. Mr. Pocket was very much in favor of this idea - he's generally in favor of any idea that comes with cupcakes. We decided that since we had no idea what champagne icing would taste like, I would make a half batch of the champagne icing, and a half batch of plain buttercream. That way, not all the cupcakes would be ruined if the champagne icing was awful. So with a plan, a trip to the grocery store, and my new electric hand mixer, I was off...

And making a colossal mess. Lowest setting on the hand mixer is "spray whatever you're mixing all over the place." And I'm already incapable of baking anything without making a huge mess. So I needed a solution.

Baking parchment to the rescue!

So now I was free to move about the mixing bowl without spraying the counter with butter and sugar. Fantastic. Rolling right along, I love baking, everything's great, I even found a way to keep my eggs from rolling all over the counter while I added them one-at-a-time:

Cozy?

No more problems, the batter comes together beautifully (and quite tastily, as of course I had to taste-test as I went along) and I'm filling the cupcake cups...

w00t!

And... oops. Dropped the spoon. And it bounced off my shoe on the way to the floor. Don't worry, I got a clean one to continue filling cupcake cups.

"Cleanup, aisle me."

So I got the cupcakes in the oven and they're baking happily away and I even managed to cope with my stunning lack of cooling racks (2 small ones is not enough for 31 cupcakes, in case you've ever wondered). Cupcake mixing bowls and utensils are all clean so now it's time to rock out with the icing, right? So on to the cheap champagne...

This stuff had a screw cap. Oh well. I got it free, regifted from one of Mr. Pocket's coworkers. What could I expect?

So you're supposed to boil the champagne to reduce it to a super thick, super concentrated, syrupy sort of stuff. Mmm. Kind of disgusting by itself, actually. But I got the bubbly bubbling away on the stove...

Bubble, bubble, toil and... nevermind.

And while that's going and then cooling, I proceed to follow the blogger's directions for the basic buttercream icing that it's to be added to. Butter, powdered sugar, whisk attatchment, ok, here we go...

Oh, dear. What ensued was what I have dubbed "The Great Buttercreamsplosiontastrophe of 2011." An event that shall live in infamy.

Say it with me, folks: Fail-boat!

So, I did what any self-respecting inexperienced baker with a problem she can't quite solve would do: I called my mother. Apparently, using a whisk for anything involving butter is a less-than-awesome idea. Instead of starting over entirely and wasting 2 sticks of butter and 2.5 cups of powdered sugar (at least, more of them than was all over the counter, cabinets, stovetop, wall, toaster, sugar boxes... you get the idea), I switched to the beater attachments and tried to salvage it, per Mom's advice. My mother is a genius, because it worked. The butter and sugar creamed together, and I was able to add the champagne-syrup-stuff.

Isn't it a pretty color?

Well, the finished icing was more butter and champagne than anything else (even after I added more sugar), but it successfully covered the cupcakes:

Ta-Daa!

The half-batch of normal buttercream icing, following the instructions on the box of sugar, was a far less eventful experience. I may have added a little too much milk, which may have been due to just wanting to be finished and therefore just eyeballing the quantity of milk, but it tastes good and wasn't too runny even if I did add perhaps a splash more milk than I should have.

YUM.

Behold the cupcake.

The final verdict is that the strawberry cupcake recipe is a keeper, but the jury is hung up on the icing. It's good, but also kinda weird. I might have to try it with a slightly less cheap champagne and see if it's better. I actually am really tempted to try it with a still wine instead, specifically Riesling, because that's my favorite and I think it goes nicely with strawberries :) For now, though, Mr. Pocket and I are enjoying these little cuppiecakes just the way they are.

Well, maybe I could add a strawberry on top...

Pics or it didn't happen!

2011-03-04T22:39:00.000-05:00

I almost hate to make my next post so soon, because I don't want to draw focus away from Mr. Pocket, but the post is still there, below this one, so please do scroll down if you haven't seen his awesome work yet. I just had to show you this -- proof that I am finally makin' stuff again.

You see, Mr. Pocket and I are enjoying a quiet night in. Dinner, WWE, wool, and my sweetie. Ahh.

(Pesto pasta w/ shrimp, and some fresh tomato)

Look! See! I promised I would do more crafting, and I am!

(Also, I love our new couch. It's the perfect height for my spinning wheel.)

It was Mr. Pocket's idea to post pictures of these things, because as he and his friends often declare, "pics or it didn't happen!" Maybe I'll use them to start an entry for Michelle's new Crusade. We'll see.

The Return of Mr. Pocket

2011-03-02T22:05:00.000-05:00

Greetings and happy (almost) Spring, Pocketeers! I regret to inform you that I have no new work of my own to post. Mr. Pocket and I have been rather occupied with moving into our own place and trying to settle into a routine. I've been doing some knitting, but it's not really in a fit state to be photographed (a shawl on straight needles was not my brightest idea), but all my paper crafting stuff (i.e. the stuff that will make a mess) is staying home with Zingala so I don't spill stuff on the nice white carpets in our nice rented condo. But fear not! Mr. Pocket has been chaining to his heart's content, and my jewelry addiction's satisfaction ;) Here's what he's been doing...

This was my Christmas present. It's a matching necklace and bracelet set, in stainless steel and jeweler's brass. I wear them all the time.

So. Shiny. <3

Don't you love these groovy purple earrings? Sorry the pic is blurry. They're swingin'.

This was my Valentine's Day present. (Yeah, ya know how I love V Day? I was sick this year. So, no cool V Day stuff of my own to show off.)

It's 3 half-persian chains braided together. Cool, no?

And now...

Drumroll please...

Ta-Daaaa! The Coif is finished. It's about 5 and a half pounds of stainless steel, and he finished it in about 10 days. It's real armor. He plans on wearing it if there's ever a zombie apocalypse. Meanwhile, isn't he handsome in his shiny hat?

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of Mr. Pocket. Here's a preview:

Mr. Pocket has also issued a challenge to yours truly. He says I need to blog at least once a week. I say he's probably right. So, no matter what I have to show or not show, I'll post something at least one day every week. It might be knitting. It might be paintings (got a few in mind to decorate this place). It might be cookies. Maybe I'll do more spinning and reinstitute Handspun Monday. Who knows. But watch this space. If nothing else, there will be more chainmaille.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T14:17:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and everything else, pocketeers! I finally finished all my wrapping and all my gift tags for the year. The tags might be better than the gifts this year. I went with my library theme, and the "title" on each borrowing card is a slight hint as to what's inside. Wanna see? (I promised some people I'd post them, so just go ahead and say "yes.")

For Dad, the first one I finished:

Yep, there's that deer again. For his present, even the deer has to do with the present.

And then my sister-in-law's.

Lots of Tim techniques here. The little Facet, the Stickles...

I love that Santa stamp.

This one is for my brother:

I used Tattered Angels masks on this one, and another of those Inkadinkado stamps. And my bi-color ticket stamp pad.

Then for Mom, because she loves retro Christmas (being the Christmas of her childhood), I used one of Tim Holtz's holiday stickers on grungeboard as a centerpiece:

With a Sizzix holly die, lots of Distress Ink, and LOTS of Perfect Pearls.

Finally, for Alex, I went back to the snowy blues and silvers, with some new stamps and an old favorite:

Three guesses as to what I was watching while I crafted these. Here's the hint:

(It's a lamppost. In the snow. And this is me we're talking about.)

I used the new Vagabond to cut the swirls and such that I put behind/around each pocket. Just thought it gave them a more finished look. And it was an excuse to play with the new machine :)

I hope you all are having beautiful Christmasses with your families and whoever else is close to you. And if you don't celebrate, I hope you're having a good day anyway.

Christmas in Sepia

2010-12-12T12:28:00.000-05:00

First order of business: I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL! *happy dance*

Okay now that that's out of the way, on with the catching-up-on-blogland. It's December, and I've squeaked out some crafting time - not a lot so far - but I've done some tags and I'm really having fun with them this year. My Christmas color palette seems to be sepia this year. You know, those antiquey browns that Distress Inks come in, that give such a warm and aged look to everything you use them on. And I've been going nuts with the inks.

Also, I seem to be on a psychic wavelength with Tim Holtz. I'm really not trying to be pretentious by saying that. But check it out. Last Sunday, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, before Tim started his 12 Tags of Christmas, I did this tag:

Ok, see the ticket? That's a Tim stamp. I wanted just the 25 to be red, so I pulled up last year's tags and used his method for creating a custom ink pad to get the effect I wanted.

Well, damn if Tim didn't use that stamp and do a custom ink pad for it for his very first tag of Christmas this year! I know, not much of a stretch, but with all the techniques he uses, what are the odds? He even did the 25 in red! Now, I do copy Tim's techniques, but I try not to copy his exact creations. And now it looks like I have done that. Oh well. I kept makin' tags...

Mom got these beautiful Ink-a-Dink-a-Do clear stamp sets for Christmas, and I loved this reindeer:

Isn't he beautiful? Especially in gold. And there had to be snow.

So then I wanted to do a tag inspired by one of my favorite Christmas carols. So I scrawled the lyrics all over a tag to start, and let them take me from there.

Do you recognize the lyrics?

They're from "The Peace Carol" by John Denver and the Muppets. On A Christmas Together, which is probably the best Christmas album ever released. (You may disagree, but that's ok.)

And then I finally had the inspiration for the tag I'm most pleased with. (I know, I'm so vain about my creations, but really, it turned out just like I wanted.) I stayed up late on Tuesday to finish it:

And then two days later, Tim's 9th tag was this. Now, the paper rosette was bound to show up sooner or later, but on a tag that was all sepias with black accent? Seriously? Cue Twilight Zone music.

Okay, so maybe it's not significant, but these little coincidences have been amusing me all week. I know that Tim's tags are professional quality, and mine not so much. But I've been having a lot of fun doing tags, and there are lots more techniques that Tim rolled out this year that I want to try. But I promise, I won't be too much of a copycat. I'm just using the techniques, honest.

More to come!

New Member

2010-10-29T19:27:00.000-05:00

Gotta make room in the pocket for a new crafter. Guess who's makin' stuff now?

It's Mr. Pocket!

He's learning chainmaille:

I don't have pics yet of the two bracelets and the pair of earrings he made me, but I can show you what he's making himself. It started like this:

And it's now this, still in progress:

He's sitting next to me working on it right now. I'm so proud :)

I've got a couple of things to post, but those will have to wait. The man deserves his own post :)

Thank You

2010-09-14T20:40:00.000-05:00

With certain events coming up, I really need to get better about sending thank you notes. So I started that effort by making a couple for the wonderful women who supervised me in my internship this summer. They both taught me so much and were so awesome to me that I wanted to make them things. I went a little overboard perhaps on one of them, but I'm pleased with the way they each turned out.

For L:

And for V:

My high-volume thank you notes will not be handmade unless they originate with Etsy, but trust me, they'll be just as heartfelt.

Je rêvais enfant de vivre libre...

2010-09-03T11:32:00.001-05:00

No, I don't actually speak French.

But after the insanity that was my summer, I have definitely been dreaming of freedom. Or maybe just free time. And once I had some, I squandered what I had. But no more! Even as the semester begins again, I'm afire with artistic desire. And inspired by some pretty awesome artists.

See, thanks to my gentleman, I've gotten hooked on the musical Notre Dame de Paris, and thanks to that I've gotten hooked on Garou, the Canadian singer who starred as Quasimodo. And thus I was inspired, quite insistently, by this song:

(Decent translation here. I think. You should watch this one, too, if you have the time: Au plaisir de ton corps It's more upbeat and... ok I'll stop, this post is not about Garou....)

I've always loved the idea of gypsies, mostly the sort of bohemian style we associate with them. So this song "Gitan" kept poking at me. "Poke, poke, HEY when are you going to do some ART about me?" Okay, okay. I gave in. I started (appropriately) with a stripey 7 Gypsies paper, and inked some blue onto it a la Tim Holtz. Over that, I stamped and embossed a couple of my favorite Michelle Ward stamps with clear ink and powder. Shiny:

From there I added a layer of orange ink, which of course the clear embossing resisted:

(Working with this color combination was a leap of faith for me...)

So the background was done. Now to build it up, right? First thing I reached for was the new tape from Tim Holtz.

(Oops, that one came out blurry. Sorry.)

So then, to go with the urban gypsy theme, I needed something to indicate freedom. This is the "vivre libre" after all. Wings! Wings indicate freedom. I'll do wings. I'll do wings on grungeboard and affix them to the thingie so it'll have some depth. Oops, grungeboard fail. Oh well, maybe I'll just emboss them. I think I'm destined to work in two dimensions. Here we go, embossing wingalings:

Oops. Embossing semi-fail.

Does anybody have any idea WHY on the black stripes the embossing powder stuck to the ink, but not anywhere else? WTF? Oh well, just looks grungier, right...?

Well now it needs a rockstar touch. Rockstar. Stars! I've got stars.

It was at this point that I started spending way too much time fiddling around trying to figure out what else to stick on this thing. It rejected many of my ideas. What I ended up with was this:

I still wasn't sure whether it was finished, but I asked for some expert advice and was assured that this is the finished piece (you know who you are - thank you for your help!):

All it needs now is a home. I haven't decided yet what to do with it, whether to mount it on something or to frame it or what. But for now I'm just going to enjoy it.

P.S. You might notice I fiddled with the blog appearance. It was time for an update... What do you think?

Spring Fever

2010-04-12T21:54:00.000-05:00

Something is wrong with me.

I haven't been using my usual colors or motifs.

My aesthetic has been drifting.

The colors I've been using have been bright, and feminine, and, well... Springy. I've been using flowers and green things. I know I'm not really as rock and roll as I like to pretend, but this stuff is just so not me. And yet, I love it. After this past Winter, I'm finding it hard to deal with dark colors. I want bright and more bright. Sunlight and growing things and warmth. It's Spring Fever. So I've cranked out these:

(I tried a couple of Tim Holtz techniques that I hadn't tried before on this one.)

(The rays at the top are one of Michelle's stamps from her Stairway to Heaven set, and it was just what this tag needed.)

(This is where I realized I'd gone outside my normal pallete and style...)

And something a little different. I got a cheap frame at Target, and put something together just for that:

The flowers are Prima flowers with a Tim Holtz Foliage flower. The background is a paper from a Rock n Roll themed pack I have, embossed with a flourish and then whitewashed and wiped so the embossing acted as a resist (it's a Tim technique). I added a ticket in an Ornate Frame and metal corners to give it a bit more something.

I've got lots to show, but for now I'll just stick with the Spring stuff. Soon, though, I hope to have enough to show of a series I'm working on. Let's just say that HIM was awesome in Baltimore, and after the concert I was really really inspired.

P.S. Links to Michelle and Tim's blogs are in the sidebar.

Snoverwhelmed

2010-02-10T20:18:00.000-05:00

Snow days make for a productive time here in the Pocket. Not getting useful stuff done, necessarily (like cleaning, organizing, homework...) but getting fun stuff done. Like knitting, and sewing, and baking. You've seen my Valentines from the first blizzard of the week. Between then and now, I've finished a scarf, an applique, and a batch of cupcakes. Woohoo!

Pics of the scarf in its completely finished state are forthcoming after it's blocked, but here's a general idea:

Imagine that with a crocheted lace border, and you have a preview of the finished finished object.

Today I had time to do a bit of a fix that I'd been planning on. See, I found this adorable t-shirt at Target:

Now, I'm definitely not that cynical about romance. In fact, quite the opposite. But how could I pass up that squirrel? So with the help of FusiKnit, Misty Fuse, a black long-sleeved t-shirt, and some perle cotton, I ended up with this:

And, of course, because I can't let an opportunity for cupcakes go by, I made amazing cupcakes of Win.

Want a closeup?

Mmmmm nom nom nom...

It's the first time I've tried 7-minute Frosting. I'm totally sold. And anyone with a snowmobile or snowshoes or a dogsled is welcome to come over and help me eat these, because I don't know how my parents and I are going to manage to eat all 24 of them ourselves before they go stale...

What have you done with your snow day?

Snowpocalypse?

2010-02-06T20:27:00.000-05:00

Yeah, we've got a lot of snow out there. But I'm one of the lucky ones. We've got electricity (knock on wood) and no need to go anywhere. So this has been a great opportunity to play along with Michelle Ward, which I haven't done in months!

This month's GPP Street Team Crusade encourages using letters. Preferably those particularly affectionate ones, X and O. Well, I needed to make Valentines. And I happen to be snowed in. Soooo, perfect timing, right? Pooling my inspirations from Michelle, Tim Holtz, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and, well, my own pure brain, I came up with a couple of well-lettered tags.

This one, I can only show part of, lest its recipient happen to check my blog this week...

I made my own shimmer mist (End of Time pt 1, anybody? warning, spoilers...) with Perfect Pearls and reinker ink, diluted with water. Got a little heavy handed on that first tag...
I've been rereading the Scarlet Pimpernel books. I honestly don't think there's a more romantic story, anywhere. And Tim's flourish stamp strikes me as somewhat 18th Century, somewhat romantic, definitely cool. Aside from an initial wash of a neutral ink, I did every layer of this in the same Fired Brick Distress Ink. No, I am not shilling for Ranger.

These next two were originally one tag, but then I decided the two elements didn't go together physically or stylistically, so I cut them into two tags. One hang tag and one little rectangular one. The Dymo label on the top one came after the cut.

Michelle did say to do letters any way we wanted, and when I sat down at the work counter and saw my Dymo labeler, I knew it just needed to be involved.

Sometime I'll have to catch up and post stuff that I've started and finished since the last time I posted. But for now this post is just dedicated to the Crusade. Tune in later for yarny goodness.

Merry Christmas! Oh, wait...

2010-01-11T21:41:00.000-05:00

I missed it! Well, in real life I didn't, but in blogland I completely missed blogging about Christmas and all the stuff I made. I guess that shows how much fun I was having :) But tomorrow I go back to school, one "real" class and one practicum, so who knows how much time I'll have to make stuff to post here. I'd better post now while I've got the time... Picture heavy. Very. You have been warned.

My Christmas inspiration came mainly from Tim Holtz this year (link in the side bar). I got a little bit addicted to his 12 Tags of Christmas. And all his fun products. He and Michelle Ward are like art crack. I just can't stay away from their blogs. (And let me tell you, as soon as Michelle's new rubber is out, I'm gonna be stamping everything in sight... also, her link is in the sidebar) Anyway, Tim's techniques are easy for me to do in my tiny little workspace, so I went ahead and made gift tags for everybody this year:

Ta-daa!

My faves, close up:

teh Man

Dad

Mom

Big Brother

And of course, I had to do a big Narnia one. I mean, it's me. It's wintertime. What do you expect?

"Carrie, where did you get that fantastic rooted lamppost stamp?"
"Why, I cut it myself, thank you for asking!" :)

Present-wise, this year saw the march of the Triangle Shawls.

One for my sister-in-law:

Manos Silk Blend. Yum.

And one for Zingala (once again, sidebar):

Rowan Summer Tweed. If yarn were peanut butter, this would be crunchy. And delicious.

I think winter is messing with my brain. Hopefully I'll be able to crochet and knit enough to warm it up and thaw it out. Cross your fingers for me!

Stolen Moments

2009-12-07T21:50:00.003-05:00

It's crunch time. I have one term paper and two final exams left. I have three presents to make, and a bazillion Christmas cards to send out. But I've been stealing moments here and there. Yesterday morning before I sat down to finish my first term paper I got inspired and sat down to make a tag.

Distress Inks, stamps, and Tim Holtz Ideaology gears on paper and "vellum"

It's something my manuscripts professor used to say. Can you read my handwriting? "Tempus fugit et non comebackibus." So true right now. Where is all my time going? I was ahead of schedule and now I'm definitely behind.

BUT there is EXCITEMENT to be had! My mom, yes MY mom, a luddite if ever there was one, now has her very own blog. I helped. Go, go, visit Zingala's Workshop. Comment. She'd love to hear from you :)

And, my Pocketeers, if you're not following Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, you should be. There's all kinds of pretty going on over there. What do you think got me to do a tag?

Gobble Gobble

2009-11-26T11:26:00.004-05:00

Happy Turkey Day! I realize I haven't posted in a looooong time, and Thanksgiving day seems like an odd time to take the time to blog, but I'll take what I can get.

Christmas is on the way, so naturally I can't post a lot of what I'm working on lest people see their presents, but I can say that I've got one finished and two in progress. I'm ahead of schedule, which never happens. I can't show you the finished one, or one of the in-progress ones, but I can show you what I've been working on while watching the Macy's Day Parade, because I'm pretty sure the recipient doesn't even know I have a blog...

Raven Clan color "Tlingit"

How about a glamor shot?

I know I'm overdue on a picture of my Raven Shawl, which I did finish before Halloween. To be honest, I haven't been able to get any good pics of it, but here's a teaser, taken while it was blocking:

I hope everybody's having a wonderful day with family and/or friends! Santa's almost at Macy's, so Merry Christmas season, too!

Back to School

2009-09-07T18:20:00.004-05:00

Well, my two month break is over, but I've been keeping busy with the craftiness. And I've already got an entry for Michelle's latest Crusade! A couple of things for it, actually.

Took a class with Tim Holtz this summer... Oh. My. GAWD. He's a total rockstar. I had so much fun! The class was on bookbinding and creating covers with embossed metal and of course Tim's own findings. In one afternoon, we learned a simple bookbinding stitch, metal embossing, the use of alcohol inks, and what the faun to do with all his little findings and details. This is what I took home, along with a head full of ideas:

Since coming home, I've been doing a lot more stamping and paper art. Don't have much to show yet, but I'll give you a glimpse soon... :)

I've finished Ishbel, too, finally. I had to put it down for a little while sometimes, but I got it done!

Extreme closeup!

And I've had the chance to start the much-awaited Raven Shawl!

That's just the first three colors, accomplished while I watched the Ravens vs. Jets pre-season game. Oooooh I'm so excited for football season!

And, it being Monday, it seems like a good time to show off my most recently spun yarn. Yep, I've been getting back to spinning! This is what I've done with Mountain Colors targhee in Copper Mountain:

Spun on my Traveller, chain-plied for a good stripe effect.

I've decided that targhee goes on my list of favorite fibers to spin. It might actually spin easier than merino. Definitely a good fiber to learn :)

So, more on the learning front, I'm finally taking a rare books librarianship class. It promises to be super hard, but I'm really looking forward to what I'm going to be learning this semester. It's going to cut down on my crafting time, that's for sure, but given certain financial restrictions I'll have to make a lot more Christmas presents this year, so I'll definitely be finding or making time to get some crafting in. Nevertheless, crafting must needs take a backseat to academia sometimes. We'll see how the trip goes...

Shiny

2009-07-31T16:42:00.003-05:00

Shiny is a great word. Shiny can mean reflective (of light), luminous. Shiny can mean glowing. To Firefly fans like myself, Shiny can also mean good, great, fantastic, wonderful, A-number-one awesome sauce.

Shiny is the work of Etsy artist Lura Jewelry.

You should check out her shop. My man did. And now, Shiny is how I feel.

The only question is how much of my wedding I can DIY without going insane...

Two weeks in a row?

2009-07-15T20:18:00.003-05:00

Yes, another WiP post! Still Ishbel, but this time... I've started the lace!

I've got a portable project going, too - another Triangular Shawl by Doris Chan - but no pics of that yet. Yeah, I forgot to bring it out when I took the Ishbel pic at sunset, and I'm too lazy to do it now. But I have gotten people talking about crochet because they see me working on it in public. At my orthodontist, one of the technicians asked me to show her what I was doing because she crochets but can only keep track of simple stitch patterns. Now she and the receptionist want lessons!

Also, the Raven Shawl color sequence is all figured out. I'm going to wait til I'm finished with Ishbel before I start the Raven Shawl, though. There's a great story there, though. See, when I was winding off all my Raven Clan skeins, I found that some of them had more knots than I'm accustomed to seeing. A couple of them had two knots each and lots of slubs, which seemed odd, and one skein had four knots and slubs all through it. So, encouraged by Pam and Cristi, I went ahead and emailed Blue Moon. The next day, they had written me back apologizing and promising that new skeins of those three colors would be shipped to me by the end of the week! Awesome customer service. I'm very impressed. They're not even asking me to return the knotty skeins! So now I'm trying to think of little projects to use them in... :)

Well, that's all for now. Vacation this weekend, and I'll get to hit up Knitting Sisters. Woooo!

WIP: My Name is Ishbel...

2009-07-08T19:12:00.003-05:00

Ahoy there!

Doesn't it look like a sail, there, hanging on the needles like that?

Yes, I'm working on Ishbel. It's way fun. I know, I'm only in the stockinette part, but something about it is reminding me of why I like to knit. The yarn I'm using is Blue Heron Rayon Metallic, in the Chesapeake colorway, which is making me realize that Ishbel sounds reasonably like Ishmael, which is appropriately nautical for this colorway.

The yarn choice was inspired by Pam's Ishbel and by the fact that the vine lace pattern looks to me like choppy waves. Just like on the Bay. So it was finally the perfect project for my one treasured skein of Blue Heron Rayon Metallic. I can't WAIT to finish and wear this :)

P.S. The awesome yarn bowl and lovely needles were birthday presents from the fabulous Pam. Thanks Pammi!

Independence

2009-07-05T11:25:00.002-05:00

I hope everybody had a happy 4th of July. I spent mine with good friends, natural family, and my chosen family of retired Navy guys and wives. The best people on the planet.

In this past week, the first week of July, I also got to celebrate being done with my summer classes. I enjoyed them, but I think I'm going to enjoy my free time quite a bit, too :) After all, I've got so many projects waiting to be worked on! The ever-waiting Raven Shawl will finally get its start. And thanks to Pam I have another project in mind -- Ishbel is the perfect pattern I think for my skein of Blue Heron Rayon in "Chesapeake."

So as I declare my two-month independence from classwork, I find that I'm willingly binding myself to something else: a to-do list. Sort of a personal syllabus, just without specific deadlines. As much as I'm enjoying my grad school, I think this creative syllabus is going to be less stressful...

What's the worst that could happen?

2009-05-11T16:32:00.003-05:00

OMG SEMESTER'S OVER!!!!!

And I start summer classes next week. Hmm.

I like learning stuff, it's the homework part that I dislike about school. It keeps me from doing crafty things. Although, to be fair, something else has kept me from my crafting recently. Class has been out for over a week now.

I picked up Twilight a while ago. How bad could it be? What's the worst that could happen? I get addicted like all the tweenie Twi-hards? Well, YES. I got completely sucked in. Read the first two books slowly during the semester, and read the second two in the week since class ended. Damn. I haven't done anything else. Work and read. Read and work. It's kinda scary how sucked into things I get. Oh, and for the record, Jacob Black is the MAN.

And last week was Sheep & Wool. I could only go on Sunday, because I had my last class on Saturday. (Did not keep me from getting to Pam's house that night for awesome party time! I'm so glad I got to meet/see everybody!) It was supposed to rain on Sunday. What's the worst that could happen? I have a raincoat and galoshes. No biggie, right? Well, mostly right. If you can ignore being soggy and miserable. Which miraculously I did, well, mostly. Let's just say that by the time I got home, I was really glad I got sheepskin slippers.

So I finally finished the mittens of doom. No more school means no more reason to not spend the time figuring out how to cross-stitch. (Oh yeah, I didn't mention that fact when I said I'd cross-stitch the letters on after the crochet was done? My bad.) So now I get to start my Raven shawl! I'm rinsing all the skeins first, to make sure I don't have any, er, surprises (dye-related ones) when it's finished and I wash/block it. I've got the first two skeins soaking now. What's the worst that can happen?

S'meeptopia

2009-04-12T14:57:00.001-05:00

Nom.

Happy Easter!

Just because everything's changing doesn't mean it's never been this way before...

2009-03-30T17:51:00.006-05:00

(Post title from the same song as the previous post title.)

So I finally have pics of the new and improved Narnia Jeans!

Sorry the lighting is kinda sucky. I was at trivia, and Pam's hubby was kind enough to take the pics but no amount of photo-fu can turn crappy lighting and a mediocre camera into professional conditions. Anyway, I'm actually happier with the re-paint than with the original. Don't know if you can tell the difference from the pictures, but I can see it. They're better this time.

The Narnia Exhibition was FANTASTIC. It was just magical. OMG seeing those costumes up close! Or as close as I could get to the glass, at least. Isis Mussenden is my new hero. The detail in the costumes is just incredible. Also, Tumnus' scarf is not just k1sl1/purl, because it definitely has knit v's on the wrong side too. So I have no clue what it is. I'm just gonna be happy with mine for now. I can't justify doing a third Tumnus scarf. Well, I'm sure if I really tried I could, but I won't... Anyway, I hope the exhibition comes somewhere closer because I would LOVE to go again. If it comes near you, go. It's definitely worth the trip.

I'm seriously itching to MAKE STUFF and it's killing me because I've got homework and the basement craft room is a colossal mess (yes, still) and there's just so much to do before I can really justify sitting down and playing. Argh!

It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope...

2009-03-04T19:02:00.006-05:00

A new chapter is about to begin in my Narnia fandom. On Saturday, I will get to go to the Narnia Exhibition. Not with every friend that I wished could get together for it, but still with friends. Good friends. Friends that will not make fun of me for being a fanatic. Much.

And it is at this time that I realize that I never posted pictures of my most splendiferous paint job ever. Which really is a shame, because way back here when I participated in one of Michelle Ward's Crusades, I promised evidence of using my first hand-carved stencil. Well, the evidence has been tampered with. Let me explain.

I did indeed use my Narnia stencil, and I used it on a pair of jeans. I also stamped and painted ivy (with an ivy leaf stamp I carved for the project) around it. And I wore these glorious jeans to the midnight showing of Prince Caspian.

There's ivy on the left leg, too, to balance it all out.

One problem.

I didn't heat set the paint.

Yeah, it faded in the wash. Majorly. So now I'm finally getting around to repainting it. And this time, I will post pictures when I'm finished!

Glub Glub

2009-02-08T21:16:00.003-05:00

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I'm just drowning in life a bit. Having lots of trouble keeping up with homework, which means that craftiness of course suffers even more. But there may be crafts to post this week, I have had a little time to play with yarn, so there might be a little bit of Valentiney blog fodder. In the meantime, check out what I found: www.geekcrafts.com I'm totally hooked.

What's Our Name?

2009-01-11T21:06:00.002-05:00

RAVENS!!!

That is all.

Well Hello There...

2009-01-02T12:36:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! Hello 2009! For some reason, I'm not very optimistic about this year, but I'm trying not to focus on that. Instead, there is a bit of a short-term list of things I'm trying to focus on.

1. Operation Stashbuster 2009. Yesterday Mom and I weeded out all the stuff we don't want from the Yarn Room. It's all going to charity. Why have yarn you don't like anymore or are never going to use sitting around? Plus, we rediscovered stuff we had forgotten we had, and found perfect yarns for projects we've had in mind. Next step for me is to finish what I've got started, or else chuck it. There are some things that I have to finish. Other than that, if I'm not interested in it anymore, it's getting frogged or pitched. After that's done, I'm pulling from the stash and getting things done. Already streamlined my Ravelry queue down to things I'm actually going to make, which I can make from the stash. Plus, I'm going to comb and spin all of that alpaca fleece I have. It's been washed, now it needs to be used. Furthermore, no yarn or fiber buying, except at MDSW.

2. School is starting. I'm going to grad school, and it's going to consume what little free time I have. In the long run, this is a good thing. I'm also going to use it to aid Operation Stashbuster 2009, because I have a train ride to my campus, which I am going to use as knit/crochet time.

3. RAVENS IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!! Wildcard game against the Miami Dolphins is this Sunday. I'm psyched. Even if the Ravens don't make it past this game, I'm thrilled, because who expected that team, with a rookie coach and a rookie QB and a dismal last-year's record to do well at all this year? Not even the devoted fan sitting right here. Even one playoff game is a fabulous surprise. Dare I hope for the Superbowl?

So far, those are my thoughts on this new year. Not much, and not great, but that's another thing I'm working on: optimism.

P.S. It's been so long since I posted and there are no pictures because my computer got eated by a virus. Weeks ago. And I haven't had the chance to get it fixed yet. Cross your fingers for me that my files can be retrieved...

Buzz Buzz

2008-11-30T17:26:00.003-05:00

I've been a busy bee this month. Haven't posted anything, but I've been making stuff. I set the twist and finished my Valkyrie yarn:

Consider that a Handspun Monday post :)

Finished a lovely, squishy scarf in Malabrigo:

I'm officially a Malabrigo fan now. I didn't get what all the fuss was about til I felt the stuff for myself. Wow. Anyway, the scarf itself is just done in Purse Stitch (found it in Vogue Stitchionary Vol. 1) and not blocked.

Had a blast at Stitches East. Made another pair of armwarmers (of which I do not have pics... sorry!). Had a ball spinning with Pam while our boys shot each other with little plastic bb's. And started two Christmas presents. Which I cannot show you, because, well, they're Christmas presents! I'm gonna be knitting and crocheting and spinning myself into a frenzy for the next 25 days. At the same time, I have to register for classes and figure out how I'm paying for grad school in the spring. And attend various performances and football parties. And cook my Christmas specialties. Yes, I have a full time job. Whee!

Columbina Revealed

2008-11-02T20:37:00.003-05:00

Well, it didn't quite go off without a SNAFU (none of my projects ever do, so I don't know why I expected this one to...), but I'd say my costume turned out okay. Not quite as elegant as I'd envisioned, but hey. Nothing ever is. So now, because I know you, my friends, have been waiting for pics, I give you...

Columbina!

From the back:

The mask is from Mythical Masks and the feather barette is from Dragon Wings. The blouse, skirt, and corset were of course painstakingly crafted by yours truly. I painted the diamond pattern -- well, printed more like. I cut a big chunk of stamp rubber into a diamond, and painted fabric paint onto it, and printed the fabric with that.

The sequins at the points were Mom's idea, and she even volunteered to sew them on. My mom rocks. :)

Happily, the party went far more smoothly than the costume. I think my friend Matt had the most clever costume: he was the Nile turning to blood!

P.S. OMG Football! Both my teams were comeback kings this weekend. Amazing. And awesome.

Inspiration

2008-10-22T23:28:00.002-05:00

So, this Halloween costume I'm making. When I really think about it, it's been years in the planning.

See, as a child, I watched Mystery! on PBS with my parents. Poirot was always my favorite. And my favorite Poirot story was "The Affar at the Victory Ball" featuring some of the most exquisite costumes I'd ever seen. The story centered around a group of friends who all dressed as characters of the Commedia dell'Arte, and thus began my fascination with Harlequin. Ironically, I never did study or read up on the Commedia, and to this day I know very little about it. But harlequin patterns and characters loosely based on Harlequin and his friends I find completely enchanting. I buy harlequin patterned scrapbooking papers, anything diamond patterned -- I adore argyle, and I swear it has to be for the diamonds -- I've even bought a graphic short story just because it features Harlequin.

Fast forward quite a bit. In, oh I dunno, January? or so, sometime between last Halloween and this Halloween at any rate, I sketched out a costume idea. I knew exactly what colors it must be, though I couldn't tell you why, and what materials I'd prefer. This costume is the reason I decided not to theme our Halloween party this year. That's how determined I was to make it. I made a special trip with Mom and Pam to the uber-mega-fabric-store-of-doom just to find the right fabrics. I already have the zip ties to bone my corset (trust me on that one). I bought a classic mask at the renaissance festival just to go with this costume, and then serve as a decorative piece until I have occasion to wear it again -- which I most certainly will. I started actually googling the concept sometime about a month or so ago, and found no other examples that are anything like what I'm making. Mine is a very loose interpretation. And what's odd is, I haven't even found anything else in my color scheme. Hmm. Where on Earth did I come up with that?

So I've started working on it, as mentioned previously, and I tend to watch movies while I sew. The other night, I put on the only vaguely ghost-related movie I have that's absolutely not creepy or scary whatsoever. Even tamer than Van Helsing. I watched The Phantom of the Opera. Halfway through the movie (give or take), I realized something. I found my color scheme.

For those of you who've seen the movie, do you remember the Masquerade scene? You should, it's easily the most beautiful scene in the movie, which is saying a lot considering how spectacular the whole thing is (if you disagree, just bear with me, k?). The entire scene, except for the technical staff and two notable guests, is clothed in black and shades of antique gold and white. As the scene opened, I answered my color scheme question. Without realizing it, I had based my costume not only on my lifelong fascination, but also on the most brilliantly costumed scene I can think of.

Hmm...

If only my costume were to turn out that gorgeous.

The Trouble With Halloween...

2008-10-20T19:06:00.003-05:00

See, the trouble with Halloween is that it requires a costume. At least, when you're me it does. I know plenty of people opt not to dress up, but where's the fun in that? I must not only have a costume, I must make said costume. It's a point of honor. I know how to sew, therefore I must use/show off/practice my skill by making my own costume.

This year I have chosen to outdo myself (hopefully) by making a costume with staying power. This will be my most ambitious (and expensive) endeavor yet. It actually may be more spectacular than the dryad of two years ago:

Freezing, by the way. It looked better in motion, too.

Anyway, I'm hoarding all of my precious spare time in these last two weeks before Halloween, because I MUST get this costume of mine finished before THE night. Boy am I glad that The Man (as I shall henceforth refer to he who I love best in the world) and I didn't decide to have our party on the weekend before Halloween...

You Deserve Pie.

2008-10-10T19:55:00.002-05:00

I promised pictures, and pictures you shall have. But they shall not be of fiber. Oh no. They shall be pictures of the one thing more glorious than any fiber imaginable. They shall be pictures of food.

Yes, my friends, I can cook. It's not a thing I do often, as I am, ya know, rarely home (notice the lack of regularity on the blog?). But at work, anytime one of us in the department has a birthday, we celebrate by having a "food day" which means gorging ourselves over the course of a very long lunch. Everyone brings something and our potluck is often themed. For my birthday I requested Mediterranean cuisine. Someone else asked for an international food day. This time, the birthday boy requested Southern food. Hmm...

Now, I have always wanted to try sweet potato pie, ever since I knew such a thing existed. But no such pie ever presented itself, and I never was brave enough to try and bake one myself. Well, a Southern food day was the perfect opportunity to step up and bake my first pie ever.

I think it turned out pretty well. Do me a favor: imagine "Also Sprach Zarathustra" playing here. Okay?

Dunnn...

DUNNN...

DUNNNN...

DUN-NAAAHHHH!!!!!!

Heehee... okay, I'm dun. That's just what I thought of when I saw those pictures all lined up on my flickr page. I'm melodramatic, what can I say?

Anyway, I'm sure you're all wondering what that mouth-wateringly golden awesomeness tasted like. Well, it tasted like slightly different pumpkin pie. Which is what I was told to expect, so I'm guessing I did pretty well. Also, there wasn't any left. I take that, too, as a good sign.

I shall now leave you to meditate upon the glory of pie.

Halloween Month!!!

2008-10-06T21:14:00.002-05:00

No, I haven't disappeared. Fall is really busy for me. It's football season, first off, so that cuts out half my weekends, and then it's also Renaissance Festival season, which cuts out the rest. But I do have some crafty stuff in progress, and more to be started soon as I begin trying to actually complete Christmas presents on time this year (or maybe even early!), so there will be pics soon. Just wanted to post real quick to say...

OMG!

IT'S OCTOBER!!!

I love Halloween Month. :)

Black Monday?

2008-09-08T18:46:00.006-05:00

Not that it's been a bad day. I just have a couple of goth thingies to post. One is a meme, one is actual fiber content. *gasp* Bear with me.

See, Pam has posted another fun meme, and this one I definitely had to fill out. And by "had to" I mean "really really wanted to." Cos it's fun! Here are the rules:

- Choose a singer/band/group
- Answer using ONLY titles of songs by that singer/band/group
- Tag 7 more people. Or not.

So, my band: HIM (naturally)
1. Are you male or female? Poison Girl
2. Describe yourself. Soul on Fire
3. What do people feel when they’re around you? I'm not answering this one, because I can't presume to know... though if I wanted to be optimistic about it, I'd say Buried Alive by Love :P
4. How would you describe your previous relationship? Wicked Game (Video NSFW!)
5. Describe your current relationship. In Joy and Sorrow
6. Where would you want to be now? Close to the Flame
7. How do you feel about love? Sweet Pandemonium
8. What’s your life like? The Path
9. What would you ask for if you had only one wish? Edit: I changed my mind, my wish would be The Face of God Wings of a Butterfly (This one was tough... I went with the symbolic meaning of the song's title line... regarding love, not necessarily life itself... yeah I had to pick something okay?)
10. Say something wise. Don't Close Your Heart

Now the actual fiber! It is suitably goth, I feel, to go along with HIM. It's what I spun from my Valkyrie colorway Sheep to Shoe kit. I haven't set it yet, so it's still a bit wibbly-wobbly. But it's pretty :)

Look deeeeeper into the black...

So much of my other two favorite colors in there. Red and purple. And various shades thereof. *swoon*

I simply must get back to my wheel. I haven't spun in... I dunno, I think it's been over a month. But hopefully I will have more handspun to post next Monday. In gorgeous Fall colors. Whee!

Just a Nod

2008-09-06T00:14:00.004-05:00

Just so you know I'm still around... I have a FO to post but I don't have the pics yet so I'm filling space with this groovy meme I ganked from Pam.

The idea:
A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline your favorite [Carrie's note: I do not have just one favorite. There are several tied for favorite, it just depends on my mood. Deal with it]. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about)

My song list:
1. A Thousand Miles, Vanessa Carlton (Don't get used to seeing this poppy crap in bold...)
2. Get The Party Started, Pink (This kind of stuff either.)
3. Complicated, Avril Lavigne (Getting better.)
4. Dilemma, Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland
5. In The End, Linkin Park (At the time I didn't care for LP - too much rap - but I have since become quite a fan. I can admit when I'm wrong...)
6. Ain't It Funny, Jennifer Lopez
7. U Got It, Bad Usher
8. All You Wanted, Michelle Branch
9. Don't Let Me Get Me, Pink
10. ~~Hot In Herre, Nelly~~ (Such hatred do I have for this song...)
11. Hey Baby, No Doubt
12. Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Kylie Minogue
13. Lose Yourself, Eminem
14. The Middle, Jimmy Eat World (Gets me singing and dancing every time.)
15. The Game Of Love, Santana featuring Michelle Branch
16. U Don't Have To Call, Usher
17. Like I Love You, Justin Timberlake
18. Girlfriend, 'N Sync
19. Wherever You Will Go, The Calling
20. My Sacrifice, Creed
21. Ordinary Day, Vanessa Carlton
22. Underneath It All, No Doubt
23. Jenny From The Block, Jennifer Lopez
24. Just Like A Pill, Pink
25. Blurry, Puddle Of Mudd
26. Gangsta Lovin', Eve featuring Alicia Keys
27. Hero, Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott
28. Days Go By, Dirty Vegas
29. Foolish, Ashanti
30. Escape, Enrique Iglesias
31. Without Me, Eminem
32. No Such Thing, John Mayer
33. Can't Fight The Moonlight, LeAnn Rimes
34. Hella Good, No Doubt
35. Heaven, DJ Sammy & Yanou
36. Whenever, Wherever, Shakira (I know. Anomaly.)
37. Family Portrait, Pink
38. One Last Breath, Creed (Yes, I know - Scott Stapp is an asshole. Moving on.)
39. 7 Days, Craig David
40. Hands Clean, Alanis Morissette
41. ~~Die Another Day, Madonna~~
42. Sk8er Boi, Avril Lavigne
43. A Woman's Worth, Alicia Keys
44. Love At First Sight, Kylie Minogue
45. Underneath Your Clothes, Shakira
46. I Need A Girl (Part One), P. Diddy featuring Usher & Loon
47. Full Moon, Brandy
48. Wasting My Time, Default
49. Soak Up The Sun, Sheryl Crow (This might be the only Sheryl Crow song I like, and I'm a little ashamed to admit that I like any Sheryl Crow song.)
50. Gotta Get Thru This, Daniel Bedingfield
51. Always On Time, Ja Rule featuring Ashanti
52. #1, Nelly
53. Livin' It Up, Ja Rule featuring Case
54. Goodbye To You, Michelle Branch
55. If I Could Go, Angie Martinez
56. Stole Kelly Rowland
57. Just A Friend 2002, Mario
58. Roll Out (My Business), Ludacris
59. I'm Gonna Be Alright, Jennifer Lopez featuring Nas
60. Happy, Ashanti
61. No More Drama, Mary J. Blige
62. Somewhere Out There, Our Lady Peace
63. Video, India.Arie
64. Walking Away, Craig David
65. A Moment Like This, Kelly Clarkson
66. Rainy Dayz, Mary J. Blige featuring Ja Rule
67. What About Us?, Brandy
68. I Need A Girl (Part Two), P. Diddy & Ginuwine featuring Loon, Mario Winans & Tammy Rugger
69. (This Is) A Song For The Lonely, Cher
70. What's Luv?, Fat Joe featuring Ashanti
71. A New Day Has Come, Celine Dion
72. The Whole World, Outkast
73. Hey Ma, Cam'ron
74. More Than A Woman, Aaliyah
75. Disease, Matchbox 20 (Somehow, I missed that Matchbox 20 still existed in 2002...)
76. Oops (Oh My), Tweet
77. Here Is Gone, Goo Goo Dolls
78. Caramel City, High featuring Eve
79. Objection (Tango), Shakira
80. Out Of My Heart, BBMak
81. Girl Talk, TLC
82. Cleanin' Out My Closet, Eminem
83. Too Bad, Nickelback
84. In A Little While, Uncle Kracker
85. For All Time, Soluna
86. Wrong Impression, Natalie Imbruglia
87. Everyday, Dave Matthews Band
88. Starry Eyed Surprise, Paul Oakenfold
89. ~~Where Are You Going, Dave Matthews Band~~ (Nails... on... chalkboard...)
90. Insatiable, Darrin Hayes
91. Rapture (Tastes So Sweet), iio
92. Son Of A Gun, Janet Jackson
93. The World's Greatest, R. Kelly
94. Something More, Train
95. Don't Say Goodbye, Paulina Rubio
96. Walk With Me, Seven & The Sun
97. I Do (Wanna Get Close To You), 3LW
98. Steve McQueen, Sheryl Crow
99. I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman, Britney Spears
100. Running Away, Hoobastank

I didn't listen to the radio much in high school, come to think of it. I was too busy listening to classic rock cds. When I did listen to the radio, I think you can tell what kind of stations I generally tuned into. \m/ *headbang* \m/

Notably, I discovered today that I'm a Gordon Lightfoot fan. Go figure.

Victory!

2008-08-25T20:09:00.004-05:00

I finally have pics of my Ravelympics projects! Cos I did finish in time. Just barely.

First, the Triangular TARDIS Shawl.

Crappy pic, I know. I gotta get better ones. But I'll be wearing it tomorrow so maybe I can get them then. For now, how about a closeup?

ETA: Okay, the lighting is yellow, but I took some modeled pics. Had to use the timer on my camera, cos the parents were already in bed.

I like it as a scarf-type-thingie:

Pardon the room. Laundry day. Hadn't put the clothes away yet.
**Back to the original post:

Synchronicity is just so shiny. And glorious. My mom says it's a little too delicate looking to dress it down as much as I wanted to, and I'm still undecided on that front. I'm inclined to think I should keep it for more special occasions, but that means I am still wanting a casual shawl. Oh noes. I guess I'll just have to make another.

As for my other project, this is all I'll show you until after tomorrow. That's the thing about presents. You gotta keep them secret. Can't let them leak out on the interwebs.

Now I've really got my crochet mojo back. And I have a desire to knit as well. Which is good, because it's time to be making Christmas presents! Not to mention getting on to all the stuff I've queued on Ravelry...

Ravelympics Update

2008-08-20T22:18:00.003-05:00

I know, no creative title. It's late and I'm low on brain-juice.

AnyWho, I felt the desire to post and celebrate that my shawl for the Ravelympics Shawl Relay is finished! Well, not completely. Well, it's finished but the ends need weaving in. And it needs to be blocked. BUT the crochet is done! I am dubbing it my Triangular TARDIS (Shawl), because it is blue like the TARDIS and I crocheted it for Team TARDIS, and it's at the moment quite small and scrunchy but I have faith that once it's blocked it will be much bigger. It's a moderately sized shawl disguised as a tiny one.

Pictures to come soon, once it's blocked and the ends are woven in. For now, though...

Going for Gold

2008-08-14T16:55:00.003-05:00

A little late with this post, but guess what? I'm in the Ravelympics! Went ahead and joined Team TARDIS, because seriously, the Doctor is made of Win. Check it out:

Running:

Equestrian:

(I'm a little bitter that the Dressage final was not televised in its entirety... The one year I actually remember to try and watch it!)

And should marathon cabinetry installation ever become an Olympic sport, you know he's got it covered.

As for me, I have entered the Shawl Relay (about the closest you're gonna get to me running) with the Triangular Shawl by Doris Chan and one other event but we'll let that one slide for now, hmm? Okay. The shawl is kinda stalled out right now. We'll call it a rain delay. Got a little confuzled with the pattern cos I didn't have the first row erratta with me when I started it so I had to muddle through myself. And since then I haven't had the chance to get back to it. Not entirely sure that I like the yarn I'm using for it. Really don't want to have to frog it and start over with different yarn though. We'll see. I'm about to work on it now, actually, and we'll see how the second row goes.

So, Ravelympians and spectators, it's time to get back to it. Allonsy!

*Screencaps from Sonic Biro, Doctor Who-ness property of BBC, etc.etc.etc. If I had come up with this stuff, I wouldn't be working where I do.

Fluffy

2008-07-19T14:10:00.003-05:00

Next in my resurgence of craftiness, I have decided to finally tackle what I've been putting off for over a year. Remember this?

I'm finally washing it. I know a lot of people say that you don't have to wash alpaca because it doesn't have any lanolin. The problem is, it DOES have dust, and dirt, and grit. And I read in Spin-Off that you really should wash it so that said dust, dirt, and grit don't get embedded in your yarn, because not all of it will wash out once the yarn is spun. So I'm tackling the job of washing nearly 3 pounds of alpaca fleece today. 30 minute soaks with Eucalan in a galvanized tub on the patio, followed by similar soaks without Eucalan to rinse. You should see the horrid muddy color of the water after the soapy soak. Ew. I'm glad that stuff's not ending up in my yarn.

Mmm... tea....

2008-07-16T16:21:00.002-05:00

I have an active WiP!!! Can you believe it??? I'm crocheting again! Woooo!

Oh... you wanted to see it? Hm. Okay, I guess I can show you. ;)

I know it doesn't look like much now, but it's slowly becoming Sweet Tea from Doris Chan's Everyday Crochet. I'm really liking the pattern. Easy enough that I can watch Doctor Who while working, interesting enough that I'm not getting bored. It's a win-win project, I tell ya. It is, in fact, fantastic. :)

And besides, its name involves tea. Seriously. Can it be more perfect? I submit that it cannot.

A Long Absence

2008-07-13T19:22:00.002-05:00

I am sad to report that I haven't been doing much crafty stuff lately. I've been spinning a bit, but irregularly, and I haven't been documenting my progress. Other than that, I've given up on my crocheted sock (wasn't turning out the way I wanted; I guess it would help if I started out with patterns rather than always making shit up as I go along), haven't worked on my tank top, and pretty much stalled out on everything. I'm sorta finally starting to go stir crazy and want a crochet hook in my hand, but still not enough to get me going quite yet. It's strange, how for a while you can want to do only one thing all day, and then for a while you're really not interested. I figure if I don't force it, my creative desire will come back, and am trying not to worry about myself for not being in the mood for yarny pursuits.

Meanwhile, a while back my friend Megan tagged me for a meme. I'm thinking it'll be a fun way of getting my blogging juices flowing again. So here we go!

Rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Magnificent Facts:
1. I'm rather shy. Have a really hard time starting conversations with people I don't know very well. And perhaps a related fact, I cannot stand answering machines and voice mail. I'm completely inept at leaving phone messages.

2. For a medievalist, I know shockingly little about the Middle Ages. I like to blame the structure of my undergraduate education requirements for that -- limits on the number of credits you can take in a given department kept me from specializing quite as much as I wanted to.

3. I hate Monopoly.

4. I like steampunk. Didn't really notice this until recently, when I learned that several of the movies and themes that I like are considered to be steampunk. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, stuff like that. And I've been drawn to this kind of stuff more and more recently.

5. I don't like being drunk. Really don't enjoy it. Feeling like I can't even control my own limbs properly is not a good feeling.

6. I'm a right-leaning moderate.

7. Actually, I have a hard time talking about myself, describing myself in things like this. It's taken me forever to come up with all this stuff, and I still end up feeling like why do people want to know this? Why do I want people to know this? And if I'm gonna feel this way, why did I do the meme to begin with? Ah well. Guess I'm also a paradox like that.

Gonna break the rules. No tagging. I don't know enough people that would do it anyway. If you feel like doing this meme, go for it. If not, don't sweat it. Freedom of blogging! :)

Cracking the WiP

2008-05-28T19:03:00.004-05:00

zOMG! A blog! I knew I had one of these things around here somewhere!

For real though, I have an excuse for not posting. I've been a little busy. I've so far seen Prince Caspian 3 times (if you haven't seen it yet, what are you doing here? Go! Get thee to the cinema!), Indy once, visited Williamsburg with my mom, been increasing my WiP pool, been spinning more than previously (yayz!), and have been cultivating my new obsession with which I've been surely driving my friends and family completely insane. And as usual, I am planning on blogging more often. *snort*

Anyway, I've got fun Narnia-related stuff to show you, but since it's Wednesday, perhaps instead you'd like to see those aforementioned WiPs? Well how about...

A crocheted sock?

Kureyon Sock. Not the softest ever, but just gaze for a while at those glorious Noro colors...

P.S. That is only about 3 hours of crochet, give or take a few minutes. Now you understand what there is to love about being a hooker.

The Knitting Sisters beret. Could not resist this pattern. Yes, it's Kureyon; I can't help myself. This skein seems remarkably soft, though. Same color as the socks:

And the WiP that I started before either of those. I'm knitting Askew from Knitty. But not in Noro. Aha! A non-Noro WiP! Anywho, what I am knitting it in is Tess' Microfiber Ribbon. Yes, I am aware that it is not the same gauge as Silk Garden, and I should've reconsidered my yarn choice and gone with something that's the same gauge. But where's the fun in that? I redid the math. And it came out to me knitting the numbers for the size XL. Ironic? I think we would call it that, yes. But once you see these pics you will know why I had to do this.

See?

Is it not remarkable? Is it not gorgeous?
It's become my Robin Hood knitting, despite brief forays into the above Noro projects. I feel it is appropriate knitting for Robin Hood, it being green and kinda evocative of some of the costuming themes of the show.

Well there you have it. My WiP Wednesday post, and it's still Wednesday! Go me! Now I'm off to debate whether to start spinning, work on one of my current WiPs, or start a new one I have planned...

The Chronicles of a Narnia Scarf

2008-05-14T10:58:00.002-05:00

I promised this last week, and it didn't happen. And I was going to post it yesterday but didn't have the chance. So now on my lunch break I finally bring you the scarf you've all been waiting for! Warning: gratuitous amounts of pictures.

I was rather pleased when I finished the knitting.

It needed to be washed, though, to bring up the fuzz and soften the yarn. So I prepared a bath for it with a bit of Eucalan, and set it in nice and easy:

Swooshed it around a bit, hoping that a teensy degree of fulling would bring the fuzz up more:

(I told you the pictures were gratuitous)

It rather enjoyed its bath, and managed to look its very best while underwater:

(Okay so I just liked the way the color showed in the water...)

So after letting it soak a while and squeezing it out very carefully, I laid it out to dry:

Looks a bit more like a banner than a scarf, no?

The wait for it to dry was agonizing. Except for the part when I was asleep. That part I didn't notice. But I waited all day through work to come home to:

Hmm. That's awfully flat.

I see fuzz, but no defined columns of slipped stitches. Hmm.

The feel of the scarf is fabulous. I love it. I just am a bit disappointed in how it washed. The stitch definition was perfect before I washed it; after the wash, not so much. The slipped stitches just settled down next to the regular knit stitches and refused to stand out. So after wearing it for an evening, I gave it another bath. Swooshed it around quite a bit in hot water, by hand (just a teensy amount of fulling, but not significant) in hopes that it would tighten it up a bit and thus (in theory) squish the slipped stitches out from between the plain old knits. And instead of laying it flat to dry, I put it in the dryer on the no-heat, air-fluff setting to dry. Plan backfired. Still rather flat. With more wear, the slipped stitch columns are showing a little bit more, but it's still not the movie look I was going for.

Very elegant, though.

Very soft and comfortable, too. I just wish it had turned out looking the way I had wanted. And who knows, maybe it'll gradually spring back to its un-blocked state. And maybe Aslan will appear in our world. Don't want to end on such a negative note, though, so I will say that it's fabulous to wear and I will definitely be ordering from Stansborough Fibres again. And I will be wearing my Tumnus scarf to the midnight showing tomorrow night!!!

Handspun Heaven

2008-05-12T20:05:00.005-05:00

So, last weekend was Sheep & Wool. Two days at the Mecca of fiberness. My bank account is a li'l bit thinner now, after my sacrifices at the altar of wool and fiber tools, but I am very pleased. Allow me to show off a bit (warning: photo heavy!):

My biggest splurge, the Golding spindle lazy kate:

I finally decided that I'd regret not buying it more than I'd regret buying it. As you can see, it also serves as a spindle display stand. Meet the two newest members of my growing Golding family:

I can't resist. It's a good thing I saved up thru the month of April. Too bad I didn't save longer.

I also managed to score a Moosie from Journey Wheel. *drool*

The shaft is bocote wood. Stripey!

Which brings me to the handspun part. What's on the Moosie is merino from Gale's Art, in Cherry Blossom. I couldn't resist, started spinning it Saturday after the festival, and it's been riding around in my purse ever since, just in case.

Nom.

I also have now finished the Earth and Sky colored merino that I'd been working on. Unfortunately Flickr is being a bitch and is giving me trouble with the uploading thing, so pics will have to wait, but I can tell you about it. It's soooo squishy :) Me likey. In fact, me LOVES. Love love love.

...And now there's room on my wheel for Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep 2 Shoe. In Valkyrie. Oh. My. GOD.

Is that black enough for you? And yet, not at all black? It's colors! But it's black! But it's colors! I love the Raven Clan. And not only is it beautiful, but if you could feel it thru the screen you'd find that it's the softest thing you've ever felt. It's merino, but it feels like camel. It's the butter of the fiber world.

Yep, I'm a little busy. But happily so. But stay tuned, because tomorrow I will bring you the scarf promised in my previous post...

By the Lion!

2008-04-30T18:29:00.005-05:00

Oops. My, time did fly past this month, didn't it? Here it is, last day of the month again, and I'm just now posting my GPP Crusade entry. And I apologize, fellow Crusaders; I haven't kept up with everybody else's entries either. Only read a few of them so far.

This month's crusade assignment was stencil cutting. OMG. Michelle is such an enabler. I mean, there are worse things to be addicted to, true, but really, how many addictions does she think we can handle?

For my stencil, I decided to go with a Narnian theme. Gee I wonder why. Anyway, what came to mind was Peter's shield, the one that Father Christmas gives him. "The shield was the color of silver and across it there ramped a red lion, as bright as a ripe strawberry at the moment when you pick it." The shield of the kings of Narnia.

And of course I couldn't do something easy and/or conventional. That wouldn't be any fun. But more on that later...

So I dug out my little Dover heraldry book that I've had since the 6th grade, enlarged a lion rampant and a shield, and lo, I had my design. So I got a slab of glass that Mom happened to have lying about from our days of experimenting with polymer clay, dug out some quilter's template, and opened my brand-new handy-dandy little stencil burning tool, popped in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe DVD, and set to work.

The design:

See all those little points? Why I do this to myself remains a mystery.

Step 1, the Lion:

All those little black spots are where the stencil burner actually, well, burned the quilter's template. Apparently that stuff's not as hardy as it looks. Works, though.

After cutting out the Lion, I then cut the outline of the shield. This way, the shield with the Lion cut out of the middle would be a combination mask+stencil, with the additional Lion mask that came out of the middle of the shield. (Was that coherent?) Two pieces of plastic = two masks + one stencil. w00ties! My master plan. I'm sure someone somewhere has done this before me. But I didn't know about them, so I'm gonna claim it as my idea. *plants flag*
Dum-dum (that's me) didn't take a pic of the shield before actually using them, so you only get to see its shape after it's been doused with paint. These, and others, to be precise:

The results of which are such:

The one at the far left bottom had the Lion mask laid down and the paper spritzed with copper Shimmer Mist, then the mask peeled up and the shield laid down and pounced with red acrylic paint on a sponge. The middle top one was the same sequence, with gold and red acrylic paints applied by sponge. The far right was also the same sequence, with acrylics and Shiva Paintsticks sponged on.

And yes, I know, it's supposed to be silver, not gold. Gold shows up better and I like the way it looks with red. And copper is just what we happened to have in the Shimmer Mist. Oh well.

With the Lion laid back into the stencil after all that painting, it looks like this:

Pretty spiff, no?

Anyway, I have now purchased some spray fabric paint, and have grand plans for this stencil. I'm also resisting the urge to stencil it on EVERYTHING I OWN.

Me? Obsessive? Nah. Well, maybe a little.

And...
Coming Soon to a Pocket Near You: The Chronicles of a Narnia Scarf

Handspun FOs!

2008-04-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

I have been remiss. I finished a project last week and didn't post it. In fact, I finished it exactly one week ago. Bad Carrie.

But, as it is made from my own handspun and I have nothing new on bobbin or spindle (and I'm sure you don't want more pictures of the same roving in varying amounts on my bobbins), I feel that it is appropriate for Handspun Monday. Ladies and Gentlemen (are there any?), I give you -- the Ocean Waves Boteh scarf!

Actually, I've been on a roll with the handspun this week. Because on Saturday I started -- and Sunday I finished -- another long-planned, never-executed project. This one is from the roving that I bought at Stitches East in 2006 and spun on my first Golding Spindle (I've since started a collection). The roving caught my eye because the colors reminded me of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, and I eventually decided I would make a moebius wrap out of it. Sadly, some of the color washed out in the finishing bath, butit still makes me think of that beautiful sunrise. So about a year after finishing the yarn, I finally sat down and made the moebius. If I don't just decide to make it happen, it's not gonna make itself, right?

The color in the picture is off, unfortunately, but that's what I get for having such yellowy lightbulbs in my room. I'll try and get a more true-to-color pic. Since the color is really what's important about this piece. *sigh*

I've spun half of the Earth & Sky roving, and I need to ply what I've spun and get to spinning the other half of the roving, so that I have more handspun yarn to play with!

Red Woolen Muffler

2008-04-02T17:27:00.002-05:00

It's spring and the days are not only getting longer, they're getting warmer too. But that's no reason to stop working on this:

It's my Tumnus Scarf, version 2.1. Version 2.0 was a gift for a very dear friend, but this is the same stitch pattern, with the addition of two stitches of garter stitch at each edge. Dunno if that'll help the tendency to roll at all, but there it is. If you recall, I'm working this one in the real thing, the yarn from Stansborough Fibres :) I've had some difficulty settling on a needle size, which is why I have so little done right now, but I've finally found a satisfactory size, so I'm going with it. Should be a quick knit. I gotta keep with it though, because my new deadline for it is May 16. Why May 16, you ask? Scroll up. Yes. I have to wear it to opening day. I know Tumnus isn't in Prince Caspian, but still. It's Narnian anyway. Yes, I am aware that this is an illness. But I can think of worse things than Narnia-itis.

Handspun Monday: The Update Editioin

2008-03-31T20:10:00.002-05:00

Sorry, haven't been very talkative lately. But I do have an update!

My Earth and Sky spinning looks much the same as it did last week:

But I do have a new project. One that should've been finished by now, but apparently I can't count, so I've had to frog most of it twice. Anyway, I'm finally using my Ocean Mist yarn to make the Boteh Scarf from Interweave Crochet Spring 2007.

Ooooh.

Shineh.

Good Friday

2008-03-21T18:36:00.002-05:00

Acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, and rubber stamps on cardboard.

Happy St. Patty's

2008-03-17T07:35:00.002-05:00

No handspun today. Was too busy yesterday composing my lecture on the St. John's Bible. More on that later.

There's a group now on Ravelry for Boondock Saints fans. Oh yes. I have found my kindred spirits yet again :) Saturday night was my friends' yearly viewing of the movie. Damn I missed that movie. It really is my favorite. I know that's strange because it's so violent, but it's just so well done, and in my book, violence against bad guys is okay. Aw, hell, I don't have to justify my taste in movies. After all, that's all it is -- a movie. Just watch this vid, it's St. Patty's day!

In a stunning twist of irony, I'm also posting to bring your attention to a worthy cause. I failed to post about the last small charity that came to my attention, so I'm posting about this one. I found out about it through Pam. You can find it here.

Science!

2008-03-13T17:42:00.003-05:00

She blinded me! With science!

When I saw this yarn from Storm Moon Knits, I knew it had to be mine. Just based on the name alone.

And I knew it had to be armwarmers.

And so it is.

Blinding Armwarmers.

Scientific armwarmers. (Well, mathematical at least. Can you find the Fibonacci sequence? Look carefully, it's subtle...)

This yarn is definitely awesome. Twilight Sock in "She Blinded Me With Science" = Awesome. Which means that, yes, these armwarmers are in fact made of Awesome.

Hellz yeah.

There's Always Room for Another Obsession

2008-03-12T19:43:00.005-05:00

Michelle Ward is evil. In a good way ;)

Sometime back in 8th grade art class, we did block prints with blocks of rubbery stuff that we carved with these spiffy little carving tools. I loved it, and have always wanted to try doing it again, but didn't know where to get or even look for the materials. Michelle and her latest crusade have shown me the light.

I looked for local suppliers that might have the carving blocks I needed, and sure enough, they were there all along, at my local store. Stupid me. Friday in a mad whirl I stopped there after work and bought a few blocks and a carving tool that's got all the blades and the spares can be stored in the handle (how cool is that?). That night I set to work, and now I have my first two handmade stamps!

First stamp:

And on the back of the block, the negative image, carved on Saturday morning:

And really, are you surprised at what they are? Seriously.

I have so many images that I want to turn into stamps! I'll definitely be working on more soon. A little strapped for time at the moment, as I've got to put together a lecture on the St. John's Bible for my old high school, but as soon as that's done, I'm back to the carving! And I haven't even thought about stencils yet... In the meantime, click the button at the top of the post and check out the stuff other people are cutting. They're awesome!

Earthy

2008-03-10T19:39:00.003-05:00

That's how I feel with my current handspun vibe. Observe:

Remember that singles I spun from that gorgeous batt I got from Gryphon? Well, I plied it. With beads.

It was a little bit of a pain to ply with the beads in, but that's really cos I did it stupidly. Next time I ply something with beads, I'm going to spin it onto two separate bobbins rather than trying to string beads onto and then ply from a center-pull ball. Cos that was dumb.

Next up, I'm spinning from a gift. My friend Geri won some roving in a drawing after she donated to Lupus research. She doesn't spin, so she gave it to me, because she's incredibly sweet. This stuff is gorgeous. 100% merino, and the colorway is called "Earth & Sky."

I must check out what else Poppy Flower Fibers has to offer.

Because the color is so springy and natural, and because I am longing for spring and wanting to be outside without freezing to the bone, I started spinning this yesterday. Got about this far:

It definitely needs to be split and split and pre-drafted, but once I prep it, it's spinning beautifully. I'm trying to make the yarn more even this time, with varying degrees of success. My excuse is going to be that I was rather sleepy when I sat down to spin last night. Yes, sleepy. I did not, however, fall asleep at the wheel. *rimshot*

Soon, ever so soon, I will post my latest project/obsession. Michelle Ward is such a good bad influence! I rushed to work on this new thing right away on Friday, got two done, and haven't had the chance to play with it since. This week, though. Definitely.

Also, perhaps I should show off some of my recent Etsy finds. I've found so many sellers that deserve the love, and there are only gazillions more! Though I'm a little miffed at my mail service at the moment. Did you see Pam's shirt? I ordered one a day earlier and it hasn't come in. I'm very grumpy that I don't have my shirt. Stupid mail. Oh well, it's worth the wait ;)

PSA: Penelope

2008-03-09T02:15:00.004-05:00

Okay, so apparently "tomorrow" means "in 6 days" now. Just thought you should know.

Anyway, I have a movie you ALL need to see. Penelope.

Saw it today (er, yesterday?) with Murph and aside from the obvious (ummm could we love James McAvoy any more than we currently do? I submit that we cannot!), we both lurrrrved it. I would see it again. And again. And again. And the dvd will be mine.

Oh, you wanted to know why? Oh. Well, then. Top 10 reasons to see Penelope:
10. James McAvoy.
9. The soundtrack is pretty good.
8. It's hilarious. Trust me, I can't even explain all the ways in which it is funny.
7. James McAvoy. I mean it.
6. It's not overly cerebral, but it's still a smart movie.
5. Christina Ricci.
4. Excellent performances by the whole cast (yes, not just the stars, though they are fantastic).
3. The costumes. I swear everything she wore must have come from Anthropologie.
2. The balance of whimsy and realism that the filmmakers maintained.
1. Everyone needs a good fairy tale now and then.

Trust me on this one. It's worth your while.

Happy Dance... of Shame

2008-03-03T21:40:00.004-05:00

Guess what??? MAH COMPUTER'S FIXED!!!

After a valiant effort by Pam's wonderful husband Kris (give that man some pie, Pam!), it still refused to hold onto a connection to the internet. I thought there must be somethin in my tubez blockin my internets. Turns out my tubez were not running with the latest drivers. The Lexi found this. He updated my wireless driver and voila! Like magic! I are dumb. And Lexi is my hero. I knew I love him for a reason.

Now surfing the net is far more pleasant at home! And with this newfound lack of frustration, I bring you Handspun Monday. How's your memory for fibers? Remember the batt I got from Gryphon? The one in, ya know, the last post before this one? It's now this:

NOM. It's been on the bobbin for a week now. I'm going to be plying it with some beads in. Stay tuned for updates :)

Another thing I've been meaning to get to. It's too late for the actual crusade deadline cos I'm lame, but I actually did participate in Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team Crusade #17! The mission was to put together a travelling art journal kit. A grab-and-go toolbox of all the essentials. So I did, a good week and a half before the deadline. Did I post about it? Noooooo. Why? Well, remember the part where I'm lame? Yeah. Combination of not spending enough productive time on the internet and me forgetting. Anyway, I used a makeup organizer. Ta-daa!

There are sketchbook pages, a pencil, extra lead, a sharpie, watercolors and brushes, a good eraser, a deck of cards cos I like to use those, a rub-on transfer book that I loooove, scissors, glue, and tape. Now there are also journal tags that I got from The Paper Pixie, which I just got this weekend. I'm super excited. I really plan on doing more of this journaling thing.

I have more to show off, but that will wait. I can't cram everything into one blog post, now can I? I wouldn't have anything else to post about, would I? Oh, I would? Well nevermind. I'm still saving some for tomorrow.

Not-Yet-Handspun Monday!

2008-02-18T08:37:00.002-05:00

Okay so I haven't done any spinning in a couple of weeks. Lame. I know. But I do have pretty new fiber! Lookie!

Oooh...

It's from Gryphon. Wool and shinies :) I don't remember what the colorway is called, though. Sorry. (Gryphon? Help?) It was Forest something. Forest Floor? Woodland Fairy? Something along those lines. All I had to know was that it's gorgeous. And now it's mine :)

I have more to post, later this week. Now that I can post them. That's the problem with making gifts sometimes, you can't post about them till they're given if they're going to someone that reads your blog!

It is totally still Friday

2008-02-08T23:03:00.000-05:00

And will be for another hour. So I have time to post some yarn!

The following are goodies that I ordered from my friend Gryphon. For the month of February, 50% of all she makes on yarn is going to a very good cause. Read her blog for details. The idea of my money going towards such a cause gave me the perfect excuse to buy some of Gryphon's beautiful beautiful handpaints. Just look at these.

Lisbon:

France:

I must apologize for the crappier-than-usual quality of the photos. No justice here at all. There's far more green in both yarns than what showed up on the camera. I couldn't for the life of me get a decent shot. And I don't really know why they're so blurry. I shall blame that one on me having caught The Death.

Off topic...

2008-02-03T23:34:00.000-05:00

Superbowl. OMG.

Please tell me I'm not the only non-Bostonian left in the country that does not possess a violent and unfounded hatred of the Patriots. Please. Somebody. Anybody.

Oh well. At any rate, maybe next year my Ravens will be in the Superbowl. Maybe.

Anyway, I don't have any new handspun to show off, but perhaps I'll be able to snap some pics of my new fiber tomorrow :)

SQUEEEEEEE!!!!

2008-02-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I put in an order on the magical interwebs. This order was to be from Stansborough Farm. These are the people who made the elven cloaks for the Lord of the Rings movies, and these are the people who made the woolen items for -- oh yes -- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Many of you know that I adore Mr. Tumnus. Especially as portrayed by the scrumptious and insanely talented Mr. James McAvoy. And I lurrrve his scarf. That red woolen muffler that he wears so casually draped around his neck. The one of which there are precious few good screencaps, because there are precious few closeups in the movie. At any rate, I have already made one attempt at recreating said scarf. It's passable, but not as accurate as I'd like. So I decided that I'd like to make a new one, a better one. And this time, I went to the source.

The aformentioned order placed on the magical interwebs was for three balls of Stansborough Fibres' knitting wool, a luscious wool/angora blend that they claim to have used in the movie scarf. And guess what?

IT ARRIVED TODAY!!!

It's fabulous. It's not as thick or as soft or as bright as I'd expected. But it's beautiful and the fact that it's so rare (they only produce limited quantities) and special makes me soooo happy! Also, I'm certain it'll bloom and soften up once it's been washed.

What? Oh, right! The pictures!!!

Such a beautiful deep red! And this isn't really even accurate. It's just the closest I could get. It's even darker than this in person. But perhaps that's why the scarf in the movie looks brighter? Because it photographs brighter? Who knows...

This is more like the true color.

Nom nom nom...

This cheers me up from the fact that alas, I will not have a post ready for Michelle Ward's Crusade for January. I'll still post what I have when I finish, but it won't be in time for the deadline. Very disappointed in myself. But I refuse to be sad now! I have New Zealand wool! And it's a unique breed and it's TUMNUS YARN!!!!

The Return!

2008-01-28T21:48:00.001-05:00

The Return of Handspun Monday! And the return of the camel!

You've seen the singles. Well, last night I plied one bobbin.

Yum.

I was considering Navajo plying, but in the end I just did a simple 2-ply. It's simpler, especially for an uneven yarn.

It's soooooo soft. And I haven't even set it yet. It's like a little cloud of happiness. Fluffy and soft and squishy... and all mine.

Science Fantasy

2008-01-18T21:52:00.000-05:00

Whoa almost forgot yarn pr0n Friday! And I have just the thing.

In my magic loop class, a skein of hand-dyed sock yarn was included in the class fee. We all got to choose our own color from the selection that our lovely teacher brought. One colorway leapt out at me.

I surveyed, I saw, I snatched. It was like everything I ever wanted in a yarn color at that moment.

When I looked at the name, it was like it was meant to be. SCIENCE FICTION.

I know I'm more of a fantasy fan than a scifi fan, but I'm fairly equal-opportunity. Of anyone in that room, that yarn wanted to go home with me most of all. It told me so.

Unseasonable

2008-01-16T17:31:00.000-05:00

No progress on the Tribe scarf this week. But there is one WiP that I've been keeping from you. I started it in the Fall, but haven't been working on it at all since the show. So last week I picked it back up, so here we go: my first sock!

Started with a short-row toe. I'm alternating three stitches knit, three stitches in seed stitch across the arch. Once I get to the leg of the sock, it'll be that pattern all the way around.

The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Gold Rush. For the toe, I double stranded it with Red Willow. I'll be doing the same for the heel. I love these colors, cos they're perfect Fall colors. These socks are mostly going to be worn in the Fall. But that means I need to work on them now and finish them before Fall. A little bit out of season, but that's okay.

Now if you'll pardon me, I have to go beat up my wireless network.

Gifty Pr0n

2008-01-11T09:25:00.001-05:00

The best pr0n is free ;)

One of my coworkers is leaving for a new job. She and another friend and I started knitting while we were working offsite right near a lovely yarn shop, so I figured what better going-away present than yarn from that shop?

It's hand-dyed from a company called Cinnamon's Dye Pot. The colorway is "Rose Quartz." It's even prettier in person.

And last week, another coworker brought me a present as a thank you for mending her sweater over the summer. So sweet of her! It's Noro, too :)

Haven't decided yet what I'm going to make with it. Gotta wait for the right project.

It's a Kind of Magic...

2008-01-09T22:11:00.000-05:00

*snap, snap*

Tonight I learned how to do the Magic Loop! w00ties! I rather like it. About as much as I like using two circulars. And way better than I like using dpns. So yay, I have a new way to make round things!

Also, I have progress to show on the Tribe Pride Scarf:

What? Draped over a candle? Oh noes! Oh wait, it's LED :)

Details:

I realized today that it's the same lace pattern that's in the Hemp for Knitting fingerless mitts pattern that my mom made for me. Same pattern. Didn't recognize it until I wore the mitts today and saw my hand on the steering wheel. Duh.

That's really it for this WiP Wednesday. Wow, just under the wire. Go me! I'll post an FO tomorrow. Stay tuned!

We interrupt this program...

2008-01-06T23:01:00.000-05:00

...to bring you progress. Sadly, I did not get any spinning done today. Despite my new resolution to spin a bit on every Sunday. I know, bad Carrie. No biscuit. But what I did do today was make some progress on organizing my life. Got more storage stuff for my bedroom (which is one of the two rooms that are all mine in the house), cleaned up my CDs, rearranged some stuff, and it's now waaaaay cleaner in there. Why does this matter on a crafting blog, you ask? Why, because it's one step closer to guilt-free crafting, of course! Until I set to work cleaning my room, I felt soooo guilty sitting in the next room knitting away on my W&M scarf. Do you ever have that problem?

A Very Happy Handspun Monday :)

2007-12-31T00:00:00.000-05:00

A very happy indeed. My Ravens broke their losing streak, finally, with the last game of the season. SQUEE!!!! *happy dance* I generally hate to gloat, but I think a little celebration is fair. They looked great today. I'm a happy little Ravens fan.

Two other happy things: a Christmas present and a handspun FO! Present first. FO further down the post.

My brother wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas. I sent him an email full of possibilities, with several Etsy links and a few fiber suggestions. He and my sister-in-law chose well. They chose:

Baby Camel down! A full pound of it. Eeee!

It's washed but not prepared into roving or batts or anything, as you can see. Doesn't matter. I wanted to spin it right away anyway. Gimme...

Before Christmas dinner, I brought Ford down to the family room and started spinning. Just let it flow. Long draw, not much drafting, just taking a handful and drawing it back and letting it spin into an uneven, somewhat slubby singles.

I think I'm going to Navajo ply it, but I'm not sure. I'm just having fun with it. I like to spin random slubby yarns like this; of course I want to do smooth yarns too, but it's fun to just let it spin itself sometimes. Plus, imperfect yarns have character and texture.

Speaking of imperfect yarns, I have finally made something with my own handspun. Ok technically I've done that once already, but that was just a little neckwarmer to pin on for Easter. This is a real project. It's Calorimetry!

The galaxy yarn I spun on Ford (first yarn I spun on him!) is considerably bulkier than the yarn called for in the pattern. So I had to recalculate the size based on the gauge of my yarn. I calculated a bit off, so I had to overlap it more and add two buttons instead of one.

I actually kinda like the two-button look. Kinda like a double-breasted coat. Which I've always loved.

I also stitched around the buttonholes with some leftover Manos cotton that my mom had lying about, which just happens to match the pink silk noils in the yarn. It just kinda bugged me to leave the buttonholes unfinished. Besides, now I'll be able to find them more easily behind my head.

The buttons I found are really cool, too. Found them in Mom's stash, of course.

I'm pleased. I will definitely make another of these. I just need to see now whether I need to line it. I don't like the wind cutting through my headgear.

And btw, one more happy: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Tribe Pride, yo!

2007-12-29T12:13:00.000-05:00

My quest is at an end. I finally found a perfect lace pattern for a William and Mary scarf. It's Feather Lace from Vogue Stitchionary Vol. 1. Oh is it perfect.

See, I wanted something that would look like feathers. Because the NCAA had a problem with Willliam and Mary being the "Tribe" because that's apparently offensive to Native American Indians. Nevermind the validity given to the name because W&M was the first Indian school in the colonies. Whatever, that's only, ya know, historical legacy or somesuch. And don't even get me started on the fact that "Tribe" does not indicate what kind of tribe. Anyway, W&M challenged the NCAA's opinion, and so we get to keep being the Tribe. Not to be completely shut down, however, the NCAA decided that W&M has to change their logo. No more feathers. Having feathers in the logo is "hateful and offensive." Yeah, I don't buy it either. They should look at the really old logo, from when W&M was "the Indians." But President Gene Nichol decided it would be too much hassle and expense for the College to fight it when it's just an athletic logo, and so he just accepted it (the one reasonable decision I've seen him make so far), despite how ludicrous the ruling is. So now I am very happy to have the stuff that I have with the feather logo. And I will continue to use it on my own stuff. And this is why I insist on my Tribe green and gold quiviut scarf having a feather motif.

Wanna see how it's going so far? Ta-daa!

I know, it doesn't look like much now. But it'll be a lot clearer once it's blocked. It's fuzzy yarn, after all.

When it's stretched, the motif looks just like the W&M feathers. Woohoo!

Tribe Pride, yall! Get some!

Stick out your thumb...

2007-12-28T21:21:00.000-05:00

Because here we go, into the galaxy.

I finally spun up enough of my galactic-looking roving that I felt confident in starting a project. THE project. The one I had in mind for this yarn. Which yarn? This yarn:

Can't you just hear "Also Sprach Zarathustra" in the background?

So the project for this Hubble-esque yarn is Calorimetry. I had to change the gauge and recalculate the number of stitches it would need, because my yarn is considerably more bulky. And I got about halfway through when I realized that somewhere along the way I had gotten my short rows all uneven (I have NO idea how, don't ask me) so I ripped back all the way to the cast-on and started over. So at the moment, I have this:

I'm being a lot more careful about my short rows now. It's working up really quickly cos it's so bulky, which makes me happy. I need this headband. My ears get really cold on the way to work on mornings when I wear my hair up. This will make my ears much happier.

And do you notice the needles it's being worked on? Mom and I got each other a set of the Harmony Needles from Knitpicks. OMG. Amazing. I love them. The only slight issue I have is that with this project they keep coming unscrewed, so I have to tighten them every once in a while. I'm sure that's just because the size I'm using is a little tight for the yarn, so the stitches are uber tight. Maybe I'm wrong though.

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laaaa!

2007-12-27T16:11:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everybody!

Sorry I've been so absent. It's not nice to you, my few readers. To be fair, I haven't been taking pictures and I haven't been downloading pictures, because I got my new laptop. And oh such problems with the wireless network at home. But I want to take my new laptop for a field trip to somewhere else with wifi so that I can make sure that the problem is our network and not the laptop. Don't wanna put anything on the new laptop until I'm sure it's fine. So, no new pics. Yet.

BUT

Soon there will be LOTS of pics! I have FOs to show, new WiPs to be excited about (I've started like four things in the past two days or so), yarn to brag about, and presents to show off! And I promise I will!

Yay?

2007-12-10T19:32:00.000-05:00

Last night was a night fraught with emotions. Most of them negative. I will explain.

First off, Mom and I went to the fabric mecca yesterday. I got some of the stuff I was looking for (rayon velvet so I can try embossing it), but the main thing I wanted just wasn't there. I'm more than a little frustrated.

Then there was the evening. My computer was just not responding to anything I tried to do to fix it. Even advice from Roxy's hubby was in vain. But finally, last night as I reached the breaking point and gave up in a fit of rage, my dad stepped in again. Seems he had turned on a security feature that was blocking my laptop. So he turned that off, and now I'm connected! Woohoo!!!

That, however, could not help my Ravens. As a Ravens fan, I am depressed and more than a little embarrassed over last night's sorry excuse for a game. I don't even know what that was. I had to turn it off after the Colts' third touchdown. Did turn it back on in time to see the last two minutes of the game, though, and saw Troy Smith play with some guts. Granted, it was against the Colts' second-string defense, but still. He didn't dither. He didn't cower in the pocket. He played. OMG! I hope we get to see more of what he can do. In the meantime, I am not making any Ravens gear. I had plans. Those plans will be on hold until the Ravens come back and play in Baltimore. I'm a loyal fan, and I still love them, but if they're not gonna put in the effort to play the game, I'm not gonna spend my crafting time making Ravens gear.

And now, since it is still Handspun Monday for another few hours, a spinning update! I don't have pics (bad Carrie! no cookie!) but fear not! I have spun in the past two weeks! Last Sunday, I tried spinning some of the silk/merino I got from Lisa Souza. It was such a frustrating exercise that I had to walk away from it. I'm not one to give up on things, but at some point I do have to acknowledge that I'm not having fun and shouldn't waste my time. On the other hand, yesterday I pulled out some of the alpaca I got at MDS&W and started spinning it on my square spindle. Yum. I'm in love with that alpaca fleece. Being alpaca, it's a little tricky to spin. A little bit slippery. But if I'm paying attention it works just fine. Woohoo!!! Pics will come soon, I promise!

I've also started a Christmas present. Remember Charmed? I'm developing a crocheted version, this time using the cashmere I got from Habu Textiles. Having never worked with cashmere before, let me say: YUM.

This present may or may not be aided by a class I took on Saturday with mom. The class we took was on soldering small glass pieces together to make jewelry, ornaments, multimedia art, etc. My pieces ended up a little wonky, but for a first attempt they aren't bad. I'll have to post pics of those too. Mom and I now have a little soldering kit and plenty of little glass bits to encase pictures or fabric or whatever we want. Whee! I really wanna play with it right now. But I can't. Have to make an hors d'ouvre for the office Holiday Party tomorrow. Ah well. Soon. I will be making charms, and pendants, and such things. After all, the only way my soldering is going to get better is by practicing!

OMFGsplosion

2007-12-02T20:52:00.000-05:00

*WARNING: Mild profanity ahead, not at all ladylike*

Wow, sorry, haven't posted in a month. Partly this is due to the show EATING MY LIFE. But that's been over since the weekend before Thanksgiving. Thank God and all that is holy, it's over. Biggest freakin' disaster of a show I've ever had the misery of being involved in. And I've seen some train wrecks in my meager experience. The other half of the reason I haven't been posting is my goddamn computer. The FiOS guy came out to fiddle with our connection for some reason, and since then my piece of crap five-year-old laptop has flatly refused to talk to the wireless network. It has now been weeks that my dad and I have been completely unable to figure out this problem. I think that part of the problem is that the computer can't remember the new network password once you hit "OK" thus closing the properties window for the wireless connection. Cos every time I go back to double check it, the damn thing has clearly gone back to the old password. NO, YOU GODDAMN MORON, THAT'S THE WRONG FRIKKING PASSWORD, I JUST GAVE YOU THE NEW ONE, SO HANG ON TO IT YOU SENILE OLD PIECE OF SHIT!!! This is what I say to my computer. My computer, named HAL for a reason, complacently stares back at me as if to say "I'm sorry Carrie, I'm afraid I can't do that." Jackass.

Finally, tonight, my dad reminded me that he's got an ethernet cable just kinda hangin' out, connected to the modem. So here I am. Tied to the modem, completely defeating the purpose of a laptop. Son of a bitch.

End rant.

Some good things have happened since my last post. I started a sock. Woo! I got my Ravelry invite today, so I'm happily dinking around with that a bit on my mom's computer. The problem is I can't post any pictures yet, because my pics are all on Photobucket, not on Flickr, and not having my computer hooked up to the internet, I haven't been able to upload anything to Flickr. Now, I'm of the opinion that a website should not be exclusively compatible with any one particular hosting site, but that's just me, and I'm sure they have their reasons. So now that I'm tied to the modem, I'm going to take the opportunity to upload all that I can to Flickr. Then I can start posting pictures to Ravelry. And I'll probably end up just using Flickr and leaving Photobucket alone. Because really, why have two photo accounts?

Well, now that I have my life back and am not spending much time with the boy due to, erm, complications, I have tons of time to craft. Too bad I've missed Navy football season before getting to make any of my planned Navy gear. But now is a perfect time to start working on it for next year!

Go Ravens!

2007-11-06T16:25:00.000-05:00

So, my Ravens may have embarrassed themselves last night in Pittsburgh while I was at rehearsal, but there is still cause to rejoice. In the yarn world, that is.

Blue Moon has finally released their Raven Series! I've been waiting for this on the edge of my proverbial seat. I mean, it's me. I've long adored black and ravens and Poe and gothic themes. So the idea of a collection of yarn or patterns (cos I wasn't sure which it would be, or if it would be both) centered on ravens thrilled me, filled me with fantastic visions (to paraphrase the poet). Fortunately, it's all I had hoped for and more :) I want one of every color. They are SO beautiful, and I'm sure even moreso in person.

Now to scrounge enough money to pay for them all...

Got Goth?

2007-10-29T22:20:00.000-05:00

I had hoped to have more Goth for this, but alas, I haven't had the time to make anything I had in mind. So here is my sparse entry for

I had grand plans. I was going to make a Maggie Jackson style Halloween scarf. I was going to use my spiff new GPP stamps to make an insert for my travel mug. I was going to decorate my room. I did, however, get the spiff single volume of Poe's complete works at Barnes & Noble. I also got a beautiful book of gothic paintings. I've been listening to my Mannheim Steamroller Halloween CD. And, the week of Stitches, I made this scarf, here modeled by the lovely dressform Abigail:

Here's an uber-closeup of the crosses I found for it:

I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Very simple, but it's just what I wanted. And this particular one is a bit goth, it being black and bearing crosses. But subtle goth.

Not as subtle goth? I've been painting my nails black.

The rest of my contribution is actually shared with my Mom. Mom is an awesome decorator. And she loves Halloween as much as I do. Particularly cute or elegant Halloween stuff, not so much the gory and horrifying stuff. So here's a brief tour of our house, with Mom's decorations, and a few of my own.

(That black blob is my feathered hat from the RenFest. Doesn't photograph well AT ALL.)

(Bottles from Victorian Trading Co. I love them!)

And even the yarn room:

I know this post is already long, so I won't give you a tour of my Halloween sock collection (though you did get a glimpse up there of my pyjama pants). I do want to leave you with a video treat, though. This song is second only to the Monster Mash as my favorite Halloweeny song. It's by a German punk band called Die Arzte, And the video does a great job of showing what the lyrics are telling you. Trust me, it's funny. For those of you who, like me, do not speak German, here is a translation of the lyrics: Monsterparty

Happy Halloween!!!

To-Do List

2007-10-23T21:48:00.000-05:00

Recently I've found that if I am going to accomplish anything, especially at work, I need to have a to-do list. Otherwise I forget half -- if not all -- of what I was planning to do, and it never gets done.

With that in mind, I've been thinking about writing down all of the various crafts that I want to learn, and posting about them to share my aspirations and to commit to them, because once they're public I can't take them back.

If anybody knows anyone I could learn any of the following crafts from, please let me know. I realize that there's a lot on this list, and I probably won't be good at all or even most of them -- jack of all trades, master of none, right? But they are all skills and techniques that I would at least like to be familiar with and be able to play with if and when the inspiration strikes. Here goes, in alphabetical order (I am an archivist, after all):

1. Bookbinding. Been in love with books all my life, and even moreso since studying medieval ones. I understand how books are bound, I know the basic process, I just have never done it myself.

2. Chainmaille. Okay, so technically I've learned this one. But only the very basics, and I haven't done much with it. Hell, I've only worked on it once. When I have more time, when the show is over, I'm going to get back to this one.

3. Digital image manipulation. I just want to be able to play with stuff on the computer and make it look good. Don't need to be a digital artist, I'd settle for a decent working knowledge of Photoshop's basic functions.

4. Leatherwork. Touched on this somewhat in SCA. Haven't learned much, though. I've been wanting to get into this one for years, though.

5. Metalwork. This one is less of a priority. I just think it would be nice to be able to cast my own pewter charms. And maybe spindle whorls.

6. Photography. I've said it before. I'm not very good at taking pictures. Once again, this one could be basic. I just want to be better than I am at it.

7. Polymer Clay. Just think of the awesome low-whorl spindles I could make with polymer clay whorls. Yes, a craft to support one of my other crafts. Shameless.

8. Screen printing. Been wanting to do this for a couple of years now. Just haven't gotten around to doing it. Really need to, though.

9. Weaving. Would give me something else to do with my handspun, right? I don't want to get into big-time weaving, just small-loom stuff. A small table loom. Like the one Mom and I have had sitting downstairs for YEARS.

10. Woodworking. Yes, another support craft. But one that would support oh-so-many of my other crafts. I just need to start following Dad around the workshop again on weekends. And find someplace to pick up woodturning and woodburning and all that fancy decorative stuff.

Wow. I ended up with ten crafts/arts on the list. Not much to ask, right? ;) I know I'm a nut, but even if I don't run with any of the above, I want to at least be able to try each one. Call it a desire for a greater education. Or maybe the need to have a hand in the creation of the things around me. Really, though, I just like to make stuff.

OMG! Spinxx0rz!

2007-10-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

Wait, what? I spin? No way! Cool!

It's been far too long since I've had a post for Handspun Monday. But lookie! It's

Now, I know I mentioned the FABULOUS roving I got from Kid Hollow Farm at Stitches. It's called "Fall Harvest." Looks something like this (and thanks to Pam you can now click on the pictures to get them full size):

Closer look? Okay, here ya go:

Yum. It's like pumpkins and grapes and vines and Autumn all in one pack of fluffy goodness.

Well, it was such fluffy goodness that on Sunday, yes last Sunday, the Sunday of Stitches weekend, less than 24 hours after I bought said roving, I sat down at Merriweather and didn't leave her until I had this:

(Shown here in my lap, with my Halloween pyjama pants on :))

I didn't worry about which direction the twist was going, or how much fiber I was letting through, or how thick or thin it was, or consistency, or any of that stuffy stuff. I just let the roving spin as it wanted to, and let Merriweather start in whichever direction she wanted to spin in. It was a very organic process, and so refreshing. It actually made doing the work I had to do last weekend much easier. And I can't wait until I have time to do the same thing over again. I refuse to spin this stuff when I only have a few minutes. It's a whole bobbin spun, plied, and skeined or nothing. Cos I mean, really, just look at it.

It's a meditation.

eep...

2007-10-16T21:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, still no pictures to post. Haven't downloaded them from my camera. And I haven't taken any of what I've spun. But I wanted to post anyway, and rant a little about how very over my head I am in. If you don't want to hear me rant, just stop reading. But opening up about stuff helps me get my head in order.

See, with the costumes for the show, I feel like I'm just treading water. No matter how many people I dress, there are still five million more. And I only have one person helping me. It's a nightmare. Not that I'm not enjoying it at all, but it's just getting more and more stressful.

And because I put it aside for so long, I now have to finish that baby blanket I was crocheting by this weekend. Funny thing, that's also the first deadline for costumes. Hm. Funny how that worked out.

And there's a good deal of personal stress that I won't get into here but suffice to say it's all a bit draining.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could each just take a month whenever needed and say "bug off, world, I need some time to myself!" and just do whatever inspires us? I think that would be fantastic. I definitely need about a month to myself. That would be nice. But alas, I have no such month, so I guess that means I'm off to bed so I can get to work in the morning!

falls over

2007-10-14T21:27:00.000-05:00

Stitches is evil. In a good way.

I am exhausted, broke, and overwhelmed, but happy. Stitches East has done this to me.

It's not my fault.

Well, maybe a little.

See, all year I've been looking forward to Stitches. All. Year. And it was finally here! Mom and I signed up for a Thursday class so we could be up there for the Market Preview for students. And I signed up for a class all day on Saturday with (oh my GAWD) Maggie Jackson. *swoon* I want to be just like her when I grow up...

So Thursday was a blast. I had to take a half day off from work, but it was worth it. Pattern Writing 101 became three hours of why Carrie may never write a sweater pattern ever. But it was informative and helpful, and Edie Eckman is a wonderful teacher and a really nice person. Dinner made me feel better, though, because the SoTS got together, along with a couple of honorary members, and had a fabulous dinner at which the bartender did not charge us for our beer. Free stuff is always a good thing. Especially when you are about to break the bank. Heh heh. Heh. Oh boy.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts was my first stop. I probably should've just gone home after that. The mad crowds there were, well, mad. As in insane. But I managed to find what I wanted, and a bit more... heh heh... For the record, the element with the atomic number 6 is carbon. It also happens to be a beautiful yarn color. (I should mention that pictures will be forthcoming.)

Beyond that, everything is a blur. I know I got to The Mannings' booth. Because that's where I found the Zitron roving that I've been dying for, and the stars and stripes self-patterning sock yarn. And I know I spent more on one ball of yarn than any single ball of yarn should cost, except for that particular ball of yarn, which is more expensive normally but was discounted for the show. That very special ball of yarn happens to be quiviut. Musk ox down. Oh so fluffy, oh so soft. And oh so mine.

And I know that I met Doris Chan. *cue fangirl* SQUEEEE!!! She's my new hero. I love her books. In fact, I bought Everyday Crochet without even looking through it. And she is the sweetest person EVER. She was excited to hear that I had made the pineapple skirt and love it, and even more excited to hear that I want to make one out of hemp, because she's made a skirt out of hemp, and she promised to wear said hemp skirt on Saturday so I could see it. The pattern's not available yet, but it will be soon I think.

I even bought a present for my spinning wheel. Merriweather now has a new orifice hook, and it's appropriately blue. Sheila and Michael Ernst do such beautiful work.

Let me tell you, going to work on Friday was tough. I definitely had a yarn-over. But I made it through because I had to go offsite with a couple of my officemates, and I have fun with them. And at Murph's place I finished my newest project, of which I will post pictures when I'm ready for the big reveal.

So Saturday I had to get up at the crack of DOOOOOM to get to class on time. I mean I got up earlier than I do for work. That ain't right. But I did it. And I got there on time, in my pineapple skirt and my new project, strangely bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (I do have a bushy tail, being a squirrel and all). In line at Starbucks I ran into -- guess who -- Doris Chan! And she was wearing her hemp skirt, and it is beautiful. And she did like my pineapple skirt in BRIGHT pink Microspun. *glee* It was a good way to start the morning.

My day with Maggie Jackson was amazing. She's so clever, it amazes me the way she thinks to put things together. Her designs are so offbeat, and while there are a lot of them that I wouldn't necessarily wear, I love the way she combines techniques and puts things together in different and unexpected ways. She's just so inspiring. And I'm an even bigger fan now that I've taken her class. In fact, I'm going to do a Halloween scarf a la Maggie Jackson, because it's FUN. If I have the time between now and Halloween, that is. *crosses fingers* And as soon as I become rich and have about $5000 to spare, I'm totally going on one of her Knitting Retreats in Spain. Definitely. I'd say it's a life goal.

Now, because I needed more stuff like I need a hole in my head, where did I go at lunch and after class? Oh, back to the market, with Mom, who had come along on Saturday just to shop. Yes, I got the hemp for my skirt. And some Habu stainless steel and wool. And maybe (just maybe) some roving from Kid Hollow Farm. Which this morning I couldn't resist playing with, and I might (just maybe) have sat down at my spinning wheel and stood back up with a full skein of two-ply bulky yarn. Might have. I couldn't help it! It's not my fault! The roving was calling to me! It was like the Amityville Horror in reverse.

And now it's all over. And I had to spend the day (except for the brief spinning break) doing alterations for the show. Gonna be a hellishly busy week. But nowhere near as fun. *sigh*

Is it next year yet?

Obsession Confession

2007-10-01T16:46:00.001-05:00

Alright, alright! I'll talk!

Ever since she was kind enough to comment on my post, I've been reading Michelle Ward's blog. I've always admired her work in Somerset Studio. Little did I know that we seem to have a lot of the same tastes. I mean come on; gothic style fan, HIM fan, uses a lot of architecture and gothic elements in her design work... To those of you who know me in real life, does that not sound like ALL of my favorite things?

Anyway, she's got a street team. And the Crusades for this street team are really more like creative challenges. The most recent of which is to share something (or things) that you have a "crush" on. Person, place, or thing. Anybody that knows me knows that I have kind of an obsessive personality, and so I fixate on something for a while, only to move on to the next shiny object later. Because of this, I had a hard time thinking of anything I could post as a single, sustained "crush." Well, on the very last possible day to join in, I finally have a post.

I, Carrie, have a crush on crosses.

Being Catholic (or Catholic-ish), I do place a personal and spiritual value on them. But I also find them aesthetically pleasing, thrilling even. I know, it's probably a little weird. But I just love crosses. Latin, Greek, Maltese (my favorite), Jerusalem (my other favorite), embellished, plain, crucifix, stone, wood, metal, painted, I just love them. You might say I'm a connoiseur of crosses.

Michelle Ward's "Graven" set of unmounted rubber stamps caught my fancy as soon as I saw them. They are the most beautiful collection of crosses and related motifs. I had to have them. Well, they arrived today, and I have just been in such a good mood. Not only that, but I also decided that hmm, I DO have a crush to post!

I gathered some of my things with crosses for a photoshoot. I'm sure I have other stuff scattered about the house, but this is the stuff I could lay my hands on (and remembered where it all was!) and that I knew is my favorite stuff.

True to form, it's a sorta crappy photograph. Sorry. I really need to work on my photography skills. At any rate, ignoring the poor quality of the picture, the items featured are as follows, from left to right:
1. the shirt I bought at my first Billy Idol concert in 2003. Incidentally, Billy Idol is also fond of crosses. (And no, the autograph on the shirt is not real, it's printed. The real one is on my concert pants!)
2. (on top of the shirt) a cross that I bought to wear with my SCA garb.
3. the Graven sheet
4. (on top of the rubber) the necklace I wear almost every day. (closeup to follow)
5. two of my favorite belts. The one on top is identical to the one I spotted on my best friend not long after we met, and I'd been looking for one like it. Found it at PacSun. The one below that, with the huge buckle, is from New York and Company.

The necklace I wear most days has two very meaningful pendants. One is a Jerusalem cross that I bought to wear in my friend's show Last Rights. The other is a medal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that I bought on my high school senior retreat.

So there you have it. I've come clean. I love crosses, and I'm not ashamed!

Zombie-head!

2007-09-26T20:57:00.000-05:00

That's what I kinda feel like. I started the week -- no wait, day -- out with a minor cold. A low-grade cold that was barely a cold at all. By the time I got home from my sweltering, semi-tropical office, I was feeling definitely infected. And as the evening has gone on, I've gotten progressively more zombie-like. Grr.

In my stuffy-headed state, I did manage to not only get some real work done but also take WiP pics! Oh yes, my friends. I am actually posting WiPs. Go me!

First, the ever-present Razor Cami. In the car this weekend, I kept screwing up the front. So I had to keep ripping it back. I finally got tired of it and left it screwed up until today, when I finally frogged the same damn rows for the gazillionth time, and now it looks like this:

Notice the heap of yarn? Gotta knit that back up.

And then the New Design. No, it's not finished yet. Haven't been working on it. Much. But it's progressed since the last time you saw it, so here:

Exciting, no?

I'd post more (there's so much I want to post about!) but instead I am taking my hopped-up-on-nyquil self to bed. As soon as I stop sniffling to death.

Pilgrimage

2007-09-23T22:10:00.001-05:00

(Warning: Photo-heavy post. May take excruciatingly long to load.)

A couple of years ago, my best friend Murphy and I were listening to Eddie Izzard's Dress To Kill performance for the gazillionth time, and the part about Stonehenge in particular.

And it was then that Murph told me about the most glorious place in the world. It is a magical place, full of wonder and mystery. This place... is Foamhenge.

...

Yes, Foamhenge.

Right near the Natural Bridge in southwestern Virginia, a sculptor created a lifesize replica of Stonehenge, and he made it entirely out of styrofoam. I decided and Murph agreed that we must visit this place. We told our friend H and it was a plan. After all, Murph is from very near there, and even has a vacation spot on a nearby lake. The Plan became elaborate and perfect. And promptly took its place on the backburner for at least a year and a half.

Well, this past weekend, we finally made our pilgrimage to Foamhenge. Here is where I will let the photos take over and tell the story:

Probably nobody should be as excited as we were about a henge made of foam. But it was a very good day.

HIMday!

2007-09-19T07:14:00.000-05:00

I know, another WiP Wednesday with no WiPs. I promise, it's just because I have no noticeable progress to record. Also, it's been a busy week, trying to stay on top of things for Ragtime, for which rehearsals started this week. There are 42 cast members. There is one of me taking their measurements. I only got halfway through the cast on Monday, so I have to do the rest tonight. Fortunately, I think there will be people to help me manage the wardrobe backstage during the shows. 42 is a lot of people. On the bright side, I think I know The Question now.

Also, it's football season, which brings with it its own projects. I need to get to work on fingerless gloves and hats for tailgating. So much to do!

But most importantly, the new HIM album came out yesterday! I couldn't get it until late at night, so I'm finally listening to it this morning. It's AWESOME. As expected. Everyone needs a copy. Go forth all of you! Seek out Venus Doom (it's the one with the really ugly painting on the cover). Buy it. Swoon over Ville's voice. Enjoy the music. It's the reason we were put here on this earth.

Mmm, wet wool...

2007-09-10T16:08:00.000-05:00

I dunno why, but I love the smell of wet wool.

And I got a lot of that smell yesterday, because I finally finished some of my yarns that I want to use but have been sitting around spun but not set. Ta-daa!

Apologies for the icky yellow bathroom lighting and the cluttered shower.

I set the yarns using the method that Priscilla Gibson-Roberts lays out in Spinning in the Old Way. Put it on the stove in a pot of water and bring it to a simmer. Finally have a use for Mom and Dad's old crab pot! Most Marylanders use a large enameled pot for steaming crabs. I use it for setting yarn. Kinda sad, really. I could really go for some steamed hard crabs... Yarn doesn't take Old Bay quite as well.

On Why the RenFest is a Mixed Blessing

2007-09-08T21:35:00.000-05:00

Never thought it would be my parents encouraging me to buy a leather bustier.

Alex, I would expect. My best girlfriend Murph, I would expect. Pam, I would expect.

Did not expect my parents.

But they did. And I bought it. And it's hott. Yes, with two "t"s.
(ETA, by popular demand) The item in question:

Please pardon the different plaid shoelaces. Trust me, they're better (at least temporarily) than the ridiculous laces that were in it when I bought it, which were so stiff they stuck out on their own.

And now that I have an item for pirate garb, I would say I spent my limit today at the faire. Certainly. And probably will once again, the next time I go.

Which will not be until next month. Sad. And yet, very okay with that.

Also, I now have a desire to pick my recorders back up again. I have a soprano recorder and an alto recorder. Beyond that my hands just aren't big enough to play. But this is brought on by the fact that I've been thinking about it for a while and by the discovery today of a music ensemble I'd not seen before. (Ironic, seeing as how they play right before my favorite, The Pyrates Royale.) This ensemble is called Cercamon. And I am not ashamed to say that they stuck in my mind not only because of their fantastic medieval music but also because their frontman is absolutely beautiful. He is a gorgeous man. I noticed that after I noticed an instance of this: two at once. I've only seen that in pictures.

While I was at the RenFest and shopping in a WONDERFUL accessory shop, my dad's friend commented to me that I should be designing clothes for a living. Truer words were never spoken. I do still have a desire to work with medieval manuscripts and stay involved in the study of the middle ages, but really? I would be so happy to design and make stuff all the time. Of course I'd still have other hobbies. But my work would be so much more like play. And that would be fine with me. If I could feasibly quit my day job and spin/crochet/knit/sew/design all day, that would be wonderful. Alas, I cannot, and it's not that I don't like my job at all, it's just that I much prefer doing those things. That's what I really think about all day while I'm working. Most people zone out thinking about what they're going to do over the weekend, where they're going to go for dinner, whether that hottie at the bar last night is really going to call him/her... I zone out and think up new and interesting ways to make threads wearable. Now I am already signed on to design for my friend's next summer show, and that's really preoccupying my mind. Most of what I'm thinking about has to do with costumes and visuals for that show. Ohhh how I can't wait for next summer...

And for my next trip to the RenFest. Feathered hat, here I come!

Confessions

2007-09-06T06:59:00.000-05:00

No, there's no body hidden in the basement. Not that kind of confession.

I confess that at the Renaissance Festival this past weekend, I bought garb.

Yes, I could make my own RenFest garb. Yes, that way it would be exactly what I want and perfectly fitted and I'd be able to say "Why thank you, yes I did make it."

But I didn't.

My SCA garb is never going to be worn to the RenFest. And I don' t feel like putting the effort and time into making garb for the RenFest, and I did find exactly the style I wanted at a very low price. So I bought it. And proceeded to justify it to everybody.

Which brings me to my next confession. I have too much on my plate. I can't even manage to make stuff that I want to make. And yet I'm doing costumes for Ragtime. I need to start staying home after work, but I don't want to give up my social life. And that's all part of why I don't post here very often. I'm not home to post, and when I am, I haven't got anything to show. Pathetic, no?

Sometimes I just don't know how to stop. I've always been bad at time management.

So meanwhile, I've got a gazillion inspirations. Someday I'll get to them all, right? How do people do all the stuff they do? I've always wanted to know.

Sorry bout the angsty rant, sometimes venting to the world helps.

Combination Thursday

2007-08-30T22:14:00.000-05:00

I suck at this game. Haven't posted in over a week again. Lame... I'll just have to combine yesterday's WiP post and tomorrow's Yarn Pr0n.

Anywho, I've got new stuff going on. Got a new design in the works, which I've got pics of in progress, and I've got a gig doing costumes for Ragtime. A little intimidating. And by "a little" I mean "a lot." Granted, I won't be building the costumes myself, we're going to be renting them. But still. That's a big show to manage. *gulp*

Meanwhile, I've still got the Razor Cami on the needles.

But look!

Ten inches done!!!

And, as I said, I've got a new design in the works. It's a shawl. I'm hoping it's gonnna turn out the way I've planned.

And the yarn pr0n? It's the yarn I'm using for my new design! Mountain Colors Half-Crepe, in the Eureka colorway.

Yum, right?

By the way, is it Fall yet? I love Summer, but I'm very ready for Fall to be here. I'm getting psyched about Halloween. It's putting me in quite the Gothic mood. And this, from the new issue of Somerset Studio, made me gleefully Gothic. It's from the article "Model Behavior" by Michelle Ward (apologies for the crappy photos).

Who's that dapper gentleman on stage left?

Why, I do believe it's Ville Valo! *squee* Only, ya know, one of my ALL TIME favorite singers, from one of my ALL TIME favorite bands. Perhaps even #1 for me, though that's tough what with Blackmore's Night, David Bowie, The Beatles, and The Monkees around. Yes, I'm weird. But yeah, I've been flipping through The Victorian Trading Co. catalog repeatedly, looking at all their Halloween stuff, not to mention their usual merchandise. Gaaahhh! Is it Halloween time yet??? No, no... I can be patient... I can wait... Really...

The other thing that Fall brings is the Renaissance Festival. Oh yes. Can't wait to go! It's open, but this is me not braving the heat to go to the RenFest. I'll go, yes, but not yet. Also an opportunity for Gothic fun, by the way. Just a slightly different kind of Gothic. Whee!

I also need to order some superwash wool in navy blue and in gold. Football season is starting soon, there's a lot of gear I need to make for tailgates!

Gaaahhh, so much to do, so little time! EEEEP!!!