ellaluna

The Bathroom Post

2010-11-12T12:07:00.001-07:00

Remember when, oh, a year ago, I said I was going to reno the bathroom?

Remember how I kept promising pictures of the finished product?

Remember The Saga of the Arch? You don't? OH. That's because I never blogged about it.

The Saga of the Arch
I hate medicine cabinets. I think they are incredibly ugly and just barely functional. I heard a rumor once about a functional and attractive medicine cabinet, but I don't believe it. So I ripped ours out, and decided to build a niche in its place. An ARCHED niche.

Hole left by medicine cabinet

using enormous knitting needles
to hold the arch shape

Framing out the shelves

It's so much harder than you think, unless you've done it, and also have more than the rudimentary carpentry skills that I have taught myself by trial and error (mostly error).

Also, and I don't know if you knew this, but - almost nothing in a house is ever really square.

using drywall tape

LOTS of drywall tape

to fill in the gaps

And if you're me, and are using a handsaw and a mitre box to cut your pieces, they're never, ever, ever going to fit into the not-square hole left by the medicine cabinet. So you just keep adding drywall tape and joint compound and drywall and little scraps of paint stirrers to fill in all the gaps and holes. and you just keep covering it with more drywall tape and joint compound.

And it's not square,
and it's not level,
and it's not flush with the plane of the wall. But at some point, you are tired of sanding, and plastering, and cursing, and you decide that you are DONE. DONE, I tell you!

And after you've decided that you are done, you STILL have to texture it, prime it, and paint it.

And after three or four months, you decide that it's kind of okay that the curve of the arch isn't exactly what you wish it was, and that the texture really does kind of match the texture on the rest of the walls, and that you might not notice so much that the shelves aren't perfect, and you might put some sweet little painted terra cotta birds in the tiny shelf that you realized afterwards wasn't really the right size for ANYTHING, and then really, really love the niche.

And then you realize that you have no storage in the bathroom.

So you buy two slightly damaged narrow kitchen cabinets in the clearance aisle at Lowe's, paint them black, connect them with some scraps of MDF and lots of screws and glue, and then realize that they are not going to screw into the studs on the wall. Ever.

So you go back to Lowe's, buy some 1x4, cut three pieces to span the studs, mitre the ends to make it look somewhat intentional or architecturally interesting or ANYTHING other than what it is, paint it back, screw it into the studs, and then screw the cabinets into the 1x4.

Don't look too closely, you will see EVERYTHING I did wrong, and also, everything else I did wrong.
But!

Cabinet!

With doors!

Here's a wider shot with the light I hung. I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of installing that vanity light!!! I only almost electrocuted myself once.

(OH. You want to know about the "almost electrocuting"? Okay. FINE.)

You know how you're supposed to turn off the electricity before you do anything with lights? Well, so do I, but Jules was working from home that day and was right in the middle of something, so I had to wait. No problem. I'd ripped out the old, ugly light bar weeks earlier, and pulled off the mounting bracket. I wanted to see where I needed to hang the new mounting bracket and light and make sure it was centered and level. I figured I didn't need to disconnect the power for this step.

Unfortunately, I forgot that the outlet box STILL HAS ELECTRICITY RUNNING THROUGH IT and that there was a thick copper grounding wire hanging from the new light fixture. When I lifted the fixture to the wall, the copper wire scraped against the outlet box, shooting sparks everywhere and killing the circuit.

The smell was awful and, once I realized that I hadn't electrocuted myself, I shakily climbed down -- yeah, I forgot to mention that I was balancing precariously on the granite countertop -- and flipped the circuit back before Jules noticed that the power was out. Good thing she's wireless.

(Oh. Crap. But she also reads this blog. Sorry, babe. But look! No electrocution here, no sirree!)

So, that's the bathroom. It's not finished. I had planned to put up crown moulding and install a nice brushed nickel curtain rod with a nice shower curtain, and I was going to put a glass shelf under the arch, and I was going to paint the sink cabinet black and change the faucet, and do some kind of fancy thing to the switchplates with silver leaf and texture paint .

But I probably won't do any of that, because we're talking seriously about moving. So I figured I needed to post and brag (???!!!) while it was still slightly relevant.

A little closer to home this year

2010-11-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

This year, cancer is hitting me a little harder. A co-worker of Jules' just died of colon cancer, and a coworker of mine was just diagnosed with breast cancer.

Jules' coworker was diagnosed at Stage 4. He had been experiencing what, in retrospect, were signs of colon cancer, but kept putting off going to the doctor because his work was so demanding and, unfortunately, he worked for a company that doesn't appear to value work/life balance. (Do I sound a little bitter? I am. Jules has since left that job, for that and many other reasons.) He lived 4 1/2 months after the diagnosis. Early detection might have spared his life. His two little girls might not have had to lose their father so early in life.

I realize that Race for the Cure is about breast cancer, not about colon cancer, but Mike's death had an impact on me nonetheless. For more information about colon cancer, see the Mayo Clinic website or Medline Plus or talk to your doctor!

My coworker was diagnosed early. She made the decision to have a double mastectomy (instead of single), because that was the only way she felt she could go on without feeling, in her words, "like a ticking time bomb".

Because of these two incidents, I doubled my fundraising goal this year. I know it's a lot to ask of anyone right now, but donate if you can. A double mastectomy being the best-case scenario is unacceptable! A 42-year-old man leaving behind a wife and two young girls is unacceptable!

If you can't donate, pledge your support by getting educated:

•See your doctor, learn your risk!

•Get mammograms and breast exams!

•Notice changes to your breasts!

•Start the fight by living right!

Do you see what I see?

2010-08-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

We rearranged the seating chart at work last week. Some of us got new team leads. Some of us got new desks. Some, including me, got both!

See that patch of blue, on the left side of the picture, behind that group of palm trees?

That would be the ocean.

UFO Update

2010-08-04T09:26:00.017-07:00

(I have to apologize in advance for the formatting. Blogger makes me crazy. Editing is a pain in the ass and "Preview" is a total joke. So the layout here is kind of clunk, and I don't really understand why it's so freaking narrow. I'm sure it's fixable but quite frankly, I don't have the patience.)

I went to KnitNight at Clever Knits on Tuesday. (linked to their website, which has been having some problems lately, so don't blame me if the link doesn't work!)

I'm trying to be slightly more social and get out around other knitters. Otherwise I tend to get a little bit into my own head too much. The place was PACKED and it was kind of nice to sit quietly and listen to everyone talk.

I tried to resist, but I couldn't help but buy some of the gorgeous O-Wool in a scrumptious turqoise shade.

Then I signed up for their crochet class - I've been trying to teach myself to crochet but for some reason it is just not happening for me! I've never taken a knitting or crochet class, so this will be interesting! Of course I had to buy materials for the class - I wouldn't dream of using something I already have, that would make too much sense. I bought Cascade 220 in that delicious green you see on the left - (you can never have too much Cascade 220) - and a beautiful Brittany Crochet Hook. (note - Brittany needles and hooks are exquisitely beautiful. I can't get enough of them! They trade places with Lantern Moon as my favorite knitting needles. Well, and the Addi Turbos for lace. But that goes without saying.)

I only spent $40, which, considering my track record at yarn stores, is NOT BAD AT ALL.

The problem is, I have umpteen-dozen UnFinishedObjects (UFO's) on the needles that are dragging me down! So the goal here is to finish them in some kind of timely manner so that I can justify starting something new. Here's what I have.

SchoolTeacher Tie:

This is for my brother Robbie, who is starts (TEACHING!) school this fall. This is the skinny tie that will never end. I think I've been knitting on this for months! I only have about 3" to go, but those three inches of teeny-tiny stockinette stitches in the round seem like 3 miles. I tend to work on this in the car on the way to work. (and no, I'm not driving! That's just one of the many benefits of carpooling.)

Next on the list is a scarf for an unnamed SIL who loves anthropologie. Don't ask me how I know this, it could be because she mentions it on her blog on a regular basis. So I was looking and looking for a scarf pattern that would be anthropologistic. I think I downloaded about a dozen scarf patterns before deciding on this one. I chose it because the pattern was supposed to be fast, fun, and it used bulky yarn, which means done faster!!! Unless you run out of yarn. Which I did.

And here's another mystery project for another family member. This was going to be a Christmas present LAST year, but you can see how well that's going:

I have another half-dozen or so almost-finished, finished but I want to rip them out, finished except for the blocking, and finished but I hate it and don't know what to do with it project. (okay, now that I think about it, it's closer to two dozen.)

Before I go, (likely to start a new project entirely, let's be realistic here) I leave you with a gratuitous cat pic of Bugatti, caught in a rare moment when she's NOT trying to kill someone (she just looks like she wants to.)

2010-07-30T10:58:00.002-07:00

The following is a list, written down in the order in which it occurred to me, of things that I think I need to accomplish today:

clean bathroom
vacuum
empty car at storage
take car to shop
clean and organize closet
take extranneous shelves to storage
take footboard to storage
wrap/cover bulletin board with pretty fabric
install file drawers in bookcase
empty silver odds-and-ends bin
design/install jewelry storage solution
hang lights in closet
paint masks
make cute hair things for nieces
finish various UFO's for various belated birthdays
hem Jules' jeans
melt & pour beeswax thread conditioner for etsy shop
melt & pour recycled candle wax for etsy shop
stuff hams for etsy shop
re-photograph everything in etsy shop
photograph everything else for etsy shop
cover and install switchplates
plan meals and make grocery list for work week
laundry
blog
get eyebrows waxed
finish frame for a/c units & weatherstrip
organize tool closet & clean pantry
plants
go to Upholstery Fabric Outlook to look at upholstery fabric
buy crochet hooks
learn to crochet
crochet cute washcloths
reupholster office chair
hang shelves in various places
buy a new bra
plan my new career
teach myself how to spin
paint the sink cabinet in the bathroom
install tip-out shelves in kitchen and bathroom
go to Lowe's to buy tip-out shelves for kitchen and bathroom

Considering that at least 30% of these could be all-day projects (hell, considering that just going to a fabric store could be an all-day project!) I'd surmise that I probably can't accomplish all of the things on this list today.

No wonder I don't know where to begin.

36 and a half years

2010-01-13T14:33:00.007-07:00

On December 27, 2009 My Gram passed away. She was 94 years old. I had known her all my life - 36 and a half years.

When I was a little girl, I don't think anything in my life was as exciting as packing my suitcase to go spend the weekend with her and my Grandpa. I called her "Nana" then. She would have been about 63, and was still working as the Curator of Special Collections at Weber State University.

There is so much about who I am today that I owe to her.

From her I learned magic. I learned stillness. I learned an appreciation of the natural world. She taught me to be at ease in a variety of situations, and always expected me to act my best. She introduced me to writers and painters and architects. I awoke to the smell of coffee and peanut butter and oil paints. She brought me breakfast in a king-size bed with a satin comforter, and I sat there like a princess, with my cloth napkin and heavy wood bed tray, watching the ballet of Romeo and Juliet on PBS. I sat breathless on her porch, overlooking a canyon, waiting as patiently as a 4 year-old can for hummingbirds to visit one of the feeders she had dangling around her back patio, and we picked tiny, juicy, fresh strawberries from the front yard that I would drop into my breakfast cereal.

It was she who first introduced me to theatre, and I remember sitting transfixed at the edge of my seat in a little touristy theatre in Jackson Hole. She taught me to order at restaurants, and the appropriate way to introduce people.

I learned to dance. Not dancing in any kind of recognizable way, but twirling gloriously to music. And books -- always books.

It's not all sunshine and roses, of course. My grandmother could be a very difficult woman. The need for others to see her and her family a certain way colored her interaction with so many people, and made for some very difficult conversations at times. So from her, in a strange way, I also learned authenticity. Her lack of boldness made me bolder. Her need to rewrite history made me confront the realities of my own life.

She wasn't the grandmother who bakes cookies or knits afghans. I think she tried, on occasion, to fit into that role, but it never came naturally to her. I wonder sometimes who she might have been if she allowed herself to live without fear of what others thought of her. In her obituary, it said that she was "Always ready with a plate of warm cookies." I’ve been wondering who wrote that – probably she did! I never knew her to bake cookies. Oatmeal came from little paper packets, biscuits came from a can that popped frighteningly when you hit it on the edge of the counter, and most of her meals came about as a result of many little packages that were torn apart and put together. Still, her twice-baked potatoes were to die for, and oh! the wonderful little dishes she had to put everything in!

When I was 16, and living with her and my grandfather, I once mentioned how much I love the smell and taste of fresh-baked bread, and she went right out (well, my grandfather probably “went right out”, as I never did see her conquer her fear of driving) and bought frozen bread dough. Once a week, at least, I would come home from school to see her taking bread out of the oven.

When I look at pictures of her and my grandfather on one of their trips, I see this woman, this cultured, quirky woman. She's wearing amazing clothes, sipping champagne, and laughing with her friends. I look at those pictures and realize she's in her 50's doing these things, and wonder why, at 36, I constantly berate myself for not doing more with my life.

Looking back, I think that everything in her life was a part of her own personal "Special Collections". I don't think my grandfather would ever have had the career he had if it weren't for her pushing him, organizing his life and his work. It was this pushiness that made her so frustrating to deal with as I (and she!) got older.

I wish so much that her need to rewrite her own history hadn’t been so strong, that she could have told me stories about what her life was REALLY like, and not felt the need to embellish so much that her stories were barely discernable from those in the books she was always giving me. I wish I’d been able to get to know her better, that her pushiness hadn’t pushed me away.

I didn’t speak at her funeral. I wanted to, I didn’t want to, in the end I just felt I couldn’t. I’m still not satisfied with her life. I still don’t have my questions answered, and at the time (recovering from a horrible cold) couldn’t make enough sense of her contradictions to feel comfortable speaking to others about who and what she was.

I guess this is my eulogy for her. It remains unfinished.

All I want for Christmas

2009-11-29T11:32:00.004-07:00

My sister asked me last night what I want for Christmas. She said "Mom has no idea". I thought, "What are you talking about? I'm easy! Just look at my wishlist...

And then I looked at my wishlist. Hmm. There's not really anything on there. So I started thinking, and looking, and that was when I realized -- I have everything I need.

Now that's a scary thought. I mean sure, I always want more earrings, and more shoes - because really, what femme girl DOESN'T want more earrings or more shoes? But when I look at my life, for the first time in years - YEARS, people!! - I actually have enough money to cover my needs. This is a new thing for me. It's kind of exciting. And scary.

So the only thing I really want is more hours in the day. I'm working on some fun, exciting stuff, people!!!

I did finally finish some of these, and they are now for sale in my etsy shop.

And here are some works-in-progress:

I have miles to go on this one.

And then there's him. The red was just going to be a base color, but I really like it. I think he just needs some shadowing and a finish coat.

I also have a box half-full of overdue gifts for my family, and I must finish the four things that still need to go into that box so I can ship it -- because it has to be there before Sunday!!!

Here's a look at that pile:

The worst thing is that the person who reminds me to eat and sleep when I get like this is out of town for a week. Which means that the kitchen is a disaster and I'm out of food. So anyone who wants to come clean my house and cook me healthy, delicious meals, is welcome. I'll pay you in yarn! (must. destash.)

So... what do you want for Christmas?

Working working working

2009-10-19T18:17:00.004-07:00

Wow, I have been BUSY! I got a full-time job recently and it's amazing how much of a shift it is to go from working about 20 hours a week to working 40 hours a week. I also get up at 4am to be at work by 5:30 and I think my body is still rebelling. The last few nights I haven't gotten much sleep, and I'm baking frantically for the Susan G. Komen bake sale tomorrow at work. I only have about 6 dozen cookies done - and I feel like a slacker!!

In other news, I've been knitting and stuffing madly. I have so many things to finish and so many things to photograph!

Here's a bit of what I've been working on.

I just finished this for a friends baby:

And I've been working on this for another baby:

And here's a sneak peek of things to come in my etsy shop:

Wondering what it is? You'll just have to wait and see...

Long time no SEA

2009-08-21T11:54:00.006-07:00

I hate bad puns, but I couldn't resist.

After five years away from the water, I've finally started doing this again:

If you would also enjoy doing this, you should go here .

Anniversary Dress

2009-06-29T10:12:00.008-07:00

Here's the second dress made for Yvonne! This was made for her (new) husband's parents 40th Wedding Anniversary Celebration. I had every intention of taking pictures at the final fitting... but we ended up doing it at my (day) job while I was on my 30-minute lunch break, and snapping photos was the last thing on my mind... So I adjusted a strap, added another little ruched detail at the hem, and sent her on her way. Whew!

She's promised me pics, but until then, here are a few process shots:

This is the underdress. Isn't it pretty? I almost hated to cover it up with the burgundy embroidered rayon. The front piece of the skirt was draped on the bias. I wanted it to skim over the baby belly without adding extra bulk, so I cut the underskirt differently from the overskirt. I don't know if this was a stroke of brilliance or just plain insanity.

And then the overdress. The front was draped in one piece. Again, I didn't want to add unnecessary bulk by putting a seam there. And, again, this may have been a stroke of brilliance or sheer madness.

And here's the detail of the side ruching. (Please ignore the TOTAL DISASTER that is my sewing room. I can't figure out if I am seriously overestimating my abilities or seriously underestimating the amount of time it takes to do things.)

What I will say is that I'm kind of impressed with myself. Between Jessica's Wedding Dress (I just searched my blog and realized that I NEVER posted pictures of this. I wonder if it's because I'm STILL WAITING for the reception photos. [HINT HINT]) So here's a process pic of her wedding dress:

That was ... hmmm... early 2008. MAJOR undertaking. One-of-a-kind, original design, all of the bodice draping was done in one piece, etc etc... Then there was Yvonne's wedding dress, which was a simpler design, but still one-of-a-kind and, again, created entirely by ME. And then the dress above. Each of these dresses has been different, some more difficult than others, but each presented different design challenges and different fabric challenges.

So I guess -- I'm proud of myself? I didn't take draping in college, I muddled along and got some pointers here and there, but most of the time I find myself on a collision course with a deadline and, truth be told, NO FUCKING CLUE what I'm doing. (Scary, no? Notice I don't mention this until AFTER deadlines are met) But I guess I've picked a few things up along the way, because -- SUCCESS! Right? I mean, these dresses look pretty good, don't they?

And I don't want to admit this in a public forum, because I'm presenting myself as a professional, (and I am, dammit!!) But I'm committed to PROCESS and, especially, learning from process. So I want to get on here and admit the mistakes I made. Admit that in one point during the draping of the anniversary dress, I thought that I could drape the underdress in one piece, and that the pleats forming the bust could drape into pleats for the baby belly. Here's a pic:

It's a mess, isn't it? Because it doesn't work that way. And I didn't know that (which is why we drape in muslin!) But I know it now - and not only that, but I UNDERSTAND it now. And I believe that there's a lot of value in that!

So I'll continue being honest. That's ok, right?

Isn't she lovely?

2009-06-10T10:47:00.004-07:00

The lovely Yvonne, in her non-traditional wedding dress:

Whew! Someday I'll tell you how, the day before the wedding, I was pressing seams and melted all the clear elastic that was in the back part of the dress (I used clear elastic because I wanted to play with the sheerness, and didn't want to see white elastic through the sheer overlay) and had to re-thread it all the night before the wedding, which meant rushing the dress down the hallway to the Bride's hotel room minutes before she left for the wedding! I didn't tell her this, of course.

And thanks to Jules for deciding we should stay in the hotel across the street from the venue, even though we only live 20 miles away. This also helped post-wedding, after we'd consumed as much alcohol as possible in a 4-hour period. (At the request of the Bride & Groom, I might add. Half of their guests don't drink, and they wanted to get their moneys worth! And no, you WON'T be seeing those pictures!)

Busy!

2009-05-28T09:23:00.009-07:00

drink:

eat:

dress:

dress:

dress:

sleep:

(okay, yes, that's Xander sleeping, but trust me - he's a helluva lot cuter than me sleeping! Plus I think it's adorable that he plants himself wherever I've been the most - so since I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, he's curled up by my sewing machine. And I know I promised not to post too many pictures of my cats, but COME ON! That's freaking adorable!)

Occasionally I even knit:

Okay, so I haven't photographed any of that lately. Hey, did I mention I've also been working full-time at my temp job? Yikes!

Working from Home

2009-05-06T08:49:00.007-07:00

This is how my mornings usually go when I'm working from home. I get up at around 7 (okay, 7:30) and get some coffee and turn on my computer. I open Firefox and my mail, and I've already drunk the first cup of coffee, so I get another cup (and manage to drink this one slowly). I spend approximately two hours doing mostly useless stuff on the computer machine. Some of it isn't so useless, but it's mostly checking out recaps on TWOP, making snarky comments on other peoples' status messages on Facebook, and catching up on the latest inanity on HuffPost.

At some point, I realize that I am hungry, and I spend 20 minutes trying to find something to eat that doesn't require any actual preparation. By the time I realize that I need to actually prepare something, I give up and have a bowl of cereal. By this time, it's 10:30 and I'm awake enough to try to get some work done.

Four hours later, I'm still in my pajamas, I'm hungry again, I haven't brushed my teeth, and my feet hurt because I'm standing there barefoot. I'm also not being very productive, because I haven't put my contacts in, and it's amazing how inefficient you can be when you can't see what you're doing.

New plan: one cup of coffee, oatmeal, brush teeth wash face get dressed put in contacts and go to work! I'll let you know how it turns out.

I'm making a Hawaiian wedding dress for a friend of mine whose wedding is the 30th of this month. She's pregnant, so the plan is to make a dress that can be quickly and easily altered if necessary, and that gives room for the baby belly. She lives in Houston, so fittings are tricky. She flew in last week for a first fitting, and although I took photos for my reference, she really doesn't want pics of what she calls "The Casper Dress" (because the mock-up is in white muslin) being shared, and of course I respect that!

So here's a pictorial diary of the process, sans human body:

First off, padding my size 6 dress form to resemble an actual human woman (as opposed to an LA actor-size woman.)

First, I used an old tee as the base for the padding:

Then added a layer of batting over that:

And then tacked the batting to the tee using a really long whipstitch:

I then draped a fitted sloper in muslin and sewed it into shape:

And fitted it over the padding, safety pinning the back and adding a bra in the size of my client:

I padded it out to a standard size 12, so that I can use it again. Then I can customize the hips, bustline, and waist to the size of the person I'm draping for. For this one, I am also adding a "baby belly" section.

At some point I'll put a zipper in and finish the raw edges so the entire thing is encased, but right now I am working on the wedding dress!

Draping it was so much fun! I love being able to throw fabric on a form and be able to see right away what it looks like, as opposed to flat pattern drafting. The first fitting went pretty well, and now I'm adjusting the pattern and doing a second mock-up. The challenge here is that I won't see the bride again until three days before the wedding, so I'm putting seams in strategic places and building room into them. We've also done an elasticized back -- similar to a sundress -- both for her comfort and to allow for any changes her body may go through in the next few weeks.

This is such a challenge, and so much fun! I'll be posting followup pics as I get them done.

Spoiled again!

2009-04-16T09:08:00.012-07:00

Gentle Readers,
It's been a long long while since I posted here, and for that I offer my sincere apologies. And now I have so much to blog about (the Final Four, the massive [to me] amounts of money I spent on yarn while in St Louis for the Final Four, the Final Four!, the wedding dress I'm making [GULP!], my latest adventures in knitting, the Whedon-stalking that I'm hoping to kick into high gear later this year, and of course my deep and abiding love for parentheses) that I don't even know where to begin!

But the incredible generosity of my spoiler in the Ravelry Warm-Ewe-Up Winter Swap cannot go another minute without being acknowledged!

Y'all, "WOW" does not even begin to cover it. Underneath all the goodies is a knitting needles roll-up bag from Katie Fleck Designs which happens to match the boxy bag and the zippered bag that I received in two previous packages. This is so great!!! A place to put my needles! And I love the pattern of the fabric. I take the boxy bag with me everywhere I go, it's absolutely perfect and I love it so much. I'm so excited to add the needle case to it.

This is the first best:

I love how she used little post-its to cover up the parts of her message that referred to the stuff I may not have opened yet! Isn't that great? Because of course I tore open the card immediately because I couldn't WAIT to find out who it was! And she of course knew that I would do that!

And the spoiler is: mobarger!

Ok, so last month when I got package #2, I got a little obsessed with trying to figure out who my spoiler was, and I narrowed it down to about 4 peeps in the group, but I kept going back to mobarger. She farms full-time in upstate NY and also works full- time and STILL manages to find time to knit. That's inspirational.

Also, there must be something in my genetic memory (both sets of grandparents grew up on farms) that makes me long for a farm. It's completely unrealistic given my career choice, but I still fantasize about living on a small farm. Oh, I know it's an obscene amount of work, that's why it's a FANTASY! But I was pretty darn excited - word of warning to Mo -- I'm coming to visit you someday! I think it was the pics of the roosters that did me in. That and having read BOTH The Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in the past year has made me really think about where food comes from, and why oh why we are so OK with the industrialized process from which so much of our "food" comes from in this country.

But that's a rant for another day.

Now for the close-ups!

Lovely Linen Yarn. My mind is spinning with the possibilities!

SCHAEFFER!!! I've been lusting after this in various yarn stores for months. I must be psychic or something because every time I've decided, regretfully, not to purchase any. And LOOK! I'm being rewarded for my restraint:

TREATS!

Look at all those tiny little chocolate sheep! And my two favorite kinds of chocolate bars: cherry & almond in dark chocolate and ginger in dark chocolate. YUM YUM YUM! Yes, you can see I cracked right into one of those already.

In the back is a mug from the Ithaca Coffee Company (it has a rooster on it! How cool is that??!!) with BEANS from Ithaca Coffee Company - it smells HEAVENLY. This morning my roommate was about to pour me some coffee and I yelled "NOOOOOOO!" and ran into my studio where I had just photographed everything (yes, I actually photographed everything BEFORE COFFEE. Does that tell you how excited I am?) and had to get my new mug and wash it so I could use it.

yes, I am a five-year-old.

THREE - count 'em, THREE patterns - two for socks (hooray for socks!) one of which teaches the toe-up method on one circular -- which I've been dying to learn! She also sent me some gorgeous sock needles to replace the ones I broke. And some lovely lovely little bits: a tiny little ornament with a sheep on it, a sticker from Ithaca Coffee Company, and a vinyl sticker that says "knitgirl"

I feel like I'm in that lovely state of bliss that you get after a well-prepared meal and a few glasses of wine. This was my first yarn swap and I feel so very lucky to have gotten Mo. She got to know me SO WELL and obviously took the time to pick through my blog and my wishlist and find things I would really love and appreciate - and many things I needed as well. Her generosity leaves me speechless.

Ok, not speechless, because that would never happen.

Mo, thank you so much.

ETA: Did anyone else notice that the colors of the knitting organizers and the colors of the yarns I just got match the colors I've selected for my blog? Is Mo really that clever, or is that just a coincidence? Inquiring minds want to know!

Ravel and Rave

2009-03-02T14:24:00.006-07:00

Right before we left for the Grand Canyon, I got this BEE-YOU-TEE-FULL package from my secret swapper. I have already dispersed and absorbed everything into my daily life, but just to show you how wonderful it is I have gathered it back together for a reunion show.

WOW. And I do mean wow. An accessory bag that matches the boxy bag she got me last month - EXACTLY what I needed, especially right before a trip! A little pin from the Loopy Ewe, which I put on the accessory bag, some awesome stitch markers (one of which is already in play on the socks I'm knitting for my dad) and a keychain retracting tape measure, also from the Loopy Ewe. (A tape measure in your knitting bag!?! Who comes up with these things???!!!)

Oh, and of course the chocolate, which, naturally, is already gone. (Peanut M&M's? PERFECT in trail mix! And caramel kisses... sighhhhh... I will be spending the next three hours at the gym.)

The yarn. Can we just talk about this for a minute? I love it. It's a yarn I've never used and it's SO AWESOME. She even included a sock pattern with it! Socks for me, HOORAY! Of course I have three birthday presents I'm working on right now, so socks for me are going to have to wait a while, but they'll be so cute with my new Merrell Mary Janes that I got from my mom over the holidays (and I've been looking for the perfect socks for them, too!)

The sock blocker keychain -- SOCK BLOCKER KEYCHAIN, y'all! -- is too adorable for words, and even better: it came with a teeny-tiny little pattern so the sock blocker doesn't have to go barefoot.

The lotion is simply lovely, the perfect scent, not overpowering, and absorbs quickly and makes my hands feel soft. The incense is HEAVENLY. I must know where she got it because I've burned 3 -- make that 5 -- sticks already and I'm about to light up a fourth -- make that sixth. I love it! The candle too! Such a wonderful scent. And check out the "Sheep" hangy placard thingie. AWESOME. And it all comes together just as I'm putting up my cutting table again for the first time in years. It's just the perfect thing to make this a wonderful, peaceful, creative space so that I can get my groove back and kick my etsy shop into high gear.

Thank you. SO much.

And now it's time for the Ravelry Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap Bi-Weekly Question:

What knitting/crochet pattern have you worked that you could see yourself making over and over and never get tired of?

Hmm. This is tough. I tend to not EVER want to make the same thing again. I get bored easily, and I like to create my own patterns. So my first thought is: "Socks." Does "socks" count as one pattern? I'm working on the Stalwart Left Right Socks from Heartstrings Fiber Arts for my dad. It's an awesome pattern (and I'm knitting from a chart again! egads!)

So if I wanted to narrow even further, I could say baby socks. I love knitting up these tiny little bits of wonderful. They're so quick, they use up those little leftover bits of yarn in my stash, and the results are too twee even for me.

mmmmm.... socks....

No work! More working!

2009-02-24T10:17:00.004-07:00

My seasonal gig has ended for the... well, season, naturally, which means more time to focus on the stuff that I live for, which is designing.

The last few days have been busy. I finally got my cutting table out of storage and pulled everything out of my workspace/office/studio. Let's just call it a studio, I like calling it a studio. It makes me feel all designery, and not like someone who just can't get a "real" job.

So I'm completely reorganizing to make room for the cutting table, and right now things in here are just plain chaotic. I've been working on it for three days, and for quite a while there it looked worse than when I began, but things are finally starting to come together, just in time for me to go out of town for a few days. Sigh.

I can't complain though -- my roommate Jules just got an exciting (well, if you're a geek it's exciting, I barely understand half the things that come out of her mouth) new job, and wanted to take a break between her old job and the new one, so we're leaving for the Grand Canyon early tomorrow morning! I'm so excited; I've never been, plus Jules is going to drive most of the way which means I get to work on the Clapotis, which I finally cast on for yesterday! I'm using the gorgeous ella rae lace merino from my yarn swap, and I just love the way it's knitting up. Plus it's a very simple knit, which makes it perfect for travel. And I just LOVE the way this knits up. From far away it looks almost grey, and then you get close and it's this wonderful mix of purpley auburney hues.

YUMMY!

In a related, but sadder note, I (almost) finished the baby socks I was knitting, and I RAN OUT OF YARN! Know anybody who can send me about 3 yards of Trekking? I'm thinking about ripping back the toe on the finished one and then redoing both toes in a contrast color, but I don't ahve one in my stash, so I may end up buying more Trekking anyway. Which I sort of ok, I guess, because I do love the colors, but -- ARGH.

Of course, I could also knit a matching cap out of it. hmmm... Ideas? Anyone?

And while I try not to post too many cat pics, this one is irresistable. This is the Xander-mouse, who was pretty content with all the rearranging bustle yesterday, because he found the perfect vantage point from which to watch:

That's all for now!

Experienced

2009-02-18T20:59:00.010-07:00

Previously, on ellaluna: babies babies babies!

Well, just the first part is about babies. After I posted the bit about designing my own patterns, and Miriam commented, (and later sent me a very helpful and informative email) I started panicking.

Do I really have the audacity to lump myself into the same category as the amazingly talented Miriam L. Felton? Do I even have the talent to do such a thing? And how dare I enter a field where so many much more talented and much more experienced designers have gone before? I've only been knitting for three years, what makes me think I have ANYTHING to offer the varied and abundant world of knitting patterns? At BEST, I've only just come over the cusp of novice. I mean I've never even knit a REAL sweater, for hecks sake! Lace makes me dizzy! My mind is still not able to fully comprehend the magic of turning a heel, and now I think I have the expertise to DESIGN a SWEATER? I must be smoking crack.

The baby argyle sweater goes into hibernation.

But I need something to do now. The yarn for the flutter scarf (coincidentally, a Miriam pattern!) has not arrived yet, and I can't find my gorgeous size 5 Lantern Moon needles to cast on for the Clapotis scarf that I am knitting for ME out of the luscious ella rae Lace Merino that I received from my "spoiler" as part of the Winter Yarn Swap on Ravelry.

So I pick up Ann Budd's "Better than Booties" baby socks pattern. Baby socks are easy, right?

I look over the three different patterns. Hmm, the Ruffle Rib socks are cute, but that's almost an entire page of knitting instructions. I wanted something easy. The Cable Rib are also nice, but since this is for a baby girl, I decide on the Chevron Lace. Only one paragraph of instructions, plus they'll look adorable in the Trekking XXL that I have left over from the Simple Trekking Socks (oh, look, another Miriam pattern!) I made for my mom last year. The colorway is heavenly and perfect for this baby, whose mother is NOT fond of the traditional soft pinks for her baby girl.

I start easily enough, and before I know it, I've done a folded picot edge. Wow. This is a TOTALLY new thing for me, and I just love the way it looks. I admire it for a few minutes before diving in to the lace pattern.

Crap. The lace pattern doesn't come with instructions, only a chart. I've never knitted from a chart before. Oh well, it's a very short chart, I'm sure I can figure it out. I start in on it, and it makes perfect sense. Ok, cool. Wow! Before long I've memorized the pattern and I'm knitting merrily along.

Oops. Forgot something. The Trekking likes to split. A LOT. Especially with lace patterns. And I'm knitting such a tight gauge that it gets especially splitty when I'm doing the SSK (sorry, non-knitters, I know I'm using a lot of completely foreign terms today!) It's while negotiating the "K" part of an SSK that my needle breaks in half. This has never happened to me before.

After staring in horror for a few seconds (that seem like minutes) at the two halves of my needle, I pick up my nail file and file the broken edges into a point. I soon find that these little needle stubs are actually PERFECT for the little lace patterns.

I eventually get to the heel, and see this:

Heel: Work as for Ruffle Rib socks.

Hm, okay. I turn the page back, and there is the page of instructions I was avoiding. At this point I can only laugh. I'm too far along to go back now.

It takes a little while, but I get the hang of it, and it's actually starting to LOOK like something. People walking by my little low-walled cubby (oh, did I mention that I'm doing this in between calls at work?) are actually stopping in their tracks and heaping praise on my meager efforts. Quite frankly, I'm kind of thrilled.

When I get to the toe, and read that I need to go back to the instructions for the heel and do the same thing, I'm completely unfazed. I blithely flip back to the page where the instructions begin. It is then, and only then, that I glance up and see three tiny words:

SKILL LEVEL: Experienced

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day this year?

2009-02-14T17:27:00.004-07:00

That's the bi-weekly question from my Ravelry Swap Group.

For starters, I'm REALLY HAPPY that I'm not working today. I worked yesterday and it was probably the worst day I'd had. I think 95% of the calls I took were "Service Calls" which means: people unhappy about something.

In case you've not been following along, I'm doing seasonal work in the Call Center at Proflowers for V-Day. That means on the day before, people are calling because they waited until the last minute and are now going to scream at me because delivery on a Valentine's Day on a Saturday is more expensive than the cheap (but lovely, of course) bouquet they are buying at the last minute and they're certain that if they yell at me long enough the Procrastination Fairy will magically make the earth spin backwards or something.

Or they're calling because the flowers they ordered two weeks ago aren't there yet and they don't understand why because they ordered them two weeks ago and it's already 10am and that's "plenty of time" to deliver a box of flowers, never mind that there are half a million other people who are also getting flowers today and so you might not get them until 8pm, which is what we told you when you bought them.

Having said that, it's a great company to work for, and yes, the only calls I get all day on the day before a Major Holiday in the floral industry are of course going to be from people who did not receive the normally stellar service and product from Proflowers, (or the aforementioned procrastinators, and I'm not going to be too hard on them because half the time I'm one of them, except that I'm smart enough to know that if I fuck up and wait until the last minute there are going to be consequences, and most of the time I try NOT to blame someone else for them) and I'm not saying that because I'd really like to continue working there for a little while but also because honestly, if I ever needed flowers for someone, I'd use Proflowers without a seconds hesitation.

Having said THAT, I also need to add that working there is actually fun, even when half the calls you get begin with someone screaming in your ear. I arrive at work a little before 6am, have breakfast (provided by the company during Valentine's week) and go to my my seat assignment for the day (multiple interim peeps working means not everyone gets their very own desk). There are large windows everywhere, flowers everywhere, and the upper muckety-mucks do a great job of empowering and supporting the people on the front lines. (Despite my earlier sarcasm, I'm quite good at managing the service calls and have a lot of options for making it right without having to "talk to my manager", which is one of the reasons I like working there, because not only do they expect me to think, they also give me the tools to fix stuff once I figure out what went wrong)

Um... where was I? Oh yes. So I answer calls for a few hours and then eat lunch, also provided by Proflowers, then I go back to my cubby (in natural wood tones with frosted plexi dividers) and take some more calls. About an hour later, someone comes around to my desks with cookies and milk. Seriously. The day before that it was Jamba Juice. And right before I leave? A dozen beautiful long-stemmed pink roses.

So yes, if I'm going to be working a day job, this isn't a bad one to have.

Oh, but this question was about what I'm doing TODAY. Yeah.

Earlier in the week (on my day off) I made sugar cookies and when Jules got home from work (her cubby is all grey and industrial-looking and there are no windows and no flowers and they don't even get WATER, let alone cookies) we cut them into heart shapes and decorated them. Since I was covered in frosting, flour, and cookie dough for a good portion of that time, here is the ONLY picture I took. I'm sure Jules will be thrilled that I'm sharing it with you.

Last night we went to the Teppan place we like in Escondido. We had great food and shockingly bad service. Came home, had a few beers, watched Galactica (my head is still spinning!!!) watched Burn Notice (really it's just good clean fun) and went to sleep. Got up early this morning (well, 7:30, which would be early for me normally but after getting up at 4:30 all week it's more like sleeping in) and I've been alternating shopping for yarn online (it's so nice to have a paycheck) with cleaning the bathroom (really, I have the shortest attention span when it comes to cleaning. I find something out of place, go to put it away, see something else I meant to do, start to do it, remember that I was going to put something else away first, start to do THAT, and two hours later Jules is following the trail of lights I've left on around the house and muttering about the electric bill.)

So that's my exciting tale of Valentine's Day: Heart-shaped sugar cookies, Battlestar Galactica, and cleaning the bathroom. I really must stop now because I think I've used up my quota of parentheses for the week.

Babies, babies, babies! oh, and pricing

2009-02-10T09:54:00.007-07:00

It seems that everyone I know is having babies! Aside from being crazy jealous, (what's THAT? Is this the biological clock thing I hear so much about on the TV machine?) I am in knitting - well, heaven or hell, depending on how you look at it. So many babies! So many cute things to knit for them! So few hours in the day!

I haven't posted anything new to my shop on etsy for a while. It's not just the aforementioned job but also realizing that I'm not charging enough for what I'm selling there.

The struggle I'm having is, as always, a complex one, one I think other artisans understand, and that's Perceived Value. First, we tend to undervalue ourselves, secondly many buyers don't value handmade when they can get "the same thing" for one-tenth the price at Wal-Mart, and third, we are often competing with OTHER sellers who undervalue THEMselves. I'm pretty sure I've blogged about this before.

So I tend to price things for "what I think they'll sell for" instead of what I think they're WORTH, and as a consequence I frequently find myself packing something up to ship and then, after paying postage and PayPal and etsy and looking at what's left in my account, I get this sick feeling.

At the same time, no matter how long it takes me to knit a cover for a tin can pencil cup, no matter how beautiful it is, and no matter what the yarn cost, I still can't comprehend anyone paying $45 for a pencil cup. (No, you haven't seen any pencil cups in my etsy shop and you never will, but I do love the way my paintbrushes look in it.)

There is a point to all this, and babies do figure into it, and I'm fairly certain I'm about bring it all together and make my point. Stay with me!

For several months I've been searching for the "perfect" argyle vest pattern for my nephews, and I've been unable to find anything that fits my exacting specifications. Having never knitted a vest at all, I kept searching and searching and searching.

Then I got some great stuff for Christmas, and started playing around with all the patterns in the stitch dictionary. When I found the argyle pattern, I started playing around with it, and suddenly realized that I am completely capable of DESIGNING MY OWN PATTERNS.

This isn't a HUGE revelation, as I've been making up my own patterns since I started knitting, and I've done draping and patterning with cloth for years, and in general I don't like following patterns anyway (and let's not start making assumptions about what that says about my character, even if those assumptions might be right!)

So I start in on the argyle sweater vest. Yes, I used the stitch dictionary, but naturally I needed to make some modifications to the classic.

Two days later I was STILL plotting out the pattern just for the argyle. I started knitting it, made more adjustments, and now it's been a week, I'm 6" into it and this isn't going to fit either of my nephews for about two years.

I am incapable of ripping this out. I can't do it. I HAVE TO SEE HOW IT ENDS! But I also can't justify spending every spare minute knitting adorable things for my adorable nieces and nephews and adorable friends and THEIR adorable kids (oh, and the rest of y'all fit in there somewhere, you know that) if I want to make my etsy shop a success, even if all I WANT to do every spare minute is knit adorable things for my nieces and nephews.

So then I think about selling the way-too-large vest in my etsy shop, but with all the work that's going in to it, there's simply no way to make it profitable. Of course I could always knit several dozen more so the patterning cost gets spread out over the knitting, but I'm really more interested in the "figuring-things-out" part than I am in the "making-the-same-thing-over-and-over-again" part.

Some of you have figured this out already, right? No?

I'm going to start selling the patterns for my original designs.

DUH!

I'll start small, with a simple pattern that I will post here on my blog for free. (I already have several in mind)

Once I finish the argyle sweater pattern, I'll want to grade it (customize it for different sizes) and I'll need pattern testers!

So all my knittery friends, if you are interested in testing some patterns for me, watch this space!

p.s. I've had to edit this something like five times because I used the word "that" approximately 45 times in the original post, and occasionally as many as three times in the same sentence. I wish I was exaggerating.

Did I mention that I'm spoiled?

2009-02-05T09:31:00.006-07:00

I did? Well allow me to mention it again: I'm SPOILED!

I picked up my package from my Ravelry Tuesday night. (It had been there since Saturday but does my mailbox service tell me these things? NOOOO. What am I paying them for?)

Okay, so Tuesday was my FIRST DAY on the phones at my new (seasonal) job. I get there super early in the morning and then I'm on the phones all day. I'm doing customer service for Proflowers.com (side note -- Awesome flowers, awesome company. If you need to send flowers to someone you love, call them. Really.)

Anyway, I get to knit when I'm not on a call! So Tuesday I stuffed my knitting into the mesh pocket in my backpack, and it worked okay. I mean I had it, right?

So then Tuesday night I get THIS:

More about the yarn in a bit. That gorgeous bag is from Katie Fleck Designs and it is PERFECT for carrying my projects to work. PERFECT! It has a little strap on the side that loops over my wrist so I can easily walk and knit and it's stylish enough that I don't feel like an even bigger dork by walking and knitting.

I love even more that it's handmade! And it is BEAUTIFULLY made as well. Love love love.

But that's not all! See that yarn under the bag? It's mine, and you can't have it. It's Ella Rae Lace Merino with the most intriguing colorway. I've already untwisted the hank, stroked it, twisted it up again, cuddled it, sniffed it, petted it -- well I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to propose to it pretty soon. It's luscious, and I've never heard of it before, and I love that it's "Ella" Rae, because, you know, with the "ella".

I can't wait to get on to Ravelry and see what others have done with it. And, as others have said, I'll likely make something for ME with it, because I don't think I can bear to part with it. I'm thinking of a lace scarf. I've been trying to knit lace (for the first time) with mohair, and can I just say -- Mohair is NOT GOOD for a first lace project!

But this looks like it will have gorgeous stitch definition and resilience... Oh, I'm SO EXCITED! Plus there's a little sample of a fiber wash that I've never tried -- how cool is that?

Oh, and THAT'S NOT ALL.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhees Page-A-Day Knitting Calender (I saw earlier that someone else had gotten one, and I was so jealous! Now I have one of my very own!)

A chocolate Wonder Bar (another thing I've never hear of, it's so funny! And yummy! Yeah, it didn't last long.) and cinnamon coffee with these wacky little cinnamon swizzle sticks (and we all know how much I hate coffee!) and this wonderful handmade ceramic plaque (you can see it in the picture. LOVE IT!) PLUS a cinnamon-scented candle, sticky notes with my initial on them, and a card with a cat sleeping in the clean laundry -- EXACTLY what Xander does!

Oh, thank you, secret swap partner, you're SWAPTASTIC! (Okay, I am dorkier than usual this morning, what with the gifts and the coffee and the yarn-sniffing and the candle-sniffing and the chocolate.)

Yarniness and more spoilage

2009-01-28T14:36:00.006-07:00

I can't for the life of me figure out why it's taking me so long to get back in the swing of things. Maybe I can blame my foot, which still hasn't healed, making it difficult to wear shoes and walk at the same time. I can wear shoes and sit on my butt, or I can walk around barefoot. Neither are conducive to getting a whole lot done.

The plus is that I have no qualms about sitting on my butt all day knitting! Which means that in under a week I made this: (From the Knitting Nature Book)

and this: (my own design, and it's so much cuter on Jules, but I need to snag a pic of her wearing it)

I'm also making washcloths using slipstitch patterns from the Barbara Walker Stitch Dictionary. So much fun! I LOVE this book! I'm finding myself designing more and more.

And speaking of knitting, I'm about two weeks behind on answering the latest Ravelry swap question, which is:

Bi-Weekly Blog Question #2
If you could only knit or crochet with one brand of yarn for the rest of the year, what would it be and why?

If we're talking about yarn I've already knitted with, I'd probably have to go with Berocco. The first high-quality yarn I bought was Berocco Ultra-Alpaca, and knitting with it was so blissfully different from knitting with other yarns I'd used. And then I was sorting my stash the other day, (well, if by "sorting" you infer "spreading all the yarn out on the floor, trying to organize it, getting frustrated because you don't have as many boxes as you have categories, and shoving all of it back into whatever boxes and bags you had it in before, only LESS organized)

um. where was I? Oh yes. I noticed that I actually have quite a bit of Berocco in my stash. Maybe it's because it comes in so many varieties. Maybe it's because my nearest LYS carries a lot of Berocco.

But I really love how Patons Classic Wool felts up into such a solid, dense fabric. And I love the colorways of Patons Soy Wool Stripes & Solids, although it does shed a bit much for a lot of projects.

And of course I love KnitPicks, whose prices and range have allowed me to experience with so many different kinds of yarn. Lately I've been reading some bad reviews about KnitPicks on Ravelry but I've yet to be disappointed by them, nor do I expect to.

Of course there are SO MANY yarns that I've only heard of or fondled briefly that I'd love to try as well. So how's that for a non-answer?

And hey, it's already time for: Bi-Weekly Blog Question #3:
What is your favorite way to keep warm when it’s snowing outside? (And if you live in a warm weather climate, what would you do to stay warm and cozy while it’s snowing?)

I love cold weather, I love rain, I love fog -- and I live in Escondido. It's 69˚right now. Actually it's a perfectly beautiful day, the sun is shining and there's a light breeze. But last summer we routinely hit 100˚, and I'm really enjoying the cooler weather.

But I did grow up in Utah, for the most part, and my favorite thing to do when it's cold out is bake bread and make soup. While the bread is rising and the soup is simmering, I like to curl up on the couch with whatever cat is willing to grace me with his or her presence and watch either some delicious period movie with lots of lush costumes -- A Room With a View, Pride and Prejudice [the BBC version, please], or Sense and Sensibility, and of course my old standby when nothing else will do -- BUFFY! Ideally, I doze off while the bread is rising, wake up in time to put it in the oven, and finish a sock before I eat.

I also like to curl up with a book, but so far have not figured out how to read and knit at the same time.

More Spoilage:

I returned from the visit to my family to find NEW TIRES on my car! Jules bought them and had them installed while I was gone. (Installed? Do you install tires? hmmm...) She also had the plastic that covers the headlights cleaned up and polished, AND I got new windshield wipers and a happy sun air freshener!

Anuj got me a Jane Austen Action Figure which is almost too awesome to be believed, and Michael Pollans latest book, "In Defense of Food", which I am devouring (pun intended) and getting all militant about. (Don't worry, I'm sure I'll simmer down eventually.)

I'd tell you about all my other wonderful gifts, but I can tell you're getting jealous.

Whew! That's a lot to cover in one post! New Years Resolution: blog more consistently! (Wait, didn't I say that last time?)

Spoiled, and rotten

2009-01-14T10:33:00.007-07:00

I had an absolutely delightful Christmas holiday with my family, and was also quite spoiled. In addition to a myriad of other fun gifts, I got the Nora Gaughan "Knitting Nature" book and Barbara Walkers first Stitch Dictionary. I also got the KnitPicks Harmony Wood Options Needles.

Needless to say, I am in knitting heaven.

I also spent a lot of quality time with my seriously adorable nieces and nephew. The girls had a slumber party, complete with toenail-painting, cookie-decorating, movie-watching, and we even spent a little time learning to knit. The evening was capped off by sleeping in fancy eye shades.

In other news, last week I put up a couple of robe hooks in the bathroom, and they went up so fast I got ambitious and decided to put up a shelf. While holding it above my head, I dropped it. I tried to jump out of the way, but my foot had other ideas, and a corner of the shelf landed smack in the middle of the foot. After screaming in agony for about five minutes (and saying words that will never be featured on this blog, but which the neighbors could tell you) I spent the rest of the day with my foot up on the couch, alternating ice packs, and happily -- aside from the searing pain -- knitting. Lest you think the injury was a convenient reason to do nothing but knit, I invite you to witness the enormous on my foot.

That was day three. The picture does not do it justice. The center, where the gouge is, is swollen, and the bruising surrounds it on both sides and over my toes.
edited to add: Do you notice the difference in color between one foot and the other? It's not a lighting thing. My left foot really did look like that.

But here are some of the results of being couch-bound for two days, from my new knitting book!!!:

Over a week later, I'm still hobbling around and waiting for the swelling to go down. That did not stop me from going camping in the Anza-Borrego Desert this weekend with Jules and Anuj. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and far too short. Also, I somehow managed to only take one picture, and a crappy one at that, but Jules is the designated photographer and got some amazing shots of these.

And as soon as I get them from her, I'll post one or give you the link to her site!

Ravelry "Warm Ewe Up" Winter Swap Question

2009-01-08T00:37:00.004-07:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to get to this; I just got back from a nice long visit to Utah where I spent 2 1/2 weeks visiting my family. It was 23 and snowing in Utah when I left. I landed in San Diego yesterday to a balmy 62˚afternoon.

Hopefully I'll be back on a semi-regular blogging schedule soon. In the meantime, here's the Ravelry Warm Ewe Up Yarn Swap Question of the Moment:

Why did you learn to knit?

I didn't have a beloved family member teach me how to knit. My dad's mom used to crochet, although I've never actually seen her do it, and she says she stopped because she got the "Carpal Punishment" (we don't know if she is making a joke or if she is confused. Regardless, it's funny!)

My mom's mom sewed, and my mom even remembers her sewing on a treadle sewing machine (which, fair warning to my siblings and cousins, I'm going to fight tooth and nail for when it comes time for it to be passed on).

I was definitely inspired by my maternal Grandmother's ability to "make stuff." One year she made my sister and I these wonderfully cozy flannel nightgowns and gave them to us on Christmas Eve, thus inspiring a lasting tradition of pajamas on Christmas Eve in my family. I remember mine had worn through the upper back - I don't know where she got the flannel, or how that happened -- but she just sewed another piece of flannel behind the worn-out part. I kind of loved that. Maybe she didn't have a big enough piece to cut out the entire back, and she just made it work the best way she could. That's always inspired me. (plus it made the back extra-cozy) I wish I'd been old enough to learn more from her before she died, but every time I sew, I feel like I'm paying tribute to her.

--side note: on cold winter mornings, we'd stand over the heater in those nightgowns, and when the heat went on, they would fill up with warm air and poof out. I still remember how soft and warm they were.

Anyway, it didn't take me long in college to gravitate from the stage to the costume shop. There was this AMAZING woman who worked in the costume shop. She was so much fun, and she seemed to me to be able t do anything. She was married to one of my profs, and she also knitted him sweaters. I remember being in awe of those sweaters. It seemed like such a miracle to me, the ability to create fabric and clothing in one fell swoop. I wish I'd had the courage to ask her to teach me, but I didn't. She died of cancer many years ago, and I always regretted not getting to know her better, or not forcing her to teach me to knit.

Finally, two years ago, I was at a Target and saw a knitting kit. It was on clearance, and it claimed to teach you how to knit a poncho. It came with the grossest acrylic yarn, in brown and pink, and some very stiff, very slippery aluminum circular needles. So I snatched it up, the directions were awful, and I never did learn to knit that damn capelet. I ended up getting online and finding much better directions, and then I bought a bunch of Lion Brand Wool-Ease and "Knitting for Dummies" and started knitting swatches, which I fully intend to make into some kind of afghan someday. Really.

Then I was on a bulletin board, asking if it would be possible to cut up old jeans and knit with them, because I was broke and I was bitten. An incredibly generous woman on that board sent me an assortment of yarn from her stash, and I discovered the joy of knitting with pure wool. And it was HEAVEN.

And I've been knitting ever since.

Warm Ewe Up Winter Yarn Swap

2008-12-22T17:46:00.008-07:00

I'm pretty darn excited about this, as it's my first swap EVER! Following is the Ravelry Swap Q&A designed to help my mystery swapper get to know me better. I'm not at my home computer so I apologize for the lack of photos, but I've included links where applicable.

Do you knit or crochet, or both? How long have you been at the craft?
I knit. I've been knitting for just over 2 years.

I tried to crochet an afghan once about ten years ago and it was a disaster. It was meant to be a striped stadium blanket for my sister, and it looked like Africa. I swore I would never crochet again. However, the more wonderful edgings I see being done with crochet the more I want to learn.

Do you spin?
I don't spin yet. I have no doubt that I will be spinning at some point. The yarn addiction is bad enough right now that I'm holding myself back from spinning.

What yarns/fibers are your favorites?
I love all animal fibers, but alpaca probably wins. The jury is still out on mohair. I'm knitting a (VERY SIMPLE) lace scarf with some pretty pale green/blue mohair and I like how it's turning out, but I'm still not sure if I like knitting with it.

What yarns/fibers do you not like?
I strongly dislike synthetic fibers, although I did just buy some Berroco Comfort with which to knit my adorable nephews little sweater vests. I also don't like novelty yarns, maybe because when I started knitting I bought WAY too much of it at Michaels (DAMN THEM and their clearance bins!) and I STILL have a lot of it in my stash.

What yarns/fibers would you like to try but haven’t?
You mean besides cashmere? (hee!) I'm curious about linen and linen blends -- I have the Mason-Dixon book and those lovely hand towels keep calling to me. I'm curious about bamboo and silk as well.

What are your favorite colors? Colors that you don’t like?
I like rich colors, jewel tones, and earthy colors. Not a fan of pastels, but it depends on the project. I love colors with a lot of depth to them, and I like heathered yarns quite a lot.

What are your favorite types of projects to knit?
I'm still learning, so right now it's EVERYTHING! I do a lot of felting. I like to make up my own patterns, because I never can find EXACTLY what I want. And sometimes I just like to put the yarn on the needles and see what happens.

What are you currently working on?
The "Swing Thing" sweater for my 2 yo niece, armwarmers for sis. I'm about to start armwarmers for 2 other nieces and a hat/mitten set for another niece and a vest or two for my two nephews... I have a huge family, and a strong desire to cover them in handknits.

What is your favorite FO? (Please post a picture if you have one.)
My favorite FO is usually whatever I just finished, although I am awfully fond of my snowdude. And I love this baby hat and the teeny tiny sweet little mitts.

Are there any techniques that you want to learn?
Mosaic knitting and/or fair isle - I've done a bit of intarsia, and I love knitting with color, but I want to be able to me more flexible in my designs.

I also want to knit lace, and I discovered socks this year, so I want to try some more complicated sock patterns -- or stockings! (I have this strange desire to knit fishnet stockings.) And those gorgeous wonderful things in the Folk Socks book. I love folk knits.

I absolutely MUST knit a sweater for my mom this year, because she's been hinting since I first picked up the needles. (I was hoping to have one ready for Christmas, but now I'm shooting for Mother's Day.)

I'm longing to knit something REALLY BIG -- like a blanket, or a curtain, or a cape. And I'd love to knit something for myself, too.

Do you have a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope! I'd love a swift, but I don't know where I'd put it, and I often enjoy hand-winding a center-pull yarn ball. It's great when I've burnt out my brain on something.

How do you store your needles/hooks?
Right now my needles are in a crappy, falling-apart toiletries bag, although sometimes I store them fanned out in a jar or vase -- like paintbrushes or flowers. I've made a pattern for a needle case but have yet to sew it up.

Do you collect anything?
Besides knitting needles and yarn? I loathe throwing away useful things, so I have an assortment of cleaned-out glass jars and tin cans that I sometimes use for paint or storage of small things, but I wouldn't say that I necessarily "collect" them.

Do you like sweets?
I love dark chocolate with nuts and fruits in it, or plain dark chocolate. OH! And cinnamon bears. And candied ginger covered in dark chocolate. Other than that, not really.

What are your favorite scents? lavender, rosemary, and cinnamon. Although not all at the same time.

Are you having a birthday during this swap?
nope!

Do you have any online wish lists? (Amazon, Loopy Ewe, etc.) Please include a link for your pal.
I have a wishlist on Amazon. I must find out what this Loopy Ewe thing is. I have a feeling it's going to be VERY exciting.

What is your living situation (Are you married? Do you have kids, pets, or both?)
I have a housemate and two kitties that we share. Vivien was mine, but has adopted Jules, and Xander was Jules', but now owns me. We also call Vivien Squawk-a-lot, and we call Xander (short for Alexander the Great) Master Pathetico.

Are you allergic to anything?
I'm allergic to my cats. hahaha. I'm also allergic to all things melon -- sad, no?

Is there anything else that you would like your pal to know?
I'm an oldest child, with all its attendant rights and responsibilities. I love shoes. I love books, I love to read: Jane Austen, Jasper Fforde, Barbara Kingsolver, Dorothy Allison, and I'm reading Charles Dickens (Great Expectations) for the first time and enjoying it immensely. I also sew and I made wedding dresses for all three of my sisters. I'm a costume designer. I'm an environmentalist. I love filling out questionnaires. I'm addicted to coffee.

This is your brain...

2008-12-17T13:04:00.005-07:00

This is your brain on yarn:

That's the yarn I think I want to take with me tomorrow when I go to visit my family for 2 1/2 weeks. And that's AFTER paring it down.

You can also take that to be a metaphor (hmm, or a simile) for what my mind feels like right now.

I don't travel well. I like to think that I do, I sometimes pretend that I do, but I obsess over packing for a trip to visit my parents the way some people would obsess over packing for a three-month trek to Nepal. And I'll still wind up forgetting three or four things. The top four things I forget, every time? Toothbrush, deodorant, contact case, meds. You know, the stuff you use EVERY DAY.

That, and instead of knitting Christmas presents for the last month and a half, I've been trying to update and promote my shop on etsy, so I'm trying to bring yarn for every gift I think I might have time to start, as well as all the UFO's. Not to mention all my knitting needles. So after that, there's room for a couple of pairs of socks and whatever I happen to wear on the plane, assuming I remember to get dressed at all.

So that's my excuse, albeit not a very good one, for not updating y'all about the winner of the drawing. And the winner is:

Marie of Knitted Gems!

She'll win these:

Plus a few things that are just not going to get photographed, the way I'm going! ARGH!

I think I need to lie down.

We interrupt this program

2008-12-11T14:55:00.003-07:00

So sorry, everyone, for not updating with pics of the ornaments. I feel like I have been hit by a truck! I know it doesn't seem like taking photographs would be that tiring, but somehow finding the camera, attaching it to the tripod, setting up the lightbox, and pushing that little button feels like more than I can do right now.

Today is the last day to comment and the drawing is tomorrow!

In the interim, here's another one of my favorites:

It's a switchplate by Fondue made from vintage wallpaper. I got my brother some of their baseball magnets for his birthday -- so cute, and such a great price for a great gift!

Okay, it's back to the Theraflu and the couch for this girl.

Results tomorrow!

What to get... and a giveaway! Part 2

2008-12-03T17:41:00.019-07:00

Because the men in your life are equally deserving of handmade gifts!

For your Dad:

In case you don't want to get him yet another tie, and assuming that either you have already gotten him every possible combination of golf paraphernalia (unless he's not even a golfer, in which case you don't even have that to fall back on) and assuming he has taken you camping at least once in your life:

This wonderful and funny Campfire in a Can candle from Mountainmamaskitchen is perfect to bring back memories of summer in the mountains! Add these beautiful soy wax fire starters from Berry Creek Candles and he'll know that, despite all your complaining, you liked it well enough to go camping with him again.

For your geeky (or is he nerdy?) brother.

You know he likes Star Wars, right? All those home movies of him attacking the couch with a broom -- er, I mean, a lightsaber -- should be a clue! Indulge his inner child while appealing to his all-grown-up sensibilities by getting him this gorgeously crafted Star Wars Fighters and Starships clock by YOUgNeek:

For your hipster cousin:

Okay, so maybe sometimes you just want to slap him silly. Instead, get him this awesome, unique monster tie by beckaboo. The price is perfect, plus it's recycled!

For the creepy guy you picked in the gift exchange at work:

You have to be careful with this one! You don't want him to think you LIKE him or something! Get him this ceramic magnet from CircaCeramics and everyone will wish you had picked them instead.. Add the upcycled shirt coffee cozy from TheLilMonsterShoppe and he'll be the envy of everyone in the office.

How to Win the Giveaway:

1. Search etsy to find an off-the-beaten path gift for someone unusual or hard to shop for on your list -- or you can use one of mine.

2. Comment on my blog with your find and a link to the item on etsy.

3. Every person who comments with a link will be entered into a drawing for a set of 4 ornaments made from upcycled materials, in a gift box which is also made from upcycled materials. (Picture in a previous post, more pics to come as I perfect the design.)

You have until Thursday, December 11 to comment and the drawing will be on Friday, December 12. (I changed the date because it took me so long to put part 2 together. Sorry folks!) Winners will be posted here, with a link to their etsy shops.

You don't have to have a shop on etsy to play, you just have to find something wonderful on etsy for an "ungiftable" and post it here.

What to get... and a giveaway!

2008-12-01T10:15:00.020-07:00

This is getting so long, I've decided to publish it in two parts: Part one is for the women in your life, and tomorrow I'll publish part two, for the men in your life.

It's the holiday season, and the "end-of-year" season, and chances are, there's someone on your list who needs a gift and you don't have a clue. So before you do anything else, buy a pound of these succulent and unusual fleur de sel caramels from haveitconfections. If you can resist eating all of them yourself, add a few to anything else you might be giving, or tuck some into a stocking for a sophisticated treat.

All done? Great! Now let's get down to it.

For the person who has everything:

The wonderful thing about buying handmade for the person who has everything is that you can be sure she doesn't already have it. So instead of a sterling silver telephone dialer, why not opt for this gorgeous Berry Bowl from Studio Elan:

For your daughter's favorite teacher:

(or her least favorite teacher, who could also use some love). You can always go with something trite from the mall, or you can show her you care by putting together a gift box made up of this sweet little personalized rubber stamp from cupcake tree: and this ambrosial Sugar Plum Soap from Inseine Creations.

For your picky Grandmother:

Did you know that the reason Grandma is always cold is that, as you get older, your body loses its ability to circulate blood as efficiently? Get her this
gorgeous alpaca scarf by nfall2art. The alpaca makes it extra warm and super soft (see, she can't complain about it itching!), and the beautiful hand-knotted fringe at the bottom makes it extra-special.

How to Win the Giveaway:

1. Search etsy to find an off-the-beaten path gift for someone unusual or hard to shop for on your list -- or you can use one of mine.

2. Comment on my blog with your find and a link to the item on etsy.

3. Every person who comments with a link will be entered into a drawing for a set of 4 ornament tags made entirely from upcycled materials!

You have until Sunday, December 7 to comment and the drawing will be on Monday, December 8. Winners will be posted here, with a link to their etsy shops (if desired).

Here's an example of one of the recycled paper ornament you will receive (I am still perfecting this design. There are more pictures to come, and the ornaments will arrive in a handmade, recycled box, which I am designing RIGHT NOW! But you have to play to win!)

The Handmade Perception

2008-11-21T10:36:00.009-07:00

There was a forum post on etsy recently that discussed, in part, the difficulty we sometimes have battling perceptions about the value of our time, the idea that because we are "just artists", we don't need to get paid, that we're doing it out of some altruistic need to fill the world with crafts, and the fear that in the current economic crisis, we will be hard hit. Many are considering lowering their prices, others are thinking about jumping ship, and a lot of us are just continuing to work hard, promote hard, and having nightmares about playing basketball in a swimming pool against Diana Taurasi (or maybe that's just me).

One person, about 100 posts in, said. "Guess we will never get rich at this game. It's done for love, most of the time."

Those of you who know me know that I wasn't going to let that one slide by. My response to her went like this:

"Yes and no. I do what I love and love what I do, but I fully intend to get rich doing it. I mean "rich" may be relative, but still -- I'm not doing it because I just want to spread my love for the world by making beautifully designed and carefully crafted handmade objects -- I'm doing it because I'm good at it! And I expect people to appreciate that, and show their appreciation by paying me what I deserve!"

It's hard sometimes, when you put something up on etsy, something that you've sweated and cried over, something that you've put everything you've ever learned about color and rhythm and line and balance and then you try to put a price tag on it and realize that no price is going to reflect your worth, and you battle with what you think it's worth and what you think people will actually pay for it, and it's tempting sometimes to jump on the latest trend (I'm talking to you, steampunk) just to make a quick buck, and maybe you don't even care if you're gluing crap together if you could just put new tires on the car and maybe even buy that shampoo you like.

It's hard, when your art is your living, and you're sitting there with your needles and yarn, or your paintbrush and a mask, and doing battle with yourself because what you WANT to do, what your inner artist is TELLING you to do, may not bring in the hundreds of dollar that it should, and you have to find that delicate balance where you're not selling yourself short, but you ARE making more than oh, say, 50 cents an hour. And you have to remind yourself that even if you CAN put the tires off for another month, you're still going to need gas. And then you sigh, and knit garter stitch instead of some fabulous lace pattern, and you applique instead of doing intarsia, and you use a die-cut shape instead of creating your own. And you hope that you're still being true to yourself. And the day suddenly seems very long.

I hate to use a basketball analogy again (actually that's not true, I love using a basketball analogy, and the college basketball season is finally starting, so it's on my mind) but we were watching UConn play (it was really more of a slaughter) San Diego State last night. There was never any doubt that UConn would win. They are, quite simply, the superior team, in both experience and content. I asked Jules, "How do you go into a game knowing that you're going to lose? What does the coach say to you in the locker room when the other team has exactly twice as many points on the boards?

She explained that you can't, you don't, look at it like that. You don't focus on winning or losing, you focus on your goals. You focus on how many shots you can block, on how many possessions you can overturn, you -- and here's the crux of it, I think -- you "play every possession."

This does actually relate to the above discussion. I think as artisans, we sometimes get lost in the big picture. I know that lately, as I've been madly sewing and knitting, I'm so worried about getting enough "product" on my site in the hopes of off-the-charts sales this coming Black Friday and Cyber Monday, that I've lost the joy of what I'm doing. If I do that, then I may as well go back to selling "heads in beds" (hotel slang for occupancy), or answering phones. Because at least then I would have health insurance.

And when I've spent so much time on an item that I would have to price it far, far above what the market will bear, I take a good hard look at what it is that's taking me so long, and whether I could achieve that differently, and whether if maybe I should not be making that particular thing. As I mentioned before, it's a delicate balance.

For a few brief minutes last night, when I was beading an ornament made from an upcycled snowflake sweater, I was just in the moment. I was admiring the sheen of the czech glass beads, and marveling at the lovely symmetry of the snowflake, and enjoying the sensual feeling of the needle slipping into the bead and then through the wool, and simply enjoying what I do. And it was kind of great.

As I contemplated pricing on this little lovely, I bounced around from $24 to $8. My roommate thinks I should "price it to move" and there is that temptation to slash prices in order to make sales, and I understand that urge, really I do, but in the long run, it doesn't just hurt you as a business, it hurts every artisan who is trying to make a living and charging what would equate to a living wage.

And it's a constant struggle. There are always the people who are going to sell something cheaper than you. They don't realize that when they sell something for $9.50 and it took them 3 hours to make, they're selling themselves short. And maybe the people for whom it is "just a hobby" -- that's ok.

But for me, it's a business. That means that not only am I constantly monitoring my prices, other people's prices, my return on investment, the cost of supplies, and the relative sanity of my brain from monitoring all of this on any given day, but I'm also constantly striving for perfection. I want that basket/mask/pincushion to be PERFECT, and not just because I want to be able to charge the big bucks for it, but because I want to be able to take pride in what I do. Sure, I could jump on the steampunk bandwagon, or make something with owls/birds/scrabble tile pendants. But more importantly, I need to be true to myself.

So I'm making hams out of recycled sweaters and shibori fabric. I'm making little bracelet pincushions out of someone else's "trash". I'm making christmas ornaments out of beer bottle caps. I don't know if anyone will buy them. But they're beautiful, and I am proud to stand behind them. I look at my little shop on etsy, and I'm proud to say, "I did that." And I'll keep doing it. And I'll see how it goes, and I'll be flexible. But I'm still going to be true to myself.

This all goes back to what I was talking about a few weeks ago: believing in yourself, and fear of failure.

So my fellow etsians, don't lose heart! I really do believe we are at the forefront of a revolution in changing peoples perceptions about what they buy and where it comes from. It's up to us to set the standard for that, and then defend that standard. And I believe that part of that is educating our consumer about what we do, how and why we do it, and why they should support us doing it!

Because I believe in us. I really do.

Packaging, marketing, and the environment

2008-11-17T13:36:00.022-07:00

I've really been struggling with packaging lately. I want the things I make to arrive beautifully packaged. I do think that's part of the experience, and I want to put the same care into the packaging of the product that I do into the making.

At the same time, I think that packaging is a huge source of waste, and I abhor the preponderance of packaging that litters our marketplace and, ultimately, our landfills. I read something on BaublesButtonsBeads blog banner (now there's a mouthful) that said "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." I've heard it before, but it was nice to be reminded, especially since -- for the most part -- I try to live by that philosophy.

For this reason, I started making little origami boxes out of paper that would otherwise be considered trash. One of my favorite instances of this is the little boxes I made out of the pages of a Thomas Guide which lost its usefulness after I got a navigation system for my car.

This box is perfect for the little earrings I was making, and I was able to make a larger one for the bracelets. The problem then becomes shipping. The box itself isn't sturdy enough to stand up to being shipped in an envelope, so instead of shipping in a Priority Mail flat-rate envelope, I need to ship in a small box.

Acquiring small boxes turned out to be easy -- I was at Staples one day (no endorsement should be inferred) and they were unpacking an abundance of school supplies. There was a cart full of little boxes, and after asking the store associate, I greedily pilfered the best of them. I was at Henry's a few days later (feel free to infer an endorsement here, I love Henry's) and did the same. So as far as boxes in which to ship, I'm golden!

I got an order for a tree trio last week, and was scrambling to find a packaging solution when I unearthed some of the lighter-weight boxes that pens were shipped in. I came up with what I think is a swell solution. I took a paint swatch, stamped my logo on it, and glued it over the logo on the box. The trees nestled in quite happily.

I tied a piece of jute around the box, then put them inside another, sturdier box, and off they went! I have to admit, it was pretty adorable!

Yesterday I got an order for two sets of bowls. One was listed as being sent in a handmade origami box, with a picture of said box. This is one that I made from cutting apart a gift bag which had ripped. The box itself is pretty, but not as sturdy as I would like. My bext problem was that the second set of bowls she ordered was MUCH larger, and wouldn't fit into the same box. I found a box from Crate & Barrel which I turned inside-out and tied with some gorgeous ribbon. Each box, individually, was lovely, but together, did not create the experience I would have wished. I found it a little jarring, in fact.

I put both boxes into yet another free box, this one from Henry's, which again, I turned inside out.

I'm less satisfied with this solution, and extremely irritated at the amount of time it took me to put it together. Any profit I might have made on that sale was negated by the hours -- yes, HOURS! it took me to package it. Part of it is that I'm so disorganized right now, and part of it is that I don't have a system -- every time I package something, I have to experiment with a bunch of different options just to find one that works.

At this point, it would probably be easier AND cheaper to just buy some damn pre-made boxes. But I'm so not okay with that. I am really conscious of the impact I have on the environment, and even though I reuse everything I get time and time again, I can't control whether or not someone else does.

Unfortunately, every minute (or hour) that I spend making packaging is another minute (or hour) that I'm not making money. And as I am just barely scraping by as it is, it's something I need to carefully consider, and find a viable solution for.

And if and when I do, you can bet you'll be the first to know!

I'm famous!

2008-11-12T20:06:00.007-07:00

Well, not exactly. But Tuesday I got an email from Barbara at Barbara Keith Designs, letting me know that she'd added my Apple Basket to her Treasury! I was SO excited. And after several tries, I even managed to take a screen shot of it. There it is, in the upper left corner.

Then yesterday I woke up to an email from Kate of Organic Odysseys (I blogged about her last week) letting me know that I made the front page! And she was kind enough to take a screen shot and send it to me, since front page spots don't last very long. So there I am, second row, far right:

THEN, this morning Kate again let me know that she found me in a gift guide, too!

As if that wasn't enough, as I was writing this, I got an email from Simply Sentimental letting me know that my little trees had been featured on HER blog!

Whew! I'm overwhelmed just keeping up with all of this! I have work to do, but before I go, I also had a red-letter week on another Top-Secret Project I've been working on with my friend Bridget. She and I have been working for several months on an idea she had that she recently submitted a product to a live product search. Monday they contacted her and said that Westpoint Home is VERY interested in her product, and they wanted a prototype. Tuesday I rushed over to her house and we spent a few hours perfecting it, and off it goes! They have 45 days to make a decision, so think happy thoughts for us -- if they accept it, you'll be seeing it in stores in a little over a year!

Photography

2008-11-10T09:47:00.007-07:00

Saturday I finished nearly a dozen items that have been in the works for a long, long, time. I spent most of Sunday photographing them, and then was up until nearly 2am cursing at the photos.

Part of the problem is that I don't really like doing the photography, so I tend to rush it. The other part of the problem is that I have no freaking clue what I am doing! I don't understand why my lightbox works beautifully in some cases, and in others makes everything super-saturated and underexposed. Artistically some of the photos might be considered sort of cool looking, but no one is going to buy something when they can't tell what it is.

Some of them turned out beautifully. I'm quite pleased with this, for example:

But one of my favorite pieces is not photographing accurately. Do those large diamonds over the eyes look black to you? Because they're not black, they're a deep, rich, gorgeous purple.

And although I love the staging of this photo, I'm frustrated with the way the beautiful stitching is blurring together into one big fuzzy orange blob:

I want the basket to be in focus, not the apples! (Not that the apples aren't beautiful, they are. But I'm not selling apples!)

The last Virtual Lab I attended on Etsy, Danielle kept talking about using natural light. It was raining yesterday, so the natural light was not readily available, but it looks sunny today, so perhaps I'll go outside (horrors!) and try this again.

My Favorite Things

2008-11-06T09:25:00.009-07:00

I've been spending some time in the Virtual Labs on Etsy lately, and one of the things that thrills me about this is the opportunity to interact with so many different sellers with such unique talents and points of view. So here are a few of my favorite things.

Kate of Organic Odysseys uses her organic farm for both inspiration and raw materials.

She uses polymer clay to capture in minute detail the nuances of the plant, then finishes each piece by hand through a process of firing, sanding, and painting. I don't entirely understand it, but the results are breathtaking.

This is one of her latest. (Pic above, or click on "this" to go to her shop) I find the delicacy and detail astonishing. Not to mention that I can't get over how cool it is that she's taking impressions from an actual plant, and making jewelry out of it! To me, is seems that she has captured my passion for the earth in jewelry -- really, what could be more magical than that?

I fell in love with these from the moment I saw them:

I love the way she's used the bronze to highlight the detail of the tomato, then used the green to add a "patina". And I especially love that the back of the earring is an impression of the tomato leaf!

You can also read her blog to find out more about how and why she does this! And you should see the things she does with tiny little eggplant (which, as you may have guessed from my previous entries, I am in love with.)

Another seller I found during this same lab is Livia, known as SmallPaintings on etsy. Her work is so charming and whimsical. Wouldn't this be so sweet in a childs bedroom?

Another that I love is Wild. It's like she knows how I feel inside, takes the secret magical parts, and paints them. I would love to hang this in my studio.

She's also done some beautiful children's books, and you can see more of her work on her website:

By the way, I asked both of these wonderful sellers for permission to post photos of their work and to link to them.

And in case anyone out there drew my name for Christmas this year -- yes, I would love anything from either of these shops!

Works in progress

2008-10-29T16:51:00.004-07:00

Can't stay. I'm working on this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

Mask Update (and perfectionism)

2008-10-24T10:58:00.004-07:00

I have been working on these masks for a long, long time. (See previous post about them)

Yeah. That's a long time. I do them in a sort of "assembly-line" fashion, so once they get to the finishing point, I'll have about 20 all at once.

The reason they haven't gotten to that point yet? I'm a perfectionist at every step of the way. Currently I'm stumped by this guy, because there is still evidence that human hands have touched his face. (He's nowhere near completion, btw, but if more sanding and shaping needs to be done on the lower half of his face, it needs to be done before doing anything else)

Here's part of the problem: I've tried to compare them to similar masks out there. Most of these that I've been able to handle, however, are mass-produced. They are perfectly symmetrical. Mine start life as an actual human face. I cast a mold from that face, make a positive from that mold, then sculpt a clay shape OVER the face positive. After that, I make a negative, then paper-mache into the negative, remove it, trim it, sand it, cut the eyeholes, gesso, and then... you get to where I am now, where at this point I've spent so much time on them, I can see every single imperfection, no matter how tiny. I've completely lost perspective.

And I can't tell if I am being OCD, or simply professional. Are the little imperfections charming, or amateurish? Keep in mind that I intend to sell these in the range of $50-$150. This guy here would probably start at around $75. I can't justify asking that unless I'm convinced that it's worth it. But I also can't spend hundreds of hours on each mask if I'm selling them for around a hundred bucks. It's not logical. (Not that I've ever been accused of being logical...)

So, comment away. And if you don't want to comment, I've added a poll on the right sidebar over there. Just vote! Early and often.

Too Pretty to Eat

2008-10-11T08:46:00.007-07:00

I love the fall. Not only are there gorgeous and delicious squashes everywhere, but it's finally cooled off enough that the idea of baking something for an hour is no longer unbearable.

So when I went to Henry's the other day and saw these opulent eggplant on sale, I immediately knew I wanted to make eggplant lasagna. Never mind that I've never actually cooked with eggplant before, or that I've never made lasagna before. As we've seen from previous posts, I have a propensity to forge blindly ahead in these situations.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. Hmm. I have ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan, but I don't have feta. I don't have pesto, but I have fresh basil. I don't have a pumpkin, but I have some canned pumpkin leftover from pumpkin pecan scones... it'll work!

Despite being a total nazi about measurements when I'm baking scones or bread, when I'm cooking, I seem to just throw everything together. So while I'm cooking the noodles, I put about 3/4 of a cup of ricotta, 1/2 a cup of cottage cheese, maybe a quarter cup of parmesan, some pepper, the chopped fresh basil, and the leftover pumpkin in a bowl and mix it up.

Then I slice the eggplant (I felt a little like Dexter while doing this.) and put it under the broiler, along with a sliced sweet onion and beefsteak tomato.

Then I pop out a jar of Classico roma tomato and olive oil tomato sauce. (Those of you who know me well are shocked that I admit to using sauce in a jar. I'm trying this new thing called time management. I'll let you know how it goes.)

Now, even after over ten years on my own, I still cook like I'm cooking for a family of 10. I decide that this time, I'll outsmart myself and bake in a smaller pan than what the recipe calls for.

This probably would have worked if I'd also reduced the amount of ingredients that I put in the smaller pan, or if I'd measured any of said ingredients and had the foggiest idea of how much I actually had.

As it was, I set the timer for the 40 minutes that the recipe called for, not realizing that it was twice as thick as it should have been. Forty minutes later, we cut into some delicious smelling, slightly raw lasagna.

It was good anyway.

The H.R.G. Files, and fear of failure

2008-10-07T11:11:00.002-07:00

If I didn't already love Jack Coleman, I would after reading his blog. This in particular caught my eye:

"It's simple really: fear of failure is crippling. You see it in all aspects of life. The great ones go for it and let the chips fall where they may. The perfectionist can be throttled by the voice in his head that considers the consequences of failing. "

My life mission is to let go of that perfectionist streak, the parts of it that grip me so hard that I don't even try. I want to be GREAT. I want my greatness to be talked about. I want to be profiled in Entertainment Design Magazine, right next to Mona May and Debra McGuire.

Over and over again, I practice my acceptance speech for my Indie Spirit Award for a little darling of a movie, one that I maybe even got paid for. I fantasize about being interviewed by the LA Times or Threads or Etsy or hell, even Rhubarb Marmalade (just kidding, Sara!).

I was watching a basketball game, right after Candace Parker dunked in a game for the second time. I wish I could remember who was commentating, it may have been Carolyn Peck, but I'm really not sure. She was talking about how many women dunk in practice, but don't do it during games, and theorizing that it's because women are afraid of looking foolish if they miss, whereas men don't care.

I bristled at this for several reasons. One, I started wondering why women would be "afraid" of looking foolish. But it's not too hard to surmise. For one thing, female ballers already get their share of crap about not playing as well as men, or not trying to play like men, or trying too hard to play like men, or not being as interesting or worthy or blah blah blah as men. Case in point, this idiotic article by Melissa Rohlin about why she doesn't watch women's basketball. (And for a well-reasoned, impassioned response, read what Diana Taurasi has to say.)

And for every mistake a woman makes on the court, there are dozens of people eager to collect them and post them on YouTube, along with some sarcastic remark about "women playing as well as men." (Sure, the men have their blooper reels, but no one uses them as a reason NOT to watch the NBA.)

Now you may be wondering, "Why this digression into womens basketball, Kelly Marie?"

One word: FEARLESSNESS. Watch Diana Taurasi, Candice Wiggins, or Katie Smith play. There's no second-guessing that layup. No beating yourself up after missing a shot. (well maybe a little.) No trash talk for anyone but the other team. It's just PLAY. Play hard. Train hard. Practice hard.

So back to the perfectionist thing, and fear of failure, and basketball metaphors. You don't make the WNBA First Team by being afraid to shoot the ball. You don't get the Sixth Woman of the Year Award by whinging about not starting.

So the challenge for me is, to use the phrase popularized by Nike: "Just do it." Or, to put it more elegantly, (if overused as well) "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

Um. Right?

Knitting Frenzy

2008-10-03T07:49:00.015-07:00

Lately I've been knitting like a marathon runner training for the Olympics, and not doing much else. I blame Ravelry.

It all started, though, when I decided to knit the Mason-Dixon Baby Kimono Sweater. It knit up so quickly and I was so pleased with the (as-yet-unfinished) results, that I immediately went searching for more baby sweaters. I have an endless supply of babies, after all (thanks, sibs!) and baby sweaters are so sweet, knit up so quickly, and use so little yarn, they're irresistible.

This is where Ravelry comes in. I have not been using Ravelry to it's full potential. This week I discovered that you can search for a pattern that you are looking at and see what other people have done with it. Then I discovered that you can search for a yarn you are looking at and see what other people have done with it. THEN I discovered that you can ADD PATTERNS that you want to knit to your own personal project queue. It's been downhill ever since.

Of course, since I'm on a strict yarn diet, don't knit a gauge swatch nearly as often as I ought, think nothing of using a bulky yarn when worsted is called for without altering the pattern in any way, then combining it with a worsted AND a mystery yarn, and have yet to figure out how to count rows when I'm not knitting strictly stockinette or garter, I've already frogged this twice:

When I'm not addicted to Ravelry, I've been sorting and photographing my own stash, visiting my LYS to lust after gorgeous yarns I can't afford, (LYS report to follow) and knitting in line at the DMV, the smog station, and the waiting room at PepBoys while getting an oil change.

It was while I was knitting at PepBoys that a woman approached me and asked what I was knitting (it was a french press cozy that I have since frogged.) We started talking and I found out that she RAISES SHEEP about ten miles from my house, and sells the yarn at the farmer's market. Thanks, Donna. Like I need more yarn lust.

Work? Yes! I work! (Crap. That's what I should be doing right now.)

Mask-making

2008-09-16T11:39:00.004-07:00

Several years ago, a friend of mine who owned a little shop on Pearl Street in La Jolla hired me to make some masks for her to sell during the holiday shopping season. Although they sold well, (well, they sold out!) she and her husband embarked on a new business venture shortly after, and closed their shop.

For years I've been wanting to get back to making these. They combine a lot of things I love: sculpture, painting, and recycling! Plus they are wearable art, and draw from a centuries-old commedia tradition in Italy.

The process is simple, but time-consuming. I start with a positive plaster mold of a face. I then build clay up on the face until I get the shape I want. I mix some plaster of paris, pour it over the clay, and, after it hardens, I have a negative that I paper-mache into.

Although there are a lot of new products available for paper-mache art, I stick to the classics: newspaper and wheat paste. I started adding in brown paper bags for a little strength.

After building up about a dozen mache layers, I let the masks dry, remove them from the molds, and start sanding and shaping them. After the first sanding, I paint them with a light coat of acrylic paint. Then I can see where more sanding is needed, and I cut out the eye holes.

At this point, I remembered to take a picture! Here's a pile o'masks midway through the sanding process:

The next step will be to coat them with a layer of gesso, do any final sanding, and then, at long last, I get to the fun part: the decorative painting and embellishing.

I can't wait!

How not to knit a sock

2008-09-09T10:53:00.006-07:00

Flew to Seattle this past weekend to see my new, one-month-old nephew, among other things. In my mind I had a pair of socks and a hat finished before I landed. I started the first sock in the airport in San Diego, waiting for the plane.

Don't laugh! This is totally realistic, considering that I had an hour-plus flight, a three-hour layover in Salt Lake City, and another hour and a half flight. Besides, baby socks are tiny and I was knitting on size three needles with Regia sock yarn.

I cast on in the car on the way to the airport. The pattern called for 24 stitches. After knitting a few rounds in 2x2 rib, I thought they looked awfully small, frogged back, and cast on an additional 12 stitches.

I had the cuff and heel flap knitted before we landed. Three hours of waiting for the next plane, and I figure I'll turn the heel, finish the foot, graft the toe, and cast on for the second sock before boarding.

But I cast on 36 stitches instead of 24, and the pattern is frustratingly unclear about the heel-turning algorithm, and this is only my third pair of socks, and for the life of me I cannot turn this heel! I understand short rows, have no problem with short rows, I love short rows! But I'm getting some of the weirdest shapes from whatever it is I come up with to turn the heel.

Three hours later we're boarding the plane. I've knit and frogged four times, stopping in between each one and trying to figure out WHAT this pattern is telling me. Do I work a total of ten stitches, or do I work to 2 stitches away from the end of the row? Do I then turn and work four stitches, or do I turn and purl 3 stitches from the end on the other side? I'm doing math, praying to the Sock Goddess, knitting with my eyes closed in the hopes that muscle memory will kick in, I vaguely recall something about SSK and K2tog and slipping and something about three stitches from the end and...

It's no use. I put it aside and work on the other sock I have with me, the one where I am actually FOLLOWING the pattern. We land, have some rental car hell, and get to the hotel after midnight.

I awake the next day refreshed, but we're in a hurry to get going, so I don't have time to get online and figure this out. We finally make it to a coffee shop midafternoon and I find this.

I turn the heel in under ten minutes.

The rest of the day was full, got to my brothers and SIL's house late that night, with babies and mom asleep already. Richie stayed up and we talked for a couple of hours. It's weird to see little brother all grown up and talking about wiring switches and replacing windows. We were able to see Sara, etc., only briefly the next morning but it was great!!! Unfortunately we all had to go in different directions, and I left with an unfinished sock and a threat to return for a week-long visit.

Finished the first sock on the plane on the way back. Did Kitchener stitch FROM MEMORY.

It should fit him perfectly. In two years.

Above, the BIG SOCK and two smaller ones.

Making A Dress Form: Part 1: Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night.

2008-08-25T08:56:00.011-07:00

This is Part 1 of a Four-Part Series.

It's important to mention that I made mistakes which required a lot of work later on, probably doubling or tripling the time required to make this. My methods aren't recommended, but are posted here in case you should decide to attempt this yourself, only to find yourself covered in wallpaper paste and soggy newspaper seriously considering taking a hammer to the whole project. Hang On, Little Tomato!

Also I must mention the fabulous resource from Threads Magazine, which is what inspired me to attempt this in the first place.

Step One: Mistake One: Acquiring Plaster Bandages

If you're anything like me, you're trying to do this on the cheap. This is one place you SHOULD NOT SKIMP.

I started with about ten yards of 4" wide bandages and five yards of 8" wide bandage, which I acquired at a local craft store. It was nowhere near enough. Skip the craft store entirely and order an obscene amount of plaster bandages from an online medical supply company.

Fixer: I'd purchase this. That's 60 yards of bandages for about $50. You probably won't use ALL of that, but you'll be glad you had it. Trust me.

Step Two: Mistake Two: Preparing the Model

I thought I'd be clever and avoid ruining a shirt by wrapping Jessica in a garbage bag. I was also concerned about the compression that a tight-fitting shirt would give me. This was a bad idea on so many levels. First off, the garbage bag is slippery, and moved around her body when I was applying the bandages, making it really difficult to get a good impression. Secondly, the heat trapped by the plastic made her even more uncomfortable.

Fixer: Buy a cotton/spandex shirt from a thrift store or something and fit it to your model, making a mock-turtleneck at the top and adding some extra at the bottom to accommodate for the length you want the form to be. You could even buy some fabric and make a simple, form-fitting shift dress. You'll want to be sure it has sleeves, and enough length to cover the body nearly to the knees.

Your model will also want to wear something UNDER this shift, because you'll be cutting it off her. Also have her wear whatever foundation undergarments she's accustomed to wearing. (I was making this dress form so that I could drape her wedding dress, and wish I had made her purchase the breast-enhancing bra BEFORE I made the dress form!)

Jessica is about the most fidgety person I know, and had a heckuva time standing still while I did this. Make your model practice standing in one place. She should figure out what the most comfortable position is and make any adjustments BEFORE you start covering her in plaster bandages. You may also want to come up with a simple arm support system so that she can hold her arms slightly away from her body.

About two hours before the plastering, feed and hydrate your model. Right before starting, put the dress or tee on your model and send her to the bathroom. You'll want at least one assistant and a LARGE area in which to work. You don't want your model to be moving at all during this process. Put a big tarp on the floor, preferably NOT plastic to avoid slipping. You'll want a table nearby to hold your bandages and a big tub for water.

Step Three: Mistake Three: Marking the Form

Before plastering, figure out a good way to mark important points on your models body. Once you have all that plaster on her, it's going to be harder to figure out what her true waist is. You know all those measurements you need when you are flat-patterning? You're going to want to be able to mark those on your body form. The easiest way to do this is going to be to do it BEFORE you plaster.

Since I didn't do this, I'm not sure what the best way to accomplish this would be. I would probably start with pieces of 1/4" elastic on the major measurement points: ribcage, waist, hips, armscye. Of course then you have to worry about slippage as you plaster, so maybe you'd want to marker those places in. (You could also sew them in to place when you are making or fitting the shift dress for her) While you're at it, marker the front nape and back nape. Again, since I didn't do this, I'm not sure what the best way to do it will be.

You'll also want to mark the center front and center back as well as the sides. Use a plumb-bob for accuracy. (You can make one with a piece of string tied to a pattern weight or any heavy, symmetrical object)

Another important place to mark: From the floor to wherever you want the bottom of the form to be. This is going to be REALLY REALLY important later on when you want to mount the form on a stand and all of a sudden you have no idea what the bottom of the form should be, since you were inconsistent with your plastering. (well, you probably weren't, but I was!)

Q: Hey! What's up? You didn't get to the part where you actually put the plaster bandages on her body!

A: I know, I know. It's just so darn long already! So I thought I'd throw this over the wall, since I haven't posted in over a week. Don't worry, there is more to come, and some serious editing to do as well!

Quiver!

2008-08-14T16:52:00.009-07:00

My friend Jules has been wanting me to make a quiver for her tripod for a long long time. This weekend, we're going whitewater rafting, and then spending a day and a half in Yosemite, so what was formerly just a good intention now needed to be actualized.

It started with a simple tube (this is me pressing it on my Very Cool seam roll)

I left two openings in the tube seam: one large one (about 6") for the tripod handle, and a very small one (1/2") for the drawstring. Then I opened the seam up, folded each seam allowance under itself, and stitched along the fold. I believe this is known as a clean finish.

Then I attached the plastic triangles that hold the strap at the bottom:

and at the top, which is longer because I am folding it over as part of the drawstring casing:

After that, I sewed the circle to the bottom, folded the top over to simultaneously finish it and make the casing, and then made the strap, which turned out to be the hardest part. I wanted it to be adjustable and removable, and I just had to play with it for a while to figure it out. And you know those little plastic bits that slide along the webbing to adjust it? They make perfect sense until you are actually trying to figure out how and when and where to put it on, and where to sew it, and which part moves and which part doesn't. I know you're thinking it doesn't seem that hard, and so did I before I had to redo it three times.

Don't you think it's simply fetching with the black dress? Jules likes it -- she said, "It looks like it came from Eddie Bauer." (The quiver, not the dress. The dress came from Loft. The dress FORM is a topic for a much later, much longer post.)

We'll take it for a trial run this weekend and then I'll make any adjustments that need to be done. I'd like to add padding to the strap, and I've lots of fabric leftover so maybe she needs a matching... hat or something.

Funny, now I want to make a bag for my yoga mat... tune in next week to see if I do!

(p.s. we are leaving at THREE A.M. because Jules wants to get through LA before traffic. She's crazy that way. Lucky me, I get to sleep while she drives!)

The Office, Season 2

2008-08-08T09:40:00.006-07:00

Just a quick post to say how excited I am about my clean, organized studio/office space!

I finally dug some shelving out of my storage unit and rearranged things a little. I can't begin to tell you how happy this makes me. Of course there are the usual annoyances, like forgetting all the little shelving supports for the shelves on this thing (thank you IKEA for the freebies!)

I also need another galvanized door on the other side, but the hardware for that is back in my storage unit with the shelf supports, so, for now...

This is it:

And this is what I am working on right now.
I've taken my old Thomas Guide and I'm cutting out all the places of interest and decoupaging them onto bamboo tile beads. Then I'm slicing out the map coordinates and addresses of said places and adding them to the sides of the tile beads, which I will then use to make jewelry. I'm not sure if I'm smoking crack or if it's just damn cool. I think it's funny and kitschy. Hopefully other people will too.

And this is what I just listed on etsy:

And now I need to get back to work!

Things I love

2008-07-29T08:44:00.005-07:00

I can't leave a Top Ten list of things I "strongly dislike" all by itself. I have to follow it up with a list of things I love. In no particular order:

The smell of rolled oats

Zucchini bread

Master Pathetico, when he jumps on the bed and buries his little nose into my elbow and starts purring, or when he charges down the hallway expectantly because he thinks it's bedtime, or when he wanders aimlessly meowing pathetically (hence the name), or when he hears the sound of food and comes galloping at the food bowl, or when he buries himself in my clean laundry. Wait. Not then.

Wooden spools

Joss Whedon

Lopi -- I'm really obsessed with Lopi right now.

The first cup of coffee in the morning. And the second. And the third.

My nieces and nephews.

Birthday beverages:

That's a cranberry mojito. YUM!

HULU!

Friends with gardens:

Top Ten

2008-07-17T09:02:00.003-07:00

TOP TEN THINGS I STRONGLY DISLIKE:

10. Losing the little tin with all of my darning needles. Because I really don't need to buy MORE darning needles.

9. Sellers on etsy who think that they are recycling by stealing (new) coffee stirrers from Starsucks and using them to make stuff. remember: Just because something is free doesn't mean it was recycled!

8. Cats who vomit on your clean bedspread in the middle of the night and don't even apologize, then want you to put ice in their water bowl when you wake up.

7. Dull scissors.

6. Me, not updating this blog for eleven days.

5. Me, skipping spinning to update this blog.

4. Buyers on ebay who don't read the listing, then leave you negative feedback because they can't read.

3. Me, giving in to buyers on ebay who don't read, to avoid negative feedback.

2.Yoga instructors who do "ab work" during yoga. YOGA. LOOK IT UP.

And the number one thing I strongly dislike:

1. People who use "Top Ten" lists because they aren't creative enough to come up with anything else to write about.

The Office

2008-07-11T09:43:00.008-07:00

I've finally worked out a reasonable configuration in my office that doesn't make me want to scream or start throwing things out the window. Well, usually anyway.

So that's my sewing machine on the left, my computer in front of the window (because computers like to be near the window so they can see outside) and the makeshift desk I made by putting a couple of pieces of MDF left over from the closet remodel on top of four bins.

Oh, and perhaps you notice that I am also watching "The Office". (That's Jenna Fischer, NOT the Mona Lisa. Jenna Fischer is way cuter.) It makes me giggle ALL DAY, and I actually manage to get things done as well. No, really.

And here is a very exciting picture of my sewing machine, with (some of) J's awesome collection of signed basketballs on the shelf above it, my thread organizer to the left, and my little mess of stuff that I haven't figured out where to put yet. It's a very eclectic workspace.

And here we have my desk, with the dress form I made of Jessica behind it, and to the left all the little cubbies full of supplies and materials. Ooh, look, and there's my lunch! Tomatoes and cucumbers and fresh basil. YUMMY. Also very exciting.

Hmm. Looking at these pictures, I'm surprised that I'm so inordinately pleased.

ellaluna: Improving Home Improvement

2008-07-04T09:33:00.007-07:00

Goddess forbid I ever live anywhere without trying to muscle my way in and change things around!

So I'm living with my friend J for a bit, and decided that her closets needed some sprucing up. I think you can see why. Here's the closet before:

Well, that's not so much a "before" as it is a "right after I knocked out the useless shelf and clothes rod." But you get the idea.

One of J's big complaints was that 30% of the closet is essentially inaccessible, because it's behind a wall. So we designed some narrow shelving that allows a person to step inside and turn to the deeper shelving behind the wall. Maybe a pic would explain that better!

In this pic I'm experimenting with supports for the narrow shelving. I wasn't too happy with the supports you see running down the center, at the corner where the narrow shelves meet the deeper shelves, because it doesn't really allow access to the deeper shelves. I ended up running a support along the wall, under the deep shelves, that extends out to the narrow shelves, and then putting supports at the front on the right of the narrow shelves and in the center along the wall.

Again, that doesn't make a lot of sense, so let's see if I have a picture:

All righty, so this is before I added the narrow shelves, but you can see the support that juts out from the deeper shelves. The reason I didn't want to put a support running the entire length of the narrow shelves is that they are pretty shallow, designed primarily for CD's and DVD's, so we didn't want to take up space with a long, fat, 1x4 support.

On the other side of the closet, I built a double clothes rod, a shorter length of clothes rod for hanging long stuff (there is another closet, so hanging longer things isn't really a priority in this one) and a few extra shelves above. Like this:

Gee, to look at this picture you would think I was photographing all the junk ON the shelf. I think I know someone who needs to learn how to take a picture. (That would be ME)

When I look at this, I think two things. 1) I can't believe I did it! 2) I can't believe it took me the better part of a week to do it! We did have to borrow a circular saw for the weekend to cut everything, but once the weekend was over the saw went back, and any additional cute I had to make (primarily for supports) I had to do by hand with a hacksaw or coping saw. I had a reciprocating saw as well but those things are monsters, not so great for precision cutting as I discovered to my dismay.

All in all I was pretty happy with the finished product. Now if only I could get her to put things away in it...

lightboxing

2008-07-02T09:42:00.006-07:00

I'm very focused on listing more frequently on etsy, and to that end I decided to make a ghetto lightbox to make my photography easier.

I used a ruler to draw a line one inch in corners of the box on two sides and the top, then I cut out the areas of the box on the inside of the line where the muslin filter was going to go.

I then reinforced all of the corners with leftover pieces of cardboard because, of course, anytime I can use glue and cardboard I'm like a terrier with a stuffed bunny.

After that I glued muslin to the inside of the box and cut some pieces of posterboard to slide into it to use as an infinity backdrop. Hmm, some pictures of that step would be helpful, wouldn't they?

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the lightbox. Now I seem to be fixated on making little "lifts" covered in the same paper as my backdrop. God forbid I use this lightbox to actually, you know, PHOTOGRAPH anything.

Sometimes I'm just more interested in the process than I am in the result.

Haunted Kensington Manor

2007-11-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Halloween for my roommate is like Easter for Christians. He kept saying he wanted to do a haunted house, but he's kind of in
a slump and I didn't really see it happening. But the day before Halloween, he sprung into action, and I found myself carried along by his enthusiasm.

He carved 4 pumpkins in one day and we hit the dollar store for supplies on the 30th. I didn't think he had any idea what he was doing, but he had the entire thing planned out in his head.

Halloween day was madness getting ready for it and roping our other roommates into it. (There was some serious arm-twisting going on there, too!)

By 8:00, we had a line of kids from our front door to the street. We took a group of 4-6 kids through about every 5 minutes for two hours. There is math involved and my head isn't doing math today, but that's a lot of kids.

I hadn't planned on dressing up, but at the last minute I gypsi-fied myself. The lovely Justine came over and we held a fake seance (A feance?) in the dining room. She was AWESOME! And damn cute. Her fiance Ryan was in the living room playing creepy organ music on the electronic piano thingy.

Chris was hiding in the bathroom with monster hands on, and would reach out and attack Andy when Andy said "This is where we keep the beast. We haven't fed him yet today."

Bay and Scott hung out in the kitchen blending carrots with cranberry sauce. (I'm still not entirely sure why they had to actually put something in the blender, because the kids never went in the kitchen, and the mess I had to clean up the next day was vile, but ok.) Scott was wearing a chef's coat and a bloody apron and Bay was wearing a shirt smeared with blood(cranberry sauce) and carrying a bowl full of bloody fingers (cranberry sauce and carrots) They would pop out of the transclucent plastic sheeting screaming "more fingers! more fingers!" and Bay would chase the kids out the door. It was pretty awesome.

As the night wore on, the kids got older, and we finally cut them off. By 10pm we were done. And then we drank. And drank.
And drank some more.

Then we got to wake up the next morning and clean. And by "we" I mean Andy and me.

I think I'm still hungover.

Buttonhole Scarf

2007-10-25T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'm knitting my father a buttonhole scarf for Christmas. I went to The Knitters Studio, on 3rd Street in Los Angeles, and found a gorgeous Debbie Bliss alpaca silk aran. I'm using taupe and denim, and the plan is to knit 2 lengthwise stipes on each side of the scarf in the denim. Oh, I also bought Crystal Palace Circular Needles, size 8.

I found a lot of patterns for buttonhole scarves, but I wanted to knit this lengthwise, so I had to figure out how to make the buttonhole lengthwise. So I knitted a swatch! Crazy, no?

So I ended up binding off in the middle of one lengthwise row, and then casting on in the next row to create the buttonhole. I tried a couple of different knitted cast-on techniques, but I always ended up with either the yarn or the stitches on the wrong side of where I needed to continue knitting. (Sorry this isn't very clear, I still don't REALLY understand all the casting on methods and how and when to use each one.) So I ended up doing a double cast-on, which allows a seamless continuation from the row forming the second side of my buttonhole.

So now I have the swatch, I'm knitting garter stitch, because I want it to be warm, and because I want it to be the same on both sides. The plan is to knit thus:

20 Rows taupe
5 Rows denim
10 Rows taupe
5 Rows denim
20 rows taupe
2 buttonhole rows
20 rows taupe
5 rows denim
10 rows taupe
5 rows denim
20 rows taupe

Okay, Now I need to measure that and see if that will actually work. It occurs to me that my row numbers don't HAVE to be divisible by 5.

Maybe I should actually measure my gauge before I start this.

Cables

2006-08-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

Damn, but I wish I was at Stitch-n-Bitch tonight!

I'm trying to make a cabled scarf from this gorgeous wool/linen yarn that I picked up at Heindselmans, and I'm having trouble.

When I unwrapped the yarn, I discovered that it is spun thick and thin. (There's probably a technical term for this, but I'll be damned if I know what it is) Undaunted, I plunge right in.

First off, you'd think I'd have the sense to do something simple. But no, once again, I've decided to design my own pattern while learning a new technique.

So, I decided to do a cable that opens and closes again on a moss stitch background.

Is this going to work? There's a part of me that thinks, "oh, it'll be rustic" and another part that thinks it's going to look like something the cat coughed up.

I realize the resolution isn't that great, but here's where I am now. Thoughts?

p.s. those gorgeous stitch markers were a gift from the lovely Marlene!

Joss Whedon, you need to call me

2006-08-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Any time I start feeling adrift, unmotivated, or depressed, all I have to do is watch the special features on any one of my favorite movies or TV shows.

Today, it's Firefly. Fucking brilliant. The chance to work on a show like that? A dream come true.

I do think it's telling, however, that Joss rarely pays any tribute to his costume designers. I can think of only two reasons for this: either a) he's a total dick (do I mean dictator?) to his costume designers, and doesn't have the collaboration with them that he has with other members of his creative team, or b) he hasn't worked with me yet.

I think b.

Of course, I have my own geniuses. Among the brilliant minds I've been privileged to work with:

The dreamy Alveraz Ricardez, who is not only gorgeous, brilliant, and inspired, but a joy to work with as well. We're going to (finally) finish shooting The Tailor next month, and I can't wait to be on set with that talented, dedicated cast and crew again.

Speaking of brilliant, I worked on a pilot with Randy Bookman and Gerry Santos. We're in post, and the details are under wraps, but if all goes well, I could possibly be drawing a paycheck from George Lucas. (yes, that George Lucas) It's a good dream.

Don't feel threatened, though, Joss. I'll still take your call.

Photo: Al (the director/writer) & Chris (the star) of the Tailor around the campfire at the end of a long day of shooting in the desert.

Beer, and finishing the hat

2006-08-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a beer since I moved to Utah, folks. It's been over two months. Today I finally decided I couldn't take it anymore, and I broke down and bought a six-pack of Squatters Full Suspension Pale Ale when I was at Target. Then I wrapped it in two Target bags and put it in the back of my basement fridge, in the hopes that no one will see it and become apoplectic.

It's not too bad. I somehow bumped it after my first sip and spilled half on my shirt, so I feel totally justified in opening the second one.

Plus, I finished my first hat this morning while watching Firefly! Vivien just brought it to me, reminding me that I should take a picture and figure out how to post it. And look! There it is! (I hope)

Next: Figuring out how to add embedded links!

The phone rings

2006-08-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Every time the phone rings, I hope it's work, calling to tell me not to come in.

It's not that I hate my job that much, it's just that I have so many things I'd rather be doing.

For example, there's the hat I'm knitting for my brother, and intarsia to learn, and the leg warmers I'm knitting for my sister, and Fair Isle to learn, and the scarf I'm knitting for my friend's daughter, and cables to learn, and the coasters I'm felting for my mom, and sock knitting to learn, and...ummmm

Okay, I think somewhere in there is supposed to be sleep, eat, and feed the cats.

And if I was really cool, I could figure out how to link to all of the afore-mentioned projects.

Sigh. I'm late for work.

LYS Report

2006-07-27T17:03:00.001-07:00

Heindselmann's. Provo, Utah. Yesterday.

I walk in and I'm accosted by the smell of garage sale and yesterday's dinner. I'm surrounded by cotton loop potholder kits, days-of-the week tea towels, pre-printed Mormon temple cross-stitch patterns, and pet rocks (okay, not really). I hesitate. Start backing out slowly. And then, I see something behind the cash register. Is that yarn?

Trying not to get my hopes up, I walk toward the center of the store. Hmm, novelty yarns in clown colors. Blechhh. Patons Tweeds, mostly acrylic but there's a little bit of wool in there. Hmmm. Better, but not great. Keep going.

And then...what is this? Is this silk? Cashmerino? ORGANIC COTTON? In Provo, Utah? ORGANIC COTTON!!!???

New Wool. Icelandic Wool. Merino. Mohair. Hand-painted, hand spun, silk yarns and roving by a local artist. And--wait--is that a sale sign?

So I very casually walk toward the sale bins (don't want to draw attention to myself), and there, at the very bottom...

Classic Elite Zelda linen/wool blend. Slight variegated (I'm guessing that's from the blend) and the colors...a gorgeous, deep, forest-ey brownish green; a delicious smoky purple; and a lovely pumpkin-ey color.

At half-price, it's five bucks per 50-gram skein.

Do I have any idea what to make with a bulky-weight linen/wool blend? No. Do I have the sense to bring my pattern books with me? No. Do I have five bucks a skein? No.

Do I buy it?

No. I walk away. I go home, look through my pattern books, and realize that the PERFECT project for this would be a little zippered vest for my friend's 2yo boy.

Do I want to make a $30 sweater for a 2yo boy?

YES. God!

Well, I do have birthday money...

ella