busy busy

Okay, I did not get to the Gym on Sunday, but I went today. Sunday I worked on cleaning out the basement and I think I got a pretty good work out (my aching shoulders are telling me that I did for sure). I have the back of the car filled with bags to take to the Goodwill. (Steve thinks I am weird for calling it "the" Goodwill, does anyone else do that?) I have almost completed a baby sweater I started yesterday, after many false starts at following a pattern that has a newborn baby weighing in at 30 lbs,I instead created my own pattern.  I ended up with something much simpler than I had planned. I'll post pics when it is completed. The picture above is my dresser top. I want to use up my vintage buttons on fingerless gloves, but I fear the ones with buttons don't sell that well...I am  constantly questioning my ideas, does anyone else do that? The photo on my dresser is of me and gage when I was pregnant with Aster. I bid on a photo shoot  from the local  PBS fundraising auction and I won. My prize was to go to a very creepy guy's house to get this picture made. Aster is up in the corner there - that picture is from when she was about three years old. I miss them at that age. They are such lovely young adults now, but I miss them being little.

I will spin

So far this winter break has been both relaxing and productive. I have made two dresses for Mod Molly (see below) and I have four pairs of gloves to sew up and post to my Etsy shop. I have gone to the gym and run 3 miles on the treadmill three days in a row now and I hope to keep it up all week! But what I really want to do is spin. Not at the gym but in front of the fire. I got my spinning wheel over two years ago and I am pretty sure I only used it once last winter. I had a need for yellow (which I have again) so I started on this gorgeous merino roving. I really want to finish it all and knit something with it. I also want to clean out the basement (my studio) and do some wonderful cooking and baking.

This is the dress I knit for Mod Molly. Aster tied a satin Christmas ribbon around the waist. I think it looks pretty good. I still need to knit the matching hair band I promised.

Mod Molly

Mod Molly got a couple of wigs for Christmas. She also got a beautiful japanese style dress from Melacacia's shop on Etsy. I am going to try to copy the pattern and make more dresses for Molly. I'll post soon on how the sewing goes. You know how I love to sew!

Internet Art

This new website (I found via Treasuring) looks like a great oportunity for us artists to reach more people out there on the internet. Seems a little like a Paper and Stitch Shop with more "art" as well as cards, ceramics, fashoin and more. Free until June for artists - check it out here.

Kitschy Stitiches

I just recieved the book of kitschy stitches for a gift. There is of course a website that allows one's curiosity of ugly kniting and crocheted patterns to be satiated. Stitchy McYarnpants is the nom de plume of Debbie Brisson, who also hosts the “confessions of a husband-neglecting, cat-shooing, yarn-hoarding knitaholic” blog and Museum of Kitschy Stitches.

Santa Dog

Winter

Winter just isn't my season.

Appropriating Posts

Appropriating... I totally stole this post from Tree Hugger. You can read more at their original post. It feels like the perfect place to celebrate the Winter Soltice to me. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21, 2008 at 7:04 AM EST and while the beginning of winter marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year, I like to think of it marking the beginning of the days getting longer. We are on the upswing of the darkness and I will be driving to work in daylight soon.

I did it!

I did make the Orangettes (Candied Orange Rinds) last night. They are not only very pretty candies, they are delish too. They have this unusual spicy/anise flavor even though you add nothing to the orange rind but sugar. They are a "grown up" candy for certain. Although they are very time consuming to make it is a very simple recipe. I began around 5:00 pm and completely finished them around 9:00. The peeling of the orange rind is the most time consuming part. I was able to complete many other chores while the rind was boiling away at different stages. I reccomend trying the recipe. I'll post pictures tonight hopefully.
Later... Here are the pictures I promised.

A Handmade Holiday

It is not too late to cook up so treats to give to hosts and hosteses, friends and family... I just found these Orangettes that I really want to try to make- I may just do it tonight! Sixoneseven is generous enough to share the seemingly simple recipe for candied orange rind. My mother used to make pickled watermelon rind. I never liked it. Spiced almonds is one of my favorite gifts too. If you have more time you could also make your own jam or mustard. Maybe I'll post my mustard recipe soon, posting the recipe may budge me to make some this year.

Painting

Amanda Blake

Backseat Drawing

We bought this great game on Saturday at Barnes and Noble. It consists of a set of cards with items/objects and two write on wipe off boards. The drawer attempts to draw a picture of the thing on the card by following the partner's pathetic instructions. The first drawer to guess what is being drawn wins. So, the artists don’t know what they are drawing—they can only follow the instructions given by the other team member. It is like backwards pictionary. Imagine trying to explain to someone how to draw a toothbrush. We never stopped laughing. If you are still searching for great gifts, this game would make a great present for anyone.

The Lonley Doll

This is a picture (a self portrait actually) of photographer and writer Dare Wright, author of The Lonely Doll books. These stories are about a doll named Edith and two stuffed bears, Mr. Bear and little bear and the illustrations are black and white still shots. (sort of Cindy Shermanesque). If you are not familiar with these classics, you must look into them. I have many original copies and always loved them. My favorite is A Gift from the Lonley Doll, in which Edith Knits Mr. Bear a very, very long scarf for Christmas, and....well you will just have to read the book to find out what happens. There are so many images from these books burned into my memory. In one story, Edith breaks Mr. Bear's mantel clock and she and little bear run away from "home." The picture of them thinking about crossing the ominous Brooklyn Bridge is one of my favorites, and later in that story they are seen sleeping by a trash can on a dirty city sidewalk. And then there is one story in which Edith gets a kitten, I love that one too. Wright used a real kitten in the photos which resulted in an even more interesting juxtaposition of real life and play. Wright's parents were divorced when she was three years old and she was separated from her older brother and her father. Even though many of the stories in The Lonley Doll books surround her dark fears of punishment and abandonment, they are still very charming (or maybe that is why they are so charming).

Storybook love

Found this song today, original by Willie DeVille, now re-made by Mark Knopfler. It is on my playlist if you want to hear it, I just love it....
I have this feeling it was in the Princess Bride, I'll have to look it up.
Later... Yes, it was in the Princess Bride. I guess I am feeling more nostalgic than I realized.
Even later...( I have actually listened to this song over and over again today. I feel like when I was thirteen years old and I could press the rewind button on the tape player).

Come my love I'll tell you a tale,
Of a boy and girl
And their love story.
And how he loved her oh so much,
and all the charms she did possess

Now this did happen once upon a time,
When things were not so complex.
And how he worshiped the ground she walked,
And when he looked in her eyes he became obsessed.

My love is like a storybook story,
But its as real as the feelings I feel.
My love is like a storybook story,
But its as real as the feelings I feel.

His love was stronger than the power so dark,
A prince could have within his keeping.
His spells to weave and steal her heart,
Within her heart but only sleeping.

My love is like a storybook story,
But its as real as the feelings I feel.
My love is like a storybook story,
But its as real as the feelings I feel.

And he said:
"Don't you know i love you oh, so much,
and lay my heart at the foot of your dress."
And she said:
"Don't you know that storybook loves,
Always have a happy ending."

Then he swooped her up just like in the books
And on his stalion the rode away.

My love is like a storybook story,
But its as real as the feelings I feel.
My love is like a storybook story,
But its as real as the feelings I feel.

Blythe and Knitting

One of my daughter's big Christmas presents this year is this gorgeous Blythe Doll, Mod Molly. She is a japanese doll we had to order from Taiwan. The unique thing about Blythe Dolls is that their eyes change color with the pull of their pull cord. Molly has green, blue, pink and/or orange eyes (and green eye shadow) My daughter got to have her a little early, as it is impossible to surprise kids with gifts at her age. I am looking forward to making clothes for her over break - sewing dresses and knitting hats and scarves and sweaters for her. There are lots of Etsy sellers who do this - and I am planning to corner the market. I had a pile of gloves out to photograph and post, and my daughter got to them first and made the wonderful images. I think the pics would make nice cards. Am I being silly? Or will other people enjoy these images too? It is probably just a case of nostalgia for me as the pictures remind me of the Lonely Doll a little bit.

images

I took these photos this summer on a bright day. I miss those bright days. It took me this long but I finally posted them and a handful of other new items. To see more check out my shop!

Reading again

So now that I am not completely obsessed with knitting every single spare moment I have ...

I actually began reading a book! An old English Professor :) gave me a book of short stories by David Foster Wallace called "Girl with Curious Hair" and so far so very very good. I asked for bizzare and he gave me bizarre! I need a book to be totally different than real life. I need a book that makes me laugh and cringe and wonder a lot, and this book does all that and more. Thanks, Steve! Here is an excerpt of a story that surrounds the making of the televison show Jeopardy! in the mid 80's.

“See that window?” he says. “That’s where the rules go. Out the window.” Feels at his nose. “Does your conscientious entertainer retain – and here I say think about all the implications of ‘retention,’ here.”– looking at Janet – “I mean does he cling blindly to rules for their own sake when the very goal and purpose and idea of those rules walks right in off the street and into the hearts of every Triscuit consumer in the free world?”

Sick of Knitting

I have been collecting socks to make sock animals andI think I am finally had enough of knitting now so I feel I can start on them. Found the cutie above at Dingelberry's shop on Etsy.

And the two below at Three Red Tree's. I don't think I will attempt using the fuzzy socks, but isn't he adorable!

Trinity Stitch

Karen at infiknit uses the trinity stitch for her beautiful hand knit neck warmers and fingerless gloves. I was so smitten with her work at the Second Stories} Indie Market that I attempted a little piece of it at lunch. I messed up terribly at first and then go the hand of it. The little baubles come out so lovely, but I cannot take my eyes off my knitting as I work. Too much thinking , not enough knitting for me. Perhaps I will use it more someday. Karen also has a wonderful blog you should check out.
If any knitters out there are interested, the Trinity Stitch is worked on a multiple of 4 sts. and 4 rows
Row 1 (K1, P1, K1) in one st. then P3 tog. -repeat to end
Row 2 Purl
Row 3 P3tog then (K1, P1, K1) in one st. - repeat to end
Row 4 Purl

My Table

Frenshly Blended was so nice to post photos of the Second Storie} Indie Market. If you couldn't be there, you can see see what you missed (on her flickr page.) I am so thrilled she took this lovely shot of my table. I am never organized enough to do that.

Foundling

At the Second Storie} show my daughter also got a lovely necklace from Foundling. She loved the one pictured below but chose one that has japanese text in it. My mom bought me the poppy bobby pins and they are just perfrect for when my hair is driving me crazy falling in my eyes. And instead of looking dorky I look quite cute.

at Second Storie}

At the Second Storie} Indie Market, my daughter got a couple of lip balms from the Fuzzy Bunny. She really likes the Orange Vanilla. And I got some gorgeous hand spun cotton/merino yarn. Check out their Etsy shop for wonderful hand made soaps, lip balms, and more. The yarn is at their other Etsy Shop.

Trading Up

At the end of the day on Sunday, Amber traded with me and I really do feel very lucky. I think she was too exhausted to realize I was getting the best of the deal. I love the earrings I got which are like these in the pic, but I think mine are rose hips (or little blueberries). Her work can be seen and purchased here. Thank you Amber! Rochester is so lucky to have her around for a couple of years so look for her at local shows too!

Thank You

I had a great Thanksgiving and a lovely weekend to follow. Thank you to my wonderful parents for coming a long way to celebrate with us and thank you to everyone who came out to support Second Storie} Indie Market. We had a great turn out, we had a great time, made new friends and came home with some lovely items too!! (I'll share those through out the week). Thank you all who buy hand made and local this holiday season!

This picture is of our guest room which is never clean enough to photograph. It is our dumping ground for what ever I don't feel like putting away, but maybe now it will remain clean and comfortable like this. Who am I kidding - at least I will have this photograph to remind of its potential.

This Weekend

Click on it - read it - print it - post it. Be sure to come early because once a unique hand made piece is gone, its gone.

Lead the Parade

I just made some amazing Etsy purchases for gifts for Christmas. I cannot show them here as they are for people who read this blog. But I found these great cards along the way at English Cookies.
Please consider making gifts or purchasing hand made gifts. There are so many talented artists out there and their prices are really wonderful too. Of course you will find amazing art and hand made things at the secondstorie} show this weekend!

Hut Up, Berlin

I found these through House Martin - at Rose and Radish you can find these awkard bunnies made by Hut Up, Berlin - and they are on sale!

New Small

The Winter issue of Small Magazine is out. I love this on line magazine. Pictured above is page 30. This is my way of tearing it out to show to you.

My Dooce Dog

I love the Daily Chuck on Dooce so much I am attempting to train my dog, April, to do the same tricks... the little felt ball rolled off her nose as soon as I let go but I was able to snap the picture. And congratulations to heather - she's having a baby (due date is June 14th) I can only imagine how hilarious she will be during a pregnancy with a four year old big sister constantly commenting on it.

tenth grade biology

The Crafty Hedgehog makes these! Words cannot describe the enjoyment they give me. I can smell the formaldehyde just looking at them. She also sells the patterns so one could knit them oneself! I think the tail on the rat is particularly wonderful. We have a lovely white/tan rat and a brown/black rat as pets. I call the white one Pancake but I don't think that is her name. My daughter got two rats a year ago when her snake died and she found out she is alergic. I take care of them now in my basement studio. I call them Panckae a Lulu for an Etsy yarn shop that I love. But I think my daughter namend them Peanut and Lulu. I really only talk to Lulu, she is more friendly than the white one.

go meat yourself

A friend has a fantasitc website called go meat yourself. Go see it. This is the most fun you will ever have regarding meat(and other food relations). You must see the skinned goats in the truck, I cannot bring myself to post the image as I can't really stand to look at it myself. She has post titles such as: Holy Mary Mother of Bread: Panzanella Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil and These Shrimps Were Made For Wokin: Shrimp Stirfry with Brown Rice and Me and My Baby, Porking in The Kitchen.

My daughter has been trying to be a full fledged vegetarian and it is making me a much better cook as I attempt new recipes using cheese and potatoes and different green vegetables (as the green veggies are not her favorite). Sunday, I made a lovely pizza using tortilla, caramelized onions, spinach and goat cheese for her. Last night I changed it around a little making a potaoto and cheddar tortilla. I want to try one with butternut squash, thinly sliced apples and some wonderful cheese but I haven't quite figured out which one yet. I think it is also now cold enough for cheese fondue. I love apples in cheese fondue. (I think I will make fried rice tonight).

Tatebanko

I saw these paper dioramas in the latest Met Home Magazine. They are only $10 each. Last night I was helping my daughter with her French homework which was all about stores that sell food. The Boulangerie was a main topic of course and I remembered that in 7th grade French I had to make a diorama of a French shop. I made a Boulangerie with shelves full of donuts (Cheerios) .

not allowed to purchase

eye chairt
I bookmarked this poster to get for my husband for a present - but I am not buying any presents this year - I am not!

old collage

I still am very fond of this series of collages that I completed a couple of years ago - I did make a LuLu book of them all and will have it available for sale at the Indie Market on Thanksgiving weekend along with the prints and many other wonderful pieces of art work. I am really looking forward to that show - I am just hoping I have the will power not to spend every dime I make.