Adventure Had.

Yesterday Cath helped me satisfy my need for adventure. We went to the Heritage Square Antique Mall on a tip from Molly that there were some good booths. I found myself wishing I had a bigger budget and a bigger house. In addition to a stunning Lane wardrobe, a carpenter's bench, and a bar, I found myself lusting after this yarn winder that was still to rich for my budget even though it was on sale......and these beautiful handmade sock blockers.I had to settle for buttons, some fabric, and snuff jars for Lovey. My favorite purchase, however, was this book!I found it tucked in with some other cooking and crafting books. Cath was a little jealous but the nice thing about having knitting friends is getting to share your libraries.Lovey mentioned when I showed it to him that it looks like a text book. I explained that it very well might be as there were women who worked in department stores as knitting experts who taught classes to improve yarn and pattern sales and make sure that amateur knitting was up-to-snuff so that the department store's name wasn't attached to shoddy work. The book also has some popular wartime red cross patterns in it.Makes sense, given it's publication date of 1942. I'm going to do a little more sleuthing and see what other information I can uncover. It is a pretty rare and fun find.

Adventure...

...I want some! I want to go hiking and exploring. I have the yen to see some nature. Last night at knitting some of the ladies were discussing their hiking group and how people said in the winter they would be more jazzed to hike once it got warmer. Now it's too warm. The real issue though is that life gets in the gosh darned way and there is always some other responsibility or excuse keeping us from just relaxing and experiencing! The next thing you know it has gone from winter to summer and you're not sure how. For example, it is July 16th. July is half over and I am not quite sure how that happened. All I know is I need to get out and about...as soon as Lovey gets home with my camera...

Kitten in a Bag

Yarn Porn Part Duex - Pretty in Pink

Anyone who knows me knows that pink is my color of choice. I busted out like Molly Ringwald for my birthday! First, I got a gift certificate from my good friend Nancy to Knitters' Mercantile. Knitters' Merc. happened to be having a sale and between the gift certificate and the 40% discount I got seven skeins of Lush for $20.Bitchin'. Then I had my weekly knit-date with Cath, made all the more enjoyable because my mom and Cath's Jimmy were there. Cath got me a copy of her favorite book - Victorian Lace Today and some Knit Picks Lace weight to get started with. I am debating between three different patterns and might even cast-off tonight. Lastly, my lovey bought me two hilarious and adorable patterns books - Amigurumi Knits: Patterns for 20 Cute Mini Knits - and this one - The Knitted Odd-bod Bunch: 35 Unique and Quirky Knitted CreaturesIrresistible. Thanks for my wonderfully pink birthday!

Birthday Yarn Porn

There is a good chance I will have to amend this post to include more yarn porn but there is something to be said for have a good start. First and foremost, the lesson to any one who knows a knitter or crocheter who needs a gift - buy them yarn! Chances are they will make something for you with it. So it really is a win-win situation. So far I have had a yarn-porn-ariffic birthday and so many warm and kind birthday wishes. Here is the first round of oh-so-sexy yarn pin-ups. These first two were totally unexpected. My dad has a lovely lady friend visiting this week and last night at dinner she surprised me with this lovely yarn and ribbon combination:Mom really takes the prize this year. She was in Ithaca, New York recently visiting a friend and found these three amazing skeins at a local co-op called Handwork. However, I cannot find this yarn anywhere online and it is making me crazy! It is called Sky Path Design, but they don't have a website and the yarn isn't actually listed on Handwork's website. It is beautiful yarn and deserves some cyber representation:Organic wool and silk blend in berry colorway.Organic 100% wool single ply in rich purples and redsand Organic alpaca - a hefty 305 yards! This yarn is like a blob of heaven. If anyone has better luck tracking down the name of this spinner please let me know because I may want more of this amazing yarn.

Wednesday

It is a rainy, lazy Wednesday for me. I have been putting in a lot of hours at the gallery in anticipation of our upcoming exhibition and have also been picking up some odd work here and there. It has all been fun stuff but I am grateful for a day off to sit around and let my brain and body realign. So today I am catching up on some loose ends. First, Cath gave me some gorgeous sock yarn and Cookie A's book for my graduation present.The yarn is Knit Picks Essentials kettle dyed. It has very subtle color variations and will be my August sock yarn. We used to visit my gram every August in Rhode Island and this colorway reminds me of the ocean.She also got me this charm which is very appropriate to my current job hunting situation. I am trying to decide where to put it for the best affect. I think I need to sew it into my hair or something equally constant. We also started knitting Jubilee.THis pattern is so addictive! It's easy to memorize and so simple and lovely. She is already kicking my butt. But in my defense she is only doing three repeats and I am doing four. Plus I got distracted last night by this...I am trying to use up the silky wool left over from the Cables and O's sweater so I am making a pouch for my step-sis for Christmas. It is going really quickly and I might have enough yarn to make two. So that is Wednesday. Tomorrow it's back to work, painting pedestals, designing layouts, formatting artist statements. I should probably get a nap in at some point.

What to do when you are done with school.

Since I finished up my school work I don't really know what to do with myself. I've been reading, writing cover letters, trying to pick up extra hours at the gallery, and partaking in the time honored, summer tradition of crafting.I finished up two artworks that have been sitting around the studio for almost a year.And started a new piece on paper about my trip to Germany last summer. It's not quite the tempera paints and homemade play dough of my childhood but it's keeping me busy. And, of course, I've been knitting.The scarf is already finished and it is nice and rustic and manly.I finished the Polly Jean socks for June. I wanted to finish with mirrored leaves, but it wasn't in the cards for me. This was a very speedy and enjoyable pattern.I started my July socks early because I could not wait any longer to use this yarn and dive into my graduation present from Cath - Sock Innovation by Cookie A. She also got me some sock yarn but I am saving that for August. This pattern is Kai-Mei and the yarn is Handmaiden Yarn Casbah in Lily Pad. I have been saving this Casbah for my birthday month and it was worth the wait!

Lovely Day

This morning at 10:30 a.m. I turned in the last piece of paper between me and my Masters degree. I am a Master. Suck it world! And the day just got better from there, actually starting last night when I finished my Sophisticated Afghan. I now have three afghans and a baby blanket for the YWCA Family Center. My sister (who works there) says they are at capacity and will probably start needing blankets soon. Then, on the way to work after turning in the paperwork, I was crossing the river on my bike I saw this giant turtle just hanging out in the shallow water. You can't tell how big he is in this picture but I would say maybe the size of a small hubcap. Then I got home today and there were two packages waiting for me in the mail! First, my Fat Unicorn T-shirt.I ordered this shirt from shirt.woot! and I am so wearing it to work tomorrow. Casual Friday, right? And then, to top off the day...Yarn from Knit Picks to add to some existing stash yarn to make a scarf for a friend of Lovey's and mine who has been a huge help to us over the past few months. I am mixing the Knit Picks alpaca with some Hill Country Yarns alpaca.Which apparently tastes delicious... What? I likes to chew on de yarn. Don't you judge me.

Buttons

Cath is up to something and it involves buttons. She needed buttons for her Slinky Ribs top that she finished month ago so I brought her over and let her pick out some buttons from the button stash. Since then she has buttons on the brain and has asked for images of my stash and company to go antiquing for buttons. Most of my buttons I picked up at second hand store, antique shops, or inherited from my gram when she passed away. I have buttons that are older than me and I think that is pretty neat. I am all about button shopping and will enable her to build quite a stash of her own. The pictures are a mystery though and I am curious to see what kind of mischief she has in mind. In the meantime, I thought I would post them here too. I keep the stash in this little drawer system meant for screws and hardware.I have them organized loosely by color and size. But the thing about buttons is that they are everywhere and we never think about them. Fellow button collector and brilliant artist Aminah Robinson discusses this phenomena as a reason why she is so enamored of the button. They end up in pockets, in drawers, or in my case...in little dishes...all around the apartment, over the desk, by the sewing machine, in the closet and the bathroom...placed strategically for the purpose of collecting items like buttons, earrings, rings, tweezers, chapstick, pins, hairpins, tags, thimbles, spools, tweezers, jump drives, beads, bracelets, keys...It's a habit I picked up from my mother, that she picked up from her mother. They are little way-stations for all the random bits of life we leave in our wake...kind of like a button has a little personality and history from riding around with us all day on our garments. Something we never really notice but sorely miss when it falls off. Good thing there are some people willing to collect them in jars and baggies for people like Cath and I or the amazing Aminah who are eager to re-purpose them and give them a new home.

Art School Confidential

Back in my art school days we used to joke around the studio that the way to make amazing work was to make it tiny, make it huge, or make multiples. We were just kidding in that cynical dis-affected way twenty-somethings are predisposed to do. Today, however, I received a link from my friend Jorie (a fellow artist and arts professional) to this image:This is Christien Meindertsma and I am in love! The blog Style Files has some more info on her too. I am a crazy for her giant knitted awesomeness and contemplating purchasing some fence posts and a coil of rope at the hardware store for a little experimentation.