Life on the Double Point

Wishes: Fenton Jewelry

2012-02-10T15:07:00.000-08:00

So gorgeous. This CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competitor has really caught my eye on the documentary 'The Fashion Fund' (you can find it on Hulu and probably elsewhere, too.) While the series itself is really inspiring if you love fashion or are into design, Fenton, a jewelry collection by Dana Lorenz, is truly exceptional. The mix of candy-colored pastels and metals in the newest collection (which for some reason wouldn't load pictures), is particularly fantastic. I pulled a few from her flourescent collection from last year for your viewing pleasure.

Back to the Baktus

2012-02-08T16:05:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of works in progress right now. Work is a work in progress, even -- I'm getting used to this new job, new apartment, new city. I don't know anyone here, and Andrew is only here for about 3 days at a time at the moment, so that means I'm alone a lot. To stay sane, I needed some 'tv' knitting. Something low stress that I can knit while zoning out in front of a movie or drinking a glass of wine. The Lacy Baktus is the perfect pattern. I've made one before, but this year I'm thinking I might make a few more, I love it so much and wear it so often.

This one is in Hello Yarn handspun (I honestly have a very small fiber stash and most of it is either Southern Cross Fibre, Pigeonroof Studios, or Hello Yarn -- mostly because I try not to buy a lot of fiber so I don't end up trying a wide range of dyers the way some spinners do) that I spun a very long time ago -- Thrive Corriedale. Corriedale is a great fiber because it is bouncy and lofty, but some spinners prefer not to use it because it can be a little itchy if the micron count isn't very high. Adrian of Hello Yarn definitely picks high-quality Corriedale, and I'm not the least bit worried about an itch factor with this sunny scarf.

Spinning for Sweaters, Part II

2012-02-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

I have finally finished plying and washing my Hello Yarn 'Onion Skins' -- although the knitting won't begin for some time due to the other projects that aren't quite off the needles! I am planning on making an Agnes, which should be nice and cozy if the weather ever gets below the mid-fifties here in Charlotte. Seriously, I know some of you back at home (in Iowa, in the Midwest, anywhere that it is cold) probably want to smack me for griping about nice weather, but a girl's gotta have a little winter! Especially if she's a knitter who likes to make warm woolies!

Back from Anaheim

2012-02-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

I got back from Anaheim and the Craft Hobby Assoc. Show on Thursday, but I've just been resting up a little bit. There wasn't really anything interesting to share from the show -- I will have some pictures of our booth later -- and for now it is too dreary outside to take very good pictures of any goodies or treats I got in the mail over the past few days. But expect posts this next week -- I have been reading the new Clara Parkes' book, 'A Knitter's Book of Socks', and loving it! And you know what that means... as soon as some wips are off the needles, some sock wips are getting started!

What to do Today

2012-01-22T12:39:00.000-08:00

Sundays are probably my least favorite day of the week. I wake up with the knowledge that before the end of the afternoon I have to say goodbye to my lovely boyfriend and roommate for three days -- he works out of town for Mondays, Tuesdays, and this week, an additional day (he came back to care for me when I was sick last week a day early). After he leaves, I inevitably go into a period of withdraw where I wander aimlessly around the apartment for about fifteen minutes, picking things up, putting things away and then back out again. It's not that I have nothing to do. I am almost done with my spinning, I could certainly finish any number of the quilts in progress in the closet. There's even some repair work to be done on a skirt that I ripped a placket out of.

But there's something missing, and my mind has to settle out with that before I get on with the rest of the day. Do any of you have roommates or spouses who travel a lot? Do you find yourselves doing the same sorts of things?

New Toy

2012-01-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

I went and finally joined the ranks of smart phone users yesterday with a shiny new iPhone 4. I didn't get 4S because I'm not that fancy, honestly, and this should work fine for everything I need (mainly a phone and wifi hotspot and that email access and instant whatever). So I'm playing around with getting it set up today. Do any of you have favorite apps that you'd recommend? Or a case you love? Right now I am just trying to figure out the ins and outs of iCloud, which I will be joining today.

Honestly, now I'm worried about being too connected.

A Quilty Little Jaunt

2012-01-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

I haven't mentioned it on the blog yet, but after I got back from New York, I got very sick. Very, very sick. I stayed in bed all day on Saturday, Sunday, and then on Monday went to the ER, where I was then admitted into the hospital until Wednesday morning. You know that stomach bug that has been 'going around'? Not just 'going around' for me. Apparently some people are getting hit by it a lot harder than others, and I was one of them. After feeling entirely miserable and then slowly recovering from home over the last week, I was pleased to have finally fully turned the corner on Thursday evening.

You see, up until yesterday, I couldn't do many of the things I do on a daily basis. Go into the office, drive to the store, check the mail, spin yarn, knit... all of these things were clouded by a feeling of overwhelming nausea and exhaustion. Until today. Today, after stopping by the office and assuring them that I hadn't secretly moved to Tahiti, and had, actually, been sick (and had a hospital doctor's note to prove it), I had my boyfriend drop me off at the local sewing store, which is about a block from my apartment, and after visiting, I walked home. Walked. If you have ever been very sick, you know what an accomplishment this can be. Your first time having enough energy to get yourself further than bed to kitchen, to stand up longer than the time it takes to have a shower, to spend time talking to someone other than yourself or Twitter. Today was a big deal.

The sewing shop I stopped into is quilting, mainly, and was having a 'Fat Quarter Friday' buy 4, get one free promotional. I picked up 10 quarters total in a little spectrum, and the last copy of a Tula Pink quilt pattern. It looks complex but the saleswoman assured me that I can do it. It's only half square triangles, after all. And that they'll help.

I think I'm going to like having a little sewing store around the corner.

Spinning for Sweaters

2012-01-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am currently participating in a really great Spin-A-Long on the Southern Cross Fibre Club board. My number just got called on the waiting list for this club and my first shipment arrived last month, but I already had a stash built up of Hello Yarn fiber that I could use for the SAL. The idea is to spin up yarn for a sweater (or, in my case, I'd like to spin up yarn for two sweaters!) My first sweater goal is a bulky pullover -- I'll be using the pattern 'Agnes' by Quince & Co., because I've already purchased it and it's very simple, probably fairly mindless knitting most of the way. I don't have enough fiber to make the whole sweater, so I'll have to stripe it or combine it with something.

Here is the first bobbin. I have since pulled the first skeins off the wheel after plying, but I will wait until I'm done with all the spinning to show you those! The fiber is Hello Yarn 'Onion Skins' on Targhee wool. I have 8 ounces to play with.

Jimmy, Purl Soho, and David Burke

2012-01-20T04:31:00.000-08:00

On the first night in New York, I got to meet up with the gals from Soho Publishing, including Erin Slonaker, who writes the blog Pepperknits and is also the fabbity fab editor of YMN. Erin, Doreen (the advertising/sales superwoman for Soho), Hal Ozbelli (my boss) and I all went out for drinks at the fabulous Jimmy Rooftop Bar. I had a Cosmo, because Doreen insisted that I must have a very NY drink in the city my first night out, and we mulled over great conversation and drinks for a few hours while admiring the spectacular 360 views.

After drinks, Erin and I walked through the brisk and not-so-busy streets of Soho to visit the famous Purl Soho. I am an avid reader of The Purl Bee and have always dreamt of visiting the shop that constantly inspires me. Their new location is so beautiful, with floor to ceiling yarn everywhere, and all arranged by brands and colors. I picked up a few treats -- some of the KPM mini-skeins for colorwork, a Purl Soho project bag (more of a souvenir than anything), and a little fabric stack of six half-yards.

We went back to the James to go to the David Burke Kitchen for dinner, which was fabulous! So delicious in every way. I ate more than I should have but it was so worth it for the experience.

New York, New York

2012-01-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

Last week I got to go to New York City for the first time! It was for work -- as a Creative Director I find that I travel a lot more than I used to. Our missions for this trip were pretty varied and fairly top-secret, but I can tell you all about the non-work stuff. Hal made sure that I didn't miss out on seeing some sights, and he took me to Rockefeller Center. We went way after the Today Show was done filming - around lunchtime, which meant that while the square was still crowded, it was hardly packed, and there weren't a lot of people with funny hats and signs jumping around.

Hal insisted against my protests that I be a proper tourist and took a picture of me in front of the Rockefeller Center sign. Afterwards, we stopped at the Bouchon Bakery and I got a miniature bouche-de-Noel and a pistachio macaron. I really wish I had just gotten a bunch of macarons, because they were way better than the BdN and I would l have been eating them the whole trip. Oh well, next time!

I had a very eventful evening, too, but that's the next post!

Pre-Fall Fashion - Alice + Olivia

2012-01-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile -- work is keeping me so busy. I have had a chance to look over some of the Pre-Fall fashion shows, though, and will try and post a few things about them over the next couple days. One of my resolutions for the new year is to develop an after-work routine. I want to go to work (9-5:30 M-F), come home, make dinner, then after dinner sit down and write a blog post. I'd really love to have this blog grow and be interesting again....

Anyway, Pre-Fall Alice + Olivia. This is 100% my collection, I could not be more sold on it. If I could buy one of everything, I would! Colorful, classic shapes with interesting detail, excellent pattern selection -- I promise you, these are going to be the pieces of 'vintage' future generations are looking for. Perfectly tailored, too. I picked a few of my favorites below. I really think the skinny pencil dress is going to stay for a few more seasons!

A New Start

2011-12-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

It has been a little while since my last post but I can finally announce to you my very exciting, very big news! I have taken a new position as the Creative Director at Premier Yarns, located in Concord, North Carolina. My new job has a lot of work associated with it, but so far it's been a big learning experience and quite a lot of fun. I get to make color cards, think about yarn additions, and work on the current Premier line to try and turn it into something unique, different, and interesting to those of you who shop at big box stores.

Premier mostly sells acrylic, so when I got the job I was a little worried about my nearly purist natural-fiber-only attitude. I worried that I wouldn't feel good about selling the product - and I wouldn't want to falsely represent myself by getting behind a product I didn't like. But after some investigation, I've discovered that not all acrylic is created equally, and I am learning to really appreciate the level of quality in the acrylic product coming out of Premier.

In my 'spare' time, I've been busy moving into my new apartment here in Concord. It's my first long-term-for-sure space, and I am excited to make it home. My moving plans took a little longer than hoped for to get worked out, but I should see all my other things (the things that wouldn't fit in my initial car drive) arriving within the next few weeks. In the meantime, I am gathering up all sorts of inspiration on Pinterest and putting together 'themes' for each room. Don't worry, I have plans to post them here with 'before' and mood boards, and then later (when the rooms feel more like how I want) with after pictures! It could take awhile to move through all the different areas of this very small space, but it will be a fun journey.

I look forward to blogging more and telling you about everything I'm doing! I just wanted to give you all an update.

Moving on Up

2011-12-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

I know that it has been a very long time since I have been able to talk to you. I still can't tell you too much about the job change (I know that this will happen sometime later in the week or next week early), but I can tell you that I have moved to Concord, North Carolina! I have moved into a little apartment and over the week to keep us both busy (you know, outside of work and all), I will be showing you little DIY's and update plans that I am doing around the house. I am building this whole apartment on a very tight month-to-month budget, but I do want it to be very lovely and kind of a beginner builder dream home. I hope many of you are staying tuned and will be interested. The first room I'll be tackling is the bathroom! Pictures later this afternoon of it's current appearance.

Calm Before the Dawn

2011-11-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

I have a lot going on right now that I can't wait to tell you all about -- but you'll have to wait until the middle of next week or a bit longer. In the meantime, I have been working on some posts to share. Hang tight and I'll have something new for you soon!

Wear Color

2011-11-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

This might be one of my new favorite blogs! Wear Color (as you can see, I've added it to my blog roll) is a Tumblr blog that shows various people wearing colorful fashion! Sometimes it's just a splash of color, sometimes it's a whole outfit that is colorful, but either way, it is always an excellent choice. I am a massive proponent of wearing colorful items year-round, and I hope that this blog will continue to provide excellent inspiration for that! I also love that it becomes a one-stop-shop for fashion inspiration that otherwise you'd have to read many, many blogs to see!

Credits: Topshop, We Are YouNeak, Pangcakes

People Worth Following - Kristen Hanley Cardozo

2011-11-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

photo courtesy of Kristen, pattern featured is Audrey Totter, The Bad Girl

I have known Kristen Hanley Cardozo both personally and professionally since around 2007, when I joined Ravelry and was an administrator for a group we had in common (The Malabrigo Junkies). Kristen is a knitting pattern designer who seems to blend this sense of 1920's ease with bold color and organic, lightweight detail. When I started looking for designers for the first year of the Malabrigo Freelance Pattern Project, Kristen was one of my top choices. She truly turned out some gorgeous work (have you seen Understory?) So of course, when she joined Pinterest, I had to add her to my list of people to follow!

I love that she pins all sorts of whimsical, natural, inspirational and colorful things! Kristen seems to really have a love for the delicacy of nature, and she pins a lot of photography, but also garment and clothing design that captures that floating, lightweight feeling. In addition, she has a great sense of humor that sometimes borders on the slightly dark, slightly Victorian - it's fun to see all of the creepy little things she finds.

A quote from Kristen about her style:
"The majority of my style is influenced by three main interests: history, nature, and color. My taste in clothing tends toward autumnal colors, fitted silhouettes, and a smorgasbord approach to styles past. The palette I'd choose for my home is brighter. I have a strong fascination with nature and designs inspired by elements found in nature, as well as updated versions of stylistic elements in old fashioned furniture. As a city dweller, I also enjoy those elements of nature that survive in an urban environment. There tends to be real discomfort with nature that lives easily with humans, so adaptable plants and animals tend to get labeled as pests or weeds. However, there is real beauty and interest to be found in urbanized wildlife, and I think some of my favorite visual elements are those that celebrate the mundane and marginalized."

Folded

2011-11-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have finally photographed my Folded sweater. It's been finished for awhile but I just couldn't seem to find the time to wear it and take pictures of it simultaneously. I finally managed this morning. Having my mom play photographer means that sometimes the shoot goes from being in front of a blank wall to being all over the house, but it can be fun to switch it up!

See it on Ravelry

Yarn: Hello Yarn Sock in Candied Peel

Malabrigo Sock in Ravelry Red

Pattern by Veera - Folded

Woolily We Go Along

2011-11-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

(The neat Wovember header above comes from the Wovember website.)
I am so excited to tell you about this awesome thing I read today. Have any of you already heard of Wovember? It's a movement, a month, an idea, started by some very fantastic knitters who are well-known for their love of all things properly wooly. Jump over to the website and check out all the fantastic happenings.

Basically, the idea behind Wovember came from seeing a whole bunch of non-woolen items branded as 'wool'. They might be part wool, but were less than half, and maybe some of them weren't wool at all. You know, you've seen a sweater in a magazine - thick, luxurious cables - titled something like, "Wooly Warm Jumper', only to read the fiber contents and see 100% Polyester next to them. How is it possible that we, as knitters, can let something as sacred as wool slowly become a useless word? We can't! Wovember is a chance to show off our love of wool, sign a petition to change the requirements for claiming something is 'wool-like or woolen', and win prizes!

What are you working on right now that is wooly? I went through recently and pulled out 5 projects to work on in the next few months. And all of them are wool! You can see my list in the sidebar to the right - I went ahead and added all the projects on Ravelry. I might not get them done during Wovember, but I sure would like to work on them and share the wooly goodness with everyone around me.

Anthropological Findings

2011-11-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

All items on Anthropologie.com, image mosaic made on Polyvore

Anyone who knows me well is aware of my guilty pleasure, Anthropologie. Although owned by the same company that owns the churned-out-hipster-mess that is Urban Outfitters, I like to magically ignore this fact by just never shopping at UO and pretending they're totally different companies. Ignorance is false bliss right? Something like that.

When the new Anthropologie came to my door I couldn't wait to thumb through it, sure that each page would be full of eye candy - I was totally right but I also spotted so many awesome knits! I pulled a few of my favorites - what do you guys think? Worthy of admiration and useful for knit-spiration too, right?

Totally Ridiculous

2011-10-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

Do you ever open a package of fiber (or maybe clothing, etc.) in the mail and have an urge to take totally ridiculous pictures with it? I do. This series is made slightly creepier by the fact that my cropping gets CLOSER as you move forward. Happy Halloween to you and to me! (Fiber is Hello Yarn Buckland, and yes, that is enough to make a whole sweater!)

People Worth Following - Helen Terry

2011-10-28T15:10:00.000-07:00

I am very quick to follow people back on Pinterest. If you add me I often want to see what kinds of things you like, and usually end up following at least one board (or sometimes all of them). It's neat to see how many different people with different styles can all like the same things. So I thought I might start a little feature here on the blog showcasing interesting individuals. I don't necessarily know all these people personally, but I truly admire the sense of style I get from their pins! I can only hope that people feel the same way when they look at my own mash up of boards. If this is a feature you like, please let me know, and I'll try and make one every week!

This week's person worth following is Helen Terry. She has an excellent assortment of boards inspired by texture and a love of the monochromatic palette. I love the way that she seems to find dozens of natural looking items for home and hearth. Sometimes I wish I could dress this way but I think I would go crazy from lack of color, so it's good to admire from afar!

A quote from Helen about her style:
"I love colour too and I promise that there are some bright(er) colours in my home and wardrobe! But I love the way that the tiniest amount of colour has such an impact against a neutral background. I live in Eastern England and the landscape here is subtle, not dramatic - farmland, woodland, marshes, estuaries and the North Sea. Muted colours and soft edges. Plus I've always liked to pick up stones and shells - preferably the kind that have been worn and broken to reveal interesting marks, shapes and textures. In general I like things that look as though they have a history or remind me - in abstract ways - of the landscape or these objects I pick up."

Charlotte Taylor S/S Video

2011-10-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

I saw this this morning on Seesaw and had to grab a few screenshots of the video - so gorgeous! I am currently loving Charlotte Taylor, but I do feel that for such simple construction (even if the prints are all designed for each collection, it isn't as if they're hand-screened) they're overpriced. If nothing else, they make for lovely eye candy and inspiration.

It's Pictures Like These...

2011-10-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

....that make little girls want to have horses every birthday from 5 to 14. Myself included. After seeing many real-life horses, I know most of them don't look like this, but there is still some sort of little-girl magic in these Pinterest-sourced pictures.

Letterheady

2011-10-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a well-timed pin by Lolly, I discovered this gorgeous website - Letterheady - this afternoon, and spent nearly half an hour browsing the fantastic letterheads. There are so many, I could have explored even longer, but I pulled a few of my favorites. Whenever I have the money, I would really like to have a custom letterhead. It just says 'professional' to me. And I do enjoy letterwriting, so it would be nice to bring that back as a business tradition. It is so blah sometimes to send emails!

The last one is by Frank Loyd Wright! It's full stationary. I do so love stationary!

Patternity Tights

2011-10-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

Wow! I saw these elsewhere first, but after I clicked over to the Patternity site, these are now on the top of my wants list for fall/winter. They're gorgeous. Each pair is beautifully packaged, too. In black and white, they'd go with almost anything and are the perfect present for pattern mixers. At $60 a pair, they're a little bit of a splurge, but they look very high quality.

New Paintings

2011-10-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

I finished some painting work today. Neither of these is really framed or anything yet, but you can kind of get a feel from them from these pictures. The first is about 28" x 15" and the second is much larger, like 28"x 42" or 50". Not entirely sure on these sizes, just guesstimating. Both are acrylic on canvas.

Great Knits from Closet Visit

2011-10-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

I spoke in my last post about Closet Visit - a blog I'm currently a little obsessed with reading. So you'll have to excuse me (or adore me, either way it works) for picking out a few awesome knits seen there:

Interview: Beatrice Valenzuela

Interview: Sunshine C. Fox

Interview: Lauren Soloff

Interview: Sunny Walker

There were so many fascinating clothing selections, I could do about a million of these in different themes. It'd probably be more productive for you to go see for yourself, though!

No Magic in Fashion

2011-10-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

I have been in a little bit of a style rut. I keep making things, and of course, wearing things, but I haven't had the money to buy things, and realized very recently that my clothing has slowly migrated from clothing that I've found magical and inspiring to clothing that is practical and just 'okay.' I really feel that clothing... while it's primarily physical and surface and material, is also an expression of self that reaches down a lot deeper into what you do. If you're a knitter, you might get this feeling when you see tiny, useless buttons on the edge of a mitten, or a purely decorative picot hem, or a very intricate cable. These things speak to us - they say, 'make me, use me, wear me'. All clothing speaks to me in this way, and I have been ignoring it's siren call in favor of saving money.

So how do you do it, save money but still feel enchanted with your clothes? Do you thrift? Do you save for a special piece? Do you make yourself enchanting things out of fabric or yarns, or drape yourself in jewelry, or re-mix what you own? I'm going to be experimenting a lot with my style in the next month or so, as fall changes over to winter and I have more clothing to experiment with. I am giving up on Project 333 - too much limitation, I feel, just doesn't let me be as expressive as I'd like. I've been pinning things on Pinterest - maybe I should make a few of them?

Oh, and this blog - for inspiration - have any of you read 'Closet Visit'? I completely owe this new clothing verve to it's author, Jeana Sohn, who has suddenly reminded me that I love clothes. I love them. I truly, truly do.

Inspira, Infinite

2011-10-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have some handspun FO's to show off for once! I have been knitting quite a bit, but most of it isn't finished quite yet or needs to be blocked, or isn't really worth showing. I'm sure you all know the feeling. But I spun a lot during Tour de Fleece and some before, so there was plenty of handspun to play with. Both of these are Hello Yarn handspuns, which is, honestly, all I really spin anymore. It's not that I don't appreciate other dyers, I just have stocked up a bit of HY and I am on a no-buy for awhile, so I've been stash diving. As usual, details about yarn, yardage, and etc. can be found below the pictures and on Ravelry.

Ravelry Project Page

Pattern: Inspira Cowl by Celery Stalks

Yarn: Hello Yarn targhee handspun, Malabrigo Arroyo

The first is a cowl, or, more specifically, the Inspira cowl. After seeing Adrian's amazing Shelter and handspun example, I knew I had to make one of these. I have been wanting an over-the-shoulder cowl for awhile to extend some of my thinner t-shirts into fall, and the best part is that it looks just as good simply draped as it does over my shoulders. My sister loves it so much she has decided she wants one for Christmas, which is a huge relief to my pocketbook, because she had previously stated that she preferred to have a year without knitted gifts.

Ravelry Project Page

Yarn: HY shetland handspun 'Bustle'

The second FO is a cowl, of sorts, or rather, an infinity scarf. This is pretty much the simplest thing to knit ever. You knit a scarf that is roughly 4' long, graft or sew the ends together, and then style it however you please to create something loose and draped. It is warm and especially fantastic with a cardigan, a loose sweatshirt, or a fitted sweater.

I'm hoping I'll get lots of wear out of these two pieces as we head into fall. It was a lot of fun to do this photoshoot because it was also a photoshoot with my sister as a model for a Malabrigo Blog post and pattern by Linda Permann. She designed a cardigan for the company to show at Stitches Midwest 2011's fashion show.

Dreaming of.... Santorini

2011-09-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

I have wished that I could visit Santorini for a very long time. I like to tell myself that someday I might go there on a honeymoon, or at least a romantic vacation, but either of those is probably a long way off, so for now, or until I can save up enough money to go myself, I tend just to look at pictures and sigh. At least for a few moments, I'm somewhere relaxing and lovely.

photo by Surrealize on Flickr

photo by kimlawton on Flickr

photo by Gedsman on Flickr

NYFW From Afar - Vena Cava

2011-09-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

I wish I could go to New York Fashion Week. It's in my list of 'made its' - as in, I will have 'made it', when I can do the things on the list. Or at least some of the things on the list. (Commission a pair of Hetty Rose shoes, get a french manicure whenever I feel like it, etc. Some are small goals, others quite a bit larger.) When I get invited to NYFW, it will be a big check off my 'made it' list.

As for now, like most everyone else in the industry, I will be watching the spring fashion develop from afar, while my own personal wardrobe finds me more occupied with planning how to stay warm in below-zero temps. C'est la vie, non? So far, my favorite show is the Vena Cava collection. I love how it feels spring, but still polished and interesting. I am especially excited about the fabrics and structures of the pieces, and the suggestion that the graphic shapes we're seeing emerge in fall trends (not necessarily ones that started on the runway) are planning to stay next season. That gives me a lot of hope, as it will be 'spring' in Iowa well before we see any weather warm enough to wear a dress without a cardigan or scarf.

Sisicata - Fashion Friday

2011-09-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

Sisicata is a Polish jewelry designer who makes things mostly with resin. There are many good things about resin - it's cheap to produce, it preserves things suspended in it, it's clear - and a few not-so-good things about resin, too. It's not biodegradable (at all), and if you wear a piece that is really close to your skin on a hot day you are going to sweat against it like you did wearing jellies in the fourth grade. My mom never let me buy jellies in the fourth grade, so maybe that's why I have this weird love of plastic jewelry (and, occasionally, plastic shoes....)

The juxtaposition of resin in these pieces with natural 'found' objects makes them interesting and balances them out from feeling to much like plastic. I feel like a single, well-loved resin piece would be okay, right? I love the pendant earrings especially much!

Inspired By.... Donna Wilson, Annie Larson

2011-09-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

I am loving funky, colorful, fair isle and stripes for Fall. I will seriously be making sweaters and accessories inspired by two queens of color: Donna Wilson and Annie Larson. Annie's brand, 'All for Everyone', focuses on crazy pattern pairings that equal up to some pretty rad ensembles. I love her use of geometric shapes and more traditional patterns, like knitted lice and bicolor ribbing. I could imagine some little Latvian braids stuck in there, and plenty of pom-poms. I do love me some pom-poms.

Donna's work is a little more calm, but no less awesome. I have been swooning over these mittens since I first saw them on Pinterest - look through her online catalogue for even more knitty awesome. All in all, anything by either designer is going to be time-consuming to make, but won't it be fun to pick out colors and mix them together into a neat pattern? When I do it, I'll be sure to release the charts for you guys to play around with, too!

No-Labor Day

2011-09-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

I've had a really lovely weekend. Knitting on my Inspira Cowl is a refreshing break from the cardigan I've almost finished, and it means that I can completely ignore the sweater I have languishing on waste yarn upstairs, begging me just to sew in the ends and graft the underarms, choosing instead to focus on a slow and steady purl bump progression of color. I've also been paging through two really excellent books. After just finishing Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, I was ready for a little realistic reading, and have been indulging in learning a new interest - canning and preserving - and seeing someone else's viewpoint of another - a knitting book written by the fantastic Jane Brocket.

I already owned two of Jane's books - The Gentle Art of Domesticity, The Gentle Art of Quilting - both of which were excellent reads, useful informational books, and a look into the modern-day world of a well-loved crafter and photographer. Jane has a way of writing that makes you feel as if she is your friend just around the corner, and she has extended this writing from her blog to three books, the latest of which is The Gentle Art of Knitting. While I adored the first two books, I will say that the third is certainly geared more towards a beginning or casual knitter. You won't find any patterns in here that you won't be able to work out yourself. But that's not what I read her books for anyway. I read them for the feeling I get while reading them - as if the time you're reading is sunny, and calm, and you could curl up on the couch or in your favorite chair and have an afternoon to yourself.

Recently, mostly due to some of my Twitter friends' obsession, and my own obsession with Pinterest, I have developed a strong desire to pickle and preserve my own food. I relish the idea (pun intended), of filling my imaginary larder with beans, jellies, jams, spreads, chutneys and pickles, to enjoy well into the deep winter of Iowa. Something about living in Iowa especially spurs my desire to do these things - winter here recalls some deep mental connection to my great-great-grandmother, who rode in a covered wagon to Montana and lived in a sod house, quilting, knitting, and canning her way through summer to last through the cold winter. I suppose since the quilting and knitting have come my way, the food preservation desire was only a matter of time.

I picked up the book Well Preserved, by Eugenia Bone, at a local Borders' going out of business sale. I got it half-off and figured that, if nothing else, I'd cheaply discover that canning and food preservation aren't within my budget or abilities. I have only just started this book, but it seems very thorough and at least an interesting read. And it's perfect for sitting on the porch under a lightweight blanket as the air is turning towards fall.

Fall, Fast Approaching

2011-09-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

Have any of you thought of what your fall wardrobes are going to look towards this year? If you're like me, you already have plenty of use-able clothes, so you can only afford to add a piece here and there, either through knitting it yourself or purchasing frugally. Here are my top 5 things I'll be adding to my wardrobe this fall:

1. A squooshy, simple, pullover. I think I first came to this idea after seeing the picture featured, by the LLYMLRS' blog, on Lolly's Pinterest. I love the idea of spending my fall and winter wrapped up in a cozy pullover, with layered long-sleeve t-shirts and skinny jeans, sitting on my couch or in class. I plan on knitting a couple of my own out of yarn from my stash. I know I have some Malabrigo and some Cascade 220 sitting around!

2. A pair of brown, flat, riding-style boots. I have a pair of black heeled boots that are suede, and while suede is really great for fall and I love the boots, they just don't carry over into winter very well. Here in the Midwest, it snows a lot, sometimes in a very short time, and it's better to have a boot that has a bit of traction, some water-resistance (when you add the leather protector), and is a neutral, wardrobe-complimenting color. I have had my eye on a couple different styles - which ones do you like best? I'm a size 7 so I have this fear of looking like my feet are long and banana-esque. UO boots, Clarks Indigos, Intyce by Steve Madden

3. New leggings. I wear black leggings like none other, in the fall especially. I wear them with dresses, skirts, long tunic tops, but I get tired of them being so thin the wind goes through them. Last year, I bought a pair that were thick and actually sweater knitted, but they had a tendency to stretch out and had to be washed often (never a good thing for black pants).

This year, I want to buy a pair of Pixie Pants from J.Crew - they're actual, structured, thick pants. They have fastenings, so I never need to feel bad about wearing them in public. They will never be revealing, and they probably won't stretch out very quickly. Plus, they will be way warmer than any other 'legging' I have owned. And they'll go great with my black boots, or more structured booties.

4. A single pair of neutral flats. For the same reason that the boots will be more coverage in winter, I need a pair of flats that will carry me into fall and early winter (before the snow), hold up, and match almost everything. I'd also like them to be comfortable, affordable, and visually interesting. I was lucky enough to find several styles I like, all under $100. Believe it or not, one of the styles that I like best is made by Crocs. Yes, the so-ugly-they're-like-wearing-pjs-in-public brand. I hate Crocs as much as I hate seeing the word 'Pink' stretched across someone's behind. That's a lot of dislike people. A lot. But these are cute, huh? I also loved the other shoes pictured: J. Jill, Crocs, Anthropologie, UO

5. My go-to nail color for fall. This has already been decided - I fell in love with the look of neutral, shiny nails in Funny Girl - she wears a long pair of fakes the entire movie. While I don't love fake nails or super-long ones, personally, I think that it looked so chic and polished. I immediately ran to the drugstore and picked up Essie's Buy Me a Cameo, and I can't wait for it to be my signature color this winter. I only hope to look as polished as Ms. Striesand wearing it!

Back from Vacation

2011-08-22T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I am back from vacation - I went to Knoxville for a few days to see my boyfriend and sort of took an everything-but-work vacation from the Wednesday I got back to the weekend. But now I am fully back and will be posting again for you. Vacation was lovely, but there aren't really very many pictures. I don't believe in taking lots of pictures of people sitting around, or going shopping, etc. I will have some pictures soon of some new things I've been working on and a few things I've bought! I can't wait to share with you!

Oh, and Andrew took me to the fair, so I do have a lovely from-the-ferris-wheel shot. We went on the ferris wheel, some super-high swings, and ate a funnel cake. We both agreed that Capri Sun needs to release a Capri Sun for adults though. They could call it the MEGA POUCH.

Subversive Jewelry - Fashion Friday

2011-08-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Subversive Jewelry is a one-man jewelry company. Justin Giunta is a genius with materials - turning even everyday shapes like traditional lockets and metal chains into liquid, movement-riddled pieces. I fell in love with his Rainforest II collection especially - pictured above is a particularly stunning Jeweled Locket Necklace, which retails on his website (you can even pay through Paypal!) for a mere $880. Pictured below are a few other lovely pieces that I adored. I would definitely find a way to wear any of these, especially with the plain-colored shift dresses I'm finding myself in love with this season.

Irina Graewe Interiors

2011-08-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

I cannot express the exact emotions that I felt looking through these fantastically orchestrated interiors by designer Irina Graewe. I felt such a sense of awe - everything was perfectly arranged, the colors and textures are in the most balanced harmony, and each 'room' gives off a sense of time and attitude, as if the spaces are people themselves. While this is certainly more decorative and artistic than practical, interior-design wise, it makes for some spectacular inspiration and eye candy.

Inside Animation

2011-07-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have been really intrigued by the processes shown in these Youtube videos - one on Sylvain Chomet, who has animated films like Les Triples De Belleville and the very-scary short, La Vieille Dame et Les Pigeons.

In addition there is this lovely video featuring animator Joanna Quinn. I think everyone will probably know her best as the woman who illustrates those annoying bears in the Charmin commericals, which is a pity, because her animation skills are far beyond selling toilet paper. I hope she gets a chance to do something better soon! In the meantime, you can watch her student film, Girls Night Out, and several other films, on her website.

There is definitely a lot any artist, especially those who sketch figures or fashion figures, can learn from the animation process. I prefer personally to work often on tracing paper - I feel that the color translates better and you can see your progress beneath you. I might try this feeling of 'graduated' movement sketching in my next project.

Craftsy Crochet Classes with Linda Permann

2011-07-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

I could not be more excited to share this with you guys. The lovely, talented Linda Permann gave me an opportunity to try two of her crochet courses on Craftsy. I am going to be taking them and reviewing them here on the blog, so stay tuned! The classes I'm taking are 'Beyond Rectangles' and 'Crafty Crochet Embellishments'. All the classes have videos included and a chat where you can ask your instructor questions. Craftsy has a really, really nice set up and I'm eager to start my first class this afternoon! I just have to get my crochet hooks and yarn ready (I'll be starting with something happy and squooshy - Malabrigo Worsted!)

1600 Jelly Roll Quilt Top

2011-07-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

I saw this goofy video in a tweet from Chawne, and really wanted to try it. I mean, a quilt top in under 3 hours? Impossibly awesome, right? It would be great to be able to give these away to friends and family as a christmas gift! So I went and got a Moda Jelly Roll (Oliver + S 'City Weekend'), and got to it! You can find instructions to make your own here: 1600 Jelly Roll Quilt. I'm doing my best to work through some of my sewing and knitting stash. I really don't want to have to move it all again, and that means that I have a year to cut it down to a more manageable size.

Izze & Jellybeans

2011-07-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

This is my current favorite work-time snack.

Jelly Belly jellybeans in fruit flavors only, and Izze Blackberry soda.

Final Scenes: The Tudors

2011-07-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished all of the seasons of The Tudors, which is now available in full on Netflix, if you have it, even on instant play. I started the show with my dad but he quickly grew bored of it after Anne Boleyn died -- I will admit that Natalie Dormer was excellent in the role and I missed her terribly throughout the last three seasons, but I really felt I needed to finish the journey of Henry VIII through this epic re-telling of history. The costumes were fantastic, the scenery beautiful, but I was especially struck by these scenes from the final episode. They take place throughout as Henry muses on his life. Screenshots are done by me, but the original footage is property of Showtime.

Perfect Summer Soiree

2011-07-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with the mood board generator at BHLDN when I had to use it for the recent giveaway at the Oh, Joy! blog. The giveaway challenge is to come up with a mood board that shows BHLDN clothing and illustrates your perfect summer party. I used a lot of photos on my Pinterest -- if you click over to my mood board here you can see where they all came from, respectively, by clicking the individual images. Unfortunately, the giveaway is not a judged contest, so more than likely mine won't get viewed by many people at all. Please leave me a comment here or on BHLDN so that I know you liked it!

A Peach of a Look

2011-07-19T06:33:00.000-07:00

It's nearing the end of the summer here in Iowa (you can practically hear the fall, waiting around the corner, hoping that August will fly by quickly with the fair and it will be September before you know it), and right now my tastes have kind of turned into a blend of being extremely tired of my summer clothing and hoping to embrace it for a few more weeks all the same.

I was seeing peach makeup everywhere, and especially loved the post about it on A Beautiful Mess. I think that it's a very 'attainable' look for nearly any skin tone, as long as you find your right shade. So, I started looking for my right shade, and found some mineral eyeshadow from Noella Beauty Works in 'Mango Berry'. I prefer mineral eye shadows to any other type because I find that they layer well, are versatile (you can wet your brush to apply in a darker way or more precisely, and usually have strong color. Noella Beauty Works came with high recommendation from a friend, and it's lovely stuff. I couldn't have been happier. As you can see above, I wear it as a blended blush and a eyeshadow, with just a touch of black eyeliner.

So just when I've decided that peachy pink is the way to go, guess what turns up on the Style.com blog? Peachy pink at the Armani show for Fall 2011! It looks like I'm going to be wearing peach makeup well into fall. And what's there not to love about that? (Both the bottom images are from the linked Style.com blog article, and are property of Style.com. The mineral make-up shown is Mango Berry by Noella Beauty Works.)

Prada Resort 2012 - Babushka Chic?

2011-07-18T06:53:00.000-07:00

I can't really make a definite statement about my feelings toward this Resort collection. Typically, I avoid resort collections like the plague because they're unreasonable for my lifestyle. I very rarely take a 'vacation' in the winter and go somewhere warmer. This year, I might be in Uruguay come February, but I doubt I'll buy a whole new wardrobe for it. And frankly, it isn't like the avenues that I shop (online, the mall) are really going to be carrying a lot in the way of fall/spring type clothing in the middle of my country's winter season.

But there is something sweet and earnest about the prints and pastels of this Prada collection, and I want to somehow translate that feeling into my own fall wardrobe. I have been big into the neutral bag all summer, and I would love a pink-beige clutch or satchel to carry into winter. I work from home, so a big huge bag isn't really necessary - and I do have a lovely Namaste bag in dark teal that can carry knitting anywhere in structured perfection.

Aside from the models in this photoshoot being unable to look at the camera very well (seriously, these aren't even the worse ones, some of the shots were downright cross-eyed), I think that the setting of the shoot may be what is 'getting' me here - the pale blue background, neutral chair, and the simple feeling of timeless-ness. It's obvious that they're trying to invoke feelings of Mad Men in these garments - from the slightly dated shapes to the way the outfits are layered, they seem to fit that era, until you get to the goofy headscarves. So what is this look? Babushka - chic?

I've decided that I'll adapt this collection as color, layering and shape - I would definitely wear the blue dress at middle solo on a warm day, or grab the clutch from the daisy dress any day of the week to run to lunch, or throw on the satchel and scarf combo with an oversized sweatshirt and thick tights, boots and bracelets, to run on a quick shopping trip. How would you wear pieces from this collection? And does it speak to you at all?

TdF 2011 Update - Two Weeks In

2011-07-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

I am officially two weeks into the Tour De Fleece, and I have made 1,366 yards of yarn! I also made you a mosaic to look at:

Shown here are all the yarns I've made so far, on and off the bobbin! These include two skeins of singles of Hello Yarn Targhee in 'Hidden Trail', nearly four skeins (738 yards!) of a 3-ply made from Hello Yarn Polworth in 'Cauldron' and Funky Carolina Falklands in 'Kermit', and two skeins of 2-ply Hello Yarn Falklands in 'Kale'. More to come soon - thus far it has been a very green TdF and I am about to take a turn into blues and browns!

Beauty Obsessions

2011-07-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

On the top of my want-to-buy list:

Sugar Rose lip balm by Fresh cosmetics -- I have heard this stuff is not only pretty and smells nice, but has the perfect balance of tint and balm. I do love my Burt's Bees, but I feel like I could shy away and purchase this next time!

I have nothing but curiosity about this product - Scotch Naturals' nail polish is a water-based, non-toxic, and eco-friendly alternative to other polishes. It comes in 17 colors and they're all beautiful, sophisticated, and trendy! In addition, Scotch offers a soy-based nail polish remover. I keep thinking that I need to find a few 'signature' colors to wear and cull the rest of my polish collection.

Speaking of signature colors, could Bobbi Brown have hit my nail on the head any harder with this palette? These are the eye colors I wear literally every day, with the exception of a richer brown, and I could easily get rid of 90% of my makeup bag by buying this awesome palette!

Coach Poppy was first introduced to me by my little sister, who loves the scent but is afraid to wear perfumes because she has allergies to several. I fell in love pretty madly, but I haven't taken the plunge yet (perfume is expensive) because I am still using up my Chanel Eau Tendre and Marc Jacob's Basil. Can you guess that I like light, slightly earthy, floral - sweet scents?

What are you secretly obsessing over?

Wind, Taking Down Willows

2011-07-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

I was going to post awhile back - you remember me saying that I had some posts up my sleeves, right? But suddenly, we were without power, plunged into a technology-free world, and I was making Twitter updates with my cell phone. We were running the fridge with the generator, and I was spending four hours each morning hauling brush to the curb so that we could take it to the city compost pile.

Yup, we got hit with a pretty big storm. Lots of damage, although luckily not to the house or the cars. Some of our biggest shade trees -- trees that have lived over 100 years, trees that have survived hundreds of midwestern storms, ice, snow, and hail -- came down all over our property on Sunday night while we huddled in the basement laundry room.

So don't worry, I'm still posting, I just didn't have power for awhile!

The Wool Dispensary - A Kickstarter to Watch

2011-07-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard about Kickstarter yet, you're missing out. It is an awesome website that allows people to post projects they're hoping to launch and lets friends, supporters, interested parties and family support these projects with varying donation levels. Many of the donations also come with a gift to the person who donated, PBS style. I am very much in love with Kickstarter because it allows small companies and individuals to fund big business dreams -- attending a trade show, launching a clothing line, or releasing their first book. And all you usually need to donate to help is a few bucks. Every little bit counts!

I wanted to introduce you to a Kickstarter project that has come really close to my heart. A few of you may know that when I first 'started' down my career path, I was an administrator for the Malabrigo Junkies group on Ravelry. At the time the group was a lot smaller than the 5,000 + members that participate now, and the group was very close-knit (pun intended, always). I got to know a lot of aspiring designers and knitters on a very personal level. We shared our lives with each other -- hardships and personal revelations and hopes and dreams. Many members in the group got very close. Two people I got to know really well through the Junkies were Sam Boice and Breean Miller. Breean and I even ran a KAL together during the first Malabrigo March!

Sam and Breean are the kind of folks that I love to support on Kickstarter. They're both level-headed, have a good idea of how the industry functions (Sam used to work for a well-known dyer, Breean is an awesome designer with lots of work under her belt), and what they want to do within it. They're starting their own wool-dyeing company, called 'The Wool Dispensary'. Each of the collections the Dispensary produces has a color theme and storyline that forms the mood for the collection. And the yarn is beautiful -- several different gorgeous bases and a handful of jewel-toned colors. I am especially excited about the Suri Merino base, pictured at the top of this post!

They aren't asking for a lot of help, just a little boost so that they can attend their first conference show, Yarn Con, in Chicago this year. What I really appreciate in a Kickstarter proposal is a knowledge that the original folks aren't expecting you to back everything - Sam and Breean have put a lot of their own money and time into making their dreams happen. If you're interested in helping, please jump over to their Kickstarter page and make a donation to this budding yarn company!

Friday Afternoon

2011-07-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd punish my blog readers with pictures of my cat until I can give you something more interesting to read. This actually means there will be a real post tomorrow.

So you're only being punished today. I promise.

2011 Fall Color Trends 101

2011-07-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

In case you don't follow the runways and you haven't had a chance to look through this season's trends (I think I browse three or four fashion shows a day to attempt some level of consciousness), I've compiled them for you a bit here! Happily, the trend this fall is all about color and pattern -- two of my favorite things. Texture wise, there were many thick, textured, woven fabrics, often accented by furs. In contrast, clothing in sheer and lightweight fabrics seemed to dominate the rest of the runway, showing up in brilliant pattern or monochrome neutrals.

Color trending is basically re-inventing the wheel -- the color wheel, that is. Each season the basic hues are tweaked to become some fresh, 'new' palette. Compared to last season's grouping of drab grays, blacks, olives and brown, this year felt like a fresh breath of crisp fall air. Rich plum, clear blue, poppy red, dirty chartreuses, jade, mouse gray, cream and buttery browns showed up again and again in various shows. I can't wait to start dreaming up knits and grabbing these colors from my yarn and fabric stashes. I already had a plum blouse planned for Sketch, Sew, Style -- now I really need to get working on it!

Fashion Credits, Row 1: Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Issa, J. Crew;

Row 2: DVF, Alice + Olivia, Basso & Brooke, Hermes

Farmer's Market Finds: Mulberry Cobbler

2011-07-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

I wanted to start a new short series for summer, and with the addition of a Farmer's Market to this sleepy little town, it seemed like a great fit. A lot of folks around here grow their own produce and don't just grow your typical tomatoes and carrots, they grow some other 'oddities' too. I thought it would be fun to find recipes for these 'oddities' and share them with you!

This week, I talked my mom into picking up two baskets of mulberries. The mulberry isn't actually a berry -- berries grow on bushes, and a mulberry is a type of tree. They look a little like blackberries but don't have as many seeds, and the stem is integrated into the fruit itself, so you can't remove them easily. This isn't a huge problem, because the stems are very small and tender and will bake right into whatever you're making.

I picked a recipe for Crispy Mulberry Cobbler off of Key Ingredient, a website that lets you look up the main ingredient for your dish and find several results for it. I liked this recipe because it seemed to promise that the mulberries wouldn't come out mushy. They're a very soft fruit and very small, so it was important for me to maintain some of their integrity. If I had just used them as a replacement for blackberries I don't know that they would have held up as well. Plus, the recipe called for minimal ingredients, so it was easy to make with things I had around the house. I really do prefer 'simple' food. My notes are in italics.

Crispy Mulberry Cobbler, from Key Ingredient (submitted anonymously)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar (this would be an excellent place to use raw sugar)
3 cups mulberries (the recipe recommends Persian mulberries but I don't know the difference...)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup butter

Start by rinsing your mulberries in ice water. I stored mine for 2 days in an airtight container in the fridge, to slow down any aphids. After pulling them out, I dumped the whole batch in freezing water and drained with a colander, repeating twice. The berries have little nooks and crannies so be sure to rinse well, just to get any teeny bugs out. I then moved the berries to a glass bowl. Don't dry them off, since you're going to dump the 1 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp sugar in there and you want it to stick. Mix up the berries with these two dry ingredients evenly distributed -- set aside.

In another bowl, take the cup of flour, sugar, and baking powder, and mix. Soften the butter a little in your microwave -- don't melt it, just make it easier to move around. Crack and beat your egg, then add the butter into the bowl with dry ingredients. I used a spatula to mix them all together -- mix until it seems like it's just not going to blend, and it looks crumbly and fairly dry. Dump in your slightly beaten egg, and mix so that everything is moistened.

Take an 8-inch baking dish and grease it. I like to use Baker's Joy because it 'greases' a pan without making it seem greasy -- just a light dusting of flour, really, to keep it from sticking. Then dump your berry mixture in, distributing it evenly along the bottom of the pan. Next, using your hands, crumble your dough mixture over the top as evenly as possible (no need to be perfect). I sprinkled the top of my cobbler with sanding sugar so it will look extra crisp and pretty when it comes out of the oven.

Bake at 350 F for 30 - 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for a bit before serving, or until you can cover it and set it aside for later! We served ours with vanilla ice cream, and I would have had pictures, but it was eaten much too fast.

I Love Mail Days...

2011-07-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of things in the mail. Mostly because I order lots of things in the mail. Today was a pretty lucrative 'mail day', so I thought I'd share what came:

Hello Yarn Rambouillet in 'Radius' -- this has a good probability of being spun for TdF!

Quince & Co. Tern in 'Gingerbread' and 'Chanterelle' -- I am very excited to use this

for Flocked Mittens!

Tour de Fleece: Day 1

2011-07-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

This is my first year actually participating in Tour de Fleece (for those of you who don't spin, this means that I'm spinning along with the Tour de France, setting personal goals regarding amount and types of yarn that I'm making. It's a challenge for spinners at the same time the 'spinners' - bicyclists - in France are challenging themselves too!) It's exciting for me for so many reasons. Last year, I was in Uruguay. The year before, I didn't have a wheel, only a spindle, and I had a very small fiber stash (this is no longer a problem.)

For the first day of the Tour, I finished off some bobbins that I had started the night before -- fluffy, dk-weight singles that will eventually pair with some Malabrigo yarn to become an Inspira Cowl. The fiber is Hello Yarn Targhee in the colorway 'Hidden Trail'. It has just the right mix of sweet pink, dirty yellow-green, and navy to keep me happy. I am not really excellent at spinning singles, especially with shorter fibers, but I think these went well. I only had two breaks when I went back through to take some of the twist out. We'll see how well it knits up - I plan on starting this project tonight!

As soon as those were off the bobbins, I started my biggest challenge for the Tour: spinning three super-thin singles so that I can make a sock-weight 3-ply. 3-ply yarns are one of the bounciest, most beautiful yarns for socks, if spun correctly, but they certainly take some practice. This will be only my second 3-ply, but I feel confident that if I remain patient, it will come out exactly as I want. I am mixing two plies of Hello Yarn Polworth 'Cauldron' with one ply of Funky Carolina Falklands in 'Kermit'. As you can see, I didn't get very far on my bobbin today -- this is about 4 hours of spinning - but I did other things (like pitting cherries, and balling some watermelon, and baking a mulberry cobbler), so I think I'm excused.

One of my favorite things about the tour is that not only does it challenge me to think ahead, prepare and execute ideas, and work hard at things that are difficult, but it makes me slow down and enjoy small pleasures. The sound of the spinning wheel. The color of fiber slipping through my fingers and lining up in little rows on the bobbin. The surprise of looking down and seeing a bit of blush peeking through golden brown. I hope that I continue to enjoy the Tour this way. It makes me wonder if the guys who are actually cycling during Tour de France enjoy their sights and sounds.

TNNA Fall 2011

2011-06-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

I wish that I had dozens of fantastic pictures to show you from TNNA. In truth, I didn't get to take really any pictures at all. There was a single photo of me, heavily imbibed and making out with the Alisha Goes Around booth decor (a giant knitted polar bear), but it seems to have been accidentally removed from my camera. In the material they passed out at TNNA it said that we weren't allowed to take photographs, too -- a statement that was corrected quickly by attendees. You're allowed to take pictures of your own booth, and anything else you have to have permission to take pictures of. I wish I'd known this, I would have documented my first TNNA a lot better. Oh well. There's always January in Arizona, I suppose!

When I originally decided to make the trip from Iowa to Columbus, the company and I had a sort of 'plan' for my attendance. They would do what they usually do at the booth: taking orders, rubbing elbows with yarn stores, greeting visitors. I would take over the job of discussing future collaborations with designers, which meant that the many designers who visit our booth could speak to someone immediately instead of waiting around for opportune moments. Unfortunately, Murphy's Law says that if you're trying to get a flight out of Uruguay to attend TNNA and introduce your newbie to the ins and outs of the industry, you're going to get stuck in South America due to Andean volcanic explosions. I don't think I ever saw this one on the Murphy's Law calendar my doctor had up in his office, but it could have been November or something, I guess.

So I was at TNNA alone, with our wonderful reps and a good friend of the company, Allison. And it went fine, for the most part -- we had the booth set up on time, and got to meet so many very lovely people, and I got to discuss many, many interesting ideas with designers, and publishers, and companies. I didn't get to wander around as much as I'd liked, but I did get to meet some internet friends in real life, which was delightful. And I made sure to reward myself with plenty of yarn and goodies, since I did such a good job of running the booth solo.

Simply Adore: Iris Apfel

2011-05-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite fashion icons is Iris Apfel. I adore her -- her attitude, her style, everything she wears. I feel like she doesn't encourage you to dress like her, she encourages you to dress like yourself. Often, I find that my interior design choices are much more daring than my clothing choices. I'd like to be more daring in my clothing, too. After reading this excellent interview with Iris as part of the Master of Fashion series, I feel really inspired to start thinking about what defines 'me' as I go through the steps of Project 333. Iris has a huge closet, but I'd like to get my look down with fewer pieces!

Project 333 Update

2011-05-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

I packed away all of my winter things! I decided to pack them up in a really cute way by wrapping all the sweaters in tissue paper and tying them with baker's twine. In addition, I stacked some of the shirts and tops together and tied them with ribbons, too. This way, when I go back to unwrap them at the end of summer, I'll feel like I'm opening something special. I decided not to go through them and weed out things I dislike yet -- I am going to go ahead and do that with my summer wardrobe, and then I can buy new pieces next summer to fill out my 33. I have a lot of shoes, too, that might need replacing. Many of them are uncomfortable or actually falling apart.

As you can see, Thusa helped.

Wishes: Anthology Magazine

2011-05-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

If the subscription wasn't $38 for a year, I would totally go in on this (it's only four issues at $9.50 each, which is hardly enough to justify a magazine as thin as this one -- less than 50 pages!) Good thing that you can view them online, and since they are through massive retailer Anthropologie, there's a pretty good chance it won't disappear soon without support.

I loved looking through the pdf files and looking at all these gorgeous inspirational photos! I don't have an interior space to call or decorate as my own yet, but when I do I am sure that I'll be referencing Anthology magazine.

Feel It, Felt It!

2011-05-17T09:36:00.001-07:00

I really want to make any of these felt crafts. They mostly require wool felt, which makes them a bit more expensive, but isn't it worth it to have something lovely like this in your home?

Urchin Bowls from a pattern by Herbst on Etsy (yes, a real handmade crafter), which I would love to make for my sewing table or even my jewelry drawer!

A tutorial by Martha Stewart on how to make this gorgeous scrappy felt rug. This would take awhile, but many companies that sell felt will sell or give you their scraps!

This twisted felt garland from The Purl Bee would be perfect to hang in a window or across an awning or fireplace!

Time to go hunting for some felt!

Project 333

2011-05-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

Have any of you started or heard of Project 333? I just heard about it today and I think it would be a really fun challenge for me, and could coincide nicely with Wardrobe Remix. Basically, the idea is that you pick 33 pieces (accessories and shoes included) for each Phase. There are 3 phases in the year -- for me in Iowa, this means that I would have clothes for fall, clothes for winter, and clothes for spring/summer. We have a very short warm season so I don't really need more than one phase for those months.

One of the most exciting parts about this for me is the aspect of 'new'. If there's anything I truly love about going shopping, it's the delight that I get from opening a bag and trying on something I've just found that I truly love. Project 333 would allow me to do this -- because you box up all your clothes for each phase and hide them out of sight! I could even package them in a cute way so that it feels like I'm opening presents every year to myself. And I could add a single piece to each wardrobe every year -- one piece per phase. I know this wouldn't limit me to 33 pieces, but it would certainly cull my spending habits and make me consider what I really need more.

Of course, things like underwear, hosiery, workout and lounge clothes are not to be included in your 33. Only clothes that you wear in public. Is anyone doing this already? What has been your success? Do you think you could do Project 333?

Project Spectrum 5.7.11

2011-05-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

I adore the red section of the Malabrigo Lace color card

Neutral, or Intense?

2011-05-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

I am trying to decide on the palette for Book Four's styling, and I've hit a bit of a wall. I was sort of hoping that some of you out there in blog-land would be willing to offer up your opinions. Currently, all the designer colors are chosen and perfect. In order to show you the theme without giving it away, I didn't pull color card images but instead captured the 'ideal' color card the designers were given to work off of. As you can see, it's a fairly dark and moody palette, and I want to balance it out in the book one of two ways. Either by making all of the garments stand out by putting them against a background that is neutral, or by intensifying them and making each page of the book an explosion of color. I've put together a little grouping to help you all visualize this with me.

Here are images that I feel summarize the 'neutral' feel -- imagine them with pops of the colors in the palette. All of the colors would be paired with ensembles that would be cream, beige, brown, gray, with plenty of texture. The lighting would be bright and detailed.

In contrast, here are images I feel summarize the feel of intensity and moodiness. I feel like this is more the direction I would like the book to go, but I don't want to alienate the reason for a knitting book's pictures -- illustration of the final product -- from the images themselves.

Which images do you think would highlight the patterns better, and which do you feel would make you want to buy a book? More importantly, how do the pictures weigh with your potential purchase of said book?

Project Spectrum Launch and Giveaway Winner!

2011-05-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Project Spectrum, and the beginning color this year is red! I am excited because for the first time I won't just be looking, I'll actually be playing along. Anyone can join Project Spectrum -- you can read about it on the facebook page, it isn't just for people who knit. I decided to celebrate Project Spectrum's launch with the mediocre collection of red things from my room, and by announcing the winner of last month's Malabrigo Book Three Giveaway!

I used a random number generator and if you had tweeted, you got two entries. The winner was number 14, Kate (k2togkate on Ravelry)! Congratulations! Please send me your address by either email or Ravelry mail so that I can send you your Rasta and the Book!

Etsy - mostly bad and ugly?

2011-04-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

Note before reading: I am not discontinuing shopping on Etsy and neither should you. There are so many sellers who really care about what they are making and put their hearts into it. But if you own an Etsy shop, you might want to consider getting your own domain or switching to Big Cartel, where at least they pay attention to your pleas and reports.

I heard about Etsy in 2006, a year after it opened up, and when it was just beginning to get recognition in the independent crafting world. It seemed like such a wonderful place -- the layout was clean, the community was friendly and creative, and even people who were simply buyers could very easily access the site through a quick sign up and their Paypal accounts. It provided access to everything you couldn't get in your hometown -- handmade buttons, yarns from independent dyers, wool from small farmers around the world. You could buy fabric that was screen-printed, or get ahold of a collection that wasn't carried at the local Jo-Ann's. It was basically a big-city access for anyone in the world.

I live in small-town Iowa. This means that while there are a few interesting stores in each town, most goods come from the local Wal*Mart, Walgreens, or grocery store. There is no fabric, yarn, or body goods store in our town (unless you are miraculously not allergic to Bath and Body Works products). Once a year there are fiber festivals, but they seem to be filled with the generic, boring, over dyed purple alpaca styles of wool, spun by old ladies who spin suspicious materials like hair from their Chow or sometimes their own locks. So most of my buying has come from the internet. Etsy seemed like a godsend.

At least, until around this last year, when Etsy seems to have gone downhill fast. Suddenly, the number of people hawking mass-produced items as handmade seems to have increased exponentially. Mineral makeup, leather purses, clothing and many more items are in question whenever I look at them. Do they look handmade? As someone who attended fashion school, I'll tell you, it's not easy to sew through leather, even with a leather needle, on your basement Bernina. Chances are that the fully-lined, leather purse with studs and metal fastenings is not made in someone's home, but instead by a factory worker in China, since most of those purses require at least five different, very expensive machines, to be produced.

Of additional concern to me is the rising appearance of copyright violators. Etsy's copyright policy doesn't protect any sellers or even designers whose copyright is being violated by other sellers. In fact, the policy basically says that if you think something of yours is being violated, you need to take it to an attorney before bothering them about it. And if you don't have a patent, or you can't prove that the seller is using your pattern, you're pretty much screwed unless you decide to take very expensive legal action. Don't you just love how Etsy protects the thieves and liars?

And Etsy's report function, which is supposed to allow self-policing by the community, seems to be useless. The company repeatedly told reporters of the Orglamix scandal that they wouldn't do anything about it unless Cheri was proven to be a reseller -- after countless reports she was finally removed from the system, but only because she had decided not to return seller's conversations or deliver their orders -- not because she's a fraud who claimed to be producing vegan-friendly, organic eyeshadows when she wasn't. It actually seems that the satire site, Regretsy, does more policing of Etsy's Terms of Service than the real site does, often grouping together to report violators. This recent post shows just how little Etsy cares with a quote from Emily, the curator of the offending collection.

If Etsy has 40 people working in support, why aren't they ever doing anything? What are they paying them for? While there are many honest sellers on Etsy making things by hand and putting them out in the world to make a living, there seem to be just as many slipping through the cracks and breaking all the rules.

So what can be done about it? I don't know that anything really can -- if Etsy continues to allow these companies to thrive in the warmth of their mis-managed community, protecting them and not copyright at every turn, it's up to the crafters, sellers, and buyers who purchase handmade goods and are passionate about what they love to manage themselves. It's time for some accountability. I am taking myself personally responsible for my purchases by asking the following questions:

Does the item LOOK handmade? Could you figure out how to make it yourself? If the item is complex or requires a massive amount of craftsmanship, consider the seller's stock. If they have 147 leather handbags in stock that each contain seemingly complex processes, they aren't worried about taking orders in advance, or they have 100k plus sales of said handbags, they are probably a reseller.

Does this item look like something I've seen before? I'm a knitter, so I have a slight advantage when it comes to knitted products. If I've seen a pattern that is similar on Ravelry to what this seller is making, I usually do a quick background check -- are they a Ravelry user? If the pattern is free, I do a quick download and check the copyright information. Now, it is perfectly possible for a knitter who wishes to knit and sell from a copyrighted pattern to get permission -- don't report right away, but it can't hurt to ask a question, right? If the seller refuses to answer or avoids your questions, you have a right to contact the original designer and see if they're aware this seller might be violating their copyright.

Do the claims they're making stand up logically? This was a huge issue in the Orglamix scandal -- Cheri of Orglamix Cosmetics claimed in multiple places that her mineral makeup was organic and contained only vegan ingredients, but was later found to have made false claims in both cases. In order for a company to claim organic status, they must first go through the FDA -- if a company did this, wouldn't they be slamming that label everywhere on their Etsy? It's a very expensive and complex process that requires testing. Testing that doesn't happen if you're just ordering your base minerals from a company and hand mixing in your basement. Claiming to have FDA or Organic certification is illegal -- it is fraud, meaning that most sellers aren't going to do it without documentation to back it up. This should send off a red flag to anyone.

Please, shop responsibly! If you care about handmade goods, trustworthy designers, and give any value to the creativity of the individual, stand up for what you believe in! If you're just in it for the money savings and convenience, maybe you should read someone else's blog.

Additional Reading:

Etsy Privacy Concerns -- Trouble Thinking blog talks about the privacy issues on Etsy

Etsy Call-Out Blog -- A blog dedicated to calling out Etsy issues

Not Remotely Handmade tags on Regretsy

Etsy Bitch -- A site calling for Etsy to take action against sellers in violation of laws and TOS

Etsy Resellers Tumblr -- showing resellers in all their glory

SCRAM bot that isn't doing it's job -- Etsy's answer to resellers and violators

Quick Obsession - Essie Nail Polish

2011-04-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

I am thoroughly addicted to Essie nail polishes. I love the cute little bottles and the candy colors, and have built up quite a miniature collection (though nothing compared to some nail bloggers I know!) My current favorite color is Lollipop, and my most recent addition was Little Brown Dress. I look forward to using Little Brown Dress and one of the colors from my J Crew miniature collection, Mink, in a half-moon manicure like I recently saw on the Create Loves blog:

Malabrigo Book Three Giveaway

2011-04-26T08:39:00.001-07:00

If any of you knitters out there have had trouble getting your hands on Book Three, the book I worked on for Malabrigo Yarns, here's a chance to grab one! I will be giving away a copy of the book plus a skein of Rasta in Baya Electrica to one lucky Life on the Double Point reader!

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on the blog. If you want two entries though, you'll need to follow MalabrigoBuzz on Twitter and re-tweet about this giveaway! At the end of May I will draw a winner. I am giving a lot of time on this contest because I know lots of people haven't been reading due to my absence, and might not be checking here a lot.

Evaluations

2011-04-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

I originally was going to call this post 'Re-Evaluations', until I realized, after typing out how that looks about four times, that I don't really care for the way it either sounds, nor looks, and I would rather just evaluate. No reason to re-do it, since each time I seem to evaluate it seems to be about something new anyway. Note: you may have to excuse any floral language in this post, since I've just finished watching An Education, and since it takes place in England in the 1960s, included a lot of lovely british folk talking in pretty accents.

I wanted to set some goals for myself. I do this fairly often, but I haven't made a habit of publicly announcing them in a long time, since I really hate facing up to my own disappointment. However, this year, I picked goals that I really, truly, want to achieve. Maybe they are impossible, I'm not sure. If they are, I'm going to be disappointed anyway, since they're things I mean to set out to do. I guess my thought by placing them here on the blog is that someone else will see them, and perhaps even ask about their progress, and maybe I'll feel pressured to complete them instead of stagnating in front of this computer screen, pinning things to a board of non-completed wish projects. Plus, I'd really like to document them here and it might be fun if a few of you decided to do them with me! (Challenge!)

Purge or Preserve

Goal Date Finished: July 1, 2011

This is probably a fairly easy, one-afternoon goal. I need to go up to my parent's attic (which, while finished, is very cold and uncomfortable right now in April) and pull out all the boxes and containers with my name on them, and go through all of them. And I need to decide what things I would like to keep and which things I would like to purge from my life by sending them away to a garage sale or Goodwill or down to the garbage. This will include all childhood tinker things, old knitting projects that have been banished, papers, drawings, paintings, and such. The main reason I want to do this is because moving is very obnoxious and I really hated having my mom showing up at my house with a box full of unknown junk. I would, perhaps unrealistically, like never to have boxes of unknown junk.

Sketch, Sew, Style

Goal Date Finished: December 2011

I want to completely design three outfits, start to finish, from sketch to final product. Of course, shoes and such are pretty out of my range of abilities, but I think I could maybe manage to design everything else -- skirt, dress, shorts, top, sweater, whatever -- and maybe even make the jewelry to go with it (a good excuse to do some of the DIY's I've been setting aside on pinterest, eh?) I want to post the stages here on the blog. I feel like three outfits is about twelve pieces total, which seems like a lot but when one of the pieces is a simple a-line skirt or a shift dress, it can't be that hard, can it? And I did go to patternmaking classes, after all.

Art Show

Goal Date Finished: February 2012

This is the longest-termed of all my goals and perhaps the most difficult. I want to have an art show. I have been a painter for as long as I can remember, and I swear, I am not a bad one. In fact, I think I have potential to be a very, very good one. I am going back to school for art this fall and the community college's painting professor who is starting me out (eventually I'll be transferring but I have to get back into the swing of things), has told me that he'll let me direct my own curriculum. So my goal is to put together a complete and interesting body of work that can be shown at a gallery. This is huge and daunting for me and I would love your support! I will show paintings as they are finished, and try and document this process as much as possible!

Those are my big 'goals'. What are some of your big goals? Do you keep a 'bucket list'? And how do you know what you want to do?

Space Perfecting Movements

2011-04-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

I am working on getting my bedroom exactly the way I want it. Not an easy feat, since the rules are pretty strict: no painting, minimal wall hangings, minimal space, and I have to allow other people access to the art room/studio without having to wander around in an odd way.

I began moving the furniture around yesterday and moved a bunch of my stuff up from the basement, and now have a little sitting nook that is pretty ideally perfect. The weather outside is still cool, but once it warms up and the trees' leaves get larger, the room has a really lovely green glow to it. I liked the idea of using warm neutrals as a base to put color on, and both the curtains and the chairs have a pop of green or yellow to them.

Notes on the furniture: the 'yarn shelf' is just a really simple cubby setup from Target, as is the bookcase. The wheel is, of course, my Kromski Mazurka. The green velvet chair is vintage '50's furniture from my mom's collection (passed down from my grandmother's awesome mod home), and the wicker chair is a Pier 1 purchase, circa 2003-ish. I made the pillow that sits in it using some upholstery fabric from a local store.

Here's a close up of the stash and book nook. The little beige blob in the upper picture is my sister's cat, Leopold.

Cozy Kitten

2011-04-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

Oh Thusa, if I could stay in bed with you all day, I would.

Wardrobe Remix - Cozy Cloudy Day

2011-04-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Boots: MIA

Socks: bought in Uruguay
Tights: Anthropologie
Skirt: Gap
Cardigan: J. Crew
Dress: Anthropologie
Belt: J. Crew

There's a forecast of rain this afternoon, and the sky has been gray since early this morning. Unfortunately, being Iowa weather, we're all worried that it's going to start snowing again this weekend, and it has dropped from the near-70's to mid-40's in the last 24 hours.

I decided that I wasn't going to be miserable about the weather and that I would wear something happy and cozy simultaneously. It's a lot of layers but they keep me comfy here in the house and outdoors. And if you don't have to wear a coat, that's a good thing, right?

Destroyer w/ The War on Drugs

2011-04-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night I drove the 4 hours north to see Destroyer at the Minneapolis Cedar Cultural Center. While we were most excited about the headlining band, the other band -- War on Drugs -- was a lot more energized and fun than Destroyer. They didn't even smile.

But the music was good, and Minneapolis is a really interesting city, very culturally diverse. It was quite difficult to navigate our way around, though! I did get to stop in a little yarn/futon combo store called Depth of Field that was right across from the Cultural Center.

Wardrobe Remix - Sunny Side Up

2011-04-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

What I'm wearing:

Shoes: Gianni Bini faux-snakeskin pumps in dark brown

Pants: Old Navy Sweetheart jeans in dark wash

Tunic: Forever 21

Cardigan: J. Crew Jackie O Cardigan

Belt: J. Crew patent-leather belt

Pin: vintage, from my grandmother's collection

I am just starting Wardrobe Remix, since on a personal level I don't find my day to day attire that interesting. I think if I was to describe my style I would say that I like fresh lines, interesting fabric textures, and bright color. I love pattern but have a dearth of it in my wardrobe (an issue I am working to remedy once I get everything else paid off... ahem... computer...). But as someone who has recently, almost accidentally, made major forays into styling, I figured somebody might actually care to see what I wear on a regular basis, too!

In case you don't know already, I did styling for Malabrigo Book Three, and will be creative directing and project coordinating, as well as styling, Book Four, which will be photographed sometime in February.

Fresh Start

2011-04-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

It has been a really interesting six months for me. I moved from Iowa to Kentucky to Tennessee. I worked three different jobs while simultaneously trying to make friends and get to know a new place, plan a new upcoming book for Malabrigo Yarns, and somehow figure out who I was in the middle of all of it.

It didn't work out so well, and I had to make the retreat back to what was familiar, and comfortable, and easier. I've had to make some difficult decisions -- I will be going back to school this fall to try and finish out a bachelor's degree. I am not living on my own, but in my old bedroom in my parent's house. And yet, I don't feel defeated. I feel fresh. Because a new start, a clean slate, is what I needed. I just needed something fresh.

I haven't been able to start a knitting project larger than a cowl in about six months. At least, not start and finish. I have done a lot of starting and ripping out, and restarting. But today, I am going to start a new project that will come in use this next winter, and won't need to be done until then. Snowbird, by Heidi Kirrmaier, is a pattern I've been wanting to make for a long time. I even handspun yarn for it (Hello Yarn Targhee in 'Parritch', shown above). So this is my fresh start project, and my fresh start post (the blog has a new look too, you'll notice).

I hope you're willing to stick with me as I start over. Thank you all for being so patient and supportive.

Back Soon

2011-02-01T17:20:00.000-08:00

I know I have been gone a long, long time. For anybody who is still checking this lonely page, I will have to give you a quick run down, sans pictures. Because I have nowhere to take pictures here, and that makes it very hard to blog.... sigh.

I have been so busy. I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. I got a job working as a medical insurance biller (not as evil as it sounds, we are the good guys, I promise). I have been nearly chopping my own head off trying to get some very BIG projects underway. I haven't been able to spin, knit, paint, draw, watch television shows or even read a book in a month, I have been so busy!

But I miss the blog so much, and I miss you all. I will be coming back soon, I promise. I am coordinating a major blog overhaul, perhaps even a domain name move, and a giveaway to open it up. So just hang in there, little readers. Read your other blogs, and when I update and fly to to the top of your roll, please come back :)

Makeover

2010-11-01T22:24:00.001-07:00

This blog is getting a makeover, but it's not the only thing that is getting it's butt in gear. Be ready for some serious crafting and designing to hit your computer screens in the next few weeks. In the meantime, bear with me -- life's been a little hectic, but I am back behind the wheel.

The Move, Handspun, Etc.

2010-10-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

I have been moving. All. Over. The Frikken. Country.

First, I moved from Iowa to Erie, PA, for a week to visit a friend in LECOM. Erie was nice but it wasn't my final destination, so after about a week I traveled down, Thusa whining all the way, to Lexington, Kentucky. I was supposed to have a house there but it didn't work out as well as I'd hoped for my lifestyle, so I stayed with a friend of my mom's for a few days and got to do some in-person bonding with Mary Catherine, who has been a close confidante for a long time online.

After about a week in Lexington, I drove about three hours south to Knoxville, Tennessee, where I'm now living with my aunt. It's a great temporary arrangement -- I have my own bedroom and work space and she and I watch television and make dinner together whenever we can. I have gotten a job at White House, Black Market -- a boutique-style chain store that sells clothing in only black and white, with the occasional pop of color. It's going well. I've never sold clothing before, despite being a fashion major, and I've found that I really enjoy it if I get to spend some time with the customer and devise what she likes and needs. The most frustrating part is when people come in just to browse and get angry when the sales girl talks to them -- it's my job, I am required to speak to you!

I haven't done too much knitting to speak highly of. Working on a few patterns and presents here and there that will be shown before too long. I have been doing a lot of spinning, but my photography set up here isn't exactly -- well, it isn't set up yet! I am hopeful to be back to crafting full force today and tomorrow, since I don't work in the mornings on Monday or Tuesday, and I have Wednesday off.

Side Show, Side Projects

2010-09-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm a little tied up lately with moving, but I do occasionally get a chance to stop in a library or Starbucks and check up on all the happenings. Back in August I had a chance to model for the amazing Sarah Christina from Confections, Inc. She's an amazing photographer (and good friend) and it is always a pleasure to enter her imagination. I thought it might be kind of fun to share part of the photo-shoot here (at least, the first part, which has been edited).

Kinda creepy but fantastic, huh?

Etsy Love - Darling Clementine

2010-09-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

I can't get over my obsession with Darling Clementine. I have especially fallen in love with some of the collaborations this company has done with 1973, known as the 'Claudette Series' (shown in the Etsy shop). These notebooks are just perfect -- I would stack them up and journal in them, even, and that's a commitment coming from someone who doesn't journal. I especially love the Badger and Kangaroo ones!

The graphic nature of their graphic design mixes my slight love of whimsy with my greater love of classic shapes and colors. There's something really wonderfully 'Mad Men' about the Christmas cards especially, isn't there? And I hope they offer the wrapping paper again too -- I know just what I want to wrap my presents in this year!

Noeud Papillion -- A new Toque for you!

2010-09-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

I just finished designing and releasing my new hat pattern, Noeud Papillion! It's a slouchy toque with an i-cord bow tie at the top. The name, Noeud Papillion, means "bow tie" in French, though it more accurately translates to "knotted butterfly".

You can knit the hat in fingering weight to dk weight handspun or commercial yarns. At an equal gauge it creates hats of different densities to fit with warmer or cooler climes. The pattern includes schematics and techniques to help guide you through the fun details of the hat. I hope you enjoy knitting it as much as I did!

Yarn: Hello Yarn Fiber Club, Handspun by Hannahbelle Fingering Weight, Falklands in colorway "Grouch"

$3.50

Finished Featherweight

2010-09-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished my Featherweight Cardigan! This pattern by Hannah Fettig (we really need to get to know each other, because I get asked if I am her all the time) is fairly simple, but certainly requires a time commitment, especially if you're knitting it in laceweight yarn like I was. I made a few modifications that, if I could have ripped out, I would have -- I changed the 1x1 ribbed edging to a 2 x 2 ribbed edging, which was supposed to solve the bunching problem that a few of the cardigans have (the ribbing pulls up the edge) but instead only resulted in my bind-off not being stretchy enough and bunching a bit anyway. I tried to fix this during blocking, and it did an okay job.

My only other modification was that I made the cardigan longer to accommodate my torso length. I really do like it quite a bit -- I wore it all day yesterday and got a lot of those "You made it? But it looks store-bought!" style compliments.

Details: Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig

Yarn: Malabrigo Merinocash Lace in Pearl 10 (this is a test yarn), Malabrigo Lace in Sapphire Green
Ravelry Project Page

Feelin' Foxy

2010-09-02T18:59:00.001-07:00

Has anyone else heard the "news"? Apparently foxes are the next big thing for fall -- you can find them anywhere and everywhere, all over the place! I picked out a few of my favorite fox things on Etsy and elsewhere to showcase for ya'll. Just in case you want to, you know, jump off the fox bridge too.

Lovely things from:

Matteart: The Duke of NY print ; Sleepyking: Liam the Little Red Fox Plush ; Michelle Chang Jewelry: Fox Stud 14K Gold Earrings ; Magic Bean Buyer: Baby Fox Figurine ; Symmetrical Mama: (Vintage 1988) Fox Figurine ; Me Me Craftwork: Fox and Sweet Potatoes Kit ; Joanna Rutter: Vixen Mat ; Oh Hello Dear: My Foxy Friend Print

And the Winner Is....

2010-09-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

It's time for me to announce the winner of the drawing for the single skein of Manzanilla Olive! After plugging in that we had a whopping 34 comments on that post at Random.org:

Congratulations, Abby! You didn't leave me who you were or an email address or Ravelry ID, so I hope that you are reading today -- please send me an email at: hannah.thiessen@gmail.com so that I can get your prize to you!

Thank you, everyone who entered. I love doing giveaways and hope to do some more in the future -- there is nothing so fun as passing things you love on to other people.

Etsy Fashion - Malu Leggings

2010-08-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

I love these printed leggings by Malu! This one-woman company is constantly churning out a great product, and I only hope to own a pair someday. I am especially fond of the leggings with birds on them, but, of course, I am a total leggings and stockings and hosiery addict, so there's no surprise that I would love things from this shop.

In addition to being handmade, these leggings also come in extra-long lengths, some of them dipping well past your ankle and worn on the arch of your foot with super-cute ties. I love this style since it actually allows you to wear thick leggings in the winter with your ballet flats without having to rock the sock-and-flats look that I wear so very, very often. Too often, maybe.

DIY - Make Your Cat a Fancy Collar

2010-08-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have noticed, quite recently, that the collars they portray as 'cat collars' are really dog collars in disguise. Yes, they're supposed to withstand the scratching and the outdoor romping that some cats do, but my cat, Thusa, is pretty darn pampered. She doesn't go outside. She gets flea medication when it's required. Most of the time, she's found sleeping in a sun patch on a plush pillow. Somehow, her old, green, tatty collar doesn't seem to properly convey how spoiled this cat is.

I wasn't too keen on buying a new collar, especially when the hardware on this one was still good, so I decided to make one! I turned it into a how-to, so that if you have a pampered, spoiled cat -- or your house pet just needs a little more crafty flair -- you'll be able to make your own, and recycle the plastic parts of your old collar.

Step 1: Gather Supplies
The first thing you'll need is, of course, your pet's old collar. If you're getting them new tags, go ahead and purchase these, so that you have them around. Thusa didn't need new tags, she just needed a new band, but I did take the opportunity to get some kind of smudge off of the 'Home Again' yellow tag.

Other than your pet's tag, you'll need a piece of fabric roughly 11" wide, and more than three inches tall. I used one that was 10.5" wide and 6.5" tall. It was a scrap I had left over from a quilt I made. You will also need straight pins, measuring tape (obviously), sewing machine thread in a coordinating or complimentary color, and some kind of marking chalk/pen/pencil. In addition, it's good to have a very sharp pair of scissors, since you will be cutting through the heavy-duty polyester of your pet's old collar.

Step 2: Measuring and Hardware Removal
For this step, take the collar off your pet and do not alter its size at all - measure the length as is, and write it down. Thusa's collar was 7"; I measured from the point that the buckle meets the fabric. This is the circumference of the comfortable collar around your pet's neck. You want to make sure that if you are using this DIY for any other animal - small dogs, larger cats, etc. - that you measure this and adjust your fabric need accordingly. I technically only need about 9" of fabric for this pattern, but I prefer to have 10.5" and keep the sliding adjustment piece intact, so that if Thusa grows, there is some room.

Now, cut the fabric of the collar and free the buckles, the sliding adjustment, and the jump rings that connect the tags to the collar. Set these all aside, clean them if needed -- keep track of them, you'll need them soon.

Step 3: Making the Collar

Take your fabric, and measure out the length of fabric (for me, 10.5"). The width of the original collar was about half an inch, so I have decided to stick to that. Basically, I am going to make hem tape, so the width of my fabric will be three times that of my finished object (1.5"). Take your strip to the iron and fold in from each edge 1/4" on the backside of the fabric. Press. I used a starch spray to make sure that the edges stayed crisp. Fold it over again, this time wrong side to wrong side, and press. Take it to your threaded machine and put a running stitch all along the edge, as close as you like. I did a 5/8 " edging.

Step 4: Re-Attaching the Hardware

Next, you are going to take your original hardware and put it back on the new collar structure. This means that you are going to be bringing metal and plastic parts near your sewing machine, so please pay attention that you don't run over anything with your sewing needle - it could be dangerous (not to mention disastrous!) There are four parts to the collar I had: The female end of the collar buckle, the male end of the collar buckle, the sliding adjustment, and the jump ring. The jump ring can be connected after the collar is constructed. The other parts cannot.

First, you will take the sliding adjustment and make a 1/2" loop of your fabric around part of it. Pin it if desired (I didn't see a need to). Take this part through your machine. I used a straight stitch. Next, flip it over so the hem is on the inside, and thread the female end of your buckle onto the collar. Now, bring the strip of fabric around and back through the sliding adjustment on the other side.

Take the female end of the buckle and make the 1/2" loop that you did through the adjustment, in the same way. Double check that the buckles line up by clipping them together. Once you are sure you have the right side on the outside, sew the hem on the inside. Re-attach the jump rings, and you have a new collar!

Note: If your pet is rough on their collars (Leopold, my parent's cat, loves to try and remove his), make the collar thicker or add a bit of interfacing to make the collar a little sturdier.

Sajou Love

2010-08-29T17:11:00.001-07:00

Oh, how I have fallen in love with all things Sajou. Sajou is a sewing notions and supply company based in France. In truth, anything with European history, especially textile history, I adore endlessly. After seeing the recent addition of their line of thread to the Purl Bee (the ladies of whom are responsible for these lovely photographs, please click the link to see more!)

I have a particular weakness for animal-shaped scissors, apparently -- I recently was given a pair of golden crane embroidery scissors from a dear friend, and I adore them. I even someday hope to get a tattoo of them. But when I saw these little rabbit-shaped scissors, my heart stopped. Too bad they are so difficult to come by - I only have seen them on The Purl Bee, and not even the Sajou site seems to sell them. edit: BagSmith, a distributor of Sajou, contacted me, and their website carries these scissors! They are labeled 'Hare Scissors'!

They make the most lovely embroidery threads, too, all lined up on little cards in a box. I have, however, quite an extensive collection of embroidery threads already, and see no need to upgrade. Sometimes, I suppose, it's okay just to love something because it's pretty.

Project Potential

2010-08-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

I've been reading the book Stuff, by Randy O. Frost. It seems that, like the media, I've also become a little morbidly fascinated by hoarding and hoarders - what makes them, what breaks them down, why they do what they do. The idea of living in a mess caused by your own devices -- an inability to say no to what you want and don't need, or connecting to things more than people -- both baffles and intrigues me. Sometimes, I worry that as a knitter I may someday accumulate more things than I can possibly contain in a single space, and it will suddenly spill out into the rest of my life and the world will look at my stashes of fabric, yarn, and fiber, and say: "How could she possibly have thought she would use all these things?"

The truth is, that I've found something strangely resonate within the words of the hoarders on the pages of this book -- while I don't seem to match the tendencies that are more dangerous within them, I do match the tendency to look at a raw material and wonder at the potential of it. I say to myself quite often, imagine what I could make with that. Of course, my obsession, if you could call it that, doesn't extend to the mundane and destroyed. I don't collect metal buckets with holes in them, or single pieces of mini-blinds, or table legs..... I collect things that I see as infinitely useful, but only within the realms of their restrictions. I can make cloth things with fabrics. I can make cloth things with yarns. I can make yarns with fibers. And I find enjoyment out of all of them.

I have been doing a little bit of comfort stashing, as of late, being that I am getting ready to move (out to Lexington, Kentucky). One of my favorite accumulations recently was a 4 ounce 'bump' of the Hello Yarn Club's Fiber, "Seasick". The fiber is Corriedale, a very strong but soft wool that will be wonderful for nearly anything I should choose to make with it.

I also recently connected with a very sweet woman on Ravelry, who is expecting a baby! She's getting ready to take her first quilting class but I offered to make something for her, quilt-wise, using the Heather Ross Far Far Away II set in her favorite colors. She sent me the fabric in the mail and I really adore the ones she chose. Such sweet, perfect fabrics for a family start.

They go suspiciously well with the Seasick, don't you think?

Inspired by: Reytan Jewelry

2010-08-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

I first spotted a few pieces on Color Collective, which had used one of Denise Julian Reytan's necklaces in a color post, but when I went to the Reytan site I fell in love not only with the fantastic, artistic interpretations of jewelry, but the bright photography style. You know I love color. How could I not share these here?

Handspun Hankerchiefs

2010-08-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

They aren't hankerchiefs, really, but I'm a sucker for alliteration. They are, however, made from handspun! Just some sweet summer finished objects so that you guys know I've been doing something with my time! Details on Ravelry, for those of you who knit.

Manzanilla Olive

2010-08-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

While I was at Malabrigo, I had the amazing opportunity (or should I say, I had the resources) to work on some new colors for the color cards in Twist and Silky. One color I had in mind to add to the Malabrigo resume was inspired by something I had seen at home here in the US - a vibrant, rich yellow-green. The staff at Malabrigo Yarns were eager to help me realize the dream to have yarn in this color, and we even sent it to TNNA on the color cards for Twist and Silky -- Manzanilla Olive.

On the colorcard, this colorway sits between Frank Ochre and Lettuce in hue and intensity. It has the sort of mustard bitterness of Frank Ochre with just a touch of green, allowing even those who detest yellow on themselves, but love yellow or Frank Ochre as a colorway, to try something different on their complexions.

As a gift, the company sent me ten skeins of Manzanilla Olive, my colorway, in Twist, which is an aran-weight, plied yarn made of super-soft merino wool. If you would like to enter to win the skein pictured with Thusa (who greatly approves this colorway) above, just leave a message in the comments! You have until September 1 to enter.

Interview on The Diamond Blog

2010-08-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty busy settling in back here at home, but I did take the time to do an interview with Diamond Yarn's blog writer about my experiences at Malabrigo! If you'd like to read it, the interview can be found here. There are more posts coming soon -- I've been busy blocking some of the projects I finished up in Uruguay and working on a few more here at home!

Sheep Week - Adios, Los Manantiales!

2010-07-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

It was such a pleasure to visit the farm! I really connected with the family who runs it. Someday, I would love to spend time on sabbatical at a sheep farm, just waking up every day with the sun and riding horses and learning how to be a gaucho. While not really a pipe dream, I'm sure that the rosy halo I've surrounded farm life with has it's ups and downs, just like everywhere else, and in the end I am happy to do what I do, and live where I live.

After leaving, we had a two hour drive back to the city, followed by another four hour bus trip through the night. Someday, I hope I can return to Paysandu.

Sheep Week - Ponies and Pastures

2010-07-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

Right before I left Lost Manantiales, the sheep farm, I got to see the largest herd of breeding ewes in Uruguay - 3,200 of the 6,200 sheep on this farm are breeding ewes!

I had originally thought it was a close pasture where these ewes were housed, and suggested that we ride out there. After a few minutes on a horse, though, it was pretty evident that a) the horse didn't want to do anything I wanted to do, and b) if they let me ride the horse out to the pasture, it would take a million years and I would probably be pretty sore.

So instead, they let me ride around in a few circles and then we took the car. Gotta love modern technology, huh?

Sheep Week - Commenter Questions

2010-07-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

I think I have gotten more comments in the last 24 hours than I have on any other posts ever in my year of writing this blog! Me thinks some of you are out to get prizes ;)

But it was fun reading all of your questions and I figure I could answer a few here quick before tomorrow's Sheep Week post!

What kinds of plants grow between the rocks that the sheep eat?
A: The sheep eat mostly grasses and weed plants, the Uruguayan equivalents of things like clover and buttercups.

How cold is it currently there?
A: The weather here right now is in the middle of winter, so it can range between 30 F and 55 F, sometimes it's been as warm as 60 F.

Are fleeces from rams and ewes used equally in yarn production?
A: Yes, at least, that's my impression. But there are far more ewes than rams.

Are the tips of the fleeces naturally colored darker? Or are the sheep just dirty?
A: The sheep are just dirty. They live in large herds their whole lives and here in Uruguay the weather is not cold enough for them to need a barn, so they sleep outside. They don't really roll around much, but they live very packed in together and I am sure they get each other dirty. All the baby lambs are white as snow.

Sheep Week - The Sheep

2010-07-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

After warming up by the fire, Juan took me out to meet the sheep. They have a special system to mark all the sheep by color and micron count and size and breeding -- some of the sheep are artificially inseminated, others aren't, and that changes the mark on the back of the flank (red, or blue that washes off when they clean the fleeces) -- micron quality is designated by marks on the sheep's nose and head. Two blue marks for super fine, one blue mark for fine. The sheep with two blue marks are the best of the best.

My favorite part about meeting the sheep was how the gauchos really didn't expect me to stay in the pen with them while they wrangled the rams around. They figured, I guess, that I should be more worried about getting possibly headbutted, and that I would probably stand on the other side of the fence. But everyone else was in the pen, and I needed to see things up close, too. So when one of the rams tried to stare me down, I didn't even flinch. I'd like to imagine this was impressive, but more than likely everyone missed it.

The rams are far more interesting than the ewes, though they still pile in the furthest corner like frightened children and push so close to each other that they might risk suffocation. I guess there's no such thing as a claustrophobic sheep. The gauchos would grab the rams by the horns and pull them forward away from the herd, a stubborn, difficult task. Then, someone would rifle through their fleece and show me the best sections of the micron. Micron samples are taken like core samples - a circular disc of fiber is removed from the center of the fleece (don't worry, it doesn't even touch the animal), and used to count the microns, or waves that designate fine-ness, in the fibers. On average, the micron count near the shoulder of the sheep is lower, and the fleece near the tail and on the belly is higher. Lower is good. Very good. This farm has won a lot of awards, so the fleeces were beautifully white, in most cases, and the micron counts low. We saw one ram that was around 14, and he was already a year old. You don't usually see something like that after the first fleecing.

Sheep Week - The Farm

2010-07-27T07:19:00.001-07:00

Check out my companion piece here on tagging and teeth at the Malabrigo Yarns Blog!

After meeting with the cattle rancher, we got back in the little SUL (Secretariat Uruguayan Lana) Fiat and headed towards the farm. I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised when we turned off the road entirely and began driving through fields, but I will admit to some trepidation when Marcel decided to send the Fiat through a low creek. I don't think the car's makers had this kind of activity in mind for it -- perhaps a Jeep 4x4 would be a better choice for SUL drivers!

We began the rumbling ride towards the main buildings of the farm, and I watched out the fogged windows (it was very cold outside) as the land grew wilder, little stands of eucalyptus trees, once planted by the farm's original owners, grown tall and numerous in the centers of the flat landscape. The buildings for the farm are surrounded by stone fences, hand-stacked from when the land was tilled for use many, many years ago. Ignacio told me that these fences are a mark of an old farm, and show that the people who live there know what they are doing. Often, they have been sheep farming their whole lives.

We rolled up to an old barn and Juan, the lead herder and owner of the farm, came out to greet us, a dog at his heels. He lead us down to the main house, through a path of fruit trees and stone walls, outdoor fireplaces and flowering (even in winter) plants. It was utterly gorgeous. When we got in, his mother came to greet us, ushering us in to take off our boots and have coffee or mate by the fireplace, which was roaring and warm. She talked to me quite a bit about my knitting -- she knits herself, and had even made me a scarf from some local handspun.

Tomorrow: Meeting the Sheep!

Sheep Week - Paysandu

2010-07-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

If you head over to the Malabrigo Blog you can read a companion post about how the sheep are marked for quality!

Paysandu is, honestly, the most lovely place I have been in all of Uruguay. The city itself (there is a small city, of Paysandu) is much like Montevideo -- cold, urban, messy -- but the countryside is incredibly gorgeous, rocky ground, mostly flat but with the occasionally hilly rise. The land here is particularly good for sheep because variances in food conditions influence the wool -- rockier land, with less produce, is better for the micron count because the sheep don't develop the thick, robust fiber that they would if there was an abundance of food.

My chaperone, Ignacio, and I, took a 4 hour bus ride in the middle of the night to this lovely countryside, and I spent some of the ride listening to the darkness-appropriate Phosphorescent, a band with vocals that are a little country and folksy but generally brilliant compositions of words and music into poetry. When the bus screeched to a stop in Paysandu at 5:00 am, we crawled out of our seats and shivered in the unheated air of the bus shelter, waiting for Marcel to arrive and take us to the farm, which was another two hours.

I slept during the majority of the foggy ride, and woke when we stopped to say hello to a local farmer. He was herding his cattle - the other farming industry in Uruguay. His sheepdog rushed out to greet me while I studied his clothing. The gauchos, as they're called, are a sort of herder/cowboy. They wear wide legged, short pants that can be tucked comfortably into the top of the leather boots, and allow ease and comfort for a day on horseback. They carry various braided implements, handmade knives with bone handles, and wear tam caps with short bills. It's funny to me, how culture changes in small ways from country to country. The clothing here resembles, in some small ways, what the sheep farmers in Scotland wear.

Tomorrow: My Arrival at the Farm, Meeting the Sheep!

Sheep Week!

2010-07-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here and on the Malabrigo Yarns blog all week, I'll be talking about my recent trip to Paysandu, where I learned all about the merino sheep suppliers here in Uruguay. Stay tuned both places and have a chance to win prizes!

Howling Winds Cowl!

2010-07-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Howling Winds Cowl is now available! You can get the pattern one of two ways. If your LYS carries Malabrigo Rasta, they can request copies from their Malabrigo representative -- the pattern is free with the purchase of one skein of Rasta (which is how much yarn it takes). If you already have a skein of Rasta in your stash, or would prefer to knit it in a different Super Bulky yarn, you can find it now in my Ravelry store, or by following the 'Buy Now' link below, even if you don't have a Ravelry account.

I hope you enjoy it! The pattern uses about 90 yards of yarn (1 skein of Rasta) and is a super-fun, technique-laden, quick knit on US size 15 circular needles. The cowl pictured was knit in the Solis colorway and is modeled by the lovely Valentina Gonzalez.

$3.50

Coming Soon - The Howling Winds Cowl

2010-07-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

I've written a new pattern for Malabrigo Yarns -- they'll be distributing it to yarn stores for those who purchase a skein of Rasta, but you can also buy it on Ravelry if you've already got a skein at home. The pattern will be released this week, but I thought I'd give you a sneak peek, blog readers, because the photoshoot with Antonio's daughter, Valentina, was just so fun!