Showcase!!

Today, one of my printmaking pieces is featured in the Etsy art showcase: (scroll through the tiny arrows on the top of the page to "Art")

So let's be honest. It's not like someone picked my art to feature...I signed up for this honor myself :) Nonetheless, it's kind of nice to see my work highlighted, and I hope it brings some traffic to my site. It's difficult to advertise on Etsy, especially when you're completing with so many other crazily talented artists, but I'm navigating the ins and outs.

Knit Happens

Three years ago (it may realistically be closer to four, but that seems scary to me), my fellow teacher Zayne taught me how to knit. As I've mentioned before, I'd been a life-long crocheter, and I was ready for something new.

I went over to her house on a Saturday night...as teachers, there wasn't a lot of going out. (Eh, who am I kidding...I would much rather spend a night doing needlecrafts than going out anyway). She showed me the basic stitches, gave me a thick brown yarn to work on, and let me have at it. I spent about an hour and a half feeling as if I had no control over my hands. The needles just didn't feel right, and I could sense that there was a way in which they uncomfortable process was supposed to feel fluid, but I wasn't there yet.

The next week, Zayne took me to a yarn shop, and helped me pick out needles and yarn. "You want bamboo needles. They feel good when you use them."

"Can't we just go to Hobby Lobby and get cheap yarn?" I asked.
She gasped in horror. You don't want acrylic going through your fingers. You want something that feels nice."
I shrugged, and we picked out some discount soft cotton yarn that would be good for practicing on with my new bamboo needles.

When I started knitting, one of the first things I realized was that you use so much less yarn to made the same length of fabric than you would use crocheting. Knitting is much less bulky, whereas in crochet, each stitch involves several twists of the yarn, so it just takes more. But as a result of this difference, knitters tend to be much snobbier about their yarn -- because they can afford to be. It takes less yarn to make a sweater knitting than it does crocheting -- same with afghans, scarves, etc.

I still try to work on the cheap, because my life involves a certain degree of frugality. But when I knit, I can appreciate a nice wool in a way that I don't when I crochet.

A couple weeks ago, I got a coupon from Creative Habitat, one of our craft stores here in Burlington. They just opened a new store, so they were sending out $5 off anything. I went to peruse their yarn selection, which involves some nicer fibers than our local Michael's, and found a beautiful chunky wool in a gorgeous red/purple eggplant color.

Isn't that just to die for?

When I started working with it, I had to do some experimenting, since the texture of the yarn isn't even -- parts of it are spun much tighter than others, which gives it a fun, chunky, uneven look. I ended up making a scarf out of it, but as happens when mixing techniques, it had a weird rolling of the fabric where I mixed garter and stockinette stitches. (These are just different combination of your basic knit and purl stitches, but they yield very different-looking fabric).

This is a 100% wool, and wool has some pretty interesting qualities. One of them is that if you wet it and then allow it to dry, you can re-shape it. This is called blocking. The technique can be done in a variety of ways, but my preferred tools involve my steamer and/or a regular spray bottle and a big bulletin board. You just tack up the knit material, give it a dousing of water by one method or another, and let it dry:

Depending on the stitch you use and then thickness of the yarn, this might take several repeats, but it works wonders for flattening out a product.

This particular length of scarf is actually going to be turned into a cowl -- but I'll post pictures after it dries and I've put it all together.

Up next...cabling!!!!

Me-Designed Chucks

On a trip home from college, my brothers DJ, Sam, and I drove to Bellfountaine, near our home in central Ohio, because there was a store there that carried Chuck Taylor's for cheap. As I drove the boys home, windows open and "Goodnight, Saigon" blaring on the radio as we sang along at the top of our lungs, my new, blue, Chuck lo-tops rode on the floor at my feet. It was my first pair.

Of many. Chucks are my go-to shoes. They're fine for school (one thing I DO like about my job is the casual wardrobe), and they give off an air of "...yeah, whatever." And while I have my basic blues and browns, I also have a kick-ass pair of floral hi-tops.

For my birthday this year, I designed my own pair. George and Ann sent them to me, and they arrived today!!!!

They're black paisley. And slip-on. And maroon. And lime green. And they have my initials embroidered on the back. And I looooooooove them.

Dear Chucks, never go away.

Cafepress: Tiny Brain Pins

I have a shop on Cafepress called, incidentally, The Whole Wide Room (I'm so theme-y). It's filled with designs that come from my short tenure in printmaking (oh, damn you, expensive printmaking hobby!), and though it doesn't yield many sales, it's a fun little venture. Back in the fall, when I was producing lots of printmaking work, I'd add a new product here and there to the inventory with the new designs, and since then, the shop has been open with a random sale here and there.

The shop has bags and t-shirts, waterbottles and bags, etc. But by far the best-selling item is this guy:

It's a mini-button with my etching of a brain. Whenever I get a random e-mail saying I've made a sale, I would bet money (lots of it) that it's this guy. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that THIS is the item people would go for in the shop. Why not the brain mug, or the bear water bottle? (I mean, seriously, the BEAR WATER BOTTLE IS SO COOL! And ferocious.)

The moral of this story is that it's tough to market yourself. It's hard to know what people will want and not want. It's hard to put your own idea of what's awesome aside and understand what others think. My brain understands marketing, but my gut doesn't.

A Poem by a Guest: Maureen

As I mentioned, it was my birthday about a week ago. One of my most fun and exciting birthday surprises was an awesome, simple, and heartfelt poem by my good friend, Maureen. It is also pertinent to my crafting and Etsy store. Also, the first letters in all the lines correspond to my name, which I find kitschy and wonderful (really, my friends are the greatest!).

"Birthdays: A Meditation"
Birthdays must be especially hard to shop for when the birthday girl has her own
Etsy store full of the
Cutest things in the universe already. It
Kind of makes me glad that I had to cede the "Intended" status to
Your Husband.

Long ago, when we read Heart of Darkness for a Literature Seminar, Maureen and I joked that we were one another's Intended after we became "engaged" over a hot dog.

And now, off to start my week on a Tuesday after a long weekend in Montreal prolonging the birthday celebrations. I plan to put a few more Muggies up in the shop this week, and perhaps work on some more cards, as I'm stocking up for when one of my art pieces is featured in the art showcase on April 28th.

Giftcard, Greeting Cards, and a New Layout

Monday was my birthday, although I hesitate to make that fact known nowadays. Not because I'm upset about aging (I'm not), but because I suck as birthdays. As I've gotten older, I've realized that if I don't tell others about mine, I don't feel so bad when I forget theirs.

But my dear in-laws sent me a very thoughtful gift for my birthday -- a gift card to Michael's. Today, when I stepped into the store and found a sale, I went nuts. Everything seemed like an amazing bargain, and as I shopped, ideas sprung into my head for all kinds of new crafty things.

I picked up a bunch of new paper for card making, and as a result, I have quite a few new greeting cards in the Etsy shop today. Some are collaged:

...and some are printed using designs I created when I was taking my printmaking class a few months ago:

But there's more (much more) in my head.

In other news, there's a new layout for the page. It's subtle, but stems from a facebook bug that won't let me publish thumbnails with the old format. C'est la vie! Please let me know if readability is an issue.

Smart Camp, the Amazing Kristi, and Necktie Purses

When I was in 11th grade, I went to smart camp. And if you think that sounds egotistical of me, let me assure you it beats referring to it as the Martin W. Essex School for the Gifted. Oy!

Smart camp was a defining week of my life, because the people I met there were so freaking awesome. There was Katie, lover of Madonna and, well, herself; Brian, lover of show tunes; Rob (also called Raab, after his Saab), lover of Schroedinger's Cat; Meghan, lover of the University of Michigan; Jay, lover of drama; Paul, lover of jazz; Mike, lover of China;  and Kristi, lover of Rag-o-rama and amazing fashion.

The year after smart camp, I kept in touch with my camp friends, and Kristi made me an amazing necktie purse for my birthday. I mean, made totally out of neckties. I once declared that if I ever got married, I would make my wedding dress out of neckties...and while that didn't happen, I do think that my dress was somewhat reminiscent of the stripey-ness one might associate with ties.

Then there was the phase in college during which ties were belts. Danny, the college boyfriend, once bought me ties as a gag gift for a dance, which I proceeded to wear all year through the belt loops in my jeans.

Ties are just so cool! They're masculine, which makes them interesting, but they're also extremely versatile. I mean, with a long, thin piece of fabric, you can make a belt, a Rambo headband, a light-pull...or a purse strap (thank you Kristi, for being my inspiration).

So this weekend, when I dug out my old neckties, I thought to myself, "Well, I don't use these as belts anymore...might as well make something of them!" Then I went to my fabric box and found scraps from various projects I've made over the past year. The result...

Muggies

When the seasons change from winter to spring, I don't have the urge to sit down with hooks and needles like I go when it's cold. The need to hunker down has been severely lessened here in VT the last couple weeks, and although it's only in the 40s today, the sun is shining and people are abuzz outside, walking, running, biking, and just hanging out.

Nonetheless, when I plop down for my nightly TV viewing (Andy and I recently finished the 3rd season of Mad Men, and it is SO GOOD), I like to keep my hands busy. Lately, I've been working on more of the reusable coffee cup sleeves, like these guys:

The beauty is that they're fast, easy, and a great way to use up yarn scraps, which are the bane of my existence.

I'm hoping to put out a whole set of these, little by little, but as for today, I'm going to try to get a little sunshine...because the town I live in is awesome.

Cat Couch

I've mentioned Pascal here before. He makes me believe that perhaps children are unnecessary and I could truly become just a crazy cat lady.

I guess that would make Andy the crazy cat man.

Anyhow, today I decided to make a nice little couch for this guy. He spends a lot of time on a little IKEA table looking out the window and hey, why shouldn't be be comfortable?

I will preface this by saying that I am not a seamstress. Yet. I do have a sewing machine (thanks, Mom and Dad), and I have a general sense of spatial intelligence, good for things like reading patterns. However, I have a certain amount of haste and urgency in doing things, which means I inevitably rip out 1000 seams for every project I attempt. This one was no exception.

Nonetheless, I forged ahead.

Mass this afternoon was a little boring. My mind wandered to how I was going to plan out this project, working without a pattern. Sorry, Jesus. It was not intentional.

I decided to use some things I had around the house, and not purchase anything new:

*1 Snuggie (out of four that we received for Christmas)
*1 old twin-sized mattress pad from grad school
*piece of cardboard from a box we had lying around
*needle, thread, sewing machine, etc.

I started out by cutting the elastic part off of the mattress pad. Then I moved on with my piece of cardboard, which I cut into cat couch shape and laid on top of the mattress pad for a good idea of where to separate that batting.

I saved that long strip of mattress pad, because it became the cushion for the couch.

Next, I doubled up the piece of mattress pad I had cut for the base, and taped it over the back of the cardboard. Nothing less than ultimate cushiosity for Pascal!

And now back to that awkward long piece. Super easy part. Sew it in half long ways with a sewing machine (or by hand, whatever), and turn it inside out.

 

Then stuff it. I use the pieces I cut off the mattress pad for stuffing, as well as some old t-shirts I didn't want anymore, and a bit of polyfil for the ends, just to plump it up. Anything soft and fluffy will do. This is a great way to get rid of scrap fabric.

Now we get a little tricky and painful on the old fingertips. I lined up the cushion and the base, and sewed them together around the edges using big ugly stitches.

 Then, just trim off the extra on the very ends of the long tube cushion.

 

Sweet-tastic! The base is made!

Now, in all reality, here's a cat couch right now. Done. However, Pascal likes fleece, I have a plethora of Snuggies, and frankly, I want a cover I can launder.

I folded the bottom of the Snuggie robe up to the armpits and cut off the top (that's at the bottom of this picture). Then I did a vague cut widely around the top curve of the white base:

Next, just pin up the curved parts, and sew along those seams on the side. Keep the bottom open so you can insert the base.

After that...just slip the base into the cover, and tuck the edges under. I had these grand schemes of buttons and button holes (HA!), and then snaps, but honestly, I just tucked all the loose ends under. Pascal's still considering the final product:

 

...but I think it's pretty sweet.

I'm confident he'll come around.

Scarves and Lion's Brand Fisherman's Wool

The first thing you learn to knit or crochet is a scarf. There are a few reasons for this:

Flat things are easier.
"Square" things are easier...as opposed to things that involve working in rounds, such as hats.
Scarves are quick. Relatively speaking.

I love to make scarves. Sure, they're easy, but they are also a great way to try out new stitches. It's very easy to make scarves that are different with a simple tweak here and there. Take this scarf for example:

While the majority of the scarf is done in stockinette stitch (the simplest of knitting patterns), the edges are a bit of fun, with a purl 5, knit 5, purl 5 set of stripes that move one stitch with each row. The effect is a couple sets of stripes that just make the scarf a little more fun.

I totally dig details like this. Scarves (or other accessories or pieces of clothing) don't have to be crazily ornate to be beautiful.

And may I just scream the praises of Lion's Brand Fisherman Wool?

For those of you who don't work in the fiber arts, there are two basic types of yarn -- acrylic and wool. (In reality, there are hundreds of different fibers, but I would say that these are the two most common). Acrylic is cheap, so I often use it for crochet projects because crocheting in general uses up more yarn than knitting. But when I began to knit with some regularity not long ago, I started exploring the world of wool yarn. Paton's makes a decent yarn in some fun colors, but until recently, that was all the wool my Michael's store had....

Until November. I found a beautiful wool made by Lion's Brand, which, as previously mentioned, is called Fisherman's Wool. This evokes awesome memories for me, as I had this sweet fisherman sweater in high school that used to belong to my Dad. But this yarn...oh, the yarn.

Wool is usually a tricky thing. It can be scratchy, frankly. But the Fisherman Wool is "100% pure virgin wool", and it has all the natural wool oils in it, which make it just wonderfully soft. And the colors are all browns, whites, and ivories -- nothing dyed or fake. (Don't get me wrong, I love me a good chartreuse green or variegated striped yarn, but there is something soothing about muted tones.)

I discovered this wool when I was making a scarf for my father for Christmas, and I bought way more than I needed. So I've been created projects here and there from the remnants, like the scarf above, and another of my reusable coffee sleeves:

Love, love, love.