hooks vs needles

I've Moved

2009-04-14T16:19:00.000-04:00

Find me now at http://www.lookmakeseedo.blogspot.com/.

Thanks!

Not like the Old Country...

2008-08-09T16:14:00.002-04:00

At work yesterday a woman told me to consider a girdle.

Not exactly though. She was small and slow and demanding, the way the very old can be, especially if given less than they felt they needed at some other point. She said it like a gift, and was surprised at the state of things in this new country. She didn't even bother specifying the old one beyond "Europe", convinced that we were too unsophisticated to know.

I wish someone had mentioned that silly, entertaining jobs were where the best stories were hiding. I wouldn’t have tried so hard to have adventures.

Yet another new project:
http://andnowweare23.blogspot.com/

Back at School

2008-05-30T15:31:00.002-04:00

There's something so very wrong about paying people to tell you you suck for several hours. Ah, the joys of crit, something most university dwellers never have to experience. It's a stunning affirmation for those who make the cut, and the rest of us reach near projectile vomit levels of stress and shame. So why do it?

In the past I would run around and get my projects done the night/morning/subway-ride before they were due. I did that with the first project this time (an adequate 70%), and I learned. The second project I spent 1-2 hours a day on for two weeks. Sadly there were two projects due the same day, so I did end up lettering a poster in the car on the way to class, but that couldn't really be avoided. Most people didn't get the second part done at all. The point is, I learned.

So what did they think of the big project? Were "meh"ed by it. Would have been better if they hated it. At least there would have been some large emotion.

So what have I learned this time? I really need to stop deciding to paint for projects when it's not the work I usually produce. In fact, my school pieces look nothing like my general work. That has to change.

From now on, I'm not going to make anything for school I wouldn't make in the real world. I'd like to avoid any more vomit lessons.

Ravelry is Evil in its Awesomeness

2008-05-15T10:48:00.002-04:00

Really.

My queue is getting way too long. Fourteen items means it's time to edit, especially when I still have six projects on my needles.

Not that I'm going out to get more supplies today... not at all. I decided my stash reduction only applied to random yarn purchases. Notions and patterns? Go to it. I also need to scope out yarn for a super secret birthday present. I tried to use my stash, but there was no way I had enough in there for what I have in mind.

In other news, I got into my new major at school. I'm now in Criticism and Curatorial Practice. Woo! Less awesomely, our digital camera seems to have died, so it'll be a little while before pictures are part of posting again. Alas.

New Project

2008-04-07T00:43:00.002-04:00

I've been working on this a lot the last few days. It's nowhere near done yet, but if you want to have a look or give any feedback, I'd be glad for it.

http://madelainelyons.wordpress.com

Thanks!

Don't Get Around Much Anymore...

2008-03-18T22:49:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I feel like a walking self-help book described in ways like "trade paperback dowsing rod to find our inner self-healing mode." Then I put down the Douglas Coupland and things get a little saner, though at least when I say things like "inner self-healing mode" I'm aware of how uncomfortably delirious I sound most of the time. Better? Maybe.

The last week or so, my time has been spent almost evenly between trying to be better at pretty much everything, and rating small enclosed spaces in terms of where I would be least and most okay dying in case of a zombie apocalypse.

Bathroom at The Stem? Least okay.

Ever.

The problem with the okay places is that they're usually ones that could support me safely for at least a short period of time, and thus not really a place to die during said zombie apocalypse. On top of an apartment building with a rooftop garden/shed and easily destroyable staircase would not be too shabby as long as the pigeons don't get zombified, but I'm pretty sure zombie pigeons would have serious flying issues.

I think I might need another job that doesn't involve being in my house or alone. ~~Or zombies.~~

More Art!

2008-03-03T23:14:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about the kind of person I want to be over the last few months. It made me a little insular outside my circle of close friends, and is why I've been yet again neglecting my blog. I've come to some big conclusions, and now I'm starting to implement them, which is both amazing and a little scary.

The fellow up top is one of my first steps. He's one of eight commedia dell'arte masks I made for a children's performance. The part that's extra wonderful about him is that he's my first piece of payed commissioned art! I'm already working on my idea for this summer's alley jaunt, and I'm working on some secret plans to get back to (a different) art school. I really want to take my art more seriously, so I guess I just need to keep going like this.

I'm organising my whole area of the house. This is a huge task. Huge. Enormous even. I have so much stuff just sitting there, unused and unusable, that it drives me crazy. So crazy I find it impossible to start cleaning or sorting it all. Except that somehow I did start, because I'm taking a good bite out of it every day now.
For the first time ever I'm actually getting rid of stuff. It's more cathartic than I expected.

I've finally taken up my knitting again after a six month break. I don't know how I stop for so long, since it really only takes a month or so for my hands to feel better. Maybe it's just too hard for me to get started at anything.

Starting things like oh, you know, writing again. It may be a little clunky at first, but I will get back into it.

Too Much Yarn!

2008-03-02T13:43:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to signing up on Ravelry, and the handy stash function is letting me know I have far more yarn than one person would ever need. Seriously. The most challenging part is that most of them are beautiful single skeins, and I'm in a spot now where all I want to make is sweaters!

Looks like more handwarmers are in my future.

Adding More Colour

2007-12-12T15:27:00.000-05:00

Thinking of running off for a little bit. Take the bus down to Vancouver, stay in a hostel for a week, clear my head, start writing. It'll be good, and I've never actually seen the Prairies. I'll see what my aunt and cousin are up to too... Another trip to Powell River would be great too.

Toronto is Beautiful at Night

2007-12-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

I went walking with Brian and my dad's digital camera last night. It's a point and shoot autofocus, so nothing fancy, but still a lot of fun. The magic of having your pictures appear right away has never really worn off for me. When I was little my uncle got me a polaroid and I used to beg for more film all the time. Digital cameras definately have that over film. I took 45 photos last night without even thinking.

When you don't have to conserve your eye, everything gets to be full of wonder.

Today is the Day...

2007-12-04T13:14:00.000-05:00

...wish me luck.

Edit: Apparently not the day. I was all set to grab a coffee with a friend (liquid courage) then head over to school. Then I got a call from the store's other owner.

Her mom's in the hospital in Cambridge, so she's out there for the day. Looks like her mom's going to be okay, so that's good. Now I'm in the store covering her day.

I didn't really want to talk to school today anyway.

Finally Winter

2007-12-02T23:49:00.000-05:00

I think I may try scanning in my drawings and colouring them on the computer. I don't really like the way marker scans...

Today was awful in the city. Ten centimetres of snow last night followed by a full day of freezing rain. It was also the first day Brian met the extended family, which went better than I thought it might. The Christmas brunch was pretty small this time due to a christening elsewheres.

I have a top secret new project I'm working on that's helping with the doubt, and I've come to terms with school issues. Tomorrow I make it final. Eep!

Look for Brian and me this weekend at the ALLCAPS craft fair/music show at Whipper Snapper Gallery. There's a Toronto Craft Alert post about it here. See you then!

Thanks!

2007-11-27T11:50:00.000-05:00

I'd been avoiding dealing with my feelings about my current classes, so when I woke up today and had to decide right then, I freaked. I ended up questioning everything I want to do -- especially considering my friends/family's lukewarm response to my school issues, and my lukewarm ideas about my skill.

Then I checked on Keri Smith's blog. Somehow she always says the right thing...

Doing Things

2007-11-23T14:32:00.000-05:00

It’s too easy to forget what I’ve already done to make things better. I sent my first illustration portfolio out this week, which is exciting, even if it was mostly sketches. I’m starting small then seeing where I can go.

I really like the idea of learning by doing instead of through school. I knew nothing about illustration until I got the KM cover for #14. I learned so much through mistakes and suggestions, and it stuck so much better than anything in a classroom could have.

I have to remember to keep doing, and to respect what I've done.

Now

2007-11-23T14:17:00.000-05:00

There’s a point in chronic sadness where no one wants to talk to you anymore. Every day you feel better lets the weight fall on you again, harder than it did before. You want to talk about it, tell everyone, but they’ve already heard you describe the same thing the same way over and over. So they stop listening.

I went to go check on my livejournal last week, and I couldn’t believe how sad my friends were. So much more than they’d been telling me, or than I’d been hearing. Is the flip side of all this anguish and uncertainty that we stop listening too? Everyone too wounded to deal with anyone else’s pain.

I’m done with it. We are all sad for the same reasons. We doubt ourselves and our paths, or we hate what we’re doing. It’s time to start something new. Do something different, better.
We didn’t get what we wanted, so let’s go fucking find it, and let’s do it now.

No more waiting.

Best $5 Markers EVER

2007-11-16T13:52:00.000-05:00

I'm cheap for a variety of reasons. Student budgeting, bargain hunt fever and my near magical ability to lose things being the major ones.

So I was pretty thrilled when I ended up with these last night:

Laurentien fineline markers... If you're Canadian you may remember Laurentien as the brand of pencil crayons you got one box of at the beginning of the school year. They had to last the whole year, so by June drawings tended to be mostly brown, black and yellow.

The markers look a fair bit like watercolours with a bit of finessing, have a pretty decent colour assortment and end up being 25 cents a piece. They're especially great since I can't find my little travel watercolour set, and I'm really feeling the loss. Also, my regular markers are about $2 each.

I think I'll keep them as my traveling set, and keep the more expensive Faber-Castell PITT artist pens as my at home set. I still carry my s black one around, since the Laurentien ones are extremely water soluble.

In the end, nothing beats a waterproof black line.

I want a new life...

2007-11-12T11:48:00.000-05:00

Seriously.

Six months until my inheritance comes through, assuming my grandmother didn't manage to gamble away more than I think she did. If so, at least she had fun with it instead of losing it all to her keepers at the home. If she didn't, then there's that.

Six months to figure out how to drop out and save as much as possible. Then I'm leaving, and I don't so much care where.

I'm sick of the unique grey weight of Toronto winters. I hate feeling like I live in the smallest of towns, everyone knowing everything you do. So much of what I say now is a rant against where I am and what I do. I'm not a teenager, dammit. Instead of being my high school self and whining, I need to do more.

Except in this case, I think doing more is doing less and just getting the fuck out of here.

Candy Wool

2007-10-21T14:03:00.000-04:00

That being the name of all the wool jewellery I've been making the last while. I'm off to drop a pile off at Melanie's to see if she likes them.

Now, hopefully, if you Google "Candy Wool" this will show up!

edit: apparently not. Candy Wool Candy Wool Candy Wool!

More Change

2007-10-19T13:02:00.000-04:00

My grandmother died Tuesday. I'm still working out how I feel about it. She'd been sick for years, and in a lot of ways I think she'd left long before she died.

I also left my job last week. There were a lot of reasons for it, I'm just not ready to talk about it really.

I guess I was right when I said it was time for changes. I only wish it was all a little less painful.

Change

2007-10-11T13:32:00.000-04:00

Every fall I get twitchy. At first I thought it was just a need for change and new, but the longer I live with this ritual, the more I see it for what it is. Fall for me is a time to take stock of what's around me and how I feel. Time to stop for a bit and find out why I do the things I do. This year the answers surprised me more than I thought they would, and explain a lot of the unhappiness I've had over the last year.

I've been trying to ignore how I feel for so long I started to believe things actually were fine. Now I have to take all this knowledge and do something with it.

It's time for a real change.

Hey, guess what?

2007-10-10T08:46:00.000-04:00

We're going to be in a window!

Going up on Saturday at:

Melanie's Closet
829 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario

Me and Brian are doing a Halloween monster theme. It's funny, since we just randomly found Melanie's new place this weekend. I probably should have been checking her website more for that... If you don't know, Melanie's Closet is one of the most fun vintage and oddness stores I've found ever. It's the only place I even consider buying vintage jewellery from that isn't my mom's store (the daughter discount from my mom is a pretty good draw).

The monsters will be up probably until Halloween, and our monsters and pins will be available there after this weekend, though likely a little later for the pins. We are soooo low on stock right now.

I guess I'd better get sewing.

2007-10-01T18:43:00.000-04:00

I'm sick of being sad,

not knowing what I'm doing,

being constantly broke.

Of my cat having seizures,

people dying all around me,

nothing making any real sense.

I just want to wake up in the morning and do what I know I need to do. I'm pretty good at that. And I know there are people who actually live like that and do okay. It's probably the biggest reason I'm in art school now. Likely why I started writing as well.

More than anything, I need to stop this feeling of time moving over me. Of being separate from everything and losing all the things I want and need.

22 is way to early to feel like I'm running out of time.

Yuck

2007-09-20T13:09:00.000-04:00

I've been sick. Really sick. But not sick enough to miss school, just too sick to think. Though I think I've been pretending I'm less sick than I am. I can't even look at work. It also seems to have triggered an inability to really eat. Every time I look at food I feel just a little bit worse.

And now I'm tired, sad and trapped at the antique store. The sad's what really gets to me. Every time my output lags it sends me into a spiral of not wanting to do anything, or only do new things. This doesn't really help anything get better so I end up overwhelmed and behind on everything.

Tonight I'm going home and having a nap then fixing all the work stuff I was too sick to sort out. It always amazes me how much brain power KM takes. If I look after myself it's way easier to deal with.

In fun news I picked up this after class yesterday:

Looking at new things without starting them really seems to be helping me not start new stuff. Which is very good.

Now if only I wasn't so damn tired...

Slacking Off in the Store

2007-09-08T14:47:00.000-04:00

I still don't entirely like the way this page looks. I'm going to have to play with it a bit more I guess. Now I'm kind of regretting not taking any computer art courses this year. Always next though, and I did have a somewhat full plate with electronics, sonic arts, film, video and performance. Plus all that stuff I have to take. Fun times, yes?

It continues to feel like I'm clawing my way uphill a monstrous to do list. I think it's getting a little smaller, but it's really hard to tell at this point. Sleep would help, I bet.

3-Day Novel was a bit of a bust, for reasons I don't really want to go into. I'm definitely trying again next year, and doing it solo. Doing things as a pair was perhaps not the best idea.

I'm actually making it back to the Junction tonight so I can pick up the photo card adaptor for my cell phone. Now I just have to figure out how to use it to get the darn pictures out. Then... then there will be fun.

Weekend Goals:

Get pictures off my cell phone
Mail off all the packages and letters I owe people
Find my floor
Organize my clothes

No wonder my back hurts...

2007-08-28T15:06:00.000-04:00

Things I brought to work with me today:

2 boxes of Kiss Machine back issues
spiral bound notebook for belly dancing notes
recycled notebook for writing
free H&M notebook for 3-Day Novel notes
3 different grant applications
Sew U, by Wendy Mullin
1 red gala apple
1 box of almond sweet and salty bars
2 cups of organic yogurt, maple and mango,apricot
2 pairs of scissors
make-up I'm not going to wear
my journal
my datebook
my cell phone
lip balm
2 cds, the new White Stripe's and my belly dancing practice mix
3-Day Novel postcards
assorted pens and markers
knitscene magazine
the half knit Firefly Mobius from knitscene
a steel ruler
my sketchbook
my history of photography textbook
Geist magazine
hairbrush
hair straightener which I will not use
a half sweater in case it gets cold
glue
The Great Hopeful Someday by Elisabeth Belliveau
House of Sugar by Rebecca Kratz
watercolours
The Convictions of Leonard McKinley by Brendan McLeod
whiteout
a tiny copy of Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
probably some other stuff I'm forgetting

I think I need to stop carrying everything I own on my back... It's getting heavy.

You're Not There

2007-06-29T13:05:00.000-04:00

And this is me trying to do 103 thing in 10.4 seconds and trying not to go insane and maybe I already have and maybe none of it matters anyway.

But still I feel good, and the things do get done and the pile is lessened and one more thing checked off my life's list of everything.

Ulgh!!!

2007-06-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

So what's been going on? This and that, you know. Everything and nothing. Too much school, too much friends, a little smat of sadness and a larger one of malaise.

And now I'm getting better and now I'm almost back on track and soon all the parcels I owe people will all be sent and soon it will all be so much easier.

Until then I just keep slugging through the in-box and hope I reach the bottom.

I'm a Bad Blogger

2007-05-12T14:20:00.000-04:00

Yes... Yes I am.

The last few months were somewhat the opposite of pleasant, but the worst seems to be over, and so back to making things and being happy.

I never posted about the second wonderful package I got from Silver Selkie. I love everything in it! All my pictures are at home (and I'm at work, boooooo), so I'll have to add them in when I get there.

At first we thought the package for my swap buddy had been lost in the mail. Luckily I got it back about a week ago! Turns out "no one claimed it" which means "we didn't bother to tell anyone it was here." Grrrrrr. I'm trying to scrounge up some cash to mail it back now.

Tonight? Catch up on work and cleaning. Fun times.

What be This?

2007-02-07T19:24:00.000-05:00

It's the unblocked body of the Leaf Lace Pullover from Loop-D-Loop!!! I finally finished it today after the unfortunate reknitting incident that happened earlier with it... Ew. But now it is DONE!!! I had 3 stitches left on the bottom after kitchener stitching it together (I have no idea how) but I think I hid them well enough. They're under the sleeve anyway. And blocking is endlessly helpful.

Yep. Now on to the sleeves!

R.I.P.

2007-02-03T00:41:00.000-05:00

I just found out that my spin to knit partner has had a most terrible thing happen...

THE POST OFFICE LOST THE YARN I SENT!!!!!!!!!!!

I packaged it up super carefully too. I am so freaking upset now.

R.I.P., yarn. R.I.P.

Yarrrnnn!!! In the Maaaail!!!!

2007-01-23T23:24:00.000-05:00

My yarnswap yarn came today!!! Which is somewhat fitting, since I just sent my yarnswap yarn off in the mail... So many good things!!! See?

Pretty, yes? There's all sorts of fun things, such as awesome candy, crazy retro fabric, felt beads, a really nice glass pendant with two old timey ladies in it, soap in my favouritest scent (cinnamon sandalwood) and of course, the yarn. I got 2 skeins of it, the label's from the smaller one. Thank you, Silver Selkie!!!

I am a bad blogger...

2007-01-19T22:35:00.000-05:00

...but also freak busy. At least I have my yarnswap yarn done. It's all happy and soaking in its moth deterring lavender wash right now, along with the other handspun from a previous post. Thankfully I'm going out with an Emma for some drinkings after this, or I'd feel like a total yarn nerd on a Friday night. That doesn't mean I'm not bringing a half-knit sweater to the bar.

I just started the leaf sweater from Loop-D-Loop. I was doing so much freaking small needle stuff that I really needed something bulky. I started 2 nights ago and I should finish the body tonight. I love this sweater. Love it. I'm making it out of a bag of Austermann Melody in Cocoa I got from Elann. It was my first time ordering from Elann, and I'm amazed at how fast everything came. I ordered on Thursday and it was waiting for me Thursday after class.

I have so much work this semester, and I decided to do massive projects for all of my assignments. I'm kind of glad of that though, I'm so sick of doing stupid things just to get marks. That's not why I decided to bother going back to school. I seem to be saying that a lot lately. At least I think I've picked my major now, Sculpture and Installation.

Sadly I have no pictures tonight. Hopefully next time I will finally have a picture of that darn hat!

Accursed Illness!

2007-01-06T02:33:00.000-05:00

I hate being sick. At least, I hate being sick to the point where you can't actually do anything you want to do and are reduced to a quivering pile of person on the couch next to a box of kleenex. That part seems to have thankfully subsided sometime this evening. Whee!

I went a little overboard at the Lettuce Knit boxing day sale. Well, not really... I guess it was the combination of that and the Romni one that did me in. I ended up with 6 skeins of Blue Skies Alpacas Sport weight in Denim (there's a swatch on this page), which I think I'm going to make a little sweater out of. Maybe a short sleeved one if I have enough. Also a skein of Handmaiden 2-ply 55% silk, 45% cashmere in Sangria (both the yarn and the colour can be seen here), which I may attempt to make a mini Flower Basket Shawl out of. Everyone seems to be making these, and I just found my copy of the Fall 2004 Interweave Knits, so why not? At Romni I got a ton of spinning supplies for my spinning swap buddy, Knitting Nature by Nora Gaughan (I love this book!), and Brian was super awesome and bought me enough yarn for the shrug I wanted to make for Christmas. Whee! It's this really nice lavender tweed stuff. I'm all camera-less at the moment, or you'd have pictures. Also, I'm somewhat delirious off cold meds. Always fun.

I think I need to go finish one of the gazillion knitting projects I have on the go, and get some work for KM done. I laugh in the face of illness, and hopefully get it sick while I'm at it.

Soooo Busy

2006-12-27T00:45:00.000-05:00

The last little while's been kind of crazy busy. By last little while I of course mean the last month or two. I've still been getting a lot of fibre stuff done though.

Here's some of my new handspun

The middle one if some Fleece Artist merino, 2-ply. The third on is a lovely merino dyed by Cosmic Pluto. The first yarn is my favourite. The purple is Fleece artist merino, and the pink is merino I dyed with Kool-Aid. I plied them into Beehive Yarn thanks to the awesome directions on The Sanguine Gryphon's blog.

Here's a close up

Some of the details kind of blurred out, but the colour's pretty acurrate.

What else have I been up to? Three pairs of socks in six days of course. They're all worsted weight, but I think I may be insane.

I also finished the hat that was my first part of the colourwork challenge, but I'll have to get close enough to the hat for long enough to photograph it before it can go up here...

Change of Plans...

2006-12-12T00:08:00.000-05:00

The new Knitty's out, and it had the perfect project on the cover! I'm making the center square hat in dark bluish green and light teal green Mission Falls wool for my boyfriend. It's also a pretty easy stranded project for my first go at it. I'm thinking blocking may be in order by the end...

If this goes well, I'm going to give these a shot in light brown and dark brown. He really does love squirrels, and if they're too small, well, I guess I get some new mittens then, don't I?

2006-12-05T14:16:00.000-05:00

So I'm in Stranded: The Colourwork Challenge, and I'm hoping to actually get started on it this weekend, after my stupidly huge amounts of work are over. This is my first stranded piece (I've done a bunch of intarsia skull related things though), so I thought I'd go pretty simple. I have some greeny blue and some chocolate brown Misti Alpacas Chunky, and I think I'm going to go with this, but I'm going to change the charts. I'm not sure to what yet though... I was thinking llamas or squirrels originally, but I think I'm just going to go a little simpler for this... Or maybe not. We shall see.

2006-11-30T23:45:00.000-05:00

Ulg. I am sooooo feeling the stress right now. I hate the end of term blow out of suck. I also hate grant applications I think. Together.... Well, I'm on my 5th cup of coffee of the day, and I'm no where near going to bed. Again, ulg.

I've been kind of feeling the urge to draw again, though thanks to that damn class this year, I think it's going to be a long time before anyone sees any of my drawings again. I've never felt so bad about my work in my life. Me and OCAD are rapidly becoming so not friends.

I've been spinning pretty much non-stop since the spinning wheel came home. Now it's gotten to the point where I feel like I'm cheating because I didn't dye the roving too. Where will it end?!

...I predict on a nice sheep farm somewhere...

I finished a ton of stuff, I'll post pics once the sun is up and I can get some decent shots. Now I must return to grants. Yuck.

Best Mommy in the Whole World, EVER.

2006-11-20T17:52:00.000-05:00

So my mom came home with a little present Friday night...

It's a Louet S51 she picked up at my sister's high school's auction. So the school gets money and I get a spinning wheel. There is a spinning wheel in my house, right now. I'm still getting used to this.

So the spinning wheel fund drive is now over, though I think I'll still do some commissions here and there. It's fun seeing people wearing things I've made, and it gets me the money to continue to make things. So, generally awesome, says I.

If you were wondering, there is a 3rd bobbin. It was just elsewhere engaged when I took the photo.

This is my first yarn on my new wheel. The plies are a little looser than I'd like, since I'm still getting the hang of single treadling. I spun up an orange over the weekend that's more to my liking. But still, so pretty! The pink is from a Fleece Artist roving I picked up at Lettuce Knit. The blue/green is some left over from my spinning class there with Laura on Friday.

Have I mentioned I love my wheel? Because I love my wheel.

Hats!

2006-11-15T22:53:00.000-05:00

Ulg. I haven't been updating very much... It's totally been one of those months. I kind of just want to curl up in a ball and sleep until spring. Since that's not really an option I've been throwing myself into yarn instead. Look! Pretty things!

This is a hat I made on comission for a guy in one of my classes. He wanted something crazy super warm and mostly brown. I talked him into adding the green. It's mostly wool with some cotton and alpaca as well. It's also pretty thick, so it should be toasty. I had to reattach the ties after I took this photo, since he dipped the first ones in wax for some reason...

This hat looks good, but it didn't really photograph very well. It's a shell-stitch kind of puffy hat made from some super soft and a little sparkly wool/silk yarn.

I can't remember if this is my first or second attempt at spinning silk hankies, but I think it's my favourite. I made a crochet neckpiece out of it, which I'll take some pictures of if I ever manage to find it again. My house tends to eat my yarn related goods.

I'm working on some orange and pink handspun at the moment, half dyed by me and half Fleece Artist orange merino. I'm only using one of the three hanks of orange I have, so I think I'm going to use the rest to make some tiger yarn with beads. Should be awesome.

I wish I could play with wool all day instead of all that pesky work/school business. Blah.

CANZINE!!!!

2006-10-26T21:57:00.000-04:00

If anybody wants to find me this Sunday, I'll be here, in Toronto.

Canzine is probably my favourite event of the year, full of more zines and handmade craziness than one can shake a stick at. I started going when I was fourteen and I've tabled every year since.

This year I'm at the Kiss Machine table, selling lucky issue #13. I'm also trying to get Hooks vs. Needles #2 ready, and some new t-shirt designs I've been playing with. Hurrah for purple and neon pink. I'll also see if I can find some of my heart and leaf pins.

I can't wait to go!

First Plied Handspun Project

2006-10-23T13:16:00.000-04:00

I finished this hat a while ago, but never really got around to taking pictures of it. It's knit from an Andean plied wenslydale yarn I spun over a couple of days. The single of the pink also finished off a rather nice hat I made from energized singles. If my camera wasn't about to die, I'd totally take some photos of that too...

Anyway, here's the hat all finished and waiting to be worn:

And here's a close up, where you can
sadly see the little overtwist guy that
got plied in:

Can you tell I like pink?

I Want a Spinning Wheel!!!

2006-10-13T13:06:00.000-04:00

After about a year of handspinning and checking out different wheels, I think I'm finally ready to purchase one of my very own. The only problem? The $6oo+ price tag of the one I have my eye on. The solution? Selling all my crafty goodness!

Every time you commision a piece from me, or buy one of my pre-made slices of awesome, you get a handmade, unique item and you get to help me fullfill my spinning dreams. Who could ask for more?

You can get me to make you something either by running into me on the street/at school, or by e-mailing me.

I will SPIN!!!!!