An artist-naturalist splashes through streams of consciousness... often, it's even her own...
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Newest Project
Embroidery on a doily which was bordered in crocheted lace by my Great-Great Grandmother, Mira Marsh. This is a project almost 100 years in the making.
The embroidery thread is a cotton-rayon-nylon blend. The woven fabric is linen, which is bordered by crocheted lace in cotton.
It's been done for months, but I can publish it now because the magazine issue has been published. I would have done it sooner, but I forgot!
CLICK HERE to see the detailed instructions for how to make this at The AntiCraft.
Mash-up of Marvellousness!! Warning: Tim Burton and Billy Idol. May cause extreme giddyness.
>wipes away tears of joy<
A thing of beauty should not be kept to one's self.
That's the only animated Disney movie I love. All the others (Pixar doesn't count as Disney in my justifiably narrow-minded book; and Lion King is nearly acceptable) can die in a warehouse fire. But Tim Burton is sacred. Billy Idol adds preciousness.
This weekend was Bazaar Bizarre Cleveland, a craft fair for the quirky and artistically minded. We went, and it was ourfirst time. Verdict? AWESOME.
First, most of what we saw was top notch craftsmanship. The less high quality stuff would have been the highest quality at a church craft fair, so it wasn't bad at all!!
Another great thing about BazBiz was the sheer quantity of friends we saw. It was a startling number. Some I'd expected to see. Some were delightful surprizes. We also made some new friends. Quite a memorable day!
Oh-did I mention we actually got some Christmas shopping done?
Way to catch Homeland Security with their pants pooling about their ankles, Colbert Report!! There's nothing I love more than seeing tax dollars squandered on failing businesses, and NOW, apprehending passport-wielding, tax-paying, law-abiding American citizens.
I love studies in opposites. I love the tension, I love the conversation, I love all of the everything. It really excites me. But come on!!! Pink is not exclusively the realm of girlhood, and it certainly doesn't satisfactorily describe "housewife" or "woman", either.
But that's my only problem with it. I would totally ride this bike. Or at least sit on it and submit to being photographed.
(A late discovery has determined that pink may have been chosen simply out of preference for the color. I just saw a recent photo of the artist which shows her with hot pink hair. I am satisfied!!)
(pronunciation hint for Rick and Daddy: there's no "w" sound in "que".)
Brilliantly designed exclusively for The AntiCraft by Erssie Major, a prolific and talented knitting designer in the UK. I am completely delighted by this pattern. It is at once challenging and entertaining, and I really like how it is turning out. I mean, it is simply just too much fun to knit!! I'm deeply impressed with Erssie's gift for design and whimsy.
>SNERK< As if I need to be asked twice. "Yarn" is the new "shiny".
Garfield Minus Garfield publishes daily. It was my sister-in-law Leonor who introduced me to this very zen webcomic.
Of course, this particular strip was sent (rather pointedly) to me by My Beloved, who is still waiting for his first sweater and the half-finished half pair of socks I still have on the needles.
I get "Savage Chickens: Cartoons on Sticky Notes by Doug Savage" in my email every weekday. Subscribe by clicking HERE.
Know what makes this cartoon funnier/sadder? The Canadians know more about our presidential candidates and the policies they espouse than we do. And we sure know nothing about theirs.
Quick!!! Name 3 Canadian... er... um... do they have presidents or prime ministers???
SEE???? (Answer: prime ministers. And the current one is likely about to be voted out for an abundance of reasons, not least of which is his close association with the Bush Administration.)
Don't whine to me about that. There's still time to get more educated about our issues and the facts about our candidates. Less than three weeks to go til we get our chance at the slots in the booths!!
While we're at it, it's a good idea to get to know our global neighbors. The most immediate ones would be Russia (some of us can see them from our houses...), North and South Korea, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, and Cuba.
Hmm. Was that a longer list than you expected? We're really not so isolated.
Time for The AntiCraft to publish! It's a good one. Again. As usual.
Our theme this quarter is called "Broken Bones", and it celebrates the Latin American festival Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
This is not a morbid day to wallow around in pathos and mourning. It's a day of bright colors and cheerful, festive music, generous food, family gathering, and celebration. It's a day to go and share the year's experiences at the gravesite of the people who have passed on, whether recently or long ago. In fact, sometimes it can go on for two days.
So click on the link and see what we have to say, craftwise, about celebrating the memories of the ones we love!
Thankful Thursdays: I'm Thankful for My Sense of Humor
This. Is Such. A. Hoot.
Little back story. Too many relationships have been ended over knitted articles that were received with less than the enthusiasm the knitter felt ought to have been lavished on the article by the recipient.
Example. "Oh, Sweetie, I saw how you were a little chilly a few months ago on that hay ride, so I knitted you this sweater. I hope you like it???" >thrusts sweater hopefully, batting eyelashes< "Erm... Sure, purple argyle is just... >deep exhalation< well, I-I-I I think I've got a t-shirt it'll go with, lemme try it on..."
Nevermind that the hayride was prob'ly in October, and the sweater may have taken until April to complete.
The knitter obviously didn't bother to check for color likes/dislikes when she started knitting a sweater for her boyfriend, so it's unlikely that she did anything about fit, either. The poor sweater gets tossed in the back of the closet, never to see the light of day again, the knitter begins a downward spiral of resentment which cues the deathknell for the relationship, which (plainly) was on rocky footing to begin with, as evidenced by their poor communication skills.
It's a common story. Lots of knitting books and blogs address the phenomenon; The AntiCraft has a great pattern called the Curse Your Boyfriend Sweater, which helps you expedite the end of a relationship deliberately via sweater-gift; in Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'N Bitch Nation (2004, Workman Publishing), she features a sweater/knitted goods-as-gift contract. It's on page 120 under the heading Pre-Knitual Agreement. (Go ahead and chuckle. I can't help how clever it is. ALL her books are like that.)
Here's a story via song that's just about 180 degrees from the curse. What happens when you've been found knitting for someone else???
Warning: old-school Country Western-style music ahead. If you object, replace the performers in your imagination with the Blues Brothers. That might be even funnier.
Part of what I love about it is that these women could easily be drag queens. Except they're so understated (not enough rhinestone, not enough boa feather) it's clear they're really women underneath all that makeup and hair.
"Maybe I just need a new project" is the best breakup line. EVER!!!
It's also a source of blissful distraction. I am dangerously keen on knitting socks, now, and even argyle socks, especiallyargyle socks with a skull, are probably not outside of my skill level. God help me. All I need is the yarn. God help us all.
It's Ravelry's nod to the 2008 Olympics, and the fact that people who knit, crochet, and spin can't sit in front of the tv without something to do with their hands. Ravelry, of course, being a social network for people (ahem) addicted to the aforementioned habits.
Here's the button that proclaims my participation:
Hooray!! Let the knitting and crocheting begin... er, I've already begun...
Well????
The rules CLEARLY state we can start as soon as the Opening Ceremonies start. I started almost 24 hours later.
And that's about right. I'm knitting and crocheting for Team Angstylvania.
This is probably my only chance to either see or participate in ANY Olympics.
Let the knitting/crocheting/spinning (no not the biking sort) BEGIN!
Don't worry. I'll make something using wool. And there are deadlines (not the Johnson Island kind, though that would suit the group). So there will definitely be some perspiration.
Official rules? You betcha. Click! Nothing's said about steroids, and I have neither need nor interest; but if they try to confiscate my coffee, I will find a way to cuss them out in Mandarin, Zhuang, Cantonese, Hmong, and Uyghur.
Not that it matters. Our team isn't actually eligible for Ravelry's thang. We're doing it on our own. Heh.
(ahem. That's not hyperbole underlining that sentence, it's a live link; click and it'll take you there.)
I alluded to this eventual event a little over a month ago, when I had multiple versions of the theme music for "Dr. Who" on a permanent loop in my head, particularly the spoof mash-up Gary Glitter/"Dr Who" song. I've included it for your pleasure...
ANYWAY!!
This is that knitting pattern based on Dr Who that I wasn't allowed to talk about until it went live in The Guardian. It's live in The Guardian. I can talk about it now. I can blog and sing and draw and build a folly in my backyard and do interpretive dance, if I choose to.
I think I'll probably NOT do interpretive dance.
'K. So to get to this magical spot of ME in an internationally distributed newspaper, click on the link, scroll down to
"Here's one we made earlier: What do you get when you cross 13 knitting experts with Mazz's lovely knitting patterns? Here's what they came up with ..."
...and when you do that, scroll down a little more (I'm not the only one who was pictured) and you'll see me with Zabet and Raellyn from The AntiCraft!
I'm very excited. It's good to be in such fine company. Magda from Knitta Please! is right near. That's mighty nice -- you'll notice that's one of my links to the right.
Enjoy. Enjoy my excitement. I don't often get stuff like this to get excited about. I wish my mom was alive. I wish my grandma was alive. They'd both get a kick out of this.
Later edit: Hey! They called me a "knitting expert"! I'm going to have to call my mother-in-law and thank her. She's the one who taught me!
Click that whole paragraph if you want to see. It's worth it.
Also? And this is a little scary, so maybe you don't want to keep reading. (Ok, that wasn't fair, was it? He heh heh.)
My Beloved inspired me to check into whether there might be recipes for deep-fried cookie dough. Was I lucky?
Is this not the Home of the Brave? And, apparently, the iron-stomached.
LORDY. According to Google, 70,800 results were found that matched my search criteria (that would be "fried cookie dough recipe"), and said search was executed in 0.35 seconds. I didn't check to see if ALL 70,800 were actually recipes for this specific delicacy. In fact, my gob-smacked mind could barely make it down the page.
I guess I hit the jackpot, if that's what you can call it, though I'll stick to traditional cookies, thank you very much!! It certainly is county fair season!
I'm deliriously, happily married to Rick. We have a basenji named Cleopatra and 3 manic (as a result of the dog) cats. They all appear on the blog regularly, as does the garden. On occasion, you may mistake this for the local Ag Report, but I assure you I am an artist, and eventually my work will make an appearance.
In the meantime, I find enjoyment in life's daily distractions.
We work to be part of the solution in Cleveland as members of a giving circle called The Cleveland Colectivo, giving microgrants to grassroots neighborhood projects throughout Cleveland and the inner-ring suburbs.
Rick and I are avid bike riders, and we captain a BikeMS team called Patti's Paladins. Visit our team website pattispaladins.com to learn how you can help us fight Multiple Sclerosis. Join us for a ride!
