Thursday, April 28, 2011

werkin' my last nerve

anyone else feel like their patience is being tested almost on a daily basis? i think the fluctuating weather out here is the biggest tester. already this morning i've gone from ooh it's going to be sunny.. to oh man it is going to be raining when i walk to work? really?
again?
give me a break!

the other night the seamstress and i went to the fabric depot. man, that store just makes you wanna make everything. sew everything. knit everything. put buttons and ribbon on everything... so much eye candy. i bought a yarn winder. yeah, you would think that would make my life so easy, cool breezy... 


once again i have a hard time figure out which end to pull as the lead. mc61 got frustrated and stopped holding the skein wrapped around his hands and viola. big mess.

wondering what calls for a lot of patience?   

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

oh no you didn't...

oh. 
yes. 
i did! 

finally. 
i've been dreaming and craving the potato onion pie from those good ole chi-town days..ahh leo's lunchroom you are still one of my favorite places um, yeah, fifteen? no more than that... twenty years later?! 

too bad the new owners never cared about you. 
(very sad face here)




anyways, i think it turned out purdy gouda! 

Monday, April 18, 2011

busy hands are happy hands..

there was a glimmer of sun early sunday morning and we made a dash for the backyard before mc61 had to go to the airport. 


i have to say getting outside and doing something thing at nine am really sets the pace for the day. i haven't felt that productive in a while. we finally put our callas and snapdragons into the ground. 
wow!

i suppose this next weekend we'll put some type of seeds or starters into the soil beds. imagine if that happened?!









after the airport, i went to the store and got my groceries.
i had breakfast out, ran into friends. that's an unexpected treat. 
went and got my hair did. 
then actually kept a 'goal' of walking up mt tabor with a friend.
she brought her dog, who turned out to be a belle of the ball on some level. 


i mean, really. that's an action packed sunday. by seven pm, i felt quite accomplished.
i even started a new knitting pattern. 


sometimes it really is the small things. 


tonight i had been invited to stop by grendels for a little knitting session. 
although it wasn't packed with ladies, yapping and sipping wine. i'm glad i went.
if anything it was a new experience. one of the employees, who was the host and quite a good knitter, was able to give me a little help too. i worked more on my summer scarf pattern, which still looks incorrect on some level.

there was a photographer and his wife, from getty images, that had been in a week prior because the host had been knitting while taking a little break from getting coffee orders. he'd been in search of images of knitters. she told him about tonight and there you go. 
it was very interesting. the wife as it turns out has a degree in fiber arts. one of the main reasons she came to the US was to work at philadelphia's college of textile? apparently there aren't many fiber artists in the US so they needed more accredited people. hence, jumping the pond. she knows her way around the yarn and the knitting to say the least. 
it was a quick review about cotton/wool coming into liverpool, manchester with the big industry, the different qualities of water that can affect the way in the end the yarn will feel. ... i should have been taking notes instead of yarning over and slip slip knitting!
there was good conversation too, talk of digital photography and accessibility of 'photographers'. architecture came up. i found more people that didn't realize there was a frank lloyd wright house in silverdale. but his houses are everywhere, right. the women by t.c. boyle which focuses on flw and the women in his life. 
i was reminded that a friend had previously mentioned this to me months ago.. 


it was interesting because here i just went to get some knitting pointers and here are two fascinating people. i probably won't see them again. 
i love it when these types of experiences happen. 
i don't know it's like you're little and you find a second prize inside the cereal box. 
 
it just makes you feel good.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

roll the dice and see what you get..

ahh another rainy day in portlandia! after dragging my sorry butt out of bed, blowing my nose, sneezing my face off until it hurts. ... i've decided to embrace the lovely rain.


oh yes, a jedi mind trick... reverse psychology. 
i LOVE rain!

another good class last night. i've done 4 hole stab books before however, i've never done the tortoise.
              ooh, ahh.

i'd say for a first time "stab" at it, i did alright.

it's funny you totally forget how making these books is easy and accessible. i mean, it can be just a little paper and thread. makes a good gift. of course, it could be fancier with more decorative paper or a design patterned on the pages.

from right to left: the tortoise stab binding. the four hole stab binding. a five hole pamphlet, a four hole pamphlet and a three hole pamphlet.
note to self i should make more of these and send them to friends.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

forecast calls for rain on and off .. through may?

i suppose this is what we should just naturally expect when living in the pnw.. but a girl can dream that it'll start to feel more like spring and less like winter when it's april... right? 
good thing we've got our hands to keep us busy and warm. 

last night we exchanged our books in class. each person got to talk about their book, design, pesky roadblocks.. mine was different than everyone's book... first, the obvious, i choose the folding book that has sixteen panel blocks, meaning four rows of four. everyone else did the eight, meaning two rows of four. second, i didn't use photoshop to produce an image onto the paper. 



 my dog doug




only one other person did a hands on design to the paper. 

 and it was funny!
Static quo
R(ed) G(reen) B(lue)
watch more TV



instead i did what i feel i do 'best'... 
i hand sewed the design onto the panels i wanted. 
hmmm can you say biting off more than i can chew? 
or what about setting the bar high?
regardless i was quite happy with my results. the teacher noted that every time he looked at his he felt like he saw something new, different.  it's not to say my book was flawless. i wasn't a big fan on how it flopped around when open. however, since the design i chose had a lot of movement to it, it worked a little.

this is just two books, unfolded so you can see the panels, layout and design.



in the end if i were going to change one thing, i would have used yellow thread exclusively on all the books. mainly because the images were cut up from an ink drawing of bicycles. yellow i think would not only stand out but represent the the yellow lines on roads.




our teacher's book was fennel. great example of design and composition. pretty neat-o


this last image is actually a copy of a perfect bound, hand bound, book our teacher did and gave a copy at the first day of class. most impressive.









SPEAKING OF NEAT-O N' IMPRESSIVE. mc61 made quiches the other night. wowzers, the crust on one of them totally blew up. damn, that IS impressive!


i guess it seems like we make a lot of quiches, crustless or regular. to be honest, i'm not sure what else to do with two dozen eggs? i mean sure i can just eat them individually for breakfast but what else? got ideas feel free to enlighten me. next on my agenda for the coming days, working on that elusive raspberry stitch. designing the knitted blanket with a friend, tending to our garden/backyard project and whatever else.. hair cut. yes. cocktails. yes. also, i thought if anyone had a theme they'd want me to design a book around, tell me that too. i'm open to ideas.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

they call me mellow yellow..

 ahh first barbie-que of the season last night. 
carne asada with green beans and a small arugula salad. 
quite nice!

i met up with the seamstress extraordinaire to work on the knitted blanket.. i haven't had to think about how things lay out, balance each other, etc in quite a while so this was a good refresher of sorts..
oh you remember the velor jumpsuit i found at the bins... well, here is the picture of it. mmm silver piping! not to mention a zipper that doesn't work anymore, perfect for showing off your enhanced cleavage n' gold chains. 
whatever. thank god a friend will cut this up into beer cozies! Know what i'm sayin??