My husband is very, very relieved this dress turned out. You see, on Saturday morning I was on my second attempt of ripping out one hot mess of a neckband on this while managing to put a hole in the fabric where there shouldn’t have been one. (And YES, I was using the seam ripper in a way that someone who cared about their fabric … Continue reading Electric (Blue) Ladyland: the Lady Skater Dress
I’ve got a night table drawer full of bookmarks and there are a couple worth sharing because they are hilarious, and are excellent cultural artifacts. This one must be from about 1993 or so, judging by the compuserve email addresses. Remember those? Anyway, it’s a whole book dedicated to listing email addresses of the rich and famous! What a weird list of contacts. Beavis and … Continue reading Bookmarks as cultural artifacts & the Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device
Just ask me how goddamned pleased I am with myself! Go on, ask me! I’m pretty goddamned pleased, thanks for asking. This shirt turned out pretty great and you can tell how I feel by that cat-who-swallowed-the-canary grin on my face. (Or maybe that’s just the look I get when I’m waiting for the camera’s self-timer to go off. Must get a remote shutter release.) … Continue reading Kaboom! Circles Stars Bombs & Flowers shirt is finished!
I am scared stitchless. I purchased the pattern for the Burda 10/2011 Chiffon blouse with tie band #128B almost a month ago, and bought fabric for it soon after, but I can’t seem to bring myself to sew it. Trouble is, I’m pretty sure that sewing that fabric is gonna be the death of me. It’s a thin, sheer, ravel-y, drooling monster that keeps me awake … Continue reading Scared Stitchless
Is it weird to create a fabric in honour of a friend who passed away? Fuck it, I’m doing it. Jen was a friend of mine at university — many years ago — who died when she was only about 22 years old. She was a poet who wrote a compendium of poetry called Circles, Stars, Bombs, and Flowers. I think that’s such a lyrical … Continue reading Circles, Stars, Bombs and Flowers – for Jen
The movie Gone With the Wind made a big impression on me when I was a kid. It seemed to be on TV an awful lot on Sunday afternoons, right up there with The Sound of Music, so I saw it a lot. But Carol Burnett’s spoof of GWTW might have made a bigger impression. I’ll never forget how she spoofed the scene where Scarlett, … Continue reading The Scarlett O’Hara Apron
It’s July and if you’re a knitter, you know it’s time to start thinking about that big ol’ holiday in December, what I like to call the X-mess. Make your list — and only include people who actually appreciate the value of a hand-knit gift — and get started. Which is weird advice coming from the queen of procrastination, who gave her mom a Christmas … Continue reading X-mess in July
I love Iceland! As I was saying in Iceland: Knit Inspiration Part 1, it’s an amazing country full of amazing vistas, creative people, and of course, lots of knitting. While I was there last summer I was thumbing through a tourist guide our lovely hosts Angela & Starki left in our room, and had a little gasp of squee when I saw an ad for … Continue reading Iceland: Knit Inspiration #2
No, that doesn’t mean I was hammered while making it. Drunk knitting? No problem. Drunk metalsmithing with blowtorches and sharp tools? Definitely not. 🙂 You may have seen my posts about the wax casting classes I took at Jewel Envy. I enjoyed them so much I signed up for a jewelry fabrication workshop. Here’s the difference: in casting, we learned how to carve things like … Continue reading Jewelry Fabrication Class: the hammered band ring
Around this time last year I was on vacation in Iceland. It’s one of the few places I’ve been where I decided I had to come back, and soon, as soon as I returned home. What an amazing country! It’s remote, sparsely populated, has incredible landscapes and seascapes, good food, and it’s easy to get around. Everywhere you go, there is yet another unusual vista, … Continue reading Iceland: Knit Inspiration
Frivolous At Last 