year of the ox

wishing you a very happy, healthy, and prosperous chinese new year...gong hei fat choi!

happy inauguration week

i saw this FANTASTIC photo linked from sarah's blog. definitely take the time to zoom in and check it out...1,474 megapixels of 2 million people is pretty amazing.

it's been an exciting week, i'm hopeful for what's in store for america over the next 4 years...!

melissa is the best knitter in the whole world

i did belated christmas last night with melissa and she made me AWESOME christmas presents--i am beyond impressed!!! she knit me a cute cable hat that matches a scarf i'm working on, made these super pretty stitch markers in shades of aqua (with an aqua patterned tin liner on the bottom) for when we start clapotis AND...these insanely wonderfully knit wrist warmers!!! LOVE! they are super soft too because she used this great alpaca yarn. so not only do they look amazing on me (i should be a hand model...except for milo barking in the background) but they feel fantastic too. THANKS FRIEND!!!

yay jilly!!!

giant knitting

my friend kara told me about this at work the other week, can you imagine maneuvering every single stitch on a pair ginormous knitting needles??? i wish i owned that rug though, it's so fun--like a giant fisherman's sweater!

(image is from the style files in a post about christien meindertmas seen on apartment therapy [phew!]...be sure to read it!)

17 donuts

one afternoon i went down to the cafe to get a snack and they literally had sitting out on the counter a white bakery box with this sign that said "17 donuts $5.00." so of course i buy it (HELLO, 17 donuts for $5.00???) and gave it to mike tv as part of his birthday present. we opened it to find out it actually had EIGHTEEN donuts, so we got one free...yay! sitting with the box is buster, our team pet. he is obviously a real dog, as there is no proof of a 0.25" deep white plastic side on him anywhere, IS THERE? isn't it amazing how he fits into such a small gap between the box and the cube wall? what's that you say? you know, maybe your depth perception is just really off...you should get that checked.

poppies and bluebirds

i was in pottery barn kids today and their stuff is so freakin' cute!!! i wanted to do a hand-drawn print after seeing so many adorable things so here is my "digital crayon" drawing using my wacom and photoshop.

(fyi, the bottom-most bird is singing loudly, not squawking in consternation)

this little piggy

i made this lil guy for my friend alex to give michael as a surprise christmas present...however, the real surprise was that while alex was out of town, michael (very thoughtfully!!!) cleaned the house and the well-hidden little piggy was thrown out in the trash! [gasp!] however, alex figured it out when he got back home and they rescued him safely and he now lives on their nightstand.

he is hand-sewn from michael's felted scarf using the martha stewart pattern and even features the very fun bendable tail. oink oink!

poladroid

ok, i have been seriously playing with my new poladroid app for the past 2 hours (yes, i wish i could use my real one all the time, but this is a nice and affordable way to have some easy polaroid fun)...i read about it on my cute friend (ok, she's kara's cute friend ;) abby's blog lovey dovey (which in itself is a really colorful and beautiful blog you should check out) so THANK YOU ABBY, this is so freakin' fun.

just download poladroid, drag your pictures over the icon, listen to the satisfying clicking, and watch it develop before your very eyes!

baby elephant

this eames molded plywood mini elephant was featured on one of notcot's holiday gift giudes and i LOVE HIM. i wish it were full-scale, but the molds were so intricate it was too hard for them to ever enter into production. still, baby elephants are always cuter anyway--i would definitely NOT be disappointed to have one of these lil guys on my desk hanging out with me!

save handmade.

the more i read about the consumer product safety improvement act (CPSIA) i cannot believe that instead of focusing on ways to regulate large toy companies (ie. to avoid issues like the lead scare coming out of toys manufactured in china) they are trying to create regulations that will basically prohibit any independent or small-business entity from being allowed to create and sell amazing handmade toys, clothes, and other wonderful items for children without paying for thousands of dollars worth of testing to prove that their items are not toxic. even though an average person in an average house would probably NOT AT ALL be exposed to any sort of toxins that would have been found in a factory anyway!

what will happen to etsy...or craft fairs! will handmade items soon be delegated to a black market of plush toys and knit baby hats???

i am in no way an expert, so please check out handmade toy alliance or coolmompicks or change.org to learn more information. hopefully this act can get turned around, or amended in a way that will allow crafters and artists to keep on doing what they do best.

thanks so much for listening.

clapotis

the infamous clapotis by kate gilbert...i read about it in not 1, but 2 knitting books already and have found out it is THE scarf that all knitters/crafters/cool people are supposed to know about and have. i've asked melissa to help me out and the best part is when she called me back she said "...is this scarf the...clapotis??? ok! do you need me to pick up some yarn for you?" wow, this girl is efficient!!! no wonder she can churn out 20 billion cable knit hats in a day!

resolutions

here are my 9 resolutions for 2009...i often have problems keeping them once time starts passing but i've tried to make them more realistic this year so i think i'll be ok. also, since they're broken out into categories it's not as overwhelming:

BLOG RESOLUTIONS (or blogolutions for chris ;)
1. create header. i mean, seriously.
2. be more succinct and post more images (after this post, promise)

CRAFT RESOLUTIONS
3. post actual products on my etsy site
4. draw more often
5. continue sewing, knitting, and paper crafting

LIFE RESOLUTIONS
6. send emails, letters, and cards in a more timely manner
7. continue learning to cook and bake
8. continue purging the house of "junk"
9. improve overall physical and mental health (ok, this one is sort of a doozy but i know in the end it will only help make me happier!!!)

yay, i'm now OFFICIALLY ready to start the new year!

the bird machine

i was SO excited this morning when notcot posted her praises about jay ryan and his wonderful posters--i love his work!!! i had bought my friend mike his book last year: 100 posters / 134 squirrels just because i thought he had such a great hand to his illustrations, and all the animals especially, are always doing something fun or have these spectacular emotions on their faces (look at that buffalo, ha!) and if you read the book, some of the most amazing prints he does are using a very few number of screens--it's CRAZY.

when i took screenprinting at MCAD this summer i learned how to do gradients, and this was my print that was inspired by jay ryan's style (on purpose. because he is amazing.)

happy new year. and that's a fact.

our new year definitely started off with a bang. yesterday morning milo had a seizure, so the day was spent at the vet and the emergency vet. we're awaiting test results as it could be something minor (ie. he ate something poisonous--DO NOT let your dogs eat gum with xylitol) or major (ie. he might have some sort of hereditary disease in his liver). i stayed home with him today and he seems fine except for abnormally low energy level (but funny thing...this is pretty average energy level for most other peoples' dogs ;)

i'm thankful that he's ok, and glad nothing worse has happened so far in the new year!!! here's to a year of good health, good family & friends, and all around good cheer. happy 2009 everyone!