Thanksgiving Knitting

Mike and I went on a mini-road trip for Thanksgiving. We visited Bedford and Bloomington, Indiana, to spend time with Mike's family and our friends. He's from there, and I lived there for the better part of a decade while attending Indiana University.



Surely, my knitting friends are already wondering what projects I brought. Well, I finished knitting the remaining sleeves for my Drops Jacket, which leaves seaming and the collar.



I brought my Femme Fatale toe-up socks to work on. I am incompetent when it comes to the short row heel. This particular heel involves "wrapping and turning" your work. That part is not difficult to understand. My trouble is how exactly you're supposed to pick up the wraps on the knit and purl sides. Where is that tutorial?!



Oh right, I found one. Thank you to Misocrafty and her Short Row Heel Tutorial, I have gotten over my mental block. My technique still needs work, but I'm not going to gouge my eyes out in frustration anymore.

Needless to say, we had a fantastic, albeit sleep-deprived time. Days were filled with ping pong, beer, board games, pool, darts, and mass quantities of food.

Goodbye, Indiana. Now it's back to the real world!

Illustration Friday: Scales

Scales for Illustration Friday's topic last week. I painted layer after layer of silver watercolor to give it a sheen.



You can't see the metallic silver in this photo, but you can definitely see it in the shot below.

Heather was visiting me and really liked it, so it's hers now!

Speaking of freebies, I'm renewing my subscription to Domino magazine. Since I get one free gift subscription when I renew, I thought one of my crafty blog friends may want it.

If you would like to enter for my gift subscription, just leave a comment guessing the date (month and day only) that I got my braces off in the 6th grade. Why that day? Only because it was one of the best days of my life!

Whomever is closest to the date will win. I'll select a winner on Monday, December 3rd.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I celebrated my birthday this weekend and had a wonderful time with my friends. I just wanted to do something low key, so a few friends came over for birthday cake, birthday pies, and fancy beer.

My mom always sends me the best treats. I'm actually wearing all of them while talking on the phone with her in this picture. Let me tell you, the sweater came in handy, since I was battling a cold and was low on clean clothes!

Photo courtesy of the Waechtersbach.

My friends ignored the "no presents" request and really spoiled me. I got pretty earrings, vintage pattern books boasting nylon jumpsuits and faux-tuxedo knit jumpers, a gorgeous platter, cashmere mittens, a treat below from Purl Patchwork, watercolor brushes created for a queen, and a calendar showcasing outhouses.



Thank you all for celebrating with me!

Polish Pottery and Dream Studios

After our lovely weekend at Lisa's mom's house, I wanted to make a thank you card for Jeannie.



She has the prettiest collection of hand formed and decorated Polish Pottery in a variety of patterns. She also had the teeniest crystal salt cellars passed down from Lisa's great-grandmother. I loved the little spoons.



Steady progress is being made on my Drops Jacket 103-1. The back and 3/4 of the front is completed. Isn't the moss stitch lovely?



I've been thinking of my dream studio lately. Working in facilities, I miss the more creative part of interior design. So tonight, I went back to my roots and did a quick conceptual sketch of one version of a dream studio. I forgot how much fun it is to create a space with no rules...or budget (wink).



Old school roller skates were included for extra efficiency, and to glide on the imaginary ebony stained herringbone wood floors...dream on!

Degenerate Knitters Steal Baby Alpaca!

I spent this weekend on a road trip with the Degenerate Knitters. Lisa and Sherry have already shared their hilarious accounts of the trip here and here, but I'm add my two cents as well.

We went to Connecticut and stayed with Lisa's fabulous mummy and step-father. They baked us apple-crisp, and the best pork tenderloin I've ever had. They spoiled us, and I'm so lucky to have been invited.



Our first stop was to Webs. Webs is basically a warehouse of yarn, with the friendliness and atmosphere of your favorite local yarn store. I went in there with a mission, to find tweed for the Demi Sweater from Rowan Vintage Knits. Without a plan, it would have been overwhelming, instead, it was pure elation!

After finding that perfect yarn, you may experience a "yarn high" as demonstrated below. Key symptoms are crazy eyes, double thumbs up, and similarity in creepiness to Uncle Rico.



After lunch, and cocktails for some of the gals, we visited Northampton Wools. To support their business, I left with this skein of sock yarn. The more I look at it, the more I appreciate it. Just look at the variance in colors!

The highlight of our trip was visiting the Southwind Farm, which houses 52 cherished alpaca. They are phenomenal, friendly and intelligent animals.

I was amazed that they only use "the facilities" in a small single area. The females line up (like humans) to use the facilities, and go one at a time, in the same exact spot.

Penny said that one alpaca loves her young grand-daughter. When she comes over, she plays hide-and-seek with him. She hides in the barn, and he finds her. She starts counting, the alpaca runs outside and hides behind a tree!

It was so touching to see how much Jim and Penny, love their animals. They are the nicest people, and I was so happy to tour and support their farm. By support, I meant by purchasing a few more skeins of yarn.

I really wanted a yarn that would remind me of my day at Southwind Farm. This luxurious yarn is from Declan's 2nd place in the nation, show fleece! I petted it the whole ride home. How cool is it that I got yarn from an alpaca we met? The wood button is from Northampton Wool.



Thank you girls for the great trip. Besides the festivities, they are all so easy to hang out with, side-splitting and super-smart.

P.S. We did not actually steal a baby alpaca, but we wanted to. Damn you, conscience! Mike did say we could possibly get one someday though...

I Heart Piddleloop!

The inspiration for the calaveras illustration came from the Alexander Henry fabric on this Piddleloop Sewing Team knitting bag.



Sherry always raves about their products and customer service, and now I see why. These gals are first rate. The craftsmanship is excellent, and the fabrics are ones you want to show off.



Not to mention the plethora of treats they threw in. If you look at a few of the stitchmarkers below, you'll see an 'M' and an 'H'. It could be a coincidence that those are my initials. After a few emails back and forth with Jen, I doubt it. She's that good.



Here is the swag in it's full glory. Let me tell you, when I unwrapped the package, I kept exclaiming to myself, "Are you kidding me?!" I was so impressed and surprised.

I think I also like Jen so much, because she's a fellow Indiana University graduate and ex-Collins resident. Thank you, Jen, for making such great products. I love my new bag!

I think Olivia will be getting one next. By the way, Olivia is still blogless, but she is on Ravelry (Olily). So go ask her to be your friend, after you buy yourself a bag from Piddleloop...

Illustration Friday: Hats

Illustration Friday is my new favorite thing. There are such talented people on the IF Flickr pool, it is quite inspiring.



I love hats, I've always enjoyed wearing them. Some think they don't look good in hats, but I think it's just a matter of confidence. "Fake it until you make it" is my motto for hat-wearing.

I didn't have too much time, so picked five hats I thought would be fun to draw. The first is a red waterpolo goalie cap, which was my 'uniform' when I used to play, along with 2 square feet of spandex. That's probably the least flattering cap anyone could wear.

The other four obviously show my subconcious desires to wear outrageous headresses, vintage hats and be royalty, save the brown cloche. That's just cute.

Oh, and speaking of cute, I made a third pair of Saartje's Bootees for a woman at work. She pleaded and begged, and paid for the yarn. It was a treat to work with Koigu Kersti and that adorable pattern again, even at the laundromat.



Enjoy your weekend, everyone! I'm ditching Mike to go on a roadtrip with gal pals which I'll tell you about next week.

Happy Birthday, Old Timer!

Today is my dad's (aka Cheeks) birthday. He hates to get stuff, so I made him a handmade card instead.



I don't know many people whose dad realize just how great they truly are. I hope mine does, someday. Here's a couple of reasons why I love my dad so much:

When I was three years old, I fell into the toilet feet first, while standing on the seat in feet pajamas to reach the sink to wash my hands. Somehow, even though it was the middle of the night, my day 'saved' me and lifted me right out.

He walked Andrew and I to bed different ways each day. We'd be a train, ET sitting in a pretend bicycle basket, on his feet, etc. Then he'd sing us songs (totally depressing ones by the way) and make up stories about Marissa and Andrew the Astronauts, our 'twins' across the universe.

My dad doesn't matter how high you are on the social ladder or how rich you are, he cares about the type of person you are, and how you treat people. Pretty rare for a financial advisor, no?! Of course, he will want you to have a diversified portfolio and plan for your retirement as soon as possible!

My dad has always been there for me. Whether it is job advice, math help in 10th grade, driving lessons (the fights, though!), financial assistance, emotional support, or a really bad joke, he's there.

He donates money to good causes that matter to him.

He is not extravagant. No fancy things for Cheeks!

He believes in me.

My dad adores my mom.

He says, "Oh no, we forgot to unlist the phone when we moved, she found us!" about every time I call. Oy vey.

Lastly, he put me in a box addressed to grandparents in the Philippines and New Jersey when I was a toddler.

I love you, Dad. Don't be too mad I posted this, since you'll be totally embarrassed. Happy Birthday, and as The Droid would have said, "You're old, Oldilocks!"

Collaborative Stash Quilt

Lisa had the fantastic idea to collaborate on a baby quilt for Courtney's pending arrival. Lisa kept describing our collaboration as anal retentive meeting creative and carefree (or something along those lines, but in a way that didn't sound like bad writing for feminine care products).



I am obviously the lackadaisical and creative one, as I am constantly eye-balling, and don't always measure. Lisa is the creative one with great attention for detail (let's not call her anal). She hand-stitched a gorgeous quilt comprised of 1" squares that are all Liberty of London fabric. It's swoon-worthy, I tell you. Go harass her to post a picture of it, I've tried.

Our goal was to make a quilt that was uni-sex, would suit the styles of the parents (no boring pastels here!), and be just plain fun. The majority of the fabric was from Lisa's vast and organized stash. You may recognize the yellow dog fabric left over from Adjani's Quilt.



We spent one Sunday afternoon drinking pear cider, cutting, ironing, and sewing the top together. Then we divided and conquered.

I sandwiched and hand-stitched the quilt layers together.



Lisa created bias tape using the fabrics from the top, and hand-stitched it up. She also washed that puppy, which is great, because my local laundromat is slightly sketchy...



This type of quilt is a great present, since it looks like you labored away, but it really was so much easier that knitting something. (Um, especially for Courtney, since she is a knitting master!).

Best wishes to Courtney and Max!

P.S. You can see the finished version with bound edges here.

Dia De Los Muertas

November 1st was Dia de los Muertas, or Day of the Dead. It's not supposed to be a morbid holiday, but a celebration and remembrance of your loved ones.

When we took some of Andrew's ashes to the family cemetery in Davao last year, my Tita Jean told me that the whole family would visit on All Saints' Day, as is the custom. I found that so reassuring--that he was being remembered.

I started thinking about the skulls or calveras, when I saw this fabric from Alexander Henry. I couldn't wait to paint my own interpretation. Coincidentally, it was around Dia de los Muertos, so I drew skulls in Andrew's memory.



I used some of his treasured belongings for inspiration. Old band shirts, his favorite stuffed animal, studded belt, and a rock he gave to my mom because it looked like a heart. What a mama's boy (wink).



I looked at a plastic skull of Mike's for reference, and just started drawing. I messed something up, and painted flowers in the skull's mouth to fix it. After that initial mistake, it was easy and somewhat cathartic to fill in the other parts with memories, words and symbols. It all spilled out, I hardly had to think at all.

Midway through the illustration, I realized that I was using the wrong damn ink! I couldn't paint over them with watercolor or everything would have bled. I decided to make prints with my gocco, and watercolor over some of them.


Click on the picture for notes on some of the symbols.

I was amazed at the details my gocco picked up. When you print, it's hard to stop. I want to print on every blank surface. Since that's toxic, I made extra prints for Drew's friends instead.

I made two versions of the painted illustration, and have a few more blank ones to paint. (Click here for the second version. Mom, pick which one you and Dad want).



When I paint or draw, I feel close to my brother, since he loved to draw. The fact that he's gone completely sucks, that's without question. However, the fact that I have an encyclopedia of (mostly hilarious) memories to choose from, makes it a little easier to bear.

What symbolizes your loved ones to you? I'll pick crossword puzzles for my mom, the board game Monopoly for my dad, Macri's Deli for Tracy, and the great state of Indiana for Mike!