Onto New Things - Please Join Me!

Hello, dear friends!

If you're still reading or subscribed, thank you for your support and friendship! I've dropped off the face of the earth, and miss you all dearly. It was a combination of lots of work travel to North Carolina, volunteer work obligations, fun travels, road trips, lazy summer attitude and of course....shenanigans. Then time went on...and it was harder to break the silence. Until now!

I was also feeling quiet since I wanted to focus more on interior design and illustration, but found it hard to do on my knitting / crafty blog. Pigeon holed and not knowing where to go.

So it's time for a fresh start. Please join me on my new blog at http://marissahuber.com

I'll still be drawing a lot, and talking about food and travels, showing off my knitting and crafty things, and knowing me, and to my mom's chagrin, sharing some slightly embarrassing stories occasionally because I cannot HELP myself, and you KNOW this! But I think this is why you like me anyhow (wink wink).

I've loved having this space over the past 5 years. It has given me the chance to write again, draw again, try new things, find the confidence to be braver, a place to talk about and document life changes, grieve and discuss my beloved brother, connect with my beloved Philly knitting pals, share parts of my life with my loved ones far away, and gain access to this wonderful online community.

It's only right that I leave you with my latest knitting project that I'm wrapping up, the Most Favorite Scarf Ever by Lisa Bruce in my Colinette Jitterbug.

And a "professional" type picture of how I'm looking these days.

And one last picture of how you all know me to be on the inside.

Thank you for sharing this space with me!

Lots of love,

Marissa

Out of Hibernation

Like many of you, I have been hibernating, thus the long absence.



My knitting mojo returned during the winter, and I whipped up these adorable mocassins for an old friend's new little girl. Aren't they darling? They're by Whit Van Ness for The Purl Bee.



I started and finished the Dijon Sweater by our friends at Fairmount Fibers. It's with Manos del Uruguay, which is the yarn that Fairmount Fibers distributes, which is handmade in Uruguay on a women's collective. Gorgeous yarn, great cause...it's a win for all.



Over a brunch with my knitting gals, we decided I needed to redo the top. I'm glad I did it, so that the end result is much nicer, and the inside looks just as pretty as the outside. Before you think I became too classy, please note that I posed wearing this unfinished sweater flashing my armpit holes.



I'm so proud of myself for this sweater. It's my third one, but it actually fits very well and looks better than I anticipated. Not too shabby for this lady.



I also wanted to share the gorgeous crocheted afghan my dear friend recently Clara made us for our wedding. She picked colors that were in our wedding, and it's such a special gift. Thank you Clara! You will be receiving a heartfelt, severely overdue letter!



Happy March!

Saying Goodbye to 2010

Surely it's a sign of getting older, but this year seemed to go by more quickly than ever. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the things that happened in 2010 before it passes tonight.

I got married to a person who loves me exactly as I am, silliness and quirkiness and sometimes crabbiness (when tired). And vice versa.

I worked out pretty consistently for about 3/4 entire year, and feel much more healthy and energized. Started running with "The Wolfpack" on Saturday mornings.

Read my first 2 Jane Austen books and really enjoyed them!

Baked a little under my goal of one loaf of bread per month (unless you count the individual small loaves, which I will!).

Went to Art Baselin Miami with my Mom, Aunt and Cousin.

Was showered with love and generosity from so many members of my family and faux-family this year.

Started oil painting! Love it.

Did a bunch of color studies which got me to start noticing my surroundings in new ways.

Helped my Tita and Tito design out the layout for their kitchen renovation! Loved doing this too. I want to do more stuff like this.

Lost my knitting mojo for the summer, and found it again in the fall.

Went on my first cruise, and did not get seasick (knock on wood).

Enjoyed 3 road trips!

Attended my little cousin's hockey game. Attended my first IU basketball game.

Played water polo in one last practice / scrimmage and realized that I didn't want to invest the time, but truly enjoyed the experience.

Treated ourselves to a new MacBook Pro!

Found some new music to pique my interest again. Ryan Bingham, the Crazy Heart Soundtrack, The National, and Jens Lekman.

Got to watch friends' babies be born, get bigger and give me my baby fix.

Experienced 5 years of my brother being gone but not forgotten.

Met one of our financial goals to save money.

Bought a pair of knee high brown boots I love.

And worked towards my own personal happiness.

Happy New Year, friends!

xoxo, Mariss

Creepy Ornament Party + Cute Doxies!

We got a late start on our annual tradition of creating ornaments this year. At last count, we were going to make one for each of our 8 years together. Last year we made a blue bird, fried chicken drumstick, pink snuggie, christmas tree, star, and yellow popple. For other people, I made a fly fishing vest, a leopard snuggie and a candy cane.

Our good pals came over last night for pizza, ornament making and eggnog spiked with Snap liquor. Mike rounded out our count of 8 ornaments with the creepiest elf ever (and boyfriend to Shona's scary ornament), and a sweet pink and white candy cane. Olivia made a cute ornament of her greyhound Salty, and inspired me to make canine ornaments for my cousins in NYC.

They have 2 rescue daschunds named Mr. and Mrs. Beasley. I adore my cousins and the dogs, so thought they deserved their own ornaments. Mr. B had a health scare too, so I thought this could cheer them up a bit.

Here are their names with some holly (inspired by ornaments my Mom and Godmother made with felt back in the 70s!).

And the back! I will not lie. I am damn proud of these ornaments. The colors are lovely, and they're just so cute!

I may have a few more ornaments left in me this year. Here's hoping!

Oh, and the fourth member of our group made his own creepy ornament to put Mike's to shame. It may have been my idea, to commemorate a Halloween costume that our friend made to document the trash and chicken bones that are constantly littering our street...

Ah, Christmas cheer!

Bits of Yellow on a Gray Day

This is one of my favorite color studies that I did. It was a gloomy and gray day last May, and it felt like it would never warm up again. I found myself riding my bike home slightly miserably, but then I started noticing electric jolts of yellow, amarillo, chartreuse, mustard, citron, and any other name for the color of lemons you can think of.

It cheered me up a bit. It reminded me that life is never just about the good things and beauty. As every good story and tale over time shows us, there is always light with dark.

Life tends to kick you in the ass at times, but we keep on going. If we're lucky, we have many loved ones that can lend support or rally us in bad times, and will celebrate with us in better times. If we're luckier, they'll let us be there for them as well.

One thing that I really learned from my trips to the Philippines, is that nothing is more important than family. It doesn't matter if it's the family you're born with, or the family you make in my family's opinion. It's all the same. Even the family that I may not see more than once in a very long while, when I do see them, the love and shared connection is strong. We laugh and we cry, and sometimes at the same time.

This past week has been a hard one for my family. My dear cousin's newborn baby passed away due to complications, and it was the anniversary of my brother, Tito (uncle) and Lolo's (grandfather) death. We are a strong bunch, but it can be a bit melancholy over the holidays. This Christmas season, I'm grateful for all the love and support my family gives each other, and I wish for peace and love for all. I'm looking forward to spending time with my Indiana family, but will be really missing my Mom and Dad too.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate, and are also surrounded by people you love!

Necklace Holder...Finally

I have been meaning to make a simple necklace holder for about 5 years. Just something simple, a piece of nice wood with hooks, and something in the back to mount it.

How funny that when I did finally got around to making this, it only took about 2 hours.

I found a gorgeous piece of wood that was 12 x 18", sanded it with our orbital sander (one of our favorite wedding gifts!), beveled the edges, drilled the holes, varnished it, and Mike hung it up for me one day while rearranging all the artwork in the house.



I would have painted it, but there were 3 different colored lines in the wood that were so pretty, almost greenish gold, that I kept it plain. I'm becoming more of a neutral gal lately, or as my crazy color twin and I like to joke, our tastes are maturing!



Sweet and easy if you have a few minutes and some patience. I highly recommend measuring twice to get the alignment correct on your hooks. It made a difference, and I'm glad I was not lazy this time.



P.S. Enjoy the cast of my teeth. That's what you get when you are sweet to the nice dude at the orthodontist!

Montserrat Orange + Peonies

Remember the rainbow spectrum of luscious oil paints I received for my bridal shower?

I made something with them! It was a long overdue painting for our super talented wedding photographers Ashley and Philip Colhouer. The first attempt didn't work out how I wanted it to, which led to the delay.

I thought something graphic and sweet would be perfect for their adorable little girl. Here are the progress shots leading up to the most final image. I'm tempted to go into it one more time, I think that it's a little flat, but overall, I feel that it's finished.

Oil paints are really wonderful. It's like painting with butter.

I think I'll consider this finished. I don't want to delay more, and don't want to mess it up.

I like how writing makes you feel more confident about your endeavors over time.

Fall to Winter+ a Little Baking

With the frigid temperatures this week, the golden fall leaves from last week seem far away.

I celebrated my 32nd birthday on November 19th! I threw myself a lovely party and invited a medley of friends from different parts of my life. I left it to them to get along, which they did! I baked apple and pear crisp, cupcakes, the sugared cranberries (which have become tradition), Layla's amazingly easy and addictive artichoke spinach dip, and a cake.

Having learned from last years unintentional $76 champagne punch, I tried to tone it down a bit this year (so that I could spend all of my money on baked goods). Tip: try not to pick drinks that require multiple fancy bottles of liquor by accident, though it is a fun way to stock up your bar! I went with a citrus infused champagne punch via Epicurious. I like champagne punches because they're festive and bubbly, and don't seem to leave my friends with a hangover.

It was beautiful with all the oranges, limes and lemons cut up in circles. And there were barely any leftovers (beverage wise). I had to send the troops home with cupcakes and pumpkin bread.

The following week we stayed in the area for Thanksgiving this year. It was a nice change to not travel to Indiana, though we missed seeing family and friends. We headed down to Atlantic City area to spend Thanksgiving with my Uncle, Aunt and cousins. I brought Mike's mom's Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan topping (so good, I can be encouraged to post recipe if anyone is interested), more sugared cranberries, and a blue ribbon dutch apple pie

Other than that, we made our first Black Friday purchase ever, a new MacBook Pro laptop! What a glorious little machine that probably deserves a nickname. I bummed around and spent way too much time watching Arrested Development (yes, I'm a latecomer!) on Netflix on the new laptop and cackling merrily and loudly at their shenanigans.

I may or may not have re-read the last Harry Potter book snuggled up on my couch and watched a couple of the movies.

Until next time,

M

Never Knitting @#$% Socks - Socks

The last pair of socks I knitted took me a year. Not because they were hard, but because I felt that they were sucking the life out of me for sheer boredom. I even wrote extensive notes to myself on my Ravelry page lest I make the poor decision to think I'd like knitting socks again. You can see me get more insane and melodramatic as the time passes.

See below:

9/2008: I was inspired to finally make these socks for Mike with this yarn after he called to tell me he had “extra time” before work and had removed a large bolt from my truck tire and changed the tire for me. What a keeper.

10/2008: The pattern is pretty, quite easy, but this yarn is just not my favorite color. Girls, I ain’t subtle when it comes to color. But I do love that boy, so he’ll get some socks and love the color.

10/27/2008: SOCKS = B-O-R-I-N-G

1/22/2009: So boring I can’t even have it listed as a WIP (work in progress).

2/2/2009: Goal for 2009, finish these %&#^#$^$ socks!!!! for the LOVE of GOD!!

2/7/09: I’m giving these f#$%ers another chance. Maybe they’re not so bad.

2/18: I told Mike that his socks were finally almost done. I said, “Are you even excited about these stupid socks?” He surprised me and said, “Yes! I can’t wait to put them on my feet!” That’s making me work a bit quicker to finish. Awww.

2/26: DOOOOOOONE!!! I am so excited, you don’t even understand. We’re calling these the betrothal socks. Mike bought me a gorgeous ring, and I put love and lots of cursing into these #$%#$% socks. He loves them, put them on right away. Well, I’ll admit, I joked around, went down on one knee, and asked him to marry me with the socks and put them on his feet. We cracked up, since we’re nerds.

So after all that, and proclaiming to a woman at knitting circle, "I'll NEVER knit socks again!" I turned around, felt the squishiest pretty socks, while still trying, "Socks are NOT for ME! I hate them, ugh....OOOOH! Pretty socks!"

Bought. Paid. Cast on. And totally enjoying.

The secret is bigger needles for this pain in the @#$#!