Wandering Lydia

Stitch Loves Kare Pan

2012-01-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

My son asked me to make curry buns yesterday. I made the chicken curry from scratch but I cheated and used some frozen bread dough. On Mondays I stop in at a local thrift store, that's where I found this Stitch bobble head. I'm not a big fan of Disney products, especially not the endless parade of princesses. But Lilo and Stitch are cool.

The Latest Mossy Mushroom Hat And Back To School

2012-01-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

A couple of times a year I'll make one of these freeform crocheted mossy mushroom hats. It's about my favorite thing to crochet but not something I can crank out in a hurry or would want to do day in and day out. I need to take breaks so the design stays fresh. So I've started a collection of scrumbbles and add on pieces so I'll be ready for the next one. I once made a capelet in this style and I think it's time to do another. I want to really let myself go wild on it and then put a big price tag on it. If nothing else it will be a great piece to wear in the booth with my mushroom crown. I just signed up for an adult ed Japanese class at the local high school and I'm wondering who else will be taking it. I asked my son, the aspiring mangaka who is talking about living there, if he wanted to take it but he said no. He's probably worried that the guys from the Yu-Gi-Oh duel club will show up. My son put away his duel disk when he was 11. These guys are in high school and walk around with a duel disk strapped to one arm. Not exactly the right plan for social success, but God bless them, they seem happy. My Dad was in the army during the Korean War and had R&R in Japan several times. He came back talking about building a traditional Japanese house. It would appeal to him, he's a woodworker. Somehow that idea didn't pan out. We ended up with a ranch house. But I'm sure he inspired my interest in Japan.

Sunday Morning

2012-01-22T06:53:00.000-08:00

Connecticut is having a weird winter this year. First there was the autumn snow storm that knocked out the power to homes that had been in the dark for over a week following tropical storm Irene. Then the weather warmed up and it felt like spring. I can't remember ever driving around in the middle of January with the window open. OK, it was just after I'd worked out at the gym. Yesterday winter returned and gave us something like eight inches of snow. This morning the sun is out, the sky is clear and that snow looks marvelous. I'm hoping that the proper winter weather will clear my head. I've been feeling really scattered. My etsy shop hasn't gotten much of my attention even though I have plenty of new hats that I could list. I got derailed by computer and camera trouble but those issues have been fixed. If I'm honest with myself, what I really need to do is a clutter purge and cleaning of the whole house. How can I think straight in this environment? Why is it so much easier to make messes than to clean them up?But no, I just muddled along amid the wreckage. I found a bunch of hat patterns at the Goodwill, 4 for a dollar. I've always just drafted my own pattern but I thought maybe I could learn something from them. What I've learned so far is that they suck. I knew they'd need to be adapted to use with the felted sweaters if only because I don't have unlimited yardage to cut big pieces. Beyond that, the seams are too wide and they just don't work that well. The only one I really liked was a vintage 40's pattern for the glengarry cap. Oh, well. I still have some kids hats to try. If nothing else, they'll give me standard sizing.On a happier note, I'm finishing a custom order for a mossy mushroom hat. The basic structure is done so it's on to the fum part, adding mushrooms, berries and vines.

Greetings From The Laptop

2012-01-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! 2011 ended with the demise of my old mac so now I'm using a pc laptop. What a pain trying to figure out how to edit photos on this thing! I still can't figure out how to do the simplest thing - crop the image. Anyhow, this is my new winter hat and mitts, and a funky glengarry cap from a vintage pattern. Two ends of the spectrum here - I just winged the hat. It started when I was playing around piecing together the white scraps from cutting out a bunch of mushroom stems. I let the rest evolve from other bits and a piece of zipper that was lying around. It doesn't really have a front or back, I wear it both ways. I made the matching mitts because I needed them. I can't stand gloves and mittens are just too clumsy, especially if they're made from sweater felt. They're more like oven mitts. The glengarry cap is straight from the pattern. I'm loving these two fabrics together. The teal plaid was a scarf and the green striped trim was a fabric remnant. There's still fabric left so I'll use them together again.

Felted Sweater Bubbles

2011-12-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

Yay! It worked! I was a little worried that I had spaced the bubbles too close together. Since I had already felted a piece of this sweater successfully I thought the only problem would be if there wasn't enough felted wool between the bubbles to make it stable. It took just as long to remove the buttons as it did to elastic them in. I'm thinking of using it for the brim of a hat. I'll back it with another layer of felt and needle felt them together to make it stiffer. Other projects are moving ahead but my plan is to make gingerbread cookies today. It's a dreary day here and I'm hoping the scent of gingerbread will make up for the lack of sun.

Buttons Buttons and More Buttons

2011-12-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

I'm finished with my pre Christmas craft shows and have started on a bunch of new things I wanted to try. This technique is one I've done before but never on this scale. It's a way of felting texture into the knit fabric. I'm tying buttons into the wool before felting using the little elastics that are made for corn rowing hair. After felting I'll remove the buttons. Where the button stretched the fabric tight there will be an unfelted bubble. This is most of the front of an extra large man's sweater so it's going to take me a while. I'm curious about how many buttons I'll end up with in there but not curious enough to sit and count them! The small tumbled stones sold for flower arranging work well too. The bigger ones can be too heavy and end up ripping the material. I've got this idea to do some needle felting between the bubbles to add color. I love to layer techniques like that.The other thing I've been ruminating on for quite a while was how to make round felted cords from sweater wool. I'm tired of crocheting hat ties and the felted cord looks a lot nicer. Woolyfabulous, whose work I love, has a tutorial for sale in her shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/woollyfabulous?ref=ss_profile. I have a strange attraction to reinventing the wheel so I set out to figure it out for myself. My friends were into wet felting so I had a pretty good idea of what might work and it did. But out of respect for Woollyfabulous, I'm not going to post the details. I'm sure her instructions are great so unless you're into reverse engineering like me, save yourself the effort and buy them!

Doodling is a Gateway to Illustration.

2011-12-01T06:41:00.001-08:00

This image from the Philbrook Mueum of Art has been making the rounds on Facebook. I think I'm going to print it out and put it on my son's door. I'm beginning to think we'll have another serious artist in the family. The way that art is taught in a Waldorf school rubbed him the wrong way because he already knew what he liked before he got there. I'm not saying it was bad but it was a their way or the highway situation. I was worried that it had turned him off of art permanently. But over the last year or so he's gotten back into it. He has developed the self discipline to set goals for himself and keep working toward them. Our high school offers business courses and he's taking marketing, for which he'll get college credits if he passes the college level final exam. Their current assignment is to develop an advertising campaign. The girls are doing "mens" products like condoms and the boys are doing "feminine products". His is for Tampax and features a young woman swimming in the ocean. The tagline is "Don't be shark bait when you menstruate." His teacher loved it. I think he should submit it to the company.

Painting in Progress

2011-11-18T09:28:00.001-08:00

There's still a good bit of work to be done here but I'm taking a break. I have a craft show tomorrow and I want to finish up some things for it. I let myself get too tired Wed. Well, there was a lot that I couldn't have avoided and after working so hard on making it to the gym regularly, I wasn't going to give that up. I hit the wall on Thursday and just had to take a nap to get through. Today I feel like a new person.

The Thirteenth Head

2011-11-08T06:53:00.000-08:00

Are you superstitious? What are the little things you do every day to avert the evil eye without even thinking about it? I'll admit to throwing a pinch of salt over my shoulder when I spill it and always putting the sugar in my coffee before the milk. I once read a post from an artist who always put a penny on the ground in front of her booth to bring good sales. Recently, I bought a dozen styrofoam wig stands to use in my booth. I already had the one that I painted and glued to a pedestal. That's the one used to get pictures for my etsy shop and the plan is to cover and paint the new ones once things slow down in the new year. Loading up for the first show with all these great new hat displays I realized that I now had thirteen of them total and that bothered me but I shrugged it off. My booth looked great. The wig stands brought the designs to life. Unfortunately, it felt like we were having this fair in a ghost town. If tumble weeds had started rolling down the rows it wouldn't have surprised me. Shift ahead two weeks later to my next show in a town that, thanks to our autumn nor'easter, had been without power for over a week. I was not particularly optimistic getting ready for it but I woke up feeling happy that morning. I had accepted that it would work out however it pleased and I was just not going to worry about it. As I was unloading my stuff, the fancy head on the stand unbalanced, hitting the pavement and the pedestal broke in half. I chucked it back in the car and thought," Oh well, that takes care of the thirteen heads problem." This show rocked! I couldn't believe it. Small venue, on a Sunday, first year show right after the storm and sales were great even though attendance was not that heavy. So what do you think? Was the universe giving me a helpful shove when I dropped the thirteenth head? I'm not taking chances. From here on it's twelve or fourteen and up, but never again will I have thirteen heads in my booth.

A Productive Saturday

2011-10-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Feels like I've gotten things done today. I've been working out with my husband and I got my own gym membership today so I can go by myself if he's busy. My car is mostly loaded up for the American Made Craft Show tomorrow in Chester, I've gotten some more time in on the sewing machine and I have a 16" x 20" toy telephone painting started. Could it be that I'm a little nearer to finding a reasonable working balance in my life? Of course, it's always a work in progress.It's funny how things can work out. I've been mulling over how to do a top hat for my Halloween costume - the Mad Hatter, of course! But I wasn't thinking about it when I stopped in the thrift store today. We needed a lamp for the living room since the knob broke off the old one and we've been turning it on with pliers. They finally had one I liked, and then it dawned on me that I could use the lamp shade as the structure for my top hat. Excellent since I was planning to keep using the larger shade from the old lamp and didn't need the new one. I use this lamp shade as a swift when I need to turn a skein of yarn into a ball. The skein sits on the shade. I put the lamp on the floor, unscrew the finial so the shade will turn freely and away I go winding the yarn into a ball.My husband and I love Halloween so, naturally, we produced a kid who isn't into it at all. I kinda let that put a damper on my celebration but this year I've decided to get dressed up and hang out with my friend who lives on Main St. in Newtown. It's a trick or treat hot spot, unlike our house. Nobody comes here at all. I was going to take pictures today but I'm having trouble with the camera battery. These pictures are recent anyway. I'm really pleased with the pendants on this one. They are made of the seams that are leftover from deconstructing the felted sweaters. It pleases me that I keep finding ways to use almost every scrap.

Tools of the Trade

2011-10-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

This is the painting I referred to in my last post. It's almost finished so I took a picture to get a feel for what else needs to be done. The background needs to be worked on and the raised trim under the crayon window is just a black band at this point. When the box was printed they covered the whole surface in red first and it peaks through the black in places that have been worn. Once that's in, the box will be more interesting. Thank goodness for NPR. I like to listen while I paint. It really keeps my butt in the chair longer.

Doing the Procrastination Tango

2011-10-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

I'm frustrated with myself. I have a pretty nice painting nearly finished and I need it done for the next gallery change over. Of course I've been procrastinating terribly, letting it build up into this big thing in my mind. Naturally, I can think of a thousand more exciting projects to work on. It makes me wonder if I just don't want to paint at all but I'm not ready to say that. I've been going to the gym every morning for something over two months now, which is a good thing. I feel much better and I've lost weight. The down side is that I come home so relaxed or tired that I could happily sit and stare at grass growing. I was hoping I'd be past this by now but I did up some of the weights recently. So instead of painting I made two new crocheted hats because they're something I can do in that state of mind. *sigh* Time to pull up my big girl panties and finish that painting. Self discipline is truly the hardest part of being my own boss.

Coffee and a Sewing Machine That Works

2011-09-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Here's the first new hat made almost entirely on my new 1935 Singer machine. I'm so excited! This machine makes sewing fun again, unlike the two modern machines I wasted my time and money on. And I didn't even try to sew anything heavy on them to begin with! I think that once I could see that this really was going to work I could finally admit to myself how very tired of blanket stitch I had become. Hopefully, I'll be able to do the stuffed animals on the machine too. I'm upstairs cutting out a bunch of hats. This should go a long way toward dealing with the problem most makers bump into when they try to make money - There is a limit to the number of of widgets that one person can make in a day. Saturday is my favorite church fair at the First Church of Christ in Redding CT, so I'll get to see how this new work goes over. Then it's back to painting so I finish a new piece for the next gallery change over.

Boldly Stepping Into The 20th Century

2011-09-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

After hemming and hawing over rather to get a sewing machine that can handle sewing thick wool, the decision has been made. Thanks to my wonderful husband who found this beautiful 1935 Singer and got it for me I can make that next step. I worried needlessly that I'd have to compromise my designs to increase my productivity. Now I'm excited to develop new hat designs that will make the most of what this baby can do.

I had my first show of the season on Saturday. It was good to see the booth set up with the new banner and expanded range of products. I want to make some changes before my next one in two weeks. I never did make those hat stands and I really need them. The design is getting simplified even further to match my woodworking skills.

Lots of Yummy Elderberry Jelly

2011-08-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

Elderberry jelly is by far everyone's favorite around here and they'll be glad to know that this was a good year. I was much more organized than in previous years and picked berries as they ripened. That meant checking once a week for about a month to get them at their best. When I bought the twenty 12 oz. jars at Goodwill I thought I'd never fill them all but I very nearly did. The big jar is for my friend whose kids will sneak into the kitchen and eat elderberry jelly with a spoon. Who needs bread?
I keep coming across natural dye information that suggests using elderberry as a purple dye and last year I boiled up a dye bath from the leftover pulp from jelly making. I made up a test piece and put it by the window to see how it would hold up. Not well. Within a month it was a blah brown. Really, pokeweed dye holds up better and that dulls out too. So my advice is, don't bother with it. Make jelly.

It's Elderberry Season!

2011-08-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sponge Bob has his jelly fishing and I have elderberry season. Jelly making! Jelly making! My enthusiasm level is about the same as his. The elderberries nearest my home were decimated by the birds but I can't really blame them after the hot dry summer we've had. Just imagine how good those juicy berries must have tasted to them. My super secret spot (just kidding, it's on a busy road.)is looking wonderful though. The birds there either don't like elderberries or the abundance has overwhelmed them. I've got 7 cups of juice in the fridge from my first pick and most of the bushes still needed a bit more time to ripen. I'll be making the jelly I give as holiday presents but I do want to try a pie this year.
The steps involved in getting that jelly made are a good bit of work. Normally, I hate being hot and sweaty but somehow, when I'm picking berries or boiling jelly, it doesn't bother me. It feels so satisfying to have made something from start to finish. Finding the wild fruit was a treasure hunt, so was the great deal on twenty canning jars from Goodwill. As if tasting divine weren't enough, elderberries are loaded with vitamin C and have been used to boost the immune system for eons. When I give it to my friends and family I do so in the hope that it will help them stay healthy through the winter. Here's a link to the recipe I use: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/elderberry_jelly/ I've been using cider vinegar in place of the lemon juice and it seems to do just fine.

Hat Stand Prototype

2011-07-15T14:58:00.001-07:00

This is the prototype for a hat display that was inspired by my Mom's Swedish Christmas tree candle holder. I made it from glued up layers of cardboard from the big cereal boxes we get at BJ's. I don't think that the cardboard would hold up well enough, plus it was a lot of work considering I'll need at least 25 of them. So I'll be making them from the recycled masonite my husband brings home from the museum. Every time they change an exhibit the old cases get trashed because they don't have room to store and reuse them or they wouldn't be the right size for something else. He's built all sorts of projects around here from the stuff. Anyway, these come apart to stack flat which should make for easy transport.
I taught my last crochet class at a local summer camp today. That's paying for two more 4' adjustable fold up tables. Bit by bit, this booth is coming together!

My New Banner

2011-07-09T07:50:00.001-07:00

For people like me, it's Christmas in July because we're busy making inventory for the fall and holiday craft shows. It's also a time to revise my booth , especially since I keep making new things that need different displays. In my case, everything must fit inside my New Beetle. It looks like a clown car whenever I unload or pack up at a show. People can't believe how much I squeeze in there! It does get a lot easier when I do indoor shows and don't have to bring my tent.
My banner is hand lettered on a piece of recycled canvas from a stash of fabric a tenant left behind in a friend's garage. It would have been quick and easy to order something from Vista Print but this has a lot more personality and I enjoyed the project. Next up I'm trying a couple of ideas for hat stands.

How to fix A Lumpy Felted Sweater

2011-05-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

You've just pulled this awesome felted sweater out of the dryer and you're so excited to make something with it but, oh no, it looks like a piece of fried bacon! Relax. You can fix this. The two yarns used to knit the sweater in the pictures did not shrink at the same rate, the black shrank more than the magenta. It didn't cause a problem in the checked areas because the color is distributed evenly. But in the pinwheel pattern there are long black floats that tightened up and made the fabric pucker. Here's the fix:
On the wrong side, carefully slide the blade of your small scissors under the black floats without catching any of the magenta wool and snip them. Take your time so you don't accidentally cut through the magenta layer. Then give the whole thing a good shot of steam on both sides with a hot iron. Now gently pull and stretch the piece until the pattern looks straight and give it a press. Since the sweater was well felted, snipping the floats hasn't really weakened it. Problem solved! This sweater also came out too fuzzy and a bit linty and it's obscuring the pattern so I'll give it a going over with my trusty clothes shaver.

Larger Than Life

2011-03-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

I'm delivering this painting to the Greene Gallery today. This was really fun! It's the first in a series of larger-than-life vintage toys I'll be doing. I've got a sweet vintage metal box of crayons to paint next, more phones and some Ohio Arts toy teapots after that.

So You Wanna Felt Some Sweaters?

2010-12-28T06:06:00.000-08:00

Or, I could call this entry my Year End Compendium of Cool Stuff and Dismal Failures. Rather you are new to felting sweaters and cutting them up to make new things or have been at it for a while, you may find some good information here.

Sourcing the sweaters:
Let's start with the basics. Most of my sweaters come from thrift stores. Wednesday is the best day for sales at Salvation Army. Goodwill tends to be more expensive so check for their half price color of the week. Tag sales can be an option too and once your friends know what you're up to they'll give you sweaters. The sweaters must be 100% wool to reliably felt. Do check the tags for content and care instructions. (Sometimes they hide them on the side seam.) If it says machine washable put it back. The wool has been treated and won't felt. If there are no tags, put it back. Whenever I take a chance on a sweater without tags I invariably get burned. Also, keep in mind that other wool items can be felted too, scarves, skirts, jackets and coats are all worth consideration. The easiest way is to get your sweaters from Resweater on Artfire: http://www.artfire.com/users/resweater

Protect your washer, dryer and pipes.
Sweaters can throw off an incredible amount of loose wool. I use an old top loading washer that drains into a utility sink. My husband glued an inverted wire mesh sink strainer over the drain to catch the fibers and save our plumbing. Granted, I do a fair amount of felting but you should be aware of this. Make sure your dryer lint collector is clear before each load rather you're drying sweaters or not. If your dryer vent tube is one of the plastic ones you should replace it with a metal or foil tube immediately. Even if you never dry a felted sweater this is a good idea. Your local Fire Department can tell you that many house fires are started when lint in the dryer vent gets too hot and ignites. In a metal vent it quickly burns out. In a plastic one the fire burns through and away it goes. Please, go check this now. If you have the plastic vent and it has brown marks on it, those are burn marks from the times you already got lucky.

Felting in your washer.
Ok, you've got some wool sweaters to felt, now what? Well, you could just put them in with a regular load of laundry, separated by color and set to hot wash/cold rinse. But before you jump into it, take a few moments to look over and prep the sweaters. I turn them inside out to protect the right side from too much fuzzing, check for moth damage, mend it and separate by color or dark and light. I usually take off buttons and zippers too. If a sweater has finished knitted edges on the pieces I'll take out the sleeve and side seams. (This won't work if the sweater was cut from knitted fabric and sewn together on a sewing machine.) Sweaters were not intended to be washed so some will bleed like mad, particularly reds and any dark saturated colors.
Each sweater has its own personality. Some will felt well with one wash others may need a second wash. Or you can add a kettle of boiling water once the wash starts to agitate. I set my machine for the longest wash and sometimes turn it back before the rinse to agitate longer. Leaving the lid open stops the machine before the wash drains so you can check it. Unfortunately, the newer machines may not let you do this and because they are made to be more gentle, don't felt as well. You could take your sweaters to a laundromat, hopefully one with older machines.
In my next post I'll talk about the fun stuff, making projects and why I love my clothes shaver.

Oh Christmas Tree, part 1

2010-12-12T05:42:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid we lived in a rural Connecticut town on the edge of the Cockaponset State Forrest. Driving home from work one evening my dad found a small owl lying stunned in the road, so rather than leave it so vulnerable, he scooped it up and brought it home. He had a friend who was licensed to rehabilitate wild birds so he called him up and we took the owl to his place. It was an awesome visit! We got to see the hawks who were recuperating from injuries up close. There was a barred owl they had named George sitting on a stump in the kitchen recovering from an injured wing. The family cats were prowling around just outside the reach of George's tether, eyeing his unfinished dinner. They had learned the hard way that even if he looks like he's sleeping, it's a bad idea to mess with a barred owl's dinner! But we weren't a threat to George's dinner so we were allowed to pet his head. Our fingers sank into the softest feathers imaginable. Adding to the magic of the visit, it was about this time of year and they had an enormous Christmas tree in their cathedral ceiling living room.
It turned out that my dad had found a saw whet owl. My sister and I had been calling it Victoria, but Victor would have been more appropriate. After an examination, Victor was pronounced to be fine, he'd just need to rest overnight and then could be released. My dad's friend casually walked over and placed Victor in the Christmas tree.
That was the inspiration for my just for fun project after my last craft show. I'm calling my owl Seraphina. She's made out of the same felted wool sweater material that I use to make my hats. We just need a Christmas tree for her to sit in.

Progress on the Folk Boots

2010-10-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick shot of the project so far. Not the best shot but you get the idea. I need to set it aside for now to finish a custom order and put a lining into a hood for a customer who can't wear wool. I also hope to get out to pick autumn olives for jam. It would do me some good to be out in nature but first I need to plant some mushrooms on a wreath,
I have a new incentive to deal with our messy house. I have a client who is dead set on a studio visit to pick up a hat for his wife. This might just do it!

Ya Gotta Keep Yer Feet Warm

2010-10-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

I need new slippers since the ones I made for myself three years ago have been patched and resewn about as much as they can take. My inspiration for the new ones is this pair of man's socks from Georgia. They are in that wonderful book I got at the Westport library sale, Folk Art in the Soviet Union. They are more like boots than socks, but made for indoor wear. There is so much going on in them,but the design doesn't fall apart. I splurged and bought a pair of black suede soles. My homemade ones have always turned out to be too big. If I had drawn the pattern the size of the store bought soles I know I wouldn't have believed it was big enough and I'm tired of sloppy-floppy slipper boots. The original socks were thickly knit and then embellished with beading,applique and buttons. I'm making mine from a nice piece of fulled woven red wool lined with red brocade at the top. The embellishment will be added to that base, with pieces of sweater felt and crewel embroidery taking the place of the knit patterns. Last comes a bit of beading and the pearl buttons.

I've Got My Tinfoil Hat On

2010-10-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it again - fell out of the blogging habit. The weather has finally cooled off and I'll be photographing and listing hats up here so I'll probably get back to blogging. I dyed a piece of beige wool a soft blue for the background behind my hats which means I'll be replacing some photos that were taken with the overly bright blue fabric background.
This is going to be a random sort of post. For anyone thinking about signing up with Propay to take credit cards - do it! I had my first experience with it last Sat. at a fair and it worked great. I'm so glad I did it. It was a ferociously hot humid day so sales were a little down. Who wants to try on a wool hat on a day like that? That's why I don't do summer shows. I felt sick from the heat all evening even though I tried to drink lots of water. On the up side, the fair itself was great and I won Best Of Show!
The picture is my entry in a tinfoil hat challenge we had going in the Etsy forums. It was fun and I really need to do something silly to change things up a bit.

Shaman's Hats

2010-07-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Friday was going to be spent with a friend but she had to cancel. It must have been meant to be because I was ready to put the inspiration I'd been soaking up from Folk Arts in the Soviet Union to good use. These are my two favorite hats. Since getting the book last Sat. afternoon I've looked through it every night before going to sleep. This gives my mind time to absorb and mull over the pictures so by the time I sit down to work I've got them sorted out. If you've never tried this, you should. Another trick is to look through a book like this upside down. You'll see the shapes differently, not so much as what the subject actually is.

Bridal Mushrooms

2010-07-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Is there anything more rich looking than white and cream when shape and texture tell the story? As much as I love color, every so often I need to go with this color way. I really recommend it to refresh the eye. It can be so satisfying to play the variations in color and surface, one of the few times I can wholeheartedly agree that less is more.
This rainy thundery Monday has started out well for me. I finished these two pieces and opened my mail to find I'd sold a hat on Etsy. On Saturday Dan and I went to the Westport Library Book Sale and I think I got the bargain of the day. Folk Arts of the Soviet Union, a beautiful Abrams book loaded with inspirational pictures was only $5. I'm in design heaven!

Crocheted Socks that Don't Suck part 2

2010-07-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here's the new and improved heel. I'm glad that I set it aside long enough to convince myself that it was worth it to rip it out and do it over. My biggest help in making knit or crocheted socks has been Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' Ethnic Socks & Stockings. There are any number of ways to construct a sock and this book did a great job of explaining them.

Crochet Socks That Don't Suck

2010-07-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

A while back I bought a book of crochet sock patterns and made myself a pair. I really wanted to make myself some socks but was intimidated by knitting on double points and since I learned to crochet as a kid, I'm faster and more at ease with it. The pattern was easy to follow and the socks looked great. I wore them once. The soles were bumpy and by the end of the day I had stretched big holes in the toes. I swear to you that I worked to gauge and followed the pattern faithfully. It just didn't work. Standard sock yarn is just too thick for crochet socks. It takes something more like cotton crochet thread in thickness worked with an 8 or 9 steel hook. I find working with cotton hard on my wrists and hands and I wanted wool socks anyway. I'm working on two different pairs now. Both start with a double row of African flowers at the top and the leg is worked in shell stitch. I started the white one first and made a heel flap with short row shaping. It's kinda sloppy since I was making it up as I went along and I wish I'd done the heel flap in reverse single crochet on the back side so it wouldn't have the ugly ridge effect. I was going to just live with it but it's starting to really bug me so I'm going to frog it out. Then I realized that if I did an inserted heel I could work it in the round. So on the blue sock I crocheted the spot for the heel opening with contrasting yarn, continued a few more rows and then went back to work the heel. The contrast yarn was going to get frogged out to make the opening but I picked up the stitches on the bottom of the waste yarn first because I wasn't sure what would happen. It worked just great! I'm probably not explaining this very well so if you have questions, ask me..

Finished Painting

2010-06-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

Well, my attempt at creating flow didn't work so I had to rely on good old fashioned discipline to get the painting done. There are too many distractions on the weekend. In this case, knowing I'd have to drive my son somewhere but not having a set time for it until his friend texted him. Anyway, it's done and I'm happy.
We had fresh peas for lunch and they were so good!

The Neurobiology of Excellence

2010-06-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Right before I came down with that virus last week I had picked up a couple of books at the Goodwill. One of them was Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. I was particularly interested in the section, Flow: The Neurobiology of Excellence. For me, flow often feels like a state of grace in which I've gotten out of my own way. I'm totally focused on what I'm doing but in a relaxed joyful way. It's been a while since I experienced it while painting and I really need the occasional dose of it to keep me going. Better still, I want to develop a set of work habits that can help me access it on a regular basis. A way to enter flow is to "intentionally focus a sharp attention on the task at hand." It's a bit like meditation, once the intruding thoughts have quieted it becomes self reinforcing. Ideally, the work should be at a level of difficulty just a bit more challenging than one is used to.
So for the time being I've stopped listening to NPR talk shows while I work. I'm trying to get my mind quiet before I paint. It may be that some soft music may help. Nothing I'm doing is really new but trying to deliberately, systematically train myself is new to me. I'll let you know how it goes.
This image is the painting I'm working on, another close up of a glass jar against a blue background. Getting some of the highlights in is making it more fun to work on.

Wildflowers

2010-06-14T05:42:00.000-07:00

Here's what's blossoming in the lot next to our house today: day lillies, daisies, red clover, white clover, hawkweed,yarrow, yellow vetch, moth mullen, blue toadflax, deptford pinks, daisy fleabane, bedstraw and those bright pink flowers that I can't name at the moment. This is what I'm looking at while Lucy is searching for intruder cats instead of taking care of business. It's the season for kitty romance and a pair of cats has taken up their dalliance in our backyard bushes. Though I don't much care for their serenade, they're driving Lucy bonkers.
It's been a year since our son graduated from 8th grade at the Waldorf school. Saturday his best friend who was in the class a year behind him graduated. So did my best friend's daughter. I finally feel closure with that phase of my life. Waldorf education is wonderful for the kids and I'm glad we chose it for our son but it can be unbelievably hard on the parents. I've only just gotten over my Post Waldorf Stress Disorder and I hope that it goes faster for my friend.
P.S. The school just sent out this year's annual fund drive letter, including one to my not quite 16 year old son.

The Sewing Lesson

2010-06-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

This has been a pretty yucky week for me. I came down with a virus, head ache, fever and chills since Monday afternoon. The sort of bug that just has to run its course. Tuesday morning I got the urge to sew a test version of the peasant blouse pattern. Even as I carried my Singer downstairs I was wondering distantly why I was even trying to sew. But the stars were in alignment. The machine was running perfectly and in my slow loopy state of mind, I didn't try to hurry things along. When I got tired, I stopped. In the past I've found myself getting impatient. Something about the machine puts my mind into faster-faster mode while I don't get that with hand sewing. The end is in sight, keep going, I tell myself. If I'm hand sewing and get bored or tired I just put it down and come back later. Part of it may be that the machine takes up a chunk of space on the dinning room table and it's more of a pain to move around. If there was an upside to being sick, it was that it forced me to slow down.
The pattern worked well. I'm going to work on the sleeve a bit but everything else is good to go. This fabric was from my sister-law. They bought a house that had been empty for twelve years and it needed cleaning out. Dan and I went up to help and I brought home some of the fabric from the attic. This is cotton and sooo soft.

It's A Serious Post Today

2010-06-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

I need to write about something that's been haunting me for a couple of days. If you're a thrift store regular like I am you'll probably have noticed the other regulars. I've been seeing the same white haired lady for years and though I don't know her name, we've chatted casually a couple of times. The store staff seems to know her well and she's one of those people that I just naturally like. When she was going through chemo I overheard her talking to the sales people about it and I was impressed with the way she weathered that storm. She's one tough, matter of fact lady. I put her in my prayers and hoped she'd be OK.
Now I think I know where that toughness came from. The last time I saw her I noticed something I hadn't seen before. She was reaching up to touch a garment on a high hanger, her sleeve fell back, and there it was, a concentration camp tattoo. It's hard to think of the right words to express what I felt but, "no" was the first one that came to mind. I know the history and I don't doubt the true horror of the holocaust but this brought me face to face with it in such a personal way. How cruel and evil that string of black numbers looked. I felt sick for her and sick over that dark part of humanity that can do such things.
Yet here she is, going on with life, and you'd never know what she had been through. That strength of the human spirit is what I'm trying to focus on and not the terrible evil that we humans are capable of, and I've been struggling with it, though this post is helping me sort out my feelings.

Peasant Blouse Pattern

2010-06-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

This is the design I'm using on the yolk of my peasant blouse. It's inspired by Erica Wilson's Crewel Embroidery book, a recent thrifted find. The critters are jackalopes.I'm going to use cotton floss instead of wool because the top has to be machine washable. But before I can even start that I need to sew a test version of the pattern. Leave it to me to do the fun stuff first! I'm still dithering over rather to use a diamond shaped gusset under the arm like the original or add a side panel like on a kurta.
My son is going home with a friend this afternoon and then a group of them are going to an all ages concert tonight so I'll have him on my mind today. I'm still getting used to this sort of thing. I'd rather it wasn't on a school night but who am I kidding? He may be in his bedroom by 10:30 but I know he doesn't go to sleep right away. I don't think it will be that late but it's the long drive that takes up the time. I already told him he's not taking tomorrow off, even if I have to pry him out of bed with a crowbar. Chances are he'll be eager to see his friends to talk about the show anyway.

2010-06-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

I've been going through a period of daytime sleepiness and getting really frustrated with myself not having energy. Today is better, much better and I'm wondering if it was the supposedly non drowsy allergy medicine I was taking. I also started taking vitamins again. Hopefully, I'm past the worst of the pollen.
This is the latest mushroom garden. I've got another one in pink that is nearly done but I got tired of working on it so I did some new listings and shipped a package. Dan asked me to make him some sleeveless kung fu tops and I figured I'd draft a pattern for a square necked peasant top for myself since I'll be sewing. The summer before I started high school my family took its one and only big vacation to England and Scotland. While in London my sister and I bought peasant tops from a Pakistani shop. Mine was turquoise blue, my sister's was the brightest eye popping yellow you could ever imagine. I ended up with both of them and wore them until they wore out. This style is so much more comfortable than a t shirt in the summer heat. Assuming I have success with this, I'm willing to share the pattern which will probably be about a 1 or 2X. Alas, I am no longer the size I used to be back when I got the original.

Happy Sunday

2010-05-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a good Sunday. I went to a welcome home/birthday party for a good friend and got to catch up a bit with my sister-from-another-mother who has been busy with her daughter's end of eighth grade craziness. On my way to the party, I noticed a sign for Coon Hollow Farm, alpaca and sheep wool, honey and herbs, so I stopped on my way home and met Dawn, the very nice owner. She's just opened the farmstand for the season. We chatted for a while and then she uttered a phrase that was pure music to my ears,"free alpaca poop." This stuff is garden gold!
Today's pictures are pea blossoms in my little garden and wild bedstraw that has grown up under the back porch. If you want to try a bit of natural dyeing, bedstraw roots have the same dye element as madder roots, just not as concentrated. This would usually be harvested in the fall when the color is strongest but if it's getting weeded out now I thought I'd save the roots anyway.

A present for Me

2010-05-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Meet Cheshire, made by Furritales. (http://www.etsy.com/shop/Furritales) He's the coolest needle felted guy I've ever seen and now he's mine. You can find some amazing needle felted work on Etsy. I've seen some wonderfully lifelike animals and ,of course, there are a lot of Waldorf inspired gnomes and fairies. After eight years of being a Waldorf Mom I was looking for something different. I'm also an anime fan so you can see why I love Furritales' style. She's only 17 and she's just gotten into RISD. Proceeds from her shop are going toward her education. How cool is that?
I'm trying to decide what to work on today. I'm having a hard time settling on something. I could go to the art supply store, paint or draft a pattern. I want to make myself some square necked mexican style peasant tops to wear this summer. Guess I'll just get moving and see where I end up.

Quote of the Day

2010-05-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

This from my son: "And yet you get me no pudding."

Mystery Saturday

2010-05-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Can anybody out there tell me what this prickly looking tool is used for? And ,please, don't say kligon sex toy. I found it with a bunch of sewing supplies and all I can guess is that maybe it's used in pressing velvet without crushing the nap. It's not for needle felting, there aren't any barbs on the wires. I can't resist old craft and sewing tools. Palm loom, weaveit, daisy loom, you name it, I've got it.
On to the second mystery. Can you guess what I used to make this pendant? Except for a little polymer clay, it's all repurposed stuff. Stop reading for a sec if you want to guess because I'm going to give the answer. OK? The metal ring and tab is from an old zipper pull. I put a pad of aqua colored polymer clay in the center, coated it with translucent liquid clay and pressed bits of broken windshield glass into it. The zipper pull was from last week's tag sale bag of zippers. I guess you could say that I got the glass "delivered" to my doorstep. We live on a busy street and before they added a stop light, we had three different cars crash through our yard. The glass came from the one that left tire marks on the front door,went on to barely miss a huge pine tree, ending up on it's roof in the vacant lot next door. DUI? You bet. The driver and passenger took off in a friend's car before the cops arrived. Every time there has been an accident out here some mind altering substance was involved. Thankfully, the stoplight has worked. Jeeze, I really didn't intend for this post to be taken over by a DUI rant. Deep cleansing breath. Back to repurposing. I've been reusing found materials since I was a kid. We didn't just run to Michaels for stuff and the craft kits made for kids tended to be garbage anyway. Except for sharp blades, I always let my son use my art and craft supplies. It isn't fair to hand a kid a cheezy craft kit. They only get frustrated when they can't make it work. Give them your empty boxes and some real supplies and they'll astound you with their original projects.

Taking a Different View And Good Luck

2010-05-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my almost 16 year old son spent the whole afternoon with two friends screen printing band t shirts in the basement. This is the first time he's done it without Dan's help and it took him a while to get it right. Not only did they stick at it till it worked, I could hear them joking and laughing the whole time. I want to be more like that. I'd probably have been swearing a blue streak and having a rotten time of it. Sometimes I take this being an adult gig too seriously.
At about 5:30 I got a happy surprise. I had bid on a box of bottles at a local church tag sale last Sat. and since I didn't hear anything, I figured somebody else won them. Then I got a call, there was a mix up and they forgot to call the winners. It was actually more fun this way. I was doubly happy to get them. I really wanted the coffee jar for a painting and the little Wheaton bottles are collectables. I wasn't so crazy about the rest but Dan liked them.

The Zen Art Of African Flowers

2010-05-19T08:08:00.001-07:00

When I was big into polymer clay, Marie Segal stayed with us before and after the SCPCG retreats. She gave me one of the first ripple blades when she was introducing them and I got totally obsessed with making patterned sheets of clay. It was a wonderful way to learn about color. Each new slice was a discovery and at the same time, a soothing meditation. The African Flower crochet motif is my current version of that zen experience. I'm using my thrifted stash of persian tapestry/crewel yarn, a single strand with a #8 steel hook. I don't have an end project in mind. This my handwork meditation, plus, the more I use, the less I'll have to sort through and untangle when I'm done. I might use them as the yoke on a sweater, or even as the top of some socks. I'll knit the foot. It just depends on how many I eventually make. Check out Flicker if you want to see more pictures, there's a group dedicated to African flower projects. The pattern is posted there too. http://www.flickr.com/groups/africanflowers/

Tag Sale and Thrifted Swag

2010-05-15T15:15:00.001-07:00

I hit the textile and tag sale at the Monroe Historical Society, my usual thrift stores and a church tag sale this week. The milk glass and ceramic containers are for mushroom gardens, the fabric is for hats and the yarn has already gone into a hat. I also got an old book about drawing the human figure for Dan. It was a great day to go out for a drive and now I'm home painting. (taking a break for this post.) I finally feel like painting - probably because I need to deliver paintings on Monday. Nothing like a deadline to get my butt in gear.
Sifu Dan is having a good time teaching his Sat. morning Kung Fu class in the back yard. It's kinda cool how that came together. In the space of a week, four guys stopped to ask about his wooden practice dummies in the back yard. Guess this was the pay off for clearing out the old treehouse, the dummies are more visible from the road. Tomorrow our son's band friends are coming over to record some songs. I asked him when and his reply was "first thing in the morning." What about church? No problem, they're coming over at 12:00. Never a dull moment.

On The Garden Front

2010-05-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

This year "Quackgrass Acres" has moved from the community garden to our back yard. Community gardens are wonderful things but it just didn't work out for me. Now I can walk out the back door and do a bit of gardening whenever I feel like it without getting in the car for a ride across town. So it's starting small, as a container garden on a small cement and flagstone patio area that we didn't use. The process of removing our son's dilapidated treehouse and the dead hemlocks has begun. Ultimately, that will give us a bigger space for the garden but I'm happy with this for the time being. Good soil for the containers is the big need now.
I still have my DIY Japanese wind bells (furin) from last year, much to my amazement. I foolishly left them out all winter but they came through it just fine. All I had to do was replace the tails. They were a fun project and I'm thinking of making a tutorial on how to do it. The one in the picture is made from a thrifted votive glass. I have others made from porcelain teacups. The wind has been blowing like mad here so I hooked the tails on the fence posts to stop them from ringing themselves to bits.

Silly Putti

2010-05-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Years ago I had the idea to open a museum called House of a Thousand Tchockies. Like my other idea, The Museum of Avian Architecture, it never actually came to fruition. This cherub and egg planter would have been a perfect exhibit. I got it years ago from a thrift store. Somebody did a rather crude job of scratching off the backstamp, which makes me think that it is a Japanese copy of a European piece. To my mind, that's irrelevant. It is what it is, a divinely silly little planter.

It's a Small World After All

2010-04-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

I just found out by way of a google alert that my hats and mushrooms are on an Italian style blog. http://www.frizzifrizzi.it/2010/04/30/wandering-lydia-nomen-omen/ Wow, the web is really something, isn't it? I tried to read the article by clicking on "translate this" and I sorta kinda got the gist of it. The one thing I would like to correct is that I'm female, not male. That's why I posted this recent picture of myself. (Really, just ask my son at 6:10am when I'm waking him up for school.) Anyway, thank you Frizzifrizzi!

It's A Good Day

2010-04-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday,All. The sun is out, the wind is invigorating and I bought myself new (to me) clogs at the thrift store. I saw these the last time I was there but I was being parsimonious with myself and didn't buy them. This time I knew that If I walked away again I'd regret it forever. I'm sewing today after blocking in a painting yesterday.

My Hats Are In Belle Armoire!

2010-04-20T05:11:00.000-07:00

Back in August I sent some Wandering Lydia Hats to Belle Armoire for the Salon section and then tried to put it out of my mind. But, periodically, I'd wonder about them. Saturday was one of those times. Once again I put it out of my mind - until I opened the mailbox to find my comp issue of the May/July 2010 issue! Wool hats in May? What the heck, it's going to be winter in the southern hemisphere, right? Thanks Belle Armoire!
This is probably good timing for my creative focus. I've been having success with the mushroom gardens and I intend to keep on with them. I was starting to miss making hats and maybe this was a reminder to switch back for a while. Changing up what I'm doing keeps me moving forward. I need to cut a large panel for my next mason jar painting too.

Blue Skies

2010-04-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

We're having one of those gray dreary spring days here. It does help that the trees are starting to leaf out but it feels like a good day to curl up with a book and a cup of something warm. Unfortunately, that won't get the groceries home so I put on my new necklace from Crafty Wings and went on my way. Honestly, I think it helped get me moving! You can check out her etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CraftyWings She paints beautiful cloudscapes on wooden plaques and when I first saw them I thought they were pendants. So I asked her if she would make a summer sky pendant for me and she did!

Just Pictures Today

2010-04-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

I don't want to fall entirely out of the blog habit but I'm just not feeling it today.

See A Penny Pick It Up

2010-04-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

And all the day you'll have good luck. I picked up a penny this morning on the way in from delivering a painting, logged onto etsy and found, to my delight, that I had three new sales. This came at just the right time. I've been bummed out because I'm on 28 days of antibiotic to treat the nasty tick bite I got earlier this week. I'm so glad I went in and started treatment. Within hours of the first dose I started to feel sick. It isn't too bad today but I'm feeling very tired. Somehow I managed to run an outdoor summer camp for three years in a lyme disease hot spot without getting bit. But finally, my number came up. I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to give up rambling in the woods so I'll have to find more ways to protect myself.
Today's picture features some odds and ends. The yarn is from the mushroom/hickory exhaust bath. The crocheted motifs are made with the natural color and the small skein in the last post.

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

2010-04-06T05:40:00.000-07:00

We've all seen the jokes about modern witches who ride electric vacuum cleaners instead of the traditional broomstick. I wonder if a crock pot would be the modern version of a cauldron? I decided that my old crock pot would be great for simmering dye baths, just set it and forget it. I don't use it enough to miss having it for cooking and they show up in thrift stores all the time if I want another. These yarn samples are dyed with shelf mushrooms and hickory hulls, no mordant. It's a nice brown but I'm really hoping to find the mushrooms that will give exciting colors, blue, purple, red and orange. Unfortunately, it's too early for them.
My latest mushroom garden is in a thrifted sugar bowl that I found years ago. It's making me think of St. Patrick's Day. The ivy design reminds me of shamrocks and the color is so spring/March looking. I'm painting today. Kathryn sold my 8x10" "Blue Star" this weekend. I need to finish the one I've been working on and then I'll start a bigger painting of another close up on the mason jar embossing.

My Fairy Ring Crown Completed

2010-03-31T07:39:00.000-07:00

Finished my fairy ring crown this morning and I am so happy with it! Somewhere along the line I'll do a bridal version all in shades of white.

The Process of Painting

2010-03-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is the painting I'm working on now. It's really helpful to me seeing it reduced in a photograph. I'm past the worst point, that part when the painting looks pretty awful and I just have to take it on faith that by the time I'm done it will work out. I don't know rather it's just the way I paint with acrylics but it seems to take a certain number of layers to get the effect I want. This reminds me of a talented friend of ours who went through a phase of giving up on his paintings too soon, to the point that he restarted one painting so many times that he finally gave up on it. This was a terrible shame because each one had some really good elements. As in so many other pursuits, it's probable that he would have learned more from sticking to it through the tough spots. Even if the painting still didn't work out, it would be worth it. I've heard it said that you have to love your painting enough to make some bad ones to get to the good ones. The universe won't strike you dead for making a crappy painting.

Carnation Hair

2010-03-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here's another way to use a carnation made from a sweater ribbing. She has one carnation on top. The sides and back came from the cuffs which were only partially rolled up.

The Osprey Have Returned!

2010-03-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a gorgeous weekend! As usual, I heard the osprey pair before I saw them. I'm so happy they're back. I've resolved the issue of how to garden this year. Quackgrass Acres has moved from the community garden to our back yard. In the long run I'll have 4x4'raised beds but the spot needs to be cleared first. We have a row of hemlocks on the side of the house that have been killed by insects. Our son's old tree fort is up there too. We need to take down the fort to recycle the wood and get rid of the hemlocks. This isn't going to happen overnight. So for this season I'm container gardening in 18 gal. storage bins. I got the first one going today with peas and lettuce. A dead hemlock branch made a nice trellis for the peas. The soil is so nice, a combination of soil from a decomposed wood chip pile and some manure leftover from last year. And it's darn near rock free. Community gardens are great but not for me. First, it was just too big for me to manage on my own. Second, it was across town. I'd rather be able to wander out and garden for 15 min. a couple of times a day. This is going to be a lot more manageable. Now if I could just remember where I put the leftover seeds from last year.

I Believe in Spring

2010-03-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

After a winter that seemed endless spring really has arrived. These daffodils are in the warmest spot in the yard so they open first. I am so happy to see them! Every time I walk the dog I keep looking to see if the pair of osprey have returned to their nest on top of the cell phone tower down the street. I usually hear them before I see them. Having them for neighbors compensates for the ugliness of the tower.
Our home is a bit odd because it can feel like two totally different places depending on if you're looking out the back windows or the front. The back drops off steeply to the Naugatuck River, a spit of land with the rail line that runs between Waterbury and Bridgeport and then Coe Pond. Since we are high above that, the view is wide open, a great place to look for summer rainbows. By contrast the front yard is small, the road is busy with a stop light close by and there is a big restaurant across the street. We have a vacant lot on one side and that's where the garden is going this year. Last year I had a space at the community organic garden but it really got away from me. If I have the garden right here I'm much more likely to keep up with it.

Sweater Rib Carnation Instructions

2010-03-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
You know me, gotta use every scrap! Here is an easy way to use the waist ribbing from a felted sweater to make a pretty carnation. This works best with a typical K2, P2 ribbing. Carefully cut the ribbing from the sweater and cut apart the halves. Trim the ends along the edge of a raised rib. Fold and pin the strip in half lengthwise matching the ribs. Thread a large needle with strong thread. Give it plenty of length because you'll use be using it to baste and sew the flower. I use the old fashioned way of measuring a yard. I make sure the threaded needle is long enough to reach from my nose to the end of my outstretched hand. Baste the strip without shifting or puckering the ribs. Now cut between each raised rib to just under the line of stitches. Gather the cut strip to compress the petals and tie a knot but don't cut the thread. Start rolling and sewing the petals into a flower. Once you get past the first bit you don't need to sew all the way through, just into the previous row. It will naturally want to get a bit domed as you go and this is fine. This will give the blossom depth. Tie off the end securely and you're done.

Fairy Ring Mushroom Crown

2010-03-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

When I do craft shows I like to wear one of my hats but if it's a warm day or indoors, I get too hot. So I came up with the idea of a fairy ring crown. There's a lot of work going into this project but I get to keep it so that's OK. Most of the dark green base will be covered with felt moss and I'll have green vine-like dreads looping down from the sides. This isn't something I'd have for sale in the booth but I would take custom orders. It would be so much fun to make one for a wedding! Now I'm taking a break from sewing to work on painting. I also have a call for submissions from a greeting card company to work on. But what I'd really love is a nap. Stupid time change!

New Mason Jar Painting

2010-03-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

This is the latest of my paintings, delivered to the Greene Art Gallery last week. The one I'm working on now is a vertical 11"x14". Before Kathryn got the finished one on the wall someone expressed interest in the same idea but in a vertical format. I aim to please. Dan already sold his big red painting of jars and glass marbles. I'm not surprised, it's a great piece of eye candy. Makes me want to paint bigger. Maybe I don't have to worry about the sluggish economy? Yesterday I heard from a greeting card company looking for submissions so that's percolating in the back of my mind too.
I've been running around this morning, cleaning, getting pictures taken to list more mushrooms in my etsy shop and then to get groceries. I need to setttle down and paint this afternoon.

Finding My Balance

2010-03-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

I used to beat myself up over having so many interests. It was the old why can't you concentrate on one thing and really get somewhere with it argument. And I had picked up the idea that if I wanted to have success with my painting (serious Art), I should keep my other projects (*gasp* crafts) out of sight. I just don't believe that anymore. The internet has opened so many new opportunities for us creative types. More to the point, I need to work on all my different projects to find the right happy balance for myself. It seems to be my nature that when I'm painting I start pining for my wool projects and when I'm constructing hats I start to wish I was painting. The key here is having enough self discipline to keep all the work moving forward. As long as I do that I can bounce back and forth between mediums, keeping my level of interest up in all of them. I've learned that if I go too long between paintings I end up having to warm up those skills again and the work drags. It's a bit like when I learned to drive standard after years of an automatic. I made sure to drive everyday because I needed the practice. I didn't do gallery painting for years when I got into sculpture, so it's a similar situation. So today's picture is a batch of new mushrooms to be made into tabletop gardens. I've also been working on another mason jar painting which is coming along nicely. At the moment, I have achieved balance.

Weekend Highs and Lows

2010-02-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

Bear with me here, one of the lows is that I caught Dan's cold and my brain is very foggy. On the up side, etsy featured one of my mushroom gardens in the Spring Fever article in the Storque. That led to some interesting contacts and a couple of sales. Meanwhile I've been painting glass with a foggy brain and a huge headache which is not what I was planning on. Writing this blog is just too much right now but I don't want to break the habit. That's it. I'm gonna throw a couple of pictures up here and call this entry done.

Busy

2010-02-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

Once again it is snowing. I shipped out an Amanita muscaria garden and a snowflake pin this morning before the snow really got going. People just love those red mushrooms! I'm still painting. Today's blog picture is a doll I've had waiting to be finished. I've been waiting for her to tell me the rest of her story and I was hoping that by posting her picture I'd have her in the back of my mind and some ideas would bubble up. Time to quit messing around on the computer and get to work!

Done

2010-02-25T08:56:00.001-08:00

OK, on to the next!

Alien Chili Pepper

2010-02-25T04:47:00.000-08:00

Today has a bit of a "Groundhog Day" feeling to it. It's still raining and I'm going to spend the day painting. The alien chili pepper is an end of day evening project made from the extra material I trimmed off the monster purse ears. I had two curving v-shaped pieces so I sewed them into a pod shape, trimmed the pod with a crocheted ruffle and mindlessly embroidered french knots while zoned out in front of the tv. The varrigated yarn is some that I dyed myself.

2010-02-24T04:57:00.000-08:00

So I was naughty yesterday and let myself get sucked into making the purse instead of painting. I should hide my wool stuff. Outta sight outta mind!

Works in Progress

2010-02-23T06:41:00.000-08:00

It's a sloppy snowy/rainy gray day here. The word that popped into my head this morning was: boring. I'm bored of winter. Oh well. So here's what I'm working on now. The painting is an extreme close up of two canning jars against a blue background. It's 8" x 10", a warm up for some 11" x 14"'s and a study for a bigger version. I'd like to see this really big but with the market being what it is, smaller is what is selling. The painting is a bit beyond block in. It's painted in acrylic and has a bit of a dry look to it but it will look a lot richer after varnishing.
The monster purse is just a fun thing that I started last night while watching a Discovery program about King Tut. I think I'm going to make it into a handbag rather than a shoulder bag and it will probably end up in my etsy shop.

The Twenty-first Century Luddite

2010-02-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

So far I've done almost all my hat construction by hand. I have a preference for hand sewing because it gives me more control in the shaping and because I don't want to risk messing up my sewing machine, a vintage Spartan. When I was a kid I had no problem with sewing machines. I started sewing on my Mom's old Singer, then dragged my grandmother's treadle machine down from the attic and put it in my bedroom. I just don't remember either machine having a lot of problems. Years went by when I wasn't sewing very much and I decided to buy a new machine. What a hunk of junk! Before the darn thing was a month old it had gone out of balance and, no, not from sewing thick felted wool. Machines now are computerized with tons of stitch patterns I'll never use and plastic parts that are just waiting for an excuse to break. When I found my Spartan I could not believe my luck. It must have come right from the original owner who had to be someone who took great care of it. The problem is, I'm afraid to use it. I feel like Charlie Brown clutching a new kite, looking up at the kite eating tree. There must be a class on machine maintenance somewhere and I need to find it. If I really understood my old warhorse of a sewing machine, I could just get on with it.
Now the other issue complicating matters is that I am a natural born Luddite. If I'd been in France during the industrial revolution I'd have been throwing my sabots into the weaving machines. (My ancestors were actually weavers so maybe this is genetic.) I know I'm inconsistent. I sit here blogging on the net and can't stand the thought of not having that instant access to inspiration and information. But there is such an abundance of cheaply made crap cluttering the world!
This is not an internal war that I will settle anytime soon. For the time being I'm sticking with the tried and true, handwork and actual paint and brushes.

Hot Colors Beret

2010-02-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

Today's new hat is a hot color beret. Next up I need to get back to painting. Dan and I are working on one together and I have reference for more in the mason jar series I'm doing. Unfortunately, I lost track of time yesterday and stayed up way too late. I took forever to fall asleep, had a string of weird dreams and woke up discombobulated. I've felt wrong footed all day but if I can get some painting done I know that will help.

Scottish Beach Pottery

2010-02-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

This is my stash of Scottish beach pottery from Rubycquins' shop on etsy. I have never found anything this cool on the beach here in Connecticut but then, we don't have a 300 year history of major pottery manufacturers in these parts. They aren't actually pieces from the china plates. They are broken stands used to stack the pottery in the kiln. At first glance they look like bones. Some will be made into jewelry, others into buttons and add ons for hats and mixed media pieces. I'm excited to use them and wishing that it was warm enough to go beach combing! The strangest thing I ever found was the forehead from a china doll. I also have three or four pieces of a brown victorian china pattern that were collected at different times and places, one of them on the Strand in Ireland. Must have been a popular pattern!

Zipper Hat

2010-02-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

I've been seeing some wonderful things being made with creatively used zippers. (Check out Wooly Fabulous on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/woolly_fabulous/) so I went through my stash and found enough zippers to use them in place of my usual crocheted trim on a spiral hat. I'm very pleased with the finish on this hat. The spiral is lightly stuffed with fiberfil so it will hold its shape. The zippers did add a little weight though not enough that you'd notice it when wearing the hat. It's lined with very soft lambs wool. Feels like I crossed every t and dotted all the i's. Most of the materials were thrifted, the exceptions being a bit of interfacing and the green tapestry wool I used to finish the edge. I love tapestry wool! It comes in so many colors and can be felted too. It's always a happy day when I find a bag of it at a thrift store or tag sale. Sometimes I get in the mood to crochet and felt little patches with a single strand and a small hook. The possibility for color blending are awesome!

Mushrooms for Morticia

2010-02-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

It was so much fun making this piece! I've been working on a collection of these tabletop mushroom gardens and this story suddenly popped into my head. Cousin Ophelia has opened a floral shop - kept in business mainly by Gomez's frequent stops to purchase presents for his Cara Mia. These are Amanita amourica, poison love mushrooms. Eat them and experience ecstasy and possibly die. As Gomez would say,"Either way, what bliss!" I found the footed porcelain cup in a thrift shop years ago and it was just perfect for this project. The mushrooms are sewn from felted sweater wool and even the stuffing is from a bag of thrifted fiberfill. The only parts I bought new are the ribbon and the pipe cleaners in the stems. The mushrooms can be gently bent and arranged to suit one's fancy. I find it far more interesting to design with thrifted art and craft supplies rather than running out to Michael's to get new stuff. They'd never have a cup like that!

Sleeeepy

2009-09-23T05:02:00.000-07:00

Half an hour less sleep last night and I feel like a slug. All so I could watch the end of Chopped Champions. Crackers, gin, grapefruit and feta for the desert course. What sadistic mind comes up with this combo?
Anyway, I'm trying to get back into the blog habit along with restocking my etsy shop.

Harold! Come Back!

2008-08-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

I'm a visual person and I like blogs with pictures so here's another hat that I have up on etsy now. I'm not too sure what I feel like writing about this morning so I'll start with the hat. I call it Harold and it was inspired by a Monty Python sketch about an English and French joint venture in aviation, the sheep airliner. A few bits later we see a farmer out in his field looking up into the sky shouting,"Harold! Come back!"
It's a beautiful day with just a hint of fall in the air. Just the sort of day that I really need at about this time of August. Back to school is in sight and honestly, I need more structure in my life. I seem to turn into a slug in August.

Quackgrass Acres

2008-08-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

I put this picture of the Mossy Fairy Bonnet up instead of a picture of my garden because Quackgrass Acres is looking an awful mess. I didn't get there for three days and the bugs had gone to town on the squash and pumpkins. It's an organic community garden so that meant a lot of pick n' squish. Ugh. I've done so many things wrong there this first year. In the fall we are putting in growing beds with as much manure and leaves as I can get my hands on and using Ruth Stout's permanent mulch system next year. I'm taking a little comfort from the fact that she also struggled in her first years of gardening.
For anyone who has not read Ruth's How to have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back, you really should. It's a great read rather you're a gardener or not. I've been by her home many times though I didn't know anything about her. But I noticed the house, it's my favorite in that area.
Please pray for my pumpkins!

Does this chair make my butt look fat?

2008-08-06T14:18:00.001-07:00

Let me introduce you to my "personal assistant", Miss Lucy Mae Bumpus. It's a strenuous life she leads, following me around (especially if there is food involved), making sure all the beds and other soft surfaces in the house are nap tested everyday and dancing around complaining when she needs to go out for a walk. I snapped a picture of her this morning because I've never seen her in this little chair and it surprised me that she would want to sit in it. She usually prefers something more luxurious. Dan's chair in the living room is her favorite. She's always immensely pleased with herself to be sitting in the alpha male's spot.

Invasion of the Stash!

2008-08-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

My son (on the left) has his friend over to get ready for some big event on World of Warcraft which means that they HAD to stay up all night on the computer that's around the corner from my sweater stash. So I got up this morning and when I saw that they weren't in his bedroom I went up to check on them. No kids. After a few tense moments looking for them Dan found them nesting in my stash. Of course we had to take a picture.

Weird Day Lilly

2008-07-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

I noticed this odd triple blossom daylilly when I was out walking the dog. Imagine if you took apart some silk flowers and then crammed three blossoms onto one stem. I'm not just talking petals here, each section has the cup and a little bit of stem on the bottom. I wonder if it's the stress of being mowed down regularly? In fact I'm surprised to see any blossom at all because the DOT crews have been mowing on a regular schedule.

Fav New Hat and Photography Struggles

2008-07-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

So here I go trying to take pictures again! Been doing a lot of new inventory and if I can get the photography down I can get up and running on etsy.

The Great Hair Experiment

2008-01-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

Let me back up a bit. This whole pink hair thing came about because at my last show somebody said that if she just saw me walking down the street that she would never guess that I made these wild hats. Uh-Oh, Not Good. What in the heck DO I look like I do? Do I look >gasp< normal? This had been simmering in the back of my brain. So here is a crappy picture. There is actually more pink in there than what the picture shows but I expect that I'll be adding more. I really like it! I'm just a little concerned that it won't last very long. I've only washed it once but it looks lighter to me already. The best reaction I got was from a first grader who knew me from summer camp. He didn't say a word, just stared with his mouth open, totally gobsmacked. Probably thinking,"I've seen people with weird colored hair but never a MOM with pink hair!"

Secret Lentil

2008-01-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

A while back as I was browsing through Flickr I found Secret Lentil, the fabulous garments made by Helen Carter. She has her website up now and I urge you to go check it out: www.secretlentil.com
As if her clothes weren't cool enough by themselves, her captions and commentary led me to believe that she was a very clever and funny individual. She has her vintage sewing machine tattooed on one arm and her old school typewritter on the other! Now that is living one's art my friends! So I've made this hat with her in mind. One of her pieces is titled Olive and Raisins Forever and it was the inspiration for the colors. I really like this colorway. Its so helpful to look at color through someone else's perspective once in a while. I've been into a rusty spice-brown-burgundy-gold mood for a long time so it was nice to shake myself out of it.
On another color note, my dear red haired son is coloring his georgous hair brown as I write this. Most people would love to have his hair but I can understand why he's sick of it. Red hair just isn't cool when you're a thirteen year old guy. To make matters worse, it's naturally curly (mine is stick straight) and the styles he likes are straight and kind of shaggy. I , myself am planning to color my hair pink Sunday. I've always wanted to do something radical like pink or purple but I used to make periodic visits to the corporate world. Now all bets are off. I just don't care what anybody thinks anymore! Should be a fun surprise when I go in to teach clay at CJ's school Monday morning.

Finally!

2007-08-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Somehow I never thought it would take until now to get back to the blog but it has been busy. I've had freelance work for the tile shop,CJ's new classroom needed me for the Lazure painting team. I've been cleaning my house and I even managed to make some new hat designs. Not bad, really! So today I am finally getting to the long delayed project of putting up the lights in my sweater felt closet so I'll be able to see the colors without pulling all the felt out into the room. And maybe I won't smash my head on the roof beams so often. It can only help!
As I was pulling out the sweaters to make room to work I felt like I was meeting a lot of long lost friends. As much as I love my family, it will be a relief to get CJ back to school. I crave a bit of peace and quiet so I can produce more hats and scarves for my upcoming shows. Easton Library on Sept. 23rd, Redding Congregational Church on the 29th and then sometime in October the Fall Fair at Housatonic Valley Waldorf School. (This is all in CT if you'd like to visit.) So now back to the project!

Yes, I'm Still Alive

2007-07-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

Still alive but busy and tired. It's week 3 of the summer camp and I've been spending my days with a bunch of 4 to 8 year olds. It's a lot like trying to herd kittens. I've cranked out a couple of freeform crochet purses because that's all I have the energy to do in the evening - sit and make scrumbles. The last week of July is our last week of camp, my last week as camp director. After some serious lazing around to recuperate, August will be much more productive.

Ninja Dude!

2007-06-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

The 6th graders made dolls in handwork this year and this is CJ's Ninja Dude. A lot of the other kids made soccer players, one made a Native American and another made Fleur Delacore. (If I've left anybody out, please forgive me!) Sewing was much more to my son's liking but next year he'll be making a sweater. If he doesn't want it for himself maybe he'll make one for Afghanistan.

Forty Shades of Green

2007-06-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

When we were in Ireland my husband's mom used the expression "forty shades of green" to describe the landscape and yes, it really is that lush and beautiful. I started this hat the other night because I felt like making roll stitched rounds. Originally, I thought it would be the base for some mushrooms or something but now I'm not so sure. I like it the way it is except I'll probably enlarge the ear flaps a little and add ties. What do you think?

UW Hat Completed

2007-06-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Well, Here it is! I'm very pleased with this one.

The Ultimate Waldorf Hat

2007-06-06T06:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick snap of the top of my latest hat. This would be a perfect hat for a Waldorf kindergarten teacher! I've pretty much finished the body of the hat so now it's on to the fun part, adding more mushrooms, flowers and bugs. However, I think I'll be taking a break from that to make some Bottles of Hope for Danbury's Relay For Life. They came up short and desperately need more bottles to give out this weekend. I had already decided to make a pendant for my unoffical extra son, Sidney who is graduating Saturday, so I'll already be digging out my polymer supplies.
It's an incredibly beautiful day here, sunny, cool and breezy so I can open all the windows and get some fresh air in. Yesterday I pushed myself to start doing morning pages again and I feel much better for it. No, you won't be seeing me spill my guts here, at least not beyond a certain point. Wandering Lydia is about being fun and creative and moving forward. I get my head in order in my morning pages and ruminate on projects here.
I've got a bunch of ideas for hats that I need to get started, a jackalope hat and a coral reef hat to start with. Good old Salvation Army has provided me with two bags of sweaters to felt and overdye. Serious fun ahead!

Lydia The Tattooed Lady

2007-05-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8

My life was wrapped around the circus. Her name was Lydia.
I met her at the world's fair in 1900, marked down from
1940. Ah, Lydia.

She was the most glorious creature
Under the su-un.
Guiess. DuBarry. Garbo.
Rolled into one.

Oooooooh
Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Lydia, the Tattooed Lady.
She has eyes that folks adore so,
And a torso even more so.

Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopedia,
Oh Lydia the Queen of Tattoo.
On her back is the Battle of Waterloo.
Beside it the wreck of the Hespherous, too.
And proudly above waves the Red, White, and Blue,
You can learn a lot from Lydia.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

When her robe is unfurled, she will show you the world,
If you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paris,
Or Washington crossing the Delaware.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Oh Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Oh Lydia the Tattooed Lady
When her muscles start relaxing,
Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson

Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopedia,
oh Lydia the queen of them all!
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz,
With a view of Niagara that nobody has.
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz.
You can learn a lot from Lydia.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Come along and see Buff'lo Bill with his lasso.
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso.
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon.
Here's Godiva but with her pajamas on.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Here is Grover Whalen unveilin' the Trilon.
Over on the West Coast we have Treaure Island.
Here's Najinsky a-doin' the rumba.
Here's her social security numba.

(whistles)

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia that encyclopedia,
Oh Lydia the champ of them all.
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
For he went and married Lydia.

I said Lydia (He said Lydia)
I said Lydia (We said Lydia)

La La!

Wandering Lydia's Mehndi

2007-05-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

As mentioned previously, I've gotten into doing henna body art. I started out with a kit from a local boutique with the idea of having something fun to do at the May Fair. CJ's teacher saw it and suggested that it could be a fund raiser for the class trip. There is a big Labor Day Parade down Main St. that we always go to because my friend lives there, so I plan to set up and do henna for the duration of the parade. The nice thing is that I wouldn't be trying to fund raise within our school community - we're all sick of fund raisers and pretty well tapped out. All money raised that day would go to the class trip but I figured that I'd have business cards out in hopes of getting some bookings for parties. I hand drew the business card with a boteh design around the contact info. When I showed it to my friend she said," You do know that there is a song about Lydia the tattooed lady, right?" Well, sort of vaguely, though it had nothing to do with my choice of name. Just another one of those random bits of serendipity that Groucho Marx sang it!
So I've been practicing on myself and studying at The Henna Pages: http://www.hennapage.com/, which I highly recommend for anyone who would like to try doing henna. Gotta go see what's going on downstairs. We are supposed to be going to a picnic.

Playing Hooky

2007-05-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

What a fun day this was! I took a fieldtrip to two different ethnic markets today and not only did I get henna, rose syrup and yard long beans, I also found the elusive carrot pickle I've been looking for. One of my dearest friends craves kim chee the way I yearn for Pakistani carrot pickle. My son will have a couple of surprises in his lunch tomorrow - a small box of chocolate filled koala cookies and a strawberry jelly drink with an anime character on the label. Can't quite place the guy on the label but I know that I've seen him before. And, though it's hotter than you know where up here, I photographed a bunch of hats and uploaded them to www.pbase.com/jody. They're in the Wandering Lydia gallery. Finally, I hennaed my hand and came up to write a little here.

Getting an Award Is So Cool!

2007-05-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! I'm just getting to process it today since I spent yesterday at school and taught my last clay class for the fifth graders. First the big news, My Lydia hats took second prize in the fiber category at the Bruce Museum Craft Festival!!! The day started with me walking by the other booths to set up and fighting down my doubts. This is a very nice high end craft show, by far the best place that I have shown my hats. But it was too late to turn back or worry about it so I got busy setting up. As with any outdoor event, the weather was an issue. Saturday was cold and wet with long stretches of rain which meant that attendance was low. I wore a wool hat all day and was probably the only vendor who didn't freeze. One woman actually offered to buy the sweater off my back! Sunday was the exact opposite, hot and sunny so foot traffic was up. I sold the majority of hats on Saturday but was glad for everybody else that Sunday cleared off. I assumed that people were not interested in buyig a wool hat on such a warm day, I got a lot of positive feedback. But late in the day my neighbor asked how I was doing and to my surprise, they had also done better on Saturday. The folks who braved the wet weather on Saturday were serious and came to buy. Sunday's attendance was better but it seemed that a lot of that traffic was just there to wander around on a pretty spring day. Well, one never knows... Still I am pleased with the experience though I don't plan to do another outdoor show until Sept.

Thank you, Susan Cooper

2007-05-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

Today's post is a quote from Susan Cooper's last book in The Dark Is Rising Sequence, Silver On The Tree. I was reading the book while I was stumbling through my this-is-not-my-beautiful-life phase. Bran and Will have gone to the Lost Land to retrieve the crystal sword in order to defeat the Dark.

"Gwion sighed. "So the Dark did a simple thing," he said,"They showed the maker of the sword his own uncertainty and fear. Fear of having done the wrong thing - fear that having done this one great thing, he would never again be able to accomplish anything of great worth - fear of age, of insufficiency, of unmet promise. All such endless fears, that are the doom of people given the gift of making, and lie always somewhere in their minds. And gradually, he was put into dispair. Fear grew in him, and he escaped from it into lethargy - and so hope died, and a terrible paralyzing melancholy took its place. He is held by it now, he is held captive by his own mind. He and the sword Eirias that he made with him. Despair holds him prisoner, despair, the most terrible creation of all. For in great men, the mind can produce giant spectres of great power."

And now I am awake.

Hats Hats Hats!!

2007-05-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's finally production time at Wandering Lydia world headquarters. The studio is humming, well, the fan is on anyway! My personal assistant, Miss Bumpus is on an extended coffee break downstairs. Oh, excuse me, she's doing dream research, trying to come up with stunning new ideas for me to develop. I'll be at the Bruce Museum Craft Festival on May 19th so if you're in Greenwich, CT that day please stop in to say hello. Today's picture has nothing to do with anything but I like blogs that have lots of images. That's all for now.

Lucy Mae Bumpus Must Die

2007-05-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

GRRRR! My normally beloved canine personal assistant, Miss Lucy Mae Bumpus is in first place on my shit list today- literally. All it took was one moment of inattention during our after lunch walk for her to find and roll in a very nasty pile of stink. I had to frog march her directly to the tub for a good cleaning. Now we are both in bad moods. Though I'd have to say that she's gotten the worst of it. After all, how can she have a decent nap if I won't let her up on any of the beds? Don't worry, I won't actually kill her. Seeing her looking soggy and dejected is enough.

Merry Beltane!

2007-05-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a rather pretty first day of May though the clouds are moving in this evening. The forcast for Saturday's May Fair sounds beautiful. How nice to have a festival without rain! Today's picture is one of my polymer clay brooches in the Puck series. Not exactly the Greenman, more of a Greenbaby!

My Son Went To FL And All I Got Was This Lousy Cold

2007-04-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

Bleargh..This spring vacation week has not worked out as I had planned. My husband and I are both sick and a crew is showing up tomorrow to reroof the house. I've got lots that I should be doing but I don't have the energy to do it! I did finish this painting though. Lifting a brush was all I could manage. That and I put in an order for acrylic paints since mine are pretty depleted. Random thought for the day: toasting marshmellow circus peanuts really improves the flavor!

Cleaning The Land of Enchantment

2007-04-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

So our twelve year old is on vacation at Disney World with his best friend until late Thursday night. I'm taking care of his Neopets. He's in for a surprise when he gets back, I cleaned his room. Should have rented a backhoe! I pulled out three full contractors bags of broken toys, papers and plain old trash. He's a prolific artist which is great, but as soon as he's done, the drawings get left all over the floor where they get walked on and churned into a sort of indoor leaf mold. I found his missing gameboy in the ground cover. It's a miracle that no one stepped on it but I suppose that it was pretty well cushioned by all the debris. Meanwhile, Miss Lucy Mae Bumpus, our dog was watching with great interest, at one point snagging a lollipop left from a Halloween past. Once the room was picked up she was allowed back into the "Land of Enchantment" as we generally refer to his bedroom. (This is a reference to an old Pooh Bear episode. Tigger sucked Piglet into a canister vac as part of a magic act. The interior of the canister vac was the Land of Enchantment.) Now here's the thing. As I was sitting on his bed resting at the end of all the cleaning, Mis Bumpus jumped up beside me, gave me a kiss and settled happlily on the bed for a nap. All of a sudden it hit me.. the dog thinks we've taken our son to the pound and the room is now hers!

I'm Not As Old As This Post Would Suggest!

2007-04-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

We get a small free newspaper every week and usually, there isn't much of interest beyond the latest Ocean State Job Lot ad- and I can get that on the web. This week's cartoon was a nice little nugget. Once again I found myself explaining "ancient" history to my son so he'd get the joke. Anybody tried watching old Bugs Bunny cartoons with their kids? I had to explain why a character said "ding!" when he reached the end of the ear of corn he was eating.(You know, like an old fashioned typewriter). One of my Grandmother's favorite ways to tell us we were talking too much when we were kids was:"What? Did somebody vaccinate you with a phonograph needle?" I love that line! Kind of takes the fun out of it when I have to stop and explain it. Oh well, good times, good times...

Baby Socks and Sweater

2007-04-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

Just a quick picture of some of the knitting I've been doing - Since I still have a lot to learn it helps to work on child sized projects. The thought of tackling a sweater for myself is still too daunting! My goal is to knit the old fashioned way without line by line patterns and to work on my tension on purl rows. I'm a mixed knitter but I prefer to knit continental if I need to purl. I used bamboo needles on the front of the sweater and found myself rowing out pretty badly so I switched to plastic needles and made a concerted effort to loosen up on the purl rows. I'm trying to be good and get some freelance tile painting done today so no knitting for now.

This Is Not My Beautiful Life

2007-03-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

The title of this post says it all. The best I can say at the moment is that I've been making some nice baby socks for the kids in Wardak, Afgahnistan. I'm not one to bore you with the irritating details so I'll leave it there. Thank the heavens I have my knitting to keep me going! Hopefully I'll be in a more congenial frame of mind soon. I've got to work on inventory for a craft festival in May and making a lot of cool hats will cheer me up.