Cards, bikes, wallets

I have been a very busy girl. Surprised?

I made quite a few New Years cards to send to my family and friends. I a still in the progress of making them but I sent the first batch off on Thursday.



Now that the holidays are over I am working on projects for myself. First I used up some super chunky yarn that I bought in Alaska on making myself a hat. It took me less than a day. I added a pom pom and a little bunny patch.


In an effort to consume less goods I wanted to make myself a new wallet. I had left over fabric from the gifts and a Amy Butler book that had a check book in it. I tried to alter the pattern to turn it into a wallet with a coin purse. Needless to say, there are reasons why things are manufactured by machines. Not so pleased but I will use it for now.





I also worked on a little bike maintenance this weekend. I got the urge to spice up my single speed bike. I normally use it for short distances and when I will leave it outside for a long period of time.... going out for example. I'd rather not have to wear the same hip pouch all the time or carry large backpacks to my destination. I heard about this new bike shop in Ballard called the Dutch Bike Company who has all sorts of neat bikes. I thought I would hit them up to get a basket for my bike. Unfortunately because it is so tiny and had drop handlebars I was advised to get new handlebars and therefore breaks, cables, casings, etc. So I made a quick run to Recycled Cycles in the UDistrict to pick up some used break leavers (FOR A WHOPPING $5!) and the other pieces for the breaks. I returned to Dutch Bike Company to get new handle bars and a basket. The basket is on order but I installed the handle bars when I got home. Lovely! And, as Fritz at the shop promised, the ride has drastically changed on the bike. I LOVE IT. It has breathed new life into the bike and I can't wait to ride it around. My basket will be here in about a week. Good thing I will be in NOLA because I would be pacing! Dutch Bike Company is a great little shop. Fritz was super helpful without being pretentious. I can't wait to give him more business!

Oh a little history on this bike. It was my very first adult bike that I bought specifically for my size. I got it not because I was down with the hipsters but because with one speed this bike was easy for me to maintain and work on. I put the entire bike together myself and have done all of its maintenance. It's a 47" steal frame bike made out of Pittsburgh, PA. Love that it is American made. Seattle is not a very friendly single speed city so I have purchased a bike with gears that is much more practical. This one loves the flats of Ballard/Fremont!

A few more gifts

Oh the anticipation! Here are some more gifts that I made during my frenzie.

For the Liz's in my life: two aprons. The one on the right was for Liz Mustard and the one on the left was for Liz Erickson. No particular reason that I made aprons for my two friends named Liz. I picked out the fabric, made the aprons and they told me who they wanted to go to.

My teddy bear bag that I made for Jenny. It is big. Sadly I put nothing down for scale. It will be amazing for the farmers market or taking trips to the beach.

Greg's Hat

Hey, here is the first post that I can actually make about my Solstice gift making adventures. A very known fact is that my friend Greg is a super nerd that like to get punched in the face while training for MMA/kickboxing. I thought that I would knit him a super sweet R2D2 hat. I have been hearing many good things about this gift. I hope the rest that I have made will live up to this hype.....

Handmade Holidays.

Brace yourself. The blog will probably be dormant until after the holiday season. "Why?" you ask. Well because I am probably making your present. Duh. So get ready for a craft explosion at the end of the month. That just sounds dirty. I did finish my Norwegian ski socks though. I will be posting pictures once I clean my room and have it presentable enough to take some photos of my new works of art.

Lover you all!

Back again

So it has been over a month since I have posted on this blog. As you may know I went out to sea on the NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER. Unfortunately I did not harness my creative sensibilities as well as I could have. I spent my time working hard at surveying and trying to promote morale on the ship with a little movie night action. On the weekend that we were in Juneau I took the time to get out and go hiking. Excuses, excuses.

We have been seeing record low just before Thanksgiving and a wee bit of snow which has allowed me to get my hermit on. I don't want to drive therefore my transportation is limited to walking and public transportation.

Let me do a little reflection on the snow. Man how I love it. Mind you, I do not live nor work on the Eastside nor have to commute very far to work. I am very fortunate. My heart goes out to people who have to travel in the gridlock. There is something to be said about how the snow transforms Seattle. It clears out the streets and kills the constant buzz. There is a peacefulness and serenity that I feel on days like these. It really got me sentimental when I was walking to the gym through the industrial section of Ballard where the snow and wind were ripping through the empty streets at 7pm. The snow brightens up the dull darkness known as winter in Seattle. It just reminded me so much of Oslo.

Enough with that. The isolation of the snow has also given me an opportunity to pump out some crafts. Yesterday we were let off of work at noon. I took the bus to Fremont, grabbed a cup of coffee at Fremont Coffee Company and then trampled through the snow home. I resolved on the way to make a couple of new message boards for my living room to display the cards and postcards that I occasionally receive. It is a really easy project that allows me to use things that I have around my apartment. Recycling.

These message boards are made with cardboard boxes, left over scrap fabric, tape, and staples. You take a cardboard box and you cut the sides down into the same size. Stack those pieces of cardboard together (at least two thick, preferably three) and tape the sides together. With your left over fabric, wrap it like it is a present making sure one side of the cardboard is completely covered and staple it down on the other side. Secure a piece of yard across the back side with either tape or staples and hang it on the wall.

Homemade tack boards displaying the cool things I have gotten in the mail. Really this is an over-flow area from my fridge.

I made this one a few months back. I had so much posted on here I felt that it was time to make another board.

This one is new!

Also new. This one is tiny but I really like this fabric. I only have a tiny bit left not sure what is going to happen to the remainder... Catface want a catnip toy?

Have I ever expressed what kind of terrible friend I am? Well I am. Fact. A while back I told my friend Simon that I was going to make him a really nifty pair of decorative socks. You know, be nice and share my knitting wealth to the world. I ordered special yarn from Norway and I waited. And waited, AND WAITED. I can go on and on but it never arrived. In the mean time I decided to make the socks for myself, you know, a dry run. I started them on the ship but didn't get that far. I was easily distracted and they take a surprising amount of concentration. Since being back in Seattle I have had the down time of the bus to start cranking them out. Add to that the hermit time that I have gained with the snow and BINGO! I have finished my first sock. I may not make the next one. NO! For the love of fashion I will! The only problem that I see with this sock is that it is a little bit big in the calf. I mean it fits but I'd like it a bit snugger. I bought a superwash yarn so I could, well, wash it. I wonder if I throw this in the washer and dryer I could shrink it a touch. Just a thought. I love the way it looks though.



Well it will take me a bit of time to finish the other sock but it will be well worth it. Though at this time I don't think my hands believe me. Oh and I bought some new salt and pepper shakers. Fox and squirrel. Love them!

Coolest. Halloween. Costume. Ever.

It's funny how spending most of my time on uploading the pictures for my 365 Frames project has really taken time out of blogging. Well I have to say that I accomplished an amazing feet recently: creating the coolest Halloween costume ever. Yeah I might be bias. Bite it. I was inspired by a costume that my friend Mariko brought back from Japan. I am not quite sure what it is called but it is a bear cartoon which has a cult following. I loved it because the costume was a onezie, looked super comfortable, and was adorable. One day doing my usual carousing of Etsy I found a Carebear onezie that looked very similar to the outfit Mariko brought back from Japan. I was sold. This is the costume I was looking for. So I set sail with my vision. I wanted it to be similar to the costume I saw on Etsy but with these vital differences:

• 3/4 length sleeves and legs at least
• Made out of flannel
• Grumpy Bear design

I found a costume pattern online that was a lion/gorilla which I used as a template. Critical problems with the costume: the chest circle was not big enough and was altered for the Carebear's tummy, somehow even though I made the small the torso was still too long so I had to alter it in the mid-section, and the hood was changed from a form fitting skull cap to a hoodie that you would find on a sweatshirt.
I really think what I like the most about this is that my vision actually turned out. When I was a kid I would have loved to have a homemade outfit like this but alas my mom wasn't that crafty. That's cool because it gives me an excuse to make these crazy outfits and not worry about it.

In the near future I will be going back to Alaska to work on a ship. This blog may lay dormant for a while because my limited ability to access the internet at high bandwidths. Keep your fingers crossed that I will have enough projects to sustain myself. After this costume I am ready to kick back and do some reading.

Three Sixty Five Frames

I have come up with a new, ambitious project to keep me motivated about learning about my new camera and taking pictures. The idea is that I tote around my camera every day and take pictures. Each day I will chose one photo to submit as a frame in a book that will document my 26th year. On September 28th, 2011 I will finish the book and send it off for printing and probably start all over again. Each picture will have a caption which includes the date, city and a title. If more context is needed or if there is a cool story behind it I will add a little annotation. Excitement all around. The question is should I post these photos as I go onto my Flickr account just for funs because not everyone will have the chance to see my coffee table book.

**Update: I have now linked to my Flickr account a slideshow of the pictures I have chosen for my project! You can see it on the left hand side.**

***Update (December 2010): Okay. I overstretched myself. This was a good idea but I wasn't able to keep up on this goal. I will be still taking pictures and posting them to the flickr website.***

Hey ya'll havin' a ball, hope you're doing fine, because anytime is a happy time for a birthday party rhyme.

Thanks to all my friends who sent me birthday wishes in person, via email, text, a phone call, facebook and those who made it out to my birthday Skeeball Fest. You all made me feel so special! Please enjoy some of the things we captured with my new camera!

Blurry Tyler, Liz, and Laurel. All lovelies.

Tyler and I thought it would be a brilliant idea to wear the birthday as a united Team Ty front.

Sometimes our plans fail but funny Ty faces emerge.
We did it!

Skee-skizzles.

I for sure need to work on my faces in pictures. What a lovely bunch we are.

Me, Tyler and Devon. Blurry, blurry.

Another terrible face but sooooo excited! Jobie, me and Liz. Liz looks like she is presenting me.

Annie being proud to be the ultimate champion of skee ball on September 28th, 2010.

This is the "Oh you silly geese, you got me a red headed slut shot" look.

Obligatory birthday shot picture.
Photo bomb before....

AFTER!!!

Late night cat shot.

Need to get better about taking pictures.

This last weekend I was in New Orleans visiting one of my best friends from high school, Mariko. I had every intention on taking tons of pictures and really testing out my new camera. Fail. I think I took a total of three pictures. I don't know what my deal is! Seriously. I just need to take the time to grab it and start snapping but that takes patients and I really felt that I wanted to be running around rather than stopping and taking pictures all the time. Meh. I still had a blast!

Outfall Canal that borders the Lower 9th Ward

BBQ on the Bayou. I was trying to capture the really great harvest moon. That failed but I thought these colors were really cool.

Not sure what this is but we drove past it my first night. Perhaps it was a theatre?

This is outside the Louis Armstrong Park. They say it is under construction but I wonder if it has ever been open.

New Camera!

Yep, I did it. I bought a new camera. Get ready for some photos! Today I took it out to Gasworks Park and took a couple of snapshots. I can't wait to use it in New Orleans this weekend!

Nick knack, ticky tacky?

I am at that age where I am noticing the nuances of each of my grandparents. I have a wonderful grandma who is really into the nick-knacks. I am not sure what this fascination with collecting little clowns, frogs, pigs, what have you but that is what my grandma is really into. Focusing on all spending efforts on buying random objects possibly as decoration. You know, I probably do the same thing with my crazy scarves, crocheted purple and gold cowboy hat, and concert prints... psh let's not focus on that because I NEED those things.

Well my grandma has been pushing these little figures on me. I am slowly accumulating owls. Yes, it is very true that I have been fixated on owls as a motif. Check back on my curtains, mittens and sweaters. To me these things are functional as well as kitschy. So far I have three objects that have entered my life from my well intentioned grandmother. As a 75 year old Tyanne would say, "Bless her heart."

The first is a plastic owl. It is intended in scaring pests away from a garden. G-ma gave this to me when she found out about my owl mittens I made and the balcony garden that I had on Capitol Hill. I have to say that this owl did not deter the evil squirrel which harassed Catface day in and day out. That squirrel was a dick. Funny story about the plastic owl. It lived in the back seat of my car for a good while. One morning I walked out to find someone broke my drivers side window. To make matters worse is that he/she left their vomit covered t-shirt on my seat. This created the situation that the police were required be present to take the report and the t-shirt off my hands. When the fine officer and I were examining my car and chatting about how nothing was stolen other than the few Norwegian kroner that I had in my center consol (I will ask you why YOU do NOT have kroner lying around....) and he was shocked that the car burglar did not take the large plastic owl from my back seat. "I know, if I was searching people's cars I would have hit the jackpot!" The owl now lives in my basement storage unit awaiting the day that I will acquire some land which is harassed by rodents.

The second piece I have named Steve the Judgmental Owl. He sits on my kitchen window sill judging many things including: why I haven't done the dishes, why I haven't put the clean dishes away, and why I make so much food for one person. Look at those eyes and tell me there isn't hate within them.

The latest to my menagerie are these three owls which hold tea lights. I have found them a home in the window sill above my couch. They do not have a name yet but it looks like their heads are on fire.

I am now striving to become someone on this website in 40 years.

What the hoot?

Indeed.

I have finished my first adult sized sweater. Yes I made one in Norway but the arms were made for an ape. Very long. I have ATTEMPTED to make I think one two other times but the first time I ran out of yarn and I had only one arm left to finish. The other time I got everything knit and it just didn't work. So KAPOW! I win!

A closer look. Yep, those are owls. I need to find buttons for some eyes.

I also need to clean my mirrors. Oops.