Artsplosure, or Adventures in Wearable Art

One of the cool things about working downtown is that I get to wander into some pretty cool local cultural events.  This weekend was the annual artist festival Artsplosure.  Being the broke girl crafter that I am I of course had to venture forth, but only for an hour or so after work.

The scope of Artsplosure is extremely wide.  All of the booths feature a placard listing the artist name, where they are from, and the type of medium in which they work -- a wide variety that included 2D images, metalworking, and my favorite, 3D textural objects. This seemed to include anything to do with the fiber arts, stuffed toys, clothing, and some of the jewelry.  I met a woman who crochets and who likes to teach children how to make their own stuffed animals.  I stopped in another booth featuring skirts made out of old blouses that were turned upside down and then rubber stamped with botanical images.  A happy pottery duo told me that their eclectic mug collection make the perfect wine cups for entertaining.  And of course there was a representative of the felted fiber arts.

This gorgeous dress drew quite the audience as it hung in the corner of TrendeFemme's booth.  She came in as I was dragging myself away from her felted soaps (I already have one from another festival stand, I need to use it up before I get another but hers were gorgeous) and very graciously gave me permission to take a photo of it.  I will definitely be shopping her Etsy shop and making her booth a must-stop if I ever see her at another area festival.

Of course the only place I spent money was the final booth I saw just as I was walking to my car.  I had just left another jewelry booth.  I've developed a fondness for gorgeous stone worked into metal.  As I left to head home I turned around and saw a set up that looked so light and airy I thought it was floating.  The wearable art of Lisa Toland Collection is right on trend for current 1920s fashion.  All of her pieces are made of crochet wire with beads and fabrics.  Somehow I managed to keep myself to just one small clip -- perfect for that outfit for my cousin's wedding that I keep working on.  I put her card on the fridge so that my husband will know for the next gift giving occasion.

And of course no trip to Artsplosure will be complete without a stop by the sand sculpture.  It's for the kids, after all.

Going Loopy

You know how I said at the beginning of the year that I was not going to put too many obligations on myself?  And then I committed to those stockings I keep talking about.  And then I signed up for Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup.  And now?  And now.  Now I have signed on for Camp Loopy.  Because that is what I have become.  Loopy.

In all seriousness, though, I have been wanting to give Camp Loopy a go since year one.  But I did not find out about it in time to participate.  I didn't even know what the Loopy Ewe was two years ago.  And then last summer I had my standard "holy crap I'm getting married" preoccupation,  so I absolutely had to sign up this year when I found out that it was that time again.  This round's first month assignment is to knit a single skein project with no less than 375 yards in a yarn you have never used.  Any guess what I picked?

I am pretty sure I am going to knit Shur'tugal by Alice Yu.  I've been ogling Desert Vista Dyeworks' self-striping for ages, so I jumped at the chance to knit a pair of socks for this challenge.  Mona Lisa is a five color self-striping that looks to have short color repeats, which should work well for this pattern.

If you have any interest in jumping in on the Camp Loopy fun you still have time before the first cast-on date.  Camp kicks off June first.  I'm climbing Mt Fiberopolis!

Magpie with a Plan

I'm an impulsive person.  I have my lists, and my plans, but I am easily distracted by a bright shiny new idea. My husband dreads the nights I decide that I just have to go for a run even though it is after 8pm and it is getting pretty close to dark outside.  Sometimes a girl just needs a bit of an endorphin rush, you know?  Nothing embodies my magpie with a plan tendencies quite like my knitting.  I have yarn for specific projects and a general idea of what I want to knit and when, but I've learned to give myself a little wiggle room and leave the door open for impulse.  Doing things like picking up pattern collections when designers have a sale and only buying yarn if I will absolutely cast on immediately (this last one doesn't always work, but it has given me more structure than you might think).  So it is with great excitement that I can share with you that despite my love affair with my new hoodie I am halfway through my Triptych Shawl!

I swear this is a much more subtle and varied colorway than it is coming across in photos.  It is much more a soft mix of plum and honey yellow and red than these stark shades my camera loves to find.  Triptych is my first knitting adventure with beads and it has been quite the learning experience.  Talk about impulsive.  I went to the store, bought two tubes of beads, and then sat on the floor with them in a pile in front of me until I figured out how to get them onto the yarn.  I ended up using the prestrung dental floss method after a series of trial and a lot of error.

I am in the beadless section now and I am quite excited with how it is moving along.  At this rate I should be done with plenty of time to wear it to my cousin's wedding.  Now if only I could find shoes.

For more works in progress, check out the gang over on Tami's Amis!

A Rambling Amble and Contest Winner

I talk way too much in this entry, but I do get to some relevant information including current projects and the winner of the What's Your Beach Contest.

Helpful Links:

Singlehanded Knits with Mel Ski

Drizzle by Mel Ski

Perpetua Shawl by Romi Hill in Unwind Yarn Company

Triptych Shawl by Liz Abinante in Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock, Honey Fig

Havasu Hoodie by Par Oiseau in Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham (review)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern


Thanks for watching!

Geektastic Thursday: Someday, Someday, Maybe

As you guys have probably pieced together, I love to read.  I was raised on books.  I was one of those kids whose vocabularies never really fit their place in life because I read so often. I loved classics, I loved foreign novels, and I loved anything that people would think was too "advanced" for my age (which is how I read Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in middle school).  As I grew up I found that I was not the only one who spent their formative years this way.  In fact, it seems that many of the truly great young adult authors, the ones who appeal to both teens and their moms, did the same thing.  Following in the steps of Ann Brashares and Meg Cabot, Lauren Graham's debut novel Someday, Someday, Maybe centers on a strong female heroine who has the wit and sense of someone who spent more than a little time immersed in a good book.

If I am being totally honest I have to admit that I probably would not have picked up this book if it were not for the fact that I am a huge fan of Lauren Graham's acting career.  It's a well known fact that I have watched Gilmore Girls so many times that I have it memorized and Parenthood is an excellent show in its own right.  But Someday, Someday, Maybe is the kind of novel that could stand on its own.  The narrative voice is clearly articulated as a unique character.  Franny is the kind of girl you want to hang out with and the fact that the story is set in the early 1990s gives it a certain amount of charm that a story about a young actress trying to find her way might not otherwise have.

Yet the book also does not suffer from Graham's credentials.  She is not skating by on name recognition, but rather delivers a fun, well-written read that brings laughter with each chapter.  One can hear Lorelei Gilmore and Sarah Braverman in the character of Franny.  It is clear that all of her experience and work has given Graham a close and careful study of storytelling.  There is a structure and intelligence behind the magic that is the key to creating a successful novel.

I bought the Kindle version of Someday, Someday, Maybe, but I will probably purchase it again when it is released in paperback.  Like Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants or The Princess Diaries it is one of those books I want to carry around with me to read over and over until the spine is creased and the pages are worn and curled.  If you are looking for a light read with an intelligent heart to carry with you this summer, give this one a try.  It will bring out that teenage bookworm you still have on the inside.

Here There May Be Ponies

How is it Wednesday already? My friend Taryn came up on Sunday for the "weekend" and we had way too much fun knitting, thrift store shopping, and watching My Little Pony (How did I not know of this brilliance before? I will never know).  It has been a perfectly lovely followup to the rather traumatic work day I had on Saturday.  I had a very unpleasant encounter that put quite the damper on the rest of my day.  When I got home all I wanted was the comfort of organization and a basic knit.  As I was working on my new craft area I started flipping through a random magazine.  Next thing I knew I had sat down and cast on a new sweater.

Somehow I had never noticed the Havasu Hoodie lurking at the end of the last summer's Knitscene.  Something about the very unassuming description and the comforting basic ribbing and stockinette made it exactly what I needed after a horrid day.  I'm knitting it out of some Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool that I bought a few years ago but never managed to use.  Here's hoping I bought enough.

For more WIP Wednesday posts, check out the gang over at Tami's Amis!

Also, don't forget that you still have time to enter the What's Your Beach Contest to win a copy of Drizzle!

Craft Corner

Happy May!  It was a crazy week at work this week, so rather than put all of that stress out onto the blog I decided to take a week off.  Honestly, I barely got any knitting done at all.  My basket of wips has reached the point that I went into complete denial and cast on a basic sweater last night.  But out of the craziness has come something really cool -- a sewing desk!

On Thursday I walked into the back to find this baby sitting next to a sign that said "free to a good home."  It seems it was not working out for its intended purpose.  I immediately put my name on it and on Friday loaded it into my back seat and brought it home (This is what I love about my Buick.  It may look like an old lady car, but I can fit quite a lot into the back seat).  Once we got it inside I realized that it didn't make sense to keep my stash cabinet in a separate room if I was going to have a crafting desk, so Friday night found me rearranging furniture until I finally created this (Thank goodness I had already reorganized the stash to fit back into the cabinet).

I'm not done moving everything out of its dedicated storage space, but I am excited by the organizing potential this will create for other things we have stashed away. And it is amazing how much larger our bedroom appears now that I don't have my cabinet shoved into the corner.  I would say that it is helping our apartment really come together, but I'm sure that by the time I am done it will be time to move again.  In the meantime I am just excited to have a dedicated space for all of my knitting supplies, my yarn, the crochet and embroidery I inherited from my grandmothers, and even my sewing machine.  Maybe it is finally time to relearn how to use it.

 

 

Don't forget that there is still time to enter into the What's Your Beach contest and win a copy of Drizzle!