carefully making a mess

Still Dreaming

2011-04-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

Garden Tennis Slashed Bikini

2011-03-21T03:24:00.000-07:00

Garden Tennis Bikini, Ghost Intimates

My newest pair of bikini bottoms! The mint jersey is from a Miu Miu dress, the floral silk is a Dior nightgown, and the lining in that awesome neon tennis-ball yellow is newly sourced. You can't really tell from this photo, but when you put these undies on, the slashes in the Dior silk spread to reveal a neon surprise! Hm, I just realized this is not the best photo because I took it before I sewed the Ghost Intimates label in, but you get the idea.

Pastel Macaron: Done!

2011-03-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

These things are a lot harder to draw than I thought they'd be. They're round and cute, but when you start getting into it, you realize there are all these crevices in the "feet." Yes, I have the i heart macarons book, but no I have not actually made anything from it; I just like looking at the pictures :]

I actually got 2 more to draw, one rose-flavored, but I ate them instead! I want to like rose-flavored things, but they taste kind of weird, to be honest..

Pastel Macaron

2011-03-02T02:26:00.000-08:00

It's funny how an hour ago I thought I was done with this, but now looking at this photo of it, I'm not so sure anymore. It could use some brighter colors (though I don't think it photographed quite right) and the composition could be improved, but all that will have to wait till tomorrow. Good night!

Watercolor Denim

2011-02-27T04:12:00.000-08:00

While I mull over buying a new computer that can handle Photoshop and Illustrator, I will be exploring the GIMP freeware version. It's amazing how that kind of resource is even available for free! Like the library.

The button is a little off (I had to throw that in in Photoshop with my mouse), but these are supposed to be "designer" jeans. Check out that custom wash!

Doll Faces: Finished!

2011-02-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

They're done! Can't wait to see them with bodies and hair.

Doll Face

2011-02-15T00:04:00.000-08:00

Rag-doll face painting in progress for Turtle Monkey Bug.

Hibiscus Tea

2011-02-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful day! It makes me want to take a nap, though I think this might be the opposite reaction I'm supposed to have when San Francisco gets one of its rare summery days. I really love sleeping in the sun, though!

Another one of my favorite things to do on a hot day is make hibiscus tea: organic dried hibiscus flowers my friend W gave me from her husband's parents' tree, steeped in hot water and sweetened with some yuzu jam from the Korean market. I was going to add lemon, too, but the only lemon I have is all shriveled up (I don't know why I still have it! And even as I type this!). Of course, Martha Stewart has an amazing-sounding recipe for a Strawberry Hibiscus Lemonade that sounds right up my alley.

Briefs in Progress

2011-02-03T03:02:00.000-08:00

I haven't really said anything about my lingerie project in the works, but here's a sneak peak of the pair I was working on today. (After I got out of bed at 1ish...)

Unfortunately, I ran out of elastic just as I thought I'd be able to finish before I went to bed—that would've been exciting—but who knew each of my thighs required 18 inches of elastic to go around? That was a bit of a shocker. I mean, it just SOUNDS like a lot; I guess I'd never thought about my body parts in terms of circumference, for things other than the usual bust, waist, and hips. Happy surprise of the day though: the elastic turned out to be entirely dyeable! Fancy that.

Crystal Tooth

2011-01-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

Finally, after a long vacation, something to show.

And the result of some experimentation, which I'm really happy about. It's been so long since I was looser and more like "Let's see what happens if I do this..." Taking classes has really honed some of my skills, but has also made me put a lot of pressure on myself, I think, and has put ideas in my head that I'm only now starting to shake free of. For example, I've decided that it's okay to not keep a sketchbook since I don't seem to like it very much; I can NOT keep a sketchbook, and still call myself an artist! Imagine that!

Anyway, this is one of two pieces I was able to complete this past week. Hopefully there will be more to come.

Look what I found...

2010-11-11T11:33:00.001-08:00

...while looking for something else. It would be nice to finish this.

Coptic Binding

2010-10-18T23:56:00.000-07:00

Did a little playing around with string/thread and the strips of fabric. I love the mustard yellow combination with lavender and coral.

The Masks We Wear

2010-09-29T02:22:00.001-07:00

Falling back in love with the detail-orientedness of graphite drawing, and playing around with gouache a bit. Hoping to make a series of this.

Sakura Collage

2010-09-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Finished! A long time ago actually. Not totally in love with the stuff in the bottom right hand corner, so I might re-do that at some point.

Sumi-e

2010-09-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

Got a little carried away with the largeness of her body, though she does have a wonderfully massive body. Ink is fun!

Nightmares.

2010-06-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

Originally this was for an assignment about dreams, but I feel like its color scheme is a pretty good descriptor for me right now. Just going through a little heartbreak.

WIP: Sakura Collage

2010-05-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

Toys in Monochrome

2010-04-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Still lifes done in class: the assignment was to draw objects all of the same color (there was a study in yellow, too, but I don't like that one as much). The teacher usually sets these up, but today she was late and some students (all full-grown adults, mind you) set it up themselves and started fighting over the same objects, trying to set them up in their own little corners to draw! I guess high school never ends.

I like the frog drawing the best. His belly was a challenge because it's a lighter color than the rest of his body...but it was in the shadow...so that had me a little unsure of what color to make it. But when I figured it out (and I'm sure there's more than one way to get the same effect) I was surprised that it was this grape color that did the trick.

Oh, and new-found old love: Nu-Pastels. They're hard enough for detail work, because sometimes you need a good sharp edge to keep your drawing in control; but soft enough to play nicely with Unisons and Senneliers. Hey, if they're good enough for Wayne Thiebaud, they're good enough for me.

A watermelon surprise

2010-04-01T03:01:00.001-07:00

Watermelon closeups in pastel on toned paper.

Remember Jolly Ranchers (or do they still exist)? I used to love those things. Not sure when it happened, but now, the idea of all those mysterious flavor and color additives sounds kind of gross; that's why red velvet cupcakes freak me out--WHAT is the point of all that red food dye?

Eeeeeeee...

I appreciate the cream cheese frosting. I just don't understand why the cake needs to be red; it's not like it makes it look yummier. I mean I read in some recipe that you need like a quarter cup or something of dye. Dye. Scary. And isn't red the one food coloring that can make kids crazy or something? Sorry. I seem to feel quite strongly against red velvets, and somewhere many people are thinking me a heathen. But probably not right now at 3 in the morning. Good night!

Herakut

2010-03-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

via RomanyWG's flickr

Wow, I just discovered this German painting duo Hera (Jasmine Siddiqui) + Akut (Falk Lehmann) = Herakut, and I am in love with their art. They present one solution to a question that I've been struggling with recently: How do you make figure drawing modern?

One problem I've had with my work in figure drawing is that although I love the drawing process itself, and find it so much more exciting than still lifes, the end result after a session with a model in class looks only like a successful exercise at best; there's nothing more in it to tell a story. I do think that figure drawing is a genre most appreciated by other artists...the naked body (even if nothing explicit is exposed) can make people uncomfortable. I mean even on my first day with a model, I had to take a deep breath; and I had a classmate who, even at the end of the semester, still refused to look at the body, working only on the head!

Our last project involved our drawing a dream or memory. The end result (not really done, in my mind, but see last post) finally had me finding a happy balance between figure + other, and between careful rendering + modern spirit. In my opinion. :]

Anyway, I wanted to mention Herakut because they've found this balance. In this article, they talk about how the guy does the super-rendered body forms, sometimes so photorealistic that I was convinced they were magazine blowups collaged on, while the girl does the more expressive painting. And then there are all these great pencil (?) drawings by Hera alone, which was great to see just at the time I was working on the mushroom project and had fallen back in love with graphite. I won't say too much more about these two because you can read about it for yourself, but here's another article with more pictures of their awesome work. Love!

via RomanyWG's flickr

Mushroom Dream

2010-03-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Not completely done, but as done as it was going to be for an assignment. I fell back in love with graphite with the last project, which also made me reevaluate graphite as a perfectly respectable drawing medium. I wore down so many 6B Tombow pencils that my mom used as a student, some to a one-inch nub!

Anyway, this is a dream I had where I had mushrooms growing out of my arms. The actual scene in my dream had little fluorescent mushroom caps (think enoki) studding my arms, but I didn't think that would be nearly as fun to draw. Google and this crazy mushroom book were a huge help [I learned about mushroom sports!] but it was a new challenge to piece everything together and make them look like they weren't just collaged on. I might build a model next time, too, and use that as yet another reference. Sounds like a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of work to figure it all out in your head.

Back to still lifes.

2010-02-10T17:27:00.001-08:00

(Not toilet paper.)

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When you take the time.

2010-02-07T00:59:00.001-08:00

Quite beautiful, no?

san francisco: 50% off at pearl art!

2010-01-21T14:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, 50% off EVERYTHING at Pearl Art & Craft in San Francisco! Sadly, it's because they're going out of business, but... I guess it's been going on for 2 weeks already, so go with an open mind and lots of money in the meter. All the paintbrushes were gone, and really, not a single one was left, but there was still a lot in the pastel/charcoal department. And tons of scotch tape and embroidery floss. Unfortunately, I got the wrong size blades for my rotary cutter, which at 50% was still around 26$, but lesson learned for being too greedy.

Other than stocking up on boring essentials like my favorite pad-paper, Windmill Power, I also got two sets of Unison Pastels, and a walnut wood empty Schmincke (I love spelling that, and I mean it) pastel box because I need to take better care of my loose sticks. And because it was 50% off.

forgotten drawings

2010-01-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hey, look what I found while packing up for my new drawing class!

Finding these two still zipped up in my carrying portfolio was kind of a shock; last night I was running around, getting all my materials together, I yanked my drawing board out of my bag, and there they were. Like time had frozen in there. I didn't even recognize them at first, but they were the drawings I did on the day I decided would be my last class. I guess the class just got old for me; I felt stuck, and was no longer interested. Normally, you can take these kinds of classes over and over, because more practice will only make you better—it's not like repeating the same math class—but it was just too much of the same: the same exercises, assignments, people, and teachers. Though I do miss S + D!

My camera "intelligent auto"-focused on her breasts as the face!

What Santa would look like nude. Possibly wearing panties. Sorry.

Bent Objects

2010-01-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

Hee hee, have you seen these? This guy Terry Border takes fruits and leaves and things and makes them into little characters. Kind of like Play With Your Food [I loved them for many years] but with more of a storyline, and with a more clever sense of humor.

There are other funny ones on The Huffington Post and posted on his own blog (brain-eating peanut zombies, cupcakes being dangled by their feet over a bowl of sprinkles for an OXO campaign), but my favorite is this one with the lemons. He calls it "Mail Order Bride," which I guess is a euphemism for a blow-up doll... But it's so cute—I mean check out the chair wedged under the doorknob!! Ha! So eager yet innocent. It's Lars and the Real Girl.

...Ooooor not.

2010-01-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

So everything had to come back down 2 days later; after an hour and a half of measuring, math, and ladder climbing that night. Why? Because the owner of the location remembered that they'd wanted to put a mirror there, but actually chose not to tell us before, or even while we were working because he--get this--felt bad! Felt bad because we "were working so hard"!

I guess he'll feel better now, now that we have to do it all over again?

The background story, though, before I forget: One of the owners of a soon-to-be-opening restaurant mentioned giving me wall space for my art after she saw some of my work. I was excited, but didn't want to get tooo excited until it seemed a little more for sure, so of course when she wanted a confirmation from me 10 days before she wanted them hung up, I had nothing ready. Since I mostly draw (on paper), I knew I'd have to get stuff framed if I wanted to use something I already had, but the last time I took something to a professional framer [Frame-O-Rama, and it turned out beautiful and awesome, with the best customer service ever!], it took about 3 weeks, so I knew I didn't have time for that [though I later realized that that was mainly because I'd had a frame custom made], so I thought I'd do a painting instead. A pair of paintings, even. Because that wasn't overly ambitious or anything, especially not for someone who'd dropped her second and last painting class partly because it was too scary.

Those 10 days were sleepless and stressful, because of course they centered right around the new year, and it seemed like all anyone wanted to do was get together and hang out. I did not have time for this! It took everything in me to not to spend any time doing nothing (a direction my body and brain tend to gravitate towards); if I wasn't playing hard, I should be working hard, and after a lot of good work, frustration, and lessons learned (there were some tears), I finally ended up with two pieces I was happy with, and just in time. [And I learned to mat and frame, too! It was actually a relief to do something so black and white by that point.]

So the night of, I took Tom to check out the restaurant so we could figure out how we were going to hang everything, but the wall she showed me last time had a gigantic blackboard on it now. I was like oh my god, what if she didn't think i was doing it anymore because i hadn't kept her updated enough? It turned out she'd decided to give me this other wall, which I wasn't initially happy with, but Tom brought up the good point that the pieces would be more visible from the outside here, so when we were done I was all excited and proud, but not as whew! i'm done! as I'd expected.

And now I think my body must've known we'd have to take everything back down in less than 48 hours! AND find a new place for it.

The restaurant, being mostly windows, actually has very little hangable wall space, and the biggest piece of wall left is behind the bathroom door. The owner was like, "Oh, I thought it might be a cute wall for the painting, since it's smaller and will fit the painting better," and I was like ...n--no. Yeah, as she pointed out, the door's not going to stay open ever, but it's still...The Wall Behind The Bathroom Door. I felt kind of hurt that something I'd worked on so much was being stuffed in this little dark corner. Insulted. So I decided I had to speak up for myself and my work and I said that honestly, I didn't like the idea at all and that I preferred the pieces right where they were, but since she was the boss, I didn't think she was really asking for my permission to move them. And then the little drawing she suggested would be "great" on this other skinny column of a wall, in front of which there'd be counter seating. I said but it'll be right up in someone's face, and way too close to food for my comfort, and she was like, "Well we can just hang it up higher," which would make the halfway height of it at around 70". I mean the little drawing, as she herself pointed out earlier, has to be seen up close to really be seen, and wasn't the whole point of this project to give me space to display--and hopefully sell--my work? They are not here for your decor!

Anyway, I cut them down and brought them home, to be hung after the restaurant setup is closer to being finalized. At least I can take pictures of them now! I can't believe I didn't manage to get any photos of them finished before I took them in, but I guess I had a million other things to think about near the end. Just waiting for a bright day; it's been really grey here lately.

The deed is done!

2010-01-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

Details to come. Time for some ramen.

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Ballpoint Lilies

2010-01-04T16:58:00.001-08:00

Ballpoint pens are really fun to draw with! Paper♥Mate blue is my favorite.

Back to Painting

2009-12-30T03:00:00.001-08:00

I felt like someday I'd be back here, maybe after I'd exhausted all drawing media, but I didn't see it coming this soon. Short story: I've been offered a wall space in a new restaurant, but the catch is that my work has to be up by the 6th. Yes, in a week. (Wow, a week!) Yet, despite that soon-approaching deadline, I decided that rather than use something I already had, I wanted to take advantage of the pressure and make something new. In a medium I'm uncomfortable with, using a subject I have little experience painting or even drawing,...and I've decided to do TWO 24" x 30" pieces of them.

Day one had me in tears: My practice painting colors were all over the spectrum, and what made it worst was that they were all in the harvesty hues that I hate the most. On top of that, my initial concept of pastel over acrylic was just not going to work. Blech, look!

Day two: I started working on the actual canvas. Re-did the initial painting of the flower both A) in a much free-er style (possibly because this was my third time drawing it), and B) in a less-obtrusive ochre (versus the purple I used for the first draft), and boy did that help! Then I remembered how in painting class we did something with a monochromatic underpainting, and then lay colored glazes on top, so I started shading it out with yellow ochre and raw umber till I got what you see at the top.

Day Three: Tonight. After 6 hours on my feet at work and then walking home in the rain, I can't say I really felt like working on my painting, but I knew I had to. The plan was to get a lot of glazing done, to get it out of its brown state, but all I ended up doing was mixing a bunch of colors and storing them in my Sta-Wet palette, which is a really cool thing for acrylic paints, but my sponge totally disintegrated when I wet it this time! I wonder if the paint that had been in there for a couple years now had anything to do with it.

I am no good at color-imagining and -mixing. What had happened in the past is that I just end up having to use whatever I happened to come up with. Kind of like how I cook. But this time I've vowed to be better! No more settling for unfortunate colors like this Barbie-skin-gone-wrong:

By the end of the night I had a couple colors tucked away into the palette:

They look pleasant enough; I just hope they're actually what I need/want! I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning.

Framed and Sold!

2009-09-26T02:59:00.001-07:00

The first drawing of mine I've ever seen framed! I got it done at Frame-o-Rama here in San Francisco, and while it was quite expensive (all the little things really added up) the customer service was personal and friendly, and I think it turned out great. Amazing how a frame can make something look legit. Anyway, thanks to my buyer who made the framing experience possible! Oh, and for buying the drawing as well, ha.

P.S. This was posted on my iPhone from bed!

No matter how well you think you packed them...

2009-09-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

...don't put your pastel box in your check-in luggage ever again. Especially at $4.49 a stick.

Pringle "Squirtlenarf"

2009-08-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Grainy from the dust on the mirror. Eeeeeew...sorry!

I made this copy of Pringle's Amphora Stole years ago and finally I've started wearing it more, probably because I've been wearing my hair up a little more often now (with it down, my hair just gets all tangled by the wool rubbing up against it!). People always want to know what it "is." I don't know, does it need a name to be whatever it is? Someone finally termed it a Squirtlenarf (sweater + turtleneck + scarf), so I guess I have an answer for everyone now, though I don't know if it'll really help them understand it any better.

Taipei Traffic

2009-08-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today's the day! I can now start the Bulky Coat because I just realized that I have more of the french grey than I thought I did. Possibly 6 skeins. Not quite sure, because it will require some frogging of the Evening Shell (that I like but just really never wear, mostly because it makes me look like I'm wearing a scuba-diving vest) and the sleeves of a partially-deconstructed Groovy Sweater dress (also unflattering on me, sadly—I so wanted to love it!), but it LOOKS like a lot of yarn, which is promising.

Sometimes, though, it's just easier to sit in front of the computer next to the heater than to do any work that actually requires moving, so here are some pictures from my July in Taipei, taken one night from the backseat of a car when we were stuck in traffic:

Bulky Coat it is!

2009-08-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

I found this video from Vogue Knitting on YouTube, and it was decided: I'd be making the Bulky Sweater.

I drove to the Main Library the next day and got there 13 minutes before they closed, rushed through the doors, and immediately was lost—I knew I had to get to the 5th floor where all the magazines were, the question was just HOW? Or, more specifically, where were the elevators that actually went UP? I was running out of time. I have an unhealthy tendency to cut it really close when it comes to time management; I wonder if I secretly enjoy it!

I finally found my way up to the top and basically ran up to the nearest library people and was like, "Where are the Vogue Knitting magazines??" I cut it so close—by the time I was leaving, there was only one exit left open and the security guard was ushering us out. But I now have the pattern for the coat, and I laid in bed last night reading through it, and now I'm wondering if I missed some final directions that might've been on the next page; mine seem to end kind of abruptly with directions for the collar...something about placing a marker, and that's it!

Anyways, I have two Twinkle Soft Chunkys (Chunkies?) to pick from: Haze (a greyed-down sea green) and French Grey. Although I have the 7 skeins that the pattern calls for...of neither. The Boyfriend Cardigan only took me 3 (not 4) skeins, so I'm hoping that I might miraculously only need 5 for this pattern... :]

Debating Sweater Coats

2009-08-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Back from a very tropical summer in Taipei and now San Francisco weather is so cold in contrast! Granted, it's actually been pretty nice for this city the past couple days, but being back has me thinking about winter knits already, particularly about large slouchy sweaters over mini, silky dresses with riding boots. Or trouser socks and heels. So here are my inspirations and possibilities:

The Twinkle Diagonal Stitch Coat
What it looks like styled in an editorial:

And what it looks like in normal life, looking much less fluffy and cozy:

via NYmag

And in all the pictures on Ravelry, the sweater looks even less fluffy! Maybe because most people subbed for the Twinkle Soft Chunky, though. And I don't know how I feel about the shortened sleeves, but that's easy to fix anyway. And I really like the huge collar on this next one, but I wonder how that would look with the trellis coat..

Twinkle Mystery White Sweater Coat

via NYmag

Has the pattern for this sweater been published anywhere yet? In another picture I saw on flickr, the side view shows that the sleeves have braid cables on them, if that helps anyone help me any. :]

Twinkle Bulky Coat from Vogue Winter 2008

And on the runway:

via NYmag

Maybe I'll knit this one, since it's the most consistent-looking when you compare photos from different sources. (I just noticed that the two different models are wearing the exact same things for these two photos. Is that the only outfit that goes with the sweater?) Or the Siréne du lac cardigan from her Town & Country Knits. It's so hard to decide! I wish I could just try on samples of these and then decide based on fit and how they look on me. That would be taking away from the mystery and excitement, but it would also take away from the frustration when you're all done and you try it on only to realize that it is not flattering at all! Off to go think about this some more...

WIP: Tonia Shorts

2009-06-10T02:20:00.000-07:00

How do I work in a mess like this? Least charming photo ever.

I used the Tonia shorts pattern from burdastyle.com. It cost me $3 ! Yes, that's still very little to pay for a full pair of shorts, but I'd gotten so used to their patterns being free that this was a very big shock. Paying for it made me feel more like I had to actually finish the shorts, though, since I get really excited about new projects, but have a really hard time finishing them.

So far, I've modified them a LOT. A lot of guesswork was involved, and very little formal pattern drafting (as you may remember, I only took Draping last year), but I carried out my adjustments based on what I felt like common sense called for...and hopefully I'll prove myself right with the fit. If you compare these with the original pattern, you'll see that these are the low-rise, short-shorts version. With a fly that may or may not be constructed differently than the directions had instructed. (Has anyone else found that burdastyle patterns are written really weirdly?)

But the best part of these shorts is that they will be scalloped at the bottom of the leg! Yes! Inspired by the current Chloe collection (though it seems that they use a scalloped trim) and encouraged even further by a little how-to handout our Copying Couture teacher gave us on the techniques of Pierre Cardin, these shorts will be SO cute. If all goes well.

Naked Pillows No More

2009-06-06T00:13:00.000-07:00

I finally clothed my pillows!

So a while back, I made my sister send me [from New York!] her un-used pillow fillers, and since then, naked pillows have been sitting around my place, their weird unfinished seams bugging me. And the fabric I've also had for ages; definitely more than a year. But finally, they're done, and I must say it was quite easy, except that for something so easy and logical, it took quite a while to calculate everything so that every opening slit, etc. was in the right place in the end. I'm all for making things yourself, obviously, but I hate when things LOOK "homemade," you know? They should look professional!

I've only made those 2 so far, and I don't think I'm going to use the entire box of pillows that C sent me, but I think I still have a few to make.

P.S. It doesn't look like it's on purlsoho.com anymore, but it says on the selvedge that this fabric is by Tina Givens for Westminster, collection name "Zazu." Flowers, chandeliers, and pink! Hmm...I don't think it's quite girly enough...

A New Place

2009-05-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

Shabby Chic pillowcases. Too bad they closed before I was able to make it to their sale.

So it's been about 3 months now, but I've moved! From a fancy schmancy condo with no furniture to a cozy little typical San Francisco studio. Still with no furniture. But what it does have is everything in white wood, molding around the floors and ceilings, a little glass-doored cabinet for my very small (but recently grown) vintage Pyrex collection, and hardwood floors. AND an ironing board that folds out of a long + skinny cabinet door! That was the coolest discovery ever. I keep forgetting to get a new cover for it, though, so I've been ironing on a horrible little one on the floor, which I also realized needed a new pad and cover after I started pressing metal grid patterns onto my cloth.

Ah, all the renter's renovations I would do if I had a bunch of extra money! Replace the cabinet knobs with glass ones (I need about 20; so at 4$ apiece, Anthropologie is not a good idea), line my closet with oriental rugs, get a bunch of table lamps, change the blinds to shades...that I keep promising myself I will get around to making. Oh, and furniture. Like a bed. I can't believe I almost forgot. Sometimes I don't feel like this place is home yet, which is a little sad since it's where I live, but I suppose once I get the boxes out of here (yes, I am still living among boxes) and clean up a bit... and I feel like lighting makes such a difference, but nice lamps don't come cheap! Though I guess nice lighting can come from ugly lamps as well, but I don't want to accumulate things that I'm not going to want to keep in the long term. Off to Apartment Therapy to see what ideas they have for me...

Figure Drawing : Pastels

2009-04-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

So I think I've left charcoal-only drawings behind for good. It's not that I don't like doing them...well it kind of is, but only because I think I've reached my capacity in that medium. I'm awful—when we're doing a longer pose in class, and I've only been working in charcoal, I either keep drawing over the same parts over again, or sit back and wait for time to run out. With pastels, though, I totally lose myself in the drawing and the colors, and the other day I even noticed that my heart was beating faster!

I used to use my Senneliers, but then I discovered Nupastels, which are firmer and better for finer lines. And less messy, though it's still hard to eat and work at the same time (I like to eat and do many other things at the same time)... I think I may start combining the two next time, though, using the soft pastels for broader, first-layer strokes, and the Nupastel on top. And maybe more Sennelier on top for contrasting texture. I'm getting all excited just thinking about it! Can't wait for class on Monday.

my etsy

2009-04-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

It's up! So far there are only 10 drawings, but there will be more to come every day. It's a lot of work for a newbie, geting it all set up: taking the pictures, editing the photos to get them to match the drawings in real life, writing descriptions and my profile,... I'm not complaining, but who knew it would be so hard to get the black and white ones true to life? I think I still need to change the banner, though. Even though I love that photo—it looks like nothing, but it's a picture I took at night in New York, of those glass circles in the sidewalk with the light from the basement shining through. I wonder what was in that underground room. Ooo, spooky..

2009-04-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

Work in progress. And getting ready to post some stuff on etsy.

Fake Polaroids

2009-01-12T04:31:00.000-08:00

Poladroid takes your photos and makes them look all dreamy and old-looking. I love this effect which is why I have so many toy cameras, so I feel like I'm cheating with this computery version, but it's still fun. It's a little gimmicky, like it takes forever for the "film" to develop, and you can only convert like 10-ish photos before it tells you the cartridge is empty and makes you quit and restart the program, but tonight I just worked on an unfinished dress from draping class last term while I waited for it to do its thing. So here are some from my first "cartridge" (second, really, since it froze during the first set and I had to restart it). I know Christmas is over, but I never got to post about it! These are actually from different Christmases, the bottom three photos from Paris (our family had a very romantic Christmas dinner—check out that lighting), and the first from a bank here in San Francisco—I love that one: a snowman choir! There were more I wanted to put up, but blogger was being stubborn. Actually, that last one is not very polaroided at all...hm. But anyway, I want to see your poladroids, too.

A Card for My Dad

2009-01-06T03:38:00.000-08:00

getting over a cold

2008-12-06T21:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving~

2008-11-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

Midtone Monday

2008-11-20T03:49:00.000-08:00

I made it to both figure drawing classes this week! Sounds crazy, but that is a pretty big deal for me. I don't know why I don't make it more often—I feel so good when I've been to class, even if I don't end up with a good drawing, as was the case today. Oh, well, sometimes I have my off days. Monday, though, we had Jenny (see above) and I love this model. I especially love this silk hydrangea half-hat she's worn to class before that I don't think I would have the guts to wear, but still half hope to find during my 2nd-hand-store crawls. Anyways, this drawing didn't really photograph well. I don't think I know how to photograph ANY of my drawings—look how blue the white paper always ends up—but that's not to say the disappointing end results are not my own fault; I do the kind of drawings that have great detail and line up close...but are low on impact from far away. Still working on that. In the meantime, zoom in please. :]

Afternoon Tea

2008-11-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

I went to afternoon tea yesterday with N, my bestie from high school, and of course yesterday was THE worst of the recent rainy days. Ugh, I knEw I should've worn my rainboots, but of course I wanted to wear my recently favorite outfit which required my mouse shoes. Which were completely soaked by the time I got home—I mean there were rivers in the streets. Well, as much as a city built on hills can, I guess.

So there are no pictures from the tea that I took personally, but the one above is from the official Crown & Crumpet website. How cute is that. I'd been to Lovejoy's before, but that one was like...musty Victorian dollhouse and fun to go to once...but maybe not again. Crown & Crumpet was lots more modern and less scary, and even though I've been wearing a lot of black and other grown-up colors lately, I'm still a girly girl at heart, so this Cath Kidston-themed tea room was totally my thing. Though I think I was the bigger fan of the two of us...In fact, I don't think N is even a tea person! We sat at the table where you can only see that one chair on the very far right. That was my chair. :]

We got the Tea for Two, which means we each got our own pot of whatever tea and then a three-tiered tray of sandwiches, scones, crumpets, etc. The teapots they have are custom-made clever little things: You can hoist the leaves out of the water when the tea is done brewing without having to look for somewhere to put the mesh ball. Why aren't there more teapots like this? They actually sell them in their little shop, but I got this instead:

Cat pencil not included! Ha, that is one of my childhood pencils that I recently rediscovered. So this is a Cath-Kidston print tea-and-saucer-slash-plate set. The picture was taken back at my house later that night—I had a private midnight tea as well—with the leftovers from that afternoon that N had kindly let me have. I really should wear a tiara on my head sometimes.

Like a close-up shot was necessary, but here you go anyways. The lighting makes everything look kind of weird, but it's been grey and dark out all weekend so a picture this morning would've been pointless anyways. I was sad because the fruit tart was soggy by the time I got around to it, and fruit tarts are my favorite. The Halloween cupcake was surprisingly good—hard icing! Soft frosting = bad. One thing that was kind of weird was that they called what we got "Tea for TWO," but some of the things came in odd numbers. Like there were THREE scones. And there was only one each of the more interesting finger sandwiches. And like that tart was the only one. Stuff like that. I felt like everything should've been divisible by two. Good thing N is not as needy an eater.

What else. I did not get a parking ticket even though we went over the 2-hour limit on the street. I mean they validate the first 1 and a half hours at the garage, but we always spend so long talking and eating and the garage is $2.50/20 minutes so it would've been expensive anyways. And I was going to show you a picture of the only other Cath Kidston thing I have, which is this recipe binder that's SO cute. But sadly yet unsurprisingly empty of any recipes at all. And it just would've been another incandescently-lit picture anyways, so I'll just leave this here for now.

My Bra Adventure

2008-10-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything on my other classes, so here's what I just finished in Lingerie class. ("Lingerie class" sounds so strange; like all we do in class is try on underwear and prance around!)

Ta-da, my bra~ Originally we were all supposed to make the same bra out of the same white—but dyeable—materials from the teacher, but with enough whining, most people ended up with their own personalized versions. I wanted to make a bra that I wouldn't be able to find anywhere else, so this one is made of some Liberty of London cotton I bought years ago and never used. I knew collecting for the sake of collecting would pay off eventually.

So bra-specific parts are really hard to find in normal fabric stores. And it turns out a bra needs a lot of these parts. I tried to be a trooper and get my own materials from the store myself. I figured looking for things like "powernet" would be a learning experience—I didn't want to be like "I don't know, I just got it from the teacher," you know? But other than the fabric, I came up empty-handed for several parts and ended up having to buy them from her after all (she'd gotten them wholesale). So things like the underwire, underwire channel, finishing elastic, and ring and slider (actually, I never even looked for these things). Even the strap elastic was kind of a lucky find—it's an elastic, but what sets it apart from all other kinds of elastic [who knew there were so many kinds] is that they're not super stretchy, and the side that goes against your skin is plush-backed (a little fuzzy) and the side you show the world is pretty. It was also a huge miracle finding it in the color I did, because even if you're lucky enough to find the item you need, chances are it only comes in white. Which means you have to dye it. Which only works if it's not polyester. Which you won't really know until you TRY to dye it because nothing is labeled.

Anyways, the fabric for the cups was originally going to be used for the entire front, but then it just looked too...navy. So I took a chance and paired it with an even busier print because I love mixing prints! Yesterday I wore a mustard yellow striped polo with a lemon yellow striped velour track jacket. Don't make a face. It was awesome. But back to the bra, the busy print ended up being a smart choice because it made it harder to see how uneven my stitches were in some places. Yeah, I have yet to master my sewing machine. I'm just glad I finally managed to learn to avoid large thread gobs on the underside of the fabric.

What else do I want to say about this bra... I wish I'd taken more pictures of it during the process, because it's kind of amazing how all the millions of parts came together. I think once you get the cup to fit you the way you want it to (the entire class was complaining that the original Kwik-Sew pattern was too pointy), the rest is pretty much just assembling, and it's kind of common sense how the parts go together. It's just that the parts are so small and the seam allowance is only 1/4 inch, so for someone who has a hard time sewing in a straight line, it's really slow going if you want to get it right. And I wanted to get it right. I hate working on something for so long and having it not come out the way you want it! Picture of it under construction:

Yes, my work space is messy. It's a wonder I can get any quality done. The cups and the band were separate at this point, and you can see I just laid the underwires on the band at this point, to see what the final curve would look like. And this is the back of the finished bra:

The salmon on the underside of the bra was kind of an accident. The underwire channels were supposed to be the same color as the lining—you can see I came nowhere NEAR the target color—but somehow the peach in the dye clung to certain spots on the channel...it was the color of cheetoes dust. Gross. So I tried to cover it up with more Rose Pink Rit, so now it looks more like I dyed it all with Kool-Aid, but oh well, better than fake cheese. In the process of NOT matching the lining, though, I somehow managed to exactly match the hook and eye panels to the straps! And the straps are a little squiggly right now, but they should smooth out with wear.

It was lots of fun. I want to make another one, but a more sexy-pretty one next time. Next up: the final project. It can be anything—it just has to be "in the spirit of lingerie." I was thinking of doing a bra-top romper that can be worn out (with the bottom half under a pair of real pants) but everyone's excitement in class to make garter belts has me wanting to throw a pair on the romper as well. Any other ideas?

Features in Tones

2008-10-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

New technique that S made us do today: drawing in tones instead of lines, and subtracting the light from a pre-applied medium tone charcoal background with a chamois and then kneaded eraser. I was like "blah, blah, heard it all before," but I tried to just really go with it, and look! I didn't even draw the left iris; it was just there after all that smudging and subtracting! Cool, huh. But I didn't get to the left eye because I'm slow. Anyways, looking forward to doing more of these soon.

Today is not the 14th.

2008-10-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

I actually got to the background and setting of this one! Amazing. Actually it was D who came around during the break and encouraged me to use it not to socialize, but to do some placement of color for the drapery and stuff. Which was probably a smart thing for me because I am slooow so I need all the time I can get. And I tried a new way of starting this drawing: gesturing with flat strokes of a medium skin tone NuPastel, but because the pastel goes on really thick and I didn't want too much buildup so early on, I finished the blocking out of the general figure by smudging around the color with my fingers. Ideally, I'll work a little more on this by adding some fleshier tones on the figure and less fleshy colors in the drapery so that they're not so much the same color.

And yes, the date is wrong in the bottom corner. I spent all day today thinking it was the 14th!

Baby Hats

2008-10-04T00:02:00.000-07:00

Gesture Drawing Again <--my titles are boring

2008-09-30T04:57:00.000-07:00

Another Monday and another gesture-focused class. Fortunately I left with some S-approved gestures. I think I can finally feel them on my own, though. These were done with a piece of really hard vine I found on the bench last week. I usually get the soft stuff, which marks more easily, but is also darker because of that, so drawings tend to get really messy really fast, so my new method is to do the first gestures with this found piece of vine, and then layering with the softer willow after. Thanks for leaving this behind, whoever you are! Maybe I'll leave a little piece of my own in exchange. The only thing is that it makes an awful scratchy shriek when you drag it across the paper at the wrong angle. ::Shudder::

And we started the face today:

But not features. See how S was not letting us "get into the nitty-gritty"? That's why her eyes look like they're closed...but not really... And why she also looks like she can't speak. And have I ever mentioned how boobs are strangely hard to draw and place?

Today's studio music: Erik Satie. Perfect because I just fell in love with him recently. I caught him on the radio when I was driving a couple weeks ago, and I heard "Gymnopédies" and "Je Te Veux" and was like Who is this?? because they were like songs from a dream: I couldn't say I really knew them, but I could hum them. I think "Je Te Veux" is from a Family Computer game I used to play ["play" being used very loosely here—"play with" is maybe a more telling term since it never occurred to me to get past level one in a single sitting]. And "Gymnopédies" is very haunting. Is it possible that I learned this song at some point during my piano-playing career? What a memory. Anyways, I liked it so much I stayed in the car after I got home just to find out who it was. Erik Satie. Go listen to him.

Sweet Potato or Pig?

2008-09-29T17:30:00.001-07:00

Just an exercise for D. I think I hate this paper.

Gesture Drawing

2008-09-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

Mondays are all about gestures. Sometimes I don't even know if what I'm doing is gesture drawing until the teacher comes around and gives me her nod of approval. Or folds her arms and winces.

Model Discontent

2008-09-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

Back from class early today because I didn't like the model. I hope it didn't show on my face, but I almost groaned when I saw him today because I remembered him as the reason I never went back to Friday night figure drawing sessions at SFAI. And what was even funnier was that he did the exact same poses today, too! I could've brought my old drawings and been like, Look! Same! But I didn't have to because he ended up recycling some poses during the 1.5 hours I was there today. He does what I call the Hero poses. Or more like "Graceful" Hero. With lots of ponytail flicking and a shiny body that has seen many hours in a tanning salon. And a purple ring around his...thing. Anyways, then I was talking with some girls at one point, and he actually told us "ladies" to please leave if we weren't going to draw! Way to usurp the power when the teacher's out enjoying his cup of coffee. Whatever, I didn't feel as bad about leaving early then and now I have time for a nice nap before dinner.

And I need my nap because I didn't go to bed last night until 5 in the morning, working on this:

The exercise was to do a figure in motion, preferably an athlete, and using color. Luckily, I had April's "fitness" issue of Vogue still lying around and this is Shawn Johnson from an awesome group photo of some of the women's Olympics gymnastics team. The beauty of the photo really is in the four of them jumping around in the same frame, but one figure to focus on was enough for me for now. Huh...interesting to realize that I've never done a drawing with more than one figure in it... Something to think about. Anyways, I think I love Nupastels. And look at those muscles! On that note, I think it's time for my nap hee hee.

Getting back into the swing of things.

2008-09-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

2008-09-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

So my machine got fixed and I think all it was was that the machine was dirty and dusty inside...aaaaaand I was threading it wrong. And that's why I was having problems. I didn't think I was THAT off though—I just wasn't maintaining tension, but apparently it was at a very crucial point or something. Anyways, problem solved, I learned something, and I got some stuff done over the weekend.

First, cutting on the bias. I need a rotary cutter. I hate cutting fabric, especially slippery stuff. On the bias. Ugh, you do not know how annoyed I was after hours and hours of trying to get the pattern on a perfectly true bias. I was really excited at first because since my silk is polka dotted, on the bias, the dots line up in a grid, giving me lots of vertical and horizontal reference points. I wanted it perfect, so I assumed that if I pinned the center front of the pattern to one column of dots, symmetrical points on either side of the center line would automatically line up on the same row. Except they didn't. Or more like WOULDn't. After a lot of whining, I made the educated guess that while I was pinning the center line, I'd probably stretched the fabric unevenly, so... ANYways, I ended up pinning every 2x2inch grid corner to every 7th dot. And pinned exactly on that corner, exactly on that dot. As you can see here:

And then these are the sewn front and back:

I'm not going to go into the details (no one cares!) but the darts sewn and the lace is all arranged and appliqued. My front neckline is going to be different from the pattern because she said I could do whatever I wanted design-wise, as long as it involved more work and not less. See how mine has that slight V in the front? Well the original pattern is flat across, which I hate. I always feel like I'm being strangled by necklines like that, even if they're nowhere near my neck. So...that's it for now. So far so good.

Russian Goodies

2008-08-31T02:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, a British lady I met mentioned that some of her favorite teas could be found in Russian grocery stores. Inspired by her and krisatomic's lovely photos of gourmet Moscow, I went tea hunting in the Avenues this afternoon. While I wasn't able to find any in cute tins today, I did find many pretty paper boxes of them and at super cheap prices, and got the two Akbar brand ones you see in the picture. The colors and pictures felt oddly familiar and comforting, though these styles are definitely from a time way before I was born. And I thought it was interesting that on all three packages the graphics are horizontal on one side, and vertical on another. I wonder if it's just a coincidence or if it's something they make a point to do a lot in Russian packaging, but it really does make for very versatile arranging in the kitchen!

And then the cow crackers I spotted in a 79-cent bushel and figured why not? The only thing on the packaging in English is the ingredients list, so I tried to imagine what they'd taste like based on that, but I mean what can you really tell from a list of popular baking ingredients? But sugar's pretty high up on the list, so these "cream flavor" crackers are very potentially delicious.

I'm picking up my sewing machine tomorrow from the repair shop, so hopefully it will be in super perfect condition because I really need to have the lace on my camisole sewn on and ready to go for Wednesday. More on that and the sewing circus that was last class another day.

Project CamiSOLE

2008-08-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

I'd been pronouncing it cami-ZAHL. Who knows why.

So this is basically the same pattern (style) we're using for our project. I didn't pick it; we had no choice. Our fabric has to be a silk or other slippery woven, not a knit like in this picture. [Just to be clear, I do NOT like this Josie Natori cami I'm using as my example here. In the voice of Michael Kors, "slutty slutty slutty!" Or maybe just cheap-looking, even if it is selling for 125 at Neiman Marcus. Sorry, beep beep., I know you love you some animal print!]

I might be sounding a little blah about the pattern, but that's really only because I have doubts about how flattering it's going to be on me, because it's so body-dependent with the bias cut. I'd prefer a nice blouson [probably another word I can't say in real life] style to temper my pear shape. Like this:

Eco-Boudoir at figleaves.com

But I don't want you to think I'm being a Debbie Downer about something that has barely even started; I actually have great hopes for my little cami. I found a pretty royal-purple-blue silk at Britex and a cream French lace from Satin Moon to match the color of the tiny polka dots. (Another girl from class got the same lace, said one of the sisters at the store, so we'll see who that was on Monday. Either we'll be great friends or rivals for life.) I'd actually been having daydreams of a fragile black Chantilly eyelash lace with my silk, with the fringe at the edge of the neckline, but apparently it's hard to find as a trim; it's usually sold as a fabric. And the one they had at Satin Moon was 100$ a yard. Plus, one of the sisters warned me away from using black with my "blue" silk. ::sniffle:: But without further ado, these were my choices, and I think the combination looks promising:

Classy, not trashy!

P.S. Oh wow, I was googling to see if Chantilly lace was really what I thought it was, and this I.D. Sarrieri is exactly what I was thinking of (though it turns out that "Chantilly" and "eyelash" are two separate concepts):

Fall Semester '08

2008-08-24T01:03:00.000-07:00

So the new term's started, and after a summer of doing basically nothing, it's been a bit of an effort getting used to this new routine. No more sleeping without an alarm. Which means no more sleeping in until anywhere from 2 to 5. But it's kind of nice, joining the real world again, being awake when most other people are.

Figure Drawing's my security blanket so far. It's round two of a class I took last spring, so the same teachers, classroom, etc. help me feel normal. Or safe. And confident. I need some new charcoal sticks, though. Utrecht just opened a new branch in my neighborhood (but I'm still going to drive) so that should be fun to explore.

Fashion Draping looks like it's going to be fun. On Thursday, we got to pick the mannequins that we'd be using all term, so I was like this is a big deal--if I get a crappy one, I'm stuck making clothes in the wrong size till the end of the year! So I'm trying not to run and push everyone out of my way, everyone else also trying not to look like they're That Competitive Student, but you knOw we all had one eye trying to figure out which mannequin came in our own sizes. Or at least I did. I found one that looked pretty small with a "2" stamped on her neck, so I was happy. Well, I was going to ask the teacher if there were any zeros in the bunch, but then I looked at my mannequin, and her waist was tiny! Apparently with "vanity sizing" going on now, the size 2 I thought I knew is really like...a size 8 mannequin.

Anyways, we draped experimentally--only having lightly researched Madeleine Vionnet and Paul Poiret on our own--with 2 sheets of 1-and-a-half yards of muslin. I was a little nervous but secretly also really excited for what could happen, like what I could end up making. And in the end I was pretty happy with it. I know it looks a little crazy, but I would seriously wear this. I ran out of room on the paper, but that's kind of where the dress ends off anyways. Can you believe: this is 36 square yards of fabric! That is a lot for a 2-foot-long dress.

And Lingerie Design & Construction. So far it looks like this might be more sewing techniques specific to fabrics often used in lingerie (think slippery and stretchy) than design, but we'll see. I mean I would enjoy that by itself anyways, since this is all new to me; I've sewn before, I would even say that I sew kind of regularly, but I have no idea how my standards compare with those of professionals. Our first project is a camisole [I'm so used to saying "cami" instead, I just realized I've been pronouncing this word wrong!], and I'll have pictures of my fabric and lace selections up later. I think the teacher might not like me, though. My theory is that my auto-pilot "polite" voice actually ends up sounding whiny.

The Cassidy

2008-02-13T17:13:00.001-08:00

thinking of doing etsy...

The Most Beautiful Bag Ever In The Entire World

2008-01-17T15:26:00.001-08:00

Louis Vuitton Richard Prince Monogram Aquarelle Bag

Messing with Tiffany & Co.

2008-01-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

Pringle

2008-01-05T03:33:00.001-08:00

Happy new year~ So I know there's been this whole Pringle craze with that sweater, but my Silver Belle was similar enough for me to give that up and decide that this is the Pringle I want to make. Here are a close-ups:

(Haha, her eyes look kind of funny.) It looks easy enough, but I don't know how to do the decreasing for the shoulder-neck transition when it's knitted on its side like this... If anyone has a better picture of this (or helppp), it would be very much appreciated, thanks!

twinkle's weekend knits

2007-10-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Not coming out till February 5th, but listen to the patterns Amazon mentions:

"the Wisteria Scarf creates drama with its cascading clusters of blossom stitches" [okay, cheesy description, but it still sounds hot], "the Meridian Tunic Dress, perfect with jeans and sandals" [hopefully this one will turn out a little better for me than the Groovy Sweater Dress], and "the Cloudburst Cardigan, a ruffled knit that easily slips on over a dress."

Thanks to luxe loops for the heads up!

Lobster Mitten Sweater Hood

2007-09-27T02:04:00.000-07:00

Giles, Winter 2007

P.S. My Silver Belle is done! Pictures some other time. Ooh, and I finally got a Ravelry invitation so I have been spending the last couple days on it. I am really surprised at how professional and comprehensive the site is—I totally did not expect that.

Calvin Klein Collection

2007-09-13T20:29:00.001-07:00

I want to make this! I wonder if that huge sweater from the Vogue anniversary collection of patterns is based on this one..

Silver Belle update coming soon. I made some modifications—shorter + narrower sleeves, no cabling up the back, and a different but still undetermined collar—so progress has been a little stop-and-go. But things are looking good so far!

A Pantry Ballet

2007-08-21T23:43:00.002-07:00

Joseph Cornell : A Pantry Ballet (for Jacques Offenbach), 1942

The kookiest thing ever—those are plastic lobsters dancing with tutus and spoons—and I cannot get enough of it!

Silver Belle Progress Report

2007-08-12T18:51:00.001-07:00

The peplum is done [do normal people even know what a "peplum" is? I had to look it up in the dictionary] and actually was done a couple weeks ago. I had to do a couple modifications, though: doing exactly what the pattern said left me with so many rows of regular 4x4 cabling for Panel B at the top (to get a length of 9.75") that the peplum flared out towards the bottom like a trumpet. Which I didn't like. I'm making the size s, which is apparently what the model is wearing, so how did they end up with only 2 rounds of the 4x4 at the top? I thought maybe my gauge was off (I must admit, I'm not too fastidious about swatching), because some other finished measurements didn't match the ones on the pattern, but I did the right yoke and checked the gauge off the seed stitch there, and it seems to be fine. Hmm. Anyways, here's the neck part of the right yoke:

The bottom part of the neckline also looks different from the sweater the model's wearing, but that might be because it's sort of stretched out on her or something.

And people have been asking about the yarn, so I thought I should say that I'm using really old Sympathie by Filatura di Crosa: 35% mohair, 45% wool, 20% acrylic in color #754.

And on an unrelated note: look, Charlene—your rose plant!

And my strawberry plant—my first strawberry. Or maybe second, but I forgot to take a picture of the real first one before it shriveled up and died, so. And now this strawberry is gone, too, because I ate it :] But it was so small it was hard to tell what it tasted like.

i own a piece of a farm

2007-08-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

So I picked up my very first box of Eatwell farm-fresh veggies and eggs. Oh, I should've taken a picture of the eggs, too, but here are my heirloom tomatoes (and the gypsy peppers underneath) in the cardboard box they came in. The box also came with a melon, thyme, a brown bag of different kinds of little potatoes (authentically dirty, too), yellow plums pointy at one end, 2 red onions, a basket of cherry tomatoes, and a newsletter inviting me to a tomato sleepover at the farm! So cute. If I were the pitch-a-tent kind of girl. Or if someone pitched it for me.

Silver Belle Update: the bottom skirty part is done, and I've experimentally [that's not the word I'm looking for, but I can't think of it] knit one sleeve and am now up to the body part. I don't think I'm going to want the sleeve to be as fussy as it calls for in the pattern (and I'm thinking I might not even have enough yarn for it), but I figure I'll just knit it up and piece it together to see how it fits before I decide what to do with it. Anyone else making this?

Clay Cake

2007-07-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

I finally put my Silver Belle knitting down long enough to finish this!
Next step: Latex 74.
Oh, and here is the accidental kitty that happened as a result of all this clay sculpting:

Speaking of Vogue Knitting, the preview for the fall issue is up! Thanks to girlkae for letting me know. :] There are a couple sweaters I might want to make, especially among the free downloads, but it's kind of hard to tell what they look like with all the posing. But I've started Silver Belle, so I'm going to finish this one first. god, 376 stitches--I have never had to cast on this many at once before. Here's my progress report:

Idea #5

2007-07-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Haha, look at all the things you can do with a boiled egg! I dug this Japanese bento recipe book out of the bookshelf because I've decided to try to make my own lunches to take to school, now that I have class from 10 to 4. Okay, so there are only two more weeks left and I've been eating at Greens (this expensive organic restaurant that is too convenient to be good for anyone's wallet) for the past four, but maybe I can get a B+ for future effort. Anyways, the one in the top right hand corner is supposed to be a chicken, but I think it looks like a bleating baby dinosaur bird. And the one below it is supposed to be a raccoon, but I thought it was supposed to be a frog. But then the one next to it I think is the funniest-looking: it's a guy zooming around in a baby-carriage-looking car with his toupee flying behind him! Hahahaha! I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but trust me, it's funny. I'll try to upload a better picture of it later. I know y'all can't wait.

Grey Sweaters

2007-07-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

3.1 Phillip Lim is my new love. Look how cute this sweater is. I want to make it, but since I think it may take me forever to figure out this pattern from scratch, I may have to settle for the Debbie Bliss pattern featured on the cover of the Vogue Knitting Fall 2007—still cute, but I feel like it'll look too grown-up on me.

P.S. If anyone knows how to put two photos side by side, please let me know!