it feels good to be up and with a fresh pot of coffee before 7 am. it’s rainy outside but i am nice and toasty and ready for a morning of peaceful solitude, reading and knitting. i wouldn’t say that these moments are rare, necessarily. over the years i have trained myself to be a morning person more or less because i want days exactly like this to be more frequent. but i still have the odd day where i think i just appreciate it more, and today is one of those.
the picture above? those are some socks and a slouchy hat for an old friend i recently got back in touch with. i’ve done that with a few old and dear friends lately (well, more accurately, they’ve gotten in touch with me, and i’m just really glad that they have). hopefully this one likes the hat and socks, and i know i like the feeling of sending them off and waiting to hear what she thinks. and in the meantime i have lots and lots of works in progress to occupy my rainy day time.
here’s hoping everyone else has a nice day, rainy or otherwise. and also that soon i will have lots and lots of finished objects to share!
just taking a quick break from my holiday knitting to let ya know that i’ll be at mass market 5 on sunday, december 13. mass market 4 this past spring was a lot of fun, and full of treasures, so i’m psyched to do this again. last time i just brought some zines and handspun yarn, but it being winter now, i’ll also have lots of knit goodies.
more details coming as soon as i get ‘em! in the meantime, you can creep on this for more info.
i know i should be writing about something like the g20 in pittsburgh. and i do have my concerns about that. but the thing really keeping me up at night right now is, probably unsurprisingly, diablo cody buying the rights to sweet valley high. there is really nothing i can say here though that has not already been said. however, as someone who possibly takes ya lit a little too seriously, i will just reiterate some of the finer points that have been made recently and say that if i see enid rollins on a burger phone, i will flip a table.
as for yarn-related content, i have some serious etsy updates to make soon. gotta find a way to finance all those svh and bsc books i thrift. but in the meantime, maybe you want to take this little treat off my hands:
it lives in electronic form over in my etsy shop, but in tangible form it lives in my apartment and i came dangerously close to knitting with it this weekend. help me stop the madness. this yarn is delightfully soft and the colors are amazing. and i hear yinz want to be responsible and start your holiday knitting early this year…
i did it! i finished the last pair of socks i was knitting for amber, wove in all the ends, blocked every pair, and bundled them up to mail out this morning. i feel amazing! and i think they look and feel so nice. here’s a little peek:
crucial info:
i used knit picks essential kettle-dyed and solid sock yarn. i guess this yarn is now called ’stroll’ instead of ‘essential,’ but the yarn is apparently exactly the same, just going by a new name. i used a long circular needle to knit these two-at-a-time, which was a lifesaver. i don’t think i could have done each sock individually – it would have seemed like a much larger undertaking.
these came out super nice and soft after blocking, and i feel pretty happy with the way the colors worked out. i hope amber is as happy with them as i am! you should go check out her blog and etsy shop too. she’s a great girl who makes great things! i’ll have more to say about socks when she receives ‘em and gives me feedback!
take care everyone!
i meant for this update to happen last monday. but life gets in the way and i am notoriously always a little late. updates will be more frequent over the next week or two though. i have some leftover yarn from mass market and i want to get it out of my life and into yours.
i posted four skeins of handspun yarn today, so go check ‘em out and keep checking back! i’ve also decided that this time around i may add copies of my zine to the etsy shop. it just seems like an organized and efficient way of keeping it easily available, although i still recommend that anyone interested in my zine still order it from any distro that carries it – i’d rather see people supporting diy zine distros! so eventually a few copies will go onto etsy, but i’ll also be letting you know what distros carry nothing rhymes #5, and how soon they have it in stock.
that’s all – just some general shopkeeping! my personal life remains largely uneventful, but i will say that gary and steph and i might be addicted to the tv show the wire after watching the first three episodes last night, and also i don’t think i can get behind the website last.fm. but maybe that’s just because i wouldn’t want anyone actually knowing how often i listen to the annie soundtrack. if you listen to cool music, it’s probably not a bad website i guess. oh, and also, look how great my little weasel is:
we’ve been together exactly four years now. i still hate that anyone would have abandoned this little freckleface, but i’m so glad that she found her way to me.
on saturday night i stayed over at nicole’s house so we could get up and leave for boston straight from there. we made pizza and ate gross snacks and also awesome snacks and then we candled our ears! this is something we’ve been talking about for a little while, and seriously, it was really cool. according to some things i’ve been reading, ear candling has been pretty thoroughly debunked. that said, my ears feel great, and we had a lot of fun. when you cut up the candles, it’s so wonderfully disgusting:
obviously i’m no doctor and i’m no scientist, but here is my endorsement: if you have a friend to do this with (doing it alone is probably really unsafe) and you don’t have tubes in your ears (also unsafe for candling) and you like things that are gross, why not just go for it? i mean, read into it and make sure you’re being safe of course. but then just go for it. whether or not the buildup inside the candle afterward is ear wax or candle wax, it rules to look at.
sunday morning we got up and went to boston for mass market 4, which was really fun! i’m always a little nervous doing a craft show i haven’t attended at all before. it’s hard to know what the overall atmosphere will be. like will my stuff not fit in at all, or will there be too many vendors selling things similar to what i have, or will the space be weird, etc? but this was a pretty good setup. the space was nice, the music was fun, and i thought there were a lot of neat things being sold, a good mix of vintage/thrift finds, handmade crafts, art and records. the day really flew by, too.
i just sold handspun yarn, no knit things, and my new zine. i got to talk with lots of really nice knitters and yarn-lovers, and that is always one of the most fun aspects of tabling. i got to meet ciara from learning to leave a paper trail, which was another really high point of the day. i always get so happy and nervous meeting people i’ve known through the mail/zine community/craft community, but not in person. so that was really nice! i sold a few zines and skeins of yarn and had a really good time. it was social but not overwhelming, which is good because i do get overwhelmed! and sharing a table with courtney was a lot of fun. her stuff looked great and sold well, which was not at all surprising, but still exciting.
that’s just a tiny bit of what she has to offer. you can go to closertotheocean.etsy.com to buy things soon. it was a nice day and i’m glad i got to be a part of it. the show seemed really well run and organized, and full of great things.
this morning over coffee, also, i read a really weird article on bbc news. i’m honestly a little unclear as to how this is on the front page. in 2009. is crowd surfing really a new or relevant news topic? and do people honestly get trench foot at concerts? keep your feet dry when wet? gary was convinced that i was either reading the onion or that i had written this article myself. but it’s real. it’s so real. i think i need to write to bbc and tell them to give me a job. i’ll write stuff like this all day long if that’s what they want.
well, i finished those yellow socks! i really like them too – they’re going to be so amazingly warm. hopefully chloe is happy with them as well.
for some reason handknit socks always look so funny when they’re not on feet. but when they are on feet, they are the most glorious socks imaginable. i should invest in one of those little wooden sock forms so i can photograph custom socks more nicely without putting them on my feet. because i don’t wanna mess up your beautiful new socks with my gnarly feet.
i think spring is in the air, because people have been really weird lately. like the man at the gym who asked me if i “like pain.” i wanted to respond, “only if it results in gain.” which would have been a sweet weight lifting joke but the guy was a total creepo, so i just said “no!” and ran away from the rowing machine. or like the teenagers on the bus today who were talking about a friend who always comes home to visit for his birthday and 4/20, because the two are pretty near each other. and the girl said, “of course, 4/20 is pretty much everyone’s birthday.” ha!
back to the gym tonight for an hour of listening to bad hardcore while i run, and then to amelia’s to start our owl sweaters!
a few new things on etsy over the past week: www.birthdayeveryday.etsy.com
and also gary and i have been watching a lot of twilight zones, and we’ve both developed a pretty serious crush on rod serling. not that it’s any wonder why.
this weekend was the fourth annual gluesticks and porn night at my friend amelia’s house. this is essentially what it sounds like: we made valentines out of porn. although i am admittedly a moderate to severe prude, i can still appreciate any event that combines something raunchy with something crafty. i got to spend time with wonderful friends and also watch beyond the valley of the dolls again. win-win situations!
i also received this really amazing gift from meghan and steph. i discovered the wonders of $4.89 champagne. and then i got to go to coffee and cream! coffee and cream is the establishment next to the beef barn. these are two of my very favorite places in all of rhode island. or maybe all of anywhere at all? i got coffee and homefries. i made the whole table sad for a minute while i talked about beary’s asthma. but don’t worry too much, guys – i spent all day sunday with my petite catfriend and although there were a few rocky moments, overall he had a nice time napping on the loveseat with me while i watched the bucket list on the phone with jess. because we weren’t joking about doing that!
blah blah blah. i won’t gush anymore. i added new things to www.birthdayeveryday.etsy.com – so go there and maybe buy them! i’m just updating with knits from months ago that i never took pictures of. i’m just now finishing up that pair of custom socks, which i’m excited about. but there’s always that weird feeling when i end a project – mostly a good feeling, a sense of accomplishment, but also that lurking WHAT’S NEXT kind of anxiety. i actually kind of like that feeling too, though. i don’t need to know anything!
now that i have a great big vet bill and a great big heat bill (even though i keep my apartment icy icy cold!), i’m going to be making a lot of those etsy updates that i’ve been so lazy about for the last month.
you can (if you feel so inclined) buy any of this handspun yarn at my etsy shop: www.birthdayeveryday.etsy.com. i’m going to be updating with more yarn and more one-of-a-kind knit goods very frequently over the next few weeks. so keep checking in, and i’ll keep updating with new things!
it feels good to start selling things again and know i’m putting a small dent in my bills already. i’m also feeling a little more positive becaue i got to spend a nice long weekend at home with beary, and although there were two pretty bad asthma attacks, overall i was really encouraged. i’m keeping a log of his attacks to get an idea of possible triggers/stresses, as well as to chart general improvement. if things keep going fairly well, maybe i will be able to keep my plans for going to maryland/dc to see shannon this weekend. even though i won’t have money to spend while i’m there, the ticket is paid for and if bear seems healthy, i could definitely use a weekend of knitting with one of my nearest and dearest friends.
