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.
Filed under: zines
i’ve been meaning to make a quick update just to let anyone who’s interested know that the last issue of my perzine, nothing rhymes #4, is now available at learning to leave a paper trail, stranger danger distro, and very soon will also be available through sweet candy distro, click clack distro, as well as twelve oh two distribution in canada. i’m super excited to have my zines at these awesome distros run by really awesome ladies. if you want to buy a copy of my zine, you should really buy it from one of them, and not from me. (if you are interested in trading for a copy of your own zine, of course we can do that. but if you want to trade dollars for a zine, you should really give your money to one of the distros linked above.)
you should also check out the new issue of amber’s awesome comp zine, fight boredom #3. it’s a feminism-themed issue, still dealing with the topic of staying creative and productive in small towns. it has an interview with me about crafts and feminism, but lots more than that. you’ll like it!
and i got to be part of ciara’s interview series at learning to leave a paper trail. if you go to her website and click on the “dossiers” link, you can read that, as well as lots of other interviews with lots of my favorite zine folk.
anyway, guys, go buy lots of zines, and have a great week/weekend.
the philadelphia independent craft market was a really interesting event. i had actually never heard of it when i applied, but i thought it would be a fun justification for a weekend trip to philly, which would mean getting to visit with some friends.
this show was a total team effort. nicole drove us down to philly, rachel gave us a place to stay, and shannon provided my table. it was so nice to get to see friends, visit the mutter museum (which might have actually been my favorite part of the trip), and shop at THREE local yarn shops.
it was fun to do a new event in a new place – new experiences! unfortunately, this may not have been the best event for me. i thought it was in a really cute location, filled with great things from other vendors, and offered a really fun atmosphere, but unfortunately, something for me was a bit off, as my sales were a record low (nearly nothing!) and even browsers seemed to be just glancing at the tables without looking too closely. business seemed just as slow at most of the tables surrounding mine, although hopefully other sellers did a bit better than i had by the end of the day! i think there may have been another craft even happening in philly the same day, so that may have accounted for some of it as well.
slow business aside, the trip was really amazing. as i said, it was great to see friends, and to check out the wares of other sellers. i traded zines with katie of the la-la theory and had a really pleasant chat with her. interactions like that are always one of my favorite parts of craft and zine events.
in the end, it’s pretty hard to complain. i’m glad i went and got to see what the event was all about. and although it may not have been the ideal craft show for me, i think it’s a really neat series and i’m glad it’s happening.
so now it’s on to christmas knitting. i bought yarn at the shops i went to in philly, and my posts will be pretty focused on that for awhile!
oh well that, and also this: www.birthdayeveryday.etsy.com.
i’ll be adding new items every day this week. there is still time to order holiday gifts! check back frequently!
knit this scarf. it’s lots of odds and ends that i wasn’t sure how else to use. i was thinking about making more of these with all the other odds and ends that i still have lying around. i don’t know. i have really mixed feelings about it. thoughts? too jumbled? just don’t like it? would or would not wear it? i’m just feeling a little curious. i’m working on one more mashup scarf and then that may be it for these.
also, after a really icky (for no particular reason, though) day yesterday, it was so great to have a wonderful group of girls to knit with. and also to know that tomorrow i’ll get to do crafts with even more great people. it seriously makes me so happy to have met so many nice, creative people. it’s one of my favorite things about living in providence.
also also, to everyone who has written letters in response to my zine, i have been answering them and mailing them back out one by one. it totally warms my heart to hear what everyone else’s thoughts and opinions, and i’ve been writing long gushy replies.
i got a little flu-y last week, which was, to put it lightly, a bummer. fortunately i was able to pull myself together on saturday for the boston zine fair. and it was a great day! i met some really nice people, sold some zines, traded some zines, didn’t spend too much of my money, and ate a really good (free!) burrito. and then i got back to providence in time to drink some sparks/tilt/vegan white russians and go to waterfire. it was a fitting end to a great day, and i learned an important lesson: boston may be larger and full of excellent zine events, but they do not light their rivers on fire.
i’ve also been working on those aforementioned etsy requests. i’m pretty happy with these in particular:
taking this photo, i have to admit that i felt like i might be making jesus-hand-signals. i don’t know – my hands just look like they’re in a holy pose here. so i did the scholarly thing and googled for more info.
so i wasn’t being quite as christ-like as i had thought. if you haven’t ever just googled “jesus” before, i can’t say i recommend it. it gets a little weird. even weirder? googling “jesus hands.” yikes.
again, zine fair was great! if i met you, know that i thought you were great! waterfire was great! if you want a copy of my zine, send $1 and a friendly note to chelsea/po box 2761/pvd ri 02906.
ps. fuck the flu
Filed under: zines
i don’t know why i work in this time frame, but basically once a year i feel motivated to make a new zine. usually in spring or early summer. i guess because typically that’s when i’m getting out of school and feeling like i can work on my own fun projects full-time again. but this summer, i wasn’t feeling it. i knew i wouldn’t be going back to school in the fall, and i just didn’t feel any pressure to work on anything at all. it was kind of nice actually.
but old habits die hard, and eventually i was bound to make another one of these sloppy things. so i’m working on it this week and will start selling it at the boston zine fair on the 20th of this month. what’s this zine about? i dunno. the usual i guess – how and why i love life, probably a little something about pennsylvania, some crafty things. someone sent me a message this morning about how i seem to be “keeping things pretty posi.” that’s true – i kind of do. i can’t help it though. there’s a lot more for me to be happy about than unhappy about. that’s a good feeling.
also speaking of good feelings and good zines, i’ll be making some distro updates this week. i’ve accepted a few new things to the catalogue, and they’ll be added to the website over the next week, and of course, for sale at the zine fair, which everyone should go to if you can!
