Want to learn how to spin your own yarn? Here are some free brochures, courtesy of Interweave, and a PDF detailing how to make a spindle out of a CD. Looks kind of easy, but I wonder just what the benefit of spinning your own wool is, especially if your skin gets irritated by wool. Thoughts?
Tomorrow I fly out to Toronto for two weeks. I bet my flight won't have stylishly designed air sickness bags, like the ones on Design for Chunks. Then again, hopefully I won't need one.
This design is one of my favourites. Why are there always carrots?
Happy Chinese New Year! To usher in the Year of the Dog, check out this artisan's work...
These pendants are hand crafted by an artist using vintage techniques from the 1800's. A small snip of hair/fur from your dog, cat, or horse, is crafted into the image of your pet and placed inside a keepsake pendant.
Hmm.
So I'm taking a break from knitting the most frustrating socks ever (very fine black yarn + tiny needles + big foot = argh) to make some mittens for one I feel needs them. I picked out a beautiful pattern, bought some bamboo needles (so pretty & great to work with) and some yarn that I'd have to double up on to fit the constraints of the pattern. Or so I thought! I am half done the pair and have a monster mitten on my hands.
Now, I feel that this is pretty funny, but I'm also frustrated, as I wanted these mittens to be perfect. Sure, they look good, but they're going to be the size of oven mitts! Of baseball gloves! It's incredibly frustrating to get to this point, after having put in (half) the work and having followed the pattern so carefully. Seriously, what happened? Is it because two strands of chunky are not equal to bulky weight, as I was assured in the knitting store? That's all I can think of.
Luckily for me, the mitten recipient is very understanding and seems to like them anyway.
More on my quilt when I have a chance to get back to it. Maybe this weekend.
Although I heard about this compilation last month, it wasn't until I saw the cover of the album that I was really interested - how's that for judging a book by its cover? (But isn't it just beautiful?) In all fairness, I don't know who John Fahey is, so there was nothing to spark my interest other than M. Ward's involvement in the project. Now that the album is up on Amazon, though, I see that Fruit Bats, Devendra Banhart, Calexico, Sufjan Stevens, and Grandaddy (among others) are all covering John Fahey's songs. That's enough for me.
Yarn Harlot is hosting the Knitting Olympics. Cast on a during the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics on February 10th and cast off before the Olympic flame goes out on February Feb 26th. Go here for all the details how to play, plus a long list of participating kitting athletes (knitletes?). I need to do some serious training if I decide to go ahead with this challenge. (And doesn't love a craft challenge?)
[Link via a small fall]
Ok, so this blog is supposed to be about craft (with a smattering of music thrown in). As a result, I am going to have to stretch the common definition of "craft" in order to post about this here. Well, it's not so much of a stretch, really, if you go by my personal defition (which is quite expansive) - or, more simply, this definition: "an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or skilled artistry".
Because I would say that building an entire city out of a bunch of caves requires a certain amount of "manual dexterity or skilled artistry". Actually, probably quite a bit of both.
Read this BBC article about the amazing city of Matera, Italy. In the part of town called Sassi ("stones" in Italian), "some dwellings are little more than caves with a door on the front [and] others have elaborate fronts, hiding the cave quarters behind". In the 1950's the people were evicted cause the caves were turning into slums. But now, Sassi's coming back to life, with tourism and high-tech realizing that caves are pretty darn fantastic to live (or work) in after all.
It's election day in Canada. In celebration, I present you with a craft that - like the election - combines making X's and Canadian icons: cross-stitched Margaret Atwood!
Now how's that for a thematic tie-in?
Forget tags. Heck, forget words. retrievr is a nifty site that lets you search for flickr images by drawing what you want. That's right, drawing. It's probably more fun than functional (if you're looking for precise matches), but it's a great concept.
Read more...So just be gentle with me
(I'm not as young as I was)
And I'll be gentle with you
(I'm not as great as I thought)
Cause my heart gets broken so easily
So just be gentle, be gentle with me.
Here's the video for Be Gentle With Me by The Boy Least Likely To. It's pretty darn cute, filled with marionettes and little animals and bright colours and such. So nice! (Except for the singer's mustache. It is not nice. While tempered slightly by an attempt at a beard, it is still not so good. Go beard or go home, I say!)
You really can find anything on the interweb, it seems. Someone took pictures of his or her rabbit with various little things (mostly baked goods) on his little noggin. Hilarious, bizarre, and reminds me of stuff on my cat. I got to the two pancakes picture and laughed out loud, but a few photos after that one, that bunny just starts to look ticked off. I mean really - some of these things (giant orange, owl made out of rock, etc.) look quite heavy! Some people's kids, seriously.
Iceland is a magical land. Look at some of the fantastic things that are going on up there, especially at studiobility. I love their cut-out furniture, which reminds me of paper cuts and these curtains.
Also not to be missed (despite their size) are studiobility's miniature stairwell inset in a tile - and the scores of miniature chairs that are running loose in the forest and on the streets.
Following an earlier post about the iPod pants, here's yet another way you can carry your iPod without ever getting your pockets dirty. Behold the TuneBuckle. (Link via Core 77.)
Since she's so modest, I - Siobhan - want to show off the mad knitting skillz of my fellow magpie & caker, Lindsay. Look what she crafted up for my xmas present! So pretty! Ahh, this girl's talented with the needles, that's for sure.
Just this weekend I was pondering what her knitting secret is. I was knitting - or trying to knit - but things kept not working out, so after unravelling and restarting oh, say 152 times, I reverted back to the ol' K1 P1... Maybe I get distracted and lose count with the fancy pants stitches? I feel like if I could figure out why patterns knit up the way they do, it would be much easier. The good news is that in a couple of weeks, I'll be in Toronto with Lindsay, so I can learn from the master! And the even better news is that I am lucky enough to benefit from Lindsay's knit-attacks. Thanks, Lindsay!
The first day of Industrial Design class was great. In the morning we talked about I.D. and saw a video and slides, then the afternoon was all about fruit. Our assignment over the next three weeks is to make a fruit tray - or, more precisely fruit pedestal - to show off our particular fruit. We spent a chunk of the afternoon disecting, examining, drawing, writing about - and even photocopying - our fruits, then we shared our fruit stories with the group. Love it!
Tomorrow's my first Industrial Design class - all day Saturday for 3 weeks. Exciting! This course has the best "required supplies" list - the last item is "a piece of unfamiliar fruit (for dissection and discovery)". It was surprisingly hard to find something at this time of year - I went to 2 supermarkets, a fruit & veggie market and 2 Korean groceries before I found even a pomegranate. Where are all the crazy unidentifiable fruits when you need them?
I am pretty sure it is impossible to not be in love with Megan Whitmarsh.
Among her other projects, she creates miniature (only 4" x 4"!) embroidered pictures of all your favourite things: yeti, rock and roll, Star Wars, breakdancing... This stuff is adorable, hilarious and completely fantastic. Even the titles are great - "Breakdance forest", "Modern Yetis", "Moonboots dance party" and "Icebergs and boombox" - to name a few. [Link via Things Magazine.]
Levi's has announced that they are creating the first iPod compatible jeans.
Coming in Fall 2006, the Levi's RedWire DLX Jeans will "seamlessly integrate iPod plug and play technology" into the pants. Which means the jeans have an "invisible" pocket for the iPod, a joystick in the pocket and retractable headphones built in - plus a "crisp white leather patch" and "clean minimalist buttons and rivets" which "allude to the iPod's famously pure design". Uh huh.
Unfortunately, Levi's hasn't released any photos of the jeans yet.
To me, this just seems ridiculous. Why would you need special pants to listen to music? Why would you want that?
And why would I want a bright white leather patch on my jeans? What they really should be doing is making white all-leather pants with some headphones attached. Now that would be rock n' roll.
Today's been quite a cozy winter day. I've been inside for most of it, working on my new-year's-resolution-to-make-one-who-ever-thought-it'd-happen-so-soon quilt, taking breaks for some kitchen sink* stew and hot chocolate with marshmallows.
Then, I find out that there is to be a movie version of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are. Script by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers! ...!
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* Where "kitchen sink" means "throw in everything you have that is stew-worthy". Highly recommended. Further: kitchen sink casserole.
I have just unpacked from my xmas vacation - only twelve days after I arrived home.
OK, that's not entirely true. After Day 3, I took everything out of my suitcase and placed it in a large heap against the wall. I then proceeded to give that pile function by adding my dirty clothes to it for the next week or so. Well, tonight that all came to an end - and I was rewarded for my efforts by the Domesticity Fairy. Because - get this - not only did I unpack, I also did my laundry. And, there's more.
While waiting for my laundry to, um, launder, I decided to finish organizing my craft closet. Yes that's right, my jealous friends, I have a craft closet. This is certainly one of the best features of my new apartment - that, plus the pantry and the mini-balcony. Oh, and the fact that I have windows in my bedroom, that's nice too.
Anyway, by the time I had finsihed sorting and labelling all my supplies, my laundry was ready. As I was just about to take my laundry out of the dryer, I wondered where the lint trap was. The machines are kind of industrial so it wasn't in the obvious place. Eventually, I spotted it - it was under a flap on the top of the dryer. So I pulled the huge lint trap out - I swear it was almost two feet long - and cleaned it, then did the other dryer's, too. I think most people must be unaware of the secret location of the lint trap, cause it sure was linty.
And the point of this story? Well, when I opened the dryer to take out my clothes, there was a loonie perched right on the lip of the dryer door. A little token of thanks from the Domesticity Fairy for performing good domestic deeds.
I guess this means I now have to put my clean clothes away - and not just leave them in a heap against the wall for a couple of weeks. Darn.
Is Toronto really "the Renaissance Florence of knitting"? Read on.
Read more...
Today is Elvis Presley's birthday. Why not celebrate by knitting an Elvis wig?
Here's a free pattern, courtesy of The Shed.
"Imagine combining your love for bouncing balls and your obsession for taking pictures into one, now it has a name Satugo."
Well, well, we here at Magpie & Cake love bouncing balls and have had an obsession for taking pictures for years! What is this "Satugo"?
Whoa, it's a camera you're supposed to throw - and when it hits something, it takes a picture! Or it can be attached to a string, so when it gets to the end of its line, it clicks the shutter. It's also got a timer and "can act as a mobile storage facility for your personal data and function as a webcam". WHOA!
Flickr is a beautiful thing. This felt sugar skull for the Day of the Dead (one of my favourite days of the year, even though I have yet to really do anything for it) is only one of the great finds available.
Check out these sets:
paper dolls
suitcases
vintage buttons
and also from the homespun_hippie pool (where I found the above skull), look at this amazing dragon lantern in the making!
Today feels like a lazy day - no work (hooray!) and nothing scheduled except having coffee with an out-of-town friend later this afternoon. I almost slipped into doing absolutely nothing today, save for playing on the internet and watching tv, were it not for a thought I had yesterday afternoon.
"I wonder if I could make a little sewing machine out of felt?" I thought.
Well, what do you know - I can!
I think she needs a name - any suggestions?
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