April « 2007 « luxe : luxury knitted and crocheted eco-friendly wearables accessories

Archive for April, 2007

books rock! image heavy city.

Wednesday, April 11th, 2007

okay, so i got a bunch of books from amazon, a BUNCH and can you believe it…they are all fantastic. i looked at people’s opinions on amazon and i am really impressed. i got this book, the starving artist’s way which came out a few years ago and i hadn’t heard of…have you? anyway, for the art school nerds out there, this book is so cute, for anyone, but it has little blurbs about practically all of my favorite artists and her take on their art as used in decorating, stuff for your home, furniture, and even some really cool recipes, like mole chocolate and chocolate peanut butter cubes and pierogie grilled sandwiches. cool? the only downfall is that there are no photos, you know how i feel about that, however, the website has all kinds of stuff on it that makes it not such a big deal. the book looks like it is written on kraft paper which cracks me up, too. 2 paws up! really cool. additionally, the auther, nava lubelski is a rather accomplished artist that i hadn’t heard of because i no longer keep up on modern fine art, whatever that is, really, but her stuff is incredible. it has lots of crochet and embroidery. really textural and it really speaks to me. it has a really familiar feel to it, like she is my sister or something. i get that feeling about people and their work now and then, it is really odd. so i immediately looked her up and shot her an email. i hope her publisher will do another push for the book, or put it out again, because i think that the diy craft movement has gained so much momentum since 2004 when the book came out that i think it could really go. i am still stunned that i have never heard of it before. anyway, any crafty book that mention the velvet underground, lucien freud, louise b, josheph beuys, frida, paul klee, mark rothko and virtually every other artist that i hold dear, is a go with me. so buy it, it is cheap on amazon.

what else? well, i got sew u the built by wendy guide to making your own wardrobe. it has all of the basics up to advanced projects, and has all of the equipment you need, how to store things, tons of tips and tricks and from my perusal so far, seems really well laid out. the projects build in complexity and each project shows the initial plan with a drawing over the top of it showing what you are adding or omitting. i am a very visual learner, so this is a good thing for me. it also has paper patterns for a basic a-line skirt, a blouse and a pair of pants and then variations on each of those. i like that a lot. okay. next book? i know, i got a lot, but they were at really low prices and i got the free amazon shipping. i got this book new for 18 bucks. it would be 26 bucks plus tax if i bought it at my local bookshop. not too shabby!

next, sew what! skirts which has 16 skirt patterns that are really pretty and straightforward with lots of possibilities to change em up. it seems like you could make pretty much any skirt once you got this figured out. and again, that is how i learn, i am really bad at blindly following steps, i have to understand the whole process, so these books look like they will be perfect. here’s one of the cute skirts from this book:

moving along, generation t one of the tshirt deconstruction books. actually, one of the only ones that got good reviews. the other ones seemed more geared towards teenaged kids or younger. this one has a lot of really cute things that i would wear. there are some bikini and halter tops that are a bit more skin baring than i could do, but if you added some length to a lot of the designs it would be really cute. also, in the patterns, they use pretty much nothing but tshirts, and a lot of the designs would be amazing with other fabrics added in, or just using other fabrics in general. i love the idea of using really cheap fabric and tshirts to learn to sew and actually have cute summer clothes. here is a top i really like… also, thissy skirt… and there is a super cute wrap top, too. seriously, lots of things i would make and wear. oh, and on amazon, i paid around 10 bucks for this book new! at the end of the book is the big finale…a tshirt wedding dress! and it is very pretty, too!

next up, tshirt makeovers which is fairly new i think. here is one from there… and this cute top…
the projects are rated for difficulty, but they are actually very fresh ideas, unlike most of the tshirt books that are just a cut up tshirt and look like a cut up tshirt. some of the tops are skimpy, but i think with length added and maybe some other fabrics added, they could work for most anyone. which is very exciting to me. i may start to get excited about clothes again! i have desperately wanted to design and make my own clothes since i can remember, but had sort of an irrational fear of doing it any way but with a needle and thread. the complexity of patterns and my inability to follow directions blindly also freaked me out. so these new books are so exciting, in case you haven’t figured that out.

i actually got a lot done today, although i feel crummy all of a sudden. i had a very hard time getting out of bed this morning, but once i got up and going, i felt okay. i got orders packed, i dyed a bunch of fiber yesterday, so i braided those, rinsed another batch and dyed a cashmere sweater for a client. the color came out brighter than planned, but it is pretty and looks even from what i can tell. i will post it, although i should have posted a before. it was an oatmeal color before. i did a bit of spinning, caught up on some phone calls i needed to make, realized that my dentist appointment was today not to-morrow. sigh. cooked up some dinner, hung out with jake and attempted to upload photos to flickr, which has been giving me lots of issues and then realized that the flickr uploader for mac is really rather good. you can tag and label everything ahead of time which is pretty cool. but i feel queasy and pre-migrainish so i will finish up here and take a shower.

before i go, some things i have been working on…

and i have some softy patterns i am working on if you wann look at my flickr. oh, and also the new dyed fibers. i will be listing them soon, but if you see something you like, let me know and i will put it aside for ya.

oh, and shannon, aka knitgrrl will be visiting this weekend and i get to see her new louet victoria!! woot woot!

xo
n.

Posted in art, books, fiber, headaches, moleskine, sewing, starvingartist | 5 Comments »

as the wheel turns…

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

where have i been? did you wonder? well, i have had horrible horrible cramps for the past few days. i have endometriosis and my innards are a mess, and i don’t wanna go to the gyno for fear of having to get useless surgery again. my stomach is really bloated, which could just be chub, i guess, although in my experience of life so far, i don’t tend to get a big belly first, so i wonder what might by in there. bad bad things. anyway, i have been drinking raspberry leaf tea today, which has made it more bearable and i divided a bunch of fiber that needs to be dyed into 4 oz balls, which i never thought of myself, but saw that miss violet does that, which is such a smart idea. no weighing and having to have random weights. so smart! anyone else got good time saving ideas for the organizationally challenged? anyone? i would love to see how other people do things so i can pick their brains..ya know?

otherwise, not much at all. i ordered a book used for a next to nothing, retro revamp which was really rather poopy. it is an older book, from 2000, and to my dismay, it was basically taking ready-made things and gluing crap onto it. i could make ugly things with no instruction at all, yeah? and i also am not so fond of things being glued on and disposable. it sort of defeats the purpose of refashioning, doesn’t it? or no? anyway, i also ordered a slew of sewing books which haven’t shown up yet. i had them sent via amazon with the free shipping thing, so i imagine it will take forever, which is why i usually don’t do that. annoying. how do you send something and make it take so incredibly long to get here? is amazon in brazil? wtf?

i have been reading fortress of solitude which was a bit hard to get going in, but is really good so far. it starts out with this white kid moving into an all black neighborhood in new york and how aware of some things kids are, how sensitive they can be about some things, while other things they are completely unaware of. anyway, so far, good.

we watched running with scissors over the weekend, which was really sad, but really funny, too. they portrayed the 70′s incredibly well. two thumbs up. jake and i went back and forth about whether the author of the book was related to william s, and then jake looked him up and saw the he changed his name. understandably.

i am feeling incredibly down and blah so off i go. a photo to lighten the post?
i will be listing this one and a matching skein tonite…

and this superwash sock yarn

i have been drawing lots, whether i want to or not. i make myself. so i will take photos of that soon. i swear.

xo
n.

Posted in books, cramps, endometriosis, rasberryleaf | 2 Comments »

happy easter/passover and to all a good night!

Saturday, April 7th, 2007

hey all! i am hoping that everyone made it through the holidays safely without any diabetic shock? i updated luxe.etsy.com yesterday and some more today, with more coming tomorrow, plus i will be dyeing tomorrow, so that will be forthcoming over the course of the week as well. so check in, okay? there is some really purdy stuff. super luxity luxe luxe. and that means luxe! wanna see some things? hmmm?

oh, also, i was checking stats and saw this adorable blog that features tutorials from different places and cute things that i haven’t seen anywhere before. so pop by and check it out!

and i loaded a gabillion photos of the cats that are so damn cute. unbearably cute. check it out:
peeps snoozing…

and kahlo snoozing with her ankles crossed…note all of the hairless spots she has from her incessant licking. i think it is allergies. she does it all year long, but it has been a bit worse in the last week or two. oh, the hairballs.

and how about some dyed sheepies? well, clicky
here.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

blink. blink. b-blink.

Thursday, April 5th, 2007

ask me what i am up to? well, not a whole lot. i overdid it and my hands have been killing me. and with both of my wrist brace thingies on, i am not so agile with the hands. to-morrow, will be better! i know it! anyway, when my right hand only was hurting, i did some drawing and writing with my left hand practicing, like i mentioned before. i actually told my mom and she didn’t even seem to think it was odd. she asked me why, and i said for fun. or if i have a stroke, i am all set. how morbid! just being prepared. sheesh. anyway, i am much better at drawing with my left hand than writing. isn’t that strange? i meant to ask my neurologist what that meant and forgot.

so in crazy news, my mother-in-law was visiting someone’s house with a friend and the neighbor from a few doors down had an autistic son who got her car keys (the kid’s mom’s, not my mol) and drove the car into several cars on the street, a fire hydrant and my mom in law’s new suv and the lady’s house! the best part is that i guess that the woman’s insurance has a $25,000 cap, so any damages over that (and i imagine they
will be waaaaaay over that) will be paid by the people whose stuff got wrecked. i guess they will have to pay their deductible? i am not really sure, as i know the person who causes the wreck is supposed to pay. anyway! after all of that, today, on oprah they had a show about autism, which affects 1 in 150 kids! did you know that? i thought it was really rare. i was shocked. i know a few people who have autistic sons (it seems like it affects boys more than girls, but i could be wrong) and the thing that is so crazy is that it seems like it most often becomes apparent when they are around 2 years old and all of the speech and other skills they have learned just disappear. it seems to be clearly a genetic presdisposition, but it seems like something must cause it to actually kick in, and there is not much known about it, and not much research going into it, even though it affects so many people. 1 in 150. that is crazy! the big thing with autism is that if you catch it as early as possible, it can make a big difference, so if you have a little one, go and look at the site and the warning signs. my younger brother had a little boy in his playgroup as a toddler named leo that ended up being autistic, he was a gorgeous little boy, and his two older sisters are doctors, i believe. it is just so amazing how different children from the same parents can be. i know a couple of people dealing with this in their lives (and amazingly well!) i don’t want to say names, but you have my admiration.

last night i got a bunch of sewing books on amazon and actually feel guilty about it today, although they were all things that i knew were good, including sew u, and some other basic books. i have already been sketching up designs, i have bunches in old journals, too, in hopes that i could learn some day. there are several really cute new skirts on amy butler’s website, but the links for stores that carry them, no one has it, so i emailed her (she is my friend butter’s aunt) to ask if she knew where…the variations are so cute. also, if you have her book, in stitches, there is an apron pattern variation (which is free on her site) to make that into a cute skirt. super cute! she sent me some patterns a while ago after i sent her some yarn to play with and one was a cute stuffed toy/pillow, super cute. i plan to make a few of those, but on her site, there is a free pattern for a kitty pillow, so pop by…

joann’s has a sale going on this weekend on sewing stuff and patterns, so i plan to go in and get some notions, bobbins, needles and cheap patterns. eeeeeasy ones. any interest donna? i am excited to go. i also need to find out how i can get my machine tuned up. it is a “white” so i think i may name her betty, oh, or maybe betsy…hmmm…unless karissa had her named already.

on the tyra banks show, they have this single mom that makes pr0n movies for a living, and lives super duper well and only works 70 days a year. tyra was obviously grossed out by her, or thought she was evil or something. it isn’t the best thing in the world, but it is in another way rather amazing to be able to be home for your kid and to take them where they want to go, spend time with them, give them warm meals, etc, etc, even if the job isn’t the best case scenario. i have major issues with pr0n as a woman and a women’s college graduate, but i also see how hard a lot of single mom’s have it. feel free to yell at me if you like.

back to business, i will be updating with new yarns and fiber probably monday or tuesday. with it being easter, i don’t know how busy the internet will really be. or does someone know if it is normally a busy time. i don’t celebrate easter, and i guess nothing is open, so maybe it will be busy. hm. maybe i will update on sunday. just for those of you nice enough to pop by. hm. i will keep ya posted for sure.

wanna see some yarns now?

i found this really cool link that i hadn’t heard of before…ever heard of it? threadbanger.com…i plan to listen to the podcast, although, we all know i have a short attention span for them. i have also been thinking about doing a personal podcast that goes along with my blog and what i am up to, into, etc, etc…what do you guys think? if you lurk and never post, leave me a message, okay? on bloglines, i have close to 100 readers now, i think…although in the end, like my blog, it is just another form of documentation, that i feel compelled to make, like a sketchbook or photos, even if no one else cares but me. as long as barbe still wants to do fluff-a-licious we will do that one, which is more of a crafty blog, we will do that one. again, i am still not sure that i should bore anyone with my blabbering. i would love to interview people, although i know that if you don’t have good chemistry, or don’t know them well, or they are shy, it can be rather hard to listen to. you know? just thinking out loud, here. it would most likely just be me talking about whatever. we will see. you will know first. or second, i guess.

off to return emails…
mwah!
n.

Posted in autism, drawing, podcast, sewing, yarn | 6 Comments »

i CAn’t see so well. hmph.

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007

i will keep this short and um…sweet, i guess. i overdid it a bit, okay, a lot yesterday in my glee to sew and ended up with my hands and arms hurting so much that i couldn’t do anything, they feel better now after wearing my splints and sitting around. additionally, i was so exhausted today that i didn’t do anything. at all. nothing. late tonite, i surfed the net, and also, i attempted to draw with my left hand a bit. i saw a documentary about an artist that had a stroke and taught himself to work with his left hand. the odd thing is that i can draw much better than i can write with my left hand. anyone know what that means? not that the drawings are great, but they look intentionally wobbly, as opposed to the writing which looks like a child wrote it. anyway, i would really like to practice using both hands because i already use both hands in most things that i make, with the exception of drawing and writing of course. it has to be good for the brain to do both.

i have been drawing lots of furniture lately still. i enjoy it for some reason. it compels me. i would like to do some embroidered furniture pieces, too. i want to try out using my sewing machine for some freeform sewing. it has the special foot and everything. i have some fun ideas for clothing, so after i get all of my packages shipped, i want to try to alter some of my things. i have tons of stuff that doesn’t fit but i like, so it might be fun to cut up some tshirts and skirts and things and i have drawn up a few designs that i need to take photos of. fun! i feel a new obsession coming on.

anyway, now that my arms feel a bit better, my head is throbbing, so i need to just take my meds and try to sleep and enjoy the amazing weather. it is supposed to snow this weekend, and today it was more than 70 degrees. ridiculous!

okay, so in my internet travels tonite i found some cool linkies…from the one hour craft blog,a cute purse organizer also, i think this would be a fantastic gift and a fun project for newbies such as myself.

a fantastic site that interviews different artists and crafty peeps that i have known about forever, but never get a chance to listen to the podcast, although i have heard great things. oh no, i think i might have listened to it once if regina was on that one. hm. i am not sure. anyway, the blog is nice, too…craftsanity.com.

i will be adding some yarns to luxe.etsy.com to-morrow, so please do check in. there are some lovelies up, i have handpainted merino top to add, handpainted loose fiber…uncarded merino, targhee, kid mohair and several types of locks that are just loooooovely, i need to weigh and bag those up. i wanna keep em, but i have so much and i get it with the intention of dyeing it. can’t be greedy. anyway, so that is the first priority to-morrow and then sewing if i have it in me. fingers crossed. i am seriously stunned that the sewing made my arms and hands hurt so much.

okay, so wanna see some photos? okay, thissee one is merino and soysilk (see the silky stripe?) spun together, not carded though, i spun two different handpainted tops end to end, so it starts out as a raspberry and pink with a bit of a golden orange and then turns into more of a orange pink with some yellowy greens. it would knit up so cool. i want it! it would gradually turn a different color. the soy silk feels like silk. i kid you not. such a sheen and soooo soft. i plied in tons of texture and then these little silk flowers all over the place. really lovely.

then, the yarn i posted on the last post, this is a batt that matches the ones it was spun from…ecru superfine alpaca, lilac superwash merino, soysilk in pale purples, pinks and pale greens, toooons of sparkle in a mother of pearl color, which is very fine and soft and some kid mohair. unlike a lot of batts, you don’t even have to split it if you don’t want to. you can spink it from the fold, or whatever. it is soooo soft and fuzzy…amazing. i am going to list some of those, too. probably only a couple. they will be a bit expensive, but they are super duper luxury and would easily make a very thin yarn or a worsted weight yarn or a bit bigger if you wanted to. really nice though. i loooove soy silk. i think i like it better than silk. and it doesn’t smell funny. ya know?

thia one is really silk soft superfine merino in a 2 ply. what? yes! a two ply. bulky city. lovely.

i am gonna go take my drugs. my head is ready to pop. POP!
xoxo
n.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

seeeeew fun!

Sunday, April 1st, 2007

i feel like such a terrible blogger, but i have been really pooped lately, so please forgive me. today, donna came over to help me with my sewing machine and she couldn’t figure out what was going on and we sort of left it at that, hours and hours later, i decided just to give it a try to see how it was and it worked. no idea what happened. it is still a bit fussy, but through all of the fussing, i figured out how to thread it and wind a bobbin and am over my fear of it. one of the things i didn’t realize was the needles don’t just snap and shoot at you for no reason. the people i knew that did that were sewing over pins full speed and nine layers of denim, etc. i didn’t actually know anyone who sewed well, i guess. anyway, donna was a super teacher and we had a really fun time. and! i got a skirt almost done! i need to finish the waist and the bottom. it isn’t the greatest thing in the world, but we put a zipper in and it looks good. i used the zipper foot! check me out! thanks so much donna, you rock! i tried on the skirt and it fit, i need to finish it and i looked so gross with no makeup and a tanktop on that i couldn’t bear to take a photo. i just looked too bad. soon, though.

as a result of the concentration, i am a bit pooped out. i have had a sore throat and swollen glands over the last few days, i think it is allergies, so i feel pretty sleepy. but i had to check in.

on redshirtknitting.com last night, i found e’s rant on pro-anorexia blogs and thought she might be overreacting…um…she wasn’t. i was so stunned at the fellowship on those blogs with girls giving each other tips and tricks to starve yourself, get down to your goal weight of 80 lbs and trick your parents into thinking you have eaten. they idolize nicole richie “for what she has done” meaning her physique.

anorexic queen is one of them. the worst thing is that the media helps to push these ideas. they scorn one of the olsen twins for being unhealthy and sickeningly thin, and the other who is a few pounds heavier looks hot. wha? they mock nicole richie for being “fat” and then when she melts away to nothing, they say how gross it is. gee, i wonder why girls have these issues. it is so hard not to. when i worry about my diet, i become obsessive about it. i was on the atkins diet and followed it to the letter, and it does work amazingly well. anyone that says it doesn’t is cheating. period. anyway, i kept losing weight, i couldn’t maintain weight without gaining, and on the strict diet, i lost my appetite to the point that i just didn’t want to eat at all. and the scary thing was i didn’t want to let go of that control. it made me feel powerful to be so thin. guys hooted at me. even guys that knew me and never even looked at me before. i loved telling them to kiss my ass. ha! so i do understand the addictive nature of dieting. i am sure you have figured out that i am an all or nothing kinda gal. the things i am into…i am INTO.

anyway, to extend this rant, i got a pattern for an aline skirt and donna warned me that they ran super small. well, i figured that it goes up to an 18 and i don’t wear anything near an 18, what’s the problem? well…according to the pattern, an american size 8 is the smallest size, with a 24 inch waist…what? the size 18 was a 32 inch waist. seriously? maybe they are euro sizes, but it doesn’t say that. so when i had been cruising sewing blogs and saw complaints about no patterns for bigger gals, i suddenly understood. women who are actually the average size in america are considered plus sized. sigh. on america’s next top model, the two girls who are 5’10 and wear a size 8-10 are considered plus sized. sigh. i won’t go on about this. the worst part is that most of us are critical of ourselves and of other women and it is so hard not to be. i don’t read fashion magazines and have gotten to the point of loathing fashion and feeling that it is utterly ridiculous. the costumes look silly on the teeny girls, who would possibly wear it? hence, i would love to be able to make my own clothes. no more disposable clothes. i am hoping to refashion some of my things that don’t fit or are ugly, or get rid of them. but i am excited to try to tear stuff up. i will keep you posted. again, we all know how obsessive i can be, so i fear that sewing might be the next big thing in my life. especially since i can make things for really cheap. that always gets the ball rolling. example? spinning, dyeing, etc, etc, etc. ok. end rant. i think that sewing will be healthier than what happens to me on the atkins diet. plus, i have been accumulating vintage fabric and linens for ages for when i learned to sew. seriously.

i stumbled across bookins.com another book trading site. if you want a book, you pay 3.99 for shipping, if you send one, you get a prepaid thing that you can print off of the computer, so no trips to the post office. i hoard the books i like, but i have loads that i don’t love so much. i need to get my bum in gear for one of these sites so i can get them to someone that will enjoy them more than i do. speaking of books, i just ordered some new things from amazon, which i haven’t gotten yet…but i got patternless fashions not a new book, but it came highly recommended. what else? sew what? skirts… which got rave reviews from new sewers and seasoned sewers alike. and spiral bound pages! woot! there are several more i want to get, although even as a total newbie, i see lots of things that have really simple patterns that i could make up myself, and i am not so into that. i will try to resist buying anything that isn’t inspirational. so. the other books i got are just fiction.

whilst cruising sewing blogs i found this adorable penguin tutorial from the moonstitches.typepad.com tutorial. too cute. oh my!

i also found a contest for something that can be produced from recycled plastic bags here which is purdy cool, no?

i got my new t-shirts from threadless.com today, which i will post. i got one of there girly t-s because i loved the design and the color, but i normally get guys shirts and cut of the next and stuff, and i got an xlarge because girl tshirts are not made for my boobs, so i assumed it would be like an american apparel xlarge which fits, but is tight and shorter than i fancy…anyway, it was almost the same size as the guys medium i got jake! i was so excited! the sleeves were a bit shorter, i will still cut off the neck and maybe do something else with it, but still, that is nice!

i guess that sums it up. i will be forced to give you some photos, because i like seeing photos when i read blogs. so. red couch from my sketchbook…

sooo sleepy and out of it. i am off to read and watch the black donnelly’s. so good. good soundtrack, too.

mwah!
n.

Posted in anorexia, sewing, tired, weight, yarn | 7 Comments »

luxe

Archive for April, 2007

books rock! image heavy city.

as the wheel turns…

happy easter/passover and to all a good night!

blink. blink. b-blink.

i CAn’t see so well. hmph.

seeeeew fun!

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