knitting the blues

I am knitting this dress and have been for the past year. It is nearly complete-- the only part that is left is the top hem which I made too large and had to rip out. Hopefully it will be done in the next week and we can have one semi cool day so that I can wear it! It is uber cute.

(photo from the Anthropologie catalog)

I had a grand plan to try to grow my hair into some resemblance of this coif. But, my hair is not cooperating---- I can't handle it once it passes a certain length of about 2 inches, especially right in the front-- it just starts becoming poofy and wiry.

In sad news, a dear friend of my family passed away this week from stomach cancer.
Carol, wherever you are-- you meant so much to us and your smiling face, wise words and gentle nature will be missed more than you know. I love you.

hip homes and gardens

more cool kitchen shelves from desiretoinspire. Apparently, this is Drew Barrymore's house or her office? not sure which.

Also-- very cool link here. More on it when I'm not feeling totally exhausted!

There's Nothing Better Than......

I often find myself saying this phrase when I really like something. Here are some examples:

there's nothing better than getting into a bed freshly made with crispy clean sheets.
there's nothing better than a hot latte in a fancy big cup at a cozy cafe.
etc etc

and so it begins

Spring is pushing up out of the ground in the form of buds and leaves.
Went to the library this morning to do research and took out a bunch of interesting books including one about the use of Craft in Contemporary Art. Discovered the artist Carolyn Salas whose soft sculptures take the form of underwater seascapes. An idea I have been playing around with in the form of drawings inspired by creatures who dwell at the ocean floor. I love it when I get to see into other artist's studios. The photo at right is a studio view.


I also checked season 1 of Art:21 out of the library. This is such a fantastic series-- showing artists at work in their studios, practicing their art- and discussing what they're doing, how they do it, and the ideas behind it. Every time I watch one of the segments I feel inspired and opened up to art engaging people in so many different ways. It was really inspiring to hear/see Margaret Kilgallen talk a little bit about her work. She passed away at the age of 33 in 2001. Her work has this really western meets folksy, handmade feel. I love the section in Art:21 where she is riding her bike and stops to take a photo of a painted sign and the store owner comes out to ask what she's doing. I love that she was inspired by the handmade visual world around her and that part of her process was to document and archive the images and typography she saw.


very inspiring......

oh happy day oh rainy day

I am listening to a concert by My Morning Jacket streaming off of NPR. Honey (hi Honey!!) introduced me to them a while back and then, I had the pleasure of seeing them live with Wilco at the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo NY in what was the first Rockin at the Knox concert and it was Rockin my friends-- I was proud that it happened in my city.
Sadly, I haven't listened to too much music of late. Living with a musician makes it difficult because his studio is the living room and when he's playing the piano or writing music that takes up all sound space. But, I can't say I'm complaining since he's quite entertaining whilst working things out at the piano.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm baking some chocolate chip cookies right now. I used the brand spankin new Sunbeam mixer my Mom got me for Hannukah!! It's a champ! yum.
I went to Knit One today to get moral support on ripping back my dress one panel so that it isn't gigantic anymore. I think it's gonna work. While I was there I found a great little book for 13 bucks so I bought myself another book present. It has very fun looking chunky knits in bright colors. That pink wrap sweater is calling my name.

Artistic Inspiration

I bought myself a present. The book at left, Andrea Zittel: Critical Space. She is one of my favorite artists. I have acquired so much published media in the last week. I'm overwhelmed with magazines, books, the newspaper and have barely had time to study this book. Oh but I will! I love her gouache paintings of herself making her art, her knit uniforms, and pseudo manifesto. I think I need a manifesto. If you had a manifesto for living, what would it be?

yummy spring treats

the girls are coming over for brunch on a saturday morning and I'm going to make ginger scones!

Here is the recipe I found:

1 Cup all purpose flour

1 Cup cake flour

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1/2 tsp dried ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

4 Tbsp unsalted butter cut into pieces

2 oz. chopped crystallized ginger

3/4 Cups milk

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp cold wash to make egg wash

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. You can mix by hand or with a food processor or mixer, but be careful not to over blend the dry ingredients. If you over-blend, your scones will be tough and chewy. Put the 7 dry ingredients in a bowl and add the cubes of butter. With your fingers, or with 2 knives, blend the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a course cornmeal. Some large pieces of butter should remain, this will make your scones light and fluffy. If you are using a processor, pulse briefly. Stir in the ginger bits. Add the milk and work quickly with a fork to incorporate. The dough should be soft and lightly moist. Again, don't over-mix. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and gently pat down until it stands about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 12 triangles with a dough cutter or a knife and put onto an ungreased baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash and sprinkle with some sugar. Bake for 12 minutes until golden. Let cool briefly.

i am not allowed to go to Target

(images from desire to inspire, top photo: Alison Gootee)

I woke up this morning thinking about paint colors for the bedroom and window coverings.
Last night, we went to the Home and Garden show- overall, it was underwhelming as far as homes and gardens go-- I was hoping they would have those cool faux garden setups that you can walk through and feel like you're in someone's backyard in the convention center- but no such luck.

kitchen shelves and books with horses and yellow covers

I swiped these pics from another blog-- sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com which she swiped from a book called The Way We Live in the City. Inspiration as we are going to get shelves in our kitchen!!! Yippppeeeeee! I can hardly wait, we need them! and waiting for me at home is a big ring of sample colors to choose from! Yahhooooooo
In other news,

I seem to be on a horse kick in my reading life. I took two books out of the library and each has a horse on the cover. I started reading the first book, The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss. It's a novel about a woman who is a bronco buster. It has a very mellow vibe and not too much happens but I'm enjoying it. I've been having some existential dilemmas of late- (twiddling my thumbs while I'm at work thinking: what am i doing?, why am i doing it? why am i not doing something else? -- you know, the usual existential dilemma stuff one worries about. But it's all good. Last week, D and I took a new exercise class at our gym called Group Power. It kicked my ass-- but was awesome and I can't wait to go again and get buff! You use a barbell with different weights and disks and the class works all your major muscle groups. It's just what I need!

100s of robins

The other day, we drove through Schenley Park and there were hundreds of Robins on the ground waiting for spring to arrive. Right now, it is blustery and snowy and cold out-- it started suddenly this morning with tiny hail balls that quickly turned to wet snow. But fear not, Spring is on its way. I'm having a lovely morning, slept in, had a cappuccino and now, I'm listening to Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland and writing these words.

Last night, we saw the play, A Number, which was very good. The set was wonderful. Stacks of file boxes surround the stage and create the walls of an apartment. The stacks were of varying heights and made you think of a city skyline as well as endless files stacked up. At a scene change- one of the characters steps off the stage in the front onto the file boxes and the spotlights go out while lights go on under the stage and a few of the file boxes have lights in them-- like windows in buildings. It was a very cool effect.

about to scream!

I'm sitting here reading Ketzel Levine's Talking Plants blog.
The day has escaped me. It's rainy, gloomy, grumpy out. This week was wacky with 2 days of jury duty, 2 days of work and today, a day of trying to get along with various computer media and failing. I was attempting to transfer Zip disk files onto CD and although I have all the pertinent equipment-- the computer did not like what I was asking it to do and answered my call by moving very very very slowly and making 5000 windows whenever I tried to move something.
Oh well, the nice thing is-- I got 2 new tea flavors, ginger and white tea with pomegranate and now I'm going to work on my purple dress project- it's almost finished and I will have a picture to show for it soon.
As far as art is concerned, I'm so frustrated as it is very cold in the studio and at this point I'm waiting for the warmth of spring to allow me to get back to work. I have thought so much over the winter about what I'm doing and worked on all the administrative items I could and now I'm ready to dig in. It will be nice to see the garden grow as well!
and with that here is to spring blooming. (image from flickr)