Anitram21

The other night Jeck and I went to see Evil Dead: the musical at the Diesel Playhouse.
WOW!!  I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it going in, I'm not usually a big fan of musicals but I am a huge fan of Bruce Campbell.  Anyhoo - the musical was INCREDIBLE!
It was non-stop filthy humor, blood, cursing, demons and other things to thrill fans of comedy horror.  We laughed the entire time and when it was over we were both dying to see it again.  Unfortunately it is only running for 4 more nights and there is no way we can afford it again this week.  Still, if it ever comes back I am going to be the first in line.
Here is a bad picture I took of me and J in front of the playhouse - no photography was allowed inside :(


I so wish I could have taken pictures.

Anyway, last weekend I also managed to take some pictures of a couple of panels I made recently.



They are nothing too fancy but they did give me chance to incorporate some of my recent experiments into stained glass. 

Well I finally managed to get some pictures together of some of the things I made during my time at The Red Barns.

First off, the knitting.  I didn't do too much but I did make my Mother's Day Slippers
I didn't make them for my mother, I made them for me.  I thought they looked like a fun little colour work project and they were.  I used 2 colours of 1824 cotton.  I was pretty pleased with the results.


The second picture shows the colour more accurately.

I also got a lot of work done on my chevron scarf.


Most people are sort of stunned by the bright colours.  The most common reaction when people see me working on it is, 'oh my that's very...loud'.  I may look like Mrs. Weasley when its done but I don't care.  I usually gravitate towards colourful scarves anyway, its one of my ways of coping with the winter blahs.
Please note my use of the knitting bag made for me by my awesome secret pal sarahjane84.

That's really all the knitting I got done, I did a few rows on my sock and ripped out the Montego Bay scarf yet again... no other real knitting progress was made.
I did spend some time teaching a family friend to knit (a very sweet, shy, 15 year old boy).  It was fun plus cool that he was into it.  Sometimes I love how the world is changing...

Now on to the glass.
I finally got a picture of the fish bowl I was talking about, complete with our new fish (Jakoneel - named after a Stargate character, yes, I am a huge nerd!)
One of my mom's resident glass blowers made the bowl but I did the sandblasting on it.  I learned a new technique to do it.  Normally its really difficult to cover a curved surface with sandblast resist so we tried a new recipe for some liquid rubber resist.  The liquid resist is made of animal glue (SO gross), glycerine and calcium carbonate.   We looked like mad scientists, boiling all that stuff on my mom's BBQ but it was fun (and stinky).  Once the resist dried it made a really nice surface to carve into.  I am really pleased with how it looks.  I will definitely use the technique again but I would like to find a more animal and nose friendly substitute for the animal glue.


I did some other simple little sandblasted pieces.  They were inspired by an article I read in the latest issue of Glass Craftsmen Magazine (love!).  I just fused two plain sushi dishes and drizzled Elmer's glue on top to act as my resist.  Once the glue dried I blasted them and then washed off the glue.  I think these are really cool plus drizzling on some glue is a lot easier than carving resist.  I must do some larger, platter type ones.  I think the easy labour would make them nice, lower priced items that would sell well.



A close up:

I also did some vitre-fusaille practice.  Vitre-fusaille is a technique that combines glass fusing and traditional glass painting.  It is one of my favorite all time things to do with glass.  I don't have a picture of my best piece, it is still on my workbench being incorporated into a larger stained glass piece but I do have pictures of 2 of my smaller practice pieces.



I also finished the 'lute player' stained glass piece that I had been working on for awhile.  Someone bought it the day I finished it which is always pretty satisfying.  Its kind of a dorky piece but I thought it was pretty and sort of soothing to look at.


Last but not least I had A LOT of time to work on making beads.  Most of what I made was production work, easy little beads to put on the keychains and bookmarks that I sell a lot of.  But it was still fantastic to have that kind of time to practice.  I feel like my bead making skills are the best they have ever been.  I also made up a new kind of necklace for a young girl who was a guest at The Barns.  She wanted a necklace but didn't have a lot of money so I made her one big bead and put it on an adjustable leather necklace.  It looked pretty cool so I made a whole bunch of them and named the new style after her.  So here are some pics of some of my favorite 'Chrissy's':


Phew - I think that is all.  Overall it was a very artistically satisfying summer, lots of teaching, lots of new ideas, tonnes of inspiration.  I feel ready for another year of actual 'work'.

On a personal note, the break up is going pretty well.  My ex is living in the apartment next door which is insanely awkward but I'm coping.  My best friend who is, yet again, my roommate is being fab, as always.

Worst news of the week:  I gave myself a black eye while moving my bed back to her apartment.  I am VERY clumsy so it wasn't surprising but it still wasn't exactly a pick me up. 

Best news of the week:  I convinced one of my friends to take a beginner japanese class with me starting in September.  I have been wanting to learn japanese for years and I'm thrilled that I will finally have a chance.

I think that's about all for now, I'm sure I forgot some, oh well, another day another post....

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month.

The first two weeks I didn't post because I was too sad (I broke up with the BF :(  ) and the last two weeks I didn't post because I was having too much fun. (in hiding at my mom's, recovering)
The recovery time was awesome, thank God it all happened during work shut down so I could get away and get my head straight.
I made all sorts of beautiful things during my time away and didn't take pictures of any of them (slippers, beads, painted pieces, necklaces, fish bowls, stained glass, part of a chevron scarf...)  I am SUCH a bad journal keeper.  Oh well, I am going back to Mom's this weekend and should be able to get pics of all of my projects.  I found it really nice and inspiring to be around other artists all the time.

I did all sorts of other fun and wacky things during my time away. It was so nice to have fun and play outside in the country, it made me feel like a kid again.  It was much needed.  Now instead of being bummed out I am truly excited about getting started on my new life.

Not much time to write.  I'm rushing around trying to get things ready.  The store I work at is closing for summer shutdown and I am headed to Mom's for a week of vacation with Jeck.

The good news.  I finished the morehouse merino scarf that I"ve been working on, it is blocking at home right now.  AND Jeck's ballet t-shirt actually fits pretty well.  I made it with 2 and a bit skeins of Red Heart cotton twist (that I got 3 for a $1 at a flea market last year - gotta love a $1 gift, huh?)


Anyhoo, I should have some good FO pics when I get back next week.  I am teaching a glass painting class this weekend and I've made some pretty cool stuff as samples, will take pictures soon....

Also I am hoping that one of Mom's glass blowers will have time to give me a quickie intro to working with Borosilicate, I have only ever done torch work with Moretti and the like.  Should be interesting, if its not too hot.

I also packed 3 different knitting projects (some slippers, my magic loop socks and the montego bay scarf) some sewing projects AND my needlepoint stuff.  Who knows how much I'll actually get done, right now its nice just to have all the possibilities even though I know deep down I'll probably spend most of my free time helping mom cook.  Oh well, the dream is making me happy right now.

I won't write for the next week, so, adios!

The city (Toronto) is really gross today.  Its extremely humid and feels like there is no air.
This feeling is probably magnified because we just got back from the cottage.
The BF's family has a cottage in Haliburton.  We had a last minute free weekend so we decided to head up there on Saturday morning.  We didn't have a chance to go at all last summer because of the BF's old work schedule so I had forgotten how nice it is.


It was all peaceful and beautiful and all of those other things a cottage should be.



I did get quite a bit of knitting done (The car trip is LONG).  I am almost done the Morehouse Merino scarf.

AND I finally have my first magic loop sock progressing nicely (I had to frog my first two attempts and was quite pissy about it - hence no blogging last week).  I didn't remember to take a picture of it though...

Last week was a bad week for knitting.  I finished Jeck's ballet t-shirt but it came out a bit too small.  I am hoping it will stretch out a bit with wear (it IS cotton) but as is she won't let me take her picture in it.  I had to frog my stupid sock twice and I had to rip out two nights worth of progress on my Montego Bay scarf.  Why won't I ever learn to use a lifeline???  It was NOT a good knitting week but this weekend restored my confidence.  I made some good progress, finally.

At work, I just finished the last of my commissions so I have w whole week to work on nicer things before we shut down for summer break.  I do have a painting class to prepare for but hopefully my samples and experiments will be blog-worthy.  Still, I really do wish I was back here.....

I just booked our trip to New Orleans and am completely psyched. 
We are going for  the first week of October.  Its me, Jeck and my 'new sister' Cathy ( I hate the word step-sister, it sounds so evil..) .  It should be a total blast.

The hotel we booked seems like the best of the cheap ones, it had some really nice reviews and the pool is purty....  me and Jeck REQUIRE a pool, especially if the city is as hot and skanky as everyone says it is...

I wish I was there now...
Well, I should get back to work....real work, not surfing New Orleans related websites, this time I mean it.....probably.

Funny, this past weekend was supposed to be my big chance to rest up and I'm still wiped even though we didn't do too much.  I think that's mostly just because I slept so poorly last night.

On Friday afternoon I finally got a chance to go to the Birchcliff Village Farmer's Market
Its just a little, local Farmers' market with all sort of lovely organic goodies.  I have been wanting to go for years but since it is only open on Fridays from 2:00 - 6:00 and I used to work every Friday until 6:00 I never had the chance until last Friday.  The vendors were very nice and the product quality was excellent.   I hope to go back again soon.
Look at all of the goodies I got:


I got:  (I don't want to repeat myself a billion times so just know that everything was organic and super tasty) lettuce, basil, pesto, 'Kyoto Cherry Rose' green tea, scones, granola, fudge, sour dough bread and some soy candles.  My favorite items were the scones, the granola and the pesto.  YUM!!

Saturday was the BF's day, we did some errands he needed to do and spent the evening with his mom.

On Sunday, Jeck and I went to the zoo.  It wasn't one of my better zoo experiences.  It was very crowded and there were a lot of missing exhibits but the exercise felt fantastic and as always, the monkeys were highly entertaining.

(yes, that little guy really is picking through his own crap for snacks.....)

Saturday night we had friends over for board games, Guitar Hero, margaritas and fireworks.  :)

Sunday we slept in, had a big breakfast, watched tv and got scared away from the movie theater (the lines
were very long and scary).  We ended up just having a Stargate marathon.  The upside to such a couch bound day was that I finally finished Jeck's  Ballet-T.  I just have to weave in the ends tonight and then take some pictures.

In other knit-news.  I love some of the projects in the new Magknits  -  Stargazer and Jellyfish are both definite possibilities.  I wound my skein of Camelspin into a ball so I can hopefully start my Montego Bay Scarf (scroll down) soon.   AND The library called to let me know that they have Knit 2 Together on hold for me.  I'm going to go pick it up soon so I can give it a browse while I eat my lunch.  Am sadly very excited about that one...

I finished my Mom's socks, with just an hour to go before I leave for her house.  Phew!


They were fun enough to knit that I have already started to cast on for my next pair.    I'm going to make First Steps
using the Knitpick's 'Dancing' that I just got.  Its going to be my first attempt at Magic Loop.  I may get no further than this this weekend...

..it all depends on whether or not I can make sense of the magic loop directions before I get in the car.  I know there will be no time for learning once the crazy party weekend begins.

Other exciting knit news.  My first order from The Loopy Ewe arrived today and it is beautiful.
I got one skein of Fleece Artist 'Seawool' that is supposed to be enough for a pair of socks, 2 balls of Regia 'stretch' and 1 skein of Claudia Handpainted Yarns that I want to use in a chevron scarf.  It is all so beautiful and The Loopy Ewe people are so nice to deal with, I will definitely become a regular.


That's all for now.  I have to try to make sense of the ML directions before Jeck gets here.  I'm so excited, car trips with her are the BEST!  (we are going to pick up the new Tim Armstrong and White Stripes CDs on the way so the new tunes will make it extra fun)

THE sock is back on track.  The gusset is all fixed up and I have already done a few inches of plain foot knitting.  Hopefully I will have time to finish it tonight. 

But, of course, in typical my-life fashion as soon as one crisis was handled another occurred.
Yesterday when I had about 10 minutes of soldering left on 'the hated commission' I heard 'ping' and there was a heat crack, right across a skinny little leaf piece.  I am part way through removing the broken piece but it is slow going and just...sucks.  I was so hoping to be done with it by now, stupid panel.....


I am just anxious to get home, get the sock finished and start packing for the weekend.  We are all going away for a big birthday bash at Mom's this weekend.  Its is Jeck's 30th birthday next week, it was Mom's birthday last week and two of our guy friends have also had birthday's in the last week..  There is going to be a ton of friends and family staying for the weekend.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will be able to have our first trip to the Sandbanks this year.  I am so looking forward to it that it is making the week go very slowly.  I need some beach time and I need it bad.

Oh well, back to work...

I screwed up my second sock last night and I am not very happy about it.  I the gusset decreases all wrong and it looks totally weird.  Later on today I am going to have to pull apart most of last night's knitting to see if I can get it fixed.  I am starting to doubt that I will be done in time to give them to my mom this coming weekend.  Am very cranky about it.

In other, happier news.  I made myself a new necklace yesterday.


AND my latest Knit Picks order got delivered.  I ordered something for my SP and got myself some new goodies for making socks (I made the order back when I was much more enthusiastic)
I got different lengths of circular needles so I can try to make socks using Magic loop or two circulars and a few different kinds of yarn.  Damn Knit Picks and their tempting yarn sales...


I guess I should get to work on my sock dissection.  I'm scared.  I really don't want to have to start over from scratch.