12.30.2007

Suddenly I saw it.

Every time I do a craft show, someone (or several someones) comes up to me and says "do you know that all of the dolls you make look like you?"
Sometimes I am offended if they are particularly ugly.
I never mean them to look like me.
This one, when it was done, I kept looking at its face and thinking, MAN, I am so sick of this face I keep drawing.
Then I held it up to the camera - it had to be my webcam because the other camera was broken - and there it was...
um.
I saw it.
Yikes.

Anyway, this doll, which you are seeing backwards in my webcam, says "Bon Appetit" and is my Aunt Beast's 2007 Christmas present in honor of her redecorated kitchen. I would have liked it to have crazy wooly hair but I'm housesitting and there is no crazy wooliness to be found unless I shave the dog.

12.20.2007

Busy busy busy

Joy Angel CloseupThere is a lot of crafting going on over here, but I can't really SHOW it yet! Here is an older doll, I think from last year, for your holiday blog enjoyment.

Ok, I really have to get back to work. Things happening today are all coming from Instructables, for The Boy, things like a bike seat cover for protecting it from the rain, and a Cholula Holster (that one is sort of a joke, but only sort of), and maybe boxers made out of Patriots fabric I found at a tag sale, and I don't know what-all else.

And I want to decorate! And make little houses out of old cards!

12.14.2007

All I want for Christmas is...

A Ravelry for sewing and crafting. Can't someone programming literate make a Ravelry-type website for sewing project organizing, pretty please? I have soooo many projects I want to do and I can't keep track! I like it that all the things I want to knit and crochet are at least in a list now, even if that list is, um, over a hundred things long.

Here's a picture to keep this post from being boring, even though she's from last year or the year before, I can't remember.

The next thing to work on with this blog is a list of links to other blogs, but there are so many that I read, it's hard to begin and I don't want to forget people I love.

12.10.2007

too cute to poke!

This here doggie is a pattern from the awesome book Art Doll Adventures by Li Hertzi. He's a pincushion, but how could I possibly stick anything in this smiley guy?

I love this book - the idea behind it is to take images from other cultures and build them into new creations.... and do lots of playing and experimenting. This dog has beading, embroidery, fun fur yarn, an old dog license tag around his neck, and general wackiness.

I think (I don't have the book in front of me) that Li got the idea for the pattern from an African sculpture, and I just noticed that the yellow eye beads are beads that my uncle sent to me when he was stationed in Togo with the state department - how perfect!

A couple more views of him at my flickr.

12.08.2007

This Little Piggy

Greetings if you are visiting me from Sewmama! My blog has never had very many readers and it is my goal for next year to build up some online blog community.

The Boy(friend) is obsessed with pigs - he told me that the only thing he wants for Christmas is a real live pig, which sadly wouldn't work out very well in our apartment. However, I made this one for him from the adorable (and free!) Wee Wonderfuls Pattern. He didn't want the whole pig-on-wheels-ornament, because he wants to pretend that it's his pet pig, so I'll just let him keep it like this. Although I think it need some embroidered nostrils, because the pig nose is my favorite part of the pig. Cute waving nostrils!

12.07.2007

Believe Angel



I sincerely apologize that my camera isn't working, only my webcam, so you're not getting any nicely focused and bee-yew-tee-ful pictures right now, just whatever I can hold up.
I made this angel for my Boy's mom Jo Ann. It looks huge in the picture but it's maybe five inches tall. It has a little hanger on the back so it could be a tree ornament or hang on the wall or I guess even get pinned to her clothes or whatever - she's an angel fiend!

12.03.2007

Snow Day! And Handmade Holidays!

I didn't want to do this because I haven't decorated my blog like all the people who have been featured, so I feel a little silly. but I'm celebrating that it's snowing right now and I'm lighting my pine-scented proud-locally-made Yankee Candle and lighting all my light strings and answering some of these questions to get me in the right mood.

It's funny, I was a little grumpy about the whole Handmade Pledge thing, because when you're an artist and you don't have money, you always make presents, without thinking about it. I can't remember the last time I bought someone something - oh, yes, I can, actually - but it was from another artist.
After a long time of being poor, you've given everyone all the handmade pincushions, aprons, eyepillows, stuffed animals, dolls, fabric boxes, record bowls, etc., their houses can take. This year I happen to have more money than usual and I was so excited to NOT have to make all of my own presents.

And then... I started seeing tutorials. And suddenly I have these lists a mile long of things I want to make in the next, oh, TWENTY TWO DAYS!
So I'll tell you some of them, but try not to say any of them where people who might actually read this might learn anything they shouldn't know yet!

My mom is getting a painting, which I have sketched out but not started because I haven't painted anything in years! It's called OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL DOG BISCUITS, because a thing we do together is walk her dog, and as we walk, all the dogs in the neighborhood come along and look into her pockets for treats. One day a few years ago, I had decided to start naming all of my dolls as saints, although she didn't know that, and that same day as we were walking, she proclaimed, I AM OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL DOG BISCUITS. So I'm going to paint her with all the dogs surrounding her looking for snacks.

My two obsessive fisher"man" cousins are getting scarves made out of old t-shirts (green crafting?!) for keeping them warm while they are obsessively fishing at all hours of the day and all months of the year, like this:



(they kiss the fish before they put them back in the water.) (My cousins are SO awesome and I miss them all the time and wish they lived closer to me, they are the funniest, cutest little boys! - even though now they are LARGE)

One sister who I hope won't read this is getting boots for her delicate dog and a front door organizer made up in some kind of fancy, Moroccan-style fabrics with mirrors and stuff for the way she wants to decorate her new apartment.

I have a lot of other things I'm making, but starting to read through this list, I'm thinking that I should stop blogging and thinking about all the cute ideas I have for decorating my blog that I haven't gotten around to yet and actually start WORKING! :)

I'll also tell you a couple of my traditions: I've been trying to START some new ones because even though we always get together and hang out, I feel like we don't have any actual traditions, so the two I've started so far are:
1. Watch the movie Elf which I love.
2. Make Espresso Shortbread. I made a recipe card as a present for anyone who is actually reading this... here it is! Open your present!

12.02.2007

and here's a countown for beader-types...

Every day in December a new thing at http://www.suzannecooper.com/christmas/calendar.html

11.30.2007

holiday clipart downloads

If you're a paper-arts-type, you might be interested: starting tomorrow Lisa Vollrath will post a new printable-thing-a-day over here. They'll be gone at the end of the month, so get 'em while they're hot!

11.18.2007

Mei's Mouse.



I made this mouse for Mei's birthday. The pattern is from ottobredesign.com somewhere, but I made it in velvet - NOT a good idea, which I knew, but I hoped to overcome... and managed in some parts. In others, well, Mei, he may need some patches eventually! :)

10.12.2007

anemoi palms



and, the palms!

anemoi backs



TADA!!!!! I know, just a webcam picture, not a good one, but still, they're DONE!!!!!

I can't knit the same thing twice, so I had to do them in the opposite colors.

10.08.2007

Someone likes me! (At least my art.)

Last weekend I was selling stuff at the Festival of the Hills in Conway, Mass, and a blogger found me - http://embracecreate.blogspot.com/2007/10/festival-of-hills.html - scroll down to the last picture for some of my dolls.

Thank you, Embrace - and how much do I suck for not being able to remember your name? I'm glad to meet another local person my age-ish who is into similar crafts!

10.02.2007

right anemoi back



Eunny Jang's Anemoi Mittens.

so this is a picture in the dark, and the colors are off. i need to attempt blocking now. I know I should wait until I'm done with BOTH mittens, but I don't want to!
yes, sport weight (Dalegarn Falk) got me the gauge I should have gotten with fingering. madness.

I know I had something to say here, but I forgot what it was.

9.27.2007

anemoi cuff



argh! this is the beginning of my Anemoi Mittens. (pattern at eunnyjang.com) this cuff is HARD!
I'm a little confused about the tubular cast on - if you follow the directions for that, then the first "set up row" has you knitting the purls and purling the knits - I don't know if I did that right.
and then, you have to purl the contrast row with your left hand! (sort of - I mean, you probably don't HAVE to, but...)
I'm only sort of managing that, I need my right hand to help.
And, I had to use the same size needles I'm using for the rest of the mittens - size 6, because I'm also using sport weight instead of fingering. I knit so tightly that I'd NEVER manage the right gauge with fingering. (I tried the cuff first with a size 5 and it wouldn't have fit over my hand.)

9.25.2007

cass's fingerless gloves fronts



another pair of the fingerless gloves, based on Interweave Knitting Oct 07 pattern "Composed Mitts". These ones have slightly bigger thumb holes and slightly longer tops.

9.19.2007

I'm back!



Did you miss me, my three readers?
I have been making things that aren't knitting, but maybe because of Ravelry, that is what I update.
I wish there was a Ravelry for sew-ers (that is, not sewers) - although I wonder how that would work. hmmm.

Anyway, I made these for my mother's birthday. The pattern is basically the one from Interweave Knits October 07, the Composed Mitts, only I made them shorter and changed all of the fair isle patterns.

And I just noticed that i made the vines going in different directions, which I would have done on purpose if I had thought about it.

This is the second pair I made, the first ones, for me, I haven't sewn in all the ends yet because they're not on a deadline.

3.20.2007

Sara's hat



The second time I've made this hat, and looking at it, I think I might have to make yet another one for me in different colors. Again.

The Yoga Mouse



There's an explanation for this one at flickr.

Jaylene's Smile Bird



I made this as a present, and every time I looked at it, it made me laugh. I thought maybe the person I was giving it to needed some directions, so I had to label it.

small epb bird purse.



And this one is a teenier version of the same bird.

Big Bird Purse



This is an old one but I don't think I ever showed it! It's a GIGANTIC bird purse and I love it. I love, love, love the fabric of the body, and it's such a cute, fat bird!

Sara's Caterpillar




I don't understand the deal with combining a blog with flickr - do people just write the same explanation of a project in both places? Do I tell you everything about this caterpillar but then tell you again at flickr?
Anyway, there is more description and pictures of this at flickr - it opens into a butterfly! I invented the pattern and used my fleece scraps. It's for my yoga teacher's baby shower.

Our Lady of the Luau



You can read about this at flickr - it's for a doll challenge.

Moss Queen Shawl




My friend Megan sent me these amazing yarns for my birthday and told me they were to make a forest witch shawl. So here it is, just starting - I want it to be huge!

2.25.2007

Dear Jane, Approximately

I am verrrrryyyyy slowly working on a "Dear Jane" quilt. This is a reproduction of an insanely complaex quilt that was made during the civil war. The woman who made it, Jane Stickley, used some traditional patterns, but many of the 200+ squares and triangles in it are patterns that she made up. I keep feeling like I'm flying along, but as of today I've done 35 squares. Mine is going to be red, purple, green and blue. My quilt's name is "Dear Jane, Approximately" after the Dylan song "Queen Jane, Approximately". If you google "dear jane", you'll see all the variations people do of this quilt - it's amazing.
You can see my progress here.

I'm trying to finish all the red squares now because there are fewer of them than the other colors and then I can put my red fabrics away.

Sorry! :)

Not my fault, but you saw all of my posts again because I had to switch to the new Blogger. But you know you wanted a review of my art, right?

pisces newmoon SoulCollage


pisces newmoon SC
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.
My first SoulCollage card is a New Moon Soul Collage. see http://www.newmoonjournal.com .
I think I should do a few more cards for Pisces because I'm a Pisces with Pisces RISING even, and I'm *such* a pisces!

I think lost of SoulCollage cards look ugly to other people, so I suspect this might look quite hideous if you're not me. In fact, even I am not sure how I feel about it, but it was what came out, so I kept it.

2.24.2007

left hand mitten


left hand mitten
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.
...and so, the non-matching left hand.

right hand mitten


right hand mitten
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.
the second fair isle project. Normally when I have to make two of something (socks, mittens...) i make them different so I don't get 100% bored.

first fair isle


first fair isle
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.

i decided I was going to learn to knit fair isle this year. so i did. these mittens were the first thing I knit this way.

1.01.2007

some christmas boxes


some christmas boxes
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.

Lots and lots of boxes from Amy Butler's sewing book. I made many more than this, too. Now I think I need some for myself.

My Art Matters...


My Art Matters...
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.

A present for someone. I made it in the throes of misery and realized it was for someone else.

cable hat on my head


cable hat on my head
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.

My new favorite hat! More pics at flickr. It is from a pattern here: http://www.magknits.com/Apr06/patterns/nezumi.htm

I'm making another one now for my yoga teacher and this time I have really learned to read cable charts and I'm flying through it.

Artists Wanted index card journal cover


Artists Wanted index card journal cover
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.

An old collage.

Joy Angel


Joy Angel
Originally uploaded by rivervoodoo.

One of my two christmas decorations this year. I LOVE THIS DOLL! Why can't I love them all like this? There is another picture closer up on flickr.