a plastic yarn ball, some love from the void and a stolen picture.

there is no way to make cohesive sense out of today's activities even though they were not complicated activities. regardless, a pattern is not emerging from the fuzz. so...

a) a date has been set for the plastic bag yarn ball, and you are invited! next monday at the knit cafe of toronto. be there or be elsewhere!

b) today i received some reciprocal internet appreciation from summer at ottoman. thank you, summer.

c) i stole that picture from karyn. it's from the trunk show.

late night screen prints.

i spent last evening happily finishing off the city of craft print run with the always lovely shannon. she hates when i take pictures of her but i thought that one up there was funny. it's not really funny - she had ripped part of her lip off with some packing tape. okay, that's a little funny. but it really bled a lot. see? crafts are risky business. i can't even count how many metal shavings i have pulled out of my fingers from the buttons. tough stuff.



we hammered out the rest of the shirts which will be available this sunday at the love and rummage trunk show (their real world debut) as well as the shiny new city of craft etsy shop.

if you have any particular shirt size requests, feel free to let me know. i can't pormise we will be able to fulfill all wishes but...you know...knowledge is power.

i made slippers.

look at these.

they are the result of last night's wool slipper class at the workroom as taught by one miss reva quam.

i was very excited to...

a) finally have slippers again
b) conquer my fear of sewing machines and irons with computers in them (well, kind of conquer)
c) finish something that was just for fun

the class was nice and easy, even for a rusty sewer like me and reva is a very clear and patient teacher. three hours = two new slippers. what a splendid way to spend a monday evening.

these ones were made out of an old cut-up blanket that was at the workroom, and are not quite felty enough (ie. they are fraying and shouldn't be). i might try another pair out of something more felty, but these will offer me a good opportunity to play with some embroidered edging if they keep unraveling.

hyperbolics in plastic and the oceanic travels of shopping bags.

pictured above is the beginning of a hyperbolic model i have been working on made entirely from plastic bag yarn. this is for an upcoming project (that will find its way into the window of the knit cafe) spearheaded by angelune des lauriers and intended as a craftivist earth day project.

angelune has assembled a group of crocheting friends (including shannon, kalpna, leah, marnie, myself and others) to make these plastic models, aping the oceanic forms of corals and other sea animals. the notion is to assemble a great plastic reef as a way to bring attention to the great pacific garbage patch (also known as the trash/garbage vortex or garbage island). this fetid new continent, located somewhere between the hawaiian islands and the coast of california, is reported to be twice the size of texas and is composed prominently of discarded plastics. it weighs an estimated three million tons and has resulted from a combination of ocean currents and collective carelessness (although i'm not sure quite how much we should blame the ocean). other reports note the area to be more like a massive garbage stew (as opposed to one contiguous garbage heap) which might explain why google earth doesn't just simply display this 'island.' regardless of these details, there is much agreement that this is a big mess and it's our fault.

so what is there to do? well, currently, i have decided to crochet plastic coral in the hopes that someone smarter will see this project, be alerted to the ocean's ordeal and brilliantly solve the problem. i know it's not the most active choice, but it's better than freezing in a state of absolute confusion and doing nothing at all.

and what can you do? if you are a genius, you can figure out how to fix this problem and make the world okay again. if you are not a genius (or if the above task is going to take you a while), you can drop off your colourful plastic bags at the knit cafe to be turned into yarn and then crochet models. for me, the ideal bag is ripped and unusable. i can still work around most rips when making the yarn and don't need the handles at all. this also makes me feel that the bag has been used to its maximum ability.

i should also mention that this project is highly derivative of some incredible past works, most notably the hyperbolic coral reef conceived by the institute for figuring to address issues of marine coral blanching and the later plastic bag sea crochet of helle jorgensen. in the name of education, these undertakings seem open to future interpretations/incarnations but props are certainly due. go check out their sites.



on a more pragmatic note, i have also learned that bamboo hooks and plastic yarns do not mix well. be forewarned, lest you suffer the same fate as me. i'm glad i hung on to all my metal hooks.

city of craft snowstorm t-shirt party.

i already used the best camus humour i could muster on the city of craft blog so i am not exactly sure what existentialist sales pitch is left for me and these shirts. i was hoping to convince the world that our new merch could protect a body from frostbite and hypothermia...or feelings of disillusionment. what do i need to say to convince you of that? or will these pictures work?

with the snow mageddoning down again today, i decided it was high time to drag my life partner out into the fray to take some pictures of these brand spanking new tees, fresh off shannon gerard's able squeegee. the image comes to us courtesy of caitlyn murphy, up-and-coming illustrator to the stars, who orginally made the design for our 2008 city of craft show programs. we decided it was lovely enough to merit a slightly less ephemeral incarnation...so now you can wear it on your chest! you will also be able to wear it under your arm, but i don't have pictures of the new tote bags yet. they look pretty swank, though (hemp and cotton blends have really grown up).



these will be making their real world debuts at the love and rummage trunk show in a week and a bit, so you can ogle and molest them there. there is some chatter that city of craft may also be launching a humble etsy shop, too. well, i made one. now we just need to sort out the logistics of filling it with goodies. out of curiosity, would anyone here be interested in such a thing?



thanks to caitlyn, shan and aitor for being so helpful with this project. hopefully this will keep all of toronto stylish and crafty at the same time. unless life is meaningless, that is.

your heart may be cold, but your neck will be warm.

i have just finished and photographed a veritable heap of crocheted neck warmers. if you are the type of person who likes to peruse woolens on the internet, you can ogle here.



these tracheal cozies will be available at the upcoming love and rummage trunk show, next saturday's artists' flea market (just confirmed) and then at the good catch general store in toronto. if you live out of town, and one of these guys catches your fancy, feel free to get in touch. i can provide you with things like measurements, fibre contents (they are all natural) and shipping quotes.



what better way to say i love you in the middle of winter that by warming a throat? it sure beats candy hearts and stuffed bears with glossy hearts sewn to their hands.

also, i know that katharine is still looking for a few vendors for next sunday's flea market. perhaps you are interested?

parting the curtains and singing of love.

above are some very special one-off versions of the love porn buttons by emma segal that i made for the very special folks at worn fashion journal.

these bad boys (and girls) will be slipping their way into the swag bags being handed out to the first twenty five attendees of worn's heartbreak karaoke fundraiser being held at the cameron house on valentine's day proper.

i don't know that i will be in attendance, as valentine's day is my birthday and i prefer to hide under a rock and avoid the panic and forced whimsy of a day i have complicated feelings about.

i will be turning 75 this year, so condolences and funeral wreaths are being accepted as of now.

experiments in terraria.

the moss plate was threatening to dry out. i knew this would happen. so yesterday, aitor and i had a brief outing on the hunt for the last couple of materials we needed to make a terrarium or two (namely charcoal and sphagnum moss).

i have been dreaming up terraria for while - actually, ever since aitor went on a plant splitting spree and gave me a small butterwort. he still has two thriving in his big wardian case while mine was pluckily struggling on our bathroom windowsill. so i started looking around for appropriate containers. that's when i found the one above, which was a serious thrift score. of course, you can't just plop a lone carnivorous plant into a big jar like that all alone. so a hatched a plan to collect some mosses out west (which also acted as a bid to bring a small part of the farm home with me). well, that plan snowballed, as plans are often wont to do, and i ended up with quite a bit of mossy materials.





in the end, the butterwort didn't end up figuring into the big glass jar at all. it's very easy to overcrowd these things and my maximalism really comes out in these situations. this little guy might be a lot to take in for the tastes of others, but i just see a million things to stare at. those stringy red things dance around when misted, which i can never get over.

with the remaining smaller bits and the butterwort, i put together these three smaller containers.



i imagine they are intended for some kind of wild alcoholic beverage (if you know, please fill me in) but they make perfect tiny terraria. i had orginally intended to give these ones to friends, but i think i need to hang onto them for at least a little while. after all, this is all experimental for me so i would it would serve me to observe the trials and successes of these little ecosystems.

after just one night, i can already see condensation on the glasses, the moss has perked up and the lichen have reverted to the softer forms that they had when i met them in british columbia; they had taken on a much more rigid demeanour when just lying around in the open of our dry apartment. the butterwort even ate some bugs that crawled out of the moss! let's hope it starts to look more like its happier brethren soon.



also, if anyone in the city has another large glass-topped jar or container that they feel like getting rid of, i would give it a good home. i have one big chunk of moss left with a couple of ferns growing in it and am trying desperately to keep it happy and healthy. my recent thrift store outings have yielded nothing of use. such is the plight of the impoverished artist who takes on opulent victorian hobbies.

although there is more extensive information on building your own terrarium elsewhere on the web, i will quickly run down what i did to make these:

a) washed and sterilized the glass containers.

b) filled the bottom with loose river rocks.

c) mixed in charcoal (i found it keeps the dust down if you rinse it first and lay it into the glass wet).

d) soaked the dried sphagnum moss and applied a healthy layer over the rocks.

e) placed moss samples in with gentle downward squeezes.

f) laid lichen-encrusted twigs and little pine/alder/cedar cones on top.

g) watered.

h) replaced lid.

i) marveled.

of cats and yarn.

...if you make it into yarn, will your cat be convinced?

in the case of my cat, the results are misleading. she has always had a disconcerting penchant for plastic bags and generally (with a few wild exceptions) stays away from my exposed yarn stash.

so why am i making yarn from plastic bags? well, my friend angelune is planning an earth day project to be displayed in the window of the knit cafe this spring and it involves both hyperbolic crochet and trashy materials...just my style. although i find it to be a very unpleasant material to crochet with, this is a pretty interesting 'fibre' to work. the end product certainly has a unique tenacity about it. if you are interested in trying it out yourself, angelune forwarded us this tutorial to use as a yarn-making guide. helle jorgensen's entire blog is worth poking around on, too. she has really taken work with crochet and plastic bags to a few new levels.

triple yarngasm.

gross. that word looks gross.

i am currently collecting myself after three back-to-back days of yarn acquisition. it started on saturday with my annual pilgrimage to the full-on hen house experience of the romni wools boxing day sale. aitor got a reprieve from attending this year as my visiting mother and newly transplanted aunt were more than happy to frolic in yarn with me for an afternoon. i got some great deals of garnstudio's eskimo bulky wool (i know, eskimo) some sublime organic merino (which is so soft) and some little blobs of madame lucien paul angora yarn from the basement (even softer). i wish i had bough more of all of those as they all worked beautifully into some new neck warmers. but as they say, 20/20 vision is perfect. or someone i know once said that, anyway.

on sunday i had the big free yarn score via leah.

then, today, i went to an insanely massive destashing sale hosted by tosca teran of nanopod: hybrid studio. it was amazing! there were no skeins over $3! i'm still going through all the amazing silks, angoras, wools and mohairs (true story!). tosca is liquidating the enormous stash of her knitting teacher mom (who is moving back to california) and has had a series of these sales. i'm not exactly sure how she's getting the word out about future sales, but joining the nanopod facebook group might not be a bad idea if you'd like to hear about her next sale. there is also some talk of her joining the fun at the love and rummage trunk show coming up in february.



so what am i doing with all this stuff? good question, aitor. some of it will be retained for personal projects (sorry, honey) but the bulk of what i acquired is already being made into neck warmers and elf hats to keep bodies warm in the coming cruddy months. the eskimo and sublime yarns have already been made into some positively ducky new neck warmers that have challenged my previous colour predilections (photos forthcoming). i usually only sell these crocheted items in person at fairs and in toronto at the good catch general store, but if there is any interest expressed by out-of-towners, i am happy to list some in the etsy shop. just encourage me. i have not had much success selling these things online (probably because people want to try them on) but am happy to try again. especially with the neck warmers - their fit is more adaptable.

buckling down.

here's the first picture of the unpeeled button board and my efforts to sort out the security envelope collections. soon enough i will have my office cleared enough to take over some wall space. hopefully. it still isn't remotely set up since our return. craft fairs, making things and holidays have totally destroyed (i mean, enriched) my life in the past month and taken my attentions from domestic concerns. speaking of wayward attentions, i spent a good part of today going through envelopes...



...from odette in quebec...



...from rachel in pennsylvania...



...and, finally, from nicole in indiana.

although, on the whole, these do not represent the wildest contributions i have received, everything up there is new. many of those patterns are variations on patterns i already have (the scrutinizing of which has become way easier with the button board). the teal ones are another example of corporate colour branding, but exciting nonetheless. also, now that i am sorting and resorting the master collection on the button board, i am truly coming to appreciate the impact of presenting subtle variations en masse. i need another board. all that said, the pattern with the cascading cubes/optical illusion from nicole's contribution is totally new and different to me.

after all these new additions, my collection has now reached 232 patterns. last night i had a dream that i reached 400 patterns (yes, i am dreaming about this now). i wonder if there are, indeed, another 168 patterns and variants out there. i know i have some good stuff waiting in queue. dare to dream.

you will also notice that one of the envelopes in nicole's contribution has a number on it. i have been saving all these identifying markings in case i manage to do a bit of deeper research into the creation/origins of these designs. there is a real dissection feel to the processes involved in documenting, cleaning and preparing the envelopes for use. i should probably do a little pictorial on that. it's a real every-part-of-the-buffalo routine.

i should also mention that one of the pictures i took yesterday ended up being the photo of the day on cbc radio 3. the blog post it is featured in also outlines a few other interesting image-based projects that cbc radio 3 has initiated through flickr. i recommend taking a look. it's pretty cool stuff. i originally found out about their flickr pool through serena whose amazing photo was featured by them on canada day. my little screw around pales deeply in comparison.

snowmageddon!

for those outside of toronto, i should explain that snowmageddon is the name our local news media has given to the large yet normal snow storm that hit toronto today. for those outside of canada, i should also explain that toronto is constantly (and rightfully) ridiculed by the rest of the country for such hyperbolic treatments of winter weather.



these are the days when self-employment tastes extra sweet. we just looked out the window, watching the expressway and feeling very superior. sure, all those commuters have retirement funds, but we get to stay in all day. i did go out for all of twelve minutes to do my daily mail drop and counted three cars stuck in drifts. the mail box is two blocks away. this town is falling apart!

i used the snow day to waddle around making buttons and trying desperately to catch up on my bazillion projects. i made a bit of headway on sorting through security envelopes (i quietly broke 200 patterns last night). i really need to dedicate a lot of this weekend to getting through the envelopes backlog. to all of you who have contributed: i am very appreciative of your gifts but also very swamped. the guilt is all-consuming.



speaking of waddling, i will leave you today with a sneak peek at the brand newest commissioned artist button set, duck duck goose by alec thibodeau. i will have a chance to write a bit more about alec and his button set when i release them next week, but feel free to start squawking over his brilliance before then...

son of security envelopes.

pictured here are some of the envelopes sent in by jake. the zigzags are new to me but so is the envelope in the front, which is covered in overlapping numbers. such designs bring up an interesting (to me) dilemma. when i first set out on this project, i was drawn to the abstract nature of the designs inside envelopes and wanted to highlight their beauty. but patterns like this (or some beautiful ones that say 'air mail' in various languages, 'thank you' or other similar messages) challenge the parameters of the project in my mind. they are not disqualified for being corporate, and yet they present recognizable symbols which are at odds with my initial vision for the project. i do recognize this distinction as being purely aesthetic and not at all ideological, so it seems wrong to punish these plucky envelopes simply for being more populist. the solution i have come up with, is to retain these designs for a second, later release of sets with words and symbols on them. to me, this makes them an even more special, rarefied collection and will hopefully give this project and eventual second wind. thank you for suffering my struggles, folks.



but back to questions of corporate interference in artistic life...i have received more than a few envelopes with tiling logos inside them. not to say that i am ungrateful for the contributions i have received, they just find a way of slipping in. some have come in large contributions, masterfully camouflaging themselves in bulk; some sport logos so simple as to look abstract when tiled; and some just look cool to begin with (the uk passport office logo jumps to mind). but even more insidious (and something i have just decided to incorporate into my project) is colour branding. that orange in the stack above is associated with come british company; a certain courier service has its own purple (which i quite like); there is a burgundy associated with another company (which i can't remember - sorry, your branding is less effective. i remember the colour but not you). and i bet there are even more branded colours that i haven't noticed. it's pretty tricky stuff. and it worked. i really wanted this project to promote the idea of (mostly) nameless designers and their subtle effects on our lives. instead, some stock patterns have been given a new colour that was, in some instances, agreed upon by rooms upon rooms of people. i guess being a corporate shill is much more inescapable than i had originally understood. at least this sneaky corporate intervention has provided my project a wider colour palette. sigh.



in cheerier, more forward-moving news, you may notice a recipe box in this last photo. this is where i am housing my burgeoning security envelope swatch collection. i hope to use this to scan patterns for online dissemination, scrutinize new submissions against the current collection and maybe even do things i have yet to think of. the future is now.

bride of security envelopes.

are you sick of this stuff yet? please let me know, dear reader, if you do become ill from my minute ramblings. i will take your feedback into account. although i may ignore it, at least i can progress to knowing ignorance. but i digress.

above is a collection of inside out security envelopes sent to me by laura. a few people reported doing this as a way of reusing all the junk envelopes they receive. they are awfully pretty, too. so pretty, in fact, that i am reluctant to cut them up and turn them into buttons. so far, i have only cut one up - the new pattern in the bunch which i have nicknamed 'edelweiss'. other than that, i am hoping i collect enough of the other patterns to be able to retain the remaining insideouters for future use. they seem like they take some amount of effort to make, too. i tried just turning and envelope inside out myself. this was misguided and i didn't get very far. upon closer inspection of laura's contributions, it seems clear that the envelopes must be loosened apart at the seams and then reglued back together inside out. another reason i don't want to cut them all up. this project of reuse, however, is something i plan to adopt into my future on a personal level - it seems to work especially well with all the 'reply to' envelopes that companies send out because their sticky part hasn't even been used yet. and if this project of mine grows to the place i am hoping, i think i can use many of laura's contributions (the patterns other have sent in) to package press releases. what could be better?

security envelopes and general homecoming activity.

above are pictured the envelope contributions from paul paoletti. he was one of the magical beings who reported working a high-snail-mail day job at a law firm and sent me an absolute heap of stuff (don't worry undisclosed law firm, your stellar employee never told me who you were and removed all trace of your business from said contributions). pictured above are only the ones i didn't have yet. paul and i actually exchanged emails from only a few miles apart when i was staying with friends in philadelphia. we never did make it to the mutter museum, paul, and i can hardly believe it.

in more torontonian news, i went for my first walk along my little slice of queen street yesterday - all the way from my place to the workroom. i visited the good catch general store (which is now all stocked with neck warmers for your blustery toronto needs). the place is as amazing as ever and little leon is running around now. i also noticed that studio brilliantine has relocated to our end of queen. welcome to the edge of toronto, guys. it's okay here. the workroom is also still in great form with a whole new row of fabric shelving for those textile hounds among us. i was a bit exhausted when i got there and probably need to go back to peruse the bolts at my leisure but the new stuff looks great.



this evening, by contrast, was spent indoors. our friends jen and mike stopped by and even gave us welcome home gifts. maple cookies, canadian club whiskey, sweetie pie tea from tealish and some pipes and junk for aitor. i felt fully welcomed home by this evening.

i also got t fulfill my dream of getting jen to 'make threes' (picking sets of three from the multitudes of security envelope patterns). jen has a knack for/obsession with matching so i knew she'd do a good job. mostly, it was just nice to be back home and working on the living room floor again.

pumpkins.

how cool is it that our friends in philadelphia saved pumpkins for us to carve with them?

it may be after hallowe'en, but i can't think of anything much better than getting to be adopted into a family and making jack-o-lanterns with a seven, a twelve and a fourteen year old.

while julie and the kids were out, we scoured the house for tea lights and made a display on the porch. it was pretty sweet.

multiples.

i like things fitting into sets. as i've had this little bit of time to catch up on my work, i've also been catching up on my documentation and archiving. the image above is from my flickr account. i made a set for all the neck warmers i had crocheted and saw this whole grid of the 42 finished pieces today as i was busily sorting. last year, i hoped to make 100 but had to stop when i realized i was spending all my time crocheting and not getting other things done. it's hard to get out of the habit when one picks up the hook.

i also spent some time today trying to document the security envelopes buttons i have become so enthralled in making. after my big score of envelopes in st. louis, i have really had to rein in my desire to make more and more of these buttons. every once in a while, i allow myself to make 100 and just stare at them for a moment...or ten moments.

after some serious field studying last night, i am pretty confident in the identification of at least eighty different designs in a host of harmonizing colourways (do they plan this? or are the colours of security just inherently harmonious?)







i have been toying with notions of translating this unstoppable obsession from crafty goodness into larger more art-world installations. i get scared of 'big art' (well, making it, not viewing it) but think that i finally found a project that excites me and makes sense to my art-brain. to this end (ramping up and feeding my obsession to artistic ends), i am now willing to offer you some free gifts in exchange for used security envelopes. that's right, i will send you a set of security envelopes buttons in exchange for a contribution of old security envelopes from you. if anyone from overseas reads this, i am particularly interested in what wild foreign envelopes might be out there and especially implore you to send me some.

if this strikes your fancy, just email me for shipping info and we can get rolling!

it's a pretty good deal, eh? you send me garbage and i send you other non-garbage stuff.

some rules (for what is life without them?):
1. only used or otherwise unusable (ie. pre-addressed) envelopes. this is a project of reuse.
2. no logos or words. i have found some companies put their logo inside their envelopes. i have deemed these unacceptable for this project.

[edit: december 6, 2008: i have reached my 100 respondent limit and suspended this call for submissions. there is a collecting phase two coming, though. read more here.]

thrift america.

photos by rev. aitor

so, up there is my attempt to collude with my sweetie to take pictures of the quilt top i got for $5 in south carolina. it was my big score of the trip. i am going to have to consult with my friend jen on fabric dating (i think dirty 30's, but she can set me right). oh, yes - these photos were also designed to tap into jen's fabric fetishist jealousies (but not too hard). it's kind of a weird quilt. or rather, it's a normal one with two extra rows sloppily added to one end, the top in this photo. i've been trying to figure out what to do with it. some compatriots of mine pull these apart to make smaller things for the lovely fabrics. but i am a little clingy about old things, so i think i am going to take those extra rows off, use the fabrics for other things and actually quilt up the rest. here is a detail of some of the fabrics used:

i'm pretty excited about the possibilities.

we actually left the motel today to do some getting out. we did visit a local thrift shop where we encountered (but - shockingly - did not purchase) this little gem:



if you look closely, you will note that the hotdog is full of little holes. we tried to figure out it's clearly specific function. there's only a small hole in the bottom so it can't be packed full of much; it could house incense sticks, but that didn't seem to match the themes (or related themes) of hotdogs or america, - it would also be a lot of incense; and then it occurred to me - sparklers! what could make your picnic more patriotic than a hotdog shooting a million sparks? god bless america. pass the beer mustard.

speaking of beer mustard, this is a new product we discovered at this discount grocery (and canned goods) store we found in town here. it is a penny pincher's godsend if navigated correctly (read the labels - how can frozen crab cakes contain 'less than 2% crab meat'?) that said, i did find myself totally confounded when i stumbled into the soda aisle today...



...closer...



there's a huge version here, if you want to explore all the glory. but bunch? crisp? mountain holler? dr. pop? patch? tubz? have any of you heard of any of these? it felt like i had stepped into a twilight zone reality where only one thing was different and nobody much cared.