building the hyperbolic reef.

just a reminder, toronto, that tonight is the big free hyperbolic crochet installation/workshop at hart house.

check out the hart house craft night site or the toronto church of craft page for more information.

off to pack up my hooks!

oh, up there are the two new models i have to contribute.

mending the rules.

today i had a couple friends over to help me with a project. after we were done, dusty (to whom i owe a million favours) presented me with one of his favorite sweaters complete with new moth bites for 2009. among this city's many recent insect scourges (bed bugs, fruit flies, wasps...), moths figure pretty heavily so i figure these pictures of my darning might be of greater general use.

of course, i am too tired to explain these images or write up a proper tutorial on sweater repair but the clever among you will be able to do some shrewd figuring-out.

dusty helped me with the pictures as we goofed around with some of the camera equipment i inherited from my pop. the macro extensions were particularly fun to play with. i am able to photograph single buttons with the shortest extension. i am sure i will find other applications now that i am over thinking i don't know how to use them.

time and space capsule.

this is what this was all about. it was done for this. here it is bigger.

thank you to aitor, serena and anahi for illustration and companionship.

deep thoughts.

as the nights get longer and colder, we are happy to be introducing two new commissioned artist button sets from the mysterious depths of both sea and forest.

they are the murky progeny of milwaukee-based artist, and craft show pal, matt "matty 8080" cipov. matt is a prolific artist, an incredibly astute illustrator and a meticulous cutter-outer. his healthy use of office supplies, paper stocks and rubber stamps doesn't hurt his esteem in our book, either.

the images for these buttons come from a reportedly "ill-fated" art show matty had in seattle called 'creatures of the deep', although details are hard to come by. mystery! for the sweetie pie press, matt agreed to divide his illustrations into two distinct sylvan and marine sets (respectively) - just to make sure we were all adequately scared of specific depths.

having worked for years on boats, i find the shark particularly terrifying, although the owl does tap into all the formative twin peaks viewing i did in my youth. those things are not what they seem!

get ready to shock your friends senseless with these specters of the (mostly) natural world.

both sets are now listed in the etsy shop. enjoy!

sneak peek from the deep.

here is a little sneak peek from the next two commissioned artist button sets due out next week. the picture's a bit hazy, but i hope this adds to the dense and murky themes of the sets.

by the way, i am being pointedly evasive about the name of the artist. that's because this is a test. the first person to name the artist responsible for this work, gets a set from each collection.

ready, set, go!

what a difference six months make.

accoridng to my sources, this comforting neighbourhood sight the handiwork of anna pantchev.

it doesn't hurt that today's shoot was on a gloomier day. forgive me, but i don't mind all this cloud and drizzle.

adventures in babysitting.

this guy's the best even though he almost lost his marbles entirely at the price chopper.

ps - my apartment's a mess. see?