HURRAH

I am going to be vending at my first craft fair in THREE YEARS!! And I've put a lot of thought and dedication into superb products which I'll highlight here leading up to the fair! Some things MIGHT be available on Etsy (but OBV not shippable in time for the holidays). Save your pennies my pretties. It'll be worth it. XO

#22: Sew Myself a Piece of Clothing

This is my hazel from Colette Patterns!! I made it out of one of my late grandma's old moo moos. I used almost all the fabric from the moomoo, all cut up and stuff. I did not sew it expertly but it's holding together. !! I made it for the RollerCon Riedell Luau!! Looking forward to it. Also will probably sew another hazel or two. It's a great dress. Modifications? No zipper, shorter straps, and a way shorter skirt.  I'm a tart.

check out my guest post over at colette patterns!

when sarai asked bloggers to put together a spring palette for her spring sewing challenge i immediately jumped on the bandwagon! it was so fun putting my palette together and just loving grey grey grey!


mostly it's inspired by robyn and her outfits in the dancing on my own video. which did come out last summer but will have huge implications on what i want to wear this spring.
Here's the LINK !!

love is a hunter

Rae Spoon was on CBC's Q today. YAY!

Have you seen this? Supermarket Sarah? I heard about it from MEET ME AT MIKE'S! It's incredible. and Genius.

And, Port Alberni-based crafter and antiques collector, Eben Lemon, is hosting a sweet giveaway over at the Dainty Squid! (Me, my sister, and Kalinhop are going to be making soap over the holidaze, so I'll be sure to take pictures of that!).

Oh! and this Harry Potter plush tutorial from My Paper Crane? OMG! I think that I'll make one into a puppet for the puppet theatre I'm making seth (it's baby sized, so when he's like one and half he'll be into it).


i made this embroidered nesting doll for the lovely e with purple and blue floss and put it in a purple frame. i didn't take any complete pics or WIPS, but i love it. so nice. here's the pattern from sublime stitching if you're so inclined!


this is the lame little garland i made for hanukkah. i used the star cutout tutorial from martha stewart (and i finally got my first issue of living that i subscribed for in the mail, yay!)


MMMM, hanukkah leftovers. we had 20 people here (including 7 kids under 7) in our tiny little itty bitty basement suite. it was GREAT! i made SO MUCH food and it was all devoured minus this crock of marinated mushrooms, borscht salad, a tablespoon or so of vegetarian chopped liver, and a bunch of rye bread (we had another loaf left too). it was the most fun i've had in a while and so great to have all these wonderful people in one space.

Tutorial: Scrap Bunting Pillow at Cut-out-and-Keep!

Look what I made! And I made a tutorial that was published in the newest issue of Snippets over at Cut Out and Keep!

Speaking of Cut Out and Keep, it's a really awesome website and I like it a lot! Some of my favourite recent projects/tutorials are:

Knee High Socks with Butterfly detail!
Oreo Balls!
Twinkie Chan's Crochet Daisy Headband!
Shrinky Dink Faux Tattoo Necklace!

Holiday Giveaway!!

first off, sorry the picture is so dark! it's dark out even during the day and the top of my all-in-one is the only surface in the house that doesnt have a pile of clutter on it.

so, the giveaway! yay! it's your very own embroidery starter kit!! it comes with a needle book with some needles, a sampling of floss, a hoop, some fabric, an embroidery stitch book, a sublime stitching pattern, and a print out of my smash patriarchy sampler! you can either keep it for yourself or give it to a loved one for the holidays!!

you just have to leave a comment with your favourite way to smash patriarchy by december 3rd at 5pm my time. i'll ship it out on monday!! (dont forget to leave me a way to get a hold of you!)

goodluck!

you really should have guessed

so a friend here in port who does contract work at home hooked me up and i'm working for her company too (i even signed my contract already!). it's administration work, but tis a job, full time, i get to somewhat make my own hours, and well, i get to work at home. and stay in port alberni. i did apply for a job in terrace (regression?) and it's a big one so my fingers are crossed. but it's the provincial government so it could take months. anyway, i'm happy and start on monday! woop!/PHEW. i have three more days of absolute freedom (to knit and craft) before my time gets even more restricted. yikes!

it's still snowing. today it's just been coming down all day. my desktop widget says it's 2C out. seth has been sleeping like a newborn: all day. basically he gets up, plays for 1/2 hour, eats, boob, back to sleep. it's pretty funny because he's bouncing from long naps to short naps. i think his body and his mind aren't made up. he's fun. it's getting annoying when we go out and everyoneandtheirfuckingdog start talking to me b/c he's so cute. OH DIANDRA HARD LIFE?! your kid is cute and everyone wants to talk to your cute baby. so annoying all the small talk. haha.

i'm finishing up an article for cut out and keep right now. made the project yesterday. it's so dark b/c of the snow i might not get a good finished object picture. so i'll probably have to take it tomorrow.

this post feels boring. like i'm just rambling about what i did. or will do. i know that's the purpose of this, but blah. tomorrow i'll post something more exciting. like pictures of us making bath bombs and our recipe mods or something.

OH! and the giveaway is coming! I'll post it next monday and then ship it out on the 3rd (with the rest of my gifts). STAY TUNED!! XO

stilettos and broken bottles

i can't believe it's almost been two weeks since i last posted! having a baby can obviously do that, throw you for a loop, etc. i'm obviously still in transition and finding time to fit "previous life stuff" into my new routine. or even build a new routine. luckily being confined to breast feeding to fatten our little baby up means i can catch up on House and finally start/get into Scrubs (all eight seasons here i come!), i also get to knit maybe 3 rows of helvetica's sweater a day (!!), sleep around 9 hours/day (broken up of course, into three chunks usually), and stay on top of the laundry! having stewart around is fabulous. we've managed to split up the chores nicely and he's been my personal servant for the last two weeks during operation-get-helvetica-back-up-to-birth-weight. regardless everyone around here has baby fever.

i have a number of craft projects on the brain. consistently. i have these stuffed bats i need to make for doula megan. and helvetica's sweater i want to finish. and a knitted gift of something for our midwife (which she'll probably get for christmas). eeps! Seth just hollered, must go. xo

Little Bunny Foo Foo

Done the little bunnies!! YAY!!! They're so cute and adorable and fun to play with..and they're not even for me. I can't wait for 1. helvetica to be a real baby and 2. for helvetica to be big enough to play with his/her own set! adorable. i mean, look at their little bums!! the tutorial is from the purl bee (they have so many great projects there!) and i finally got to put something up on craftster. i haven't posted a project up there in years. here's the link.

well, internet, it's been fun! i'm going on a variety of trips out of town over the next two weeks and when i'm not on the road i'll be at home very busy painting walls and putting up wallpaper. so i bid you my farewell for the next two weeks!!

A few recent FOs

I've been knitting my heart out for custom orders and am about to start on xmas gifts (which won't be posted here until after xmas, but will be on ravelry if they person they're for isn't on rav). I have a long list of things I am knitting for xmas, and this is even less than normal because we're doing our first family exchange this year, meaning that I only have one person: my sister, to knit for. Except, I'm knitting for stewart, his mom+sister, my dad, and a few friends, plus small things for the grandparents. wooo! I'm psyched to get started on them, though.

I'm even getting more into the holiday spirit, yay! We bought holiday cards today and a bit of a package for friends and their kiddo. We have more projects planned but need more time and $$. Doesn't everyone? Anyway, without further ado, here's a sampling of the custom orders, some of which haven't even made it to their recipients yet! (Going to the post office tomorrow).
Someone ordered two custom stockings from me. This is the "mommy" one, but there's another one in green. I was really impressed with my ability to come up with pattern on the fly and do a double knit top!!

Meret, pattern by wooly wormhead: using an angora I got at a craft swap. such nice soft yarn.

Another Meret made with cascade 220 Heathers. I've never worked with this yarn before and i love it.
These mitts were a custom order through etsy and they are the piece de resistance!!! I have leftovers enough to make a small person sweater but the yarns include Silk Garden, Merino from Moorhouse, Hempwol, a upcycled handdyed from BirthdayEveryday, and some blue moon fibre arts, and then lily chin with angora double held, and to top it off (not in the picture) my own handdyed merino. These are the softest and sturdiest mitts I have ever made and I can't wait to see someone's kidlette with a matching sweater.

Well, off to make quinoa salad. Stewart made a big vat of chicken wings with special hot sauce (yikes!) and I said I'd pair the salad. I hear nintendo calling toooooo... xo

"the only time i wish you were gone is once a day, everyday, all day long"

i'm pooped and so full from dinner. must find a way to make room for water to take my vitamins, and find the energy to brush my teeth and physically make it across the house to the bed. REGARDLESS, the craft fair was fucking amazing and it was only day one.

1. i already made $80! and i have another custom order to do that hasn't been paid yet. today i realized that i do rely on the sale for self confidence so here's hoping tomorrow = more sales!

2. port alberni is an amazing little town! today i met so many wonderful people (including my first new friend AND my new stitch n bitch ladies, though neither PG versions are replaceable!!!). one person even drew me a map of all the good thrift stores (the ones with the fabric, she said) and told me where to find jobs (casual ones that pay well).

3. Aboriginal ladies (young and old) were selling REAL cowichan sweaters (but more of a northern island style...) and they actually were charging their value (hundreds) and they were the most amazing sweaters i've ever seen in my life. i wish i had the $$..

4. UM, sitting at my table looking around the hall and see a sign that says "please return your laces inside the boots of your ROLLERSKATES". and then i look at the floor and it's the nicest polished concrete i've ever seen. i turned to the woman at the table next to me who grew up in port in the 60s and 70s and i say, "did people rollerskate in here". and she said, "heavens yes!" so i said in return, "that means we can play rollerderby!" then she got excited and sat down on my purse next to me and said, "let me tell you about the time rollerderby came to port alberni in the 70s and how hard it was to skate on banked track." OMFGG!!!! fuck yes.

working in a coal mine..part 934

today was crazy. hands down pretty much insane. first, it's still super dry here (that'll never go away, obv) and i was super dried out/cranky when i woke up this morning. at 9a. and there was so much wind! windy windy windy! like typhoon strength wind. apples and newspapers everywhere (i'm not sure where the newspapers came from). and when i went into the kitchen to wash dishes (backlog) to make coffee there was a huge pile of cat puke on the kitchen floor. so i sulked away being so tired i'd vomit just from not sitting down and internetted for an hour before i got the strength to clean it up. my poor kitties. i bought them gastrointestinal food this afternoon.

anyway, a strange thing happened: i pulled something my mom does on busy days. i got in the car and went to get two venti americanos (so we don't have to make coffee) and a bag of Bagel BELTs from TimmyHos. we drank coffee and munched away while we packed. and packed. and packed. we cleaned out our "junk dresser" (just have a few things on top left) and i also cleaned off almost 98% of the dresser in the bedroom. i also went through my clothes and have decided what i'm keeping and what i'm not. same goes with craft supplies and almost all our books. and magazines. and pretty much everything else. including furniture. i think we're going down with four small shelves and two bedside tables and one kitchen table. that's it! insane. and boxes of course. but there's not that many so far. we might fit it all in a uhaul. that would be impressive.

over the past week loki and i have been working on this baby quilt for eve. and we're done! yay! above is the photo of the patch i embroidered for it. the quilt was the first time we've both done it and it was frustrating often. i think the best was when loki called it a cuntbuncher (when the fabric was bunching). enjoy!

they call it way too rowdy, we call it finally free

right now this is my favourite thing. i've kind of resisted buying it because i know that it would go to a better home and i've been so distracted with thesis i've pretty much only paid our bills and spent money on food and some tights/runners, etc. oh, and rollerskate wheels which should be here sometime tomorrow just in time to get them on for practice.

i am so sick of looking at my thesis. i went to go finish formatting my last chapter and i should have tackled it easier b/c i was having such a hard time transitioning it from pages to microsoft word for mac. so i've just pdf'd it without any of the fun. and my scans from UNBC last night I SCANNED THEM WRONG. while it only took me 20 minutes I Have to do it again. gr. and, i guess in this whole process our house has been turned upside down by it's lack of "maintenance" and my contracting work has totally fallen behind and i'm SO BURNED OUT!!! i mean, i can't even find my charger for my camera battery to show off anything around me right now. i just feel so brain dead.

over the past few days NOT being on facebook has been awesome. i like finding different ways to communicate with people and spend less time trolling people's information and checking out cool things like blogs or just avoiding the computer in general (minus my school work). i really want to sew some things! it sounds like a gal pal and i are doing a table at the farmer's market this summer and we're getting together on friday night to scheme up names for our booth. to date it sounds like we're going to be selling home made/all natural beauty products like face masks and soaps and body scrubs as well as other crafty stuff. FUN!!

off to just stare into the abyss. aside from emailing my documents to copy services in the morning this shitty shitty first draft is done. yes.

FO: Hippie-fied thorpe

the thorpe hat is one that i've run across friend's favouriting and queues in the past little while. i love my slouchy hat, but really needed something that would keep me a litter warmer and cover my ears.

i also have had a variety of handspunny yarns lying around, so i yanked them out and put them together into this hippy-like hat. the hippyness throws me off a bit. but it's keeping me warm right now. (there's more pictures over at my flickr if you're interested!)

in other news, dan rogers is now pg's hopefully progressive mayor! it's the first time i've lived in a city where the mayor i've voted for is in charge! wup wup! i'm off to get a pineapple and cheese pizza and cuddle up with stewart. i can't believe the weekend's almost over already.

rebel yell

a while back i got to "vote" on the upcoming DROPs baby patterns. oddly, only 2 that i chose actually made the cut, but i can't get over how ridiculously cute these babies are. it's sick.

standing up like a man, like a father, understand that all i do is not enough...

i have been so obsessed with felted food (aka nuigurumi) and the fun of it. i made a dozen dougnuts over the weekend and today made some dango for a swap and for sale in my store. the dango is the most fun for me, as it reminds me so much of spring, the ohanami, and JAPAN!! and i never realized how much fake food is out there. i did it because it was cute, but this is just overkill. i mean, really! and it just ends up being creepy after awhile. i had this revelation yesterday or the day before: that i don't have many friends (did i write about this before?) so i'm trying to take an active role and hang out with people, be more social. tonight we had a bunch of people over for dinner and it was SO nice to just eat yummy food, drink wine, and chill out! now my hands are dry from all the cooking (i made yam dip and vegan brownies and couscous salada, and then peanut sauce w/ tofu and broccolli, and polenta with sauce...yuuuum!). coming up soon i'm going to do up all of my hummus recipes (that i've been told i'm famed for) and get them up on artificia. you can see a picture of the doughnuts there too! ooooh, and jeremy and i got into the vancouver feminisms conference! yes! we were talking about making shirts that say, "jeremy and diandra, western canadian academic tour 2007: creating change wherever we go" or something lame like that. i mean, as jeremy said, we're post-consumerist, but we're not post-selling shit to make money.

and that's how this idea was drilled into my head, cause its too important to stay the way its been

oh, today! yesterday! yesterday i worked a 12 hour day-->not something i really like doing but i just plugged through the day. and then stewart, jeremy, and i went to spicy greens for dinner. i had a mixed madras with the best raita i've ever had. and then topped it off with homemade mango icecream. oiishideshitane! two more days of work before my super long weekend. my raise finally went through. i continuously feel like this blog is becomming a random to do list. that i'm functioning on this high stress level and i rarely get into thinking about things. listen to me! bleck.

i just made three different batches of cookies.

1. rebar lime sugar cookies. (i bought the cookbook because my highschool teacher/modern day friend's sister in law owned the restaurant and i wanted to support them and buy their cookbook. i had never eaten there but continuously eat from the cookbook. i made the brownies so much in my undergrad that they became "my brownies" (my updates were the cinnamon and the super thick vitasoy--they were so gooey!). endearing records even put the updated recipe on their website. how great is that? (to update it further cut out the coffee and don't forget the cinnamon--lots of it!!) anyway, these cookies are greasy and sweet and sour from the lime and crunchy from some pepitas and you should really go out and buy the cookbook and make them!

2. the random accumulation cookie! my most favourite. i simply grab things in my kitchen that "go together" and throw them into a cookie. this time the random accumulation cookie is comprised of egg, butter, applesauce, organic sugar (just a little), 7 grain mix, white flour, chocolate chips, and walnuts. because of the lack of sugar they're a little "bomb" like-->but will be delicious with a really bitter cup of coffee. once when i was living with my mom i attempted to make a true random accumulation loaf. and vegan to boot. i remember my mom saying, "you need a recipe". and it worked out. damn recipes!

3. spicy yam cookies with honey. very doughy these ones. sugar really sets cookies apart. i'll have to remember that when cookies are crazy good it's because of all the butter and sugar. i haven't tried these ones (i ate some dough from all three, that's usually my taste test: i mean, if you can't eat the dough why the fuck would you want to eat the cookie?) nor the current random accumulation cookies but i bet they're fabulous.

there are a series of craft projects i want to work on, most of them christmas presents. i'm hoping to gank torie's older camera from her for a while so that i can snap pictures of things like my colonialism pillow and the scarf i'm knitting for someone. speaking of scarf i will go knit knit purl purl knit knit purl purl knit knit purl purl. i used to have a crafting blog, artificia, but it was accidentally deleted and i miss it. again camera=getting those crafting pictures up.

i must say that i am really enjoying prince george. there's something in the air. there's something under my feet. it's a magic place. to me magic used to mean that i had this awesome community and a lot of support around and for the first time in a while i don't have a lot of friends and i don't mind. i mean, i'm really liking this alone time, this time to spend with stewart. i have a few friends and they're incredible. i need to spend more time with them. one of my newer goals is making sure that i figure out what makes prince george so magic. (other than mobster kay!)