Spoilers

I got a fancy refurbished nook color the other day, and realized quickly that I wasn't comfortable putting my fancy new technology into my purse without some sort of protective covering.

I do carry an odd assortment of potentially harmful things in my purse.

A few web searches later, I had a basic knitting pattern and a few contact paper collages on cardboard as examples of the possibilities. Then I remembered my friend Lauren had recently knitted a TARDIS sleeve for her kindle. I didn't want a fabric case. I knit all the time and I really preferred the look of the hardcover cases. Which led me, of course, to River Song's Journal of Spoilers...

I took apart an appropriately sized coated cardboard journal I wasn't using. It originally had a picture of a grinning moon. I used my handy xacto to remove the paper innards, and then woodburned the design into the front and back of the cover.

I painted the cover, first with my cheaply found exterior house paint in a TARDISy blue color. That was both smelly, and streaky and very easily scraped off. So I followed it up with some acrylic paint: a lightened phalo blue, then a dry brush/wipe technique with some green. I then deepened the etched areas using a sharpie, and smudging with my finger before it dried. This is only possible on a surface that isn't absorbent. Finally, I sprayed it with the smelliest clear coat spray I own. My windows are still open. Fans are running. In February in Ohio.

For the interior, I painted the edges and about a half inch around the edges, as well as the interior spine, with the same technique as the cover, including the final spray coat.
Once that was dry, I cut two rectangles from a sticky-backed piece of blue felt and placed them in the center of the panels. I cut up a black elastic headband and hot glued them in place. (This part, I admit, was guesswork and sloppily done. My practice attempts using superglue failed completely, and trying to hide the edges under the felt meant having weird lumps under the fabric that were both unsightly and prevented the case from closing properly. So I just ended up gluing them as firmly as possible with the edge of the elastic perpendicular to the panel. it's nor pretty, but it's functional.)

Anyway, here's what I ended up with.






It's a bit shinier than I'd prefer. Next time, I'll use a matte sealant. It's just that I felt so strongly that I should use the smelliest spray sealant.

I am not smart.

Update: Here's a nice tutorial for making a tablet case from a book from our lovely friends at instructables.com

Wish I'd seen it before I made mine!

Yule 2011: The Gifts

This yule was distinctive in many ways. The first is that it may be the last solstice we spend in my beloved (rented) house. My mom and I moved in 8 years ago. It had been closed up for 2 years and needed a lot of work. Luckily, the landlord is a friend and let us do whatever we wanted. The walls are full of color and art and bookshelves. I'll miss it when I go.

Next, I had a few friends stay for the duration. This means I FINALLY got a solstice party! (Longest Night post is next up!)I'm no experienced hostess, but I *think* everyone had a good time. It was a bit crowded, especially once we stole a tree from the curb on Christmas Eve... The additional guests meant I had 3 more fantastic gifts to make in time for the holiday. December is crunch time, and this year included cleaning and preparing for extended guests, and ALL THE PRESENTS!

Third, and quite honestly, the most dramatic, was the absence of mom for the actual holiday. It was good, and it was bad. Good in that there were fewer people and dogs in my house, and bad, because mom missed what may be our last holiday here. It wasn't ideal in that sense.

Because of the excitement around this particular week, I felt like some of the gifts may have been a little less than awesome. This is, once again, an incomplete list of gifts I made. I have a horrible tendency to make it and either forget to photograph, or immediately wrap it up...



The Infinity Scarf. Made for my sister, and possibly completely ineffective at blocking cold.












Made for .. someone. i think it was requested by my mother for a friend. From the Hermione Hearts Ron knitting pattern. Also made one in brown.











Another hat made upon request. I don't recall the name of the pattern, but this hat ultimately caused me more emotional trauma than a hat has ever done. The pattern's a breeze, however. I highly recommend it. It was just all the associated misunderstandings. Commissions are sometimes hell.





A lightweight, lacy scarf made for my mother. I'm nearly certain it will never be worn. The scarf actually LOST some structure once I rinsed it for blocking. And there are very visible tension flaws. It's a heavy scarf for such an open pattern. I learned a lot about choosing the proper yarn for a project.






What do you get a Civil War reenactor and blacksmith? Why, a long stocking cap, of course! (Thankfully, his wife gave me a head's up on this one! Guys are so hard to craft for!) The pattern is based on one I found for a hat seen in A Christmas Story, since I completely suck at choosing colors for knitted things. Instead of gold, I used light brown and instead of omgsomanycastonstitches and size 7 needles, I used 9s and cut my cast on by 20!



I made a few of these this season. Shrink plastic and chain. Hope they have as much fun wearing them as I had making them!







A logo thing from a favorite video game played by one of my guests. I hadn't done a lot of shaping with the shrink plastic before, so I had to heat this a few times to get it right, but draping it over a glass spice jar got the effect I wanted perfectly. It's not great at holding hair, and she's got a LOT of it.. Still, as an accessory, it has potential, I think.







These were inspired by some etsy offerings I saw in my emails one day. My mom *adores* her dogs, so I thought it would be nice to give her something to celebrate their existence. The resin experience wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't something I want to do frequently. It didn't dry as clearly as I'd like, and the kind of paper used to present the image makes a difference as to whether the colors stay accurate. Turned out nice, tho.






These are shrink plastic necklaces I made for my Chikara. The cupcake is NOT my design, tho I did add crossbones to it to make it special for her. The dino skull and crossbones was her idea...some time ago. I write down all kinds of things for her, and save links she shares and then cobble things together later. She's by far the easiest person to craft for! Would that you all were so simple!








After the doggie silhouettes were in the brain, traditional silhouettes became an obvious choice for our hard-to-homemade-craft-for mom friends. All that was left was to spray paint some old frames and find some archival paper to cut up!







This was, by extremely far, my favorite gift to make. Fancy painted tshirts are always fun! My friend Jack was coming for a visit, and, being male, is frustratingly hard to make things for. he's entirely too sweet about wearing or displaying the things I give him, despite how they may not make sense to anyone else among his things. So I wanted to make him something he might actually like this time! Late Monday night (24 hours before I had to stop crafting and start actively expecting guests) I thought of this. I was frantic and thrilled, and decided that even if he didn't like it (how could he not?) this was my favorite thing this year! It's a portrait (from reference images) of The Silence from this past season's Doctor Who, along with the count of the number of times they were sighted and forgotten. I adore the creepiness of that character, and I know Jack is a Who fan from all of his cosplaying. To make it even better, he got me a Doctor Who gift as well! Perfection!

What is NOT perfection is the horrible layout of these posts. My general laziness about blogging is compounded by the sheer quantity of time I spend GUESSING where to place images and text in these posts so they are at spatially appropriate. I can never get it right. What shows up in the preview is different than the actual posts and I feel like beating my head against the wall, when I just want a simple image+caption system. If anyone has any tips or suggestions for a different blogging platform, let me know, please!

Two-Tailed Santa Hat

From Big Bang Theory Christmas 09

Bulky weight yarn, white and red
Size 9 dpns
Crochet hook

PATTERN
Cast on 74 st over 3 needles. (24, 24, 26)
7 rows: k1, p1 rib
Knit one row
Switch to red
3 rows: k14, p1, k6, p1, k18, p1, k6, p1, k26
Next row: k14, p1, c6b, p1, k18, p1, c6f, p1, k26

Repeat the following pattern 4 times:
Rows 1-8: k14, p1, k6, p1, k18, p1, k6, p1, k26
Row 9: k14, p1, c6b, p1, k18, p1, c6f, p1, k26

Next row: : k14, p1, k6, p1, k2, bind off 14, k2, p1, k6, p1, k14, bind off 14.
Put one set of remaining stitches on a stitch holder or extra length of yarn.

First tail:
Split the next 24 stitches onto two needles.
Knit in the round.
7 rows: k2, p1, k6, p1, k14
Next row: k2, p1, c6b, p1, k14
8 rows: k2, p1, k6, p1, k14
Next row: k2, p1, c6b, p1, k14
2 rows: k2, p1, k6, p1, k14
Next row: k2tog all around
Next row: k2tog while binding off.
Cut yarn and thread through stitches.

Second tail:
Split the next 24 stitches onto two needles.
Knit in the round.
7 rows: k2, p1, k6, p1, k14
Next row: k2, p1, c6f, p1, k14
8 rows: k2, p1, k6, p1, k14
Next row: k2, p1, c6f, p1, k14
2 rows: k2, p1, k6, p1, k14
Next row: k2tog all around
Next row: k2tog while binding off.
Cut yarn and thread through stitches.

Sew seam across the top of the bound off stitched in the center.

Make two fluffy white puffballs. Attach to the ends of tails and weave in yarn ends.



Bop around and be happy.

Some stuff I've done

I don't have time to write up a detailed post, but I figured I'd show some photos of gifts I've made lately.

Dragon*Con 2011 - The One With the Litter Box

First I'll share the pictures of the gifts I made for my beloved friends at the con.

Sean, with his Gir hat:





















Don't let his glower fool you - he wore that hat all weekend. Gir is surprisingly badass.

This next gift was done while people napped on me, as a thank you for our Jimmy. Jimmy, who, before we even saw him this year, left a cat box in front of our hotel room door. Jimmy, who asked us to paint him pink, taught us about the proper way to carry dildos in public. Jimmy, who dressed as a cross-dressing serial killer and danced for us. Jimmy, who brought costumed strangers to our room every night - specifically Ruby Rhod, from 5th Element. Ruby Rhod. I had to say thank you somehow...





















Now I've just got to color it and make it even more appalling. I tell myself he loves it, even though I suspect I should apologize for drawing it.

Also, Jimmy asked me months ago to knit his stuffed prairie dog, Cody, a Jayne hat. Of course I did.





















And.. that's all. That's all I made for people this year. I feel like an underachiever or something.

My Heart Will Go On

Sometimes, if you're very lucky, you have a friend for a great number of years who is complex and interesting and quirky and smart and absolutely loves the goofy gifts you give because you're too poor to buy presents for everyone. Every year, I am faced with a simple challenge: think of the best gift possible for my friend Jamie.

We were college roommates during the 98-99 school year. The year prior, the film Titanic as released, capturing the hearts and minds of all the people, everywhere. I didn't favor it much, but there's no denying it was beautifully crafted and appealing to those attracted to tragic romances. I admit to falling madly in love with Kate Winslet during that action packed 4 hours.

The scene that stood out, of course, to me, especially as an artist, was the scene where Leo draws a nude portrait of fair Kate while wearing the fancy jewelry owned by her icky fiance, Billy Zane. While sharing a dorm with Jamie, I was commissioned by a local businessman to do a portrait of his assistant in the style of that seen in the movie. Not nude, unfortunately. Not even reclining. Still, the sentiment was the same.. wait, what? No, really, he had me draw her child into the drawing as well. It was totally appropriate, I'm sure. At any rate, I completed the sketch, the movie's popularity eventually faded and that French Canadian woman's song stopped haunting my nightmares.

The seed had been planted, however. For the entire year we lived together, all of my art was greeted with a gasped, delighted "Monet!", a la Leo, but, that particular "In the style of Titanic" commission led to a new kind of silliness. Jamie would come back from her shower, twirling the belt of her robe, handing me a dime so I would draw her. I never did. It was a joke between us that I could, but I never did. Until this, her 32nd birthday.

In an odd coincidence, she was watching the movie the night before her birthday, as I was drawing it and, due to our history and joking, GUESSED that I was going to do this. I didn't capture the likeness, but I also haven't worked in charcoal for several years. When thinking up what I could use to censor the image (We live in Ohio), I was considering a stack of books, a travel coffee mug, a can of hairspray and a bust of Elvis. Think final scene of the first Austin Powers movie. I went with something classic, timeless.



Drawn from memory, too. *wink*

I Made You Something Sappy

I’ve been doing a lot of changing in the many months since my last post... I’m taking some time off enforced artistic production and am now heading toward a study of anthropology. I’m trying not to see myself as incredibly flaky - which this decision no doubt appears to be on the surface. I’ve been interested in the nature of culture for ages, and have always said it’s what I’d go to grad school for, if anything. (Strangely enough, despite my test scores and complicated interests, I’ve never really considered myself much of an academic...) I’m also eating better and trying desperately to work out instead of taking naps. More than anything else, right now, I’m trying very hard to appreciate what I’ve got: to notice the positive and accept the negative without blowing it out of proportion, personalizing it, or letting it inspire my internal monologue. Gratitude, I think, is key.




“coldcrush”

I painted this a few years ago. It’s the last oil painting I completed. I did it the fall after I realized a) someone I cared about was completely embarrassed by my obvious and totally appropriate affection and b) I had no place in the lives of some of the people who were most important to me. Or, rather, an extremely peripheral place. As it should be, really, since we’re not actually located anywhere near each other most of the time. It was just strangely shocking to me suddenly when I was painting this. I had never really considered myself lonely before.

Still, nothing to be done about it. I kept going to work until they laid me off. I kept talking to the same people and trying to be relevant to something or someone. I went back to school and hated it. Kept showing up, in case perseverance was the secret to happiness as well as success. I rededicated myself at the beginning of the semester, only to burn out by midterms and finally, last spring, just completely gave up all pretense. I never let myself think that I wasn’t happy because I was mistaken about what would make me happy in the first place. I hate wasting time, I hate wasting time, I hate wasting time, and that’s all I’ve been doing. All of it. If i opened my eyes to that thought - if I really LOOKED at it, I’d go absolutely crazy.

And then I noticed a pattern. I would randomly get unsolicited support from strangers that I took rather seriously. I always filed it under “signs I’m supposed to produce art.” Looking back, the discussions were usually about art, but the message was never limited to art. “Do what you love.” “If it scares you, you’re on the right track.” “Life can’t be about attaining wealth for everyone. Some people have to dream. Someone’s got to overthink the possibilities.” (The last was my favorite. It is the kindest description for being a neurotic worrywart with an active fantasy life I’ve ever heard!) All of these brilliant, encouraging messages, coming out of moving stories told to me by strangers and friends of friends - and it took me an entire day of wondering how I’d missed the point for so very long before I realized that it was all bullshit anyway.

Ok, not bullshit. A stranger comes up to you and says “Beware the Ides of March” and maybe it’s memorable and remarkable. It’s supposed to be, right? It’s no surprise that when someone you just met encourages you, you take note, you take heart, your hopefulness increases. The world is beautiful if strangers can be so supportive without agenda or expectation!

Or, it turns out, any practical knowledge of you and your journey.
No wait - maybe that actually makes it less impressive....

It’s all well and good to show up in someone’s life for five minutes and prop a few buttresses around their dream, but it lacks something. Substance, maybe. Reliability? If you rest your goals on random input, you can’t expect them to be firmly supported for the duration. I mean, duh, right?

That’s when I noticed another pattern. My friends - the very ones I felt so distant and unimportant to -had been offering me random, unsolicited support all along. The difference was they knew what layers of crap I had to wade through to even have dreams. They knew the baggage I carried. They weren’t always tolerant, and weren’t always attentive - they had their own things to worry about, but still, day after day, one or more of them would show up and either openly support me, or actively get out of my way so I could do whatever I needed to do.

Thanks to Chikara, I have a friend I can rely on to drag me along on wild imaginings and unexpected twists of wit. I have someone who can sympathize with my disappointments and who will always listen to me no matter how obnoxiously self involved I manage to be. She’s the one to challenge my ideas of appropriate behavior and to force me to put some of my more liberal ideas on self expression into action. We draw cocks. We sing stupid songs in public. We giggle about boys like teenagers (or maybe cougars...). She taught me that playing and pushing the boundaries don’t need to be different things. She’s always there with a “You’re pretty and not off-puttingly crazy” message in my twitter whenever I need one. Thank you, my chikadee.

Angie has always been there for me, except for those times we broke up and didn’t speak to each other. She’s treated me like family even when she had no idea what i was talking about. If I go to her with some big stupid drama thing that’s almost entirely in my own head, she will listen, look completely confunded for a few seconds and then say something that proves that she was not only listening, but trying to be helpful. Whether what she says is or not, it’s always surprisingly effective to know that someone cares enough to stretch their mind for a solution to one’s nonsense. Thank you, Ang, for always doing your best and being an excellent friend, even though I appear to be from another planet sometimes.

Today I complained that the autoparts guy didn’t install my headlight bulb for me, and Jack sent me a text message offering to walk me through the steps. I can’t count how many times he’s just randomly dropped into a conversation with “You’re lovely and if you need me to kill anyone, just say the word.” Knowing I’m not the hugest fan of books on tape (they’re growing on me), but knowing his own preference for them during long drives, he’s chosen to listen to my favorite book during the trip to Dragon*con, despite the fact that he considers me quite sisterly and the book is, at best, rather erotic in nature. (Kushiel’s Dart. Read it. It’s beautiful.) We have some marvelous and dramatic memories that I’m glad to share with him, even if they didn’t always turn out as we’d hoped. Cause at the end of the day, Jack is there for the people he chooses to care about. I’m forever grateful to be one of his.

My gorgeous and talented friend Jamiemarich is always an adventure. Even if we’re just sitting around watching sitcoms, something substantial will resonate out from the discussion or observations. Mostly it makes us laugh, but after lives like ours, with personalities such as ours, laughter is the most important thing we can give each other. Laughter, honesty, support - these are things I associate with Jamie. She recently invited me to travel with her. Claims she wants to help me see the world a bit. She knows I often get wrapped up into my own small space and only get the chance to look out through my web browser. She’s generous and loving and has taught me that there’s no limit on what you can accomplish if you’re willing to work; that dark nights are as necessary and beautiful as the brightest days; and that some friends you don’t need to see all the time to know they’ll show up with insight and compassion when it’s important. Thank you, sweetie.

Amber and Emily I speak to mostly through twitter, with occasional journeys into their territory to frolic and bond over odd things like noteworthy bone structure and pre-raphaelite art. They have also both sent me messages referring to my physical beauty - a thing that happens rarely enough with such specificity that I printed the words out and hung them on my wall so I won’t forget. Amber has a way of setting a person at ease. It’s easy to be comfortable with her and very easy to take her at her word. When she tells me I’m beautiful, I can’t not believe her. The same is true of Emily, in a lot of ways, only less with the comfortable and more with the keenly observant. If she tells me I’m beautiful, it’s probably because she’s done the math concerning the symmetry of my face or something. I’m willing to trust that she not only wouldn’t waste her time saying things she didn’t mean, but that she could probably defend her position on a given topic with supportive texts and scientific data. She also thinks I’m smart, and I can’t even tell you how much that means to me. I love my girls.

That’s not all, either! My friends are my friends for reasons too numerous to list in a single blog entry. They’ve all been there when I needed, or said things at the perfect time for me to make a connection I may not have otherwise. They’ve all listened to me complain, been my sounding board or my cuddle prop or my shoulder. I can only aspire to give back or pass on the love and support I’ve received. And occasionally offer a sincere thank you, along with my continued devotion. Thank you, my wonderful friends. I love you very much.