dyeing yarn

 

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staying in touch

Got to have a nice Gchat with the girls in Brooklyn yesterday!  It was so good to see their faces/mannerisms and much better than the speaker phone conversation we had last week.  I showed them my new studio and they showed me what my old space looks like now.  We're planning a trip together soon!  Can't wait.

i wore wiksten

Yesterday.  I've been wearing this dress a lot over the summer, and it's been keeping me cool.  My new favorite necklace (Mociun and Krantz) didn't work with the neckline, so I added a t-shirt.

thrifting in iowa

Sarah from Cursive Design stopped in Iowa City on her road trip before heading back to Chicago today.  We went out to lunch and then to an antique store that Alison told me about.  I bought some beautiful textiles, rugs, and handmade pottery.

a package from ermie

I got my Ermie package I told you about the other day, and I've already worn both of the tops.  I wore the Huipil top at home and the tank top out to dinner last night on a double date.  JPD wanted to see a pic of me in the clothes, so here it is!  A little bit of a lazy effort, I admit.  

I love getting Ermie packages because they're so fun and colorful!  JPD puts so much into the details, and it never fails to lift my spirits and make me feel carefree.

anniversary dress

photos by Jeana Sohn from Ermie website

Joe and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on Friday, and I got to wear my beautiful new Ermie dress (in silk) out to dinner.  This top and tank are also in the mail on their way to me.  Thanks, JPD!

tiny dreamcatcher

Before I left Brooklyn, some of the girls (Lena, Sarkilahti, Anne) and I had one last craft night for making dreamcatchers.  They're totally addictive to make, as most good crafts are.  I encourage you to google dreamcatcher videos and make one immediately.  This kind of craft doesn't take much skill or time, and all you really need are some twigs from the yard and string and anything that can be improvised to hang from your piece.  Rocks, shells, beads, feathers, whatever.  The possibilities are endless.  See Lena's here and Sarkilahti's here.  Sarkilahti also blogged our craft night.  We were inspired by Hikaru.

You know what I like even better than dreamcatchers?  Tiny dreamcatchers.  I made one the other day for my friend.  I didn't put any beads or shells in the middle since I didn't have anything small enough, but I hung one of my Shelter Island shells from the side.  I like to keep things minimal.

childhood best friends

I loved Jenna's post on childhood best friends today over at Sweet Fine Day.  Your first friend, ah, who could forget?  Mine was Julie.  Our mothers were both divorced by our fathers when we were little children, so they got us together to play so we could have fun/have each other/not feel sad.  As a result we meant a great deal to each other.

Julie had an incomparable imagination, and we used to get into lots of trouble together.  It was great.  Her mom was an expert seamstress, and one day we decided to get into her sewing stuff to make a WEDDING DRESS for my hamster.  Say what?  In another phase we were obsessed with "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" and "Where's Waldo?" and found an ingenious way to combine our two loves by spending hours drawing elaborate scenes from the movie in the style of the drawings from the book.  Can't picture it?  Take my word for it, it was awesome.  Years later, long before I had any boobs I remember going shopping for my first bra with Julie at TJ Maxx.  We were convinced we needed bras so we could be cool.  And then we proved that we were not cool by spending the rest of our allowance on Pogs.

Julie went off to a different high school than me, and we eventually drifted apart.  But we still remember each other's old phone numbers from long ago and wish each other Happy Birthday on Facebook.  A few years ago I remember bumping into her around when I started my own handmade business.  Coincidentally at the time she had a business selling her handmade patchwork skirts at Phish concerts.  I remember thinking that as different as we are now, we're still not that different.  And it made me smile.

bicycling in wiksten

photos by Shannen Norman for Cup of Jo

Did you see the beautiful Caroline wearing Wiksten on Cup of Jo?  It's this dress from last spring.  She looks adorable!  As always.  I love her bike too.  I have a couple of bracelets from Caroline's jewelry line Brvtvs, and they are some of my favorites.

cooking!

We're not totally unpacked yet, and I can't find my camera battery charger anywhere!  So for now, photos taken with Joe's phone will have to suffice.

Hey, remember when I used to cook?  One thing I've been really enjoying now that I'm in Iowa is cooking.  I love to cook.  Sadly, I never had much time to do that in New York.  There's a great food co-op here, an awesome farmer's market, and three or four different Asian groceries.  Last night I thought I'd take advantage and finally cook something from Jeana Sohn's food blog Bap Story.

I ended up making the kimchi fried rice, and it was delicious.  Joe's not a big kimchi fan, but he loved it and went back for seconds.  It was even better with a cold glass of Sapporo beer.  If you want to make this recipe, I have to warn you--it's kinda spicy.  Also, kimchi is a bit of an acquired taste.  Years ago when I worked at a Korean restaurant with my sister we became obsessed with Korean food, but it took awhile to get used to.  We were friends with the owners of the restaurant, and they taught us some basic Korean recipes.  It's been such a long time since I've made any Korean food that it was nice to have something a little different for dinner.

weaving as art

photographs of Kay Sekimachi's work by Leslie Williamson for American Craft magazine

I recently received a package in the mail from artist Jaime Rugh, and it contained one of these lovely, tiny weavings that she does.  (I will show photos of this special gift another time.)  She uses a similar device to what we used at Lena's when we wove potholders.  All of this is leaving me pretty inspired to start some more small weaving projects for fun.  I found some mini looms here, but it would be easy enough to make your own or buy a vintage Weave-It or Weavette on eBay.  What about weaving a rug?

Kay Sekimachi's woven art totally inspires me as well.  She redefines the meaning of weaving with her sculptural pieces and has recently started making jewelry out of things washed up on the beach.  (Our husbands laughed at Sarkilahti and I for spending an hour at Shell Beach picking through the shells, but if only they knew what beautiful work could be created!)  Sekimachi's unique perspective and eye for natural beauty allow her to construct completely fascinating objects.  Wouldn't you die to see her home and studio in person?  I love the way she artfully arranges ordinary items to stunning effect.  I first learned about her work on Leslie Williamson's photography blog.  You can read the Craft in America article on Sekimachi here.

Erin Considine is another artist that weaves beautiful pieces.  Her work combines three of my favorite handcrafts: jewelry-making, hand-dyeing fiber, and weaving.  So many processes go into each of the pieces that it makes them even more special than just any beautiful objects.

new odette collection

I'm a little late on this, but did you see that Sarkilahti's new collection is now available?  Odette New York's Minerva Divinus got a nice little write up on Refinery 29 the other day because it's so rad.  Yeah, I said rad.  Anyways, I own the Amuletum necklace, the small Rib necklace, and the Pyramus necklace.  These are my staples that I wear all the time, but I love everything from the collection.  If you want to see them in action, I'm wearing the small Rib in my Makers Project photos, the large Rib here, and the Pyramus here.  You can buy the pieces here.

life is great, not perfect

Many bloggers only blog about the awesome parts of life, and readers get an edited and inaccurate view.  I am guilty of this, not because I want to seem perfect, but more because I want my blog to be a positive space.  An optimist at heart, I don't want to wallow in the negative aspects of my life.  However, it's not healthy to pretend like unpleasant crap doesn't happen.  That's why I told you guys I was sad about the move and leaving my friends and life.  Life always seems to be a balancing act between good and bad, and I like to see the good stuff as making the bad stuff worth it.  That's what allows me to be happy.

But lest you think that things around here are too good to be true, here's a counterbalance to my last post in which I let you in on a few sucky but not unbearable things:

feeling lonely and a little lost :: bickering with my husband because we are stressed, tired/achy, and sick of moving :: terrified kitties hissing at each other and hiding in every conceivable place, including behind the toilet :: no furniture to sit on for days :: having bad dreams about missing my friends