December 12-18, 2009- in pictures

And as an added bonus, here's a link to that inchworm video (don't worry, it's very short)

December 8, 9, 10, and 11, 2009- in pictures

December 6 and 7, 2009- in pictures

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Cartoon pending

Cartoon coming tomorrow morning, because oh my god what a day. Good day, except for the two lamps we broke, but very, very busy.

December 5, 2009- in pictures

December 4, 2009- in pictures

Today I'm a little light on awesome, cartoon-wise, because I'm so excited about the wheel that it's hard to stop spinning to get drawing done.

December 3, 2009- in pictures

One day, I will master the fine art of sleeping, and I won't be so tired.

December 2, 2009- in pictures

For the curious, my necklace is a wee little bird, and I'm drinking orange juice. Now off to put the finishing touches on dinner (braised fennel, chicken sausages).

December 1, 2009- in pictures

I like how this turned out, except for the picture of Charlie, which turned out so badly it nearly ruins the rest of it. It looks more like Nicholas Cage than it does Charlie. Now I'm all grumpy about it, and cursing my lack of white-out, and the unlikely-hood that I would use it even if I had it.

November 30, 2009 in pictures.

And I've successfully blogged every day in November! Go me! And more importantly, I started doing this day in pictures thing, and I'm totally digging it. I've tried, off and on since childhood, to keep a daily journal. And I always kind of sucked at it. I can't believe it took me this long to realize that since I'm such a visual person, perhaps incorporating visuals would be a way to make the activity enjoyable for me. I think I'm going to keep going.

That said, rest assured that photos of toys and paintings and my pets are coming back, along with more recipes. Their absence the past two weeks had nothing to do with all the drawing, and everything to do with being super crazy busy. Perhaps tomorrow, a day in pictures and a toy in progress.

November 29, 2009 in pictures.

Lazy Sunday. Lazy lazy lazy Sunday. Very much needed. Back to getting things done tomorrow.

November 28, 2009 in pictures.

November 27, 2009 in pictures.

Don't get the impression that I didn't have fun at the Huntington today, because I totally did. It was awesome! I just had to step outside of some of the indoor stuff because of the crowds. I have some auditory processing issues in crowds.

November 26, 2009 in Pictures.

November 25, 2009 in Pictures.

November 24, 2009 in pictures.

My kitchen is now completely gorgeous. And I am completely exhausted. But happy. Very, very happy, and looking forward to awesome family time tomorrow.

November 23, 2009 in pictures.

Seriously. So much cleaning the kitchen, and I'm not even done yet. But it's starting to look pretty awesome. Although my hands are feeling all sore and bleach-y.

November 22, 2009 in pictures.

And now I'm so tired I'll be proud of myself if I make it to ten pm.

November 21, 2009 in pictures.

Drawn while chatting with Charlie and Dan about cameras and samurai. The photo (I need a new scanner. Hopefully soon) is a little crooked, but I'm in a hurry to get to that movie. Maybe I'll put up a non-crooked version later?

November 20, 2009 in pictures.

November 19, 2009 in pictures.

Now with Bonus Smee! Here, he is shown cozied and dozing in his nest in my office, circa this afternoon.

November 18, 2009 in pictures.

Plus a book I'd been waiting for forever came in for me at the library! And I cut out felt for toys! And I made dinner! And I tried to go to the grocery store, but it shares parking with stupid Macy's which was having a stupid sale so I ended up going home without even getting out of the car. And now I'm going to go curl up with Charlie and watch Krazy Kat cartoons.

November 17, 2009 in pictures.

November 16, 2009 in Pictures.

For anyone who's interested, there's a very straight-forward Andean plying tutorial with great, easy to follow diagrams here.

They Might Be Giants was awesome! It's so nice to see people succeed so throughly with something that is so legitamately good. Plus the audience was adorable, mainly nerdy folks in their 30s and 40s looking very giddy and bouncing around. Plus there were sock puppets! Made of socks! Puppets! All around, a very good evening.

In Favor of.

Things I am in favor of today-

-Popeye! We've been watching a lot of old Popeye cartoons lately. A lot a lot. To the extent that it's starting to affect my speech patterns if I'm not careful.

-They Might Be Giants! My friend Brianna and I are going to see them tonight in Westwood. Very excited. More on this after the show.

-Spinning! Still. The yarn kind, not the exercise bike thing. I'm sad that I'm too busy and exhausted to get down to the craft center to practice on the wheel this weekend, but I've been enjoying working on my drop spindle in the mean time.

-Fall/Winter vegetables! My food budget gets a lot cheaper once cabbage comes into season. And it's a fun change of pace. Plus, now that it's not a million degrees outside, I have so many more cooking method options.

-My various infirm family members are all at least somewhat on the mend! This is a big one, as some of them were causing me a great deal of worry.

-Awesome leftover kale, bean and sausage soup! Very tasty, and leftovers give me a break from cooking.

-This sweater! (It's a Ravelry link, so if you don't have an account there it won't work.) All sorts of small needle colorwork-y goodness. I am in love, and may need to make this. It'll be somewhat of a major undertaking, but whatever.

Hooray for good things!

Ply!

The two ply I finished last night. It's not done with the most even singles I've ever made (or single, really, singular, as I plyed Andean plying bracelet style), but it turned out quite nicely. And it's very, very soft. I am pleased. Giddy, even.

Hey! Almost forgot to blog today. Nothing big to report. Charlie is majorly on the mend, although still very tired. I'm exhausted, but continue to be healthy. I took care of Charlie in the morning, then went to work, then went to the grocery store, and then back home for a simple dinner and some Popeye cartoons (Which- Popeye cartoons are awesome, but I think they are starting to have and adverse effect on my speech patterns.). After Charlie went to bed I finished some plying I started this afternoon. If I had thought of it, I would have posted a picture of the yarn, but as it's currently soaking in soapy water, it'll have to wait for tomorrow. That's okay though, as it will be better then. It's not the best yarn I've ever made, and there isn't a lot of it (it was an experiment) but it is the most success I've had with plying to date. And it's awfully soft. I'm excited to knit it into something.

So I had a whole plan for art today, but instead Charlie has what may be the swine flu, and I'm taking care of him, and I'm exhausted. Because of course our doctor's office is closed for Veteran's day, I had to take him to immediate care. Which for some reason, the closest one that takes our insurance is about 15 miles away, in Koreatown. Which in itself seems wrong, since we have insurance through a major carrier and live in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles, which is huge and densely populated. But whatever. So I took him there, and we waited for about three hours even though we were the only people there. Once we actually got to see the doctor, she apologized and told us that she had just gotten a new staff, and that they were stupid. She herself was very helpful, and gave us both Tamiflu, Charlie for treatment and me for prevention. Then I dropped Charlie off at home, and went to the pharmacy and the grocery. At 2pm I finally got to eat something.

So yeah. No art today. But on the plus side, I think we got treatment for Charlie quickly enough I doubt it will turn into anything major, and I'm fine other than being so tired that I'm having trouble typing properly.

Cabbage! With recipe!

Oh cabbage! How I love you so. So cheap, so tasty, so nutritious. When people think you are stinky, it's just because they aren't cooking you right. When cooked quickly, you are one of the tastiest damn things out there.

Here's something to make with cabbage, courtesy of my brain. We had it for the second time for dinner last night, and it was awesome.

-Cabbage and White Bean Picatta-
ingredients
About 1/2 a cabbage,cored and shredded up fairly fine. I use a big knife for this, personally, but I suspect you could use a food processor.

3 cloves of garlic. You could use less if you want, but I love garlic. I may add even more garlic the next time I make this. But 3 cloves is good. Oh, and you'll want to mince them or grate them or press them. I put mine through the garlic press. The point is, make it into kind of a loose mush.

Olive oil. Just a little. A few tablespoons at most.

Cannellini beans. I used a 15oz can, but you could also use about 2 cups of beans you cooked up yourself from dried.

Butter! 2 tablespoons should do it!

Capers! I can't say I really measure these, but 1-3 tablespoons? I tend to err on the side of more capers, because I am in favor of capers.

Juice of one or two lemons. I used two last night, but generally I would use one. The lemons I had around last night were tiny.

Instructions
Start heating up a wok or a big skillet. Once it's nice and hot, add the olive oil. While that's heating up, start melting some butter in a tiny skillet or saucepan.
Okay. So now you add the shredded cabbage to the wok/big skillet, and toss it around (carefully, using two spoons, so that the cabbage doesn't go all over the stove) to get the cabbage coated with oil. Then let it sit for a minute or two at high heat. You want it to start to brown in the places it's touch the pan. That means it's caramelizing, and that in turn means it will taste awesome.

The butter in your little pan should be melty by now, so stir it gently until it's a nutty brown, and then turn off the heat. If it's an electric stove, remove it from heat so that it stops browning. Set it aside. We'll come back to it later.

Back to your cabbage. Add the garlic to it, and toss that together. Then let it cook another minute or so. It should be starting to get a bit limp at this point. Now you add the beans, toss it together again, turn the heat down to medium, and let it cook together nicely while you finish the sauce.

Okay. We're back to the butter now. It should have sat for at least two minutes off heat at this point. You don't want to add cool liquids to hot butter, generally, as it generates an oil spitty mess. But it should be cool enough at this point. So add your capers and your lemon juice, and put the pan back over heat. Let it come to the slightest boil and reduce just a little. Stir it all around, and turn off the heat again.

And you're done! Combine the contents of the two pans in your serving dish, make sure they're mixed up nicely, and put that sucker on the table!

Serves anywhere from 2-6 depending on how hungry you are and how much other stuff you're serving. We had this with nothing else, just the two of us, for dinner last night, and finished the whole thing. But if there's only one of you try it anyway. The leftovers should heat up just fine.

Current Obsession

So very into spinning again after yesterday's class. I believe a wheel may be in my future. This wheel, perhaps. And due to the magic of anniversaries and Christmas, I just might get one. Hee!

Anyhow, it will get me closer to my dream of making all of the socks I wear be as difficult to obtain as possible. Currently I'm just knitting them, but I'm now totally renewed in my quest to spin the yarn that I make them with. Eventually there will be a sheep living in my bathtub.

Accomplished today-
-Charlie and I drove out to Santa Monica, and drank coffee on the beach.

-Then I had my first spinning class, over at Urban Craft Center! We started with spindle spinning, which I've been doing for awhile (but still love, and was gratified to learn I was doing correctly, despite the fact that I taught myself from a pamphlet), and then we started in on the wheels. This was the first time I've ever spun on a wheel, and I loved it! I'm still not so great at it, and my wheel yarn is so much crappier than my spindle yarn, but I'm determined to get the hang of it. And by the end my work was definitely getting easier and looking better. The next class is in two weeks, and I can't wait. I also see the purchase of my own wheel in the near future.

-After class I was immediately picked up by Charlie and Jed (who were neighborhood scouting) and taken to lunch. Tasty, tasty lunch, at Sapp Coffee Shop, which is not so much a coffee shop as it is a Thai restaurant. I adore it muchly. We went there for the first time about a month ago, and we've gone about once a week since then. If you go, I recommend the boat noodles and the jade noodles.

-Then we went to the Arclight to see the new Coen brothers movie, A Serious Man. Which was very, very good. I actually thought it was better than No Country for Old Men. Much more subtle. Also funny, which I'm always in favor of.

-Oh! Between lunch and the movie we went to Amoeba Records and got three cds and one movie, which I am to lazy to actually go get from the other room to get the titles. Tomorrow maybe? I'm really tired.

-Anyway, after the movie Jed offered to treat us to dinner (I had treated him to lunch) so we went and had some Salvadorean food at a lovely place that I believe is called Gloria's. It was very nice, and I suspect we will be back.

-And now I am home, the dog has been fed and walked, and I'm going to curl up with some dvds and the charming young man I married.

Accomplished

Accomplished today:
-Slept in until an alarm I hadn't even realized I'd set on my watch went off. (We'd be out late last night going to see these guys- Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. Very cool.)

-Got our vegetables and fruits for the week at our local farmers market. (Very in to bok choy and kale lately.)

-Got our flu shots at Charlie's work. (Seasonal only so far, but it was nice to get that with so little hassle.)

-Ate some lunch.

-Sat down to read books, ended up taking naps instead.

-Watched most of Psycho, except for the end, because the dvd got all screwy. Luckily, we've both seen it before, but I'm still a little grouchy about it.

Things that did not get done include various art projects and writing. Still to come today (probably) is the making of ravioli to freeze for Thanksgiving.

My co-workers

New Socks!

Just finished these babies. Nice and toasty Noro Silk Garden Sock socks. Not that it's all that chilly today, but warm toes are always nice, and they'll really come in handy on our next trip to Chicago.

Even! More! Faces!

Guess what I did today? That's right, I painted more faces. Also, but not pictured, I painted some doll feet. The doll feet are only partly painted though. They're getting stripes.

I promise tomorrow will have some non-face action, if only because I've now run out of faces to paint.

This is the large part of what I worked on today. Certainly it's the interesting part, since the rest of it was of the household maintenance, laundry, grocery shopping variety. They took about three This American Lifes to paint, and I have a whole bunch left to do tomorrow. I like them. They remind me of little jack-o-lanterns.

One of the This American Lifes I listened to was this one, the one about superpowers. It was a re-listen really, as it's probably my favorite one of all time. I'm a big comic book nerd at heart. On that note, flight or invisibility? I'm going with flight, personally. It just sounds fun. Exhilarating. Invisibility isn't to interesting to me. I feel invisible sometimes anyhow, and it isn't really a good feeling. Plus most of the things people mention as reasons to want to be invisible aren't appealing to me. I don't want to look at people naked without their consent. That's creepy. I wouldn't want to sneak into movies without paying. If the movie looks good, I want to support it so that they'll make more like it. Where as flight? Flight sounds nice. You could experience the world from a different perspective. I like to imagine it being like swimming

New faces. BIG faces. And the creative process.

These four big faces are currently baking up in my oven (the smaller, painted face is one of my normal size ones, shown along with some of my worktable clutter to give an idea of scale). On my way to the dentist today I stopped in the copy shop and made a few different enlargements of one of my favorite of my toy patterns. I've been enjoying putting clothing on some of the toys lately, and I'm hoping that by making some larger versions I'll be able to make that clothing more detailed. So it's an experiment.

It puts me in mind of how for the past year or so, the creative process is so much more interesting to me than the finished work. This applies both to my own work and to my viewing of others' works. It's not that I've lost interest in the finished product, but man has my fascination with the process grown. I'm all about looking at sketch books and notes. I like watching things grow and change and develop. There is something satisfying about watching the actual labor involved in artistic creation, and then looking at the finish product and seeing the marks of that labor.

And now I think I need to go watch My Dinner with Andre. Again.

Necklace! And a month of posts!

A peek at a new project I'm playing with- shrinky plastic pendants.

-Before baking-


-After baking and being turned into a necklace-


I'm really fond of these. I'm hoping to put some up in the shop soon, after I pick up more (and I think, different) chain tomorrow.

And in other news, I'm doing Nablopomo again, which is to say I'm hoping to post everyday for the month of November. It'll be a good exercise.

Sketchies!

Charlie and I dropped my sister and brother off at the airport before dawn Monday morning. It was a great visit, and I wish they were still here.

Alas, they are not, and perhaps it's not such a bad thing, since I've been very busy with work this week. And not the art half of my work, but the more out of the house half that is yarn related, teaching knitting and crochet, finishing needlework for some clients (just some weaving in ends and blocking) and working out some new patterns I hope to sell. And when I wasn't doing those things, or normal household sorts of tasks, I was trying to fit in a nap here and there, because it's been kind of non-stop action for a least a month now, and I'm starting to get worn down. Therefore, I don't have any new toys to share at the moment (soon though, hopefully). What I do have is sketches for possible future toys, which are pictured above. I know I enjoy flipping through other peoples sketch books, so I hope you enjoy a peek at mine.

Pollywog

Pollywog is one of two toys I finished this morning (the other being a bird that I'm not sharing just yet). Originally she was supposed to be for the next shop update, but I can't bring myself to part with her. She has the goofy charm that makes me love what I do. Plus she works as a companion piece with a toy I made for my dad's birthday of a seamonster king (Mighty King Neptune!, so there's that too. Other toymakers out there- am I the only one who periodically makes a toy she just can't bear to give away?

And! Speaking of that shop update, I know it was supposed to be last week. Which clearly didn't happen. And I'm betting it isn't going to happen this week either, since I have my sister and brother arriving for the weekend in a few hours. So I'm aiming for next week. I'll try to make it extra awesome.

Oh! And I have the twitter now! Link in the sidebar! I'm on that way more often than this, what with the taking less time and all.

Seattle was awesome.


There was chowder.


And lots of galleries. (This is the one my work is in!)


And lots and lots and lots of art.

Best of all, there were so many kind, incredible people, amazing people who's business cards I need to dig out of my bag so that I can send emails and post links and generally keep in touch. Which I will start working on. Tomorrow. Right now it's time to make some lentil soup.