we can't call it a "stitch & bitch"

i think i mentioned a little while ago that i was starting a "knitting club" at the school i work at. well, i decided to take an idea i saw in this book and have the kids make their own knitting needles.


i altered the instructions just a wee bit: instead of using dowling, we just used wooden chopsticks instead. much cheaper ($1 for a pack of 40 sets!!) and it saved the trouble of having to saw them to the correct length. the only trouble is that even after sanding and oiling, the yarn doesn't "slide" off the needles as easily as i would like. the kids don't seem to mind though. and the length of the needles is PERFECT! regular sized ones are really unwieldy for smaller ones to use comfortably. and all they needed to do was use a pencil sharpener to make the ends pointy.

fun, cheap, and diy. it doesn't get much better than that!

all the cool kids are doing it

it's voting day here in canada. even though the polls show my choice doesn't really have a chance of being the next prime minister (yet!), i still get really excited on election day. i can't wait to watch the results tonight on tv! (i guess that might sound a bit geeky.)

i've been teaching the "election" unit to the gr. 5's at school since november. it was such a perfect learning opportunity to have a real election called during the unit. today all of that culminated in a mock election.

i made a polling station just for that class, complete with yellow "election canada" signs showing where the voting was taking place. we were lucky enough to have a real polling station at our school and the nice supervisor lent me 2 cardboard barriers so the students could vote in privacy (just like the adults!). i had 2 students act as returning officers: one highlited each name on the list of voters, the other student handed out ballots. after everyone in the class had voted, we watched the real thing in action. the supervisor was really kind and allowed us to sit quietly on the stage and ask her some questions while the public came in and voted. the kids loved it!!

here's the little ballot box and ballots i made for the students with the names of the candidates in their riding.


hopefully some of those kids will still be excited to vote when they turn 18!

sensible boots

after years of grumbling through nasty winters without real boots, i finally found a pair i love. scored these vegetarian kicks at "winners" for $29! and they are soooo warm!

omg

does the fact that i desperately want one for noah mean i've turned into one of those crazy dog people?!?




wait, don't answer that.

excited about...

*starting "knitting club" with the kids at school tomorrow

*two consecutive days of feeling wide awake (!!)

*the golden globes are on tonight

*fake chicken baking in the oven for dinner

*feeling inspired enough to get back in the studio

owls are the new deer

lately i've been seeing owls everywhere. (well, not in real life but in lots of little crafty shops online.) these are some of my favourites.

marigold tree


at plain mabel


at chocosho


at chocosho


mirna


i've caught "owl fever" too. one of the new designs i did for the craft show in december was an owl necklace. (i kept a green one for myself!). and one lucky day during my holidays, i found two owl brooches while thrifting in the 'burbs.

thrifted brooches (one wood, one gold-tone) and 2 of my owl necklace designs

my kindred spirit

awhile back when i posted photos of all that jewellery i was making for the big craft show in december, a girl on flickr saw my pictures. this one in particular caught her attention:


she made a comment saying that she also made mixed tape art and suggested we do a trade sometime. i was so excited...all of tara's drawings were amazing. i sent her a list of about 6 that i fell in love with and told her to surprise me. i was thrilled when i found this in my mail right before christmas:



not only did she send me one of her incredible drawings but she also made a wicked mixed tape for me too! and as if that wasn't perfect enough, i also got a 1" button with one of her other drawings on it (coincidentally, it is one of the 6 i loved). i sent her a turquoise mixed tape necklace and some matching hairpins but unfortunately i forgot to take a picture.

in this world of ipods and mp3s, tara and i are keeping the memory of the mixed tape alive. hee!

2006

happy new year!! sorry for being so quiet for such a long time. i spent the last month suffering from the "blog blahs". i just didn't feel i had anything interesting to say or show you. but my resolution for 2006 is to update more regularly. keep your fingers crossed for me...

the holidays were fun and relaxing and jam-packed. we got to spend time with paul's family on christmas eve, then to my mom's side for a few days, then the day-long trek up north to my dad's where we spent the rest of the week. it was wonderful to spend so much time with family. i did a lot of sleeping in, relaxing, reading back issues of martha stewart living, a bit of knitting, lots of laughing, and watching cable tv (such a luxury).

there was so much snow up north and it clung to the trees for days. i love this picture that i took on our trip. it was a winter wonderland at both my mom's and my dad's place.

i'm back!

hi everyone! thanks so much for all of your nice comments about the bust article. the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind with most of my waking hours being spent at the one of a kind show. it was an absolute blast...and completely exhausting! 11 consecutive days, 11 hours everyday. as much fun (and successful!) as it was, i'm happy to be back to my regular life!

here are a couple of (very dark) pictures of my little 3x3 booth
side 1


side 2


i wish i had pictures of my two amazing helpers...my mom opened up for me everyday while i was at my morning job and stayed and worked with me all day. paul built my display from start to finish and put his life on hold to help me out at the show too. i couldn't have done it without them!

i also had so many friends stop by and say hi! tania and paul, carla, monica, michelle, a bunch of people from work, and family all came to say hi and lend their support. that was one of the best parts of the show. it's hard to put into words, but chatting with a friend after 6 hours of unfamiliar faces streaming by (and knowing there are still 5 hours left!) just re-energizes the soul and helps get through the long hours.

i had the most amazing neighbours for 11 days too! they helped make the whole thing feel like summer camp.

janna makes pretty scarves


and varyn makes the most gorgeous yoga bags


i did do a bit of shopping (and trading) at the show, but i can't show everything since some are christmas gifts. here are some goodies that i scooped for myself:

* 2 pairs of candi factory undies
* hand lotion from urban venus (fresh squeezed lemon and GINGERBREAD!!)
* a tie from demoiselle (paul bought for me)

****
and now i need to go and catch up on what i've missed on your blogs over the last 2 weeks!

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh....

ok, i know i said i wouldn't be back until dec. 5th, and i know that nobody will be checking in here until then but i just had to post my most exciting news ever...

one of my jewellery designs made it into the pages of BUST magazine!!!!!

eeekk!!!!

here's the cover: (it's the latest issue. i'm not even sure if it's on the newsstands yet!)


and my 'mixed tape' earrings!


hee! :)

hi...and bye.

i thought it would be a good idea to dust off this poor neglected blog of mine to pop in and say hi to everyone! thanks so much for the nice comments you've left while i've been away.

so i'm here to check in and say hi but...i also have to say bye-bye. don't worry, i'm not leaving the blog world. i'm just feeling really swamped with preparing for the big show that starts next week. i still have tonnes to do to get ready for it, plus report cards are due (at my morning job!) on monday. yikes! since the show runs for 11 days straight (nov 24 - dec 4) and 11 hours each day (11am - 10pm) i won't really have the time (or energy) to blog until it's over. but rest assured, i'll be back as soon as it's done!

in the meantime, here are some cute socks & tights i picked up today at "winners" (canadian outlet chain, i think similar to "ross" in the u.s.). i had to go to ikea to get some more stuff for my display and there was a winners right there. i had to run in and feed my obsession with kneehighs & tights.

kneehighs: black with felt applique & embroidery, rust & chocolate stripeys


tights: teal blue and heather grey


***
if you're in the t-dot and you come to the one of a kind show, come visit me!! i'll be in the "rising stars" section, booth RS 14....just look for the RATGIRL booth!
everyone else...meet you back here on december 5th!!! :)

i'm stuck in the 80's

on my way to the grocery store this afternoon, i got a bit sidetracked by the goodwill store conveniently located right next door (so dangerous!). i must have a 6th sense for sniffing out thrifting opportunity vibes from the sidewalk because i walked in and found lots of great stuff!

the 3 shirts are straight from the 80's. in fact, the peacock and striped shirts have authentic puffy sleeves! (squeals!)


both belts are stretchy (my favourite!) and the black one jingles a bit when i walk.


some cute pins i found for next to nothing.
***
on saturday paul & i went for dim sum with karina & jason and tania & paul (and their friend todd). it was so much fun! paul & i had never had dim sum before and now we can't stop thinking about it...it was so delicious! we were pleasantly surprised by the number of veggie options too. yum yum.

shhhh...

wanna know a little secret?

paul made me a cd to listen to in the car to and from work. it has a bunch of amazing stuff by arcade fire and some new death cab for cutie too. and then at the very end of the cd, he put on a song that i love more than anything...since u been gone by kelly clarkson. and i listen to that track the loudest! so if you see someone on the gardiner expressway singing in their car, it might be me...and now you know what song i'm probably singing to!

pss. you might also recall that my obsession with madonna goes waaayyy back to the early 80's. she's got a wicked new song & video out that i've been watching a lot on mtv.com. you can see it here if you're curious.

tired and stressed and tired

last night i could not fall asleep. not earth-shattering news, happens to everyone, right? but i can fall asleep anywhere, anytime, with any amount of noise around me. as tired as i felt, i just couldn't shut off my brain. even though i've been spending every spare minute chained to my studio desk, i still feel like i'm not going to be ready in time for the one of a kind show. and so i lay in bed last night with my mind racing over which designs i still need to do, how i should display everything, how much to make of each design, not to mention panicking over report cards which are due 3 days before the show! ACK! i think it was 1:00 when i finally drifted off. needless to say, i was grumpy when the alarm went off at 6am this morning. :(

paul talked me through my anxiety this morning and i'm feeling a bit better (and more focused) now.

on a lighter note, i took a break last night to make spicy banana bread (lots of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg & a touch of cloves). i haven't made this since last november when i baked and brought some to paul and karina while they were at the one of a kind show. weird coincidence...

dog park

i took the camera when noah and i went to the dog park today. i got some great pictures but also took a little (silent) movie of him frolicking. check out his cutiepie ears flapping as he runs!

looking cute!


and in action:
click here to see noah the superdog!!

and another little video

on my way to carpal tunnel

been busy getting ready for the "one of a kind" show! here's a peek at what i've been doing...



each one is drawn & coloured by hand (hence, the title of this here post)

and ready to be assembled into jewellery.


...and back to the sweatshop, er...studio, i go!!

vintage beads

when i was up at my mom's last weekend, she gave me a small old chocolate box filled with vintage beads. apparently she got them free at a yard sale awhile back. even the old box is cool...smiles & chuckles chocolates from god-knows-when!


the red/pink/purple beads are plastic, the turquoise ones in the centre are also plastic and the white ones are beautiful faceted glass.


i've also started knitting a neckwarmer that i saw on craftster awhile back. i haven't gotten much done and don't expect to finish anytime soon because i don't have a lot of time to knit these days. still, it's good to have a project on the go to work away on slowly. the original on craftster is over here.


also: here's my most recent addition to wardrobe-remix over at flickr in case anyone is interested.

have a good weekend!

thanksgiving

i can barely believe another terrible tragedy has struck this planet yet again. my thoughts are with the people in south asia and those who have lost loved ones in the horrible earthquake over the weekend. it seems we are moving from one disaster to another these days. : (

some of the things i'm thankful for:



...just wish i could have visited my dad this weekend too. xo

good things

things that are making me happy this week...

1. finding out that my beloved cbc has finally settled and will be back on the air on tuesday! andy barrie, i missed you so!

2. doing little bits of shopping in anticipation of the cooler temps that are bound to push out the heat & humidity at some point. on tuesday i stopped at winners and stocked up on some cute (and CHEAP!) tights and kneehighs. today on queen west, just a couple of t-shirts (one emerald, one orange) that were on sale & i can't wait to layer.


3. spending hours hanging out & sipping lemony san pelagrino with tania on tuesday. it was so so so much fun to just chat and knit away the warm afternoon in a local coffeeshop. thanks so much, tania! : )

4. taking noah for longer than average walks in the dogpark and seeing some extra cute dogs, like a 13-week old golden retriever puppy frolicking with a teeny tiny terrier.

5. going to see my boy jump back into the indierawk world tonight. he and his friend andrew will be debuting their band (kilometre) at the art college downtown. it's been years since paul's played live!

6. counting down the sleeps until we head to orillia for thanksgiving, my favourite holiday of the year. all the good eating with no presents to buy. can't beat that!

7. receiving this adorable gift from one of my sweetest students this morning. he even put it in a little envelope and addressed it to me. (it's a dinosaur holding a flower!)


hope you're all having a good week, too!

***
ps. i started worrying some might think it was a bit self-indulgent to post my outfits every day. but i'm still trying to add them to the wardrobe-remix group on flickr. by all means, go check it out if you're at all curious! : )

linky link

i made good with my promise and added a bunch of new links to my sidebar yesterday. go check 'em out!