kanzashi crazy

i saw these gorgeous folded flowers on craftster and i knew i had to make one. they are derived from the japanese art of kanzashi. i learned (sort of) how to make them from this tutorial on craftster. i still have a lot to practice, though, 'cause the petals are still sort of uneven... oh well this is is my first flower :) well, technically my second, 'cause i totally screwed up the first one, but hey, it's not bad, right?

crochety

so i've started crocheting. this tiny flower is my first crocheted thing. it's not too bad, but i just learned to crochet yesterday, so i guess its not bad. i hope to get better at the flower thing though! i totally want to embellish my hats and such with little flowery things... this one went on a hat for my friend liana's birthday :)

survivor, here i come.

doing research for my final project for visual communications (which is on true humanity in the face of crisis and peril), i came across this quiz about how much of a survivor instinct i might have. it's really funny, and i'm now a:

Determined Survivor
Methodical, calm, focused. All the traits Mother Nature was thinking of when she earmarked a species for survival. You look before you leap, but you don't hesitate too long. You'll probably be the first one to die anyway as someone else panics and dooms you both. The universe, and movie cliche, is ironic that way. Still, chin up!

How's Your Survival Instinct?
brought to you by Quizilla

the bestest

marco is the bestest husband. and he wins for bestest thoughtfulness and bestest dinner making skills. you see, last friday after a long, hard week, he brought me flowers (lillies, which i LOVE) and made me a restaurant-style dinner. i'm so lucky to have such an awesome husband :) *gush*

consumed

my life is basically consumed by school right now. i'm literally just doing homework from one moment to the next. knitting is on the low priority right now, and i mourn for my clappy-shawl and a sweater that i've been working on all summer. i also have a couple of other things in the works, but really, i have no time. so i've cut my swaps drastically and now i'm in 2. one is actually a significant other swap, so technically its not even a swap for me, and the other is a post secret swap where people send me their secrets in the form of a post card... interesting, really!

in an effort to do some guiltless knitting i actually knit some hats for a Visual Communications project where i had to represent some self-portraits in a way. the first self portrait (hat #1) is about how i externally view the world through the lenses of politics, my age, my cultural heritage, my prejuidices, and other subjects. the second was supposed to be about how i view authentic power and what authentic power means to me. it was an interesting project, and knitting it was thought-provoking, because when you knit something, you're really creating each piece unit by unit. so i thought about my subjects a lot.

turtle swap

joel (boywonder) sent me this cutie for the turtle swap! he sent me a bunch of stuff actually but i'm in love with this guy the most! i don't know what to name him yet but he's funny 'cause he sits like that (with his arm out like he's saying hi).

by the way, i made a new about me page for my swap partners, so that they know my likes and dislikes, and just in case they get stumped for what to make me. hope it helps!

the clapper!

oh beautiful clapotis! soon you will be mine! i've started my gorgeous scarf/shawl with sumptuos merino wool that i bought from uruguay in these gorgeous handpainted colors! this is the beginning of the clapotis, which hopefully will be soon revealed... there isn't a whole lot of time to knit lately, though, due to an overwhelming amount of schoolwork, but on the bus i get a few stitches in!

some little happy thoughts :)

marco and i bought a cheap little hummingbird feeder, hoping to get some "customers" out on our balcony. neither of us has actually had a hummingbird feeder before and thought it was cute when a couple of birds came to feed. little did we know, hummingbirds FLOCK to the feeders. last saturday we had a truckload of birds coming to feed. so of course that meant photo ops. to the left you'll see one of the better shots i got of one of our little guys. to see more, just click on the pic :)

helping with the hurricaine

watching the news and reading the articles on how people need help in Louisiana and Mississippi was so sad and made me feel like i couldn't really do anything to help. but then i found crafters united. it's an organization that has brought together crafters from around the country (and i think some outside the country) and had them donate their crafts to put in a store that then gives the proceeds to the red cross for the hurricaine relief effort. i donated this hat :) that is currently going for $20.


I also donated a set of freshwater pearl stitch markers:


*edit*: yay! they've been sold!