mobile goodness

16 Jan 2007 in journal

hi there ~

from that long list, i ended up doing three of the projects this week, along with two other mini-projects not listed and i finally re-organized my room.

i’ve lived here now for two and a half months and i guess i hadn’t really stopped and realized how uncomfortable i was in my own room. it’s a great space – a downstairs area (with my table and bookcases you’ve seen in other pictures), steep stairs, and a loft area that holds my bed – but it just didn’t feel right. maybe the andrea of ten years ago – the last time i lived in this room – but definitely not the andrea of today. anyhow, with an unexpected burst of energy (and you know you have to take advantage of those), all saturday and most of sunday, i cleaned and moved and tossed and hammered and unpacked (still!). after the dust had settled, what was left was a room i have since woken up to with a smile. pretty pics another day, when the sun decides to grace us with its presence.

i pride myself on being able to create for myself a home but i’d not done that here until just a few days ago. yes, it’s my parents’ home, but i also needed to make it my home, ..or at least my room. maybe i wasn’t ready to before, but wow does it feel better now. don’t think i’m not still missing you, l.a.! .. but it’s good to feel homey again.

so. on to the projects. first off, i swatched twice for the poetry in stitches sweater – which absolutely needs a name.. any suggestions? Most Beautiful is one i was thinking of – and realized sadly that size 3 needles, and not the suggested 4, work best. not much of a difference, i know, but oh in my mind..! still, i’m always fascinated by picot edgings – such a simple thing to do but it’s just a genius idea. it’s amazing what a fold can do.

then, i finished the main pattern for the vogue turkish cape, including the short rows and, ta-da!, my first buttonhole. now, i need to pick up almost 300 stitches (!) and knit the border pattern plus some facing. i’m definitely seeing some tension issues in the super-intricate part, so i’ve decided partly to just let it go (hooray) and partially that i will block, block, and block again. so far, i’ve done one block and already it looks loads better. also!: the last three repeats were all done two-handed! before i would knit with one color, drop it, pick up the next color, knit with that, drop it, etc. now, instead, i’m dipping with one finger, then the other, back and forth – much much faster.

and finally, a little mini-project i’ve been meaning to do for months. a while back, while still in l.a., i bought a jill bliss mobile kit (remember that, rose?) – the theme was “under sea” and it was a collaboration between bliss and salee, another artist. anyhow, armed with scissors, a few branches from the back yard, a variety of string, and a hole punch, i made my own mobile. fancy. love it.
however, a word of warning: the shy mobile is incredibly difficult to capture on film! it is best observed in the wild, err, my room.

hope your (long) weekend was excellent ~ ~

p.s. much of this work was all done listening to a variety of music (that geico commercial put roykspopp’s “remind me” in my head all saturday), movies ( walk the line and aguirre, wrath of god – re-peats but so good), and a ton of audio and video interviews.

p.s. again. i only showed two of the projects from that list. any guess on the third? it’s a doozy, lemme tell you.