blast from the past

social media. i'm not sure what i think. recently, my sister was lamenting her facebook, because a lot of random people that she knew had all met one another, via comments on her status updates, and were now planning a reunion next summer. i pointed out that it wasn't really a reunion since they'd never met in real life, but that's beside the point. the point being that social media is a bit worrying.

me, i've been on facebook for several years, but only recently opened myself up to being friends with people from this bloggy world. otherwise, my friends were mostly work colleagues and friends here in denmark, plus a few family members. i had intentionally hidden myself from searches and didn't want to be found by the old gang from school or even college. i'm friends with a couple of people from college, but they're people i'd kept in touch with anyway over the years. but this week, via my sister, an old classmate from high school (and grade school for that matter) found me and "friended" me. and i felt like it would be too mean to ignore it or turn it down. so i accepted. and then two more old classmates friended me right after. and i'll admit that i also sent a friend request to one, based on seeing her name on the first classmate's wall.

i admitted to the first classmate that i had intentionally hidden myself and we exchanged some chat about reunions and such. i haven't attended any (and this year is 25 years! how did we get so old?) and neither had she. i hadn't given much thought as to why i didn't want to reconnect with all those people, but i knew it had to do with one of them calling me "miss king bitch shit" to my face on the day of our senior tea. i think i'm still a little bit bitter about that, because it came so much from left field. you can accept such a thing if you can see it coming, but in all honesty, i didn't. to this day, i don't know what i did to deserve that, tho' i have had moments in the years since of trying to live up to that grand appellation.

what's interesting and nothing whatsoever to do with the woman who reconnected with me, is how i feel about this whole thing. i've been totally transported to that time--the awkwardness, the adolescent insecurities, cringing thoughts of an awful mullet and the truly vile mint green and lilac argyle sweater vest i wore in my senior pictures. you become in some sense that embarrassing person that you were then, with all your hickishness. and it's really quite painful and awkward all over again. and i guess i knew on some level it would be that way and that's why i wanted to stay hidden and why i didn't go to any of those reunions.

i've come a long way since then, but the fact that i can be pushed right back there with the press of the "send" button is worrying to say the least. i think i never went to the reunions because i didn't want to feel like an alien landing from another planet. the judgments of how i dress and speak now and what i do with my life (or don't do), my politics, my education, everything. subject to judgement once again, just like in that small town, with all the scrutiny. and don't even get me started on the religiousness. and the right wing politics.

nope, please keep me hidden, oh gods of social media, so i can continue to be who i am now and not who i was...miss king bitch shit or not....

a simplify update

sometimes you have to buy something in order to not buy something.  buy it to not buy it, as it were. i recently wrote over on domestic sensualist about the dinner box that we order from the company that delivers our weekly friday box of organic veg. we've been subscribers to this veggie box for more years now than i can count and in the interest of being a locovore, i've been quite faithful to the "dogme" kasse - which features only danish-produced veg. i'll admit it's a bit hard to stay faithful to all that root veg here through the winter, so when årstiderne introduced these mealtime boxes, i switched.

the idea with the box is that you get three full meals (two of the meals stretch to leftovers and a second day, so it's not a 3-meal box, but more like a 5-meal box) - meat, veg, condiments, even bread, pasta, quinoa and the like. today is the fourth week we've had it. and it may sound rather expensive at 445 kroner per week ($82), but what i've figured out is that i'm spending FAR less on groceries overall. all i've bought this week at the store is milk, bread and cucumbers (the child goes through cucumbers like you wouldn't believe), nutella (ditto that on the child), some tea and a big tub of greek yogurt. in a normal week, i'd probably spend 100-150 ($20-35) kroner per day at the grocery store, just buying whatever struck me for dinner. now, the dinner ideas are already here at home and the daily grocery store total is under 50 ($10) kroner. and bear in mind everything in the box is organic, so i don't have to worry about chasing that down at the store (it can be hard to find certain items).

this week's box has a whole organic chicken, a package of cubed bacon and a package of ground beef. additionally, there is fresh full grain pasta, grated topping cheese, a jar of capers and a container of vegetable juice (bloody marys for friday evening anyone?). the veg includes carrots, potatoes (they are always there), one of those celery roots of which i'm not that fond, tho' they add good flavor to a soup, some greens, a head of very fresh lettuce, tomatoes, a lemon, 3 medium onions, a big handful of fresh lovely ginger, a zucchini, a cauliflower, and a red pepper. that's actually quite a lot of food for the money. as an extra i ordered danish-milled flour in durum and spelt so we can make bread this weekend. the box comes with three suggested recipes and they've totally gotten me out of what had been a cooking slump, inspiring me to spend and enjoy my time in the kitchen again. and if you factor in the value of your time and not spending as much of it standing in line at the grocery store, because they bring the box right to your door, the box is very good value for money.

other than that on the simplify front, i've been very good about not buying things. i've kept my fabric purchases to a minimum (i haven't given them up completely, after all, i am making birds for sale now, and i have a baby quilt order, so it's arguably a business expense). i've bought no electronics (so the iPad isn't out yet) and no clothes or shoes, despite everything being on sale. there was a panic last-minute lego buy for sabin's birthday, but the child needs birthday presents and lego is a good investment.

they made fun of me at blog camp, saying i'd decided not to buy stuff i already had and didn't really need and that i'm not imposing any really hard restrictions on myself. and to an extent that's true, but the exercise has made me more conscious of what we spend our money on and more concerned about buying quality and not crap. i think twice before grabbing those big fluffy towels that are on special because really, we don't need any more towels. and i've restrained from buying any new model iPods (tho' i'm certain my restraint will not extend to the iPad once it's released here), because one for every room of the house is enough.

it's also true that i've just not really been tempted at all to buy things, since it's been so snowy and i've mostly been at home. there is a whole world of shopping out there on the internet, but aside from the odd fabric purchase (hello fabricworm), i've exercised remarkable restraint - nothing at all from amazon (for me, i did order some of sabin's birthday prezzies there) and not a single sheet of pretty paper.  i do have my eye on a gorgeous crocheted blanket, but have thus far restrained (tho' i could easily talk myself into it in the interest of it having been made by a cooperative that's helping women in a cape town shantytown) because of the not buying it project.

i've also been doing a better job of looking around at what i already have when i'm going to make something...from the embellishments on my birds to fabric that could be made into a dress i keep dreaming about, to the japanese pattern books i have lying around, waiting for me to learn japanese. i think i'll have to make that dress today, to get it out of my system, making it in my dreams twice should actually make it sew up rather quickly. i'm off to do that and some more birds. i didn't get any up on etsy yesterday because i ran out of stuffing. but i should get some up this weekend. i'll put a note here when they're up.

bits & pieces

i haven't done any random posts to clear my head in awhile. man, my head must be totally clogged up.

~ i am absolutely loving making birds. i redesigned the spool bird pattern - made its head less parroty, and its tail more magnificent and its lines more, well, clear. and it sews together so much more easily than the original. a definite improvement! i've dubbed them clarity birds, since they feel inspired by elizabeth's beautiful clarity symbol.

~ the cat is rather depressed that there's so much snow outside. she loves to go outside, but hates the snow, so she's quite conflicted whenever we open the door for her. she compensates by spending most of her time lying on the heated floor in the upstairs bathroom. if spring doesn't come soon, i might join her.

~ when you don't have to appear regularly in public, you tend to let your eyebrows go in a rather alarming way.

~ it's taken several years, but one of my high school classmates just found me on facebook. i thought i was so well-hidden, but i fear it's my sister's fault. but actually, it's probably not as bad as i feared it would be. besides, i'm pretty much over facebook.

~ i won a wonderful knitted cowl in se'lah's gift of jewels giveaway a few weeks ago and i think i've worn it every single day since it arrived. it's wonderful! it was made by soeurs du jour and i thank them very much (don't worry, i already emailed them and told them this too).

~ i can hear the joyful shouts of an entire preschool sledding on the hill across the way. it was pristine and unblemished before they began and now it's joyfully full of tracks and little children who are more snowsuit than child.

~ i do know that there is a difference between global warming and the weather.

~ sometimes people are thoughtless and rude, but then you get over it.

~ i wish there was a BBC crime show channel. (are you listening BBC?) they would broadcast bergerac, hercule poirot, miss marple, a touch of frost, inspector morse, midsomer murders, silent witness and waking the dead nonstop.  oh and that one set in the 40s that i can't remember the name of.

~ i'm glad i'm not currently standing outside next to the house, because there's a lotta snow falling off the roof right now. and that sounds pretty freaky from in here.

~ i am loving the blog camp 365 flickr group. and you know, it's not too late to begin your 365 project and join us.

~ i notice lately that some of my moments of most conscious happiness are when i'm making dinner.

~ a 3000 piece puzzle of an old map that has only about 3 colors to it will take you an eternity to put together.

~ i leave you with one more shot of the new and improved clarity birds. i'm making them for sale with a clear conscience now that i've redone the pattern, so contact me if you'd like a flock of your very own. i'm going to try to add a few to my etsy shop later today (not this one, this one belongs to tracy) . see how his tail is longer and his head less parrot-like? i'm in love...even if i do say so myself.

exploring february: so far so good

it really bugs me that i have come to care about the elusive and mysterious "explore" feature on flickr. it's the top 500 photos of the day on flickr, according to some unknown and possibly ever-changing criteria. just a short month ago, i kinda knew about it kinda peripherally. a few of my pictures of the house and my famous robot shot had "gone explore," but i didn't really think about how or why. it was just a happy mystery to me.



but along came our blog camp 365 flickr group and suddenly, explore was everywhere! there are lots of good pictures in the group and with lots of constructive criticism in the form of comments and favorites, suddenly explore became that much more real. for me and for the group as a whole. and so i've started to care about whether my pictures "go explore." and in some ways, i wish i didn't. because it seems a bit insidious, like the whole messianic follower thing on blogs and twitter, and perhaps a tad unhealthy to obsess about it. but still, i can't help but be happy that both of my photos for february thus far have gone to explore - the rainbow monocule© above and this martini glass of yellow randomness. it does for some strange reason reassure me that my photo mojo has returned and i'm improving. tho' it probably doesn't actually mean anything in the big scheme of things.

flickr has done a good job of creating a mystique around it. so rumors abound as to what the algorithms contain. if you want to read some of those rumors, check here, and here. and here's some advice on how to get your pictures there. and now i'm off to stage my next potential explore shot...i wonder if the cat will hold still....

more snow? where's the global warming when you need it?

8:48 a.m. february 2, 2010

 3:06 p.m. february 2, 2010
difficult to see how much snow is actually coming down, but it's a lot.

another snowstorm is moving in. or should i say, it has moved in. and that actually fits quite nicely with my mood. one moment the world (and the blogosphere) seems like a sunny, nice place to be and the next, wham, you're broadsided by a flurry of a storm you didn't see coming. the weather, all nice and polite and happy and pleasant turns rude and unpleasant. it's really quite disappointing and frankly, i could use some spring.

my weaving class is canceled for this evening. but i've laid in a supply of chai and firewood, so we'll be fine. i've also got a dozen clarity birds to work on:

and if that's not enough to do, we've got a 3000-piece puzzle going as well:

you can see that it should keep us busy for awhile.

january art journal: complete

my january moleskine art journal calendar is complete. i didn't always do the page on the actual day, but i wasn't far off. i worked mostly with stædtler fineliners and watercolors. and here's a closer look at the pages since i last posted:

january 19 - reflects the weaving warps i'm setting up at weaving lessons

january 20 - was the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

january 21 - 22 i was inspired by the colors and shapes of this crocheted blanket on flickr.

january 23 - stitching design for my 9-patch diary cloth.

january 24 - ideas on upcycling a georg jensen blanket husband got as his work christmas present.

january 25 - a monocule in honor of sabin's birthday

january 26 - inspired by this painting on flickr

january 27 - more inspiration from flickr.

january 28 - still more inspiration from flickr, but also from a children's show called "smarteenies" that used to be on BBC Prime.

january 29 - clarity birds on the brain again.

january 30 - the trees have eyes. a doodle pondering kantha embroidery.

january 31 - more doodles pondering kantha embroidery.

february is a short month, but i've already gotten started.

color palettes

as you well know, i'm all about color. partly because nikon rocks the color. and partly because that's just me. i surround myself with color in the world i inhabit. and i see it everywhere i go. so i was quite delighted when i spotted the big huge labs color palette generator today when i was making mosaics. i used several of my photos to generate color palettes. and to see whether i'm becoming attracted to colors other than blue, turquoise and green. and it seems that i am...

it's interesting that with a little different angle on the same yarn, a different palette came through:

it seems that i'm moving in the direction of purple. i wonder if the rest of the world will be too or if it's just me.

i also used a couple of my flickr favorites to generate a color palette:

 beatnik bazaar's beautiful crocheted blanket

soja's bright quilt

what's the current color palette of your world?

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due to popular demand from saturday's bird post, i'm making birds. $35 for 5. just email me with your color choice. if you only want a couple, they're $8 apiece. i've got lots of great anna maria horner fabrics in pretty much any color you'd like, plus lots of other good stuff, just email me and we can talk colors.