Splurge.

Spoiling myself. TO DIE FOR jewelry from SacredCake on etsy.

Mine... they are all mine... cackle.

(These are her titles)

Azure

In Memory of Trees

My Little Obsession with Pink.

I die.

(that is me trying out Rachel Zoe's phrases....it really annoys my girls) >:)

LOVE RZ. She just kills me.

Come and see me!

2nd Annual Juried Twilight Winter Art Sale


It's back!
Mark your calendar!
Saturday, December 5th from 5:00 to 9:00 pm

Support local artists!
Live music!
Beverages and treats!

Looking for unique gifts for the winter holidays? Look no further!

This magical evening will have many surprises in store!

An excellent date night event!
Artists Juried into the Show include
Amy Burgess
Swirly Girlie ~ Kerri Anderson-Linde
Reenie Hanlin
Serena Barton
Kablam Industries
Altered Treasures
Nikki McFerren
Amy Olson
Daniel Muir ~ Twisted Copper
Kurt Dahlke

Not to mention our Art Boutique full of local artisan creations and an amazing array of creations from our Interns and Volunteers!

The 100th Monkey Studio
Where creativity is contagious!
110 SE 16th Ave at Ankeny Street
www.the100thmonkeystudio.com/503-232-3457

Yarn Caddy!

A few weeks ago Jackie, Liz and I took a day trip to Portland and hit some fantastic vintage retro thrift shops in the Hawthorne District.

Such a fun day.

I scored this amazing yarn caddy!

My Great Aunt Toot has one and she taught me to knit, so of course as soon as I saw it, I fell in love with it!

But NOT the fabric. The design and colors were fine, but gak, filthy.

Note the loverly stained-sateen lining with pockets!

There was no way to remove the fabric to wash it, not without taking the frame apart, so I cut it off!

I selected some delicious fabrics from my fabric stash.

For the outside, a Kaffe Fassett beauty with my favorite colors... called Cloisonne.

For the inside, a chartreuse and purple cotton I immersion dyed a few years ago in canning jars. hmmm... that was a lot of fun to dye I should do that again and SOON.

Anyway... the fabrics love one another.

The original caddy only had pockets on one side of the lining, I decided to put them on both sides.

So I did some sketches and math-ing in my Manifesto...

and cut the fabrics, and sewed it all up.

I decided to make the attaching edges with velcro so I can take it off and wash it if I choose.

Of course I have the constant help of the studio queen Ezmaralda and her flunky Rufus.

Here they are to my left while I assembled the new fabric...

Money shot of Rufus.

He is at that goofy-kitten stage where his legs are too long and his head too small...(he's about 7-8 mos. old)

Finished!

Here is Ezmaralda inspecting it (peeking through) while I took photos of the inside. See the awesome pockets?

Rufus took his turn as inspector...

and got in to test it's strength. SO helpful.

So now I can just grab my caddy and GO! (as demonstrated by Eve).

Watch out world!

My Wicked Girls~

Photo by Paul... of an orchard in McMinnville, OR.

I just realized that while I am constantly knitting... I rarely post about the knitting.
It is such a huge part of who I am and how I keep myself sane.
Seriously.
It's funny when you see the buttons and shirts that say "I knit so I don't kill people", but it's really kind of true. haha... ahem.

Knitting connects me to tradition. It is meditative and wonderful and I just love it.

I love the math and the challenge and how it calms my neurotic brains and takes me to a calm place where my thoughts can just Be. and it is better for my body than vodka. :)

I am a person who counts everything all.the.time. OCD? not sure, but I do know that when you knit you can count and it is Ok. You are supposed to be perfect and compulsive about your stitches while still being creative. If I go a few days without knitting I find that I am a bit of a wreck...agitated, chewing the inside of my lips...

Enough talking...

I have been working on TWO sweaters at once. For Eve & Ann... same pattern, different color yarn.

Here are the latest knitting pics...

Ann's Wicked Sweater

Ravelry Link

Zephyr Website Link

My Ravelry notes on Ann's Wicked...

~ Been working at both this and Eve’s Wicked sweater pretty heavy the past month or so…

~ They both decided against the pocket, which was fine with me.

~ Need to add more to the length. Which means I have to rip out the cabled edge and put back on the needles and knit some more then redo the cabled edge. I think I will add about 2.5 more inches. I figured she will continue to sprout and this will give her some growing room.

~ I am almost finished with sleeve #2 (still on needles... she is holding the yarn ball in her hand).

Eve's wicked Sweater (see links above)

My Ravelry Notes on Eve's Wicked~

~ I ended up ripping out the bottom cabled edge and adding 3 more inches to the length!
~ I did not do any shaping, one because she is still a kid and the figure does not need enhanced, plus she is still growing and this will give her room.
It is also a bit long for her right now, but the she is 5’7 and only 13!
I figured she will continue to sprout.
~ I have one more sleeve to go and DONE.

Both sweaters are being knit from Miss Babs ~ Yowza! What a skein!

Superwash Merino Ann's in Verdigris and Eve's in French Marigold.

It is delicious yarn. Highly recommended.

Ignore it.

Stealing a moment to post between breakfast and leaving for mom duties.
Other than the guitar lessons I need to take the girls to (they are pre-paid), I am ignoring all other obligations and having Studio Time.

Time to get some commission yarns completed.
Time to get a magazine submission finished --- that I have been stewing over for weeks...
Time to just make some mess with paints with no end goals. To just create because I can.

Ignore the vacuuming.
Ignore the scary kitchen.
Ignore the hungry people in my home who know how to cook or find food for themselves.
Ignore Mt. Fold Me.

I love my life.

What else can I ignore?

~~~~~~~~

Here are some random studio shots-- this is my back studio room... where the fiber and art supplies live. Where I paint or prep batts or do shipping.... it's my favorite room in the house.

It's actually pretty clean in these shots...

This shot Eve took for her photography class. LOVE IT.

It is some random cat on it's porch steps. They took a walk during class to shoot photos.

Eve is a kitty whisperer... they seem to come from afar towards her.

It's 11/11

It's 11/11/2009.
If you add up the numbers in the year you get 11.
Love that.
Happy 11/11!

MIA Reenie

Good morning!
wow-- I have not been posting as much as I would like.
Life just keeps moving... I have been trying to focus more time on the girls and my art, less time on computer tune-out. Hence the lack of blog posts.

Been having fun though....
1. Working on my art journal.
2. I signed up for LK Ludwig's photo journaling class. Haven't done anything for it yet, but plan to...
3. Spinning orders.
4. Working on a magazine submission.
5. Running the girls all over creation.

I commissioned Eve to take shots for me of my latest creations, etc. I will post them when she is finished.
OH!
Eve now has her own Photography Blog, called Eve's Adventures.
She is a budding photographer and her mamma is proud.
Go see!

Unflattering Studio Shots

My favorite days are my studio days.

They are jammie days, low maintenance, stretchy pants, hair in pookie-clip (a name I gave my hair clip- it reminds me of those pookie-the-pekinese dog ponytails)... no makeup, sports bra.

You know what I mean.... not the days you want your picture taken.

So when I uploaded the camera to my computer I realized my charming and hilarious husband had been shooting pics of myself and Jackie while we were working and gabbing away.

I was not going to share them, but I just looked through them again and it cracked me up.

Who cares? This is it-- true grit reality here in the Material Whirled.

Me in all of my pookie-clip glory.

Notice the "rainbow wall of fiber" behind me and the coffee carafe on the table? I seem to be cutting paper for something...