Eclecticrafts

Big Step, Little Bird

2010-04-01T11:01:00.001-07:00

Big Step, Little Bird, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

At work there is a very nice central courtyard that has a basketball court and a number of other amenities. Currently it is also the home of a little family of killdeer: two parents and three babies. A co-worker told me about them and mentioned that I should try to get some photos. I brought my camera one day, but the lens I had chosen was too short to capture the birds the way I'd wanted since they were all very wary of the big stalking thing that was following them around.

I finally remembered to fit up my camera with my long telephoto zoom lens and brought it to work on a day when there were a few sun breaks in the oppressive rain and hail (not anything like it is in the northeast). The whole outfit was heavy enough that it made me realize just how week my right side is since the break in my wrist. Everything was shaking so bad that I ended up shooting at a much faster shutter speed than I would have normally used. It's not like I was going to bring my honkin' tripod to work just to photograph a few baby birds (I have some sense of decorum… or at least a little). So the photos are a bit blurrier and/or grainier than I would have liked, but I was able to get a number of good ones. I like this one a lot with it's blurred out basketball pole to the left and the little fuzz-ball taking this big step forward. You can see the whole set here.

Sunday's Project

2010-03-28T17:06:00.001-07:00

All Done, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

I've been wanting to add another fountain to my garden patio for awhile and I finally just went ahead and did it this weekend. I used a great ceramic pot that my Mother had given me and an old birdbath that never really fit in anywhere and a pond liner to make the whole thing water tight. I pushed the pot itself back from center so that the whole thing balanced without me needing to use any shims.

I made a mistake cutting the liner to short - I should have folded the edges into the tray and covered it with rocks. But I sealed things with silicone and will trim it a bit more. If things go to pieces, I have more than enough liner to try again.

I like the final look with the chairs and the little folding table that I have, but I need to figure out how to hid the cord somehow...

You can see a photo sequence of the install here.

Back Yard View

2010-03-24T17:06:00.001-07:00

Back Yard View, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

Took this shot from my back yard path after the landscapers came and laid down a fresh coat of gravel. I usually do the gravel every year or so since it seems to vanish, but I didn't feel up to shoveling a yard of 1/4 minus with my arms all up in arms... I think the face planter really adds something to the view - I need to pull out the plant that didn't make it over the winter and replace it with something else, but I think that can wait for a few weeks.

View Large On Black

Kitty in progress

2010-03-23T23:12:00.001-07:00

Kitty in progress, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

Managed to finish the body and one ear before my wrists gave out. It's very frustrating, not being able to do as much hand work as I'd like since breaking my wrist. I just need to take it slow I guess. I'll wait a few days and then tackle the last ear and move on to the arms and tail.

Velvety Cosmos

2009-11-13T22:58:00.001-08:00

Velvety Cosmos, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

Eunice and me

2009-10-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm just about done with my first sock made from a pattern in Cookie A's Sock Innovations. I love cables and the day that I figured out that you could cable without a needle was one of the best days in my knitting career. I'm never going back to using a cable needle unless the cable pattern is comprised of a wicked number of stitches being swapped - I've found that when you get to around ten stitches it's just easier to have a separate needle instead of trying to slide your left-hand needle under so many stitches.

Eunice gave me a bit of trouble since it requires the use of two cable needles, but I figure out that if you keep the yarn in the back for the first set and then move the yarn to the front, slide the purl stitch over and then move the yarn to the back again, everything works out just fine. The heel flap chart looked wrong when I started working it, but I thought that I just wasn't getting it. I worked about five rows before I thought to check Ravelry to see if there was an errata and there it was. D'oh! I unknit things while berating myself for not paying attention to my hunches. I wonder what people did before the interwebs when it came to getting pattern updates? Photos of the socks soon. Hopefully.

Lions and tigers and bears

2009-10-07T08:13:00.001-07:00

Ball and Tiger, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

I love the colors in this and the fact that there is one single drop of water left over from the tiger's drink from the pond. The only issue is that it's fuzzy when looked at in a larger size. The day at the wildlife safari was a great time but I don't think that I'll go again unless I was heading somewhere verrrryyyy south - the drive there and back in one day was murder. I still can't believe that I was only two feet away from both a tiger and a cheetah. The bears, lions, elephants and giraffes were all interesting, but I loved the tiger and the cheetahs. I'm a sucker for cats (we only saw the lions from afar). Watching the tiger eats chucks of raw meat killed most of my dreams of being able to pet one...

Moss at Bridal Veil Falls

2009-09-14T13:37:00.001-07:00

Moss at Bridal Veil Falls, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

Bullwhip

2009-09-08T21:03:00.001-07:00

Bullwhip, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

Spent yesterday at Cannon beach with my Mom and her dog Luke. Both of them needed a day off in the sun and I was happy to help share in the driving and the beach food eating. We had a nice long walk and enjoyed a day at the beach with surprisingly few people out for a long three day weekend. Took this shot with my new lensbaby.

Meet The Dowager

2009-09-06T09:43:00.001-07:00

Meet The Dowager, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

I hope to have a go at using up some odd leftover Cascade 220 and start using my loom again. She's a very nice student Macomber that I bought a long time ago from the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts. I figured that I'd make up a psuedoplaid and weave on it until I run out of yarn and then felt it to make a nice blanket for my Mom's awesome Aussie dog. I think he'll enjoy chewing on this and having something woolly to lay his head upon. If he decides on not liking it, I have another dog that would be more than happy to take over possession (we have a companion-puppy in training at work who loves the wool toys I've knitted her).

Heirloom'd Tomato

2009-09-05T15:52:00.001-07:00

Heirloom'd Tomato, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

I was feeling a little pun-y today - forgive me my sin. Also played around with Photoshop and Lightroom a bit to see if i couldn't fix an aggressive yellow tint that would go away. One of Greatgrandmother's little silver forks and a real heirloom tomato that was suspiciously squishy so I didn't feel bad sacrificing it in the name of photography since tomato's are not a food I like to eat raw.

25

2009-09-03T17:19:00.001-07:00

25, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

I have a ton of books that I haven't read. A TON. I think at last count there were over 200... I have a problem.

I need to start reducing the pile to less ridiculous levels and I'm hoping to start this next week that I have off. I've selected 25 lucky books to participate and I hope to either have finished or consigned to the used book bin at least 10 of them by the end of my vacation.

Here's to unreachable expectations! HOORAY!

Girasole: My first lace shawl

2009-09-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

I have never knitted my lace but I covet lace patterns. I love to see how many ways knits and purls can be put together with yarn-overs to create all these fragile intricate patterns. I never thought that I would enjoy working on lace and when I started knitting my main consideration was that the needle size be at least US8; I felt anything smaller than that was a crazy waste of time.

How things can change. I find myself liking knitting with smaller needles better than with larger one now. I decided that I should just knuckle under and start something lace-y and see how I got on with it. I decided on Girasole by BrooklynTweed. It's circular and knit the whole way through. It was a joy to knit and I liked how that pattern shifted over time so that you weren't stuck knitting yards and yards of something monotonous. I decided on two colors and I got lucky on when I switched over to the green. As I was finishing up I was getting perilously close to the end on the skein and I was worried that I'd need to by a full skein of ~700 yards for only a few inches of edging; I ended up with almost exactly two feet left over. Except for the worry about the yarn running out, the only problem I had was with the knitted-on edging.

Up until that point I had been sailing along and I managed to finish the main shawl in under a week. The edging took me almost two weeks of endless knitting. It felt interminable and I started larding the circumference with stitch markers so I could feel some small sense of accomplishment even if I only managed a few inches of edging a night. I bitched and moaned about it the whole way though but when I was done I really liked the way the final product looked. The garter stitch edging brought the whole piece together and gave it an extra snap that it wouldn't have had with just a plain bound off edge.

Knit using US#4 circular and double-pointed needles using Dream In Color Baby Yarn in colors Happy Feet and Some Summer Sky.

Blocking and stretching it was a whole other problem that I'll write about another day...

Vacation Projects

2009-06-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying the fact that I'm taking the whole week off from work. It's only Tuesday, but I'm already dreading having to go back. But since I have so much time and I am trying a new approach of trying to wake at the same time instead of letting my schedule get FUBAR'd, I'm getting a lot done craft-wise.

I've really loved the Hemlock Ring pattern by Jared Flood and have wanted to make one forever. I was put off by the fact that it was a lace pattern and thought that I'd never be able to keep things straight. I've gotten more adventurous lately, and figured to give it a whirl. I've had some Malabrigo worsted laying around that I wanted to use, but never found a project where it seemed to work out well. I decided to use up both the single skein of black forest and the two of pagoda that I had on this. I did the doily portion of the pattern in the black and reserved the last of the skein for the knit on edging. I kept worrying as I was doing that edging that I was going to run out before the end and that I'd have to go buy a whole new batch for a few inches of knitting, but I ended up with about two feet left over. I've never had things work out that well for me before on such a large pattern.

I've also wanted to start the Shipwreck circular shawl that was in Knitty, and figure since I was able to get the ring started, I should strike while the iron was hot and start the more delicate pattern before I lost my nerve. I had set aside the hemlock ring on the desk next to my computer and it was found by both my cats - they fell in love with the proto-blanket, curling up inside the tighter circle formed by the circular needles and zonked out. Since I didn't have the heart to boot them out while the were purring up a storm, I kept up at the shipwreck pattern for much longer that I had planned.

I was able to finish up the the middle of the madiera pattern in a solid day of knitting. I found that sitting at the computer with the pattern right in front of me on the screen where I could easily switch between the written instructions and the charts made the going a lot easier. I had bought a huge skein of Geisha from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts De-Stashing this past winter, but I was worried that there wouldn't be enough to finish the pattern. I had some Shibui Sock yarn around and decided to use that for the heart of the circle and use the Geisha for the large madiera and fagot sections. Now that I've finished the hemlock ring, I can turn to the Shipwreck and see if I can finish that one before I have to go back to work.

The main reason that I've been able to keep knitting and not go crazy, is that I found I could checkout and download audio books from my library. It's been awesome listening to murder mysteries set in Victorian Egypt as I knit away. The reader's voice is very plesant and it makes the stitches go a lot faster when I can contemplate the doings of Mrs. Amelia Peabody Emerson instead of thinking about chores or listening to the never-ending fireworks in my neighborhood.

I'll add more pictures of the Hemlock Ring Blanket once it dries and I hope to write an update about the Shipwreck shawl the farther along I get...

Review: Melusaine by Sarah Monette

2009-05-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

Melusine by Sarah Monette

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this the first time when I was in Singapore for work. When I travel, I tend to dump an enormous pile of books into my luggage and my carry-on so that I have a selection of things I've read before (to combat homesickness) and things that I've wanted to read but have never gotten around to reading yet. This one was one that I'd really wanted to read but never found the time to get started. I devoured it in one really long sitting over a weekend where I was tired of being hot and sticky and opted to veg out and read in air-conditioned splendor. I loved it. I went about trying to get the next book in the series as soon as I got home, but for one reason or another that next two books in the series got bought but forgotten on my bookshelves.

Since the fourth and final book just came out, I wanted to read the whole series through in succession, thus getting two books off of my "haven't read yet" pile (which weighs in at over 200 books) and prep-ing me for book four. Since these are dense, interconnected books, I felt that I should start at the beginning and get reacquainted with Felix and Mildmay once again.

I had wondered if the Melusine was really as good as I had thought at the time, or if it was just the circumstances that made me love it so. The second read through didn't disappoint and I found that I felt no desire to skip around - I took my time and enjoyed the ride.

Melusine is not a sweet book, it's full of awful things that are interspersed with little scenes of hope and loyalty. Felix, even on his good days, it no picnic and one of the things that make it such an interesting story is his fight with his own madness and his intense need to fuck with peoples heads. Mildmay on the other hand is in comparison with Felix almost a saint - watching out for Felix (who at this point is actually crazy) and helping him travel to Troia, an almost insurmountable distance away across enemy territory. The fact that Mildmay is a thief, an assassin and on of the nicest people in the book is a testimony to how great a writer Ms. Monette is and how dark the novel is.

The whole book is a bit like a labyrinth, a giant puzzle that keeps drawing you in deeper and deeper. At the end of it, you're dying to find out more and desperately starting the next book, The Virtu to find out what happens next. Which is when the whole plan to read these books through back to back hits a bit of a snag...

View all my reviews.

Review: Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede

2009-05-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I've read a number of books that Ms. Wrede and Ms. Stevermer have written as a team, but I haven't read many be Ms. Wrede alone. When I read the blurb for the Thirteenth Child, it struck me that it could end up being a wonderful adventure story, or it could end up being cliche-ridden muck. The frontier, magic, allusions to Little House on the Prairie, seventh sons and unlucky numbers; I was hoping for a story that weighted more toward magic and less towards "little girl learns life lessons on the Frontier." I shouldn't have worried too much - the book has a great balance and the all the disparate parts work together to make a very vivid, realistic world where mammoths and magic live side by side with school lessons and family squabbles.

I loved Ms. Ochiba and her philosophy about magic and seeing things and the Rationalists and their anti-magic lives. The parents of all the children involved were actually involved in their kid's lives without being evil or clueless (one thing that I hate about many YA books). There was enough past history sprinkled through the book that you could follow what was going on as it related to the alternate-world's past. Some books tend to explain everything (Harry Potter) and some only hand out tidbits that leave you confused and hungry for more explanation (Sarah Monette's Labyrinth books).

My one quibble with the book is that it changed the name of the Mississippi River and changed it to the Mammoth and they called the area Columbia. It took me a while to determine that the Mammoth really was the Mississippi and not the Columbia River and it ticked me off that I couldn't really place the story for a good while. It's a small thing, but it bugged me...

Other than that on little thing, this story is something that I'd recommend to anyone that wanted an adventure that was more filled with hope and exploration than swords or fighting. A lot of the book is about learning to see things differently and not to just accept the easiest view as the only one. I read it in about two evenings and was sad that it was over so soon... I'll be keeping my eyes out for the second in the series as soon as it's out.

View all my reviews.

Water Off A Duck's Back

2009-02-27T21:43:00.001-08:00

Water Off A Duck's Back, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

Blurry, but interesting

Lorikeet

2009-02-27T21:38:00.001-08:00

Lorikeet, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

Just borrowed a lens from the Digital Oasis at work and decided to take it to the zoo. I'm still trying to figure out the best settings; I'm going to have to go back, since a good lot of the images that I took turned out only so-so.

Snow Spider

2009-01-20T15:17:00.001-08:00

Snow Spider, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

My poor, poor nile lilies. The deep blue ones out front have done great for the past few years and this past summer I added a bunch of dwarf ones in the back yard. The winters have been so mild that I never had to do much except watch them grow back each year. With the foot of snow that we had over Christmas however, they've all been reduced to green slime. I don't know if they'll come back, but if they don't they'll be sorely missed. In their death throws amongst the ice and the snow, the did look awfully pretty. The ice rimmed the left-over flower stalks and made stark, spidery lines that seemed to hang in space. It all looked very much like something Dr. Seuss would have dreamed up on a cold and wintery day.

Tilly Monster

2009-01-20T14:01:00.001-08:00

Huh?, originally uploaded by pdxjmarie.

Meet Tilly, who I believe is Tigger reincarnated. She's made entirely out of springs (which is apropos seeing as she's a English Springer) and never stops bouncing or running or bouncing into a run. She's great to make toys from and I've been able to use up quite a bit of my Lamb's Pride Bulky making tug toys. Once she gets closer to her full size, I'm planning on using up some of my Cascade 220 on a sweater that will hopefully stay on; however since I'll make no promises that said sweater won't get chewed full of holes.

The House of the Stag

2009-01-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

The House of the Stag by Kage Baker

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've liked Kage Baker for a long time. She reminds me a bit of Connie Willis and Jasper Fforde but a bit harder on the Sci-fi side. When she made a switch to fantasy with the "Anvil of the World," I enjoyed it almost more than the Company books, since there such humor in it. The book felt a bit different in the format as well since it was almost like a number of shorter stories that bled into one another.

The House of the Stag is a sort of prequel that I liked even better. The story of Cursed Gard and all his adventures was a quick read and kept me at it for the whole day until I was done. I enjoyed that the demons weren't straight-up bad guys, but that they also weren't pure misunderstood sweetness in an unattractive package. They were interested in violence and debauchery but also for a fair shake and a grim sort of justice. The mages were nicely evil and the Yendri were complex and flawed. I felt most for the Saint who was stuck being her people's ideals and the life that she wanted for herself.

The ending itself made me smile with its quiet picture of what happily ever might mean for a Saint and a Master of the Mountain. I'll re-read a few passages that I liked especially, and then return it to the library. I'll be keeping an eye out for this when it come out in paperback to add it to my permanent stash.

View all my reviews.

Things I Almost Wrote About

2009-01-19T19:07:00.000-08:00

Snow in Vancouver
The fact that it never snows in Vancouver, like ever
That I got trapped in the snow trying to leave my garage
The fact that I needed to be rescued from being trapped... by my Mom
Christmas gift projects that did and did not get done in time
Books that I've read over the break
My new job that is slowly driving me crazy, but at least it's employed crazy
That my heart isn't on strike anymore, but now my lungs are
My desperate addiction to the World of Goo

I've wanted to write about a number of things, even had posts all thought out in my head, but I just never got up the energy to actually type them out. I'm not going to make it a resolution, but I hope that I can make more of an effort to both get back to finishing up projects and writing more about them. One can only hope...

This Medical Crisis Brought To You By Stress And Panic

2008-11-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Good new first: I am now re-employed and staying with the same company. I only have to switch buildings and not everything else about my life. Hooray!

Bad new: for the last few months, I've felt like I've been about to die. Most of it is apparently due to stress and caffine (an engineer's vice) messing with my bad genes and making my heart freak out. To figure that out I got to walk around with a heart monitor one and tucked into my bra for safe keeping. It's about the size of an ipod so it wasn't too uncomfortable, but it also wasn't fun to carry around a reminder of my own personal medical drama. Extra bonus: when you push the button to record an "episode" the damn thing makes a noise like reminicent of the emergency broadcasting signal.

Up next: the interview from hell...

Deeply Crappy

2008-10-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

2008 is turning out to be a bad year. It's not the worst by a long shot, but it's definately making an effort. New manager, co-worker/friend leaving, stress, panic attacks, having to wear a heart monitor for a while, lay offs at work and now getting notice myself. Life sucks right now and there isn't much room for crafting when I spend all my spare time defensively sleeping.

Noro, Noro, Noro

2008-07-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

I love Noro yarn, I also hate it. It's a deeply confusing yarn: it's so pretty and yet it's so scratchy and full of things like sticks and knots. Since it's from Japan, I don't wonder that the yarn comes across as very Zen. It's like a puzzle wrapped in an itchy enigma that teaches you the Way of the Yarn. Or that's what I think while I'm pulling out twigs, burrs, bitching about knots that I have to deal with or fussing with a lump.

The colors, as you often hear, are very pretty. Those colors can also be very psychedelic and eye-searing. I tend to be drawn to the less flamboyant colors, so I don't use it all that often, but when I do I usually really like the effect. Earlier this month I finished a set of a scarf and hat that used the same yarns but weren't exactly the same look. I used Noro Silk Garden Lite and leavened it with some soft alpaca yarn from Alpaca With A Twist. It made making and wearing a hat with a Noro product something I was more willing to contemplate.