I went up to Boston a few weeks ago to start looking at apartments, and in the midst of all the rain, sweat, and humidity on a cloudy Saturday afternoon, I stumbled upon a funky pottery sale in Davis Square – awesome!  Just the little bit of artsy inspiration that I needed to jolt the dreary afternoon back to life.  The sale was organized by Mudflat Studio (a nonprofit in Somerville, MA) and consisted of donated pottery at crazy low prices ($5 for mugs and vases and $1 for smaller miscellaneous bits of pottery goodness).  How could I resist, right?  So I oooohed and ahhhhed for a bit and picked up a few random pieces that I couldn’t bear to leave behind.

The swirly little cup you see above is the first thing that caught my eye, and I immediately fell in love with it.  It reminds me of all the fabulously creepy pieces on display at the Tim Burton exhibition at the MOMA earlier this year.  I just love it!  Is is cute?  Is it creepy?  It is trying to suck me into the pottery black hole?  Who cares!  It’s super charming and will add a perfect smidgen of funkiness to my apartment.  But the question remains – what IS it?  The poor little thing is only about 2.5 inches in diameter, and the best possible use I can come up with so far is a soy sauce dipping bowl for take-out sushi, which, let’s face it, is no stranger to my apartment.  : )

Hmmm… if only I could ask “MTS” what he or she had in mind when sculpting it.  Then again, I’ve always believed that the whole point of art is for the viewer to form his or her own interpretations and conclusions, so perhaps I should just stick with my creepy soy sauce bowl… until I come up with something better, that is.

Oooooh, a super blurry close-up of the swirliness.  You are getting very… sleepy… or very hungry for take-out sushi.  Must… not… get… sucked into… the pottery abyss!

I also picked up this absolutely adorable starry mug that I’ve been using lately to funkify my home-cooked dinners.  I think the stars are actually separate bits of clay that were stuck onto the mug, as opposed to simply having been painted on as an afterthought.  How cute, right?  I don’t have enough interesting pottery like this and have been loving that my water-with-lemon can now be housed in such a unique whimsical/clumsy container. 

The signature is hard to make out, but I noticed at the pottery sale that I was attracted to a bunch of pieces by this artist.  To me, the style interestingly combines light/dreamy designs with clunky/heavy shapes, and the pieces tended to be in the blue/purple family, which always catches my eye.  I actually did wind up buying another mug by this artist and gave it to a friend – sadly, I forgot to snap a photo before I gave it away!

If this funky pottery from Mudflat is any indication of the culture up in Cambridge/Somerville, I think I’ll fit in there just fine.  In fact, they offer intro classes in August when I’ll just happen to be up there with nothing to do before school starts… note to self.  : )

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay.”  — Harold Wilson

There comes a point in one’s life when “just getting by” isn’t good enough anymore.   I woke up one morning and realized that I’d been barely scraping by for years now – mentally, emotionally, intellectually – and the only way to get out of that situation was to actively make a change.  So I did.  : )  And I’m absolutely thrilled to report that things seem to be working out very well, thanks to a combination of blood, sweat, tears, and a generous helping of luck.  Here’s what I did: 

Change #1: I quit my job!  After six years, I am now reveling in blissful unemployment.  The reasons for leaving my job are numerous and complicated, but the most prominent reason is that I didn’t feel challenged or motivated.  For a long time, I thought I was ok with this (after all, I was getting paid well and was working with a great group of people), but eventually the boredom took its toll, and I realized that I want to feel passionate about my day-to-day work.  After all, what’s the point of life without passion?

Change #2: I’m going back to grad school!  In an effort to fill my everyday life with work that I truly feel passionate about, I decided to go back to school full-time in the pursuit of a PhD.  Am I crazy?  Probably.  : )  But this is something that I’ve been thinking about for a few years now, and I’m so glad that I finally took the plunge and applied.  In the end, I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a program that I think will be a great fit for me, and even the financial implications of going back to school seem to be manageable.  If this doesn’t challenge me intellectually, I don’t know what will.

Change #3: I’m moving to Boston!  As expected, going back to school requires picking up my entire life and moving to a new city… which is exactly what I needed.  New buildings, new streets, new restaurants, new faces – a welcome change after living in the same place (and in the same apartment, no less!) for all these years.  There are certainly challenges associated with the move (for example, the fact that Cambridge is expensive and my salary is dropping substantially), but I’m trying to embrace the change.  Who needs a big apartment when I’ll be steps away from one of the greatest universities in the world?  Yeah, I think this will work out just fine.  : )

Needless to say, I’m absolutely thrilled about everything.  I feel as if I got exactly what I wanted, and when in life does that ever happen?  A friend snapped this photo of me dancing in a parking lot on the day I quit my job, and I think the photo speaks for itself. 

There’s something to be said for embracing change.  I learned a long time ago that the only person watching out for your life and your career is yourself, and it’s about time that I took back control.  Better late than never, right?  Boston, here I come!  : )

Things here at Handmade in Heels are a little shaky these days.  I got a fantastic haircut on Saturday (yay!) but started coughing at the end of the day, only to wake up on Sunday morning with Round 2 of the sinus-infection-death-plague that left me begging for mercy over the holiday break.  What, like I didn’t pay my dues the first time around?  Universe, you’re killing me here!  I give up!  Give me your list of demands and release me from this affliction already.  Geez.

Anyway, I wound up taking a sick day from work today and spent the day relegated to the couch.  Despite the fact that I felt like a zombie, it was actually the perfect recipe for getting some knitting done and watching some (admittedly awful but still addicting) daytime tv.  I dug out the Deep Texture Tunic from its lonely little storage bag and gave it some much-needed TLC.  In fact, I knit the entire second sleeve today and even picked up stitches for the collar.  Not bad, considering I could barely keep my eyes open!  Thanks to Maury Povich and Jerry Springer for keeping me awake long enough to finish that sleeve.  Hahaha, I love those guys.

As you can see, this sweater has pretty much passed the point of being a portable project and is now a big blob of brown yarn that barely (barely!) fits in the bag that I so stubbornly keep trying to stuff it in.  The second sleeve is in progress in the above shot.  I wound up knitting one more decrease round into the sleeves than is called for in the pattern, and I knit about 4 inches of ribbing at the cuff instead of the recommended 3.  The great thing about knitting my own sweaters is that I can make sure the sleeves are actually long enough for my arms, which never happens with store-bought sweaters.  Yet another reason to love knitting…  like I needed another one, ha.  : )

So I spent the morning sitting on the couch, intermittently working on this sweater, watching paternity tests on tv, and snoozing during the commercials.  What you don’t see (because I purposefully moved them so that they wouldn’t be in these photos!) is the big box of tissues and trash can that were getting  a lot of use throughout the day.  Even though I wasn’t feeling well, it was actually a nice morning.  When do I ever get a long span of uninterrupted time — during the sunny daylight hours! – when I’m essentially forced to veg out on the couch and relax?  Not often.  My body appreciated the rest, and my sweater is that much closer to being wearable.

Next up: the collar.  Now that the stitches have been picked up, I’m starting to realize that knitting the collar on a 24-inch circular is just not going to happen.  Argh.  The DPNs will have to come out, and I’ll just have to deal with it.  I refuse to buy a 16-inch circ just for this project!  As my nephews would say: oh, barnacles!  Wish me luck (and health).  : )

Would I trade in my day job for full-time crafting?  Umm, do I even have to answer that question?  : )  A coworker sent me the link to this article in the New York Times the other day about how everyday crafty folks are turning their Etsy shops into full-time jobs, and some folks with particularly catchy creations and aggressive marketing strategies are even making upwards of $100,000 a year.  How cool is that???  Imagine trading in your drab office for a hip craft studio, your dreaded commute for your cozy couch, and your barely-getting-by paycheck for a cool six figures.  I’d be in heaven!  Sign me up!

Unfortunately, the article also warns that you might also be trading in your 40-hour work week for something more like 80.  And that sustaining your one-woman business might take over all other aspects of your life.  And that after a while, you might not even enjoy your beloved crafty adventures anymore because they’ve suddenly become your job.  Oh, the horror!  I guess that’s why most of us hold on to our day jobs and choose to leave our creative lives out of the office.  There’s something to be said for creating as an escape, and besides, who’s going to buy my lopsided little treasures anyway?

But oh, wouldn’t it be so fantastic?  Making a living by doing something that you absolutely LOVE?  Turning your knitted hats and quilted coasters and origami mobiles into rent checks and sushi dinners and Caribbean vacations?  Ahhhhhh, what a life.  NYT, stop bursting my bubble.  : )

[By the way, the fat quarter bundles you see above are the fabrics I picked up at Purl Patchwork and used for my Christmas tree decorations.  They were living at the bottom of a clearance bin, and I just couldn't leave the store without rescuing them.  It was an act of charity, I swear.]

On a particularly beautiful, warm, and sunny day last summer, I decided to take the day off from work to enjoy a blissful day of shopping and exploring in Manhattan.  I had my shopping route all planned out: I would zig-zag between various yarn stores, passing through interesting NYC landmarks on my walks (not subway rides) between shops.  So fun, right? 

At one point during my journey, I passed through the Union Square Farmers Market at the height of a busy summer afternoon.  The square was absolutely overflowing with fresh produce in every shape and color imaginable, and the sidewalks were lined with local artists selling their hip, funky, and often gorgeous creations.  I hadn’t planned on browsing very much, but one booth literally stopped me in my tracks: Edie Art.  Little did I know it when I left my apartment that morning, but my NYC shopping day turned into the day that I absolutely fell in love with Edie’s fun, whimsical, and endlessly inspiring paintings.  : )

The pulsating buzz of the farmers market gradually faded away as I felt myself drawn into Edie’s booth in a cloud of delight and curiosity.   I chatted with her for a few minutes, took her business card, bought two of her prints on the spot, and wound up buying three more later that week from her Etsy shop.  I kept three for myself (Blowing Bubbles, Wildflowers, and The Magnaolia Tree - the three prints you see in this post) and hung them in my living room.  And yes, I smile at them every time I enter the room – they are just too sweet!  The other two I gave away as gifts to two lovely friends: Going For A Walk and Expecting (for a mom-to-be).  I just couldn’t resist sharing these little treasures.

The things I love most about Edie’s work are the playfulness and innocence that she infuses into each piece – don’t you just want to BE one of those adorable little girls, walking and chatting and blowing bubbles with a friend?  Each painting is a little escape from the everyday world of jobs and bills and traffic, and they remind me that the most important things in life are often the simplest ones, those moments that make you laugh, the smell of fresh flowers, the secrets whispered between friends on an old tree branch.  She captures these moments so perfectly, and I love that I can keep a piece of them on my living room walls, available whenever I need a little burst of happiness.

Truth be told, another reason I felt immediately drawn to these paintings is my not-so-secret desire to have a little girl in my life.  I grew up with a brother and lots of male cousins, and although I now have two adorable nephews who absolutely light up my day every time I see them, I’ve been itching for a girl in the family for years!  The girls in Edie’s paintings are exactly what I imagine my someday-daughters to be like, and I get completely wrapped up in the charm and wonder of it all.  While I chatted with Edie in Union Square that day, she told me that the girls featured in many of her paintings are inspired by her real-life nieces, which makes the paintings just that much more enchanting. 

What can I say – I am absolutely enamored with Edie’s work!  I’m a devoted fan of modern and contemporary art, but it’s not often that an artist so effectively reaches into my soul and strikes a chord like Edie has with her whimsical paintings.  What a great find on the streets of the city, of all places.  Next time I’ll have to walk a little more slowly through the farmers market to see what else might pop up and knock me into an awe-inspired haze.  : )

I started knitting Melissa Wehrle’s Deep Texture Tunic (ravelry link) about a month ago after being completely delighted by the pattern while casually flipping though the Winter 2009 Interweave Knits during a yarn-shopping trip in the city.  I walked into the yarn store with a different sweater pattern in mind, and I walked out with this magazine and a delicious brown yarn (Cascade 200 Heathers) to go with it.  I liked the pattern enough to instantly change my mind mid-shopping-trip, which says a lot, considering that took me forever to make up my mind about my original pick.  Thanks for such a captivating pattern, Melissa! 

The Deep Texture Tunic is a long turtleneck sweater that you can wear with a thick belt, skinny jeans, and a pair of fabulous knee-high boots.  What’s not to love?  It seems very “in” right now and totally my style.  My only concern (as usual, right?) is running out of yarn.  The sweater itself is long, and I’m tall on top of that, and the yarn store only had 6 hanks in this dye lot.  Hmmmmm.  You’ll notice in the photos in this post that I haven’t bound off anything, just in case I have to cannibalize one part to finish another!  Ah, such is the life of a knitter.

I’ve finished the body of the sweater, and this weekend I finished up the first sleeve.  You can see the cuff ribbing in the first photo (I went down one needle size from a US5 to a US4 for the ribbing) and the transition from the waffle pattern of the sleeve to the cuff ribbing in the second photo.  One modification from the pattern: I’m knitting the sleeves flat and seaming them later, mostly because working on DPNs drives me crazy and I refuse to do it.  : ) 

Actually, speaking of modifications, I’m knitting the body of the sweater and the sleeves quite a bit longer than the pattern calls for (as usual for me).  I have a giraffe-like torso and arms and always need a little extra length for things to fit properly.  These mods couldn’t be simpler to execute – just keep knitting until it fits!

The body of the sweater features decreases at the waist and increases at the hip, and you can see my hip increases above.  I tweaked the positioning of the decreases and increases a bit to fit in with my longer sweater body, and I think it came out surprisingly well.  I’m really looking forward to wearing the finished sweater!

Up next: the second sleeve, the turtleneck collar, and adding a little more length to the body (assuming I have enough yarn).  I’ll bind everything off at the end once I know where the yarn situation stands. 

This project has been highly relaxing and enjoyable so far — it’s a good combination of monotonous, zen-like knitting with a few interesting bits thrown in to keep me on my toes.  Plus, the majority of this sweater has been knit in various coffee shops and bookstores, so it’ll have a good story when it’s all finished.  Onward and upward!

Happy New Year 2010!  Although all the Christmas presents have been opened and all the cookies have been eaten, the holiday season doesn’t officially end until we all go back to work on Monday, right?  In that spirit, I wanted to put together a post on my 2009 Christmas tree, which featured a charming display of ornaments lovingly handmade by me.  In a whirlwind of crafty excitement, I decided to make the tree 100% handmade this year (with a few exceptions for those *special* ornaments, of course). 

My tree is a miniature fiber-optic artificial tree given to me by my grandmother – the same tree under which Santa would leave presents for my brother and me every Christmas while we were growing up.  The tree is a little dated (and crooked, as you’ll see below), but its sentimental value is priceless.  With the tree came a box full of store-bought ornaments, also used by my grandparents for many years, but this year I decided to leave the box in the closet and start fresh.  I was hankering for something a little less metallic and a little more soft, inviting, and quirky.  Here’s what I came up with:

The paper snowflake/star in the top left corner of the photo above is one of my favorite pieces that emerged from my ornament-making extravaganza.  It’s not perfect, but it gives me that warm and cozy feeling whenever I catch it in the corner of my eye.  I used this tutorial with 1-inch squares of gold/beige wrapping paper instead of the recommended 5-inch squares.  Little did I know at the time, but I should have stuck with the 5-inch squares because assembling that intricate little star required numerous tiny household implements and took over 2 hours!  Phew!  Instead of taping the center points together as recommended (which would have required an army of very small-fingered elves), I just strung a piece of sewing thread through the centers and loosely tied it to avoid smooshing the structure of the star that I worked so hard to put together.  It was a true labor of love, this little star.  : )

The green origmai crane in the photo above is based on a pattern that my grandfather taught me when I was a kid, presumably something he learned while in the Army.  The wings flap when you pull on the tail.  It’s quite charming, I think.  I don’t have the pattern but would be happy to explain it if anyone is interested.  I love that this little piece of my grandfather is hanging on the tree that I used to see in his house every Christmas – he passed away a few years ago, and I cherish these little reminders of him.

Joining the crane on my handmade Christmas tree is this adorable little red origami bird – I just love how this one came out!  I used a pattern from an old origami book that I’ve had forever.  Again, I don’t have the pattern handy but would be happy to dig it out if anyone wants it.  To hang each origami piece, I just cut a small slit in the top and strung a piece of gift ribbon through it, tied it into a loop, and curled the ends.  These origami birds are so simple, but I think they lend a little sophistication to my humble fiber-optic tree.

Also seen in the photo above is some white pom-pom garland based on the beautifully-photographed tutorial by the fabulous artsy-crafty babe (thanks, Rebeka!).  Although I didn’t have a lot of pom-poms on hand and spaced them out quite a bit on the sewing thread, I really like the end result.  Every Christmas tree needs a few fluffy snowballs, right?  And it just so happens that this garland serves as a convenient perch for the origami bird – perfect.

Next up were a handful of super-easy ornaments using strips of paper and a few staples – the heart in the photo above and the yellow ornament on the right side of the photo at the top of this post.  I used this tutorial and some colored paper that I found while digging out the origami book.  I reduced the dimensions from those specified in the pattern to arrive at something tree-sized, and I attached ribbon loops to the tops to hang them.  Simple and cute!

From the same website, I used this tutorial to make the silver snowflake seen above out of pipe cleaners and a few clear beads.  Confession: I was so wiped out after the 2-hour wrapping paper snowflake marathon that this silver snowflake got the short end of the stick!  I only put one bead on each prong (?) and only made one of these little ornaments.  Still cute, though!  It’s sparkly and gives the tree a little much-needed glamour.  : )

Finally, I sewed a delightful array of yo-yos using fabrics from a nicely-coordinated fat quarter bundle that I picked up at Purl Patchwork over the summer.  The fabrics are mostly quilters’ cotton, and the colors have a quaint/country feel to them, which I thought fit well with the other handmade ornaments on the tree.  I picked up a package of star-shaped buttons in coordinating colors at my local Michael’s and sewed one in the center of each yo-yo, using the end of the sewing thread as a hanging loop for each ornament.  I didn’t use a pattern for these, but there are a bunch of great yo-yo tutorials on the web.  Warning: if you’ve never made one, they’re addictive!  I think the fabric yo-yos soften up the tree quite a bit, and I’ve made a mental note to create more fabric ornaments next year.

So there you have it!  My handmade tree ornaments in all their glory.  (Note the crookedness of the tree that I mentioned above – ha!)  You can see some of my *special* ornaments on here as well: a Winnie the Pooh/Piglet ornament that I just couldn’t bear to ignore this year, my “Baby’s First Christmas 1980″ ornament (aww), and a red and green yarn ornament (all the way on the right, toward the bottom) that my grandmother made eons ago.  I just adore how this came out!  It was a bit of work to put together, but the end result added a little something extra to my Christmas this year – a bit of charm and quirkiness, and a tree that truly expresses the state of my creative whims this season. 

Hope your holidays were infused with a little craftiness as well!

The snow is falling silently and peacefully this morning, welcoming me to another blissfully relaxing vacation day and inviting me to come outdoors and play for a bit.  It’s the perfect way to wrap up 2009 – a beautiful, serene backdrop to remind me that it’s often the simplest things in life that are the most enjoyable, the most inspirational, and the most memorable.  While romping through the still-falling snow this morning, I stumbled upon these bright red berries peeking out through the snow, subtly suggesting that the holiday cheeriness might linger for a few more days.  My little journey through the neighborhood resulted in a handful of other snow-covered treasures of which I couldn’t resist snapping a few photos…

A little row of Tudor houses sticks out rather delightfully in my neighborhood of mundane two-family homes.  Christmas is still peeking out from the red accent panels and the green mailbox, although the whimsical nature of these old houses is somewhat dampened by the densely-spaced telephone wires that criss-cross through the streets like a tangled web of obtrusive modernity.

A lonely bird bath in my backyard, typically flooded with birds of all varieties, stands stoic and frozen in the quiet, chirp-free morning.

The sky overhead is dark and gray, but instead of the typical ominous feeling of an oncoming storm, the sky this morning is peaceful and inviting as these trees seem to reach out for each other, inviting me in to their friendly whisper of a conversation.

A perfect Christmas tree stands proudly and solidly at the high school across from my apartment.  I had a very strong urge to run inside and grab some handmade ornaments to decorate this beauty, but there’s something quite magical about the simplicity of the green branches covered in an ever-thickening layer of freshly-fallen snow.

The basketball court at the high school is vacant but holding steady, somewhat of an anomaly on this quiet winter morning.  A peaceful snowfall has that very welcome ability to silence everything it touches, to force people inside and critters to their hiding places, leaving our precious infrastructure abandoned and forgotten.  But there it remains, the basketball hoop rigidly holding its position, waiting for a warmer day when the neighborhood kids will return.

For now, in the silence of the morning, everything is still and calm.  The football field is completely obscured by the freshly-fallen snow; it will be several months before it makes it debut once again.  As I look through these evergreen branches at the fallow field, I’m reminded of the cyclical nature of the seasons, how one fades away while the other emerges, constantly providing new inspiration and new perspectives as we take a few minutes to soak it all in.

Of course, I couldn’t resist sticking my absent-mindedly exposed fingers out into the cold to touch this tiny evergreen branch and experience this beautiful winter snowfall for myself.  The physical connection of my hand to this branch seals my acceptance of nature’s irresistible invitation this morning, acknowledging that only when we accept these humble gifts do we truly appreciate their brilliance.

Now that I’m back indoors in the warmth of my apartment, I think it’s time for a hot chocolate to mellow the outdoor chill, celebrate the first post here at my new blog, and begin to wrap up 2009 as it fades out into the sparkling white backdrop. 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all on this cozy, tranquil morning!