Phantom Limb

Update your bookmarks now!

2008-07-29T12:03:46-04:00

Still working on mvoing over to the new site, but this blog will be offline by midnight tonight (7/29) to avoid being billed for a new month.

Update your bookmarks: http://yourphantomlimb.blogspot.com/

You can go home again, but it's probably been re-sided.

2008-07-25T21:19:34-04:00

This is the lesson learned three times in the past month. Or I guess, technically, twice; though I’ve visited three of houses I grew up in. And, yes, visited might be a strong word, as all we really did was drive by slowly, too chicken to stop and take a photo, lest anyone think some sort of weird house stalker was roaming the neighborhood. What is that? That awkward feeling when looking at our old homes? What was once so familiar gets changed, maybe in the most subtle ways, like a giant metal star now calls our former front porch home, and that change makes our former routines seem like another life.

I've lived in a lot of towns. And maybe this is why my life has always felt as if it contained more definitive growth markers than others' lives. When you are young and you change schools every few years and you change friends every few years -- and those changes just happen to occur at the end of grade school, middle school and high school -- you learn to accept the change as a signifier, a marker of a chapter closed. In fact, you start to yearn for change, or maybe more accurately, you start to yearn for the markers.

I turned 30 this year and that alone has not felt like a big enough marker; not yet, but I'm working on it, ready for it.

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Totally unrelated: Miket recently recorded with John Sinclair and that is cool!

Quick notes

2008-07-16T14:46:27-04:00

+ Alli interviewed me about Phantom Limb on her blog Handmade Wonderful this past weekend.

+ Angela interviewed me for the "In the Workplace" series on her blog beyondwords recently, too.

+ I am in the (very slow) process of moving this blog from TypePad to Blogger. I adore TypePad and wish I could stay here, but quite frankly TypePad costs money, Blogger is free; Stephanie is poor. If you're reading this in a RSS feed, you will need to add my new address: http://yourphantomlimb.blogspot.com before the end of the month (when I pull the plug on this site).

Yarn over, or I admit an embarrassing discovery

2008-07-08T13:16:19-04:00

When Becky stayed with me, I noticed that her crochet style seemed a bit different than mine. I think I even commented on it. My aunt taught me the basics and everything else, I've had to figure out alone. For that reason, it takes me a really long time to figure out patterns and get it look like the photo. Or at least I thought that was my issue.

I borrowed this book from the library because there is a plaid scarf pattern that resembles a weaving technique that I have an idea for, much like Pam's woven green scarf. The plan was this: Learn this technique, adapt it to the idea I have. But what actually happened was this: I realized I have been crocheting wrong the whole time. Well, no wonder it's been so hard for me! And the thing I was doing wrong? In my crochet, there was no "yarn over." (The crocheters out there just rolled their eyes or spit our their drink. In other words, this is a super basic step.) Thusly why Becky's style seemed different -- she was doing a forward movement I never did. When I think of how long it's taken me to get a stitch looking right in the past -- well, I guess there is something to be said for professional training.

Anyway, I apologize for anyone that I've taught to crochet wrong -- try adding in this "yarn over" thing. It will change your life.

Remember 2005?

2008-07-01T08:06:32-04:00

There was like Hurricane Katrina and Live 8 and ... I actually had a zine out. Well, I got a handful of that zine back from a distro today and threw them up on my Etsy shop. This is almost certainly your last chance to buy a copy. And relive 2005. Pick yourself up a copy.

Love this

2008-06-27T20:02:56-04:00

Stephanie Tardy

The romanticised struggle

2008-06-24T09:02:00-04:00

There is an episode of Punk'd where Ashley Simpson still has her old nose and they take her to an art gallery and set off the water sprinklers. The prank really works because the art is all painted on cardboard and gets drippy when the water flies -- as the fake brother explains, the artist was too poor to buy real canvas. I would comment on the romanticised struggle of the poor, unknown artist (who is fake) and the juxtapoz of a someone famous before she even produced a work (and maybe she is still to produce her own work) who is real, but mostly I'm surprised I watched an episode of Punk'd in the first place.

Anyway, I am a struggling artist so I'm updating my Etsy shop a little bit each day this week -- keep checking back for new newness.

My new favorite sandwich

2008-06-23T13:40:32-04:00

There use to be this really fancy take-out place by my work that served a ham sandwich with a slice of cooked peach in it. The way the sweetness of the peach played off the spice of the ham was so yummy. Although I can't remember the exact things on that sandwich, I have lately been making this similiar sandwich for lunch.

A crusty bread of your choice
A slice of Mozarella
A thick slice of white peach
2 slices of ham
(and/or) A small smattering of uncooked spinach

Melt the Mozarella onto the bread (in a microwave this takes about 35 seconds), then build in your favorite order. (Mine is the order listed.)

Waiting

2008-06-20T15:47:54-04:00

In the photo: 1. hasselblad dream, 2. Mark Kozelek Gigposter, 3. [LINBT], 4. They left, 5. Untitled, 6. Top of Skates, 7. Piecework Magazine Pincushion Contest!, 8. Type, 9. Untitled

Felty

2008-06-04T09:48:55-04:00

Stephanie Tardy