subliminalrabbit

public service announcement

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 03:55:00 +0000

hello those of you who must be very loyal readers! this is just a little announcement to let you know that i've had to (hopefully temporarily) move my knitting patterns over to google docs and i'm in the process of updating the links. thanks for your patience in the meantime.

my life has been beyond out of control of late; hence the lack of posting. i hope to be back soon! in the meantime - knit on!

love, marri

if teeth had skin...

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:09:00 +0000

i managed to JUST finish that baby shower gift... 20 minutes before i left the house for the shindig. so without further ado, may i present the bear hat, designed by linda cyr:

no baby around the house, so mr owl had to model for me. okay, isn't it just too sweet? let's have a round of awwws.

this was a pretty simple pattern that proved to be a quick knit; i would have had it finished up in a weekend if my eyeball-how-to-sew-matching-pairs-of-ears mojo hadn't been totally on vacation. but that's okay. i eked it out somehow and the expectant mother (and dear friend) squealed when she opened it, so i think i can deem it a success!

my headaches seem to be on the wane (*fingers crossed*) so this weekend i decided to risk it and go for a nice long ride on my awesome new bike. have i mentioned my awesome new bike? it was the most fantastic birthday/xmas gift from b and our families.

there's a great bike path down the coast from santa monica to redondo beach, and you're riding next to the sand for most of it. this is the second time i've biked the stretch, intending to stop at manhattan beach. but it's total zen and i just keep on going...

on the way i discovered that yes, it's february, and the cacti are beginning to bloom. this is what makes living out here totally worth the rest of the crazy.

shhh

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:34:00 +0000

hi friends,

i've been a bit knocked out of whack lately, due to near-constant headaches with a dash of migraine thrown in for good luck. so the knitting - like pretty much everything else here - has slowed down to a halt while we try to figure out what's up. but.

a dear friend has hit her third trimester and the shower is next weekend. fingers crossed i can get a cute little something knit up in time!

hopefully i'll be back with FO photos next week!

the fuzzier side of things

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:33:00 +0000

have i mentioned how blessed i am to have friends like beigeberry and malaraky? we've known each other for half our lives and the farther apart we move, the more i miss them.

i mean, who else would send me 8 oz of glorious alpaca? this is the bounty beigeberry bequeathed upon me during our yarn swap. we all decided we had way too much of one color or another in our stashes, and wouldn't it be nice to switch things up? malaraky pulled together a little questionnaire to help us decide what to send each other. i think i seriously scored here. YUM! what to knit, what to knit? ideas graciously accepted.

in the meantime, i'm continuing along on my acer cardigan [ravelry link]. it was a good airplane knitting project - the pattern's simple enough to memorize - and i'm hoping to get to the sleeves soon. is it bad that sometimes i'm just itching for some simple stockinette?

maeve the cat wishes you happy knitting, friends!

horses and llamas and peacocks, oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:29:00 +0000

by now you probably all know a little something about my love for all the creatures of this good earth. i am, hands down, an "animal person" and i'm not ashamed to say it. so when a colleague told me about the gentle barn, i kinda had to go.

the gentle barn is a non-profit farm animal sanctuary in santa clarita, california. they rescue abused animals and provide them with a forever home on their beautiful farm. and they have "open hours" on sundays, where visitors can come and pet the more socialized of the bunch!

(i fell in love with this horse, zoe... she just wanted to snuggle!)

llamas for nicole!

if you're in the socal area, i highly recommend checking this place out!

snown

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:43:00 +0000

hey everyone! i figured what better way to start 2012 off on the right foot than to release a new free pattern? i was wracking my brain to figure out how to use that super-colorful lorna's laces that i dyed in a workshop at VK Live... and this is where i landed:

a neckwarmer and earwarmer set to brighten up the chilly and overcast days of winter, snown beautifully showcases hand-dyed and variegated yarns with a modern twist.

you can find it right here or on the sidebar to the right. ravelry page here. enjoy!

<3, marri

(p.s. - thanks for all of the sweet words about the wedding photos!)

c'est la vie 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:33:00 +0000

i'm not gonna to lie - it was a crazy year here at casa subliminalrabbit - noted by my absence from the internet! but it was all worth it...

...because i'm now legally entwined to my best friend and love of my life. (this is the part where you all go "aww!")

i figured i'd wrap up 2011 with a long-overdue post about the wedding!

bryan and i approached the whole thing a little differently, i think, than most. we're not particularly sentimental folk, but we do like a party. so why not throw a huge party and invite all of our friends and family to celebrate the moment with us?

we asked our sisters to perform the ceremony...

... and then got right to the party part!

we had a diorama station...

... and balloon animals.

a photo booth...

... and of course wonderful time spent with those we love most!

i tried not to get too crazy with the planning and prep. we did hire an invitation designer, whose beautiful work we ended up using for all of our signage as well, and a couple of amazing coordinators to help out with the last hurrah. i made two special pieces for the ceremony, but that was pretty much it -

all in all it was an amazing experience, and totally worth the dough. when else do you get to have everyone who loves you in one place, all there for you?

so good-bye 2011, and here's to an amazing 2012!

(more photos here for anyone really interested.)

why hello!

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:19:00 +0000

I really do realize that I've been awfully neglectful. Life is just off and running and it's all I can do sometimes to keep up. Six months have passed, and I still haven't written about the wedding or honeymoon. Would you guys be interested in a little trip down (recent) memory lane with me?

In the meantime, there has been knitting. Remember this?

it's now this:

someone asked me the other day if i got it at anthropologie. bless her.

oh, and remember that lovely lorna's laces I dyed at vogue knitting live?

i decided I needed a winter headband for our holiday in ohio next weekend, and played around with my hand-dyed yarn and some scraps left over from a sweater. speaking of which...

say hello to bedford! knit up in luscious drops nepal (my first experience with drops yarn - and i'm in love!), bedford is a comfy, oversized raglan pullover designed by michelle wang as part of a collection to support jared flood's new yarn line, shelter. beigeberry called my and malaraky's attention to the collection, and we decided it was time for another knit-along. i added a couple of inches to the length, but otherwise knit as directed. this sweater is so cozy, i know i'll be wearing it all winter.

and baby, it's cold out there - even here in socal!

bella's mittens - downloading

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:23:00 +0000

just popping in to answer a few questions about downloading bella's mittens that have popped up lately in the comments here and on ravelry.

yes, the link still works.

i've tested it on multiple computers. my guess is that a few of you nice folk might be using (*shudder*) internet explorer which might require you to do something funky because it's created by microsoft and therefore not intuitive. (*ducking as microsoft die-hards throw things at me.*) please do yourself a favor and go download firefox.* you can thank me later.

now just click on the link on the sidebar. or here. it should automatically download.

if you're still having difficulties, please feel free to email me at info[at]subliminalrabbit[dot]com. i'm happy to email you the pattern when i have a moment.

happy knitting!

*so apparently there are some issues for you google chrome users too! apologies - not sure why it's not reading the code...

zig zag

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:36:00 +0000

our household might be mildly obsessed with chevrons at the moment...

what inspires you?

vk live

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:07:00 +0000

i learned...

two color knitting with both strands in one hand from the genius meg swansen -

- and yarn dyeing from the incomparable beth casey.

i saw crazy wonderful displays -

- and some excellent yarn bombing.

i may or may not have bought enough creamy wool alpaca for a jared flood knit-along with beigeberry and malaraky.

next year? yes, please!

starting over

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:14:00 +0000

as abby has so cleverly deducted from my flickr uploads, we've moved!

we're slowly pulling the new place together, and i have to say i'm in love. it's so good to come home here. we've moved less than a mile, but my new commute starts and ends with a beautiful view of the ocean - which we can see from several of our windows. and so much light! just heaven.

also?

my homework for vogue knitting live next weekend - this, for a color knitting class with meg swansen and amy detjen. plus a dyeing class with beth casey, owner of lorna's laces! i can't wait!

see you there?

the edge of something

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:23:00 +0000

some time mid-week it dawned on me why i was feeling so awfully sad. it's amazing that we can carry things so viscerally - things that happened to us so long ago.

i was in new york city. my sister was in washington dc. it was by far the most terrifying day of my life - like we were suddenly slammed into some unfamiliar, violent new reality that, up to that day, we had only read about in newspapers - about places far, far away.

that reality never quite materialized at home - most of us shook off the dust, picked up the pieces, and moved on. but there are people in this world who live in constant fear, for whom such violence is a daily reality. today, please consider taking a moment to remember not only those who lost their lives on 9/11, but also those living through such tragedy day after day.

most days it's too easy to forget.

and now for something completely different

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 18:43:00 +0000

i know, i know - i seemed to have skipped a couple of important months in my life here. yes; i am a married woman now. and i have lots to share, soon - when we get the digital photos back from our awesome photographer.

in the meantime sit back, relax, and enjoy some YARN BOMBING!

you can kind of see - the yarn is sparkly! also, i came up with a tag. little bunny thinks it's cute!

6:30AM seems a perfect time to yarn bomb around here. i just got back from the farmers' market, and this little guy is now surrounded by nice, locked-up bikes.

any bets on how long it stays up?

the final countdown

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:53:00 +0000

we're almost there. and this week, all week? family, friends, and CRAFTS.

next time you see me? i'll be a mrs. it's gonna be grand!

one note

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 17:29:00 +0000

(wedding invitations by ohmydeer.)

i fell off the face of the earth there. i know. we're a bit busy with the wedding but i promise - i'll be back soon.

iron craft challenge #5: be mine

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:32:00 +0000

well. this week's challenge was to make something to give someone for valentine's day. with which i have absolutely no issue; i'm not a terribly sentimental kind of gal, but hand-crafting something to present to a loved one on a lovey holiday? i can do that.

but i can't post it up here and on flickr today and still keep it a surprise for feb 14.

so.

i decided to make something for someone(s) who won't be checking up here. or, honestly, care that they received their gifts a few weeks early.

CAT TOYS!* (remember these?)

okay, i know - an awful lot of animal activity on this blog lately. but i can't help it. they are awfully cute and photograph well. exhibit A:

exhibit B:

materials:
-felt
-organic catnip
-embroidery floss

five weeks down - many more to go!

*don't you just love that little earthenware pitcher? vintage west german waechtersbach - a total steal at my local thrift shop. score!

iron craft challenge #4: get cozy (with tutorial)

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:03:00 +0000

so this week's challenge was to make a coffee cup cozy. you'd think: right up my alley. right? wrong. problem is, my coffee cups all have those silicone rings that prevent you from burning your hand in the first place. a cozy - completely unnecessary. what to do, what to do.

then i realized that my cup was in fact missing something very important: a dry-erase board.

oh yes.

my office has a starbucks on the premises. this is a good thing and a bad thing. bad thing: pricey. good thing: an excuse to get some air and take a quick mental break with colleagues. often, the good thing wins over bad - good triumphs over evil, right? right. so a while back i picked up a couple of reusable coffee cups because i try to be a responsible, thoughtful gal and all those wasted paper cups were really quite appalling. plus: you get 10 cents back every time you use one at the good 'ole starbucks.

but i was always bothered by the fact that my friendly neighborhood barista still stuck a little pre-printed paper post-it on my ceramic cup to write down my order. wasteful, wasteful.

and hence, the coffee cup dry-erase board was born. and it is simple and easy, and you probably have the stuff in your house to make your own - you know, now that you have your own handmade coffee cozy.

or even if you don't.

here's what you need:

materials
-clear contact paper
-some nice decorative paper (or plain - really, up to you but why be boring?)
-scissors (do you own teflon-coated scissors? why not?! go get some. will save your sanity every single day, promise!) or a rotary cutter
-a ruler (unless you're really good at eyeballing & cutting straight)
-either thread for sewing on to your cozy or ribbon to tie around your cup

oh, and some dry erase markers will come in handy later. don't forget those.

step one: first, decide what size you want your dry-erase board to be. measure and cut the pretty paper accordingly. (mine's about 2"x3".)

step two: measure and cut two rectangles of contact paper - one that's one inch taller and wider than your piece of paper, and one that's just a bit smaller than your piece of paper.

step three: put your pretty paper upside down (note the scribble lines from my bunting project - no shame here, i like to use scraps!). take the smaller piece of contact paper and put it on the back - it won't quite touch the edges.

step four: turn the paper over and center the larger piece of contact paper over it, smoothing out any bubbles as you go. (it helps here to have a non-stick surface like a cutting mat!) you'll have about half an inch of contact paper all around - so trim each corner off!

step five: flip it over again and fold over the edges of the contact paper. (because you trimmed the corners off, the edges will be nice and neat!)

step six: punch holes and thread through yarn or ribbon, or simply sew onto your cozy.

step seven: write on your dry-erase board with a dry-erase marker and wa-la!

step eight: surreptitiously photograph your cup in line at your local coffee house but be too shy to kinnear the random celeb from LOST you pass on your way back.

no more wasted paper at starbucks. you have beaten the system. congrats to you and yours.

and oh yeah: i knit a cozy. since that was the actual challenge, after all!

iron craft challenge #3: just bunt

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

although it's not my usual MO, i chose to go pretty traditional on this one. i'm certain there will be crazy creative interpretations of "bunting", but hey - with something this whimsical, sometimes simplicity is the route to take.

right? right.

since i've already introduced the iron crafters to maeve and molly, i thought it was high time to do something special for little b. she's been pretty lonely since cole passed, and i thought a little facelift to her pad might cheer her - and me - right up!

materials:
-twine, braided
-scrapbook paper
-double-sided and scotch tape
(see? simple!)

have i ever told you the story about how my persnickety little girl came home with us?

i'd just moved into my first apartment in LA and i thought it was high time to get mr b - my sweet harlem bunny - a friend. after lots of reconnaissance trips to my local shelter, i picked out a darling new zealand white named izzy, a rabbit who would run up to me to be pet as soon as i entered her pen. so i made an appointment for mr b to board at the rescue for a spell - to bond on neutral territory.

mid-week, i received a call from the shelter. nervous that mr b and izzy weren't getting along, i picked up with some trepidation. the volunteer proceeded to tell me that the tiny dwarf in the pen next door had somehow jumped over the 3' wall to be with mr b and izzy - numerous times - and would i be amenable to taking home a third?

and that's how little b entered our lives. with all her grouchiness, she's outlived them all. and i wouldn't give her up for the world.

measuring up

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:40:00 +0000

a quick peek at my entry for iron craft challenge #3. this is just way too much fun!

you'll have to wait a few days for the full post - now i'm off to read the hunger games (thanks carol!) and munch on some homemade bread.

that's right. resolution #3 DONE. how're you doing on YOUR list?

iron craft challenge #2: stay warm

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:15:00 +0000

so. challenge #2 was to make a "draft dodger" or a "door snake". score. we totally needed one (or a dozen) of these in our 1904 unheated beach house!

materials for iron craft challenge #2: stay warm:
-fleece
-felt
-dried pinto beans
-liquid stitch
-stitch witchery*

okay, it really lives by the door because those windows don't open and are probably one of the more sound features of our home, but the view's prettier. the door, where it's better suited? not so much.

recognize the pattern?

grete prytz's lotus for cathrineholm of norway. love, love, love. can't get enough of this stuff and you'll often find me combing the local antique stores on the off-chance that i just might score another!

iron craft is exactly what i need right now: weekly creativity, friendly inspiration, and fun fun fun. come join us!

*the sewing machine is broken and probably not worth the cost to fix it (again). saving up for a better model. boo.

the world famous crochet museum

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:30:00 +0000

i'd be remiss if i let much more time pass before i posted about the world famous crochet museum, curated by the lovely and talented artist shari elf. when b and i decided to take a long weekend in joshua tree as our birthday gift to ourselves (yes, our bdays are five days apart!), we knew hiking would certainly be on the schedule - but couldn't give up the chance to check this place out. so i emailed shari and begged her to open the doors on an unscheduled day, and like the wonderful proprietess she is -

this place was awesome. tucked behind her studio in a mid-century photo kiosk, it's filled to the brim with shari's unique collection.

if any of you happen to be in the neighborhood - drop shari a note and check this place out. it's an animaguri explosion of the best kind - classic, kitsch, and super-sweet!

sneaky peeky

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 23:33:00 +0000

iron craft challenge #2 is up!

iron craft challenge #1

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:00:00 +0000

okay, so by now you must have all figured it out: yes, i'm crazy. i've signed up for iron craft. one crafty challenge a week for fifty-two weeks.

i'm going to admit right off the bat that there's no way i will complete them all. i'm planning a wedding. i may be crazy, but i'm not insane. this year i hope to be out of the country for a few weeks on a honeymoon, and leading up to that i'll have many a foam thought-bubble to cover with chalkboard paint (and rates to negotiate and budgets to balance but that's not the fun stuff, so let's agree to ignore it here, okay?).

anyway. without further ado. iron craft challenge #1: lighting the winter gloom. since i only found out about iron craft monday evening and entries are due wednesdays, i defaulted to what i know: knitting.

thanks to a recycled jam jar, a pillar candle left over from thanksgiving, and holiday pom pom stash yarn (what? you know you have some too), i quickly knit up a little lace votive cozy that throws off little bits of light through the eyelets and casts a beautiful glow.

so. expect more wednesday posts. i think this is exactly what i need to kick my crafty mojo back into gear!

in the meantime - keep the bread recipes a-coming!

game is ON.

noreply@blogger.com (subliminalrabbit) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:53:00 +0000

many will enter. few will win.

(actually, that's not true. no winners or losers. i'm just going for the drama.)