E=mc2

Sorry for the vanishing act this week. My energy levels this week were exceptionally low. Could be the lack of chocolate eating (the house is on a diet), could be the wedding planning (someone please tell me we really can avoid the stress?), or the temperature drop or the fact that Ant had an exceptionally bad week at work... Either way, no energy at all. I've spent much of the week slouched on the couch much like this:


(Well, I was't sleeping on the couch's arm, of course - but you get the picture)

So, what did I do this week?
Sleeping: see above (I must add that I also make a terrific cat cushion, when the resident feline demands it).
Knitting: The No-Thanks_Abercrombie cardi now has two sleeves and I'm back to working on the body. I'm a tiny bit concerend about my yarn supply. I want to have a ribbed edging all around and I seriously hope I have enough yardage left. This might get interesting. I comfort myself with the fact that so far (knock on wood) I've had very little frogging done and the fit is (knock on wood, again) very pleasing. Wish me luck, the challenging part is still ahead of me.
Collaging: I've signed up for Dawn's Paper Quilt Project for February and have been trying to figure out the best idea to collage about (and, may I admit, have been a tiny bit intimidated by the medium. I get scared starting new things sometimes, even ones I'm really excited about. Like my sewing machine) for too long. I hope Dawn doesn't regret her graciousness with giving me an extra week!

In progress:

Finished (guess which "Day in My Life" it was...):
Thank you so much Dawn, for letting me play! It's definitely been the higlight of my week.

Wedding news: after the weekend, please. Maybe we'll have a couple more questions answered and the stress levels go down a bit. Sigh... I'll leave you with some pretty pictures Ant took outside last weekend.


Have a good (and restful) weekend!

Is it The Weekend Yet? (Yes? Oh, Good...)

Good grief! This weekend flew by like a hurricane and I'm left exhausted, slouched on the couch and craving more chocolate than ever (and there's no shortage, thankfully). I'm really tired, so this is going to be less wordy than the usual.
This is some of what I've been working on this week:

These are the prototypes for a new idea - business card holders and pencil cases.

I finally got a pair of pinking shears, and I love them mucho. So darn neat (if somewhat heavy).

These were the "real deal". They go in the store next week.

All those neat on-white-background pictures were taken in my new DIY light tent. Very darn useful, I tell you. Makes a huge difference.


And the No-Way-Abercrombie-A cardi now has one finished sleeve. I even re-attempted the 2x2 ribbing tubular bind-off. It looks good to me, so I don't ask any questions. If it's not OK or not how you do it, please don't tell me. Ok, do tell me, just not today.
And Valentine's Day was very nice, thank you. Wine, good food and chocolate cake (yum!). My first as an engaged woman. Sigh... No complaints here, of course.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day of downtown LA again, and Costco and other entertainment. At least now Ant works at a decent studio that does give its employees days off for bank holidays (imagine that), so monday is all about sleeping in, cooking and snuggling a lot.

Happy long weekend!

Looking for Donkeys and Finding Royalty

This weekend was so busy we almost didn't get up this morning. So tired... We've been running around LA in search of engagement/wedding rings, and LA is BIG. Very. We didn't find any rings, but we did find a lot of other cool things (inspiring the biblical title).

Saturday:
We headed off to Melrose Ave., with the (silly) assumption that such a hip street will have plenty of jewelry stores with (expensive) unique artisan items. No such luck. We did re-find that delicious Indian place and stuffed our faces, Pink's hot dogs (and a loooooooong line of hungry people) and a totally hip section of the street with tons of cute clothes shops and, five new types of bimbos I've never seen before and no jewelry stores.
To console our ring craving selves, we met up with our friends and went for some brews and After These Messages opening at the Gallery Nucleus. It was fun, and felt a lot like a CalArts reunion. I was surprised how many people remembered me (and my work, and stumbled upon this here blog, and my store). Man, our industry is small. I warmly recommend it, especially if you're an 80s kid like us and miss it. My cartoon favorite? Inspector Gadget, bien sur (we watched it on Middle East TV from Lebanon, with sucky reception and bad sound. If you go, say ho to Mary who envisioned and co-curated it (and wore a Kermit shirt I wanted to steal).


While we were there, Ant got me this sweet print by Kazu (modeled kindly by Vincent and Julie). Isn't it cute? I swear, if I was a super-hero, my alias would be "The Cute Factor". I swear, everywhere I go, I just scan the horizon and anything cute just jumps out at me. Be that Japanese goodness, cheesy merchandise, kittens, small children or art prints, rest assured - I'll find it. Sheesh... I love this print very much though, so I don't care. Love at me all you want. I have the power of the cute.

Sunday:
Equipped with a bit more of a clue, we headed off to the Jewelry District in the downtown. And no, it didn't occur to us that it might be closed until we parked. Sigh... Luckily for us, the Jewelry District is right next door to Little Tokyo. Oh, goody! But our streak of dissatisfaction continued when we discovered that most of the restaurants were closed, I couldn't find any more cute paper bags and my favorite 99 cents store closed. A stroke was avoided, luckily, by the discovery that the Marukai Market didn't close, but moved down the street, which was good, because I needed my Meiji fix.

I guess I'm taking an extra spinning class this month (it's so worth it).

There's no such thing as too much Pocky (especially the new mousse ones. Oh, yum!)

Mochi from our favorite sweets shop on 1st street. It's a twelve piece box, because there's no such thing as too much mochi either (Ant ate one already).

I'm very proud of myself for being able to resist these Midori magnet boards and magnets. I'm a brave soul (but my super alias is crying).
What else we didn't find yesterday? Any plot in yet another episode of Battle Star Galactica, and the next episode doesn't look promising either. It also looks like they might have had an editing oops, because we didn't remember some scenes in the "previously on..." and a whole story line seemed to have just been dropped on us. What did we find then? A half hour of comfortable snooze time on the couch with the cat. Awesome.

Have a great week, y'all!

I'm not weird, I have amusing quirks

Yes, I caved in. The "6 wird things" meme has been around with some really funny weird things, and I have been tagged by a couple of friends, and of course I've been thinking about weird things about me that... well, I sort of had too. I don't think I'm a weird person per ce (I'm a big big nerd), but I have some amusing quirks, so I figured - oh, well. If you're reading this you probably know me long enough so that it won't really damage your fragile psyche. You can take it. Right?

1. I'm a very picky eater. Not a very healthy thing for a vegetarian to be, but I am, and for strange reasons too. For example, I love my veggies, but I'm very particlar about them. Some things just don't get a pass in my world. The main thing that grosses me out, is weird texture. I can't stand stuff that's mushy. I also don't do stuff that smells funny. And sometimes, something might look just outright suspicious. Please don't ask me to define that for you. If I look a something and I just can't trust it - it doesn't go in my mouth, period. I've been known to take stuff apart to avoid hitting offensive food. The biggest evil on a plate - peas, cauliflower, beans, cooked baby carrots, broccoli and gulash (a Hungarian meaty stew). When we have kids, poor Ant is the one who's going to have to tell them to finish off their greens. I'm just going to sit there and make a bad example of myself. Oy.
I did get better at it (I now eat zucchini, eggplant and even artichoke), but it takes a lot of courage and determination on my/Ant's behalf. He'll never get me to eat broccoli though. Ever. Even when we're married. Mark my words.
2. I hate going to the doctor. My dad says that until it's green and falls off, I don't go, and he's not wrong one bit. I grew up a healthy kid, and never got into anything serious or phobia inducing (and my uncle's a dentist, so no much trouble there). I think I'm secretly a hypochondriac. I just dread going to the doctor with something as small as a cough, and come back with some mystery diagnosis. When I have to get bloodwork done I literally lose sleep over it. My record of doctor avoidance is when I fell badly while ice skating and did somethinng to both my ankles. I was a cripple for two months, in enourmous pain, and when I finally scheduled an appointment, it stopped hurting, and I canceled it. I never found out if I cracked or broke anything, but ever since I have a strange bump on my left ankle.
3. I can't figure out people's age. I can mis-figure it by a decade. I blame it on having two baby-faced parents and having been one myself until a few years ago. Sorry, but when your dad looks for years like your older brother (and that's no empty compliment, believe me), there's no way you'd be able to tell a person in their 30s from their 40s. For the most part, anyway.
4. Also on the people front, I can't remember people's names. Ok, I can't remember a lot of specific details like dates, street names and such. History classes, as much as I liked them, were a nightmare around exam season. I am, on the other hand, great at remembering faces and getting from one place to the other using visual ques alone. But names? Nope. I think my memory works on patterns and by association. My spelling is horrible too. I speak three languages and I use the spellchecker extensively in all three. OSX's dictionary widget is my friend.
5. If you knew me only by the way I organize my library, my computer files or my work you'd never believe it - but I'm the messiest person alive. My desk, if I ever get to clean it, remains uncluttered for maybe five minutes. I believe in the pile, on the desk or (for the lack of space) on the floor. I rarely miss paying a bill or lose things, and if I do, it's mainly just because I can't remember where I put it (don't ask me how the camera ended up on the DVD case on the other side of the apartment, I have no clue). Once a year a go and do a massive cleanup operation and throw away things, and file other things away (in a precise, particular order). But between those annual cleanups? Habalagan hogeg^*
6. I'm the only one allowed the clean the bathroom. My sister and I started participating in the weekly house chores when we were little. Over the years, we took up more and more responsibility, until at some point - I was taught how to clean the bathroom. And it had turned into quite the pet peeve. I was the only one cleaning the toilet in every dorm room/apartment I ever lived in. I don't know why, but it just has to be done my way. When we moved in together, it became clear very quickly, that Ant is a persona non grata in the bathroom if he brings Clorox with him. My way only, sweety. Sorry.

Suki would like to add: "She also chases me around the house, talking Hebrish^** gibberish and flashing this little silver box at me a million times a minute. That's weird".

* In Hebrew "disorder rules", pretty much.
** The joy of every bi-lingual kid: the mix of Hebrew and English. Often in one sentance, sometimes in the same word. It totally messes up your syntax.

Project Spectrum 2.0 or How Even Bad Roommates Are Good for Something

I was going to post this a while ago, but life sort of got in the way (in a good way). Thanks for all the wedding love, and the kitty support (my dad promises me it doesn't look as bad, I'm clinging to that). Got to love this little community of ours.


So.... We finally get to take a first look at my Project Spectrum 2.0: This a first for me, an original design! It's a shrug/cardi of sort, in a practical grey, which is meant to be a high usage, comfy and fun little thing. I have a very general idea of how I want it to look, and I've swatched like a nut before I cast on, and knock-on-wood, so far so good. What do I call it? I call it The "I'll Never Buy Abercrombie" Shrug. Why? Read on.

I have the worst luck with roommates. Even after I moved to the junior/senior dorms and got my own little room, I managed to get stuck with some real nut-jobs. Granted, the fact that I went to an art school probably made it more likely that I meet and live with more nut-jobs, but that's beside the point. Anyway, in my senior week, we shared our little dorm apartment with one particular nut-job that broke all the nut-job records. I'll spare you the worst of it. Suffice it is to say that we managed to lose her phone number as soon as she left our happy little lives.
Anyway, one of her least favorite properties, was her consistency of ideology: she was (and probably still is) a Yippy. Not a particularly cheerful person, but a Yuppie + Hippie. She loves Whole Foods to a religious degree, follows any new age fad, all while having no understanding and knowledge about holistic and natural medicine (and I should know because I am very much into them myself, only in an educated way) - all this while she happily goes shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch (the racist, sexist, 3rd world abuser and in every other way - evil). You can tell this is just the tip of the iceberg, right?
Anyway, one day the Y returns from (yet another) shopping trip - with this (evil yet) cute grey shrug/cardi from A&F. Hey, they're evil, but it doesn't mean that they don't know how to design cute things. The idea is just to have the strength of spirit not to give them any money. I was then just a beginner knitter, but I was studying her cute little new piece while half listening to her ramblings, and all I could think was - "I can totally make this. Totally".
And frankly, isn't that the beauty of this renewal of the DIY movement? Being able to wear your own take on the commercial, common, everybody-and-their-sister-have-one clothes? Anyway, back then I had no clue how to even aproach such a project, and I was busy graduating/keeping my sanity, so the grey shrug/cardi remained on a back burner. And then, I made the Somewhat Cowl, and a few things clicked in my head construction-wise. And I started plotting.


It's a basic raglan that doesn't get worked into a circle, with long-long sleeves and a thick ribbed collar. It's knit with Knit Picks Sierra in Mist, which is fun and cushie and knits up very quickly. I'm not at all a bulky yarn person, but I'm enjoying it a lot so far. And I may actually finish it while it's still cold outside, what do you know?
Anyhow, this is my (long) PS2.0 project. I'll try and keep you in the loop with photos and such, like a good knit blogger should. And I'll try and not let life get in the way (although planning a wedding is a project all by itself, isn't it?)

Yep.

This is what Manhattan Beach looked like last night, when Ant asked me to marry him.

Yep. Even old cynics get married.