so, i went to a really cute boutique in shadyside to show my wares to the owner for their upcoming trunk show. things went really well and once we were about to get ready to go, a woman asked me if i made knits because she was a buyer for "bo-tiques" (that was how she said it and i thought it was really cute) in a few states and england (i really really badly want to sell in europe. the teenaged me would've been proud of me for that) and t.j.maxx (imagine her wardrobe and accessories!) and could she get my card and info. hopefully i will hear from her.

in other news:i got another treasury!

not much else to share at the moment. i do have some new things that i need to take photos of still. and of course, i have been updating the luxe.etsy.com shop just about daily. so pop by often.

pav and i

mwah!

n.

i overdid it today. way overdid. i had dyeing to do for some custom things, got kind of lost doing what i was doing and had to run out to the farmer's market to pick something up and had to go without cleaning up, so i looked gross and was covered in dye. it is kind of funny to see people acting like they don't notice, though. the people that knew me found it hilarious, however. i am attempting to type while pavel is putting his weight on me in order to groom himself and i keep trying to scoot him off of my arm and he just readjusts. i am his headboard, i guess. so here is some of what i did, which is outside drying still, so don't come over tonite and steal it. i will be pissed...

look at this and
i got in an awesome treasury! everything is so gorgeous, i am so flattered to be included. sniff.

here is the almost finished tutorial for making a paper tape (like you use on packages, you have to wet it) mannequin or dressform. you have to put a tshirt underneath it because after the tape is dry, you will cut the form up the back and pop it off and then put it back together. all that you need is the tshirt, some tape to strap down the shirt well (i used clear packing tape) some water, a rag and a big roll of packaging tape. i want to build up the layers more and then once i cut it off, i will add a bit of upper arm and maybe a head. not sure yet. it is fun though. it takes quite a while to do. here are the pics...


i have a whopper of a headache, so off i go. i have been listing new warm fuzzies and yarns on luxe.etsy daily, so make sure to pop by.

mwah
n.

i have been working on all kinds of stuff, and what i realize is that i can work for hours and hours, unbeknownst to me and not even nearly get everything done. i did get this done, tho, and i would like some advice...
hey guys, i finished this little guy, milo the moth just yesterday. he was awaiting his wings. i painted a plaque that was supposed to serve as a display for him, but couldn't figure out how i would attach it. any ideas? i am thinking it might just not happen. anyway, here are the photos of milo and of the plaque.


and here is the plaque:

milo is about the size of his siloutte.

i found this site, yearbookme.com, i think it is called. this is the scary aftermath...


i got a decent amount of work done today, including making some BIIIIG polymer clay buttons for some of the snowbride yarns and wraps, etc, that i make. they need to be baked and glazed. photos soon, of course.

also, i have some really cool new stuff that will be listed on the etsy store either to-morrow or sunday. yesterday it rained like crazy, and today it was foggy and i couldn't get decent photos. i had hoped to see my friend this week, but i didn't get stuff done in as timely of a manner as i had hoped. ah well. next week, i hope.

while i was working in the studio, i caught part of oprah, and anderson cooper was doing a story on poverty in america. blows me away. it is a shame that so many people abuse the welfare system and so many people in need pay for it. especially kids.

more to-morrow
xo
n.

so, as you can see, i FINALLY got a haircut. my hair is almost always clipped up and i had actually started to enjoy it being long enough to poof up in a clip, do big buns, vintage rolls and things...anyway, i had been dyeing my hair black and before that, i had been bleaching and dyeing and it was somewhat damaged. i went in to angel who thought i should have it chunky and short to make my face a bit longer...i was really worried. the past two times that i got my hair cut short were disastrous. and i have gone to the same hairdresser since college. i was tired of going there, she didn't ever have suggestions and was just not excited about anything. plus, i would have to sit there while she talked on the phone to her friends, or answered the phone. i just didn't want to do it anymore. anyway, i was sitting in the chair stressing because angel obviously was not into just leaving it the way it was and showed me some really short cuts, which i said no to, but you know, once you go this short, was is a few more inches? anyway, i really really love it. i am interested to see what it looks like if i don't flat-iron it. maybe not so good. he did an awesome job and it is a really nice salon. i didn't get color, i am too poor at the moment, i just did my own at home and it is fine. having to get color done every 4 weeks at the salon is just too much money for me right now. my hair grows so fast, i can't let it go. roots are such a pet peeve. so. home color for me!

what else? some new things i finally photographed and more to come...


i was contacted by one of the lovely boutiques i used to do work for that changed owners, and she is now working with a boutique in shadyside (one of the upscale city neighborhoods in pittsburgh) to do some fall and winter things, and i am excited for that. not only could i use the business, but i really enjoy just making the stuff, rather than having to do the marketing and selling. i have been busy at work on lots of different things, including a submission for a softie book from stampington. i was flattered to be contacted, although maybe a zillion people were. who knows?

i don't think i will end up doing bizarre bazaar in cleveland because it is outside and not under cover...and 3 days long. i don't have a tent, but even if i did, shannon told me that it is pretty sunny. i thought maybe i could get a tent and get a fan or something, but it doesn't seem like a great idea. me and the sun=disaster. puking, migraine, lupus flares. not good. i am trying to figure out if i should do handmade arcade here in pittsburgh. it is two days and after the driving back and forth and the table fee, i am not sure how much money i will really make. people are just not spending money these days. myself including. i haven't even bought supplies.

on the upside, i am taking advantage of the time to get other projects finish and apply to shows and for books. i have a few tricks up my sleeve. i will keep ya posted as i can.

xoxo
n.

so, firstly, here are a few mini-plush/felt things i have been working on. i have done some little doodles to follow, which is not what i usually do. i tend to just get started and see what it wants to be. the pink amigurumi dude, i just don't know what he wants to be. any ideas? i was bagging bits and pieces spinning fiber bags, so forgive the fact that every picture has a ton of fiber in it. gross looking.

so on to that. i need to finish packing orders, as well as finishing the goody bags for shannon's cruise, although i did make a good dent in it, so that is something. the orders i was filling from the shop have sections of different rovings bunched together and then a bunch of different bits and pieces of loose fibers, locks, etc, and i was stunned at how huge the bags got. and fast. they are supposed to be 3oz or a bit more. i haven't weighed them, but they are way over that. when i was first spinning, i would have peed my pants over all of the stuff in there. if you have a carder, it would be fun to run through, but i tend to spin my hat kits and striping skeins right from the fiber. there is so much different stuff, it is insane. here is a non-exhaustive list:soy silk, soy latte, bamboo silk, loose bamboo, tussah silk, silk noils, cotton, camel, ecospun, ingeo (corn silk), 3 different kinds of locks, nylon, sari silk, hemp, linen, angelina, firestar, icicle top (dyed), mohair top, merino top, bits of yarn, alpaca, rayon, i can't remember what else, though. i know i am missing some stuff. there are more than 25 different fibers in there. weeeeeeeeeee. here is a bad pic of some of the bags set up...


zat is all. it took me forever to get the bags done, and i really thought i would get orders packed, too, but ya know. i woke up with a headache and had a fatigue kinda day that was hard to get up, so i took a pep pill and a pain pill so i could get stuff done and it made me super shaky. like 5 pots of coffee shaky. ya know? gah! due to the headaches lately, which i swear aren't bad painwise, just the side effect aura type stuff. my vision is all funky, and has been all week, i have been smelling gross stuff constantly. i think that i smell bad. it drives me insane. i shower twice a day and don't exactly work up a sweat in between, but i have a super snoot when i am not in headache mode, let alone when i am. i also kept thinking that peeps had taken a poo in my room, and couldn't find anything. drove. me. crazy.

mwah. mwah. mwah.
n.

so first, i updated the shop and put in lots of good stuff. i have more going up to-morrow. it has been a bit too dreary to take photos, so i need to actually dig out the tripod and set up lights and such, unless somehow the light peeks out to-morrow. so. i will be putting some of the circle collages up to-morrow.

i went out for groceries today and was going to wear my new 3/4 sleeve coat, but thankfully, i poked my head out before doing that. i wore my new red coat that is really nice and heavy and came back in to get a neckwarmer and long gloves. despite that, it was so bitterly cold and insanely windy that i was freezing my ass off. while i was putting the groceries in the trunk, a gust of wind picked up one of my bags and blew it a million feet into the air and across the parking lot. another gust took my receipt. i ran the cart back, got into the car and decided i wasn't going to the pet supply. and i am really not normally so wimpy in the cold. if i am dressed properly, i normally am fine. it was just sooooo cold.

i guess that about does it.
keep warm!
n.

i have blue/black grody fingernails. i did a bunch of dyeing, including some with fiber reactive dyes (i finally got the dye for your bamboo shannon!) although what was supposed to be teal, and i only used a teaspoon, looks navy. it isn't rinsed yet, so fingers crossed. gah! i also found some "cotton" i got from little barn a while ago that i wasted 3 tubs of procion dye on, which literally just rinsed right out. why? well, because i think it is actually nylon. arseholes. i actually nearly tore my hair out over it, i couldn't figure out what the issue was and dharma told me that it had to be treated or coated and that was why it wouldn't take. or, it is not cotton. oh yeah, that is why i don't order from them. anyway, i got some new colors, i tried most of them out, but had only rinsed out one roving and one bag of loose mohair (thanks chocolatte!), some ecru firestar (thanks barbe!) and some border leicester locks. i had some linen and hemp top from i dunno where that i dyed with the bamboo. i hate how it feels, so i am sure i will sell it. it is like rope. gross. so, i got all of that done today, plus a sam i am sock yarn at the yarn yentas request. cool! i will take photos and will be listing some loose fiber and some dyed top. there are some really gorgeous super saturated ones and some nice soft gentle colors, too.


i had an order from a regular that wanted more of an artyarn, except that i made it in a different batch, so it looked different and she was bummed. i actually need to make notes for myself so i know exactly what goes into certain things. i do remake lots of things at clients' requests, or just sometimes because they are really popular. it is never just the same, though. i have several remakes to do this week. i relisted a few yarns that i have more of the fiber for, and of course all of them went at the same time, so i need to get them done and out in the next few days. not that i am complaining. i am happy to have business. i know things have been lean for a lot of people. everyone is broke.

after the dyeing, i worked on some of the softies i had halfway done. i hope to get them finished this week and they will probably have clothes, too! one of them is pink and cream striped birdie. the other is a kitty.

speaking of softies, i got the "plush you!" book which is fantastic. really a gorgeous book with some artists that i hadn't heard of before. it is so good that i bought it twice. okay, i accidentally bought it twice. anyone who wants to swap me something for my brand new never read second copy?

i got a ton of spinning done today...about 6 hours worth and then getting some plying stuff cut, pulled apart and strung. i will probably be able to get the rest done to-morrow. i have had really bad cramps over the past week, but they come on suddenly like food poisoning. blech. i hate that stuff. anyway, i have been able to push through and get stuff done, so that is good. i have made some more neckwarmers, too.

i hope to load up new yarns and fibers, etc, to-morrow.
xo
n.

i listed some new toys and fiber and yarn on www.luxe.etsy.com and trolled for a bit to see what else was being listed under toys. so. i found lesley anne green's fine art, masquerading as dolls. amazingly gorgeous in the total lack of realization that they are not gorgeous at all. wow. and via her site, i found scott radke's work which is just...wow. wow. floored. did i say wow?

i had a dream about where the pieces i have been messing around with will be going. the phallic things will grow, and will be stitched and patched and puckered and have banners and junk. and they will be BIG. that is what i mean when i say grow. i also dreamed of a similar piece that is more figural, but with no limbs, no facial features, and will be striped burgundy/red and a dirty white or cream color. i plan to make one the size of a small child...i few feet tall and see what i want to do from there. the two big big ones (i already have two of the pointy ones that are a few feet tall that need to be stuffed and tormented) are crocheted. i need to figure out if that is realistic or not. i have always had an affection for obviously labor intensive work. i don't use faux finishes. if it looks like there are 10 layers...there are probably actually 20. i have always felt in my own work that it doesn't seem genuine otherwise. i am not sure why i feel this way. so much of art is fooling the eye. i, however, am a 3-d person. if there the work is flat, i feel like it isn't finished, that it needs some other dimension. for my own work, i just love it to be a mixture. that makes it feel like a part of my world, rather than something i just look at.

i guess because of my spacial issues, i don't do more than glance, even if i want to. but when the piece has more dimension to it, i feel like it is a being. a part of my world, rather than just a thing to look at. does that make sense?

so, i packed orders, spun a bit of yarn and then ran out to joann's to get the cheapo big skeins of yarn for the striped sculpture, although, as i said, it really might end up being sewn. we will see.

also, i worked on some legs for the bird softies. i got round nose pliers, as barbe had gently suggested, rather than using random pliers from around the house, and i was stunned how much easier it was to make what i envisioned. whoa! i just need to see how it works out to attach the legs. and then...woo!

i haven't been sleeping lately, literally just not. last night anyway, i kept trying to no avail. so i am tired. my skin is a total wreck. my hormones are crazy, i think.

as i was leaving the house to run errands yesterday, i slid my foot into my pretty beaded flip flops and they were wet. i look down to see that peeps (no one else pees all over the house, well, excpet for me, anyway.) had peed on my sandals. it got on the bottom of my vans but that was it. she is something. and if you attempt to ignore her to punish her, she goes nuts. she all but does the highland fling to get you to look at her.bad monkey.

okay, well, here are the new softies that are listed, so pop by and buy em whilst you can!

here
and here
and here, too.

mwah!
n.

reginald is a rare breed of dwarf lion that tends to suffer from pattern baldness. he attempts to comb his soft mane over to hide it. he has incredibly soft chest and armpit hair and nipples. not only is he incredibly handsome and manly, but he is very scary, as you can well see with your own eyes. he loves to hang out on his recliner and watch football. his team is manchester united and he is somewhat of a hooligan, truth be told. he made a small fortune as a professional bowler, and swears that the movie kingpin is based on him. he has a gambling problem and will bet on just about anything. he considers his bookie to be one of his closest friends, as well as his worst enemy. he adores sammy davis junior and considers himself to be just as good of a performer as sammy. he is afraid of spiders and lives on fluffernutter sandwiches with the crusts cut off.


he will be looking for a new home soon!

okay, so firstly, i will be udpating some NOICE stuff on luxe:
and that is just a teeny taste. a teeny teeny taste. so. go. check it out! here! each yarn order will come with gorgeous handmade stitchmarkers from my buddy katrina, as well as all kinds of fun stuff that i usually wrap up with the orders. go on, spoil yourself!

what else? well, i have a new amiguri princess for you to check out. her name is collette. she is really cute and she knows it. she was born fuzzy and his a lock of pink curly hair. she is a bear, but has no tail, oddly enough.



she aspired to be a chiropractor, her specialty being fish, birds and snakes, but realized that chiropractics and these sorts of animals are a deadly combination. deeply discouraged at the animal carnage, as well as the destruction of her dreams, she turned to gambling.

she has a gambling addiction, her game of choice? yatzee. she is a poor loser, going utterly nuts when she loses, curses, accuses everyone of cheating and throws the dice across the room. ironically, she herself is a cheater, has magnetic dice and is really poor at math so most often, she loses anyway. additionally, when she wins, she dances around, shakes her fuzzy butt and acts snarky. it is difficult for her to find anyone to gamble with her, so she frequents old age homes and rips off septuagenerians and older, taking advantage of their poor memories in order to cheat and get extra turns. how wrong is that?

she eats nothing but scharfenberger chocolates with at least 85 percent cocoa, and dissolves this in her triple espressos. i know. crazy stuff. especially when you are only about half a foot tall. hardcore.

her favorite colors are pink (like her hair) and purple.

additionally, i spun some loose mohair singles that are just amazing to do some amiguri with. i am curious to see how they will look, but i think, judging from how good cheapo fun fur feather stuff works that well that mohair would look amazing. i have something on my hook right now and then the mohair will be next.


yesterday our friend jason and his girlfriend came down for dinner. we grilled out (of course) and grilled pineapple (my fave) which is amazing if you haven't ever had it. it is awesome alone, but would rock on icecream or custard. so good. just slice em as you like and lay em right on the grill. i also cut some zucchini lengthwise and marinated it in balsamic vinegar with some salt and pepper and a bit of oil and it was really yummy. we went for icecream at rita's after that and my stomach had started to really hurt by that point, and yeah, i ate a kid's cup anyway. we got home, i was trying to upload photos, but kept falling asleep, so i had a headache and couldn't see right. i took a shower. whilst in the shower, my stomach started to feel bad. really really bad. i spent the next hour and a half (i think) sitting on the toilet with the garbage can in front of me trying to talk myself off the puking fit. fortunately, i didn't blow out my blood vessels in the eyeballs. i woke up with a sore throat and a funny stomach. not haha funny. gah. i think i just can't eat pineapple, as much as i love it, the acid does bad things to me. i have such a lame stomach. sheesh. i thought it could have been the hamburger i ate, but i fed the rest of my burger to the cats and it didn't make them sick. and it would have, for sure. it was seasoned, so i wonder if it may have had msg in it. hm.

off to update. go...now!
xo
n.