I am happy to report that there isn't much to report this week. And after all the excitement of last week, that's quite a relief! Dipper is still herding her four little fluffbutts around and there's only been a singular mongoose sighting in the past week. Which was OUTside the house, thank goodness! I've been working on the shawl pattern a bit, but I still haven't gotten it off the blocking boards for photos yet. Three weeks ago I strained something in my lower back and I've been struggling...
12 days ago • 3 min read
Oh boy do I have a story for you this week! So the kiddo had a four day weekend (Parent Teacher Conferences) and on Tuesday I was really looking forward to some quiet, productive time. (Spoiler alert: I didn't get it.) I hadn't managed to get my tutorial to finish up the shawl filmed over the long weekend for obvious reasons and I'd also fallen behind on my Bloomtober paintings. (Chime in on whether or not you think I should do a Toxic Florals Collection here, by the way!) That morning, I had...
19 days ago • 6 min read
This past week I've been bouncing back and forth between crocheting and painting a lot. With a little bit of computer work thrown in. And reading, too! Brain needs a break sometimes. I'm getting SO CLOSE to finishing the shawl with Ethan's yarn! I'm on the very last stretch now, with the last color. And amazingly, I am not at all tired of this color palette yet! I mean, I love green anyway, but these greens? These greens are my JAM. That bright spring green, especially, just makes me so happy...
26 days ago • 3 min read
Back in January, on Molokai, I spent my first week as the Artist in Residence mostly just soaking up inspiration. And taking ALL the photos! (Join me on Patreon as a free member to get access to all my Molokai residency posts.) Once I started to have a feel for the energy of the place, I began to sketch and paint and started to swatch a little bit. (I brought yarn especially for swatching.) One of my little abstract beach studies, painted on a postcard, was such a simple expression that I...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
This week is fall break for the kiddo and we've been balancing being busy and doing nothing pretty well so far! On Monday we assembled a motion activated spider from one of those STEM crate kit companies. We hung it up above the doorway going into the half bath downstairs and I admit, it’s gotten me a few times (about once a day), even though I helped hang it up there! We did a little other decorating for Halloween, though we don’t have a ton of stuff. I don’t understand why miltary families...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
So I wrote two crochet patterns last week. I didn't set out to write two patterns, of course! I had an idea, a plan. And I thought it would go about like I imagined it would. And mostly, it did. But... It just didn't feel like quite the right fit for the yarn. Or maybe it was the vibe I got from the collaboration. Or the vibe I wanted to get from this design. I just wasn't feeling it. And y'all. Those of you who are knitters? Just wait until you see Ethan's knit shawl!! It's gorgeous. So...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Last week was a bit of a bummer, I know. What with the art show rejection and all. BUT. The silver lining of that raincloud was that since SAND and SEA and SKY was not accepted to be in the show, I got to deliver her to a new collector and friend of mine on the other side of the island! Close by, in fact, to the shorelines that inspired her. And you know what? She looks GOOD on the new wall!! Of course, she looked great on my wall, too, ha ha. But the collector has a vision to create an...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
I was fully prepared to sit down with my coffee this morning and stare at my computer, hitting the refresh button until the results email came through for the Hawaiʻi Craftsmen Annual Statewide Exhibition, probably sometime in the late afternoon I was thinking. Instead, they popped through right after I got home from school drop off as I was making my breakfast. Of course, I stopped in the middle of that to fumble open my computer so I could actually see what I was looking at (as opposed to...
2 months ago • 2 min read
I'm back in another airport this week, headed to San Diego this time, for a family event. It sure feels like we've been doing a lot of traveling lately! So I'm going to attempt to keep this one short. (Wish me luck, lol.) Yesterday I packed up the five pieces I'm submitting to the Hawai'i Craftsmen show and handed them off to a very generous friend who offered to take them in for jurying for me. Here they are all laid out on a bed: I tell you what, I thought my heart was going to drop right...
2 months ago • 2 min read