A Link to Something I Didn't Make.

Oh my god.

In other news, crazy things are happening in the publishing industry (insider views: it's not so bad). Looks like an okay time to beat it to Germany and let the dust settle, but also... there are so many options :)

And the the merger. Had a meeting with a D&M executive who started with a "did you hear about the big merger?!" But I heard "murder," and since there was a very strange "alarm condition" this morning, I was thinking the worst. Then I realized what she'd said and that she was talking about Penguin and Random House. Hopefully my sudden lack of shock and interest wasn't too uncouth.

Oh, and earthquakes and hurricanes.

Cushion Detail

Some late-night cushion detail. This is just a pillow case, and is the easiest thing to make. Maybe not the easiest ever, but... well you'll see.

 It's essentially a rectangle of fabric. Fold it in half and sew two edges.

 We don't have a sewing machine, so we did ours by hand. I used a backstitch! Looks pretty pro.

 Until you look at the other side. But it should hold together pretty well. I didn't attach the third side. I just shoved the pillow and did a nice tuck like I learned to do when I cleaned hotel rooms. Very crisply :)

 Today, I went to what was shamefully my first conference! I got a lanyard and everything. There were little tags to write your twitter handle on, but I felt a bit silly and as if anyone would be reading my tweets anyway, but then I ended up feeling rather technologically backward. Which, at a tech conference, is a little sad. But the eBook information workshop restored my confidence. These instructors are teaching us well.

 And my package of magazines came in the mail today! I'm particularly excited for this feature!

The Forgotten

I brought my camera to school. I have been meaning to do this because the lounge has a fantastic view of the mountains, BUT:

 It was raining.

I also brought it to photograph the knit-up we had, but forgot. Because it's me, and I forget everything. Like that time when I had work in Cambridge until 11pm and interning in Hamilton (an hour's drive away) the next morning at 9:30 am, and drove up after work only to realize as I got out of the car that I'd forgotten everything. Willie drove me back to work because he's nice. And how many times have I reached my destination only to notice that I've left my purse at home? Many. Oh, and a few times I drove away and only noticed while waiting for a red light that I wasn't wearing shoes.

And another thing I never noticed before, maybe there's another inspiration for these quilt colours...

And finally, the best thing to come out of the MPub program so far: a free Death Star Moleskine. The Death Star is on the inside. And has "SAMPLE" written all over it.

It's supposed to keep raining for the the next two weeks. So I guess everything people say about Vancouver is true.

Knitting Detail

 Knitting photos are hard. But I tried, which is the important thing. This is my new neckwarmer in the making. I have, of course, begun a new knitting project, as I do, so I've had to opt into wearing my ornate Indian shawl as a scarf for the last few days. It's pretty and I love using it, but my clumsiness with caffeinated beverages has made me nervous about having and using nice things. In any case! I started this neckwarmer as I usually do, which is to cast on whatever looks right and to continue without any sort of written pattern. I don't know how many stitches there are, but for this you need to cast on a multiple of four. So I began, and I got bored, and decided to make it ribbed: knitting four and purling four. That also got boring quickly, even with the addition of the light green, so I decided to switch the ribs up a bit. Looks like technical fabric or whatever you call it. 

 But it's still super easy, and I knit it when I get tired of following the crazy pattern I'm doing for my other project. All you need is a double pointed needle. Knit two, then slip the next two knit stitches onto the double pointed needle.

 Now ignore the double pointed needle and purl two.

Slip the next two purl stitches onto your double pointed needle. Ignore it and knit two, then purl the stitches on your double pointed needle. Continue in this vein all along the row. Once finished, you can continue knitting four and purling four for a few rows before getting your DPN out again. Should look like this, eventually:

Thinking about this too much just makes me want to do different things with it, like making subtly obscene little openings, or making the exes cross or naughty things like that.

So instead I'll think about pumpkins like I did for much of management class, and about my future as a legislative assembly transcription editor.

In all honesty though, I'm getting feelings about the possibilities of visual aesthetics in literary publications that I just can't ignore. I wish I'd been able to pay more attention to the guest speaker (Haig Armen) last week about interaction design, but alas. Life and other homework, huh? But really, this thinking as well as the new Wrinkle in Time graphic novel that's out are making my mind buzz, and I realize that as much as I was brought up to (appear to) think that graphic novels were inferior, I loves me some fantastic illustration. I know everyone probably does, but I just can't stress enough how important the visual experience of a story can be. So I have three branches that I would love to follow from this degree: the first is Taschen, which started out as a comic book shop and is now, of course, well known for its prolific output of art books and other such things. Plus they're based in Cologne which would be super convenient for me. Second, I'd absolutely love to go to Drawn & Quarterly, because holy heck how awesome would that be?! And third, maybe I'll just go into cookbooks and crafting magazine editorial. But that's so 'me' that it's boring, you know?

I keep thinking that these sorts of places should be reserved for the more design-minded folks, but my fumbling technological skills are all that are holding me back. I did do some of the preliminary work on David Collier's book of Hamilton-themed drawings. I don't even know what the official title or release date is though. And I probably would feel more a part of it if I hadn't been going into W&W only once a week by that point. Ah, well. I think it's time for some wine. Yes.

Quilting Detail

 I figured maybe instead of just throwing pictures up of all my projects (because doing that every week would be really boring), maybe I'll show you HOW I make each one of them. Starting with the quilt, since a couple of people have been curious about that. Usually I sit on my bed, throw on some Netflix, and hoop up the next square I'm going to quilt. In this case, it'll be that boring grey square in the middle. These squares are very simple to do, just straight lines to make a smaller square inside.

 Next step is to measure half an inch inside whichever line you want to start with. Of course, you always want to start your quilting in the middle, so it's always better to start with whatever part of the square is closest to the middle. in this case it's the top left corner, so I'll be going from left to right.

 Mark the line with a piece of masking tape so you know you'll be making a straight line.

 Mark your start and end points.

 Clearly I've used the same piece of tape several times, so I have to start getting creative to keep track of what I'm doing. It gets messy quickly.

 Then take your needle and make even running stitches along the line. This is my favourite needle because it's bent in the most convenient way. I don't what I'll do if I ever lose it. Before you begin you want to make a small knot in the in the thread, which you'll pull through the top layer of the quilt only, so it sits nicely inside and keeps everything in place.

And that's finished!

Progress as promised

 Apparently the girl whose room I took over made great cushion covers, but then took them with her when she left. So Diane and I whipped these up to some reality TV one night. By HAND!

 But mostly what I'm working on is this. I realized when I stepped out of the house one morning that not only had I forgotten my favourite cowl, I'd forgotten to bring ANY of them. So I'm making a new one from scratch. And of course I'm doing it in my version of a waffle texture, because I loves me some waffles.

 And yay my bed frame finally came! I'm going to be very upset to part with it now. Special bonus: what better way to keep a quilt-in-progress laid out nicely? Why, on the bed of course!

 I hardly thought this project would stay interesting to the internet at this stage, but I figure I might as well let you know it's going. This part here? That's done. You'll notice some faint lines in the points of the stars.

 A close-up of the centre, where you can actually see the stitching

 And another star, which is unfinished.

This bit probably shows it best. The right half is finished, you can see some basting stitches in the middle, and the left side has yet to be dealt with.

AGAIN!

Again with the making crafts out of an ENTIRE BALL OF YARN.

This one actually isn't so bad because you can just stick a pine cone in the top and take it out after Halloween. Orange isn't SUCH a bad colour.

But then there's the suggestion of glue-gunning it in. WHY?! NO! DON'T! If you don't actually knit and won't use the yarn give it to me! I'll use anything! I can't afford tons of yarn! I'll do pretty things! Things that require more styling than putting balls in a basket!

And again, this one really isn't so bad. But if I EVER. see another yarn ball wreath, I WILL confiscate all of the crafting supplies I find at the scene.