Truly.

via i can read

Number 4: Prep

Since I've committed to making four Toy Society drops, I have gone ahead and created four drop packages for said drops.  Each package contains: one Take Me Home: I'm Yours tag, one city-scape hand-stamped envelope proclaiming Open Me, one Hello! card contianing the requisite Toy Society letter (explaining the gig and where the finder of said Toy should email to say that the toy has been found and adopted), and a whole lotta love.

I've got my first toy all wrapped up (in his Ziplock bag) and ready for dropping.  I've even go the location picked out--the Children's Hospital by the best dog park in Seattle.  However, the weather hasn't been cooperating, and we haven't taken a trip up there in a few days.  Cross your fingers for a dry* day this weekend. 

*No, we don't have to wait until it's not raining to head north, but we will. It's a long drive for a cold dreary walk. We can take cold, dreary walks at home--no drive required.

One of my own

Supurb sticker art found outside of this dog-friendly coffee shop.

Didja notice?

right over there? -------------------------------------------->

I thought I'd share the blogs that I follow relentlessly. I mean, I follow a number of blogs about a number of topics (crafting, advertising, branding and marketing, social media, food, etc.) but these are the ones I'd take to a desert island with me.

i'm sure of it.

via paperheart

But wait...there's more...

I recently knit up a pair of bears and two pairs of booties in honor of two of my good high school friends' simultaneous pregnancies.

Some people call this winter. I call it knitting season: the sun sets before dinner time and it's cold out so you huddle in front of the television watching art films (and junk films) and crime-solving television dramas while sipping mulled cider and knitting your fingers raw. (At least, that's what I do.)

Though I finished the bears and the booties long ago, I hadn't packed them up for mail travel yet, mostly since the bears have been galavanting around Washington exploring (above they're at Dungeness Spit, climbing the driftwood; below, they're showing off the scenery at Deception Pass).

I finally cornered them last night and got them to hold still long enough to be wrapped for travel. I convinced them that there would be even more sites to see and places to explore in their new respective homes.  I do worry that they'll miss each other: one flew to Eugene, Oregon while the other headed off to Minneapolis.  Alas, they'll each have their own baby to look after, and with time, they won't even remember their carefree days of bachelor-hood.

A new collection

of things to remember.

I've been busy

knitting.

Meet Elephante, an adorable little gal whose knitting instructions can be found (Thanks Susan B Anderson!) here.  This is from back a few weeks, in celebration of Olive June Weaver's first birthday (a major milestone; deserving of--at the very least--a plush elephant).

(butt shot)

Sadly, there was lots going on at said one-year-old's birthday party: children running amok, a birthday girl smearing herself in cake (while strapped naked into her high chair!), and lots and lots of friends and family eating (among other things) apple slices dipped in caramel. All this to say, I didn't take pictures.

It's okay. Have you been to a tiny person's first birthday party before? It's a little overwhelming for the little one.  The adults are busy trying to make photographic memories for baby books, and the baby is like WHOA. Get me out of here PLEASE.

Mom and grandma said the elephant was a hit. I'm sure that's true. Just look at her: she's stuffed, soft, and washable. Plus, she has not just one but FIVE protrusions (legs and trunk) that fit perfectly into the mouth of a small person. What's not to like?

Here's looking at you kid

From the Mexican-wrestling themed-Cha Cha Lounge last Friday night.  With hand-made glasses and/or monocles. Because that's how we roll.

Numbers for the new year

AHH! I'm 32. So old.

Last year was great. I got rid of a lot of stuff (literally, physically, and emotionally). I increased my volunteerism by at least 400%. I made some bread and I knit some things and I waited for inspiration to strike. And it did.

I relaxed in Arizona, had major surgery and recovered (though not without lingering chronic pain), lost my little pooch, traveled around Morocco for a month, went camping and hiking and exploring this super city I live in and the great state in which it is housed, painted an enormous X on the kitchen wall, and did some other stuff I'm forgetting. Also, I skipped a bunch of stuff on my list. And that's cool.

Here's what I'll do (or avoid doing) this year:

Thirty-two things to do before I turn thirty-three. (ahhh...so alliterative!)

1. Find a job with a shorter commute. Okay, so I don't have to do this this year. But it has got to be in my 5-year plan because this hour plus commute each way each day is killing me. And I think about how much more I would be able to accomplish knowing I had an extra two and a half hours a day to use that weren't behind a wheel. So. This is official. I can't work this far from my house for that much longer. Sorry, dear job, I love you for a lot of reasons, and I hate you for this one.

2. Do some painting. I have no idea what this means, but I know that I've had the itch lately, and that I'm not talking about walls, here. I'm talking artsy painting.  [Started....here.]

3. Get tiny footprint stuff in three local stores. I mean it. Quit being so scared.

4. Make at least four Toy Society drops.  [Started here. and here. and here.]

5. Learn to swim. Laps. With proper breathing. I bought a swimsuit (that's actually for swimming and not just for beach walking) so I'm totally on my way. Now I just have to make it to the pool.

6. Roast coffee (thanks for the green beans, mom!)

7. Buy this non-book and do the things.  started. continued.

8. Make twelve collages. (I love collages, but they always feel so un-useful, so I don't make them and instead make things that are useful, like baby sweaters and tiny bears. Whatever happened to the usefulness of making things for their own sake?)  started here.

9. Play thing-a-day. It will be fun. You should play too. Sign up starts mid-January. Also, the above-mentioned collages would count.  [Played my best.]

10. I'd like to spend some time refocusing. The begining of a new year sounds like the right time. I've been reading this and I think it's time to make sure I'm on the path I want to be on. That might mean figuring out what path that is. Stay tuned.

11. Scan more. This sounds silly, but what if I scanned things I drew more? That might be fun. I'm serious. In the interest of making this blog more accountable, I'll add a metric. Scan twelve things (that's one a month) and post them. They should probably be things I drew or painted or made or whatever. So there. 12 scans.12. Draw more. (See above.)

13. Make a 5-year plan with Joe. Add items that are all but impossible. Work toward making them possible. Ditto for a 10-year plan.

14. Hold baby Anika and play with toddler (!) Brendan. Have actual, heart-felt, face-to-face conversations with my sister. (Okay, to make this simpler I could have just typed "go to Alaska," but this way I can remember WHY I'm going to Alaska.) [done.]

15. Create a community of artists and non-traditional people to feed and feed off of. I have no idea how to go about this, because Joe and I are often very hermit-oriented. But I'm pretty sure we need more artists and crazies around. On a regular basis.

16. Make a downloadable gift for my readers.

17. Make some garland ala dottie angel, but suitable for year-round hanging. Hang.  done!

18. I have some pillow forms that need covering. I should cover them. OR, alternatively, give them away. My choice. done!

19. Okay, I've made it through a chain stitch or two in the crochet department, but I could really use some help. I need to get a book (or a friend) and learn how to read patterns and how to do fancier stitches than the two I know. WIP. [HOLLER.]

20. Go thrifting. Buy things for chopping up and arting with. (Yes, arting. It's a new verb I made up. Right. Now.)

21. Get some woven tf labels made. Attach to tf items. Sell (see number 3, above).

22. I'm going to actually try image transferring. I swear it.

23. Take some more ttv photos. That was fun, but then I stopped.

24. CHILL OUT. I'm a stress case. Anxiety overload. I've got to learn to relax, BEFORE I have to talk myself off the ledge.

25. Write a book. (Yeah, I said it.) I've got some rad stuff in the works. More on this later.

26. I've got to ride the Monorail. Yeah, I've been living in Seattle for over 6 years now, and I've never gotten on it. I mean, it doesn't really go anywhere useful, but--hey--it's a monorail!  done!

27. Still jonesin' to walk that reflexology path. I just have to remember this jonesing when it's not raining, which is tricky this time of year. done.

28. Finish the studio...organize, reorganize, rearrange, ad nauseam...until there's a happy space that Joe and I can both work in. And by work I mean play.  done!

29. Make a croquembouche a la MS.  oh yes.

30. Go to the solstice parade. We've missed it the last couple years, and that just sucks.  yep.

31. Finish that project for Second Sam. Sorry things take me forever, SS. It's a-coming.  done!

32. Have a picnic in the park. With a blanket. done.

33. Buy skates. Skate. Done.