There are days, like today, where I get completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of projects I'd like to do. This includes not only crochet (other people's patterns, trying to design my own), but cooking (banana bread, savory bread pudding, eggplant and tomato gratin), jewelry-making (the focus of my fine art degree), reading (oh, about a million books on the list), trying to re-do my storage room into the work room that it was intended to be...the list goes on. Days like this make me feel scattered and unproductive, because no matter what I did get accomplished, it's the stuff left undone that looms large to me.
On the "accomplished" list, I can include the following:
A Giovanna's Cardi from Lion Brand for my stepdaughter, Margot.
The Betty Shrug ambles on....
And the Chanson en Crochet, mentioned a long time ago in this here blog, is complete. Honestly, I'm not thrilled with it, but it has to do with color choice, or lack thereof...
I have a lot of travel coming up, so I'm hoping to get in some good crocheting time while in flight. Might also try to use the time to do some knitting, as well. I've dropped the ball on that and I really want to get my brain around it. I'll show what I've done so far, for your amusement, in a future post.
Till then....
Yeah, I'm crocheting, see? I made these wristlets from Drops Garnstudio. They were easy-peasy and simple-pimple. And they speak to a growing obsession of mine: gloves, mitts, wristlets, armwarmers... Any kind will do.
Although these are hibernating, t'were I to use Ravelry parlance, these lovely Manchettes are part of the obsession. I picked up StitchDiva's new pattern, as well as a couple from CopperScaleDrago from Ravelry to work on. But a bigger post on the topic is coming soon - I'm just gathering all the pieces together right now....
In the meanwhile, I spent some time today at Astroland in my beloved Coney Island, as it was its official last day of operations. As you know, I am enamored with this gritty, beautiful part of Brooklyn, and it kills me to see it devoured by scumbag developers with no sense of history or community.
On a final quick note, remember how last week I talked about all the wineries I went to? Some good and some less so? Well, color me shocked if a couple of the wineries mentioned didn't reach out to me! Duckhorn, bless their hearts, appreciated the nice words I had to say about them. They were well-deserved, let me tell ya!
And to their credit, Artesa, whom I completely dissed, also wrote to me asking for a more constructive version of the criticism I leveled at them. Fair enough, and I respect that they contacted me after what I said. While I've not heard back from them after sending them a more thoughtful version of my experience, I am shocked that the wineries even bother reading SubwayHooker, let alone sending me emails about what I've written! Go figure.
When I started this blog on in August of last year, I had no idea where it would go or what it would bring me. It began and continues out of a passion for crochet, a fascination for design past and present, and a love affair with the arts. What I didn't know was that it would open the door to my meeting, virtually or in reality, some extraordinary people. There are too many to list here and there is a risk that my feeble brain would leave one or more of these gorgeous people out, and that is a risk I dare not take.
Charlie and I had the great fortune of hooking up, literally and figuratively, with the amazing Inga of rockpoolcandy and her equally extraordinary husband, Andy. They were en route back to Ireland after spending time in LA, where Andy had work in a gallery show. I took this with my new fancy-schmancy camera at St. Germain, a fab little bistro in my nabe:
One of the things we talked about, and I share this with you because I find it so important, is how much I admire the treasures we gather through self-determination. Inga and Andy are both perfect examples of this - both are successful, working artists whose work touches people in incredibly personal ways. They've gotten to where they are not by sitting on their asses and waiting for things to happen, but by taking action and setting into motion a myriad of possibilities. While I can't compare myself to the likes of them or to any of the many fabulous people I've been privileged to meet through this blog, I like to think that subwayhooker has opened a few doors by exposing me to people I treasure. Whether I've met you in person, on ravelry or crochetville, or via email, I'm humbled by the lovely, gifted and warm people I'm proud to call friends.
And just in case you think this is my way of weasling out of having to show some progress in my own crochet projects, I give you the status of the Betty Shrug:
While right now it has a more than passing resemblance to the stripe on Charlie Brown's t-shirt, I assure you it has many new squares attached to it, methodically and by the book. While I am sorely distracted by wanting to start a slew of even newer projects, I am resisting so I can finish one bloody thing. Anything.
Oh, guess who's going back to Napa? That's right, Charlie and me!!! We head out Thursday for a long weekend of eating and sampling this nation's finest wines. Next weekend, it won't suck to be me!
I can't help but notice that several of my last posts have not been about crochet. Funny, that. What with this being a crochet blog and all. Whatever.
But that doesn't mean I haven't been hooking, no siree bob! Here are a couple of projects I've been working on in my less-than-spare time:
Remember that manchette I yapped about a while back? Well, I actually started making it in red cotton thread. Go figure. The picture is not great, I know, but you get the idea.
I also am nearing completion on everyone's favorite Chanson en Crochet. See?
I think I only screwed it up a little bit by falling off the count, but it's been an interesting challenge to recalculate the pattern every other row to accommodate my self-inflicted mess.
Oh, you want a close-up? Okay:
There's more, but I want to tell you about what I did yesterday in celebration of my show opening the prior night sans major screw-up. The Brit and I hauled ass to my beloved Coney Island to see the world-famous Mermaid Parade. This year, we viewed it from the boardwalk, a much better spot than our usual street vantage point. If you click on the photo to the right of this post, it'll take you to a bunch of photos from the festivities.
Is it just me, or does this shot remind anyone of the Coral Reef Project? I'm just sayin'.
As I've said before in this blog, I am not a religious person in any way, shape or form, but I approach that fervor when it comes to the Mermaid Parade. It's founder, Dick Zigun, is an amazing guy (and Yale School o' Drama grad, no less), who is also responsible for the Freak Show and Coney Island USA. Here's a link to his site, in case you're interested: http://www.coneyisland.com/.
Little-known fact alert! Your SubwayHooker used to dance in a GoGo show at Sideshows by the Seashore when she was younger, cuter, and thinner! Yes she did! It was called Wildgirl's GoGoRama and it ROCKED!
So you know, Coney Island is under serious threat of being turned into an "entertainment mall" by evil real estate developers. To my mind, Coney is one of the few genuinely democratic places left in NY -- a grungy, fabulous amusement area that is free for anyone to roam through, walk on the boardwalk, or dip a toe in the ocean. It would be sad beyond belief if this were to be lost to luxury condos, franchises, and chains. Dick's site has loads of info on how we can all help stop the ravages of under-thought overdevelopment of one of the last real places in New York. Bloomberg's gonna hear from me, I can tell you that!
Stop me if you've heard this one. Or don't - there's bound to be someone among the three of you who may not know about Yarndex.com, your Hooker's go-to site for all info yarny. Case in point: I recently got me a ball of Bernat Country Wool. Okay, six of 'em. And I'm musing over their possible next life. And I'm thinking of making Chanson en Crochet and using this wine-colored wonder. Looks worsted-esque, so I think it's a done deal. But upon closer inspection of the label, I realize that Bernat makes it difficult to find the weight (I find it - eventually - but it took a really long time) and I still cannot find the yardage on that blasted label. But holding tightly to my rigid parochial school upbringing, I'm thinking "hey, that pert little capelet is gonna cost me hours and hours of my life. Do I really wanna break free on this project, take a chance, and let all the pertinent details be damned?" I gave it two serious seconds of thought and went straight to Yarndex only to find that Country Wool is a bulky weight - inappropriate for the lovely Chanson - and that it will take more than one ball to complete. Wiser for the experience, the capelet is now under way in its intended gauge in between spine-tingling episodes of "Alias" (we're now on season three).
So the lesson is this: as long as stupid yarn companies insist on leaving off crucial info from their labels, Yarndex is there to rescue you from making totally unnecessary mistakes.
I loves my Yarndex.
A Giovanna's Cardi from Lion Brand for my stepdaughter, Margot.
