Handicrafts

Do you all read NonaKnits? Her posts are always full of pretty knits and useful information, but today I was intrigued by her latest post.

In computer programming -- a modern day handcraft -- there is a clear distinction between a hack and an elegant solution. A hack gets the job done, but is clumsy, lacks finesse, and is best kept under the rug. An elegant solution, on the other hand, is simple, concise, and encourages an "ah-ha" from the viewer. Either way, you know it when you see it. (NonaKnits)

See, this is sort of how I've viewed my participation in knitting, sewing and other "domestic" activities. I've always enjoyed the engineering factor of imagining a finished project, to creating the designs, to cutting/sewing (or knitting) the item. It's amazing to take unrelated raw materials and make something entirely useful and beautiful out of them. To me, I don't sew/knit because it's a womanly or domestic thing to do. I sew because I like to engineer things. If I had a garage full of power tools, I would be building furniture or painting stuff. Sewing/knitting is my version of engineering that's suitable for indoors rental apartment-style living.

Well, these ideas deserve more thought than I have time right now, but I just wanted to get this conversation started (even if it is only a conversation with myself).

And, because I just can't have two posts with no pictures, here you see the first scarf I ever finished. All in seed stitch, this required absolutely no math skills at all, but I did study how the knitted fabric was created with each stitch. Anyway, have a great weekend ladies! I'm off to celebrate Memorial Day weekend (a US holiday) !

I'm so random

Wow, I feel like part of the cool kids club now that I was tagged by AuntieAnn for the 8 random facts game. Though I know that just about every other blogger in the knitiverse has already completed this, I choose to believe that my involvement in this just means that "You like me! You really like me!"

No worries, I don't have an acceptance speech, just the List.

1) In 5th grade I was obsessed with Daniel Boone, Annie Oakley (and to a lesser degree, Davey Crockett) and wore a "coonskin" cap all year. I thought Daniel Boone was the coolest guy ever but I couldn't get his wardrobe and decided it was acceptable to wear Davey Crockett's hat (the coonskin cap) instead and that it wouldn't be such a horrible historical inaccuracy on my part. And no, you're not going to see a picture of me in that hat.

2) When I start to read a new novel, I like to flip to the the last 1-2 pages for a quick peek. I don't really read those pages, just a really quick skim. I'm not even really sure why I do that. Perhaps to quickly memorize any names of people that might make it to the end of the story?

3) I always do this with magazines too. No matter the magazine (or even scholarly journal), I'll start reading the last pages and slowly make my way - article by article - to the beginning. I've tried to change and read magazines the "proper" way at the beginning, but it never lasts and it never feels like I really read it until I start at the end.

4) Anne of Green Gables was wrong; I think it's better to be smart than pretty. Of course I'd like to be both, but if I had to choose, the best compliment I could receive is that I'm witty. ... Witty and Clever. ... The two best compliments I could receive are that I'm witty and clever. ... And Smart. ... Three. ... The three Amongst the compliments I would like to receive are that I'm witty, clever and smart. *

5) I'd like to learn how to build furniture someday. Actually, I want to learn how to build a house, but that's not likely to happen.

6) In high school, I broke my right ankle when I started in the first game of my first year on the varsity soccer team. The entire season I could only kick the soccer ball around with my left foot until I got the cast off. To this day, when I play goalie (my favorite position), I can play equally well with both feet but can only drop kick with my left foot.

7) I've lived in California nearly all my life and I never learned to surf. Doesn't this break some sort of law here? I really ought to learn one of these days.

8) This last one is for Nancy: Whenever I need to convince someone that I'll be safe walking to my car through a dark and lonely parking lot I'll always say, "I'll be fine, I have brothers." Or, when I need to defend myself against someone (like Nancy), I'll say, "Don't mess with me, I have brothers." As if the fact that I have brothers means that I was trained in how to fight and defend myself. Silly girl.

Whew, I must look like a loon. Also, since I am apparently the last blogger to finish this, I'm not tagging anyone else ... unless my dear sister wants to start her blog finally. :)

*Apologies to Monty Python for this butchering of the Spanish Inquisition skit.

** Edited to add: A Fistful of Stitches, Heather, and Kristin are hereby tagged.

Some Days

I have seriously been off my rocker this week. I've been going from work to home typing the same genre of papers (library assessment and accreditation reports) all day, everyday and my brain feels just like this.

So, since I couldn't stand a weekend night of this sameness, I defiantly ignored my pressing school deadlines and sewed instead. And, I plan to do the same thing tonight! Here's a sneak peak at what I'm making. Come back next week when I'll debut the finished items and when my brain is less crowded.

Blue Scrappy

What do you do when one of your bestest friends turns the big 30 and moves into a new apartment at the same time? What could be a gift that encapsulates both a birthday and housewarming? Why a quilt of course!

This has been delivered (and she usually doesn't read this blog anyway), so here are a couple pics. Boy, was it hard not to keep this quilt 'cause goodness knows I could always use yet another lap quilt. The great beauty of this little quilt (besides the gorgeous fabrics) is that there is no batting. I simply made the quilt top and cut a larger piece of upholstery fabric for the backing and fold-over binding. I suppose that would make the quilt more of a small coverlet. In any case, my gal pal really seemed to like it and since she and I always hang out, I'll get to see this quilt often. Is that the true benefit of making crafts for others? That you can see everyone around you carrying and using something you made?





Also, as for the inspiration, I found this design somewhere on the web, but I really can't trace my steps.

Librarian

I don't think I'm this kind of librarian but some days I do wish we had compact shelving.

I've Arrived!

I did it dear readers. I made it onto a professional website that isn't run by one of my family members. Go check it out!

http://hometech.apartmenttherapy.com/

Sorry for the quick post, but I'm running out of the office as I write.

Love ya'll!

Erica

Fabric Art

France fabric art
Originally uploaded by bookwormadventures.

Many moons ago, as I was rambling through the internet goodness, I stumbled upon these creative gals who were making the cutest little quilts. I'd never seen or hear of such things but I instantly needed to make one. So, I created this little quilt to remind me of my trip to Paris last year. It's mostly hand sewn/embroidered and now sits right above my desk at home. Dont'ca just love that Eiffle Tower ribbon?

Corners of my *New* Home

So, I've lived in my new apartment for a couple of months now and finally have parts of it organized enough to share with family and friends. Enjoy these shots and head on over to my flickr account to see more.

My living room


My home office and sewing area

My Inner Geek

Warning: No knitting or crafting content. If that's your need, just move along now.

So, I'll admit it: I'm a techie, a geek, a gadget gal. I find these, these, and these type of comics really funny. (It's all right. Go read them. Just come back when you're finished.)

I also really enjoy trying to use technology to make my life easier, more fun, and/or more organized. Case in point: I have of late noticed that I really needed to get a handle on the piles and piles of papers and junk in my offices at home and at work. I acknowledged many years ago that I am a piler, but my piles were starting to threaten to topple on me and that's just not good. So, I resolved to "Be More Organized." Now, it wouldn't just do to throw away the current junk and file the rest because ya'll know what'll happen as soon as the mail is delivered tomorrow. No, what I needed was an easy-to-remember and flexible-and-yet-strict method for organizing my emails, slips of paper, crafts, and research in such a way that I would actually make progress on all my projects and not look so messy.

My Constraints
1. At work, everyone uses Outlook for emails, meetings, tasks, etc. so whatever parts of my solution involve emails or meetings would have to integrate fully and easily with Outlook. No way no how was I going to use a paper-based planner and then type the information into Outlook.

2. My to-do lists need to be accessible wherever I am at all times. This could be in any format (paper or electronic) but no way was I carrying yet another gadget or binder only for to-do lists. This gave me the the following items as possibilities since they are always carry with me: cell phone (basic phone, no email capabilities, but I do have text messaging), iPod, small design notebook.

3. My system had to be so easy and quick that it would be easier to follow the system than to create the piles.

My Solution
*Now, this may not work for others, but after a couple of weeks, I still have no piles on my desk and my email inbox is empty almost every day.*

1. For my to-do list, I set up a free account over at http://www.rememberthemilk.com. It's web-based and thus available from home and work. But, the best thing is that it will send a text message to my cell phone with reminders when tasks are due and/or a daily overall task list! This means that if I entered a task to drop off the drycleaning and set the due time for 7:30am, I'll get a text message before I leave the house for work when I have time to grab the clothes. Cool, huh!

2. I then set up a free account with imified. As much as the above task list thingy was cool, I needed a way to edit that list when I am away from the internet. If I'm out on the town and remember that I have a report that needs to be typed that night, I need that on the todo list now. Imified lets me use my cell phone's Mobile IM account (I set this up eons ago and it onlys uses my text message allotments) to add or delete tasks from RememberTheMilk. So, when I drop off the drycleaning, I can check that off the list. Yeah, I know! Cool!

Those two solutions work anywhere and let me revel in my uber geekiness but they are only part of my master plan.

3. I gleaned ideas from the book people over at Lifehacker have been ogling over, Getting Things Done, for dealing with my email and electronic "piles" of stuff. Email first. I went through my entire email inbox and dealt with all emails. Ones that I could take care of in under 1-2 minutes, I forced myself to do so. The others, I filed in one of 4 categories: Action, Read/Review, Reference, Someday/Maybe. The action emails are the most critical and I set reminders to deal with them when I need to. The Read/Review require some form of research before I can make the decision, but I also put electronic reminders on those. The Reference folder include emails that I need for their information but they don't require any action on my part (ex., emails with usage statistics for my library). Lastly, the someday/maybe file includes leisure reading that I may or may not ever get around to looking at. If something languishes in that pile, so be it.

Still with me?

Now that everything in my email inbox is categorized, I can start attacking that Action list. I'm still tweaking the system, but each morning, I restrict myself to first completing items at the top of the action list (the ones with the more recent due dates). The hardest thing so far is forging past my well-honed skills of procrastination and laziness. There was a reason I was ignoring certain tasks in the past; signing budget requests just isn't as fun as compiling statistics.* But, I'm training myself in this new habit. And, boy howdy does it feel good to have a clean desk and a clean email inbox!

I'll post updates once in a while on how this new habit-building project is progressing. And, when I finish organizing my new home, I'll post all the cute pictures of my office/craft studio area.

Lastly, can I just say how cool it was that John Holmes included library science as a web design/technology field of study in the A List Apart Web Design Survey? Go take it. I did.


*I know, I know. I like statistics. I know that I'm weird.

On how knitting is like engineering

The Mission:
To use the basic construction and shaping of the Rowena cardigan to create the perfect vintage-y cardigan.

The Inspiration:

Rowena Cardigan from Knit2Together.

For sleeve ideas

The Goals:
To create a unique vintage-style cardigan;
To build upon knitting techniques learned in last project;
To learn new and exciting knitting techniques;
To learn how to adapt a knitting pattern to meet my needs.

The Strategy:
Shorten the sleeves to just barely below the elbow;
Change the ruffles on the sleeve to a lighter more fluttery style;
Convert the pattern from knitting flat to circular knitting (or Knitting in the Round) to eliminate side seams;
To use steeks to create the cardigan to completely eliminate having to do so much purling.
To contemplate creating a different neckline that is less wide;
To contemplate attaching the sleeves differently instead of the step bind-off technique in the pattern


The Yarn:



Is this mission impossible? Or could this just be the best way to move knitting from the School of Home Economics into the School of Engineering with Yarn? I feel myself turning into a scientist. :)

Oh, and check back once in a while to see if this mission succeeds.