a thanksgiving page

I made a thanksgiving spread. And so I'm sharing it with you. :)

what am i?

I'm finally starting to work with some of the creative elements I picked up along the way. I think the cool washi tape is going to be one of the things that's going to take me a while to get used to.

be a good one

I owe you a page, or a few. This weekend was crazy. And it's not even Black Friday yet. I'm trying to build a routine where I make time to work on all my projects. Even if its only for 15 minutes or half an hour. Something is better than nothing. So, Yah. Here's today's page.... Thank Honest Abe.

captioned critters

I have the day off, so I'm gunna stock up on some pages today. So here's the one for today!

art and stuff

So I got into this crazy thing called art journaling. For those who don't know, its kind of like a cross between scrapbooking and artist sketchbooks and whatever else you feel like throwing in. It can be simple or complex, all done by hand or all found materials; it doesn't matter as long as it makes you happy. So here's a page. Every so often, when I remember, I'll post one for you. :)

new projects

Like I have the time to take on a new project. I really must be insane. Follow it here!

http://hexaday365.blogspot.com/

I'll still be posting all the other crazy-pants things I do here, and maybe by posting on another blog all the time, I'll get better about posting in this one more often. Maybe!

jobs, cookies, and how to find the time.

So my "real job" has gotten into this habit of only scheduling me on the weekends. And by weekend, I mean Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. This is a blessing and a curse. Advantage: I don't face the dreaded "Monday Morning"; Monday is more like my Saturday. Advantage: I can make all those pesky phone calls that you can never make because they're customer service hours are the same exact hours you work. I think they do it on purpose. Disadvantage: I can't hang out with anyone, because I have to work. Disadvantage: I have to take off for everything. I mean everything. Grandma's birthday? I gotta take off. Husband wants to take me out to the movies? I gotta take off. It totally harshes on my spontaneity. But despite all that, I do get some time to do some pretty cool stuff.

Like make these.

The cookies were really yummy, and they were make with cake mix. I want to try these with some other cake mixes, and see what happens.
 
And this.

And this was one of the easiest dinners I have ever made. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, mostly because I didn't have everything, and it still came out delicious. I also threw in some asparagus. If I did it again, I'd love to actually follow it, and throw in some other veggies. A one dish meal that doesn't take long at all. I will totally make this again. And there were plenty of left overs. :)

Today I'm going to knit something, so hopefully there will be some knit things up on this blog soon.

right, that blog thing....

...And I'm back, after another long hiatus, but at least this one was productive.

While I've been gone, I've been working on some things. Like having my husband help me with my "business". I'm calling it Stephanie Elizabeth Knits for now, until it actually becomes real. Then I have much bigger plans. ::insert evil laugh here::. Find me on facebook!

I've also been trying to get all my art supplies in the same place. I've started doodling again, and painting, and as soon as my dye gear comes back, I'll pick that up again too. Hopefully, if I can get my phone to cooperate with me, I will try to start blogging regularly again. We don't currently have the internet at home (which makes it really hard to do just about anything, actually...) We shall see.

pink apples

Last night, I put my foot down. Or maybe the knife. I'm not really sure.

I have been harboring 4 Pink Pearl Apples in a little white bag on the counter. (Yes, they really are pink.) I finally decided what I was going to do with them. I was going to make this most lovely Pink Apple Tart. I've also attached the link where you can get the recipe for yourself.

It. Is. Delicious!!!

So here's what mine looked like, and what I did differently.

 
Sorry, I couldn't wait.

I didn't have turbinado sugar. Regular sugar seemed to do just fine. And I couldn't find my plain honey, so I used mint honey. And it was just fine. Her pie crust is fabulously simple. And I sprinkled a little brown sugar both underneath and on top of the left over pie crust bit in the center, which is also not required, but looked pretty.

So there you have it!

Today, I'm going to try and clobber those tiny mitts I mentioned yesterday. *twitch* Tiny things...

toast and tiny things

I just finished this:


And I am so excited. It was a birthday present for a wonderful friend, and she loved it! :D YAY!

And now I'm working on Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang. Because she's amazing. You can find the pattern for yourself here. I'm doing mine in midnight blue and violet. Pictures soon. I hope. To tide you over, More Toast!!

picture time!

Finally!!

First, a long promised wedding picture.

And the cake, because everyone wants to see the cake.


And now on to more interesting things. Like this:

I finally found a clear umbrella! I knew it was destined for a goldfish. It has 2 goldfish, and a phantom fish. :) I think I'm in love.

stepping stones and stumbling blocks

Oh hey blog that I haven't updated in months! How have you been? I kinda dropped off the face of the earth, huh? Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Things have been changing for me, big time.

I'm going through a kind of metamorphosis, if you will. No I'm not going to wrap myself up in a cocoon and sprout wings, or at least not physically. But I am going under a complete change of myself. I want to be me, whoever that is, and it's probably going to take me a while to figure out exactly what that means. And though I never plan on coming to a finite resolution of what that means, I am also willing to accept that I will be constantly changing. But there needs to be some foundation on which these things can change. And maybe through the little things, and through my art, I can figure out what I am meant to be. Not dictated by what society says I should be or by what others say I should want, but what I was created to be and desire.

So I've started looking at my past, and reminding myself of things I liked, and questioning if I still liked them, and what I would do with them now. I remembered the blonde streak in my hair, and how much I loved it, despite it's desire to easily tangle. So back in it goes. I remembered how much I love writing, and blogging, so here I am. There is so much I loved doing that I don't do anymore, and there really isn't a reason (ok, maybe other than not having the time to do so) that I don't do it anymore. I think it's going to take a lot of planning to fit it all in, because now that I'm working a "real job" that takes huge chunks of my time, I have to work around that. I'm prepared for this to take a while, but I think that's kind of the point.

There will be pictures! And lots of other cool stuff, so stay tuned. It's only going to get better.

it's all over

It's all over now.

I am a married woman.

And I've never been happier. :D

Pictures to come; I'm still trying to deal with the aftermath of the Honeymoon. And get everything in from people.

something's missing...

I had a realization.

I was going over my attire for the wedding. I've got something old. I've got something new. I've got something borrowed (Or at least LOTS of offers), and something blue. I've even got something 7 (something that belongs to my brother). But I don't have anything knit.

And that's a problem.

I've had several wonderful suggestions, but nothing really jumps out screaming "I'm it! I'm what you should wear to your wedding!!"

So I'm just going to knit a whole bunch of stuff and decide later.

little things

It takes a lot of little things to make up big things, and I feel like that's what the last few weeks have been. doing a bunch of little things to make the big things happen. Now that I've made it through graduation, the next thing I have to worry about is the wedding.

Yes. MY Wedding.

Yeah, it's happening, and it's happening fast. Like 20 days fast. Egads!!

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn this into a "oh em gee, it's my wedding" and get all mushy gushy on you. It makes me nauseous, so why would I subject you to that?

On the other hand, don't worry. There will be TONS of pictures. :)

temporary freedom

I did it. I graduated. It's all over.



For now.

But really, it's just the beginning of a new chapter.

Bring it.

illusions of grandeur

As of right now, there are 13 days, less than 1 hour, and several fleeting minutes until graduation. The pieces have been knit, sewn together, blocked, and hung on a wall for all to see. The video plays on constant loop. The yarn pile sits ominously as the faint whispers of the headphones recite the longings of a broken heart. The opening of the show has passed with pomp and circumstance. Now follow a procession of obligations. Papers, critiques, and events I have spent 4 years earning. Yet it still feels unreal. I'm really done. All I have to do is show up. Yet somehow I cannot accept that as fact.

I'm having a hard time grasping that I'm graduating as an Artist. With a capital A. I am a Knitter with a capital K. I will have a degree that should be worth something.

And then the reality sets in that I will be paying off my college loans until I'm 50. I'll be paying my kids college loans until I die. And that before I've even bought my own house, vehicle, or other large investment, I will be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

Hurray for Capitalism.

i feel like i'm giving birth

It's not painful in the same way, but it's certainly exhausting. But here it is, or at least most of it. I think I'll let you enjoy these few pictures while I go and rest a while.

I spent all day yesterday knitting patiently away. 3 rectangles to go. 2 rectangles to go. By the last few rows of the final rectangle my heart was pounding. The anticipation of actually having a tangible benchmark to have something completed was immense. Around 9, I had finished the final square. I sewed it to the rest of its panel, laid out all three on the floor and stood back. This was it, just as I imagined it would be. Final, and white, in all its glory.

Well, almost. At that time it looked like a toddler's puzzle.

The hand knit blocks look huge compared to the machine knit ones, but don't worry, they do fit together. I have now started the painful process of the 3 inch garter stitch border, made up like a log cabin. So right now, on my poor needles are 6 feet worth of stitches. But it will be so worth it.

26 days.

Today, it feels attainable.

a deeper reflection

"Hearing your comments, I'd like to think I know what I do, but the truth is I don't. There are many considerations and I don't know how to satisfy them all. ... I might decide that you're right, and change everything. Or I might decide that you are right and change nothing. Or I might decide to move down a new path, and create something entirely different from what you've seen." ~ Brenda Dayne

Right now, every fiber of my being is telling me to change nothing. And so shall it be. I know nothing, and admit that readily, but for once in my life I would like to feel proud and confident of what I'm doing, and right now, this is it. Its not a final "I will never do anything like this again" feeling but a "This is what this is supposed to be, and needs to be, and I should not change it" feeling. It will be what it wants to be. I am no more than a maker; I make what the object tells me it wants to be.

I have had Brenda Dayne's podcast Cast On on my list for a while now, but am just finally sitting down to listen to them. This particular episode, entitled "On Gauge" was cast in 2006, and yet it still proves to be as powerful today as it was then.

28 days.

Today, it feels like a heavy weight.