Just a little busy these days...

...and will be closing down this blog soon.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

A few competitions to ponder

http://www.designboom.com/competitions.html

Good to Know: Six makeup chemicals to avoid

You've likely seen the names of the following chemicals in the list below; they're ingredients contained in a variety of widely available beauty products. Read here to see why you might want to seek alternatives to the products you may currently have in your very own bathroom. Of course, weigh the pros and cons (ie. price, availability, family health history), verify information, and assess how these products affect your lifestyle and health, then make your choices in what you consume. I personally have been slacking and have been buying what is readily available at the supermarket, so for hair maintenance we're currently using "Down Under Naturals" products to wash and condition our hair. After reading this article, I think we'll go back to our Jason's and Nature's Gate hair washing products.

Six makeup chemicals to avoid:

1. Phthatale family or di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and di(2-ehtylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)

2. Lauryl sulfate(SLS), Sodium laureth sulfate(SLES)

3. Paraben preservatives or alkyl-p-hydroxybenzoates (methyl, propyl, butyl, and ethyl)

4. Formaldehyde family or Diazolidinyl urea, 3-diol Imidazolidinyl urea, DMDM Hydantoin , Quaternium-15, Nitropropane-1, Formalin , Methanal , Methyl aldehyde, Methylene oxide, Morbicid acid, Oxymethylene

5. Amine family Diethanolamine (DEA), triethanolamine (TEA), amonoethanolamine (MEA)

6. Propylene / Butylene Glycol (PG)

Article here: http://www.greenlivingonline.com/HealthNutrition/six-makeup-chemicals-to-avoid/

new mineral makeup from physician's formula

yes, it's a blurry photo.

love this makeup line! even though i'm pretty crunchy, i still love my makeup.

btw, i just read that physician's formula is on sale (40% off) at shoppers drug this week. (for all you local lovelies)

mac is even coming out with mineral makeup (so i've heard). good news! i can replace my (old) mac w. their new talc-free products!

Fantastic news for Torontonians!

I am happy to provide a link to some wonderful news! Here: http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/070514toronto.asp

News: "Van Valkenburgh to Remake 2,400 Acres in Toronto"

Why does this news please me?


Reason 1: I studied architecture at Ryerson for a year, before I went back to art college where I had already attended for two years (I was really eager to go back, and anticipated that I'd return to arch. school, which it looks like is potentially in the works). Basically, I have a deep appreciation for sound design, and both good landscape design and urban planning. I am critical of architectural, urban planning, and landscaping 'mistakes', like the Toronto waterfront.


Reason 2: I grew up in a city that is a 45 mins. drive from downtown Toronto. When I started studying at art college (I went to OCAD, but there was no "D" when I began my studies there, heh) I moved to Toronto. First I lived just off Queen and Dufferin (the nicer part of it, which was not exactly dingy Parkdale, but near enough), then moved slightly east of Dufferin onto Queen (which is now an extremely 'hip' area with progressive galleries/restaurants/etc. Afterwards, I moved to the heart of Little Italy and adopted two cats Toni and Cleo (btw, hello Sneaky Dees! I spent a lot of time there), and then moved eastward to the Beaches neighbourhood, and then after that, just south of the gay village of Church St. Then, I found a place with my then boyfriend (now husband) in a house that was immediately beside Trinity Park. After a few years, we bought a house in East York (close to my beloved Beaches) and lived there for about 2 years before we moved to BC.

I moved around a lot within the city, I wanted to experience each neighbourhood, I guess. This has left me with a deep connection with the city as I spent my 20s there studying, working, partying, exploring, and socializing.

Hopefully, I will be able to visit Toronto when the waterfront project is completed. I'll be keeping a close eye on how it's development progresses.

No more dents in my bottle

i'm working on a bottle cosy for my stainless steel water bottle. when full this bottle can get heavy (it holds 40 oz.) and yes, it is then prone to getting dented when dropped. luckily, the bottle hasn't fallen onto anyone, it's only fallen to the ground and this is when the bottom dents. so far, i have two slight dents in the bottom edge of the bottle.

pictured here, is an inside out view of the cozy i'm crocheting with wool of two different dye lots of shades of narnia sprinkle dyed roving that i had spindle spun.


i'm using the shades of lavender/purple skein for the top portion of the cosy. this is the skein as seen to the right. details on this skein in this blog post here.

the bluish wool used for the bottom of the cosy is pictured to the left on the spindle. this is how the wool looks on the spindle as it is wound up on an Ashford Turkish spindle. the two piece of wood that cross can be taken apart and out of the ball of wool then off the centre of the spindle, leaving a lovely centre pull ball! at first i thought this was an unnessessary perk, but then as i've come to use the spindle more, i've noticed that i'm enjoying this feature as it keeps the spinning process that much neater.

Good Vibes...Thom and the Sunset

This evening's sunset and view of crane (from my bedroom). The kids are busy crafting and we are listening to Thom on The Hype Machine.

knitted cowl

it was rainy on my daughters' birthday just this past thursday.

this is me just before i went out to buy party treats (and cake) on that day. i'm wearing a newly knitted (by me) cowl made with single ply wool (spindle spun by me - my first skein done up a few months ago!, it's made from roving dyed by shades of narnia). cowls are really fun to make and circular knitting is awesome.

recently spun wool

shades of narnia dyed roving spun on an ashford turkish spindle. guage swatch and skein of bulky one ply yarn that will soon see itself knitted into a cowl on 8mm Clover Takumi 29" circular knitting needles.

this is what the roving looked like before it was spun by me.

Speaking of Design

ceramics for breakfast: a design competition organized by designboom

One of the entries

name of design : the ring

design by : joung myung lee from germany

(click on above picture for more pictures of "the ring")

designer's own words: Hang your fruit on the wall. "The Ring" is an urusual fruitbowl made of porcelain. It is not placed on a dining table or on kitchen unit but hangs on the wall. The concept is between art and design. It is to be hang on the wall, like a decorative piece of art, a mordern version of still life fruit paintings. Yet, as a fruitbowl, the ring is a useful design object, shape and openings are a new and interesting unit for a fruitbowl. The fruit is put into the opening at the top and can be taken out at the bottom. At both sides opening are located to show the amount of remaining fruit. Due to it´s perviousness to air and it´s eco-friendliness, porcelain is particularly suitable as a fruitbowl. In small kitchen, space is precious on table, but walls are often left bare. So the ring, decorative design, hang on the wall, make it easier to plan your space.

Next up...

The Winning Design

name of design : glide

design by : george watson from uk

(click on above picture for more pictures of "glide")

designer's own words: There has been little development of the toaster since the start of the century, whilst other appliances have developed and improved incorporating new technologies and thinking, toaster have remained relatively untouched. When the toaster was first invented eating toast was a social activity that took place on the breakfast table, these days toasters have been relegated to cheap plastic objects hidden away in the kitchen landscape. This toaster is designed to engage the user, re-invigorating the social context of toasting by questioning everything about what we toast with today. I was also keen to make playful object to be proud of having on your breakfast table. Slip moulded bone china allowed me create this intricate and sculptural form, but also provided the material longevity that I required. This is a toaster that brings life and joy to a stagnant domestic appliance, and iconic object for the home.

See more entries and competition information here.

Adornment: Earings!

To complement my fresh cut I've been looking at earings. The last pair that were in my ears were 4 guage stainless steel tunnels. I always thought that I'd try to stretch my earlobes to 0 (zero) guage or 00 (double zero) guage but now I'm not sure. I might restretch my currently unadorned earlobes back to fit my 4 guage tunnels, but instead of leaving the tunnels/stretchings "empty" I'd like to start wearing earings going through the tunnels in addition the the stretching jewelry.

The earing designs below caught my eye. They are all from the ever-popular Anthtropoligie.com. I think each of the styles below would fit into a few of the looks I tend to incorporate into my personal "style". Click onto the individual images below to find out more about each pair of earings (I'd elaborate on why I like each of them, but I'm tired, and besides the distinctive beauty of each pair IMO speaks for each of the designs themselves.)

The first pair, "mystic earings", is the pair I'm really taken with, but with a price tag of $658 US, I doubt they will reach my longing earlobes. Maybe I'll just have to recreate my own personal knock-off of this pair! (with my own design twist, of course)

Another head band and new asymetrical hair cut

Before haircut...

Machine knitted headband made by me with button cluster accent on one side.

New haircut! (on a windy day)

Wind-blown hair with extra hair showing from behind me (it's dh bending down).

Longer right side.

Shorter left side view.

New shades, new hair, sun, and something to listen/look at

Look.



Big glasses on a sunny warm Friday - $2, Value Village this past Friday. Rosy bliss!

Listen/Look.

Thank you Thom. It's great to have some audio/visual variety in one's life.

Link: http://www.vapourbrothers.com/

Hair.

I lucked out and met Alex at my local hair cutting salon. He is awesome! And also says things like "perfect" while he is cutting. He's officially my new stylist. He slipped me his card for his main gig at this Kitsilano salon, MarkusJ. Hopefully, I can visit him once more before he makes a break from the mountain.

I've got a thing for knitting headbands

A few creations made by me. The bottom photo is the handknit knitty calorimetry pattern and the top photo is of a headscarf that was intended to be a bonnet but after machine knitting this (I modified the knitty pattern here) I decided that bonnets don't look very good on me and so a covering for my (then) outgrown hairstyle came about.

Bjork!! Live!!

I am delighted because we are planning on going to the Bjork concert that will be happening at Deer Lake Park this May 23.

The last time I saw Bjork perform live was at the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto in October of 2001 (details).

So stoked! We are even taking all the kids since it's an outdoor early evening event. Event details here.

Knitted dresses for Winter and Strawberry

These doll dresses were made on my Bond knitting machine. They are made from a few sample swatches that I created while getting aquainted with my new hardware. I love my knitting machine! Currently on it's needles is a WIP orange bulky cowl that I'm obsessed with finishing this weekend.

1952 - Hat Patterns

I just stumbled across this site. I'll be working on the above hat pattern tonight.

More vintage (1952) hat patterns here!

Hello, it's March...

... and I'm back from an extended blog-break!

And I'm also still a little fuzzy (sorry for the poor pic of my above sketch!) -- more coming!

EPIC and Airplanes

Watching airplanes take off and land at Burrard Inlet after EPIC

This past weekend we had an EPIC Sunday. We had a wonderful time at the convention. I enjoyed learning about some of the products (Dynasty car), trying tasty samples (coconut oil on a rice cracker!), seeing all the innovative exhibitions, meeting Wondertree, and hanging out with an easy-going and aware crowd.

February Blog-break: Busy with life and crafting

I've got a few WIPs and so I'm taking a February blog-break. I'll be back in March with some new creations and pictures of them! xx