podcasts on iTouch

Some even have video.

Back in my collage and post collage days, it was considered the epitome of intellectual cool to have NPR (National Public Radio) going all day on one of their “talk” radio stations. You could listen to all kinds of discussions on all kinds of things from how to tune your carburetor to what is the meaning of life. There wasn’t a subject that was not touched on at some point and there were true nuggets of profound wisdom as well as a few items of, well… let’s just call them what they were; doo-doo. But NPR is fabulous and until we moved to our current location where there is no worthwhile radio reception (grrrr), I listened to it all the time, admittedly in recent years, to mostly the classical music stations.

Fast forward to last Christmas when I got an iTouch (like an iPhone without the phone or camera but a screamin’ little pda, got that?) and discovered iTunes and podcasts. It’s like having the best of all those NPR shows at your ear’s beck and call. You can listen to only those things that interest you, there are podcasts for knitters, spinners, weavers, quilters, photographers, graphic artists, visual artists, writers, chefs, and a ton more things I haven’t explored. When do I have time to listen? While in my studio; knitting, weaving, dying, sewing, painting, beading, wire wrapping, or fusing. While I’m driving to and from work (an hour each way). A hint here; do not try to watch video casts while driving No, I haven’t tried it. Even I can figure out some things are not a good idea. So, here are a few of my favorites (not in any particular order) or that I am currently sampling. I would love to here from you as to which you have found worth listening to.

Knitting related;

Sticks and Strings with David Reidy - he has such a luscious accent.

Knitmore Girls with Jasmin and Gigi

Stitch It! with Meghan

Weaving;

Weave Cast with Syne Mithcell

Crafting, Art, and crafting as a business;

Craft Cast with Alison Lee

Craft Sanity with Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood

Craftypod with Sister Diane

Writing and being a writer (I’m dreaming of retirement; o)

The Secrets Podcast by Michael A Stackpole

I Should be Writing with Mur Lafferty

American Writer

Odyssey SF/F Writing

Quick and Dirty Tips: Grammar Girl

That is just the tip of the iceburg that resides on my iTouch.

Want to learn how to take better pictures? Need some help with PhotoShop? Want to learn more about Art in general? Managing your finances? If you are curious about something, there is a podcast for that! Yes, and an App too

I will post this list to my “My Links Page” http://www.seaairarts.com/links-to-places-i-love/ on the sidebar.

As you can tell I have a long list of ones that I have found (so far) and listen to somewhat regularly. There is also a noticeable lack in some areas. The missing subjects (and a hint for someone who has been wanting to start their own podcast) seem to be in Art Quilting or Surface Design, there is only one Weaving podcast (though it is fabulous!), and glass fusing.

All of this and more is easily subscribed to through iTunes, my podcast culling device of choice, mostly because its easy and I’m lazy – true confessions!

Deb H

the passion flower on my porch

I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time this last month on organizing, my brain as well as my spaces. It has finally sunk in to me that all the adorable organizing containers in the world will not get the work done if I don’t know what needs to be done next. There are so many things I want to do; several mixed media art pieces that are still just great ideas, my button catalog that seems to be taking forever, the novel that I’d love to write someday… the list is enormous. I also realize that this is the bane of most creative personalities.

I’ve decided I need a more organic approach, hence my search for the perfect task organizer. Will it be Toodledo, Evernote, or The Action Method? The last one actually looks the most intuitive but the price tag is holding me back.

Or is the real need to train my work processes, thought processes, habits? Here is my current reading list (just started these) Getting Things Done by David Allen, Making It All Work, also by David Allen, and Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky. Which will be the magic sword that slays the beast? All of them? None of them? What works for you? I’m sure I’m not the only creative type that occasionally feels like I’m trying to bail out the Titanic.

A magic typewriter that will release the trapped novel

Yet in the midst of overwhelm there is also excitement – the feeling that great things are on the horizon, change is coming, change for more productivity. I’m always the eternal optimist 

I get a “Museletter” from Laura Cater-Woods and she always has at least one thing in there that usually strikes me as profound. Today’s quote is “Helpful hint: Take a few minutes every day to be still and quiet, ask yourself: What is the most important thing I can do today? Then do it.”

Am I trying too hard? Can it be so simple? Thanks Laura!

Deb H

Summer Beach

What better way to celebrate a holiday weekend than to take at least one day and do only fun, play kinda stuff

Going to see the movie The Last Airbender was a treat, I liked it so much we actually saw it twice over the holiday. I then dashed off to Borders to get the book, only to find it’s a graphic novel…  can I bring myself to read a graphic novel? I can roll with the times, why not?

Simple Pleasures

An easy beading project was just the ticket for a relaxing afternoon. The bracelet was a “build your own kit” from Alada Beads where I just had to pick the colors; my favorite colors of aqua,  sea green and copper. I had enough beads and components left over to improvise some matching earrings. Sometimes simple is very satisfying.

Aqua OOAK button bracelet

But that got me looking at the assortment of fused glass buttons on my design table. I’ve been designing buttons for a wholesale catalog. This, besides being a lot more time consuming and a lot more work than I could ever have imagined, has left me with a rather large selection of single OOAK (one of a kind) buttons. Looking at these with my freshly finished bracelet (above) in my hand was a short leap to the next project.

Button Bracelet

I raided my stash of novelty yarns and found some lovely aqua sparkly stuff, not too hairy – I don’t like hairy. I raided my stash of large beads and found some glass dangley things too (technical term, that). After a few false starts to try to achieve my vague vision, I settled on crocheting the novelty yarn with the buttons, beads and dangles not-quite randomly picked up and crocheted in the chain.

Button, button, who has the... ?

The yarn was mostly rayon and not disposed to wear as durable as I might like. In an effort to avoid strewing buttons and beads in a trail behind at the local RAVE (like I even know what one is, do they still have them?) I threaded Tigertail through all of the buttons and beads and cinched them up snugly to the right length. Adding a toggle catch with crimps was the final touch and viola! This would be a marvelous way to use any and all kinds of shanked buttons, I see more in my future! 

Deb H

PS – we can see the town fireworks from our back deck, they were beautiful but Shadow (our rescue husky) did not like them one little bit. It’s a real experience when a 65 pound dogs keeps trying to climb into your lap!

Linen and cotton Teal overshot

I had a lot of warp left on my small loom (4 shaft, 22″ Rasmussen table loom with leg kit from Seattle Weaving Works, circa 1980) from the linen workshop I took from Katie Reeder Meek in March. The warp was supposed to be linen but mine is 10/2 cotton due to some technical difficulties, namely old and brittle linen and the middle of the night so no store open to fix the issue. But, it’s a nice flax color of 10/2 and the threading was the one I used for my linen workshop; Aldana’s Cat’s Paw and a Wave pattern on an overshot type weave structure. I’m still using a fine linen single (unbleached) for the ground weft but have chosen a 5/2 cotton in light teal for my pattern weft.

A joy to weave in such wonderful colors

I apologize to all my non-weaving readers for the geek-speak.  Start weaving,  you’ll love it!!    By the way, there is a lot to be said for a small portable loom that can be easily moved to the front deck on a breezy summer afternoon!

I’ve also been knitting but have not taken photos yet so that will be next post.

Deb H

Samples, samples, samples...

Fused glass is soooo addictive. Maybe I need to make more samples and a few more notes. Note to Gayle: yes, I’m going to make myself finish it!

Pink Button

I’ve also been crazy busy with making buttons for the biggest Bead & Button Show in the world (according to their web site).  June 6th through the 13th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, our bead group will have a table in the vendors mall so if you are lucky enough to attend, look for “Glass Act!” and drool on some beads and my buttons 

We are having a heat wave and the kiln is going in the kitchen – who said “the lazy days of summer”? Were they nuts?!?!?

Deb H

Such a Regal profile

Meet my new studio buddy and constant companion. We named her Shadow, as in sewn to my heels like a…

We adopted a Rescue Shelter dog; a Husky mix that is probably about 2-1/2 years old. She is sweet, lovable, and pretty well behaved. We’ve had her two weeks today and I’m sooo smitten with my new buddy. I will confess that the first few days had it’s ups and downs as the whole Alpha Dog thing was sorted out (I won), but it was fairly minor.

Besides being a great companion, she has proven to be a good studio partner. She sleeps at my feet and makes a natural obstacle course.   She is a good listener and thinks all my ideas are brilliant! She does not freak out when I use the ban saw or the shop vac.

Such a sweet face!

And isn’t this the most beautiful face?

Deb H

Yes, it’s still chilly and I’m still knitting hand warmers!

I had three skeins of Mountain Colors 100% Superfine Cashmere in colorway Moose Creek that I have been hording since about 2006. What to do with 285 yards of seriously luxuriously (and expensive) yarn?

I’ve been pondering, lo, all this time. Perusing an Elsebeth Lavold book (Book #17, Small Things Matter) and seeing the Malin pattern for a cowl, my search was over!

Cashmere, yum!

I did a shorter version because I knew I would never pull it over my head for a hood and that left me one skein for some hand warmers.

Easy Lace Pattern

The lace pattern causes a collapse effect that is perfect for a cowl.

Plain palms for less snagging

Admittedly, I ran out of yarn and the last 1/2″ at the fingers and thumb is finished off in Shepherd’s Wool Fingering in Midnight Lake. It blended so well I decided I did not need to rip them out and do a re-do.

Shocked all my knitterly friends, that.

Little Fountain Lace Pattern

And I used a different lace pattern for these than was on the cowl. I found one that was similar but a smaller scale in my favorite pattern reference, 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar by Martingale Publishing (as usual, you can find this and other of my favorite books in my a-Store, click on My Book Store under the Pages section on the side bar). The pattern I chose for the hand warmers is called the Little Fountain Pattern and it’s on February 11.

So touchable!

I had to throw in one more picture of the cowl – it’s just so pretty and soft! 

Deb H

Raggy Ruffled Hand Warmers

Why does spring make me want to knit hand warmers? Because it’s not that warm yet and my hands are still cold!

Raggy Ruffles - cuff detail

I had so much fun knitting the raggy ruffled hands warmers I showed you previously, and the fact that every time I wear them people accost me wanting some too… I knit some more  I raided my stash of luscious fingering and sock weight yarns to find some that went together nicely. The yarns used were Claudia Handpainted fingering weight in Poppy,  Schaefer Anne, and two colors of SWT Tofutsie. Now, orange is not usually my color but I find I am liking it more and more. It must be that after a long Michigan winter I’m starved for color!

Raggy, Ruffled & Posh!

I started with the basic Martha Mitten pattern from Heritage Spinning & Weaving and then started to ad-lib, as it were. After having done this a couple of times in a similar vein, I knew it would be easier to pick up the stitches for adding the ruffles if I put in a row of purl stitches where I wanted the ruffles attached. This being the grand sum of my pre-planning, I knit into the fray.

Think Eliza Doolittle...

Decisions, decisions… how long to make them? Should they match exactly or should I mix it up a bit? Which color next?

Think Steampunk!

Beads? Let’s see.. a tiny bit of bling? That would be a big yes!

And to follow my latest rule of self -discipline, ahem, they are for my Etsy Shop. What’s my rule? If I make one for me, I have to make one for the shop (sweaters not included). We’ll see how long this lasts 

Deb H

Cushy Sweater Sass!

Last spring, just in time for warm weather, I finished a very warm winter sweater I dubbed my Cushy/Cozy Sweater. I then had to wait four months (short summers, long winters) for it to get cold enough to wear it. Now, this may seem a bit bass-works but it turned out to be a brilliant way for me to not dread winter quite so much. So this spring I’m on a hand-warmer knitting roll.

Cozy Hand-Warmers

A pair to wear with my cushy/cozy sweater next winter! It’s the same lovely yarn; Araunania Azapa 30% alpaca, 45% merino, 15% silk, and 10% donegal.

Cozy, cushy, soft, and warm!

At about 12-1/2 stitches over 4 inches, a very quick knit!

Ragggedy Ruffled Hand-warmers

Then you have to have some just for fun! Ages ago I knit some raggedy ruffled hand-warmers from some leftover bits of (mostly) worsted weight yarns and they turned out very cute and fun to wear.

Raggedy Hand-Warmers , the Sequel

I decided I needed another pair in leftover odd bits of sock yarn.

When Rags are Posh

I have nearly worn these out already as they just make me feel happy to wear them 

So, here we are, marching into spring and warm weather with winter wearables just new off the needles. But that’s me, the queen of good timing 

Deb H

]]> http://www.seaairarts.com/2010/04/13/warm-hands-cold-heart/feed/ 0 http://www.seaairarts.com/2010/03/08/the-key-to-my-heart/ http://www.seaairarts.com/2010/03/08/the-key-to-my-heart/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:59:15 +0000 Deborah http://www.seaairarts.com/?p=1046 So, do you remember the glass beads that hubby made for me a little bit ago? If you don’t – never fear, here is the photo.

lampworked glass beads

I actually found time to wire-wrap them into rings.

Blue Glass Ring

The blue one goes with nearly my entire wardrobe and I have already worn it several times.

Spring Glass Ring

The yellow one is sooo spring like I find wearing it just makes me feel happy  I’m sure it’s the reason for our lovely sunny weather and days in the 50′s over the weekend. Sooooo untypical of a Michigan March. I’m reveling in it 

Key to the Universe

And of course, having a willing torch wielder at my disposal, I talked him into trying his hand at melting glass onto some old skeleton keys I’ve been collecting (for who knows what) over the last several years.

Key to my heart

I just knew they would be really cool for something one day!

Key to my Zen place

And he had to do one in my favorite color (this week), aqua!

These are just waiting to be used in something really wonderful. I’ll let you know what it is as soon as I find out.

Deb H