I should not be writing this post

This morning at 5:30 a.m. when in the grips of an insomnia so irritating as to actually get me out of my warm bed, I decided that I would swear off the internet forever.  I was going to delete every vestige of all my online accounts, and erase every bit of me in the ether!

I think it goes without saying that I am not very at all rational in the early morning before noon. I’m still not really sure why I thought this was a good idea, other than that I was exhausted, grumpy and needed a nice hot shower and a cuppa joe.

I’m not yet over conference-malaise, and I should just go to bed, and that’s not really too far off.  I just want to go to bed late enough that I can sleep for a good 11 hours tonight straight through.

So in this week’s now-typical style, I present various things running through my head:

1)  Remember that picture I showed you of the woman knitting socks in the SXSW panel? Well, I posted that picture to Flickr, and lo and behold she left a comment!  It’s Julia aka Yarn Maven from Bastrop, Texas.  I didn’t get a chance to get her name in the panel because I got caught up talking to the two founders of BurdaStyle, but I’m so glad to meet her.

2)  I do yammer on sometimes about advocating buying handmade stuff.  But it’s only because I really like it.  Fun thing about buying things I might make myself – still useful, but this way I get to enjoy others’ design aesthetics as well.  Here’s my latest purchases.

On the left is the orange Bouquet wall clock for Jeff’s study from Decoy Lab.  He’s been on an orange thing recently, looking for accessories.  Orange is a great accent.  As seen on February’s Poppytalk selections.

On the right is a sewing case I bought for taking embroidery stuff along with me.  It’s from Blue Banana Shop in Singapore, whose stuff is very bright and cheery.

Pay no attention to my strange collection of books there.  I just realized what those were.  This is part of my collection of academic books on the old Testament.  The one on the far left, Paul the Convert, was written by a professor for whom I was a teaching assistant, my favorite professor from grad school, the inimitable Alan Segal.

Last Week’s Inspiring Things …

Still with the flu (argh) but on the bright side I’ve almost caught up with my RSS reader!  I consider this an accomplishment. Problem with the blogs I read is that I do love all that stuff – after years + months of reading, I’m still inspired by all the things people come up with and do.  Sometimes it’s overwhelming, and I want to just delete my whole blog list.

After I get through the list I wish – yet again! – that I could remove the “by night” part of my name and have time to do all the things that I get inspired to do, or would do if I had the time. But this is not possible, and in any case I like my job, but still … oh, what I could do with more time! All I can do is try to manage my time well. Can you crochet on a treadmill? ‘Cause I’m thinking multi-tasking might be the way to go …

Here’s some of what I found inspiring last week …

One.

Katy Horan does art she describes as long lost folk art from an imaginary world. I really love that concept – it speaks to me as a reader of books that explore imaginary worlds and because I really love folk tales and art. Her art looks to me as though it’s inspired by native SW American symbolism and imagery because of costuming, color and animal choices. It’s quite striking artwork, very bold in its choices. Much of it reminds me of the graphic effect piecework and applique, and a combination of elements like collagework. I don’t have a picture because I don’t want to infringeon any copyright, but it’s really something great to check out if you think my description interesting.

Two.

I’m quite taken with this book artwork by Jennifer Khoshbin . It feels to me very much how I think of books, as something to delve into, with simple covers concealing a wealth of information and experience. The art depicted here is from Book Project 1 (there’s also a Book Project 2 in process) and uses illustration and carved books to convey concepts, something she calls the “sculptural use of books” that creates a “depth of thought.” Ashes and Building Bridges are my favorite. The thumbnail to the right is a detail of Orbit.

Three.

I am quite taken by these collections of little pots from Etsy seller JMN Pottery. I suppose you could use them for something if you wished, but I’d rather just have a collection of small, beautiful pots in a tray. Many of her designs have something of a whimsical nature, for example, poison skull mugs and “grouchy pots” and spiked ceramics. Her descriptions seem to indicate that she very much creates her pieces spontaneously with what appeals to her as she works.

Four.

I was interested in this Queen Anne scarf design from mk carroll – well, to be more precise I was interested in her interest in experimenting with fibers. Usually you just get a few product placement-ey shots of a pattern unless you go search for people who’ve used the pattern. But in this case, the creator made the pattern in several fibers, and the differences are really interesting. I actually found this on flickr first, where she has a set of 63 photos of the Anne in various stages, fibers and drapes. I do believe I like it best in a less bulky cotton, and as soon as I get done with some other projects I might just do this. I do love crochet lace.

Indie Love

By now, most people who know me know I like handmade items a lot, but nonetheless I was so pleased that some took the time and spent the energy to get me gifts this year from craft fairs and Etsy. I know it’s almost two months since the holidays, but I don’t see some of my friends as often as I’d like, so some of these I’ve had for just over a week.

One thing I got from Jeff was spices, the Pepper and Lime seasoning to the left is one of my favorites, from a company called Cherchie’s from PA. I found Cherchie’s at a craft fair long ago. Although the business has grown, they’re still small enough to write a note on the packing slip! I think food is the best part of craft fairs. I like all of it, but I really like people’s cooking and spices. Like the hot sauce festival I went to. I guess I just like meeting people who are  into their food. I love food.

… Right! I was getting hungry there. Two good friends also gave me handmade things: the pretty coffee cozy is from the bright and cheerful Etsy shop Dizzlepop, and is a simultaneous nod to my obsessions with coffee, daisies and indie. The Murano-esque earrings are from one of Austin’s oldest street-fair-craft-places down on the “Drag” across from the University of Texas. The fair’s been there forever, from way before DIY became cool and the founders of Etsy were born.

The next item was from husband again, who is lovely, and finds that buying me presents is ridiculously easy when I excitedly point out pretty things on the web to him. I also loved the packaging. The woman behind Shy Siren knows something about business – her products, presentation and marketing were all quite impressive.

These next items aren’t gifts (do gifts to self count?), but I purchased them at a shop called Parts and Labour that only sells local artists’ wares. I wanted to buy half the store, and my friend Melissa wanted the other half.  Independent artists have long been popular here in Austin (we did/still do have a lot of hippies here, after all), and now is no different.  Indeed, it’s been helped by the resurgence in interest in such things nationally.

D’you know, sometimes I meet people who believe that crafting as a business is a new modern thing (perhaps the ones who believe leg warmers are a new thing?). Hardly! We’re simply re-fashioning it in our own political and social image, as all cultures do. This shop is a good example of that sort of recent re-imagining.

Handcrafting as a business has long been a staple of western culture, even if the media has tried to convince us it’s not true and big companies have tried to marginalize the independent worker. Even the industrial revolution began and existed for some time as a mobilization of woman-centric home crafting industries. Handcrafting is also (as some craft-loving but not historically-minded people don’t realize) long been an important part of feminism, as the method by which many women granted themselves financial independence or provided for their families. Women’s handcrafting has saved several civilizations’ bacon by doing everything from lacemaking to brewing to scribing. The idea that women aren’t intelligent workers and valued breadwinners is a purely ridiculous and modern idea unsubstantiated by historical record.Hey, where did that come from? I just can’t quite help that I was a feminist social historian, it leaks out. Seriously, after all that social history I have the utmost respect for women and their crafts and the enormous historical impact they’ve had. Some young women seem to feel embarrassed by their knitting and I say Knit On, Sew On, your skills have had more of an impact than many philosophers could dream of.