In Progress: Based on a True Story

I have said before, the problem with taking pictures to remember things is that the picture never looks like what you were seeing. There really isn't much you can do to share what you saw, what you felt, what made that particular moment something you wanted to remember. Previously, I did a project with shadowboxes trying to fill in the missing pieces of a photograph. This time, I am trying something else.

First, I went back & found a photo that I took some time ago of a friend of mine while we were in San Francisco (to see Owen Pallett!).


It is a simple picture, not that exciting, & probably would have been best if I'd have moved a bit, but at the time I was more like, "whoaaoaoaoaoaaooaoaaaa there are so many homes here & people & lives & things I will probably never know about & this is kind of insane". I liked it up there a lot. I remember being asked where would I live if practicality weren't an issue & I didn't have an answer because I wasn't sure what I wanted yet. I felt like my future was this big huge question mark & I wondered if the people I were with felt the same, but I didn't really want to ask at the time. I wanted to look & reflect & think.

The girl in this picture is really quite an awesome person & was really great to talk to during my big time horrible breakup (that now actually seems like nothing, a brief rough patch, isn't it weird how that happens?). Anyway, she is also quite creative & while I don't know what she sees for her future, I see something less ordinary.

So I decided to take this image & bring it around to what I saw & felt at that time. I chose embroidery as my medium, something that would look obviously handcrafted, possibly a little rudimentary.

So first, I needed to make a drawing. The photo was super detailed & while I did want to keep a good measure of details in, I wanted this to be a smaller scale image. Sometimes I feel like keeping things small is the best way to let people know these are only one of a zillion fleeting thoughts I have in a given day.


I went over my drawing with an Indian ink pen so it would be nice & dark. Then I simply found the right light, draped a piece of fabric over my sketchbook, & traced.


I am aware that there are iron transfer pens available, but I have always been bad at getting myself to draw mirrored versions of what I want, plus I feel that tracing allows another point where I can pause & make any alterations to the drawing. Currently, I am stitching away. The reason why it's taking so long is because I switched colors so much! I have to get my needle ready all over again with each new color.


It looks a little smooshed here because I decided to stick it in my parents' scanner instead of taking a picture & was lazy about it. There is still a lot to be done!

Warning: This is Unrelated to Everything Ever

So I'm not really the type of girl who is really into makeup. Perhaps it is some leftover trait from growing up as a bit of a tomboy, but I am the type to poke myself in the eye with eyeliner, sneeze while applying mascara, get lipstick on my teeth, & otherwise make big messes. As a result, I keep things simple, I pretty much try to use as close to nothing as possible.

But every now & again I do like to make an effort & the magical Sephora coupon in my inbox has made that so much easier! I picked up an eyeshadow from Makeup Forever, one of the aqua cream colors in number 11. It is so ridiculously amazing! Seriously, I can't even imagine how nice this would work for someone who actually knows how to apply makeup properly.

I want to use this shadow always & forever for nights out. If you're into makeup, you probably already know about these shadows, but if you are kind of inept like I am, I really recommend giving them a go. If I were to get another one, I'd pick up the silver & pretend to be Audrey Hepburn in How to Steal a Million.

Same but Different

Everyone knows that when it comes to clothes, I prefer classic styles. With these crocheted collars I was thinking way way way classic, possibly because I made them while reading, "Pride & Prejudice". I really like things that are impermanent too: adjustable, removable, able to be worn in different ways. So I decided to make something that would allow me to add a bit of ruffles & feminine detail to plainer outfits. After making one collar, I liked it so much that I decided to make another! There is even a third! Not pictured here, but it is cream colored like the first, but longer/looser like the second. I will probably keep just one as I have too much clothes & accessories to begin with. This means there could be another giveaway in the future, keep your eyes out!

On another note, a new year is approaching! Are you excited? I really am! I suppose if I had to sum 2010 up in one word, it would be, "Challenging". This is definitely not a bad thing, I love a good challenge & this year presented me with plenty! Towards the end of the academic quarter, I was feeling so stressed & inept at life in general, but now that things have calmed down, I can get a better perspective on everything. When I think about where I was at this time last year (in all facets) & compare it to this year, I feel like I've come really far & that I like where things are going. This year was so much about big choices: where to live for the next two years, which school to go to, who to keep contact with and which relationships have really become unhealthy & must be dropped. Since this is my blog for projects & because Ugly Bird is almost a year old (end of January!) now, I'll talk about just those things.

Starting this blog has been one of the better choices I've made. I started this blog a few months after the end of a serious relationship & upon being freshly enrolled in two art courses. With all the manic emotional nonsense, dedicated time to work, & instructors who were actually amazing at providing guidance & motivation, I produced more work than ever. More importantly, because of those teachers & because of the fact that I somehow have an audience here, I began to take it more seriously. I began to view my little projects as a way to say something & to communicate. For as long as I can remember, I have loved to make things, but I never saw much beyond, "I enjoy the feeling I have from creating, I like how it helps to clear my thoughts".

So this year, I had a few things up in an art show, I had a ceramics piece on display at my old school for the whole summer even though these are the kinds of things that ordinarily make me nauseous. In class, I realized that learning how to talk or write about your work is also incredibly important. Suddenly being asked, "why did you take these photos?", "why did you choose to create this piece", "why did you choose to execute this sketch & not the others?" was so confusing at first, but now I feel like being able to explain a bit just gives each piece more significance. It was so embarrassing to have photos projected for a class critique, but at the same time, I loved hearing other interpretations on them, even if it was hard to hear because I was usually trying to disappear into my scarf at the same time. I realize now that when I make these things & especially when I share them with others, it isn't about being seen, it's about being understood. I think feeling like others get what you mean is incredibly important. It's what stops us from being lonely & feeling crazy.

I hope that in 2011, I continue to create. That regardless of how long it takes me to finish one thing (school eats time), that thing is important to me. My goal is to tell stories, I would never call myself an artist, but I would definitely call myself a storyteller. I hope that you will understand & I hope you fill in the blanks with your own story & becomes something new & different.

& if you happened to catch the Vashti Bunyan reference in my title, ultimate kudos to you! If not, please enjoy this song:

A Kind of Collaboration

My stepmom is great at knitting (something I've never learned) and makes the most wonderful fingerless mitts! Every winter, she makes at least one new pair for me. They were always so perfect! Great for cold classrooms, playing guitar outdoors when it's chilly, taking photographs on cool mornings (I am one of those who likes to "feel" the controls). In Los Angeles (nearly 70 degrees in December um what?!?!?!!!), I get less use of them, but they are still great to have in the morning & evening when the sun isn't out. When I was visiting my family for Thanksgiving, my stepmom gave me the pair of mitts above, except they were plain & she suggested I crochet some type of decoration for them. My stepmom must be a little bit psychic because for the past few months, I have been obsessing over making little motifs from leftover yarn, but not knowing what to do with them.

So I whipped up two yellow circle-flowery things & stitched them to the mitts. Fast & easy! This took less time than it took me to watch the musical episode of Buffy (seriously, I watch this one episode about once a month), including time where I needed to stop what I was doing to wholeheartedly sing along with my favorite songs (um, everything with Giles!!!!!).

More Doodling

I'm quite fond of this little doodle, mostly because of the friend I was thinking of while drawing. It looks nothing like my friend, but I feel like this character is somehow familiar. It is also a slightly more realistic drawing than what I usually make, but still quite cartoonish & I feel it still fits in with my normal style. I don't really want to be stuck doing the same thing always, I love ugly birds, but we don't need a million identical ones!

Home.

Central valley, I have been missing you in the strangest ways. We will be reunited soon.

Me & the Moon

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to post this but then I decided, "oh why not? I post every other thing I make".

This is my cowboy song, it is what I would sing if I woke up one day to find myself in an old western. It does lose it's cowboyness quite early on, but to be fair, if I were actually in an old western, I would probably not be a cowboy. I drew out the last note as a kind of joke to myself. In my undergrad studies I took a singing class & there was one song in particular we did that I really loved except that we had to basically hold that last note foreverrrrrrrr, it made me cringe every time.

Another Envelope

Sometimes I feel like people should just not give me things. Things that are blank specifically, because they never stay that way for long. Every few weeks I get a nice, clean blank envelope from workplace with a magical paper inside telling me how many hours I worked for the pay period. The envelope is never quite as clean or nice by the time I get home, but luckily only the contents are important for my records.

Here is a doodle of a giraffe. It's hard to read my writing because it's cursive & split on the flap, but all it says is, "this giraffe was so proud of his long neck, he kept his chin up, up, & up". All the way into outer space! Although I think if I were a giraffe, I'd be pretty happy about it too!

Oh yes, & that plant in the background? Remember when I tried to grow some avocado pits? One of them never sprouted, but one of them took off like mad! My baby avocado plant is now two feet & five inches tall. I feel like a proud parent watching my plant grow, but then again, I've always been too sentimental.

Sometimes it's Good to be a Student

One thing that's amazing about being a student is of course, the student discount! Even better when the student discount makes your ticket price $0!

The other night, I got to see, "The Illusionist" & "Triplets of Belleville" which were screened by the film & television archive of my university. I'd already seen "Triplets of Belleville", but watching it again & in a theater (I've only watched it on televisions & computers) reminded me of how much I love that movie! "The Illusionist" was so so so so so so so wonderful as well although it did give me a bit of a problem with watery eyes toward the end.





So yes, I am recommending these two Sylvain Chomet movies, but I am also, more importantly recommending that if you are associated with a college in any way, find out what the school offers you! I'm really impressed by the student discounts and free admissions available just by waving that trusty student ID card around. Also keep in mind, that if you're a student, it's your fees that are funding these programs so you might as well take advantage!

A Little out of Place

I hope I fooled you into thinking I was going to make a "serious" painting! It is still the same stuff as ever.

Initially, I thought I was only making this image to tell a silly story, but then I looked back to when I first made this doodle in my planner which was way back on September 24th. I was meeting up with someone & arrived first so I decided to find a place to sit & wait since I didn't want to get lost & made this but in a tiny drawing version. Thinking about how I felt while waiting & just around that time in general, I feel like it is very much about feeling out of place. I was just as stunned & confused by the fact that I was somehow living in Los Angeles as I would be to open my teapot & find an ugly yellow bird living inside. I felt so out of place that I thought it was obvious & was halfway surprised that people weren't giving me strange looks, I so didn't belong there!

I included things that contrast. Something man made & something that is alive & in nature. Something soft inside of something rigid. A little out of place.

Tiny Flowers: Finished!

All done! Here is what that skirt looks like on someone standing in front of their closet. I wish I could have other people model my creations, anyone in Los Angeles up for posing? I can pay you in love & friendship!

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty confident about this pattern. It can be reproduced & altered pretty easily which is fantastic! If I were feeling more ambitious, I'd attempt to make something in other sizes for other people, but I'm so slow, I don't know if anyone would be patient enough to wait for something to be done!

I Don't Like Your Designs!

In the past, I have always gotten things done/been really productive, but I could never really explain how I managed & always felt quite rushed. I feel like a lot of this is because of all the millions of recommended ways to organize yourself, none of those fit me very well. Often with planners, the boxes are too detailed or too small or just not the way I want to view a month. The closest I came to a perfect solution in the world of planners was Moleskine's Weekly Notebook Planner which gives you a calendar on one side & a ruled page on the other. But then I would still carry around a sketch book for drawings & the rest of my ideas that didn't fit on the ruled page.

So I have decided that 2011 will be the year I organize on my own terms! I bought a notebook of blank sheets & stamped one day for each spread. This means that my "planner" is only good until the end of April, but it means that I can keep all my thoughts & reminders in one book. Having days labeled ahead of time means I can easily look forward to due dates. Plus, if I take one day at a time in life, why not do so in my planner?

The Start of Something

I started a painting the other day. For whatever reason, I find mixing colors simultaneously incredibly relaxing & thrilling! I also really like to leave chunky blobs on the canvas instead of painting them out smooth. Whenever I go to art museums, I tend to try & look at paintings from the side because I feel like texture is something you won't ever really notice unless you're there in person. Sometimes I feel a bit silly looking at paintings that way, but I don't think anyone really notices.

Where did the Time Go?!?!?

Remember a few months ago when I was all, "OMGzzzz don't expect me to post that much because I just moved & am all disoriented/busy!!!" (in my imagination, I am 3,000 times more obnoxious online than I am in real life).

I still managed to basically post at least once every three days, but now I have fallen short on that goal! Yikes! This is my life now: I am always in libraries, studying things about libraries so I can be on a computer writing papers about libraries. Libraries! Not complaining, I really enjoy my studies, but there are roughly two weeks left of instruction & then final everythings are due so I've been a little frazzled. I'm going to schedule a few posts tonight & hopefully things will be back to normal soon!

Another Project

I have a new blog up & running! It is a project with one of my most amazing friends who I miss all the time. A kind of communication project because we are often too busy to share the smaller details of what's going on & personally, those are the things I miss the most. To be able to see pictures from home & to share my own experiences with a close friend is something I'm really looking forward to!

Now I suppose we could always just email things to each other, but we are looking to see if it ends up being a type of story. If it does, it'll be a story you can follow too at No Postage Necessary

A Quote

I tend to hate quotes. I also tend to hate negative words like "hate", but really I think I don't like reading quotes because every quote I stumble across online is about men & how you don't need them or some kind of optimism encouraging thing. I love optimism, I encourage it, but I don't think it needs to be sugary sweet. I feel like my optimism isn't that flowery. I believe that everything will work out just fine, even if things initially seem to be going terribly, part of that is because I am a little bit superstitious & feel the universe is my friend. Mostly, I believe everything will work out just fine because I will make it that way & refuse to live a life that is anything short of amazing!

At any rate, I didn't intend to write about quotes, I wanted to share one that I came across while doing some research for my midterm papers (note: it has nothing to do with men or optimism):

"This fast food approach to information consumption drives librarians crazy. "Our information is healthier and tastes better too" they shout. But nobody listens. We're too busy Googling." ~ Peter Morville

I have been spending so much time thinking about information lately & I wonder at what point do people decide that the information they have is good enough even if it isn't the best? I am torn between loving & hating the internet because the internet allows us to search so many different resources, but it also makes us kind of lazy.

Personally, I feel that Googling works just fine when I want to know something trivial & I want to know it quickly. For example, I just saw an adorable picture of bunnies & thought, "I want a bunny! No, they poop too much. Why do bunnies poop so much?". So I went to Google, typed, "Why do bunnies poop so much?" & basically discovered common sense things.  Tiny animals = short digestive tract, high metabolism, who cares that's how it is. Question answered.

However, if for whatever reason, I were really trying to thoroughly study why bunnies poop so much, I wouldn't go to Google. But here is the sad part (shame on me), I would definitely first check the academic databases for online resources. I would search carefully, use every synonym I could think of & phrase it with Boolean logic. Once I'd exhausted those resources I would check for actual books because honestly, a lot of the time I'm like, "Uhhhhh where am I going to find the time to walk to school & then go to the library & that particular library is all the way in north campus (because sometimes my thoughts are incessantly whiny) & then I have to snoop around & check it out & bring it back, blerghghghg". Not to mention that working in libraries for so long kind of makes me feel like I don't want to be there on my days off the same way most people get tired of shopping at a store they work in.

Part of this is because during my undergrad days, our campus library was not really functional since it was under construction. We would request books online, have them brought over, & just picked them up at a desk like magic. No trying to reach impossibly high shelves or trying to remember when the library is actually open. I have somehow trained myself to think that online resources are good enough. That is bad. I am a library student & feel incredibly guilty about honestly just being to lazy to go to the library sometimes.

I"m sorry to go on some random library tangent, but am so curious! Is Google's information good enough for you? Online information in general? Is it that you feel your question has been fully answered as best as it can or is it that an extension of research is a bit more work than you'd like to put in?

I guess my answer would be a little bit of both. Regardless, next time I need to research something less frivolous than bunny poop, I am putting on my walking shoes & heading to the library.

In Progress: Lining, Zippers & Hems

I feel like although this skirt is taking an incredibly long time to make, it's actually pretty fast work. Generally, the only thing preventing me from getting this done is the lack of time to work. I've been somehow magically balancing school, work, dating, making new friends, volunteering, maintaining this blog & crafting so I can't quite dedicate as many hours to my personal craft projects as I used to because really, I feel creating some kind of home/life here is more important right now. My biggest fear is currently that I will get sick (totally throws off my time management skills) or that one of these things will just fall apart due to things beyond my control. Of course, I am hoping winter break will be craft time to the max! Hello, my hometown is hours away, just think of how much crocheting can happen on the road!

In the meantime, I am fitting things in where I can. I had a free hour last week so I managed to sew the lining in & do a top-stitch, put in the zipper (note: image #1 proves how inept I am at zippers, look at all those pins!), & start putting on some hem tape (although I didn't get to finish). The end of the quarter is getting so close so things are getting crazy, but my next steps are finishing that hem, giving the skirt a wash, & doing some final fittings!

Salvador Plascencia's, "The People of Paper"

Time to go off topic again, because today I feel like talking about books, not crafts.

I read this book not too long ago, but it has been following me around since then. I can't even properly mention what it's about as I feel it's about a lot of things & none of those things follow a linear plot very well, nor did they need to. There is a story of a surgeon who makes origami organs from paper. There is an immigrant story. There is a story about a saint who decides to live the life of a luchador instead of something more holy. There are so many stories about failed relationships.

Mostly it is a book about incredible sadness which is probably why the feelings from reading linger much longer than the details of the various plots. This book may not break your heart, but it will make you feel that way regardless. The book also makes you fully aware that you are only reading a book, which in a way made me feel silly for being so invested. It reminds you that there is an author, that the characters, to you, exist only on those pages. It makes you aware of how you are holding the book as you read.

In Progress: Tiny Flowers

I'm still really obsessing over tiny details in the clothing I make. This time I let my sewing machine do most of the work, using one of those fancier stitches to add some decoration to the waistband of what will hopefully end up being a fuller, a-line skirt. I am using a pattern I made based on the one I created for my last sewing project, bringing the lines out & away from the body rather than keeping them close.

I also took a visit to Mood to get the lining for this skirt & was blown away by the sheer amount of fabric in that store! I really wanted to go at least one time for the simple pleasure of pretending to discuss my fabric choices with Tim Gunn. Next time I go fabric shopping, I'll probably go somewhere cheaper, but I'll definitely remember where Mood is when I need something special! I will leave you with this video clip that explains why I loved Project Runway more than any other competition reality show:

Winner!

The random number generator declared comment #5 to be the winner which was left by Stephanie!

Stephanie, please send me an email (turning.into.gold@gmail.com) with your mailing address & I will get that package sent as soon as possible!

 

Thanks so much to everyone who entered, I'd really like to do one of these again in the future!

Far Away Hearts & Minds Skirt

All done! Finished my last fittings late one night. My favorite proportions for clothing are things which come in close at the waist, but since this was my own design, I got to leave ample space for wider hips. Take that, commercial designs! Thanks for the nice comments on the "in progress" post for this skirt, it really motivated me to hurry up & finish!

Tentative Pages: Love & Letting Go

I'm never sure if it's a good idea to share work in progress, but I did make some time to work on layouts in Blurb.

A Tale of Two Teas

Tea is wonderful & therefore, it is often in my daydreams. An ode to two of my favorite treats, boba & orchid flower loose leaf, vastly different, but both delicious!

I Want This to be Yours: An Ugly Bird Giveaway!

I've never tried something like this (giveaways), but once upon a time I went to this really great store called Yarns Unlimited in Santa Monica & picked up some yarn & buttons. I made a neckwarmer to send to a friend of mine, but ended up having enough material to make two! So as a way to say, "thanks for taking interest in my little projects", I would like to send this one to a reader.

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me where you would fly off to if someone offered you use of their hot air balloon for the day. I will use a random number generator to choose a winner at the beginning of November, so you have until midnight of October 31st to submit something. One entry per reader only please!

Pieces

Ever since I made that afghan, I've been way into the idea of making things that consist of a bunch of separate pieces that are joined together somewhere along the way. This was actually finished quite some time ago, but I never got around to posting about it. Anyway, I found a very beautiful pattern online for a cowl here, but I didn't actually follow it. Not because I didn't like it, but because sometimes I get weird about things on my neck & wanted something quite a bit looser & a bit more casual since I tend to dress so fussy already. So basically, I studied the pattern & ended up with something following the gist of it, but a bit different. Anyway, if you do choose to follow the pattern, I think it'll look wonderful & be a fun project as the pattern is very clear & easy to keep up with! Plus there are other really cute patterns on that site, I kind of want to make this, not for bridal purposes, but just because I think it would be fun to wear a garter.

Mailers

One of my favorite things about having moved & having friends who have recently moved further up north is that I can send things like these all over California!

Oh How I Miss the Great Outdoors!

I keep visiting gardens in my spare time (the above are from the Mildred E. Mathias garden right on UCLA's campus) to feel a little more calm, but the very planned, manicured feel just isn't cutting it. Nothing sounds more appealing to me right now than camping. Or Big Sur.

Anyway, Hannah Kirk wanted to see a picture of the library, so I went to a very pretty one:

In Progress: Love & Letting Go

It's been quite some time since I updated about, "Love & Letting Go". As I mentioned before, while this project is similar to "Plant Collectors in Bolivia" except instead of piecing together bits of words from years & years, it would be an edit as you go, one year project. The name was chosen in May & is proving to be an accurate theme for the kind of year I've been having. When I chose the title, I didn't know I was going to move yet, I think I was still seriously considering online school because of the cost factor. But here I am & I find myself needing to let go of a whole mess of things in order to get on here.

Love & letting go are so linked, they are part of each other. I, like many people in the world, am prone to falling in love. Not necessarily in the romantic relationship kind of way, that has only happened once, but rather in every other way. I fall in love with the world, with someone's laugh, with the way the light is coming in at that window over there, with the wind, with the way certain books smell. Nothing is forever & these tiny things that are so easy to fall in love with are gone quickly. My heart is broken a thousand times a day, but it isn't something to be sad about. We all love, we all let go, we do it constantly, every day & I think that is the most endearing & wonderful thing we can do.

I Want a Workspace!

a friend's temporary workspace

One thing that was really awesome about taking an art class in school was access to a studio. Floors that were meant to be mopped at the end of the day so you needn't panic about spills, tables that were large, uncluttered, ready for anything you had in mind. Because of the fact that I live in an apartment & am not an art student, my workspace is always very temporary. I pick my keyboard & mouse off my desk & lay out newspaper there, or I take my work on the road. Crocheted things can be done in parks, on the bus, in a cafe. Painting can be done outdoors, but is more difficult to manage. Sewing is most restrictive, I am attached to an outlet for my machine. Music is relatively portable as well, luckily I am not a pianist or something.

But still, a permanent workspace would be so wonderful! I feel it would be conducive to bringing together all the different mediums I like to work with if they could somehow be allowed to be out all together at once.

For those of you who create, where do you do it? How do you deal with the necessity of a place to work?

Shakespeare is not Amused, Ugly Bird!

Work was a little slow tonight so I spent a few minutes doodling on the back of an envelope I received from payroll. It is no t-shirt, but here is a picture of a bird on Shakespeare's head. Excuse the picture quality, my cellphone doesn't have the best camera.

In Progress

This project is mostly done, but not quite. Everything is put together, but I just need to do some fitting. I like to sew a garment a little large, put it through the wash to see if it'll shrink much, & then do a few final alterations to make sure it fits. With this skirt, I created a pattern on paper, which was the first time I've ever tried that. Usually when I sew things without a pattern, I just make it up as I go, but this time, I decided I would like to be able to make the item again or at least that I would like to have a pattern to work off & make small alterations to in order to create new patterns. It worked out a lot better than I was expecting, so you should expect to see my next sewing projects be a lot of skirts. When I saw this fabric, I instantly was reminded of a man's button down shirt so my brain was on this office wear trip, but then I really like things to be feminine & was having a conversation about the importance of details with a friend of mine so I thought adding some crochet work to the skirt would be a good idea.

One side note, Wordpress stats are really amusing & today I discovered that one of the top searches to bring people here has been, "t-shirt with bird on shakespeare's head". I think I might like to make a drawing of a bird on Shakespeare's head very soon.

A Bit of Housekeeping

I have a few tiny statements to make in regards to Ugly Bird. First, the "About" section was a bit outdated so I made a few changes there although not much because I really hate filling in, "about" on profiles, it always feels strange!

Next, I want to mention that if you want a link to your blog or website posted on my sidebar, do let me know! Do not worry if your site has nothing to do with crafting, most of those do not. In fact, I think most of them are people I've internet known since the days of Livejournal (yes!) Hardly anyone I know in real life blogs, but those are there too.

Finally, you should probably expect a bit of a slowdown in posts here soon. I am no longer unemployed & have just started grad school so I will not have quite as much time or energy to work on these projects. I am still a bit backlogged with things I have done before moving, but those will be winding down eventually. To those of you in my sidebar, I wish I could read & comment on your posts with as much frequency as I have in the past. I still love reading your posts & will try my best to stay up to date!

Just a Few Journal Pages

Doodling & playing with paint is fun which is why I recommend keeping a journal in which to do these things. A place to play, to not worry about things looking nice or interesting or even remotely creative, but to just have fun! I no longer have access to a scanner :( so I am having to take pictures of these pages which doesn't look quite as nice, but whatever.

A tiger who doesn't like to get wet, but still likes the rain

A request to the wind

Lion Brand's, "Easy Sideways Hat"

Easy is a very accurate way to describe this pattern, it is so easy & quick to complete. I was able to finish it in the span of one movie (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari if you were curious) which is perfect! It's kind of a ribbed pattern which is great for making gifts because it can stretch to fit larger heads if you aren't sure how to big to make the cap. I used one of Vanna's Choice yarns for this hat, I love her colors so much! The pattern can be found here.

Fly Away

Another small, simple embroidery in the hoop. I have always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon despite being terrified of heights. Something about the colors, the way they seem to travel so smoothly, makes me think that being way up in the air wouldn't be scary at all, kind of like how being in a plane feels more exciting than, "oh gosh, why am I next to a cloud?!?". Anyway, my fantasies of hot air balloon flight will have to be restricted to stitches in cloth for now.

10 Things I Did Not Expect About Moving to LA

Hello, new university, you are pretty

The last time I moved prior to this was about twelve years ago, I was about to start the sixth grade. Moving when you are a kid is incredibly easy even though I clearly recall being severely annoyed about the whole thing. At any rate, it's easy, you are not responsible for anything too serious, you are super adaptable, it is easy to make friends at that young age because elementary school forces you to interact with about thirty kids everyday, some of them are bound to take a shine to you. Moving as an adult is different, a little more lonely, tiny bits more stressful, but (in my opinion at least) considerably more exciting. I'm not much of a list maker, but I do recognize it's usefulness in helping to organize your thoughts. Here are ten things that totally surprised me about moving to Los Angeles:

1. That's a lot of cargo space! I have to say I am incredibly impressed at the available space in a Honda CR-V. Moving trucks & regular truck rentals are ridiculously expensive, so we loaded up the Honda. For about a month, all I could think of was, "How am I going to fit everything in that car?!?!?!" Yes, I did leave lots of things at home with my parents, but I did manage to take kitchen things, bathroom things, & bedroom things with me (& yes, the craft supplies!). My room here feels full, I have not yet missed anything that is not with me, so I'm still pretty impressed.

2. Anxiety: I knew there was going to be some reaction in me resulting from the sudden change in location/home life, but I had no clue what that reaction would be; apparently, being a bit anxious & worrying about really idiotic things was it. One bug in the bathroom made my imagination create a major bug infestation & resulted in a serious cleaning spree. The sound of sirens made me imagine streets filled with all crime all the time before realizing that there is actually a big hospital nearby & yes, ambulances use sirens too. Much of this anxiety has passed now which is great although it does mean I have less silly anecdotes to tell my friends.

3. Oh, so this card is basically useless? The credit/debit machines at UCLA often have trouble with small banks. By trouble, I mean, they will not work. You have been warned!

4. UCLA: Well I was expecting UCLA, I had seen UCLA, my reason for being here is UCLA, but the campus blows my mind every time I take a visit. UCLA certainly has more of a collegiate, academia, knowledge center feel than the university I attended previously. Powell library is so beautiful, walking around in there gave me watery eyes. Or maybe that was because my shoes were very uncomfortable which leads me to my next point

5. Aughghghg, my feet! Whyyyyyy?!?! Where I come from, walking is not so popular. Streets are wide, sidewalks are lacking, public transportation is a joke, it's car city. Therefore, I never noticed that so many of my shoes are good for moderate walking, but not a lot of walking. & I have been doing a lot of walking! I love walking, walking feels great. In fact, the lack of walking I previously experienced caused me to be a pacer which was a bother to my stepmom because apparently someone walking around in circles repeatedly can drive others batty. There is a lot to see so I often don't realize how much walking I've been doing. Until of course, I stop. Whenever I would stop walking, I would realize how much my feet hurt & how much I hated my shoes. Have you ever seen, Tokyo! ? There is a short film in it called, "Merde", in my imagination, that is how I look when I am ready to be done walking for the day. However, Dr. Scholl's moleskin has banished those pains! If I were in the 7th grade, I would be writing "Dr. Scholl" in my notebook surrounded by hearts, that is how much I love this product.

6. Me talking a lot! I am not the world's most outgoing person, I am in fact, far from it. However, I am on my way to becoming the master of small talk. Initially, I felt so lonely that I just started blabbing to anyone. Grocery store clerks, people in the elevator, people who had cute dogs, anyone! This may very well be the year I finally outgrow my shyness.

7. Other people talking to me a lot. Sometimes, when I have exhausted myself from small talk, I am amazed when other people decide to start talking to me.  At In-n-Out (mmmmmm), counter guy is like, "oh I notice you are carrying a book, what are you reading?" which was a longer conversation than the people behind me in line would have liked. While getting a bowl of noodles, counter boy is like, "Oh I notice you are looking through some photographs, are you into photography?" which is really nice! Or maybe fast food workers in my neighborhood are just really friendly.

8. Hey, who turned on all the lights?!?! Mega light pollution unlike anything I've experienced. Night hardly feels like night which is really strange to me.

9. I love not having a car! In the good old central valley, there are lots of open areas to explore, one of my favorite things to do was to get a few friends together & just go driving around in the middle of nowhere. When visiting San Francisco, I would always take the BART & the bus because driving in that city is insane. But I had no idea that Los Angeles had a pretty extensive bus system as well, here I am enjoying a lovely beverage at a cafe that I reached via bus super easily! Bus riding also makes for great people watching, I hope to get better at figuring it all out soon.

10. To really like it here. I don't know if Los Angeles & I are familiar enough for me to say I love it here, but I have been having a lot of fun since moving down. This place is growing on me, which is probably the most unexpected thing.

Valley Queen

A little song that actually derived from the name of a street. I tend to hum little nonsense melodies to myself & this is what my brain was doing when I saw the street sign. It kind of ended up being about all these girls I knew in the central valley who always seemed to be doing really well, how lots of people say they can't wait to leave, but wondering if they will be just as successful anywhere else.

Also mainly the idea of how being in a place (mentally or physically) where you feel really safe, but maybe by taking all this comfort, you're maybe sacrificing your ambitions or other goals without even realizing it. I was pretty set on staying in town for a while because it is so familiar & I loved the connections I had with people & let myself ignore the fact that LA presented many more chances for me to follow the career I wanted.

Anyway, I don't know if that makes much sense, but there you go!

Again With the Afghan!

It's actually all done now, I just haven't really had any good opportunities to take a snapshot of the completed blanket! Here are a few pictures of my afghan in progress. This was the point where I realized it was finally looking like a blanket instead of some mishmash of squares! I've linked to the pattern several times before, but if you would like to know where I found it, ask away!