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Spill Guts Here. It's gotta go somewhere, know what I mean? Can you stand it?
purls before swine
Geek Knitting
West Indian Parade
West Indian Parade
Dog/Cat Wrestling
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4.26.2004
 4.25.2004
 Exactly 50% serious, and 50% satirical. I do think this display/layout is funny. I'll knit a swatch of those numbers next week. 4.23.2004
Oh Shit! I finished the article, plus examples. This was like pulling teeth with a string and a doorknob. I developed this system of pattern transcription and design over 20 years ago, and have only done it mentally for all this time. It was hard as fuck to put it into words and describe but... I did it! I'm buying myself something nice today. Hopefully, what I wrote will make sense to other living, knitting beings.
Math is Hard, Let's go Shopping! {thank you to the Simpsons} The shop is now carrying tee shirts for men, women and children that say {front} Better Karma... {back} Vote Kerry. You will be able to buy these online in a few days. This is important to me. They're silkscreened with love by Rebecca Breckel, a local artist, using non-sweatshop, 100% cotton tees. $30, plus $3. shipping anywhere in the US. Colors and sizes available shortly. I wore mine yesterday, and will again today, {didn't sweat much}. I love it when people use their children to promote political agenda. hehe 4.22.2004
Uh, knitting is easy, writing is hard :-<. Finishing up my article {due yesterday} on knitting pattern transcription using numerical sequences. If it gets published, will mention it here. Late for work. *sigh*
4.19.2004
Felt infinitely better after letting those birds out of their early grave. Got a return phone call from my landlord about how upset he was about it. Uh huh.
Road my bike around in a tshirt, no jacket, doing errands, buying gardening supplies, eating a leisurely lunch in the sun in an unfamiliar neighborhood. It was a beautiful day. After 2 years of a backyard filled with construction garbage, my landlord finally hauled out most of it, and I got my piece of dirt to plant!! I estimate it's about 15 x 15, pretty big, but not too big, very sunny. I spent a quiet late afternoon with the dog out there, combing broken glass, doll parts, chunks of plaster, plastic bags, tin cans, wood and other chunky debris out of the dirt. Happily surprised to find some earthworms, read that's a good sign of soil health. Cut down a totally dead tree with a hacksaw, it was so dead I actually pulled the trunk {about as thick as my calf} out of the ground by hand, no roots left at all. Chopped the rest into managable, throwawayable pieces. Great stress relief. Planting the fragrant flowering tree {forgot the name} I bought last year back there in it's place, it's now in a pot at the studio building making new green leaves. Not much else survived the winter, except the burgundy clematis, which is doing fine. Grape vine dead, must be replaced. My plot is in the back of the yard, with a huge chain link fence and a parking lot on the other side {it's a quiet one}, planting ivy and flowering vines there against the fence. 2 new artists joined us at the studio building this month! Adam Stennett, who paints wonderful photorealistic pictures of mice, and Steve Riley, a British jewelery designer. Happy, happy about it. It's going to be an interesting summer. Going to a textile trade show tommorrow afternoon: PrintSource. Have heard for a long time it's great. Will pursue knit development contacts, in case I want to do that again on the side, and just get inspired in general... If you love fashion enough to have read this far, hoping to mine some nuggets not related to my rollercoaster living situation or mental disturbances, here's a sweet treat for you: ZoomLookBook.
Went up this am to the roof and opened the hatch, I figured it probably wasn't as safe to do that in the dark. Lots of birds came flapping out. Fuck. It stunk of bird shit, and was pretty hot in there.
I just want to relax and enjoy my day off, and do what I want/need to, not do humanitarian animal rescue cleanup after those creepmares.
A bit of an emergency going on here tonight. After leaving a scaffolding in front of my windows for over 2 months for a 1 week job, the scumbag "contractors", who also run the shitty bodega downstairs, have sealed up the holes that have been in the cornice of the building, but not removed the dozens, if not hundreds of pigeons living in the space between my ceiling and the roof. They've been living there for a few years, at least, there are piles and piles of feathers, droppings, nests, parasites, broken eggs, and live birds. I was relaxing tonight, after getting the scaffolding finally removed, when I heard banging above my ceiling, the birds trying to get out.
This is appalling. I called my landlord, who's suddenly on vacation till the 26th. He knows damn well those birds are there. We discovered them last year. The creeps who did the work are from Bangladesh, perhaps life or animals starved to death above your head mean nothing there. I hate those assholes. I've been on the phone with city agencies of all descriptions for over 2 hours, getting passed back and forth. Last resort is to call the ASPCA when they open up in the morning. I'm getting ready to climb up on the roof and see if I can open the trap door to let some of them out, it's after midnight, and I can't sleep with the trapped ones banging above my head. Jesus, what incredible, disgusting lowlifes. I'm going to pursue this legally as far as I can take it. 4.17.2004
Went to the re-opening of the Brooklyn Museum tonight with friends, it was the re-opening after over three years of renovation work. Am completely inspired and full up with beautiful images, like a fat, wet sponge. My main goal was to see the Alexis Rockman, {again, sorry, I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but when any finally appear online, I'll happily link to them} mural, "Manifest Destiny", which depicted Brooklyn three thousand years from now, completely underwater, oh god what a masterpiece. We saved it for last, and stood in front of it in wonder at it's gorgeousness, went away for a snack, and came back and looked at it again. When we first got there, we wandered through a fantastic Patrick Kelly retrospective, so '80's it was painful. Then, briefly cutting through the shop, we saw Rockman signing books, I was too shy to say anything, the only time I'm shy is if I have extreme respect for someone's talent, believe me, that's somewhat rare. The book was too heavy to buy and carry around as we just got there, otherwise, I would have gotten one signed. He is a great, great artist. Deeply considered, painstakingly researched work combined with extraordinary imagination, a beautifully realized conception, masterfully painted.
The rest of the new work consisted of many artists from Brooklyn, for some reason, although we saw many exquisite pieces, MANY of them, the overriding theme seemed to be Obsessive Compulsive Disorder writ large. Although I consider myself an artist, and make textiles, I had no respect for the textile pieces there, I can't explain why, they seemed like dumb rags, and I've thrown away hundreds of more interesting "pieces". Maybe textiles really aren't art, in my opinion. Maybe I just have to accept that I feel that way. Part of it is also that I know how to make so many different types of things, that if I can understand the technical process, it bores me, and unless it's used in a novel or very clever or intelligent way, I'm just not impressed. Obviously, this is just my problem, but it's why I never pursued an "art" career, I just don't believe in it for my output, and that's more than half the battle. Giant salsa dance party there on the third floor, had waves of happiness being in Brooklyn, right here, right now. 4.15.2004
Oh man, am I happy! There's a Japanese restaurant opening half a block away on Washington Avenue, I just found out tonight, renovations are almost done! And the people building it are very interesting looking Japanese people with waist long dreads. I've seen them around the hood, I wonder if it's some type of Asian rasta cult? This is more than a bit bizarre because Washington Avenue has only Jamaican jerk places, or hideous third world bodegas {like the one I live above, NASTY}. No nice restaurants, especially Japanese. WooHoo! My obsessions are coming to me, how convenient. :-> This will also keep the crack dealers/heads off that corner.
What I'm making for the shop this week: Satin wrist length gloves with velvet ribbon, coral and pearl decoration. This is the first pair to test out the materials mix. It works. Have the gloves in about 16 colors, will be using many types of semi-precious stones and various colors and applications of the velvet ribbon. It's a nice mental change to do some handsewing.
I have a problem: is there anyone reading this blog that can translate Japanese for me? I got an email back from someone in Japan, thier website was in both languages, so I emailed them in English. They wrote back in Japanese. I tried copy and paste and Babelfish to translate, but my Mac doesn't copy the Japanese characters, it turns them into nonsense. I may try to make a web page with the text of the email and try translating that, but again, how the hell do I get the Japanese characters to stay that way? I know I don't have some plugin or similar. Damn it!
Please email me if you can help me out, and I'll forward the email to you, staceyatredlipstickdotnet. Thank you very much! There is a treat from the shop in it for you! 4.13.2004
I had an extraordinarily fun day today! Despite the rain, I decided to indulge my growing fascination with all things Japanese and "Cawaii" {cute}. I have to admit, {although as soon as I do it'll probably pass}, that I've been trapped by the sentimental treacle, I can't resist the appalling cuteness. It's *so* fucking hardcore, and I love that.
During coffee this am, I treated myself to monthly subscriptions to both "Fruits" and "Super Cawaii!" Japanese magazines. Then, I did what I planned to do on this day off, which was immerse myself in the Japanese culture available to me in the the city, which is considerable. I also wanted to walk many blocks for exercise, so I got the umbrella, put on my green Pumas and hit the subway. Midtown was actually beautiful in the mist. Walked past the Norma Kamali shop and saw a fabulous handknit white cotton lace, bobble and cable dress in the window. I wished I had brought my camera then, but I didn't feel like carrying it today. First stop: Midtown & Takashimaya. This is a multi-story high-end Japanese department store on 55th and 5th. I haven't visited in a few years, and last time I did, I was deeply in awe. Well, not really this time. It served to remind me how conservative Japanese culture can be, which I forgot, always just wallowing in the pop aspect of it, {by choice}. It's me that's changed, because this time I knew most of the Asian brands {which I've been researching}, I knew how to make alot of the clothing and jewelery in there, I just wasn't impressed, but disappointed, although the gardening dept. was charming. Almost bought a bright yellow nylon wheelie thing for $85., but didn't because it wouldn't fit into the basket of my bike. So I moved on down Fifth Avenue to 49th Street: Minamoto Kitchoan, a fancy Japanese gourmet sweet shop. Got a green tea log cake to share with my customers tommorrow, a cherry preserved in a lump of clear jelly, and a bean cake. {Gave my friend Merry the jelly cherry, she told me she had a really shitty day when I ran into her on the way home tonight}. Then my favorite and the highlight of the day, also on 49th street: Kinokuniya, a huge, incredible Japanese bookstore. Spent about an hour and a half there, what a luxury for me {unfettered time}. Many fashion magazines, knitting books, design books, on and on. Had an iced coffee and a piece of chestnut cake at the cafe. Handsome older Japanese man started a conversation with me there, and I got scared and ran away. Regretting that now, but I was in my own world today, and not expecting it. Bought 2 toy character making books, one for crochet, the other sewn:   Saw even more fingerknitting books, these had PATTERNS! really freaking weird. I'm very disturbed that the authors of those books refuse to use needles, like it's some type of virtue to be able to make a scarf with your fingers. Then I saw the most astonishing book there...Since I started working on the Knitting for Dogs book, I've been hyperaware of all things Dog. There was a large book on a table with an extremely cute puppy on the cover, so I picked it up and started thumbing through. About halfway through, I realized I was actually physically slackjawed in amazement. It was Cute Puppy Porn. What I mean by that, is that this book contained photos and {Japanese} text of each of the dog breeds, but the pictures were only of very young puppies, gauzily shot, and obviously worked over by a Zen Photoshop Master. Each dog, no matter the breed, looked like an anime' character, overly large eyes, extraordinarily expressive, helpless face, sentimental, baby posture. Yet done very, very subtly. I am still traumatized by this book. I would have bought it, but it was over $40., and I hesitated. If I have a good week at the shop, I'm going back to get it. It's really unbelievable. If I get it, I'l scan in some shots. You won't believe it. I'm going to have nightmares tonight of those live anime' puppies eating my intestines. Ate sushi to counteract my chestnut cake stomach-ache, and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for items for the shop in the Garment District with renewed eyes. Last stop: Koreatown in the thirties, and Opane {website does not do this spectacular place justice, although you can get your chinese horoscope, or find out Words That Should be Avoided When Talking to Your Boyfriend or Girlfriend}, recently mentioned to me by my friend Zanne as a major Hello Kitty emporium {yes, I know about the Sanrio shop on 42nd, no time today}. I was loaded down with paper shopping bags, and it was still raining, so I was forced to get this waterproof shoulderbag there:  Remember this as a photo poster in the '70's? They actually had a live cock-a-poo puppy inside the shop, being played with by two of the shopgirls, wearing a striped sweater, and doing very precocious things. It had it's own plump pillow to hang out on, but was rolling over, sitting and being unbearable cute. I bought Korean red lipstick for myself, puffy stickers, and have seaweed facial on from there even now as I type. Deery Lou notebooks and pads:  She's my favorite character since Keri Keropi {the frog} apparently got the axe, or maybe run over by a semi in the rain, thereby ending his career. Perhaps I'm going insane. 4.08.2004
How We Learn, and Why We Don't. Super interesting post, and a {side} field of study for me in general. I knew my brain functioned differently from how it was expected to a very early age, and am constantly on the lookout for clues and info regarding same. Decided to forgo college at the traditional age to not be "mentally crushed, molded or sidetracked from natural development". Has worked out really well! Never regretted it. Seems like in the past few years there is much more cognizance/acceptance/tolerance of the differences people exhibit in learning, as opposed to the intellectual trajectory everyone was expected to conform to while I was coming up {although that still exists in full force}.
Got a big box of Hello Kitty Jellys and Chewies, lemonade flavored bubble gum, milky caramels and other Japanese candy in today. I swear, they were ridiculously overwrapped, each different kind first in 3 large pieces of taped paper, then surrounded by foam peanuts, then in a box, then bubble wrap, then a bigger box, like Russian eggs! What a waste of wrapping materials! I hate that. Got a mouthful of it now. What I really want to get for the shop is Hello Kitty tampons and condoms, but they're nowhere to be found in this country or on the net. Not a even mention. If anyone is going to Japan, will you get me some? Found Hello Kitty vibrators, but don't want those, they look more than a little scary. }:-O Store is full of the most beautiful spring clothes, tissue weight jerseys, striped halter dresses, beaded flowered shells with cutouts, yellow medallian tops and other lightweight stuff. Then it rained *again* this afternoon. And got cold again. Will it never be spring? On the second round of living hyacinths, so it's spring inside, at least. 4.06.2004
Spent yesterday and today in pjs, writing an article about knitting and numbers, knitting example swatches, eating and napping with small animals, not talking.
Oh, how sweet it is. Especially the not talking. Have many errands I should be running, laundry, bank, grocery, don't give a shit. And I owe many of you a return email, will write tommorrow, many thanks for your patience, it's not personal. There just have to be some days where my output is not verbal. 4.03.2004
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