Chewed up and spit out by craft fairs!

I've been craftin' like a maniac. Some crafting of my own (I love you Dresssew!), but also major proxy crafting by way of others. This town is awash in craft fairs! A few of the fairs have been smaller, community-run kind of deals, but a couple larger fairs have been showcasing local and national craft talent, with lots and lots of opportunity for buying! The best to date have been:

Make It Vancouver! K, you should definitely go to the Edmonton Make It this coming weekend!
Got Craft?  This one was great and I picked up a number of gifts (thank goodness! Too much shopping for me under the guise of holiday shopping!)

And a few of the fabulous finds at the various sales:

• Amazing matted fabric scarves or neck warmers that are worn as necklaces, made by Giulia Fatica. Gorgeous pieces, each one unique. My friends and I huddled around her table for almost a half hour picking out pieces for each other. 

• Cutest ever felt creatures by Him Creations including thumb-size owlets and mohawked brown fuzzy guys. 

• Beautiful head pieces by A Farmer's Daughter that may be over the top, but are also totally fabulous and look striking.
  

I'm gearing up for one last round this weekend with my sister, at Portobello West. I have a few more things to pick up for gifts, and then I'm totally tapped out by the craft fair bonanza for the season. This is nothing like heading down to the SAAG with my mom one cozy afternoon in December as we did when we were young. Definitely my love of craft was inspired by the gift shop there and the beautiful creations made by local artists, but the craft fair season of a larger city like Vancouver is... overwhelming to say the least. But fun! And ephemeral! It passes. So you've got to get it while it's hot. On to Portobello!

Best. Night. EVER.

LOMAH has apparently satisfied his urge to up his post rate for November and is going to retreat to semi-retirement again this month (allegedly!). But I had a couple more posts up my sleeve that I didn't get to air before yesterday - oops - so I'll post them this week. Including this one!

Best Night EVER!
Karaoke with the crew! Friends from my school program have been organizing random karaoke nights over the past couple years, and while I initially was repulsed at the idea, it turns out it's the most fun thing you've ever done in your whole entire life of fun things done with amazing people all over the world and in your hometown and in the mountains and in your bedroom. Seriously. Want some evidence? Oh I'll give you evidence!

Yes, that's a tamborine, and that's a beer; two things that make the world a better place to be. Yes, I'm singing.

You almost don't need a caption on this one, right? You already know that's yours truly giving her guts to Alannah Myles' Black Velvet - and rawking it, I must say!

Would the night be complete without a little Paula Abdul? Hells no!

 
And there was dancing on the tables, oh yes there was!

Rocco channeling Curt Cobain, to great acclaim. Nasty, nasty wig provided by own of the more forward thinking karaoke conspirators.

The picture that captures the entire evening in a glimpse. Divine.

I drank so much beer and normally would have been under the table early in the night, but instead after karaoke we retreated again to F&H's place for our own private dance party. It's true, one of the group tells tales of waking up mid-morning to puke violently, but otherwise I think we all survived. Survived to live another day, to sing another song. To karaoke.  

Lols

I know. It's really only funny to me.

You've seen this right? Jesus, you've really gotta see this if you haven't seen this. See this.

Quit while you're ahead

I'm in a book! I've co-authored a couple articles on comfort in built environments (i.e., can operable windows and control over building heating make you a more happy, productive, and obedient employee?) with a team of solid academics at UBC. Ray Cole, our lead author, is like a king in green architecture, so we knew the articles would get some play. In fact both articles had been commissioned from him and I was just lucky enough to become a co-author, almost by chance.

It turns out that one of the special issues has been printed as a book, published by Routledge! I had no idea this was coming, and neither did my supervisor, so we were both surprised to find bound hard copies on our respective desks this week. Yeehaw! When we met yesterday we shared a "what the hell?" moment of surprise, then I suggested that I've made it and I should be free to quit the PhD now. Strangely he agreed...maybe I should be looking for a new supervisor?

Guys, I really think this is gonna be a bestseller. You knew me when!

Cozy crafting

Inspired by a friend who recently made a gorgeous softshell jacket all by himself, I undertook a craft project recently to make a dress that's been in my head for months.

Here are some pics of the finished dress. The fabric is a fairly heavy sweatshirt material, and the pockets are lined with navy microfleece that I had lying around because I thought four layers of the sweatshirt fabric would be super bulky. I wasn't planning on pockets for this dress but the pattern I used for a base had pockets, and now I'm glad I dared because they pockets turned out really well and in the future I'll be less afraid to add such details. The bottom and sleeve hems are raw in the hope that they will curl up with wear the way old sweatshirts do. The neck edging is totally made up by me and looks a bit shoddy if you ask me. The final overall look is definitely homemade, but what more was I expecting, having not sewed from a pattern in 15 years? I'll probably wear it around a bit for casual days, but ultimately it's not the dress that I had imagined it could be. At the very least it's got me sewing again, and I learned a lot from doing it, so bring on future projects (and forgive my cheesy posing!)!

A tale of two films

This first one is circulating on f*&$book, so some of you may have seen it already. It's worth watching; it's beautiful.



The second film is a kind of response to the first. It's less beautiful, maybe, and more wonderful, definitely.



I like the second one more simply because the man in the second film is far less creepy and sinister than the man in the first film. There's something to be said for simply being who you are, warts and puke, n' all.