Stitch Rabbit

Fun Times With Great Friends

Well that was fun! We shot the cowls for about five hours yesterday and walked away with about a million amazing pictures. A million thanks to my friends to help me get this done!

Lessons I learned in just one day of shooting product:

 

1. My friends are naturals in front of the camera. I am not. Shift your wait, move around, stop squinting.

adam & michelle

 

2. You may think you and your Iphone take amazing photos, but when you have a real camera, and a guy who knows how to use it, amazing things can happen.

adam

 

3. Light reflectors are so cool.

adam, michelle & me

 

4. When you've got good friends, it's going to be awesome no matter what.

adam & amy

 

 

 

 

 

Preparing For The Photoshoot.

I am so excited! Today is the day we shoot my knitted lovelies out in the world!

Behind the scenes, I am working hard on my shop. Working out shipping costs, writing up descriptions and designing my "storefront". It's a huge, huge process!! After much deliberation I have decided to go with the online Big Cartel instead of Etsy. For many reasons, but the biggest being that with Big Cartel I get my very own store, and all the creative control I'd like to make it look like mine. And after all, who am I if I'm not myself?

You can check out some of the many amazing artists over at Big Cartel here.

Wish me luck, I'm so happy this is finally happening!

 

Tiniest Bathroom Redo

You might not know this about me, but I have a knack for renting the house with the tiniest bathroom. But out of all the bathrooms we've had, I would definitely say this one's the tiniest. No storage, no space, no nothing.

Fortunately what it does have is a really pretty window in the shower, which in my mind, makes up for the fact that there is a one person at a time rule for the smallest room in the house. If this was our house, the whole bathroom would've been ripped out and redone a long time ago. But the thing with rentals is you have to live with what you got.

I will tell you this though, when I find the dream house and we actually put down some long term roots....our bathroom will be glorious. Hell, we may even have two. Maybe even an en suite. Though that name would have to go.

Anyways, if you don't know,  the house renting rule of thumb is, 

If it sucks, paint it.

I didn't mean for it to happen....it was my first weekend back home after my three week temp job, and after three weeks of Gabe and the kids without much of me, the house was feeling a little...sticky. I was planning on doing a total house clean. My mom had just come to pick up the kids for a sleepover, and I threw on my old jeans, cranked the music and got to work. Within a matter of minutes I had decided that wiping the kitchen walls seemed useless and I should just repaint. We're fortunate enough that along with wood and tools, Gabe is a paint hoarder too, so I just had to do a quick shop in the basement and it was all set up.

I only meant to paint one wall. But then the other kitchen walls looked so dreary so I thought I'd spruce them up too. And then I thought, since I was at it, I should repaint some shelving I've been meaning to do.....a couple hours later I was waiting for the paint to dry. I don't know what I was thinking...but I walked into the bathroom, sighed, and ran the paintbrush down one bad, off-white wall. Did I mention I was supposed to be going on a date and it was now five o'clock?

I actually finished the whole thing by seven, probably because I'm a super fast painter but mostly because the square footage of the room is less than a hatch back. Gabe put up a nice old piece of wood with some gas pipe fittings, I hung a couple of things on the wall and voila. Tiniest bathroom redo.

Room tour worthy? Um...no. But worthy of keeping me satisfied for just a little longer in this tiny, tony house? Yes please.

 

Easy Sunday.

Finishing cowls, listening to Johnny Cash and drinking coffee. Easy Sunday.

 

 

Almost There.

Lately it feels like I've been more fueled than fired.

More push than go. Run ragged and dog tired.

The elements of change came with the wind and the rain and I

have yet to catch up, catch my breath, catch myself.

I feel more wired than tired on the inside. I feel a brew a brewin' in my head and in my hands.

Again, it is the night and my body wants to rest but my hands want to go.

I think I'm collecting a collection....

 

And making it even more....

 

It's time to make this happen.

 

 

Coming Back To It.

What I love the most in life, is to make. I miss it terribly. My hands miss it. My heart misses it. I don't feel whole and that is the truth. I have found thought, meditation and prayer with scissors and cloth and thread.

The cut of the rotary blade, the steam from the iron, the delicate touch of pattern and quick snips to hanging threads. There haven't been enough hours in the day for me to do much more than wander into the room that holds everything I love, pick up half-finished pieces and wait for the days I can work on them again. Wait for the nights I can get lost in thought and music and scraps of fabric.

In my dreams and in my workbook I have sketches and plans, but nothing is happening now. The summer sun has kept me away, and September is keeping me still at a distance. I am waiting in quiet anticipation to reunite with the work that I want to do. One more week as a pseudo-working-woman, and then I will be home again. I will have nap times to sneak in and work in a delicious quietness. I will have the energy and the brain capacity to turn on the lamps and work late into the night. I will be home and happy. Amongst the stacks of fabric and the freedom to do what I love.

 

 

I've Been Gone.

Saturday never felt so good. As you may have noticed (or not, it's cool) I have been remarkably absent from this space, a long with most other parts of my life. A lot has been going on. I've tried on a few occasions to write about all that has been happening, but I ended up sitting in front of the computer, with no will or reason to type anything out. I think, which doesn't happen often for me, I needed some time to process before I opened my mouth.

This summer was a strange one for me. I couldn't get into it. I would like to think the lack of good weather in the beginning is what threw me off my game, but blaming the weather is a West Coast cop-out, and I'm not gonna do it. I just couldn't get into it. I had a great time with my kids, but I spent a lot of my summer longing for it to change. The routine, the daily life, the way my children and I both together and apart, interacted with the world. I was getting really, really bored.

It wasn't until a few weeks ago, when I packed up the kids and went walking down the Drive (Commercial Drive) that I realized I had, unless driving to a specific summer-fun location, spent the majority of my summer in a very small few block radius from my house. What is up with that? Why wasn't I out? With the people? And the kids? And the dogs? And the world?

Okay, this is getting long already, try and hear me out:

Like many mothers, I've spent the last number of years with my kids, at home, doing the homemaker thing. And parts of me loved it. It's what got me sewing and knitting and gardening and all those things. I wouldn't give those things back ever. I found that I could grow some roots, and like it. In my past lives staying in one place, with the same peeps, and committing to...well, committing to anything - it wasn't my style. So I've changed a lot since my babies have been born. Like most Moms I guess.

And then you get to this place, when your kids get a bit older, and you realize that they just don't need you in the same ways, and there becomes this spot, this empty spot where your life was filled with the busyness of babies and you realize that now there is room and you can grow too. Grow up, move forward, get different, find more. It's this beautiful mutual independence that has blossomed and you love your kids the same as you always have, and now they're giving you this gift, this chance to get back to yourself. Or get into your new self.

This happened very quickly for me, this epiphany, this sudden hunger for more. It could be writing classes, working outside the home, working for me, working on me. Whether it was coinciding with the fact that Frankie was starting school this year I don't know. But I started searching for what was out there for me. Suddenly I found myself with this job, working at a midwifery clinic while my husband stayed at home with the kids. We did this entire role reversal and it happened overnight. Suddenly I was getting up and getting dressed and getting dropped off to be on my own, to do something that had absolutely nothing to do with my family. I became this working woman overnight. I was coming home to cooked meals and laundry on the line and a day that I have to catch up on, hear my kids stories and talk late into the night with my husband about how life was working here, here without me.

*Before I go any further, I should tell you my new job is a temp position, and only for a few weeks while Gabe is on a holiday - which is exactly the kind of non-commitment I like. It's like experimental working.*

*Also, before I go any further, I will be posting later about my daughter's very first week at school and all the emotions that have come with that. It is such a milestone, for her AND us, that it really deserves it's own post.*

I miss my kids like crazy when I'm at work. But at the same time, I feel like it's feeding me. Something new, it's like a quick sharp breathe in and my brain turns on and I'm paying attention again. I love my home life, I love and am proud of everything I do in it. I'm excited to come back to it with this new energy.

Phew, so there's part one.

I needed the shake up. It's like early morning. The sun is warm on my face, and the day is brand new. I'm still here, I'm just waking up again.

xo stitch

Okay, I Think I've Got This.

Okay, the transformation is complete. Blog revamp, check. Now onto the very secret business of getting that shop open!! Keep your eyes peeled for details coming soon!

 

xo Stitch

I Know, I know...

I know, it's all a little too saturated and color deep here isn't it?

I've been told already, and I agree.

But what agrees with me more is a break from this screen so it will have to wait till tomorrow!

 

xo stitch

Changing Seasons

So I don't know if you've noticed, but I've redecorated. I needed some bright to punch it up in here, and it seems like lately I'm color-hungry and ready to liven it up. Life in all aspects, not just in blog land.

See, I'm learning something new about me. The summer is not my time of year. I don't know if it's age, caution, or lack of clean and empty bodies of water in close proximity, but I am seriously not enjoying the summer sun. I LOVE the sun, the bright, the warm...but the intense direct sunlight? Not down with it right now. I found myself heading indoors more than into the great outdoors by high noon.

So I've been getting some serious knitting done. Not sewing so much, but I think the summer was really zapping my energy. It feels different now. There's a coolness to the air that perks me up, makes me want to work. I've been out in the world a lot more lately, and there has been a lot of inspiration growing in that pretty little head too. So Fall is my time!

And what better way to start September then with a housecleaning of all kinds. I hope you like the new look. I am still working on the housecleaning in my real house.