Blog

I'm on vacation

By Marnie on September 15, 2008 9:03 AM | 13 Comments

I refuse to call it a "stay-cation" or, as John Oliver put it, "holi-stay." But what I will say is that I have nothing planned (other than the improv class I'm taking with my friend, Erica, on Mondays) and I'm happy to keep it that way. Oh and there may be more pictures like the ones below, that I took on Saturday.

It was a perfect day; not too cool, not too warm, and absolutely sunshiny beautiful.

The car went home a little heavier than it left. Panda brought the sand and Leo found the tire iron we'd lost a month before. I kid you not! We used it for leverage to screw the girls' leash stake into the ground, and we lost it when we were packing up in the dark. There it sat, a few feet from where we had been, just waiting for our return. I love Oregon.

Kites.

Lots of running and being generally cute.

I tried to take a nice shot of the girls in front of the ocean.
First Thea won't look at the camera...

Then Panda won't look at the camera...

Then some women stop to take pictures, right behind the girls. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

All the pictures here.

Casual Elegant Knits -- An interview with Faina Goberstein and Dawn Leeseman

By Marnie on September 10, 2008 8:30 PM | 5 Comments

Dawn and Faina's blog tour, for their new book, Casual Elegant Knits.

I directed my questions to both Dawn and Faina, who graciously answered all my questions. I think you'll find them as interesting as I did.

Continue reading Casual Elegant Knits -- An interview with Faina Goberstein and Dawn Leeseman.

Asse(t)s of Evo* -- Take 1

By Marnie on September 6, 2008 8:28 PM | 18 Comments

I think I'm going to massage the design a bit by adding in a slightly different shaping at the crotch area and tweaking the tree so it's not so stretched, width-wise, but the first go is looking pretty cute, I think. The second pair will be in a wine color with either white or black trim. I'm still deciding.

The side:

Darwin's tree spans the side of the shorts, taking advantage of the additional length in back for the very top of the tree.

The back:

The back is nearly 2 inches longer than the front, thanks to short rows at the top and bottom. The instructions will give info for customizing this shaping.

The front:

You can really see how different the length is in front, from this view. Let me tell you, the 2" isn't nearly enough to account for my, ahem, assets.

And to Cher's point about Cascade Fixation not being exactly the same as Elann's Esprit, she's right! I have some of both here and Fixation is a bit springier. However, it shouldn't be a problem, for subbing in this pattern, so when it's out, if you have fixation around, it'll be a suitable replacement.

* Thanks to MJ and Cher for coming up with a PG rated version of the name I wanted. My mom also suggested "Intelligent Behind" which is pretty darn funny too. I come by my punniness, honestly.

Making a statement with your tush

By Marnie on September 2, 2008 7:01 PM | 23 Comments

When I first found Schmeebot's blog, I came for the Waffles, but even now that the photogenic golden has moved away, I enjoy my regular fix of delightful images. Recently, though, she gave me even more reason to love her blog, she's a member of the Axis of Evo. Woohoo!

Once I mentioned my interest in joining the brigade, she challenged me to a hot-pants-design-off. Well, that makes it sound a little more competitive than it is. Really we're just both designing some boy shorts and I'll be offering the pattern for free. Yipee!

Here's my initial sketch.

And Schmee's great sketch is here.

I've code named this pattern, "Asses of Evo" but I'll need a more family friendly name for the final pattern.

The pattern will be worked in Elann Esprit in "Coffee Bean" and "Pecan" to be a sort of inverse of Charles Darwin's original drawing. I also picked up some "Wine" and "Natural" that I might use to knit a second pair, if the first come out well enough. For those who don't want to order from Elann, Esprit is the same as Cascade Fixation.

Surely, you are all awaiting, with bated breath, a chance to knit up some evolution themed hot pants, right? RIGHT? Sure you are.

Also, on a somewhat related note, I plan to do a new tutorial, sometime soon, on colorizing your sketches in Photoshop and using the program to play around with color combination.

Beaches and Bikes

By Marnie on September 1, 2008 8:43 PM | 12 Comments

Who doesn't love a long weekend?

Saturday was all about relaxing and spending a bit of time with friends.

Sunday, we hit the beach.

And Monday we rode our bikes around our neighborhood. I have a Springer on my bike, but we've never tried it with Thea. Isn't that absurd? Leo wanted to make sure that she wouldn't pull too hard, so he rode my bike a bit and I rode his.