bits and bobbins

i finally got off my duff and cleaned up my desk area. it’s still a work in progress and seems chaotic to me, but i guess that’s the nature of the beast. work spaces almost always invite some messiness, right? i always get crazy and make a mess everywhere, and then afterwards clean it up. something about a somewhat tidy space makes my head somehow feel clearer and i can be more creative, as if a blockage is being released. i now feel as if i can actually get to work and start making things.

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these old yarn bobbins belonged to my now deceased grandmother, josephine. she died the day after christmas last year (2005), in the middle of the night. she was a knitter and a crocheter and a seamstress. a tiny, thrifty sicilian, a child of the depression and of bootleggers who brought liquor across the canadian border into new york state. she taught me to sew at age eleven, when i was in sixth grade. we made a pink linen straight skirt together, when she was staying with our family in florida for the summer.

every time i knit or crochet a stitch, or see the color purple, i think of her.

i want to turn these bobbins into some mixed media art piece, dedicated to her.
the colors delight me.

it’s been a while, yes.

this outfit is east coast, west coast, and somewhere in between (in origin).

i was underdressed…it’s COLD here today, after weeks of lovely temperate weather. i could have used a sweater or some lovely long gloves to bridge the gaps on my arms.

-earrings: www.otterotto.com/ (donna soo makes the most amazing jewelry!)
-weird pinecone/silk scrap pin: thrift town, mission district, SF.
-tiny denim jacket: buffalo exchange, williamsburg, brooklyn.
-red-orange knit vintage dress: buffalo exchange, williamsburg, brooklyn.
-beige jersey scarf: american apparel (worn as belt)
-brown/tan cable knit tights: the sock man, st. mark’s place, east village, NYC.
-brown joan and david couture boots: thrifted @ goodwill, e. 23rd street, manhattan.

the past couple of fridays i have allowed myself to tear away from the house and home duties…and instead, i get out of the house and do a little thrifting and walking around.

i can’t afford to buy much for myself at the moment, and really don’t want to go crazy accumulating things anyhow, unless they are house/home related. every piece of clothing i look at second-hand (or hell, first-hand!) is examined thoroughly, meditated upon, tried on and modeled in a myriad of mirrors multiple times. i come home with less, but i love it more.

a few items i came home with this week (and last), after much careful consideration:

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ah, the lovelyness of all things ORANGE. not only am i swathing my body in orange (red-orange, orange-orange, and on and on, if that includes orange natch!), but i’m picking up little amazing objects that feel right for our home that are orange. the orange teapot was an inexpensive new find, from ace hardware, of all places! but i think that it is simply lovely.

i’ve never owned a teapot before, just a kettle. i like the british formality of teatime. it seems to me that using the teapot in the process of making tea seems to be a somewhat unnecessary, luxurious, largely social act. and it’s free, so why not take luxuries like that? formality can be good sometimes. and really, the act of making tea and serving it out of such a lovely, sunny teapot just makes me smile, even if it’s just for myself.

those red-orange 70s canisters, by the way? thrifted. three smackers for the two of them.