11.5.2006 + the apartment, in progress

i looked like an elf on sunday. just being crazy and mixing up what's left in my closet after the big post-cross-country purge of '06. also, making kissy faces at my black cat, girl.

-rust colored hand-knit alpaca cowl: knit by me -chartreuse linen shift dress with giant chrysanthemum print: marimekko -green 70s square-neck vintage tee: thrifted in florida. -black leggings worn like tights: newport news (from when leggings were hard to find several years back) -black ankle boots, folded down: thrifted last week @ thrift town, SF. -red-orange plastic bangle: thrift town, SF. -green plastic bangle: beacon's closet, williamsburg, brooklyn. -red-orange enamel earrings: thrifted in florida. -green lucite cocktail ring: alexis bittar

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the apartment is starting to come together:

will likely replace these ikea chairs with the eames plywood lounge chairs i've mentioned before around these parts, most likely in walnut. when we can afford them, of course. no huge hurry. for now, i'm happy with the IKEA lounge chairs we have...

the table is a new acquisition. it's a mid-century piece, which was hand-tiled by an artist, perhaps a potter?

new jonathan adler pillows! made in custom colors i chose. i heart them. i am also considering making my own needlepoint pillows, to join these on the couch, in shades of red, orange, and green, of course.

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still need a rug (perhaps a tan or off-white flokati, as mentioned), a small side table, and a nice lamp for said side table in the living room. i'm really loving this lamp from crate and barrel:

or, as i kind of like the idea of adding a little white into the decor, in small doses... this cute giraffe lamp from jonathan adler is mighty cute: http://www.jonathanadler.com/shop/product.php?cat=385&productid=16768

or any from him, really...he's amazing!

my tiny little office.

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.

thrift! orange!

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.