spinning wool at little cakes

last weekend i taught a workshop in drop spindling at little cakes, because hanna is organizing a project to benefit the woodstock farm animal sanctuary, in which the wool from their sheep will be used to make decorations for the barns and coats for some of the animals. everyone took to spinning quite well and they were all making yarn in no time. i'll be teaching it again at make on november 1st if anyone's interested!



this is some of the yarn that resulted from the class. hanna and i had washed and dyed the raw wool (using natural food dyes) a few weeks earlier, so we had some nice colors to work with.

yarn and sticks

i finally got to make god's eyes at monkeytown! i missed their first god's-eye-making-party back when they opened, and have lamented it ever since. but at last they did it again, and siri and i went and each made one (you get $2 off your bill for every one you make!) and had a lovely time, lounging on the comfy couches, listening to a really fun mix of frenchpop, sixties, and who-knows-what, eating scrumptious food, and wrapping sticks in yarn...


oh, and did i mention that we were surrounded by projection on all four walls of musical extravaganzas from busby berkeley films, footage of kangaroos boxing, and other delightfully random visuals!

taza taza

this is the new show at the freshly relocated new improved little cakes. the artists are the argentinian duo Guillermina Baiguera and Julian Gatto and their work is so sweet and lovely; my photos do not do it justice at all.


here is their artists' statement for the show:

"We all share the memory of a special spot in our family's attic or basement filled with forgotten junk. There, as children, we played and by mere chance found little hidden treasures, things that would arouse our curiosity or delight us with its generous beauty.

Today we still find these long-forgotten objects. They are in the store fronts of lazy neighborhoods, their understated beauty covered by dust. They have no price tag and many are no longer manufactured. This negligence somehow makes them strangely more powerful and fragile at the same time.

We cannot ignore them or escape from them. Both the things we once found and the ones we find today inspire us. They have come from our memories (and yours too) to join the things that already inspire us: flowers, trees, fabrics, music, fantastic whims."


my favorite elements of the show are their exquisitely tiny embroidered pieces. the painstakingly miniature stitches seem like they must be from another time...


alice and moriah of feral childe were at the preview, looking resplendent in their own clothing.



the delicacy of their paintings and stitchwork is so beautiful and inspiring; i highly suggest you try to visit the show (up through september 30) in person so you can experience the loveliness up close. that's julian and guillermina above holding gertie.

a treehouse grows in brooklyn

have you been to the treehouse yet? it is a place of wonder and delight. my oft-mentioned dearest friends siri and rebecca opened it in july and it has been rooting and budding and leafing out in all kinds of ways... this month they are starting their craft classes! i will be teaching crochet and embroidery and we'll-see-what-else as time goes by. on thursday they are having a party to celebrate new fall arrivals and for prospective students to meet the teachers. they sell independent (mostly local) designers' clothing, jewelry and accessories, vintage clothing, handmade soaps and potions, vintage knick-knacks and housewares, stuff for guys, knitted trees and so much more. i know i'm biased but it's all TRUE!

below left is the 'craft library' where treehouse members can check out vintage books or just enjoy them on the comfy pink chair...


that floor had been covered for 40 years with layers of linoleum and thick black adhesive, but the ladies spent many hours (weeks, in fact!) and much physical exertion to unearth its beauty!


the GLOT (Gorgeous Ladies of Treehouse) minding their own business!

this lightbox installation by erika is magical; every time i gaze at it i feel transported to another world...

here's the invite for the party:

that's right fantastical cats, september 14th treehouse oh-so-cordially invites you to a back-to-craft-school, get a steal of a deal on summer, start planning for fall shindig.
come meet the teachers, check out our new designers (lots more stuff for the dudes btw, dude), drink a refreshing beverage(or 17), peruse our craft books, marvel at the hallucinatory mosaic floor.....anyways, i digress.
what kind of classes will we be offering, you ask? well, so far, we're beginning with crochet, knitting, embroidery, junk-to-jewels, and.....book-binding! we're so excited! of course you want to know more, and if you can't wait until the party to appease your curious mind, more details are detailed at our internet place of residence, http://www.treehousebrooklyn.blogspot.com . ya dig?

WHEN? thurs., sept. 14th, 6-9pm
WHERE? treehouse, of course! (430 graham ave btw withers and frost sts.)
WHY? why not
WHO? you! & bring a date (or two) if you desire...

see ya up in the trees!

raised by wolves

on tuesday i went to the feral childe fashion show, which was spectacular. it was held in a loft over an electronics store on canal street, and a fun surprise was that the live music was by taigaa! i've known alice and moriah since 1998 when i opened my now-defunct store, patch 155, which i believe was the first place they ever sold their clothing. they have come so far, yet still exude a fresh spirit that's part art project, part performance. i loved the bright colors, girly, sexy-yet-comfy-looking dresses and their own hand-drawn prints.







here's siri with erin from sodafine, who looked lovely in her own fc dress. and after the show, erika, barbara, siri and i went out for bubble tea and snacks and a little shopping in chinatown...

perfect weekend

i had just about the best Labor Day weekend i could have wished for! i went up to hudson to my friends colleen and alon's house, which has become one of my favorite retreats from the city. we went to an organic sheep farm where we saw lots of new baby lambs, and bought several kinds of amazing cheese (and ginger yogurt!) from the self-serve cheese store in one of the barns.


we also visited countrywool, an angora bunny farm and yarn store located deep in the backroads of hudson. quite an impressive selection; i bought some heavenly hand-carded 40% angora, 60% wool fiber to spin, and colleen got some yarn to make a throw.

and because i can never get enough of the critters, we also visited the columbia county fair! i grew up going to my local fair in ohio, and even got to sleep at the fair the years i was in 4-H for horses. the best things i saw here were these chickens where every white feather is perfectly outlined in black in a completely unnatural-looking but beautiful way, and these sheep wearing coats to keep their fleeces clean before the judging!

back at the house, i re-introduced colleen to the latent crochet skills she's been repressing for years. she wants to make a very modern and sophisticated blanket for the house. i finished this hooded scarf and started two others; of course i am already behind schedule for the fall collection. inexplicably, both of us got dressed that morning in nearly identical shades of lemon and lime, and didn't even notice until halfway through the day!

and because colleen's passion is for baking and cooking, we ate scrumptious food all weekend long; i should have taken pictures but at every meal, my camera was the furthest thing from my mind. she baked peanut butter cookies and a plum galette (fancy for a peasant-style tart)!