I joined up with the Scoop du Jour Knitalong weeks and weeks ago and then proceeded to do nothing. Finally I’ve gotten it together enough to cast on and start knitting the ribbing for the back:

I’m using Cascade 220 Quattro, in a salmon-y color that I love. It’s actually four (hence the name "Quattro", heh) strands, one red, one orange, one bright pink and one a darker pink, all plyed together. I have no idea how to photograph it so you can see it properly, but trust me, it’s juicy and lovely. I seldom feel like knitting in the summer, so I expect progress on this to be slow. Maybe next month I’ll post a picture of the back and it will be 6 inches longer. Don’t hold your breath.

I also was lucky enough to get more cd’s this week:

These are from Luke and Nat. Excellent work! I’ve listened to them just once, and lots of songs just grabbed me right away. I feel like I’m just swimming in new, good music and it’s going to take me a few weeks to absorb it all. Everyone involved in this swap has done such a great job!

Good things still happen. I got several happy packages in the mail last week:

My back-tack package arrived on Wednesday! It looks like a fiesta! Check out all those beads and buttons.  I think I will be making something heavily beaded.

I also got the first of my cd’s from Crafty Little Cow’s music swap:

The lovely blue one on the right is from Karen, and the fabulous polka dotted one on the left is from the other Karin. They are both so, so good. Both included songs from artists that I love, like Paris Combo, Lucinda Williams and Indigo Girls, and both included lots of new-to-me stuff that I am digging. Not only that, look at that packaging! They’re both so beautiful! I have to apologize to the recipients of my cd’s. I had only a tiny window of time to make them, and while I’m happy with the music I included, the actual package design is pretty lame. I just used a vintage photo of surfer girls that I liked and photocopied them, trimmed them badly, and stuck them in the case. I had big plans for a cool, funky design, but it was not to be. I also wanted to spend a little more time making sure the music flowed well, but I just ended up putting some favorite songs on there, in alphabetical order. Lame! I hope you will enjoy them despite my lameness. And I hope you will forgive me for the indulgence of including my little brother on there too. I really like the song I included, although I only had a live version, so you have to listen to him babble a bit at the beginning.

A couple weeks ago I made another mixed cd for my brothers and sister. All five of us loved music growing up, and we had quite a range of musical tastes. I put together a mix of songs that make me think of them and growing up together. I didn’t include the song titles on the cd, because I wanted everyone to just listen and enjoy, but promised I’d post them here. So for them, here is a taste of what you might have heard at any given time in our house in the 80’s and 90’s:

1. Let it Ride-Bachman Turner Overdrive (one of the first songs Cary-aka CJ3-learned to play on the guitar)
2. Jane Says-Jane’s Addiction
3. New World Man-Rush (CJ1 was obsessed with Rush in high school, to the annoyance of the rest of us. To his credit, he is now embarressed by this)
4. Life in One Day-Howard Jones (who couldn’t love this song? I included it on my swap cd too)
5. Step by Step-New Kids on the Block (My little sister actually went to the NKOTB concert, and I made fun of her. She was only 13, so it’s okay)
6. Belong-REM (Cary taught me to strum a G-Chord on one guitar while he played lead on another and I pretended to be Mike Mills singing back up. We sounded just like REM. Really, I’m not kidding)
7. Be Near Me-ABC (CJ1’s other obsession in high school. He had diverse taste in music)
8. Forever Young-Alphaville
9. Shake it Up-The Cars (My obsession in 7th and 8th grade, I had every Cars tape, included Heartbeat City, which is when they started to suck)
10. We Got the Beat-The Go-Go’s (this says 9th grade to me like nothing else)
11. Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)-Pet Shop Boys
12. Where the Streets Have No Name-U2 (One band all 5 of us can agree on)
13. White Room-Cream (CJ2 went through an extended classic rock period. I think all of us did, but I remember him getting the Eric Clapton Boxed set, and it was a Big Deal)
14. The Lovecats-The Cure (CJ3 still claims The Cure as one of his biggest influences)
15. Run to the Hills-Iron Maiden (When CJ2 was in high school he got tickets to the Iron Maiden concert at Irvine Meadows with a bunch of friends. His friends got in trouble and were grounded, so my mom made me drive him. We ended up in the orchestra pit. My ears rang for a full 24 hours after that show)
16. Roadhouse Blues-The Doors (In college CJ2 and I went to see The Doors movie-the one starring Val Kilmer-on Opening Night. We were hardcore fans)
17. Invisible Touch-Genesis
18. Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World-Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (my little sister used to sit in her room in front of her record player listening and singing along to Somewhere Over the Rainbow. What a Wonderful World was my Grandparents song, and was played at my Grandmother’s funeral)

I deleted my last post because it was just too sad. We’ll make it through, but things will never be just the same. Who will I call when I need to fix a leaky faucet? The phone was eerily quiet last night. Sunday night tradition was a phone call from dad. Thank you so much to those who left such kind comments-they were truly comforting.

I don’t know how many paper artists read this humble little blog, but if you are so inclined, I just listed my last few issues of the fantastic "The Studio Zine" on eBay:

Links are here, here, here and here.

I have to write (or type, whatever) things down so I don’t forget:

1. Pack up assortment of fabric & stuff for Back-Tack.
2. Make and address postcards for Snail mail group.
3. Post link to Studio Confidante slide show (so wonderful!) and take some better pictures of my workbench to share here-honestly, if I’d known what great photographs and interesting confidantes would have been a part of that I would have taken a few more minutes to compose an artful shot. Well, in the meantime, here is the link to the slideshow. Martha did such a wonderful job!
4. Pull weeds. If I don’t do this soon, our house will soon disappear, drowned in a green weedy jungle.
5. Make dog beds now that I have all the supplies (foam pads and rolls of super thick batting) taking up room in the guest house.
6. Take a nap.
7. Share link to Mary Jane’s Farm. I would like to be a farmgirl one of these days. Suggest that you look for her magazine/catalog at your local bookstore or market.
8. Also share link to new magazine discovered at my local Barnes & Noble today. It’s from the UK and is called Selvedge. I couldn’t quite justify the $20 price, so just enjoyed it while at the bookstore. Beautiful textiles!
9. Apologize for not including a picture in this entry, refer visitors to the photo galleries in the left sidebar.

That is all for now.

I moved on to phase 2 of the great decluttering of the creative space this weekend. There is no photographic documentation this time because I think I’ve publicized my slovenliness enough for now. I rearranged furniture in my guest house, laid down a shabby yet still appealing rug, and found hanging space for the two prized paint-by-number still life’s I snagged at the antique mall for a mere $18 for the pair, framed no less! I do have pictures of those little treasures: 

I can only show you a corner of the rug, as the rest is covered with piles of stuff, which brings me to phase 3.

Phase 3 consists of major organizing of Stuff*, much of which will be tossed in the trash or donated to the local library’s rummage sale. And then on to phase 4-paint and window treatments. The plan is to cover the walls and ceiling and mismatched bits of wood trim with the same pale pink I used in the work room/closet (Harmony from Dunn-Edwards, if you are curious) and make some curtains out of natural linen with a wide border at the top of a pretty floral-something from Amy Butler, perhaps. Why oh why were the walls painted in four different colors by some previous owner? All of which are hideously ugly. I do not understand. Then again, this was were they grew some "mystery plants", so I suppose I should not ask such questions.

*including but not limited to: books, fabric, paper, knick-knacks, and junk that I don’t know what to do with but feel that I ought to save for some later need.

I did a little housekeeping of the sidebars, in case you didn’t notice. Books and music are updated and buttons added for a couple of fun things I am participating in this month. So there you go.

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, the next two weekends are your big chances to see Cary perform live and in concert! This Sunday night (May 8) at the Troubedour, and next Saturday (May 14) at the Hotel Cafe. The Sunday show is with several other great artists and benefits Oxfam’s Tsunami relief, so you can catch a good show and do something nice for others all at once! I’ll probably be at the Saturday show, Sunday is a school night and I’m too old to stay up that late. You can get more info here. As an unofficial street team member, I have music I can share, so if you’d like, I’d be glad to send a cd with a couple of songs. Just leave a comment or send an email! I know he’s my little brother and all, but his music is really good. All the people I have forced to listen to it have ended up becoming big fans.