addendum

I feel it would be good for me to briefly expand upon this realization I had with the oyster shell.

I was just sitting on the beach feeling sort of bad. I'd found myself a little sand hollow on the top of a grassy dune to sit and sunbathe. It was warm and clear and there were so many sailboats out on the water. I had earlier disappointed someone dear to me and so I found myself pondering things done wrong and "things wrong with me" as I absentmindedly buried my hands in the sand - like you do when you let someone down. I was feeling a bit broken. (Except more than a bit, because feelings with me are always a bit more than a bit ;) My hand was deep in the sand when it felt something cool and substantial - I thought a stone, but when I pulled it up it was the oyster shell. Its edges seemed harsh and jagged and with a glance over it before I tossed it aside I assessed it as broken. Then before I could think a small voice popped into my head and said,

"Here's the thing about the oyster shell-- it may seem like it's broken, but it's actually whole." 

So I fetched the oyster shell for an inspection and as you might guess, found it unbroken. Completely unbroken. Certainly not missing large parts of itself as I had thought upon first sight. A few small chips in it's many delicate scales perhaps, but no one could call it broken.

And the significance of this was not lost on me that day. It filled my entire being. Or emptied it maybe. I expanded. I was the oyster shell. We're all the oyster shell!

ZEN MOMENT ACHIEVED!!

And so my heart was warmed and I felt immense gratitude for this beautiful metaphor that had been gifted to me by the oyster shell. A paradox that applied to myself and my feelings that afternoon, but also in my mind applies to everyone, everywhere, ever. We all have wounds but they can't keep us from being whole. We're whole just the way we are, we just don't always see it.

Peace, bro. c;

zen on the beach

I don't want to admit it, but it seems true summer days are gonna be rare again this year. On Monday I seized a beautiful opportunity and biked to Golden Gardens after work.

It was a warm sandy glorious sunbathing time. And I had one helluva Zen moment with an oyster shell! Let's do it again summer!

crabsession

I've got a real thing for crabs right now. Is a problem?

I think not.

Moveable Type

Last night I stopped by a little type party in the Central District. Kyle Durrie of Power and Light Press in Portland has built a PRINTSHOP IN A TRUCK and is taking it on a giant roadtrip all across the country! WOW!!

I think she'll be spending one more night here in Seattle over in Fremont and then she's off on the rest of her journey. Click above to check out her site, maybe you can catch her in another city. Best of luck and happy trails!

There's a new squid in town.

And she's a pipe cozy! That's right, a cushy knit sleeve for protecting your piece. The lovely Lily over at the Owl + the Bee also suggested using them as tampon pouches - a great idea!

I came up with these guys at least two years ago and they've finally made it into my shop - sounds about right for me. c; You can click on the pics above to peep the listing for each.  The pattern I came up with for them is inspired by an Otedama bag structure I came across in a Japanese knitting book.

I also made this fella for a custom order, his curly tents are pretty cool:


I actually really like making these to order, so bring on the custom requests! I'll get to sit and watch Crab Show while I knit. c:

woodland

My "death is a meal" print was featured in this really beautiful treasury:



Thank you Raganella!

earthporn

a handful of my faves, found on r/earthporn >>

national geographic society

jesse estes

bret webster

cuba gallery

SUMMER

It's that time again! It's that time of year when I sit inside wearing my bathing suit watching Van Morrison videos after sunning myself in the park; it's that time of year when I get sick because it went from cool to hot a little too fast for my body's liking; and it's that time of year when my blog posting and productivity drop dramatically because my brain matter's been scrambled by sunny fun times. Right on.

In preparation for this summer I got a new bike (pretty!) and stocked up on sci-fi and fantasy novels, which is what I've come here to share with you today. In the summer I like to park + read, or park + ride + read, that's good too. (Invariably these both turn into park + nap, lets just be honest.) I'm revisiting a classic to start my summer off and break up the sunbathe/nap rotation. I finally found a super rad matching paper back edition of this trilogy and I'm so effing excited about it. Look how cool:

Click to see it bigger, you won't be sorry. Super cool, right? Sadly I can't find the name of the artist printed anywhere in the book. There's a signature in the bottom right hand corner that might read "Brea" but it's hard to say. Anyway, I love it, and the three all have equally radical cover art. I'll share the others as I get to them, as well as my other sweet sci-fi/fantasy finds.

I want to tell you all about my summer plans but seriously, my sun-addled brain can barely piece together a sentence right now. I'll just send you out with a little'a this: