IT'S LIZZY-LIZ DAY in the NY TIMES!

I can't believe it. For the first time in my life, I might be something resembling cool. I was happy enough about the Museums Special Section, especially since the Holland Cotter article about increasing inclusion of "non-western" art in modern/contemporary art museums is 1/3 of the paper proposal I am writing at the moment. BUT what really made it Lizzy-Liz is cool day is the HUGE editorial about knitting. BOTH in THE SAME DAY!!! OHMIGOD! March 30, Museum and Knitting Day! Heaven!

BANKsY!

M*rk C**rk (who must have too much time on his hands at work) first sent me over to wmmna's "review" of Banksy's prank (see also nytimes link above). Initially I didn't believe it, and it peeved me a little bit, mostly because of my infatuation with the Guerilla Girls, who, if Banksy had talked to them, would have reccommended he wear a Gorilla suit and put up work by underrepresented, and good, artists rather than another self-centered whiny white guy. (Let's be harsh for a second, and apologies to the large portion of my social group made up of whiny white guys, o.k., but if BANKSY wants to get some of his work into an art museum he has a better chance that MOST, not being a woman, person of color, or from the "lower classes" or a "developing country.")
But I must admit the truth: Now I hate Banksy because he caused a rift in my Friday night. Alliecat had some lovely RPCV's visiting her and we were going to go to the Met and then go get yummy cheap (and BYOB) Indian food on 6th Street. So, being the BYOB thriftsters that we are, we had each completely innocently brought a bottle of wine, which we planned to check, pick up after our visit, and be on our merry way. (MA-in-museum-studies note: the coat/bag check is for TEMPORARY STORAGE OF THINGS THAT PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE IN THEIR BAGS THAT SHOULD NOT BE BROGHT INTO THE MUSEUM. This is why we love coat checks. They keep nasty things like bottles of wine AWAY from the art, and people should be encouraged to use them.) So, whatever, a guard who apparently thought Alliecat was a drunk sixteen-year-old and I was a total bitch (one of these things might be somewhat true) gave us a whole bunch of shit and wouldn't let us in, even if we checked our bags. His lame excuse was something about a $500 dry-cleaning bill they had once at coat check. OK, I would accept this at most museums, but the Met should figure a once in a while coat check accident drycleaning bill into it's multimillion operating budget. Cleaning a mink and assuaging one old lady is a helluva lot easier than cleaning a Rembrandt. Whatever, I digress, although at Starbux while we were waiting for our girls Allie and I had a good laugh about the other things in our handbags that were no problem (I compulsively hoard mayo and mustard packets in my pencil case). My point is: I BLAME BANKSY for the paranoia about security at the Met and its affect on sensible and (usually) cooperative museumgoers, and their Friday-evening plans. F**ker.

Compost in the Hood

Having the flu last week put a hamper on all things bloggy and crafty, but the (semi)fantastic weather on Saturday did inspire JK and I to do the first yard work of 2005. We have teeny daffodill wannabees, a freshly strung clothesline, and an exciting new "Kompost Korner."
I guess life desn't suck that much after all. And maybe incognito boy and I can get to the seed catalog just as soon as I'm done with a couple hundred pages of cultural diplomacy ...

Every Hipster Needs a Hoodie!

Even the miniature ones. The BABY HOODIE for T&M's forthcoming tiny human is finished at last:
The pattern is "Daisy" (I skipped the daisies) from Knitty. The yarn is Mission Falls 1824 Wool in Cornflower, which is theoretically machine washable. Vintage shell buttons are from a yard sale in New Hampshire. Here's the back:
Let's hope that T&M have a real baby, instead of a stuffed raccoon, because the sweater is too big for Rocky. This picture is the best one of the yarn's color, though.
As with all pictures on this blog, clicking on the pictures will bring you to flickr, where you can view a larger version.
This hoodie is the most adorable thing I have ever produced. The pattern is great, and provided good practice for a bunch of skills: shaping, knitting a raglan w/o side seams, making knit buttonholes, using kitchener stich. Still can't make seed stich borders to save my life for some reason, and the edges of the hood are curling in a bit where I accidentally made a couple rows of ribbing. But some ironing and/or drool should fix that right up.
Have more babies, people, so I can make another one!!!!

Hyperbolic Crochet

I heard a neat spot on National Public Radio today about Cornell mathematician Daina Taimina, who crochets beautiful models to explain the hyperbolic plane. Simple, regular increases worked in increments from once every stich to every nine stiches result in 3-D sculptures explaining, well, hyperbolic planes. Which I guess are like lettuce, only math. Apparently she prefers synthetic yarn because it provides a more accurate, stiff model. I am kicking myself that I missed their lecture at The Kitchen last month, but here is a picture from it that I found on flickr.

I wonder if Daina likes indian food, and if she knows that she's a human ecologist?

Armor-All

Today JK & I went to the Armory Show with D-dawg and Felicia (I like to give my friends fake-anonymous internet names, sorry). I was having yet another cranky late-winter day, so the top highlight was actually a heart-shaped chocolate cupcake from the Deitch Projects booth. Not surprisingly, my favorite inedible artworks at the fair were all by young hipsters working in craft media. (Since Mr. C**rk's Dad made ceramics & stuff fine art, the signifier "craft media" is up for re-purposing, namely, it is free to mean what it ought to: quilting, knitting, and anything involving a glue gun.)
The other thing I learned is that New York is SO 2003, and everyone cool lives in Berlin. Case in point, the maker of the very pretty "Brain Quilt," Christian Holstead:



It was fun. Better people watching than the ADAA fair, too.

Swatchy Swatch!

this is an exciting new project - the lace cardigan on size 3 needles? I know I am crazy. It's 'lucky' from stich n bitch nation in a beautiful blue-purple Rowan 4-ply cotton ... sort of feels like knitting graduate school. I haven't allowed myself to start it until I finish the baby hoodie for T&M... pix coming soon. wish me luck!

M*rk C**rk is the BEST!!!

Um, because he is the only one who reads my blog, and because he is as obsessed with his stuffed animal as me. Good thing I am keeping him anonymous on this high-traffic site.

Someone stole my thesis project

"Knit 2 Together" is an exhibition organized by Katy Bevan and my new hero Freddie Robbins at the UK Crafts Council. It features artists who work in hand and machine-knitting, mostly from the UK, exploring the creative potential of my current favorite art form. I love it! Guess I will have to come up with another project for my thesis.
On a related note, I found the most lovely art-knitting magazine at Printed Matter the other day, KnitKnit. Apparently published by girls like me, it came with a knitted cover, was chock full of fun, and out of my publications budget at $20 (sigh).