CrumpArt » Geekery

Lace Galaxies.

May 7th, 2008 by Crumpet

Part of my project this semester involves spinning yarn and knitting it into lace circles based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s pi shawl pattern. To put it in the vaguest terms possible, it’s a scienc-y, mathematical meditation-y mandala thing — a reflection on creation and the clash of scepticism and belief. I’ll be printing on each piece of knitting repeatedly to build up colour, and will also try printing with them on my paper works. Next semester they’ll be ripped out and made into something new, playing into my destruction/creation theme.

I started with a bag of wool that I already had, but it hadn’t been carded and was just too lumpy and uneven for what I wanted. I could have hand-carded it, but the thought of processing 500g of fibre that way made me want to cry real tears. Instead, I paid a visit to the Yarn Barn in Coburg to see what they had, and came out with 700g of processed superwash merino that had already been pre-drafted and wound onto a cone. Freaking score!

It still took me a few skeins to get my tension right for the project I have in mind next semester, but I’m still using the first efforts this time around, and will use them for a different piece later.

Here’s what the singles needed to look like…

And here they are plied.

And posing with Neil Gaiman’s signature in my sketchbook (yep, definitely fangirl.)

I’m really quite disgustingly proud of my spinning job. It took at least two full days to spin the singles, and another half day of plying just for two skeins. The knitting feels like flying in comparison.

Posted in Geekery, Universe, Spinning, Art, Knitting | | 2 Comments

Geeky Excitement

April 1st, 2008 by Crumpet

I just booked two tickets to see Neil Gaiman speak in May! Squee!

Posted in Geekery, Books | | 3 Comments

Swapperific

March 31st, 2008 by Crumpet

I received my Ravelry Bag Lady swap package last week! Hooray!

annie3891, who doesn’t seem to have a blog, sent me a beautiful felted evening style bag made from some handspun yarn she’d bought. I love it, but it was a bitch to photograph. Especially at 10pm when it was raining and dark outside… here it is anyway making friends with my sketchbook.

I also got Pocky (!), origami paper, a beautifully soft blue iPod cosy and some lovely lip balm! Thank you Annie!

I’m pretty sure my ‘target’ will get the package I sent today, so I’m happy to post pictures now.

I have a bunch of old laser discs sitting at home waiting for a crafting opportunity. While my swap pal doesn’t like horror films so much, I decided that Vertigo was the best one to use, considering her profession. Every single office I’ve ever walked into that’s part of this particular business has had a Vertigo poster somewhere. And I figured my pal could do with a pencil box. Or a ‘whatever she wants to put in it’ box, really. I added some arty extras to the box, keeping in mind something that I read somewhere while stalking.

Continuing on the Hitch theme, I sewed this bag. It’s made almost entirely from recycled materials (we had a $30 budget, and I’m doing Wardrobe Refashion, so I set recycling/upcycling/working from stash as a challenge for myself) — I used some op shop pants that once belonged to a very short, very round old man for the outer, and some unwanted handmade pants scavenged from Kym’s stash several years ago for the lining. The batting was also recycled from old manchester, and the pocket was made from some beautiful fabric that I received in exchange for some art years ago. The zipper was also recycled, and the magnetic snap was from stash. Hopefully it’s easy enough to guess which title sequence I was riffing off with the quilting…

I was originally going to put two pockets in the bag, but the construction method didn’t really allow for that, so I used the leftover fabric to make this cute little pouch. So easy, and now I want one for myself!

And considering that the Bag Lady swap was happening on a knitting board, I obviously had to do some of that. This is the Saturday Market Bag from MagKnits, made from stash yarn (Lang Filo, I think) bought years ago for a buck a ball at Lincraft. It even matches the lining of the Hitch Up Yr Pants bag! Next time, though, I’ll figure out how to knit this in the round, then do a three-needle bind-off at the base. Teh Seaming SuXX0r3d.

So there you go, swap pal (if yr even reading…) — I hope it arrives soon, if it hasn’t already.

Posted in photography, Geekery, Book making, Film, Swaps, Sewing, Knitting | | 3 Comments

type type typings

March 18th, 2008 by Crumpet

Apparently I am…

Out of all the outcomes, I agree. Although really, I’m more Cochin.

Posted in Geekery, Random | | 0 Comments

Better late than never.

February 10th, 2008 by Crumpet

That’s a personal philosophy. One that I’m extremely good at following.

A couple of days ago I gave Vetti her birthday present.

And while it was her birthday a couple of days ago (happy birthday!), this was actually the present I intended to give her last year…

It’s an artist’s book made up from the proofs I made while creating my r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r etching in first year uni, based upon the poem by e.e.cummings.

This year’s present is not finished yet. I had some technical difficulties the other day. I promise it won’t take me a year to resolve them this time around…

In other, similar news, I think the philosophy of lateness is hereditary. My parents dropped by today with this (along with a bunch of stuff to help with the crappy cold I’m currently nursing). Our Christmas present from 2007 — a new DVD shelf hand made by my dad. I loves it.

(Please note: since the photographing, the DVDs [this is the shelf for TV shows] have been arranged in their correct order, and the empty shelves have been prettyified. An important step.)

Posted in Geekery, Book making, General crafts, Whedon, Art | | 2 Comments

G to the E to the E to the K

February 7th, 2008 by Crumpet

I discovered a new podcast — GeeksOn — a couple of weeks ago when reading the Whedonesque blog. I’d only planned on listening to the Joss episode, but I thought it was so great that I immediately hit the back catalogue and started downloading all the other episodes that looked interesting. It was so awesome when I got to tell Mr Crumpet that I’d found a cool geek podcast before he had.

Now, I’ve always known that I lean to the geeky side of things, but because I’m not really a gamer or huge Star Trek fan or big-time coder and whatnot, I assumed I was fairly “normal”. And as is the case every time I start thinking I’m normal, something sucker-punches me and I realise that I’m really, really not. I’m obsessive in so many ways that it’s almost ridiculous. I’m a yarn geek. I’m an art geek. I buy science books for fun reading. I only ever use the camera in full manual mode. I know what frell and frak and dren mean. I use internet speak and phrases in real life and assume that people will know what the hell I’m talking about, instead of taking me literally when I say “I fell down in the comic book/yarn/art store.” My very favourite kitchen knife is named Vera. My Global vegetable knife is named Saffron. My Le Creuset dutch oven is named Zhaan, because it’s big and blue and beautiful and makes plant-based foods. My little Le Creuset multi-function pan is named Aeryn, because it’s strong and adaptable and gorgeous. I’ve named the big red electric litho press at uni Willow, because it’s powerful and awesome and makes magic. Along similar lines, my spinning wheel (which is a geeky enough thing in itself…) is named Fred, after Winifred Burkle. I make Firefly badges. And it doesn’t end there.

So me. Big, huge, massive, proud geek. Which is why I went squee! at this link the Mister sent me.

Geek factions unite!

Posted in Geekery, Etsy, Website | | 0 Comments