Eeewwww.... cool!

by Kathleen

(Just a warning for the squeamish... gross fake stuff ahead.)


The following photos are from a make-up workshop I gave last week. These are all middle and high school students who come into the University take a day of art workshops. For the past decade I've been involved, giving a Stage makeup class.


We start with basic application, followed by old age and then, in the afternoon... 3-D effects. In other words Blood and Gore. This is their favorite part.


Usually the kids are gung-ho and cover themselves in scars and wounds and bruises... to the point where the amount impacts the quality. This year it was different... they did very few pieces, but what they did... it was good. None of these kids had done makeup before...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

This is all work with liquid latex and simple texture (toilet paper, oatmeal) accented with makeup and fake blood.

They did some very nice bruises and scrapes and one severed neck... but I don't want to post their faces.

No one cleaned up before leaving. Not even the girl riding the bike home.

listen close enough and you can hear the ocean...

by kathleen

Just some eye candy from this past weekend... three gorgeous days in the Outer Banks.

My view while doing....

this.
It's colorway? Ocean Depths (by Creatively Dyed, wool and seacell)

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go apply a little more aloe lotion...

Bork! Bork! Bork!

by Caroline

I promised my mother a post on Mother's Day and I didn't make it. My computer caught a bug and I spent the evening hunting it down and hopefully exterminating it. Tonight my thoughts are bouncing all over the place and so, instead of well-written sentences, you are getting bullet points. I'm keeping the original title, though, just because I like it.

--and because, Swedish Ivy is thriving! Ericka, I think you may be right, you can't kill this plant (I'm only qualifying it because I don't want to jinx it). Ivy travelled back and forth with me as I worked in Vermont the last couple of months and she continued to grow. I pinched a few leaves off and she just spread. This picture is a couple weeks old and it is time for a new one but in the interest of getting a post up, this is the one you get

--Kathy, I just finished watching a marvelous movie: "Ladies in Lavender". What a great movie! I highly recommend it; in fact, I'm going to send it to you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, the English seacoast (Cornwall), and a story that is hard to explain just why you like it so much because it is all about character and faces and clothes and the time. Mom might want to see it first, though, so I'll wait to check with her.

--I took a class at Yarn & Fiber, last month. Interpreting Japanese Lace Charts, given by Sandy Terp. What a great class! I finished the class with a huge urge to go out and knit lace. I have so many projects in the way. I know, I know: "I am in charge of my knitting" but apparently I'm not in charge of my knitting list. I did start the Maple Leaf Shawl a while back, but that was put down to finish other projects. I'm coming for you lace, I'm coming!

--I finished my Hobbiton socks from my Lord of the Strings sock club. Love this pattern, love the yarn. I gave the socks to Lora and am now on the look out for a green that looks right for the pattern.

















--did I show you my iPod Cozy? Sadly, I have managed to misplace it already. And I don't have my notes handy to give credit, so I hope I have posted it once already with the credit.

--the second Lord of the Strings package arrived. Legolas! Designed again by the talented lobug, here is a quote from the Unique Sheep about the colorway: "...colors that would make one think of the oldest parts of a birch forest." The pattern has multiple techniques I've never tried before and I have to admit, it's kicking my butt! I finished the first pair in time but I think I might receive sock #3 before I finish #2.

--I have to show you one of my cutest wee tiny socks. This elf sock was designed by Meggles (Ravelry link) and the group I swap with did this as a knit-along. This was another pattern that kicked a little butt before co-operating. Many thanks to all who helped me.


--and finally, a thanks to the ladies at Green Mountain Fibers & Yarn, in Rutland, for their welcome every Thursday night. I miss my knitting group, working on the road. Hotel living might give me plenty of time to knit but there is nothing like knitting with a group. There is no doubt in my mind that it has improved my knitting and helped my confidence grow. So, when I find a group on the road, it is a little like coming a bit of home. Thank you.


I covered everything on my list but I'm not sure I remembered everything I wanted to put on the list. That's OK, though, anything I forgot I can tell my mother in person because she comes home this week. Yay! Not to forget: Dad, too. Yay! Happy Mother's Day to you again, Mom.

and a little sunshine peeps through...

by Kathleen


I wanted to post about how even though I've been stressed and down occasionally there have been many nice things that have come through for me as well but, you know... it's hard to post about how hard a period of time has been without sounding whiny... and my Mom gets enough of that on the phone.

So I shall simply show some really nice goodies I have gotten from the thoughtful generous people I have had the great fortune to meet on-line.

First off... Gaylen had a little contest on her blog... she posted photos showing tiny bits of her four dogs and challenged us to identify them. I did get which two were the bloodhounds and which the bassets, but except for that I got every single one wrong!

Whoohoo! I AM talented!

Only two of us showed that great ability to completely mis-identify dogs and she drew my name and I won...


The cutest pincushion! I'm not sure I own pins cute enough for this cushion...

Thanks Gaylen!!! (Oh, and I think she had a prize for the person who got the dogs right too, but that's so prosaic.)

Then I participated in a swap on Ravelry called Pill Bottle Swap. the idea is that you get one of the very large bottles that pharmacies get their vitamin and other pills in. you decorate it and fill it with goodies and send it on...
From Teri...

All sorts of goodies! Sparkly beads and stick-ons; vanilla scented lotion and spray; Reisen candies (gone by the next day); yarn! including the leftover from the cutest knit bag; a grow your own kitty (just in time... DH has been talking about getting another cat); all wrapped up in purple and green paper and bags and boxes with ribbon!



Cute bag! From recycled rayon... the softest I've felt yet.



Yarn! Not sure exactly what kind... fingering weight in a soft purple.

Last time I showed you the pretty yarn and rovings I got, but I failed to mention that both vendors included little gifts of thanks with their shipments.

From Susinok's esty shop Slackford Studios...
A sweet pair of stitch markers!

And from Impulse of Delight...
A pair of copper shawl pins!
Look how they glow against the yarn...

Now I know he's not not an online acquaintance, but still... a sweet mood lifting gift.
DH and I went thrift/antique store digging a couple weekends ago (one of our favorite ways to spend a weekend morning). We stopped off at a jewelry place to ask a question about pocket watches and they were having a sale on their silver. And in an estate jewelry box DH spotted something...

Mexican silver and dyed coral... a bold and artistic statement. LOVE it! Love him.

And this Sunday I'll be going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. No big purchase planned. In fact I'm planning on being very, very discrete. But I always get an uplift from petting the cute sheep and smelling the yarn fumes (or is it petting the cute yarn and smelling the sheep fumes?)

Well... I feel better.

But, I swear I'm hearing muffled cries of distress in... Swedish...? Caroline? Any ideas....?