Barry noticed this link and gave me a heads-up (so to speak).
For any interested knitters, the pattern can be found at CarissaKnits. To my noncrafty geek friends out there: If you have a hankering for one of these, just let me know. Operators (of knitting needles) are standing by.
If I were a guy, this would totally be one of my Obscure Objects of Desire: the Beard Cap. It's $135 at Scandinavian Grace -- or you can always make your own.
[As seen on Metafilter.]
...Advocates also claimed that using the alpacas' fleece for knitted and woven items would energize the textile industry and eliminate the nation's dependence on foreign-produced ponchos.
"If we are truly committed and learn to spin our own fibers, we can cut out the middleman and sell socks, hats, and gloves directly to the American public," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said. "People don't realize how much softer alpaca wool is because they've never had a chance to try it. Once they do, though—let's just say this war could be paid for in no time."
While initial reaction has been positive, critics of the plan have pointed out that Congress has still not paid back the money it borrowed from the American public to start that silk-screen T-shirt business it was so excited about in 2004, and many were concerned that this will just be a repeat of the Bedazzling the Economy Act of 2000.
I stumbled across Zindato's paintings last week at the Outsider Art Fair and was riveted. The effect is mesmerizing. My brain kept burping up words like "throbbing", "biomorphic", "visceral" and "meticulous"... and then I stopped thinking in words and just looked and looked and looked.
Here are some examples, borrowed from the online gallery at his dealer's website:
Great, eh? And yet there are so many tiny details and grace notes you can't even see in these scans. Do visit Zindato's own site, which has an enabled zoom function, and take a closer look.
I'll be saving up my pennies for one of these.
Do Not Be Ashamed
You will be walking some night
in the comfortable dark of your yard
and suddenly a great light will shine
round about you, and behind you
will be a wall you never saw before.
It will be clear to you suddenly
that you were about to escape,
and that you are guilty: you misread
the complex instructions, you are not
a member, you lost your card
or never had one. And you will know
that they have been there all along,
their eyes on your letters and books,
their hands in your pockets,
their ears wired to your bed.
Though you have done nothing shameful,
they will want you to be ashamed.
They will want you to kneel and weep
and say you should have been like them.
And once you say you are ashamed,
reading the page they hold out to you,
then such light as you have made
in your history will leave you.
They will no longer need to pursue you.
You will pursue them, begging forgiveness.
They will not forgive you.
There is no power against them.
It is only candor that is aloof from them,
only an inward clarity, unashamed,
that they cannot reach. Be ready.
When their light has picked you out
and their questions are asked, say to them:
"I am not ashamed." A sure horizon
will come around you. The heron will begin
his evening flight from the hilltop.
This morning Chow Fun apparently decided she wanted to try a new dish, one that seems to be all the rage in the feline-American community. So after Gato caught a baby mouse, Chow Fun met him under the desk for a little brunch a deux.
Dog bites man: not news. Dog bites mouse: worth a blog post at least.
(Oops, time to vacuum under that desk! Sheesh.)
Another newspaper breaks the hot story (sigh) about geeks and their crafts nowadays:
Generations X through Z have rediscovered crafts such as knitting, quilting and crocheting, and now they're blending these old-fashioned arts with their love of newfangled technology to create a new genre: nerdcraft.
Thus we have the knitted iPhone, the Super Mario Bros. embroidered pillow, countless iPod cozies, the Q*Bert quilt and Baby's First DNA Model — a stuffed toy complete with GC/TA base pairs represented by orange-green bars.
Here is the aforementioned quilt:
The NYT Book Review reveals Sue Grafton is a knitter:
THE UNWRAPPING: So what did you get for Christmas, book-wise? Inside the List asked a few best-selling novelists what [books] they planned to give this season. ... Sue Grafton laughed and said, “Other than my own?” She went on: “It would have to be ‘Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book.’ I’m really into knitting, and so is my friend. It’s this beautiful glossy book with all kinds of beautiful illustrations and all sorts of information about the process and art of knitting.”
And with a name like Grafton (graftin'), she was clearly destined for it.
Self-taught Icelandic photographer Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir has a good eye and a terrific way with saturated color. (She's a big hit on flickr, too -- it's just barely possible that her Nordic babe-itude is a factor...)
Because I am fascinated by eerie Icelandscapes, I lingered over her scenery shots, especially this one. I also recommend these: 1 2 3 4 5
Nevertheless, it will surprise none of my regular readers to learn this photo is my fave.
[via Metafilter]
