Escaping Suburbia » General

I’ve moved…

Kate — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:46:29 +0000

I keep forgetting to post here that I decided to start blogging at the main URL for my site (http://www.thewanderingwolf.biz/) and let go of the whole Escaping Suburbia thing.

So, consider this your invite to come to the new blog, update bookmarks and feeds (I’m SO optimistic, aren’t I?), and join in with some comments!

Well… drat…

Kate — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:38:21 +0000

Okay, I messed up the blog again. Go, me!

I tried to add images to the category and archive searches, and it ended up adding a little thumbnail to every single post. FUUUUUG.

So… thanks for your patience while I fix this. I think I have to edit every single post to get rid of them!

Wow, and thanks, and a new look.

Kate — Tue, 31 May 2011 00:21:26 +0000

I wanted to write a post to say greetings to many new visitors! The old blog here has recently had some great traffic coming from Craftgawker, Craftgossip, and Pinterest. Thanks for your interest… I hope you’ll decide to come by again and please feel free to comment!

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I decided to try out a new theme here. I don’t usually go for dark backgrounds, but I do like what this grey does for photos. What do you think of the white text? Not sure how long I’ll keep it this way, but if anyone has a strong reaction to it either way, let me know.

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The other day, when I did the crock pot yarn dyeing, I did a second skein in dusky violet. Here are the results!

The yarn is a blend of alpaca, superwash merino, and nylon… soooo soft. This one went up in the shop, though it’s tempting to just add it to the stash!

Have you ever done a Google image search for your zodiac sign?

Kate — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:42:20 +0000

MAN, is that a lot of flowing hair and twinkly stars and, like, van art, and aaah, my eyes! My eyes! Safe search on! Safe search on!

Anyway. The signs changing thing. CNN says get a grip.

But it was kind of fun to contemplate. You know… if my sign isn’t my sign, does that mean all those purported traits that fit so well with me and my sign actually belong to my “new” sign? Can I say sign some more? I’m a Sagittarius and now my husband is supposed to be Sagittarius and I’m a SCORPIO… hold on… this is bullshit! I cling to my Sagittarian ways. To my overwrought van art of centaurs shooting arrows into a cotton candy sky. WHAT. THAT IS COMPLETELY REALISTIC. (Right?)

Just kidding. I don’t believe it makes a bit of difference, though I did have someone do a whole birth chart thing on me once – it was her hobby – and it was kind of weird and accurate, but probably just in that “zomg my horoscope says my life is changing and also my fortune cookie says I’m going to be the life of the party” kind of way.

Just… don’t everybody rush out to fix your tattoos.

Green Lace Cowl

Kate — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 07:22:52 +0000

Ye gods, I love Malabrigo lace yarn. I started this project thinking to make a scarf. Came up with a nice little stitch motif and went to work, but it was soooo booooring to work on. I don’t know why this should be boring when other things aren’t so much, but I just didn’t like working on it.

So, it decided to be a cowl, what can I say? I am actually quite pleased with it!

A commercial is trying to sell me stuff! OMGWTF!?

Kate — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:21:53 +0000

I had to laugh when I read a post over on AdFreak this week that mentioned how people are apparently up in arms at this Target ad for a myriad of reasons:

People, a little perspective, please? It’s a commercial for Target and they want you to buy something. It’s shocking, I know, but calling it a sneering and mocking attack on DIY moms is just a tiny bit hyperbolic, don’t you think?

I’m no Target cheerleader or anything, but I’m not going to pretend like I never shop retail and be all offended that they want to try to convince me that their costumes are better than what I can make. I mean, I HAVE EYES, and most of the costumes I see in stores are cheap pieces of plastic crap. Then again, I can’t sew and I’m fairly indifferent towards Halloween, so whatever. I think the DIY-fail mom in the ad is kind of how I would be… pretty pleased with my tap light ARC reactor power source thingy that nevertheless falls off at the slightest movement. And I think the kid’s reaction isn’t all that off either. How many of us really appreciated our mom’s homemade efforts at the time, and not only in nostalgic retrospect?

I sat in a coffee shop downtown yesterday and watched the kids trick-or-treat through the stores. The costumes ran the gamut from awesome to kind-of-pathetic on both the homemade and store bought scales, and you know what? No one gave a crap. Saying, “I’m going to give a kid more candy because his parents tried harder,” says way more about you than about those parents, dude… and just think about that rabbit hole for a second. It’s not like you can actually know from 10 seconds at your front door how hard anyone’s parents work or what kind of 20-minute fit the kid pitched – in public, mind you – to wear a generic costume just like all his friends have.

And, oh, by the way… that candy you’re handing out? DID YOU MAKE IT YOURSELF? No, you didn’t. You got a bag of high fructose corn syrup nuggets at a big box store and you’re portioning them out according to your own arbitrary standards, punishing little children for the supposed failings of their parents. In short, you’re a bigger jerk than Target at this moment, so shut up.

Catching Up

Kate — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:28:40 +0000

So, I’m sitting here getting ready to write this post, and I’m looking at the calendar to see that a week and a half has passed since my last post and I can’t remember what I did last week. Well, Dennis had been on vacation the week before, so I must have been catching up on very exciting tasks like laundry and cleaning the kitchen and grocery shopping.

Which kind of explains why I don’t remember what I did last week. Whoo!

I continued to take photos every day. I’m not sure if I will actually be able to keep to the idea of taking every photo with the camera in the phone, but it’s certainly freeing to allow myself that leeway. Not to have to carry the Nikon around everywhere, just in case. The photos aren’t print-worthy, but that’s not the goal of the project for me.

Some shots from September, 2010

I feel like time goes by so quickly lately… just a complete blur. I was kind of hoping that a photo-a-day would slow things down a bit, allow me to mark the passage of each day. It’s kind of working. I remember the photos from last week, but not the chores. Ha!

One thing that I did accomplish last week is starting up a blog for the newly formed Willamette Valley Etsy Team, which is very exciting. We’re not official on Etsy yet because they’re rolling out some new program for teams and aren’t setting up new ones until that goes live — but we’re getting ourselves organized in real life, regardless. When the new program starts on Etsy, we’ll be ready to join up. So, if you’re reading this and you’re in the WV and you have an Etsy shop, please join us!

Is it obnoxious to say “the WV”? I kind of feel like it may be.

The other big thing I have going on is that I started a micro-business class through Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services. The first class was this week and I had to introduce myself in front of 20 or so strangers which was completely scary and I sounded like a fool. But nobody threw anything at me, so I take that as a good sign and am looking forward to learning how to write a business plan!

And now… I must be off. My feet are frozen and I have to brush my hair. Whoo, party!

Four Years

Kate — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:23:37 +0000

We’ve been living in Oregon four years as of today. Still feels like home!

Heceta Head Lighthouse

Editing… I wanted to add this photo, taken just now:

10 Minutes in the Back Yard