Category Archives: Impulse purchase

Robot Art and Indie Craft in Boston – Joy!!!

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Cabin Fever Indie Gift Show
The hubby and I were lucky tonight to get to two fabulous events, the Cabin Fever Indie Gift Show in Boston’s SoWa art district and I…You…We…ROBOT: A Visual Homage To Our Inner Geek! at Space 242 nearby on East Berkeley Street.

We arrived in the South End a little too early (doors at the craft show opened at 6) so we walked around to a few of the studios open for First Friday to stay warm, and see what was happening in the Boston art scene.

After viewing some of the less-obtainable art, we paid our $2 and ran amok at the gift show. Perhaps it was because we found so many wonderful, inspiring things. Or perhaps it was because spending under $100 on a lovely oil painting seems smart after passing up $7000 ones at the studios nearby. Whatever the reason, we are thrilled with our new objects d’art!

In particular, we scored a painting I’ve been lusting for on Etsy for the past year by Botodesigns.

Tea CeremonyTea Ceremony

Here are cards from a few of the vendors we visited (and many of whom we deprived of several lovely things). The full list of vendors can be found on the Cabin Fever website. If you are hanging around Boston on Saturday, February 6th you should go check it out!

Cards
With our happy bag of goodies in tow, we next headed over to Space 242 to see the display of robotic art. Lots, and lots of robots in many different media. Many items to tempt. Among my favorites were “Longing,” “Sundae-bot” and “The Robots Steal our Jobs“.

This should be a yearly event, and next year, they need to include some fiber robot art (hint, hint).

Check out this video of artists discussing their inspiration:

If you can’t make it to Boston before the show ends on February 19th, you can always visit Space 242′s set of images on Flickr.

Here’s a photo we took of a bit of graffiti art spotted in the studio bathroom. Shocking!

robotknitter graffiti

Knitting poligamy and the lucious Lace Scarf

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There are those who can love only one project at a time. They are the monogamous knitters. They don’t have huge stashes of projects begun but not yet done.

Not me. I am a knitting polygamist. Did you ever wonder why there are so many different sized needles? The monogamist knitter would say that this is to allow for the possibilities of knitting in different gauges. The polygamist knitter knows that this is to allow for having twelve projects on needles at the same time.

I saw this amazing cover project by Tanis Knits in last winter’s Vogue Knitting Magazine but did not immediately purchase the wool for it because:

    • my many other projects waiting to be completed were glaring at me
    • the wool for this project is very expensive
    • ever since the eighties, when all my knitting was done with yarn that should be glad I don’t play with matches, I must must must use the real, designer yarn for my projects

In a moment of weakness (and due to the fall yarn sale at Webs) I succumbed to the lure of the Alpaca, pulled out my MasterCard and ordered the yarn. Two weeks of both instant and delayed regret followed as I waited for my pricey purchase to arrive. First to show up on the doorstep were the size 19 rosewood needles. What a tease! How cruel of them to send the needles and then tell me the yarn is back-ordered!

Soon enough a very large and heavy box with 20 skeins of yarn arrived (and more guilt). Once I laid hands on the first skein freed from the plastic packaging all regrets faded away. Have you ever held baby angora bunny mixed with downy chick fuzz and a little bit of fluffy cloud in your hands? The Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky wool is amazing, decadent, and all-around fantabulous. I gave serious thought to replacing my pillow with 8 or so balls of this heavenly stuff. Only the thought of having to hand-wash this wonder on a weekly basis prevented me.


I’ve made it through the first pattern repeat and figure that due to the enormous gauge, I should have this baby completed in a couple of weeks. The finished measurements have this scarf at over 11 feet long. I’m going to see how it goes – can’t have my precious dragging on the ground.

Note to my currently passed-over projects, I’ll be back for you soon!