Hey Charlie!

 

A few days into the new year, out of sheer luck and circumstance, Lumberjack and I found out that a local family needed to rehome a 3.5-month-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy, and would we like to meet her? After a small amount of hyperventilating and crying, we brought her home last Sunday, and it's been an adventure ever since! We've taken to calling her Charlie (Charchar, Charmander, etc.) and she is a little bundle of energy.

We've been talking about adopting a dog off and on for several years, but wanted to have a stable living situation before we committed. We had originally talked about adopting a dog from a shelter, but I also had a not-so-secret dream of having a Corgi. Growing up, I had an awesome dog named Holly who was - as near as we could tell - a Corgi/Australian Blue Heeler mix. She was abandoned in the woods, pregnant, at a little under a year old, and she and her puppies survived long enough to be rescued and taken to the Humane Society, where we adopted her when I was four.

She was smart, sweet, and not a small amount stubborn. She was the best dog for car rides and afternoon cuddles; incredibly tolerant of my adolescent photography sessions; the kind of dog who would get her head stuck in an empty ice cream carton and have a sense of humor about it. She passed away right before I went to college, and I still miss her.

So between Holly and all the gentle, clever Corgis I've met at the shop over the years, I started to have a real soft spot for the breed.

Enter Ms Charlie, our Wonderpup - we've had her for a little over a week, and she's already melted her noodly little bum into our everyday lives. She's whip-smart, cuddly, and impulsive. She's already partially destroyed her favorite dragon toy, and she'll jump into your arms when she's lonely. She can lick a pair of earrings out of your ears in two seconds flat. Though I can only imagine how tough it is to let go of a beloved pup like her, I am so grateful to her family for raising such a wonderful little girl, and for giving us the opportunity to bring her into our lives.

Unsurprisingly, this little furball is a phenomenal amount of work, but she makes it fun. I mean, who could say no to that face?

Clearly not me! Happy Wednesday, friends!

<3

Cory

FO: Violet Lupine

  

Oof, this week. Looming deadlines, business paperwork, class planning, and a veritable layer cake of family emergencies... looking back at the last few days, I'm impressed that I stood on two feet and spoke English, much less dealt with the aforementioned Important Adult Things with any semblance of competency. Not to sound unprofessional, but imagine a golden retriever wearing a propellor beanie at a laptop sending emails, and that's about where I've been for the last four days.

But hey, on the bright side, I finished a thing! This is my second Lupine shawl, knit in some Evil Genius Dye Lab single ply merino, which I bought at local shop in Puyallup a few months before it closed. It's not quite as squooshy as the Mechita, but with a tighter twist and overall texture reminiscent of Tosh Merino Light, I think it bodes well for this pattern playing nicely with a variety of yarns. (Clearly, I must make another one in a plied yarn, for science...)

As for this weekend, I'm going to head over to the Makers Market at Tolt Yarn and Wool with my friend Sooz to say hey to the Spincycle and YOTH gals, squish a prodigious amount of yarn, and check out all the other awesome local makers. And after this ridiculous week of mine, hanging out with yarn folks - who, according to my empirical evidence, are the nicest and best people on the planet - sounds positively luxurious.

ETA: Oh yeah... and details of my Violet Lupine are on Ravelry here.

Happy Friday, friends!
<3
Cory

Year In Review: 2014

On January 2nd of this year, I had this to say about my intentions for the coming days:

Although I'm tempted to exactly outline the sparkly, new-wardrobed Cory who will be writing this same post in a year's time, I'm more inclined to leave it fuzzy:

2014 will be a year of building both humility and confidence;

a year of being a student of many things;

a year of quiet and constant growth.

And as I look back at this year, I think that I really did succeed in that.

Monsieurs Squishy & Pooper have continued to be the cutest - and crankiest - of companions.

  

I had a rough beginning of the year, health-wise, and spent much of January through May dealing with pain, allergic reactions to medication, and a slow but steady recovery. In the middle of all of that, I got some dental surgery that I've been putting off since I was seventeen - which was painful, but a relief to have over and done with. I'm thankful for my current good health, and hopeful that better self-care will help me stay that way.

Our brother & sister-in-law welcomed our little niblet Hayden into the world in March, and he's growing so fast, he's already practically graduated from college! It's been a delight to see him turn into his own tiny person, with teeth and a sense of humor and two truly awesome parents. Ever since we got married, it's been really wonderful to get to know and love Blake's family as my own, and this little guy has definitely been at the center of a lot of that!

  

In July, I created my ballgown. It was huge, and overwhelming, and one of the best things I've ever done.

Ready for the list of posts? It's... epic.

Days 1-10

Day 1: First Steps

Day 3: The Short View

Days 4-5: Slow Magic

Day 6: Above & Beyond

Day 9: Puzzle Pieces

Day 10: Ballgowns & Hipster Headphones

Days 11-20

Day 11: Appliqué All The Things!

Day 13: Sleeves!

Day 14: Mental Health is Important, and So Are Friends

Day 16-18: Skirts & Rest

Days 21-30

Day 21: It Might Be a Dress Someday

Day 22: Playing with Lace

Day 23: Everything Is Coming Up Appliqué

Day 24: Seven Not-So-Easy Pieces

Day 25: Dresshood

Day 26: Finding My Unicorn

Day 27: Loose Ends

Day 29-30: Adding It All Up

In September, I went to Oregon Flock & Fiber with my Issaquah knitting group, and had an amazing weekend hanging out with llamas, nerding out with other yarn folks, and (of course) petting and knitting gorgeous yarn! It was a nice change of pace after such an intense summer, and gave me a chance to reconnect with my wonderful knitting friends.

 

Melody & I both finished our jackets in the late fall, and took them on two different photoshoots out to Discovery Park - a stark & somber shoot for Melody's Melancholia Jacket, and a nostalgic walk in the rain for my Magnolia Jacket. It was really rewarding to style and shoot the jackets in such different ways, and end up with images that each told a distinct story. I wore the Magnolia Jacket for the first time a few weeks ago, and I still can't believe that I made such a beautiful garment.



Last but not least - this year, I returned to my unfinished projects at school, among them portfolio, pattern grading, line & proportion, tailored jacket, and ballgown.

And today, as a result of all of that work - and as of this afternoon around 12:45 pm - I have officially earned a Certificate of Mastery of Fashion Design & Construction from New York Fashion Academy, Class of 2014.

So I have a little bit to celebrate today.

Happy New Year, friends, and see you in 2015!
Love,
Cory

Finished Object, in the Nick of Time: A Blankie for Hayden

  

Sunday around 5 pm, my brother- and sister-in-law welcomed our nephew, baby Hayden, into the world. I was up until after midnight on Saturday knitting furiously, and finally finished the blanket around 10:30 am on Sunday morning - just in time to give it a quick bath and a tumble through the dryer before heading to the hospital.

 We knew that he was arriving a little sooner than expect, so as I worked on the blankie this weekend, I settled into a happy rhythm, thinking of this tiny little person with every stitch: how he is in this tender liminal space of being; how our world is made a little more new and hopeful by his entry into it; how that joy changes our hearts in the strangest and most sudden of ways.

So I knitted, and I slept, and I woke Sunday morning thinking, baby. And I knitted, and I knitted, and my arm cramped up, and then I bound off all my stitches and soaked the blanket in warm water and woolwash, and still I thought baby. And then I waited for the call and nervous-cleaned - scrubbed my bathroom sink and loaded the dishwasher and vacuumed under the oven - and thought, baby.

And then it happened. We got the call, and we drove to the hospital, and we waited - not very long - and then we were meeting him for the first time, and it just struck me over and over like so many waves. I have no idea what color his eyes will be, or what he looks like when he laughs, or if he likes green beans, and yet I'm standing here awkwardly clutching a knitted blanket that I made for him while I imagined all the feelings I didn't yet feel for him, and he's whuffling softly in his sleep, and I am absolutely dumb - struck and adrift and in awe.

Here are his mother and father suddenly ageless in their limbs, this new weight of love in their eyes. Here are my parents-in-law, holding the baby of their baby and seeing each future fall into place ahead of us. Here is my husband standing quietly holding my hand, both of our hearts silently overfilling with the thought of someday.

But most of all, here is baby Hayden, who gnaws the knuckles of his right hand and creases his eyes a little deeper in sleep. And it is perfectly, wonderfully, enough.

Happy Monday, friends.

Love,

Cory

Family Pictures

  

So after my last post, we took Mackie to the vet again and got some very bad news.  He has a growth in his urinary tract that is causing pain and inflammation, and the associated surgery to remove it would be risky, complicated, and unlikely to improve his quality of life, so we made the difficult decision not to pursue further treatment.  Since his diagnosis, we've been giving him lots of treats and snuggle time, giving him pain medication, and trying to enjoy the time we have left with him.  (Not gonna lie - there have been a lot of tears.)

Mackie is my first rat as an adult, Blake's first rat ever, and our first pet together, so he has been an integral member of our little family.  He has been with us through two moves, my fashion show, and our wedding, so he's become the go-to furry dude for cuddles during both happy and stressful times.  It's difficult to even think about what life is going to be like without him.  Since we realized we didn't have many photos of us with Mackie, our friend Sooz was kind enough to take some photographs of all of us together this weekend.



I think she nailed it.

Barn Sale

Last Saturday, Lumberjack, his family and I went out to his grandparents' house in rural Washington.  His grandfather passed away a few years ago, and this last weekend the family got together to have a barn sale of his old tools.  It was a pretty emotional day, but I felt really lucky to be included.  I never met his grandfather, but seeing so many things that he made or used - carpentry tools, fishing licenses, tractor, boat, tackle boxes - made me feel like I got a little glimpse of who he was.

I brought my camera with, and took a whole mess of pictures, of pretty much anything that I thought was beautiful, meaningful, or interesting.  I could say so much more, but I think for now I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Lumberjack, his mom, and I also went to a nearby yarn store, and I found some beautiful handspun, but that's a story for another day.  I'm really happy with a lot of these photos, and I hope that his family likes them too.

Oops, I cast on something else.

So the other day I realized that none of my projects are portable. And by portable, I mean that the boyfriend's socks failed at life, I'm up to the fingers on the cabled gauntlets, and I decided to change the stitch pattern on the Ellen scarf. Rrrrrrgh. So, being the resourceful knitter I am, I tore through my stash to find something handpainted and socky, to cast on right now. And I did. And I got through a repeat and a half of a 48-row pattern: the Rib Fantastic pattern from the fabulous new book, Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns.

And then I put it on my foot and realized it was waaay tooo big.

Hrmph.

But it ended up being a good thing, because I cast on again with 6 fewer stitches, which killed the fledgling little pools of color. Seriously, I have not seen a single puddle in this whole sock so far. Which makes it really hard to put down, which is bad, considering that I have an exam in inorganic chemistry on Friday. D'oh.


The yarn is some Claudia's Handpainted from my stash, in the colorwar Ingrid's Blues. I love the stitch definition and softness of this yarn - it's springy, but still feels strong. Also, I'm finding that the 2.5 mm Crystal Palace needles I bought over the summer are immensely useful - they are the perfect balance between US 1s and 2s; the stitch they create is neither too large or too squeezed. I would definitely buy another set.

I'm calling the socks Margaret on Ravelry, after my mother's best friend who sadly passed away last winter. She was born in the 1920s in New Mexico, and I always loved the paintings of the desert and pueblos she had on her walls when I was a kid.


Another project I've been working on is reorganizing my room. My roommate, Emily, left for India for the semester, so I bought out the other half of the room so that I could have a super single. It's really nice to have so much space, and although I miss having a roommate, I really couldn't ask for a nicer room to live in. And, along with reorganizing my room, I reorganized my stash. It gets its own little closet - aww!


I've been making an effort to not buy yarn lately. I have so many wonderful things in my stash, and I want to knit all of them! I have a few skeins of yarn in Seattle, too, but nothing too drastic. I have enough yarn for 2 sweaters and several garments, as well as a crapton of sock yarn, and I'm getting to the point where it feels a little bloated. Also, a couple of pairs of handknit socks have bitten the dust in the last couple weeks, so that motivates me a little to finish more socks.

Which is why I should go and study crystal lattices now, so I can procrastinate by finishing that sock. Ehhhh!