tania howells

naughty pussycats

I heard some noise yesterday while I was puttering away in my room, and lo and behold! The girl cat had knocked over the knitting bag and was trotting through the house with this yarn in her teeth! It was like a cartoon, the string went through three rooms and wound round the door frames. She was very exited that I might play string with her and meowed hopefully. I was a disapointment though. I wound it all back up and put it away! What a boring cat owner! I did leave the wool in a place in the bag so she can grab it again though, she'l like that.

Oh JOY!- a neat neat new design-y blog!
Sufjan Stevens- man, I am loving this guy's music.

♥ have a great weekend everyone! ♥

illustration friday - fresh

When I thought of fresh, this is what came to mind. Ofcourse I always draw clouds, leaves and raindrops, but thats ok. It sure is fresh out today, we almost were blown away on the picket line, chilly! My friend and I treated ourselves to sushi for lunch. Then I went and got a bag of polyfill! There is something so promising about a new bag of polyfill, especially since I have never bought one. I had been using the stuffing from an old Ikea pillow for all the simmy's and pincushions. Of course, I had to also buy this fabric. Only 2.99/ yard and a pretty print to boot.

*saturday night doodling*

I had a good schedule while I was at work - post in the morning, do some work , have lunch , go to my job in the afternoon. Posting to the blog felt like a part of my work day and gave me a boost. Today I am doing that again, posting in the AM. We are in WEEK SEVEN of this lockout, and I think I mentioned that my schedule is all mucked up. Boo hoo for me. Well, that was actually sarcasm - I can think of many worse fates than this frankly, but I am concerned about the future of Canadiann Public broadcasting. I do love my CBC and I can't wait to get back to work there.

We are making the best of it though- today is a the bake off contest and stich and bitch! So girly! and yesterday we had great live music.

*

I am researching the world of art licensing and am hoping to find a place that is not all airbrushed wildlife scenes and cutsey wutsey little girls in victorian dresses. I have done cards and t-shirts in the past, so really I know a little bit about this segment of the industry, which made me feel a bit less overwhelmed. However, for future work, I would love some more FAIR deals with royalties!
I also have to actually really officially go round to some shops with my coloring book, not just think about it. Maybe there are little elves who I can get to do that for me? I would name my elf Frank.

*click for bigger view!*

Here is my loot from Kim! I finally met her at the Word on the Street. Yay! She is just as nice as I expected, so nice that she gave me the medium sized pebble for the price of a small one -aw shucks! And look, I got a calendar. It is a collaboration with her friend James Spyker. Each day says a fun thing such as: "July 13 - be too literal", "December 21 - make an ice necklace", "May 2 - peck". Love it.

Look at this sweet idea - The Mother Bear Project. Hand knit bears are sent to kids in Africa and India who have been affected by Aids or are victims of rape. Look at some of the photos to see the kids hugging their newest friend, bless their hearts...

Silly me! I had been so exited to see the lockout stitch and bitch notice, that I didn't notice it is NEXT wednesday. Well, I still had my own little knitting party of one while chatting to my non knitting picketing friends. ♥

Would you look at how cute this is?? So neat to see a REAL kiddie enjoying the book! That is just how it looked in my brain too.

Also, I am loving Kim's new website! I am really looking forward to visiting her at the Word on the Street festival at Queen's Park this SUNDAY ( not saturday!). We have almost been in the same place at the same time a bunch of times, maybe this time we will actually meet?

Yesterday I checked out the amazing show of Anna Torma's embroideries. WOW! Eleven years worth of work and absolutley stunning in person. I wish there was a better example of the great stuff she does online. This show goes to Thunder Bay and then to Hamilton. WAIT!!!! gasp, I have discovered she has a website now! Good golly, now I can show you.

Those week six relief stripey socks I was telling you about...

I am very exited to have discovered some one has organised a lockout stitch and bitch! I saw a little notice taped up today amongst the other lockout news. It is happening wednesday at 1:00 and I am SO there!
I have seen other ladies knitting while picketing and have said "ooh nice socks!" to them and now I can say it again for real.
So woo woo for me, it doesn't take much to rev me up. It coincides real nicely with the week six fatigue and gloom many of us are feeling this week. I also wiped away that week six feeling by going to winners and buying, YES, some stripey socks. All this talk of them in the blog world has really got me craving some.
One cool thing was the disapproval from Michael Moore about the CBC airing his Bowling for Colombine doc while we are locked out. He is on our side and accused the CBC of acting like an American corporation! Ouch.

I am also very exited by the new store that has opened!!! I know, it is in Portugal but I am still so happy about it! Congratulations Rosa, Hilda and Ana - it looks like a dream come true. I would love to try the same one day!
♥

So, sorry no pictures just now, but stay tuned...

Another find from the labour day weekend ( man, September is going by fast!! ) is this crazy thrift find-

It should just be called BIZARRE because it is.

It was so chock full of fun little toy patterns that I was moved to part with my quarter.


Really!
The main problem is that almost all the paterns require "disc needles". Does anyone know what that is? Maybe it is just a British way to say circular needles?
Get ready! The next craft sale is going to be ALL acrylic clothes peg holders and bunnies in odd mint or peach colors. Everyone I know who is having a baby soon will roll their eyes when they see me coming.

PS- Any kids out there who have a coloring book page they would like to show me? I would love to fatten up my photo album of finished pages!!

Jacinta Sue sent me these lovely Allymoon items! A tee and buttons and cute magnets as a special kind treat for me- YAY! She also sent her "soul food" journal, which I drew in and now have to get the adress of next person I am sending it to- thank you Jacinta Sue!! It says I must wash the tee before I wear it but I am too impatient...

These are the baby hats I knit over the labour day weekend. They are made from the gorgeous silk yarn you see here which was an illustration trade with Hip Knits! It knits up so nice and my mistakes don't even look too bad. One is too big for a real baby and one might be just right. The pattern I used is the cute gnomey hat.
Also, I finally put up some pictures on my flickr page- from labour day weekend, so I can remember when things were all green and lovely a few months from now.

I had to take this picture, though I rarely show people. These grannies were so cute enjoying the soccer match at the dim sum place this weekend. They didn't speak to each other at all, just watched and slurped noodles.

Nice cuppa tea. The perfect thing for a cool raniy day! It is a shame to go picket in the rain, luckily - well not luckily but, my foot still hurts from my two 8 hour marathon days last week so I won't walk much. Today I will be camped out under the shelter at the RV fixing signs again. I will bring my tea in my nice thermos and try to stay dry.

bye bye for now, have a lovely weekend!

Knitty!

I am so proud to announce the collaboration I was invited to do with Amy of Knitty! She invited me to make a Knitty image to use in her shop and I love how it all turned out! It's lovely timing because I am really starting the get the hang of knitting and am really exited this winter to try some harder patterns. There are some awesome ones in the current issue. Just look at Bubby! He is labled "piquant" though, that means wrinkles on the forehead for me and some sweating. I like a challenge!

Stripey socks competition!
A cute idea from Helen at Stripey sock studio! I personally have sooo many stripey socks it is getting out of hand. Can't wait to wear my stripey tights...

Here is my trade with Lisa! I knew about the t-shirt ( is it ok to love it so much that I wear it 2 days in a row in the hot weather? ) and then all this other loot! I am nuts about it all. Really nice tree cards and envelopes by Lisa, magnets by Lisa, guinea pig erasers (♥), apple hoppe papers, stickers and her great robot card!! It's like the best loot bag I never got at a party as a kid!
Oh thank you !!!

And in an act of pure thoughtfulness, Mati emailed me saying "Dear locked out one, what is your adress?" and that she had made a CD.
It's a really great CD and I really appreciated the thought Mati, thank you!!!! Plus, awesome stickers. Oh stickers, I will never outgrow them. Isn't her card and envelope so pretty?

-end gushing-

PS,
You may have noticed that my colouring book button is back! I got a second printing of them, so if you didn't get one the first time round, now is your chance!

I am trying to ignore the fact that it is now WEEK 5 of this CBC lockout! FIVE weeks! How rude. My foot got wiggy after two days of 8 hour picketing last week so I am trying to rest it. I spent my picketing shift today fixing the signs we wear elegantly draped around our necks. I had a nice time actually...

oh and also, my blog visiting is all out of wack because my bookmarks are -ahem- at work. So I have been building up my list, but I am definately not up to snuff. So I have missed a lot I think...and missed commenting too!

mail man you rock!

When we got home from our holidays, there were 3 wonderful packages waiting for me!! I will have to gush one day at a time to not overwhelm you all.

First, this BEAUTIFUL assortment of things from Monica Calvo all the way in Madrid! You can see what I traded her, and once again, I got totally spoiled! I had expected only the print "waiting for clouds" with the girl on the bridge, and all this other stuff came too! A second sweet print. I think they are just so beautiful.

AND! one of her cute figurines too- I LOVE him, she named him Pollito!
Thank-you Thank-you Monica!!!

fun!

Man did I have a nice day at the craft fair.

Not only did I finally get to meet the lovely and talented Laural-we were across from each other!- but we even did a trade! Oh trading is wonderful. I really wanted to get a beautiful purse for myself, but I was good and got a birthday gift for Paul - PAUL! Don't click this link!!!!! - Do you think he will like his new a-hem,whistle whistle?
You make a great neighbor Laural!
:)

I treated myself to these hairband puffs! Made by a girl named Annie Lum, she was not there, but her puffs were! I love them.

My other neighbor was Karissa Cove! That was neat as I love her stuff, and at the end of the day I treated myself to an IPOD slipper and a scarf that was on sale - only $5!
It was so nice to have visits from all my friends ♥ and I also got to meet Krissy!(please ignore the horrifying image of me there- I am not actually missing a tooth, it's just grey from a root canal...eek!)
She is SO nice and cute, just like I thought she would be. I got to meet her nice hubby and Noah the curly dog!
I also did a trade with Edina of White Lotus Design-I got a beautiful pair of earrings. She was so helpful as to write me out a list of shops I might contact with my stuff!
ah.
All in all a splendid day.
Thank you to everyone, especially Jenn who organised the whole shebang. She gave me a brilliant idea of making the simmy dolls into a pillow sized simmy... genius.

We're back! It was good to get away and rest. I knit two baby hats, drank tea and read lots, it was blissful. Pictures to come very soon, for now I am busy making up my picketing hours (8 hours on thursday and Friday- I was going to skip it totally but I decided there is no point in forfeiting some $) and busy finishing up stuff for this show on Saturday! I wish I could bring my computer and sewing machine to the picket line... Please drop by if you live in Toronto!

xo
t

Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush
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Crafters United - raising funds for the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund.

I am leaving these links in lieu of any kind of commentary. Because I have not been in the library where I work, and because my main source of news, the CBC, is out, I have been oddly out of touch with the news. Only in the last few days have I become aware of the horrible, scary and now disturbingly sad outcome of this latest hurricane. prayers go out.

* * *

For distraction, I offer the July/August inspiration links. Better late then never.

Fiep Westendorp Via Hillary
misprinted type via Poppytalk
Praline news via Kraf-o-la
WAWAYA via Rosa
Lazoo via Myra
olydig via Camilla
pieni･huone via port to port

We are off for the weekend and a few days after that. See you soon!
xox

*SETH*

We went to the free night at the art gallery last night to see the Seth exhibit. ( This link only takes you to the main AGO page since it is in flash ) - it was a really nice exhibit. He is another one of my favorite local cartoonists/illustrators and he is friends with Chester Brown.
The show had original pages from some of his comics, sketchbooks and an entire model of his fictional Canadian town, Dominion. All the buildings are painted in sepia shades and are built from Fed Ex boxes and have a wonderful nostalgic feel.
When the show opened, I read an interview in the newspaper where he mentioned being vaguely suspicious that an art gallery was suddenly interested in a cartoonist when only a few years ago, comics would not even be glanced at by and art gallery. It made me smile.
Paul happliy came over to me in the exhibit to say " Who would have thought we'd see the day! An art gallery guard rushing over to a kid, telling her to not touch the comics!" It was cute.
Seth happens to be married to a girl named Tania! But it's not me.
Here is a rather interesting interview with him.