Oh a few new things in progress

The New York Times Sunday section had a half page dedicated to critter hats. Yay I knew it. I'm not the only one. Alas, although I'm still working on a few (including this pig hat in progress), I'm thinking in August these won't be so popular (except here in San Francisco when you need one in August more than January).







So I've started working on a few purse designs. These are still being hammered out. The colorblock design was an attempt to use up some leftover yarn for R & D. I like it generally but I've been struggling to find ways to reinforce the handles. Felt tends to stretch. I've sewn on some thicker fabric on the inside so that it won't sag. Not 100 % satisfied but R & D continues.





The snail purse is a different shape and is inspired by the things I love about my favorite purse. It's designed to be worn bike messenger style across the chest resting on the hip. I think the flap makes it more difficult to pick pocket. The snail was an attempt to find beauty in the things I hate. (The snails are eating my Myer Lemon tree urgh)

Greek Chicken

I'm sharing this super easy very delicious recipe for Greek Chicken Enjoy.

Ingredients

2 (or more) chicken leg quarters
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix everything in a zip loc bag and shake vigorously. Marinate at least half hour but no more than 1 hour (the lemon will "cook" the chicken). Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place chicken in baking dish and cover with marinade. Bake for approximately 40 min or until the chicken reads 180 degrees Fahrenheit on a meat thermometer.

You can simultaneously bake Yams while the chicken is cooking. I also added steamed sugar snap peas.

Easy peasy!

Enjoy!

Living in Cal in the rainy season

We have just been hit by the third crazy storm to hit in as many days. Today we had torrential downpours and hail. I'm not sure the rainfall total, but the water was up to the first third of my tire in our street.

Apparently it was too much for the hillside above our house. (Thankfully, the mud chose a route other than towards our house.) The street above us is closed so now all the traffic including the bus is going down our street.

Eeek winter in Northern Cal.

Ernesto Neto Sculpture

We just got back from a museum crawl in San Francisco. I was dual purposing. I wanted to see if any of the museum shops might be a good fit for my felted items.

We checked out the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. They had a show called Open Source Embroidery.

It was an interesting idea the intersection of coding and data and craft. Unfortunately, I was a little underwhelmed. It seemed like a show that was curated for a different context.

We then proceeded to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and saw a fabulous show called. When lives become form Brazilian Art from the 60's to present. Interestingly enough it had been curated by (I think) the Museum of contemporary Art Tokyo. Apparently there is a very large population of Japanese who migrated to Brazil.

My favorite of the day was a huge (almost obscene) soft sculpture by Ernesto Neto Shown above.

Mustached Owl

Dear Blog,

I'm so sorry I've ignored you over the holidays. I really meant to come visit you, but what with trying to keep cat hats in the shop and preparing for the family festivities I just couldn't find the time.

I'm making this special hat just for you. As you might know, Owls and Mustaches are all the rage on etsy. I thought if I made a mustached owl it would be twice as hip. As you can see I'm trying out different mustaches at the moment. I'm thinking I might go with a handlebar.

Please accept my apologies for not stopping by sooner. I promise to visit more often.

Sincerely,

Fiberpuppy