Technorati Tags: bunny, toddler

Posted by big bunny at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Easter seems forever ago! However we had a great saturday getting prepared for the holiday sunday festivities. Papa really enjoyed helping the kids dye their eggs. Of course we cracked most of them, but the spilling of dye and the cracking of shells is where the fun is, right? Just add salt to the tasty treat and it's all good.





The next morning the kids had a wonderful time running circles around the house searching for jellybean and m&m filled eggs. Lots of photos of Vivi because as you can see Max dove into the candy immediately and the endless basket of sweet treats never lost his attention.

Technorati Tags: holiday, preschooler, toddler

Posted by big bunny at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...and all through the day we hopped to every yarn store along our way (no joking!). None had the Debbie Bliss Rialto DK in white. Can you believe that? We called at least six or more stores between Sausalito and Healdsburg and then stopped at three or four who claimed to have the yarn only to find they didn't or had the wrong shade of white (again, really the wrong shade of white? WHITE right?!). I felt like I was on crazy pills. After Petaluma I threw in the towel, admitted defeat and committed to delivering a legless rabbit for Easter. That morning Max claimed the unfinished one as his own and has been sleeping with it ever since — legs or no legs. I went back to my LYS a few days later and bought the yarn to complete the project, but of course I haven't had the extra time or motivation to follow through. Timing is everything as they say.

Technorati Tags: knit toys, knitting, yarn

Posted by big bunny at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I heard the poem Foreseeing, which I've pasted in below, this morning. It was read aloud marvelously (as always) by Garrison Keillor during his NPR show the Writers Almanac. I took a serious pause as I heard it because it describes perfectly the moment I've been living for the past few months. I've been feeling as though I can see the end, or really just that I know and feel it's truly there, and I want to choose carefully the path I'll take to get there. However, I can not seem to decide which way to go. I am equally compelled by so many of the outlines and the possibilities that I just stand here a little dizzy and totally mesmerized by the view.

Foreseeing

by Sharon Bryan

Middle age refers more
to landscape than to time:
it's as if you'd reached

the top of a hill
and could see all the way
to the end of your life,

so you know without a doubt
that it has an end—
not that it will have,

but that it does have,
if only in outline—
so for the first time

you can see your life whole,
beginning and end not far
from where you stand,

the horizon in the distance—
the view makes you weep,
but it also has the beauty

of symmetry, like the earth
seen from space: you can't help
but admire it from afar,

especially now, while it's simple
to re-enter whenever you choose,
lying down in your life,

waking up to it
just as you always have—
except that the details resonate

by virtue of being contained,
as your own words
coming back to you

define the landscape,
remind you that it won't go on
like this forever.

photography by Lynn Geesaman

Posted by big bunny at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mr. C is so good in the kitchen! We woke up to find these beautiful petits fours glacés in our kitchen. We hiked them all the way out to Lake Lagunitas for the double birthday fete for Paga & Daddy before devouring them! They tasted as lovely as they look.

Posted by big bunny at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Snaps from a late afternoon jaunt to Golden Gate Park. Most importantly we all wish a very happy birthday to Paga!

Technorati Tags: kids, preschooler, San Francisco, toddler

Posted by big bunny at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Even the packaged cookies (this one a light wafer sandwich with a delicious vanilla cream center) from Japan are gorgeous works of art! I had to consider not eating it because it was too beautiful, but you know my mouth won out.

Technorati Tags: asia, eating, japanese

Posted by big bunny at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By way of my new membership to a knitters e-paradise called Ravelry, I found these darling knit toys by Rebecca Danger. My favorites (as seen above) are Chester the bashful bunny, Frances the charismatic monster, and Albert the absent minded monster — all so cute eh?! I've saved these to my favorites on Etsy so I can swing back by and purchase the patterns when I'm ready to knit a new toy. I still need to finish the second jellybean bunny and I'm thinking of trying to knit Totoro. I haven't been able to find a knit pattern for a toy, but I did find a great hat, so I may need to write a pattern myself.

Technorati Tags: etsy, knit toys, knitting, ravelry

Posted by big bunny at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My little girl loves to pretend drive. So she really enjoyed playing in Calder's ride on toy car. Vivi's clearly a take charge little lady (like the rest of her family!) and she was also a little heavy on the horn like her mommy. Hey, I once had my car's horn fall into my lap from over use — makes me laugh to remember that! Beep beep baby.

Technorati Tags: toddler

Posted by big bunny at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Max with his great auntie Lulu in their matching beatles shirts, smooches you are both too cute!

Posted by big bunny at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is so much I love about what's happening in the work of Heather Smith Jones. I'm wildly inspired by her studio journal section and that she shares her process with us — blog too!. After seeing all the different mediums and tools she uses, watercolor, needle, camera, printing press etc I am hopeful for my own future as I often feel so disjointed and stretched because I love so many things—printing, photography, knitting, drawing, painting, and collage. I feel I can't choose just one. Heather is doing it all and so very well, kudos! I aspire.

This little thumbnail doesn't do justice to the mysteriously dreamy landscape by Adam Hancher. I love the soft gloomy palette with black ink, pencil and the hand written type.

Technorati Tags: art, craft, illustration, Illustrator, inspiration, Letterpress, painting

Posted by big bunny at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A veritable bunny jackpot of fabulous imagery, humor and talent — I'm in hippity hop heaven with my fellow bunny lovers over at Kozydan.

These bunny egg cozies are ridiculously adorable, oye I want want want! Found at Branch.

I love web browsing even more with the browser plugin Cool Iris, wow so much to see and scan (and time to waste!).

Technorati Tags: art, bunny, illustration, Illustrator, inspiration

Posted by big bunny at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today Vivi turned seventeen months old. We celebrated with a mommy daughter day visit to the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Vivi ran all over the toddler area soaking herself in the water stream, jumping on the squishy water beds, pushing huge plastic shapes through their matching tubes, and banging giant musical instruments in the wildly loud "play it by ear" exhibit. We were both super happy and then later ridiculously exhausted.

Technorati Tags: Bay Area, toddler

Posted by big bunny at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Again another marathon jellybean bunny knitting night, but not enough progress! I stayed up 'til 1 am knitting three legs. Yikes the race just got more intense. I'm now carrying my knitting with me through the day in the hopes I can squeeze in a few rows during random waiting periods — this is serious eh?! 1 leg (on the other bunny), 4 arms, 2 ears and 2 tails to go with only 3 more nights until easter "OYE!" I included a shot from my knitting note book because I have a new method to my madness. Rather than tally marking rows, then recounting the marks and constantly referring back and forth to the pattern, I've started writing rows in numerical order and simply scratching them out after completing. I circle rows that have increases/decreases so I know ahead of time to check the pattern only for those rows. This makes it so much easier to return to my knitting after each interruption plus scratching out the row number is more satisfying than a little tally mark.

Technorati Tags: bunny, knit toys, knitting, softies, stuffies

Posted by big bunny at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stayed up way too late again last night finishing the second bunny body, embroidered face details and two ears. Two ears, four arms, four legs and two tails to go...

Technorati Tags: bunny, knit toys, knitting

Posted by big bunny at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The race is on! I've managed to pressure myself into a knitting frenzy once again. I am trying to whip out not one but two knit amigurumi jellybean bunnies by friday night so I can give them to the kids for Easter. I've got one body completed and stayed up until 12:30 last night getting through 2/3 of bunny # two's body. Facial embroidery plus 4 ears, 4 arms and 4 legs to go (plus 2 tails if I feel an encore?!), wish me luck!!

Technorati Tags: bunny, holiday, knit toys, knitting

Posted by big bunny at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spend, spend, spend...making art with all these fancy materials is so expensive. I forgot how lovely the rich and rare cadmiums and cobalts are, and of course now remember how pricey all those silver gelatin sheets are too. "Ouch", but also " aaaahh" at the same time, what a rub. When I walked into Dick Blick I felt so at home, well, in heaven really. The isles of colorful paints, wax, pens and all the merry craft making supplies, papers and books make me so happy — it's almost dangerous. I feel quite the same way in a yarn store. I managed to spend way too much and on so little! I opted not to make my own clear medium this time around and instead bought a few bars plus some white, pink, red and brown to start, I found some great scratching and carving tools both metal and wood plus cheap brushes so I can dedicate one brush to each color as was recommended. I also picked up some small wood panels, an on sale griddle from Target ($30 pretty good eh?) and a thermometer so regulate the wax temp. I still need to get a heat gun, iron and some extension cords. I have to watch out for the amps all these electrics use, apparently, if you run the griddle and gun on the same circuit you can blow out fuses! I've been scouring my new studio looking for other outlets so I can avoid that?!

Technorati Tags: art, encaustic, painting

Posted by big bunny at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm loving these notebook sketches by Kan Fukuda! His loose crumbly crayon like lines and scribbled fills are wondrous, playful and so inspiring. (found by way of Dear Ada)

Technorati Tags: art, illustration, inspiration

Posted by big bunny at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Max and I hit up our local yarn store today. He made himself right at home and instantly came up with a knitting project idea — an ultraman spaceship! He chose the cascade yarns 220 superwash in red, yellow, grey and white. For my memory and because he already ripped off the tags, it's 5 stitches = 1" on US size 7 or 5.5 sts =1" on US 6, 4" = 20 sts. Max promises to draw me the spaceship so I can create a pattern, though he also says he's going to finger knit it. Just for the record I also want to mention how much he reminds me of his daddy. Max instantly connected (aka flirted) with the sales girls by asking how yarn was made, they explained about spinning and showed him unspun wool. Then he asked them for a spinning demonstration while mentioning that princess Aurora was put to sleep by pricking her finger on a spindle. And for the cherry, he topped it all by showing off the icelandic intarsia sweater he happened to be wearing today! Uh hem, little knit lady killer!


For the "Jelly Bean" bunny I am hoping to start knitting tonight, I bought size 4, 24" circulars and Debbie Bliss Rialto DK merino superwash in soft white and ballet pink colors. The yarn calls for US size 6 needles but I think it will work fine with a 4 — which is what the pattern calls for, though the pattern calls for "worsted weight" and I bought "DK" oh well no worries since no one will be wearing it!

Technorati Tags: knit toys, knitting, yarn

Posted by big bunny at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few darling photos of Maximillian at school while he draws a robot — one that he's asked me to knit for him! As you can see, I'm still loving the toy camera application for the iPhone. Below you see Nicholas and Max acting out their favorite Ultraman poses.

Technorati Tags: drawing, preschool, preschooler

Posted by big bunny at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Such lovely inked lines and soft watery colors in Ian Oingman's illustrations. —found by way of Tiny Showcase, of course!

Technorati Tags: art, illustration, inspiration

Posted by big bunny at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)