Category: Awesome Things

Sunday at the Fair

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Anna

John and I squeezed in a couple of hours at the Tulsa State Fair on Sunday before returning to New York. Despite some cool and cloudy weather, it was a lot of fun.

We saw cute chickens!

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I rediscovered Pineapple Whip!

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There was a big display of fancy cakes!

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Including a clock cake…

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a wind-up “chattering teeth” cake…

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and this cake shaped like a can of chewing tobacco.

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There were also these mysterious barrels sitting around outside the pavilion, which I found to be almost as intriguing as the cakes.

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I hope we get to go to a fair next year too!

Robo-Dog Encounter

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Anna

This is too funny! A real dog doesn’t know what to make of the robot dog that it meets at Tompkins Square Park in NYC.

You can make your own Robogurumi robot dog at a workshop with the Ossu! Shugeibu crafting club at gallery hanahou on October 17th. (It’s just $29.99, including materials!) Email info@galleryhanahou.com to sign up!

COLOURlovers

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Anna

I just discovered COLOURlovers, an online community/blog/resource for color inspiration—very cool! A contributor to the site recently blogged about the colors used in some of my toy designs.

I love the way the people on COLOURlovers obsessively create color palates from different sources. Here is the distilled version made from the colors in my Giant Mushrooms Attack the City knitted sculpture.

It looks so planned out when it’s shown like this! Gives me inspiration to put just a little more thought into my color choices.

APAK in Seattle and Tina Berning in NYC

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Anna

How cute is this painting by APAK!

They’re opening a new show called “Tiny Adventures” at Schmancy in Seattle this Friday, so if you’re in the area, check it out! (Every other post on my blog lately seems to involve Schmancy, I know… They’re just always up to something interesting!)

Gosh they are the cutest.

Also, tomorrow (9/10) gallery hanahou in NYC (where I work when I’m not knitting) reopens with a solo show of works by Tina Berning. Tina’s paintings and drawings are simply amazing (I have a piece by her hanging on the wall next to me right now, in fact) and must be seen in person. Join us for the opening reception of “The Passengers” tomorrow, 6-9 pm, or come hear the artist talk about her work on Saturday (9/12) at 2 pm. (RSVP info@galleryhanahou.com for either event.)

Tina Berning: THE PASSENGERS III, 32 x 23.5 cm, Ink and Gouache on paper, 2009

Knitted Toilet Paper Cover

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Anna

Cathy in the UK recently sent me a photo that blew my mind: a knitted toilet paper roll cover in the shape of a toilet paper roll! I don’t think you can get more meta than that.

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Cathy says she was inspired by my pattern for knitted toilet paper. Awesome!

Gospel with Your Acrylic Yarn?

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Anna

In the past I’ve had trouble finding the right Oklahoma souvenirs for my New York friends, but Hobby Lobby came through for me on my last trip with Testamints, sugar-free gum that is officially holier than whatever gum you’ve been chewing!

I had heard of these before, so probably they’re not unknown, but I thought it was extra great that they were available where I was shopping for polyester stuffing. And according to the Testamints website, they are currently ONLY available at Hobby Lobby (and online via Oriental Trading Co).

What makes this gum special is not, as you might think, a Christian message printed on each piece of gum, but instead it’s just a Bible verse printed on the back of the package. So the idea is that you have to give whole packages of gum away to spread the word, and not just a piece. Sweet Jesus that’s clever.

Stephin Merritt’s Coraline

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Anna

Music-genius Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields just opened a new musical based on Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, with no relation to the recent movie.

The heroine has a bit of a more mature look in this version.

The New York Times review that came out earlier this week is a little mixed, but it made me think that I might like it for all its strangeness.

Coraline is playing at the MCC Theater in the West Village through July 5. I’ll be seeing it later this month!

New Jersey Transit Art

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Anna

Yay another trip to Oklahoma today! It is one of my top 50 favorite states (in the US). And getting there is fun too, sometimes.

Anyone been to the fancy New Jersey Transit waiting room at Penn Station? I’ve taken the train to Newark Airport from there before but hadn’t seen the waiting room before this trip for some reason. It’s such an interesting atmosphere, combining the dinginess of contemporary American rail travel with what seems like an attempt to recapture the glamour of trains from the past. So homeless people nap and tinny classical music plays overhead. Also: an art installation!

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This is “New Jersey On Parade,” a piece by George Mossman Greenamyer that was commissioned by NJ Transit in 2002, according to a plaque on the wall. It’s actually a pretty neat display of New Jersey landmarks and icons made of steel suspended from a track and constantly in motion. You see, because of trains and stuff. And here is Mr. Peanut.

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The nostalgic style of the piece and the clicking mechanical sound it makes going around the tracks seems so very 1940s, I think, and strangely complements the old flickering monitors, the surly passengers, the piped-in classical music, and the smell of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels mixed with body odor.