The Burrow Studio Productions

Before I start this announcement-filled entry, I just want to take a moment to celebrate the fact that this is my 100th entry! Yay! Happy Birthday, blog! And it only took me 2+ years. Ok, onto the news.

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I never thought I would be the kind of person who moves around a lot, but I can't seem to help it. Last week I listed my 10th address on Netflix. It's a little unsettling (unsettled? Pun intended) to repack the same boxes every June and spend the summer months traveling only to find myself homeless every August.

This summer, the only difference was one of scale: instead of moving across town, I moved half-way across the country. And now I'm a resident of Chicago, IL. So why did I move away from all my lovely friends in Philadelphia? Love, Life, Friends and Itchy Feet. And while it was sad to leave Philly and scary to land in Chicago I keep having to remind myself that every move I've ever made has been worth it. Change can be terrifying but with it comes new possibilities. And I want to be the kind of person who gambles big.

So at the end of my summer frivolities I loaded my truck and headed west!

Yeah, I packed it pretty tight.

A very angry Ripley was my road-buddy!

I share my new apartment with Lucy Knisely, the brilliant comic artist and author of the graphic novel French Milk (and other autobiographic comic collections!) It's a beautiful and sunny space on the third floor. We have windows that look out in all 4 directions and because we live on a tree lined steet it's a little like living in a tree-house. One of it's other perks is the ample studio space! (Swooon!)

One of the scariest things about moving to a new city is the prospect of finding a job. Although a few of the teaching jobs I had hoped for look like they will pull through, after a TON of deep contemplation I've made the decision to try to eke out a living by my craft. Eeeeeeeeek! Right? I mean, really scary: there's NO guarantee of income and the studio start-up costs alone are pretty unthinkable! But that's the plan: I'm going to produce a new line of products and sell them via Etsy and local craft stores.

I announced this terrifying prospect to my new studio-mate and, somewhat to my surprise, she immediate exclaimed: "That's great! Let's start a home studio!"

And so, I'm proud to introduce the new collaborative home studio of
Nora Renick Rinehart and Lucy Knisely:

THE BURROW!

The Mascot: Ripley and Linney locked in an eternal tussle.

Like I said: the space is amazing! I've never had so much space to organize my studio supplies (that wasn't also my bedroom. Actually, with a studio space for most of my stuff my bedroom is pretty sparse.)

Lucy working in her studio nook.

The room is built with two sizable nooks, each with windows and lights, with enough floor space for a work table and a large closet for supply storage.

Thread! Beautiful beautiful thread...

Swoooon.... I had a blast organizing all of my supplies!


Unpacking all my familiar desk stuff...


...decorating the studio with Lucy...

I'm a little addicted to collecting paint samples. I may have spread the addiction to Lucy.

...and integrating our two felines into the space!

This photo is IN NO WAY indicative of how they get along: there's usually quite a bit more hissing involved.

They certainly do look good in the space, though!

I'd call it more of a brownish gold.

And to top off all of this wonderfulness? The west-facing window by my desk has an amazing view of the sunset. So much swoon!

This week has been a lot of unpacking, cleaning and getting organized; but there's no time to dawdle! If I'm gonna make a living at this, I've gotta get to making stuff. The first wave of supplies is ordered so next week: print tables, prototypes and photography. Stick around!

Fall Projects and Announcements!

So... in all that free time I've had lately- what with the full time job, a psuedo-social life, and working on my grad school applications- I've somehow also managed to keep up with my crafting! ("Somehow" meaning that this is how I've been procrastinating from doing all that other stuff.) Here's what I've recently finished working on:

Chunky Braided Scarf!

After the craziness that was the knitting at Haystack, I was sincerely looking forward to starting fall with an easy, fairly thoughtless knitting project. So, I grabbed the handspun I had bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool fest and hit ravelry in search of a super-simple scarf pattern.


The yarn, made by Folktale Fibers in Maryland, was this great combination of cotton and soysilk in brilliant purples and muddy browns. I knew that I probably wouldn't have enough for the entire scarf but, deciding to maintain the integrity of the handspun, I opted to make it a half and half scarf. Also, because the fibers in the original yarn were vegan (not that I am, but, y'know) I decided to hold true to that while choosing my contrastisting finishing yarn. So, the light purple and brown that make up the second half of the scarf are both Blue Sky 100% cotton!


Although the pattern looks complicated to those who aren't used to knitting cables, knitting the scarf was really quite simple. On the first row of cables (3) the cable is knit in front of the work, causing the cables to pull in one direction. The next row (2 cables) is knit in back of the work, causing the cables to pull in the other direction. (Actually, each of the purple and brown stripes are one repeat of the pattern!) When repeated, and knit without a purl border, the work looks like a giant braid. Like challa bread! Remind me to knit up some challa some time.

All cozy and ready for fall! (Any day, now, fall... feel free to get cold any day.)

Spool Swap Quilt!

Since April, I have been participating in a quilt square swap at my local fabric store, Spool! Every month, members of the swap made and exchanged 12 9-blocks measuring 6". Seeing as I already have more than my body weight in tiny Viv Pickle scrap fabric, I decided that I wouldn't buy any new fabric for my squares! So, I only used recycled and salvaged materials. (It meant that some of my squares didn't even really match themselves, which I think made some of the more uptight quilters a little twitchy but, it was an important statement for me to feel like I was making.) We started with an inspiration fabric with the hopes of keeping the fabric selections at least a little cohesive but...

I guess it might not have been such a great choice to pick one of the Kaffe Fasset paperweight collection as inspiration! So many colors! Actually, I loved all the amazing colors and patterns that I was getting every month... and I had a blast laying them out in different arrangements; searching for the perfect chaotic composition. It had seemed obvious to me to put all the colored squares together, medallion style, and work with a border to make up the extra space, but I went through a period of quilt-anxiety after seeing Spools swap quilt. Instead of grey fabric, Laura chose a cream color and bordered each individual square by 2" on all sides. The forthcoming quilt is sooo different from mine! Much cleaner and more proper looking. But... once I was finished I got over my anxiety and really started to love it! (Hopefully we'll get a chance to see how some of the other swap-members decided to design their quilts.)


It's on my bed and Ripley loves sleeping on it as much as I love sleeping under it! Everyone should be so lucky as to have a hand made quilt on their bed. Love love love.

And, because Allison Smith's mom says that you should always sign your quilt somewhere, mine got a signature and date.

Renegade Craft Fair, Chicago 2009!

Ok, so this isn't as much a finished craft as it is a crafting announcement! It is now official: I will be sharing a table at this year's Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago with the illustriate comic artist Lucy Knisely and maker-of-beautiful things, Nellie Kurz! The fair will be held on December 5th and 6th, from 11am- 6pm, in Chicago's Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. I will be selling more of the usual: wallets, belt bags, ipod cases (with belt-loops!), computer cases, and small zippy bags out of a fantastic collection of fabrics. How fantastic, you ask? Well.. here's some of the coool stuff i've collected so far!

Yeah,that's right. That last photo included birds, mermaids, gears, robots, ray-guns AND concession stand snacks! You know you're going to want this year's stuff. Just saying.

I'll also be selling a hilariously ecclectic collection of shrinky-dink buttons and a top secret postcard collection soon to be released.... curious? Yeah, I know you are. I'll send out more information about the craft fair as it gets closer!



Amazing! and busy. Whew! Allright, now I gotta go get some more stuff done. Thanks for reading!

Some things that ARE alike.

and

RIGHT??!?

I really really really want an angora bunny (as shown at top).  If I had an angora bunny, I would name it Spatula.  I would shear Spatula, spin her fur into yarn, dye the yarn and name it such things as "Burgundy Spatula,"  and "Sparkly Tuquoise Spatula," and my personal favorite, "Spatula Natural" (undyed).

But I suppose, for the time being, I will have to settle for my excessively furry cat with almost too much personality who has a habit of sleeping directly on top of my knitting patterns (as shown above, below.)

Le Sigh... life is so full of fur-tastic possibilities...