Cold Hands pg14

It's very exciting to be making my first pullover. My first large project since learning to knit was a cardigan I made for my guy. He wore it a lot during the fall/winter. Now, it's my own turn to sport some fine hand-knits, if I do say so myself. The pattern is based off of the "$5 in Paris" pattern by Anna Peck-Maliszewski which you can find here. I'll have project notes on my Ravelry page. I love the way this sweater is turning out.

Cold Hands pg13

Bird.

It always cracks me up, on the Prisoner of Azkaban special features dvd, where Gary Oldman is talking like a "bird."

A couple of posts ago, I was talking about what to do with this grey yarn that I have. I still haven't decided what I want to make out of it. I know I want some kind of cardigan. Either a "Luna Lovegood" cardi or I might pick up additional colors and make a fair-isle cardi. I'm so indecisive! One of the reasons why no one likes shopping with me :P

Cold Hands pg12

So, the weekend has come and gone, along with it this year's 2011 MoCCA Art Festival. It is always such a great experience and this time was no exception. I met a lot of great people and sold a lot of my work. My mini-comic, "Jack," completely sold-out. I'm so happy because I love the way that book came out. I worry about my stories sometimes appealing to a large audience (basically, anyone other than myself) because it's different. My work is dramatic/serious and it means a lot that other people are enjoying the work that I do.

Well, enough about me. Like I said, I met a lot of cool people. Alec Lewellyn, whom I know from college, gave me a copy of his most recent mini-comics: "Big Title" #2 and "Pancakes!" I've read them and I think they are really awesome. His stories revolve around his wrestling characters, the main one being a guy named William Downs. I find his work to be humorous and entertaining. Me and my guy used to watch a bit of Friday Night Smackdown before it switched channels so I get the whole theatrics of putting on a wrestling show. It is all a show. Big Title #2 pokes fun of that to a certain degree but it also revels in it like a real wrestling match. So, I find. Pancakes! is a great issue, too. Personally, I'm more of a waffles gal but that's splitting hairs.

Find more Alec Lewellyn work here: aleclewellyn.blogspot.com

Another really cool group I met was Accent UK. They are an independant comic producer, mostly from the UK who put together a yearly anthology, along with their own regular titles. They gave me their most recent copy of their anthology, which I have yet to crack open. I did start to read the other comic they gave me entitled "Whatever Happened to the World's Fastest Man." I'd say I'm about half-way through the book, and I'm really liking it so far. The premise involves a man who can stop time, and is using this gift/curse to help other people, though it winds up taking a personal toll on him. The artwork is lovely. There's a cool distinction between the way regular time and "Bobby time" (Bobby being the main character) is illustrated. The shading and the tonal values make the world around Bobby such a somber place. It helps the reader connect with the isolation the main character is feeling. I look forward to finishing the story up.

Find more info about Accent UK here: www.accentukcomics.com

There are some other books that I have and haven't read yet, and some other artists I'll be sure to get around to talking about. I'll have more talk about the overall experience of the convention on this week's episode of The Verbal Mosh.

It was one crazy good weekend and I look forward to next year's MoCCA Fest.

Cold Hands pg11

It's that time of the year... MoCCA time! The MoCCA Arts Festival is next weekend, April 9-10, held at the Lexington Avenue Armory in NYC. Doors open at 11a.m. I'll be sharing a table. I plan on bringing my "Black Morning" series with me, along with a new mini-comic (if I ever start it) and a couple of other things. You gotta come by if you want to see. It's a cool convention with a lot of great indy comics and artists. I hope the weather will be nice. The event is indoors but it's the icing on the cake to have a beautiful spring day.

Anywho, if you want to find out more about the art festival, check out their website.

Cold Hands pg10

I'm collecting yarn for a new cardigan/vest/thing. A couple of years ago, I had bought like six or seven skeins of worsted, grey yarn that I had intended on crocheting in to a throw for my guy. Once I found out that he thought the yarn was too itchy to use, I wrapped the yarn up in a bag and left it in my closet. I'd been taking out a skein or two, here and there, for myself to make in to bags, hats and mitts. It had never occurred to me to make a sweater of sorts out of it. Mind you, when I first purchased it, I only knew how to crochet (and only ever attempted accessories and pillows.) Any kind of large article of clothing was beyond my comprehension.

Now is a different story.

It's almost a year and a half since I first taught myself how to knit. It's been so enjoyable. There is such a hassle shopping for clothing in department stores. Clothes are always so big and long. Tailoring everything is such boring work. Plus, items in the petite section are never as cute as the "normal" people clothing. Knitting and crocheting my own clothes, I can get a perfect custom fit and make really adorable items.

So, I'm collecting my grey yarn, frogging the hats and bags I'd made. I haven't decided if I want to knit a vest or crochet a cropped cardigan. Crochet will always be a bit more fun for me, seeing as I'm a lot faster at it. The cardigan that is on my Facebook page took me a day to make and another day to weave in the ends and block. I have another vest that I knit that took me a good deal longer to make. I worked on it on and off so I can't remember exactly how long that took. I think I put it down in my Ravelry page but I don't feel like bothering to look. Yesterday, I started work on a new pair of fingerless gloves. These are the kind with partial fingers attached, rather than one thumb and one opening for the rest of your fingers. I feel like the partial fingered mitts will keep my hands just a tad bit warmer. I have yet to test them outdoors so I could be wrong. My right glove is knit, today the left side will get tackled. Here's hoping that this one will get knit faster now that I've got my measurements down.

Cold Hands pg9

Sorry for the late post this week. Normally, I'm coloring another "Cold Hands" page first thing on Sundays, but this past weekend, I was out of the country for the Toronto Comic-Con. I've been to Toronto once before (last year) and the city was so great, my guy and I had to go again. More of what that particular convention is like will be discussed on episode 106 of our podcast, later on this evening.

As to the rest of our trip, Toronto has some really great restaurants. One of our absolute favorites is Cafe Crepe. The Toffee Coffee was delicious and didn't agitate my stomach the way many other coffees can and their Parisian Hot dog was like no hot dog I've ever had before. We had eaten dinner at the Burger Bar. My meal, the Cowboy Supper rice bowl, was tasty. I wanted something without too much fat and grease (and flavor) because I wasn't feeling so good (Partly from our stiff bed and the cold weather). The burger my guy had, on the other hand... well... considering it's a burger joint, you would think their burgers would be the best thing they had to offer. The waitress got his order wrong. He asked for cheddar cheese and he got bleu. He asked for fries and she completely forgot them when she brought the rest of our meal. When she did bring them, they were soggy and the sauce was inedible. So, we went back to the Cafe Crepe which is where we had a sort of second dinner and brings my tale 'round about. Even though I was full after having my rice bowl, and finishing half of my hot dog, I ate it all and my coffee because it was just that good.

Another good place to eat at is the BeerBistro. I'm not particular to beers but I heard the food was good and my guy likes to drink beer. On recommendation from the bartender, I did have one glass of beer and I'm a little upset because I didn't quite catch the name of it and it was the best beer I've ever had. So of course, the one beer I like, I probably won't be able to find again. It was peach flavored and that's all that I can remember. Ah, well. We sat right next to the kitchen, over-looking the chef, which was a cool experience. The overall atmosphere was really nice. The best item we tried had to be the Spicy Kobe Beef Tacos.

It's funny. If we weren't at the convention or the comic book store, The Silver Snail, we were some place, eating. I had thought about visiting the LYS, The Lettuce Knit, but I didn't really want to buy anything, just browse. If I did browse, I would've bought something. I figure it's best this way. I'm not that fond of browsing stores because I'm indecisive at times and take forever to pick something I like.

All in all, Toronto is a great place to visit, but I would never live there. Too dang cold. People on the street were talking about how nice the weather was and how it felt like Spring. It was too dang cold.

Page 9 is based on the rough sketch that turned in to this illustration.

:)

Wild-Eyed Vixen

A few samples from my "Black Morning" series.

The depiction of women in old movies can sometimes be a bit over-the-top. I can't recall the name of the movie I was watching, it was some time ago and I don't believe I saw it from the beginning. I came across it flipping through the channels. Anyways, the lead female character was jumping up and down in hysterics over a man she adored, almost like a child. She kept saying over and over that whatever-his-name-was loved him because he yelled at her. Y'see, his yelling meant that he cared about her, that he would get so worked up over what she was doing. The man, of course, was cool and reserved. He tried to deny that he loved her, but she knew. From that moment on, she wasn't leaving his sight. And, the movie ends with the woman taking it upon herself to move in to the man's home.

Sounds psychotic, but in the world of those two individuals, it worked. I wish I knew what the name of that movie was.

I'm re-reading Harry Potter. Yes, again. I can't wait to see the final film. I made myself a pair of Luna's Dirigible Plum earrings in crochet. Luckily I had a pair of old earrings that were falling apart, so I took them apart even more and used the hooks for the top part that goes in to my ear. I'll be posting a picture of them on my Facebook page soon :)