interesting links

No post without photos, i have illustrated today's post with a post card i finished last week. The top sequins are black, but do not show in the photo.The bottom ones are gold and echo the gold foil on tulle in the top part. There's also some red scrim on top of the tulle and two insets of digitally printed silk organza. BTW the waist on the right side is intentional. LOL!
This is my way of getting ready for Sharon b's challenge for next year- Take it further
a design challenge that promises to be loads of fun.

More links. i found Traditions Mexico not only beautiful photos, but also some very interesting ideas on mordants for indigo and cochineal among others.

For those interested in transfer processes i came across this page with clear instructions on using acrylic gel medium for transfers.

And on a festive note make your own snowflake. Lots of Java fun and the flakes can be used as templates for fiber related projects.
Enjoy.

neki desu

it was about time i posted about food

We were in Madrid for the long weekend here just in search of some much needed r&r. HA!
The city was absolutely packed because everyone had the same idea. The cues at the Prado museum were 800mts plus and i am not exaggerating. Too bad i did not feel like standing in line for ages because the Velazquez exhibit and the new wing were worth it.
We went to the Reina Sofia Museum whose new wing we had not visited.
And the walks. We walked for endless hours, 5 at a shot. We could still enjoy the colors and the Christmas lights were inaugurated on the 5th of December drawing enormous crowds. Do check my Flikr for some photos of the trip.

Evidently after those walks we needed to replenish and Madrid is full of tascas where you can eat jam and cheese and drink fabulous wines.

But as with all things there is ham and ham. And ham means Joselito This half finished plate was at the Joselito place.They have updated the concept of tasca, a humble neighborhood eatery turning it into a sleek, modern place without altering the food element.



The ham is sublime, the wine list is impressive, desserts are memorable and we deserved this kind of gratification after being residents of Hades for weeks and weeks. By the way, the grey sleeves are mine.

neki desu

a fairy tale

Some weeks ago, before Hades set in my household i was musing and voiced out loud how cool it would be to have a knitting machine.
Times have surely changed and now fairy godmothers do not pop up in front of your eyes, too busy for that-LOL, or spurt from bottles or champagne glassess. The it thing now as you may all be aware of is the Internet.
So fairy godmother e-mailed me and said hush, hush child, I have a knitting machine for you. And in instant gratification time span i had a smartly uniformed man knocking on my
door with a professionally packed manila paper wrapped parcel that contained TAA DAAAA!!! a knitting machine!

Yesterday as peace was settling in my building i set the machine up and found a cone of terrible yarn to start practicing with.

i found an incredible number of tutes on you tube -yes, it's all out there-
especially one on casting on, something that i'm puzzled over. It's not the same machine, but i guess the principle stands and it's reasuring to know that all being out there you can play it over and over again. Therefore if i have to invoke my fairy godmother i won't sound like a total moron.
As i know not a thing about the knitting world i'm really excited about what i am going to learn and the possibilities that have opened in front of my eyes. How i'll be able to incorporate them to my textiles is another part of the journey.

Sounds like a fairy tale oi? Yet it actually happened to me.
Fairy godmother YOU ROCK!

neki desu