Yarn, Photos and Juggling

John and I waited to open our gifts until after we got back from visiting family. So we had Christmas last night. John got me this old puzzle of a DeKooning painting. He also had prints made of a bunch of our pictures. I've been saying all year how, though I love digital cameras, I feel bad that we don't have any pictures to put in albums and show people. So he had 250 of our favorite pictures printed, from while we were dating, the honeymoon, our road trip and birthdays. It was great. And if you ever come visit us, expect to have to look at them all.

Also, on our way home we stopped at a yarn shop in Brentwood. It was kind of small, and of course pricey, but I thought you have to buy really great yarn occasionally. So here are my new yarns. (After having fun with Haydn's stuffed fruits and vegetables, I decided to make a large stuffed carrot.)


And finally, John is selling his juggling clubs online since he doesn't use them much, and they're large. But first we got some pics and videos of him in action. If I knew how to put a video on here I'd show you, but if you just look back and forth between the two pictures really fast, you'll get the idea.

Finals Week

well, I took a break from the research papers to finish grading the projects from my 2d Design class. I don't feel like taking the time to explain the whole project (again), but basically they are supposed to communicate the visual effect of a scene without using iconography (so they must completely rely on design tools). All of the projects have three compositions and some kind of movement. My classes did really well. Out of the thirty something projects, these are a couple of my favorites:



this first one shows the envious relationship of a contained force to a free one.



this all too cute example, shows natural force consuming the artificial.



this one could have been made much better, but at least design wise, he showed a dark force imprisoning a light force.



Here some curvilinear forces are overcome by jagged forces.

I may put up some more later.

Five a Day

My neice Haydn is getting a kitchen set for Christmas, so I'm knitting her some fruits and vegetables to go with it. So far I have a carrot, a bananna, and broccoli. I think these are just too cute. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but the broccoli has two little branches. I have plans for an apple and some green beans as well.

Cuckoo Clock

My great-uncle Papa Joe gave John and I this clock for a wedding gift. I love cuckoo clocks and was very happy to have it. We had to get it fixed up a little, but now it is firmly affixed to the wall of our living room. (John spent at least an hour looking for a stud. He finally found something behind the wall in this corner - though it does not appear to be a vertical beam. I know this sounds crazy - but I'm pretty much convinced there are no studs in our walls.)