Harriet's First Snow

Harriet found us about two months ago while I was raking leaves into compost piles. She was so playful, energetic and friendly that we just had to invite her into our household.

She is about 5 months old now and today she saw her first snow. She tried for a while to bite it and then moved on to playing with a string on the spigot.

Unsolicited Catalogues=Free Ornaments

I purchased a small spruce tree today that I plan to plant outside if it makes it until springtime. I don't really have any ornaments, but I found some inspiration online at Instructables and turned some junk mail and some scrap paper into ornaments.

Ravelry Re-birth

I updated my Ravelry page this morning. I've been severely neglecting it even though I was really jazzed when I was able to join last year. There was a waiting list to become a member and it was in its Beta form.

My latest work-in-progress Slanting Gretel Tee

It is a convenient way to track yarn, needles, projects, prices and scrap yarn. Looking at other peoples' finished projects is also inspiring although often a reality check. Hand knit sweaters always look slightly different on real people than models. Ravelry members share changes and re-sizing of patterns which reduces the learning curve for other people. You can also keep track of patterns and yarn you like, but don't have yet.

Ravelry also interfaces really nicely with Flickr.

Home Front Concert: RE-SCHEDULED!

The Antaeus Dance concert, Home Front has been rescheduled for February 2010. More details to follow. We are still plugging away at some great work and now have even more time to perfect the choreography and the production of the concert.

3 Weeks til Showtime

Countdown to Home Front: 3 weeks. I've got 4 bolero jackets to sew and 90 seconds of quartet to finish.

Quartet Part 3 from Jenita McGowan on Vimeo.

Keyboard Cat Craft

I'll admit that I am enamored with Keyboard Cat-- mostly because he is funny and partially because he looks a lot like my cat, Steve.

Apparently I am not alone in my fanaticism. Tubbypaws provides a template for a Keyboard Cat papercraft. I made five to give away as presents to friends who also appreciate Keyboard Cat humor. Tubbypaws painstakingly designed the template and created instructions in an artfully animated video.

Each cat took about an hour to construct. When you turn the handle, the cat actually plays the keyboard.

Taking Down the Disco Ball

Photos by Jenn Stoneking

The Electric Roller DiscoTech turned a vacant East Side warehouse into a vibrant, happening space for one evening. More than 400 people skated, boogied, socialized, checked out the views, watched Xanadu and retro pop commercials and listened to great music..

In the days leading up to the event, I was trying to imagine how many people would attend, but I never dreamed the turnout would be so large. I can only guess that the event resonated with Clevelanders who remember how fun skating is, or who were just looking for something funky to do on a Friday night.

The best part of creating this event was all the great people we worked with: St. Clair Superior Development Corporation, Pop Up City, Alexandra Underhill, All Go Signs, Plant Kingdom Bakery, Hooper Farm and Progressive Arts Alliance.

Countless people have asked when the next roller skating party is going to happen. People want to know if we can host a weekly skate in the Leff Warehouse, or if we'll pick a different vacant spot next time. We've officially "graduated" from the Cleveland Exeuctive Fellowship; this was the final 2008/9 event, but we are considering doing another skating event indpendently. In the future, I think we'll need some financial sponsors, and to provide skates to lend to those that don't have a pair. I'd love for the event to remain free and family friendly so that all Clevelanders can come and join in the fun.

Almost Ready

Decorating, sweeping and organizing has the Cleveland Executive Fellows tired out, but we're almost ready for the Electric Roller DiscoTech.

The final touch? Hanging the disco ball.