belle epoque

I am very late to the podcast party– like I only started listening to them with any frequency this year. Having two small children who take up all of my attention (except when I have a babysitter, which is equally valuable time), I like to squeeze as MUCH into my me-time as possible. Thus, when I’m knitting or otherwise crafting I crave media of some kind. Sometimes that means watching Hulu or Netflix on my computer on my lap, and sometimes that means tuning into one of my favorite podcasts. I feel like finding the sort of podcasts I like is not exactly intuitive on iTunes, so I thought I’d make a little list here. I’m leaving out crafty ones because I’m guessing you guys have already ferreted those out for yourselves.

I like fiction and storytelling, first and foremost. I like genre fiction quite well, and old radio plays. I wish I could find more good (not cheesy) mystery podcasts, and old BBC radio plays– if you have any insights there, let me know! Nonfiction has to be *really* compelling, or about food, which is true for me when reading or watching nonfiction too. Anyway, these wonderful podcasts speed along my knitting and help me wind down. I’d love to hear about your favorites too!

Storytelling:
The Moth Podcast: A very well-known storytelling podcast, I think- it is good when good, and can be annoying when they broadcast a celebrity’s story just because it is being told by a celebrity.
Risk:-funny, irreverent, occasionally more than a bit R-rated, I laugh out loud listening to this podcast! Moondoggie gives me funny looks, especially when I’m listening in the middle of the night after feeding Her Nibs.

Fiction:
Pseudopod: A fabulous array of mostly contemporary horror stories, generally very well-read. I don’t read a lot of horror, but I do like it and they do a FABULOUS job of curating compelling stories. I also really like the host– his voice, his attitude and his insights.
Podcastle: Put on by the same people as Pseudopod, this is a fantasy podcast. I prefer fantasy to horror to read, but this podcast is a bit more uneven, probably because of *all* the different categories of fantasy, some of which I loathe. But a new episode of Podcastle always gets my hopes up!
Selected Shorts: Beautifully curated and performed short fiction that originates in live performance in NYC. They do more literary and classic fiction, which you may already be able to tell is not my favorite, but they choose the stories well, and the performers are phenomenal. I don’t think I’ve downloaded one that I didn’t like.
The Horror (Old Time Radio): I am a huge sucker for vintage radio plays. Again, for some reason, I prefer the horror/dark fantasy ones to some of the others- I think the cheese factor works better in this genre than, say, mystery. Also, the British ones are THE BEST– eerie and not cheesy at all, no matter what era they are from.

Nonfiction:
RadioLab: I am OBSESSED with RadioLab– it keeps me awake. I love popular science–I am fascinated by how things work, but do need to have them explained to me by an intermediary (like The New York Times Science section, or the fellows who edit RadioLab). I laugh out loud, and find myself quoting what I’ve learned on RadioLab to anyone who will listen (usually moondoggie or my mother, who nod and absently say “mmmmhmmm”). But whenever I start hanging out with adults again, I am going to have SO MUCH awesome dinner party trivia to make me sound smart!
The Splendid Table: This is like RadioLab but for food. I love the host’s jolly, warm demeanor, and interesting facts they ferret out about food. I only wish I could remember to go to their website for the recipes they talk about on the show!

Anyway, sorry for such a text-heavy post, but hopefully it will be of interest to some of you! Again, PLEASE comment with your favorite podcasts if you have time! I’d love to check them out.

What a long maternity break from blogging that was! If I am still showing up on your feed readers, thank you for waiting for me and coming back! I’ve been busy taking care of these two for the past few months

Miss S. has been joined by Miss E, also known as “Her Nibs.” Miss E came right on her due date, December 17th, all by herself. After a rocky 6 week adjustment period, we’ve all been getting along splendidly for the most part. I think I showed you guys the Stella Pixie hat I made for Her Nibs before she was born. I liked it then but felt lukewarm about it. But people, on a baby?! Holy Moly

It is hands down the most complimented thing I have ever made! It is also perfect for carrying a wee one in a bjorn– it covers both neck and the entire head/ear area and doesn’t come off when they move their little noggins around. I love it so much. And of course the little fuzzy head it covers.

As that little fuzzy head is currently occupying a crib in my former craft room, all the crafting I’ve been doing is knitting and handwork, but I have been doing it! For Miss S’s second birthday(yes! she is TWO!) I made her a little family of piggies

This pattern came from one of my latest favorite knitting books, Knitted Animals by Anne-Dorthe Grigaff. The designs are super-simple and easy but so very charming. The quality of the yarn makes all the difference– the piggies were knit with a lovely angora blend that is super-soft.

I’ve got a ton of other projects in the works, including my very first sweater, for me! And some older projects I never managed to blog about before my baby-break. I’ve missed this space, and you guys! I’ll be back soon…

In addition to knitting as a great activity to do while lounging in bed and watching trashy TV, I do adore embroidery. It was one of the first crafts I learned from my mom when I was home sick from school as a child. She bought me beautiful little flower samplers from Woolworth’s (oh how I miss Woolworth’s, source of all my early craft supplies!) and taught me the satin stitch, split stitch and french knot so I could spend hours stitching away. I’m planning to make sure I have plenty of patterns transferred onto fabric or dish towels before the new baby comes, so I’ll have lots of projects I can just pick up and work on despite my machine-sewing space being otherwise engaged. Many of those patterns will be Hillary Lang’s wonderful Stitchettes, which I was always quick to snap up as soon as they came out so I wouldn’t miss any. I most recently finished her Quilting Bee Stitchette, with the vague notion of painting an embroidery hoop in a nice turquoise to use as a frame for hanging it on the wall.

Lucky for anyone who did miss a few Stitchettes, Hillary has just made them all available as PDFs!

Oh friends, I’ve missed you. It has been a weird kind of busy/angsty around here that I’ll just file under “Spring Fever” and have done with it. I’m hoping now that it is May we can all accept that it is spring already and have no more fevery flibbertyjibbetness around here (and no more middle of the night business from a certain person. But I’m afraid there is always a bit of the flibbertyjibbet (sp?) in me, so I make no promises.

I’ve been missing out on my bloglines lately too, and now that I’m catching up– WOW, there are so many great tutorials, cute articles of clothing and other goodies out there. I’ve recently fallen into the trap of starting more than 2 craft projects at once which means I get overwhelmed and nothing gets done so I sit here not crafting and not blogging, feeling wretched. Sadly seeing all this cuteness popping up all over makes me all the more inspired to take on even more projects. But I must be strong.

What I have been doing since we last met
*Baking bread- I gave in and got a pizza stone and container so I could try my hand at the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It was both good looking and pretty delicious, though my crust could use some work

*Knitting- HMB and I have been attending wonderful classes put on by the SF Waldorf School since she was 6 months old. Now we are in a *very* clever craft class that allows the moms to craft while the toddlers cruise around and play. There is singing and a warm snack too. I can’t tell you what a bright spot this is in our week! We’ve already made a crocheted market bag, and now I’m working on these

One down, one to go!
*Cooking, again and more and always.
*Re-reading Anne of Green Gables, and realizing how woefully miscast Meagan Followes and that guy who played Gilbert Blythe really were, as much as I enjoyed the CBC series when I was younger.
*Failing miserably at spring cleaning! Though you know, I have gotten into the habit of making the bed every day and *really* cleaning out the fridge every grocery day. So that’s something. But the craft room is taunting me with its clutter and disorganization, as ever.

Anyway, that’s about all here. I’ll try to pop in again before then but if I don’t–HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! to all of you amazing, inspiring moms out there– I don’t know how you guys do it, crafting like crazy, cooking delicious food, looking great and raising amazing children too. I’m sort of hanging on by my fingernails most of the time, so I salute all of you out there making it happen!

I’ve been hearing about a lot of neat stuff happening here in/around San Francisco that I wanted to share with my fellow Bay Area crafters.

First of all, did you know that Stitches West is coming up this weekend? Yep– from Friday to Sunday at The Santa Clara Convention Center. Urban Fauna Studio will be there! If you live around here and like yarn and fiber, Santa Clara is the place to be this weekend.

And secondly: not sure where I’ve been, but it turns out that CCA offers fantastic extended education courses. When HMB is in school (I know, it is a few years away but you gotta plan ahead), I would love to take a bunch of their classes. There are so many artsy, crafty things I’d love to learn and CCA is one of those places I always fantasized about going– I went to a few shows there when a good friend was in the MFA program and I liked pretending I was one of the students. Anyway, they have a few courses coming up that might be of interest specifically for crafters:
Glass on Metal: Basic Enameling March 14 &15 from 9:30am-4:30pm.

Selling & Marketing Your Crafts workshop, on Saturday April 4th, from 10am-4om. I’ve dabbled, as some of you may remember, in selling my crafty wares and I really had no idea what I was doing. I wish I’d attended something like this first!

Sorry for the text-heavy post! I’ll be back with some pictures soon…

Hello Blog! I’ve missed you. I have so much to tell you about our vacation and all this other stuff, but really, the biggest happy news is that CPSIA has been revised! You can read more over on Jess Brown’s blog (where I found out the big news), but the main thing is that crafters and small handmakers are protected from having to test and certify their products. Of course they have to make sure they conform to current lead and bad-plastic standards, but I’m sure that’s something the good ones already do!

In celebration, I’ll show you some *more* handmade toys that have been happening chez belleepoque. The are not for HMB, though her birthday is coming up this month (what?! one already?!) so I had better get on that too.

I made these using the pattern over at The Purl Bee, for a little boy we know who just turned one. They have jingle bells in the middle so they make a nice noise. It was fun digging in my scrap box and remembering everything I made with these fabrics before they became scraps! Clearly I have a thing for blue and orange.

These are some teensy Waldorf dolls made for some new babies in our circle. I made them properly with shaped inner heads under the jersey, using instructions from Marycristin Sealy’s book Making Waldorf Dolls. Boy is it hard to get the head shapes right! I have even more appreciation for the lovely waldorf dolls I see out there. I’d like them to have rounder, less-alien-looking heads, but at least they are soft and squashy so hopefully the babies who get them won’t mind.

I have felt so inspired to finally make something for myself, but it seems like these little kid projects with hand sewing are just more manageable. But I have some fabric and a pattern especially to make myself a shirt dress, so once the fabric is washed I’ll spend naptimes and bedtimes on it!

Hello! Just a little post about a few things I am enjoying this week
1. Parsnips. Oh my gosh! My new favorite vegetable– they are so sweet and piquant! I am a lover of the root vegetable in general (perhaps my Irish heritage?), but for some reason hadn’t really gotten into parsnips before. I now add them to anything I’m roasting, and just made this parsnip soup from Everyday Food. It is delicious and very easy– I used my immersion blender and skipped the cream so that HMB could share it with me for lunch. She likes to eat whatever I’m eating so I try to avoid adding the “forbidden foods” (i.e. cow’s milk, nuts etc) to what I make so she can have some. This doesn’t need the cream, though if you’re feeling fancy you might add a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream to the top.
2. Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day: Lee Pace! Ciaran Hinds! Thirties clothes and music in a charming, sweet, British romance! What more could you ask for? I know, if you were me you would ask for a subscription to Persephone Books. Yup. But if you were me you’d also have to do something really good to deserve it. Or, you know, wait for the dollar/pound exchange rate to fall really low and order it for yourself? No, no. Foolishness.

Also, if you have an iPhone, did you know that there is an application that contains the collected works of Jane Austen? Yes! There is! For only $1.99! As I spend a lot of time with my iPhone while rocking and nursing HMB to sleep (oh I know, it is a bad habit and she should fall asleep by herself– please tell her that, because she disagrees with all of the sleep experts and claims she actually can’t do that, no ma’am, and would rather stay awake and be cranky than forgo the pleasure of my pre-sleep company), ANYWAY, I’m reading Persuasion (my favorite) in bits throughout the day, when the New York Times gets just too depressing. If you ever find yourself on a long bus ride, or waiting room or something without a book, surely you’d be glad of Miss Austen’s company on your phone too?

Oh my. It is so easy to get out of the habit of blogging! Especially with things like holidays, fun husbands around the house, babysitters on vacation, Hulu and Netflix “watch-it-now”, you know. These things take up time, and don’t always provide a lot to show for it.

But I did make some handmade things this holiday. Including a passel of penguins for a super-fun ornament swap


Some personalized Warms (thanks to Blair) for family

A couple of toys for HMB (I wanted to make more but honestly she isn’t really into softies or dolls at this point– it is all about musical instruments and other things that make noise)

A family of hats for us (I think Moondoggie wore his to work today, so it isn’t in the picture– it is just like the white one but in red– see? HMB’s is a mix of his and mine!)

Christmas cookies and gingerbread cake for a holiday baby jamboree we had here at home

I also cooked a Christmas ham, a New Year’s Eve dinner party (for grown ups! it was so much fun) and lots of other things to get us through the holiday days and nights.

But oh 2009! HMB turns 1 this year! In less than 2 months, wow. And while I am not the best at keeping resolutions, there is always lots of room for improvement in my corner here at chez belleepoque. I really would like to blog more often- you are all so nice for coming to visit and comment even when I’m so inconstant! I feel sort of guilty about a post that doesn’t involve something I actually made with my own hands.

I would write more frequently if I felt better about telling you about what I’m reading or watching or thinking about in addition to what I’m making (still with an emphasis on crafty, of course!)– would you like to read about that or would it bore you? Well, I’ll give it a try in the next few weeks and we’ll see how it goes. In that vein, one thing to share– Netflix “watch it instantly” has a ridiculous number of BBC/A&E literary adaptations available, which took up sheer HOURS that i could have been doing other things over the holidays. One such that you must watch if you are a sucker for period romance a-la-Jane Eyre is North and South. I bet you could request it from the library if you’re not a Netflixer. You won’t be sorry! Richard Armitage–where have I been that I hadn’t heard of him before? The next Colin Firth? What do you think?

That compelling topic for serious discussion out there, I’ll say goodbye for now, but hopefully not for so long again!

Whew! December has flown by–I do have some things to show for it that I’ll blog about soon (hopefully). But in the meantime I want to wish all of you who celebrate it a very Merry Christmas! I hope yours is warm, cozy and full of treats.

Thank you so much for all of the sweet comments about my Halloween post! All of a sudden I’m excited about my closet again. My favorite fall clothes have been in waiting since 2006 (too preggo for most of them last fall) and while I’m not back to my pre-pregnancy shape (hah! hardly), all but the very snuggest fit again! It is like having a whole season’s worth of new clothes, and I’m putting them together in different ways than I did before. I got myself some inexpensive knee socks in bright patterns at Marshall’s awhile back to keep my legs warm when the chilly weather finally arrived. I think all of the bright colors and wild mixing of patterns I do when dressing HMB is having an influence on me!

Nothing in the outfit is handmade, but I wanted to show it to you anyway, since dressing in something other than Old Navy roll-up pants and long sleeve t-shirts is inspiring me to get back to making clothes. My latest obsession is a super-soft baby wale corderoy a-line shirtwaist dress in some divine fally color– perhaps slate or pumpkin, if I can find the fabric at a good price. I’ve found the perfect vintage pattern (I searched for new ones and was surprisingly dismayed at the shirtwaist options out there– lots of ick!), so I’m waiting on it to arrive then I’ll track down the fabric and be on my way!

In other news, if you look at my right sidebar you’ll notice I’m participating in NaNoWriMo again this year. I’m finding I actually write more now that my writing time is broken up into baby-sleep time– I know my time is very, very limited so I just type away the minute she goes down to the minute I hear her peeping! If you see that word count lagging, feel free to prod/encourage me to keep it going! I shall try to continue craftiness and blogging while noveling too. I think creativity nourishes itself, so I often find when I’m doing one creative thing, I’m all the more inspired and energized to do others. Hoping that is the case this month!

I also have a HUGE backlog of crafty show&tell + thank you’s to blog about (you wonderful, generous people know who you are, and soon anyone else who reads the blog will too!), so I’ll hopefully be seeing you all again soon.