some magazines for sale or trade

I have some fiber arts and crafts magazines that I'd like to trade. Make me an offer. :) I'm interested in yarn, especially sock yarn (even small amounts, since I'm working on babette blankets right now) but pretty much anything basic, knitting or crochet books (my collection is very small, so again, make me an offer) other magazines, your zine, your artwork, etc... Cash would be OK, too- $5 each which would also cover shipping to the USA. For International, we'll have to look it up to work it out.

All are used but in good condition, from a non smoking home:

Fiberarts Magazine September/October 1997 (out of print)
Fiberarts Magazine March/April 1998 (out of print)
Fiberarts Magazine November/December 1997 -out of print
Fiberarts Magazine Summer 1998 (out of print)
Piecework Magazine March/April 1998
Ornament Magazine Summer 1998
Ornament Magazine Spring 1997
Craft Feb/March 1998
Craft June/July 1998
Craft August/September 1998
American Craft August/September 1996
American Craft April/May 1996

Leave me a comment if you're interested. If you want the whole lot in a big flat rate priority mail box, I would love you and send you extra goodies. :)

magazines for sale

I have some magazines, some out of print, for sale on ebay this week. Anyone interested?

Bus Stops I Have Known -- Bus Stop #8

MLK Way and Rainier Ave, South Seattle

I'm a little behind in my bus stop postings, because I was pretty sick this week. So, this bus stop was actually visited a couple of weeks ago.

Overall Bus Stop Ratings (out of 5 stars)

***** User Friendliness. Look at those shelters! Look at the bus stop sign, clearly marked, with schedules! Look, a trash can, newspaper stands, benches! Yes, it looks pretty nice... at first.

**** Interest of Surroundings. This bus stop is very close to a high school, so usually there are a few kids waiting for the bus. Highschool kids are always interesting and amazing to me. They can text message without looking, while talking to another friend and also listening to their ipod. Such multitasking! Plus, I love their dramas, which they are usually very vocal about. They also lack subtleness. Someone is their worst enemy forever or their soulmate. Not a lot of gray areas of friendship in between.

* Architecture of Surroundings. Actually, pretty boring.

*** Personal Safety. It seems pretty safe... at first. But then, a woman was sitting inside the bus shelter, and started yelling at me because where I was standing was blocking her view of... something. The street? Her anger at me degraded into an anger at society in general, which is being corrupted by the government. The president is listening to every conversation through traffic lights. When the light is red, the recorder goes on, and it picks up conversations up to 100 feet away. They also have conversation recorders in cigarettes, so a smoking teenager was her next target of verbal abuse. Luckily for teenager, he casually walked away before she could stand up and get physical. But I wonder if the cigarette recorders have the same range? I'm sure he wasn't 100 feet away from her.

****Creepy Factor. I'm giving it four stars for creepiness, because of the hidden dangers of the wild woman sitting inside the bus shelter. Also, because the whole visit left me thinking about how much work it must be to listen to all of the conversations all over the country happening at red lights. Maybe the president is working harder than we think, if he has to listen to all of that? Wow.

Weird of the Week

Sorry, Internet

Double sorry, because I learned how to put a utube video into my blog. There will be an annoying number of videos now, probably. Forgive me in advance.

what my new apartment looked like before it became my apartment building

It looks much nicer now.

Pugs of Belltown!

Bus Stops I Have Known -- Bus Stop #5

NW Market Street and Ballard Avenue, Seattle.

I frequently visit this bus stop, located in downtown Ballard.

Overall Bus Stop Ratings (out of 5 stars)

***** User Friendliness. Yes, I have a soft spot for this bus stop, and it gets five stars for User Friendliness. It has a bus shelter (more about that later), another bus shelter (yes, indeed, very artsy), as well as the much preferred awning in front of the shops located behind the bus shelters. It has a garbage can AND a recycling can, a bus schedule and map, and even a bench. Overall, a very well-equipped bus stop.

**** Interest of Surroundings. Ballard is pretty interesting. It used to be more interesting, back when there was a cool paper arts store right behind these bus shelters, but it's still pretty cool. There's a lot of small shops and businesses that I love in Ballard, like Cookies, Nervous Nellies, Secret Garden Bookstore, Great Harvest... plus, there are several good coffee shops and bars in Ballard. But, this bus stop only gets four stars for interest, because it's a little boring compared to the rest of Ballard, alas.

*** Architecture of Surroundings. Obviously, I like the early 1900s building behind this bus stop, and The Ballard Building across the street. There's too much in the way of condo construction going on in Ballard, but you can't see too much of that from this bus stop, so it gets three stars.

**** Personal Safety. Safe for all levels of awakeness and soberness.

** Creepy Factor. I know secrets about this bus stop, so I give it two stars for creepyness.

Now, since I teased you a little, should I tell you some secrets I knwo about this particular bus stop???

Once upon a time, this bus stop wasn't there! It was built during a major reconstruction of Market Street that also repaved the old bricks at the intersection of Market and 22nd. Boo on that. But, hooray, because part of the original plan was to put a public restroom at this bus stop. Can you IMAGINE? Sheesh. Luckily, that plan was ditched.

My store, Turtle Press, used to be right behind this bus stop, back when this bus stop was just a sign in the ground. Then, they revamped the bus stop too, including placing these uberartsy bus shelters right directly in front of our store! So, while the shelters are kind of nice, I have some residual negative feelings about these particular bus shelters. We complained to Metro, to the Ballard Chamber of Commerce, to the Neighborhood Service Center, to anyone who would listen. But we were told only that moving the bus shelters was out of the question. And to the idea that our businesses was being impacted by the fact that people couldn't see our store through the bus shelter frosted glass? We were told that it was part of the artist's "artistic vision," and that it would not be changed.

This bus stop did hurt our business. But as far as Bus Stops I Have Known goes, it's a nice bus stop.

Bus Stops I Have Known -- Bus Stop #7

Leary Way, Seattle.

Visited on my way to one job from another job.

Overall Bus Stop Ratings (out of 5 stars)

*** User Friendliness. Yes, there is a bus schedule, but no garbage can or bus shelter. The building that is a natural to lean against is none too clean on the outside, so I'd recommend NOT leaning up against it.

*** Interest of Surroundings. There's a cat that lives in one of the apartment son the ground floor of the building. I love this cat! It stares at you, wondering why you're standing there in the cold rain at a bus stop while HE (or SHE?) is much more sensibly sitting inside on a nice cushion. Busy street with construction to watch, car dealers constantly making announcements over their intercom, and a pay phone placed just far enough away to make you miss the bus.

* Architecture of Surroundings. The condo construction is supposed to be creating a pretty mega building, but I like the historical buildings better, so I give this stop one star for architecture.

**** Personal Safety. Seemed pretty safe. Two overgrown bushes on either side of the bus stop might make it have only one star for safety at night.

** Creepy Factor. Not too creepy. The bushes do bother me a little, I guess.

Bus Stops I Have Known -- Bus Stop #6

University & 45th, Seattle.

Visited on my way home from work after a work-related visit.

Overall Bus Stop Ratings (out of 5 stars)

*** User Friendliness. This popular bus stop hosts many amenities to commuters. There is a bus schedule posted. There is a trash can. No bench or shelter, but this stop is in front of a bank that has totally given up on keeping people from sitting on their brick ledge or hiding under their huge awning. They have even surrounded their cash machine with a railing to try to segregate official banking areas from the loitering and waiting for the bus areas. However, the ledge is frightening for all but the most strung out loiterers to sit on. Living in an alternative reality helps mask the scariness of the ledge. However, I hadn't even had a beer when rating this bus stop, so it only gets three stars for User Friendliness.

*** Interest of Surroundings. The Ave is right there. That's all I need to say about that.

* Architecture of Surroundings. The previously mentioned ledge encloses the bus stop on the north. Otherwise, architecture is minimal.

* Personal Safety. This stop can be dangerous when a bus pulls up. There will be a mad stampede to get on the bus first, so beware. Use elbows if necessary, and enter by the back door if possible. Note that in Seattle, all busses coming FROM downtown will allow you to enter by the back door and pay as you leave. This gives you a better chance to either get a seat all to yourself or to have a choice among available seat partners.

** Creepy Factor. It's difficult to know who's waiting for the bus and who's just, well, waiting. Choose your crowd carefully. Mingling with the wrong crowd could become creepy.

Pussen

Once upon a time there were three brother cats and three sister girls. The two younger sister girls talked the older sister into adopting those three brother cats.

Pixel 1991-1992 (not pictured)
Tiger 1991-2003 (?)
Pussen 1991-2007

We will miss Pussen the Gray, sister Katie's cat, the last of the three brother cats this side of the rainbow bridge. Pussen has been living with my mom, taking care of her, while little sister is in grad school, so I've visited with Pussen quite a bit lately. He was the most gentle-sweet-gray-vocal-huggable cat.

I still miss Pixel and Tiger. We sure do get attached to these furry little creatures, don't we?

I'm off to hug my Hilton-cat now. He's going to have to take over the job of Chief Spider-executer now.

Bus Stops I Have Known -- Bus Stop #3

A more cheerful bus stop, as requested...

77th NW and NW 32nd, Seattle.

Visited on my way to work from a work related site visit.

Overall Bus Stop Ratings (out of 5 stars)

*** User Friendliness. Bus schedule posted! No bus shelter, but the actual bus sign isn't frightening to lean up against. Clean enough that I could have sat on the sidewalk waiting for the bus, if it hadn't been raining.

*** Interest of Surroundings. Pretty quiet neighborhood, so there's not much going on. There are those two newspaper stands, though, which gives a bus stop patron some reading material. Occasionally a human being will walk by, usually walking a dog. I like dogs, so one of these stars is just for the dogs.

*** Architecture of Surroundings. Nearby houses are pretty in a "Look at my pretty house" kind of way. I wonder if they let the kids run through the kitchens with muddy shoes, and if they do, do they chase after them with Swiffer Wet Jets?

**** Personal Safety. Seemed pretty safe. Haven't visited at night.

** Creepy Factor. Not too creepy. However, those picture perfect houses do make me nervous. See, I'm never happy, am I?

anyone want a magazine or two?

I have the following from my "stash" to sell or trade. We're moving into a smaller space hopefully (again!) and I'm trying to send these to a new home:

Expressions Issue One (Premier Issue)
Rubberstampmadness Issue 104, March/April 1999
Rubber Stamper October 2003
Rubberstampmadness Issue 114 November/December 2000
Rubberstampmadness Issue 106 July/August 1999
Artella Issue 9

All are in good condition, from a smoke free house. I have a cat, but he doesn't roll around on the magazines and books, so unless you're really allergic, it should be OK.

Make me an offer. Cash or trades will all be considered. :)

Bus Stops I Have Known -- Bus Stop #2

1st and Cedar, Seattle.

Visited quite often during commute

Overall Bus Stop Ratings (out of 5 stars)

*** User Friendliness. Missing bus schedule. HOWEVER, look! There's a brand new bus shelter that's just a couple of days old, plus the bus shelter has a bench. HOWEVER, look again! There is a man smoking right next to the No Smoking sign! Typical. Still, this bus stop does get three stars.

** Interest of Surroundings. Belltown is usually interesting. This stop is on the outskirts of the hip zone, but occasionally pretty people on their way out to the cool clubs and bars will walk by. Many times, there are seedy folks hanging out under the tree just a short distance away. Valets from a nearby fancy restaurant or hotel use the paid parking lot behind this bus stop, so they can be seen running back and forth.

* Architecture of Surroundings. A parking lot for sale, possible public art in the form of cement slabs under the previously mentioned tree, mostly ugly apartment buildings across the street.

* or *** Personal Safety. Not bad during daylight hours, three stars. Goes down to one star after dark, especially if it's rainy or stormy and not many people are walking around. There is a street light, which helps it seem safer.

** Creepy Factor. Not too bad.

Bus Stops I Have Known, Part 1

Martin Luther King, Jr Way South, Seattle.

Visited for about 30 minutes waiting for the bus, which was late.

Overall Bus Stop Ratings (out of 5 stars)

* User Friendliness Due to the missing bus schedule, lack of a shelter, lack of trash can, and ambiguity about which bus actually stops here.


** Interest of Surroundings. Construction workers creating dust about a block away. Construction workers are always interesting to watch. Mysterious Billiard Hoang business with mysterious characters coming and going. Abandoned mattress store with Something Going On inside.


** Architecture of Surroundings. Two stars for use of a mattress to create a new doorway for abandoned mattress store. One star for outdoor patio style furniture outside of abandoned mattress store home (ie: futon frame table, mattress pile trampoline/resting surface, and tv with extension cord running into abandoned mattress store. Minus one star for feng shui of patio arrangement. I really feel that they could have created a more inviting, friendly, interactive space. Enjoyed the use of a fallen over sign to define the space, however.


* Personal Safety. Didn't feel safe at all. I'd hate to wait at this bus stop after dark.


**** Creepy Factor. Very creepy indeed.

Weird of the Week

1. Hmm. I could use a kid or two.

2. Wait a minute... I think there's some bad adverting here. Why exactly is it at the Senior's Center? Is there a bait and switch going on here? Can you really call a Senior a "gently used" kid??

3. Hmm.


I'm pretty ill today, so forgive my slightly sick mind.

Dishclothtoberfest

1. I spend a lot of time on the bus. Where I listen to books on my ipod and I knit.
2. See, it's hard for me to read on the bus, because for some reason it makes my eyes bug out.
3. I'm recently obsessed with iTunes U and with knitted DISHCLOTHS.
4. I also like beer.
5. So, I'm creating my own little event: Dishclothtoberfest.
6. How many dishcloths can I knit during October? Actually, I could call them barcloths (Barclothtoberfest), to go along with the beer theme, but you might think that I like beer TOO much if I do that.
7. There will be prizes.
8. I will get all the prizes unless someone else joins me. Then there will be rules and everyone will probably get lots of prizes. Like handknit dishclothes that they've made! And better things, too, maybe.
9. See you on the bus. Or at the bar. I'll be the one drinking beer and knitting!

Ravelry=Evil

Dear Ravelry,

I know that your plot is to beam subliminal messages into my brain as I (and many others, apparently) spend hours and days staring at your site. It must be. Your site is mesmerizing, hypnotizing, and the only reason that anyone would create such an addictive-like-crack site is for evil.

What I don't understand yet, however, is what you plan to gain by this plan. Surely you're not trapping all of those sets of eyes for no reason? Are you creating an evil army of knitters to use for your own private war? And, if so, against who?

Perhaps you plan a march against the abusive Acrylic Farmers?

(Yes, I'm on Ravelrycrack now. I'm just plain "Kerrie," if you're looking for me.)

Odd of the Week

For Your Listening Pleasure

This song almost made me choke on my coffee.

(Yeah, it WAS coffee. Not beer.)

Cleaning Closets

Thank you everyone who wrote to me about my post regarding dog eared magazine and filling the well and feeling quite overwhelmed with life. And thank you for those of you who read and thought kind thoughts rather than angry thoughts. It means so much to me to know that there are friends like you out there.

Unfortunately, a lot of times when you're trying to simplify, you might find that life gets messier before it improves. Like cleaning out your closet. The best way to clean your closet is to pull everything out of it, sprawl it all over your bedroom floor, bed, chair (if you have one), your living room, your dining room table, actually just put all that clutter everywhere except the closet. Then get tired and give up. Then, start sorting, tossing, boxing, changing your mind about the stuff you were tossing, changing your mind about the stuff you thought you'd keep but then realize you'll never use again, get distracted and start to work on that rag rug that you abandonned 3 years ago...

So, my confession of the day is that I have a lot of crap in boxes, bags, and piles all around me. My intentions are good, though, and look- there's this urge to abandon the junk, throw it all in a dumptster somewhere, and start over with what really matters.

That rag rug.

(Just kidding!)

Actually, I've been transferring my organizing urge to the web site, and have been doing a lot of work on that. We're switching to a new, better shopping cart, and that will all go live sometime this week, I hope. It's a lot of seemingly thankless work, especially when more interesting things are lurking just outside my field of vision, but once it get it all fixed up it'll be great. It'll have cool stuff like inventory counts, so people can't order things that we're out of stock on, and we can sell more one of a kind things without worrying about hurt feelings. It's a lot of work now, but it'll save me a lot of work in the long term... PLUS, upkeep can be done by two people or more, instead of just me! So Mr. can work on the web site when he wants something changed, instead of having to wait for me. Which overall means more time for metaphorical closet organizing and art and magazine creation and roasting vegetables and surfing etsy. If I can manage to step over all that junk from the closet that's all over the place. We'll see.

Anyone want a green suede jacket that is still just as hip as it was in 1985? Maybe I'll just cut it up for the rag rug.

odd thing of the week

I love dogs, I love handbags. But still.

The Barrel

No, I haven't been inside.

A Thread

One of my most unfavorite things in the universe is dealing with people who don't live up to what they say they'll live up to. A salesperson tells you one price, but when you check out it's a totally different price. Your neighbor tells you that she'll bring your mail in during your vacation, but you find letters from that week scattered all over your yard for the next year. The landlord tells you that he won't raise the rent for a year, your boss tells you that she'll give you a raise, your room mate says she'll do the dishes in the morning. Don't they realize that it would be better for everyone if they just would stick to what they know they can do?

Everyone has a time in their lives when they don't follow the marketing wisdom from the experts: under promise and over deliver. As human creatures, we want to be liked. So we want to tell people around us that we can reach our highest goals when it comes to making them happy. Yes, dear husband, I'll make you cookies tonight. Yes, mom, I'll remember to leave my muddy clothes outside. Yes, of course I'll remember the anniversary, birthday, national holiday. Yes, yes, yes. Of course I'll do all of those things. I want to do all of those things! I'll call you at exactly 10:00. I'll take good care of this book while I borrow it. I'll pay the cable bill. I will.

By having all of these things that we want to do, that we long to do with the highest, greatest, most dramatic intentions, we might occasionally be over promising and end up under delivering. We might be able to take care of everything we want to do and need to do, by dancing along a tightrope of commitment. One slightly slippery moment, though, and the tightrope becomes a time bomb. One minute lost while we recover from the fact that our toe landed slightly offcenter becomes an hour, a week, a year.

And we realize what it means to not live up to what we said we'd do.

This is what happened to me. But, like a typical human being, I still haven't realized it. I still think I can get my feet planted under me, bake those cookies and start overdelivering again.

Maybe I can.

Yeah, it really sucks to expect something from someone, and then worry that they're not going to do what you want them to do. I hate it, hate it, hate it.

So, you can imagine how much I super-hate the idea that I've become the neighbor who wanted to help, wanted to pick up your mail, but somehow your entire vacation slipped by, and I didn't have a chance to do everything I'd hoped. Not only did I want to pick up your mail, but I wanted to leave you flowers on the table and fresh muffins on the counter. I wanted to make sure that you had enough coffee for a fresh pot. I even wanted to check your refrigerator and make sure that there wasn't anything too frightening in there, reveling in your absence. Nothing is worse than coming home from your vacation to find sour milk in the refrigerator, right?

I've always felt bewildered about people who make any kind of a commitment, then complain about some life crisis, and use that life crisis as a get out of jail free card. I admit, I've ordered products that never arrived, subscribed to a postcard series that never was produced, sponsored a marathon runner who never ran. In an alternative universe, swaps that I participated in are actually distributed, items I loaned out are returned, and my mailbox is stuffed with zines that suddenly start publishing again.

Because of this bewilderment, I knew that I didn't want to be one of those kinds of people. When my own magazine fell behind schedule, I didn't want to make excuses. I didn't want to act unprofessional about it. I didn't want to tell you about the crap going on in my life that dragged me away from my other commitments. Then, as more and more crap kept testing the limits of my own personal crisis-magnet, it started to become a little ridiculous to see me trying to stay up on that tightrope. I didn't want you to see me underdelivering. I didn't want to sound like I was whining about my life. I didn't feel like it mattered, really. All that mattered was that I wasn't doing what I wanted to be doing, what you wanted me to be doing, what I feel like I'm meant to be doing.

I'm sorry about that. There's nothing I want more than to publish dog eared magazine. I'm sorry it's late. I'm sorry if you wanted more personal information about why it is late, if it would have been better to be more open about all of the crisises going on in my life. I'm also sorry if this is too much information for you, and if you really just want to know when I'm going to get an issue out.

Here's the deal. I think about you every day, many times a day. I think about you while I'm taking care of my mom. I think about you while I'm working at my other job. I think about you when I'm trying to fall asleep. And I think about how I want to make it all better. I'm going to do my best to make it all better. I can tell you right now that we're still publishing. We still will be publishing. If you have a subscription, you'll be getting as many issues as are left on your subscription. We're going to come out with an issue before the end of the year. Maybe issue(s) before the end of the year.

Here's the rest of the deal.

I'm going to allow myself to start blogging again. And I'm going to allow myself to not like the people who post or comment or email me that I have no right to be blogging when I should be spending time on the magazine. Instead of sending such emails, commenting such comments, or posting such posts, I'm going to suggest that these people go read The Artist's Way, and remember that the art stuff is all interconnected. Dudes, if I don't fill the well a little, there's not going to be the spark that I need to create the magazine. Being in touch with you guys is so important to me, that having avoid blogs and online forums has been tough. I want to be able to write without earning the wrath of those who think that I need to be punished. Folks, I punish myself way more than you can, anyway, so please just bear with me here.

The same goes for art. I'm going to make some art, so there! I am beyond "making time to make art," since really there is no time around here to make. But, I'm going to dabble at it a little. And give myself permission. If someone mean has the nerve to say something like, "Well! It's nice that you have time to make ART! Instead of working on your MAGAZINE!" then I'm going to, well... tell their neighbors to not collect their mail when they go on vacation. Again: interconnected. Art's gotta happen or else nothing will happen.

One more thing—yes, we are a small business, and I can’t even begin to tell you how much we appreciate your patronage. You, truly, have kept us getting out of bed in the morning. THANK YOU for your friendship and for being so good to us.

I'm sorry if you feel like I left sour milk in your refrigerator. I'll try to do better.

For the record, laundry=work, not fun

I just had a little freak out, because I realized that all I do any more is work and sleep.

Not OK, I don't think.