Our Goods - a place for artists, designers, and cultural producers

Right now I'm supposed to be working on my career portfolio, but I really want to write about something else first, something supremely exciting!  There's a website I ran across a few months ago, and forgot about, just to discover this week as I was organizing my bookmarks folders, and I'm so glad I did.  Now, I love craigslist to browse for things and offer stuff, but sometimes you want something more structured and tailored to your needs, and OurGoods seems like its gonna do the job.

The premise is that you put what project you need people and things for, and then list what skills, items, and space you have to offer.  The only catch is that the closest person to me is 140ish miles away.  I love Washington, but I'm in Portland and like to be able to just bike or walk over to whoever I'm working with.  So I posted on Facebook and cajoled some friends into joining, though many of them live elsewhere, and I'm going to keep on talking about this site, because I think if enough people hear about it, everyone on the site will benefit from more people to trade time and skills with.

So, after I get this portfolio stuff done, I'm going to see if they have any advertising things, like Etsy used when it was new.  If not, I'll write to them and see what the site creators think.

Finished Shelf!

Its been done for a while, but finally got a photo of it. I'm so happy to have this shelf in my room. As soon as I started filling it with the things I built it to hold, I realized that I was looking forward to making the other two identical shelves to continue organizing my craft supplies and books. So much better than keeping everything in boxes or haphazard piles.

Here are some photos of putting it together:

I'm thinking of putting it up on Instructables.

Doilies

I knit a couple doilies this last week, for no real reason than I wanted to. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them, though I'm thinking of making more until I run out of crochet thread, and then attaching them together into a screen.

Maybe it IS spring

I keep hoping, and today I even saw a bumble bee with deep orange pollen packed on her legs, crawling around what I'm guessing is her burrow.  I also keep forgetting that the hedge on the south side of the house is in bloom and has been for about a week, but now it's really fully in bright yellow bloom.  I need to take my camera into the sunroom to take photos of the seedlings and the hedge.  I also discovered that the yellow rose in the back yard is blooming.  My borage has been happily blooming since summer, and I transplanted a few of its self-seeded children yesterday.

Today I spent several hours preparing some new beds to garden in.  A couple days ago it was rainy, but I took a photo of this flower in the front yard anyway.

Willamette Falls

Even though I drive by it almost every day, its usually at night or dusk, and so I hadn't stopped to look until this Saturday.  The river was pretty muddy, but it was still beautiful, and I was pleased to see that Mt Hood showed up in the photo.

My Time is well-occupied lately

I've had a busy past couple weeks, and am expecting more of it, as this quarter I have more work for my classes than last, and a lot more time spent in class.  Every time I complete one thing, I see all the rest that still needs to get done.

I've also been reading a lot of books - on alternative architecture, culture, food, history, etc - when I can steal the time from other things, mostly cleaning or sleeping, but it's been worth it so far.

At the same time I'm wanting to continue with finishing up projects, and Etsy, and gardening, and getting more involved in the community - I neglected that when I moved to Portland last spring because I was concerned with getting a job.  So, there are quite a few times I feel pulled in many directions, but it seems to be working out okay so far.




This poor dog expresses pretty well how my knitting projects have been feeling the last two weeks. I'm going to do my best to make up for it this next week, and hopefully return several more books to the library.  I have such a tall stack!

Anise

I woke up in a bit of a contrary mood today, so I decided that it was time to post something fun and sweet that I'd finished a few weeks ago, and finally got around to photographing last Friday.



She makes me smile every time I see her, and I'm thinking of making her some friends.