About this time last year, I was casting on stitches for a hoodie based on the wolf suit Max wears in Where the Wild Things Are. Thanks to hefty doses of peer pressure from my friends on Ravelry, the resulting hoodie wound up on its way to being a pattern. It’s been a long story of snags and delays, but now, finally, the pattern is done and available for download on Ravelry.
This is one of those times when I’m sure my younger self would be super proud of me. As a kid, I always wanted to see myself in the adventures I read in books, but most of the books I read had male protagonists. Where the Wild Things Are was one of the worst offenders. I desperately wanted to be king of the wild things and lead wild rumpuses through the forest, but whenever I pretended that, my little brother informed me (helpfully) that I was a girl and girls couldn’t be king. Then he’d declare himself king of the wild things.
Well, screw that. I’ve got the proper rumpusing attire now, and he doesn’t.
My Max cardigan is bottom-up raglan style with waist shaping, half-fingered mitts at the ends of each arm, and a unique hood with ears. The pattern includes instructions for several modifications.
To any queens of the wild things who were thwarted in their adventures as girls because of their gender, new monarchs preparing to declare rule over the wilds, and of course, my Ravelry friends: this is for you.
To my brother and the rest of the boys: neener neener.
First impressions are important, so let’s kick this off the right way.
Here’s a unicorn with a jetpack:
Hi. I’m Nicole. I’m 25 years old, and I’ve spent 21 of those years in school – the latest chapter of which has been my MFA program, where I’m studying fiction. By day, I work tech support for my university, coordinating the helpdesk’s staff of student workers. The rest of the time, I write, make art, knit and spin, watch way too much TV, and hang out with fabulous creative geeks. I live in a sunny apartment with my roommate, my small old dog, and an army of Lord of the Rings action figures who have the high ground atop the bookcases.
I’ve always wanted to be a full-time creative person, and this year I’m taking steps toward eventually meeting that goal. If you keep an eye on this space, here are a few of the subjects you’ll see come up:
Writing! First and foremost creatively, I’m a writer. I’ve got three complete novel manuscripts on my hard drive, along with the beginnings (and some middles) of a few others and a small collection of short stories. My first published short story, “No and the Walking House,” is linked in the sidebar here. I’m currently shopping an urban fantasy novel called Or Your Money Back around to agents, so the querying process and any progress that follows will come up. You’ll also hear about The Fantasy Series What Ate My Life (TFSWAML), the fantasy trilogy I’ve been whittling away at since I was fourteen, which is into its final book.
Art! I work with brush pen, wood burning, colored pencil, digital painting, oil paints, watercolors, and garden variety mechanical pencils. Today marks the opening of my Etsy art shop (see sidebar links), where I’ll be selling some of the stuff I make! I’m also currently illustrating a children’s book for a hospital in northern Minnesota. You’ll love it. The book is about an eagle named Eddy and his favorite hobby: SMILING.
The fiber arts! I’m a knitter and a spinner. These crafts seemed like a natural extension of the other art I do. Visual artists and fiber artists have so much in common: talking about their crafts using food words (“I want to eat that color!”), sticking their noses into their materials to blissfully inhale smells that normal people couldn’t care less for, and spending hours upon hours making things the hard way. Knitters are warmer in the winter, though.
Geekery! You had to know this was coming by the Lord of the Rings action figures.
Real life crap! This won’t become a journal for reporting dumb day-to-day details (that’s what Twitter is for), but non-project stuff will come up. I’ll occasionally write about my friends, family, small old dog and his small old dog bladder, etc., but I’ll try to leave out the boring parts. Should the subjects arise, I may also shout a few hundred words from my soapbox. I’m a queer feminist chick, and I take this fiction thing seriously as a tool for social change and inclusion. I also take fan fiction seriously as a medium. And I take zombies seriously as a cultural phenomenon. All the “seriouslys” don’t harsh the squee – they just mean I squee with intent.
That’s your intro. Welcome to the site!
(Fun bonus fact: the unicorn above is not the first unicorn I’ve drawn with a jetpack.)
