Marissa Huber

Packed + Shipped

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Marissa Huber

My Etsy Shop has been open since October 1st and I’ve had the good fortune to sell five of my color study paintings! I’ve always loved wrapping presents, and it’s been such a pleasure to wrap these packages nicely and ship them off across the country.

I will say that my first and second sale were to a friend in Philly, so those were delivered by hand with two hugs.

The painting inspired by Rainier Cherries at the Headhouse Row Farmer’s Market in Philadelphia was sent to Baltimore to celebrate someone’s birthday.

Inspired by a hot pink and orange sunset, this painting was sent to a sweet friend in Louisville, Kentucky.

Two of my favorite colors, pink from fruit juice and purple from a cloth napkin, were done in ink, and shipped to Chicago.

The sales are going straight to my Rhineback Sheep and Wool trip fund this weekend! I’m traveling to upstate New York with four girlfriends to check out livestock, enjoy the Fall leaves, drink cider and meet up with some pals. I’m looking forward to it, and have fingers and legs crossed for no rain! I don’t really need any yarn, but if I see a sheepskin I love, I may have to buy it…you know, for the baby, right? It would be rude not to!

Posted in Etsy Shop, Friends + Inspiration, Knitting, La Tienda, Painting | 1 Comment

Pink, Purple + Wutang

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Marissa Huber

I always thought I’d be one of those people who wait to find out the gender of their child, but Mike and I both decided we wanted to find out. Last week, we had the opportunity to see ultrasound shots showing a very active, healthy, and animated little boy! He was yawning, and it was caught on the scan looking like Edvard Munch’s famous painting, “The Scream”. If you know me, I have a reputation for making crazy faces in photographs, so it’s only fitting that my future son will be as ridiculous with his facial expressions as me.

One of the perks about finding out the gender from a designer / crafter standpoint is getting to go crazy with colors. Though I’m not a stickler when it comes to gender specific colors (us artists love all colors), I knew if it was a boy that I’d have to contain my magpie tendencies regarding hot-pink, purple, sparkles, sequins, and shiny things. (It’s ironic that I’m also a tomboy, right?)

Perhaps my sub-conscious knew it was a boy, since I held off after drooling over these pinks, corals, and peach skeins of Koigu at knitting circle.

After rethinking my girly color palette, I was inspired by my friend Kate Gagnon Osborne, who I think has amazing taste, and an adorable little girl to boot. She recently knit this adorable unisex Tiny Rocky Coast cardigan for her daughter, and I thought I would cast-on as well in another color.

It’s only fitting that I cast-on with Fibre Company Canopy yarn that Kate (and Courtney Kelley) distribute. If you haven’t used Fibre Company yarn, you may not want to start. Anything else will feel like scratchy plastic yarn next to the luxuriousness.

I would usually not make a baby sweater with such pretty yarn, but I figure the cute little Skeletor deserves a few nice things to start with. We can always wash it. Right?!

But just to even out the clothing wardrobe, we are loving the Wutang Clan onesie given to us from my cousin, Ryan. I think it will be a ton of fun to use a small baby as a billboard. (Insert a crazy Marissa facial expression of pure glee.)

Posted in Bebe, Knitting | 5 Comments

Barnes Foundation + Lights

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Marissa Huber

The Barnes Foundation is a museum in Philadelphia with a controversial history and an amazing personal collection of post-impressionism and early modern art. Think Cezanne, Matisse, Gauguin, Manet, Modigliani, etc. Part of the controversy is that it just moved from a residential location in the suburbs of Philadelphia, to the Ben Franklin Parkway where it’s adjacent to our other museums. Albert C. Barnes, the owner of this private collection did not want it to be moved. However, 100 years later, I felt that the intention of keeping it in the residential neighborhood hindered many people from being able to see the collection. Advance reservations months ahead were needed, parking reservations, and hoops to jump through based on zoning regulations for this residential area.

Last week I attended the LEED Platinum Award Ceremony for the newly constructed Barnes Foundation through the Delaware Valley Green Building Council. It was a great excuse to mingle with volunteer colleagues, say goodbye as I’m stepping down this month, and see the new space.

Riding my bike past it for the past couple of years on my way to work, it didn’t seem like construction would ever be done. But here we are, and the museum is beautiful. It’s pretty modern, but the collection inside was laid out exactly like the original museum which was a good compromise to Barnes’ wishes.

The part that irks me about the layout though, is that it’s hung gallery style, which although looks great, can be overwhelming when there are tons of things you want to look at. My favorites are some of his Vouillard and Matisse paintings. However, there are seriously 3 of my favorite paintings there that are literally hung 8 feet in the air above the doorway. You can barely see them. I guess I’ll have to purchase the museum collection book someday. Or continue to wish that they’d switch it back and forth from gallery style to museum style semi-annually! No dice…

Also on the Parkway, recently Mike and I attended the inaugural event of the Open Air, which is an interactive light installation that allows users to change the light patterns with their voice. There is an app people can download and the lights will move to the tone of your message, poem, vent, etc. I did not download the app, but some sweet older ladies asked for my help when I was waiting for the bus. I thought they needed help with the bus schedule, and they assumed I was a pro with the fancy app. We laughed and parted ways after I wished them luck.

It’s funny that on opening night, the results were downright disappointing due to clouds. I’m glad that it’s much more impressive now due to some crappy weather! People are enjoying it and participating, which is what matters.

Posted in Life, Philly | Leave a comment

Crossing #10 Off the Life List

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Marissa Huber

Intentions are a tricky thing. You have them in your mind, and you completely mean to do something, but you find excuses or other things take priority. Then it becomes so huge, you keep putting it off. Or perhaps that is just me!

Maybe it’s the impending arrival of another human being to give me the proverbial kick in the rear to put my intentions to action. Without further ado, I have finally crossed #10 off my Life List and have opened an Etsy Shop to sell paintings and drawings! If I sell something, great, but if not, I’m happy that I actually put myself out there.

You can find my Etsy shop at MarissaHuber! I’m starting by selling my original color study paintings, and will be putting up smaller series in the future.

I tried to get the best photos I can, and I’m sure there will be a learning curve as I progress. At this point though, I’m sick of waiting for unreachable perfection and never getting anywhere.

Cheers to new beginnings!

Posted in Color Study, Etsy Shop, Illustration, La Tienda, Painting | 3 Comments

Making Friends in Adulthood

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Marissa Huber

Many of my friends have expressed how hard it is to make good friends in their twenties and thirties. I agree that it can feel as awkward as dating at first! Unless, there is an activity. Honestly, I think that activities are the secret to making friends at any time in your life. You all have the excuse of being there to mingle, whether it’s a volunteer group, kickball league, pub trivia teams or my favorites: book club and knitting group.

I’ve definitely mentioned my lifelong friends made over the years thanks to Wednesday night knitting circle at Rosie’s Yarn Cellar.

Weekly pub quiz (or Quizzo) in Philly for years introduced us to a wonderful group of men and women, and where I met my delightful Arch-Nemesis.

As a volunteer co-chair for the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, I made great professional connections, but realized that no matter what age, people usually bond post-meeting by eating, drinking beer and cracking jokes. They can hold their liquor and still speak quite intelligently on sustainability, energy grids, local government and policy.

So what does this have to do with crabs? Particularly Maryland Bay Seasoned Blue Crabs?

Last year, through friends of a friend, I added another wonderful group to my Philadelphia network, the Book-It Girls. A friend started a book club, and even though all of them don’t enjoy reading as much as others of us, it has become a long-lasting and tight-knit group. What a welcome surprise as I entered my 33rd year. I’m actually one of the older ladies in this group, so it’s nice to have younger group of friends, especially as many of my friends are having babies, moving away, etc. (I realize the irony of this now that I am having a baby…)

The members of our book club attended a Bridal Shower / Bachelorette Weekend in Annapolis, Maryland this weekend to celebrate our founder’s upcoming wedding. We attended a laid back shower in an open barn with gorgeous weather. One of the girls even brought along her 2 month old twins and husband.

After the shower, we went to an All-You-Can-Eat Crab dinner, then dancing and drinking (excluding me!) past midnight. It was a blast, and my baby bump and I enjoyed breaking it down on the dance floor while I’m still feeling good!

It may sound sappy, but it makes me so happy to have amazing friends in my life, and still be meeting new ones unexpectedly over the years. Not being from Philadelphia, we had to create a new network almost from scratch. After 8 years, we’re still meeting new people, and seeing how intertwined all of our groups of friends are. Knitting overlaps with Sustainability and Book Club, etc.. until they’re all just friends.

The Book Club girls have become the kind that you feel comfortable to talk about anything with, to have slumber parties in hotels, and to go buck wild on an epic breakfast on the road trip home after your abs hurt from laughing 24 hours straight.

Lesson learned: when moving or looking for new friends, join a club! Good times.

Posted in Food, Friends + Inspiration, Life, Road Trips, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Treat Yo’ Self…Necklaces, Salads, Fine Leather Goods

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Marissa Huber

Tonight is the revealing of Open Air, a 3-D Light Installation art project on Philly’s Ben Franklin Parkway. There will be live music, food trucks, and a light show visible from 10 miles away. It should be fun! I’m even skipping the première f my favorite show, Parks and Recreation! However, I have a firm rule that TV should never take precedent over real life!

I got into Parks and Rec a couple of seasons ago, and it is in my opinion, the funniest show on TV currently. The writing is hysterical, the entire cast so strong, and the humor is quirky but also broad-reaching. The “Treat Yo Self” clip below is one of my favorites.

Speaking of treating yo’ self, I did last month! When one of my favorite internet friends, Suzy, posted some beautiful new necklaces in her shop, I jumped to get this lapis one below. I’ve been wanting some longer necklaces to wear, and this one is perfect for me.

I also treated myself to what I consider the best Fall Salad in pretty much the history of the world (without exaggerating too much).

It’s the Grove salad from Andrew Swallow’s lovely book, Mixt. It has greens, honeycrisp apples, Asian pears, pomegranate seeds, goat cheese (I like that better than blue cheese), spiced candied walnuts and a champagne vinaigrette. I find that whenever I make and eat this salad, I stop every 3 bites to exclaim, “My God, this is the most amazing salad E-V-E-R!”. My converts who I hoist this salad on agree wholeheartedly, or perhaps know that I’ll un-friend them if they disagree!

Julia Child’s Mushroom Quiché with the salad is pretty extraordinary as well. Quiché has become my soup of the warmer months. It also makes an amazing leftover or work lunch.

P.S. Thank you so much for your sweet comments about our news! It means so much to me.

Posted in Food, Life | 2 Comments

Space Planning, Pretzels + Mocassins

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Marissa Huber

While I was helping my friend with furniture layouts for her new retail store, I decided to rethink my own apartment. We live in the second floor of a converted row home, and while roomy and very sunlit, the back studio / reading room doesn’t have much (any?) insulation and the room we use a bedroom is in the middle of the house without doors. We’ve done this to take advantage of our brightly lit huge front room which receives gorgeous Northern daylight from morning until evening. Another benefit is being shielded from the noises on our very busy street, including but not limited to trolley traffic every quarter of an hour, and thankfully less frequent vocal altercations.

This has worked fine for us for the past few years, but we’re thinking it’s time to make some changes. The main reason for the change is because I’m expecting a baby in February!

I am naively hoping not to uproot my entire life because of this impending arrival, but I’m sure some things will change, at least for a bit. I’m hoping to follow in the footsteps of the rational and wonderful moms I know, such as my own dear Mom, my MIL, sisters-in-law, and best friends.

We’re attempting to go minimal and just get what we need (I’ll tell you how that goes!). We’re also very lucky to have lots of friends who are done having babies, and already sending things our way. I am also very grateful that I’ve felt really well, and besides getting super seasick going deep-sea fishing in my first trimester, have not even been too nauseous.

In the meantime, my goal during pregnancy is to be very selfish and enjoy as much free-time and me-time as possible! I’m sleeping in on weekends if I want, reading tons of books, not pushing myself to be productive all the time, and knitting things for myself!

I’ll probably do a little crafting soon, especially now that I’m at the halfway mark and it’s going very quickly! I’d like to make a quilt, and maybe a couple of knitted goods as well. I started knitting the yellow blanket, and did make the onesies above for my parents to reveal the news. (Lola and Lolo are Grandma and Grandpa in Tagalog, the Filipino language. It’s also sassy and fun, which my parents are!)

I’ve also made things for other people’s babies! The cutest baby moccasins from Purl Soho, and a pretzel themed “Philly Baby” onesie at a recent baby shower.

Thanks for letting me share my news with you! Feel free to send along suggestions of what I should be doing in my “selfish” time!

Posted in Bebe, Friends + Inspiration | 4 Comments

Space Planning + Hot Pink Ceilings

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Marissa Huber

One of my good friends is realizing a lifelong dream. She’ll be opening a retail store next month in Manayunk! She’s had a tough few years, and it is so heart-bursting to see how many people are rallying around to help her if this was their own project. She has done all of the legwork to make sure everything is covered, and we just know that she’s going to be a huge success. It’s like watching a story unfold that you know will have a rewarding ending.

I was happy to help her with some space planning for the store. It’s a bright space with fabulous hot pink ceilings and a little bit of gold trim. The chandeliers have come down (I was the only one sad about that), and a team of us worked to paint, put together furniture and spruce the place up.

I can’t wait to see the final result! I loved the opportunity to exercise my design skills, it has been way too long.

Good luck, LKJ!

Posted in Design, Friends + Inspiration | 1 Comment

Charlotte’s Web Shawl

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Marissa Huber

Every few months, my knitting friends “The Degenerate Knitters”, have a brunch. This past month, I hosted it at my house. In typical Degenerate Knitter fashion, our “brunch” started around 11AM and ended at 5:30PM.

We talked (loudly), ate and drank (a lot), and even had a round 2 dessert platter filled with donuts and baklava. I love that group of ladies so much.

With all the knitting going on, I was finally inspired to start a project with Koigu Mill Ends I bought in 2008.

The yarn is currently being knit up into a Charlotte’s Web Shawl, which I’ve always hesitated to start due to a confusing chart. With my friends nearby and a few repeat attempts, I finally am getting the hang of it.

The pattern isn’t really that hard, but every time I think I have it down, I screw it up.

Bring it on, Fall! I’m enjoying my knitting this year.

Posted in Knitting | 4 Comments

More Yellow

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Marissa Huber

I’m using the hot days of summer as an excuse to sit inside, watching the Olympics, reading and knitting without feeling bad about not being outside too much. I left myself 4 days to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, which was my book club’s pick for this month. Just as my friends had told me, it’s an edge of your seat psychological thriller. I’m glad I waited so long to read it, just so that I don’t have to wait long to talk about how crazy the plot twists were with my girlfriends. Quick read, entertaining, suspenseful, and I’m still not sure if I like many of the characters. That may be a good thing though!

I’ve had 5 skeins of this lofty, beautiful butter yellow Twinkle Soft Chunky yarn in my stash for a couple of years. It was gifted to me, and I’m using it to make Wenlan Chia’s Lacy Chunky Throw. It’s knit on huge needles and goes a long way, but I’m thinking that I may need to buy 2 additional skeins to get it to the right size. My yarn budget may call for some heavy blocking instead! Isn’t it pretty though? Yellow has become my own personal color of the year.

See what I mean? I can’t get enough of it. I can’t help myself from hoping fluorescents stay as long as possible! Fingers crossed…

Posted in Fashion + Beauty, Knitting, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Marissa Huber

Packed + Shipped

Pink, Purple + Wutang

Barnes Foundation + Lights

Crossing #10 Off the Life List

Making Friends in Adulthood

Treat Yo’ Self…Necklaces, Salads, Fine Leather Goods

Space Planning, Pretzels + Mocassins

Space Planning + Hot Pink Ceilings

Charlotte’s Web Shawl

More Yellow

MarissaHuber: Etsy Shop

@marissahuber

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