(Crafty's not awake yet, but once he recovers from his late night out, I'm SURE he'll send in his interview with Nikol. In the meantime, here's a few things you ought to know about the amazing force of creative energy that is Nikol Lohr!)

CQ: You were so ahead of your time with Disgruntled Housewife. I think that was one of the first sites I became completely addicted to back in the day. What year did that site start and what possessed you?

NL: 1996. Yikes. I'm getting to be an old lady. When I started Disgruntled Housewife, I was living in a hovel with a stoner deadbeat boyfriend, working a soulless job at a soulless investment bank, utterly miserable, but also utterly and cheerfully in denial about my shitty life, thanks to a brief but happy affair with Prozac. I started Disgruntled Housewife because I thought it would be funny for someone like me to give domestic advice. It was originally meant to be a paper zine, but Mr. Punk Rock didn't (said boyfriend) rate my idea/aesthetic punk enough for zinedom, so I snuck off and published it on the web. You could still sneak around back then. In fact, I spent most of my workday on it. As long as I just worked on the html, no one was the wiser.

CQ: Of all the clever elements of the site (The Dick List, Working for the Man, Naked Ladies) do you have a personal favorite?

NL: Gee, it's all just variations on me blathering about myself, and it's all so embarrassingly out of date these days (except my Neurosis). Ask Queenie is really fun, though. I LOVE giving advice. I'm such a know-it-all. Nothing delights me more.

CQ: You also run thriftyknitting.com, where you recently modeled the Katamari Earmuffs, shown above. Can you tell us some of the things that will be included on your hate scarf?

NL: There's a long list at Disgruntled Housewife, but I'm also adding those impossible-to-open plastic packages, Ben Affleck, and moths.

CQ: Your new book, Naughty Needles, is just brilliant. I mean, knitted ball gags, who'da thunk? Where did you find your models? And is the girl in the corset Luna from the Texas Rollergirls?

NL: Yay! Thank you! The models are all friends and friends-of. The girl in the corset is one of my best friends & a successful corporate whore--she works in marketing at AMD. The Ice Vixen is a Texas Rollergirl, though (Voodoo Doll of the Hotrod Honeys), as is the girl in the bathtub with the Frederick's catalog (Kitty Kitty Bang Bang--she's also in the pony hood pictures at naughtyneedlesknitting.com). Most of the ladies are from Texas and Kansas City. And Mrs. Robinson is my mom. Mom's a hottie.

CQ: You're probably the best thing to come out of Austin since Stevie Ray, and now you've left the city to live in Kansas. Tell us about your decision to leave Austin and what the Harveyville Project is all about. Are you creating the next Marfa?

NL: My partner (Ron Miller--he illustrated Naughty Needles) & I are renovating some wonderful old school buildings into a secluded creative retreat, where people (hopefully including ourselves) can get away from their life distractions and concentrate on projects--writing, painting, recording, photography, dance, programming, graduate projects--whatever your day to day is stealing from you. We really wanted to live somewhere vast and inspiring and work on all those big projects you never get around to, settled into your nest and distracted by a city. I'd've loved to have stayed in Texas, but buildings like these just weren't available there--or at least, not on our budget. We basically traded my 1200 sf Austin frame home for a total of 50,000 sf of solid old institutional brick building (circa 1920 - 1956) on a total of 10 acres. We're not yet officially open, but we're already offering residencies--and it's cheap enough that city dwellers won't have to part with their apartments. A month-long stay (which includes dinner every night) is $425--about what you'd spend on a long weekend & meals at an average hotel. In the short term, we'll also be hosting workshops & seminars (we had an amazing spin/dye workshop last fall), and we hope to host small film and music festivals down the road (one building has 9 acres, and another has a fabulous old auditorium). Oh! And May 26 is our 2nd annual Prom.

CQ: Prom! I think I might need a getaway to Kansas. After all, there's no place like home...

Thanks, Nicole - keep up the fantastic work, we'll be watching!

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p.s.

Got a question for Crafty Query? Someone in the craft scene that you'd like to know better?
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