Much needed vacation

I will be leaving first thing in the morning for a real vacation. YEAH! I desperately need one. (Of course, vacations would be even better if one were independently wealthy and could go anytime, anywhere.) I've been traveling a lot these last couple of years, but none of them are happy events, as you may already know or have guessed from some of my posts.

I will keep y'all posted if I get internet access on the trip. My tech-nerd husband is actually going to bring his laptop. *sigh* His reason is that every modern establishment has internet access, many of which are Wi-Fi, and he wants to be able to reference the maps of the countries we are visiting (since he downloaded MapPoint onto his computer.) I don't really believe that vacation should involve a computer, let alone brining one's own laptop, except for the occassional checking-in with family/friends at a computer in the hotel lobby or a seedy internet cafe.

Anyway, we will be gone for a couple of weeks. My godbrother Henry is housesitting and catsitting our needy felines. Henry's family and mine got to know each other when we were neighbors in Taiwan. We were all under 4 or 5 years old when we met.

Now, what knitting project should I take with me? Hmmm.....

"Kimono" Bag

Here it is! I still have close-up photos that I have not uploaded and formated, but I figure these will do. I hope Rhi likes her bag! I haven't seen her since I have missed 2 knitting group meetings since her graduation.

I made this huge bag so that both of the main sides would be beautiful and look like a totally different bag, and so that it would fit all sorts of yarn, books or anything else!
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1. I made this to resemble a Japanese kimono. The flowery fabric and the deep red "obi" are leftovers from fabric I purchased 2 years ago to make my curtains. The trim and the orange fabrics are just scraps.
2. This side is made from a recycled and felted sweater. I made and added the flower and blue petals to coordinate with the fabric on the other side. THe orange flower and the blue petals are also from felted sweaters.
3. See all the pockets in the front?
4. & 5. Showing the sides of the bag. I also worked in a pen/pencil pocket.
6. & 7. Just comparing the size of the bag to a magazine.
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Small Town & Other Stinkers

I have been traveling this past week and driving up and down California. I have been living out of suitcases. Futhermore due to my recent schedule and tendonitis from using the computer at work, I have not been able to really knit. :( Last week, I first drove to the middle of nowhere California to do a presentation to people living and working near there. The areas my colleague and friend Sherri and I passed smelled like caca (literally). And, the highlight was a dinky mall across the street from our little in. We were even surprised that there was a mall!

After my presentation, my sister and I met up and we went to Big Sur to scatter the rest of my mom's ashes in a forest of large California redwood trees as she requested. Mom wanted us to pick a place halfway between my sister and me, but Big Sur is much closer to my sister (lives in San Francisco). Sherri came with us and documented the event on my camera for us. It was a wonderful little hike (albeit I found the drive down annoying because my sister ended up being a little bit of a backseat driver) and seleced a spot that I know mom would certainly like. There were no shedding of tears. I suppose we were keeping it at bay and each have our own way of processing. I guess there is a feeling of closure, but only a little since the wound is still pretty fresh.

After the ashes, I drove back up to San Francisco. I had an opportunity to meet up with my friend Jean for brunch at a lovely French restaurant, although the wait was terribly long! Then, my friend Aubrey and I roamed the city visiting various yarn shops. We were good and refrained from purchasing anything.

As bad luck would have it, while parked around the corner from my sister's apartment, someone hit and ran into my car. The *#!@# RUDE JERK did not leave a note or anything, except for broken brake light bits from their car. ARGH!! I had to change my plans a little and go down to the police station to file a report. My car is only 6 months old and the damage is significant enough that I think I will have to get the bumper replaced. :( This is really irritating -- as if I haven't dealt and put up with (fantasically, I must add) in this past year!

Oh, and to add more salt to the wound, I have to leave for vacation on Saturday, so I have LOTS to do. One good accomplishment is that I just finished and sent in my ideas/submissions for Debbie Stoller's next Stitch 'n Bitch book. If they don't get select for her book, I think I'll try Knitty or something. Considering how many creative and awesome knitters there are out there, I think my chances are slim to none, but hey, I tried.

Knit in Public Day

My knitting group participated in the World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 10. The turn out wasn't that good for such a large group like ours (but it was still fun.) I think part of it is because June is a month full of graduation activities and vacation for people. I myself have been really busy with work and various other projects this month. I have more committments coming up and the month isn't over!

Anyway, I only attended for about 1 hour. Part of the WWKIP event for our group was to celebrate Rhi's graduation from high school. She's the youngest member in our group.

I made Rhi a large tote bag for her knitting and anything else she wants to carry in it. (It's super large!) I call it "Kimono." I also hand-painted her 2 skeins of 250yds each of merino wool. Each skein is different, but I made the colors coordinate. I decided to give her all that because, she's a cool and mature young lady, and in addition to the graduation, she just turned 18 a few days ago as well. I don't have time to format all the pitures showing the detail, but here are a few sneak peaks:

Left: Rhi and her gifts. Right: This is how I "wrapped" her gifts.

Feels Good to Do Something Nice

A woman who sat behind me on the train today got on the wrong train. I heard her talking to another woman sitting next to her when she figured out that my train was not going to get her anywhere near her home. She had to call her husband to pick her up at the mall near a main freeway, since they don't know the area. However, she had planned to get off at the stop where I get off and then take the bus from the train station to the mall. The buses are very infrequent and our train was already really late due to rail traffic. She likely would have had to wait for the bus for at least 30-50 minutes and endure a very long bus ride due to the frequent stops.

Anyway, I felt terrible knowing that she would have had a terrible evening, so I offered to drive her to meet her husband. It was a small detour for me and it really was no big deal. However, she was so appreciative, it really felt great. :)

Crafting Superstars!!

"Crafting Superstars" is what Zona is calling us now. Last weekend, I found out about this new DIY Network crafting show, so I rushed Zona, Aubrey and Rachel into sending me some pics of their finished projects. I quickly did a presentation and sent in our submission on May 31st. We sent in photos and brief descriptions of various needle arts projects, but most of them were knitting projects. Within hours of me emailing the submission, one of the producers called. Woohoo! She said that she was very interested in some of our ideas and wanted to pitch it. She asked if we had other project photos to send in, partly becauuse the show would not be featuring any knitting. (ai-yah!)

Luckily, the girls and my friend Jane had planned on coming over to my house for Wine, Dye and Knit II on Saturday. The girls came over with their wonderful smiles and supplies in tow. We dyed, snacked, laughed and drank wine, but there was no knitting (yeah, I know, that's a little sinful). We spent all day sewing, crafting, but we had so much fun doing what we love and in such good company that we lost track of time. Zona forgot she had a child and husband to go home to, and poor Jane, forgot that she had to leave early so she could get up before 5 a.m. on Sunday. Jane also had at least a one hour drive home!

We were very productive and all our creative juices were flowing. *if only we didn't have to work, we could craft all day everyday* The timing was great for me too, since I had planned on making some stuff for a friend's graduation anyway (not finished yet, I'll post about it later). The only downside to a crafting weekend at my house is that there's scraps, threads and other things all over my house. It looks like a tornado hit my living room and dining room. I'm too embarrassed to post a picture of my living room on the world wide web, but below are some of the things we made.
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1. "Seaweed" Scarf 2. House Slippers 3. "Roar" bag 4. "Hippie Chicks" 5. Fabric flower 6.Can Cover 7. "Shelly Tortoise" floor pillow (and cat bed?) 8. "Clematis" hat and matching circle purse 9. Magazine file