You do the Math!

Aside from spinning, I've been working on Aubrey's Wedding Sweatshop as her steward. Literally. She's getting married in June at a nature preserve where there are park benches she cannot move. So, we're covering it up with table cloths and custom sewn bench cushions. How many you wonder? A LOT!

• 29 picnic tables @ 7 feet long each
• 58 bench seats (2 benches per table)
  
• 58 box style bench cushions
• 580 cut pieces of fabric (58 tops + 58 bottoms + 116 long sides + 116 short sides + 232 straps)
  
• 116 foam inserts to cut (2 one inch inserts per seat cushion)
  
• Over 70 yards of fabric = 1000 lbs (well, it felt like it!)
• 4 sewing machines
• 1 bloody finger

We "opened" this sweatshop this past Saturday, spending 5 hours cutting and sewing. The good news is that we've managed to cut about 3/4 of what we need, and we started sewing some of the pieces together. The bad news is that we still have more to do, and I think I saw blue and white fiber fuzz when I blew my nose. The bloody finger belonged to JayJay, who somehow stabbed herself as she cut one of the 580 pieces. Luckily, there weren't any other injuries.

The 5 sweatshop workers that showed up are all of the bride-owner's knitting friends, and I was the only bridesmaid. I bet Aubrey now knows who her truly dedicated friends are now! ;)

"A true friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably."
~ William Penn

Spinning Fever

In a post on the Dye-No-Mite Swap blog, I talked about my suckiness in dyeing roving. The color was definitely not what I wanted and the fibers got a little matted and felted (not too bad though), so it was definitely not giftable. I borrowed Aubrey's wheel for my first spinning group meeting last Monday and started spinning my semi-matted and salmon-y roving.

It was a little hard to spin at first, since I didn't try to re-comb the fibers and it was my 2nd attempt at using a spinning wheel, but I was happy with the overall results (i.e., no huge slubs). The next evening, I finished spinning the rest of the bad-dye-job roving, including another half that had some blues and some of the same salmon-y colors. After a quick call to Zona about plying, here's what I ended up with:
Although the colors are not what I wanted or what I would actually wear myself (it's the wrong shade of orange for Asian skin!), I think I did okay. I'll have to knit something with it for Aubrey, since she's letting me keep her wheel for a couple of months. I'm getting this idiotic joy from the fact that my busy bride-friend has no time for extra crafty things, because selfishly, I am benefitting from her bustling wedding-planning schedule. ;)

Since I don't have my own wheel, I am making the most of my borrowed one. Last night, I started to spin the Australian Merino that Karrie dyed for me in a swap. This one is soooo much easier to spin, since the fibers seem a little longer and it's... *ack-hem*... not matted. Karrie sent me a large amount of roving, so this is only about half of it.


A close-up:

Sneaky , Sneaky

Before she and her hubby left for San Diego and the Grand Canyon, Linh gave me a super fantastic birthday present. It's a crafting apron! It's made in a really soft and sturdy cotton twill fabric in a earthy color. The trims and straps are also made from the same twill fabric in lovely earthen shades that reminds me of the Grand Canyon. Look at all the cool pockets for all the crafty tools. I will definitely have to wear this when I sew. I am always misplacing and losing my seam rippers and measuring tape under piles of fabric.

So, as I was trying to get a close-up shot of the pockets with my camera, I noticed a little square outline in one of the pockets...My sneaky girl hid some birthday money in one the pockets! Thanks Linh - You really didn't have to! I loved having you and Nick as my houseguests! I bet she hid it knowing that I would not take it, especially since they already gave us a nice purple clematis and bougainvilela to grace our front door as a lovely thank you gift. Sneaky girl. Thanks, Linh. You know that you are always welcome at my house. I miss you already. :)

Dalai Llama

Unfortunately, that's not his name. His name is Cinnamon, and he's a bonafide camera hog. Cinnamon (right) is one of several llamas that Aubrey's future mother-in-law has on her property. The news on the grapevine is that Cinnamon and all his friends are due for a haircut soon. You know what that means, right? Llama fleece and fiber to play with and spin!! Lots of fiber! The other llamas are pretty friendly as well, or so they seem. I was a little wary of making any sudden movements, because getting spat on by a llama is certainly not on my to-do list.

This past Thursday, hubby and I went to a Galaxy game with JayJay and her spouse, and my friend Linh and her spouse. It was in the middle of a sudden cold windstorm, only we were all too stupid to bring a jacket. If it weren't for all the freebie t-shirts, we would've frozen. It was a nasty windstorm that knocked out the power in many areas. We really could've used a llama fleece for warmth! While the boys enjoyed the game, the girls without the sexy David Beckham to oogle, turned our attention to knitting -- well, as best as we could with our frozen fingers. JayJay and I both worked on baby hats, and Linh (right) worked to finish her very first knitting project, also a baby hat.

Halfway through her visit Linh decided that she wanted to learn, so of course, I was more than happy to oblige. She wants to be able to knit clothing and accessories for her future children. She's a pro already-- here stitches are all pretty even and she really only dropped a 3-4 times. Not bad for a first time, especially working on dpns!! And as you can see to the left, Linh resorted to wearing her unfinished baby hat due the sharp winds. Good thing wool is stretchy!

As far as my own recent crafty endeavors, this past week, I made 3 baby hats for my inventory stockpile for future craft fairs. I'm otherwise stuck in between knitting WIPs. I ran out of one of the yarns for my entrelac stole, so I can only admire it in its unfinished state for now. I'm also working on a lace stole for a friend, and am attempting to write my first lace panel design. We'll see how that goes -- it doesn't seem very promising at this time. If I am itching to knit, I guess I could always try to tackle the many old UFOs....nah!



In shop activity, I also recently listed these:

Left: Reversible fabric headband featuring different Asian prints on either side. Right: Fabric -covered buttons

Left: Fabric covered keychain with a genuine Indonesian batik fabric. Right: A fully lined and stabilized wristlet clutch with 2 interior pockets.

Left: Another Liana kit in Hot, Hot, Hot! colorway. Right: A Dye-No-Mite Surprise Yarn pack. I'm offering people a handpainted yarn package deal If you buy, what you get will definitely be at least 25% less than buying it separately. Details here.

Waiting Sucks

I hate waiting, don't you? I've already waited since November! So then I waited for February, and when the pattern didn't show up then, I waited for March. The March issue didn't go live until the 4th, if I recall correctly, and it didn't have my pattern in it. I was wondering what happened to my pattern, so I emailed Magknits editor Kerrie Allman, who apologized for forgetting to notify me, but that they were thinking about putting my pattern in the April issue. It's already April 11, and the April issue still isn't up! I wonder what's going on with the publication? I checked Kerrie's blog, and certainly seems that she's been swamped with a new baby, a family passing and new yarn line for her shop, but I didn't see any mention or announcement about Magknits or the reason for the delay in releasing the April issue. If they do end up publishing an April issue, and with my pattern in it, it would be such a lovely birthday present. Boooo, I hate waiting.

Seeing Red

There is a good reason why red is a symbol of love, luck and prosperity in most Asian cultures. Red is just beautiful, inspiring, stimulating and bold. I was showered with red this week.

After a gluttonous food outing with my visiting friends a couple days ago, I was greeted by a package sitting at my door. It was from my SP10 pal. I opened it and saw oodles of lovely red everywhere. I opened the box up and this is what I found:
Ok, there were also a box of cute ladybug milk chocolates and a bar of Green & Black's Organic Dark Chocolate. I gave hubby the milk chocolates and selfishly ate the dark chocolate. I love organic dark chocolate. Yes, they were gobbled up and didn't survive long enough for the photo.
The yarn in the package is a silk/mohair by Alchemy in the loveliest shade of red and is so buttery soft. The book is The Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting. There are some beautiful projects in it, including a much better rose circle shawl than the one in A Gathering of Lace. (previous post) I'll have to take extra time to review and post from the book later. My package also included a journal, cloisonné bead stitch markers that my SP made, a pair of US 8 Lantern Moon needles, a Hello Kitty pez and a handmade necklace that is a domino on one side,

and a bird on the other side:


A bad close-up photo of the red cloisonné bead stitch markers.

I hope the Year of the Pig continues to be good.

Surprise Visitor

A few days ago, I received a call from my friend Linh at the same time I was about to pick up the phone to let her know that I'd be sending her the baby booties she commissioned me to make as a gift for her pregnant sister-in-law. Her response? "Don't bother sending them...I'll pick them up in a few days." Huh? She's in the Windy City! As it turns out, she and her hubby decided to take a month-long road trip, with southern California as their primary destination. I love it when my good friends come for a visit.

Today, Linh and I dragged her hubby with us to a massive fabric store. Then I helped Linh, who has no sewing skills, execute a prototype for dressing a vase for a wedding she's doing. There was lots of hammering and grommets too. Tomorrow, I will be "forcing" them to go to my knitting group with me for a little while so that we can get the yummy gelato made daily at a local cafe. Yum! Also, Linh will be offering her expertise and creativity to assist Aubrey in figuring out wedding florals for Aubrey's pending nuptials.

In crafty news, I picked up my entrelac scarf/wrap again and am making steady progress (prev. post). I'll have to remember to take a progress photo and post. I'm also nearly done with a swatch of the sunspots lace in Barbara Walker's 3rd Treasury for the Walker Treasury Project (WTP). The WTP is such a great idea, so I volunteered to do 4 pattern swatches for the WTP, but I haven't even finished the first one. Kind of sad, isn't it? In my defense (not a real defense, more like carelessness), I've had to undo many many rows as I worked the swatch. It's definitely not something you can knit mindlessly. Well, volunteers get 3 months to finish their swatches anyway, so I have 2 more months to complete all the swatches. I also donated some stuff for the WTP contest. So if you are thinking about signing up to do some swatches, you should do it this month!

Today, I sold a couple of items, but it seems that my customers were having problems with PayPal. Weird. So, technically, I haven't gotten paid yet. I also finally just got around to posting these fabric buttons in the shop. The purple flower one is from a genuine cotton batik I bought in Indonesia. The yellow flower one is from an Asian print fabric. I will be posting some needle cases later this week as well.

Project: Baby T-strap booties
Pattern: A modified mary jane
Yarn: Valley Yarns, Goshen in Ballet Pink; 48% Peruvian Cotton/46% Modal/6% Silk; 92yds/50g
Needles: US #6
Notions: 4 pretty little buttons.