Crafting Stars III

Wooohooo! I have already written several posts and made several references to me being a guest on DIY Network's new show Uncommon Threads. (blogged here and here.) My friends and I will be shooting an episode on Sept. 5 being called "Shapeshifting Sweaters." I had submitted other ideas, but either the big-wigs gave the idea a thumbs down, or other people beat me to the punch with similar ideas. Well, just about 1 week ago, one of the producers of the show called me and asked if I could do another 1-2 episodes. So, I will also be going to their studio on Sept 6 to shoot an cat-themed episodes. I submitted some sewing projects such as toys, cat beds and some out-of-the-box stuff.

As exciting as all this is, it is also very time consuming, as I have to make the projects and all the steps in between for both shows. My friends also have a couple of projects, but the ones I will be demonstrating/orchestrating take the most time and work. Eek! I hope everything turns out well.

Oh, remember the film crew from TriCoastDVD that I contacted to film my knitting group? (blogged here) I forgot to mention that Marcy the producer and her assistance Courtney sent me a copy of each of the DVDs that they filmed. I did not end up on the cutting room floor! I the little 2 second bit, I am working on my clapotis using the cashmere/merino yarn I dyed. What the crew shot was a very small segment, featured as an extra on the DVD menu. TriCoast DVD did it for Leisure Arts. The DVDs are: "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting -- in motion" and "I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting -- in motion"

Small Town Texan

This past week, one of my very good friends came to visit me again. Only this time, he brought is girlfriend of about 1.5 years. Edgar is quite worldly, is familiar with many cultures and loves all types of worldly foods. Edgar, who is Mexican, even knows where some of the best authentic Asian restaurants in Houston are. Furthermore, Edgar even knows which Vietnamese pho restaurant is open 24 hrs, which has the best 7 a.m. pho, and which does not use MSG! Although I've only hung out with him and his gf a few times for dinner and wine, she seems nice. I have never hung out with them for an extended period of time, except now. Well, it just seems a little weird (neither good or bad, just odd) that they are together because they are so different in their experiences. She basically has lived in small town Texas her whole life, except the past 2 years or so, when she lived in Houston. His gf has never been anywhere or tried anything until she met him, and of course there is only so much one can experience in a year.

Her lack of exposure to other things was very apparent this past week -- everything seemed new, including not knowing what a clam without chowder or batter looked like. However, I guess most of it was due to her environment and I must say that she seems very willing to try things. It was a new experience for me too I suppose, because knowing mentally that there are many communities that do not have or foster the pleasures, experiences and stimulation of living in a more diverse and multi-cultural environment is different from hanging out with someone from that type of environment. However, having hung out with someone who has that limited experience reminds me not to take my environment for granted, and that I should always try to experience more.

I Had A Slumber Party!

You are never too old to
have a slumber party, so I decided to have one a couple of weeks ago. I invited a few friends over for the weekend -- Jane, Carmen, Anastasia, and also Maggie and Jean, who flew down from Northern California to hang out!

It was great fun and I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. We all camped out in my living room (poor sweet hubby stayed out of our way the whole weekend). We caught up
with one another, drank wine, ate and laughed quite a bit. We even had
competitive games of Taboo and Scrabble. On Saturday, I cooked us an all-appetizer lunch. We ate poolside and gave ourselves some pedicures.

After lunch, Rachel came over and joined us as well. Rachel and I taught the other girls how to dye. (It's part of our plot to turn everyone into crafters ;) ha!) I had cut up some white thrift store sweater sleeves for the girls to dye, then we felted them.

The idea is that I will make them something from their dye creations. Unfortunately, so far I only finished Maggie's, but y'all get the idea. I'm still working on the other girls' items, which has stalled a little since my in-laws are visiting from Indonesia, and a very good friend of mine is visiting with his girlfriend.


I also gave each girl some gift bags with some sort of beauty or bath product. I made the bags from felted sweater scraps that I had laying around from all the practice and prototype runs for that DIY network show I will be filming in September.

Owww, My Hand Hurts

And it's not due to knitting. It's sad and a bummer, isn't it? Sad, because I don't knit enough and I've never developed the obsessive-compulsive habit of knitting for hours on end like some of my knitting friends. I really enjoy knitting and the process of knitting, but I really can't do it for that long without stopping and doing something else. Bummer, because I can't knit as much as I used to because of the pain!

Friends - if you love your knitting, take care of your hand, especially if you use the mouse and computer a lot at work!! This could happen to you!!

I've had problems with my thumb for well over 2 years, but it seemed really minor, and it came and went. I usually just thought it was a big mystery. About 2 years ago, I finally went to the doc, who prescribed me Naproxen to reduce inflammation. During that time, I was also on frequent intermittent leave from work to take care of my mom. When I came back full time again, my hand started hurting again, and also more and more over time, especially my thumb and my ring and pinky finger areas. I finally figured out that it was because of the computer mouse! It always hurt during work (and a little after), but it never hurt on the weekend. I could still knit, write and do yoga, and all those things would not bring about the pain and soreness I experienced during the week.

After I realized it was the mouse and self-diagnosed it as tendinitis, which my doc also confirmed, I would be really careful, because my hand would throb by the end of the day (even if I took frequent breaks, wore a drugstore brace, and stretched). I was careful not to aggravate it more by doing things like writing, knitting or yoga (damn downward-facing dog). But those were the things I'd do to wind down and relax from a mentally and emotionally draining job. I have to work...I have emails to read, presentations to create/edit, research to do, letters to write and other things at work requiring a computer and mouse.

Anyway, it got progressively worse -- to the point where it even hurt in my sleep sometimes; I even wore a hand/wrist brace to sleep. Even more dismal is that for the bulk of this spring and this summer, I mostly saved knitting for my knit group meetings. I roughly calculated that in these last few months, I've only spent 20-30 minutes or less a week knitting. This is TOTAL time, not what I was doing before - 30 minutes on the train from work (sometimes also to work), about 20-30 minutes before bedtime a few days a week, and an extra hour or so when I go to my knitting group. This is really frustrating, because I really haven't been knitting long and I'd like to futher hone my skills, AND it's my therapy!

About 1 month ago, I requested an ergonomic vertical mouse at work- the Quill aerobic mouse. It alleviated a lot of the intense humb and hand pain, but now, I'm having another problem! My forearm is starting to hurt up to my elbow because I have to move my entire arm to navigate this large mouse, and I still have some pain in the same areas. :( Well, I'm in physical therapy now. The PT doctor diagnosed me with wrist tendinitis and said that he sees "more people with hand problems from [the computer] than people who swing sledgehammers...God didn't intend us to do this kind of work 8 hours a day..." I hope the PT and everything they're recommending helps. Right now, I am not too optimistic. So depressing and frustrating.

In the meantime, I guess I will have to resort to other (less portable) crafty diversions...

Beaded Mohair Capelet (& Skirt?) Finished and Submitted!

Okay, so I did finish a few things since May/June, but I have been TERRIBLE about posting and documenting all my crafty endeavors. I am now going to try and catch up a little before it gets worse.

Remember my Rude Awakening to the Catastrophe I had with Whitey Coyote, aka Mohair Ripper? Well, I finally finished that beaded mohair/silk capelet I was knitting for my godmother sometime in June. I did make the deadline and actually submitted the pattern to Debbie Stoller for her next book. I also submitted a drawing and graph of a Chinese Lantern bag for which I knit a prototype, and a drawing and graph of another pattern idea that I did not have time to knit.

This is my first attempt at submission to any publication online or otherwise, and I am eager to hear back from her. In the call for submission, she said that she'd make the decision in 2-3 weeks. About 1-2 weeks ago, I got an email saying that she's still reviewing. I doubt my chances are good, but hey, I tried. .

Anyway, I finished the capelet when I went up to San Franciso and Big Sur to scatter the rest of my mom's ashes. My sister is the model.

Chic Front View








Back View

As A Skirt Over Jeans

:)

A close-up showing the beads randomly scattered throughout.

Peace

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

I really don't know what to say. Actually, I have a lot to say, but not enough energy to say all of it. I never intended this blog for me to rant about politics. However, I must say that find myself cursing Bush, his spin-doctors, Israel, the conservative right, wars under the guise of protection when they are for gobal positioning, etc. more than once a day. * sigh *

Regardless of any political or religious leanings, like many Americans, I believe in and hope for peace, equal rights and the empowerment of the people who are disenfranchised from the larger system. I ask myself if I should do more or get more involved in groups advocating for peace. I grapple with the social responsibility that we each hold. Then I think that I am not mentally and emotionally strong enough for all the work and fight involved in being more active. I also justify myself by thinking that I work in nonprofit civil rights already and have already committed myself to nonprofit work for 11 years. * sigh * * big sigh *

Anyways, recently I joined a Yahoo Group comprised of crafters of all backgrounds who believe in peace. One of the main goals of the group is to do what we can through our art and craft, although relatively small in the global scale, to assist the victims of war (and politics) -- usually women and children.

"It may be long before the law of love will be recognised in international affairs. The machineries of government stand between and hide the hearts of one people from those of another." -- Mahatma Ghandi

Here are some peace organizations: Amnesty International, Peace X Peace, Global Exchange, Global Fund for Women, Peace Action, MADRE, Women for Women,

"Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Secret Sister Goodness

I'm participating in my very first secret pal exchange through one of the rings to which I belong. My secret sister is awesome!!! I got a very thoughtful and awesome package from her last week. It's so exciting and wonderful to receive surprise packages! Woohoo! THANK YOU SECRET SISTER!

First of all, my lovely package came in this really nice basket (which matches the decor of my house btw). Inside the basket was a bunch of wonderful treasures:

1. A lovely note and some other little notes tucked away throughout.
2. 2 skeins of Noro (no explanation needed here! yum!)
3. 2 balls of white angora from my secret pal's stash (soooo soft)
4. 1 Harry and David chocolate moose bar (came a little melted, but it sure tasted divine!)
5. 2 pairs of beautiful wooden hopsticks that come with their own casing and a chopstick rest.
6. A journal
7. A mini notebook (the blue one)
8. A Japanese sandal note holder (too cute!)
9. 1 Godiva dark chocolate bar (I'm saving it for a massive craving, but I don't know how much longer I can wait...)
10. A glass box with amber glass squares.
11. Stitch markers that she made herself! (awww....)

Even More Vacation Photos

Here they are! I was finally able to reformat some more wonderful picture memories from my trip. Hubby got snap happy and took 4GB of pictures throughout the trip, but I think this is all that I'm going to tackle for a looong time.

I barely knit on the trip, but here I am trying to work on a tank top. To date, I am still on the same back piece and have made no progress whatsoever. I also did not really see any yarn shops (not that I was actively looking) to my surprise. However, when we were in Hanover, a teeny town, I stumbled across 3! The stores were somewhat disappointed with many synthetic yarns and small selections of real wool.

THE NETHERLANDS - (1) An ostentatious castle with a moat in Haarzuilens, the Kasteel de Haar; (2) another view of the Kasteel de Haar; (3) Hey, why buy pot when you can grow your own from a Cannabis Kit from your flower shop!; (4) Sampling yummy yummy cheese at a divine cheese shop in Alkmaar, where they still trade cheese in the old way; (5) An exhibit wall from the Anne Frank House.
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BELGIUM - (1) I loved mussels in Brussels! I had them everyday! I especially like the country style method and the ones in white wine. Yum!; (2) We rented a bike and rode around this cute little town of Bruge. This tower is part of the old city wall; (3) This old lady was asking for some spare change. Of course, I indulged this cutie pie.
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