Sweater Surgery Book Contributions

Ok, I know I'm lame, but I'm finally getting around to posting my contributions to the Sweater Surgery book. (Disclaimer: I purposefully blurred out the instructional text because of copyright issues. Besides, that way, you can go buy the book. :-) Or, if you're interested, I'd be willing to teach any one of these projects at your shop or party. I also teach knitting and dyeing.)



The instructions are just for the Twiggy Headband (page 63)...it's the rainbow colored one. The other two headbands are featured in the book's Gallery section on page 131 and do not include instructions.


Nine-to-Five was also flashed in a quick 1-second clip on DIY Network's "Uncommon Threads." Originally, my friends and I were also supposed to demo this project, but the producers realized that they didn't have enough time, so we just worked on Shelly.


Everyone loves the Hippie Chicks! I came up with the idea when I was experimenting with dyeing a recycled angora sweater. I love the way the publisher styled Opal and Sunshine. Recently, I sold both of them to a very cute and enthusiastic Taiko drummer named Susie.


Violet Flower was such a labor-intensive project. Well all of the featured projects are, but this one takes the cake with the size ratio. This is made from a recycled, upcycled sweater sleeve that I felted. Then I dip-dyed it (not as easy as it seems because you have to hold it to get saturation and try to control the colors to make sure that it seemed more fluid), hand-stitched the purse and the lining and did the embroidery edges. Each petal is also individually laid out and sewn. The center of the flower also is the closure.


Shelly has an extra cameo on page 14, and has her own Gallery photo on page 127. I had posted about Shelly before and my experiences on Uncommon Threads in September 2006 (Geez, has it been that long?)


These two hats (page 130) are featured in the Gallery section as well and do not have any accompanying instructions. Gwlana was originally intended to be an artsy-ish woven bowl, but then Zona commented that it could be cute as a kid's hat -- and I agree! Cosmopolitan is made from cut pieces of a felted wool sweater. I used the texture of the sweater fabric to create interest in the hat.

Craft Show: Yays and Nays

The handmade craft show I did this past weekend ended up being kind of slow. I have no idea why. There were street signs and ads in various papers. I suspect that one reason is that there was a similar one 2 weeks prior in the same area. Plus, being that it's the holidays, there are lots of shows during this season.

Regardless, I did okay. Enough to cover the fee, and make back my investment for inventory for this show and some chump change. Yay! I had no expectations of how much I would make, especially since I was contacted about this show 2 weeks before it was scheduled, but I actually had thought there would be more people. Anyway, it was fun. I met some great local Etsyians, and have some inventory to list in my shop (when I have the time!). I offered my friend Zona space at my table to peddle her lovely items, so she hung out with me all day and sold some of her hand-knits and handspun yarns.

I didn't dye any yarn for this show, but used some stuff other handpainted yarns I had in stock. I sold a few skeins of yarn, one of the customers was another vendor who kept coming to my table to look at the yarn. She bought 2 skeins at the end of the day -- she lucked out because another customer was debating between the ones she wanted and 2 other skeins. I must also thank JayJay, Marie and Pam from my knitting group who came and supported us.

As far as all the silk scarves I painted, I think the trees with the tiny blossoms are my favorites. I also like the green one on the far right quite a bit.

I did some shopping as well. I bought some YUMMY jam from this guy who makes his own jams, jellies and chutneys, which are mostly made from fruits that he grows! I got a plum chutney -- the best I have ever had (I have bought many at various farmer's markets before) and a jalapeno jelly.

Here's a Nay. Actually, it's a big BOO. There was a girl who sold some screenprinted t-shirts, bags and some hand-knits. She's the kind of hand-knitter I scoff at at these craft shows and fairs. Why? No, it's not because she was selling fuzzy fun fur scarves. Fun fur scarves only make me cringe a little, not scoff. The boo on this vendor is not something that's a matter of personal taste. She was selling the Kittyville hat! The only difference in the hat she sold is that she omitted the earflaps. Everything else looked exactly the same. This type of selling bothers me, because it is a form of copyright infringement. Really, the least anyone can do is to do it in another weight yarn and alter the gauge, or even change the type of stitch used. Even then, I would feel weird about selling it, but that's just me. Maybe I'm being too harsh. All I know is that I would be very irked if I caught someone trying to profit from my original patterns, especially if it's one as distinctly noticeable as the Kittyville hat.

Stained Fingers and Silk Painting

Two weeks ago, someone contacted me after seeing my etsy shop and asked if I was interested in doing a Handmade Craft Show that's a fundraiser for a local high school. It was short notice, but I decided to do it. Afterall, it is just around the corner from my house and it's for charity.

I had some handpainted yarns but didn't have a lot of finished products to sell to non-knitters. Since I didn't have time to knit a bunch of items in less than 2 weeks, I decided to dye and paint silk scarves. In addition to the scarves, I will be selling some of my headbands and baby onesies, which still have to be completed.

I've spent the last few days creating a disaster in my kitchen and dining room. My hands, arms and fingers are stained with dye.

I started out painting on my dining room table. Don't worry, there are layers of protective covering on the table. I'm totally Asian in the way that I have a vinyl covering on my table most of the time. My rationale and reason is that I have cats that will jump on it and scratch the finish. I would not be covering it if I didn't have cats -- really.

Anyway, when painting directly onto the surface didn't work out that well (the resist took forever to dry and got really gummy), I built my own makeshift frame. It's just 2 pieces of wood that used to be ugly valances the previous owners of my house put up, some nails and some coated plastic laundry clips. I drilled holes into the clips and then hooked it into nails I drove into the wood. To prevent the clips from moving around too much, I also held them down with some wire.

It has been tiring and time consuming, but nevertheless, I had fun and I am happy with what I've created so far. However, I can't say that I look forward to cleaning my mess. Right after my craft show on Saturday, I am hosting my knitting group's annual holiday party, so I have LOTS to do before Saturday.

Frenzy

My apologies to my swap pals for being a little slow to post the goodies I've been receiving. I received this earthy-color themed package from my Secret Pal 10 swap pal a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely love the fancy fabric, and the colors of the cashmere yarn! The chocolate is also to die for -- I actually bought and ate a couple bars of this chocolate when hubby and I went to Belgium for the Soccer World Cup last summer.
From my Dye-No-Mite swap pal, I received an adorable and thoughtful card with cute and furry sheep on it.

Since Aubrey's wedding is fast approaching (this Saturday!!), I've been helping her with wedding sweatshop (photos here) and other wedding things. I just finished making her chapel length veil, made of silk chiffon trimmed with a rat tail lace at the bottom and a pearl and rat tail trim to match her fancy lace dress. Aubrey hired my friend Linh, who's staying with me, as the florist, so we've been running flower-related errands as well. The wedding is days away, and I still have yet to alter my bridesmaids dress. I have to shorten the straps and take it in near my armpits. Luckily, the empire waist means that I don't have to take in the rib/waist as well. I had to buy a size larger to accommodate my abnormally endowed bosom, which my friend Tedd claims that I stole from all the other Asian girls we knew in college.

As far as my other crafty activities, I'm trying to be an overachiever and spinning lace weight alpaca as my 3rd spinning project. Needless to say, the yarn keeps breaking on me -- I keep underspinning or overspinning and somehow failing to spin somewhere in between. This spinning project is testing my patience and tolerance! I don't think I have more than 15 yards on the spool at this point, and I started about a week ago.

I've also been dyeing the past two weekends. Last weekend, I painted some yarn and rovings for by of my swap pals in the Dye-No-Mite swap and Secret Pal 10 swaps. I also handpainted and listed this in my shop:

Then, this past Sunday, I hosted my 5th Wine, Dye and Knit party. No one got drunk, but my klutzy talents did not fail me -- I spilled half a bottle of red dye on my blonde bamboo floors and all over Robert's (from my knitting group) shoe. Oops! Luckily, I didn't spill on anyone else -- I guess it was a good lesson on what not to do for the 3 dye virgins that came. I'm fortunate that only one tiny spot on the floor turned a little pink, but it's barely noticeable. I'm actually pretty proud of myself because this is only my first major dye accident.

And last but not least, I finally remembered to photograph the purse I made for Aubrey's bridal shower gift.


The inside has 2 pockets, 2 magnetic snaps and a key ring hook.

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:

Swag

Here's what I just got from my swapper in the Cool Crafty Chic Swap (see photo at right.) My swapper is Karrie of Girl on the Rocks. She spoiled me with some merino roving she painted with such lovely shades of blue, indigo and violet, some of her own button creations, a hand-woven pouch and some awesome vintage magazines that I have never seen before! Thanks Karrie!

I spent the weekend making a portable needle roll for my swapee in Italy. Since she lives in Italy, I went ahead and sent her what I had until I had time to make something and so, she'll also be getting this from me:


Here's what it looks like without all the stuff on it, and with it buttoned up:


And finally, I got around to taking some photos of some cashmere yarn that I dyed about 2 months ago for projects commissioned by my friends/family. This one will end up being a scarf or wrap for my friend Pamila:

And this will end up being a rectangular shawl for my cousin Amber (which will take me a while to get to and finish):

These are yarns that I painted/dyed a while back but never got around to processing. I plan to post them on my shop. Ugh, I still have lots more to process and photograph:


Clockwise: "Minty," Kid mohair; "Wildflowers," Merino wool; "Jewels," 60%Cashmere/Merino; "Purple Haze," 40%Angora/40%Merino/20%Rayon

Roses are red

I am really not too fond of Valentines Day. I am not opposed to having an extra special day, but those damn marketing ploys really take it over the edge. How many campy stuffed animals and pepto bismol pink things do people really need? I could go on and on.

Hubby and I don't really do anything that most people celebrate, such as Vday. We don't exchange gifts or anything. We're lucky to have everything we could want, and if want anything material, we can get it ourselves. I would not want him to buy yarn for me (he might accidentally buy acrylic for his yarn snob wife), nor would he want me to buy any techie things for him (I used a cell phone held together by a wire and rubber band for 8 months.) Anyways, we do at least do try to do something together, but nothing extraordinary. Well, unlike me, hubby is rather dutiful and sends me beautiful & fragrant roses every year.

This year, since I now have a little more time, I made him two of his favorites: Chicken Marsala and Tiramisu. We kept it simple, as usual -- we ate in the kitchen, had the TV on, and hubby flipped though a magazine while he ate.

Roses are red,
Hubby's socks are blue,
He loves that English actor
By the name of Hugh.

After dinner, we went to see hubby's man-crush, Hugh Grant in Music and Lyrics. Yes, he really wanted to see the movie, as he does for all of Hugh's movies. Hubby thought the movie was flawed: bad script, no good chemistry between the actors, and bad acting/character development for Drew Barrymore's role. However, in true devotion to his idol, hubby declared that Hugh was his usual wonderful self. His loyalty and adoration for Hugh was even part of the best man's speech and many jokes at our wedding. I predict that the combination of hubby's adulaltion and goofy nature will inevitably lead to his spontaneous off-key singing, dancing and hip shaking in imitation of his man-love at home, and worse, in public. Man, I'm doomed.

If I weren't devoted to hubby, I don't know if I 'd be able to endure his public theatrics, nor would I have finished knitting his socks. I highly doubt I would ever make another pair, unless another loved one asks me to.


Project: Hubby's socks
Pattern: Many bad patterns, and several ones I had to reference because of the bad patterns. I used this, which had many errors, checked this, referenced some books, and altered to suit my tastes.
Yarn: MC- KnitPicks Swish in Bare (100% Superwash Wool), which I dyed various shades of blue and seagreen; CC - KnitPicks Swish in Coast Grey
Needles: US #5 and US #6

New Swap

After participating in a couple of swaps, I decided to go ahead and give organizing one a try. I haven't really seen any swaps out there relating to hand-dyed and hand-painted things, so why not start one? (Actually, I believe there was a dye swap a while back, but it no longer seems to be active.)
Swap Name: Dye-No-Mite!
Theme: Secret swap for Hand-dyed and hand-painted things.
Participants: Crafty people -- Knitters, Crocheters, Spinners and other fiber enthusiasts
Coming Soon: I'll post the blog link once I've finalized the details, rules, etc. So, keep your eyes peeled and help spread the word! Thanks!

Should've Known Better: Socks

Inevitably, I always take on a project or idea that ends up being far more complicated than I had intended. Thus, I should've known better and paid better attention before embarking on this sock challenge.

I've always sworn that I would never knit socks. I don't have the same attraction as other knitters to hand-knitted socks. They look beautiful and great, but I can't seem to picture me or someone wearing a time-consuming handknit item I made in a sweaty shoe. That imagery gives me wrinkles around my face that I don't need or want. Yep, I would never knit socks. I should have known better than to say "never" because I'm eating those words now. Hubby, who has never asked me to knit or sew him something, asked for knitted socks to wear at home to insulate him from the cold hardwood floors. How could I say no?

I researched some patterns and liked the look of the Boot Sock pattern from KnitPicks, so I bought the yarns recommended -- a skein of Swish superwash wool in gray and 1 skein of the bare, which I dyed fantastic marine colors (pictured left). I realized then that the pattern called for knitting 2 socks on 2 circulars at the same time. Ok, no sweat, right? I've knitted with 2 circulars many times and didn't think it'd be too much of a departure. Plus, I know how to double knit pretty decently and with more than 2 colors. I was DEAD wrong. I started the pattern at my knitting group and I ended up with a weird tangled mess, even after reading and dissecting the pattern more than 10 times. I even consulted some of the fabulous knitters in my group, who know practically everything in knitting. They couldn't understand the weird and hard to understand written instructions either. It was unclear and confusing and there weren't any photos showing some of the more complicated set up. After fumbling for over an hour, I managed to do half a round of each sock. Then I got stuck and more tangled. Determined, I then tried to follow the pattern but while doing one sock at a time, but the instructions weren't meant for that. *sigh* I frogged for the 7th or 8th time. Argh, I should've know better!

Determined to get something done before I go to bed, I rifled through my books and found the Cozy Sock pattern in Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick. After checking gauge, I figured that this would work. I cast on and worked the cuff to my liking. All the mental work, testing, frogging and knitting finally ended at 3 a.m., when I started to question the seamed heel in the instructions. Again, I should have known better and thought about it more carefully.

After confirming with Aubrey that most socks don't have a seamed heel, I search for some more patterns online. I decided to go with the sock pattern generator by Elizabeth Bennett. I hope that this tutorial will be of help if I get stuck. I'm more worried that after all this, hubby might end up with just one sock!

Still sick

I'm still suffering the effects of a severe cold. Now that some of the congestion has moved out of my lungs and chest, I feel a little better, but it has all moved to my head. ugh. Anyway, after several days of rest, I went to knitting group on Wednesday night, armed with drugs, cough drops and a new knitting project. Two lovely ladies came by to pick up the order they commissioned from me as a gift for their daughter/sister. Here's the finished product, fingerless lace-up gauntlets from my hand-painted yarn (100% merino, double-faced satin ribbon):


Last night, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had another sale on my etsy shop. So this morning, went early and was the first in line at the post office to drop off a new order from my etsy shop. yay! - I sold 2 of the headbands I made recently (see previous post). I couldn't just put an estimated postage on the package in order to avoid holiday traffic because the package needed to go to Canada.

In other crafty news, I started yet another knitting project, despite having about 10 other WIPs. I've been planning on making something(s) for my friend Linh in preparation for her drastic climate change from Dallas to Chicago. I settled on a combination of a kid mohair yarn and a 60/40 cashmerino blend yarn, both of which I hand-painted/dyed. I think the lace pattern is called ivy lace.

My next cast on will be a pair of sample Liana gauntlets for the class that I will be teaching based on the kit.

Wine, Dye and Knit III

Not counting other crafty things we've done at my house that also happened to include yarn, dye and wine (which happens quite a bit!), I hosted a 3rd Wine, Dye and Knit party at my house. In addition to the usual suspects, Aubrey, Zona and Rachel, we also were joined by "JayJay" and Amanda. We took over the entire kitchen - all 4 ranges, the eat-in nook, the dining room, the entryway, the floor,the bathroom, and every single countertop and table top. I wish I had taken pictures-- didn't even think of it, for it was surely a crafty delight.

OK, get your visual and imaginative brain cells ready. I'll have to describe it...Picture 2 long-armed table top swifts, an umbrella swift and a ball winder on a 6' long dining table with wine glasses scattered around any available corner or space. Then around the perimeter around the table and the rest of the dining room were everyone's bags of yarn and roving. In my kitchen nook, which is connected to the dining room through a pocket door, my round 45" breakfast table was covered with food, yarn, more wine
glasses and yummy (and beautiful!) muffins (made by Chefs Amanda and Rachel). Then all the counters and ledges in the kitchen were covered with dye supplies, dye pots, cups, spoons, more dye supplies, yarn and rovings. The kitchen sink was filled with
piping hot dyed yarns waiting to get a rinse bath, while the floor had more tubs of dye supplies, yarn and Aubrey's giant ball of roving. The shower stall in the bathroom was filled with wet colorful yarns, and it stunk like it too. Well, the whole house smelled of wet wool. Luckily we used citric acid, not vinegar, which can burn your nose if you do it for hours. Yep, we dyed for hours. I think it may be due to the yet-to-be-researched addictive qualities of wool. I will offer some of my hand-dyed yarn if someone can give me and Zona a reasonable and scientific explanation proving our theory on the addictive qualities of wool. Even non-knitters and non-crafty people always want to touch and ooh and ahh over wool. Why?

Pictures: top - a lacy scarf I knitted then dyed; middle - a hat I knitted, then dyed; bottom - Aubrey's big ball of roving that she left behind. My kitties were surely happy with her forgotten roving!

Hand-Painted goodness

Here's some hand-painted yarns from this past weekend's dye party at Aubrey's house and also 2 weeks ago in my kitchen "lab." I dyed both animal fibers and cotton. I sent the 4th skein on the bottom row to Necia, who is test knitting some lacy lace-up gauntlets that I designed. By the way, I am so jealous of Necia's recent fiber and spinning fest!! It looked really fun.

Of Note -- Aubrey and I were interviewed by a SqueezOC reporter, and we're collaboratively designing and knitting a bikini, which will be used in a photoshoot for a knitting story at the mag. I finished the bikini top, but still need to finish weaving in the ends (photos later).

See, I HAVE been busy!

I finally got the photo publishing thing fixed, so I'm catchin' up! These aren't in any particular order though...

I made this for my dear friend Jean a couple weeks ago, per her request. The yarn is a merino that Jean dyed the yarn at the slumber party. The pattern is the one from Stitch n Bitch.
A few weeks ago, Zona had a booth at a local craft fair held over one weekend, where she sold her hand-dyed and hand-spun yarns. So puuurrrty! Anyway, when I went to visit and support Zona on the Saturday of the fair, she said I could put out some of my hand-painted yarns and give selling a try. I only had 2-3 skeins, so after being inspired by Zona, I embarked on a dye fest Saturday night. On Sunday, the first thing I sold was some recycled yarn that I painted (picture on left) so that every stitch would knit up a different color.

Below: Pictures of Zona's booth and yarns. She actually had a lot more stuff, but she sold them all before I remembered to take a picture! yay Zona!


Below: Some of my dyed yarns. I still need to re-skein (is that a word?) them, especially the 60cashmere/40merino ones, since I don't think most people will buy 400 yds of hand-painted cash/merino in one breath. Plus, the colors look better when it's mixed up a little. (L-R: cotton, recycled shetland, cash/merino, cash/merino, cash/merino, cotton, merino, cotton)

Here is a picture of my overstuffed needle case. The large one is my main one, and it's overstuffed with double-points, circulars, straights, crochet hooks, and stitch holders. It was so overstuffed that I really couldn't find anything, especially at 6am when I'm trying to find a project to bring with me to work on during my commute to/from work. The green sari fabric one is my travel needle case. I made a circular case (black Asian print) to alleviate the overstuffing. This circular one can be hung on a hanger or wall, and can be folded up and become portable. Well, it'd be a little more portable if I had made the yellow part a little more narrow. The numbers are embroidery yarn.

I Don't Get It...

I don't get it. See the little cube at the very bottom of this page? (scroll all the way down). Well, the cube [Sitemeter] tells me my blog stats, such as how people are getting referred to my blog. The really weird thing is that sometimes about 1/4 of the people who happen upon this blog were doing a search on purses!! I'm not talking about homemade, crafty or artsy purses, but a particular high-end couture one that sells anywhere from $4k to $20k! I am not going to name names again, but I will say that it is all related to a previous little post that I wrote on April 9, 2006 about an LA Fashion District Santee Alley find. Why are sooo many people searching for this purse? How many pages of the search did they click on to get to this blog? The people doing that search certainly is not looking for a crafty blog either -- the stats indicate that these people aren't on my page for more than 1 to 2 seconds. Since this has peaked my curiousity, I typed in the appropriate keywords and Crafty Diversions is certainly not in the first 3 search pages. Weird, huh? Or am I just inexperienced in the way the blogging world and in my knowledge of the way people are using the internet?

On a side note -- I was all prepared to do another post on the 2nd Uncommon Threads taping, but Blogger was having problems again and wouldn't upload any of my pix. Argh! I'll try and carve out some time again (tomorrow?) and do it so y'all can see the pictures!

"Lavender" Purse

Well, I was thinking of lavender plants when I dyed the yarn for the purse, and for a lack of a better name, I am calling it "Lavender." This took a while to complete, partly due to the many steps and partly due to lack of time. So, here's the photo pictorial from beginning to end (to get a better view, click on the pictures):

(1) First, it started out ast a Goodwill sweater and then I unraveled it and got tons o' yarn (below):


(2) Then I mixed various shades of green and lavender dye and hand-painted the yarns. I blogged the results in a previous post.

(3) Then I knitted the hand-painted yarn from a pattern of my own design, and made it so that I wouldn't have to sew ear flaps to make the bottom gusset of the bag.


(4) After I finished knitting the bag, I felted it in my washing machine. The flower on the front is a knitted flower, also my own pattern, with a few seed beads in the center. The yarn I used for the flower is leftover from the cashmere/merino seafoam stitch scarf I knitted for Kim.



(5) The lining was attached by hand-sewing and I added a magnetic closure. It's pretty roomy on the inside - I love the light green accent fabric. I also cut out a plastic canvas to fit into the bottom of the purse so that it will sit without falling over, and to give it more stability when in use.


(6) Here's the another picture of the finished product and a close-up of the embellishment. As mentioned earlier, the flower was hand-knitted. The little swirls and balls were needle-felted.

I have not decided if I'm going to give this away or sell it. I don't even know if people would be able to pay all the thought and labor!

Taipei, part 2: Top Ten Things I Love/Hate

Top Ten Things I Love About Taipei (in no particular order)

1. Smelling the sweet scent of flowers sold by elderly street vendors. They are sold usually with 5-6 flowers strung together and wrapped in a leaf. I don't know exactly what species or subspecies these flowers are, but I know that they are related to the magnolias. From my research, these flowers appear to belong the the genus Michelia (family Magnoliaceae , order Magnoliales). (Picture 1: Street vendor selling the flowers with an orchid for people going to the Hsin Tien Temple (also Xin Tian, Shin Tien, HsingTien), a religious Dao Temple. Here are some beautiful photos of the temple.
2. LemBu, my most favorite fruit in the world! LemBu is what we call it in Taiwanese, and in Mandarin it's "Lian Woo." The common English name is Wax Apple - I'm not even going to try to spell the scientific name!. The LemBu variety in Taiwan is seedless and doesn't even look like the inside of an apple, but I can't find any links describing that variety or showing it cut open. LemBu is super juicy and you definitely will need to pee frequently if you eat some. Even if you happen to pick one that is not sweet, it is still yummy! On this trip, Dad found some at 80NT per kg (1 kg=2.2lbs; 80NT= approx $2.60). Unfortunately, I have never seen this in the U.S., not even in the Asian markets in California. If they do sell LemBu here, they'd be really $$ and probably not as fresh. (Picture 2: The LemBu I brought to eat on my flight home.)
3. Stinky Tofu!! It's so yummy, and yes, they kinda stink, but in a good way. The stinkier the better! You can find them in small mom & pop Taiwanese-style delis and restaurants in the U.S. I have alson seen them on the menu as "Tofu with Odor." In Mandarin, it's pronounced something like "Tsou DoFu." Stinky Tofu can be served many ways: braised, steamed, as a stinky tofu hot pot, grilled or fried. In Taipei, the there is a street full of stinky tofu vendors one after another, but I can't recall the name. However, the fried and grilled (and better tasting) varieties can be found anywhere, especially at the many night markets (see #4), and are usually served piping hot on skewers. *Drool*
4. I can't talk about stinky tofu without mentioning all the Night Markets (article) in Taipei! The two more well known ones are the ShihLin Night Market and the HuaHsi Tourist Market (also HuaXi), which is also known as Snake Alley. Night markets are more than tourist attractions. The night market in the area of XiMenDing is very hip and less known to tourists. You'll never be without something to do or eat (my favorite activity) at the night markets!
5. How to get to experience all the super things in Taipei? The MRT! The MRT is user friendly, fast, frequent, efficient and clean. (Pictures of MRT) In Mandarin, it's pronounced like "Jieh Yun." L.A. should learn from Taipei. There are many more people per square mile in Taipei and more users, AND Taipei has a better system than the MetroRail system of Los Angeles, which is dismal and uncoordinated by comparison. But of course, I prefer MetroRail to driving anyday.
6. Taiwan-style shaved ice. It's fluffier and softer than the Hawaiian shaved ice that most Americans are familiar with. Go to any Chinatown in any city and you'll find some. In Taiwanese, it's pronounced "Tswhoh Bing." According to Dad, there really wasn't an equivalent Chinese character for "tswhoh" because that's strictly a Taiwanese word, until of late, when people got creative. In Mandarin, it's translated to "Bao Bing." There's also a new "invention" with even finer ice, called snow or snow flake ice. Taiwanese bing (ice) is served with sweet toppings (taro, boiled peanut, azuki bean, mung bean, almond gelatin, tapioca, mango, black pulms, pineapple, etc.) and then topped with brown sugar or molasses water and/or condensed milk. This is also found readily in the night markets (see #4). Shaving ice.
7. The abundance of yummy and fresh bakeries. You can smell fresh-baked sweet breads everyday as you walk along the streets of Taipei. I could eat them all day. (Photo 3: My sister at a bakery near the Shuanglian MRT station.) This bakery has a type of "Pwo Lwo" (translated to pineapple bread in English for the resemblance to the skin-- there's no pineapple in it), with a thick crumbly crust on the outside and on the inside was like an awesome super croissant. yum.
8. All the things to love about a bustling and large metropolitan city.
9. All the specialty streets and districts. If you want cheap wholesale textiles, you go to a certain street. If you want snacks and preserved fruits, you go to another. There's an area where go get your herbs and tea. Etc., etc., etc. Of course, you can find those shops anywhere in Taipei as well, at the day markets and at the night markets. You get better deals and are guaranteed that at least one store will have what you want in those specialty streets/districts.
10. Street vendor and mom & pop food stalls. You'll want to be a little careful with cleanliness of some of the carts and stalls, but when they're good, they're good. There is food everywhere in Taipei and you're sure never to be hungry. There are so many things to write about -- vermicelli soup, onion cakes, potstickers, meat buns, egg cakes, etc. I could go on and on and on.

Top Ten Things I Hate About Taipei (again, in no particular order)

1. The humidity.
2. Mosquitos. Damn, have you ever met Asian tropical mosquitos? They love to suck blood.
3. The heat with the humidity. Really really sucky and suffocating.
4. The uneven pavements and sidewalks. Not good for clutzy people.
5. The VERY aggressive drivers and scooter drivers. They WILL try to run you over even if it's your right of way and WILL yell at you for "running into" their car.
6. The smog. Not good for the skin-- yucky clogged pores.
7. All the other usual things to hate about a very densely populated metropolitan city.
8. Some of the stinky day markets with chicken, pig, duck and fish heads and parts of all sorts staring right back at you.
9. The BAD hairdos of young Taiwanese students! There are more mullets in Taipei than all the midwestern and southern states added together! The mullets there range from short backs to very long backs. Yuck. More mullets here. (Er, my advance apologies if you have a mullet, but please reconsider...)
10. The BAD fashions! I don't even know how to explain. It's like a bad mix of Japanese, Korean, Italian and other runway high fashion NOT made for normal everyday life!

Painted Goodwill Sweater

These are photos of the dried and finished hand-dyed and hand-painted reclaimed/recycled yarn from a brand-new sweater I found at a thrift store, as I had posted a few days ago. I love Goodwill, and it's not just because of the sweater finds. Philosophically, I support their mission and their accomplishments in empowering the people they serve through their job training and opportunities program.


Top Left: A composite showing the yarns in different views. The 2 on the left were dyed in the same pot in the same manner. The one to the right is shown spread out in the next picture. Top Right: I hand-painted this one to get more frequent and random color change. Bottom: Another view, with one partially wound.

Stinky Silk Woes, Part 2

So I decided to be a masochist and tried to dye my silk again. This time I read the section of my dye book on dyeing silk and silk-blended yarns. I soaked (really, I did) my yarn OVERNIGHT and with soap. I started with my snafoo yarn from last time, which leached blue-green water (go figure, because it was baby blue).

Above Left: 1st Snafoo, Part 2, attempt 1: I painted it darker blue (shown) and other shades of teal, turquiose and algae green. After 40 looong minutes and lots of citric acid, the color still wouldn't take, so I tried a different approach.
Above Right: 1st Snafoo, Part 2, attempt 2: I put it in a steamer basket and re-hand-painted all the colors which also was laced with acid. I steamed for about 40 minutes. I still have a Baby Blue Bomb. I can't even see any green. Why? see below!


Above Left: Although I think my water level was a little bit high (only barely touched part of yarn when on high boil), it should not have leached green water. I still have baby blue yarn, albeit a darker baby blue, and it still is not colorfast. :( boo hoo.
Above Right: I am really a masochist. I didn't think nearly 2 hours of Stinky Silk was enough. hmm, maybe something is wrong with that yarn. I should try the extra hank I soaked last night. So I did. I painstakingly hand-painted the yarn, all 500 yds of the 50/50 silk/wool, put less water and steamed for 50-60 minutes. Towards the last 20 minutes, I threw in the Baby Blue Bomb. This one is a little better than Baby Blue Bomb, but it is still leaching color since it hasn't set.

Wait, there IS a rainbow! I miraculously have the gift of foresight and somehow knew that I would be disappointed. So before doing the silk, I unraveled an embroidered thrift store find (new w/tags!) made in Scotland from shetland wool. It was cut and then stitched from the armpits up (maybe b/c of embroidery), so I couldn't really unravel the top third without getting a pile of short yarn pieces that my kitties would drool over. I treated those parts like fabric.

My house smells awful. What's worse? Hot Stinky Silk or Hot Vinegar? Yuck.


Left: The sweater. Right: What I got.

I dyed some of the sweater parts and yarn. Success!! What's even better is that I am able to multi-task and had the Stinky Silk and wool dyeing at the same time. Right: A picture of all the yarns in the drying process. (Click on it and any other picture for better detail.)

Above: The top back of the sweater. I painted the stripes and will be felting it for a clutch.

Red Booties

Here's the picture of the finished red baby booties. It'll probably fit a 6 mo+ old baby. I think I need to make the black ties shorter. They look a bit long. 100% Cotton, US 4 needles.

I have not re-cast the baby alpaca baby booties. The reason I had to frog it in the first place is because the pattern did not make any sense when it come to the toe shaping. The pattern just says "toe shaping is done by working in short rows," but gives no instructions on how many rows or stitches! I hate poorly written patterns! I want to find a good baby bootie pattern done on double pointed needles. Until then, I'll do the alpaca booties on 2 straights.

I spent this evening dyeing yarn. I actually tried to take pics of the dye process. It was Stinky Silk Woes (pic) all over again! Quite dismal and disappointing. I don't have time to reformat all the pics now, and since it's late, I'll have to rant about my Stinky Silk Adventure, Part 2 later. I'm going to cry now.

Babies of All Sorts

I'm a proud momma. First of all, I finished my Clapotis late Thursday night. As holey as it is, it's actually pretty warm. I am TOTALLY happy with the colorway and the turn out. I probably should block it since it's rolling a bit, but not before I wear it a couple more times. :) I knitted the sport weight Cashmere/Merino yarn on US 7 needles.

Left: The finished project.
Below: Close-up view. Aren't the colors are lovely?



Scored! Despite having worked in LaLaLand (aka Plastic Land and Silicon City) for the past 5 years, I have never shopped in the Fashion District or in most areas in LA -- walked and passed through, but no real shopping. I'm a transplant, so I don't have many friends here to go with me, and it's not like my short-attention-spanned hubby will indulge me in something like this. So of course, I said yes when 2 friends woke me from my slumber this morning.

Anyhow, I've always though the Hermes Birkin bags were cute. Ever since I saw a colleague with a knock-off she bought from NYC, I've had my eyes on one. Of course, even if I won the lotto, I don't think I would spend even $1000 on a purse or tote, let alone spend thousands upon thousands!! (BTW- the real bags go anywhere from $4,000 to $40,000 for the larger crocodile totes.) I found this lovely and fairly well-made orange one for a bargain $25. There was a green one too, but the orange one is prettier. Rachel got a really nice black Salvatore Ferragamo for $18. We tried to bargain more, but the guy would not go any lower and he was the lower-priced venue. We came across another store that also has Birkins (and even a blue one), but the store charges $35.



Above: Ms. Brownie modeling the purse.

Babies Galore. I am at that age where all my friends are having babies or getting married. In the apst 2 years or so, I've had to deal with a lot personal stuff, so I have been terrible at calling and sending gifts, cards, and other congratulatory gestures. So now that things have calmed a bit, I'm finally making long overdue baby gifts. It's a good thing baby booties are fast to knit, except the ones requiring knitting in the round. I am going to be busy! I would like to make gifts for...

1. ...Nyssa, Tedd's girl, around 1 year old
2. ...Baby, Ann's, sex unknown, expected this May
3. ...Madeline, Kay's girl, now about 2 or 3 ? years old
4. ...Baby, Kay's 2nd, expected Fall 2007 (probably)
5. ...Danny, Nguyen's boy, around 1 year old -- technically our godchild. I am a terrible godmother. Hubby is much worse. He bought Danny a Winnie the Pooh for Christmas and did not give it to him until I put it by the front door to remind him 2 weeks ago!
6. ...Grant, Amy's boy, age 2 months.

Below: I don't know who this will be for yet. It's out of 100% cotton yarn on US 4 needles. I still need to sew it up, but I think I will wait until my next knitting group meeting so I can get some sage guidance on proper seaming.

Below: I think this one will be for Ann's soon-to-be-popped baby. She and her hubby want to be surprised by the sex, so any gifts would have to be unisex. And since this is use what you have month, I'm using this fingering weight 100% baby alpaca yarn that I got about 6 months ago from The Hunger Site, a cool place to shop, support a nonprofit and fight hunger. What's more is that this a fair trade product. I've only made the sole so far. I find it a little challenging to knit in the round with teeny tiny US 1 needles.

Is it Friday yet?

Argh. It's only Tuesday and I've aleady had a looong busy and draining week at work. I haven't had much down time, except ripping out a project. (Although I did buy a pair of lovely Via Spigas :) while running errands today.) I'm making time now and updating my blog and photos. I just uploaded the photos of some purses I made for donation recently. This one is my favorites, which I called Wild Poppies - inspired by wild poppies (go figure). It's of my own pattern and design. Hand dyed & painted using yarn I recycled from a sweater. Top darker colored section is felted. Lower half is knitted with purl ridges. Bottom of purse sits flat - knitted that way, no extra sewing. The tag says Sugar Apple Creations, which I had asked my talented and artistic sister to design for me. Isn't that cool? I have that website, but I haven't learned how to create a site yet. Learning to do this blog was challenge enough!

My Day Off

Because I work in a progressive nonprofit world, we get holidays like Columbus Day (really, I don't want to celebrate a guy who didn't really discover America and subsequently caused the mass extinction of many American Indigenous Peoples) replaced with holidays like Cesar Chavez Day!

I don't know how people spend their day off, but I've spent it napping and thinking about how I should update Crafty Diversions. I can't really do any major projects because I actually have to work later and meet a client. Plus, m' achin' back is totally bothering me. Hey, that means, I can KNIT some more!

These are 2 of my current knitting projects. The top is my Clapotis project I'm making with my own hand-dyed yarn at the Wine, Dye 'n Knit party (See "Backtrack..." posted 3/11/06). The bottom one is the project commissioned by my friend Kim, who originally wanted fingerless gloves so that she could wear it in her freezing cold office. After seeing how beautiful her dyed yarn is, we decided a scarf would be best to show off! I'm doing this in the seafoam stitch.

Stinky Silk Woes (pic)

Argh, here's a picture of that Stinky Silk Snafoo. I mean, it doesn't look horrible, but nevertheless, it's NOT the color I was looking for, nor is it a color that I like. I have to muster enough energy to try and redo this. However, I first have to get over the disappointment and stinky smell which is now etched in my smell-cells' memory.

ai-yo-wei-ah!

Backtrack...

A few things I meant to post, but never got around to:

Stitch n Bitch Night at the Orange County Museum of Art, 2.24.2006
This was organized by the moderator of the Long Beach Stitch n Bitch group, who apparently also works at the museum. Members from various SoCal knitting/crochet groups also attended -- it was a nice turnout. We all knitting for a while, got to walk around and examine the installations and exhibits and watched a fiber artist knit with giant needles and thick wrapping ribbon. I didn't take any pictures, but a woman from Squeeze OC took a bunch of pictures and posted them on their site.

Wine, Dye 'n Knit party, 3.11.06
Since some of my knitting friends and I got into dyeing our own yarns, I decided to host this little shindig. A handful of girls came over -- ust the right number of people. We are all able to dye at the same time in the kitchen. Wine+Dye+Wool+Good company+food=sublime. I didn't take any photos unfortunately (couldn't find the camera), but Zona did. I'm waiting for her to post or send. I dyed the fabulously priced 60% cashmere/ 40% wool yarn I purchased at Newton's to for my Clapotis project. I'll have to post my dyed cash-merino later...haven't taken pix yet.

Stinky Silk Woes 3.19.06
I attempted to dye a 50/50 silk/wool blend yarn. Damn, wet silk stinks! Smells kind of like the Fishmarket in Seattle. Well, I stood in the kitchen for 1 hour wondering why my yarn would not take the dye. Hmm, proabaly just needs more citric acid than wool. So, I added more citric acid. And then waited. Added more. Waited. After I ended up adding like 1 cup of citric acid, I finally got out my dye book (which of course, I didn't read through), turned to one of the pages on silk: "...dye with acid dyes...takes up dye beautifully and faster than wool..." LIAR! This author sucks! Then I waited a little longer and hoped that maybe by some weird osmosis, the yarn will suck up the dye simply because I read that bit. More time passed. Then I scratched my discombobulated head...hmm, the index did list other pages on silk. So, I consulted my book again "...silk must be wetted well...at least 4 hours or overnight..." What!? "...or fibers will not take dye..." Why didn't it mention that earlier?!? Well, since it was already past midnight, and I had to get up at 5:45 am, I had to abandon my silk-dyeing attempt. So instead of shiny skein of silk/wool with shades of blue, cyan, teal, and turquoise highlighted by small traces of lavender, I got weird milky baby blue with spots of pink-lavender. :( The smell lingered the next morning. Stay tuned for part 2 in Adventures in Stinky Silkland.
EDIT: See picture of Stinky Snafoo.

New Knitters on the Block

In the past week, I've held knitting classes for 4 of my work friends/colleagues. I'm slowing hatching my plan to convert everyone to take up knitting! wah ha ha! Ohh- gives me an idea for a knitting club at work!

I agreed to make fingerless gloves for my friend/colleague Kim, who does not knit. I wanted her to "own" her gloves, so I taught her how to dye the yarn for her gloves. The yarn is a very luscious 60% Italian Cashmere and 40% Merino Wool blend that I got at Newton's. We were at another friend's house for pozole (yum!) so I just packed up all my dyes that were leftover from my Wine, Dye 'n Knit party (which I will post later) and we invaded her house.

The pictures are various views of Kim's creations. It's amazing how the yarn looks different at every stage.

Technological challenges, Homemade Yarn Swift, Weddings, Etc.

Crafty, handy, creative, smart, but technologically challenged
Ok, I really need to take some sort of web design-type class! I have no idea how to do a photo gallery or create a project directory or folder on this blog, despite extensive reading in the help section. I've had to rely on hubby, who is busy with his own stuff to help me with this one, and with my other website! In due course, I suppose.

Yarn Swift
Anyway, hubby finally converted the instructions for my homemade yarn swift to pdf . I am so proud of it -- came up with my own plans and completed the entire execution. Anyway, for my knitting group and anyone else that wants to make one, here it is! Homemade Yarn Swift Instructions
If you make one, I'd love to see the fruits of your labor!

Linh's Wedding
I'm very very excited that my good friend Linh is getting married this Fall. Furthermore, I am so honored and elated that she asked me to make her wedding veil for her. She gave me "artist freedom" do to what I want for her, and I'm going to make her proud! I'm planning to use organza, not that cheap-o easy to rip tulle crap and embellish it with either rhinestones or Austrian crystals. I haven't decided how I'm going to make the part that attaches to her head.

Etc. Etc. Etc.
I just finished a busy busy month, personal and work. I donated 3 purses that I made for a nonprofit fundraiser, and finished a capelet out of my own hand-dyed yarn. Very proud. The month is not over, and I have more project requests to do for friends, in addition to the ever growing list of home improvement projects. If only I could devote full time to my hobbies...one can dream.

More exciting things on the March agenda: I'm hosting a Dyeing and Knitting party for some of my knitting friends this weekend. Hubby and I are invited to a cool murder mystery dinner party. Some colleagues and I are having a girls' night - this month's cooking theme is Mexican pozole (yum!). I'm looking forward to this work related training I'll be attending.

Where does the time go?

I had a 3-day weekend, but where does the time go? I a list of tasks and projects to do, but not much got done... I need better time management at home. Some of the crafty and noncrafty things I did accomplish:

• Finally wound the recycled sweater yarn that I dyed over 2-3 weeks ago for my sister. oooh...ahhh...or scroll down.
• Finished one of the purses I'm going to be donating to the fundraiser my work is having. I'll add pictures of the handmade things I'm making/donating later.
• Finished dyeing (albeit not to my satisfaction) a sachel I'm making, also for the fundraiser.
• finalizing and finishing up written directions for my homemade yarn swift. I'll post the instructions here later, especially for all my knitting group friends! See my swift or scroll down.
• Organized some of the explosion of yarns and fabric in my sewing room.
• I'm no longer sleep deprived! Woohoo! I made up last week's 5 hour per night average.
• Made it to yoga and pilates class, back-to-back.

I hate cleaning my house, so that's obviously went way down on my list. But at the same time, I can't stand seeing the disorder. ugh. I need a maid. Well, in my partial defense, life hasn't been easy these past 2 years, and I've been traveling back and forth for exteneded periods of time between here and Texas, so I haven't gotten to the the things that would make cleaning and organizng the house a lot easier -- like real bookshelves, fixing the ugly bathroom cabinets, etc. Oh well, I'll get to it eventually.

These 2 pics are of the same yarn that I dyed, just in hand and ball forms. There's about 600+ yards of yarn. I think was from 1.5 sleeves of a previously white Peruvian wool sweater.

My homemade yarn swift (below) ! I'm so proud I figured it out and made it using a handsaw and drill. And it works really well!