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.

Handicraft Café is Live Online!

After lots of hard work and some delays, Aubrey and I are proud to announce the Beta launch of Handicraft Café!!

The launch means that we are open for online shopping! We're still constantly uploading and entering inventory and photos. And of course, some tweaking to the site here and there. There are still some missing photos and some photo distortion in the thumbnail view, but everything else seems to be in working order.

One of the most exciting features of the site for me is the multiple search functions and options. You can search through the customizable drop-down menu (pink), the keyword search (green) or through our detailed category lists (purple):


Another feature of the shop that we're very excited about is that we're going developing symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationships with artists of all kinds, with the majority of artists located locally to us. Zona Sherman, aka TwirlGirlFibers on Ravelry, has bravely volunteered to be our guinea pig first fiber artist tester. So far, we have uploaded and processed 6 of her yummy yarn creations. Future developments for the consignment section include adding more artists and bios of participating artists.

Acknowledgments: Many thanks to our friends, especially the wonderful local knit community and our special friends at All Things String for their constant support and encouragement, to Ben for helping Aubrey with all the Photoshopping, to Anna for our logo and to Mike and Derek for all the hours of web design programming and debugging! And of course, extra thanks to our significant others for supporting us in doing our own thing (and continuing to write those mortgage checks).

Strange, but True

My in-laws are visiting again from overseas. They come at least once a year to visit their 2 youngest sons. My brother-in-law recently moved from NorCal to SoCal, making my in-laws very happy (less traveling for them). They are very nice people and are generally easy-going, but I do get some anxiety when they visit. Even though I'm a modern empowered and self-assured woman, there are certain cultural practices and customs that have been drilled into me as a kid, which I feel compelled to observe to a certain extent.

There are 2 main sources of my slight anxiety: One, I feel the need to clean my house from top to bottom, chauffer them whereever they want me to take them (except Vegas, which is hubby's job), and cook for them when they stay with us. I generally try to be a good hostess with any visitors, but with in-laws there is generally another level in that I try to be a good daughter-in-law. Two, I feel the need to at least eat some of the food that my MIL cooks or bring over.Number 2 doesn't sound terrible, unless you account for the fact that she brings meat and seafood on about a 24-hour transit (not to mention that it's illegal). It's true.

I certainly cannot blame her for wanting to make goodies for her children who are 1000s of miles away from her, and they certainly miss mom's cooking. Having a more sensitive and spoiled American stomach than my hubby's family, I can not stomach the thought of bacteria growth, literally and figuratively (no pun intended). She cooks things that are her specialty, like these shrimp cake roll, some sort of shrimp and chicken thing in a special sauce/coating, and her ultra signature dish: shark fin's soup. Out of respect, I may eat one or two pieces of the shrimp cake roll, because it's fried before serving. I don't really eat a lot of fried things in the first place, but I figure the high heat kills off bacteria. I don't touch the shark fin soup at all. Sometimes she brings the fins and some ingredients and then cooks it while she's at our house. Sometimes she brings it pre-cooked at her home country. A few years ago, hubby and I finally had to tell her that I don't eat shark fin soup. If you've never tasted it, it's crunchy cartilage in seafood broth. I don't eat it because I don't like it, and more importantly, it's cruel the way the fins are harvested. I used to be a Peta member and a vegetarian for over 10 years, so that part is hard to get over for me.

Luckily, I haven't gotten sick from the smuggled meat products, but then again, I barely eat any. However, I can't say that about my husband who got sick eating some suspicious chicken curry, which I had warned him about. My MIL didn't bring any curry this year, and in fact, seemed to have brought less food.

Anyhow, as part of my organizational and cleaning efforts, I decided to build me a new compost bin. For several years now, I have been using kitty litter buckets. I drill holes into the buckets on all sides, including the bottoms and lids, and stacked them near the kitchen door leading to the side yard for easy scraps and waste dumping.


The problem with my recycled buckets is that they are small and fill up quickly. And as of late, some raccoons have been tipping them over, thus making the dumped partially composted scraps a pain in the ass to clean up. So I decided to clear out an area that would not run off into the pool, and build myself a compost bin.


It was very easy to make. I bought some chicken wire, and some stakes (the ones that come in a package, or you can buy them at about $0.70 per piece) so that I didn't have to cut the wood myself. I then roughly measured the size I needed an made 2 L-shaped sides using a staple gun. I then linked the 2 Ls together using some cable holders I found in my toolbox and some extra wire that I bent to form latches (3 in each corner). That way, if I ever needed to move it, or to access my compost, I can easily disassemble it all. I marked the crude latches with some blue tape so that I can see it easily.

The BEST WWKIP Day Ever

Clockwise: 1. Marie, Melyssa and Abraham with Christine grilling corn with her hubby in the back; 2. Seven our new alpaca friend; 3. (l-r) Holly's pooch, Holly, Michelle and Denise L. from the Anaheim Hills group photographing me photographing her; (l-r): Gloria, Victoria, Renata and Rachel chatting in front of the prize table.

This past Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day! Many groups in and around Southern California held WWKIP events. Of course this year, my knitting group held our annual picnic to coincide with WWKIP. We invited other knit and crochet clubs from Orange County, Long Beach, Los Angeles and anyone else to join us in the festivities. I think we had the very best WWKIP event. In fact, I think we may have had the best event all around! Okay, so I may be a little biased, but I don't know if the other groups say the following about their WWKIP events:

• We had jugglers and spear throwers who brought juggling and a unicycle. I didn't get photos of the jugglers, but Christine from Long Beach SnB did here!
  

• We had vivacious knitters that tried to knit while hula-hooping!

Above: Zona trying very hard not to drop her hoop and her stitches!


Above: Rachel also trying to keep up her hoop and stitches.

• We had animals at our picnic, including an alpaca! People brought their dogs, some kids brought their surprisingly cute rats and new ATS members Amanda and Margo brought their alpaca Seven, named so for his 7-7-07 birth date. I was really resisting stealing him away in my car, and since he's small, I was thinking that I may be able to pass him off as a rare dog breed or something. ;) Zona snapped a photo of the kids playing with the rat right above my head - eek!.
  

Clockwise: 1. Some kids playing with a pet rat. Rat is on the long-haired girl's shoulder; 2, 3. Seven the alpaca showing off his cute face and new haircut for the camera; 4. Seven smiling for the camera.

• We had musicians singing for us with their guitars. Zona also has a picture of Jeff and his guitar.
  

Jonathan and the kilt-wearing Jeff singing some tunes for us.

• We had several games and contests including a speed knitting war and a mystery fiber game! I didn't snap photos of the finished war fish, but Denise L. did here and here. Zona has a photo of the prize table.
  

Clockwise 1. Robert and 2. Chia working on their Knitting War projects, trying to kill each other off; 3. & 4. Courtney, Shawn, curious boy and Zona check out the Mystery Fibers.

• We had lots of spinners too, including a few very handy and crafty kids who got the hang of spinning in no time!

Clockwise: 1. Kristi spinning some luscious green wool ; 2. Jamie gets the cutest apprentice to help him spin some undyed wool from a small mill; 3. Me spinning some silk; 4. Aliza wanted to learn to spin, so I let her try out my wheel as her brothers watched.

• We had customized name tags! I made about 30-35 name tags for the folks that I knew from ATS and the Anaheim Hills Knit Night. I'm just a little bummed that I forgot to take photos of two of my favorite tags that I made. I made a "King Snark" for Robert, who is undoubtedly the bitchiest and snarkiest member of our group. (Robert wore his tag with pride, btw.) I also made one for Zona's very understanding hubby (Jeff the guitar-playing kilt dude). I gave Jeff a club of his own: S.P.O.O.F. (Supportive Partners Of Out-of-control Fiberholics)

All in all, we all had all the ingredients for a stupendous WWKIP event. We had good food, great people, fiber, prizes, laughs, good weather and an alpaca. Really, what can one ask for? I have more pics uploaded in my Flickr (lots more of Seven).

All this fun would not be possible without our group's fearless leader, Renata who did most of the arrangements, from the park permit to the pop-ups, tables, banner, jugglers and spear throwers!



Clockwise: 1. Karen and Debbie ; 2. Me, Rachel and Zona; 3. Abraham working on his needlepoint while Jamie knits.

Petrified Pussycat

Oh the humiliation! This Xmas weekend, we had a special visitor - Lola, a rambunctious 8 month old pit/lab puppy.

Our cats, who have never ventured more than 50 feet outside of our door were not happy with a strange animal they have never encountered in the house. After about 1 day and a half, Brownie and Fat Maggie were not as scared anymore. They still kept their distance but would perch by the window or couch and hiss at Lola whenever the dog got close. However, not our resident bully, Whitey Coyote, who hid behind our headboard in the bedroom whenever she heard the dog in the house. As it turns out, this big bully (who likes to play alpha-cat and beat up on her siblings), is the biggest scaredy-cat of all.

As she was hanging out in the living room one day, poor Whitey Coyote was caught off-guard when the dog was allowed back into the house for the evening. With nowhere to go, she wedged herself between the wall and couch. To further the humiliation, everyone in the house came to laugh at and document her predicament.

Poor Lola was so sad and disappointed that her feline cousins would not play with her. At her house, her best friend is a kitten, so she thought that these feline cousins would play with her. My sister, her boyfriend and Lola have now left to camp in Death Valley. Before their departure, I made Lola a little scarf out of some recycled felted sweaters. The toggle button is also a felted sweater piece. Doesn't she look mighty fine?

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.

Sweater Surgery

Sweater Surgery is a book that is due to be released in May 2008. Guess who has some projects that will be featured in the book??

Yep. Me! The author, Stefanie, was looking for some ideas a while back, and I submitted several ideas, including Shelly. Stefanie said she remembered Shelly from our episode appearance on Uncommon Threads. Yay! I don't recall how many projects I ended up submitting -- probably around 6-7. I would've come up with more, but it was kind of a last minute thing. Anyhow, I think 2-3 of my projects were selected for the book, but I can't be sure exactly how many made it all the way through until I see it. Who knows? Maybe they did some last-minute editing. I sure don't want to get disappointed though, like with Magknits.

Oh, if you're intererested in making your own Shelly, you can get instructions here. A viewer recently emailed me about making a bunch of mini-Shellys for her grandchildren for the Holidays.

The book image from Amazon.

Worldly Swift Love

Recently, I've received a bunch of requests for permission to publish the content of my homemade swift instructions. The first request was made by the West Toronto Knit and Crochet Guild's president, Terry, who wanted to print the instructions and the link in their guild newsletter, Ravellings. The second request was made by the editor of a knitting newsletter, The Smart Knitter, who asked me to write an article about how I came up with the idea to make my own swift.

In June, I received a very nice merci beaucoup with a link to the yarn swift Nath made from my instructions. I wish I understood French, because it appears to be a nicely organized and written blog. Look at all the pictures of the lovely FOs! Then about 1 month later, I received a request from Michel, a webmaster for a French spinning forum, to link the pattern instructions. Of course I said yes. I've noticed people linking, but never had I received such a nice request.

Way back in April, Susan from Canada sent me a photo of her yarn swift, to which her dad made and adapted using a small lazy susan from around the house. (side note: I found some lazy susan hardware several months ago and have been meaning to put up another yarn swift version using the hardware. But as usual, I've been procrastinating. Maybe next month.)

Although not related to swifts, I want to highlight Gloria (?), a Brazilian blogger, who I found while perusing my blog visitors' sites. One certainly does not need to read Portuguese to admire and appreciate amazing ginormous crochet lace projects like this and this.

I'm so glad that people are able to make their own swifts!

Esty/ Instructables Contest Entries

I just entered the Etsy and Instructables SewUseful Contest. I think judging will be based on views and ratings on BOTH Etsy and Instructables. The contest required that we post instructions on how to make an item on Instructables, and then post the item for sale on Etsy. If you like my stuff, please help me click away on both site links, add a positive rating, and help spread the word. Thanks!!!

My first Instructables entry is a yarn swift; the corresponding Etsy listing is here. My other Instructables entry is a recycled sweater flower brooch; the corresponding Etsy listing is here. I wanted to do more (3 entries max per person), but didn't really have time to come up with lots of ideas.

New Toy!

I teased y'all two posts ago regarding the unveiling of something new. Here it is!!
Yep. I got a spinning wheel last week! I did a random search on Craigslist and came across an ad posting for a spinning wheel for $200. After contacting the seller, I decided that this wheel (and price) was worth the 1 hour drive through L.A. traffic to see.

This wheel is slightly rickety and it was missing the drive band and the spring set-up for the Scotch tension brake, but it is otherwise in good condition. It's nothing a screwdriver and some light elbow grease can't remedy. After a smooth haggle, I became the new owner of this single treadle Ashford Traditional, along with the 4 bobbins, lazy kate, drop spindle and a set of Clemes & Clemes carders, for a great bargain of $150!

According to the seller, who is a non-knitter and non-spinner, her mother bought this wheel about 10 years ago. However, upon closer inspection, I think this wheel was bought and made before 1990 (or sitting in a store since). According to my research, wheels before 1990 only had a 2 flyer ratios, just like mine. I don't think there's anything wrong with the 2 ratio flyers, it's just not as versatile as the 3 ratio flyers. The flyer update, although not necessary, would probably cost around $32.

With a simple trip to the hardware store, I bought some springs and rigged my own Scotch tension brake. It's not the same kind of spring that Ashford puts on the wheels, but it works. For the drive band, I'm using a really thin cotton yarn. Everything seems okay so far, except for a few more loose screws and some oiling. I can't complain for the price I got, except for that I think I prefer a double treadle. After having played with Aubrey's double treadle Ashford Kiwi, I think the double treadle system is better and the single treadle. The double is faster and seem more natural for my feet. I have to check with the manufacturer for compatibility first, but eventually, I'd like to purchase the double treadle conversion kit for my wheel (but it's $70).

In Recovery

Just when I thought I was finally nearing the end of my recovery from Aubrey's wedding, I got hit with some crafty deadlines.

First of all, the wedding, veil, and flowers all turned out fabulously. Of course, the bride was glowing, gorgeous and flawless. We were all relieved and elated that the famously klutzy bride did not fall or trip on the uneven grounds of the nature preserve -- not once! Whew! Seriously, this is a lady who trips on air on a flat level surface. However, the bride did not lose a special Aubrey touch: She lost her garter, which slipped off her leg somewhere, and she lost an earring, which she later found with a flower from her bouquet inside her bra.



Above: me and Linh. I don't have any photos of the gorgeous arrangements. I hope Linh blogs them soon!


Above: The knitters! It was really nice seeing some of the knitters dressed up for a change. We rarely see each other looking spiffy and not covered in yarn and fiber fuzz.

Soon after the wedding, I realized that I had an upcoming deadline for a contest that I wanted to participate in. Did I ever mention that I'm trying to do something for an Etsy contest? I had originally planned on entering the 3 maximum allowable entries per person, but it looks like I will only be able to do one before the June 15 deadline.

As I was planning out the contest entries, the author of an upcoming book on recycled sweaters contacted me about some of my project/idea submissions. She and her editor liked the things I submitted and they requested that I send them finished projects and descriptions ASAP. So I spent the week after the wedding getting the projects finished and mailed off. In all, I think I sent in about 6-7 projects. From what I can tell, it appears that the book will be some sort of anthology of projects from various crafters/artists. Hopefully, they will select at least one of my projects.

Wish me luck on both (I think the Etsy contest is a longshot though.)!

Things finally appear to be slowing down a little from the recent flurry of miscellaneous crafty activities. Maybe now I'll have more time to devote to knitting and spinning. I haven't done much of either. I had been making great progress on a double knitted hat and was near-ready to decrease. Then, I realized that my image was not right. I failed to check as I knitted and knitted. What's more is that I lacked foresight in planning the design image, so I ended up with a backwards design on one side. *sigh* That's the Zen of Knitting.

Not having time to knit also means no time to spin -- I still don't think I have more than 6 yards of the alpaca lace I started nearly 4 weeks ago. I DO have some new spinning-related news though! I will keep you all in suspense until I can photograph the great news. ;)

Well, before I get to do more spinning and knitting, I do have to do more sewing. I need to make more headbands for the shop. In the next couple of weeks, I will also be making more of my Fortune Cookie purses (like this one I made for Aubrey) for the shop and for two custom orders I received at the wedding.

Lucha Libre!

I was perusing some bloggers from the Dye-No-Mite swap and came across Teresa's. She had a weird looking picture, which was apparently from this website from the Netherlands described as "a fine collection of random stuff such as cool inventions and people with really bad days."

Well, part of the collection (#26) included some knitted masks that look like lucha libre masks! This is my favorite from the knitted mask collection. The masks were created by artist Chrystl Rijkeboer, who's work centers around her "astonishment about human life." She describes on her website,

"My work is figurative and recognisable but shape and proportions are not necessarily correct or 'beautiful', what matters is the sensation they evoke. You can always view my work in two ways: kind, pleasant and innocent, or frightening, condemning and guilty."

Not only are the artist's art and projects creative, odd, intriguing and ingenous, they are provocative and progressive. Many of her projects are made from human hair. Yup. Here are some film stills featuring human hair getting spun into yarn from her 2005 "Stolen Identity" project. She has so many intriguing projects that it's really hard for me to select a favorite...There's the hair-covered medicine cabinet highlighting the vain consumer in all of us, the odd hairy balls with teeth illustrating society's fear of immigration and multiculturalism, the gnome army symbolizing the violence in peacekeeping and occupation, and there's this hairy chair which was the artist's commentary on social and sex discrimination:
There are so many things to show, you might as well go to her website and check it out yourselves!

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

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.

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.

Yarn Storage Solutions & Hiding Places

So, after reading JayJay's post and hearing about her yarn storage dilemma at ATS today, her problem inspired me to give y'all some of my storage ideas. ;-) Many of these storage solutions could also be good ideas for hiding places, in case your significant other ("SO") is keeping a keen eye on your fiber spending:

• Open a seam in your futon or couch cushion where it's not really noticeable. Remove some of the foam and/or stuffing. Remove the evidence immediately if this will be your hiding place. Then re-stuff the cushion with your yarn.
  
• The above will work for throw pillows too.
  
• If your storage totes are full, and you have stacked them to the ceiling and there's no more floor space, consider hanging your yarn on the wall -- instant wall art and storage. This is especially good if you live in chilly places know for the teeny tiny apartments, like NYC or San Francisco. The yarn on the walls also act as a insulator and can help warm your apartment, thus saving you some $ on heat. Just switch to cottons and other summer friendly fibers was the weather warms.
• You can enhance your bohemian and artsy decor by hanging hanks of colorful yarn over the doorway, lik those beaded curtains.
  
• Stuff balls of yarn into the pockets of coats and jackets hanging in your closet if your closet is already pretty much crammed to the brim.
  
• Toss some of the socks in your sock drawer. You don't need that many. Your SO probably won't even think to look in your sock drawer. Also, you know how your laundry machine eats socks, leaving you with mismatched singles? Well, stuff yarn in the singles. Your SO will just think that you rolled up your socks. But this will only work for small balls, like Debbie Bliss.
• If you have more than one bathroom, declare one off limits and use the tub to store your yarn.
  
• You can put yarn in a plastic bag in your hamper. This works well as a hiding place, especially if you're the person who does the laundry. Or, insist that you and your SO have separate hampers. You'll just have to do laundry more often.
• Knit or crochet yourself a net. Tack the corners to your ceiling and store your yarn there. This is a quick and neck-saving solution if you need to paint your ceiling anyway to cover some unsightly water stain or to make your popcorn ceiling more attractive. Instant ceiling art.
  
• String together all your balls of yarn, like a garland. Hang on your mantle or around the entire perimeter of your room. It'll look really festive, and like you're always having a party.
  
• Stop buying bulk toilet paper from Costco. The storage space you save will make room for more yarn.
• Downsize your pantry. Canned foods have high sodium content, taste tinny and have preservatives in there. Fresh is always better anyway. Besides, the local farmer's marker always needs your support. (Please, I hope you don't have those nasty vienna sausages in a can!) Anyway, yarn can go in the pantry.
  
• You know that bread machine you never use? Isn't there a big cavity in it where the bread is suppose to go? Better yet, sell it and buy a small tub and more yarn, then store it where the bread machine used to go!
• Use the suitcases stilling idly in the garage, waiting for you to fill them up for a vacation. I'm sure you have more than one. You probably just need to reserve the small one for your business trips. Heck, stuff them all. Don't wait until you plan to take a trip to stuff them.
  

I think that's enough for now. It is afterall, about 3 a.m., and this insomniac has got to try and go to bed.

Yarn Swift Instruction Requests

Wow. I never expected so many emails in such a short time! A few months ago, I disabled the link to my instructions on how to make your own yarn swift for under $10-15, but not the uploaded file, so nothing happened. I really didn't expect anything to happen because people could still access the file through a saved link or an internet search. However, about a week and a half ago, I deleted the uploaded pdf file from the server. Wow. In this short time, I have received emails from several people requesting the swift instructions, stating that they could no longer find or access the link.

If you are looking for the instructions, I am revising the instructions and will be reposting in the patterns section of this blog. I should have it back up soon, so check back in a couple of weeks. Sorry for any inconveniences.

From my infrequent traffic checks, I know that many people come to this blog from an internet search on "how to make yarn swift" or through a link from other bloggers. I also know that in the past, my instructions were recommended on Knitter's Review and other forums. Thanks for all those that recommended and linked the instructions. :) Hmmm...I should check who's visiting and linking to this blog more often.

Crafty Buttons

My new buttons! I posted them on my etsy shop before I left for Stitches West.

All are 1.5" in diameter and have a mylar coating. The ones in Sheet B are miniature (real) patterns on a button. Thanks to Zona, for giving me the idea to do this. These are the same buttons I gave those cute old ladies at Stitches. I have many more ideas for crafty buttons and other button in general, but I figure I should keep the focus small in limited for the time being, unless someone orders or commissions a custom design.

My New Toy

I got a button machine!

Kitty would not go away and insisted on being in the picture.


The thing to the right is a circle cutter.

My first buttons! Making and formatting the images took forever, but I'm really liking the results. I think I'll make more and post them in my etsy shop later.

Etsy Upcycling Contest

I recently entered the Etsy Upycling contest. I know it's a long shot, especially since I was out of town during the holidays and barely had time to meet the deadline. But hey, I can say I tried. The contest requires people to make stuff out of recycled materials to be posted on their shops with a maximum of 3 entries per person. Here are my entries:

"SHELLY"Shelly is a giant turtle floor pillow that I conceived for Uncommon Threads. This Shelly was made from leftover felted recycled sweater scraps we had for the show. Every inch of Shelly is recycled, except for the thread used to sew her together. Shelly is stuffed with fabric and more sweater scraps. Making Shelly is quite labor intensive and dusty (all the felt fuzz!) with all the cutting and sewing, especially wiht her size! I wasn't sure how to price her, but I settled for $80 due to all the labor involved.

"FLOWER"

Flower is a clutch made of a sleeve of a holey cashmere sweater that I embellished with scrap yarn and strips cut from a potato chip bag. Yep. I felted it, added a magnetic clasp and lined it with my hubby's logo shirt form a former employer (logo cut out of course). The flower on the flap is from bad CD. Again, the labor on this was quite a bit because of all the hand sewn and felted details, even if I didn't knit it up, so I settled at $44 as a price. I know some people may still think it's too much, but oh well, it's still way less than what it would be if I actually charged for hourly labor.

"SWIRLS"

Swirl is made of the same holey cashmere sweater as Flower. It is also embellished it with swirls and dots using scrap yarn and strips cut from a potato chip bag. The shinier dots and swirls are from a defective CD. I also lined it with my hubby's logo shirt form a former employer (logo cut out of course), but I utilized the pocket and button hole on the front of the shirt. The floral band on in the lining was a scrap from a project that was in my crafting trash pile. Again, the labor on this was quite a bit. I priced this one at $54 because the bag is a little bigger and took more time to put together.

I'm not sure when Etsy will be making their contest decision, but I really don't think that I will win. I just wanted to try and sumbit something, even with the limited time that I had. There are many really good and super creative entries out there (and a few crap ones, IMO) so I am sure that the judging committee will be having a challenging and difficult time!

My etsy shop is open!

Whew! After much delays and a very messy house in getting all the stuff done, I finally listed some stuff on my Etsy Shop (I joined and opened an account 2 months ago! - so sad!) Having never done this before, I didn't realize how much time and effort it would take to list and post on sites like etsy. I still have a ways to go, such as listing my lacy gauntlets kits and other really nice yarns that I dyed, but I guess this is a good start. :)

The next difficult task upon me is knitting and making holiday presents for all my friends and loved ones. I am really behind!

Teacher, Teacher!

I just finished my first-ever craft fair as a vendor this past weekend. And boy, I am tired! I had attended the same craft fair as a spectator a couple times in the past and as a cheerleader for my friend when she had her booth in October, and there were more people in attendance then this one, which really surprised me because this one's a holiday fair. My booth is pictured above. (I don't know photoshop well enough to get rid of the bluish tint in the photo.) I should mention that my logo was designed by my sister and the sign was made for me by Zona's husband, who also set it up for me!

I suppose, considering the low attendance, and my first attempt, I didn't do to terribly -- not as much as I had hoped, but enough to make me want to try it again. (Did I just really say that? Eek - another craft fair means no sleep for me!) Anyway, the response and interest I received was encouraging. A few people commissioned me to make them some knitted projects of my own design/pattern. I priced and quoted the commission work a little low for the amount of labor involved. But since they were my first craft fair commission work, I wanted to just get some repoire and establish relationships, so I really don't mind that I undervalued my time/labor a little bit.

I sold mostly hand-painted yarns, some knitted items and a few sewn items. The item that got the most response is the lacy lace-up gauntlet "Liana" that I designed to be worn 2 ways and to feature my hand-painted yarns (see picture to right). I sold it as a kit and be will posting it on my etsy shop along with some yarns by the end of this weekend (hopefully). Towards the end of the second day of the fair, some ladies approached me and asked if I would be interested in teaching a class featuring "Liana." Of course, I jumped a this opportunity to add more notches onto my belt. So, in January, I will be doing a demo on the gauntlets and some of the wonderful things you can do to show off hand-painted yarns. Then in February, I will be teaching a class on my pattern using the kit. The photo on the left shows the packaging I chose and designed for the gauntlets.

Dad's Green Thumb

Here are some photos of my dad's botanical prowess. I meant to take more, but my memory stick was full. I guess I have to wait until my next trip back home to see him. Click on photo to enlarge.


Left: Sugarcane - very sweet, juicy and yummy. Right: Japanese loquat -- it's not in season yet, but the fruit from Dad's loquat tree is sweet as honey.

Left: A bouganvilla bearing multiple-colored flowers. Yup, from ONE plant. Gorgeous isn't it? Right: I don't know why the picture is not loading properly, but if you mouse over and click it you can get the image of a papaya tree. Dad has 4-5 papaya trees in his backyard. I hope I get to eat them. I love papaya, especially organic from Daddy's garden!!

My dad grows lots of really awesome guavas, 2-3 varieties of the white meat ones, not the pink ones you get in Hawaii. He's grown them so successfully that all his friends, their friends, and so forth all want one. This picture shows some smaller guava plants that he grows and sells or gives away. Yum. I wish he lived closer so I can have lots of pesticide-free yummy fruit.

Craftiness In the Genes

My dad is a self-taught jack of all trades. Literally. He has started his own businesses, is a master gardener, is a McGyver, and is very crafty. He never went to school for any of this stuff. I think I got his craftiness genes. He grows all sorts of exotic tropical fruits in his yard, with mostly organic fertilizers, no pesticides, and in Texas of all places. Fruits and veggies that have a hard time surviving in good growing climates like California grow under his green thumb. Some of the things that he has grown since like forever include many varieties of gourd, edible and decorative. See his gourd art, which started innocently over 15 years ago with a couple of penguins. Click on the photos to get a better view.

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.

Not my best, but...

Zona had sent me this posting from someone who's looking for people to make an evening bag out of recycled, sustainable or thrifted materials. Totally up my alley. As busy as work and life has been, I can't really turn down a craft challenge. The problem is, I know I can do it, but I don't have good pics of similar stuff that I've done. I've done nice purses and bags, but that was my pre-blogging days, so I don't really have pics. Anyway, I quickly emailed some ideas and sent pics of stuff that I have done -- at least it's better than nothing. So despite a really busy weekend with visitors and other stuff I needed to get done, I managed to whip up a simple clutch. It's made out of a sari silk top that I found at my local thrift store. (I found more saris in a blue and a purple too!) It's 100% silk on the outside. The rouched part has some padding underneath to give it some more body . The inside is 100% cotton from some fabric I already had, and the trim is some leftover Indonesian batik that my in-laws brought me. I lined it with really thick interfacing to give it structure. Given the time and my own rush to try to get out a sample, I would certainly say this is not my best work by far, but it's decent I guess. And given it's already past midnight, I can't really take great photos with natural light.

I also made a more casual purse on Saturday. My godmother, who was visiting saw my crafty things and asked me to make her casual fun bag, so I whipped one up that evening using a pair of unwanted jeans. We went with one of the fun fabric remnants that I had and chose a retro-ish tech/space print. The flower was the easiest -- leftover scraps from the Shelly Tortoise project cut out and then put on a pin.

Most Awesome Cards

Because we had so much fun, we wanted to thank our producers from our Uncommon Threads shows. The girls and I decided to put our creative juice together again and custom-make Alana and Steve thank-you cards that are reminiscent of the projects we worked on.

Aren't they cute?!

Alana's Card:


Steve's Card:

As a joke, we decided that Aubrey should make this a dead cat, and I don't know if you can see the tag, but this dead cat's name is "StepOut."

Uncommon Threads - 2nd Taping Day

Episode #265: Meowzers!
Day 2 of our taping occurred on Sept. 6. We showed up bare-faced (dark circles and all) in regular (and rather untidy) street clothes. You see, we were instructed to showed up "camera-ready" and fully made-up for both taping days, by Sonya, the associate producer that works with Alana, producer for the Shelly project. We were good little girls and came fully primped that first day, we knew better for Day 2. On Day 1, we had to change out to street clothes so we didn't get our dress clothes dirty with all the rehearsals.

This 2nd day was so much more relaxed and fun. In part, this was because we already knew what to expect, and our producer, Steve, was really cool and funny. Alana was also really cool and super nice, but it was a little challenging to rehearse without her for most of the Day 1 morning. Alana had a taping, so she had Sonya, who is also nice, rehearse us by herself. We didn't know what to expect, and because Alana wasn't readily available for us to consult with, some parts were made more challenging than it should have been. Anyway, back to Day 2...

Day 2 was so laid back that Aubrey, Zona and I even had time to knit while awaiting our turn to tape! (Rachel was only able to do the previous day.) On Day 1, the entire show was dedicated to one project, whereas, on Day 2, we did our project, then Allison Whitlock (host) demonstrated her project and then we did a show & tell of other stuff we had made.

The step-out table with all the stuff and materials we needed for our project:

We struck a few poses on set while waiting for taping to start.

A few behind-the-scene moments:

Posing with the lovely Allison Whitlock:

Last, but certainly not least, I must tell you about our awesome producer (and it's not just because he gave us alcohol, well... he did score some extra brownie points!). Not only did Steve make us laugh throughout the day, he surprised us with a gift after taping in our 80's rock-ish decorated dressing room with poufy black leather sofas. He had set up a bucket of beer, a bottle of KJ Chardonnay (one of my faves at the moment - he must be a mindreader too!), and a lovely thank-you note. Earlier, Steve had told us that since we were the last episode and last taping of the season, we'd have the opportunity to celebrate with the crew with some beers. Well, their schedules got switched and they still had to tape some filler and tidbit stuff after taping our episode, so we didn't get to celebrate with them, but of course, its totally understandable. I mean, it would've been the icing on the cake, but we weren't disappointed or anything -- we already had tons of fun on both days. Anyway, Steve wanted to keep his promise, so he surprised us!!

The funny thing is that no one had a corkscrew, and we really wanted to toast and drink the wine.

Handy Tip of the Day: So, what do you do when you need to open a bottle of wine and don't have a corkscrew? Use a drill and a screw! This tip was brought to you by the über-crafty art department of Uncommon Threads!


We were all very huggy. Hope we didn't scare Steve! Thanks to all the Screen Door Entertainment/Uncommon Threads crew! Everyone was super duper nice. :)

Yeah, if only the interns brought us coffee!

Zona, uploaded her photos from the Uncommon Threads taping. You can see it here.

Uncommon Threads - 1st Taping Day

Episode # 241: Shapeshifting Sweaters.
Our little foray into the world of TV began late Wednesday night. I drove my pimp mobile (a rental Chevy Impala since some b*tch hit and ran into my 6 months old hybrid car!) to pick up Zona and Aubrey. We stopped by to do some last minute shopping. You know, we all have full time jobs on top of all this stuff.

Screen Door Entertainment, who is producing the show for DIY, was awesome enough that they realized how far the girls and I would be driving. Technically, we're "local" but the drive to Burbank from North and Central Orange County is not that "local," especially since they wanted us at the studios at 7:00 a.m. BOTH days. So...they got us a hotel room literally nearly steps from the studio. YAY!


Above: We are such dorks and just HAD to pose with Buttons the giant sock monkey made of burlap!

Aubrey and I shared a room, since we're both night owls. I realized that there were more step-outs than I thought I needed to do. (Hey, in my defense, I was very busy doing my friend's veil and wedding, had multiple visitors for like 2 months straight, including in-laws from Jakarta that stayed 1 month.) Anyway, Aubrey was sweet enough to stay up late to help and I think she finally fell asleep at 2am, whereas I slept at 4am, partly due to the excitement. Zona got lucky she didn't end up rooming with us and go the room to herself (Rachel decided drive in on Thursday) or otherwise, Zona may have cursed me for any ugly undereyebags that she got.

We were told to arrive at our 7am call time, dressed and made up, although we were slated to be the 3rd show to be taped on Sept. 5. Sonya, the associate producer, was very nice, but she made us rehearse like 5 times. Alana, with whom I mainly corresponded from the beginning, was taping a show in the morning, so she didn't meet with us until late morning.

Above Left: Morning rehearsals with Alana. Notice that we stripped off our clothes that we were going to wear based on the instructions to "come dressed and made-up at 7am"

Above, Left to Right: Rachel, Me, Aubrey, Zona, & producer Alana. Umm, if their eyes look funny its because white people tend to have eyes that turn red in photos and I suck as correcting the bunny eyes.

Apparently the film crew and producers had been experiencing everything taking longer than they had thought, they had to cut some projects. I think the time factor has to do with the network's request for things to be done more "real-time" like, instead like those older craft or cooking shows, where they don't even hide that they have something pre-finished or pre-started. I guess they want viewers to feel a true "magic of television" that things were all shot in real time, but they editted down to 30 minutes per episode. Oh well.

So, they decided to make my Shelly Tortoise project the whole show and they cut out Aubrey's cool slipper project, the sweater lampshade project that Zona and Rachel were going to demo, and my magazine file cozy. The cut projects ended up being a show and tell.

Above: The set. The woman in the right photo is the stunningly beautiful (and tall!) host, Allison.

Aside from the slight frustration that most of the step-outs weren't used and we had to sew a brand new tortoise, which we dubbed Shelby, on the spot, it was really fun. It was such a loooong day. Because we had to create a new one (and not use 2 whole step-outs I had made), we didn't finish taping until 7:30pm. Oh, step-outs are what they called all they separate steps that we had to pre-make during pertinent parts of the construction of the project.

Oh yeah - the sweater fuzz flying around wasn't too fun either. The entire crew, including the host Allison Whitlock, was super friendly and amiable. Dave, the art director/master prop dude was really funny and personable as well. I owe several apologies to the sound guy (AJ?) because I coughed several times, which apparently sounds really really sharp and loud with the mike on. It was those damned sweater fibers! I swear, if anyone had to do an autopsy on me they would have to wonder why I have so many weird multi-colored felted wool fibers nestled in my lungs. I don't need any more respiratory problems -- I've already got terrible allergies and asthma!

See Aubrey's account of the experience here (and ignore my cross-post).

I took one of the unfinished step-outs home and look at Whitey Coyote -- instant love! I don't think this floor pillow will ever get used by my house guests.

Flower Power...

...and a little of an overload. On Thursday night, Aug. 31, I took a red-eye flight to Dallas, where I arrived at 8a.m. Sept.1. So basically, starting Aug. 31st, I received little to no sleep until last night. And for me to say that I've had little to no sleep, it really is little to no sleep. (see, I am a night owl and insomniac and average no more than 5 hours per night).

When I got to Dallas, me and Huyen, the other "Project Manager" (what bride and good friend Linh called us) worked day to night on her flowers in the hotel room. The hotel room that we slept in was freezing (keep flowers cool) and stunk of flower food and stripped leaves. Linh had bought a bunch-o flowers wholesale and needed her friends' help to do all of them. We built and made: 19 large tabletop orchid arrangements, 50 smaller tabletop rose arrangements, 1 giant orchid & crystal draped arch, 1 giant orchid and crystal willow tree, 40 boutonnieres, 2 giant tropical arrangements, 1 bridal orchid bouquet and one matron of honor orchid bouquet. My hands nearly got raw from the floral tape and all the wires, but it was worth it for Linh and to see how please she was that we succeeded in creating her vision.

We worked on the flowers Friday, Saturday and all day Sunday, until the end of the reception, from early morning to past midnight. We strung 100s and 100s of crystals and orchids. My only regret is that I didn't take enough pictures of the flowers, nor did I take a detailed picture of the veil I made for her. The one pictured below is before I added more Swarvoski crystals to it to make Linh sparkle more.






Interesting tidbit - Since I am a towering (drum roll) girl at 5'5" I was a giant-ess this past weekend. Most of the girls there were teeny tiny height and weight-wise. I think Linh is the next tallest at about 5'3" so I was always the tallest. It was a little weird experience.

Ok, so the other reason I haven't slept much is because of the filming for Uncommon Threads, which I will have to post about another day (but soon, I promise).

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"

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!

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!