Happy Happy Joy Joy

Guess who I called me??? Read on as I keep you in suspense a little longer with my verboseness. :)

Though I have nothing I have been able to show or share publicly, I have been keeping myself very busy over the past 3-4 months with knitting. The reason is because all the things keeping me busy are knitting designs that I submitted to various publications. All that good stuff has to stay a secret until either (a) I get rejected and decide to self-publish or (b) I get accepted and the pattern gets published.

Since I started knitting not so long ago, I toyed with about 3 patterns that I randomly submitted to e-zines. Recently, I decided to take things to the next level and submit for real. I began reading public forums and researching how to submit designs.

My first attempt at a book submission occurred in December 2007 and it proved well, since 2 of my designs were selected to be in the follow-up to the successful Sensual Knits book. Currently, there is some delay with the publisher, but all the contributing designers are hopeful that all goes well. With any luck, I will resume work for this project soon.

More recently in the past few months, I submitted designs for 2 other books, 2 traditional print magazines, 1 e-zine, and a yarn company. I don't mean to be vague about to whom and what I submitted, but typically, one cannot and should not be divulging any specific or juicy details about pending projects unless thus granted by the companies or publishers.

• The yarn company wanted 4 of my designs. I've completed and was paid for one, and the yarn company is holding off the others for a later date as they work on additional things for their company.

• Two weeks ago, I received news about my submission for a book about summery knitting -- 2 of my 3 design submissions were selected for the book. I have since received the yummy yarns and am nearly halfway done on the first of the projects, due in June. The other project is due in July. The yarns and colorways for these projects are truly divine! I really wish I could post photos of the yarns.

• This past Monday, I received a voice mail message and an email from the editor of a superb knitting magazine saying that she wants to publish one of my designs. Woohoo! I was so excited from jumping up and down that I think my cats might have thought we were having an earthquake. It was my first "real" submission to this magazine. I just received the yarns for it (so lucious!), but I still haven't talked to the editor about the details of the project, which makes me just slightly nervous especially since the deadline is rather tight. -- I have less than 30 days to finish it. I know I will definitely meet it, but I think I'm just being a little more neurotic on this one because I want to make sure that I plan my time well in order to anticipate any unforeseen snafoos when working on multiple knitting design projects with overlapping deadlines.

Wait, I have more good news!

• Just 3 days ago, I received a packet from the publisher of the 2nd book containing news about 2 of 3 designs I submitted. The packet contained 1 rejection letter for the lace beanie shown in the photos, and 1 acceptance letter for the other project. The best part of this bit of news is that I already did the work so other than signing the contract, I don't have any deadlines to meet! I am now eagerly awaiting news on the 3rd submission for this book.

The "reject" hat is called Geode. In all honesty, I was not happy with it, but I didn't have time to rework it for the book submission, so I am not at all surprised that it was rejected. As for the fate of this design, I will definitely be self-publishing it though I have not decided whether to offer it as a free pattern or to rework it a bit and sell it.

Googling Myself

It's been a while since I tried to Google myself. Then today, I read an email from my friend Jean, who apparently found out a bunch of stuff about my crafty stuff when when googled me.

I hadn't really googled my name before. I have googled "crafty diversions", "homemade yarn swift" and some of my other patterns before just to see what people were writing and blogging about them.

So, curiosity got the best of me and I googled myself. There's still a lot about what I did in my former job, where I did a lot of public speaking. There are some blog mentions and apparently a previous post by another yarn shop.

Then I happily discovered that the editor of Craftzine had posted about my Buccaneer's Booty pattern in a post way back in October 2007. I had NO idea!

Patttern: Rio Dances on the Sand

I crossed out one pattern on my long list of patterns to complete and publish. I just finished and posted Rio Dances on the Sand onto my Ravelry Store. I also sent a copy to all the people who worked on the project for JayJay's baby. (I hope I didn't miss anyone!)

I keep saying that I'm going to do a mini rehaul of Crafty Diversions to include pattern sales on this site, but I don't know when that will be. (Yikes! I'm a liar now!) In the meantime, Rio is available in my Ravelry store, and I'll probably also sell it on my Etsy Shop, when I get around to creating a new listing.I decided to provide images of the pages of the actual pattern so that people can see how neatly arranged everything is. Of course, to protect some of the proprietary details, the images are saved in a very small resolution, and if necessary, I covered some of the images.

I also discovered (doh!) that I could put password-protected protections on the pdf files, including creating a password for people to open the file, and limiting access to the file, such as limiting the copying of images within the file. I'm definitely learning as I go. While I did not require passwords for the Ravelry sales, I have since required passwords to files I sell/send via Etsy sales. Also, now all my pdfs, including the ones available for free downloads have been secured with limitations on editing, printing and access.

Right now, I am working on a bunch of other patterns -- some of which are essentially done, but I'm just waiting for good photos. I also have a hat I'm working on and hope to try again and submit to Knitty.

Her Name Was Rio

and she dances on the sand...

Rio Dances On The Sand is what I think I'm going to name the baby blanket I designed for JayJay and her bundle of joy. This project has been top secret for a while and since that it has been gifted as of yesterday, I can now post about it!

Since finding out that JayJay was expecting, my knitting buddies at All Things String and I decided that we should organize and knit a baby blanket for JayJay. So, I went to work on designing a blanket and came up with a knitted quilt in some ocean/sea colors to coordinate with JayJay's planned decor. It also ended up being quite appropriate and serendipitous since the baby's name is Rio! (We were all in the dark about the baby's name until after her birth.)

Aubrey, Amanda, Marie, Melyssa, Renata, Zona, Rae, Rachel and Jenn contributed to the project. We all knit various squares and triangles that were later pieced into squares. For the most part, everything went rather well, but there were a few wrinkles in the process.

The original idea and design layout was to have a substantial blanket using a total of 42 squares. The squares were either comprised of random right-angle stripes, or comprised of two 2-color triangles that were sewn together to form a square. We even had a seaming party where we arranged all the pieces, checked the numbers, pinned them together in the original layout and then sent folks home with some piecing "homework." Then the mystery started.

I discovered that we were missing 3 of the triangle squares, with no idea of how this happened. Everything seemed okay at the seaming party, and I'm pretty sure that everyone gave me their "homework." I even went to pick some up from Zona when she was not well. Furthermore, I stored all the yarn and blanket pieces in 1 large bag in my craft room, away from pets and untouched until I had everyone's pieces. In the end, I had to rearrange the design and make it a 36-square blanket, which still turned out great.
Aubrey helped me piece and seam the final blanket together, and to weave in what seemed like 100s of ends. After seeing how unattractive the back was, we decided that we should back the blanket. So, while I went shopping for some cotton fleece (which Zona recommended after a frantic phone call from me), I washed the blanket in my front loader on gentle cycle. After the washing, I was flabbergasted when 3 of the triangle squares split open in the center, where the triangles were sewn together to form a square. It appeared that whoever seamed those triangles together did not do a good job of weaving in the ends, or simply just forgot, hence the splitting upon washing. Luckily, that was an easy fix.



Pattern: Rio Dances on the Sand.
Yarn: 15-16 skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash, 100% wool
Needles:US 7 (4.5mm) needles, or needles to obtain gauge
Notes: I'm working on formatting the pattern onto a pdf document right now. The backing is cotton fleece, first tacked and tied with yarn and then attached by hand-sewing a blind running stitch.

Threesome

About a month ago, I finally sent off the pattern and yarn to my test knitters for "Threesome" for Handicraft Café. Several months earlier, Zona and her family were kind enough to volunteer to be my models for the original hats. I specifically designed the pattern so that a knitter can knit 3 hats with 3 balls of yarn and get 3 very different looks. The resulting hat ensemble is a coordinated set for a family or to be distributed among friends.
My wonderful testers, Amy and Veronica, were not only speedy, they also gave great constructive feedback and did a wonderful job on the hats.

Over the weekend, I brought the fabulous hats to at get-together at Aubrey's. A couple of friends loved the hats so much that they immediately put them on and struck some fierce poses. In particular, they loved the color combination that we had Veronica knit. The impromptu photo shoot yielded a slew of fantastic, silly and funny photos. But unfortunately, it was a little dark and the results were not superb, even with some photo editing.

Derrick and Julian even dressed an orange with the baby hat and mounted it on a bottle of Heineken. And after working hard to show off his debonnaire style and poses, Aubrey thanked him with a massage, which resulted in a rather pornlicious snapshot.

As fabulous as some of these photos turned out, I don't think we could use them in the final print pattern - the resolution is not good enough for print, and they may just be a little too risqué for more conservative folks who want to knit a tame family project. However, some the the photos may end up on the Handicraft Café site as we continue to work on the programming for the search functions in the e-shop and the rest of the website. I think Derrick just started a new trend for all our future photo shoots. We may just have to enlist his modeling skills for the hats Amy made and some other upcoming projects. :)

Glad To Be Back!

I must apologize, for the blog disappearing act. The hubs had to upgrade some server stuff (stuff I don't understand), so I wasn't able to post anything for a while, nor were folks able to access the site. Thanks for all your patience and for blog readers/visitors who emailed me about your inability to access the patterns and for waiting.

The most exciting update that I have is that I FINALLY finished editing Twister and posted it for sale on Ravelry. I'm still working on adding more, but please do visit my Ravelry Pattern Store, where you can find Twister for sale, and some of my free patterns on a handy and pretty pdf download.


I also reformatted and added new instructions for the Yarn Swift on a pdf. The formatted pdf swift pattern is only $1.99 and contains an extra set of instructions for a lazy susan swift not available in the html version. Don't worry, the html version is still available on this blog for free, but I decided to charge the miniscule amount for the pdf version because of the time it took to reformat (not to mention all the hours spent writing it in the first place), and hopefully, it'll help pay for some of the website fees.

For non-Ravelers, I also posted Twister for sale on my Etsy shop. Hopefully, soon I will be able to figure out how to post the pattern for sale on the blog as well. I guess I have to learn really quickly how to do that.

And the Winners Are...

Thanks again for everyone's participation in the Twister Contest on this blog and on Ravelry.
The winners are Bethany of hookedupknits, So KnitPicky, and SJ of KnitWit.

I will send you the pattern very soon!! I sill have some minor edits and review to do.

::grumble::grumble::

Argh! I have spent the past day and a half unhappy. I put out free patterns for people to use because I want people to use them for their personal enjoyment. You'll also notice that there is a very clear copyright notice and statement at the bottom of each page. What part of "personal use ONLY" do people not understand? Crafters who sell their crafts even on a small scale should be aware of what a basic copyright means. Even people who don't sell, knows. Now, granted the depth of knowledge can vary.

Prompted by a request by someone asking me to grant him permission to sell swifts based on my yarn swift pattern for a very very small royalty for every one he sells, I decided to look on a certain website to see if other people were not so kind and did NOT even bother to request permission. Lo and behold, what did I find?

I found 2 sellers on this not-to-be-named website. One seller just listed this month and has not sold any swifts. This first person has altered the design a little (changed the look of the base), but it still eerily resembles my pattern and the options I discuss and provide in it. The second person, has sold about 20 swifts. I would say about 98% of it looks like the ones in my photos and the construction definitely is a spitting image of my design. The only thing that the second person didn't do is put in the CD that I used as a stabilizer in Version 1. You actually don't even need a CD, stabilizer or block spacer if you have nice tools that drill straight, but if you don't you'll need one. I think I may have mentioned this in a previous blog post or in the pattern itself.

I'm still on the fence right now about reporting the first seller. (edit 2/14/08, 1:59pm: I should note that the reason is that I was on the fence about it at the time of my blog post although it is similar, I do realize that it is possible that people can come up with similar ideas and designs. When I woke up this morning, I have decided not to do anything about the first seller, because I think the design is different enough that I don't think that this person used my plans.) However, I just shot off a notice to the second seller to remove all listings, and I reported it to the administrators of the website.

This has thrown me off a little because, though I know logically that there are always people who choose not to care about someones creative right, I chose not to believe it in my heart because I so love the knitting community and most of the people I have met through this community.

I do have some plans to sell swifts from my pattern at some point, but I don't have the tools or the time right now, especially since Aubrey and I are still working hard at Handicraft Cafe, which should be launched in the beta phase very very soon. We hope to be able to contract with someone to produce the swifts for us to sell. But this is not the reason for me getting upset about these people selling swifts. It's the fact that they are trying to sell and pass something off as their own design. Now, if they want to design their own easy-to-make, cost-effective and portable swift and then sell it, by all means they should -- just come up with their own plans and ideas! The other upsetting part of it is that I spent a lot of time writing and revising it so that people will benefit and be able to use it, and their violation of that is disheartening.

Oh- please be advised that no part of this post may be printed or distributed without my expressed written permission. This post is for your personal and non-commercial use only. :)

On a happier and related note, I just reformatted the swift pattern onto pdf in my new layout and included the long-awaited instructions for making it on a Lazy Susan! If you are on Ravelry, here is the link. If you are not, again, I am sorry, you will have to wait. I have plans to reorganize this website and don't want to have to upload and rearrange it twice later.

Sneak Preview

I've been wanting to put all my patterns in an attractive layout, including my free patterns. So I asked my sister to design a simple but attractive layouts for my patterns. My sister is a professional artist (medical illustrator) and has done some lovely non-medical freelance work, including the logos for Sugar Apple Creations and Handicraft Cafe.

I'm still converting my patterns to the new layout and learning InDesign as I go along, but I do have one completed for your sneak preview. I converted Buccaneer's Booty, which still lives here as html. The new pdf file has already been uploaded onto Ravelry as a free download. The link that the Raverly file is here. For those who aren't on Ravelry, unfortunately, you won't be able to access the download yet. My apologies to you. You'll have to wait a little, but here's a photo preview in the meantime:

If you're interested in having your patterns laid out, I highly recommend hiring a professional to do it for you. It's worth the investment for may reasons. It's something you'll be using over and over. You don't even need a professional program. Initially, I had asked my sis to do something that I could do in Word, but then because I have lots of stuff and am starting business, I figured installing InDesign would be better. Anyway, my sis is a medical illustrator, so her site, Anaphase Studios, is a portfolio of that type of work. She hasn't updated it to reflect other freelance design work yet.

Twister update & Contest

Quite a few people have been messaging me on Ravelry regarding Twister (previous blog post here; Ravelry link here), and inquiring whether it's ready. ALMOST! A great artist (my sis) is making new template layouts for me to make my patterns pretty for pdf, and I've already started converting my patterns, including the freebies and part of Twister to the new pdf format.

2 of my test knitters are done. THANK YOU!! Visit their blogs and/or Ravelry pages to check out their handiwork.
Tinker's blog
Tinker's Rav. page
CraftyCanadian's blog
CraftyCanadian's Rav. page

::CONTEST:: We all love them, don't we? All you have to do is to read through the rest of this post and then answer the question at the end of this post either by posting a comment or emailing me. I will do a random drawing of all who answer. There will be at least 3 winners (number of winners to be determined at my discretion). Winners will receive a final color laser- printed copy of Twister, Super Twister (being tested, see photos) and/or Mega Twister (in development) in protective plastic sleeves. Super Twister is Twister on bulky yarn, and Mega Twister is Twister done on polar/super bulky yarn. And if I happen to be having a good day, I'll send winners some yarn too. Contest ends: February 15, 2008.

Prototype of Super Twister. Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky.

Midway through the testing process, I wrote an alternative way in which the hat could be knit, using a provisional cast on and knitting on 2 circulars. CraftyCanadian knit hers the original way, while Tinker's version is a combination of the original way and new way -- the main hat is the old way, and her brim is the new way. A third tester, BunnySquirrel, will be doing hers using the new way. Actually, CraftyCanadian is starting another one using the new way, and her eagle eyes has caught some of my draft errors.

So what's the difference? The difference lies within the construction. I don't think there are true "pros" and "cons" in either way, because I think it's a matter of skill level, preference and how easy do you want to have it when working the pattern. Nonetheless, here are a few points that I think would/could be applied to each method:

The original way: the hat starts with a spiraling rib (so that it doesn't curl), then the rest of the body is the twisted stitch pattern. The brim is worked separately by picking up stitches along the cast on edge, shaped and then sewn together. Skill Level - intermediate. Pro: No pesky needles (except than the double points) to get in the way; easier to work than the new way. Con: Although there is an illusion of continuity from brim to crown that one can't really see unless they are a pro with eagle eyes, it's not seamless and "perfect".

The new way: The hat starts with working the brim, then the hem and the rest of the body is worked. There is no sewing of seams, and there's no spiraling rib pattern. Requires working on 2 circulars, off of 3 needles, and provisional cast on. Skill Level - advanced. Pro: True continuity of the spiraling stitch pattern from brim to crown; no seams between hat body and brim; built-in hem. Con: Working the brim first may be annoying, as it may get in the way when starting the hat body, can be confusing/challenging for a less experienced knitter.

Two versions? I was thinking of offering Twister as 2 separate patterns - one for intermediate, and one for advanced. Right now, I can't wrap my head around how to combine both options into one pattern without it being totally confusing to the end user, especially since the way you start and cast on is so different between the two. If I were to offer only one version, I think I'd do the advanced version, but that may turn away (scare off?) less experienced knitters. ETA: As CraftyCanadian stated in her comment, the skill set required to work the advanced version is quite different than the intermediate version. The difference is not just a matter of working on dpns versus 2 circulars. It includes casting onto 2 circulars provisionally more than once, and working a hem with 3 needles.

What do you think? Would you like to have the option of having an intermediate method and an advanced version of the pattern? Or would you hate to see someone selling 2 versions of the same pattern separately, albeit utilizing different techniques?

ETA: If you'd like to part of the drawing, please make sure that I will be able to contact you in case you win and include your email or blog address. This is especially for non-blogger users. I am unable to reply or find out who you are if you are not commenting through a blogger username/account.

EDIT #3: Moving my comment here for better visibility. ..Oh wow! Thank you all for your thoughts, comments and suggestions so far! You've definitely given me options that I had not thought of before, but will definitely weigh. Here's another question based on your comments:

So for those in the camp of packaging the 2 separate patterns together as a set, would you be willing to pay a little more for it then? I'd still have to format and figure out size/cost, but hypothetically, say, I was planning to sell at $6 for most single patterns, would you pay $9 for the set then? If I were to combine a package clearly labeling the 2 separate pattern & pattern techniques, it would drive my cost up, not just the amount of work, but also in pdf (file size, storage, photos, uploads, memory) and in printing, if I were to also sell paper patterns (paper, printing, ink, protective sheet costs. Thanks again!

Thanks!!

Twister at Whole Foods

Last Wednesday, my blogless friend Rachel organized a public stitching event at the Whole Foods in Tustin. Folks from at least 3 different local knit/crochet groups attended. It was a fabulous event where we were able to socialize with people we otherwise don't normally see or come across, and where we were able to meet new people. Another rather fabulous part of the Whole Foods experience, is all the yummy foods! The dining area of this whole foods is right behind the chocolate and dessert bar, so I was surrounded by some of the most wonderful smells in the world: wool and chocolate. Yum.

While at Whole Foods, CraftyCanadian of One Too Many Projects brought her newly finished Twister that she was test knitting for me, modeled here and here by her friend. If you are on Ravelry, then CraftyCanadian's Twister Project page is here. CraftyCanadian used Socks That Rock Heavyweight yarn.

If you are not on Ravelry and don't know what it is, the best way to describe it is that it is like MySpace for fiber artists, but 100 times better due to all the wonderful special features of the site. Warning though -- Ravelry is really well done and easy to use, so it can be very addictive.

TNNA Goodies - Part 1

Technically, this was not my first TNNA attendance. Aubrey and I went to the one in Phoenix this past summer. The summer one is much smaller and there seemed to be way more needlepoint than yarn. We did meet some really nice and fantastic people in Phoenix though, including David and Terri of Ozark Handspun, Janice Rosema who does some fantastic freeform crochet, and Karin Skacel of Skacel Collection.

We ran into all those folks at this TNNA, which is a stark contrast and a much much much larger event compared to the Phoenix one. We also met some new and very nice people, including knitting and crochet celebs and LYS owners from around the country. I'll start with the celebs, because that what y'all want to hear, right?

For me and Aubrey, TNNA started on Wednesday morning (Jan. 9). TNNA had some educational classes scheduled from Wednesday through Saturday morning, and the market opened from Friday through Sunday. I am so glad that I registered us early, because I got to take 2 fantastic sock classes with Cat Borhi. If you know me, you know that I am not a sock knitter and was not very happy knitting my first sock. And even though I wrote and knitted Buccaneer's Booty, it was only my 2nd pair of socks ever. Anyway, because I am not a sock knitter, Aubrey and I thought that I should hone my skills and take Cat's classes. I truly am happy that I did. Cat is a fantastic, dynamic and fun teacher! She structured the classes very well, with lots of tips, tricks and stories. The first class I took was a Coriolis sock class, where we made baby versions of her Coriolis sock.

The second class was more geared towards making up your own sock pattern by combining different forms of sock architecture. The techniques covered in the class are covered in Cat's book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters and in the supplemental You Tube videos Cat put out to support the book. But of course, sometimes learning in person is very different and better than learning from a book. In the end, I walked away thinking that sock knitting can be fun and enjoyable, especially teeny tiny baby socks. Now I don't know if I'll ever make a pair for myself, since I personally don't wear socks that much, and would feel bad trampling on my own work, so to speak, but I think if my sister the sock lover or my hubby asks me to make her/him another pair, I think I would say yes with enthusiasm instead of mild dread.

In addition to Cat's classes, I also took some business classes and a technique class taught by Melissa Leapman focusing on pleats and gathers. I'll talk about that class in my next post.

One really fun aspect of TNNA is running into knitting celebs and all the book signings. (We tried to go to as many as we could, but we weren't able to go to all the signings because we had to shop and purchase inventory.) There's no dirt to spill on anyone because everyone we met were very friendly and nice.

The first knit-celeb we met on the show floor was Wenlan Chia of Twinkle. We had stopped her booth because we want to stock Wenlan's Twinkle yarns by Classic Elite. She was also there to promote and sign autographs for her new book, Twinkle's Weekend Knits. On the day of the book signing, I wore my Twister cap. Wenlan complimented me on the hat and seemed quite interested in how I made the twisted stitches -- she said she didn't know this technique. So, as to not hold up the line, I promised to stop by her booth again later to show her, but alas, she was busy talking to some people the two times I attempted to stop by and teach her. And on the last day of market, Aubrey and I had to finish some business and did not have time to stop by again. Though I tried, I was disappointed that I didn't fulfill my promise to show her how to do the twisted stitch. I guess I will email her the instructions later and if she likes it a lot, maybe she'll buy my pattern (which will be available after I get feedback from all my test knitters). ;)

In fact, I was so elated to have received so many compliments on Twister from various show attendees, including vendors, other designers, Cat Bordhi and other people from whom we received autographed books, that I felt all warm and fuzzy inside for the rest of the weekend.

While standing in line for one of the book signings, (was it for Debbie Stoller's Son of Stitch n Bitch?), we spotted Cookie A., who we flagged down to ask about buy and selling her patterns for our soon-to-be business, and about possibly teaching a class or two when we do open. It turned out that Cookie was lurking in the vicinity because she was looking for a ticket for the book signing, but there were no more tickets available. (The vendor that sponsored the book signings would hand out a limited number of tickets on a first come, first serve basis.) So, Aubrey, being the kind and generous person that she is, offered hers to Cookie, who was reluctant and hesitant to take it, but Aubrey insisted. It wasn't a big deal to us, since I was getting book too, and we were requesting that the authors sign the book to Handicraft Cafe. I found Cookie to be very cool, nice and down-to earth, and we had a nice chat with her in line.

Yeah, I know this is getting boring because everyone was nice and there's no dirt or gossip to share with y'all, so I'll share the rest of the TNNA details in another post. Next post: more swag, Shannon Okey, Melissa Leapman, etc.

Needle Holder

Since I still don't have the yarn yet, I can't start my designs for the follow-up of the Sensual Knits book, I decided to spend my waiting time designing other things. Last night, I worked on finishing "Super Twister," which I started 2 days ago. I worked in bed as I do many nights, and as always, I'm always looking around the floor, on the bed, between the sheets, etc., etc. for my needles, pens and other knitting things. I always find them eventually. However, no matter how much I looked, I could not find one of my dpns. I thought maybe the snoring hubby or the cats were sleeping on it, but after flipping them all over, I still found nothing. I finally gave up and decided to finish my hat with my remaining dpns, then I brushed my teeth and went to bed.

A few hours later, I awoke to something poking my chest. It turned out that my dpn had fallen in my shirt and decided to snuggle between my bra and boobs. (Since I am abnormally large, especially for an Asian girl, I am afraid of sagging when I get older, so I do wear a bra to sleep on most nights.) Anyway, I pulled my needle out and went back to bed. I don't know why I didn't notice it before. Thank goodness, it was a 5" US #10 (6mm) dpn
instead of something like a #1 dpn -- I shudder at the mishaps that could happen with such a tiny needle. From now on, I will be looking at my boobs the next time I lose a needle.

Sensual Knits

Have you seen the book? It was just released this month. Isn't it great? I admit I have not knitted anything from it yet, but I love the selections and patterns in this book. The patterns are modern yet classic, fitted and the photographs are great. In addition to the jacket featured on the cover, there's a lovely cabled cardigan that I'd like to knit.

The follow-up to Sensual Knits is already in the creation process. Guess who's going to have her designs in the follow-up book? Yes, me!!!! So, the sequel is even more destined to be fantastic too, right? ;)

As you can imagine, was quite elated when I opened an email from the editor last week that they had selected not one, but two of my design submissions for inclusion in the book. I wanted to post it everywhere, and tell everyone, but at the same time I wanted to keep a level head and didn't want to post anything without checking with the publisher. So, I apologize for the tease, but I am not at liberty to give you much more details about the book or my design at this point --- you'll just have to be patient and wait to see. The other reason that I don't want to get too giddy is because, until the book actually gets published in a concrete and tangible format, there's always the chance that nothing will happen (ahem, speaking from my past experience). So, I'm trying hard not to get too excited and trying not to count my chickens before they hatch, so to speak.

One of the things that I have to do as part of the design process is to select and recommend yarns and colors for the project. Even more fantabulous is that for the last 5 days, Aubrey and I have been attending TNNA, a needlearts trade show, so the timing worked out great, and I had lots of goodies to touch, smell and buy. But picking out a couple of yarns for the book project among thousands of great (ok, yes there were some not so great) yarns was a lot harder than you'd think!

I do not have any photos from TNNA, which was held in Long Beach, to share with you because we were not able to take photos in the exhibit halls. However, I promise to take photos of my loot (freebies and samples) later this week and tell you about our adventures including which yarn and knitting divas we ran into.

Twister

I've been playing so much on Ravelry that I almost forgot about my blog. Ha! I didn't really get what people were talking about at first when I heard my knitting friends rave about the site, but I GET IT! It is very well organized, easy to set up and navigate, AND the folks on the forums provide a bunch of wonderful and helpful information. I'm still catching up on updating my stuff, including my knitting projects and my patterns.

One of the projects/patterns that I listed is my Twister cap. I designed and finished it about 1 year ago, but I didn't post any photos or talk about it because I was trying my hand at submissions. Unfortunately, both Knitty and Interweave Knits rejected this project. After some hemming and hawing about whether I should try and submit elsewhere, I finally decided that I wanted to self-publish and sell the pattern. So, thanks to some lovely volunteers, Z's Momma, Bunny Squirrel, and Crafty Canadian, Twister is getting test knitted. No matter how many times I have knitted it (counting many prototypes and samples, it's at least 6+ total) and checked the pattern for errors, there's no way that I can catch the same errors and typos that test knitters may catch for me. Furthermore, it's a way to see if the instructions that I wrote are clear and concise.

Anyhow, as soon as I get the comments back from my lovely test knitters, I will officially release the pattern, which I'm really excited about. Now if you'll allow me to toot my own horn for a little bit: Since posting it on Ravelry about 2 weeks ago, to date, the project and pattern has been marked as a favorite by other Ravelers a total of over 30 times. This totally strokes my confidence to see that people like my work, and though I'm really not afraid or upset by rejection at all (I mean, seriously, the editors do have a difficult job of picking from 100s and 1000s of great designs to suit their respective publications.), it does make the slight disappointment seeing the words "we are sorry" all go away. Thanks y'all!!

Now, if I can just figure out and learn how to set up a shopping cart and pdf download system on this blog...

Argyle Skullcap

My knitting friends accuse me of being a little crazy and too ambitious. Am I really?

For the last several months, I've had the idea that it'd be cool to knit an argyle hat or cap with skulls in it. Not that I'm into skulls or argyle, but it'd be interesting, no? Especially since those are 2 of my sister's favorite patterns/motifs. I never thought I'd try it, because I knew it'd be hellish to knit.

Then, one very late night (surprise, surprise), about 4-5 days before Xmas, I dug through my bucket of leftover yarn and came up with some yarns that are similar (but not quite exact) in gauge and stayed up to start charting for Argyle Skullcap (working title).

The next day, I went to the knitting group with my chart and 4 yarns in tow. Fast forward lots of tangling, untangling and tinks, I began to see some results. In the end, I did screw up some one of the colors, but I was too lazy to undo it by that point, and it looked almost intentional. I am happy with the results considering that I had very little time to do it, and I just found leftover yarn that didn't quite match in weight to do it in. I finished it about 3 hours after my sister drove in from San Francisco on Xmas eve, and I think she really likes her gifts -- a big tin of gourmet cookies, a pair of argyle tights and the Argyle Skullcap.

I would show y'all photos of the fair isle nightmare inside, but I forgot to document that. I don't know if other knitters are also masochists and would want to knit this, but it there is enough interest, I think I will rework the gauge and chart and release it as a pattern. If you're on Ravelry, it's here.

Oh, and ironically, my sis was wearing her skeleton t-shirt the night I gave her the hat. It was not planned.

Ravelry

I've finally caught up with other knitters and joined Ravelry, and I am so glad that I did! The site is very well designed and very user-friendly. The only downsides are (1) I will have to upload a bunch of stuff onto my account, and (2) I can totally see myself spending lots of time on there.

One of the fantastic Ravelry features include the ability to find a endless myriad of patterns in one place AND see what other knitters have done with those patterns. This saves a ton of time doing multiple internet searches. I used to have to search using various search engines, blogs and various crafting/knitting forums for variations, yarn substitutions and photos of patterns. With Ravelry, this is a cinch!

When I first logged on, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that other Ravelry users had already uploaded my knitting designs into the site's pattern compendium. I've since updated all the information and added photos to the patterns.

Other superb features include yarn index (although most, but not all yarns are on there), LYS serach index (it's also a work in progress, so it's not complete) and the ability to manage your projects (present and future), yarn stash, library and designs.

Although I am tempted to list and post some of my past projects, I think I will hold off for the time being, since it is such a time-consuming task to do so.

Relative

Excuse my recent absence from blogging. For the past 6 weeks, I've had a variety of visiting relatives from out of town, including in-laws from overseas. So, I've been playing the nice dutiful daughter-hostess. I haven't done much knitting during this time, and I only managed to sneak off to my knitting group once. I was getting serious withdrawals from not seeing my knitting friends. Having some sort of routine is actually refreshing, especially when it involves a wonderful hobby like knitting, and good people like the folks in my knitting group. Also, seeing my knitting friends always cheer me up, even when sometimes I feel so down that I don't want to leave the house or go. It's especially helpful this time of year, when I am reminded by my mother's passing and the passing of my childhood best friend, who died very tragically shortly after her birthday and right before Christmas when we were in 9th grade.

Anyway, my relatives have left and I can now resume my weekly knitting group meetings. Yay! And, I can work on my crafty things! Well, I was not totally devoid of crafty activities during these few weeks, I've been doing stuff like preparing for me and Aubrey's business ventures like ordering yarn (yay! how exciting!) and writing business operations policies (okay, not as fun). I will post some photos and share with y'all all the yummy yarns that have come in fairly soon.
For some time now, I have been talking about a pattern that I had submitted to Magknits, to which the editor had emailed me and said that she wanted to publish it in February or March 2007. When it didn't publish, I emailed the editor, who said that she was going to publish it in April. April, May and June came and went. After that I emailed the editor 2-3 more times -- all those emails were ignored and I received no response. I have no idea why she did not respond, and I certainly understand her perogative to change her mind about publishing my pattern, but all I wanted to know was whether Magknits had changed its mind and/or when my pattern was going to be published. Anyway...I think I will self-publish this pattern. I already formatted it and everything, but I think I want to test it on a different yarn. Here are photos of the lantern purse. I call it "Fu" for the character depicted on the lantern. Fu means fortune or luck in Mandarin Chinese.

Arrrr, Aye Matey!

Ahoy! Being that today is talk like a pirate day (whoever came up with that??), I decided to go with the them and post my skull sock pattern that I designed for my sister.

I put in instructions for a men's size, and although I think it's correct, please be forewarned that I have not yet tested it.

I don't think I possess any pirate energy in me, but perhaps it's dormant. You see, after reading some historical studies on Taiwan, a part of me wants to believe that I am descended from pirates. Whether that can be really be established or verified is another issue. However, consider this: I belong to the 10th recorded generation, which would date us back to the 15th-16th century. Historical information shows that many pirates used the island during the Ming Dynasty and some had later settled. In the 1600s, after driving away the Portugese, the Dutch established colonial posts and ruled the island. Pirates still surrounded the island, so the Dutch entered a treaty to ensure the safety of their ships with a pirate leader. According to "Island in the Stream," a pirate subordinate with my last name led a revolt with the people of the island in 1652.

I don't know if anyone in my family will be able to give me more information, but I do like the idea that there's a possibility that there are pirates in our past. I mean, saying that you're descended from pirate explorers does have a nice ring to it - it's exciting, isn't it?

Pirate fantasies aside, my next fantasy is that Knitty will select my pattern for their winter issue. Maybe the third time is the charm. I can't post a photo or the pattern that I submitted, while it's being reviewed, and I don't want to jinx it too much. But I guess it's safe to say that I submitted a versatile knitting accessory that can be adapted for both men and women. I knitted it in one of my favorite fibers -- an alpaca and silk blend. yum!

I'm also happy to announce that I recently sold the yarn swift that I had made for a joint Etsy and Instructables contest. A very lovely woman purchased it for her daughter's birthday.

Dalai Llama

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

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

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

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



In shop activity, I also recently listed these:

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

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

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

Waiting Sucks

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

The Kindness of Strangers

This is amazing. I started this blog because it was a vehicle for me to document and show off my stuff, since I'm away from a lot of my friends. I did not expect or hope for much from the blogging, except maybe that I would get a few visitors.

Since I've started, I have "met" many nice, creative and interesting people and have had many visitors. A couple of weeks ago, I "met" Julie, who emailed me to thank me for my yarn swift how-to. Her friend made her one from my instructions, saving her from ever having to wind her yarns on a chair back again. Her thoughtful thank you note was already more than enough. It's always nice knowing that people are enjoying the stuff I put out there on the www, whether they post a blog comment, or talk about it in forums or in their own blogs.

Anyway, Julie went above and beyond and sent me some lovely gifts:

A Snow Patrol snow globe! Isn't that wild? I would never have thought that a rock band would have snow globes, but then when you think of the name of the band, it makes sense!

Julie also sent me a tour book. Now I actually have decent pictures to remember the concert.

Again, THANK YOU JULIE. *hugs*

Whew! Yarn Swift Instructions Complete!

After a lot of hard work, I just finished updating my homemade yarn swift plans, complete with photos and detailed instructions for each step. Here's the link to the swift pattern/plan. Because I've been staring at this for a while, I may have missed some typos/errors. If you see any, please let me know! For those of you who've been waiting for this, especially those of you who emailed me for the insturctions, thanks for being patient! Enjoy!

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.

Catty

My sister had requested some fitted fingerless gauntlet gloves with claws sometime ago with a matching kitty hat like the one in Stitch n' Bitch. After being rejected by Knitty, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to try a submission with another site or publication. I've now decided that I'll just post the pattern here. I'm currently working on a new patterns page for this blog, so Catty will be up soon. In the meantime, here are some previews:

My friend Ann modeling for me for the Knitty submission.



My sister is exuding her inner cat above.
Pattern: Catty
Yarn: 2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay
Notes: For the elbow length gloves, you'll need 1 skein plus a small amount from a 2nd skein.


Pattern: Kittyville hat from Debbie Stoller's Stitch n' Bitch book
Yarn: 1 skein of Manos del Uruguay
Notes: I modified the hat to account for the larger gauge of the Manos, but I still cast on too many stitches for my sister's smaller head. Apparently, I have a large head.

Lupita, my sister's cat that likes to groom people's head and her bf's beard. gross!

Back from the Bible Belt

I returned from Texas tonight several pounds heavier from all the multiple family get-together and family friend get-together dinners consisting of Peking duck, crab, braised tofu and other yummy and fatty items. Luckily, I wasn't on a diet, nor am I picky when it comes to good food. Although, I think I should go to the gym so that the fat from the Peking ducks (yeah, I had it 3 times) don't permanently adhere to my thighs or my already unusually robust bust. And on Monday night, we went to an uncle's house for dinner and drink, and they served us giant crab legs as an appetizer! Yum! Looking at that is making me salivate like a rabid dog!

On the crafty side, I pretty much had my purse stuffed with knitting projects these past 2 weeks. I knitted whereever, whenever, including that Peking duck restaurant. Aside from finishing a sample for that class I'll be teaching and something for my sis (the one I submitted to Knitty), I also test knitting a pattern that's been swimming around in my head, a neckwarmer for my stepmother, and a lace scarf for my friend Linh.


Above: (click to enlarge) Drop Stitch neckwarmer that self fastens by inserting one of the tips into a gusset. (don't know what the exact term is). I hand-painted the 60%cashmere/40% merino wool yarn. My grandma used to make something like this for us, but hers looked, uh...like a grandma's. I examined one that grandma did, figured out the pattern and updated it with the drop stitch.


Above: Lace scarf with a seed stitch border. I knitting the scarf with 1 strand of that 60/40 cashmere/merino yarn I love so much, and 1 strand of a 100% kid mohair yarn. I hand-painted both of the yarns separately -- the cash/merino has soft greens and lavenders, while the mohair had lime and celadon greens with hints of a mossy brown. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and the way that the colors paired together. I'll post the pattern later.

Another Liana

Here's a pic of the sample of another Liana pattern in a colorway that makes me think of a desert sunset.

Happy New Year!

I've spent the past week in the Houston area. Surprisingly, the weather has been mellow and cool. I can still feel the humidity, but it is much easier to bear than when it is hot. I definitely have been spoiled by the nice California weather. So, what have I been doing here? Doing what cats do -- eat, sleep, eat some more. There's the obligatory family dinners and visits followed by visits with family friends and then hanging out and catching up with some old friends. My sister and I attended the lovely wedding of some old friends. The mantra of the wedding basically was "It's about time!" You see, our friends have been together for 11 years longer than some of us have been married and known our own partners! The wedding very nicely done and was almost like a mini college reunion. Plus, the open bar didn't hurt ;) No one but a young cousin of theirs got smashed though.

Anyway, in preparation for this trip and visit, I made sure to pack a good amount of knitting supplies. I made a sample pair of the Liana gauntlets for that class I will be teaching and I made my sister model them for me before I had to send them off. I also am pretty much done with a project I designed based on a request from my sister, which I think I'll call "Catty." I hope to meet the next submission deadline for Knitty. Another project I brought to work on is for a contest submission for Etsy, which I haven't touched. That's not all; I brought more projects to work on. My not-as-ambitious projects include a neckwarmer for my stepmom, which I made too long and have to undo part of; a yarn ball and yarn mouse for my aunt's meanie guard cat Curry, who will claw at you he thinks you're taking something that belongs to the house or if you try to venture beyond the living room into other areas of the house; and a scarf I'm making for Linh, for which I have only finished 10 inches.

I'll post some pix later. Dad doesn't have DSL yet...trying to set it up for him. I hate dial-up. Luckily, I brought my laptop here's a weak but good enough signal from a neighbor's wireless that I found (probably from my uncle's house, which is right behind my dad's.)

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.

Not yet published

Still no news on which month Magknits will be publishing my pattern. They said either February or March 2007...it's still very far away, but if it's February, it's less far! I love how you can get really cute free patterns from Magknits and Knitty, don't you? I guess my next long-term goal is to try and get something submitted to Knitty and/or Interweaves or some other reputable knitting magazine.

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.

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).

tons o' projects

Those who know me, know that my head swims with tons of ideas and thoughts on a daily basis. Things are finally slowing down in my personal life just enough so that I can try to make some of those ideas and long to do lists come into fruition.

Some of my recent productive endeavors:

• I submitted a pattern to Knitty. If I get rejected, I guess I could also try MagKnits.
• I finished knitting the hat for Jean, but I haven't gotten around to mailing it. I have a good excuse-- for some reason, I have had lots of problems loading pictures onto this blog and I want to document the had before I mail it.
• I dyed cotton yarn successfully and this lady bought it from me while it was still wet!
• I finally signed up for Etsy, but I haven't set up my store.
• I wrote a new knitting pattern for a neckwarmer scarf.
• I just wrote a new knitting pattern for a cool lacey gauntlets which I want to sell at a upcoming craft fair with my hand-painted yarns. I definitely will need to recruit some test knitters for this. Any volunteers?
• I sewed and designed a purse for a friend.

Things that got shoved to the wayside:

• My house is in dire need of a good cleaning.
• My home improvements (bathrooms and family room) may never get done.
• I have tons of dirty laundry
• My plants are dying, if not dried and shriveled already. I did plant new ones, and they'd be dead, if it wasn't for the fact that Henry (who currently stays with us) actually waters my plants for me.
• I haven't been paying attention to all the electronic and computer-related stuff piling up in various corners around the house. I better pay attention before hubby takes over the entire house with all the electronic stuff.
• I have been a neglectful and bad mommy to the kitties. I haven't been playing with them and have not been keeping hubby in check -- he likes to chase the cats around until he catches one to snuggle with. He also makes them dance for people.

Me Stuffy Nose

Damn allergies. or maybe I'm getting a cold. My nose is stuffed and I'm sneezing incessantly. And I ran out of my regular allergie meds, which won't get refilled until Friday! argh.

Well, here's something I've been working on for awhile. I finished writing the pattern a long time ago and have finished knitting half of it. This is the other half. The white part is the underbelly of a dove.This weekend, on a whim I decided to dye a bunch o' stuff, which I intend to sell on Etsy. Let's see when I get around to posting it for sale. I've got to get back cracking on work (my bread and butter job) to prepare for a meeting tomorrow that is likely to be filled with tension. I've gotta get out boxing gloves since I'll be dealing with this clueless administrator and a school that has totally screwed this young man over (many many years) and is noncompliant with a bunch o' education laws. Hmm...do you think it'd be unprofessional to knit at my meeting tomorrow? See, when you are stuck on crafts, knitting and other wonderful obsessions, you come up with these seemingly nonsensical questions. If only I could...

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!

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

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

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

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

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

Chic Front View








Back View

As A Skirt Over Jeans

:)

A close-up showing the beads randomly scattered throughout.

Rude Awakenings

I had a rude awakening this morning. I heard some strange noises and upon waking, I saw a blurry vision of a big pinkish blob on the floor (I am terribly myopic). After I put my glasses on, I realized to my HORROR, that it was my knitting. It turns out that sly Whitey Coyote had somehow opened my heavy nightstand drawer the 1 inch she needed in order to DRAG out the beautiful Italian mohair/silk yarn that I had purchased in Taipei. I think she had been plotting her mischief every since she saw me working on it yesterday evening. (I'm knitting a capelet of my own design as a gift for my godmother.) Needless to say it is no longer in a ball, as you can see in the photo. Furthermore, it was a little wet from the slober that cats tend to produce when they are excited. Eww! This yarn apparently makes Whitey Coyote ecstatic (and naughty!) Luckily, because I'm knitting on a circular needle, none of the stitches were lost. Now I must untangle mohair, which is no easy feat. I just hope that she didn't also felt some of the yarn with all her slober and rolling. booo hooo!

Your Homemade Yarn Swifts! (from instructions)

Last week, Jackie emailed me and wrote:

"Dear Ann,
I just want to say Thank you for posting the directions for the yarn swift. I made one today and it works great! I could not justify buying one for the occasional times I needed one, but this is perfect and the performance is suberb, plus I can disassemble it when I'm done using it to store it in less space.
Jackie"

Thank you Jackie! It's really nice to hear from you. I am so excited that you were successful in making your own handmade yarn swift from my instructions.

Jackie's yarn swift:

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edit: July 21, 2006

I had posted the yarn swift and instructions on Craftster. "Beantown" posted the swift her husband made for her. See her swift here.

If you want to show yours off, please feel free post in comments section. :)

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.