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.

All Quiet on the Knitting Front

My hand had been causing me problems all last week. It's my tendonitis and I wasn't using the computer much, so I must have slept on it funny. Anyway, as hard as it was, just like any other obsessed addict, I stayed away from knitting and did not pick up my needles for about 10 days! Ai-yah! I'm sure other knitters out there can relate to the agony and pain of not knitting for 10 days. So my advice for you knitters out there is to use an ergonimic mouse and ask for one at work if you use it a lot in your job. That's how I ended up with the tendonitis. Owwie.

So at my knitting group on Wednesday, I picked up my needles and knitted some lace swatch samples (not worth photographing) for a few projects that I want to do. Yesterday, I resumed working on the Kitty hat I was making for my sister. It's part of a kitty accessories set for her. I already made her fingerless glove gauntlets with claws, per her request. I actually named the gloves "Catty" and submitted the pattern to Knitty. But alas, I was rejected with the response that although the pattern "is really fun but unfortunately not right for Knitty." I'm still not posting the photos yet though because I'm trying to see if there's another fun knitting pub that I can try submitting to. I don't think this is up MagKnits' alley. The option I'm leaning towards is just posting it on Craftster's forum and putting up the free pattern on this blog.

Project: This WIP is a modified version of the kitty hat from the Stitch n Bitch book.
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay, #108
Needles: Using 2 US 10 circulars (don't have a 16")

Another project that I worked on is a simple lace scarf for a former colleague. She requested a fuzzy pink scarf. I admitted my yarn snobbery and told her I don't work with fun fur novelty yarns, so this is what I came up with.

Project: Simple Keyhole lace scarf, my own pattern
Yarn: Knitted 2 stranded with 1 strand of hand-painted kid mohair, and 1 strand of hand-painted worsted weight merino wool.
Needles: US #15

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.

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.

Babies of All Sorts

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

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



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

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



Above: Ms. Brownie modeling the purse.

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

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

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

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

My Day Off

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

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

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