TYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Crafty Diversions: May 2006

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Insomnia Discoveries

I often do not sleep until very very late (3 a.m.) now, despite having to wake up around 5:30 or 6 a.m. to go to work. Insomnia runs in my family. To solve this frustrating problem, I do stuff until I'm sleepy, otherwise just laying there, unable to sleep really annoys me. I knit, I sew, I read, I watch stupid TV...

Tonight I spent time surfing the web (making up for not having time to do so these last 2-3 weeks). I was totally psyched to find that there was a "I knit with Grey's Anatomy" button! My research led me to Knitting Underway, which credited the author of Good to be Girl as the creator of the button.

I was very excited, as only knitting addicts can understand, when first I saw the previewss for this now-infamous episode. I made a mental note to not miss this episode and announced the showing for Grey's fans in my knitting group. In this episode, Meredith learns to knit on large needles (US 15? 17?) and attempts to knit a sweater. Izzy ends up knitting too and by a miracle knits a sweater in less than one day, in between her busy day, with what appears to be worsted or double knit weight yarn (yeah, right).

Anyway, in my insomniac stupor, I am as exicted to find the button as seeing that episode. Woohoo!

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posted by Anne at 2:58 AM 0 Comments

Sunday, May 28, 2006

"Lavender" Purse

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

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


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

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


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



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


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

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

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posted by Anne at 1:23 AM 2 Comments

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Maggie's Personal Ad

BBC (Big, Beautiful Cat) seeking partner for LTR. Me: Cuddlely and big-boned, 27+ lbs, interested in business, eating, sleeping, eating, beer, sleeping. You: big, confident, love fish and beer, love BBCs. No pic no response.

posted by Anne at 11:30 PM 1 Comments

Photos: Yarn Crawl and Picnic

The blue-teal ones are 4 skeins of Araucania NatureWool that I got for 40% off. The multi-color one is the recycled sari silk.
Roving I purchased on Saturday and my first spinning project! I borrowed the drop spindle from Zona. The blue-gray roving is colonial wool and the white is merino. The following is a close up of the beautiful blue-gray colors.
Below are 3 photos from my knitting group's Beach Blanket Picnic. I didn't take a lot of photos because it was overcast, but we all still had a blast! Too bad I didn't capture many pics with the ocean in the background or 3 spinning wheels people brought. The middle one is our leader Renata, who is being interviewed by a reporter for SqueezeOC, who just happened to be walking by. I tried searching for the article, but I can't find it. Maybe it's not up yet.

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posted by Anne at 10:59 PM 1 Comments

Monday, May 22, 2006

Yarn crawl & lots of $$ spent

I spent lots of $$ on knitting-related things Saturday, Sunday and Today.

My friend Jane and I spent half of Saturday on a yarn crawl in West Los Angeles. We went to Wild Fiber, Yarns Unlimited, A Mano Yarn, and finally, Stitches from the Heart. Wild Fiber is a large store that's well stocked, clean, and well organized. It's bright, cheery and carry lots of gorgeous specialty yarns. However, one certainly pays for the nice organization and zip code. For example, it charges $14-$16 for Manos del Uruguay (one of my faves), whereas my LYS, Velona charges $12.95-$13.95. However, Wild Fiber's selection of Manos is to die for! I bought some white merino roving at $1.80 per yard and some older magazines for 50% off. Jane bought a ball of orange/rust colored yarn. (Btw- Velona is disorganized and overpacked, but I still like it and haven't had any bad experiences there.)

The second stop was Yarns Unlimited. It is a dark and dim store and has very narrow and tight quarters. The store carries a lot of yucky synthetic yarn in the front par of the store -- not at all inviting to the yarn snob. The back half of the store has some better yarns, but still not impressive. The best yarn that I saw was a small section of Cascade 220 in a narrow hallway. The prices overall aren't bad.

The 3rd stop was A Mano Yarn Center, which is smaller than Wild Fiber, but they carry a nice variety of yarn, books and notions for a store this size. It's well organized, cozy and friendly. The staff offered us bread and homemade jam and had super customer service. I bought some wool roving with grays and blues for $1.55 per oz. and I bought 4 skeins of Araucania Nature Wool at 40% off the regular price for a future tank/sweater project. Jane bought several hanks and balls of yarn on sale, including a chunky handspun one. Gorgeous!

The last stop was Stitches from the Heart, a charity and a nonpfrofit store helping premies across the country. The store has a very small yarn selection and is run by volunteers. Most of the yarn is baby yarn (surprise, surprise). Pastels and synthetics -- definitely not my kind of yarn. Although, I must note they carry Southwest Trading Co.'s Karaoke (wool/soy silk) and Berroco Alpaca, 2 nice yarns.

On Sunday, I went to Laguna Beach for my knitting group's beach party. (I'll post about the knitting event and pictures in a separate post). About half a mile from the beach is Strands and Stitches, where Aubrey, Maria (colleague that I converted to the yarn world) and I stopped at the end of the day. Strands and Stitches is rather unique in that all the yarns are organized by color. This medium-ish store has a nice selection of yarn and also specializes in embroidery threads and yarns. They don't have as many knitted samples as some of the other stores I've been to, which I noticed for some odd reason. Aubrey and I purchased some Mango Moon recycled sari silk yarn.

Tonight, I bought some reactive dyes and mordants online at Dharma Trading so that I can dye some cotton yarns I've had for some time. I'm also going to torture myself again and try the reactive dyes with the Stinky Silk. I als0 went to another online store and bought 2 Addis and a bag each (10 per bag) of SWTC Karaoke and Mondial Cotton. I'm planning to use the Mondial Cotton for a Butterfly Vest cami from a Rowan book I borrowed. As for the Karaoke, it's an unplanned purchase, but it's on sale for a great price and I'm sure I would use it for something pretty! :)

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posted by Anne at 9:19 PM 1 Comments

Thursday, May 18, 2006

What, no time to knit?

I finally mailed off the baby booties that I had to re-cast. It's made out of fair trade 100% baby alpaca yarn in its natural color. I bought it from The Hunger Site. I actually finished the booties about 1 week ago, but work has been really busy and I was also somewhat depressed over the whole mother's day thing. Anyway, I made the booties for my college friend Ann, who just gave birth to a boy 2 days ago.

I finally tackled the mohair unraveling project. I don't know how I would've done this if I didn't have a ball winder. I ended up with lots of broken pieces (bad kitty must have chewed and clawed at it), but the long mohair fuzz didn't get too tangled up, although I had to pull and tug a little.
Other than the booties and untangling the mohair, I haven't really had any time to knit or do other things. I really need to work on my house....

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posted by Anne at 10:19 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, May 14, 2006

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!

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posted by Anne at 11:55 AM 1 Comments

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Knit in Public Day

The second annual World Wide Knit in Public Day is being organized for June.10.2006! Cool, huh? My knitting group is already celebrating our 1 Year Anniversary on May.21.2006 at a beach park. I don't think it'll take much convincing for our group organizer and other members to participate in a knitting event and join in on WWKIP!

Places I've knitted in public:

  • While waiting for, and on the train & subway-- Almost daily
  • In the car (someone else driving)
  • At a loooong stoplight when there were also lots of other cars (just once). My friends Aubrey and Rachel do it sometimes when they're stuck at a light or in traffic. (A little too scary for me!)
  • In Coffee shops and in bookstores with cafes around the country and the globe.
  • On the plane and at the airport.
  • On the bus and at the bus stop.
  • At a conference.
  • At the doctor's office and at the pharmacy.
  • At the movie theater, during previews. I am not good enough to knit in total darkness while watching a movie, unless maybe for knitting straight in the round.
  • In a Las Vegas casino.
  • In restaurants either waiting for a seat or for the food. (Hubby is not very conversational and usually just reads a magazine anyway, so I don't have anyone to talk to.)
  • At the beach.
  • In the lobby of the Dept. of Mental Health while waiting for a meeting to start.

I KNOW there are knitters out there who've knitted in stanger and more unique places. My ventures in public knitting is mild in comparison.

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posted by Anne at 6:50 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

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:

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

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. :)

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posted by Anne at 1:05 AM 3 Comments

Sleeping Beauty

Whitey Coyote taking a snooze near my feet while I was knitting. Awwww...

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posted by Anne at 12:37 AM 0 Comments

Monday, May 08, 2006

An Active Weekend Indeed

I've been somewhat of a homebody for a couple of years now. Lately though, I've been getting a little more social and this weekend was very active and fun! Friday, Kim and I went over to Stazee's house for Indian food (very yummy), some drinks and played Scrabble until close to 2:00a.m. (I won - woohoo!).

Then Saturday, my yarn girls and I went to dinner at Thirty-3 and then we went dancing at a bar/club. The entire night was fun, much needed and full of laughs. First off, at the door, the bouncer did not exactly believe Zona looked like her ID. To that she asked something like "Why else would someone actually admit to being 31? I have a child. Would you like to see my stretch marks?" The look of horror on his face was priceless. Needless to say, he immediately sent Zona through and then begged not to receive any more such offers of stretch marks. Then within 10 minutes of walking in, Rachel, who was on the hunt for fine men with rhythm and moves actually did the come-hither finger to a group of dudes. (I couldn't do that drunk!) Last but not least...dear dear Aubrey, who for no apparent reason, while drinking water, standing and leaning on a ledge, suddenly fell. It took some convincing before the bouncer realized she was not even close to drunk and just unexplicably accident prone. Apparently, Aubrey was voted in her high school yearbook as the girl "Most Likely to Slip on a Banana Peel." We also had fun seeing all the Newport Beach OC women (all plastic) and some really weird girl in an aerobics-stlye top who danced in double time. Anyways, I didn't get home until 3:00a.m. and now my thighs are a little sore from all the dancing.

Left: Rachel gettin' her groove on. Center: Something besides knitting. Right: For being a weirdo (awful dancer by the way), I didn't fix his red eye. To his credit, he did take the center photo.

Sunday was a lovely beachy playday. I took my friend Jane (who drove from LA to my house) to Velona's for yarn since I am trying to convert her to the craft. Velona's is a somewhat disorderly LYS with a sometimes crabby owneer, but I love the uniqueness and unpretentiousness of the store. Then we headed out towards a park in Laguna Beach to join some folks from my knitting group in a "practice" beach knitting to celebrate our group's birthday. Many passers-by ogled or stopped by to see what we were doing, especially since Zona brought her spinning wheel. I taught Jane how to cast on and knit. Jane is already crafty - sews stuff like purses and has dabbled in crochet and quilting. (Jane - I hope it's going well!). I can't wait until the "real" beach knitting picnic in 2 weeks!

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posted by Anne at 10:16 PM 1 Comments

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Taipei, part 3: Knitting Adventure & Butterfly

Throughout my trip, when I had time, I would stop by bookstores to look for crafty and knitting books in Japanese and Chinese. Not that I read Japanese, or read enough Chinese for these to make sense. Anyhow, I bought several books at Page One, located at Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper in the world. I also bought a few at a Hess Book Store near the Hsin Tien Temple, which carries a large selection of Japanese books.

The night before I left, I met up with Erin, who took me through the wet streets of Taipei (it rained the entire week I was there) to 3 yarn shops. Thank you Erin! Unfortunately, the first shop was closed. The 2nd one was owned by this Taiwanese grandma. She had a nice selection of yarn and some notions. She also had stack of pattern books, in English, Chinese and Japanese, that she lends to customers to photocopy at the print shop next door, but does not sell books. I bought 4 balls of superwash merino that had different color plies of neutrals, grays and browns for 220NT (around $7) The 3rd shop was owned by a couple who, by their accents, appear to be what Taiwanese call Outsiders, Mainlanders or KMT runaways (see footnote below). Anyways, the owner was sort of nice, aside from him poking fun of overseas Chinese-speakers and Americans, thinking I didn't understand any of the languages he was speaking in (Erin and I conversed in English). I bought 4 skeins of a variegated (pink, peach, brown) mohiar/silk yarn for 280NT (around $8.80) each and a Japanese book with both knitting and crochet patterns. (click pictures for larger view)

On Saturday (4/29/06), I went over to my godparents' house for lunch and say my good-byes before my flight later that evening. It so happened that they had a gorgeous butterfly in their house! They had noticed that one of their potted plant was getting eaten up and then shortly thereafter, they realized that there was a butterfly cocoon on the plant. So, they brought the plant in and waited for it to come out. Lucky for me, the butterfly hatched right before I left, and before they had to set it free. (below: The butterfly resting on my hand.)
Footnote: These are people who followed Chiang Kai-Shek. They were chased out of China by Mao and the Communists, fled to Taiwan in the 1949, took over Taiwan and made the people live under martial law. (more).

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posted by Anne at 9:43 PM 1 Comments

Thursday, May 04, 2006

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

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

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

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

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

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posted by Anne at 7:09 PM 4 Comments