Crafty Diversions: March 2007

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Yarn Storage Solutions & Hiding Places

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

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

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

Labels: general craftiness, knitting, misc babble

Friday, March 23, 2007

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*

Labels: misc babble, patterns, swift

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

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!

Labels: knitting, patterns, swift

Monday, March 19, 2007

Swag

Here's what I just got from my swapper in the Cool Crafty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: dye, knitting, SAC shop, swaps

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Amazon Gift Orders & Secret Swaps

I wanted to send my secret pal a gift from Amazon, but I started wondering if my secret spy identity would be leaked by Amazon via the billing name/address on the packing slip. Last night, I called Aubrey and Zona to ask them, but neither of them knew. So, I decided to email Amazon, per Zona's request. I know that many of the visitors of my blog are swappers, so here's their response, FYI:

"We do include a packing slip with gift orders, so the recipient can verify that the correct item was received. For items fulfilled by Amazon.com and designated as gifts during the checkout process, the packing slip will not list any prices. It will be enclosed in an envelope that has "Don't Ruin Your Surprise!" printed on it in large letters.

When you mark your order as a gift, you will be prompted to enter a billing address. This will not result in a bill being sent either to you or the recipient, but your name and address will appear on the packing slip so that the recipient will know who sent the gift."

So, if you want to keep your anonymity, don't ship directly from Amazon, even if you select the gift option. You'll have to resend.

Labels: swaps

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Swap Happy

Secret Pal 10
SecretPal 10 officially started when the hostesses assigned pals last night. Boy, was I in for a surprise when I got home! Not only did I get a very nice "hello" from my secret pal, she sent me a gift certificate from Adagio Teas! I'm sure I'm the first to get something in this SP! I ordered 3 different Japanese green teas, including genmai cha, which is similar to the one I got in SF (blogged here), except the one from SF is organic and doesn't have popcorn in it. I can't wait until it arrives. Thanks secret pal!

Dye-No-Mite!

I'm really looking forward to this one. There is a decent number of people currently signed up for my 1st foray into swap-hosting and organizing. Yay! (I really didn't expect hoards of people to sign up for a brand-new swap they've never heard about, unlike the 600+ for SP10.) I hope we get a few more people before the sign-ups close on March 21. I really wasn't sure where to advertise Dye-No-Mite!, except to put it in my signature block on Craftster. I did try to contact a moderator to see if I can advertise the swap, but the mod never replied. However, I did post (and got per permission to) on Knitty's forum. Then a couple of days ago, I had the idea of posting Dye-No-Mite! on swap-bot, but I'm asking people to sign up outside of swap-bot because I'm afraid that swap-bot might reveal the secret pal before the pal is ready to do it themselves, and I want to try to match people up by commonalities/ interests, if possible. We'll see how that turns out.

Swap-bot

I recently completed 2 swaps on swap-bot, a ribbon swap and the Crafty Chic Swap. I haven't received anything from my pal in the latter swap, but I sent my package out to my assigned pal, who lives in Italy. This swap required that we include many small things, including something vintage and something knitting and craft related. My package included 2 vintage napkins, some origami paper, chocolate, Japanese gum, beads I made, and I dyed some yarn in colors that she said she liked. I also threw in a couple of extra little things, including my buttons, some vintage beads and 3 tiny origami cranes.

Labels: swaps

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Chunky and Lace

I just ordered and received Twinkle's Big City Knits by Wenlan Chia (and fellow Taiwanese) and A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swansen. They are a bit of a juxtaposition of one another, since Twinkle is based on Chunky yarns, and we all know that lace yarns are thin and delicate.

Both books are well-put together, feature fantastic photos, and some really nice projects. Of course, with every book, there are certain projects that shine, while there are those ones you know you would never ever make, much less wear if someone bought them for you. The latter is the problem with a lot of books for me, so I don't buy them. I mean, there are lots of gorgeous and wonderful knitting books, but as a frugal and discerning shopper, I try to buy books if they will increase my skill set and/or if I like or feel inspired by at least 50% of the patterns in the book.

In my opinion, these are one of the two most beautiful projects in A Gathering of Lace:

left: A Rose is a Rose Shawl. Isn't it amazing? The only thing I don't like is the "A Rose is a Rose" around the circumference of the shawl. It takes away from the beauty of the shawl and cheapens it a bit, in my opinion. I think that the shawl would be so much more elegant if some leafy (or anything else!) lace pattern replaced the lettering. right: Frost Flowers & Leaves Shawl. I think this is the prettiest shawl in the book and would consider making this for someone special, or for myself.

From Twinkle's Big City Knits:

left: Balthazar Vest. Once I turn some of my WIPs to FOs, I think I want to make is very cute, and most importantly, not boxy vest. I figure, by the time I square away my long list of UFOs and WIPs, it'll be fall/winter, and perfect time for me to work on this. right: Incredible Skirt. Now, this has a truly fitting name. I love the colors Wenlan chose for this, and the way the colors are worked in. The only thing is, I don't think I would every wear or make a knitted skirt. I envision a cape, shawl, sweater or purse using this as inspiration.

Labels: books

Saturday, March 10, 2007

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.

Labels: general craftiness, knitting, patterns, swift

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Snow Patrol

I had fallen in love with Snow Patrol a couple years ago when I heard Run from Final Straw. Subsequently, I, who rarely actually go out and buy new CDs since I'm stuck in my old love of 80s music, went out and got Final Straw and Songs for Polar Bears. Because I really like Gary Lightbody's style, I also got Reindeer Section, which was one of his side projects. And even though my poor Hubby has to compete with knitting, yarn, Gary, and my other hobbies, he ordered Eyes Open for me when it released. Furthermore, when he realized how disappointed I was when I missed them at their gig at the Wiltern last September, hubby got us concert tickets for this tour.

So, this past Friday, hubby and I went to the concert at the Gibson Amphitheater. Of course, I brought my knitting and knitted through the drive up and through the opening acts Silversun Pickups and OKGO. OKGO was okay -- I thought they'd be more fun and interesting, given their creative videos and high jinks at the Grammys.

Left: Gary Lightbody and Nathan Connolly (I think). Right: Gary

The band did not disappoint and gave a wonderful performance to a packed theater. The Gibson is many times larger that the Wiltern. I supposed, that the band's success and exposure on shows like Grey's Anatomy, and ER and movies The Last Kiss did not hurt their ticket sales at all! Hubby says they have a song on some video game too.

A wide variety of people and age range attended the concert. Lots of gay couples too. In fact, while I was in the long line to get my martini fix, there was a group of super fun gay men behind me having a grand ol' time. One of them told me he loved me and my name, and kept hugging me. Aww...they love me. People like that make concerts and the world more fun and colorful. The only bummer to the concert was this girl who sat in the row in front of us, a little to my left. There was now way I could *not* see her, since she was in front and definitely part of my peripheral view. The girl was gyrating to her own rhythm and shaking her ass in her bf's face. Now, I'm all about people expressing themselves and having a good time, but her movements did not go with the music and it was a little distracting since everyone else in my field of vision was moving in similar rhythm to the music. Her gyrations seemed more like she was trying to dance along to some sexy and fast beat Beyonce song in the privacy of one's budoir. I bet if the gay guys behind me saw that, they'd have more than something to say.

If I recall correctly, I took the two pictures above during Run.

Labels: misc babble

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Crafty Buttons

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

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

Labels: general craftiness, SAC shop

Thursday, March 01, 2007

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!

Labels: gloves, knitting, patterns

Stitches West: Sensory Overload

The minute I walked in, I got a bit befuddled from the the crowd, and from the abundance of colorful stuff!

Saturday morning started out rather quiet and mellow. Aubrey and I went to Rainbow Grocery with my sister, where we bought an assortment organic and wild mushrooms to cook for brunch and one of the best green teas I've ever had. Because the tea was priced at $59/lb. (organic green tea with organic toasted rice), Aubrey and I each got a measley bit, but the tea is so earthy, rich, and definitely worth the price. I love Rainbow and wish there were more Rainbows, especially where I live!

After lunch, not only did Christina come

to pick us up , she also brought some knitting books for us to peruse during the 45-60 min drive. How thoughtful! Christina also gave me some nice vintage crafty stuff (see photos at right). Once we got there, we were so disappointed that photography was prohibited. We thought about sneaking photos, but that

would've been difficult.

There were many many many booths from all over the country, of course there was good representation from shops in the SF Bay Area. My favorite booths were the cashmere and alpaca vendors. I molested a lot of those yarns. There was also an Alaskan vendor specializing in qiviut. At $70 a tiny tiny ball (1 oz, approx. 210 yds), this is definitely for the bold and undaunted, and not for the faint of heart. Even though I have confidence in my knitting abilities, I don't think I'm worthy enough to knit with qiviut yet, even if I win the lotto and can manage to cough up the dough. Imagine, you'd need about 20 or more balls for a sweater!

Since Saturday was a dizzying blur, Aubrey and I headed back to Stitches on Sunday. We talked to many nice and friendly people at the booths, including the owner-family of SWTC,

and an amazing artist specializing in traditional Japanese painting and dyeing techniques. I also had several people stop me to comment on my Laced scarf, including a group of 3 sweet elderly ladies. They were so adorable I decided to give them each my Laced scarf pattern on a button. I hope they have magnifying glasses!

Seemingly, there is a trend among ladies over 50 at Stitches: shockingly bright hair. We saw a woman who looked like Violet from Willy Wonka, except she was a grape from head to toe. Yes, she had bright purple hair to match her purple sweatsuit. Then there was a woman with hot hot neon pink hair and another with neon teal hair. I didn't spot any younger persons with brightly colored hair. Apparently, like all the folks under 50, Aubrey and I just are uncool and did not stay ahead of this neon hair trend. This might be something novel to do when I'm 50.

Here are my purchases:

Aubrey and I collectively bought the spinning fibers above for Renata, fearless leader of our knitting group. From L-R: Hand-painted merino roving, Cotton Cloud roving, hand-painted silk hankie.

Left: A bag of 80/20 Alpaca/Silk from Webs and a bag of cotton roving I want to try to paint. Right: One of the booths had an already decently-priced Misti Alpaca Bulky on 30% off.

Left: from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I love the strand of brown yarn plied into the yarn. Right: some vintage patterns Aubrey and I purchased. We got the bottom two for the funny 80s kitsch factor.

Labels: knitting, stitches west

Crafty Diversions