Tag Archives: BABE show

Craftapalooza

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I have a had a most crafty weekend! After cooking Thanksgiving for 12 people and working 5 hours of Black Friday at the yarn store mostly by myself, I told myself Saturday was my day to do whatever I damn well pleased.

Art Yarns Summer Flies - Unblocked, but done!

I started the morning finishing the Summer Flies Shawlette with the ArtYarns Rhapsody light and Beaded Silk. It is glorious. I am deeply, truly in love with it. The experience of knitting it was so satisfying because of the gossamer feel of the yarn that I am tempted to buy another two skeins. We’ll see. I think I’d like to make a lace scarf this time. I made the longer version of Summer Flies by adding on the pattern called “My Version of Summer Flies” that can be found on Ravelry. If you do this, know that you will need both skeins of Art Yarns, but you will have some of each left over. I did mine using the Beaded Silk for all sections named “Ridged Eyelet” except the first one, because it is so high up behind the neck no one will see it, so why waste the silk? Then I used the Beaded Silk for the very last 3 rows and the bind off. One more important thing – bind off using a needle two sizes larger than you used on the rest of the shawl – a 10 for me. Otherwise the bind off is a bit tight. I may have to take mine out and work it again.

That only took me to about noon on Saturday. So it was on to the elliptical (I had a lot of spice cake on Thanksgiving) and then lunch – turkey sandwich, what else? Then I went up to my studio and finished a set of greeting cards I am making to sell Sunday, Dec. 4 at a craft fair at Albany Middle School. My goal with all the cards I am making for this show is to use up what I have, dammit! So I had these little party hat buttons, and I chopped off the button shank, and here you are.

Birthday Cards

Then I started another set of cards with some K and Company butterfly stickers I have that match some of their Wild Saffron paper I also have. These were fun to make – a little corner punch and some letter tiles I had and – done. Three are blank on the inside and three say “Thinking of You” inside.

Wild Saffron Cards

Then I got out some glass tiles I bought at the BABE Show with Lisa and I slapped them on some washi paper I also bought there. The hope is that these will become earrings. I’ll attach some bails to the backs and wire-wrap some Swarovski crystal bi-cones that will dangle from the bottom. Think I’ll ask $10 per pair because they are so easy!

THEN I got really ambitious. When Ellen and I went to TNNA last June we were in the ladies’ room washing our hands when I noticed the bracelet on the woman at the next sink. It was a series of flat circles she had crocheted around and then connected in an asymmetrical fashion and adorned wit beads. It was green and purple – my favorite. t was really cool – looked like mod bubbles. Now, did I take a picture? NO! Because I am stupid. But I have remembered, and Ellen and I ordered some of the disks and I have picked up a few more of some different sizes since then.

Wouldn’t it be cool to use the Art Yarns Beaded Silk I had left over from the Summer Flies to make a bracelet?

YES IT WOULD!!!!! TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT I MADE LAST NIGHT:

Here’s what I did – I had three sizes of cabone rings – which are made by Boye and available at craft and sewing stores – 1 inch, 3/4 inch and 1/2 inch. I used a small crochet hook – it doesn’t matter too much what size – to crochet around them in small groups. I made two groups that consisted of three disks, one of each size. Then I made two groups of two, one of the 3/4 inch and one of the 1/2 inch. Then I crocheted around two single 1/2 inch rings. Then I laid them out on the table and monkeyed with them – I arranged them into several shapes, decided on this one, and then used the tails to close the crochet around the rings and to connect the groups. I sewed in all my tails. Then I used Fireline to sew on the beads – coin pearls and Swarovski crystals, some framed by size 8 silver seed beads to make them fit in the circle. Then I attached the clasp.

I FREAKING LOVE THIS. I am going through my stash to see what little schnibblets of silk and other nice yarn I have left from other projects to make some more. So if you wanna make this, get to K2Tog or Michaels or Joanns before I do and buy up all the Boye rings.

And that was just Saturday. Here it is Sunday morning! Check with me on the next post. Of course, meanwhile my house needs to be cleaned  . . . .

My Lisa Hangover

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It is Tuesday and I am still recovering from my 4-day weekend bead-binge with my college pal Lisa Beaudo, the designer behind Lisa’s Bead Closet and the blogger behind Japanese Beading Blues. Every year at about this time, she flies in from Houston to stay with me for 3 or 4 nights of beading frenzy and this year it was a short trip, only three nights, and we packed in the beading and the frenzying.

Lisa arrived on Thursday night at about 9 and on our way home from SFO we stopped in Berkeley and had a late dinner and drinks at Skates. It was a gorgeous night – the kind we folks in the Bay Area hope to be able to show out-of-towners – crystal clear night sky and the city shimmering across the water from our restaurant. One of the things I love about Lisa is no matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other, we just pick up where we left off, and this time was no different. We yacked away over French onion soup, artichoke cheese dip and chicken wings ( eating like we were young things again!).

Friday was bead-buying day. We headed down to Fremont to go to Kiowa Rose, a great bead shop in the historic Niles district. I love this bead store for its Victorian-chic esthetic and its excellent Czech glass strands but I only seem to get down there from our house, an hour away, when Lisa comes! So I tend to drop a bundle. This year was no different – lots of strands, brass chain and I a few tubes of the new Tila Beads from Miyuki. They let me take a few pics of samples I’d like to make.

But bad news – Kiowa Rose is up for sale! Owner Rosie and her husband are moving to Oregon. SOMEBODY PLEASE BUY THIS SHOP!!!! Lisa and I fantasized about it. We could live on the same street here in Pinole and take turns going down to the store –  3 days a week each. Then on the other three days we could each make jewelry! PROBLEM SOLVED.

Rachel met us at Kiowa Rose and we had an excellent lunch a few doors down at a place I think was called The Vine. We had great sandwiches and salads – tho someone must tell the woman in the gold cowboy bots that she must not clomp around on the wooden floors like a great elephant! Rachel and Lisa and I all went to University of Texas’s Drama Dept. together. Again, it was like no time had elapsed. Rachel, who is an actress, had us in stitches over a recent job she had – as a disruptive floozie at a rather staid 60th birthday party for an architect. Hysterical.

Then it was back to Berkeley and our wonderful Baubles and Beads. Somehow, I managed to spend more $ here. Sigh. Then we came home with a pizza, opened some great red wine and sat at the dining room table and beaded all night long.

Saturday was a BIG day. Saturday was the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza, which was happening at the Oakland Marriott, a few blocks away from Occupy Oakland. Two nights earlier a man was shot and killed at the encampment. Lisa was prepared for any disruption of BABE with a great slogan: DO NOT IMPEDE THE BEAD! DO NOT IMPEDE THE BEAD! The BART let us off right at the encampment and we took a look. Squalid is the word that comes to mind. OFF TO BABE.

Where, alas, I spent more $! Mostly, I bought chain. I am proud of the fact I bought no seed beads, as I have enough to start my own seed bead farm. I did buy some glass squares and blobs to do some decoupage-under-glass, one of my favorite things. Lisa bought some semi-precious coins to make some more earrings. We had our usual lunch at Ratto’s – yummylicious. We were there for about 4 hours and by the time we left I was dragging.

BUT NOT SO DRAGGING THAT I COULDN’T STAY UP LATE AGAIN BEADING. We were preparing for Sunday’s big event at our house – our second annual Jewelry Hoo-Hah! We invited about 50 people to my house to eat, drink Lisa’s famous Bloody Marys and pomegranate martinis, eat some yummy food and shop our jewelry.

Jen's Jewelry

I’ll tell you what was funny, tho. The party was to go from 12-4 so at 12 we break out the Bloody Marys. And then Lisa, Jen and I sat there until 1:40 before the first person showed up. What were we to do but drink MORE Bloody Marys until people got there. By the time the first person came – Sheri – we were feeling no pain.

My jewelry

 

It was a blast – about 25 or 30 of my knitting/beading friends came, each bearing something more delicious than the last – and they shopped out stuff only if they wanted to. In addition to my jewelry, which was spread out upstairs, Lisa had her most gorgeous things arranged around her bedroom, and my dog care professional Jen had her semi-precious strands upstairs, too. I also arranged  display of my husband Terry’s origami, which I beaded and turned into Christmas and Hannukah balls (I have never met an item that could not benefit from a little beading).

Some of Lisa's Baubles

And we just had a blast! My favorite part was walking into the living room and seeing every seat and even the floor filled with my friends knitting away, chatting, eating, drinking. The house was FULL of so much talent. I am a very lucky girl.

After the party, Lisa and Terry and I went out for some sushi at Miyuki. Yumm. Then, after crashing, we got up Monday and got Lisa all packed up and we headed off to Japantown, one of her must-stops. We hit the bookstore, the origami paper store, the china store and I did a lot of Christmas shopping. We had lunch at Suzu, the noodle house that makes their own delicious noodles, and then we shopped some more! I had her at the airport by 3 and was home by 4:30.

And then I crashed, baby. I mean seriously crashed. I was in bed early, tho I read and practiced my ukulele (yes, I am playing the ukulele now). And today I feel in need of a blood transfusion a la Keith Richards!

Lisa, I love you, but man you run me ragged! It was AWESOME and I can’t wait til next year!

 

 

Knitters’ Review of the IKL Market – and Lawn-Mowing Sheep

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Woke up this morning to a couple of great reads over my breakfast of bran muffin and Diet Coke (put a tablespoon of peanut butter on top as frosting and it’s almost like a cupcake. Almost). First was a New York Times story about, among other things, a young man in Ohio with four sheep (names include “Nerd” and “Princess”) he leases out as lawn mowers for a dollar a day. The pictures are great.

Second - Thanks to my friend Sarah, who could not go with us to the Interweave Knits Lab Market, for passing on to me this great story from Knitter’s Review about the entire event. Knitter’s Review is written by the fabulous Clara Parkes.

Got a lot to do today. Have some writing to accomplish, have 5 hours to put in at the store, and then I go to the airport tonight and pick up Lisa and we spend the next three days beading out. Lisa was worried that Occupy Oakland might mess with our ability to attend the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza on Saturday and she was ready with a protest slogan of her own: “DO NOT IMPEDE THE BEAD.”

God, I love her.

Beading Frenzy

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That Lisa! Ever since she came to visit and we went to the BABE show I have been in a total beading frenzy. Sure, I’m knitting, too, but I am thinking about beads and working with beads a lot. Let me show you some things I’ve been working on.

Brick Stitch Bracelet

First, here are two bracelets I made with beads I just had lying around. The pattern is a free one from Bead & Button magazine. I was buzzing around their site and found it and off I went. I love that there are endless possibilities. The first one, in the autumn tones, I made for myself, tho it may wind up in my Etsy store. The second one I made as a Christmas present for my friend Daniela. Oh, and don’t worry. She never reads my blog.

Daniela's bracelet

Then I got all inspired by this book I’ve had for awhile, Crystal Beaded Jewellery by Christine and Sylvie Hooghe. I made a couple of rings out of the book when I first got it a year or so ago, but then I hadn’t touched. But when Lisa was here, we were shopping at Baubles and Beads (one of our favorite stores in the whole world) and

Graphic Stars Pendants

they have such a great selection of Swarovski that I got all inspired again. I decided to make some gifts for the women in my Friday knitting group and bought lots of beads to make each of them a “graphic star” pendant on page 74 of the book. These are about as big as a silver dollar. It was tons of fun, but as usual, I didn’t get a good enough jump on the whole thing and I was up til 2 a.m. the night before our annual Friday Christmas boozefest at Skates on the Bay. So, needless to say, I needed that Lavendar Cosmo I had the next day at our party.

Graphic stars detail

Anyway, everyone seemed to love their graphic stars. I told them they could use them as a pendant or hang them in a window or even on their Christmas trees. I still have a couple more to make – I could not stay up past 2 that night.

So I got to thinking – if the graphic stars pattern works so well as a pendant, what would it be like as an earring? The pattern calls for 8 mm and 4 mm Swarovski crystals – a size ratio of 2 to 1. So I miniaturized it by using 6 mm and 3 mm. AND I LOVE THE RESULTS. The centers of these are a bit smaller than a quarter. I think I am going to be making a lot more of these. Again, watch for them on my Etsy store.

Speaking of Etsy . . . did you all see this great article by Alex Williams in The New York Times about what it takes to make a living from your Etsy store? All I can say is, be careful what you wish for. The young woman who makes $140,000 a year from her scarves knits 13 hours a day – every day. Not sure I wanna do that. Not to mention my hands would fall off. But do read this article – it really showed what you have to do to make a living as a craftsperson.