yarn!

I got a few more orders for knitted bags from the lovely ladies of The Knot. I made two unsuccessful trips to yarn stores in San Diego last week in search of my yarn. One store claimed to carry my yarn, then didn't (after I rushed through traffic up to Encinitas before they closed at six), the other didn't have any of the colors I wanted - including black. How do you not have black? Anyway, I found an internet store with what I needed, then found out that they offered free shipping on orders of $50 or more. So....



I bought a pile of yarn. But I have to say, I was super impressed with the store. It arrived two days after I ordered it, which is pretty freaking awesome since I didn't have to pay for shipping (or gas). It was also cheaper than in the yarn stores that closed too early or didn't have the right colors. Hooray!



I'm about halfway done knitting up the first bag. However...I probably won't have time to sew it up till late next week, as I will be spending the next seven days with my family from Seattle, half of that over on Catalina hanging out on the beach. So no bloggy update for awhile.

zigzag pillow

This is my little sister, Margie.


She graduated from high school a few weeks ago, in the top ten percent of her class - notice the little medal around her neck? What a nerd. I flew up to Seattle to see her graduate. My intent was to have her graduation present completed in time to give it to her then, but the woman on the airplane next to me was not terribly happy about my knitting needles, so I stuck them back in my bag and read a book instead. I probably wouldn't have finished it anyway, as it turned out to be more knitting than I thought it would be and I was around 5/8 done when I got on the plane.

Anyway, in the fall she'll be moving into the dorms. She picked this out as her bedding for her dorm room.

With my keen, orange-obsessed eye, I immediately spotted the tiny little orange stripes on the comforter. I decided to make this pillow for her dorm room.



In my head the pillow form I got wasn't much larger than some of the purses I've made lately, but in reality it was about twice the size.



I like the color a lot. It reminds me of construction signs and sunsets and Cheetos and orange juice, all things that are wonderful. Except maybe the construction signs.


Pillow propped up against sewing/knitting library.

washington, washington

One of my favorite things ever is Brad Neely's George Washington video. I found this video to be incredibly informative and enlightening. I feel that if you watch it you will probably feel the same way. My love of this video combined with my love of my home state, which also happens to be Washington, inspired me to create this coin purse.



George Washington's profile is on all state highway signs in Washington. When I was little my family used to drive from Seattle down to the Oregon coast during the summer. The last highway sign before the really long bridge across the Columbia river to Oregon had been defaced. At age six, I was convinced that this was the height of comedy.


This isn't the sign we saw, that one has since been cleaned up or replaced. This sign has been modified with the amazing power of Paint.

Handlebar moustaches are still funny to me. I didn't give him one on the coin purse though. Maybe next time.

sewing area

I posted pretty much this same blog on my myspace blog, but since it directly relates to the making of stuff, I will also post it here.

While I was up in LA last Saturday visiting my friend Tammy, Lorne's plan for the day was to get new tires for my car. Imagine my surprise when I came home around 11 and saw this:

!!!

A few months ago, on my birthday, Lorne rearranged our dining room to turn it into my sewing area. The kitchen table became my sewing table, all my supplies were all organized, my books were lined up under the window. And last night Lorne bought and assembled this dresser to surprise me when I got back.

He also cleaned up my table, which was a huge mess. Oh, and see that awesome green lamp? He bought that too.


Lamp:


Sewing and knitting library on top of the dresser:


The yarn drawer:


The fabric drawer:


The work-in-progress and finished item drawer:


And the whole area in the daytime:


Lorne rules. I am super lucky.


Also, I failed to mention in the other blog, but the orange bag up on top of the dresser is one I made for myself. It looks pretty much like the bag made for Heidi (a few posts below), but it's orange. I love orange.

long time no blog

I failed to update my blog for a long time, mainly because I am lazy. Anyway, Lorne is working on building a website for me to sell various vinyl and knit bags and pouches and other items. I'm working on stockpiling items so there will be inventory to sell on the website.

But in the meantime, I made my first sale! I made a red clutch for my friend Tiffani for her birthday last year. Since then she's been getting a lot of compliments on it, so she asked me to make one for a friend of hers. Her only request was that it be kind of lavenderish. So this is what I came up with:



After I finished knitting it, it reminded me of rock formations in caves, so I'm calling it the stalactites and stalagmites bag.



I shipped it off to Tiffani this morning. I hope her friend likes it.