Filed under Cool Crafty Things, Crochet, Japanese Craft Books, Life, Los Angeles, Patterns, Uncategorized, cats by Cecily | 3 comments
~~We indulge our cats and let them have the tiniest bit of milk left at the bottom of our cereal bowls. This means that the sound of a spoon clattering in an almost empty bowl calls them to sit and stare at the cereal eater, they don’t blink when they sit like this. Why am I telling you this? At this moment, I’m slowly eating a bowl of Kashi Strawberry Fields while working on this blog entry. Kal has been sitting at my side (unblinking) for what he considers to be too long to wait for that tiny bit of milk. He’s attempting to take matters into his own hands, standing on his back paws with his front paws on my desk, trying to see the cereal bowl. He is very concerned he’s not going to get his milk… ~~
I visited Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo for a Sunday Japanese Craft Book Happy Spectacular with my friend Bridgid. Bridgid is the kind of cool librarian who really keeps up on things and looks for cool stuff for the young adult readers set. She has a knitting group going and everything. And of course, she’s been curious to see if she can find an amigurumi book that would be appropriate for her library.
Bridgid and I had a good time catching up on each other’s lives while flipping through the books. We went through almost all of the craft books, I found so many inspiring things. I certainly got some ideas for an upcoming podcast. I poured over the amigurumi books and Ooohed and gushed over the cuteness. And don’t get me started on the way Japanese quilt books inspire my crochet thoughts…
In the end I only brought one book home with me. This book rocks. I love stitch pattern guides and this one has some combos I haven’t seen before. Each stitch pattern has a clear symbol guide. There is no need for language in this book, only some understanding of crochet. If you need explanation of a specific stitch symbol in one of the patterns, that symbol can be found in the back of the book alongside step by step illustrations. A variety of yarns are used to showcase the feel of different patterns and all of the yarns seem to be no thicker than a DK weight. It will be interesting to see how these patterns play out in thicker yarns.
The Book: ISBN 4-529-02890-9
And why don’t I visit Little Tokyo more often? That well of fantastic craft books not to mention all the other inspiring Japanese twists on my Los Angeles life. I feel so silly for not visiting for years. When we get back from London I plan to spend another lazy afternoon perusing the shops.
Filed under Crochet, Patterns, TYV Crocheting by Cecily | 3 comments
The Spider Woman Belt from
TYV Crocheting was one of our truely long distance efforts. I had a vision of a scarf/belt that had a spider as a motif… something that would look cool and be fun to make. We chose the
Lana Knits Hemp for the project early on and the personality of the hemp negated previous visions of a filet spider motif.
One day I pretty much doodled (you can doodle or sketch with yarn and hook right?) a spider web while sitting at my desk. It was one of those times where an idea in my head speaks directly to my fingers without consulting me too much and before I knew it I was holding a simple and easily made spider web. Kim had the yarn for the project so she got the honor of making it for the book. I sensed a bit of initial doubt when she first started the pattern, but then she became excited after another row or two as her web revealed itself. Kim also added the fantastic tassles seen in the book version of the belt, fit for a Spider Woman!
I relished wearing the Spider Woman belt at TNNA in January. That belt paired with my black boots made for a sort of “put togetherness” I rarely display. That’s what I love about a belt, it can really seal the deal. The super hero essence of the Spider Woman went straight to my brain too. I kept popping out my hip to show of the web motif, not unlike a 5 year old displaying her Wonder Woman wrist bands.
Alas, that belt had to go back home with Kim. Last week I
finally made my own with some random fuschia stash yarn.
I didn’t have enough yarn to make tassles so I tapered the
ends on a diagonal. I admit I haven’t woven in the ends yet,
but yeah I’ve worn it anyway.
Nothing like a fuschia Spider Woman belt to make a stroll through the grocery store a bit more exciting.
Filed under Uncategorized by Cecily | 0 comments
A very old tortoise passed away today… read here or here or here.
Must have been an interesting life.
Filed under Crochet, Uncategorized by Cecily | 3 comments
This is Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK with Kid Silk Haze on the edge. This will turn into a sweater…
Filed under Crochet, Uncategorized by Cecily | 2 comments
I’m crocheting a lot of simple arches lately.
Here’s a peek at a work in progress:
I’m working with South West Trading Company’s Phoenix… this soy silk feels awesome in my hands. A smooth easy to use yarn coupled with a simple arch pattern makes a project go so fast! The right yarn and the right stitch combo, so satisfying…
Filed under Amigurumi, Crochet by Cecily | 1 comment
Yes, his face isn’t on yet. He’s a variation on the amigurumi pattern on Crochet Me. He’s a Kodama !
Filed under Life, Los Angeles by Cecily | 3 comments
**Since I forgot to unleash this entry on Sunday, please transport yourself back in time and pretend it’s Sunday, or something…**
Rob left for a week in Tahoe. I’m all alone! I went to the grocery store and loaded up on fresh veggies and a few things for recipes I like to cook for myself. I straightened up the living room and then messed it up again with a display of unfinished projects and a nest of clippings, sketches, notes and anything else I need in my happy creative bubble.
The Los Angeles Marathon was today. I live one block north of Olympic so I’m very close to the route. I’ve lived within the street closure trap of the marathon for a while now, so I’ve gotten pretty good at preparing for “the day when we DO NOT even consider leaving home”. One year I woke up at a friend’s place in the late morning to find that we were totally blocked in by the route. We waited out the quarantine at a Baskin and Robbins… Ice cream for breakfast!
This year I actually walked down to Olympic and checked out the fuss. This was thanks to Susan who was running today. (I’m in awe. Running makes me absolutely miserable.) I arrived at the mile 23 sign a bit into the 5th hour of the marathon. At that point all of the elite runners are long gone and probably taking a nap or something. This point in the race features a long steady stream of folks jogging, walking, limping, skipping (yes I saw a skipper), and pretty much just powering through the next few miles to the finish. They all looked pretty happy, like they knew they were almost done.I will have to make watching the marathon a priority next year. There were some folks near me holding signs and cheering for random people. They’d read the name on a runner’s tag and yell “Yay Ed! You rock!”. I think that’s an awesome idea. Maybe next year I’ll recruit some pals to be on the mile 23 cheer squad. All you need is sunblock, signs, sunglasses, a good sunhat and maybe a folding chair.I spent the rest of the day in a happy crochet haze. I made myself a little amigurumi fellow. He still needs eyes and a mouth, when he has his face on I’ll share his picture with ya. He’s so cuddly! I wonder if it’s saying anything that it’s Rob’s first day away and I crochet myself a cuddle buddy.
And by the way I have to let you know: CHOCOLATE COVERED OREOS ROCK!
Filed under Cool Crafty Things, Felted, Sweet by Cecily | 1 comment
Check out this cutie pie from
Feisty Elle!
Makes me think of yummy marshmallowey treats. This totally makes me want to try this kind of felting… note to self, felt won’t taste like Peeps.
Filed under Life, Uncategorized by Cecily | 0 comments
My dear friend Mike has a screening at SXSW this week. Yay Mike! I wish I was smart enough to tag along and finally visit Austin and the festival of awesomeness.
I met Mike on my first day in Los Angeles, in fact Mike drove me home from the airport. Now that’s a great guy! I’ve been lucky to play a part here and there in a few of Mike’s movie shenanigans over the years.
In fact, if ya like, go here and watch me show off my hula hoop skills in Hula Dume. The night we shot this film I was scraping paint in the kitchen of what was about to be my new apartment. Mike shows up with one very bright light, a camera (the very camera I’m borrowing to shoot podcasts), and a hula hoop. Everyone needs a little surprise filmmaking in her life. I love this short film because I think I look cool in it, and I’m such a spaz in real life. So yeah, there I am hula hooping (in my then brand new empty apartment, now former apartment) in my kitchen paint scraping clothes…
Filed under Life, Uncategorized, cats by Cecily | 4 comments
Kal considers some swatches.
