Helping the Little Guys

[picture by Charlie from Skeinz]

Casually scanning Twitter the other day I saw a tweet by Brett Bara with a link to this article about the plight of penguins who survived an oil spill in New Zealand.  

[photo by Toby Zerna/Newspix/Rex USA seen on abc NEWS]

Even though I don't know much about that part of the world (aside from Flight of the Conchords) I found this especially touching: Skeinz yarn store was calling for knitters to make jumpers to warm the penguins before and after rescue workers cleaned them, and to protect them from preening their oil-soaked feathers and being poisoned.  What a great way to use crafty skills!

[photo from Adorablog]

A similar request 10 years ago from the Tasmanian Conservation Trust for 100 jumpers resulted in over 15,000, and now already Skeinz has reported on their blog they've received enough to reach "critical mass"!  Here's video news proof with cleaned up penguins swimming happily.  But if you've already finished a jumper, or just want to try your hand at creating penguin clothes, you can still use this pattern and send to Skeinz for the Wildlife Rescue Team to keep on hand if needed.

So hooray for penguins and for all the knitting and cleaning hands that helped them out.  I'll leave you with my amigurumi penguin: I crocheted him for Christmas 2009 from a Lion Brand Yarn pattern and I love him so. 

For further reading on penguins and crafting doing good:

• Dyan deNapoli, "The Penguin Lady" has a lot more to say about the conservation and rescue efforts.
• Book: Knitting for Good! A Guide to Creating Personal, Social and Political Change Stitch by Stitch by Betsy Greer, read more about her on her Craftivism blog.
• Book & EVENT!: Craft Activism People, Ideas and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In by Joan Tapper and Gale Zucker.  Read more about them on their Blog and even MEET them in person for a signing at Lion Brand Yarn Studio in NYC next Monday, October 24th 2011 at 6:00 p.m. (RSVP required).
• and of course Many MANY more pics of penguins in sweaters as Googled by Gothamist

Big Hair for the Big Event

Happy National Craft Month!  Here's a postscript to my last post about the big birthday party: got these pics from the hairstylists today and they're way better than my cellphone shots.

The talented (and patient!) team from Julien Farel worked their genius on 14 ladies and 89 guys, including a few on-site haircuts!  

Rachael and I were playing the part and standing up straight for the photos.  I feel like I could've gone to the Oscars with this updo!

At the end of the night I counted 34 bobby pins: haven't had that many in there since my ballet recitals.

On a random note: this amigurumi penguin I made in 2009 reminds of my current Droid Pro distraction: Angry Birds!  I think this little guy would do a good job on those piggies.

And finally I have full wireless computer & internet access, including LogMeIn to access my whole work computer from home.  Now I'm not tech-savvy at all, but to me this is incredible!  Can't wait to revisit all of your sites again and see what you've been up to.  Thank you, Supersum Technology Group, this will change my life!

A Big One

This Saturday I worked on the grandest birthday party I've done so far -- only a few hundred guests, but a grand space with a lot of build-out, beautiful food, special wines, dozens of waitstaff and a slew of custom flatware, linens, trays, etc....so I started with powering up on Korean buffet at Woorijip -- always reliable for a quick, cheap, yummy stop.

Then on to the setup!  The first crew had started the night before, but by the time I came there were 7 hours to go.  

The staff all had their hair, makeup, nails and wardrobe done -- including me!  

Rachael organized all of the suits, overcoats, ties, dresses, stockings, sparkly flats and pretty, pink jeweled headbands.

When we posed with this huge bottle of wine the sommeliers reminded us not to knock over the pricey bottles behind it.

There were towers of plateau de fruits de mer, a.k.a. lobster tails, shrimp and oysters on the half shell.

And plenty of lovely Champagne.

Including a few jeroboams (that's 5 liters!)

It was great to see the client's happy face as rang in his 70th year dancing the night away with his friends and family.  Sunday was recovery day with a breakfast of Lauren Chattman's Sticky Toffee Banana Pudding from the new issue of Bon Appétit, yum...seriously, make this now, it was incredibly easy and so delicious.

And the recharge continued with a California burger with bacon, sprouts, avocado and swiss.  This is the 2nd time I've been to this restaurant and the person who sat down next to me ordered the same thing.  It definitely required a nice, long walk afterwards but it was a pretty nice, sort of warm day for a change.

Phew...busy weekend, but I have a day off today, so time to relax.

Amaryllis Arrangements: Done!

I posted about the prep for these amaryllis arrangements and this is about building them: first I had to choose a container.

Then started with the pepperberry as a base to give it some structure.

Then started adding greenery, leaves and the flowers,

filling them in and making them look plentiful.

But I wasn't happy with the tall vase so switched to a fishbowl to give it a different shape, so this was the prototype.

But the arrangements were going on round tables, so they had to look nice all around, so back to work:

and then there were nine!

Tomoko from the pastry kitchen tied the bows so beautifully since she used to work for Jacques Torres!

Then packaging: foam crates and bubble wrap.

And they made it to the event just fine.

It was a satisfying night and I walked down Fifth Avenue smiling.

Amaryllis Arrangements: Prep Day

Although I was planning on using mistletoe for my next project, another opportunity came up to make table arrangements for a client's event.  So, I visited the space to get some inspiration and then it was back to the flower market for more research...

I wanted to find just the right greens.

And some kind of texture, maybe berries or something, hmmm...what are these...?

Some branches would also be good

and the room has a lot of gold in it too.

I really didn't know what these were!

But was told these were wild cucumber.  Not quite right for this, but amusing nonetheless.

I had to resist the phalaenopsis orchids I usually get

even though the pink hues were amazing but I needed a holiday theme instead.

And no flowering kale for me that day

no poppies either

and I had to tear my eyes away from the peonies and roses 

because I was here for the deep red amaryillis

and chose some sturdier evergreen branches and these leaves (mental note: need floral i.d. guide for sure)

and some beautiful pepperberry.  I got enough for 9 arrangements and hauled it all back to the office...more to come in Part 2!