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!

An Inspiring Evening with Martha

My first trip to Martha Stewart headquarters was back in December for their Craft Fair and last Thursday I had the privilege of attending an event to celebrate the Tastemakers featured in their April issue.  Saying that Martha is an inspiration to me (and so many) is a humble understatement and she has such an amazing and creative team.  These images are from the hallowed hall that leads to their offices.

I'd really enjoy a walk to work like this.

The April issue has 3 different covers: one featuring stenciled Easter eggs (pretty!), another with a lemon crepe cake (yum!) and the 3rd with a gorgeous flower arrangement of parrot tulips (love), lilac (a definite fave), daffodils (I didn't know there were so many different kinds!) and hellebores (never seen before, but they are splendid)

Among the many tasty bites and sips at the event were a sampling of tasty hors d'oeuvres on breads from Sullivan Street Bakery and beer from Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales.  There were lovely macarons from MadMac (yes, with 1 "o", the French way).  I've blogged about macarons here and here and here and MadMac's are seriously tasty; great texture and the fillings were delicious: chocolate, coffee, apricot, raspberry and pistachio:

Their website has an ad for the very 1st annual Macaron Day NYC on Saturday, 3/20 where participating locations are giving away free macarons with a portion of the day's proceeds going to City Harvest.  They're hoping to make the macaron "the new cupcake", nice.

There were also yummy chocolate caramels with gray and smoked salts from Fran's Chocolates in Seattle.  And there was a big crowd around Fleisher's Grass-Fed and Organic Meats as they demo'd how to butcher a whole pig and raffled off the parts.  I loved it when they gave Martha a big sampling and she popped it into her handbag!

I took a peek behind the scenes at the neatly organized rows of desks in the office and marveled at the inspiration boards everywhere: totally want to post pics, but don't want to spoil the next issue!  And as we left there were (very generously heavy) gift bags:

I love this April issue and can't wait to get started on spring and Easter projects.  I also had to buy the gorgeous "Pretty in Pink" Spring 2010 Weddings Issue to get inspired for a pink party this summer.

Next I really want to go to this Stitch Fest Party on April 1st to launch the new Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts.  And check out The Crafts Dept. blog for their entry on the Craft and Hobby Association's Winter Trade Show to see some amazingly enormous knit animals from Lion Brand Yarn, another of my faves.

2nd Christmas, Late Valentine's and Other Celebrations

It was almost like 2nd Christmas yesterday as we celebrated 3 birthdays, an anniversary and I brought some late Valentine's Day gifts too.  And this after the start of the Olympics, President's Day, Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras!

I had to wrap up the heart soaps I made, so I made a few miniature gift bags from a Martha Stewart pattern. 

And I wanted to be purple for the day, so I wore this beaded tank from Forever 21

and some light purple jewelry: this beautiful beaded necklace from Cameo Sisters Designs and ring from a trip to Chicago

My Dad had bought my Mom some little purple glasses

and I brought purple wine (and yea, my grandfather likes the box stuff )

And of course there were presents!

I got this gorgeous lilac Le Creuset casserole dish for my Aunt Liz.

[from Yummery]

On the Yummery site, Erin from Erin Cooks explains that this color was only recently made available in the US and right now Sur La Table has the exclusive on the lilac and the darker purple cassis colors, fab!

The other day I mentioned a gift that made me think of pink, pearl and ribbon and that was this Lion Brand knit flapper cloche for my grandfathers wife, Ruth.

Instead of the Landscapes Yarn in the pattern a very helpful woman in the shop recommended the yarn on sale this month: Wool-Ease Thick and Quick.  It's a lamb' s wool/acrylic blend, also a Super Bulky weight and surprisingly soft: it knit up in about 5 hours, so yes (relatively), quickly!  

I say pearl because at some point the shape reminded me of Pearl, the pink octopus in Finding Nemo.  It was even able to stand up on its own!  Let's compare:

[from freewebs.com]

Actually, this would probably make a pretty good amigurumi.  Eventually I got to the end of the knitting part and was all proud, until I realized that I hadn't joined the round.  Oops...

It was sewn up quickly, just ironic since I was already using circular needles, so why didn't I think of that before?  But it turned out fine and then I added this cool 2-tone pink/blue ribbon from Paper Presentation.

It was a good, relaxing day.  And I love that my Mom always has flowers around the house.  Maybe someday i'll learn how to keep a plant alive.

Chillax...

We use this word at work and it always cracks me up and defuses whatever tensions are going on.  Do you need a weekend?  Do you want some time for quiet contemplation with Tobey above?  This week's Time Out New York encourages you to "Find your calm"...

and I'm so glad to see two of my favorite places in the city mentioned as solutions: Lion Brand Yarn and Make Workshop. 

I talk about Lion Brand A LOT and mentioned the sewing class I took at Make.  Both places have affordable classes in a supportive environment of creative people and I'm all for that.  My first post ever was about The Zen of Crafting. 

So, tonight I stayed in and knit a birthday gift for a party on Sunday, so no spoilers yet, just a few hints: pink, pearl, ribbon.  Even with a minor snag I kept it mellow cause don't you hate it when an evening of calm crafting goes awry and you start fretting instead of being lulled into a Zen moment? 

So, happy weekend!  What do you do to chillax?

Can You Knit a Marshmallow Today?

This is City Bakery on 18th Street and yes, those are marshmallows hanging from the ceiling.  I got some nice comments on my heart marshmallows so I know people love 'em and City Bakery is hosting their 18th Annual Hot Chocolate Festival TODAY, Thursday, 2/18 with unlimited hot chocolate and hot chocolate themed knitting workshops for the price of a ticket, wow!  You can read about the event on Grub Street, where Chef-Owner Maury Rubin says that "knitting feels like hot chocolate".  I agree! and thanks to my friend Jenny for reminding me about this.

It's sponsored by some of my favorite yarn shops in the city: Downtown Yarns, which I also mentioned here and Purl Soho (there's the ad for the event in the window):

They also have Purl Patchwork, a fabric store!

I have a work thing and can't make it to the event tomorrow, so I bought a few ginormous chocolate chunk cookies on my way home, but if anyone goes let me know how it is!

From the bakery I also had some other errands to run:

I stopped by Anthropologie (love the sweet clothes, charming fabrics and dishware and the Mistral soaps, even though I just made some of my own).  Hey, is anyone watching Man Shops Globe on the Sundance Channel about buyer Keith Johnson's adventures procuring product for the stores?  Also got some wool for a present at Lion Brand Yarn (which I heart! as I explained here).

The bunch of ribbon is from Paper Presentation: an incredible store that I could get lost in for hours.  I heard about it from awesome prop stylist Leslie Siegel.  Seriously, check out her portfolio: it's amAzing!  Those are also some little pink pinking shears up in the pic.

I passed Cupcake Cafe and even though I posted about Valentine-themed store windows yesterday I just have to include this since I love how happy the polar bears are with their treats.

When I finally got home my sweet friend She Crafty had sent me Making Candles & Soaps for Dummies.  I've been experimenting with both lately and need some pointers, so I can't wait to dive into this book and see what I can do to improve. 

She Crafty's profile pic is her adorable French bulldog, Crumpet (love her name!)  One of my all-time fave movies is Best in Show and on Monday night a Frenchie named Bru won best in the non-sporting group (first time for this breed!) at the Westminster Kennel Club 2010 Dog Show.  Go, Bru! and thanks again, She Crafty!

Crocheting Blind

Completed: January 30th 2010.  Pattern: Lion Brand Yarns, Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Dusty Rose and Fun Fur in Soft Pink

Such an innocent-looking amigurumi flamingo, sitting by the sunny window.  I've mentioned before that I heart Lion Brand: their adorable shop has a beautiful selection, cozy work space and ultra-helpful staff who helped me order the fun fur for this project online, then had it delivered to my house in a few days with free shipping. 

So, why the worry?  When I saw this pattern I instantly thought of my friend fashion designer and graphic artist Mika Wyche.  Her gorgeous designs are created with all organic materials and are inspired by nature and animals and one of her dresses has a silk-screen print of a flamingo, and she has a flamingo painting in her living room.  I was so impressed when she told me she went camping in Africa and saw a flock of flamingos fly away.  I didn't even realize they could fly!  I've made a few amigurumi before and really enjoyed them and this one seemed simple enough. 

She looked a little bit like a pink alien before I sewed her beak on, but that was simple.

Things were going as usual until: the fun fur.

It was hard to see the stitches amidst all the fur!  I felt like I was sort of just guessing on where the crochet hook should go next, but eventually it worked out and the bird had a head and a body.  Then it was time for the legs.  I'm no stranger to amigurumi birds: my 1st project was a turkey, and then there was the penguin so this didn't intimidate me.

Here's one little leg in progress.  Now with only 4 stitches around it was a very tight space to work in and I wasn't even sure if what I was looking at was even a stitch at all.

At last, time to sew her together.  I'm usually not so into this part, but it was a cinch with just 2 tiny legs.

I finished around 11:30 p.m., so I got this kind of cool, funny night shot.  Kind of went with how I felt while I was making it, like I was crocheting blind.  But it ended well: I hope Mika likes it.