StumbleUpon and artist Jennifer Maestre

I was using the new software StumbleUpon today which allows you to 'channel surf' through great websites. While doing so, I came across artist this website featuring the artwork of Jennifer Maestre. I have seen pencil sculptures before, but I found these to be very impressive.

First meeting of the Los Angeles Fiber Guild

The first meeting of the Los Angeles Fiber Guild is this Sunday.

We meet every first Sunday from 11am - 4pm

Milagro Charter School
1855 North Main
Los Angeles, CA 90031

There is free parking in the gated parking lot. Follow the signs to our meeting location.

We are going to be making paper:
Our first program and workshop will be papermaking. The program will consist of a short lecture and display of paper followed by an optional hands-on workshop. Quiet handwork during the meeting is allowed and encouraged! There is no charge for participation in this workshop except for materials fee. The materials fee will be $10 payable at the time of the workshop.

For those taking the workshop:
We will be making our own paper from our own junk mail! We can recycle a nuisance into something beautiful and useful. Papermaking is wet and a little messy. Please dress in old clothes or bring protective gear like an apron or smock.

Items to bring:
Old junk mail or other scrap paper - nothing with a shiny or glossy
finish on it
old panty hose
a washtub if you have one (we have several so don't buy one if you
don't have it already)
large sponge
3 or more dishtowels
terry cloth towel
rolling pin (if you have one, you can share if you don't)
your sense of adventure!

Back to work on my first sweater.

I have started working on my first sweater again. It is the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I had put it down because I was terrified that the sleeves would come out too long.

I completed the first sleeve and front last weekend, but then realized that it was HUGE. I blame Weight Watchers. I was a size 39" bust, but am now a 37". The sweater was going to hang down below my behind. So, I did the only thing I could do.......

..........rip back to the sleeve and continue in the next size down (37"). I also have decreased the length of the sleeve by 1.5". Thanks to Knitting Help, I was able to figure out he difference between k2tog and k2tog tbl.

You can see the color I am using here, and read about what yarn I chose here.

Fiber Artist Maria Kjo

The other day I was spending way too much time looking at images at Flickr and came across the work of Maria Kjo from Portugal. She creates amazing wearable felt and crochet pieces.

I am partial to these freeform cuff bracelets she has created. The like the way she used rivets in felt to create the closure for these bracelets. A number of her pieces are available at her etsy store.

DIY Ball Winders

Leethal has just pointed me to this amazing Lego ball winder on Crafster. I think this looks much better than the one I purchased. Now all I need is this Tinkertoy swift.

Vote now at the Softie Awards

Voting is now open at The Softie Awards. Go submit your vote for the knit Leia Wig.

Anyone can vote, you do not have to have submitted an entry, nor do you have to be a member of the Softie Awards flickr group.

You can only vote once.

The voting will be open through Friday March 30th.

Winners will be posted here.

The Softie Award Finalists

I am a Softie Award finalist! My knit Leia Wig is among four other finalists in the 'functional category'. You can see all the finalists here. There will be a link later this week for voting if you would like to participate and....vote. Wink, wink.

Cardboard Furniture

I have always been enamored with items constructed from non-traditional materials. The first time I saw Frank Gehry's cardboard chairs I was really excited. The Craft blog posted a link to Foldschool cardboard furniture by Nicola Enrico Stäubli. He has a collection of free downloadable patterns for children's cardboard furniture. I especially like the rocker design.

Knitting Machine stuff

Although I am a bit put off by the expense of knitting machines, my quest is not over. Here is a little list of resources:

Liz Lopez has written a nice little article about knitting machines at Whip Up today.
There is a nice review of knitting machines vs hand knitting at Knitters Review.
There is a machine knitting guild in San Diego, CA.
Yahoo Groups has a very active machine knitting group.

Lego knitting machine

Thomas Johnson created this amazing Lego knitting machine. I think that making an I cord via dpns will be a little quicker though.

Antique sock knitter

I have been learning more about machine knitting. This quick video showing a antique sock knitting machine in action is really neat.

Outdoor theme place settings

I was checking out the LA section Apartment Therapy today and came across these adorable place settings that were shown at Japanese Design Net. I may have to invest in some astro turf!

The Softie Awards

If you have not already seen it, I highly recommend you check out The Softie Awards over at flickr. It is a competition of handmade stuffed art. I entered my Leia Wig, Mr. Hankey Doll, and pincushion bracelets. There are many outstanding entries and it will be fun to find out who the winners are next week.

My Emerald Beaded Bracelet, pt. 2

I finished knitting my Emerald Beaded Bracelet. It fits my 6.5" wrist perfectly. I ended up only needing 63" (5' 3") of beads. So, depending on slight variations in beads, I think if you strung on a total of 6' of beads you would be safe. I still need to sew on a snap for the closure, but that is the easy part.

My Emerald Beaded Bracelet, pt. 1

I started working on my Emerald Beaded Bracelet from Mag knits. I purchased all the materials I needed from The San Gabriel Bead Company. I really like the colors I chose, but boy are those 0000 needles small. If you drop a stitch you have to rip back because it is almost impossible to pick it back up.

The pattern is well written, but I wish it has specified how many inches of beads to thread on. I probably totally over did it and strung on 9' 6" of beads. I will write an update when the bracelet is complete.

Knit Leia Wig in Craft Magazine

The current version of Craft magazine has included a picture and link to my knit Leia Wig. It is located on page 24 of the 'Our Favorite Trinkets & Treasures' section.

If you have not had a chance to check this magazine out, I highly recommend it. It full of inspiration. Thanks Craft!

Artist Colwyn Griffith

I was looking at the Modern Contemporary Art blog today and came across the artwork of Colwyn Griffith.

Griffith creates these diorama like installations and then photographs them. I especially like his I Can’t Believe It’s Not Empire series where he "investigates the multifarious nature of empire" by "blend(ing) domestic craft, sculpture and architectural set design with heavily processed, multinational-produced junk foods to emphasize a new empirical reality of corporate colonization."

Pictured at the right is his Great Wall, 2004 which is made of rice cereal.

Wool Felt Rugs at Peace Industry

Last weekend I was in San Francisco and came across the Peace Industry store. They manufacture an amazing array of contemporary hand felted rugs. I had already seen the film they made with a felt master in Iran a while back. Unfortunatly the video link is not working right now. They were all so beautiful, I would have liked to purchase many of them.

Rib-And-Cable Mits, Pt.2

My Rib-And-Cable Mitts which I started back in January are complete!

Because I used a thicker yarn than called for, the Berroco Ultra Alpaca, I had to do a little modification. The body of the gloves turned out fine, but thumb gusset was too long and wide. I frogged back to the picked up stitches, decreased the number of stitches and knit fewer rows.

I still need to block the gloves, but I am happy with how they turned out. I especially love the colors. I am looking for the perfect pattern to make a matching scarf with the leftover yarn.

Knit Emerald Beaded Bracelet

The new MAG Knits magazine is out. They provide free knitting patterns just like Knitty does. In this issue of Mag Knits there is a wonderful knitted beaded project called the Emerald Beaded Bracelet. The pattern was designed by Heather from Surrey, UK. You can view her blog here.

Although I am a very experienced beader, I have never knit with beads and have never knit anything so small. I really like this project and think I will have to head over to the San Gabriel Bead Company to pick up the supplies for this project. Thanks to Heather and MAG Knits!