NYC Craft Swag

Finally after a bit a time and many meetings I've had the time for myself to work on this post about my crafty purchases in New York City from the beginning of this month.

These were my luscious purchases from Purl Soho. My hubby actually bought me my two half yard pieces of Liberty of London.

I got a good collection of crewel wool to add to my supplies and I was good enough to only buy myself two skeins of yarn both by Madelinetosh .

I went for Florals in Liberty because this is what they are known for. Amazing robust patterns with an array of colors, never looking tacky but so much details into every square inch. I also got this cute Japanese polka dot bias tape which I hope to use on a blouse I have plans to make.

I stayed mostly in blues and greens in my selection since I am still planning to work on bruises for my embroidery but I added in a few choice colors just for me to play with.

Here is a close up for the gorgeous yarns I got in Tomato and Robin's Egg blue. One day when I have my own yarn store I am going to make sure I carry this yarn company. It is just so beautiful and artful.

For yet another hobby that I love which is beading and making jewelry I got myself a new little tool that I thought I would try out and some copper Swarovski encrusted beads for a bracelet.

Of course I had to get some Crafty books while I was at Kino Kuniya and I picked up a Stumpwork embroidery book and fingerless glove book. Also the most recent Gap Press Haute Couture magazine. I've giving up mostly on getting all the pret-a-porter versions of this magazine because they never wow me as much as the Haute Couture does.

Through our many subway rides I came upon this quirky little women's room turned convenience store. I just had to take a picture and share. The men's side was not in good shape and seemed to be turned into a subway maintenance closet.

I love that we have started to finish each trip to NYC with Dim Sum in the City at the huge banquet hall Jing Fong. Got to spend time with one of my favorite people Juyon and see my friend Julie who I don't think I've seen since we were at Yonsei together in 1999 (yes I am old if you didn't know that already). With Hubby in tow of course.

Now the problem lies with what will I do with my fantastic little Liberty of London Fabrics and what to knit with my new yarns?!
Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Narrator Bob

A couple weeks ago while I was up at the Lake house I took some time to just figure out the Narrator Bob fair isle mits from Moonrise Kingdom. it was tough since I didn't have any good clear pictures but after a good bit of testing I think I finally got it nailed down.

I just used some scrap acrylic yarn from baby toy amigurami's to test it out. It took me about two tries to get it where I wanted the pattern and then a final two in a full mitt version to get the sizing and spacing on the pattern worked out.

This was one of the tests in final yarn. I have it all charted out now I just need to finish up the written instructions and I can post the PDF on Etsy for sale! I plan to add in a gusset thumb hole as well. With all the crazy from Craft Wars and festivals I'm still working and making things for the fall shows.

In August I am going to be traveling a lot so I am going to take it easy on meetings unless they are for Independents day. I am really looking forward to my trip to NYC in about a week to see the Impossible conversations, Prada and Schiaparelli at the Met and seeing friends of mine!

Do you have any trips planned in your near future?
How about projects that are longstanding that are coming to completion?
Cheers!

Moonrise Kingdom - Fair isle

If you haven't seen Moonrise Kingdom and you are a Wes Anderson fan there is something wrong with you. This was a fantastic movie with a lot of innocent charm and quirk that he is so good at. Well the innocent part is new at least. I won't get into details about the movie itself because I think that people just need to go see it for themselves. There is also no good way to explain Wes Anderson movies.

The crafty part of me is obsessed with the narrator and his costume, namely the fingerless gloves. They have this great black and white fair isle pattern that I am itching to duplicate as my new spin for fall craft shows. It'll be a good exercise on charting out my own fair isle and punch card patterns via graph paper.

This is about as good as I can find Looks like a partial heart with some patterning. I love the way the thumb has a contrast row. I think that will have to be a woven in addition to this pattern.
Luckily Lisa Solomon and my friend Claire posted this handy little website on twitter to print your own graph paper so I can get working on this immediately.
Graph Paper HO! (ignore the PDF download just click on the option of paper you want)

Do you have any craft endeavors planned for this weekend?