A Saturday adventure with Haasome & Mellow Being

What do Haasome and Mellow Being do when they hang out? Usually something craft-related, of course. Bear with me as I catch up with myself here.

Last Saturday the 26th, we were on a mission. Yarn! High-end crafts shopping! As much time outdoors as possible! And dinner. That ever-elusive dinner plan.

Every year, Smiley's Yarns of Queens has a couple big sales (Yarn Riots). Not only that, but spend $25 and get some hilariously outdated pattern books. Smiley's is no-frills, tote-your-items-in-a-laundry-basket, bargain shopping. My only qualm is that they have a limited cotton selection and a little too much Red Heart and Lion Brand. But hey, their M.O. is cheap and simple. And it's not like Mellow and I left with nothing:




It's definitely worth the trek on the J/Z; more so if you like wool and/or go during the sale. After a lunch break for me, we headed back in Mellow's car to her house for a frozen watermelon pit stop.

Then we were off to afore-mentioned American Crafts Festival at Lincoln Center. Seems we missed the alpaca(s), but we got to see a whole lotta high-end products from real masters. Set beautifully to mostly live classical music, we saw tons of beautiful jewelry, furniture, sculpture, bags and clothing. We didn't even want to guess how much it cost to have a spot at this juried event. We couldn't resist picking up an item each:


And I bought a Tesage Tote designed by Yukiko Sato:

After mulling around the area and Columbus Circle, we finally landed at an adequate Mexican restaurant on 49th-ish for dinner. All in all, a lot of walking and an inspiring day. Naturally, I rested all day Sunday, but was back to work on Monday.

Details about Monday and Jen's completed bag coming soon, as well as an Etsy update this afternoon.

Labels: busybusy, event, inspiration, knitting

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To do: Make a to-do list. How meta!

Upon suggestion from Mellow Being, here is a no-frills, to-do list post! Because I need a good kick in the ass and there are too many ideas floating around in my head and not enough motivation.

1. Jen's bag. Man, I'm horrible.
2. Printmaking: bookmarks, cards/note cards, prints. Buy paper and ink.
3. Purse for myself.
4. More aprons and bags. With more appliqués and embroidery.
5. Crop, etc. pictures of aprons for Etsy [and accompanying blog post]

There's more I'm sure. I think I need to branch out more...experiment more with designs. My stuff is really safe, I feel. I know I have more up there in my noggin. After a spate of hardly being home, this weekend should be good for a crafty lockdown. I can reward myself throughout with trips outside.

Including a trip to the American Crafts Festival at Lincoln Center. (The website pains me.) If that doesn't get the creativity flowing, I don't know what will. Watching the Food Network certainly won't.

Labels: to-do

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I'm still alive: Fame and Disgust

I'm back for a moment! Work has zapped me of energy lately, hence the lack of posts in a long, long time. It looks to be calming down now, however, so I'm ready to come out of the stress-induced fog and get cracking. It might be harder than I would like to get out of this slump of inactivity. I noticed that updating this blog helps, so here goes.

Update One: I experienced a bit of Etsy fame last night. Ch-ch-check it out:

Etsy features a different Treasury list every so often, and my mint green tote bag happened to be on this list. No sale, but I got a crazy amount of views and about 20 more people added my shop as a "Favorite". Some lingering Etsy bugs caused me to lose those who "favorited" the bag itself. Le sigh. Thanks to Mellow Being, who alerted me of this and sent the picture. I saw the page in time before it changed--it was really cool to see my bag up there!

I wish my aprons would take pictures of themselves. I need to work up the motivation in the morning before work (and coffee) to take some when there's adequate sunlight. I should make some more, as they make great Mother's Day gifts.

Update Two: Also, I wanted to feature an issue that's really bothering me, brought to my attention via Boing Boing. Todd Goldman, creator of the t-shirt company David & Goliath, is being accused of stealing other artists' ideas and selling them as his own.

Check out the following webpage dedicated to the issue. Pretty unbelievable how Goldman isn't even trying in some instances. No one can say they've never been influenced by another artist's work, but come on! Don't be a jerk; check out licensing before making a derivative work. I know I'll never buy one of his shirts. You shouldn't either, unless you enjoy the idea of someone stealing your ideas and selling them for over $4,000.

Here's one of the Boing Boing articles about it.

Labels: jerks, publicity

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