lacey sweater cardigan thing

i finally posted it! it's been done for awhile now, but i was a bit angry with my camera for not taking proper photographs. these will do...for now.

yes yes yes, i am happy with this sweater. i mentioned it in my last post, what you saw on the sewing machine! the blossoms are made from individual lace flowers cut from an old lace skirt of mine.

one of my favorites. i retired it because the lace was just giving out. cutting it apart was my first solution. now two old things were made into new!

detail shot of the blossom. embellished with bright red thread and red beads. there are three blossoms total on the sweater. two on the front and one on the back.

spring is coming!! you better be ready!

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the results came through. i didn't make it into the fabric book through Lark Books. alas! i am not disheartened. no! it only forces me to make myself better. so! i joined the EtsyTrashion street team! what is a street team you might ask? it is a group of crafters (people) who are all interested in the same thing. that's my definition anyway. you can learn more about it....here! my friend Tiffany's company was featured on their blog recently, RePlaygound! fascinating.

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new recycling project::

what to do with all those pretty carpet samples? don't leave them lying around the office, don't throw them in a land-fill, make them into perfect welcome mats!

with a little bit of velcro (or double-sided tape), voila! instant welcome mats that are perfect for those rainy days. these are basically two 2x2 carpet tiles that a carpet manufacturer sends to my office when we request samples. very effective for getting an idea of what a carpet will look like spread throughout a room, but also very wasteful. always good to be resourceful. most manufacturers will take samples back that we're not using, but it's so fun to make use of them at home.

new computer, new me!

the wind and cold keep me inside today, making and reading and wishing i had leftovers from last night's dinner.

my computer was totally rebuilt last night! what a long process, i really had no idea. but we made a night of it. i made an asian dinner, consisting of stir-fry veggies (broccoli, yellow squash, asparagus and snow peas), white rice and broiled tuna steak, marinated in an amazing wasabiyaki sauce. with banana bread from scratch for dessert.

as he worked, so did i. i have so many new projects going on, there are piles and piles of old clothing, fabric, and yarn all over my studio. piles of cut-up sweaters for my new leg warmers project, my latest knitting on the very top. (for who this is, i will not tell!!!)

speaking of leg warmers....

these i finished today and just listed on Etsy! made from an old sweater of mine (that is just too big and baggy for me now). as opposed to taking it to the nearest thrift store to donate, i thought, why not make something pretty out of it! i love the brown, tan and orange stripes, the colors together are just divine. i added maroon felt flowers with a vintage button for a feminine detail.

i'm also almost finished with my next sweater project.


a sneak peak!! this i'm making out of both a recycled sweater and skirt! you see it on my sewing machine above. i'm ready for this cold to be over, but i love the excuse to stay inside and make things all day. especially with my new super fast computer!

sweet sweet fabric

shuffling through my itunes, i can't seem to find any music to listen to.
think i might buy some Feist.

what does this have anything to do with what i've been working on today? well nothing really but it is helping to mask the sporadic screaming i hear in my neighborhood as my fellow new yorkers show their support for the Giants in the super bowl. there is nothing better than a woman with her piano, serenading me.

you were wondering what the sweet embellished floral fabrics were for?

i'm feeling spring!! this is my latest Etsy listing, as well as the next project proposal for Lark Books. i took this square embellished fabric:

and wrapped it around recycled bottle caps! for some reason i felt compelled when i first moved here to tape bottle caps to my wall. now that i've grown up a bit, i have removed them and putting them to better use!

using craft/fabric glue, i wrap the fabric around the bottle cap, then backed it with commercial felt, which i sewed on by hand.

new on the Pink Graffiti scene! i've finally broken down and acquired a domain for my website! currently under construction, i'll post it when i've accomplished a bit more. i've also decided to start a myspace page...good for marketing i hope.

in other news, i hope that changing my blog name hasn't caused too much confusion. i do apologize for any incurred.

keep making!!

trip to wall street

here is the adorable young lady in her new hat!! it's a little too big for her, but honestly i'm glad. she can grow into it. she likes it! in return she made me a lovely piece of art. which is on display now in my studio so i can look at it every day. next to my star wars action figures and other original art.

she said the O looks like a target. oh how i love the way a child's mind works.

this is my co-worker Nikki's daughter, and with her husband they make the most adorable family. a beautiful apartment in the Financial District, they took me on a royal tour! up to their roof....where i got a perfect view of Ground Zero.

digging. you can see the covered PATH train (to New Jersey) entrance, the future site of a glorious sculpture by Santiago Calatrava. one of my favorite architects.

photo courtesy of www.calatrava.info/. new PATH train entrance coming soon.

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i've uploaded tons of photos to FLICKR! will upload a few more tonight.

ATTENTION!!!

i am changing my blog name!!!

for promotional reasons, i have decided to change the name of my blog to Pink Graffiti, to match my company name.

please be sure to note this change!!!

the new URL is:

http://pink-graffiti.blogspot.com


now read the next post. thank you!!

cabled hat in the air

i knit another cabled hat, for a friend's 5 year-old daughter, Macy.

this third time knitting this particular hat was definitely a charm.
of course after knitting the same thing multiple times really helps one perfect the garment.

i call it the Macy hat. i get to hand-deliver it to her this week! she is the sweetest little girl. and has the same size head as me! the details include cables, ear flaps, a pom-pom with both cream and pink yarn, and floral embellishments with pink yarn [[pictured above]].

multi-colored mohawk pom-pom.

ear flaps with i-cord strings for tying. i picked up the stitches for the flaps, rather than knitting them separately and sewing them on by hand. much better construction than my pink hat, seen here, with braided strings and ear flaps sewn on.

i call this pink grapefruit, inspired by one of my mother's poems. i still adore this hat. the pink yarn accents in the cream Macy hat is from the same skein this pink hat was knit from. dyed with koolaid by me. i prefer to wear the birds on the left side. i wonder which side Macy will want to wear her flowers.

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this past weekend!!! it was an exciting crafty Sunday! a good friend of mine, Tiffany hosted a lovely crafternoon at her apartment turned studio. it was grand fun, and i got to gaze at her amazing storage solutions, endless supplies of recycled goodies, and fun inventions.

so organized i can't even stand it. you can see the box there to the side. her current project is making a quilt out of recycled sweaters. brilliant! Tiffany owns a company called RePlayground. an excellent vision, all about making functional and fun products out of recycled goods.

the ladies. thanks to Tiff for the photos.

RECYCLE!!! it's to this glorious idea that i owe a lot of my future products and projects. coming soon!

ps - i started a Flickr site! will be uploading lots of photos to promote my Etsy shoppe! check it out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkgraffiti/

promotion!

born on a monday

this past week has really been filled with excitement.
exciting event #1: my cousin Nancy gave birth to their new son, Riley!!
and i was lucky enough to meet him when he was only 4 days old (now he's almost a week old!).

i held him and hugged him for all of my family far away. he was quite calm and sleepy for most of the evening, but he did open his eyes to check out the situation.

on daddy Nathan's lap. he's like the size of a burrito from Chipotle, which is pretty big for a burrito, but pretty small for a person.

it's going to be amazing to be in the city with them, watch him grow up, start smiling, walking.

exciting event #2: a new bicycle!!

i've been wanting a new bike for awhile, as my european Puch is quite heavy and i almost dread taking it up and down the stairs to my apartment as i usually hurt myself in the process. it's also more difficult to ride...blahblahblah. this is a [vintage?] Cannondale, bought through Craig's List by Chris...as he's been looking for awhile for me. it's the perfect size for me, and i looove these colors! so this photo above is the BEFORE. yesterday, C and i took the entire bike apart, washed it, scrubbed it, and he replaced all of the parts for me! amazing. new seat, new pedals, new tires, new tape on the handlebars. it's going to take me some getting used to riding a road bike, but i think i'll love it.

and still making things.

embellished fabric for one of my new projects. more later.

new experiments

at the beginning of this week, i vowed that i would spend at least 2 hours every evening in my studio. luckily for me, my week has worked out nicely that way!

the outcome.

this is my latest experiment: Fabric Bubbles Brooch.
my sketches come to life in 3D! seriously, i know that sounds kind of silly, but i'm constantly drawing circles in all different sizes. the circle fascinates me. but sometimes a flat circle can be so dull. so i took some cotton fabric, stuffed it with poly-fil and called it a pin! well, it was a bit more complicated than that, but you'll have to buy the book to find out how to make it.

that's mostly a joke, but kind of true. i've been really experimenting because i want to be a part of a book being published in 2009 by Lark Books, a publishing company that publishes many amazing craft books for the average person! they're calling for entries right now! the book will be called, The Art of Jewelry: Fabric. and YOU can apply here! they're also accepting submissions for the gallery section of the book. very exciting!!

i just posted this brooch on Etsy tonight, so i hope to get some good feedback.

i'm also making earrings! another submission for the book. you can see one on the left, next to the brooch i just posted on Etsy. no earring hook attached yet, but it's identical to the pin, just with a felt loop instead of a pin in the back.

hours spent on brooch (experimenting included): less than 3 hours.
this will of course be much faster now that i've done it once. the earring took me half the time.

more colors to come!!

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on another amazing note, i am going to meet my new baby cousin Riley tomorrow evening!!!! i will give him many hugs for all of my cousins and brother and aunts and uncles and mom and dad.

i think it reached below 20 today

or at least it seriously felt like it
the sunshine was quite deceitful today, shining in her brightness
but the wind claimed any warmth it could have brought to my small neighborhood in new york
still i ventured out to run some needed errands

after deciding that i didn't really need to do laundry, i spent most of the day in my studio
(still in here for a bit actually)
drinking green tea (a bit wired)
experimenting with new ideas
new glasses

i still adore my green walls.

still in the beginning stages of a lot of experimentation, figuring out what the best way to craft, learning new techniques and getting used to the time it will really take to make these projects work. sometimes this really tries my patience, as i wish i had more than 2 days off a week to really experiment to the degree i want to.

new shirt in Etsy! this is another quite like one i listed last year, but i've added a few different features.

a pocket in the front, and a few extra petals in the back, makes for some interesting layers.

also listing a new bracelet tonight. so go check it out!!

happy new year!

i welcome 2008 with open arms.

2007 was an amazing year, full of endless possibilities and ideas, only making this year that much better. starting fresh feels great and everything, but let's look back at a happy happy year.

Pink Graffiti at ETSY! yes yes, this was the year it all happened. thanks to the lovely ladies of Mogulettes in the Making, i had the inspiration and encouragement i needed to come up with a business name that i love to this day. technically i started my Etsy site in 2006, but really didn't get it going until 2007. 2007 was also a great year for Etsy in general! read an enlightening article about it, here.

met my c. invisible arms cooking delicious fish.

started my full time job doing interior design! two red chairs as you enter my office, with a small chrome table with treats for clients.

started sweater collections! even sold a few, altho i haven't sold this one yet! this particular sweater was recently featured in an Etsy Treasury, with other red recycled goodies.

set design for Sampaguita. i will never forget that experience.

my first full year in New York.

New Year's was a blast! i wasn't in the city last year, so this year we celebrated with a bang! c usually goes with Time's Up on their yearly bike ride through the city. starting at around 10:30pm, hundreds of avid riders meet in Washington Square Park, equipped with lights on helmets and party hats. we took about an hour to ride up to Central Park to watch the fireworks at midnight! unfortunately, no photos. a bit difficult when trying not to run other riders over and keeping up with friends. great great fun. it wasn't even that cold!

altho i miss my family and friends in Michigan dearly (and all of you who live outside of Michigan), i feel like i'm in the right place.