Much of my crafting time lately has gone towards wedding preparations. There's a lot of stuff that we have decided to do ourselves. Not because it's cheaper necessarily, but because we are overly ambitious and like making crap.

We decided fairly early on that we wanted to give favors, and we wanted them to be local to San Francisco, and ideally chocolate. Then came the ideas for what to put said chocolates in. Originally we were going to fold fabric into origami boxes, but that quickly was ruled out to the amount of work. We're still going with the origami box idea, but now we are doing them in paper.

Finding the right paper has turned out to be a lot more difficult than originally thought. We've spent a lot of time at Flax, going through their paper books. We tried all different sizes to figure out how much and how many.

We finally ended up going with a paper we found online at PaperMojo. One of the things we loved about them is that they will cut the paper for us. We still have to cut the 336 pieces for the little liner boxes, but that's better than having to do all the cutting. We also have to find a ribbon that we like to make the bow on the box.

Now the fun starts: the folding! I have a feeling we are going to become experts in peak folds.

Last night I finished Super Sekreit Wedding Project #1. I'm so tickled about I couldn't wait to post about it.

I started on Super Sekreit Wedding Project #2 last night as well. This yarn is the yarn I tried with the previous pattern that I realized wasn't working. So the yarn is a bit used. It feels a bit different than with #1, but I think it looks okay knitted up.

Super Sekrit Wedding Project #1
Started: January 24, 2009
Finished: June 5, 2009

You'll never guess what I did this weekend -- KNIT!

It was so lovely. The house is finally unpacked and put together so we can just live in it, rather than be always working on it. So very nice.

I made lots of progress on Super Sekrit Wedding Project #1. Over 2/3 of the way done now. Sadly I can't really show it to you all until after August 8. I have 3 more Super Sekrit Wedding Projects to do too. So as soon as I finish this one I get to jump right into the next one. It's all good. I finally have the pattern down pat. And the yarn is so lovely to hold.

I did go and buy yarn to make the sweater that's in the photo here. It's the Susie Hoodie from the More Big Girl Knits book.

I'm finding that I really want a jacket that I can wear that isn't as heavy as my red wool coat, but is more dressy than a hoodie or the parka shell. I think this will fit the bill.

I don't get to start working on it until I've finished all the Super Sekrit Projects though. It's so hard though. I have 19 skeins of Knit Pick's Wool of the Andes in black cherry that keep calling to me from the craft room.

I'm a bit intimidated by a project this big. But the majority of the pattern is stockinette, so that should go quick, right? I read through the pattern yesterday and I'm a bit confused as to how the sleeves get attached. It seems there is little in the way of seaming. I'm sure it will make sense once I have part of it in front of me for reference.

The Craftzine Blog has been on a roll lately. They have another great link today.

The Haptic Lab makes handmade quilts of maps. They do ones for Brooklyn or you can commission one of your favorite location.

I love the puckering that the stitches makes. I'm sure it feels amazing under the fingers, especially since they make them in dupioni silk. My brain is churning on the best way to get the map transferred to the fabric. There's so much fun that you could have with this. Green thread around parks. Blue around blocks with libraries and schools. Though the single color does add a certain something to the overall effect.

I'll have to add this to the pile of inspiring ideas.

I'm not sure how I came upon the Mr. X Stitch blog. I think it may have been on the Craft Magazine's blog's post about male crafters.

Anyway, he featured this woman's work for his Craftster Pick of the Week.

TheMisstressT made something special for a friend who is battling cancer. She took a piece of Beatrix Potter toile of Jemima Puddleduck and the Fancy Whiskered Gentleman, and made this:

OMG it made me laugh. Be sure to go to his post to see all the images. It's so lovely.

Can you all do me a favor and look for the past month, which I seem to have lost? I'm worried that it's stuck under a sofa cushion or fell behind a bookcase. I have no idea how it got the be the end of April. I swear it was just March. The crafting has taken a back seat for me lately, which is sad and really starting to wear on me.

The good news is that we are all settled into our new home. We're renting a lovely Victorian (built in 1875, so take that earthquakes!) and E and I each have our own rooms upstairs. My room doubles as the spare bedroom. But it means I can use the bed as a big flat workspace. I'm not sure where to set-up my sewing machine yet. But the bins for the stash are all organized. There's a big window in the corner that lets lots of light in. I can't wait to start working in there.

Pictures soon, I promise! As soon as I can remember where I put the camera.

I'm seriously thinking of going to this. From the San Francisco Film Society website:

The San Francisco Film Society is screening Handmade Nation on Wed March 11 at 7:30 PM at Mezzanine (444 Jessie Street at Mint). Tickets are $8 for SFFS members and $12 for non-members.

Handmade Nation by Faythe Levine (USA, 2009)

Buying local for many means buying handmade objects that are designed and fabricated with ingenuity, grit and love. Handmade Nation documents a movement of artists, crafters and designers that imbue traditional handiwork techniques with a punky do-it-yourself ethos informed by modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art. The film explores the burgeoning art community of indie crafters that is fueled by creativity, determination and networking. First-time director Faythe Levine traveled the U.S. to capture the tight-knit community, conducting interviews in the studios and homes of noted and independent artists. Levine also details how Web sites, blogs and online stores have spurred a once underground movement and how crafts have expanded to connect with the greater public through boutiques, galleries and fairs.

Following the screening there will be a discussion with Lisa Congdon, owner of retailer Rare Device; Derek Fagerstrom, Craft and DIY Co-editor at design*sponge and co-owner of The Curiosity Shoppe; Natalie Zee Drieu, Senior Editor of Craft magazine; and Stephanie Syjuco, fine artist and professor.

Selling their work will be the following artists and vendors: Dutch Door Press, Diana Fayt, Cara Lyndon, Miss Natalie, Mittenmaker, Nous Savons, Sharon Spain, Woolly Hoodwinks, Zum, The Curiosity Shoppe, Little Otsu, Needles & Pens and Rare Device.

I first started knitting back in December 2005. I worked on a small scarf-type thing for awhile and quickly realized I was hooked. In February 2006 I started working on The CNN Project, and so was flying back and forth to Hotlanta a lot. I decided that I'd start a bigger project, something that I could take on the plane with me and would keep me busy for awhile.

I went to visit the lovely people over at Skein Lane in El Cerrito (this was back when I was living in Berkeley). They helped me find a pattern that work. I got a huge pack of Cascade 220 yarn in a lovely heathered maroon color.

I worked on this sweater a lot, at first. It taught me how to do increases and raglan sleeves. When I started it, I didn't know how to pick up with a new ball of yarn. So I cut my ends short and tied them in a knot. I added three more skeins, with a different join method (all wrong) for each one.

Then we hit the Thanksgiving of 2006 and there was the night of the drunken knitting while at Erik's dad's house in Colorado. I had yarn overs and mysterious increases and decreases all over the place. But I had made significant progress and couldn't bring myself to rip it out. So instead, I put the sweater aside and started working on other projects.

A few months ago I finally picked this sweater back up. I ripped out all of the drunken knitting, and all of the bad joins, all the way back to the end of the first skein. I've now knitted back (evenly and with good joins) just about everything that I ripped out.

I switched the project to my addiTurbo needles, instead of the Clover bamboo ones. Oh my goodness does that make a difference. The wool just slides right over the metal. Now I pull this project out when I want to knit but don't want to have to pay attention. It's all done in the round, in stockinette. My skills have certainly advanced beyond it. But at some point I will finish it. My first sweater.

This is the most adorable yarn that I have ever seen.

Freshisle Fibers sells self-striping sock yarn that looks like watermelons! It's so cute! It's hand-dyed with wool from the sheep of Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada. They also have other wonderful looking yarns, of the striping variety and not.

Sadly, they are out of stock of all their watermelon yarns. Hopefully they will make some more soon. I gotta get me some of THAT!

I just stumbled upon the most lovely quilting blog, Oh Fransson, by Elizabeth Hartman.

I am totally in love with her fabric closet. Seriously... head over to her site and check out the photos of her stash. My heart goes pitter patter at all the organized colored lovelyness.

This weekend I updated my yarn stash listing over at Ravelry. I took all kinds of photos of yarn, which I will spare you here. But I did snap this pic of the wool drawer of my stash. Mmm... yarn.