Crochet to Go

I have a new weekend passion--estate sales. Luckily, Adam loves them too. He looks for old tools and kitchen gear (recent find: a bacon press), and I look in closets and baskets for crochet materials. We had a great haul yesterday. I got this whole collection--which includes 7 sets of knitting needles, a filet crochet book from 1945, several pieces of costume jewelry, tons of buttons, and all of that thread (all on wooden spools)--for $15.

Design sponge, one of my absolutely favorite blogs, posted these pictures from ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), which was held this week. ICFF is housed in the Javits annex in NY, and coincides with the Stationery Show, which I generally attended while at Chronicle. Judging from the pictures I've seen, this was an exceptional show.

Anyway, how cool are these lamps? They're crocheted by a lebanese company--I found their site impossible to navigate and wasn't able to determine if they're hand done. I'm really curious about the fibers they used as well--don't you think there's some sort of artificial fiber involved to keep the length from continuing to stretch? Or made the fabric is glued to the balls?

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

The photoshoot went very well--I cannot wait to see the final pictures! The photographer promised to scan in her polaroids and send them over; hopefully she'll do that this week.

So, what was it like? Well, as an observer, a long day. Clearly a lot of people have to work quite hard, and do it in a certain order. The stylist has to dress the model, who needs to have her hair and makeup done. The photographer needs to figure out the location and test the lights. Then everyone converges to actually take the photograph (or photographs--three rolls per shot seemed standard). It's an impressive process, and by the end of the day I understood why 11 shots was a lot to get through.

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Also known as my mom's scarf--this was the one book project where I was able to use something I had already made.

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

I'm so glad I made this hat! The original model was black with a red stripe; it really wouldn't have worked with Jennifer's coloring.

I whipped these up earlier this week to provide a few different color options for Crochet to Go's photographer. The original cupcakes for the book were solid brown (chocolate) and brown and white (chocolate with white frosting). The fact that everything I made is actually getting professionally photographed somehow makes the book feel more real, and more likely to actually appear on a shelf someday. Hey, the publisher's paying good money for this, right? Surely they want a chance to recoup their investment. I've seen the call list, shot notes, and locations. I'm taking the day off of work for the first day of the shoot (this Monday). They plan to shoot for three days, doing the adult stuff, then baby, then still lifes. I'll try to sneak of few pictures of the team in action.

On another note, I finally broke down and bought Debbie Stoller's The Happy Hooker. Stoller really rubs me the wrong way--I often feel that her books are forced and trying too hard to be "cool." The patterns aren't awful in this one, though (she didn't write the patterns; just solicited and chose which ones to include). Her writing is also occasionally very funny and I find myself agreeing with a lot of her points. For example, she acknowledges that there's nothing wrong with acrylic yarn. (This is a huge pet peeve for me--why spend a bundle on yarn that you'll never be able to wash? Especially when the item is for a baby, who's sure to barf on it within the first ten minutes?)

I love what she writes about thread crochet (which is what the apron in the previous post is):
"it is understood by crocheters of every stripe to be a practice reserved for those with advanced skills, prison inmates with loads of time on their hands, or folks with a masochistic streak." I fear I fall into the latter category.

I realize I haven't posted anything I've made in quite some time. This is partly because I'm crocheting less (the weather's getting better; more time outside) and partly because I've been diligently working on the apron pattern. I love how it looks so far, but I seriously think it could take months to finish. Months. The pattern is at times hard to decipher and certainly not for the beginning crocheter.

Mahar Drygoods just went online. It's an absolutely charming site devoted to handmade, occasionally crocheted, gifts for children. And, as you can see, it has a sense of humor.

Crochet to Go has a photographer! Her work looks perfect--check it out here.

Craftster has a step-by-step tutorial up on making this great fat cat pillow. The instructions look impossibly difficult (photo immulsion method? Huh?) but I'm very tempted to try it. I've got the perfect model at home.

Or maybe I just need to get Niko on a diet.

Recently there was a call-out on a lot of the crochet blogs to "Flash Your Stash" (post a picture of your yarn supply). Having viewed several of these pictures (entire closets, neatly arranged but filled to the brim), I feel confident that my 20 or so balls of yarn is perfectly reasonable. But my craft book selection? It's nearly an entire shelf now. Given, I'm a big reader, and also that I worked for a publisher with good craft titles. But still...

Not crochet, but I couldn't resist posting this. It's a clean/dirty sign for your dishwasher. Instructions for how to make here.