are your ears cold?

winter has finally set in here in nyc, and i sent out the last of my crochet hats to treehouse and hannah clark just in time! they are all made in snuggly mixes of wool, alpaca, mohair and other fibers, and of course they are all one of a kind. the ones with the super textured curly locks popping out are all made with my favorite yarn, ozark handspun. so if you still need a winter hat, you'd better head out and scoop one up while you can...

it's a jungle in here

the sky has been pretty grey in brooklyn this week, and the temperature has finally dropped to somewhere in the vicinity of normal. but inside my apartment, the overly-efficient radiators keep the climate at around 80 degrees, and i don't complain! my sewing table is sort of a jungle and it makes me very happy to work with green leaves and a few blooms around me! here are 2 more of my 'quickies', a yoga mat bag (which i have needed since starting back to yoga in november) and a simple little t-shirt with waistband.




this is a longer project i did this week; i pulled this embroidered hanky (napkin?) out of my treasure chest and built a shirt around it. i want to do more like this for spring as i have collected hundreds of vintage textile bits and bobs. i love using pin-tucks to create shape through the waist without seams.

why resolutions are controversial

during the last few weeks i have started noticing how many people are really against the whole concept of 'new year's resolutions', because they end up feeling crappy when they don't stick to them, so they just don't even try. i've been feeling so excited and inspired for all the changes, projects and general improvements i plan to make in 2007 that it seemed to me like everyone else is way too cynical. well... i got off to a pretty good start last week, but this week i quickly fell off the project-a-day wagon. BUT, i still love this idea so much (and i've received so much good feedback about it) that i'm not going to beat myself up about it and give up... that's be too easy. i just have to accept that if i get a sudden freelance project with a very tight deadline (i sewed 3 samples for a friend's book in 2 days) i may have to put some things on hold! i mean, it's not like i wasn't still making things, right?
so anyway, the tank above was made the end of last week. i will probably dip it in tea because i don't really like wearing white. and it's intended to be worn under things, not really on it's own, so i took a picture of it under this little overdyed vintage bed jacket i'm in love with...

...and this is the other cami i made, over the weekend or monday, can't remember exactly. i've been thinking about camisoles a lot, i think they are going to be my key item for spring, and i like the idea of making them longer so they can be worn under all of the short-but-sweet little vintage things we all have but don't wear now that our jeans are so low because we don't want our bellies hanging out all over the place.

so although i got off track a little this week, i resolve to get back on track next week (i decided this will be a monday-thru-friday thing, and if i miss a day or two i can make up for it on the weekend.

resolution #1

make something every day! in 30 minutes. start to finish. i haven't totally fine-tuned the rules, but so far, so good!

this was yesterday's project (jan 3rd). ok, so it's just an old thrifted philly fire dept T to wear to the gym, but i perfected this knitted waistband technique i've been meaning to try. all you do is cut little slits in the shirt and then knit them together and it looks so cool! plus it gathers the waist in nicely...


i got a new dress form! well, she's on semi-permanent loan from a friend. she needs a little reconstructive surgery (she did time at FIT in a past life) but i like her. so this was today's project... a wool jersey top made from pieces that were just laying around; no cutting!

the best thing about this project-a-day plan is that it just might get me posting every day, or at least every other. we'll see.

happy new year!

yay! it's finally january. i have been waiting for months to get here! the sales are over and i can focus on all of the projects i have been putting off forever, because since august i've only been allowed to make thing to sell. i am feeling extremely inspired and excited about moving forward and putting all of my resolutions in action. but i will post more about those later...

these are some pics from the 2nd sale i did, the one organized by sodafine. i wish i took more photos of the space itself (a gorgeous old bank, one block from the east river) and some of the other amazing stuff being sold, but i never did. i did really well with the wool wraps i made, (that's a purple one on the mannequin above). and i finally made a couple of fleece dog pouches like the one i carry gertie around in all the time, and actually sold one.


kelie from cinders and i did a swap: this hood for one of her lovely paintings that i had been dreaming about since her opening. it's not this one, but this is another one i like from the gallery's website.

my other best seller besides the wraps were dog sweaters; who could resist with gertie doing such a good job modelling on the table? there was nearly a scuffle over this dotted sweater; two people wanted it but fortunately it only fit one of the dogs!

unscheduled delay

hi readers, just a quick note to say that i apologize for the severe lack of posting, but it is due to technical difficulties as i have been without internet connection for a whole week as of today: horrors! and now i am in ohio where i can post, but with no access to my photos. so i am just going to officially say that HPF is on Holiday Hiatus until the new year. happy holidays and thanks!

broken promise

note to self: never make promises on the blog!
ok, so i didn't manage to post the preview of what i was making before the craftacular. as usual, time just got away from me and i was up til 3am the night before... but here are some pics i took sometime that night. the light was not so good but i'm glad i snapped these because at least three of these pieces sold!

i made a lot of helmet hats; it's my basic style and very cozy on the ears. most of them use ozark handspun yarn, mixed with other more basic yarns because the ozark is pretty wild! i will be writing more about them later, and i promised to write a pattern for them so i need to do that soon...


i was glad i sold both of these hoods because they're my new favorite style, and these were my two faves of the six or seven i made!

all in all the sale was quite overwhelming and exhausting, but i did pretty well. i'm always hoping to sell more, but i'm satisfied. the number of people that attend is incomprehensible; i'm eager to hear the tally since they charged $1 admission this year so they should have numbers. most shoppers seemed to actually think it was TOO crowded, to the point that it's hard to shop. and the music is a little too loud... my voice is still hoarse 2 days later!

holiday gift sales

oh yes, it's that time of year again! september through december are always the busiest months for me, because fall/holiday is the most intense sales season and it's when i make and sell so many crochet pieces, which are the most time-consuming items in my line. it all culminates in december when the big holiday gift sales come along... this year i am doing two: first is the BUST craftacular, this coming saturday, december 9 at the Warsaw in williamsburg. i did this one last year too and it's quite an extravaganza: dj's, prizes, free drinks (6-7pm) and over 60 vendors with all kinds of hand-crafted gift ideas, including many of my fellow SAPLINGs: treehouse (which also means sirius and becky lee), raeburn ink, mociun, 31 corn lane, a.s.i.s., as well as other friends like MAKE workshop, saltlick, and department of craft!
and if you can't make that one, or just prefer a quieter, more intimate shopping experience, the following saturday, december 16 i will be at sodafine's 'THE GIFT on grand' sale, held in a beautiful old bank building near the river. this one has over 20 designers, nearly all of whom will not be at the previous sale so you'll want to try to check out both! lena corwin is doing this one, and so are ann wood (can't wait to see her birds!), deadly squire and moonblood.
i promise to post some sneak peeks at what i'm making for these events this week...

crocheted yumminess

i think you know by now that of all the techniques i use, crochet is my most favorite. my good friend alisa of dynamo-ville sent me a link to crochet artist joy kampia. what fun! her food looks so good i want to eat it! her work is a great illustration of how sculptural crochet can be. it makes me really want to get back to those amigurumi and try some other objects too...
here is her artist's statement:

"Because I enjoy the irony between subject matter and material, I have merged my favorite subject matter (food) with my favourite process (crochet). I love food too much to be satisfied with its transience; therefore I am driven to give it permanence through art. I am a passionate advocate for crochet as an art medium--going beyond its traditional uses and exploring its limitless possibilites. By taking both food and crochet out of their ordinary settings, I hope to challenge the viewer's preconceived notions of their roles.

And I hope it makes people hungry."