I’ve been screen printing, sewing and building displays for the show.  On top of it all, it snowed last Monday afternoon and the city shut down for the rest of the evening and well into Tuesday.  I couldn’t get to work on Tuesday and on Wednesday I had to take the bus to work because I couldn’t get my car down and back up my hill because of the ice.  Here’s a picture of the drive on Monday morning.

And here’s what Tuesday looked like from the window by my sewing machine.

And on Tuesday I was so busy working on product that I completely forgot to post to say that I was featured on Earmarks blog for Etsy Tuesday!  Thanks so much Elizabeth for featuring me.  I really appreciate it!  And check out her Etsy site.  She’s got some incredible product.

Here’s a few things that I did while I was “snowed in.”  How about a custom tie?

Or how about a button down shirt that’s not so button down?

Fortunately for me, the ice melted by Thanksgiving and I was able to spend the holiday with good friends.  They’re like my Seattle family.  It’s always nice to be considered a part of the family when my family is all the way across the country.

The rest of the holiday weekend I spent trying to get deals for stuff to make more product and then making more product.  And i also got an early Christmas present in the form of a new rolling kitchen island from my parents.  It was the gift that kept on giving because it took me about 3 hours to put it together.  But once it was altogether it was worth all the swearing.

I did a fair amount of sewing this weekend.  Here’s the new design for the sachets – the beehive.

I also decided to do a few more of the shrinky dink pendants.  They still need to be coated with the resin but here’s the lot of them.

The bits that look like confetti, those are lace knitting stitch markers.  There’s patterns that make you cast on a couple hundred stitches at the start.  After casting on and losing track of how many stitches I had already cast on, I decided to make numbered stitch markers.  So the stitch markers start at 25 and go up in increments of 25.  I also made some that go up in increments of 20.  It’s easy to keep track of 20 or 25 stitches, it’s much harder to keep track of 200.

And on that note, I’m heading to bed.  I’ve got an early day tomorrow.  For some reason I haven’t won the powerball yet.  So I guess I should continue to go to the day job until I actually win.

So I started my search and found all of the things that I needed and a few other bits as well.

Jewelry display – check.

A super cute little bird cage – $2.99

Train case – check.

it’s a cool deep blue with little metallic flecks in it – $5.99.

Magazine rack – Check.

Last night while looking around ebay, I found the same one for $10 or more.  I got this one for $2.99.

Wire record rack – check.

Again, I saw similar ones last night for around $10.  I got this one for $1.99.  Now the question is, which display do we like better?

Fabric cover for the table – check.

I found these super cute sheets. The red striped one was $4.99 and the red one was $3.99 but because it was a pink tag it was only $1.29.

Then because I’ve been looking for one for a bit, I picked up a sifter, kinda like the one that grandma had… but a little smaller.

Again the tag said $2.99 but because it was a pink tag, I got it for $1.29.

And since I was on a roll, I decided to swing thru the sweaters.  I found a great sweater for $5.99.  I don’t know who keeps donating these sweaters (by Tiara International), but I want to thank you.  I now have 4 Tiara International sweaters.  All were bought at Goodwill and I love all of them.

Grand total – $30 and change after taxes.

Yesterday I finally got my new glasses. I say finally because it took me almost 3 years to get back into the doctor’s office to get my eyes examined. I picked out two new sets of frames.  Here they are.

The top pair are actually kids frames.  I know, probably not something to brag about, but they were much cheaper than the bottom pair – the Ralph Lauren, Chaps line that were on sale for $40 off.

Last week, on Wednesday I started knitting Annis, a small shawlette/scarf.  I apparently needed to take my mind off the week because I finished it up on Sunday.  Here’s a few shots of it (it’s not blocked yet).  Unfortunately the color is a bit off.  The blue is a bit more teal.  It’s a much prettier color than what was photographed.

and here’s a detail shot.

And of course, I had to print out Mr. Martin Van Horn (or Mr. Thomas Venison, again, however you want to call him).

These prints will be available on the etsy store, at Cake Spy by the end of next week and at the DIY Holiday show on December 12th.

This work week was awful for me.  I’ve been having a hard time feeling like I’m a part of the “team.” And on Thursday it all came to a head.  So being able to come home and work on my business and things that I like doing, has been life saving.  Between the knitting and silkscreening I can come home and slowly decompress after a cruddy day at work.  Today, where all I did was screen print, it was like heaven.  I just wish I could have all the things that I need at my disposal so I don’t have to wait 2 weeks before being able to burn a screen and make another attempt at a design.

That got me to thinking about possibly setting up a studio with several other people and we all share the responsibilities and costs of the equipment.  I’m not really there yet, but it’s definitely something to look into when I really start to get into silk screening.

Well we can honestly say after some serious testing, Cat Bauer, gives the Sunday Drive Designs owl cat toy two paws up!

After getting that taken care of, I spent the rest of Saturday sewing.  I made about 10 little owl sachets.  So by Saturday evening there was a small flock of owls in my house!

I also finished all the pieces for mom’s sweater.  I’m hoping to be able to block it all tomorrow after work so I can start putting it together!

This morning I had to run out to pick up more supplies for more owl sachets.  Then it was off to knitting. For some reason I could not get going with my next knitting project.  So I headed home and got back to sewing.  I made 5 more owl sachets and then 5 catnip toys.  These catnip toys have 1/2 cup of catnip in each one!  I could barely keep my cat away from the sewing machine long enough to sew them up!

The catnip toy and the sachets are up at the etsy store right now!

Here’s a peek

They’re blank on the inside and depending on the response I may put them up on my etsy store as well.

I also showed my friend the sachets and she loved them.  So I’m in the process of making a few of those for her store as well as my etsy store.  Here’s a better shot of the sachet.  And the cat toys will be the same but without the little ribbon loop.

here’s the silkscreen production line I had going this evening.

and another production line shot.

I’ve got some more screening to do tomorrow after work, but I think I worked out the kinks that I was having the first run of these.  That means this weekend is all about sewing and possibly more silkscreening.  We’ll see how I feel after tomorrow night’s silkscreening.

This was the first year in a long time that I haven’t carved a pumpkin.  I guess I was just so busy that I forgot about it.  This weekend I had a small photo shoot thanks to Jim Clark.  He’s awesome.  Hire him.

Here’s the top two that I plan on using for my press kit.

and this one

I guess I feel if I can put a face to a company or small business, I’m more likely to buy from them.  And I’m hoping that other people feel the same way.

Thanks Jim for putting up with me not being the best of models.  I’m not too comfortable having my picture taken.

I also did a little product making.  Or test products really.  I did a little redesigning of the cat toys and used some “high test” cat nip.  I made two for my product testers and put them in my bag.  I went to go brush my teeth and when I came back I found half a cat in my bag.  Apparently Kink seems to think that anything with cat nip is hers. Here’s a shot of the redesigned toy.

I decided to use the pinking shears to fancy up the edges.  The fabric is also tea stained, to give it a more vintage feel.  I also made a sachet out of the same material and filled it with cedar chips, lavender, and clove buds.  The smell of lavender and cedar can be a bit overwhelming but when thrown together they seem to mellow each other out and the clove adds a nice autumn scent to it all.

I did the same treatment to the fabric (tea stained) and the pinking shears edging and just added a ribbon loop at the top so you can hang it in your closet.

I also had a few minutes on Saturday night to work on mom’s sweater.  One sleeve down and one more to go.  Once the second sleeve is done, it’s off to be blocked and then seamed up, knit the collar and it’s all done.  Ok, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but I can see the finish line on this one.

And now it’s time to give my full attention to Sherlock Holmes.  If you haven’t watched the PBS updated version of Sherlock, you should be watching it.  It’s really well done.

Unfortunately I was only able to burn the screens on Saturday.  On the plus side, the weather was awful this past weekend so on Sunday i was able to try and a do a couple of prints. I’m not sure what the issue is, but I’m having a real hard time printing the bicyclist poster up.   This weekend I’ll do a little more messing around with it.  Hopefully I’ll figure out the problem.

I did get to do a few prints of a cute little owl image I found.  I decided to try and print him up on some tea dyed canvas.  He was so cute, that I decided to try and sew him up as a little cat toy.  So I stuffed him up, threw a little catnip in him (ok a lot of catnip), and sewed him up.  My one cat is apparently a diva, because she sniffed him a little bit but that was the end of it.

I think I might try and find some other images that are a bit more appropriate for kitties to attack.  And I was also thinking that I might stuff some cedar or lavender in him so that he can be used to keep the moths away or make things smell pretty.

One other thing, we have a new employee at my current job.  I call him Stinky Pete.  He stopped by for an interview on Thursday and showed up to work on Friday.  He did nothing but whine all afternoon long.  Fortunately today was his day off.  Here’s his mug shot.

OK, now that that is taken care of, here’s a sneak peek at what I’ve been working on.

It’s Mrs Van Horn!

And this next one is just something I’m planning on making into prints.  I was thinking about printing them up on maps.

Since i don’t have the space or the money for a full on silk screening set up, I pay for studio time at the Vera Project and burn some screens and if the studio is quiet, I’ll print up some stuff.

Today I walked in there just wanted to burn a screen of Martin Van Horn so that I could do some printing at home.  I ran into a few problems (mainly not having a high enough mesh on the screen) and Bruno the tech there was a huge help.  I think he was starting to take it personally that it wasn’t working properly.  Thank God he got a bit OCD because I was able to walk away with some pretty cool prints. Check ‘em out.  And a bit thanks to Bruno for being OCD and helping me out.

and here’s another one

and another one

and another

and one more

and the last one

And of course all of these are up on Etsy and are for sale… just in case you’re doing some early Christmas shopping.

And as an aside, the paper that I printed on is scrapbooking paper by a company called BasicGrey.  I think they are my new favorite company.  The put out some seriously good stuff.  I can’t wait to do some more shopping around their website.

and the close up

and the second design

and the close up

I’m thrilled with how these turned out and I’ll be putting them up on Etsy tomorrow.  I also got a shout out from another Etsy seller, MonicaJ.  Check it out!  Thanks so much MonicaJ!

As for the bad… Well it looks like I strained a couple of muscles in my shoulder.  Most likely it happened while I was swim angellin’ this past Saturday.  So it looks like I won’t  be able to swim for a bit.  Which for me, is a huge bummer.  Fortunately I can still knit.

And speaking of knitting, I started working on Mom’s sweater.  I’ll try and post some pictures as I get going.  It won’t look like much but a bunch of squares, but once I get it all seamed up, it will look amazing.  Mom picked some really great yarn.  Not only is the color nice but it’s great to work with.  It’s Plymouth Mushishi.  We got it over at Webs.  Dear Lord help me… I love that place.

And as for the end, I finally finished Percy Part 2.  Here’s the quick picture of it. I still need to block it, but you’ll get the idea.

On Saturday I spent some time taking photos of everything.  Since it was nice out, I thought I would take advantage of the natural light and take photos of some things.

I got outside and took a couple photos of the care/launder tags and from out of no where, came Kink’s boyfriend, Pinky (He’s apparently mt neighbor’s cat.  So at least I know he comes from a good home and good parents).  Pinky felt the photo shoot needed something… it needed him in the picture.

Pinky also felt like he had to do a taste test of the product.

Pinky also felt that I could use a stylist for my photography.  He tried his hand with styling Aunt Nancy’s shawl.

Then I turned the camera on him for a bit.

He told me this was his “Georgio Meow-ani” pose (Georgio Armani for those of you who might not get the reference.  Meow-ani is the cat version of Armani.  Apparently he’s made outfits for Felix the cat).  Then he spotted his girlfriend Kink in the window.

Then Kink saw him

Then there was some hissing involved. Someone accused someone else of cheating and then someone called someone else a kitty version of Lindsay Lohan.  It got ugly.  I’m hoping they can work it out.  But only time will tell.

Here’s the front:

And here’s the inside of the cards:

Hopefully these will be in stock within a couple of weeks!

Here’s the front:

and here’s the inside of the card:

And hopefully tomorrow I’ll nail down the other design.  I’m hoping to get something a bit more modern and not so retro.  But I just fell in love with that little boy with the sled.

A side note – Gorilla Screen Printing, the folks who printed the shirts for me, are amazing.  If you need to have shirts made, go to them.  They friendly, helpful, local and they do great work.  Not to mention, their pricing is unbeatable.  So thank you Gorilla Screen Printing!  And a special thanks to Mom and Dad.  If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to do the  t-shirts.  And quite literally I wouldn’t be here.

Now, does anyone want to do some website coding? There’s pie and a t-shirt in it for you…  

and there’s more coming!  So make sure to keep checking back with us!

First, I need to thank my aunts.  My Aunt Marilyn for keeping me all caffeinated and rolling in Starbucks giftcards.  Then I have to thank my Aunt Nancy.  A little bit of information – I jokingly sent my aunt information about Offhands Designs doing a studio sale in Oakland.  Now, I know my aunt.  My aunt is not the shopper that my mom is.  I think my mom can smell a sale from across the country.  When my parents came out to visit me in Seattle the first time, my mom was so excited to find out that they could take the monorail from their hotel to downtown and be two blocks away from Nordstroms Rack.  I believe my mom worships at the Church of “The Rack.”  Knowing all this about my family, I figured my aunt would just roll her eyes and laugh at me.  So about a week after the sale, I get this package in the mail.  I never get packages in the mail.  I looked at the sender and saw that it was my aunt.  So I figured it was the yarn that she had picked out for her USPS lost Percy Shawl I knit her.  The box was a bit big for that.  And then I thought, “Oh crap.  She got a bunch of irish wool yarn when she was in London and expects that I’ll be whipping up one of Grandma Buck’s legendary irish knit sweaters.”  I’m not even close to Grandma Buck’s skill level yet.  Then I opened the box.  And there it was.  The bag I wanted.  In the pattern I loved.  It’s the Zhivago bag!  And not only did she get me the bag, but I also go the matching circular needle case!

Here they are in all their glory

And here’s a shot of the inside of the bag with all my knitting in it.

What is in that smaller little bag in your brand new knitting bag?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  That is the Theolie shawl I’m working on for the wedding.  This is my shawl.  It’s a super simple shawl that knit up rather quickly.  Unfortunately I ran out of yarn before I got to the lace border.  So now I need to figure out what other color will go with the pink and my dress without making me look like a crayon explosion.

Here’s the base of the shawl.

Hopefully I can find something in time.  I’m not holding my breathe, as I need to get the grooms socks done first.

But there was another skein of yummy yarn in that bag.  What is that for?  Well that’s for Aunt Nancy’s replacement Percy Shawl.  This time I’ll be making sure that I get tracking as well as an armed guard delivering it to her.

It’s Handmaiden Yarns – Saldanha in ivory.  I think it will look amazing.  there’s enough yarn to add an extra repeat or two.  So I may do that.

I forgot to show you all the finished (well almost finished – at the time i took the photos I still needed to weave in the ends) photos of the Andromeda shawl that I knit for my friends’ wedding.  This is obviously for the bride

And here’s a close up:

It turned out gorgeous.  If I hadn’t been a tool and screwed it up royally at one point, it would have been down much sooner.  Thankfully Lisa, in my knitting posse can fix anything.  She was amazing.  I’m still breaking out in a cold sweat thinking about her unravelling rows and rows of lace knitting.

And now to Sunday Drive Designs.  I’ve got the final 4 designs.  I wanted to do 5.  But I just couldn’t pick the 5th design.  So I’ll be doing 4 t shirt designs and the two knitting designs will be doing double duty – as t shirts and as tote bags.

So drum roll please!  The top 4 designs are:

and next up is

and the next design

(and yes, the color is suppose to be offset – it’s super hip and “designy.”  All the cool kids are doing it.)

and finally, the Honorable Martin Van Horn, Esq (thanks Peter for the name.  You are comedy Gold!)

Good Ol’ Marty here will be making an appearance on a few other things.  I’m currently working out the kinks.  When I get them done, you’ll be the first to see them.

OK and now, onto the birthday!  I’ve been reading The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp and I love this book.  This is a book that I will probably need to own.  Anyway, one of the things she suggests is “Give me one week without…”  So I’m going to go one week without TV.  Starting on Sunday after Mad Men.  Because, no one should go without Mad Men.  I won’t be completely tv free.  I will turn the news on in the morning when I’m getting ready for work.  I hate not knowing what is going on before I leave the house.  Other than that, no tv.  This includes dvds and Hulu/netflix when I’m home.  I work in an environment where they let us watch hulu and netflix while we work.  Especially when the work is repetitive and mind numbing boring.  Since I don’t work alone, I can’t ask my co-worker to go without if he needs it to keep from stabbing his eyes out.

So, if you’re looking to get my something for my birthday, how about a couple of books, yarn (anything Madeline Tosh will do), knitting pattern books or knitting related.  Perhaps some stuff I need for my business or even a meal or cleaning my kitchen.  I won’t turn down food or an offer to clean something I don’t like cleaning.

The mermaid with color version 1

And here she is with the color, not offset

Bacon.  It’s always good.

Version 1:

and version 2:

How about the victorian man and his biggest fan (version 1)

Or perhaps this version:

Or perhaps, you are a ladies man…

And finally, an oldie but a a goodie

First is the “My Foot. Your Ass.” Shirt

Second is the “bully” shirt

Honestly, I just really love that guy.  To me, there’s just something funny about him.

And lastly, “the mermaid.”

I think this one I’ll add some color to it.  I needs some color.

And, I know I probably don’t have to say this, but just in case, all these images are mine.  So don’t try and pass them off as your own designs.  Thanks!

This was before I did all the finishing (aka weaving in the ends).  It’s going to be huge when it’s all blocked. Here’s a couple of close up shots.

and here’s the right side.

I also have a couple of designs for knitting totes.  Let me know what you think.  I’m too close to all of this.  I’m at the point where I can’t tell if it’s just me that likes something or if others will like it.

and here’s the second design

and the third in the series.

and of course, the next two designs are in the tote bag/ t-shirt collection

and my favorite.

And on top of all this, the temperature in Seattle just went up about 50 degrees.  So it’s all about getting in the water and swimming!  Which I did today and will do tomorrow.  Today we only did a half mile.  Tomorrow I’m aiming for a mile.  But we’ll see.

I also just got my first order from my jewelry supplier so I can make some more rings and pendants.  I’m sure I’ll be super motivated to create after I get back from the Urban Craft Uprising craft fair this Saturday.  I can’t wait to see what’s out there and who’s doing what and more importantly where can I make my mark in all this.

Here’s the finished screens

And here’s a close up of the two to the left.  These are tshirt and totebag designs.

The one with the fists, has “Knit” and “Purl” written on the knuckles.  The one on the right says, “You can have my knitting when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.”

The third screen is a test piece for an idea I have.  I’ll let you know how the experiment goes once I do it.

While knitting is still fresh in the brain, I’m soooo close to being done with Andromeda Shawl.  I finished the last of the “big charts” and with 306 stitches on the needles, I’m thrilled that part is over.  Now I just have 16 mini charts for each of the stair step edges.

And on a completely different note, I started back up running again.  Today after work and before the group training, I went for a small run.  I didn’t wear the vibrams because, well, I forgot them.  I did wear my running sneakers.  I did a kind of progression.  I would run for 2 minutes and walk for 1. Then I would run for 3 and walk for 1. Then run for 4 and walk for 1.  Then run for 5 and walk for 2.  Then I reversed it.  Ran for 5 than walked for 2, ran for 4 than walked for 1…

I felt pretty good.  And I ended up running a 5k in about 36 minutes or so.  Hopefully I can continue on with this.  Maybe pick up the pace and add some more time.  And even a few hills or two

Oh and Linda, if you want to train for a half marathon, I think I found our race – it’s the Rock and Roll Las Vegas Marathon and half marathon.  The big act at the end of the race is Bret Michaels from Poison!  I think we’re gonna need to see him before he kicks it.  I think he’s on his 7th or 8th life.  He’s only got a few more…

And on top of all that, my etsy showcase bit is up!  Check it out – click here, then to the right of the page you’ll see a pull down menu.  Select Jewelry Ring and you’ll see the Blue “I’m not getting any” ring.  I’ll be interested in seeing if any sales come from it and if I get a little more exposure.

This weekend was spent creating more products!

Here’s just a little sneak preview

and some close ups

I’m really liking the bee hive one.

and finally

and one more for good luck

I also did a couple more rings, but I couldn’t get a good shot of them.  The last two photos are of some “charms” that I did.  They’re made out of shrinky dink film.  I coated them in the resin as well to make them  a bit more substantial and I bit more solid.

This afternoon as i was cleaning the house and taking some garbage out, I noticed Kink, at her post.

Apparently she was waiting for her friend to come and spring her from her gilded cage!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this cat in the neighborhood before.  He/she was super friendly and rather vocal.  I gave the poor kitty a treat and he/she didn’t seem interested in it.  So I’ll assume that this little feline friend of Kink’s, has a home and it taken care of.

And after a few choice words at the door (aka a hiss or two) Kink’s friend realized that it was a lost cause and took off.

You can check out what’s already up at: www.sundaydrivedesigns.etsy.com