Houston, We have a [Yarn] Problem

As per usual, I’m packing last minute. I’m headed for a long overdue trip home to the Houston area after being MIA for nearly 3 years. No worries, I am a good Asian daughter full of filial piety and have seen my dad and stepmom during this 3 year hiatus. I just haven’t been in Houston.

One of my dilemmas when going on trips is not so much what clothes to bring or even what meds am I forgetting. Rather, I worry about what yarns to bring, because the earth might blow up if I have nothing to do or knit during down time. The funny thing is more often than not, as a indie desginer, I spend more time at home on the computer than knitting. Sometimes the only time I get to knit all week is at my knit nights.

Anyways, back to my packing. I generally am not considered a heavy packer. I’m a bit light, but not uber-light: I am vain and need to pack things like cosmetics too, unlike my sister who wears none (except eyeliner). I’m always afraid of not having a project, but each and every time, I never knit as much as I thought I would and I never use or even touch all the yarns I bring. I told myself that this time will be different.

Well, it is different. I’m bringing more yarn than ever!! I’m in the middle of doing proposals for a couple of potential projects, so I need to do lots of swatching and experimentation. I also need 1 or 2 quick-knit and/or mindless projects to work on on the plane or in the airport, as well as a larger project for downtime at the parental home. Oh, have I mentioned that I’ve committed myself to knit some things to donate for a Knit for the Cure event in less than a month? Yeah, I brought yarns for those potential projects too. And as if all that is not enough, I am getting some yarns sent to my dad’s house so that I can work on a new design for my Waterfall collection (you Pfeiffer Falls fans will love this collection!).

I also couldn’t decide what knitted garments to bring. I want to bring some especially since I plan to do some LYS hopping and will want to wear them when I go, right? In the end, I packed Eleanor Roosevelt, Septima Clark, Cocoon, Morgan, and a finished secret project (still haven’t decided whether to self-publish or submit somewhere).

Here’s what’s in my suitcase:

I didn’t pack sweaters, because I only have 3 samples of my patterns I can’t wear any of them. One is due to allergies, the other is because I look pregnant in it because my boobs are so big and it’s made to be less fitted, and the last one is in pieces (long story, but even if it weren’t, it’s not made in my size). I guess it’s pretty apparent that I need to knit samples of my sweater/cardigan patterns for myself! I’ve been putting it off because there’s not much need for sweaters for more than a short while here in Southern California. Also, all my relatives live in hot climates: Houston, Jakarta, Taiwan, so there’s little opportunity for me to wear sweaters. 😦

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TNNA, Columbus 2010: Part 2

See part 1 of my TNNA post here.

Designs on Display

Aside from all the wonderful people that I get to see and meet every time I attend TNNA, one of the highlights for me as a designer is seeing my garments on display at the various vendor booths. It’s a great way for cross-promotion and how can one now be happy saying “Look, this is mine on display!”

At this particular show, my garments were on display at the following booths: Stitch Cooperative, Bijou Basin Ranch, Mountain Meadow Wool and The Fibre Company. I usually try to take photos of my stuff at the various booths, such as this photo of the Empyrean Tunic on display at the Interweave Knits booth, but I forgot to take pictures of the Stitch Cooperative and The Fibre Company booths.

Photos above show my garments at the Bijou Basin Ranch booth. Clockwise from L: (1) my color work hats; (2) my color work hats Spectacle beret and the Mahika beanie; (3) Kate Oates modeling the Mera shrug (it has reversible cable edging!); (4) Mera on display.

Photos above, clockwise: (1) Me modeling Cocoon at the Mountain Meadow Wool booth. The Cocoon pattern will be released in mid-July; (2) Valerie of  MMW posing next to the wrap on display at their front table; (3) from a recent photo shoot taken on World Wide Knit in Public day

Photo above: While working and hanging out at the Stitch Cooperative booth, I had an opportunity to flip through Annie Modesitt’s new book, 1000 hats. I was pretty elated to see that pretty much all my submissions made it into the book, so much so that I hardly noticed that smack in the center of the cover is my Threesome hat, modeled by my friend Jeff and his cute daughter Gigi.

I Missed My Garment at the Fashion Show

The Fashion Show is a TNNA event that occurs the Friday night before the TNNA exhibit hall opens.  It’s where designers, yarn companies and publishers show their products and garments to the industry and buyers (retailers, LYSs).  Because I didn’t get into Columbus until Saturday morning, I missed the show.

It was quite unfortunate, because I later found out from Lisa Shroyer and Sharon Riggs of Interweave that their boss, Marilyn Murphy had elected to wear my Empyrean Tunic (Interweave Knits, Summer 2010) to accept an award she was receiving! Click here to get to the Ravelry page for Emyprean.

Interweave posted a video of Marilyn Murphy’s acceptance speech.  You can’t see much of my garment, except for the neckline, because the podium pretty much blocks everything. However, nonetheless, it’s a nice speech.

Cool Booths

One of the the most fun booths (besides the Stitch Cooperative one, that is ;)) is Ysolda Teague’s booth, which was located caddy-corner from Stitch Coop’s. Ysolda had a quirky, creative and brightly inviting booth with garment samples of her work and other designer friends works.  Everyday she had a little tea party, where folks stopped by to chat, socialize and have tea and snacks. One of the main highlights of her booth was a photo booth! Click here to see her photo booth photos.

Photos from top: (1) Ysolda’s photo booth wall; (2) Melissa Werhle, me and Bobsolda and me wearing one of my favorite Ysolda garments; (3) Melissa, who was my roommate for one night, and I hanging out during teatime on Ysolda’s couch.

Other Events & Goodies

Among the many TNNA events, there are usually other business and activities to be conducted, such as several meetings I had for the Association of Knitwear Designers and a dinner for designers, editors, publishers, etc. hosted by Marlaina Bird. I didn’t take any really great photos from the designer’s dinner, but Cecily Glowik-MacDonald, Jess Forbes (Ravelry), and several others did! You can find all their great photos and many others in the Flickr Hello from TNNA group.

By the way, I love this photo of Kristen TenDyke and me that Cecily took, and I absolutely love this portrait of Jess.

Monday night, after TNNA officially ended, some of my friends and I went out for a nice fun dinner and shopping, where I spotted these sexy shoes.  I didn’t buy them, though I think they look freaking hot, but I just know that I can’t rock 5″ heels (that I’ll only wear very infrequently) without doing some serious damage to my face or ankles when inevitably trip and fall.

Until next year Columbus!

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Suffocation by Yarn

I am so glad that I made a last-minute decision to go to Stitches West. Seriously, how can you complain about hanging out with some wonderful friends, meeting new ones and fondling yarn?  There’s also the interesting entertainment value of seeing some people’s “special” garments that could likely be in the Hall of Fame a la Regretsy or the abandoned What Not to Knit or You Knit What? blogs.

Road Trip

I hitched a ride with my friends Kristie and Denise. We had a professional police escort and driver too! Kristie’s very sweet and patient husband Sheriff Bob drove us and braved all the crazy knitters at Stitches. The drive itself was not bad at all, especially since I was just able to enjoy it as a passenger. Along Interstate 5, we passed by many spectacular groves of blooming almond trees. I managed to snap a decent photo of it while we traveled at more than 70mph.

On the way back, we stopped and lunched at the Apricot Tree restaurant, where I snapped several photos of the gorgeous blooms of the apricot tree in front of the diner. While the tree outside was gorgeous, I cannot say I was impressed by what I found inside. See the sleeping kitty in the photo below? Well it’s fake and the size of a real kitty. I don’t know if it’s a stuffed real cat or something made out of some other animal’s fur. It just looked wrong. I couldn’t bring myself to touch it.

Suffocation by Yarn

I couldn’t take any photos inside the exhibit halls, but take my word for it if you’ve never been to such an event that there were TONS of stuff from yarns, books, roving, fiber, needles, buttons and of course crazy fiber addicts. In the evenings, after the market, my friends and I hung out in the Regency Club at the Hyatt where we unwinded, relaxed and met new friends.

I didn’t really shop much. I only bought 2 bags off yarn: 1 bag of a marled aran yarn by Crystal Palace in a yummy orange at $22 for the bag. Seriously, how can you pass up a deal like that!?  I also got a bag of Marisol Tupa (silk/wool), which I will probably dye. While walking around and visiting with Michael del Vecchio over at the Universal Yarns booth, I met and chatted with Erica of Kollage Yarns. She gave me a big head by complimenting me on the hats from Liberation, which my friends and I were wearing (best way to advertise!), and my design work in general. She gave me several skeins of lovely yarns from Kollage to play with too. I can’t wait to try them out.

Though I didn’t shop much (c’mon, I have my own yarn shop at my disposal!), my friends Denise, Kristie, Cindi and Barbara sure stimulated the economy.

Photos: 1. Barbara, Edda, me and Cindi at the Hyatt Regency Club Lounge; 2. Bob the Sheriff and Kristie both looking so sweet. Bob gave us those really cool yello “Sheriff’s Line Do Not Cross” key fobs to wear. :); 3. The total of my Stitches purchases; 4. Denise, Bob, Kristie and Lisa at the lounge; 5. Cindi getting buried and suffocated by the collective purchases of hers, Barbara, Denise and Kristie; 6. Cindi is exhausted from her Yarngasm and boy, was it goooood.

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Indonesia – Part 4: Bali, Day 3

Day 3 in Bali was a little sad, because it was our last day. I started with an early morning stroll along the hotel beach (S. Kuta) while Mr. CD snoozed (and the wierdo doesn’t like beach either).  In the rock crevices, I spotted lots of small sea snail. While I took photos of the sea snail, I heard a strange rustling sound on the rocks. I moved forward to investigate and spotted lots of tiny crabs scurrying away (photo, bottom right).

After a breakfast that included lots of yummy fruit, our driver took us to Nusa Dua park and beach. The trees had the most beautiful and entwined roots, while the water was so clear and clean. It really felt like paradise! The shelf of shallow water was amazing and extended quite far. In the photo below (Row 3, right), I’m standing at least 100 ft from the beach. Another unique and very interesting part of the beach is a band of sand, which from farther away just appears more coarse. However, upon closer inspection, each grain is a round pellet about the size of millet (photo, row 4, left).

Along the the beach is a small peninsular rock formation onto which another Hindu temple is built.  We hiked the mini-peninsula and stood on the cliffs (photos, Rows 5 & 6) admiring the ocean view and the naturally occurring and human-planted flora, which included lots of plumeria trees.  My dad got really silly and placed plumeria flowers into each of the ventilation holes of his cap.  Doesn’t he look pretty (photo, row 6, right). He got lots of laughs and strange stares from other beach pedestrians.

After Nusa Dua beach, we had our final Balinese meal and reluctantly headed towards the airport for our flight back to Jakarta.  I won’t bore you with the details of the rest of my trip because Jakarta is just not as beautiful, we only ate Chinese food and there really is no point in comparing the two locations.

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Indonesia – Part 3: Bali, Day 2

My second day in Bali started with a stroll around the resort gardens and a breakfast that included lots of rambutan.

Bali Silver

Our main goal for this second day was to go up to Ubud, a town known for its arts and artisans. Along the way to Ubud, we stopped at an Australian-owned jewlery company and factory that produces high-quality handcrafted Bali silver sold exclusively for export, except for sales to the tourist market in the on-site showroom. We toured the factory and then of course, escorted to their in-house shop.  I was permitted to photograph the factory studios, but of course, not the any part of the showroom except structural fixtures.

Click on photos to enlarge.  Row 1, L to R: 1. Rows of work benches; 2. Annealing a pendant frame; 3. Setting decorative elements to the bezel; Row 2: 4. Sizing a ring; 5. Polishing a bracelet; 6. Finished bezel-set turquiose rings.

Given my interest in jewelry fabrication and silversmithing, my dad jokingly suggested that I stay behind and offer to apprentice and learn from them for 2 years in exchange for my free labor.  I’m not that industrious.

Batik

After the silver factory, we headed towards one of the many batik centers. Several artisans sat in a pavillion working on batik as a live demo for tourists. Some tourists were so crass that without asking, they would lean into the artisan and touch them and their work while they are actively working and applying the designs just to get a photo and a closer look! Geez! I really wanted to slap those uncouth tourists on behalf of the artisans.

The composite above shows various steps and aspects of textile art production (click to enlarge or go to my Flickr set to see larger individual images).  Row 1: 1. Tools of the batik-making process; 2. Various types of natural waxes and resins used for the resist, including a pine resin; 3. Carved stamps used to stamp images; 4. the first step of a batik with the main images drawn with the resist; Row 2: 5-8. Artisans carefully drawing swirls with the tjanting (the pen-tool used to apply the resist); Row 3: 9-11. Artisans working in different stages of the batik process. 12. A partially completed batik; Row 4. 13. Washed fabric with a partial design hung to dry; 14. the wax/resin pot; 15. Artisan sewing a garment; 16. Loom; Row 5. 17. Hank of yarn hung on a loom; 18. Yarn reeler; 19 & 20. Looms  on which traditional cloth is woven.

Of course being in such an environment and my love of beautiful textiles made it hard to resist wanting to buy a whole bunch of batik fabric and garments. Despite having lots at home as well, I did buy a few select pieces.  These lovelies always make good presents for good crafting friends anyways. The problem comes when I can’t decide which ones to part with!

Hindu Temples

Another one of our stops on the way up to Ubud was a large Hindu temple.  Prior to entering, visitors are encouraged to provide a small donation and are required to wear some sort of ceremonial wrap skirt/covering over their legs before entering. I’m not sure what the skirt’s significance is, but all the skirts were colorful and festive.

The temple complex is a very large outdoor complex surrounded by a decorative perimeter wall.  Several  different altars and pavillions dot the landscape inside.  I assume that each pavillion is dedicated to a different diety. Every part of the temple is decorated with intricate carvings and stone work with orange bricks. While some pavillions have very simple straw-thatched ceilings, others have very elaborate fresco and gold-gilded decorations, as show in the photos below (last row).

After visiting the temple, we went to a Balinese restaurant with a lovely garden and located next to a rice paddy field, where Mr. CD ordered us some more delectable Indonesian cuisine and specialties.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Our next stop on this very eventful day was among my favorites: Monkeys! We went to the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud, where nearly 350 macaque monkeys live. According the the forest website, the sacred forest

“is a demonstration of the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature. In Bali, sanctuaries such as the Monkey Forest are usually in sacred village areas, often surrounded by temples. These cultural sanctuaries are not only an important part of Balinese heritage, but also an important part of everyday live.” (sic)

Mr. CD bought bananas to feed the monkeys. Boy, are they cunning when when know you have bananas! They will pull on your pant leg and jump on you to beg for a banana. If you are not careful, they will steal it from your hands.  And if a baby monkey has a banana as a larger more dominant monkey approaches, the baby will drop the banana and run.

My favorite part of the monkeys are their mohawks!

Starfish at Jimbaran

We walked around the main Ubud areas mainly helping my stepmom find some batik dresses.  I tried a few on, but none of them fit my bodacious overgrown boobs. 😦 (Well, if they did, they were made for larger people and I ended up looking preggars.) We also bought a few other small souvenirs, trinkets and gifts for friends.  Mr. CD was very helpful in price-negotiations with the vendors and shops.  Bargaining and negotiation prices is a very common practice in many countries, just not common in the U.S., not even that much in flea markets and swap meets, where it’s practically the only place you can bargain in the U.S.

My dad wanted to buy a carving from one shop and no matter how many times he tried to get the shop owner to lower her price (in English), she would not budge.  My dad was about to give up and was getting ready to approach the counter when I told him to wait as I ran across the street to fetch Mr. CD. Upon seeing and realizing that hubby’s  Indonesian, I could tell that the shop owner was not happy. Of course having a native speaker present was very helpful with everything, especially since he managed to get the lady (begrudgingly) to lower her price after at least 3 failed attempts by my dad.

After Ubud, our trusty driver drove us down to Jimbaran, where we watched another sunset while dining beach side at the Blue Marlin Cafe & Seafood Grill.  We ordered various seafoods and had them grilled to order.  The food was fresh, although not superb. However, the fruit juices they served were rich, thick, sweet and super yummy.

While waiting for our food, I strolled the beach by myself and met a waiter who was releasing a live starfish that had washed ashore. He was kind enough to hold it up for a while so that I and another tourist could snap some photos, however in the process, the starfish stung him. oops!

A perfect end to a perfect day.

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Indonesia – Part 2: Bali, Day 1

Originally, our plans did not include Bali. Hubby talked about taking us to the mountainous regions of Bandung. So, I was not prepared or packed for Bali at all.  Well, I suppose, even if I did pack a swimsuit, I wouldn’t really have taken a dip in the ocean because we didn’t really have that much time and neither my dad or my stepmom really swim. (Stepmom is really afraid of water.)

Nonetheless, I was just happy to have gone! I do admit to having a little pity party syndrome in that we only went for 2.5 days — not enough in my book! At least this way, I can convince the hubs that I need to go back again in the future.

Our trip (flight, hotel and driver) was generously and graciously arranged by hubby’s sister. We stayed at the lovely Bali Dynasty Resort in South Kuta and hired a driver to chauffeur us around the island.

Upon our arrival, our first stop after a visit to the U.S. Consulate’s office regarding my stepmom’s passport “problem” was a non-Chinese meal. We were all happy for the change in cuisine and dined one some super Indonesian and Balinese food.

Tanah Lot

Afterwards, our driver took us to watch the sunset at Tanah Lot, a rock formation on which a centuries-old Balinese temple sits. Tourists and visitors are only allowed access up to the ocean temple after they have been annointed and purified. I didn’t make it up there since the line was really long and I was the only one who could cross the waters to Tanah Lot. (Both dad and Helman had open sores on their feet and stepmom didn’t want to cross the water.) Instead, I observed others getting purified, played at the base of the rock formation, and took some self-portraits. Luckily, my klutziness was kept at bay and I did not slip on the slippery rocks with the evening tide at my knees as I crossed the waters.

Sunset at Tanah Lot

After my frolic in the water and getting my capri pants totally wet (I didn’t hike them up enough), we walked up to a cliff area and sat at one of the cafes for some drinks and to watch the sunset.

I snapped away as the sun set. No matter how many photos I snapped, I still cannot capture the allure of the whole experience.  How do you capture 360 degrees of color changes around you as you inhale the warm ocean air and listen to the symphony of crashing waves?

Nothing can compare to the actual experience, but I did snap enough photos to remind me of the trip and to show the progression of the entire sunset, shown below in 2 composites and in chronological order.

Composition 1: Sunset progression at Tanah Lot, Bali, Indonesia

The first 6 images on the second composite were taken with the zoom lens.

Composition 2: Sunset progression at Tanah Lot, Bali, Indonesia

After the intoxicating sunset, we had not intended on stopping in the market area designed to allure tourists.  However, this large and scary critter caught our eye:

Yep, a large and ugly bat. I’ve only seen tiny and less intimidating fruit bats. This one by comparison is ginormous. The bat-owner was letting the bat climb on him and had the bat on display for tips.  Eww. Gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Luckily, our day did not end with the bat. We found another delightful Balinese restaurant and ordered up some local cuisine. Since hubby is “local” (relatively speaking), he ordered for us and we ate every. single. morsel.  Nom. Nom. Nom.

Indonesian food in L.A. is no comparison. In fact, I don’t think I’ll eat Indonesian food in L.A. ever again – it’s always too salty, greasy and contains too much MSG. It’s like saying Panda Express serves real Chinese food.

pping in the market area designed to allure tourists.  However, this large and scary critter caught our eye:

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Indonesia – Part 1: Jakarta

My main purpose for going to Indonesia was to visit my in-laws with my dad and stepmom. We met my hubby in Jakarta. (I left first to Taiwan and flew from Taipei to Jakarta with my dad and stepmom, who flew there from Houston, Texas.) Quite a global journey, eh?

Bribes

We almost couldn’t get out of the airport upon arriving. I don’t want to go into too many details in such a public forum, but we were sent from one official to another for a “problem” with my stepmom’s passport. Since Indonesia does not have a great record when it comes to corruption, we suspected that all those officers wanted bribes and when we didn’t give them anything, they sent us to their “boss” and so forth. I really didn’t know how to give a bribe, nor did we want to offend anyone who was ethical by offering. I did communicated with the officer in English and hinted that we’d be open to giving him a bribe by asking if we needed to pay a fine. i think because we were women and a bit dense about all that bribery stuff, they let us go after a 2 hour cat-mouse game…I guess they got bored too. Besides, how to you slip money for a bribe? I am not that slick. According to many Indonesian residents, police and other personnel expect bribes and some of their actions are designed to solicit bribes. Lately, the government has been cracking down on that practice, so the officer probably was not bold enough to ask for one directly or respond to my question about a “fine.”

Afraid that we may encounter additional problems upon exiting, we did visit the U.S. Counsel in Bali, who inspected my stepmom’s passport and informed us that there was nothing wrong with it and all her passport pages were okay. We had no other problems and a pleasant experience after the airport incident.

Jakarta

The city of Jakarta is very urban, crowded, polluted and dirty.  The dispartity between socio-economic status is quite remarkable and wide.  My in-laws don’t really get out much and there are areas in the city that they felt were not very safe to venture into, so we mostly were limited to perusing giant urban malls.  All the malls and higher-end neighborhoods have lots of security personnel that check cars and purses for bombs and other dangerous items. However, the inconsistency in which all the checks were conducted does not really make one feel any safer.

Everywhere you drive, there are street vendors that walk between the cars selling everything from statues, water, fruit and snacks.

Other than visiting family and people-watching, I don’t find Jakarta particularly interesting.  I’m sure there are great foods and other finds there, but my FIL and MIL only eat Chinese food. Some of the restaurants we went to didn’t even have good Chinese food, especially the over-priced restaurant that served a tiny and scary-looking piglet (which I did not eat at all) and an overcooked lobster.

One thing that I did enjoy in Indonesia, whether in Jakarta or on the island of Bali, is the all the yummy tropical fruits. The 2 fruits indigenous to the archipelago of which I don’t like at all are durian and salak (also, snakefruit).

My favorites are rambutan, mangos, papaya, coconut (fresh ripe ones only) and mangosteen.

The photos above show the following, from Right to Left, starting with the top row:
1. Rambutan, star fruit  or carambola and banana; 2. Salak or snake fruit; 3. Mango juice; 4. Duku or lansa; 5. Pink Guava juice; 6. Salak or snake fruit; 7. banana, star fruit or carambola, and papaya; 8. papaya juice; 9. Mangosteen; 10. Duku or lansa; 11. Mango; 12. Coconut; 13. Jack fruit and rambutan; 14.  Mangosteen; 15. fresh Lime soda

While I love fruit and veggies, one thing that I did not want to try was this:

No Eggplant juice for me!

Dad, stepmom, MIL, FIL

Next post: Bali!!!!

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