Quickies in Vegas

It's already December, and it is high busy season (Blue Genie Bazaar) but I've been trying to get some gifts made as well. Plus I need the knitting to relax me.

Anyway here are some quickie gifts I made using some of Vickie's Vegas yarn (love love love this stuff!) that didn't take me too long -- about an hour for the cozy, and the blue scarf knit up pretty quickly as well.

 
coffee cozy... or wrist cuff?


As I said, these took me about an hour to make (hope this post is helpful if need something fast!), I knitted them up using size 7-8 needles:
cast on 41 stitches
1st row: k4 p2,then *k3 p2 (repeat from * to end, 7 times)
2nd row: k2, then *p3 k2 (repeat from * to end, 7 times), p4 to end.
Continue in this pattern until desired length (mine are about 3 1/4") then bind off loosely. Sew together into a tube, then turn rightside out.
I love that this yarn is so soft and just a bit glittery.

I imagine you could use this pattern to make a longer wristwarmer if you continued knitting (I slipped mine onto my wrist after finishing my coffee before I trekked back to the office & put the cozy back into my purse pocket) , even leaving a hole for the thumb when seaming into a tube?
My mom has been making a bunch of these using different worsted weight yarns she has as well since I sent her one of these along with my notes.
Also, I made some pretty drop stitch scarves, one on jumbo needles, see closeup of stitches... love the thick and thin of this yarn!
 

The second scarf is much longer and less lacy in the pattern due to the needles being much smaller, size 10 I think they were.
Purple scarf was two skeins of yarn, the teal was maybe one and a half?
Quickies in Vegas Originally uploaded by jna designs.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

The Blue Genie Bazaar has just started in it's NEW location! The Blue Genie folks have made this space look spectacular.

Featuring over 80 artists, and running 20 days this year: from December 5th-24th at the Monarch Events Center.

The show is open daily (weekdays from 10am-10pm; until midnight on Fri-Sat) every day until X-mas eve Dec. 24th!

This is a FREE event. Go have a beer and check out the really cool stuff there! There will be DJ's, a bar and lots of amazing goodies to choose from.

Map to the Monarch Events Center: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=monarch+events+center+austin&
ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&om=1&ll=30.317766,-97.742958&
spn=0.20568,0.321007&z=12&iwloc=A
or
http://tinyurl.com/328qmo
(The Monarch used to be the old Lincoln Village Movie Theatre at the s. end of Lincoln Village, a couple of doors down from Radijazz -- between Highland Mall and I35, near Little Jerry's Artarama ).

More info: http://www.bluegenieart.com/art_bazaar_2007.html

Thanks so much for your continued support, and feel free to pass on this info to friends you think might enjoy the event.

Please have a safe and joyful holiday season, xoxoxo
JNA

Pirate doctor Yoshio

Pirate doctor Yoshio
Originally uploaded by jna designs

Say Aaarrrrghhh!

cranberry sauce, yummm!

putting my notes here because I had trouble finding them from last year... *Whole Cranberry Sauce with Orange

In a sauce pan, combined 6 cups of fresh cranberries with 2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, 2 1/2 cup sugar, about 2 tbsp fresh grated ginger, and the zest from 2 oranges.

Bring to a boil while you stir. Adjust flame and continue stirring until berries "pop" and "sauce" thickens (back of the spoon is clear when you swipe your finger across). Made the day before and chilled

*CANDIED YAMS

2 40 oz (2#, 8 oz) cans yams

butter

1 cup orange juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

Drained yams, discarded liquid. Arranged in baking dish. Pour orange juice over yams. Sprinkle liberally with brown sugar. Dot with butter pats. Sprinkle with marshmallows, if desired (I am not a fan of marshmallows in my yams, but some folks like 'em). Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees or in any oven temperature (i.e., right along with the turkey) until marshmallows melt and liquid is bubbly.

Cooked night before and reheated!

http://www.culinarycafe.com/Vegetarian/Vegetarian_Dressing.html Vegetarian Dressing Serves: 6 Ingredients: * 1 loaf day-old bread, torn into small pieces * 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup * 1 (10.5 ounce) can vegetable broth * 2 tablespoons water * 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning * salt to taste * ground black pepper to taste * 1/2 cup wild rice, cooked * 1/4 cup dried cranberries * 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms * 1/2 cup chopped pecans * 1/4 cup cubed apples Mix together the bread, cream of mushroom soup, vegetable broth, water, poultry seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. Add rice, cranberrys, mushrooms, pecans, and apples as desired. It will be sticky. Shape into a loaf and wrap in (nonstick, sprayed) foil to bake. Bake for about an hour at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). You can slice it like a meatloaf and serve.

Blue Genie 7th Annual Art Bazaar Dec 5th-24th

Blue Genie's annual Holiday Art Bazaar is coming up, December 5th thru the 24th (20 days, wow!) They have moved this year's event to a bigger location, the Monarch Events Center in Lincoln Village (6406 North IH–35, Suite 3100). This is the 7th year, and there is always an eclectic mix of artisans (over 80 this year), yours truly included.

Check it out!
xoxo jna

Stitch is Saturday, November 10th!

This Saturday Nov 10th I will be sharing a booth at Stitch with my pal Jessica (her business is changing name from BunBun Babythreads to Rose & Duke, stay updated via her blog).

Here's a list of other people who will be participating: Who's Going to be at Stitch 2007! I have restocked Pink, Sparks, and Moxie; and have been putting more stuff together every free moment I have! It's been crazy over here. See you there, Stitch is a fun event with great vendors, and an awesome fashion show. Note that this year it will be at the Austin Convention Center, the Austin Music Hall is still under major remodel/reconstruction. xoxo jna

Swap-O-Rama-Rama at Maker Faire

Passing on some info for an event I will be doing this weekend with the Austin Craft Mafia:

Austin's First SWAP-O-RAMA-RAMA is Here! http://www.swaporamarama.org @ Maker Faire http://www.makerfaire.com

Saturday October 20th 11am to 5pm & Sunday October 20th 11 to 4pm And A Recycled Fashion Show Saturday Eve from 5pm to 6pm

At the Travis County Expo Center, Austin TX

A ticket to Maker Faire plus any size bag of your unwanted clothes required to enter, leave with all the clothes you can carry plus learn to modify and make new from old. Save $ with Advance Tix: http://tinyurl.com/yolpga

"There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness." Gandhi

Join in the communal process of reuse and celebrate our collective creativity! You are invited to Swap-O-Rama-Rama, a giant clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing. And while your there explore the massive creativity of Maker Faire celebrating art, engineering, science and the spirit of DIY.

It's easy to make the move from consumer to creator - and it's fun. At this Swap-O-Rama-Rama you'll find a host of talent brought together to teach you how to transform your new/used duds into works of your own.

Check out the extraordinary crew of artists and designers & the workshops being offered, which include local groups: Craft O Rama, Craft Mafia, Sublime Stitching, Goodwill, First Samples and Studio 3 as well as artists Zimka, Mary Keene, Andee Knutson and Gretchen Elsner. You'll find T shirt mods, conductive textiles workshops, silk screening, wool re-spinning and a whole lot more!

Together the creative reuse community of Austin bring you: DIY Stations where you can learn many wonderful ways to create out of textile reuse, Sewing Stations where local designers will teach you fresh clothing mod tricks, on site Silk Screeners with a host of original designs to refresh old duds and extraordinary local designers who'll show off their work in the Swap-O-Rama-Rama reuse fashion show MC'd by Jennifer Nordstrum.

Of course the core of the swap is the gigantic piles of free clothing (several thousand pounds!) sorted into categories: pants, shirts, skirts, sweaters etc. These piles are the collective total of each guest’s contribution of any size bag of unwanted clothes so clean out those closets and let go of what's no longer inspiring. Take home as much clothing as you can carry. Remainders go to Austin's Goodwill.

Wondering what to bring? Sewing machines are generously supplied by Janome Austin's Goodwill will be on site teaching DIY mods and offering their generous support.

See you there...

Maker Faire coming to Austin Oct 20-21st

I will be at the Maker Faire Swap-o-Rama-Rama DIY & Sewing Stations: Unique Mods Taught by Local Artists at the Travis Co Expo Center. There will be other members of the Austin Craft Mafia, as well as Craft-O-Rama folks, looking forward to meeting some other people who love making things.

Here's the skinny:

SWAP-O-RAMA-RAMA
Saturday October 20th 11am to 5pm & Sunday October 20th 11 to 4pm; And A Recycled Fashion Show Saturday Eve from 5pm to 6pm

At the Travis County Expo Center in AUSTIN TEXAS
Bring any size bag of unwanted clothing, leave with all that you can carry and of course - modify!(All remaining clothing will be donated to Goodwill, a supporter of Austin's Swap-O-Rama-Rama)

Wool-Ease socks photos...

I have uploaded pics of the socks I knit (and added them to ravelry), still need to shoot pics of the toddler cargo shorts... the yarn is dsicontinued (vintage?) old stash, but I have quite a bit, maybe it was bought to become a cardigan or something big?

Lion Brand Wool-Ease Black-Multi

Wool-Ease socks 4

Wool-Ease socks 3

Wool-Ease socks 5
Originally uploaded by jna designs

Free knitting pattern widget

I have been playing with this free pattern widget (I have a ton of bookmarked links to patterns I will add one of these days as well!) and I picked up one big rubbermaid tub of my yarn stash from storage. I have been knitting small projects as I can, working toward converting stash into holiday gifts. Which I will eventually photograph and post to ravelry. [I have added pics of the socks and yarn, need to take pics of Y's cargo shorts]

New to ravelry...

I have been reading about ravelry on various knitting blogs, and it was mentioned in podcasts, and I finally got an invite and started playing with it a bit. We just moved to a new house a few weeks ago, so my stash is in boxes, some in storage at my mom's, some in hubby's studio, but I have kept a few projects with me, my set of interchangeable circulars, and some yarns I'd like to play with. Over the past few months of packing, movig, putting things into storage, and trying to hustle up as much freelance work as I could, I finished a couple pairs of socks, some scarves, and pair of cargo pocket toddler shorts (sewing the pockets on now). Making some headway towards my holiday gifting, also have a hat mostly done for my hubby (decreasing for crown). The socks, shorts and hat are all black or charcoal, and I expect I might have problems photographing them. Anyway, hope I will be better about documenting my projects, I added linkage to this blog rss feed, my del.icio.us bookmarks, and my flickr account. Seems pretty handy so far....

New Tote Bags, plus more items!

I have some new tote bags, xlarge zippies, and more in the webstore, as well as some sale items, and some clearance coming to eBay!

eBay studio sale, starts June 14th!

I am going to be having a studio clearance sale via eBay, starting Thursday June 14th (7 day auction). My seller ID is i_sew_vinyl. Bargains to be had for the highest bidder, I will combine shipping if you win more than one auction item.

Trunk Show at Moxie, Thursday May 10th

I am going to be doing a trunk show at Moxie and the Compound Thursday, May 10th.

Here's the skinny:
Come by, have some food and a drink, and check out some recent work! I have a new batch of totes and some other great stuff.

Thursday May 10th
5pm - 8pm
Moxie and the Compound
909 W Mary, Suite B, Austin TX 78704 (map)

See you there! xo jna

Austin Chronicle article: Water This Cottage Industry

There is an article by Rachel Koper in the current issue of the Austin Chronicle about an upcoming show I am participating in a show the weekend before Mother's Day! The second Handmade Austin Women show will be at Ginko Studios on May 5th & 6th from 10-6.

 

2007 ARTISTS INCLUDE:
Jenifer Nakatsu Arntson / JNA Designs
Sunyong Chung / Ginko Studios
Jaime Jo Fisher
Chia Guillory
Stephanie Lindsey / Baby Jane
Bonnie Lynch
Melanie Schopper / M. Schopper Ceramics

More info and a map available at HandmadeAustinWomen.com.

See you there! I have lots of new work and special show prices.

New site look and feel! And a Sale...

My site has a new look, thanks to Jenny at websydaisy! I've been working on implementing the changes, it's an ongoing project... I am having a little webstore sale, and also have new items, being photographed and coming soon... working day and nght for the upcoming HAW show. xo jna

Handmade Austin Women 2007 Spring Show - May 5 & 6

I am participating in a show the weekend before Mother's Day! The second Handmade Austin Women show will be at Ginko Studios on May 5th & 6th from 10-6. Here's the skinny: Please join us for the Second Annual Handmade Austin Women Spring Show on the weekend of May 5th and 6th from 10am till 6pm. Handmade Austin Women are dedicated to unique design and the highest quality in handmade work. Our Spring Show 2007 offers high fashion, original house wares, wearable art, fine art, stunning jewelry and live musical accompaniment. You can preview our show and find directions at http://www.handmadeaustinwomen.com LOCATION: Ginko Studios 800 Gullett Street (512) 389-1920 WHEN: Weekend before Mother's Day May 5th-6th 2007 10 a.m until 6 p.m. DIRECTIONS: (map link http://tinyurl.com/2k2ckc ) From IH 35 and 7th street, go east on 7th street. Left turn on Springdale Road. Right turn on Lyons Road. Right turn on Gullett Street (Lyons dead ends at Gullet). Park on Gullet, walk to the end of the street to the stone house on right (800 Gullet St), walk through the chain link gate to the left of the house. 2007 ARTISTS INCLUDE: Jenifer Nakatsu Arntson / JNA Designs Sunyong Chung / Ginko Studios Jaime Jo Fisher Chia Guillory Stephanie Lindsey / Baby Jane Bonnie Lynch Melanie Schopper / M. Schopper Ceramics MUSICAL GUESTS: DJ Mahealani Laura Freeman as Luna Tart Handmade Austin Women believe in the profound benefits of keeping women sustained at work at home here in Austin. For more information about the event and artists, please visit http://www.handmadeaustinwomen.com -------- (added 4/23/07) The upcoming Handmade Austin Women 2007 Spring Show was mentioned in the Austinist: Fashion Bits!

Naughty Secretary Club in e-commerce guide article

Fellow Austin Craft Mafia member Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club is mentioned in an article on ecommerce-guide.com. Article is pretty good, check it out.



xox

jna

New item in webstore...

I have added a new category of products, d.i.y. & kits, and a new product: a set of 10 glow-in-the-dark stars that can be used as appliques/embellishment on your own items (clothing, a tote bag, etc) either by hand-sewing or machine stitching. Probably could do more than one item! There are a mix of 4 sizes, I cut them myself on my die press....

On Stylelicious this week...

Don't forget that over on DIY Network at 2pm Central you can catch the Austin Craft Mafia girls on Stylelicious. TUESDAY: Tina, Jen A. and Susann whip up some Eco-Friendly Fashions like skirts out of sheets and paper bags into passport cases. THURSDAY: Old to New is the theme with Karly, Tina and Susann making capes and slip dresses!

Happy February!

I have moved to a new host and am rebuilding the store, thanks for your patience. The Blue Genie Art Bazaar was awesome, thanks everyone for coming and showing your support! I have some new designs I've been working on, will post soon, and will be clearing out some old stock. Stay tuned... xox JNA