My favorite color is rainbow

If everything goes as planned, this stack of fabric will become the color wheel quilt from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. When I was little, I loved picking up big boxes of crayons and arranging all the colors in a spectrum. And then I would eat them. Just kidding! I was never one of those kids who ate crayons. Just glue.

I find looking at rainbows and color wheels very soothing. The way my eyes glide over the different hues as they transition into one another puts my mind at rest. When I was organizing those crayons, one of my favorite parts was holding up different shades of one color and deciding which ones belonged next to each other, especially if they were of similar value. I felt the same way when I was arranging the fabric for my color wheel quilt, and I also had to consider which patterns would look best next to each other. I won't finalize the arrangement until I cut out the pieces, though.

I bought most of these fabrics from Jo-Ann's prodigious fat quarters section when I back in California for my wedding. Others are from Yongle Fabric Market here in Taipei or Purl in New York City -- so the three places I've called home are all represented.

I've never machine quilted before, so I'm making a simple quilt out of a couple wide pieces of fabric to practice using my walking foot. That thing is scary. I keep thinking the "teeth" on the bottom are going to eat my fingers. Wish me luck!

My clapotis is done... finally!

Way back in late 2007, I started work on my Clapotis shawl. At that time I was studying Mandarin on a scholarship, so I couldn't really afford to buy luxuries like Noro Silk Garden yarn. When my parents came to visit me that winter, however, I managed to finagle them into visiting a yarn shop with me. I planned to find a less expensive variegated wool yarn, but then my Mom offered to buy me enough Silk Garden to make a full-length Clapotis. Obviously I was thrilled! When I got home, cradling my bundle of precious, precious luxury yarn, I immediately cast on for my shawl. I spent the next few weeks working on it... and then got bored.

For two years, my Clapotis languished in my yarn drawer. During that time, I finished a nine-month-long language intensive, started working at features writing job where I had to conduct interviews and do research in Mandarin, learned more about my family's heritage and background here in Taiwan, made new friends and got married in San Francisco. All those things happened and yet Clapotis sat in a lump, unloved and forgotten because the thought of having to do yet another meter and a half of mostly stockinette stitch made me want to eat my head.

A few weeks ago, I pulled out the Clapotis again and decided to finish it. I felt guilty for all that nice yarn sitting in my closet, unused. At first I thought about unraveling it and finding a more exciting pattern, but Noro Silk Garden is a very sticky yarn and that would have taken forever. So I just clicked on with my knitting needles... and now I have a nice, warm Clapotis! Yay, just in time for summer!

Fortunately it's been a cloudy and windy lately, so I still have time to enjoy my Clapotis before I have to put it away with my winter clothes. I'll try to work it into an outfit post soon. In the meantime, my cat will court it. He's totally in love with my Clapotis. When I was finishing it the other day, he plopped down on top of it, kneaded the soft wool and then started suckling it. AHHHHHHH!!!

Socks of nostalgia for my husband

The 10 days or so have not been very style-oriented ones for me, as you can probably tell by my lack of outfit posts. I had a doctor's appointment to check up on a chronic condition I have and got so wound up over it that I couldn't think of anything else. Fortunately, it turned out okay, but then Taipei's weather decided to become incredibly insolent, with temperatures zig-zagging all over the place and the rain and sun duking it out for dominance. On the chilly days, I've just pulled on the comfiest things I have (mostly polo dresses from American Apparel, leggings and various sweater coats). On the warm days, I've worn the same few sundresses I've owned for the past couple of years, which reminds me... I need to buy more summer clothes! Oh, I hate shopping for summer clothes. But that's another post.

When I was stressed out about my doctor's appointment, I started knitting in a frenzy. I finished a pair of socks that I'd started two years ago (my excuse is that I fell out of love with the yarn midway through the first sock). When those were done, I pulled out this ball of Zitron Trekking XXL from my stash:

I call it my nostalgic sock yarn because I bought it three years ago from Downtown Yarns in New York City, my favorite yarn shop when I was still living in the States. Casting it on reminds me of the trips I used to make there, ostensibly just to take a peek and fondle some fiber, though I more often than not returned home with at least a skein of Koigu or a ball of handpainted laceweight yarn tucked guiltily in my purse. If I had known how intensely one little skein could bring me back to a place I miss... I'd have bought even more yarn! As I knit, I thought of the trips I took to Alphabet City (where Downtown Yarns is located), strolling through the East Village on my way and then sometimes wandering into the Lower East Side to window shop or gorge myself at Economy Candy (I once bought and ate so much halvah that I can no longer stand the stuff!). At that point, Ron and I were in a long distance relationship (we spent 18 months on opposite sides of the planet), so I had plenty of time to walk around by myself on weekends. It wasn't easy being apart, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy my solitary rambles through the city.

My husband's favorite color is orange, which I'm usually not very fond of. For some reason, I really, really dislike transparent orange things. I remember looking up at some stained glass with glowing orange diamonds inset into the design when I was about seven years old and just wanting to dry heave. Yes, I know, that is totally weird. My husband, on the other hand, loves flaming orange things. As a compromise, I found this tweedy yarn and I actually love working with it. If Ron ever wants a neon orange sweater/scarf/socks, however, he'll just have to learn how to knit himself!

I'm working on getting my dressing-up mojo back. Over the past few days of knitting, it occurred to me that styling an outfit is very much like starting a craft project. You have to think of the textures, colors, materials and (if it's something for yourself) whether or not it will suit you and how the final product will make you feel when you wear it or see it.

What I'm Sproutin': Bunny Malone

Cardigan: American Apparel, bunny t-shirt: Mono+ in Singapore, skirt: American Apparel, tights: Night market, shoes: Green Pine @ Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越), vintage sweater clips: Night market, red coral necklace: self-made

Behold, my bunny tee, just in time for Easter! I bought it during my trip in Singapore from Mono+ on Haji Lane. My second favorite thing about this outfit is that my skirt and tights are the exact same color, despite being bought at two different stores in two different countries on two different continents. As you can imagine, this gave me many hours of amusement and glee.

Here's a close-up of the bunnies:

Speaking of furry creatures, here is my cat rejecting my lovin':

Taroko George doesn't actually hate me. He just hates being held. In fact, he's cuddled up on my stomach right now, looking very dashing in his new argyle collar (his days of running around naked are over!).

The Felting of Frankengeorge

Last month, I decided to achieve my lifelong (okay, four months long) dream of felting my cat... as in, needle felting a miniature version of him. Hands Tailung, a cool Japanese department store, had felt sculpture kits, including one for a ginger-spotted cat. I figured all I needed to do was make a few modifications.

The weird thing about the kit was that even though the original Japanese instructions only took up two pages, the Chinese instructions had NINE sheets. They were only printed on one side of each page and every other (double-spaced)
sentence basically said "refer to diagram in Japanese instructions." Talk about inefficiency!

The kit came with wool and two beady glass eyes (I bought a new pair because the included eyes were just a little too beady). To this pile, I added my special ingredient -- our cat's very own fur!

This tuft is the result of several vigorous brushings and is almost an exact match for the ginger-colored wool in the kit.

This is my first felted sculpture (aside from a watermelon-shaped pincushion I made once), so it came out a little lumpy looking. But I like to think I did a good job of capturing Taroko George's crazy essence!

Taroko George was certainly fascinated by Frankengeorge. I think the fact that Frankengeorge smelled like a mixture of wool, my hands and his own fur really confused/intrigued my cat. The two had to be separated after Taroko George tried to gnaw Frankengeorge's head off.

If any of you decide to try needle felt sculpting, I strongly recommend that you buy a protective leather glove. It's a pill spending US$15 to US$20 for one, but it sure beats being stabbed by little barbed needles (ouch!).

What I'm Sproutin': School Spirit

Navy jacket: See's (a discount store in Taipei), blouse: BCBG sale, yellow skirt: same sale, shoes: Aldo, pendant: F-ck You Barbie, double-stranded choker: self-made, purse: Hayden-Harnett for Target, headband: Accessorize

Blue and gold reminds me of my elementary school, because those were our school colors. I remember being very sad when I realized that gold actually meant "bright yellow." I would have liked to break out the bling on school spirit days!

Then again, I've always been very literal when it comes to dressing up. Our middle school had school spirit weeks. Each day had a different theme; home rooms earned points based on how many students showed up in whatever the costume of the day was. I remember Eighties Day, Backwards Day and Pajama Day. On the latter, I came to school wearing my PJs, which were made out of a soft white jersey and had little pastel flowers on them. They looked like baggy long underwear. It wasn't until I saw my classmates parading around in crisp satin sets from Victoria's Secret and brand-new bunny slippers that I realized there was (is?) an unspoken rule among the student body that you don't wear your actual pajamas to Pajama Day. Whoops! I got funny looks, but then again I always got funny looks, so I didn't care.

I've had this skirt for a little while now. My Mom bought it for me at a BCBG sale when I was in California planning my wedding last year. It also came in navy blue and I debated for a bit until my Mom said I should pick the yellow because I already owned enough clothing in depressing hues. I agreed, but then had a hard time figuring out how to style the skirt until I picked up this structured hoodie. Yes, the jacket is navy blue, but I really like this color combo. When my yellow skirt was hanging unworn in my closet, I regretted not choosing the navy blue, but now I'm glad I have such a cheerful-looking item greeting me every time I get dressed.

To make my outfit a little less preppy (not that there is anything wrong with preppy), I added my anatomically-correct heart pendant from a Taipei-based indie design team called F-ck You Barbie. They also made my beloved brain pendant. The weather's been awful recently in Taipei -- gray, wet and chilly. The lack of sun has made me feel both blue and mentally foggy. Maybe I should wear both my pendants together for good luck. Goodness knows, my brain and heart could use some extra help right now!

Bean Up to... Fashionary, a new kind of sketchbook

Sketches of outfits I've worn, including my wedding dress

One of my favorite things to do as a young girl was draw outfits in sketchpads my Mom stapled together from scratch paper. A friend of mine taught me how to draw a human figure during theater camp (yes, I was a drama geek). It involved a horizontal oval, inverted triangle, another horizontal oval, six circles and some lines. It worked, but each drawing took a relatively long time. I recently began sketching again and thought about making some sort of template so I wouldn't have to keep making the same figure over and over again. And then I discovered Fashionary via What I Wore. I was so taken with the idea that I ordered one right away (well, I waited a week, but you get my point).

The first part of the book, which was created by Hong Kong designer Penter Yip, includes useful information for fashion designers, such as technical drawings of different pieces of clothing, pattern templates, a schedule of major fashion events in different countries and samples of presentation boards. Most of Fashionary consists of pages with "blending figures," however, or female figures in very faint, dotted outlines. You can sketch an outfit over them and it saves you a lot of time and hassle. If you want to work on your fashion illustration skills, as I do, Fashionary lets you skip the irksome process of drawing a body and skip directly to sketching the outfit itself.

The dress on the far left is a practice sketch I copied from a drawing on Fashionary.org. The others are all sketches of clothing I own. It's like seeing myself stretched out!

My drawings aren't perfect by any means, but I'm looking forward to improving them, especially in terms of being able to capture fabric textures more realistically. I'm not a designer, but sketching is a great form of stress release and Fashionary makes it even more fun. I highly recommend it. The sketchbook is US$16 and you can order it online from Etsy. If you don't feel like buying it right away, you can download sample blending figure templates from the Web site.

Also, if any of you have tips on good online resources for fashion illustration techniques, please let me know!

11.9.2009 Back to the Fifties, via the Eighties

Vintage dress: Beacon's Closet, cardigan: Modcloth, shoes: Sogo, necklace: self-made

Judging by the label, fabric and elasticized waist, I think that this dress, which I purchased in Brooklyn five years ago (!!!), was made in the 1980s. But I think its circle skirt, v-neck and print all look a bit mid-century.

Ron and I were walking to lunch on Yongkang St. (a really cool neighborhood in Taipei) a couple weeks ago when we decided to take a detour through some alleys because of construction on the main road. We discovered this little corner and even though the sign just says "garage door, please do not park here," I still think it's one of the prettiest no parking signs I've ever seen. The hand-lettering is especially neat and I like the red paint. Somebody put love in that sign! (Or maybe they really don't want people to park there).

I made my necklace a while ago from goldstone, a very glittery manmade stone. I love it -- the little sparkles remind me of stars floating in the universe... and so each bead is a tiny galaxy, kind of like the end of "Men in Black" (or maybe "Monty Python and the Meaning of Life”).

I just watched the season 3 finale of "Mad Men" STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!!! I don't understand why some critics think Betty won't be able to remain relevant to the plot line if she does indeed divorce Don and marry Henry. I think she is an interesting enough character in her own right, even if she less pleasant and easy to empathize with than the other leading characters. If she marries Henry, she's still marrying into a relationship where she might feel like her potential is being unrealized and she is being infantilized (remember Henry's remark about supporting her and her kids completely?). I doubt the writers would let Betty, whose inner life has been at the forefront of season 3, marry a much older man she barely knows and leave it at that. At the same time, the Francis marriage won't have the same kind of baggage as the Draper marriage, so Betty can start reading "The Feminine Mystique" and participating in the feminist movement (which I think the series is priming her to do) without getting waylaid by finding out her husband is actually some guy who was killed in the Korean War.

I hope everyone is having a stellar Monday!

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeee!

"Look everyone! It's a floating number 8 on fire!"

I turn 28 today! 27 was a good year; I hope 28 is just as good or even better.

It's also been an exciting week for style blogger birthdays. Fancy Pants, lost in the forest and Andi B. Goode all celebrated birthdays very recently and I just know that there are people I am forgetting. Argh, I hate it when my brain conks out on me like that. But happy birthday to all of you ladies (and anyone else I am missing). If you are also an August (or late July) baby, please let me know in the comments!

As for what I am doing on my birthday... well, Ron and I were going to get sushi, watch "Bruno," which just opened in Taipei, and then enjoy a chocolate fondue, but unfortunately it's typhoon day here and everything is closed (though fortunately the typhoon does not seem to be too bad). On top of that, Ron has a cold, poor thing, so it's been a slow day to say the least. To pass the time, I've been hemming one of my vintage dresses, which is exciting, because it feels like I have a brand new dress (one that doesn't hang to an unflattering length and make me look like a nincompoop, that is). I HATE hemming with a passion (especially since I insist on hand-hemming all my vintage items), so to motivate myself I've been re-watching "Project Runway." For some reason, hearing that music and watching the designers freak out over their crazy challenges really puts me in a sewing frame of mind.

DIY Seedlings: Ron's birthday gift

My husband's birthday was on July 27 (and so was my dad's... they were born on the same date!) and since this is the first birthday Ron and I are celebrating as a married couple, I wanted to give him something a little bit more special. So I took an idea I'd seen in a recent issue of "Real Simple" (I love that magazine, by the way) and gave him little hand-folded glassine envelopes with small slips of paper inside, one for each year of his life so far. On the slips of paper, I wrote either a memory I have of Ron or something that I like about him.

Here is one of the less gag-inducingly cheesy things I wrote:

The story behind this is that before we started dating, I wanted to covertly show Ron that I was all deep and stuff (har har) without looking too obvious. I happened to have a copy of "The Book of Disquiet" by Fernando Pessoa, an amazing work of prose poetry, in my purse and hauled it out to show to him while we were hanging out at our graduate school's happy hour. Ron said, "Oh, I've heard of that. I wanted to buy it but the book store was sold out." I was so happy that my nerdy little flirting ploy had worked out. In fact, it worked out so well that we got married two and a half months ago. Thanks, Fernando!

On the cover of the box, I wrote lyrics from "One April Day" by Stephin Merritt, which was our first dance song. We chose it because a) it's short (less than two minutes) and b) the lyrics always make me tear up a little bit. They say so much in so little time about the mysteries, frustrations, sorrows, rewards and joys of being in love. The stickers are based on Japanese paper designs and the dotty tape is actually for scrapbooking.

While I was making this gift, I wanted to make sure that many of the materials I used were recycled. The box used to hold a paper frame I purchased and the slips of paper are from a legal pad that I used at my reporting job back in NYC and then practiced Chinese characters on when I moved to Taipei and started studying Mandarin.

The original gift mentioned in the "Real Simple" article was made by a mom for her daughter. Each slip contained a childhood memory and the envelopes were placed in a jar. I think that's so sweet -- it must be so nice to read all these things about yourself that you've totally forgotten about. Here are some other ideas I thought up for this kind of present:

• Instead of notebook paper, use paper ephemera with a sentimental meaning for you and the recipient, like a subway map from a vacation, an old syllabus from a class you took together, fliers from shows, take-out menus from your favorite restaurants, etc.

• I think this would be a great gift for someone who is going off to school for the first time, or for your significant other or friend before a long separation. You can make envelopes for each of the days you guys have to spend apart before you are reunited. It'd be like getting a handwritten letter every day! (Ron and I had to spend a year and a half apart while he worked in Taipei and I worked in NYC. I wish I had thought of this back then, but considering that it was six months before we saw each other again for the first time, that would have been a lot of writing!)
  

• In addition to writing memories or sweet things on the slips of paper, you can also write jokes, the URLs of interesting Web sites, very simple recipes or draw little sketches. Anything the recipient might like.

On a tangent... the cloth I photographed Ron's gift on is traditional Taiwanese fabric. It has many names, like A-Ma cloth (grandma cloth), peony cloth or Hakka cloth (Hakka people are a subgroup of Han Chinese that my mother's family belongs to). I love the bright colors and exuberant floral designs. Hopefully I'll make a dress out of it if I get my sewing act together!

這是我送給Ron的生日禮物. 不會太肉麻嗎？哈哈!