the theater stuff: Dumb Angel

Some of you may remember that in real life, I'm involved in theater, and I wanted to tell you about my new project - I'm directing a reading of a new play, Dumb Angel, for the Ruckus Theater. There are three performances - two this weekend and one next week - and if you're interested, there are tickets for sale here. 

Dumb Angel is a collage tribute to the life of Brian Wilson, and the first act is directly transcribed from a recording of the Beach Boys' recording session for "Help Me, Rhonda." In the play, the actors playing the Beach Boys sing the song multiple times in 4-part harmonies. Which means I've woken up singing "Help Me, Rhonda," for the past 3 weeks. 

Makes a girl want to pick up a ukulele...

Yup, my music is off-camera to the right. 

The Renegade Haul

I spent a very sweaty Sunday afternoon at the Renegade Craft Fair with my friend Kathryn. The weather was beautiful, and it was absolutely packed. We stopped by Allyson's booth, where she was peddling my yarn ball brooches, and made a full tour.

I bought a great-smelling bar of soap from soapily ever after and picked up a few fun postcards (Lisa Chow and Twig). 

I absolutely love this little bunny necklace from The Foundrie. I almost got one of their plastic charms, but Kathryn convinced me to go for the silver. How cute is that packaging?

I like shorter necklaces - this one hits at the perfect spot. Just a few purchases, but money well spent!

Thanks, Craft!

I was featured yesterday on Craft!

They did a little blurb about Nixon's Presidential Seal, and I was pretty excited to see it. Welcome if you've just clicked over from the article, and thanks, Craft!

weekend in numbers

Number of:

impulse projects started - 1

plays seen - 1

rehearsals for Dumb Angel - 2

parades watched from my dining room - 1

marching bands in parade - 3

bottles of wine shared - 1

yarn brooches made - 21

special Sweatshop of Love brooches made - 2

episodes of Weeds watched while sewing - 10

Renegade Craft Fairs attended - 1

hours spent sweating at said fair - 2

people who ran directly into me at said fair - 6827

Vintage Crafts - Nixon's Presidential Seal, finished in Crewel

I posted in July about a special commission I was working on - The Presidential Seal, worked in crewel. I've finished stitching, and it turned out so well!

This was a great opportunity to brush up on my crewel stitches - I especially loved the stitch used on the leaves. 

Wanna see the back? No one ever shows the back of their projects, but I'm not shy:

After I framed it and glued down the fabric, I covered the back of the frame in brown paper. I love this nice clean look. 

After Chad (he who commissioned this piece) saw my last post, he sent me some fun pictures. Here's Nixon and Elvis, chilling in the Oval Office. You can see the crewel seal on the wall on the right side.

And here's a picture of the actual piece stitched by Julie Nixon:

It's fun to compare Julie's work with mine. She did some stitches that were very different than those suggested in the kit, which makes me think it was manufactured after Julie made her piece. Look at how things catch on!

Summer Thrifty Finds

I haven't had a ton of time to thrift this summer, but I have had a few really good finds that I wanted to share. Can you tell I'm playing catch-up on posts?

Check it - a vintage Samsonite shoulder bag, patchwork leather clutch, pastoral pendant necklace, teal polka dot dress (to be refashioned) and the mother lode - a beautiful red student size accordion. 

After playing my accordion in a show earlier this year, I realized it was much too large for me to carry around. It's really built for a larger person than I, and caused some serious back pain. So I started looking for a student-size accordion, occasionally checking Craigslist. Then, while visiting a new thrift store near my house, I found this baby. It's perfect!

This necklace came from the same shop, and I love it. I'm sure it's not really antique, but I love how large it is, and the illustration is the sweetest. 

Have you found anything lately?

a little sample Cossette

I took a little project along with me to Liz & Joseph's wedding - Never Not Knitting's Cossette Wrap. I knit this up as a sample for Sifu, so I didn't exactly chose this project myself. I thought it was pretty and all, but I wasn't very excited to knit something for the store. I mean - do I haveta!? 

 Lisa, the owner of Sifu, is my lovely model. 

But let me tell you - I LOVED knitting this. The construction is awesome, despite all the stockinette. You shape the whole thing with short rows, and then simply change colors for the decorative edging. No picking up stitches!

I used Malabrigo Worsted, and I love these colors. I wasn't sold on the pink when it was wrapped in the skein, but it looks awesome knit up.

Except for one little problem... do you see it? Above? How the top part is completely different, despite being the same dye lot!? Maddening, but luckily the wrap is for the store, and can be a teaching piece. "See, kiddies, sometimes things are unfair. Like dye lots." 

I seriously can't get over the edging. I think I need to knit one for myself. After all the sweaters, that is.

Etsy = Updated with Headbands & Curios!

My etsy shop is finally updated! I added leaf headbands & mounted curios, take a look here.

My friend, Sharriese, agreed to be my headband model, and I wanted to share some of the outtakes from our photo shoot:

Sears Portrait Studio

"You open the door for a blind date, and the man is TINY!"

"Make a Katie-face".... apparently this is what I look like?!

Ps. I know some of you expressed interest in pieces I posted back in June. I chose not to list all of these on etsy, but some are still available, or I can custom-make a headband or bracelet for you. If you're interested, please email me at katiesredumbrella@gmail.com! 

Liz & Joseph's Rainbow Wedding

Two weeks ago, Chris and I flew to Rockledge, Fl to celebrate the nuptials of our good friends Liz & Joseph. They had a stunning rainbow wedding at Joseph's parents' garden center. In addition to the beautiful foliage that always lives there, Liz & Joe completely transformed a warehouse, painting murals and decorating like crazy. I played music in the wedding (uke) with a three-lady band, and despite the heat we had a really great time.

 

The Road Bag, finally

Ok, so about a month and a half ago, I blogged about Kelley Deal coming to Chicago and doing a workshop on her Road Bag at Sifu Design Studio & Fine Yarns. Finally, I have completely, totally, ultimately finished the bag!

The workshop was awesome - Kelley is super nice and we had a lot of fun chatting and knitting and eating cupcakes. 

The bag is knit in Cascade Magnum, which is a super chunky wool. After you've knit this huge bag, you throw it in the washer and felt the HECK out of it. I think I washed it three times to get it really close-felted. 

The finished product is so cute. It kinda looks like a cartoon bag! Soft and a bit fluffy. I chose to make a strap out of an old belt I found at the thrift store. I cut the ends to an appropriate length and then hand stitched it around the metal rings, which you put in before felting. I added a huge snap to close the front flap.

The pocket on the back may be my favorite design feature. I must have pockets in my purse, so I'm glad Kelley and I were on the same page. 

Here's the finished bag - somewhat - modeled for perspective. Can you tell I was experimenting with the self-timer? You can practically see up my nose and for that, I apologize. Next time it'll be better.