Saturday, April 29, 2006
Horror, Hand Made and Happenstance.
Last night I went to see Silent Hill, a monumentally bad movie based on the video game of the same title. Now, I'm a big fan of horror flicks in general and have no problem with suspending disbelief for the sake of a good scare but seriously movie-making people, please...step away...from the usage of rediculously over-sized cgi bugs, the literal representation of our country's puritanical discrepencies and the cliche portrayal of a modernized Joan of Arc in leather cop pants and spikey, bleached hair. Okgoodthanksbye. The quote of the evening came from my date who after apologizing profusely for taking me to such a sucky film said, "I think that this movie was compiled of scenes from other movies made back in the days before acting got good." Indeed, my dear. Indeed.
Tonight's gonna be a long one. First, there's our friend Chris Hernandez's art show at Gallery Lombardi. Then, it's off to Opal Divine's South to celebrate my friends' Jenny & Dirk's 10th anniversary. After that, there's a big birthday bash for the Chicken Ranch Records guys at Longbranch. The evening will end (and if you're experiencing a bit of insomnia, you should totally join me for this one) at the 24-hour grand opening event at the Blanton Art Museum. Members from the Austin Craft Mafia have put together a fashion show that will be happening at 2am (no, I'm not kidding) that will surely be described by go-ers as, "kick-awesome" or "fantastalicious". So if you're in the Austin area, take a nap this afternoon and rendezvous with me in the wee hours at:
Blanton Museum of Art
The University of Texas at Austin
MLK at Congress
Hope to see you there! Oh,and if you missed it on Thursday, tune in to Stylelicious tomorrow at 4pm ET for the Purse Party episode hosted by the the lovely Karly Hand, Jen Artnson and Hope Perkins.
The main men in my life have a soccer game in a few,so I gots to go.
Happy weekend!
Vickie
posted by Vickie Howell @ 11:18 AM
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
My, Oh My!
Hey all! Just a quick post to tell you about this adorable site, MyMy.com. I bought a "I Buy D.I.Y." t-shirt from one of their vendors at the BUST Craftacular last year, but it wasn't until they contacted me recently that I discovered their site. If you get a moment, take a look at their virtual aisles of crafty goodness, including my Top 6 Favorites which are currently featured on their home page.
Happy shopping!
xo,
Vic
posted by Vickie Howell @ 2:55 PM
Monday, April 24, 2006
O-Town
I'm back from the Oakland Knit & Crochet show. I had never been to this event before and although it's much smaller than the Stitches conventions, there were still some very cool things about the trip. The Los Altos shop Full Thread Ahead hosted book signing events for me on Thursday and Sunday. Their booth was right next to Stitch Diva's, so I got to hang out with them for awhile. This is me with Stephanie & Jennifer (aka the Stitch Diva herself).
During some down time at the end of the day, Stephanie taught me how to Tunisian crochet. I started making a basic poncho and it was so much fun that I even worked on it while I was at the bar that evening!
I also finally met Suss Cousins, who I freakin' adore.
She was there with her husband Brian, promoting her new line of yarn (below is my favorite, Suss Fuzzy, inspired by the knitwear design she did for "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"--isn't it awesome?!).
I ended up spending hours upon hours with them, delicious food and great wine, while chatting about a possible collaboration project. Suss just opened a new boutique in New York that I'm hoping to get to soon. Have any of you been to it yet? The space is supposed to be amazing!
Kevin, one of my best friends since I was 18 years old, lives just outside of San Francisco so when he wasn't busy doing fancy pants MNA banking stuff he found the time to take me to brunch at this little bistro in Oakland where we had rediculously over-priced French food. After that he took me back to work--I think that visiting a knitting convention was a whole new experience for him, one that he seemed to find quite entertaining. Although it doesn't happen nearly often enough, it's always really cool hanging out with him.
Alright, that's it for Adventures in Knitland today. Stay tuned tomorrow for more random blabbering.
xo,
Vic
posted by Vickie Howell @ 11:08 AM
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Threads, Thursday and That's It.
Hey,all! I'm in Northern California right now doing some promotions for New Knits on the Block and speaking at the Knit and Crochet show. I'm sitting here in the lobby of the hotel (the only place I can get wireless to work) still in my sweats with only about 20 minutes until my ride comes to take me to Oakland, so this'll be quick. I visited Full Threads Ahead in Los Altos yesterday for a Q&A and book signing. The crowd was lovely and I had a great time. If you're interested in seeing pictures from the event, check out the Full Threads Blog! If you're in Oakland over the next few days, stop on by the show and say "hi"!
Hey, and if you're in Austin this evening, check out one of my favorite local bands, Arms in Danger! They'll be playing along with Secular End, Ruins of Broadway and Death is Not a Joyride at Emo's. Doors open at 8pm, show starts at 10pm. Tell the AinD boys I sent ya!
And no matter where you are, don't forget to watch and/or set your Tivo's for a new episode of Stylelicious, airing today at 2:30pm ET/1:30pmCT/11:30amPT!
Howell, out!
xoxo,
Vickie
posted by Vickie Howell @ 11:24 AM
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Extra! Extra!
NEWS
This just in, new Knitty Gritty episodes will begin airing in July AND we got picked up for 26 more! We'll go into production this summer, so if you're interested in being a guest, a Knitster or you'd like your product used on the show then keep your eyes peeled for contact info. I'll post the scoop as I get it over the next couple of months.
PHOTOS
As promised, more pictures from the Stylelicious launch party are now available for your viewing pleasure. Let your finger's do the walking over to the photos section of my website.
EVENTS
If you're in the bay area, I'll be there this week for a few events:
Book Signing
Wednesday 4/19 at 6:00pm
Full Thread Ahead
169 Main Street
Los Altos, CA 94022
650.948.9036
www.fullthreadahead.com
Discussions and Book Signings
Knit & Crochet Show
Oakland, CA
Thursday 4/20 at 7pm at the Market Street Preview
Saturday 4/22 at 2pm at the Full Thread Ahead Booth
Saturday 4/22 at 6pm at the Chic Street Fashion Show (I'll just be hanging out at this event.)
www.knitandcrochet.com
Come on by to one or all of the events, I'd love to meet ya!
xx,
Vickie
posted by Vickie Howell @ 9:07 AM
Saturday, April 15, 2006
A freaka for the Chica!
A couple of months ago, my best friend Tammy came to visit me from L.A. to get my side patio in working order. She's clearly the master gardner out of the two of us, so I just vaguely mentioned what I envisioned in a hang-out area and she took the reigns. The sort of work-in-progress result is a retro-kitsch courtyard (seen here pre-fence building)complete with dinette set, succulent plants and a porch swing. This is now my favrorite area of the house and in fact, has recently become a clubhouse of sorts for my friends and their bevies. ;-)
My porchtopia however still needs work, and I need inspiration. Enter, my friend Kathy Cano Murillo's new book Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul!
Although this book is filled with a range of latina-inspired crafty goodness, my current obsession takes me directly to the outdoor decor projects namely: the adorable Tin Trimmed Garden Stakes (P. 109), Fantastico Fantasy Paper Lights (p. 106) and my absolute, this-makes-me-giddy-and-I-must-make-it pick, the Flamin' Firepot (p. 121). I mean, c'mon, a fire source for your patio made form a washing machine tub and plant stand? Brilliant! As in all of her books, Kathy has strung together spicey, yet whimsical projects with inspirational wit and a whole lotta glitter. Art De La Soul is available online and in bookstores now. Te Amo, Crafty Chica!
Crafty Kisses,
Vickie
posted by Vickie Howell @ 1:42 PM
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Babes, Books and Boys
The Sylelicious launch party went off with a couple of hitches (our i-pod connection didn't work so we had to go with juke box tunes and the burned dvds of the show wouldn't play in the bar's dvd player, so we had to call for back-ups. oy.), but ended up a success. We had so much fun! Doc's was packed with peeps out to support us (or for the hour of free bevies--who knows,really?)and the other girls all looked amazing. I really love how different all of our styles are.
My camera was being fussy so I only got 3 pictures the entire evening: Karly, Tina and Hope emceeing the raffle (who let Karly have the mic?!) and me with my little friend Heide and then withJen A.. However, photographer extraordinaire Jody Horton was there and armed with his camera, so I'll have more shots to share with you soon.
Speaking of Mr. Horton (he did the photography for my new book), I got an advanced copy of Not Another Teen Knitting Book in the mail this weekend! Besides my aformentioned dislike of my mullet-y self on the cover, I'm really happy with how the book looks. I hope everyone who sees it, gets the sense of humor and kitschiness of the layout. For better or worse, it defintely doesn't look like the other teen crafty books out there.
Yesterday my boys had a soccer game in the morning. My oldest, Tanner has some mad soccer playing skillz (which clearly has nothing to do with me--I'm the artsy parent--and eveything to do with his dad) and my 4 year old, Tristan made his first goal! He was so proud that he strutted around doing a little dance, for the rest of the game. Really though, Tristan is more interested in the uniform than he is the game. He wore the cleats and shin guards for two days straight when the season first started. So cute! Anyway, here are my kiddos (left and center) with their team mate, Max.
I'm finally making a little bit of progress on the projects for the crochet book. I just have the finishing to do on a summer tank and I'm working on a ruffle-y winter scarf. I have a katrillion more projects to crochet over the next month or so, as is evident by the mammoth pile of yarn in my office. I guess it's movie marathon/crochetapalooza time at my house. I've also found 80% of the contributing designers (I'm really excited about their projects!), so I only need a handful more before that process is complete. Hooray!
Ok, I've babbled on for long enough. Have a lovely Sunday!
xx,
Vickie
posted by Vickie Howell @ 8:31 AM
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
My Girls Like to Party All the Time.
Heya! On the eve of the television debut of the Austin Craft Mafia's show, Stylelicious, just a reminder that we're having a party tonight to celebrate. If you're in the Austin area, please come on down to join us at 7:30pm at Docs Motorworks on South Congress. Free vodka and rum bevies from 8-9, raffle giveaways throughout the evening, gift bags for the first 75 people, drink specials, $1 tacos and previews of the show running on the monitors! Hope to see you there!
In the meantime, for your entertainment, check out Stylelicious producer Andrew Wollman's (he's the one w/o the beard) spoof on one of our country's beloved theatrical masterpieces. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce, "Broke Mac Mountain"!
Adieu,
Vickie
posted by Vickie Howell @ 10:41 AM
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Kick Ass-cot!
Heya! I've been toying around with offering free patterns on my site every once in a while, but I don't really have time right now to pull enough of them together to warrant a full web page (although I promise to do it in the near future). So, when Bev asked for the pattern for the neck piece I'm wearing in my new Austin Craft Mafia head shot (taken by the lovely and talented, Cory Ryan) I thought, why not just post patterns on the blog? Duh. I've been really into Victorian-inspired ruffles lately, but still wanted to make something with a bit of an edge that I could easily pair with my uniform of jeans and heels. The result was this funky little cotton neck scarf that's definitely more about fashion, than function. Enjoy!
KICK ASS-COT!
Matertials
MC-1 ball (approx. 100yds) Sport Weight Cotton
CC-Scraps of Fingering Weight Mohair Blend
US Size 8 Needles
US Size 3 Needles
Tapestry Needle
Foaming Waves Stitch Pattern (source: 365 Stitches a Year)
Rows 1-4: Knit
Row 5 (RS): K1, *K2tog twice, (YO, K1) 3 times, YO, (sl1,K1, psso) twice, K1;rep from * to end.
Row 6: Purl
Rows 7-12: Rep Rpws 5 and 6 three more times.
Rep these 12rows for pattern.
Directions Make 2.
Using MC and larger needles, CO 25 sts.
Work 12 row stitch pattern, twice.
K 4 rows.
Next row (RS): Switch to CC and smaller needles
K1, K2tog to end (13 sts)
K 3 rows.
Next row (RS): Switch back to MC and larger needles. inc1, k1, to last st, K1 (25 sts)
*Note: This row counts as Row 1 of stitch pattern.
Beginning with row 2, continue in stitch pattern, once.
Work rows 1-6 of stitch pattern.
Next row (RS): *K2tog to last stitch, K1 (13 sts)
K1 row.
K1, *K2tog to end (7 sts)
Continue knitting straight until piece measures 16 1/2" from beginning.
BO.
Finishing
Using tapestry needle, stitch the two pieces together at the skinny ends.
Voila! OMG, you're so punk! Wait, no, I mean preppie! Wait, or do I mean goth?...
Knitlicious kisses,
Vickie
posted by Vickie Howell @ 12:46 PM
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