Kennys Wickes Weekend

Wait... what am I doing SEWING?! - you'll see... - just keep in mind I was doing this for a number of weekends.. secretly working on this project and not telling many folks...

It's all in the past now... but wow - STILL reveling in the fun we had preparing for (and experiencing "Kenny's Wicked Weekend!" - let's get one thing out of the way... no, I didn't spell the title wrong ... bear with me - you'll see why it's important in good time! haha

First, I'll tell you - I had traveled from Los Angeles to San Francisco each weekend for a month preparing with my best friend John for this weekend.  Kenny Chua had mentioned that he wanted to see Wicked - he wanted the gang to join him in Houston to see the show for the 4th of July.  No offense to those who live in TX, but have you ever BEEN to TX in the summer?  eek.  HOT.  so... we started planning... some of that planning took lots of sewing (and surging and embroidering!) - we made magic happen.  (John and I are also running - we're going to do a marathon; my 2nd, John's 1st! at some point this year!)...  so we worked on our secret project, and ran at least once each weekend (except for one!)

then...

Kenny, Gregg, Chuck and I flew to San Francisco for the 4th of July weekend - and among all the other fun things we got to do, we spent some time visiting yarn shops...

Here we are at A Verb for Keeping Warm - it was a true treat to meet the owner Kristine and see her shop - I never thought I would have the pleasure of seeing this space... it's worth visiting, and if you have ever pondered the idea of buying from her, I can't give you a higher recommendation.  She was kind, informative and honest about all my questions relating to owning a fiber business (my dream!) - we were also lucky enough to be hosted to our tour of Berkeley by none other than wondermike of Fiber Beat ... he took photos of us, toured us around the town and shared lunch with him.. it was a real adventure!

We also visited the "T Cozy" - some knit taggers did this bit of public yarn bombing... on a public art installation of "HERE" and "THERE" referencing a famous poem.. "there is no 'there' there..."

We went to Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles - my favorite part of this place was it's overwhelming selection of gorgeous vintage (style) scissors!

OK OK... so now it's time for WICKED! - we dressed up in our black pants, white shirts, green argyle socks, official "Wicked" green glasses, top hats and CUSTOM MADE Opera Capes!

Here they are... hand made by John and me... black crepe, lined in black satin... the interior of each cape has the San Francisco skyline in green sequin fabric embroidered along the base - and on one side of the cape there's the Golden Gate Bridge with "Kenny's Wicked Weekend" and the details of the weekend memorialized under the roadway.

It was an incredible weekend - and the show is amazing - we were 5th row CENTER - we went around back and met some of the cast, got Kenny's grimmerie (souvenier book) signed by some of the actors... and in the end, everyone appreciated the capes - other patrons took our photos, the crew laughed and pointed us out as "crazy fans" and we all learned a valuable lesson - if you really LOVE something and dive in with all your heart, most people will be supportive...

We love Kenny - and now I'm pretty sure he's OK with the idea of parading downtown San Francisco in capes.. as long as he's with his friends.

For the actual 4th of July - we had a picnic in Dolores park... and unveiled the cake we had made for Kenny... the Asian bakery that made it for us (who also make the amazingly yummy pork buns I have to eat every morning when visiting) spelled "Wicked" wrong... but what were we going to do but laugh and take the cake... in the end, it was perfect... even if it wasn't.

Memories... these crazy life changing wacky weekends are some of the best type... and if there's a typo in them, then so be it - the cake was YUMMY.. the weekend perfect.... in every way - weather, friends, atmosphere... we are lucky boys to know each other... and it's all because of knitting.

Happy Birthday, Kenny (a few months late!)

Here are some of the photos from the weekend-- in no particular order (bear with them - lots of photos from the yarn shops, the Laci's museum, and our fun adventures with WonderMike... hang tight... there are fun photos of the cake... us in our capes...