A Stitch in Time...

A Year (or more) of Socks

2010-10-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

November 1st, I start a project that will likely last me over a year: every month I will knit a pair of socks using some yarn that does not contain any wool.

So far, I have 4 different colors of KnitPick's Comfy Fingering yarn. I have yarn made from milk, corn, sugar, and blends of cotton, bamboo and silk. I think at the moment I have enough yarn for 12 months -and I'm certain that more yarn will find it's way into my stash as I continue down this path.

I have 3 books to choose patterns from: Socks from the Toe Up, by Wendy Johnson; Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks and 2-at-a-time-Socks, both by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.

So Monday I begin. The pattern will be Dead Simple Lace from Wendy's book using Crystal Palace's PANDA COTTON in Bison Brown. Panda Cotton is 59% bamboo,25% cotton, and 16% elastic nylon. Looking forward to getting started.

Plan Your Summer Garden Now

2010-03-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

I stand at my window on a cool, damp January day, beginning the important first step of gardening: planning. At the moment, the garden beds harbor perennial plants storing up moisture and energy for the next year's growth. The lawn is bright green with a weedy annual grass that will die with the first hint of temperatures over 80 degrees. Weeds are dominating both the lawn and garden beds.

Later this winter, I will undertake a major yard renovation, removing the lawn and some of the shrubs in my very small yard and replacing them with drought-tolerant California native plantings. Paths will lead back to a spot to sit and read under the shade of our sweet gum trees, and beyond to the garden beds of vegetables and fruit trees.

Even with most of the work ahead of me, I'm planning how all this will look now, because late winter is the perfect time to carefully decide what will be growing in our gardens this year.

Even if you aren't facing major yard work, the catalogs arriving in the mail are a signal to think about this year's gardens. Without a plan, we will buy too many seeds, plant at the wrong times, and increase the chance of failure even before Mother Nature get her hands into our garden.

What Goes Into a Garden Plan?

How much space you have to work with. For all of us this, is a finite number, and the major control on planting. Measure the space and try to map it out on graph paper.

What you already have planted. Mark off the space for bulbs and bushes, drip irrigation, anything that's not moving/movable in your plan.

When things happen. A bush that flowers in May (like lilac) needs to be visible then. However, if it then becomes simply a mass of green leaves, note to plant something exciting in front of or next to it, to provide interest during the rest of the summer.

Your safe planting dates. When can you start planting cold-hardy varieties? When is your first/last frost date? Know your growing zones.

Now start dreaming...

I see grasses blowing in my bay-influenced breeze, sturdy bushes providing shelter for the birds, and crunchy gravel paths. In the edible garden, blueberries will be added, kale will be repeated. Will there be a place for some cleome somewhere?

Others Planning Their Gardens:

Julee Dunekacke is starting her southern garden already by planting onions, mustard, garlic and radishes.

Lara DeHaven, a Southeast Texas gardener, doesn't follow the local trend of planting mid-February, preferring to hold her planting until March, thus avoiding the chance of a late freeze.

Stephanie Langford talked seeds: knowing days to maturity, characteristics and features, planting both early and late varieties to spread out the harvest, and sometimes planning yield of vegetables.

Joyful Stars has decided to experiment with hay bale gardening this year. I'll admit this is a technique I always wanted to try myself. I'll keep an eye on her progress through the summer.

Seed Savers Exchange talked edible landscaping.

Eat. Drink. Better. wrote important tips for fighting cabin fever by planning the garden.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

National Embroidery Month

2010-03-10T03:45:00.000-08:00

Along with hearts, groundhogs and dead presidents, February is a month to celebrate embroidery. Here are some pointers to tempt you into picking up needle and thread and making your mark on fabric.

Embroidery has existed for centuries as a method of adding decoration to both clothing and household goods with needle and either thread or yarn. Occasionally beads, mirrors, or pieces of metal or bone are also used to vary the texture, reflective quality, or shape of the piece. Traditional patterns of flowers, animals, or symbols existed in different communities, almost as a way of identifying the wearers with their locale. Hi! I'm Dutch -- you can tell by the tulips on the hem of the skirt.

In its simplest form, embroidery starts when we draw or trace a simple outline pattern onto fabric, then stitch over these lines with a back stitch, which creates a solid line in thread. The most common current version of this would be popular redwork. Katie Aaberg shares some cute and simple examples of redwork that she will incorporate into a baby quilt.

NOT that back stitch embroidery has to be this plain -- though it's always this simple. Check out Jenny Hart's awesome collection of alternative embroidery designs at Sublime Stitching. From skulls to takeout food to artists' series -- oh my! I love the modern edge to her patterns paired with such a classic stitch form. Don't you?

Stepping up the difficulty scale just a bit, we move from redwork to blackwork. Blackwork again uses simple stitches -- a running stitch, a double running stitch, or, again, a back stitch -- worked evenly over threads. Because of its even-patterned nature, the important thing when doing blackwork is to carefully choose a background fabric with a even weave, such as linen. Britain's Embroiderers Guild has a charming blackwork project using a variety of threads to create foreground, background, movement, and depth.

From simple back stitch and running stitch, you can move on to buttonhole stitch, straight stitch, French knots, and the Lazy Daisy. You can consult YouTube for lots of great, simple videos that demonstrate embroidery stitches.

Once you get a handle on just a couple of these stitches, you may begin to see the whole world in patterns, repeats, knots, lines, texture. Everything can be rendered into embroidery.

My favorite form is an idea from Embroidery Guild's online project resources: Encrusted Calico. (In Britain what we Yanks call muslin, they call calico.) Encasing simple items such as beads, plastic rings, or metal washers between two layers of muslin/calico, then playing with layers of stitches on top provides a rich and wonderfully textured surface. I've used these playful pieces as small purses, pockets and pins.

What others are saying about National Embroidery Month:

The City Sage created a montage of Etsy makers who embroider.

Needles and Words declared that as part of National Embroidery Month, Saturday, 2/20/10 was another Stitch In Public day, though apparently a number of chapters of the Embroidery Guild chose to celebrate this on the first Saturday of the month.

Crossposted at BlogHer

Marie Grace thinks a the celebration is great -- it's given her an excuse to embroider for a whole month.

Sheri at cafemom shared several of her favorite links to projects.

Intrigued and want even more? Check out Sharon B's PinTangle for a great collection of patterns, stitches, and ideas for incorporating stitching into your life.

photo credit from debra roby's flickr stream.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Mystery of the Swedish Olympic Team Hats: Crochet in the Social Media Age

2010-03-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

crossposted at BlogHer

The buzz started even before the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics ended. Who crocheted the hats some members of the Swedish team wore as they entered the event?

The first close-up analysis led to one question. Were these hats truly crocheted, or might they have been knit? By Saturday morning, those in the know were convinced that YES, these were crocheted hats. Why this is important: Crochet cannot be done by machine. If the Swedish team received crocheted hats, someone sat and made them all by hand.

The name of this creator -- and ideally, her story -- became as important a quest as finding a pair of the souvenir Vancouver 2010 red Olympic mittens. (I have not yet found a pattern for making these but I expect that to show up any day now, too!)

For me, the search was led by Crochet Me's Kim Werker -- who used the power of Twitter to reach out to crafters, journalists, Swedes, the world. Another one of the frenzied searchers, Elizabeth Drouillard of Things Bright, said:

Based on Internet chatter, I've found that I'm not the only crocheter to geek out over the Swedish toques. Apparently we all did. Everywhere. Through the magic that is the Internet, I think I found the maker of the hats on a Swedish daily newspaper site, because they love them as much as I do over here. Warning: Google and link madness to follow.

For a brief while, it was hoped that Catherine Andersson, shown crocheting the hat in this video, was the maker. But Swedish-speaking twitterer @bagatell reported that the video was just a news story about how easy these hats are to make.

The next step in the search was a sighting on the Swedish craft blog MiMejd. Run the blog through Google Translator and discover that Ninna and Ida found the directions in a newspaper and posted a copy of the picture on their blog. Within days of the post, their readership (normally 60 a day) jumped to the point that the new visitors crashed their blog. Last Friday, they shared their results in recreating the hat. The translating is not perfect, but they report:

The debate has raged here on the blog as to whether the "real OS-cap" is wood poles or fixed mesh, on nedtagen are made in one or both. Some who have followed the pattern has been thought that the cap has been cruelly good others have testified that it has become so ugly, that it was ready for sopnedkastet directly.

On Tuesday, Kim Werker blogged what is likely the end of the search for the creators in Super Sleuthing Success! Swedish Hats Story:

The designer of the hats, and of the entire line of Olympics clothing for the Swedish Olympics team, is Eva Christensson. The hats were crocheted in China, and she didn't indicate any more information than that.

If you'd like your own Swedish Team Hat, Crafty Peach has quickly recreated the pattern and published it for us all to use, substituting an easily available yarn. As she explains on Ravelry:

I hesitate to call myself a designer ... all I did was copy the great hat the Swedish Olympic Team wore in the Parade of Nations!

This is my version of the Swedish Olympic Team's hat from the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC. I used Red Heart Super Saver in the colors Light Periwinkle, Bright Yellow, Black, and White.

The original yarn -- DROPS Eskimo -- is a Norwegian-made thick wool yarn, which crochets these hats up quickly. However, some are reporting that the weight of the yarn is complicating the construction, leading Bagatell to declare her hat more appropriately used as a cowl.

**UPDATE** Kim Werker had a chance to speak with Eva Christensson on Tuesday. Check Yet More About Those Swedish Hats at Crochet Me for all the news. One piece of puzzle was answered in a way that is a bit satisfying: Why were the hats made in a China:

The original team hats were made by Chinese company Li Ning Sport Goods Ltd, which is the clothing sponsor for the Swedish Olympic team. Eva indicated the sponsorship relationship when I asked why the hats were made in China rather than by Swedish crocheters.
So there we have it. A worldwide crochet fad is well underway, thanks to a friendly sportswear designer who knows how cool crochet is, a hat that isn't available in stores, and a community of enthusiastic crocheters who won't stop till they have a hat of their own.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

What We All Can Take From Kwanzaa

2009-12-24T01:45:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)
Last week we gathered at a friend's house to learn about and celebrate Hannukah. It was a great fun evening which we will be repeating. We left a little wiser about this particular celebration and with a much deeper appreciation of any holiday that emphasizes fried food (latkes and donuts) and gambling (dreidels) as part of its celebration.

It got me thinking about the other celebrations happening this time of year and how we ALL might embrace some of the messages these holidays hold as their center.

Every year those who celebrate Christmas get emotional about about "good will toward men." leading people to remark: why are these emotions only endorsed at this time of year? Why can't we work on these positive expressions all year round?

I think that is an admirable thought -though it is not easy to sustain such emotion all the time. I suspect that when a person says that, they want other people to carry that emotion; if it were simply up to someone deciding to hold goodwill toward all men all year, they could simply do it, right?

So instead of hoping that we and others can carry unreasonable emotions for a long term, how about we take a couple days and totally immerse ourselves in all the holiday spirits that are floating around now.

Which, after my brief celebration of Hannukah, led me to Kwanzaa :a non-religious, non-political reaffirmation of basic values wrapped into a celebration of the African-American life.

These values: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith are NOT values that should be limited only to African-Americans; these are principles and values that everybody can embrace. Again, they should be embraced and practiced all year -like loving our fellow human beings. But, since the challenge of this commitment is a wee too hard to contemplate, let's focus on just a week.

So why not look at these principles and see small steps we can ALL take?

Meeting a friend over the holidays for coffee? Instead of heading to StarBucks or another coffee chain, find a locally owned cafe or coffee shop to meet at instead. This is cooperative economics.
Thinking about a holiday gathering and anticipating friction? For just that one day, give up your expectations and simply relax into day vowing not to participate in any of the family/friend drama. That is unity.
At the same time, volunteering with your family over holiday break can strengthen your ties as a family and bind you in a unique way to your community. This is collective work.
Spend some time considering your New Year's Resolutions? As a family, spend some time discussing things that each of you need to commit to in order to make your family unit stronger. This is self-determination.
With children home from school for up to 2 weeks, a craft day is certainly in order. Hello, creativity!

You get the picture. There are steps we are going to be taking anyway this week, why not take them with a eye to expanding understanding of another December Holiday?

Launch My Line

2009-12-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

I watched the first episode of Launch My Line this week- and I'm not sure that I'll watch anymore.

The initial concept sounded interested: pull a number of successful professionals together in a Project Runway style competition; the winner gets his/her line produced and sold (somewhere). Each of these professionals is paired with an experienced designer to mentor them along the way.

While the concept it intriguing, the reality is less so. Many of the hopefuls are incapable of sewing -a vital skill if you and you alone are working at designing a line. Some of the professionals do no meld well with their mentorees.

And then there are the restrictions the show has put on these people.

In the first episode, each person had one hour to choose a line name, a line logo, and a signature piece. ONE HOUR. Ignore the fact that in reality many companies may take months to come up with these items while working on developing a line. They had one hour.

After that hour all designer teams were taken to a fabric store. Obviously the store did not wish to develop the type of fondness that many of us have developed for Mood and Mood-LA, because almost as soon as the teams entered the store they were told that they would be selecting all the fabrics they will use for the entire show.

Ten fabrics.

Without knowing what the challenges will be - they have to decide on all the fabrics they will use -and the quantity that they will need.

The first night at least one hopeful started over from scratch -using new fabrics and a new design. Will that choice mean that later she does not have enough of the discarded fabrics to create the proper design?

These feel even more artificial than the demands placed on hopefuls in other shows. The individuals are not terribly compelling and I'm just not sure that Launch will catch my imagination.

Think I'll pass on the whole line.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Five Tips for Crafting a Holiday Wreath

2009-12-02T02:07:00.000-08:00

I believe in "short time" holiday decorating-limiting the exposure of Thanksgiving and Xmas decorations to something close to 10-14 days. It's a personal choice that makes seeing any of these items appear much more dear to me. The one exception to this rule is the door wreath. Wreaths can decorate doorways years round - either changing the actual wreath by the season, or changing some element of it to indicate the seasonal changes.

Wreaths are one of the simplest items for anyone to make and decorate themselves, making them a perfect crafty project for a winter afternoon.

Some wreath making basics:

Wreaths begin with a form. This can be styrofoam, straw, wire frame, dried grapevines or willow, or even the lowly wire coat hanger. The easiest places to find forms is your local craft store or thrift store.
The form is wrapped or covered with a base material. This might be fabric, ribbon, garland, silk or real leaves, anything to disguise the base material and give the wreath some color and substance.
Layer decorations over the base material, spreading them evenly around the wreath or weighing it more heavily at the base. These are aesthetic decisions that you as the designer make.

Let's see how we can apply these basics to different Wreath designs:

Idea #1:Soft and Simple
Savers is the website for several thrift stores that offers some exciting instructions for using materials found in their stores (or in your own closet). They created a charming Festive Felt Wreath (PDF) using several felted (mostly) wool sweaters cut into squares plus some craft wire and scrap ribbon to create a charming, simple wreath.

Idea #2: Ruffled, elegant and recycled
This elegant ruffly wreath belies it's humble origin. Lindsay created this from a cheap romance novel after spotting her inspiration (on sale for $40) at a vendor's booth at her citywide garage sale. The wreath is timeless as it stands, but substitute some gold or silver paint for the brown/gray paint Lindsay used to tint the edges and a festive holiday wreath could appear too. Would it be wrong to tear apart a worn copy of Dickens' Christmas Carol for this? (via Dollar Store Crafts).

Idea #3: Christmas Ornaments
A lot more colorful and traditional that either of the previous wreaths, HazelRuth's Christmas Ornament Wreath should only take you a couple hours to complete -after you choose your ornaments. This look could go old-fashioned and colorful as she did or take on a totally different look with a limited color palette. Add meaningful personal ornaments to make it all your own.

Idea #4: Pom Poms. Perfect Kid-Friendly Activity
Somewhere soon you are going to need that one crafty project that will occupy the kids (or the kid in all of us) for an afternoon. Prepare yourself in advance the simple supplies for making this pom-pom wreath, then let the fun begin. Bleubird Vintage provides great photos in her tutorial and includes a pom-pom tutorial to get it started.

Idea #5: Button it Up.
I love buttons. Touching them, sorting them, decorating with them. So of course I'm going to share a project that lets me do all that! Craftapalooza shares her simple tutorial for making these button wreaths. I can see different colorways being used for different season -or something like this white/off-white one filling in year round.

A Bonus Wreath:
Capadia Designs created charming three-dimensional wreath cards using her cricut. Not necessarily wreaths you'd hang on your door or your wall, but framing one of these and setting on a table or giving it as a hostess gift? Love.

How do you craft a great a wreath? Share a link to your favorites in the comments.

(photo credits and copyright remain with the owners of each website).

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Five Winter Chores for the Summer Garden

2009-11-30T01:05:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

This morning started with bright sunshine for me and I was reminded that this is the perfect time of year to get those final garden chores done to insure a successful growing season next year. (Please to ignore that this year was a disaster). Whenever it is dry and the soil can be seen and worked, we owe it to ourselves to spend a little time outdoors.

What can be done if our gardens are not actively growing?

First we can continue to weed. I've found that the most persistant weeds are often the only visible growth in the winter garden -which makes this an ideal time to attack them. These weeds tend to have root systems that encourage additional growth when damaged, so digging a small clump of soil around each weed and throwing the entire thing away is the most effective weed control. DO NOT COMPOST these clumps. They have persistence in their genes and will likely survive even the hottest compost pile.

Second, we can add amendments. Many garden centers and home improvement stores will have compost and soil additives on sale to clear out for the winter months. Now is great time to empty your own compost bins and add additional organic material to your beds. These can act as additional winter mulch in colder regions-insulating the roots of perennial plants- while in warmer climates they will be available for your winter gardening use.

Third, we can do cleaning and maintenance on our garden tools. When the weather outside is frightful, spend some time indoors cleaning, sharpening, and tuning your garden tools. Make sure all metal tools are free from rust, lightly oiled and all cutting edges are sharp NOW. If any tool needs to be repaired or replaced, start making that list now.

Fourth, look back on the growing season past. What were the successes this year? What flowers and plants do you want to make sure to grow next year? What were your failures and how will you try to avoid repeating those? Did you fall prey to the home center's eagerness to display plants and get things in the ground too early? Did you not notice insect or disease damage quickly enough? A little introspection on the year is a great learning tool.

Finally, begin to plan for next year. With last year's notes fresh in your mind, grab a calendar and begin to plan for next year. Make notes on when to plant -not too early, not too late. Winter months can be spent paging through the seed and plant catalogs, planning your garden year. But get the basics set now.

What others are doing in their gardens:

Margaret Roach reminded us that Conifers Are Forever (not just for the holidays).

The Dirt pointed to an interesting way to fight climate change: turn the Australian and Saharan Desert into forests.

Daisy the Groundskeeper at Compost Happens is still searching for The Fabled Fairies of Thanksgiving. (this made me laugh).

Emma from Coopette has a dilemma. She has discovered that teabags are not 100% compostable anymore (having a fine plastic mesh to keep the bags from breaking) and must decide what to do in the future. Did you know that your tea bag isn't completely breaking down in the compost?

Nelumbo, a girl growing Southern, expanded her own compost piles this fall (good time to do so) and wrote the details as a basic tutorial.

Kate of High Altitude Gardening shared some of the best of her holiday indoor flowering plants.

The Inadvertent Gardener threw in the towel and threw out the plant.

What gardening plans do you have for the next few weeks?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

5 Ideas on Making a Holiday Memory Scrapbook

2009-11-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

One sure thing about the holidays: as the family gathers together there will be a discussion -or worse argument- about something that happened at a past holiday gathering. The kids received duplicate gifts 2 years ago -or was it three? Uncle Joe hit the eggnog a bit too hard and ended up sleeping it off under the tree when??

A simple way to help provide evidence of all the fun-filled events of holidays past is start NOW to ~~document the evidence~~ -uhm create a holiday memory scrapbook. But how shall you do this?

1. Decide on theme for the book. YES, these are holiday books which means they already have a basic theme, but see if you can refine it. Organize the memories by year or by person. Or look through the photos you have and see if another -less obvious- theme presents itself. It might be color, food, facial expressions, anything that will let you organize some of your memories.

2. Edit the photos. While you may have 50 photos from last year's Christmas Eve dinner, choose the best 10 to 15 to use. Make the photos you use the ones that truly tell a story. They do NOT need to be the "best" photos artistically-they should be best to tell the story.

3. Trim the photos and add a frame. You can trim out any excess background (scrap bookers call this cropping) to make sure the focus stays on the story element. Border the pictures with one or two complimentary colors of paper. Think of this as the matting and framing of the pictures. Because this is in paper, though, feel free to be creative! Are the pictures of Thanksgiving dinner together? Frame these pictures with a cut border(s) in the shape of a turkey or circles to look like fancy dinner plates. Christmas memories might be framed in shapes of fancy ornaments.

5. Leave room for the story. As I understand it, the difference between a photo album and a scrapbook is that the scrapbook tells the story. Space for writing/printing/sharing the story on the page is important.

6. Feel free to add other ephemera. If you decide to make a scrapbook from this year's holiday gift-giving, include the gift tag with the photo. Or add the Thanksgiving menu, the newspaper's weather report (especially if a blizzard explains someone's absence or their extended presence). Anything to do with the day that might spark additional memories of that exact moment in time.

If I were spending the holidays with family, I would make several of these books ahead of time- minus a lot of the story. Then invite the people there to look through the pictures and write their own recollections of the days and years past on the pages. Letting a photograph spark memories from all the different perspectives would be the greatest gift for me and from me.

If your images are already on your computer-or stored online- you can use a website like scrapblog to create your memories, because sometimes holiday photos NEED the story shared. I supply as evidence myself:

Holiday Scrapping Talk:

Great instructions for Making Your Own Holiday Cards and Keeping Sane While Doing So can be found at Ella Publishing's blog. The secret is using technology.

Turn your blog into a scrap booking page. The Theory of Creativity explains using My Digital Studio to design your blog template.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Painfree Crafting

2009-10-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

In the next few months many of us will decide we have to "buckle down" and create all the presents and decorations that are on our imaginary -or sometimes not-so-imaginary- To Do List. We have deadlines- Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's Day. And we cannot disappoint others by failing to create all the wonderful things that are swirling around our heads.

We settle down for several hours of work after a day of work. Soon, our hands are aching, our necks are creaking, and our lower backs are aching. But still we soldier on. In the name of all the magical goodness that is the holiday season, we will continue if it kills us.

Sometimes we end up in such pain that we wish it would.

To counteract all the physical demands we put on our bodies while we're crafting, we must warm up and stretch before we begin, and continue to stop, rest, and stretch while we are crafting. To give you some guidance about doing this, I made a simple video: Stretches for Crafters.

The stretches are simple stretches for the neck, shoulders, chest, wrists and hands. These, done before you begin and at regular intervals while you are crafting should help to keep some of the pain at bay. If repetitive stress injuries arise anyway? Alternate applications of heat and ice, NSAIDs, and rest will move you along your way to quicker healing.

Others in craft are also thinking about your health while crafting.

Becky Striepe at Crafting a Green World wrote Yoga for Crafters: The Knit and Crochet Edition.

From what you guys had to say on Twitter, it sounds like all that yarn work hits ravelers hardest in the wrists, fingers, neck and chest. Never fear! Here are some poses to help you recoop a little bit.

I'm anxious to try several of these poses to open up my chest and wrists and feel some healing coming my way. But looking at the Bow Pose- I may need yoga to recover from doing some yoga! I wonder how I can regress that to something actually do-able?

Last week, I pointed you to the Knit-A-Square charity project. The organizers were care so much about their volunteers that they wrote a How-To on Knitting for Charity Pain Free. Their points include a plan for a basic knitting/crochet training schedule to build your body's endurance for this work! The training schedule:

You are attempting to be a marathon knitter and crocheter. And as such, like any elite athlete, you need to train to be able to knit and crochet with endurance. Too many of you, especially those of you learning how to knit or crochet, or picking up your knitting needles or crochet hook again after years away from the craft, just launch straight hours of work.Start slowly and build up. As a rule of thumb, you could start by working for 20 to 30 minutes a day, slowly on a sliding scale according to half your age. So for example:

20 minutes for 10 days
30 minutes for 15 days
50 minutes for 25 days
70 minutes for 35 days.

This will give your wrists and arms the opportunity to build strength and endurance just as a marathon runner must train over months even years to first run the distance and secondly run fast.

Now that we are armed with stretches, yoga and a training schedule, there is (hopefully) no need to pray that you receive a week of massage/chiropractic after the holidays end this year. Not that such a gift would be a bad thing if it were to come.

How do you prepare to get your craft on and keep yourself pain free?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Fashion Crafting: shows, swaps and Making it Work.

2009-10-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

I'm home from spending 24 hours at Pacific International Quilt Festival. This west-coast weekend is a blend of hundreds of vendors, hundreds of quilts and a fascinating mix of wearable fashions. I was there to work the Fashion Show -a Friday night tradition which is organized by wearable quilter Karen Boutte.

This year's fashion show featured designs from Margaret Linderman, Rachel Clark, and the pattern company: Decades of Style. I was one of the dozen models at the show. Lucky me! I got to wear beautiful items created by each of these three talents. Consider it my own personal experience as a Project Runway Model, except nobody was sent home at the end of the night!

While I was getting my fashion on...

...Stefanie Girard of Sweater Surgery organized and ran a Swap-o-rama-rama. If you are unfamiliar with the Swap-o-rama-rama fun:

Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing.

The SwapWhen you attend the swap bring at least one bag of your unwanted clothing and a small donation (each swap varies depending on available funding). Every swap begins with a giant collective pile of clothing, the unwanted clothing of all who attend. Everyone is welcome to dive in and find their next new/used items from the pile. Take as little or as much clothing from this pile as you like, it's all free.
DIY WorkshopsAfter you have chosen your new clothes slide on over to one of the sewing stations and attend a workshop. Learn to make modifications or totally transform your finds. Each swap features a variety of workshops by local artists who are there to share their sewing and modification secrets with you. All the materials you need to sew, embroider, bead, fix, repair, knit etc, are suppled.
On Site DIY StationsSwap-O-Rama-Rama also offers on site DIY with skilled artists to help you get started. You'll find designers with sewing machines ready to teach you how to make modifications to your new/used duds. Or you might try the hand sew area and decoration station where you can learn to embroider, knit, crochet, etc. A silk screen station offers many amazing designs for immediate transfer as well as an opportunity to make your own screens using a YUDU silk screen machine.

This past August, BlogHer Burnadette Noll took place in a Back to School Clothes Swap based on the Swap-o-rama-rama idea:

We based it on the Swap a rama rama we had participated in at Maker Faire: seamstresses, silk screeners, swappers and more all gathered together in the school gym to help people modify the random selections they had made from the piles. It was amazing fun and an incredible display of abundance with more than enough of everything for everybody and not a single, solitary penny was spent. All the kids were psyched at getting "new" duds for back to school. All the parents were ecstatic at both getting rid of what they didn't want and gaining what they both wanted and needed while at the same time satisfying the societal urge to gussy up for back to school. And some cool fashion statements were made as various items were silk screened and altered and radified to suit the wearer.

Meanwhile, Kristen at ThimblyThings received a wonderful journal page with notes on a dress for her friend Erin. From the notes we can determine several things: this is to be a flirty dress with a fitted bodice and a swingy short skirt with lots of volume. And Erin does not like bows on the front of her dresses. Kristen has

made the bodice, trimmed it with a tulle ruffle, lined it, and put in boning. The boning is not particularly comfortable. I rounded the ends, but I guess I didn’t round them enough. And they are stuck in there (They’re melted slightly to the fabric. Oops.). Any suggestions? :D

This is where Kristen could use a visit by the charming Tim Gunn -with some guidance, perhaps, on how to deal with the boning and an encouraging Make It Work! Does anyone wish to stand in for Tim with encouragement or help? Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Charitable Crafting

2009-10-08T03:16:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

As the seasons begin to shift toward autumn, I starting more about giving -and especially charitable giving. Money for food banks for holiday meals, home-made biscuits for the animal shelters, and crafts for whichever charities can use them. Sewing, quilting, crochet, and knitting are the key crafts where charitable appeals are aimed.

With limited time, what are some of the charities that looking for charitable crafting?

Softies for Mirabel is an Australian crafting appeal to collect as many softies as they can before December 10th to donate to the Mirabel Foundation- an organization which assists children left without parents due to parental illicit drug use and are now being cared for by extended family. The toy collection is organized by Meet Me At Mike's. You can see some of the softies already donated by checking the Flickr Group.

Need inspiration for a softie to construct? Jodie at RicRac designed these adorable softies- one which reminds me a lot of a nutcracker toy soldier- in less than an hour. She offers the toy soldier pattern as a PDF download at Scribd.

Additionally, One Red Robin's Jhoanna MonteAranez made up an adorable Oh-Oh the Owl Softie and offers the pattern for free so you can make up a couple for toy give-aways.

Can you make a square?

Around the world from the Australian Toy drive, is Knit a Square to be used for AIDS orphans in Africa. Sandy Zanny's aunt lives in Africa and works with the Soweto Comfort Club to "collect, sort, bundle and join the squares into blankets and then distribute them to groups of children, greatly in need." If you take the short time to sort through your remnant yarn from completed projects -you can quickly knit or crochet an 8" square and mail it off. Heck, mail off a few.

These women are assembling the squares they receive into comforting blankets, hats, and overvests to give the children orphaned to AIDS. With a goal of 5000 blankets this year-this group needs donations of nearly 138,000 squares. Can you spare one evening or weekend of crafting to help? All the information you need can be found at the website.

Quilting and Sewing for a Cause
Charitable crafting takes place in the US, too. CraftSanity's Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood recently pointed out Margaret's Hope Chest, a Michigan-based charity that aims to make and distribute 400 quilts to homeless children living in shelters over this Christmas holiday.

And CRAFT HOPE has taken on crafting projects of all kinds. Their latest was to donate 225 sock monkeys to a Preschool Burn Camp. Each and every sock monkey is unique!

Ofcourse one of the long-running charitable craft projects is Project Linus.

Project Linus is comprised of hundreds of local chapters and thousands of volunteers across the United States. Each volunteer and local chapter all work together to help us achieve our mission statement, which states:
First, it is our mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”
Second, it is our mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.
Together we have distributed over three million blankets to children in need since our inception in 1995.

But perhaps you are moving on from one crafting adventure to another, or simply cleaning house and willing to give some of your stash to others to use in charitable crafting. Crafting a Green World wrote a great list of suggestions on places to donate craft supplies for charity. Check it out.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Craft Room Design and Repurposing

2009-09-28T04:26:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon; while I sit satisfying my college football habit,I'm re-evaluating what type of crafting I'm really going to be doing in the next year. With that re-evaluation will probably come a change in my crafting room design. It's been well over a year since I actively spent time in there; it's square footage that is not serving it's purpose. So I'm taking some time and figuring out what I want to have happen there.

What ISN'T happening: much sewing or any quilting. I have a vision problem that makes it hard for me to change focal lengths. If I stare at something close: reading, computer, crafting, etc.- I am unable to see clearly at normal distances for at least an hour. It's made easier by bright daylight but I've yet to find an arrangement of artificial light that can substitute. Given that I do a lot of work on my computer-I have to choose NOT to spend a lot time at other activities that demand close-focus work. My sewing and quilting has disappeared over the past few years, I'm comfortable now at saying that because of this vision challenge (which cannot be corrected by lenses or surgery), I have to move on.

My craft room, however, is still set up for sewing. I have a large tabletop surface that I used for cutting and separate desk area set up with my Pfaff and machine supplies. Now I'm NOT getting rid of the machine; but, I think I can:

pack up the sewing machine and take it out when I want to use it,
clear all my quilting rulers off the "cutting table",
stop thinking of it as a cutting table,
donate a lot of fabric and other quilting supplies to a crafting charity.
Sell the books I won't be using anymore on Amazon.
Think about the threads and other sewing supplies I've acquired. Which do I need to keep?

More importantly, what can I envision DOING in this room? I am still making some jewelry, doing some felting, knitting. I still want to learn more about screen printing. So while I may need to repurpose some of my storage, I think I'll have more space to use differently.

Now to imagine how to use that space.

The Artful Crafter was asked for tips on designing a craft room and she gives some great tips. Having an easy clean floor really is important, and thankfully I have already replaced the carpeting with porcelain tile.

Back in 2007, Fuzzy Noodle remodeled her craft room. I'm with her on falling in love with IKEA furniture.

Don't have a whole room to dedicate to crafting? Making This Home highlighted an efficient crafting space carved out of a closet.

Really want to get some idea about organizing a craft room? Check out all the Craft Room Photos posted on Flickr. This way you can note the things you like and the things you don't to make your room your own.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

National Sewing Month: ReMake

2009-09-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

crossposted at BlogHer

The themes of National Sewing Month are to ReUse, ReMake and ReStyle. This week, I will be looking at ideas and inspiration for ReMaking items.

EVEnl shared a great ReDo of a Tshirt shrug at Cut Out + Keep. With just some simple cutting, sewing a casing and adding some ribbon, we get the basic shape. Take a look, though, through the project gallery. By adding lace, yo-yo florets, diffrent ribbon styles -or even simply changing where the shrug is tied- different looks are created. LOVE.

JoAnne's Fabrics offers a free pattern for a felted laptop sleeve (pdf). While the directions call for using store-bought felt, I want to make one of these from a felted sweater. Diane Gilliland wrote a good basic tutorial on Felting Sweaters for CraftStylish. And if laptop sleeves aren't your bag (ooo bad pun), ThreadBangers has a nice round up of felted sweater projects including Leethal's own wool boots tutorial on craftster.

Nik at {appliance} came up with a great project: using 2 large scarves, she designed a wonderfully wearable scarf dress. You might not have enough time to create your own and enter the project sponsored by Sewing Republic and Burda Style (my challenge would be finding the scarves) but then maybe you do.

Kristen at Thimbly Things has been remaking clothing into skirts. First she made her Happy Friday Skirt from a dress, then she turned J. Crew pants into a skirt, too.

Got Neckties? About.com's Family crafts offers this great little project to turn an unused necktie into a small purse or cellphone case. (hat tip to Sweater Surgery for the link.)

Cassandra at Dandelion Bones seems to be taking the theme of ReMaking very seriously. She's reworked the same tank dress two times. Or is that three?? After completing the project once -and wearing the dress one day-she determined that it needed some reworking. So she cut off the skirt, improvised a new design and started sewing. Then:

There came that point where I was sewing along, perfectly proud that I was constructing without a pattern to guide me, and I stopped to flip the skirt right side out. One side was wonky. I had somehow pleated the length that should not have had any gathers. For a moment I was ready to quit, and I actually turned my machine off, unplugged it, and threw the "skirt" aside. I pouted for a minute, but I just couldn't bear the thought of that fabric going to waste, and I picked it up to look again. The solution was simple. It did involve a bit of seam ripping (which I just do not like at all,) but it didn't take long, and I revved the machine back up and finished.

The final project is so cute, that I'm sure she's glad she took the time to make it just what she wanted.

And finally, check out all the blogs that MaryAnne at Thrift Craft Mama highlighted in Favorite Sewing Blogs post.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Craft Tutorials: Simple, Scrappy, and Quirky

2009-09-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

Crafty Tutorials. Whenever I ask individuals what they want in a post, the loudest answer is always: MORE TUTORIALS. I spent some time scouring through some of the tutorials I've filed away and think this assortment of old and new items are perfect to share this week. Most are simple items, many use scraps and small bits of this or that. Cleaning your workroom? These might inspire you to use some of what you have. Need a quick pick-me-up craft that doesn't take much time? You'll find that here too. There is even something for after your project is finished.

Read through and tell me which are your favorites?

I remember making Paper Mache Bowls in school. With all the cuts in funding, I'm not sure that this type project is being taught anymore, but Jamie Ervin wrote a thorough tutorial at Crafting A Green World. These can decorated with paints, with words/images from magazines, with scrap fabric,wallpaper or wrapping paper. Anything to coordinate them to a decor or holiday.

Browsing through Zakka Life, I found this old -but still charming- project for making a Japanese Crest Felt Coaster.

Erin at Patchwork Underground found a great way to turn several scraps into a sexy leather halter top. Concerned because she's using animal skin? While Erin eats vegan, she explains:

Anyway, it’s for these reasons that I never buy new leather. I usually get it second hand. Politics aside, it is a superior material in a lot of ways and I figure it’s better not to waste it once its already been created. (Yes – people do see me wearing it and no - they don’t know that it’s recycled and, yes, this theoretically does encourage other people in their consumption of meat/leather products. No comment. Don’t really know what to do about it.)
My one request: Please, if you’re going to use this pattern, DON’T use brand new leather that you bought anonymously from the store. Find it, recycle it, hunt it and tan it yourself -whatever. Just be connected to and ok with where it came from. Or, heck, use the fake stuff. =)

Is it a wrap? A skirt? A cowl? This pattern can be worn several different ways-which makes it not only gorgeous, but one of those very versatile pieces. Uma Joy knit Myriad and shares the pattern with us. How many ways can you imagine wearing it?

At Leethal Quick Knits, Leethal is offering monthly quick knit kits to make quick and small objects. What can you make with her small quantities of yarn? While she will include a pattern suggestion, one of the obvious items to make are some of these little knit bracelets. I bet even I could knit a couple of these up in an evening (knits-slower-than-molasses-in-winter should be knitting name!) Then spend another evening adding pretty details with contrasting yarns. I see a quick car project here!

While we're on knitting, Lee Meredith created this funky thing - a fingerless glove-scarf-fingerless glove combo that is adorable and just quirky enough to appeal to those among us who are "hard-to-please"/individualistic in our fashion choices. Or just plain practical (I lost 2 pairs of fingerless gloves last year - but I bet if they were attached to a scarf I wouldn't!). Knitty liked it enough to publish it! Do you think Entwined is charming or just too strange for words?

VenusZine has directions for a Key Hole Necklace. As Justina Blakeney explains:

If you're anything like me, your jewelry box consists of single earrings, broken necklaces, and beads from bracelets past. With a new season in full swing, it’s time to resurrect those stray pieces into a sexy necklace that'll cost you a just a couple of dollars and about 20 minutes to make.

At I Love To Create, Allee Marderosian created custom lunchbags- using fabric dyes, paints, and gems. These are sturdy enough for a child to take to school, and pretty enough to grace a work desk.

If you make any of these fun crafty projects, you just may wish to share them on your own blog. To help you out with this, Alexa at Swell Designer wrote 3 Crafty Photography Tips. My favorite tip:

If you are taking your photo in poor lighting, you are setting yourself for a bad photo from the get go. Go next to a window with light streaming in or set up the photo next to a lamp (or two). Even though it's not "professional" studio lighting, it creates a much warmer glow. Now, here's the kicker...DON'T USE THE FLASH. People are soooooo addicted to flash and in certain circumstances it is neccessary, but if you have sufficient lighting, then most times you can get a good photo just from the light you are using and it's much crisper and more vibrant an image.

Hat Tip to Crafty Pod's Diane Gilliland for pointing some of these finds out to me.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Welcome Back Macrame!

2009-09-08T02:34:00.000-07:00

I've followed a number of the crafty trends during my life: crocheting granny squares into afghans and vests in the early 70s; needle pointing medevil scenes of unicorns and princess later that same decade. Moving to cross stitch when the monotony of filling backgrounds on needle point wore old. Quilting when cross-stitch lost it's challenge. Knitting when quilting finally stopped developing new things to try.

Crafting, like fashion, ebbs and flows. One obsession gives way to another. Since really there are no new crafts -merely new ways to look at them- it's not surprising that eventually every old craft is new again. With quilting slowing down, knitting apparently holding it's own as the current juggernaut of the crafting world, I was wondering what crafts will emerge soon from the past to become the shining star of the future.

And how will those old crafts be re-interpreted?

About this time, ebogie shared some jewelry she'd made and reminded me of old times when she said: Hemp Is Back!

With the anniversary of Woodstock, and more people going green and natural, I've noticed that hemp jewelry is being worn more. In the college town where I live, I see it on many of the students.

What struck me about the pretty bracelets she'd made was NOT that they were made from hemp -very pretty, BTW- but that they were made by macrame. According to Wikipedia,

Macramé or macramé is a form of textile-making using knotting rather than weaving or knitting. Its primary knots are the square knot and forms of hitching (full hitch and double half hitches). It has been used by sailors, especially in elaborate or ornamental knotting forms to decorate anything from knife handles to bottles to parts of ships

Thank goodness this definition says nothing about the thick nylon and acrylic cords tied into owls and plant hangers in the 60s and 70s. Anyone who lived through that is probably running in panic from the word. The definition places macrame in it's wider context. With knots, one can manipulate tension and shape in strands of fiber. This change in tension lets knotted textiles undulate and flow in ways that are difficult to achieve through weaving or looping (knitting or crochet).

Futuregirl admits that she is Under the Sway of Macrame Owls. She'd seen mention to macrame projects on blogs and websites in the recent past (come to think of it, so have I), and vaguely thought she should do something. It wasn't, however, until she hit upon some vintage crafts books that these vague feelings turned into an obsession:

Well, I had ignore the bee for most of the week because I had zero time to devote to macramé owls. But then Friday night I was able search around and try to find a macramé owl pattern. I'd decided to make one with embroidery floss as an homage to friendship bracelets. I was a little surprised (and a lot crestfallen) to find out that making a mini macramé owl wasn't an original idea (this one is cute and these are amazing). But after a couple moments of "aw shucks," my initial enthusiasm came back.

Note her word: mini macrame as that seems to be the way that macrame is manifesting itself this time around. Rather than the super-thick huge decorations I recall from the past, knotting is now being done with hemp, cotton crochet thread, embroidery floss. Thin, small, delicate fibers that make for charming delicate accessories. Craft offered a pattern for an IPod Cozy, there are several online tutorials for making friendship bracelets similar to ebogie's. Micro macrame jewelry-adding the curving, softening nature of knots to beads and other harder jeweled items- appears to be a growing accessory field.

Celtic Dream Weaver is tapping into the growing macrame vibe as Something Different:

I had been thinking awhile about trying my hand in micro macrame'. I might even do some designing on my own eventually once I start to feel more comfortable in doing this work and maybe marrying it to tatting. We will see what will happen with that as time goes buy (sic)...

Autumn Wiggins, at Crafting A Green World, points out why it's important to overlook macrame's unfortunate presence several decades ago, and why we should Tune In, Turn On, and Tie Knots:

Yes, I know what you’re thinking…plant hangers and googly eyed owls…haha. Make fun all you want, but you’ll be overlooking one of the most sustainable, inexpensive, and meditative craft techniques out there.

...Imagine cutting, then arranging thirty two 12ft lengths of hemp cord in front of you. As you begin to follow the pattern of knots, it becomes familiar and rhythmic. Much like a knitting groove, only more exotic. Your arms gracefully fling from side to side as they pull the knots through, while your fingers flutter about the strings. It’s like ballet dancing and playing the cello all at once from the waist up. I prefer to sit Indian style, and on the ground if possible. In the right setting this craft can be an introspective alternative to fidgety meditation. (Hey, yoga is not an option for people who drink as much coffee as me.)

I have a feeling that knots are building as a force in Craft. I noticed that last week two designers on Project Runway used the word "macrame" in describing parts of their design. Will you be jumping on this wave?

also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

What HAVE I Been doing?

2009-09-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's really been a couple weeks since the last time I posted? I'm surprised. It really doesn't feel that way.

I've felt a bit unfocused the last couple weeks (is it the weather? possibly -it's been hot; the alignment of the stars? Sure, why not. other stuff interfering with my concentration? Most definitely.) but I still thought I was at least managing to cut and paste my BlogHer posts here every week.

Another FAIL. Oh well.

What have I been doing? I wish I could say that I've been accomplishing a whole of stuff.

I made a fun crown to wear at a friend's 60th birthday party. A couple evenings of just have fun creating!
I discovered that my camera needs repair. The lens-she is breaking. Want to find a local camera shop to help me determine if it's worth fixing.
I've gotten back on the sock knitting train. Don't know why I took most of the summer off. I need this one pair of socks done before the weather turns.
I've been writing. Not a whole lot that I can point to at the moment- lots of draft work and guest blogging and such.

And I'm studying for a new certification. It's not hard work-but takes time to understand and internalize. God, some days my brain feels so old!

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Street Fairs and Such

2009-08-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Last Saturday I spent a couple hours walking downtown Oakland where the Chinatown Street Fair has being held. The notice had mentioned a number of craftspeople- I was curious to see who showed up and what they offered.

Walking the the several blocks closed (mostly) to traffic, I spotted a wide number of booths selling specific manufactured products and local services, there were only a couple stands offering anything that I would interpret as "craft". All were mainly jewelry booths and the items still appeared to be manufactured elsewhere; the street-fair sellers were only the final retailers. I enjoyed the experience for it was- a chance for individuals to sell their goods and services in a specific market- but did not stay as long as I had anticipated.

I was disappointed. This disappointment extended to the next day when I had planned to head into the city for another street festival: Rock/Make which sounded much more like it would offer my idea of vendors selling artisan crafts. When I awoke to cold wind and fog that did not clear, Saturday's disappointment made it harder to spend the time and energy to head into the city for a questionable experience.

I stayed home. And I'm still regretting it.

While this is nearing the end of the festivals that pop up in cities from early spring until often late in October, holiday craft fairs are just around the corner. How do you decide which ones are worth while and which ones can be ignored?

For me, the first decider is always a balance of the ease of getting there and time involved. Do I have to drive, or is mass-transit easily available? Can parking be found easily and without costing a lot? If I'm likely to spend half a day or more at a location, I'm more willing to consider the activity. However, if it takes me an hour to get somewhere and I spend only an hour or so there? So not worth my total time spent. I have to knead out the time value from often very vague words in the advertising. Which often makes it easier to simply dismiss the idea.

After the time/distance considerations, I look at the cost. Is it free or do I need to start with an admission fee? While admission often insures a quality experience, it also decreases the total money that I have to consider spending on crafters/artists. Are the vendors juried in? Judged? Or simply added by their willing to pay their own entry fee?

The third determinant is rather vague. What is the day/weekend/week like? Have been stuck indoors and would welcome any excuse to walk among a crowd for a couple hours? Is it raining? Will it take place in a building that is likely to be hot, overcrowded, and too noisy? Am I going alone or with someone?

How do you decide which fairs and festivals to attend?

In Related News:

The NYTimes has found that many unemployed individuals are turning to their crafting hobbies to help make ends meet. They are calling these news business owners "accidental entrepreneurs."

Anna at Knit-Write agrees with me, however, that some days are for street fairs.

There were no fiber artists this year – there never are (which is, perhaps, a niche I could take advantage of), but there was an incense maker whom we talked with for a while. It’s always very pleasant to meet other paganfolk. And a broom and candle seller we know from the flea market was there – they had their little doggy as well, and Tommy and the yorkie got to play while we visited. We came away with happily renewed acquaintances and some candles and incense that smell lovely!

Eva T. remembered past summers fondly but is Falling for Fall at the tail-end of Summer:

As a young adult, even without summer vacation (and with the
frustration of being stuck behind a desk at a boring day job when I
longed to be out in the sun) I still liked summer best. The weather
alone was reason enough for someone as outdoorsy as I (yes, even in the
city.) There was a carnival atmosphere that I loved, especially with
the proliferation of street fairs (some New Yorkers hate those but I
can't get enough of them.)

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Garden Crafts -Inside and Out

2009-08-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

It's a funny time of the year. Gardens are coming into full-force summer production yet many gardeners are looking forward to shorter days and the end of the growing season. My attention is being pulled both outside and inside with the desire to stretch the good feelings from gardening and to stretch out the year.

What to do? One simple thing is to look for crafty ways to bring my garden inside so that I can enjoy it in the future. Or I can bring crafty fun outside to enjoy in the garden now.

OUTSIDE IN

Flower Pounding: I'm ready to get some fun rewards from my garden to make this year not feel like a total waste (after all gophers have eaten everything in my veggie beds. EVERYTHING). One fun things that I've seen and read about but haven't done is flower pounding. Did you know you can use a textured fiber (like watercolor paper or fabric), choose the right kinds of flowers or leaves, and pound the color from the flowers into the fiber?

At Dave's Garden, Kathleen Tenpas asked: "Flower Pounding, gardener’s stress relief or dyeing with your garden’s bounty? Ah, perhaps a bit of both." After giving great directions for treating fabric, Kathleen goes on to explain the flowers to choose:

Not all flowers are suitable for pounding. Flowers with particularly thick petals such as tulips don’t work well as they tend to smear. Flowers with many petals such as roses need to be take apart so that you can pound the petals individually. Daisy like blooms need to have their centers removed and all flowers need to have stems, calyxes, pistils and stamens removed. White flowers don’t work as they have no pigment to impart to the fabric.

Flowers that work particularly well for this include phlox florets, single roses or rose petals, single impatiens, pansies with as much of the back removed as possible without destroying the flower (this takes some practice), hardy geraniums, St. Johns Wort, Forget-me-nots, any flower that can be flattened without losing the integrity of the bloom. The best time to pick the flowers is after the dew has dried, but before the heat of the day. New blooms have more color than older. You can also use leaves, and newer leaves pound much better than older, although as they age, you get the veins and edges and that can be interesting. Autumn leaves will pound out interestingly, the colors being old, but newly released form the covering of chlorophyll.

Wendy from Build/Make/Craft/Bake demonstrated how to make beautiful botical prints in Hammered Flowers and Leaf Prints. These prints on watercolor paper would make wonderful cards or gift tags.

Start by going on a walk or visiting your garden to find leaves and flowers to work with. You're looking for things with bright colors that aren't too juicy or too dry. It'll take a little trial and error to find good plants, so start with a variety and play around.

Then set up your work surface. You want a smooth, hard surface that you can hammer on and not worry about denting or getting messy. I used a plastic cutting board covered with a paper bag.

Leaf Prints: If you're not up to pounding the pigment from leaves, you might appreciate CraftStylish's directions for printing napkins with your leaves.

Lavender Sachets: One of the simplest ways to bring the garden in and preserve it is to dry some lavender blooms and turn them into a scented sachets. The Fab Miss B created a number of hand embroidery sachets last spring to give as gifts. The embroidery made each one distinctly charming:

I'm not gonna lie. This project will take a bit of planning and time, but I was really pleased with the results. I'm so looking forward to giving these handmade sachets as gifts. They are simple but personal. I think when times are hard, a small thoughtful gesture that involves time and effort means much more than an extravagant something ordered online in five minutes.

And besides, embroidery is quite theraputic. At about sachet number three, I found the rhythm of the needle piercing the fabric and drawing through reminded me of breathing. It became quite meditative.

If you are not sure how to dry your own lavender, Peggy Murray explains it well. You can pick and start drying your lavender now, sewing some sachets while it drying and be well on your way to some charming hostess gifts or small holiday presents this winter.

Inside Out

Using slightly damaged items to bring some whimsy and charm to your garden is apparently called "garden junk" instead of "garden art." I don't know-I always thought of it as recycling. Melissa, the Empress of Dirt, caught "the junk-making fever" last month and shared a number of resources she'd found wondering if it was "garden junk art whimsy stuff".

I started making garden art/junk when I had a newly planted, barren-looking garden and wanted to fill in some spaces while waiting 2-3 seasons for the plants to grow. I love the idea of taking items that would otherwise be tossed in the landfill and turn them into something beautiful and/or interesting and/or functional in the garden (hopefully scoring at least two out of three on these points!).

Recycle Broken Ceramics as Garden Decor. Cooie Grey-Lavin made a great video highlighting how we could take chipped dishes, cracked pots, and damaged lids, partially bury them in the soil and use them to decorate a garden space.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Re-fashioning with T-shirts. What's Your Style?

2009-08-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

Back to school is starting to infiltrate our psyches. And many creative souls will choose to refashion their "new" wardrobe instead of running to the stores to purchase all new gear. Ofcourse one of the easiest and most versatile items to refashion is the cotton knit shirt (often aka the t-shirt).

What are some things that we can do?

If you have a long-sleeved knit shirt to refashion, Jessica from Oh So Happy Together, designed this cute copy of an Anthropologie shirt.

"How cute!" I thought. Then in an instant, my mind starting going over how to do this myself with a long sleeve shirt. It didn't take me long at all. I used a jersey type of shirt, but you could use a cotton, etc. shirt. There might have to be a few adjustments though (such as finishing the top seam all the way around). I also added at the bottom how I made the headband from the extra material.

I'm tempted to try the braiding technique cougaliciousx3 showed at Craftster. Fortunately, she pointed us to a video that explains how to do it:

I think this braiding technique might let me create a t-shirt corset for Renaissance Faire and nights out. If not this, how about...

...HippieAtHeart's cute Corset Shirt on Craftster. This might be the answer for Renaissance Faire Wear! What do think? Cool and still appropriately stylish. And she made it just a few hours.

Merlinda performed t-shirt surgery to make this adorable dress! Her LiveJournal directions are hand drawn and clear. I can see some older band t-shirts being turning into dresses for new concerts.

Also on LiveJournal t-shirt surgery, dr. god (slugfever) offered directions to this cute top which combines 2 different t-shirts.

Now for a couple things for the bottom half:

logan figured out how to save a great t-shirt image by making t-shirt underwear.

I'll admit I'm having trouble imagining how she did it, but luvinthemommyhood designed a pair of shirt sleeves to yoga capris from her husband's donated long sleeve polo shirt. She had earlier done the pants in a child's size and was challenged to create these for women to wear.

yes, that's right, i made pants from a pair of sleeves. nuts? nope. fun? you betcha! i got so many comments about the first tutorial in this series (click here for the tute) stating that they wished they could make pants in an adult size, that i couldn't stop thinking about it. i remembered one day a week or so ago that my hubby had thrown this soft, blue cotton polo in his donation to my sewing pile and a light bulb went off in my head. the sleeves stretch! they could fit around my thighs, ok, possibly fit, so i tried them on. mackenzie had a great laugh, jer thought i was nuts, but i persevered. i love how they turned out.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Culture of Sharing

2009-08-06T02:05:00.000-07:00

For several hours a day, I spend time exploring blogs, websites and occasionally a social network, seeking out the new and interesting stories and techniques. when i find something special, I'll often share it with friends on Twitter or Facebook. Before I became very active on these social networks, I might find something wonderful but was often at a loss for how exactly to share it with others who would appreciate it.

Bre Pettis, at I Make Things, wrote about the culture of sharing:

Beyond the annihilation of time and space, today's connectivity has gone the next step and made it possible for people to share anything to anywhere. The more passionate you are about something, the smaller the world becomes. ...
Right now we are seeing creativity and passion grow in a time when large corporations are failing. The future will be built by all of us and the culture of sharing that results from our individual and collective efforts.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Fun Among the Crafty Blogs

2009-08-03T02:34:00.000-07:00

I walked into one of my favorite stores the other day (yes, Target! how did you know?) when I assaulted with back to school items already blessing the aisles. It's the middle of summer! If school starts soon, then fall comes soon, followed closely by cool weather and too many holidays. Holidays, by the way, that I need time to prepare for.

To comfort my soul when I returned I went searching for fun times among the crafty bloggers. Fun- that's what the middle of July is supposed to be about. Want to see what I found?

Have you been following ~~A Robot A Day~~ A Robot A Couple Tmes a Week? AnatomyofaSkirt turned the pressure down on herself by changing from once a day to twice a week after a year of making robots. She explains her reasoning:

Robot a Day is part art project, a chance to build a robot army, and a bit of a laugh. It's a creative endeavour with a simple framework: make a different bot, twice a week.

Not sure which is my favorite: the clown bot, the Plastic Canvas bot, the finger puppet bot, or the puffer fish bot. Browse through the collection, then tell me, which is your fave?

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Have you heard of the gentle interventions being staged RockPool Candy called LET ME EASE YOUR DAY?

LET ME EASE YOUR DAY takes yarn bombing and purposes it, encouraging people to create textile pieces, primarily in the shape of cushions and rugs to be left in public spaces: initially bus stops and park benches. Each cushion will bear the slogan LET ME EASE YOUR DAY and be secured to a bench with corner ties. Above the cushion will be a plaque reading:
“LET ME EASE YOUR DAY. This cushion is here to comfort your journey. Should you feel you need to take it home, you may. Should someone have already taken the cushion, why not replace it and ease a stranger’s day?”

There are formal rules for participating posted at the link, along with cities where "interventions" will be occurring in the future. I'm looking forward to helping out at a San Francisco function when that materializes. Crafty organizers join in!
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Whip-Up shared collected links to a variety of shirt refashionings. Rather than copy them here, make your way over to Whip-Up and click though their wonderful links. The shirts - believe me- are all worth a gander.
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Last -but certainly NOT least- I found this clever project on Instructables for a very unique outdoor chair or bench constructed by Got2BSkilled. What makes it so unique? Got2B formed the basic couch shape from pavers (yes, bricks!) covered the structured with dirt and planted it with grass! The rain drained through, the grass is -he claims- cushioning, and all his friends love it.

I just want to see how he mows it!

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Sharing in a Crafty World

2009-07-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Wednesday I shared several fun blog ideas with you. A great part of blogging -and writing about your blogs- is finding and sharing the unique, the exceptional, the brilliant among you. Now, we are all so connected that part of sharing is letting my entire social network know when I've found something. I've been trying to find the PERFECT system to both share links with people on Twitter or Facebook AND be able to find the link again for a possible blog post. So far, that search is lead me to all less than perfect methods, but I may have almost found a good solution.

Several weeks ago, I had breakfast with Marie the Bee (from the Sampler). We talked craft and CraftCon, social networks and social tools. And Marie introduced me to Smub.It. Smub.it (funny name, that) is a method of sharing and bookmarking from any site using any device.

Why is it exciting? I do not have a web-activated phone; but, if I did, I would be able to simply write "smub.it/" in front of any web address to save it as a bookmarks or to share it with friends through a social network or email. For those without the new IPhone (3?) is becomes a helpful tool. But, like I said, I dont' have a webphone. When I use the web, it's only on my laptop.

There are plenty of bookmarking/ and link sharing applications, too. So why did Maria think I would want to this one? One benefit is that the link shared actually has meaningful words (unlike most tiny urls). As a reader, seeing this kinc of shared link allows me to decide before I click if it is something I might actually be interested in. When I share a link with you, you can decide too.

For example, I admired a Knitty pattern for cabled fingerless gloves. Sharing it http://smub.it/debroby/cablefingerlessgloves. If you're a knitter following me on twitter, you can now decide to link. If you're an art quilter on Facebook, you can choose to move on.

This is not enough to change to a new sharing/file system. However, look at that link again. It uses my name as part of the link. MY NAME will get associalted in your head with the sharing. For me, it means followers who know I've been writing on craft for BlogHer for 4.5 years, will have a higher level of expectation on that link. You will expect it to be a fun, unique, value use of your time (I hope) because I recommend it. For the indepdendant crafter -or any independant individual trying to create their "personal brand"- attaching a name, whether it is your own name, your blog name, or your business name- is another level of value for this product.

Diane Gilliand also showed a value smub.it for bloggers with it's counts as a way to value the links.

Still, the product is not yet a perfect organizing tool for me. I've been promised that in the future my bookmarks will be able to be organized in folders. IF/WHEN that promise comes through, this might be a great service me. I can find a link; share it immediately on Facebook, and still save it in folder named for a future blog post. Imagine finding that perfect kwanzaa project in August -or a tomato cage in November. Even using tags, I am not likely to remember -nor find- that link when it's timely to write about.

I invite you try Smub.It and see if helps you organize your life and share your online world in a useful way with your community.

OTHERS HAVE SAID:

Tech Crunch's Robin Wauters wrote Smub Lets YOu Do All YOur Social Boomarking On The Go:
I like Smub already, and I suspect that while the team clearly wants to make sure the service is mobile-friendly (it works particularly well with the iPhone) some people will be interested in simply using it on their computers. For those, the Smub guys added a Firefox extension and toolbar which can come in quite handy if you’re using multiple social bookmarking services.

Presentation of Smub, by Thierry Lamouline from Atelier BNP Paribas on Vimeo.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Internet Finds #1

2009-07-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

Have you been following ~~A Robot A Day~~ A Robot A couple times a week? AnatomyofaSkirt turned the pressure down on herself by changing from once a day to twice a week after a year of making robots. She explains her reasoning:

Robot a Day is part art project, a chance to build a robot army, and a bit of a laugh. It's a creative endeavour with a simple framework: make a different bot, twice a week.

Not sure which is my favorite: the clown bot, the Plastic Canvas bot, the finger puppet bot, or the puffer fish bot. Browse through the collection, then tell me, which is your fave?

Paradise Found and Lost: Where Goest the Internets?

2009-07-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering if I'm just suffering from my summer ennui -except it seems to have months ago - or if I've simply become bored with my corner of the internets. It all seems so irrelevant anymore.

A couple years ago, Twitter was a great place to have conversations in real time. To connect with people I care about- and meet new people, friends of friends, and learn to love them before I ever see their face. It was conversations and drinking games and giggles and all that is good with the internets.

Then it exploded into another marketing scheme. Into an obsession about followers - seeing people as only a number. It became another platform for broadcasting a message; dominated with one-way streams. Many days I have to fight to find anyone interested in conversation. They are too busy marketing themselves. Broadcasting their ideas. So I slip away to find other amusements.

Facebook, which early on confused me then changed and charmed me then changed again and became once more a head scratcher to me, has turned into merely another Twitter feed with time-sucking games included. Why go to the website and actually SHARE A LINK when you can merely feed your twitstream over, save time, and share the tiny url? Why look for anything more there than how a friend measures up on some inane game? Or visit their imaginary abode every day to get a few imaginary coin? Why seek to interact with people there? The average user is too busy selling themselves or distracting themselves to actually interact.

Blogs -once THE place to build community and find commonality- have, to me at least, become rather repetitive and dull or once again about pushing my image upon the world. Community building is rare; conversations are stalled. Comments-where the real conversations happen- are apparently becoming "love fests" or disappearing.

And websites that once offered reasons to visit daily -hell, hourly- because of their special niche and the community they drew around that niche have chosen instead to try and compete these powerhouse social networks. Instead of staying with got them great, they try to imitate -poorly, I might add- the tools and options offered other places. And in doing so, dilute the visibility of what made them great appealling places to begin with.

I thought that this year video would finally hit it big -conversations not only in real time but with real faces and voices. Until I realized that I don't people seeing me with wet straggly hair, or tired, or less than publicly presentable. If most people feel that way, the appeal of a video site lessens. And the technology has yet to make such a community building experience truly viable.

I wonder if there is a place I can go that invites community building and conversation without the ever-present need of self-promotion? I desire that place again. Yet every time I think I've found it, it devolves into the same noisy chatter as everyplace else.

I'm almost -almost- longing for the old days where conversation took place in usenet groups and ICQ. Before most of the days of "internet marketing" and "self-branding". I've become disillusioned with this place I love and want desperately to find a crush again. But I suspect each place will eventually become a paradise lost.

I'I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

So: To Pocket or Not To Pocket. That is THE QUESTION.

2009-07-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Whip-Up pointed me to this wonderful tutorial for making an "add on" pocket. Wonderfully useful thing, I thought. Particularly since manufacturers have stupidly stopped putting pockets in many pants. I NEED pant pockets. Or skirt pockets. Whatever I'm wearing on my bottom half had better come with some kind of storage option.

When I shared this link on Facebook, Dale Anne mentioned that she prefers her pants sans pockets. Which led me to wonder where she puts the few items I always look to pockets for: a kleenex, dog poop bags (empty of course), my cell phone, maybe a pedometer or mp3 player. Ah. She doesn't require said "always near" items.

trying to imagine a life where there is nothing I need/want to carry on my person for hours. Nope. Can't do it. I guess at heart I am a 6 year old boy.

So I ask the question: Do you find pockets a necessity in your life? If so, what do you need to carry in them? If not? How have you come to live without packing your life on your body? Do you always have a bag -or purse- nearby?

aside: this trend seemed to begin within weeks of the Project Runway episode where Michael Kors mentions that his clients do not like functional pant pockets because the pockets might add bulk to their appearance. I know this statement on a tv show could not be solely responsible. But I'm STILL blaming MK for manufacturers' lack of understand.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Summer Quick Tutorials

2009-07-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

crossposted at BlogHer

Ask a crafty blogger what might get her/him to explore beyond the comfortable friendly blogs that one has set up on a feedreader. I'm willing to bet that the first thing to get us clicking out of our "comfort zone" will be a great tutorial. At least, I'll admit, that is the case for me.

With that in mind, I ventured out to seek the charming project, the well-thought-out process, the compelling photos that might make you, too, click through to find a project that intrigues you and perhaps a new blog to follow:

Summertime is all about tank tops and sun dresses, which, when you're sewing them, means they are all facing the neckline and arm holes. This makes Indie House's Applying Bias Tape on Arm and Neck Holes the perfect tutorial to kick this round. I was talking with friends just last week how the change in techniques from quilting to clothing often throws us for a loop. This was the case here, too:

I got very confused when it came time to apply the bias tape. I was thinking of it like a quilt binding that had to be visible when in reality it doesn’t have to be visible at all.

Two different fabric and chain necklaces perfect for dressing up those sundresses and sleeveless tops:

Lillyella has been

swooning over the Candace Ang ruffle necklaces I've seen in magazines, but since I don't have $200 to drop (and you probably don't either), today's project is an easy way to make one for yourself! It's fast, you don't need much and the results are just beautiful.

While Jenny Ryan used Craftzine's HOW-TO TUESDAY to demostrate using fabric braided together to make a charming fabric scrap necklace.

Want to spend a day crafting something that will garner you lots of oooohs and ahhhs? Urban Threads designed a hidden treasure trinket box.

This week’s project is all about inspiration, intrigue, and the love of finding something unexpected. It was inspired by many sources. First, I just couldn’t keep looking at all those fabulous Wonderland designs and not do anything with ‘em, and I thought it had to be something a little bit bookish. Second, I had long ago stumbled upon the fabulous blog of Dave Lowe and his awesome post on making creepy books. Finally, my long love of MacGyver and making awesome things out of everyday objects, like spy books you see in movies, resurfaced after watching too many episodes and espionage movies. So... what do all these things combine to make?

What we’re going to make, quite surprisingly, is the world’s coolest jewelry and trinket box, using all these ideas rolled together.

Finally, if you have find yourself craving something sweet, I think this summer's fast, sweet and oh-so-giftable might be Moda Fabric's Candy Buttons Quilt. Use whimsical "sweet treats" of fat quarters -or find a suitable mix in your stash- applique circles to squares of crisp white and mark the intersection of these squares with yo-yos! Raw edges on the applique means this top can be finished in a couple evenings time- or one day! Perfect for taking to outdoor concerts in the park!

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

2009-07-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

When your calendar turned the page to July, I can guess that your first thought was not: Less than 6 months until Christmas! I'd better seriously starting planning and creating my holiday crafts! But it should have been. There are 24 weekends until Christmas. That's 24 Saturdays and Sunday -when long periods of time can be devoted to creating holiday decorations and gifts. How can you use that time efficiently?

First. DO NOT PANIC. Spend the next week or two doing all the planning that needs to be done. Look up the patterns you tucked away last year planning to make for gifts or decorations this year. Decide if you really like the projects, and -if not- search items that might replace them.

Write down a list of projects you plan to do -the more compulsive might make a spreadsheet. For each project list the recipient. Search through your stash to find any supplies you already own. For those items that need to be purchased -fabrics, yarns, papers, beads, notions - start a shopping list making sure to add the name of the project next to each item.
If a gift needs size measurements, make sure to get them NOW. While you do not need to purchase all your supplies right now, having a complete list of what you need makes getting it later easier.

Order the projects into two groups: Quick Items and Time Consuming Items. Then order the Time Consuming items from the longest time to the shortest.

I would plan on starting the longest time item as soon as possible. It might a quilt that needs to be pieced, then sent out for quilting before you can bind it. It might be a lacy shawl that will take quiet time and attention to complete. Whatever the item, starting that one thing gets you in the groove. And increases the chances that it will be completed on time.

Between now and Labor day, set a time frame and plan for working on your gifts. Be realistic. Know that summertime is often a slow-sales time; watch for sales at your favorite local shops and take advantage of the timing. (that's why you want the plan and shopping list done soon).

As the days become shorter, you should be well on your way to tackling your holiday crafty plans. Imagine being able to relax and enjoy the holiday parties and gatherings this year because you're not stressing over gifts incomplete.

I'm fortunate, I think, that I only have a couple gifts to work on. One pair of knit socks, already on the needles, and a second possible pair to work on after these. A lacy shawl to crochet. A quilt -slept with for the past 12 years- that needs to be repaired.

Are you planning to make a number of your holiday gifts and decorations this year? Have you already started?

(edited from a post at BlogHer).

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Boring You With #GSD

2009-06-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad, bad blogger I know. My life seems centered in repetative daily tasks that I can't believe would be interesting, and while I search my day and life for things to share, they do not come.

I've had this blog so long that I think you've heard it all.

Today I declared a Get Shit Done (or Just Do It) day with the goal of cleaning of my first floor. Some level more than a quick run through, but less than a knock-down, drag out Spring/Fall cleaning. So I'll bore you with details of this day. Think of this as live-blogging a life.

#1. List of tasks: Clean first floor: vacuum, dust, mop, declutter. Clean bathroom, declutter laundry room. Prep healthy foods for 3 days, make up calendar for July, write workouts for week, write BlogHer post, walk dogs. Drink a gallon of water (it's hot). #gsd #justdoit

#2. LOL as I read my Twitterscope for the day:

There may be more stuffed into your day today than you can actually handle, but that may not keep you from trying. It would be easier to get more done if you stopped long enough to make a practical plan. Flying by the seat of your pants sometimes works for you, but now it's a frivolity you cannot afford. Be realistic and get your schedule back to a manageable level of activity.

#3. Finished vacuuming. Now I am really a top-down cleaner - which means that vacuuming should be the very last task of the day. However, my house was covered with shed dog fur which distracted me from seeing anything else. So I gave the first floor a good vacuum now, and I'll likely give it another vacuum when I'm done.

#4. Dust/polish. This was my favorite chore as a kid. I loved pouring the polish on the wood and bringing it to a shine. I loved the lemon smell. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I finished. Not any more.

Dusting bookcases is a major PIA! Moving items, dusting them, then putting them back in place? Whose idea was this?

#5. Declutter. Every once in a while it a good thing to take a surface down to nothing then decide what needs to be there and what needs to be thrown away or put away. Returns a sense of calm and order to a place. Why does it only last a matter of hours, though? (nature despises a vacuum?)

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Things To Do Before BlogHer

2009-06-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

BlogHer 09 in Chicago is fast approaching. I need a good to-do list to keep myself organized. Feel free to add anything I may have missed to this list:

1. ~~order Moo cards.~~

2. Lose 10#. Hasn't happened all year, but it is do-able. Just have to pay attention to my food more closely. I don't think I can work out harder.

3. Gather all my electronic toys and their necessary cords. Decide which ones I'm really going to take and use and which I can leave at home.

4. Make a packing check list.

5. Chart out the parties I've responded to and the ones I've heard about. Search out parties that have FOOD.

6. Plan a workout with other fitness bloggers there.

7. Plan a Craft-In to show and tell crafty stuff with others there.

8. I have one day free. Figure out how to get from hotel to Museum of Science and Industry. And back.

9. Try on and plan wardrobe for the weekend so I can pack the least amount of clothes.

10. What food products do I want/need to pack? Meal replace bars in case of flour-heavy meals? Protein shake mix? Nuts?

11. See which -if any-panels I want to attend. I have a feeling I will hanging out the Geek Lab all weekend. Who wants to help me get my free wordpress blog moved to a hosted site? And show me how to keep things up from there? Program? All those fun things?

12. Damn. I thought of something else while out walking. Can I remember it now? And it's probably really important.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Choosing a Travel Craft

2009-06-19T03:15:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

BlogHer 09 is just over 5 weeks away which means I have to start considering what to take with me on the road. Travel time is great for catching up on reading and podcasts, but it's also the very best time to work on simple portable projects. What should I pack for 5 days in Chicago? NOTE: My flights both ways have 2 - count them two!- changes of flights each direction.

Travel crafts have several unique requirements:

little reference material- an easily copied page or two from a book, or a pattern. No way you want too many extra books or reference materials with the small tray tables. Cars, trains or buses offer even less work space.
easily pack-able size. A project that fits in the pocket of carry-on is idea.
handwork only. I've heard of women bringing crank machines on airplanes -but I've never witnessed it. And I wouldn't want to share a crowded airline row with one.
easy to quickly pack up.
no small parts to lose.

The first choice and most logical project is a pair of socks. Socks are mostly repetition work, with one big interruption where you have to pay attention: the heel. These are the first socks I'm knitting from Two-at-a-Time Socks and the first time I'm using this method. Knitting socks on a "magic loop" isn't new to me, but two at a time rather doubles some of the challenges. So the heels, I fear, will be very challenging. I either must get beyond this point before I fly or accept that I may be ripping and redoing while traveling. I'm not certain this is an acceptable option.

What else is a portable fun project to work on?

Several years ago I purchased a cordoroy jacket, styled very much like the common denim jackets: seaming along the front and back, deep front and back yolks, a close-fitting waist band and cuffs. It struck me as the perfect base for embellishing with embroidery and stitchery. And it is. The joy of working on it is that I can wear it, pull thread and needle out of a pocket and work on it, then put it on again. But Chicago in July isn't a place where I can imagine needing a jacket. This would be too large a project to carry along any other way.

A simple crochet project. I've been enchanted looking at the crocheted potholders that Grumperina received in a recent exchange. It wouldn't take long to get a pattern or two together and choose to make these as small holiday presents.

A beading project like my DNA chain projects would be easy to pack, but I fear flying over the center of the country during summer storm season. One surprise patch of turbulence and my project could be all over the cabin.

There is a felted coasters project I'm working on. I haven't been fond of any of my designs so far; progress is going slowly. A few squares of felted sweaters, though, some threads and some needles and I will have plenty of time to work on this.

Sewing? Nothing portable and hand-work based. Painting? Uhm, no. Screen printing? Again.. NOT PORTABLE. The most logical projects are still embroidery, crochet or knitting socks. Maybe, given those choices I'll just start a new pair of socks when I get to the airport and know I won't get to the heels before I get home.

Do you have any recommendations on crafting projects we can take on the road?

Other Readings:

Threadbare's Meagan Ileana embroiders images of her every day life. Simple lines become toes and hands, grass and flowers, drawn out with needle and thread. What a way to capture the memories of a day or two on a special trip. ht: hellocraft

CRAFT offers a small practical project -especially you're hitting the road to head to wedding/reception. Linda Permann worte a simple tutorial for a crocheted bowtie. Requiring only one skein of yard and a crochet hook, this totally qualifies as a grab-for-on-the-road project that can be put to use when you arrive at your destination.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

A first

2009-06-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a first as an individual who feeds birds: a hummingbird flew up to me while I was standing outside eating my breakfast banana. It hovered directly in front of me as if to say:

Please, ma'am, could you see to my feeder?

Now I've had chickadees that have begged for food, I've had finches lingering over feeders that needed filled. I've heard of hummers pestering the humans who fill their feeders.

But this was the first time I've actually experienced it.

Yes. I took the feeder right inside, made some simply syrup, and filled it.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Maker Faire. Are You A Maker?

2009-06-04T03:30:00.000-07:00

RT @SisterDiane: Okay, here's the plan: Maker Faire becomes some kind of permanent geek village, and we all go live there together. You in? #mf09*

I am one of the many folk who -like Sister Diane - would SO be in to moving to Maker Faire village! Yet, early this week friends asked about the one thing that left the biggest impression: that experience that was the the pen-ultimate explanation of Maker Faire. I was left speechless. How do I condense fire sculptures, craft bizarre, wardrobe refashioning in real time, technology demonstrations, R2D2, the Lost in Space robot, uniquely designed bicycles, Lego's heaven, Burning Man ethic, etc. into one clear item? I can't.

Katherine Sharpe of ReadyMade tried to explain it also in Understanding Maker Faire:

Maker Faire feels like a lot of things that are familiar: a country fair, a science fair, a basement rocketry club outing, a hippie teach-in, shop class, computer camp, Burning Man, a trade show or three. And yet, in combination, they become unfamiliar, unique.

...Maker Faire seems to me to be about fusing this age-old tradition of the amateur expert, making things, with a new generation of technology—instead of doing wild things with car engines, Makers are doing wild things with iPods and LEDs. It’s also about adopting a certain attitude towards making. The attitude feels almost ’60s-countercultural, but without the self-righteousness. Or maybe it has more to do with the late-’60s drive to self sufficiency; personal empowerment is a big theme here. In the words of Wired editor Chris Anderson at the panel on open-source hardware, “You can’t count on the consumer electronics industry to make what you want.” The ethos of the Faire is fiercely individualistic yet also about cooperation and community (as opposed to bureaucracy).There’s a feeling that bending technology to one’s own means is an act of rebellion, but of playful, minor rebellion, more on the order of a meaningful prank than organized political action.

I'm sure I missed more at this year's fair than I know. TreeHugger highlighted Ceallach dyes display in the sustainable village, where they were selling yarn dyed using solar power. HOW DID I MISS THIS??

Ceallach Dyes is a new hand dyed yarn line that uses a simple box that captures the heat from the sun to set the dyes. Many dyers will use the microwave or oven, but this company has chosen to go renewable.

The box is simply lined with aluminum foil and covered in a glass lid. The heat generated is more than enough to gently set the dyes, avoiding the use of electricity generated from non-renewable, dirty sources.

Perhaps the overwhelming crowds were the reason I missed seeing most of the sustainable village. Tracy Elaine from Passing Open Windows had no problem sharing some of her photos -though, she too, admitted that many couldn't be taken because of the crowds. She managed to capture the essence of SteamPunk, show some of the outdoor displays, and caught the wonders of Patchwerk Press doing free screen printing as part of the Scrap-a-Rama. I'll admit it, I almost took off my t-shirt to get a cool screen printed.

One of the neat items at the show was the MakeReady Journal available to attendees. The journals not only fit with the fair's theme of Re-Make America, it highlights the techniques from Jeannine Stein's new book: Re-Bound.

Others Who Attended:

Kristen from Craft Leftovers posted on the fun of Makers Day- the day that vendors set up, meet up, and visit amonst themselves before the crowds appear. During the weekend, Kristen taught mending techniques from her booth. Then she rounded up the Weekend when the Faire was over.

Sewing Demos on the CRAFT stage, we took turns teaching people to mend.
And then I came home and slept for 11 hours, haha. In many ways I feel like my stay in San Francisco is really just starting. It’s been a blast. I met so many great people at the Faire and now I’m meeting so many great people here in town.
In many ways I feel like all the many people came by, but then, on the other hand, i did give away all 200 zines plus about 400 of the Mending on the Go zine! So that right there tells me the mass of the people flowing by. So wonderful.
If I met you at the faire, it was so nice to meet you and welcome to Craft Leftovers - the blog all about making with what you have on hand!

If you're wondering if Maker Faire is really a family affair (I offer a loud, resounding YES!) CRAFT included a look at the fair from a pre-teen's perspective.

I, being a 12-year-old girl, was more than overwhelmed by the throngs of people with cup creations and tape wallets marching around to get from one hall to the others. Other than that, it was a crafter's dream. Every which way there another spectacle. Whether it was Japanese art or adorable felt toys, there was no way you could be bored. There was always some tutorial or show we could see. The first day we went, my seven-year-old brother accompanied us. To put it nicely, Milo is fascinated with LEGO. I should say obsessed. Anyways, when he reached the LEGO exhibit, he freaked. He screamed. He yelled. I mean that literally. After that piercing example of excitement, he raced to the LEGO buildings. My mom said that I could go find something to look at while he played. Next, I wandered to the Ponko table, where they displayed their innovative methods of creating laser-cut art. I made a bracelet made of plastic with a laser-cut tree design. It was so awesome.

Wish to get some of the visual impact of the weekend? Average Jane Crafter posted a collection of photos on Flickr: Maker Faire Bay Area 2009

Finally, one of the biggest mechanical wonders at the fair was Christian Risto's Hand of Man. This large mechanical hand is controlled by one human wearing a special glove. That's all I can say before I suggest you watch the video. Courtesy of MAKE:

NOT in the Bay area and wishing you could attend a Maker Faire? There have been faires held in Austin, TX., and Newcastle, UK. As MAKE gains more experience, I'd expect you might eventually find one on the east coast as well. It does not matter. If there is any way for you to attend a Maker Faire, do so! I fear our dream of a Maker Village is even further in the future.

*beginning quote from @SisterDiane's twitter stream.

(crossposted at BlogHer).

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Crafting a Life: Quilt Shows

2009-06-01T02:34:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

With weather warming and the spring/summer seasons upon us, craft, sewing and quilt guilds around the world are putting the final touches on their local shows, or are breathing a sigh of relief as their show finishes up. Adding to the local appeal of these shows are regional and national shows presented every year.

glowy quilt show

Local shows:
There is a charm to attending a local quilt guild or sewing guild show. Each group often has at least one very prolific member who enters 8-12 items; by the end of the show, it often gets easy to spot that person's work. There is often a section of first quilts. While some of these are simple designs, there is usually one over-achiever who does fabulously technical work that makes her project look more like a masterpiece than beginner piece.

Each show has an aisle or two displaying workshop projects. These allow the visitor to compare how individual color sense dramatically alters the appearance of a pattern.

Look at this photo of three Lone Star Quilts each made with the same pattern and even quilted identically. The choices of color and color placement changes the feel of each item.

Regional Shows:

Regional shows remove some of the charm from the guild shows -seldom organizing to highlight a workshop project for example. In return, the creative and technical quality of the work increases. There will be more individual works not made from someone else's pattern. There will be hand- dyed fabrics, extra embellishments and almost always something that surprises and delights the visitor. These shows may still be run by amateurs -state or regional councils representing a number of guilds for example. However, some of these are also presented by professional organizing companies such as Mancuso Brothers show management.

One of the most anticipated summer regional shows -Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show- takes place in Sisters, Or. on Saturday, July 11th.

National Shows:

Every year, quilters save sheckles and vacation time to make pilgrimages to Paducah, Kentucky in the springtime and/or Houston, Texas, in the fall. I've never made it to either of these shows, so rather than try to explain them, myself, let others discuss their experiences:

Frieda Anderson shared impressions of quilts from Paducah Quilt Show.

PattieWack Craft Blog determined she was Paducah Bound or BUST. And found the experience completely worth it.

Julie -Feeling Simply Quilty- joined a bus trip to Paducah and showed her day.

At CJ Stitching and Blooms we learn another reason to attend a large show: international friends get a chance to meet in person.

Heidi Zielinski -like other quilters- has already submitted her quilts to be juried into the Houston show this fall.

Photo credit:
Glowy Quilt Show, by skvidal's Flickrstream. Three Lone Star Quilts, from circulating's Flickrstream.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Craft Show Weekend

2009-05-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Last week, I talked about the type of quilt shows available this year. A different type of show you also might wish to attend is one of the many craft shows. Where quilt and stitchery shows are primarily about displaying members work, craft shows are mainly about small crafty vendors plying their wares.

ellebee {studio} calls the application process craft insanity:

in a fit of psychotic optimism, i filled out applications for four craft shows today {and another two will be going out as soon as the applications are available online}. . . .i have always wanted to have a real show “schedule” and this is the first time i’ll be doing more than two in a 3 or 4 month time frame.

I am attending one of the biggest mash-ups of craft show, technology, diy, music and art you can experience: Maker Faire, 09. (Look for my wrap up Wednesday.) I'm hoping to meet up with Crafty Pod's Diane Gillaland; The Crafty Chica and her daughter, Maya; the crew from ThreadBanger (how I wish I were there on Sunday for their Twitter Scavanger Hunt) and more!

The Indie Fixx will be attending Philadelphia's Art Star Craft Bazaar this weekend. She shares the vendors she's looking forward to seeing in person. Sharing this technique, the Baltimore Etsy Street Team is also heading up to this show.

Another Baltimore crafty group -the Charm City Craft Mafia - is heading off to Silver Springs Sunday for Handmade Mart. Crafty Bastard's Tina Seamonster will be there, too.

If you're further south than the mid-Atlantic region, you might want to check out the Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta, GA.
Lorigami will be there, along Glue And Glitter. Some Art Talk screened advertising bags to take along with her.

Laura Jane of JaneWear jewelry wrote a number of hints for the person working a craft show:

Getting to the show and setting up is only half the battle. There’s so much more involved in making this show your best show.
I should first tell you that, unless absolutely unavoidable, you should never take on selling at a craft show by yourself. While shows can be exciting and profitable, they can also be physically and emotionally exhausting.
… it’s important to bring along someone to help you work the booth and deal with customers…
…realize that your booth will be unmanned for a certain amount of time. If you must walk away – even for a short time, try to get one of the neighboring booths to help you out.
…see what other vendors are offering and what they are charging. Ask them about their work…

Wondering what shows may be running in your area? CraftShocker lists the indie craft shows every week.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Fashion Show: Project Runway Knock Off

2009-05-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Last Thursday Bravo premiered The Fashion Show, an obvious re-engineering of their popular Project Runway which they lost to LifeTime late last year. Standing in the place of Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, this show offers fashion designer Izaak Mizrahi and former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland and senior VP or IMG Fashion Fern Mallis.

The retooling of the program created some interesting changes:

Project Runway(PR) emphasized couture fashion, The Fashion Show (TFS) is concerned with designs that have retail potential.
Like all of the "professional challenge reality shows" on Bravo since PR, TFS has a quick challenge to start the show. The winner of this challenge gets immunity.
There is no contestant's "mentor" such as the role played by Tim Gunn.
The judged challenge at each show is produced as fashion show. The audience is compromised of fashion writers and retail buyers whose comments are taken into consideration by the judges in making their final decisions.
The contestants remain present throughout the final discussions/elimination. While they are free to "leave the runway', they move to become part of the audience instead of disappearing behind a curtain.
The dismissal line: We just aren't buying your line.

The bloggers who hate the show all seem to mourn the lack of a Tim Gunn character. While I find Gunn adds the charm to PR, I also believe that had the producers chosen to add a mentor-character to the show, the critics would have found whomever filled that role lacking. There is only one Tim Gunn.

Many also complained about the weak dismissal line; I agree. So many of these seemed overworked and dull with an unappealling attempt to make them relavent to the idea of the show. Where Trump's "You're Fired!" works, Mizrahi's line is a snooze.

I was surprised that I missed the element of shopping at Mood. Hopefully in later programs we will see more of their fabric-decision process and get a clue how each makes their design decisions. It was a small point in PR, but it added a lot to understanding the design idea of each contestant.
One change which I did like: the fashion show atmosphere for the challenge each week. While the finalists will not have a show at Fashion Week, they instead have a fashion show every week with exposure to the business people with whom they will eventually be working.

The reviews:
Alessandra Stanley at Sign on San Diego: There is plenty to enjoy, but not much to applaud. At its best, fashion celebrates originality; “The Fashion Show” feeds on imitation.

Anne Bratskeri of Newsday (via justusboys): BOTTOM LINE: Overall, a meaner, harsher fashion competition, but compelling. When the judges hate something, they don't try to couch their disdain.

RachelL from SideReel:

At first, it seems like a brilliant new approach to the familiar format - audiences might be more invested if they actually see something wearable - but it's quickly apparent from the premiere episode that a good part of the appeal of "Runway" lies in the outrageous designs. Haute couture is not always accessible to Main Street America, but producing it is a very creative and entertaining process.

Televisionary's Jace:

And while it might sound in theory very similar to Project Runway, there's a lot to be said about Runway's own skin tight format, the wise and knowing presence of mentor Tim Gunn, and the troika of cutting judges Michael Kors, Heidi Klum, and Nina Garcia. In fact, watching The Fashion Show reminds you that there's more to a piece of clothing than just the cloth; it's how it's cut and shaped by the hands of a master craftsman.

PopWatch.EW.com Missy Schwartz:

Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but boy can it make for some lousy television. Case in point: tonight's premiere of Bravo's The Fashion Show, a.k.a. Since We Lost 'Project Runway' to Lifetime (Argh!) We Came Up With This New Series That Is Totally Just As Awesome as the Original -- Really! Please Watch!
I'd like to give The Fashion Show the benefit of the doubt and allow that subsequent episodes might improve. But what we saw this evening wasn't pretty: an obvious -- and obviously inferior -- Runway copycat in which 15 aspiring designers compete for a $125,000 grand prize and for the chance...not to show their collection at Fashion Week, but to sell their line "in a retail market." (If that's not conveniently vague, I don't know what is.)

Tom and Lorenzo-Fabulous and Opinionated- thought:

Anyway, our point is, we don't quite get why some people are being so vehemently negative about this show. If you like Project Runway, then why on earth wouldn't you like this show? It has literally all the exact same elements. We find it hard to believe that THAT many people watch PR ONLY for the host/judges/mentor. Like we said, we love them too, but we didn't go into last night's show expecting to see them or even see a close approximation of them. We expected to see crazy designers bitching at each other while they try to complete impossible challenges and then end it with a runway show of hungry models parading the results around for judging. Done and done. Mission accomplished.

What about you? Did you watch last week? Will you continue to watch? Did you love it or hate it? I haven't even touched upon the contesants!

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Eight Principles of Fun

2009-05-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

I had a few moments of down time on line, so I chose to StumbleUpon the internets. I often find something quite irrestistible and occasionaly something worth sharing. Yesterday, I found the website The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun.

Click the link - the design and animation is well worth spending a little time watching and absorbing. Go have yourself a little fun. But if you don't have the time right now to pay attention, I'll just share the principles so you can mull over these ideas throughout the day:

1. Get Focused: Stop Hiding Who You Really Are.
2. Get Focused: Start Being Intensely Selfish.

3. Be Creative: Stop Following the Rules.
4. Be Creative: Start Scaring Yourself.

5. Use Your Wisdom: Stop Taking It All So Damn Seriously
6. Use Your Wisdom: Start Getting Rid of the Crap

7. Take Action: Stop Being Busy.
8. Take Action: Start Something.

Which of these principles do you need to focus on right now?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Taking Multi-Strand To the Extreme

2009-05-11T02:23:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this video? You have to get 5 minutes through it before you see her knitting. All I can think is that my hands would be killing me if I did this.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Crafting a Life: Crafty Tutorials for Kids

2009-05-07T02:36:00.000-07:00

(crossposted to BlogHer)

"There's nothing to do."
"We're bored."
"How many days until we go ...?"

These -and similar complaints - are the true signs of summer. Children left to their resources can quickly run out of ways to amuse themselves. I'd be willing to bet that with schools closing because of the H1N1 influenza, some parents and caretakers are already hearing these refrains.

With that in mind, I've searched out some simple to more complicated crafty tutorials to keep the whole family entered for an afternoon.

Quazen tackled one of the ubiquitous items of childhood: what to do with broken crayons.

Waxed Paper Stained Glass Windows
Mega Mult-Color Crayon Blocks
Wax Painting on paper.

I remember doing all of these as kids and having a blast. Wouldn't these be great solutions for either rainy summer days, or those last summer "there's nothing to do" days?

Amanda Formaro wrote a tutorial on Salt Dough Sports Magnets. These quick and simple crafts would make gifts for the Mom or Dad who is a crazy sports fan - or the parent of one.

Simple Kids Craft.com has a collection of YouTube videos demonstrating how to do simple crafts.

Do you head to the zoo with your kids every summer? Wenona Napolitano at Crafting A Green World wrote a tutorial on making cute animal creations from empty yogurt cups: Yogurt Cup Creations. While she and her family have created seasonal animals, I can see re-creating the zoo and a great memory of the trip.

Gail Bartel recognized Children's Day by writing two tutorials on Koinobori Windsocks
using both fabric and heavy paper. I had kids do something similar at a summer Bible School picnic at the beach. Watching children stand in a row at the edge of the water with their windsocks fluttering in the breeze was magical. The added benefit: the windsocks identified "our" kids from all the others at the beach that day.

When the kids are home, do they head out to ride their bikes all day? Check out these simple instructions for embellished wheel spokes, bike flag, or streamers from the DIY network to customize the look of their bikes.

Perhaps a child would like to spend some time this summer tackling a new hobby. AlphaMom offered T-Shirt Weaving (like the potholders I made as a child):

help your kids celebrate with an upcycled weaving project using old t-shirts. My six-year-old was fascinated to watch me cut up clothing (not for the first time) and we thought of many more uses for these cast-off shirts. I'm certain that you have some old t-shirts lying around the house, but if you get them at the thrift store, look for extra large shirts with no seams on the sides to make the longest strips. We used string for the base (called warp strings) because I found it easier for little hands to work with, but you could also use more t-shirt strips, creating a denser weave and a fully recycled project. And if you don't have a loom, don't go buy one -- you can use a cardboard box by following the instructions here.

Finally, it always seems that breaks from school invite those broken arms and legs. BPWagner posted an Instructables tutorial on Attaching Lego Accessories to a Cast. I'm still a little confused about these instructions, but the idea of having a light or other accessory that I could attach to a cast is too juicy to ignore. Please, if you try this one, let me know how it goes.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Crafting a Life: Crafting in Public

2009-04-30T02:30:00.000-07:00

crossposted at BlogHer
With the weather warming up and days getting longer, we can anticipate more occasions to take our crafting outside and create in the great outdoors. Casual evenings of drinks on a patio with a simple stitching project in our lap, picnics in the park. Then there are organized public crafting events that occur each year:

STITCH N' PITCH

Stitch N' Pitch will again be held in major and minor league stadiums around North America. If you've never heard of this event before...

Stitch N' Pitch brings together two wonderful traditions — Baseball and the NeedleArts. Come to a ball game and knit, crochet, embroider, cross-stitch and needlepoint. Sit among friends, family and colleagues and cheer on your favorite Baseball Team. Beginners, intermediate and experts are all welcome.

Stitchers who love baseball, knitters who don't have a clue about baseball, stitchers who love being together in a crowd, they all come out for local Stitch and Pitch games. What I love are the projects created to wear at the baseball park. Be sure to check out the photos that accompany the following blogs.

What bloggers wrote about last year:

Life in Cleveland: Believe me when I say there were knitters everywhere. And nothing’s more fun than that!

Stitches of Heritage: For stitchers, it's a great night to grab your project and head to the stadium for a night of stitching & fellowship. And what a long night it was........ the game went into 14 (yes - fourteen) innings! I brought along a knitting project but the goodie bags were full of great cross stitch freebies too!

knitting daily:

I'm not much of a sports person (most of you have figured this out by now!). But I have gone with friends to sports events, because being with lots of people,watching men and women run around after small objects, eating junk food (I ADORE hot dogs), shouting yourself hoarse when someone makes a point(or a goal, or a home run) is really a lot of fun even if you have no clue what is
really going on.

However, baseball has been a special challenge to me. To the uninitiated (thatwould be me), the game is a
bit...well...slow. The first few baseballgames I went to, I was--I shall tell the truth, even if it makes the commenters explode at me--bored. The home runs were exciting, and the SMACK of the bat hitting the ball is a great sound when you're actually in the ballpark, but all that time in between...I kept thinking, "I
could be knitting. I wish I had brought my knitting." Those first few games, I would come home feeling as though hours of perfectly good knitting time had been wasted, because of course, I was too shy to bring my knitting to a sports event in a ballpark full of rabid fans.

Thank goodness those days of being too shy to bring my knitting out of the house areat an end.

Panopticon:

Knitting has taken me many places I never expected to go, but none more unexpected than a baseball field. Yup, I went to Stitch 'n' Pitch Chicago last night. I said I wouldn't and I truly believed I wouldn't. But at the last minute there was ticket, and the weather was good, and there was the prospect of An Evening with Knitters. So I went.

You remember Eleanor Roosevelt's line about how you should do something every day that scares you? The game was my Scary Thing for yesterday.

A Year of Stitches: The best thing about Stitch 'N' Pitch night is that it brings together two things I love. Baseball and yarn.

WORLD WIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC WEEKEND:

In previous years, there has been a WWKIP day held the 2nd Saturday in June. This year, to make Knit in Public easier for all to schedule, the event is being held over the entire weekend.

World Wide Knit in Public Weekend allows for:

a specific day to get out of your house and go to a local event (with your knitting in tow) just for you and people like you. Who knows you might even bump into your neighbor! Consider this a spark, to ignite a fire; getting all of the closeted knitters out into fresh air.

WWKiP Day is unique, in that it's the largest knitter run event in the world. Each local event is put together by a volunteer or a group of volunteers. They each organize an event because they want to, not because they have to. They bring their own fresh ideas into planning where the event should be held, and what people would like to do.

What bloggers wrote about last year:

SpeedyNeedleFreeman: it was rad to have so many public knitters, i mean most of us are not ashamed, or all of us are not ashamed to be knitters, and knit in public all the time without thinking about it. it was wonderful to be part of such a public display of unashamedness. for most i don't think it is poltical, but when you get a group together (there were about 60 of us there), it becomes political. si se puede!!!

Lorrie Knits And Sews: World Wide Knit in Public Day was also my daughter's wedding day. Yes I knit, when not busy celebrating.

Furry with Ruffles:You would all be aware (if not, go out and slap yourselves soundly now please) of World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIP) on Saturday June 14th. Perth had a very satisfactory turnout due to my constant prodding I suspect as well as some great kindnesses on the part of the weather gods. Indeed it was so warm that sunburn was a serious risk for those of us who spent the large part of the day in residence.

Strings and Sealing Wax: I did manage to make it to our local WWKIP '08 event on Saturday June 14 with my Ravelry group. We did a great deal of chatting while knitting, as usual. We sat on the benches in the courtyard, shaded by the trees, listening to the splashing water and every now and then feeling a bit of the mist blown by the wind off the fountain. It was truly lovely.

Other crafters seek out opportunities to craft in public:

Whatever James: In Stitches:

Somehow the man cross stitching and the neck tattoo and wanting to relieve stress led to the conclusion that I had been in the klink. And that was emotional for me because how many people think the same thing and don't ask? I have been called many things by the uneducated and mostly unwashed masses. I've had trash thrown at me because they think a guy with an embroidery hoop can't start some shit.But as equally important are the conversations my working in public has started, the compliments and oohs and awwws I have gotten at my work, and the friends that I have made because of it.

My Love Is: My personal faves are knitting, crocheting or embroidering outside - easily transportable...... I love the feeling of calm that I get crafting outside with the sun on my face......

The City of Crochet:And last but not least, some crafting progress is being made! Lookee! I have 2 finshed dishcloths that flew off my hooks in no time at all, and the Crafting in Public shot...I pulled out my purse dishcloth and was working on that while having a beer and people watching at the Irish Pub next to the Bourse (Belgian Stock Exchange building)

Or NOT:

Crafty Goat's Notes:

It's not that I don't enjoy crafty get-togethers. I love being around other creatives, watching their process and absorbing their conversations. But I just don't create well in that situation. Maybe it's performance anxiety. Maybe it's perfectionism. For whatever reason, though, I prefer to do my creating in my own comfy little craft room, where I can really dig into a project and do it just right.
So is this just me? I'm curious what the rest of you think of crafting in public...?

I'm curious, too. How do you feel about crafting in public?

Debra Roby blogs her creative life at A Stitch in Time and her journey to fitness at Weight for Deb.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Fun Crafty Blogs Finds

2009-04-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

Time again to visit some new-ish -or new to me- blogs rolling through the blogrolls.

Have you found the funny or slightly sad Craft Fail? It's the blog where you can be honest about a craft project you've done that just didn't work out right? Have a knitting nightmare-you can share it people who truly understand. Experimented with using food dye on clothing? Really, they'll understand. Founder Kim Werker even shared her first knitted sweater:

This is the first sweater I ever knit, clearly not to completion. Why not to completion? Because after I assembled the first sleeve and started on the second and then tried on the sweater, I discovered to my horror that the thing weighs as much as a knee-length coat and is hotter than Phoenix in August.

CraftLeftovers is described as Resourceful Crafting for Creative Folks. Posts are discussions, tutorials, and promised interviews. I was fascinated by a post on crochet done directly on a painting:

I’ve been overly fascinated by crochet lately and have started to use it more and more in my paintings. I’ve working on this particular piece and while I want the crochet to be flat across the painting I do not want a lot of tension on the sides of the painting (it’s on museum board and would warp badly over time). Starching seems to be the obvious answer. Well how will I do that when it’s crocheted directly to the painting? I don’t want to destroy/alter/contort the painting. And I also want to preserve the sense of the crochet organically growing out from the forms in the painting. Luckily there are many ways to starch a crocheted item and not all of them involve dipping and squeezing and pinning flat - although if possible that is the best way to go.

Monaluna is a fabric designer by trade. Her blog is a taste of gardening, cooking, crafting and design. In Hot off the Singer she shared a recently made tablecloth using fabric she'd designed.

Somewhere there's a mid-century home filled with babies and crafting. That home is the center of Kristena's Thimbly Things. She shared her score of patterns:

When I came home Friday and showed Evan my $4 worth of plunder, he laughed at me. I had somehow managed to get a Lizzie McGuire pattern and 3 Project Runway patterns. And Evan was quite certain this was related to my obsession with Project Runway.

Kim Guymon writes ScrapBizness about the business of scrap booking and paper crafts. Recently she wrote her cardinal rule of getting personal in business:

Never say anything that would emotionally wound you if it got thrown back in your face in a mocking or "mean girl" kind of way. That means, it's okay to talk about how lame your computer or gardening skills are. Or, how you don't like cats or can't stand pizza. If someone mocked you for those "qualities", who cares? But, what if you dump your soul about your fertility problems or weight issues? If people turned on you about those topics, it would cut like a knife and hurt very bad. There are plenty of people ready and willing to do that - especially on the internet where anonymity is acceptable.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Green Crafting

2009-04-22T02:58:00.000-07:00

When you read the words "Green Crafts" what comes to mind? For me, a variety of craft activities and movements fight to be noticed first.There is:

The Wardrobe Refashionista, who take what's already in their closets -and on the racks at thrift stores- then cut, sew, design, dye, alter in some way to make a new wardrobe item.

The Guerrila crafter like Knitta who use scraps to create unconvention art pieces around the world.

Crafting a Green World that discuss using safer chemicals, organics, renewable items to make craft.

StashBusters (like our project here) that support using already purchased supplies instead of rushing to buy more. While this might be "green" in result, at the moment the impetus seems to be economic in nature, not inspired by concern for the planet.

Likely more different divisions.

Looking at these items, I'm not seeing much of a unifiying theme. Is "green" crafting concerned with saving the earth, saving our spirits or saving our wallets? Is it based on the resources we use or where we find them? Can it be forward looking?

These themes were recently discussed in one of Diane Gilleland's Crafty Podcasts: Crafting Green: What's It Mean? Gilleland prefers to consider the term "sustainable" instead of "green".

Examining the idea of sustainability, Gilleland first took the time to inventory her crafty supplies. Store like items together and make a list of what she already owns. Using this inventory list can be a jumping off spot for your crafty inspiration.. or assure you that acceptable substitutions do exist in your craft room.

My favorite of her suggestions? Examine the UFOs sitting in your room. Not those projects you are actively working on, but all those projects that you've realistically given up on. How many supplies do you have tied up in "never to be done" projects? Instead of torturing yourself with the reminder of these items, Gilleland suggests that you reclaim it - unstitching the sewn items to get back pieces; unknitting or uncrocheting to reclaim the yarns, undoing the beading to be able to now use those beads.

Hold a reclamation party with your crafty friends and maybe even swap some your now reclaimed supplies!

There are many links and ideas in the show notes. Make sure to check them out.

Listening to this podcast, I'm still struck that there isn't anything approaching a unifiying idea when it comes to "green crafting". The term I think is too broad and too all-encompassing for me to want to use anymore. Sustainable crafting, upcycled crafting, recycled crafting, stash busting, reclaimed materials, sustainable supplies, non-toxic supplies. These terms are all much more specific and understandable in use.

So although "green crafting" is a hot term, I will try to retire it from my conversations. Instead, I'll use the more descriptive term for whatever I'm trying to explain.

Other Readings:

After listening to this podcast, Rob Walker of Murketing reacted in Craft And Green.

All in all a very thoughtful discussion, and another example of why, when I talk to people about the book and they ask me what I’m keeping an eye on this year, I still say it’s this DIYism subculture.

In comments following the podcast notes, Betz White adds another thought on green crafting:

Something to add: Think about crafting items that encourage “green” habits, ie: sewing up a set of cloth napkins or reusable grocery totes.

Betz should know. She recently published a book called: Sewing Green.

And how about you? What does "green crafting" mean to you? How do you craft green?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Gardening Q&A- Upside down Tomato Planters and Mulch

2009-04-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Whenever I meet knew people and tell them I'm a gardener, they have questions. Wide ranging questions that vary depending upon that individual's interest and experience. Today's questions are a sampling of the wide-ranging variety of interests in growing.

1. What do you think of those upside-down hanging tomato systems?

Truth be told, I do not like them. The containers are rather small -maybe 10" round and a foot long- which means there is not a lot of soil in them. Tomatoes need lots of root space to flourish- that's why you plant them in 1/2 whiskey barrels or spaced 18" apart in a garden. These systems, the plants -it seems to me- will stunt the growth by the lack of root space.

The small size is needed to keep these containers from pulling off fascia boards if hung on your house. I still wonder can you hang these high enough to keep the plants off the ground and still be able to reach the top of the container to water? I'm short. I don't give myself much hope of this one.

Additionally, with such a small root space when the heat of summer comes, you will need to water these containers at least once a day, most likely twice. As good intentioned as many of us are, I can see days when this will not happen.

While searching for actual experience with these systems, I found greentxmama who provided 2 videos of her experience last summer with this system. Several of her commenters- and greentxmama herself- complained of very low yield.

In the suggested stream of this video was another showing how to adapt a 5 gallon bucket for a hanging system. While this would give you more soil for your plant; you would need very strong attachments to not lose the pot/siding under the weight of the bucket filled with damp soil and a fully grown plant. Still, if I were choose to grow upside plants, this is the method I would use. Yet I still think I would just plant the tomato upright and let it hang over the top of the plant.

2. Mulch? Tell Me Everything.

Mulch can be used to hold moisture in the soil, to cut down on weeds, and to improve the makeup -the tilthiness- of your soil. Because these are all important, we should all consider mulching our garden beds.

However, before laying down a cooling and protecting layer of mulch, please let your soil warm up. I always try to use a natural guide to planting - my favorite spring guide plant is the lilac. Usually when the lilac blooms the fear of killing night time frosts are over. The soil is awakening and ready to accept almost every plant that can grow over the summer. -yes there are exceptions in the deep south where they may take a break from growing during the hottest days of summer.

When -and if - lilacs bloom in your neighborhood, then start thinking about getting the mulch for your gardens. Or check the local garden center to find the last frost-free date in your area. That is accurate so less romantic that watching for the lilacs.

Choosing the right mulch is determined first by the type of garden and second by your aesthic. A utilitarian garden such as vegetable garden can be mulched with straw, shredded paper or compost. These items will break down over the season and be dug into the soil to further decompose over the winter adding fresh nutrients to the soil.

More formal or decorative gardens can take a fine-textured such as cocoa hulls or shredded bark which only require a thin covering of 2-3 inches to do a fine job. Coarser mulches need a thicker layer to work -add a layer of newspaper under them to really protect the soil. These mulches often last more than one year before needing to be dug in and replaced.

This E-How video is a great basic on mulching:

How to Mulch a Garden -- powered by eHow.com

Later Gardening Q&As will discuss fighting insects and pruning. What other questions do you have?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Hot By BlogHer-week

2009-04-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

I half-heartedly committed to the Hot By BlogHer plan. Yes, I'm admitting it was half-hearted. Other half-hearted commits have included NaBloPoMo. It takes long enough for me to commit to something - and make it part of my psyche - that I have no hope of succeeding in things when I'm not fully committed.

Yet I continue to try and convince myself that I can make improvements by making half-hearted commitments. Setting myself up for disappointment. Proving myself wrong (right?).

Last week I managed to meet the personal goals of HBB: practice random acts of kindness every single day. Ok. some of them were not so random. In the original context, random acts were the ones where you could not know the recipient and they would not know you. Hence the leaving coupons in the grocery store or paying tolls of cars behind you. You never knew who they were; they most they could know about you was maybe your car's make and license number.

Many of my acts this week were with people I know. Some were with people who at least might recognize my face. Only 1 was truly "random". But I'm counting them all.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

How I Spent My Easter Sunday

2009-04-13T02:03:00.000-07:00

How I spent my Easter Sunday.

We cut up a couple hard boiled eggs and hid the pieces around the yard. Then we let the dogs wander around and hunt for the pieces. This idea was not as clearly understood by the dogs as we thought it might be. Still...

I thought I filmed the whole thing, but I only got the last minute. All the rest was more of the same. Enjoy the video...

If you can't see the video embedded here, the link is: Katy & Jake's Easter Egg Hunt.
I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Craftivism. Craft+Activisim. Is Politics Really Part of the Mix?

2009-04-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)
I first got wind of the Etsy kerfuffle on craftivism when Julie Finn posted about it on Crafting A Green World this weekend. An Etsy Team breaks apart over the very definition of the term? I was boggled. As Finn explained it:

The problem arose very recently when the team leadership, during a virtual meeting, just sort of mentioned, in the context of another discussion, that the Craftivism Team has a liberal political agenda.
Yep, a specific political agenda. And the leadership also seemed quite surprised to hear that a LOT of team members not only had no idea that the Craftivism Team was even supposed to be politically liberal, but that these members were themselves not politically liberal.
Indeed, we had some right-wing craftivists on our team.

According to Wikipedia, craftivism is "a form of activism, typically for social justice, environmentalism or feminism, that is centered around practices of craft - especially handicrafts. Practitioners are known as craftivists."

Yet the term craftivism was, I believe, created by author Betsy Greer who writes:

My whole idea for this site is based on the idea that activism + craft = craftivism. That each time you participate in crafting you are making a difference, whether it's fighting against useless materialism or making items for charity or something betwixt and between.

It's about the not-so-radical notion that activists can be crafters, and crafters can be activists.

In a comment on the Finn piece, Betsy further adds:

The most concise definition I’ve written was on Twitter of all places: Craftivism to me is way of looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper & your quest for justice more infinite.
Your hands are powerful. Your voice is powerful. Your passions are powerful.

Nowhere in these fairly concise definitions of the term can I find any alignment of craftivism with a political stand. So it behooved me to examine the Etsy group's own definition of their purpose:

The Etsy Craftivism Team is a team of progressive Etsyans who believe that craft and art can change the world. Some of us use our work to carry messages of protest and political activism. Others believe that the act of making craft can be an act of resistance. Still others see that by buying and selling directly from the maker we are challenging the all pervasive corporate culture that promotes profit over people.

And, like BlogHer's Elise Camahort-Paige, I see terms used in this team defition that at least sound politically liberal to me:

progressive
protest
act of resistance,
pervasive corporate culture
profits over people

Do not these very words sound a liberal bent? By using these terms in defining the group, and accepting these terms when joining the group, didn't the members agree -at least tacitly- to these ideas? Am I mistaken that conservatives would not normally align themselved "against a corporate culture"? Or align themselves as "progressive"?

In comments on the first Crafting a Green World post, group creator Stephanie wrote the same thing:

While you guys are debating the meanings of liberal and progressive
and craftivism, and reporting what they mean to you, you’re not
considering what they meant to the people who first got this team off
the ground.

As I stated yesterday, the INTENT of the group came first; the NAME
second. I contacted people who seemed of like-minds (generally) based
on things I read or saw in their shops, and asked if they’d like to be
part of a group of progressive, socially activist etsyans. After it
was clear that a group would be started, the name came. I’ll repeat it
here: Someone suggested the name craftivist, which I thought was a
great idea. So it stuck.

Hence, you can’t just say, “It doesn’t matter if you are liberal or
conservative, it just matters if you’re a craftivist,” without knowing
a couple of things. First, where did the name come from? (For this
group). Second, where did the group come from, and thirdly what
craftivism means to those who decided to name this team.
Anyone is free to start another team with their own take on
craftivism.

And yet kakariki countered this assumption of the term "liberal" on her Radical Cross Stitch blogpost Whose Craftivism?

The key phrase (I think) in the group description is this “The Etsy Craftivism Team is a team of progressive Etsyans who believe that craft and art can change the world.” While I respect what Stephanie has said about believing she had a very clear ‘liberal’ definition when this was written. I do believe this sentence is open to a quite wide interpretation. I read it as people who want to make positive change in their communities and use art and craft as their main medium to do so. When I read this when I joined, I understood that there’s going to be people of different political persuasions, and knowing that this is an international group, even the spectrums of left and right will be different for different people, they may not even exist in some countries (and they don’t, I assure you).

It seems to me that the problem with this Etsy group was not with Craftivism, per se, but with how the team was originally defined and how members chose to accept that definition when they joined. Or whether they even took the time to read the mission statement.

In that light, I hope that a new Etsy group - and groups outside the Etsy culture - form and define their purpose using less politically embued words if their intention is to practice an apolitical version of craftivism. The Etsy Craftivism group is clearly -in my mind- defined as a politically liberal group. Perhaps it would be better if they changed their name to something different since this is the rare instance where politics was attached to the term from the groups inception. Just to keep the term "craftivism" clean. Yet there is no method to compel such an action, and I doubt it will be taken.

Personally, I hope for a future similar to the one TreeHugger's Kimberley Mok envisions in Must "Craftivism" Have A Politically Liberal Bent? :

Or perhaps is it more appropriate to ask: will we someday move toward a culture that will someday view creative self-empowerment and crafting positive change as instinctive as breathing, rather than a political agenda that one specifically adheres to?

Julie Finn has posted Examples of Craftivism in Practice with projects that span the entire political spectrum at Crafting A Green World.

What's your take? Must craftivism take a particular political stance or is it a movement without political boundaries? How would you have crafted the group mission statement if Etsy Craftivism group was formed first as a craft+activism group instead of a politically liberal crafting group that just happened to borrow the term?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

2009-04-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

This is month four of a Year of Stash Busting. Back in January, I suggested we work together using the supplies at hand whenever possible to craft without compromising our design principles, we finish the projects we have on hand or find new ways to use the partially completed UFOs.

Are you enjoying the year so far? Looking at some of the pictures in the StashBusting '09 Flickr group there are folks having great fun! This month, read through the blogs for some great ideas to craft fun, useable items from the stash we have on hand.

Betz White designed charming Reusable Sandwich Wraps for her book Sewing Green, then shared the pattern with us.

Kick the baggie habit! Save money and bring less plastic into the world by using sandwich wraps when you pack lunches. I made a handful of these for my boys and use them every week. (Ours have Batman and Scooby-doo on them and they never get left behind in the lunchroom!) It's fast to make and easy to use, which is a major plus for a busy family.

Wendolonia first dreamed, then created adorable monsters for her boys. She shared the whole creative process.

The other night I had a dream I was making a super cute stuffed monster for Augie. The dream was one of those super realistic ones, where you wake up and you’re not sure if you actually lived it or not. I made the monster out of actual materials in my stash and it was a combination of two different projects I’ve been meaning to put together for a while — a taggie blanket and a stuffed monster kit that I picked up at the Maker Faire last year. The project came out really cute in my dream and when I woke up in the morning, I knew I wanted to make one just like it!

Which is your favorite? The taggie monster or the 7-eyed Cupcake Butt?

MLQKnits blogs serious knitting stashbusting at Odd Ball Knitting. She recently decided to clear out some fun ribbon-like yarns by knitting a shawl for her sister. The resulting posts became Pythagoras for Knitters.

It's a straightforward matter to knit a triangular shawl, especially in garter stitch, and we probably all know how it's done ... cast on 2 stitches, and knit them, then on each following row, increase one stitch at the beginning of the row, usually by knit 1, knit 1 tbl, then knit to the end of the row. When the resulting triangle is big enough for what we want, we cast off. So far, not very difficult ... but how do we know if we have enough yarn for what we want to do?

And that's when Geometry can be our Best Friend ...

I loved geometry in 8th grade which might explain why her explanation of the math did not make eyes glaze over, even before my first cup of coffee in the morning. She shares her pattern for the shawl, too, so go enjoy.

Have you found some great creative ways to bust your stash? Please share below in the comments.

photocredit: Wendy Copley's Flickrstream.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Loom Knitting

2009-04-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

It started innocently enough with a friendly conversation on Twitter. Two of my many crafty twitter friends were having a light hearted talk about a craft I knew nothing about: Loom knitting. I wedged myself into their banter and sought some guidance.

If you played with a small red Knitting Dobbie as a child, using 4 hooks on a small hand-held plastic base, you have loom knit. Today's looms are different sized and shapes to allow the knitter to make -@sorka and @purlingsprite assured me -almost anything you can knit with needles.

Turns out I could not have asked two more knowledgeable people. @Sorka is looming knitting author/blogger Denise Layman, who writes at Knitting Without Needles. PurlingSprite is Isela Phelps, blogger/author at the same named site.

The two teased and suggested and sent me off to my local big box craft stores in search or some simple supplies. While it might not be everybody's first project, I decided that a feltable bag would give me something useful to work on and the felting would hide any obvious mistakes I might make along the way. So I picked up a 22" plastic loom and several balls of a feltable wool. With spring and summer coming, neutral linen shades were speaking to me.

These got packed up for a weekend at the ocean with my sewing/knitting buddies and I was on my way. After a nice long walk along the beach, I settled myself in to (gasp) read the directions and get started working on my project. I had picked up Isola's book Loom Knitting Primer and followed the directions for the felted bag inside. Like any yarn project I've ever tried, the first two rows seem a challenge until things get rolling along, but now I'm looping and knitting confidently, wathcing my bag appear from inside the loom.

The only problem I have? Like anyone knew to a technique, my tension is not fabulous. In this case, it's much too tight, but I'm working on loosening it up. So far I like loom knitting. It seems to put less strain on my aging eyes, so it might allow me to keep doing yarn crafts after I've been forced to give others up. It's fast and not too demanding at the moment, which means it will be the perfect "baseball" knitting activity at home. At games, I will still carry my current sock project; it's just a bit more portable.

Loom knitting seems a great new activity to learn, appropriate for anyone over the age of 6. So definitely consider this for a Easter Break crafting activity.

Want to learn before you take the plunge:

Sister Diane interviewed Denise and Isela for CraftPod.

In this show:
- All about knitting on a loom, with the editors of the Loom Knitters Circle.
- Where loom knitting comes from, and where it’s headed.
- Get all your burning technical questions about loom knitting answered!
- Learn why you should not mess with loom knitters.

Isela wrote an detailed introduction to loom knitting, How to Knit Needle-Free, for Knitty:

A small spool knitter was my first introduction to the knitting world. I was young and rambunctious and the only way for my Grandma to keep me out of trouble was to sit me down and give me some yarn. I remember sitting by her side knitting away, she knitting away on a pretty sweater while I knitted a cord long enough to wrap around the world! A few decades later, I can say that I have graduated from my small four-prong spool knitter to a bigger spool knitter. Instead of miles of cord, I am now creating accessories and knitwear items.

Isela goes on to discuss the different loom shapes, and to demonstrate the basic stitches of loom knitting.

While checking out Denise's blog I found a wonderfully helpful article on how to reclaim yarn from thrifted or old sweaters. Even if you do needle knitting or crochet, this is a great idea to keep in mind if you are of a thrifty nature. Recognizing the perfect sweater to buy and recycle? Priceless.

If you're a visual learning, Isela has a numer of great video to learn loom knitting on the Purling Sprite site.

Angie from Many Little Blessings started looming weaving this week.

Having never done any knitting (or a loom or otherwise), I was thrilled to put in only a couple of hours, and to end up with a cutie hat that Molly was thrilled with. I also realized that this would be a great activity for older kids, who could easily master the basic loom use after being shown how to do it.

I still definitely want to learn to knit with needles at some point (maybe during the summer when we have more free time), but for now, I'm thrilled to be able to do some loom knitting until then. I have to admit, the whole time I was making the hat, I kept smiling as I watched the hat grow.

When I finish my little bag, I'll felt it up and post the photo on my FlickrStream. But in the meanwhile, here's my suggestion. Loom Knitting: Try It! You'll Like IT! What do you think?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Towards a Plastic Free World - Fateh

2009-04-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

In a time when we are inundated with trash and seeking ways to keep it from burying us, this video shows women who collect, clean, cut and then weave discarded plastic bags into great looking items.

Wonderful example of upcycling.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Victory Gardens

2009-03-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Victory Gardens. If you read the news, it sounds like everyone is doing them. Michele Obama announced last week that part of the White House Lawn will be planted as an organic garden. This week, the beds were begun. First lady of California, Maria Shriver said this week that the California's Capitol Park will also have a organic vegetable garden this summer. Last fall, the lawns in front of San Francisco's city hall were planted as an organic garden called Victory Garden, 2008.

News reporters around the country scurry to add that everyday individuals, in response to our current economy, are planting Victory Gardens, too. Are you?

The term "Victory Garden" was started during World War II, when, as explained at Wessel's Living History Farm,

As part of the war effort, the government rationed foods like sugar, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, coffee, meat and canned goods. Labor and transportation shortages made it hard to harvest and move fruits and vegetables to market. So, the government turned to its citizens and encouraged them to plant "Victory Gardens." They wanted individuals to provide their own fruits and vegetables.
Nearly 20 million Americans answered the call. They planted gardens in backyards, empty lots and even city rooftops. Neighbors pooled their resources, planted different kinds of foods and formed cooperatives, all in the name of patriotism.

Today's "victory gardens" have less to do patriotism and more to do with the current trends of DIY and the economic challenges facing many. Planting a garden speaks about:

-reducing shipping to feet instead of miles.
-concerns for food safety as you know exactly what was used on or near your food.
-teaching the next generation how to eating healthier.
-reducing one's reliance on items provided only at the mega-supermarket.

The National Gardening Association in their new survey, The Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America, report that 7,000,000 more households plan to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs in 2009 over 2008. This is almost a 20% increase in home food production in just one year, and follows a the 10% increase in reported gardens for last year.

Getting back to the White House garden. Curious about what is being planted this year? This diagram provided by the White House and printed in the New York Times shows a variety of greens, peas, broccoli, carrots and herbs. There are several small beds of berries, a patch of rhubarb and some mint. An item that one

This move to get a White House garden was begun in 1992 by Alice Waters, perhaps the mother of all "eating local", and organized as the movement Eat The View.

Others adding to the idea:

Joe Lamp'l from ComPost Confidential is challenging himself to grow A $25 Victory Garden. As he will be using no supplies he's used/owned in the past (including his ready-to-spread compost), this is a huge challenge.

The Transition Culture decided to offer A friendly Permaculture Critique of the Obamas' Vegetable Garden. Among their suggestions: put the garden closer to the house and add more fruit.

The Dream Life's Lorilyn had a less-than-remarkable experience when starting a garden last year, and she wasn't sure about continuing the experiment. Then

This week, when the fog rolled out and the spring like beauty began to roll in (our favorite tulip magnolia of the neighborhood is blooming) I started to see the dream come into focus
again. I began to consider cleaning up the beds, maybe even trying my hand at container potatoes. I still felt cautious, but all things seem so much more possible when winter retreats.

I agree. With a week of sunny dry weather this past week, I began planting my own vegetable garden. However, since this has been a regular occurrence for over 25 years, I am loathe to take up the term "victory". What about you? Are you planning on starting your own victory garden this year?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Crafting for Pets

2009-03-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Did you know that over two-thirds of American households claim a pet among the family members? These animals look to us for food, shelter and comfort. So while we're crafting fun things for the other family members, let's not forget the pets.

Cats can be entertained with simple felted cat toys -stuff them with catnip. Many dogs love stuffed toys made with different textural fabrics. My dogs can rip these toys open and unstuff them in a flash! It's so much more thrifty to sew them quickly up myself. These pet toys are easy enough that children old enough to yield a needle can make them.

Craftster recently highlighted a number of the brilliant pet crafts their members have made including small animals. Click on a picture to be taken to the creator's post.

Craftster companion animals are not limited to dogs and cats. Plenty of small animals are receiving crafty love, from rats, to hedgehogs, to sugar gliders, and more. Each species has its own needs and preferences, and clever Craftsters have found ingenious ways to make projects that give their little friends the happy life and well-appointed living space they deserve.

CraftStylish decided to share Pet Crafts too. These included Susan Beal's Shrinky Dink Pet Tags, Dianne Gilleland's Duct Tape Pet Food Tray and Cal Patch's fabulous Recycled Dog Sweater.

Looking for additional inspiration? If you're a knitter, check out Pet Projects: The Animal Knits Bible. Nichole at Lapdog Creations reviewed this and thought:

is where knitting pattern book meets coffee table delight... and I adore it! This is one of those books that both knitters and non-knitting animal lovers will appreciate and find themselves flipping through again and again. Diana Miller's photography is exquisite, the models are beautiful and expressive, and the patterns uniquely fun.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Head Injuries and Natasha Richardson

2009-03-18T13:39:00.001-07:00

As I write this, news reporters are lining up to report that a simple fall on a beginner's ski slope has resulted in the death of actress Natasha Richardson. She seemed fine at the time of the accident, was released by the medics on scene and started complaining of a headache a couple hours later.

Her condition deteriorated to the point that her family reportedly removed her from life support (which means she was ON LIFE SUPPORT).

While this is a tragedy for her family and a loss for the theaterical family as well, I hope that this sets another example of why head injuries must be taken more seriously by individuals and medical teams alike.

I speak from experience here, though not the tragic type of experience that Richardson's family has been living through.

Back in about 1980 I was living in a an apartment complex where most of us could not park our vehicles indoors. We parked in the lots outside our buildings and dealt with the weather, whatever may come. It was a common way of living- I never parked a car under cover until 1992.

One late winter day I was on my way to work. I do not know exactly what happened but I ended up slipping on the ice/snow mixture by my car and making a 1 point landing on my face. My glasses broke, the frame embedding in the skin right next to my eye.

I went to the ER, where they stitched me up and did xrays. I was worked on by the chief of the ER who talked with me throughout the stay, assessing my mental state. I was fine.

Family called me the rest of the day to make sure I did not exhibit signs of a concussion. I didn't. The next day I returned to work.

It was there that I started showing signs that something was not right. By the afternoon, I was saying to people that I could not think clearly enough to complete a sentence. I would get to the verb and forget what the subject had been. And, yes, I could analyze the problem that specifically.

My co-workers dismissed it as my body reacting to the stress of the accident. They told me to go home and take it easy that weekend. It was Friday afternoon.

The next thing I remember was Wednesday about lunch time. No memory of how I got through the Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday has ever returned to me. From talking and observations, I know that I grocery shopped, went to work and night school, apparently went to a bar Saturday night. I appeared normal -if a bit quiet- to those around me.

The lasting experience from that, however, was that the forgetfulness and confusion while talking never completely went away. If I speak with you, I may still pause mid-sentence; I'm trying to recall the complete thought I had. While trying to get the words from my brain to my mouth they often disappear. Thanksfullly this is not the case when the words are heading for my fingertips. I am a lot more talkative online, I think, because of this.

And my point: whenever someone you know has a simple head injury AND APPEARS FINE do not dismiss it. Get them checked out as soon as possible. Now there are CTs available that were likely not a common option in 1980. Pay attention to complaints by the victim for several days afterward an accident.

Head injuries are NEVER "simple injuries". Remember that, please.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Communicating Across the Abyss

2009-03-13T02:05:00.001-07:00

Men and women are different. This we already know. With books like "Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars" authors have spent a lot of time examining the differences and trying to make us understand.

Deborah Tannen managed to accomplish this task with a conversation having only 2 lines:

Wife: Would you like to stop to coffee??

Husband: No thanks.

Before you click through and read her interpretation of the conversation, think for a minute. What is going on here, what are the expectations (or lack thereof), and how might these lines have been expressed better?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

What Will Be New on Your Crafty Book Shelf?

2009-03-12T02:04:00.000-07:00

Bookshelves are filling up with some of the newer offerings in crafty books. There are blog reviews, blog book tours happening. You don't want to miss this:

Weekend Sewing
Heather Ross's new book: Weekend Sewing has just been published. This book offers simple projects that the beginning sewer gain confidence and grow in techniques.

The clothing projects in Weekend Sewing are basic pieces. They are intended to walk you through your first sleeve, your first collar, your first zipper, your first buttonhole, your first bust dart. Once you've got the hang of things, you can change things around any way you like.

A fun 6 week blogbook tour is spreading the word and more. Each stop along the tour features something diffent.
LOG TOUR SCHEDULE (forgive the third person, I didn't write this! -h)

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE (forgive the third person, I didn't write this! -h)2/26/09 The Purl Bee (Technically not part of the tour, but still, a beautiful article! Do check it out!)
3/9/09 Make, Grow, Gather: Interview with tales and pics of young Heather growing up in Vermont.
3/11/09 Heart Handmade A Day in the Life of Heather Ross.
3/12/09 Disdressed Q & A? Exposé? Find out!
3/13/09 Freshly Blended A fresh review of Heather and Weekend Sewing.
3/16/09 Whip-up: Illustrated sewing demo – learn fun tricks!
3/17/09 House on Hill Rd. Erin shows off her lovely finished projects, and asks Heather about her inspiration for each.
3/18/09 Belle Epoque Fit and style. Know what you sew, win a book! – Part 13/19/09 Right here on True Up! Fabric design - Process and inspiration - Part 1
3/20/09 Charm City Craft Mafia blog: Heather burns rubber heading to signings in DC and Baltimore, with the Charm City Craft Mafia in hot pursuit!
3/23/09 Philly Etsy Team blog On the road again…this time to a sewing weekend at Spool in Philly. The Street Team investigates, and throws the book at a lucky winner!3/25/09 Knotions Fit and style. Know what you sew, and win a book! – Part 2
3/26/09 Cathy of California Heather discusses her old school inspirations and aesthetic!
3/30/09 Wardrobe Re-fashion Spring into DIY fashion, win a book!
3/31/09 Thisisloveforever: Fabric design - Process and inspiration with fabric giveaway - Part 2
4/1/09 Craftypod Book review and giveaway…no April Fool’s joke!
4/7/09 Etsy’s The Storque How-Tuesday! Virtual project demo from the Etsy Headquarters.

Alabama Stitch

Several blogger friends recommended Alabama Stitch Book to me, and I'm glad I listened. Sewer/Sewist were attracted to Natalie Chanin's book because it has such a beautiful design. After closely reviewing the book, the conclusion was: Buy This Book.

The book walks you through all kinds of projects based around the idea of the ethos of the original Project Alabama (the author is quite clear that she’s no longer associated with Project Alabama in its current iteration). The idea is revitalizing the craft of working with cotton that used to be tremendously important in Alabama. As I’ve written about before, is something that’s really important to me, and I really salute Ms. Chanin (’cause I’m sure a shout-out from Sewer-Sewist is the one she’s been waiting for) for capturing the sewing and crafting heritage of her region. There’s a bit of everything related to this subject in the book—sourcing and reusing cotton jersey, beading, various appliqué techniques and complete projects that bring together many styles from the book.

I love that projects are based upon reusing materials we have in our own homes and also, all these projects are done with hand stitching. The slowing down of time and the steady meditative motion of hand stitching appeals to me a lot.

Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan

When the stitchin chicken picked up Sew Darn Cute, she almost left it on the table:

I almost passed it up. There are many books out there that have the same old, same old, just done in different fabric. Not so with Jenny Ryan’s new book. Out new this spring, Jenny has imagination and has come up with some really, well…..cute ideas!

Fabricate by Susan Wasinger

FabTalk examined Fabricate, the new book by Susan Wasinger, and explained the premise that Wasinger takes:

simple fabrics and turning them into “visual feasts” by using texture, color, design and patterns to create an item that is striking and unique. Using just a few carefully chosen materials, Wasinger guides her readers through a world of possibilities by playing with textures, layers and the surface design of fabric. There are four main lessons in this information-packed book: Pleats, Crinkles & Tufts; Laminates & Matrix; Cut & Fray; and Surface Embellishment. Each section instructs you on techniques by walking you through several projects using with clear, step-by-step instructions—with detailed photos of the processes as well.

The book is broken into 4 different parts: Pleats and Crinkles, Laminates, Cut and Fray, and Surface Embellishment. I haven't had a chance to examine this book myself, but I'll be on the lookout for it.

I read a blog for a while before I let myself trust a book review. I want to know if the blogger has similar taste and goals to me. After I trust a blogger, however, I use them as a touchstone when examining new offerings. One of my trusted crafty reviewers is Sister Diane -aka Diane Gilleland. And just in time for the spring offerings of new crafty books, she asks: What do you want in a craft book review?

1. How often do you read craft book reviews here?

2. What would you like to see more of in a craft book review?
(For example: a full list of the projects? Photos of the projects? Commentary on the quality of the instructions? Commentary on how the book fits into the current craft scene? A blog interview with the author? Comparisons with other similar books? Anything goes - what matters to you?)

3. What would you like to see less of in a craft book review?

4. Why do you read craft book reviews?

I'm curious too. What do you look for a craft book review? If the book is provided free of charge, does it matter? Should the blogger admit it off the batt? Should their be lots of pictures of inside pages? Do you want to hear the negative impressions or only the glowing points?

And what books are you eagerly awaiting adding to your bookshelf?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Crafty Blog Tutorials to Make Your Life Easier

2009-03-11T02:30:00.000-07:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Crafting it up. Below are several useful programs and tutorials to add some excitement to your crafting life, whether you're an experienced knitter, a thrifty crocheter, or looking to make your crafting/blogging life better.

Design Sponge shares a fast and simple pattern for crocheted cotton dish scrubbers.

In going through our supplies, we’ve discovered tons of leftover yarn from previous projects. instead of trying to mix and match it all into one larger thing, we’ve discovered the joys of making little things—projects we can whip up in 30 minutes or so these dish scrubbers are a good example: quick and easy to make, a great use of cotton yarn scraps, and they make great gifts. plus they’re a great alternative to stinky, disposable sponges. use these, toss them in the laundry, and use them again and again and again.

Thinking about redoing your sewing/crafting room? Crafting a Green World's Julie Finn shared a fun tutorial for covering boring cork tiles with t-shirt art.

Today, however, we’re getting our inspiration board on. We are going to cover a ratty corkboard with a rockin’ T-shirt (Funny story: I never lost the baby weight after my second baby, and now my entire pre-baby rockin’ T-shirt collection basically gets to be turned into other stuff. Sigh). With a rockin’ T-shirt corkboard, you get to remember your rockin’ days, and not have to see how teeny-tiny slim your T-shirts used to be.

If you're a quick knitter, there is still time to make up a Shamrock Hat for St. Patty's Day. The PDF pattern can be found at polarknit. (ht:WhipUp)

Now that you're inspired to make something, do you need a little help in photographing your finished items? Craftshock published a great tutorial to help you Make a Light Box.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Crafty Podcasts: Listen to your Art...

2009-03-05T02:05:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)
It happens every year at this time: while I run low on crafty inspiration, I also run low on time to read through the thousand of crafty blogs. I want thought and inspiration fed to me; I want it to fit into my schedule.

I want craft podcasts.

I still have my favorites; those podcasts that I check on throughout the year because I love them so:

Diane Gillaland's CraftyPod is one. Each podcast is a talk on a specific topic -the latest one concerning Indie Crafters and the Craft Industry.

CraftSanity has kept me company during long cardio sessions at the gym. In that way, she really has saved my sanity! Interviews with different artists lets me learn so much about these individuals.

Other podcasts worth checking out:

Cast-On (knitting matters)by Brenda Dayne and Rebekkah Kerner. This quality podcast has been live since 2005!

Changelings Knit and Stitch has gotten back to podcasting. At the moment they are promoting a Victorian Bushfire Appeal to assist those effected by the Australian Wild Fires.

CraftBorg has fun vlogs now! 11of13 has made a reappearance after insane holiday knitting.

Recently Alison Lee of CraftCast went off to join the circus. Well, she joined a circus training workout class.

CraftLit. Always need to choose if you will settle in for some crafting or reading? Heather reads to you so you can get your craft on! Even when she is just talking to you, her voice is charming and inviting.

For the scrapbooker, Noell Hyman offers Paperclipping. The complete podcasts are available only by membership however.

ScrapHappy is another scrapping podcast. After travelling for a while, Lain is sharing some of her tips for scrapping on the road.

CreativeMom is currently talking ATCs.. and this month, she's focusing on flight.

HelloCraft tells the story of DIY crafters.

Annie's Quilting Stitch covers all things quilty. This week, Annie broadcasts from Empty Spools Seminar in Asilomar, CA.

Are you interested in sewing? Then SewForthNow is a podcast for you. And if you like your sewing a bit more on the DIY side, ThreadBanger will fit the bill.

Is there a crafty podcast that I missed?
I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Joss Whedon on Crafts and Craftiness

2009-03-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

It's the small touches that transmit unique style to something. Perhaps it's a hand knit hat or lacy shawl that defines a wardrobe. Maybe it's mid-century flea-market finds that make a home unique. Sometimes we consciously recognize these items; other times they are simple subconscious cues. As it is in real life, so it also is make believe.

That's one of the things I learned while I enjoyed CrochetMe's Kim Werker interviewing Joss Whedon. Whedon is the creator of Buffy, Firefly , Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and the current Fox program Dollhouse. Turns out he also knows a thing or two about crafts.

In the interview, Werker asked about the crafty elements in Whedon's sets. He responded:

The crafty part was more– for me was more Firefly. Because in Firefly we were really trying to evoke the idea of things you make for yourself, of a life that you create with your own two hands. It was all very pioneer spirit, and so it ended up just looking really '70s in the decor, which was not exactly the original intent, but that said, that was very deliberate.

Personally, I was a bit blown away by the thought that Werker scored this. Then I read the story behind the Whedon interview. Another strong example of the power of the internet and the crafty community:

See, back at the end of July the Wired blog asked Whedon how publicity was going for his new internet short movie, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and he replied, "Fact is, there's been some buzz, but it hasn't reached the places it would normally. Where's our write-up in Crocheting Monthly?"
Knowing how much the crafts community loves them some work by Whedon (work including creating the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly; the movie Serenity; the trailblazing Dr. Horrible; and more), and always up for what seems to be an impossible challenge, I thought it might be fun to see if we couldn't deliver him that crochet write-up. I had no contacts in Hollywood, so I asked the online crafts community to help try to get his attention.
Ask, and ye shall receive. The crafts world erupted in blog posts providing the equivalent of Jayne-hat-wearing fans standing on street corners in sandwich boards reading, "Joss! Do an interview with Crochet Me!", jumping up and down and waving their arms. Additionally, crafters, being everywhere—possibly hiding in your boss's office this very moment—are of course also well connected. By several routes, someone knew someone who knew someone that could pass our formal request to Whedon's assistant.
At the end of August, I heard from said assistant who told me Whedon definitely wanted to do the interview.

Maybe more surprising was learning that Whedon learned how to knit and crochet when a boy, was learning that he understands the often unbridgeable gulf between knitters and crocheters:

I'm aware of the desperate rivalry between the knitters and the crocheters. And, you know, first of all I have to say: can't there be peace?

It's an age-old war. Like the werewolves and the vampires. I think Underworld was actually originally about crocheters and knitters but they thought it would be too controversial so they changed it to vampires and werewolves.

As a Firefly fan, I am well aware of the impact one item from the show had on the knitting and crocheting community. The iconic Jayne Cobb Hat (worn by mercenary Jayne Cobb, played by Adam Baldwin):

If ever an item from home seemed to conflict with the known character, it was this. Cobb slept with his favorite gun and often held himself apart from the other characters. He often acted in a "each man for himself" way-though his thoughts occasionally betrayed his actions. Whedon explained:

My whole thought was that Jayne was your classic bad-guy mercenary type, and I thought this is the one guy who does not have a tortured past, who has a decent, hard-working family, who just, you know, this was his career choice and the idea of him getting a letter from mom that he struggles to read, and the knitted hat, was— it just felt so right. It felt very, very him and very human and then of course I saw the hat with its flaps and its pom pom, and I just couldn't have been happier.

The hat exploded across the internet appearing in blogs, on ravelry and on flickr.

You can find a variety of the Jayne Cobb Hat patterns online; Allison MacAlister, published The Knitting Ninja version. I think it's a pretty good copy of the original.

Other Sci-Fi Inspired Crafts:

How about Thea's knitted Centurion cap?

Or at Our Big Earth, they are currently holding The Craftizmos ROBOT CHALLENGE. Make your own recycled robot costume to enter.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Tuesday Afternoon...

2009-02-25T02:45:00.000-08:00

I'm just beginning to see...Spring is on it's way... ***

We're in a brief break in our stormy weather starting yesterday afternoon, so I spent a few minutes on the back deck enjoying teh scenery.

This Meyer lemon is almost ready to be picked. These are small, tart and I may be making preserved (salted) lemons with this.

The sun over the hill and the clouds were beautiful.

And Jake, like always, hung on the deck playing with his ball...

***Yes this is the Moody Blues song...

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Winter Garden Chores.

2009-02-24T02:02:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

It's was a sunny, dry Saturday morning here in Northern California when I wrote this...

Before the next set of winter rainstorms return, I have a list of gardening chores I'd like to complete. Because for me Saturdays mean gardening chores. Or is it gardening duties? Because "chores" has a negative connotation. Today I'm looking at a patch of mint that has escaped confinement. I fight a constant battle to take back ground from this plant. I planted it for outside-the-door easy summer tea, but why did I let it escape it's pot?

When you write a gardening blog, the list grows to include "blog the work." So while I'm out waging war in my garden, why don't you settle in a nice cuppa tea (mint anyone?) and see what other gardeners are doing.

Is your garden still deeply covered with snow? Join Margaret Roach in practicing the 3 things to do before winter's over.

And while your garden is still resting, this is prime seed ordering time. Laura Timmerman of Lasting Impressions on the Farm, is chaining herself to her computer to get her orders in. Along with placing orders, she's working on a master list of the seed varieties she plants and those she loves. She shared just part of that list in this post.

After you order seeds, you have to start them, of course. Molly Day's sugar snap peas and swiss chard are coming up and she shared a photo. Must agree with her that the first peep of green emerging from the ground is one of the best things about gardening.

The seeds are ordered and started. The next step, as Country Gardener reminds us, is when The Travails of MUD SEASON Are Upon Us.

And Pam reminds us of the good thing about spring showers:

the brief storm scrubbed and washed clean the sky. Sunny blue skies, a cool spring-like breeze, fresh green leaves in the garden, and an additional half-inch in the rain gauge have put a skip in my step today.

Victory Garden of Tomorrow.. Have you seen this?

VGoT is an art project posing as a propaganda campaign for new, American homefront values. The message style draws from American mid-century homefront propaganda, and the messages essentially draws from 21st century needs as found in the current environmental sustainability movement.

If you still need some indoor gardening inspiration, these posters are beautiful and would be fine decoration in an office or a mid-century designed home.

Where does your garden lay in the spectrum of winter's Saturday's chores?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

DNA Beading Tutorial

2009-02-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

The repetitive motion of crafting is one of it's appeals to me. Pick up a simple task, get into the rhythm of working, lose myself for a while. It is meditation as my breathing slows to match the pace of hands. I feel my breathing slowing, and the world fades away into the color and texture of my work.

There are many crafty activities that can produce this meditative effect: hand quilting with it's steady rocker motion; simple knitting with it's needle in, yarn over, pull through, slip off; embroidery. Yet there are times when these projects do not lend themselves to the simple repetitive motion of a good medidative craft. When a project requires more attention.

At those times I turn my attention to beading a simple DNA chain. This is one of the first techniques you might learn in stringing beads; it's always repetitive, never requires much thought, yet always produces pretty results.

Let me show you how to do DNA beading.

Begin with some simple beads, some beading thread and a beading needle. The chain has two elements: the spine and the chain. Spine beads slightly larger than the chain beads and often one color. In this example, I'm using a black "E" bead for the spine. The chain beads will be picked from my "bead soup" container. I'll alternate multi-colored and clear seed beads when constructing my chain. My favorite beading thread is silamide, a thin, strong nylon beading thread. These supplies can be found at most "big box" crafting stores and definitely at your local bead shop.

To begin, cut a length of beading thread about 24" long and thread your needle (this is usually the hardest part of the whole process). Because I never know exactly how I'll use the chain when it's completed, I tie an "odd" bead near the bottom to save thread that later will be tied to a closure.

Step one: Thread 3 of your spine beads onto the thread.

Step two: Choose a number of your chain beads and thread them onto your thread. The chain beads need to be slightly longer than the spine beads. In this example, 6 seed beads were used with the 3 spine beads.

Step three: Bring your needle down to the first spine bead (the one furthest away from the chain beads) and slide the needle up through all 3 beads.

Step four: While the needle is still inside the 3 spine beads, slide another spine bead over the tip and onto the spine.

Step five: pull the thread through, snugging the chain beads up to the spine beads.

Repeat from step two, bringing your needle down 3 spine beads, and adding a new spine bead.
Snug the new chain up against the old chain.

That's it. Fast, simple, little thought. Purely meditative.

You will want to make sure that as you progress the chains nest nicely next to the previous chain. As the work progresses, the chain will spiral around the spine beads. This is why this known as DNA beading.

Depending on the beads you choose, you piece can be simple and monochromatic, or more colorful. As you choose to mix different sized beads in the chain, the look also becomes a bit more complex while the action of making it remains simple.

Other Beading Tutorials Online:

Made By Hand.By ME's Desiree Savarese shares how to make a Multi-Strand Seed Bead Necklace.

As a resource for her jewelry making class at IWCC, L. Kvigne post a tutorial for your basic Clasp Bracelet 101 and a Simple Dangle Earring.

Shiny Little Thingspointed we readers to a gorgeous Blossom Vine Knotted Necklace with instructions shared at Ornamentea.com.

Photo credits: from Debra Roby's Flickr Stream.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Crafty Blog RoundUp

2009-02-16T03:00:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Last week was one of those weeks: there was fascinating stuff happening in the crafty blogs (both good and sad), plus some interesting additions to the BlogHer crafty blogroll. I just had to give today's post over to highlighting these.

Current News: Goodbye CRAFT and Hello Coraline

Wednesday the sad news came: CRAFT will be publishing it's last issue(#10).

Two and a half years ago, inspired by the DIY creativity of a growing number of indie crafters, we launched CRAFT Magazine along with its companion website, Craftzine.com. Since then, we've become an integral part of the new craft community. We've been fully committed to encouraging more people to discover the joy of crafting.

All along, we have noticed that Craftzine.com has been growing steadily. At the same time, we've come to realize that there were more and more challenges in publishing CRAFT as a print magazine, especially with the costs of print and distribution rising, and diminishing interest among advertisers in print. So we've decided that Volume 10, our Celebrate Like Crazy issue, will be our last print issue and that the future of CRAFT is online.

Craftzine.com will remain, thank goodness. This website is an inspiring and vibrant source for crafty information. The same day they announced the plan to discontinue the print version, Craftzine.com also announced a new feature: AskCraft

We want you to write in with your crafty conundrums, your material mysteries, your technique troubles! I'll scour all resources available to me to bring you an answer. Some weeks will be video responses, some weeks text, but always with plenty of advice and links to take you further!

Have you seem Coraline yet? Tikabelle at Largely Unrepeatable went last week and agreed with the reviews that this is fabulous movie. She adds:

Coraline also gives good knit. There's a lovely starry sweater that's just adorable, but there's also a pair of gloves that Coraline - and I - desperately want. And there is as yet no pattern. Well, there was no pattern until yesterday, when I made one.

Today is Valentine's Day
If you're anything like me, you are less than fond of Valentine's Day, seeing it now as a purely commercial excuse to spread guilt and overspending across society. Dabbled just closed entries in their Second Annual Dabbled Black Heart Anti-Valentines Day Contest. Some of the early entries: Vintagepix's Black Heart Pincushion; kleiosbelly's Anti-Valentine Card: Piss Off!; this hysterical Bitter Valentine's Bracelet that's reminiscent of candy hearts. Eagerly awaiting the announcement of the winners.

Plum Pudding's Megan showed her felted Valentine garden:

This is my Valentine Garden. I had originally planned to grow some
wheat grass in a longish planter then plant my "flowers" in a row in
the homegrown green. But, things happen, or don't happen, in this case,
and now I have a tin can garden full of M&Ms. I like it, though.
Very cheery.

New to the Blogroll:

Recently Pretty Ditty posted a wonderful Peek-a-boo lamp shade makeover/tutorial.

Scrappin' Green in 2009 is revamped from Remember When Creations. Now Jan is writing about green memory making. For example, she shared recycling scrapbooking paper, using yogurt cups, and recycling ribbons.

Patchwork Underground is a collection of information, fun websites and other inspirations by Erin, clothing designer and writer.

For me, crafting-the act of making something with one's own hands - is always political. it's not a replacement for other means towards social change but it is important init's own right. As a wee Feminist Studies student, I developed and taught a discussion section on Feminisms and Fiber Arts.... Since then, I've done a lot more hands-on learning about the reality of being a craftsperson in today's global marketplace but many of my conclusions are the same. Craft is powerful. Craft is Art...and Science, and Religion. Craft is real in the way few "things" today are.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

CPSIA Stay Brings Time to Find Compromise

2009-02-12T03:15:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

On January 30th, 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously to place a one year stay on the testing and certification requirements for certain products manufactured for use with children 12 and younger.

The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the crafters, children’s garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission. However, all businesses, including, but not limited to, handmade toy and apparel makers, crafters and home-based small businesses, must still be sure that their products conform to all safety standards and similar requirements, including the lead and phthalates provisions of the CPSIA.

Handmade garment makers are cautioned to know whether the zippers, buttons and other fasteners they are using contain lead. Likewise, handmade toy manufacturers need to know whether their products, if using plastic or soft flexible vinyl, contain phthalates.

...The Commission trusts that State Attorneys General will respect the Commission's judgment that it is necessary to stay certain testing and certification requirements and will focus their own enforcement efforts on other provisions of the law, e.g. the sale of recalled products.

This stay, which will remain in effect until February 10, 2010, gives the Commission time to work through proposed rules changes or new legislation which it is hoped will mitigate the demands on crafters and small independent manufacturers of children's clothing and toys.

While this stay is good news for those crafters active in the Buy Handmade movement, it is not necessarily good news for consumers of mass-produced children's products. In the Wall Street Journal article Regulators Delay new Rules for Testing Lead in Toys, the Center for Environmental Health noted that they

found several Valentine's Day stuffed-animal toys sold by Rite Aid Corp. and Longs Drugs, a unit of CVS Caremark Corp., with lead exceeding the new national standards that take effect on Feb. 10. The lead levels found in one of the stuffed-animal toys were more than 15 times the new federal limit, the Center for Environmental Health said. "There should be something to back up a claim that the products are safe, but without testing and certification there's no assurance," said Charles Margulis, a spokesman for the group.

The toys are made by Dan-Dee International Ltd., a China-based manufacturer of toys and novelties with U.S. offices in Jersey City, N.J. Company officials didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

How are crafters reacting to this stay?

Wacky Hermit, who blogs at Organic Baby Farm, is doing a CPSIA By The Numbers analysis of the act. In the first part, she analyzed all the product recalls for 2008 and their effect on the health of US consumers. her conclusion:

Of the 63 recalls that would have been prevented by CPSIA, only 1 resulted in an injury (a child ingested lead paint from a crib and had elevated blood levels of lead). This means that had CPSIA been in place for 2008, one child would have been helped.

In Part Two of her analysis, WH explains why it's impossible to know that all items are safe (in her example, snaps on children's clothing) without testing each and every item..

The Domestic Diva is not jumping for joy yet. Because manufacturers are still not permitted to sell products that exceed the new lead levels, and because she fears wholesale suppliers of her children's clothing will be reluctant to stock goods that might not be salable, she is going ahead
with lead testing and certification on her goods.

Z Recommends Seller Beware.

Scholar and Rogues calls this No Child's Product Left Behind.

What can you do? Contact your federal legislators and speak out about the CPSIA, perhaps avoid toys and other products for children that are manufactured in China?

On February 5, 2009, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced the Consumer Product Safety Reform with the goal of protecting "families, charities and small businesses from regulations and lawsuits that could kill thousands of jobs." The most important feature of this bill (in my opinion) would be a reform which would allow small manufacturers (including home-crafters) to use the testing/certification that suppliers have done for components of their products.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb.

Stitching: Zippers

2009-02-10T03:07:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

I have been working hard at reducing my "needs some repair" pile of clothing. You know that pile: the guy's shirt looses a button, he throws it in the pile. A hem needs repair, it goes in the pile. A zipper has broken, it goes in the pile. Someday, we promise to tackle that pile and get those clothes back in use. Often, I would give up on it and simple donate everything to charity.

One of my goals is to make sure our clothes are cleaned, working and available to wear. So I've sewn on buttons and fixed hems. Several items were just given up on. I'm down to the 3 things that need new zippers. Now I'm scared.

Are you intimidated by sewing in zippers? I am. The last one I put into a hoodie was off on one side by 1/2". Not to mention the rippled stitching running up one side. The zipper has been ripped out (again) and I'm starting the process over. And, like any good consumer of social media, I'm checking out the blogs, the websites and YouTube for help before I stitch again. My first stop is check at delicious to find saved bookmarks on Zippers.

I begin with ModHomeEcTeacher's basic: How-to Insert a Zipper. Good basics, great close up pictures. Still feeling uncertain.

That's why I was thrilled to read You SEW, girl!'s Zipper tutorial on moving the zipper foot out way. Such a simple idea: stop part way down the zipper with the needle in the fabric, and zip the up, moving the bulky foot out of the way of sewing. Brilliant!

But the most helpful tutorial is Green Kitchen's Glue-Set Zipper tutorial! I never imagined that a little glue stick held such promise for a perfectly pretty zipper.

The most difficult part of zipper installation is making it look good.
With the glue-set method you eliminate most of the challenges. The
process becomes quite easy. The idea behind the glue-set zipper
installation is to use adhesive to hold the zipper in place, while
sewing, instead of pins. This allows you to top stitch the zipper
without having to wrangle with the pins. And, since you are top
stitching it into place, you have more control on how it looks on the
outside, thus, more chances at zipper success.

Check out this ThreadBanger episode. About 3 minutes in, Kate McFaul does a great demonstration on sewing in a zipper.

Ok. I think I'm armed with enough ideas that I can deal with these zippers. What challenges to repairing your clothes do you have? (besides finding time).

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Heart-Felt Paper Crafts

2009-02-09T03:07:00.000-08:00

(crossposted on BlogHer)

Valentine's day is only a few days away. I'm all for crafting some simple and charming gifts to give to family and friends this year and Valentines always speak of simple paper crafts - like cards - to me. Let's see what projects bloggers are suggesting...

What is Valentine's without roses? At Zakka Life, she's constructed luscious paper roses from newspaper then painted these paper roses a sumptuously romantic red.

Thinking about making something cute for Valentine's day? At Ali Edwards blog, ae, her weekend creative project was a wonderful little 4" Circle minibook.

Part card, part minibook this little circle creation is a great way to celebrate someone you love this Valentine's Day (or any day of course). This project uses my new Love Circle embellishments from Designer Digitals that you simply download and print (or use on digital projects).

I'm looking at my collection of souvenir circular coasters and thinking would make a great base for one of these books.

Want a simple little gift for a friend? Creature Comforts offers instructions for Printable Valentine Teabag Wrappers and Tags.

These would be perfect to give to friends and coworkers. Perhaps
you might package up a few in a sweet little teacup and present it as a
gift.
There are 4 ways to assemble the teabag wrappers. The one
shown in the tutorial below is the most time involved (stitching by
hand) but the results are my favorite. Other methods would include
using tape, glue or a sewing machine. Pick the method that will work
best for you and have fun!

Dabbled has declared this Cephalopod Week! Dot offers a charming watercolor squiddy valentine card as a free download.

NewNew offered a tutorial on a simple Four-Hole Binding. I have friends I've shared some special times with this past year; printing out some of the memories and any possible photos, then stitching them into small memory books could be really special ways for me (or you) to say how important a friendship is.

This binding is simple, elegant and adds a unique touch to the everyday card or book. You can use single sheets of paper, so you can use smaller pieces of paper, even scraps. You can use as many pages as you’d like, for a little book, or a few, like I’m doing now, to make a card.

The four-hole book could be made even more special with hand-made paper for the cover sheet, don't you think? Back in 2007, Mainly Zaz offered a wonderful tutorial on making your own paper.

Do you have plans to make something for someone this Valentine's day?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Hot Damn! The FB 25 Things MeMe

2009-02-06T01:50:00.000-08:00

Genie, who I adore but who barely knows me, apparently wants to know me better. She tagged me for the 25 Things meme moving all around Facebook. I've done these done so many times, but I found some new things to share. And with my dearth of posting here, I thought why not crosspost it here?

1. When I was 5, my older brother got a baseball bat, glove and hat for his birthday. He hated baseball and was terrible when they tried to get him to hit. I begged to try. Eventually my grandfather and dad let me hit with the warning I only got 3 strike outs. Hit the first 7 pitches before I got my first strike.

2. My grandfather, handing one of the hit balls back to my father, said -in wonder- can you imagine if she were a boy???

3. That was the first and last time my father played ball with us kids.

4. It was not the first nor last time I got the message in my own home that I was inferior because I was "the girl."

5. For 2 years when I was little, I dunked everything I ate in milk before I ate it. EVERYTHING. Except my veggies. Those I just didn't eat.

6. When I went to kindergarden, where the milk came in cartons, my mother asked how I dunked my food. I honestly told her that I sucked the milk up in my straw, then blew it onto my food.

7. I loved climbing trees. There was this maple tree in a neighbor's yard that I climbed at least once a week. I got higher than any other kid on the block.

8. I'm been thinking about that tree, and eyeing the trees around the me. Can grown ups climb trees? If I have 911 on my speed dial?

9. I was part of the alpha test group for new math in 1960? (before anyone talked about new math). For me it means I can understand set theory but I can't divide.

10. I also can't remember how to multiple most of the 7s, expecially the 6s and 8s.

11. And I have a floating decimal point. Off the top of my head, I might not remember if some number is a thousand, million, or millionth! Ok, I'm usually only off by one or two places.

12. I used to be able to "hear" harmonies as quickly as most people hear melodies.

13. I've lost that skill because of lack of practice, but I'm working on getting it back.

14. I was in southern Ohio at a yearbook camp (I know.. ??) when the Cuyahoga river caught fire.

15 I would do the family ironing on Saturday's. With 4 males, plus my mother working 60+ hours a week, I'd iron between 25 and 30 shirts a week.

16 Listening to college football games while ironing is how I learned about football.

17. I do not know how I learned about baseball, but I remember being a big fan of Luis Tiant during his rookie year. His delivery? Mesmerizing!

18. I LOVED reading Little Women when I was a young girl. I would imagine myself the 5th March girl.

19. Sometimes I still do.

20. I cannot curl my tongue.

21. I cannot whistle through my teeth. Or through 2 fingers.

22. I was 55 before I could touch my toes without really bending my knees.

23. I can't swim. I'm not sure I can even float.

24. I used to be able to program VCRs without reading the directions. I was a VCR savant.

25. The only Shakespearian soliloquy I remember is the one turned into a song in HAIR. Don't ask me which play (though I think it's King Lear)...

I am not going to tag anyone here to do this meme.. but if the spirit moves you please leave a note in comments to let me know and share...

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Vision Board

2009-02-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

I have completed the major construction of my 2009 Vision board. The background was divided into 4 main sections which supported major themes in my life:

Living Healthy
Acting Fearlessly and Taking Risks
Building Stronger Relationships and Building a Family from Friends
Smile, And Work Toward a New Future

I drove up to Davis, CA, to see buds Leslie and Maria a couple weekends ago. We spent a Saturday working on our visions boards (inspired by my post in early January). I ran out of time before completing mine, and brought it home. Where it sat until today.

Finally I trimmed and glued the final saying down and hung this board in my bedroom where I can see it each morning as I wake up and each evening as I go to sleep.

Some of the elements:

"Do They Check Emotional Baggage?" /Embrace/ Smile/Shake Up/ The Future According To...

An undefined photo of a fire escape going nowhere...
A large photo (in the bottom right corner) of friends hanging out and eating to symbolize my building family;
"The ARt of Uncontrolled Flight... IS FOR JOY"...

-a snippet of a Langston Hughes poem:

Sometimes when I'm lonely,
Don't know why;
Keep thinking I won't be lonely
Bye and bye...

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Knitting Patterns Online

2009-02-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Inspiration is one of the easiest things to find online. We bloggers share not only pictures of our projects, but their inspiration and sometimes the patterns (if they are original).

Over at Instructable, you can make a fun, felted chain-link necklace.

This is an easy project, fine for a beginning knitter who has knitted
in the round with double pointed needles. The only tricky part is
making sure you add the "links" as you go, sliding them and moving them
over your needles as you go.

For the past several years, the knit blogs have been filled with talk of the Clapotis, a scarf designed by Kate Gilbert.

It’s knit on the bias so the variegated yarn makes diagonal stripes and stitches are carefully dropped to make a pattern in the opposite direction. This creates a scarf which tends to be a little more of a parallelogram than a rectangle, but I promise, it’s nice that way.

Crazy Aunt Purl offers her Easy Roll-Brim Knit Hat Recipe. What's so great about this pattern?

The best part? Once you get The Formula, you can make hats all the time
with ANY yarn and NO PATTERN. This is my dream come true. Now if the
naked-rich-man-who-does-dishes dream would come true, I could die happy

Cookie A. designed the wonderfully Monkey Socks because:

the true driving force behind these socks was ADDICTION. There was no other way to get them off my back than to knit them.

These socks have a lacy pattern that looks to work well with variagated, solid, or hand-painted socks, but I think not self-striping yarn.

Black Sheep Bags offered a pattern for a knit and felted Booga Bag. Made with a self-striping yarn this looks like a great little bag for carrying a portable project.

Six Degrees Arts designed Easy Peasy Yoga-Pilates Socks!

The winter 2009 issue of The Anti-Craft features the wonderful Melusine shawl. This pattern, knit in Knit Picks Bare merino Wool/Silk Sock yarn, undyed, gives not only the pattern for knitting the lacy gorgeousness, but also for hand-painting the yarn pattern after the shawl is knit. The color possibilities that dyeing after construction offers are truly intriguing.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

A Long-Term Project

2009-01-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

Early last winter I found a great jacket at a thrift shop. It is a dark olive drab cordoroy styled similar to a jeans jacket. With a high collar, zipper closing, it hits just below the high hip. Looks wonderful on me.

Last spring, I started staring at it thinking that it needed some embellishing to make it truly mine. My original idea was to draw the swirls and trials of vapor -like steam off a coffee cup or smoke from the end of a cigarette- but turn these into harder geometric forms. Imagine smoke shaped by triangles.

Initial sketches and trials showed that the medium I had to work with was not right for this more delicate design. Dark cordoroy is not the best format for delicate shapes. It's still in my book. But I like triangular shapes, so I've stuck with concept in part of work.

Last fall, I started stitching.

I quickly came to realize that this jacket will require a whole lot of time to get to my final vision. A. Whole. Lot. Of. Time. The fabric isn't the best to be working with. Cordoroy is tightly woven but very fluffy. The tight weave wants fine threads to easy work through; the thick top wants chunky yarns to stand above the fabric.

I'm adapting my materials and techniques as I go along. Delicate stitching now will be done on other fabrics, cut, fused, and the stitched to the jacket. Chunkier yarns are tacked into place.

I've added a couple fun embellishments to the front.

The way I see it, if I get a bit more stitching done, the jacket will be to a point where I can pack a small amount of the work in a pocket. Wear the jacket somewhere, pull the supplies out and begin working on the jacket wherever I am. Then wear it home.

It's going to be like a master project on stitchery. A travelling, wearable master project. One that I continue to add to until the fabric completely disintegrates.

I promise photos to come.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Confessions of Craft Bloggers

2009-01-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

One thing I've come to expect when reading crafting blogs, is openness and honesty from the bloggers. Sometimes the honesty is sad, occasionally it's hard to read, and sometimes it just plain silly. I love these takes of other people's lives examined.

Cheeky Beaks tells us the truth:

My workspace... I have thought about showing my area all clean and tidy. But let's be real - that won't happen so quickly. After listening to another crafty podcast on Craftsanity where the blogger chatted about people not being real and only showing the clean snippets of life in their photos and text. Or only sharing the good times and not the bad, I thought it was about time I 'fess up.

Art Junk Girl is reexamining her work and describing growing pains:

Ok, so, yesterday, it occurred to me that I must be going through a growing pain again. Something inside is telling me to stretch. Lately I've been sketching and doing things in which I feel like I am a fish out of water. I painted on a collaged canvas, I sketched, I used a new journal to make character's in. I looked at all of it and thought, this is CRAP! And you know what? It is. But that is OK, because I am growing. I am learning. I am stretching. It's like exercising while being "out of shape". It takes time to built up stamina, skill, etc. You have to make lots of mistakes. You have to make ugly stuff to find what you like to make that is beautiful.

Apron Thrift Girl share a little honesty:

I need balance and focus to be a part of my life. And if you are up for it, I hope to share my path with you as I take this journey. If you are a scanner, I imagine your path might be similar.

Sometimes the confessions are just plain silly:

Betz White has been been having Glue Gun Fun:

After gettin' jiggy with the glue gun last week, nothing around here is safe from being ribbon-ized or trim-ificated. How 'bout clothes pins?!

I've mentioned this before, but I love having a clothes line in my
studio space over my sewing machine and/or drawing table. I clip all
kinds of things up there like magazine pages, swatches, parts of
projects I'm working on, etc. When I was tidying up the space last week I got to thinking about jazzing up those clothes pins with ribbon scraps.

Finally, in the fun that is meme, Girl is Crafty participated in the 30 things meme.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Beading How-to: Make a Beaded Handband

2009-01-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

Found this how-to on YouTube and think it's wonderful. Imagine taking a pearl necklace (perhaps an inexpensive broken one?) and restringing it to make a pretty pearl head band.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Stash Busting: The 2009 Challenge

2009-01-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! While 2008 cannot disappear into the review mirror fast enough, it brought some challenges to the world that are going to show up, I'm sure, in 2009 New Year's Resolutions. The poor economy and lost jobs will encourage "belt-tighting" moves for many. When it comes to crafters, I'm betting lots of us are making serious pledges to work more out of generous stashes.

What does it mean to bust your stash? For many crafters, it means using what you have whenever possible without comprosing design principles. JudyL at Patchwork Times explained:

I will not spend hours trying to make something work that isn’t
working just because I’m insisting on using the stash. I will not run
low on something and feel stymied due to not having what I want to work
with.
What I will do is try my best to use what I have here. There have
been occasions when I’ve started out wanting to use a blue accent
fabric and despite pulling dozens of fabric, nothing worked. I
might’ve switched to a red accent fabric and still couldn’t pull it
together; and then switched to brown and it all fell into place.
That’s the kind of things I will try to do in 2009.

Judy has invited quilters everywhere to join her in stash busting this year. She has a pledge you can download to state your own goals, plus links to other stashbusters you can contact for support.

AllenQuilts has been stashbusting for an entire year. This past December she posted progress photos of the change in her "supply closet":

Last year, I posted pics of my stash, when I first started this stash-busting venture with Judy.
I really can’t say you can tell a lot of difference yet. Maybe by this
time next year, I will have more space on my shelf for thread. I hope
so. I also hope someone straightens up those bottom shelves, and the
floor.

In the comments, Vickie Welch admitted to stashing about 85 yards this year, but admits: "I’m figuring that it was about 1%!

Barbara from Mainely Stitching put her philosophy for stash busting right out there when she wrote: begin as you intend to continue. Great advice. Begin the year by choosing a big project we've intended to work on. Choose something challenging and rewarding that you've been putting off.

When knitting, it's often imperative to find patterns that use small amounts of yarn. Thus allows us to use the remaining yard from larger finished projects or that single skein or two we just had to pick up at a YS sometime. SmarieK Knits has a number of free knitting patterns to download which take advantage of small supplies of yarn to create projects.

For myself, I started my stashbusting in December when I took two skeins of a Koigu handpainted wool out of my yarn drawer where they've dwelt for several years. I was never going to make them into socks for me (woe is me, wool socks are still too itchy!) and the yarn was too expensive to make socks for someone else. Instead I improvised a very simple fingerless glove pattern. Finished it up in just a couple weeks of knitting in my spare time (I am a very slow knitter). There is likely enough yarn left to make a second pair of these that I can swap or sell or use as a present. So the yarn isn't completely busted from my stash, but it's well on its way.

Have you taken a oath to bust some stash this year? Have you blogged this intention? Is so, please include a link in the comments. To encourage us and give us the excitement of sharing our accomplishments with friends, I've set up a Flickr group to share our stash busting efforts. Share projects in progress, projects as you finish them, items you've given up and given away. Anything that qualifies as part of your stash busting.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Stash Busting: The 2009 Challenge: Step One

2009-01-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

crossposted at BlogHer

Happy New Year! While 2008 cannot disappear into the review mirror fast enough, it brought some challenges to the world that are going to show up, I'm sure, in 2009 New Year's Resolutions. The poor economy and lost jobs will encourage "belt-tighting" moves for many. When it comes to crafters, I'm betting lots of us are making serious pledges to work more out of generous stashes.

What does it mean to bust your stash? For many crafters, it means using what you have whenever possible without comprosing design principles. JudyL at Patchwork Times explained:

I will not spend hours trying to make something work that isn’t
working just because I’m insisting on using the stash. I will not run
low on something and feel stymied due to not having what I want to work
with.
What I will do is try my best to use what I have here. There have
been occasions when I’ve started out wanting to use a blue accent
fabric and despite pulling dozens of fabric, nothing worked. I
might’ve switched to a red accent fabric and still couldn’t pull it
together; and then switched to brown and it all fell into place.
That’s the kind of things I will try to do in 2009.

Judy has invited quilters everywhere to join her in stash busting this year. She has a pledge you can download to state your own goals, plus links to other stashbusters you can contact for support.

AllenQuilts has been stashbusting for an entire year. This past December he posted progress photos of the change in his "supply closet":

Last year, I posted pics of my stash, when I first started this stash-busting venture with Judy.
I really can’t say you can tell a lot of difference yet. Maybe by this
time next year, I will have more space on my shelf for thread. I hope
so. I also hope someone straightens up those bottom shelves, and the
floor.

In the comments, Vickie Welch admitted to stashing about 85 yards this year, but admits: "I’m figuring that it was about 1%!" If her calculation is accurate, then her stash - at a low valuation of $5/yard- is worth $42,500. It is not earning interest until it sees the light of day as part of a project. Do any of us truly have this have kind of money to allow it to sit around?

Barbara from Mainely Stitching put her philosophy for stash busting right out there when she wrote: begin as you intend to continue. Great advice. Begin the year by choosing a big project we've intended to work on. Choose something challenging and rewarding that you've been putting off.

When knitting, it's often imperative to find patterns that use small amounts of yarn. Thus allows us to use the remaining yard from larger finished projects or that single skein or two we just had to pick up at a YS sometime. SmarieK Knits has a number of free knitting patterns to download which take advantage of small supplies of yarn to create projects.

For myself, I started my stashbusting in December when I took two skeins of a Koigu handpainted wool out of my yarn drawer where they've dwelt for several years. I was never going to make them into socks for me (woe is me, wool socks are still too itchy!) and the yarn was too expensive to make socks for someone else. Instead I improvised a very simple fingerless glove pattern. Finished it up in just a couple weeks of knitting in my spare time (I am a very slow knitter). There is likely enough yarn left to make a second pair of these that I can swap or sell or use as a present. So the yarn isn't completely busted from my stash, but it's well on its way.

Have you taken a oath to bust some stash this year? Have you blogged this intention? Is so, please include a link in the comments. To encourage us and give us the excitement of sharing our accomplishments with friends, I've set up a Flickr group to share our stash busting efforts. Share projects in progress, projects as you finish them, items you've given up and given away. Anything that qualifies as part of your stash busting.

This year, I'll mention a different idea to take in endeavoring to bust a stash every month. Look for it the 2nd Saturday of each month. What are some of your preferred stash-busting techniques?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Creating Your Future with a Vision Board

2009-01-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

(crossposted at BlogHer)

Vision Boards. This year the New Year's discussions throughout the blogosphere and twitter has focused on the advantages of vision boards over traditional New Year's Resolution. While vision boards have been around for years, the concept has reached a tipping point in the general consciousness.

Assuming that I'm not the last person on the vision-board-bus, let's see what these things are, why they might be a more successful tool than New Year's resolutions, and how bloggers reacted to designing one.

Christine Kane in explaining how to make a vision board describes them this way:

A vision board (also called a Treasure Map or a Visual Explorer or Creativity Collage) is typically a poster board on which you paste or collage images that you’ve torn out from various magazines. It’s simple.
The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.

With this positive take, it's plain to me right there why vision boards might be more popular than New Year's resolutions. Miriam Webster defines resolution as: something that is resolved (ie. to reach a firm decision about). There is something about that phrase "firm decision" that sounds just a bit restrictive to me. Like punishment or rules. It doesn't sound like it allows for change and growth and adaption.

I doubt that many make their New Year's resolutions with this firm intent. There often sounds like something tentative about most of these. Whether we state the wish to lose 20 pounds or exercise more, make more money or take a big vacation. I'll agree the hope is there; I don't believe the resolution necessarily exists.

Vision boards, on the other hand, seem like an adaptable method of planning the future.

Anne-Marie Faiola, blogging as the Soap Queen describes how her mastermind group has been using vision boards to plan their years:

1. Write your goals down
2. Look for visual representations of your goals in magazines or online
3. Make a collage with the visual representations
4. Put this in a frequently viewed area
5. Extra: put your written goals in the middle, so that the visuals are flowing outward from the actual original ideas.

Michelle at New Moon Journal asks: Who Says New Year's and Vision Boards Go Together? Because her blog focuses on astrology, she suggests that the best time to construct a vision board is in the spring. Yet she sees a value to beginning work on a board now. By beginning a vision board, now it can worked and tweaked over the next few months. My favorite of her suggestions:

Shadow Dancing: Listen for the inner voices-your mind chatter. Look for black and white thinking then seek to balance the negative self talk and doubt. Look for your issues with FEAR- fear of success, fear of failure are two biggies that dance with me.

When it comes to deciding what your vision board needs, Danielle Ricks, blogging here on BlogHer, suggests it's as important to know what to leave behind as what to aim for in our future:

To do this, I suggest you build a strong foundation on which to create your best life ever. That means looking at the things you gave your attention to last year and if need be, making a fresh start to get where you'd like to be this year. There is no point in building a vision of the future on a foundation muddied with unfinished business, unresolved issues, old hurts, deep resentments and feelings of regrets. If you drag this negativity into the New Year I assure you that your new vision will not be fully
realized. Bringing in a New Year is a great time to let go of any attitude, project, relationship, or people, places and things that weighs us down or impedes our progress towards a more purposeful and joyful life.

At My Santuary, the author deals with a question I've had: how to create my vision board if I don't have (and choose not to acquire) magazines for images:

Am going to use images from the internet which is free and put them in a collage or 'poster board' style using powerpoint. Then will get it printed and mounted as my own vision boards.

Roz at Autumn Cottage Diarist has been collecting a number of her vision boards into a

Book of Inspiration, to which I continually add.
A4 pages on various topics, at the moment topics that relate to my intentions for 2009 (I never call them resolutions – that way they don’t sit there asking to be broken!), but as wishes, wants, thoughts and ideas change throughout the year, the images will multiply.

Last week, fellow BlogHer contributing editor Karen Walrond wrote about twists on New Year's resolutions. She closed that post by discussing making vision boards with her four year old daughter. She found it a great activity for a winter afternoon. After showing the (gorgeous) boards they had contructed, she interpreted Alex's for us:

judging from the images Alex chose, 2009 is the year she's going to be a princess, Tinkerbell, and an incontinent cat.
Like I said, it's good to have goals.

Need more inspiration? I did a search of Vision Boards uploaded to Flickr.

In case you're wondering, I have NOT made my vision board yet. In part, it's because I, too, lack magazines from which to tear images. I am writing down words and concepts that I want to embrace in 2009. While it's easy to imagine the image for white water rafter, I don't know how to image "take more risks" or "live more fearlessly" when I can't imagine what some of the risks and/or fears could be. How would you picture fearless?

I am committed to getting together with Leslie Madsen-Brooks next weekend to start constructing one. I am tempted to follow Michelle's advice above and let the process stew and develop until the astral year begins in Aries, but I fear (there's that word again!) that I'm just using it as another excuse to delay and avoid making a commitment to my future.

Hmm. .. Can you say live more fearlessly?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Gauntlets: 2.5 hours

2009-01-02T03:05:00.000-08:00

a
Gauntlets: 2.5 hours
Originally uploaded by deb roby

My last pair of fingerless gloves (or gauntlets) took me nearly a month to knit. They were fingering weight yarn and #1 needles (very small). Last night I started a second pair with an Extra Chunky yarn and #13 needles.

Ya think size doesn't matter? I finished the pair in about 2.5 hours.

Siel asked for the pattern for these. So I'm going to show you all how "improvisational" I get with my knitting. It will not be shocking to those who've worked any craft project with me, but the rest of you, enjoy:

For the chunky gauntlets, I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick yarn and size 13 needles straight needles.

I cast on 17 stitches. Experiment. Some odd number that fits comfortably around your knuckles but not too loose.

Row 1: k1, p1 across
Row 2: p1,k1 across
Row 3: repeat row one.

Row 4: k across
Row 5: repeat Row One.

Repeat 4, 5 until piece is long enough to reach from below wrist to first knuckle on thumb. (for me this was 14 rows total.). End with a Row 4.

Next row: Add Thumb hole, casting off. Determine center stitch of piece plus two stitches on either side. Continue pattern (k1,p1) until you reach that first stitch. For mine, I k,p'ed for 7 stitches. Bind off the next 3 stitches. Continue pattern to end of row.

Next row: Add Thumb hole, casting on. Knit the worked stitches until you come to the gap. Cast on 3 stitches. (I turned work to other side and did 3 knit-wise cast ons. It's not pretty but it works). Continue pattern to end of row. Anyone who can suggest a better method of casting on, I'd appreciate it.

Next row: k1,p1 to end of row. 17 stitches again.

Continue pattern until the gauntlet is long enough to cover first knuckles on your hand. For me, that was 7 rows.

Cast off. With last stitch, cut yarn leaving a long tail. Slip yarn through last stitch and pull tight, then using a tapestry needle sew the side closed. Weave in loose ends. Repeat for 2nd gauntlet and wear.

Any questions, email me, but its really simple.

New Year's Eve, 2008

2009-01-01T09:24:00.001-08:00

New Year's Eve, 2008
Originally uploaded by deb roby

How I spent my New Year's Eve, 2008. Tweeting, knitting, and sipping some whiskey.

How was this night different than any other? It wasn't

Playing with Names..

2008-12-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

Starting this fantasizing while walking down to the coffee shop at the bottom of the hill for lunch.

If I had a:

Music blog, it would be Rockin' Roby.

Personal Finance? [Deb]It. (That one is genius!)

Food Blog? Yummy in my Tummy.

Beauty/Fashion/Shopping blog? Who am I kidding? Can you do a fashion blog about shopping at thrift stores?

Book blog it would a podcast where I'd read part of a book and a review to whet your appetite. Call it?

Sports/Fitness? is Weight for Deb.

Life blog? was Deb's Daily Distractions.

Travel blog? Where in the World Have I Plugged In My Laptop?

Not that I can could deal with another blog. But just the idea of thinking of some names was fun. Rather like the evening (at BlogHer??) where every great thought or line or idea became a dot something.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Koigu wrist warmers, finished 12/25/08

2008-12-26T03:37:00.000-08:00

Koigu wrist warmers, finished 12/25/08
Originally uploaded by deb roby

I bought 2 skeins of Koigu hand painted yarn several years ago. Kept waiting to be inspired to use them. This year I decided I wanted some wrist warmers (gauntlets, fingerless gloves.. whatever). I cast these on to one set of circular needles about Thanksgiving. Then knit them using the magic loop method. Bound them off on Christmas morning.

Ain't they grand?

2008-12-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

Snippets: Small thoughts.

Snippet #1. With my dogs, I learn to distinguish between the sound of a dog padding around thinking which comfy place to sleep and the same dog padding around because it needs to go outside. Remarkably, the difference isn't the sound, it's where she's walking.

Snippet #2: Is there anything better to eat when it's cold outside than soup? Made myself some Thai Pumpkin soup last week to serve me for lunch the rest of the week. YUM. What does cold weather make you desire?

Snippet #3: I volunteer at the local Richmond Art Center for a couple hours a week (usually doing.. what else? computer work). Last week, I used a few spare to moment to shoot some impressions round the place. Enjoy. Those hand-thrown bowls are a center fund-raiser, sold at $8 each. Aren't they fabulous? Sometime try taking a close up look at your surroundings.

Snippet #4: Confession: When a really great song comes up on my Zen Stone (mp3 player), I dance or sing. I may "bench dance" at gym, "car dance" while I'm driving, dance dance around the house. Or - perhaps even worse for those around me - become another one of the band's back up singers. Do you have a silly confession to share?

Snippet #5: When I hear about all the snow being dumped around the country, I am so glad I live where I don't have to shovel it. Or drive in it. Yeah, we might have rain that makes me investigate the actual measure of a cubit.. but it usually goes down the storm drains (unless they're clogged).

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Crafty Christmas Decorations

2008-12-16T03:30:00.000-08:00

crossposted at BlogHer

Between cold stormy weekends and school ending soon for the holiday, this is a great time to have some crafty holiday projects that can engage the whole family in a few time-killing, charming decoration-making activities. What says "keeping the family busy" more than a some glue, scraps of paper, or other craft-store finds?

Knick Knacks and Ric Rac showed charming Gingerbread Heart Ornaments with a Pennsylvania Dutch feel. Brown felt, colorful ric rac flowers, craft store pom poms and chenille sticks (pipe cleaners) make these inexpensive and charming.

Christmas Decoration Tutorials were the topic of Lisa Tilse's The Red Thread December 1st post. She aimed these specifically as projects for kids, and I think her colorful baubles hit it out of the park! Styrofoam balls, brightly colored scraps of fabric or paper, LOTS of glue is a combination that guarantees some mistake-proof messy fun.

Lisa also pointed us to Zakka Life's Flower Garlands. Made from cutting up one of the many catalogs we receive in the mail every day, these garlands are a cheerful decoration you can keep up all year.

While Berroco suggests these miniature knitted sweaters could be quite cool holiday ornaments, I envision them as inspiration for gift tags. Giving a hand-knit sweater or scarf this year? Use some of the scrap yarn to make a tiny version. I'm not knitting this holiday season; I'm sewing aprons. But I now see teeny-tiny aprons fused to card stock as my gift tags!

Living Creatively rates their Clay Ornaments as a beginner project that can be completed in 15 minutes plus drying time.

This is such a quick and easy way to make Christmas Ornaments and the results are just beautiful! You can hang the ornaments on the tree, tie them onto gifts or even use them as place settings. Working with clay is great fun and this is the perfect project to get kids involved in.

Felted Wool Sweaters were turned into adorable christmas tree ornaments by Dollar Store Crafts. I fluffy heart felted sweaters, this year I'll branch out to some decorations.

In the true spirit of extending an object's life, Susan Beal, contributor for CraftStylish, took old glass ornaments that had lost much of their luster and glitzed them up by gluing sparkly craft-store gems onto them.

We can't decorate for the holidays without some hand made garlands. If you're not in the daisy-chain garland stage of your life, check out another CraftyStylish project: An Easy Crocheted Holiday Garland by Linda Permann.

That's all I have for now, though I'm positive that more crafty goodness will be popping up in the next couple weeks. Will I save those links for next year, or share a few last minute quickies with you?

And what are your favorite crafty holiday decorations? Hit me up in comments with those you'd like to share

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

2008-12-15T03:05:00.000-08:00

It's the time of year for introspection and stuff which led me to:

If I Rules The World (Earworm of song for an additional cost):

1. Nobody would be hungry. Food production and distribution would allow everyone to have sufficient healthy food every day.

2. Fast Food Junk Nation would not exist. (I know at the moment it's a choice people make; a choice that is killing them. A choice they don't believe they can't not make. I believe otherwise). I'm not saying there would be no junk food, I thoroughly indulge in Fried Chicken or a donut once in while. I even eat a whole a bag of potato chips. Just don't do it often or believe that when I'm doing it it's a meal. Or good for me.

3. Nobody would be thirsty. There would be clean water for everyone.

4. Each person would recognize their worth to society as a whole and would contribute however best they could.

5. Each person would have a safe, dry, comfortable place to live. It might be that not everyone would live in McMansions, but everyone would have at least a room of their own.

6. Creative endeavors would be encouraged from an early age. We are all creative. We may not all be artists, sculptors, or writers but we are all creative. These practices should be fostered to continue throughout one's lifetime.

7. Laughing should come easy.

8. People should be able to choose working at what they love and great passion for and working longer hours. Or working a mind-numbing job they can leave without another thought, but working much fewer hours. This would enabling the worker to go on and participate in their passionate activities in the increased free time.

9. Music, art, science, math, sports would all be valued in our education process and in our daily lives. The well-rounded soul would be encouraged.

10. Celebrities would those individuals who exhibited the greatness of the human race. Today's "pop celebs" would be more the

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Miracle on Pier 48

2008-12-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

I did not need to go the gym on Friday as planned; nor will I need to go on Saturday. That's because I spent 5 hours on Thursday volunteering for The Miracle of Pier 48. As a group, we provided food, personal care items, and toys to 5000 families in San Francisco.

Four of these hour I was among the army of volunteers directly working with the families. An individual, or perhaps a parent and child (or a couple adults) would be paired with 2 volunteers. We would walk them down the donation "gauntlet" picking up and carrying their goodies for them. This included:

2 bags of frozen chicken parts
a box filled with non-perishable food such as beans and peanut butter
a box filled with toiletries (toilet paper, etc.)
one toy (most were video games that hooked up to the tv)
a bag of goodies from Avon
a case a water.

By the time we got to the end of this gauntlet both volunteers would be carrying ~30 or so pounds of goodies. And this gauntlet was about 200 yards long. That's a lot of hauling!

What struck me about many of the people we talked with was these were the described "working poor." These people worked hard and still needed help. Yes, there were the ones who were looking for as much as they could get and more. Allowed 1 toy, they groused because they 4. Many, however, were truly thankful for everything they got - including the human power to carry it all.

After the first 2 hours, everything stopped for an hour (a major tactical error). Pallets of supplies were moved and re-organized while most of the volunteers were given a break; some standing around time where nothing seemed to be happening (and I sought out a cushier position handing out goodies rather than picking them up. Did. Not. Succeed.)

Finally were told they were holding a press conference and we were all invited into the back of the pier to witness it. Former SF mayor Willie Brown was the MC. He explained how the entire function came into being (wish I had taken notes). He introduced the founder of Feed of Children who supplied the food.

Then the president of the NBA Players Assoc. spoke. The players assoc. provided much of the money to cover the cost of the items that were given. Every professional basketball player is taxed a portion of his/her salary to support NBA Cares. Each player is also encouraged to personally participate in several community events each year. There were 6 of the Golden State Warriors then introduced at our event.

When the press coverage finally ended, 100 or so of the families were brought into the area where the press conference took place. The players each had a station where they handed out the goodies and lots of press photos were taken. The family we helped was so overwhelmed by the idea of what they were being given (and likely tired from standing waiting for close to 2 hours) that I'm not sure they even knew they were standing near the players.

But let me say from personal experience that 7 food tall (when you're 5'3") is REALLY TALL and we had 2 centers working the event! Also, the players -many of them a much more "normal" height - were all genuinely friendly and seemed to be honored to be there.

Unfortunately, this work stoppage meant that the line of waiting recipients grew extremely long. We worked as fast as we could to get families through the gauntlet and out onto the street. Still, many people showed up after picking up their children at school. The line extended back the entire length of the pier and out the door. A program that was meant to end close to 5 pm, was going to be going strong until much later. I lasted as long as I could but about 5:30 I pooped out. I still had close to a mile walk back to the closest BART station and my arms and legs were killing me.

It was close to 7 pm by the time I got home. Bone tired, hungry, a blister on my right foot and sore to my core. It was a great day and I'll definitely be back next year if it happens. But I think I'll bring my own hand truck.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.