The Club Can't Even Handle Me Right Now

A couple Fridays ago, I got one of the best e-mails I've gotten in a long time. I was getting ready to go to a conference, and the e-mail was from the conference organizers. It said: "Please feel free to bring creative projects you may be working on currently... We invite you to select and bring a project with you that helps support creative thinking during our discussions and activities."

I was so excited, but I was already away from home and my collection of creative projects. (I'm not making it up - that part of the e-mail was bold in the original). Thankfully, I was with my Mom, and she has a huge collection of her own of stuff to make creative projects.  (With love, some might call this collection a "hoard.") I was able to find a couple of small skeins of yarn that, I swear, are older than I am. Knitting needles were not a problem - Mom has quite a few extras. Mom also provided great inspiration with the simplest idea: "Why don't you make felt bowls?"

Why don't I!? Because I don't have a clue how to knit in the round.

I also didn't have a clue how to knit stripes, and as you can see, I was able to figure that out. I still haven't figured out how to knit in the round (project for March, seriously), but I found a pattern online (awesome use of free wireless in the conference hotel!) and adapted it to be able to knit it on straight needles and stitch it up. Since you can't get a sense of the dimensions from the picture (and since a picture of the bowls from farther away wouldn't let you see the fun stripes!), the bowls are 3 1/2 inches in diameter.  

The felting was a fun Saturday evening for me and the hubby. They are very lightly felted (I was using a washing machine and kind of scared of causing a lot of irreparable damage, so only ran them through, like, um, 5 times), but I've been told that better results can be achieved through hand felting. 

Where My Stitches At?

Just before Thanksgiving, I joined a new gym. I go often (so much that I don't blog anymore, apparently!). The gym has made it easy for me to go - it's a five minute walk from my apartment and they have yoga classes.

I started practicing yoga in college, if falling asleep as soon as we lay down counts as practicing. I managed to learn something, though, as I actually taught a room of 100 people downward dog just after college. It was very cool, and I felt very good at the yoga thing.

For the past few years, I've been practicing yoga regularly, not falling asleep anymore and continuing to feel very good at it. Until I joined this new gym.

For the first couple weeks, I was convinced the instructors were teaching some sort of yoga torture ("toes pose" cannot be a real pose, right?). But, I actually started to get better at it. The instructors grew on me. Especially one, who said to me, while I was in three-legged dog (which involves being upside down with one leg in the air), "Oh, look, your toenail polish matches your pants! How cute!"

Seriously, that moment was one of the best I've had in a while.

I like matchy-matchy, and I really like my nail polish color. At Thanksgiving, my sister gave me the chance to make something that matches my nail polish.

She had bought me two little skeins of yarn. She got them at Big Lots for $1 each, which I loved. One was the same color as my nail polish, and one was another of my faves - green! Each had little specks of the other, and I spent a week trying to think of something I could make that used both of them.

Infinity scarves are way in, which, of course, I learned from my mother-in-law. Someone she works with gave her one last winter and she gave it to me, because she didn't know what to do with it, but mostly because I was quite reluctant to give it back to her once she let me borrow it.


*Photo credit to my husband, who thought this picture wouldn't make it to the web. But it's good, so here it is. Also, I totally stole this post's title from a fabulous knit and crochet site called Ravelry.

Gimme a Sister, Can't Resist Her

My sister Jodi, pictured left, braved two craft shows with me this weekend. We've been bred for this kind of action. We, daughters of a consummate crafter, spent our childhood not just strolling the aisles of every craft show in the Washington, D.C. metro area, but often enough could be found with the cash box behind the booth, too.

We've done the church Christmas craft show and the synagogue Chanukah gift extravaganza. We've done Spartanfest and Sugarloaf. And now we've done Craftboston and SoWa.

Now, as an adult with a budding craft hobby, living in a world and with a husband that would like everything to be commodified, I walk through the shows with mixed emotions. My talkative little brain is asking: "Is my stuff as good as hers?" "How much is he charging for that?" "Why don't you get your act together and open an Etsy shop?" It's as stressful as it is fun, as inspirational as it is overwhelming.

We passed one artist who was selling what I call coffee cozies. Jodi's holding the one I made her for her birthday in the picture in this post. I said, "Hey, look, coffee cozies." And, Jodi, best sister ever, said, "Oh, those are nice, but I like the one you made me much better."

Throw It In The Bag

My husband carries only a few things with him. He’s super low-maintenance, and I like him a lot for that. But, every once in a while, he’ll need some help carrying his stuff. And he’ll ask if I can put his cell phone, or keys, or whatever, in my bag.

Which is when I say to him:

What, you mean this bag?

Women and our bags. A force to be reckoned with, as many have discovered. The pursuit and purchase of the perfect bag is akin to finding a partner: complementary, not overshadowing, and fun, yet practical. Bags are objects of derision by some - though not all - male partners, who themselves having appropriate pockets in almost all of their clothing, do not understand the need for bags - until the time that they do. Which is when, ladies, I would suggest you implement the strategy outlined above.

The question, “Do you really need another bag?” comes not only from my husband, but from myself, as I constantly try to maintain a semblance of order at home. But, the opportunity to create my very own bag, sewn on my very own sewing machine (which was a gift from said husband’s family, so I should really stop making fun), was presented by a friend and fellow crafter. She coached me as I created this truly fabulous bag (the Taxi Tote from Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner).

I knew this bag was a hit when my husband said it was a “real bag.”

Tiny Birdies Made of Felt

The tipping point for this blog - the thing that really pushed me to get my act together and share little tidbits of creativity with friends and family - was this project, and the support and engagement it inspired. So it seems like the right place to start.

I worked on these little cuties over a few days, sometimes even staying up past my bedtime to finish one more. When I complained about being tired, my husband's response was:

"You're still recovering from your raucous night making tiny felt birds."

Clearly, this will not be his last appearance on this blog.

The birds, as I brought them to be one by one, started integrating themselves into our daily existence. Husband clearance is essential to any craft project that might become a permanent fixture in our home, so it was essential that he loved the birds as much as I did. He has assured me that he does.

The pattern is a slight adaptation of one created by Lisa Jordan and showcased on Sew, Mama, Sew! Feel free to post a question in the comments if you're thinking about trying the pattern yourself.