Nails done, hair done, everything did

     I'm a late adopter for just about everything... Including the latest and greatest in social media, Pinterest. 
    Before I started pinning, my sister-in-law would e-mail me the pins she liked. Such as, the one to your left - the totally adorable headband/neckwarmer.
     "Can you make this?" she asked. 
     "Nope," I said.
     Because I couldn't. Until I learned how to do a yarn over, which for some reason seemed really hard for me. 
     After lots of practice (lots) (more than a normal person should have to do), I finally figured it out, and I was off! 
     My sister-in-law received the finished product as a gift for her birthday, which just so happened to be in the warmest winter ever. So, maybe she'll get to wear it next year. Or, this spring, which is shaping up to be a chilly one.
     The easy-to-follow pattern can be found here. 

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. 

Crafter's Delight

A few weeks ago, I made a second Taxi Tote, a fraternal twin to the original much-complimented bag. I had been challenged by my sewing coach to make a second bag on my own, without her supervision. At the time, my life was a little messier than usual, and I needed something to look forward to at the end of the day.

I had been feeling restless and on edge for a couple of weeks already. I was a little nervous to start a relatively complicated project, given that I didn’t want to end each evening in tears, with pin-pricked fingers and covered in thread.

But I found myself smiling through each of the steps involved in creating something by hand - cutting and ironing fabric, seeing the piece take shape, screwing up and having to figure out how to hide a mistake, hand-sewing trim, and finally choosing and attaching the perfect button. Making the second Taxi Tote in something like 3 evenings was testament to my need to have something to hold on to.

I’d call what I experienced crafter’s delight. Crafting for mental health sounds too stodgy; crafter’s high sounds, well, incongruous. What I felt was tinged with enchantment and glee. I was able to make an entire bag on my own. It was a manageable challenge, resulting in a deep sense of satisfaction.

My life, no more and no less than the life of anyone else, is just full of stuff I don’t know how to fix, sometimes seemingly insurmountable challenges. Just as it would be amazing to wave a magic wand and make things better, magic bag-making powers would be pretty neat. I could wave my magic bag wand all day. But, it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying, or as delightful, as crouching in a vintage shop searching through a basket of buttons, driving all over town looking for unique fabric, or seeing my Taxi Totes hanging together in my home.

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.

Big Debut

I have a secret.

My mom was right.

Yours probably was, too.

That's a huge secret.



What was my mom right about?

My mom's dream for her little daughter, pictured here, was to be a writer and illustrator of children's books. Or just a writer. Or just an artist. Or a designer. Just something really, dramatically different than what I do now, which is make people uncomfortable by talking about difficult subjects, like sex, violence, and death. Something creative and positive, Elana, not so depressing all the time.

I realized my mom was right some time in the past year when I found myself writing a post for my professional blog (not depressing, it's about suicide prevention!) on PsychologyToday.com. I realized that I loved writing, that I was actually good at it, and that it would be really cool to do it more often than I have the opportunity.

I also realized my mom was right some time in the past couple of years when I was sitting on the floor futzing with beads, wire, and miniature pliers, creating a piece of jewelry. Also, again, thanks Mom, when I was knitting a hat for my friend's new baby. And when I was making a birthday card for a friend. And when I fell in love with a pattern for making tiny felt birds.

My mom is a big fan of mine. She is always proud of me, even when I'm making people talk about uncomfortable things. I think she'd like it if I were a little more proud of myself.

Only recently has it become really trendy to be really proud of yourself, and put it out there - there's a whole industry of shameless self-promoters, of which I'm apparently a part (as a blogger, as someone with a Facebook profile, as a tooter of my own horn for my economic survival, as there's no such thing as having a job without having to prove your value added). As I'm usually a little late on picking up on trends, I'm a late adopter with this one, but I'm here now.

So, this blog is for me, and for my mom.

As my mom would want it to, it's going to focus on the positive. It's going to be all about being creative.

Because we are completely incapable of not becoming our own mothers, I have become a crafter, a hoarder of yarn and beads, someone who carries a gallon plastic baggie filled with crafty gear with me on trips.

Because I get paid to do social change, which is a neverending process, in my down-time, I make stuff. In particular, I like to make small things that don't take much time, like earrings or baby hats, because in real life, there are so few opportunities to actually be done with something.

I'm lucky to have met a bunch of people other than my mom who are really interested in and supportive of the little things I make, who often ask me to show them what I'm doing. Since no one ever got anywhere being shy and keeping all of the interesting parts of themselves to themselves, this blog is a way to share my creativity in the way that has increasingly become the way of this world - through absolutely shameless self-promotion.