Crafty grrls in the house

I have been the Queen of Super-Crazy-Busy scrapbook layouts lately. I'm inspired by so many LOs in the SIStv gallery, but I can't quite pull them off. Ah, well, I'm having fun with lines like Tinkering Ink and the latest from Luxe. Patterned paper doesn't cost much (at most, $1 a sheet) and I typically pick out about 3 to use. Then I raid my stash to see what matches -- cardstock, ribbon, bling, chipboard accents, paint, etc.

I just cleaned out my PSB (Paper Sticker Binder, for those of you who are lost already) and gave Tess a shoebox full of old stuff I know I'm not going to use. She sat with me and created six 2-page "spreads" like "Florida" (with a dimensional Cropper Hopper sticker she labeled "luggage") and "Spring" (with every old Mrs. Grossman's floral sticker I've held on to for the last 7 years). She's got style, that kid.

And yes, I'm still knitting. I recently started this chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Ever the Queen of Blended Yarns, I'm mixing a silk thread I got in a 2005 swap (from an angel in Japan; my swap partner had bailed on me) with the alpaca sock yarn I picked up in Chicago in April. The watery light in my kitchen does not do the purple justice; trust, me, it's pretty. And oh so soft. I think alpaca is my new favorite fiber. I love that I found it in sock yarn. I've got to find some more of that!

I even taught Tess to knit. She eagerly looks forward to going "into the woods, around the tree," to see "up pops the rabbit" who "slips away" (my horrid paraphrasing of a knitting chant I heard someone teaching kids to knit to). She only lasts about one row (20 stitches) and I have to be sitting rightnext to her; I think it is more about "cuddling with mom"-time than learning to knit. Hey, whatever turns her on to the craft!