Crazy knitting

If you are a CE teacher, volunteer, roomie, etc...NO PEEKING.



Oops, too late.

I've heard that some folks give gifts at Creative Escape, and I've been trying to decide what would be appropriate...something crafty, but NOT scrapbooking-related (lord knows we're going to get enough swag, after paying what we've paid for registration)...something from Ann Arbor, to boot...

I started to make these for my three roomies (Renee, Michele, Cendrine) and realized it only takes a day (seriously!) to knit one of these (from One Skein), and felting is oh-so-fun. I can fill them with crop candy (Jelly Bellies and Gummi Bears) and Zingerman's Magic Brownies (will they individually wrap those for me?), put a pretty tag on them and voila! My requirements for a little crafty, Michigania giftie are fulfilled.

Now to make 11 more of them...in different colors, because if I had to work with that much pink & green, I think my eyeballs would fall out.

Vintage love

I have wanted an old manual typewriter for a while; I had two (!) growing up, both Underwoods. This project from toomuchcoffeegirl really sparked my desire, though. Good thing the ribbon is still working; she helped me understand that getting a new one and rewinding it take quite a bit of work. It can be done, but it doesn't sound as easy as it used to be. At least I can use it when the electricity is out ;) Typing away is quite therapeutic, as well.

The kids like banging on it and it stinks a bit from being stored in a barn or garage somewhere for too long, but I love the smell and have a handful of project ideas for it. It's rather small, student-sized and portable; came with a box that I had to put in the garage for airing...really stinky. E wanted to throw out the box but the collector in me said, "No way!"

I love the "self-starter" button on it. I sure could use one of those from time to time.

Stormy Weather

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Originally uploaded by CreativeExile

We've had several days of hot, windy weather and I have been waiting for a big storm. There was thunder, lightning, and rain through the night last night, but it was still muggy today, and windy.

FINALLY something wicked blew through town. And of course, I had to stand on the front porch and get a picture. Stupid Midwesterner.

Before this, I showed Tess a storm cloud directly over our backyard. You know the kind, the swirling storm cloud that looks like boiling water? Tess said, "it looks like toothpaste coming out of the tube!" Clever girl.

That's when I went and got Ben up from his nap, to get both kids in the basement.

And then I went to the front porch to get this shot.

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!