Purple

About a year ago, I got into hand spinning when I took a workshop at Cornerstone (a music festival in the middle of a cornfield that attracts lots of artists and hippies).  It’s pretty easy to do with a drop spindle, and handspun yarn really adds a personal touch to projects if you have the patience to do it (which I usually, do not).  Well, roving (unspun wool) is rather hard to come by in the city unless you order it online, and what’s the fun in that?  Google is my friend, and this summer I discovered Sheep Street Fibers, the best yarn and wool store EVER in Shelbyville, IN.  It’s basically a sheep farm that sells yarn (like fair trade handspun wool that put itself in my shopping basket made by a woman in Peru) and spinning wool.  You can buy it straight from the sheep (a little too ambitious for me) or you can buy it already dyed and carded and ready for spinning, as I did.  I ended up with some beautiful purple merino wool – you can see some of it now wrapped around my $150 Music History book (which I could have re-sold for $7, but chose to keep because it is exactly a yard around).  You know what they say – reduce, reuse, recycle.

If my life were a color…

If my life were a color, right now it would be blue.  There’s a lot of good things about the color blue – it’s safe, average, peaceful.  When I was fourteen, I wanted to paint the walls of my bedroom dark purple, but for some reason, my parents didn’t agree.  So we compromised and painted them periwinkle blue, which was a safer choice despite the fact that it horribly clashes with the dusty blue-green carpet.  Anyway, blue is fine, blue doesn’t change much, but I much prefer brighter colors like red or orange.

Here’s what my life looks like today:

Cheerful yellow cosmos in a blue jug next to yummy zucchini chocolate chip muffins…

and my blue project (which I will reveal in more detail later once it is packed up and shipped off to its recipient!) and my newly painted RED bookshelf, because that’s what happens when I have a lot of time on my hands and not enough bright colors in my life.

Well, I’m off to make the best of all this blue and hopefully finish my long-overdue project!

 

My DIY sewing adventure

Well, once again, it’s been a while!  This time I have a great excuse, though.  I moved!  It’s so exciting and daunting at the same time.   Anyway, I haven’t been keeping up on my many creative projects lately, (I think I have about seven) but I was feeling particularly crafty today.  So… I went to Goodwill.

One thrift store skirt-

Plus some sewing needles and such-

Plus this great idea –

Equals this dress –

I apologize for the bad quality photograph, but you get the idea…

Can’t forget the shoes!

Also a Goodwill find – though they’re more of a coral pink color in real life.  Here they look orange.

Anyway – after my sewing marathon it’s time for some sleep!  Goodnight!

It’s the beginning of something new, again!

So… this is my second post and I’m ALREADY making excuses for not posting in a long time.  I can tell this will be quite the journey!!  To make a long story short, I am picking up my entire life and moving it.  First to Kenya for two weeks, and then to Indianapolis with the hope of finding a job.  Anyway, here is what my life has looked like for the past few weeks:

Once my life settles down I’ll be able to keep you updated on my projects.  Here’s a shot of the bits and pieces of my current project.

Ahhhh!!! On to two weeks of work, and then various summer escapades overseas and in the midwest.  Before I run off, here’s some playlist inspiration for your crafting pleasure:

O Sufini Mungu – The African Children’s Choir (how can you tell I’m going to Kenya?)

Towards the Sun – Alexi Murdoch

20 Years – The Civil Wars

Barton Hollow – The Civil Wars (or just about anything else by the Civil Wars, who I’m going to see for the second time in Indianapolis in July 🙂 )

Rollerblades – Eliza Doolittle

Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes

What I Want – Jon McLaughlin

Go Do – Jonsi

Numbers Don’t Lie – The Mynabirds

Don’t Look Back – She & Him

12 Fingers – Young the Giant

I hope your summer (or fall if you’re in Kenya!) is going excellently so far!

Flowers

Halfway into April, I feel like spring is finally here in the midwest.  Well, almost.  Last week I started my planting in my window (because it’s still too cold outside!) and some tiny sprouts are beginning to poke out of the dirt.  I planted some tomatoes, and snap peas, and poppies, and cosmos  – after working at a garden center for a few years and taking care of plants for a living, this is the first year in a while that I’ve felt like planting my own.  Anyway, here’s my extra-special surprise.  In addition to the seeds I’ve already planted, I went on etsy and found some of these:

That would be Anterhinnum majus Brighton Rock, or Brighton Rock snapdragons.  I’ve been coveting these for years, and this year I’ll finally be planting them as part of my continual efforts to make the world less predictable.  I can’t wait!!

It’s the beginning of something new…

One of my missions in life is to rid the world of boring-ness.  Really, I don’t understand it.  And it frustrates me when there’s so much of it everywhere I go.  For example, when shopping for office supplies, who in their right mind would buy this:

when you could buy this instead?

Sure, option number one is probably about 10 cents cheaper, but isn’t it worthwhile to make your life a little bit cheerier?  I suppose it’s a weakness of mine – I’m a sucker for anything pretty and have to remind myself to take other factors into consideration like price and functionality.  Anyway… speaking of color, here’s some for today.

It’s my semi-functinal throw that I finished yesterday (and my cat).  It’s the first project I’ve completely designed myself (with help of many others, of course).  Want to see some more photos?

I used babette squares, hawaiian flowers, and a few other squares I designed myself (ask me if you would like a pattern).

Aaaaand, if this isn’t enough, I’ve already started on my next project. A large box showed up on my doorstep last week from knitpicks containing this:

(Wool of the Andes sport weight, if you must know, also known as my box of mental health and sanity) which is quickly turning into this!

Update coming soon!