Lacy Clover

This clover took less than an hour to make today.  I used a G crochet hook and some acrylic yarn.  I want to make another one using cotton yarn so that I can use it as a hot pad.  This is a quick and easy way to decorate for St. Patrick's Day.

Women's Alliance

Today I was the guest speaker for the Women's Alliance at my church.  I did a show and tell of different kinds of eco-crafts, mainly my own.  Some of the items were either bought or made for me, but 99% of the items were made by me.  The ladies seemed to really enjoy it.  It is always fun showing people what can be made out of so called trash.  For these types of functions I usually bring 3 to 4 times as much stuff as I do when I teach a class.  That means that I had to go back and forth from my car 3 times while carrying as much as I could.  I really do need to finish making another large tote bag.  Maybe with the money that I make from my next class I'll buy one of those carts with wheels.

Tomorrow night I will be talking with others about vegetarianism and the health and environmental benefits of decreasing one's meat consumption.  This talk is sponsored by the Green Committee of my church (which I'm a member of).  I've been a vegetarian for 17 years, my husband for 20 years, and we are raising our children as vegetarians.  My oldest son is old enough to make food choices for himself, and so far he wants to remain a vegetarian.  I believe that there will be 2 other vegetarians there as well to talk.  I'm going to bring several cookbooks.  A really good podcast to learn about being a vegan and about how to be more humane to animals is Vegetarian Food For Thought.  One movement that I support is Meatless Monday.  You really can make a big environmental impact by cutting meat out of your diet for one day a week.  I am not pushing vegetarianism onto anyone.  I talk about as it comes up in conversation.  The above button image was found here.    

Crayon Swap Items

Last night I finished another scrubby (double the pattern for size).

Also last night I made this soda tab bracelet using two colors of yarn.  The pattern for it actually calls for plarn (plastic bag yarn) which is pretty cool.

Using 7 plastic bottle rings, I made this unusual hanging art piece.  I just made up the pattern using 3 shades of red yarn.

I am also working on another project as part of the Crayon Swap. I'm crocheting around several plastic bottle rings for it.  Once again I find that red is hard to photograph.

I'm involved in another swap this month as well, the Envelope of Doooom.  This is what I am mailing to my partner in Russia today.
"In this swap, you will be paired up with a partner based on shipping abilities and, to an extent, by what kinds of things you want to receive in this swap. You will fill an envelope (between 5” x 7” and 9” x 12”) with at least 5items/materials that you have been hanging onto and simply don’t know what to do with. The trick is, they all must fit inside your envelope! Partners do not need to swap the same size envelope. Send that head-scratching stuff straight off to your partner, where they will use their mad creative skillz to make a pretty present for YOU. Of course, you will do the same with your partner’s materials. After an extensive crafting time, send your finished object back to your partner (it need not fit inside an envelope this time). You must keep all unused materials for yourself! If they stump you as well, put them aside and wait for the next Envelope of DOOOOOM swap!!"

Chelmsford Volunteer Fair

Today was the Volunteer Fair in Chelmsford, MA.  I was helping out at the recycling table, promoting different recycling events, the town wide clean up, and the Earth Fair.  This is the 2nd year that I have worked at this table, and it was the 2nd year that I was in front of the local t.v. camera talking about the table and events.

Here is the Recycling Committee's information.

I reused the tri-fold board that I used last year.  

Here is the Earth Fair flyer that I put together.  The Chelmsford Earth Fair is on Saturday May 14th from 12 - 3 p.m. at the Senior Center.  I used 100% post consumer recycled paper for the flyer, and I printed the Friendly's fundraising information on the back of it.

We are holding a fundraising night at Friendly's for the Earth Fair.  Its on Monday April 4th from 5 - 8 p.m..  A percentage of the money made during that time will go to fund the Earth Fair.

The Farmer's Market was there.  Here is their blog.

The Chelmsford Center for the Arts was there as well.  Here is their blog.

The Center for the Arts, the Farmers' Market, and Green Chelmsford all have facebook fan pages.

Crayon Swap

Image found here

I am heading up another swap in the ravelry group From Trash to Treasure.  The swap is called the Crayon Swap.  Everyone who wanted to participate filled out a questionnaire that asked things like do you want to ship locally or internationally, what color would you like your items to be, what other colors do you like, and what colors do you not like.  Then I filmed myself pulling names and crayons out of a bag and matching up partners, that way everyone could participate in the fun.  It was a lot of fun.  Basically the object of this swap is to make things for your partner using one main color.  You can use other colors as well, but the main color needs to be apparent in everything.  Each person has to include 4 items in their package: 1 accessory, 1 card, 1 recycled/upcycled items, and 1 knit/crochet/woven item.  This way there is some equality in what everyone receives.  More items can be made though.  I started working on my swap partner's things yesterday.  From the image above you can probably tell that I picked red.  My partner likes all shades of red, from pink through the darker shades.  So I am very lucky to have a nice range of reds to work with.

I have been sick this week which is why I haven't been posting.  Add to that this swap where I don't want my partner to see what I am making.  Maybe I'll take pictures that won't give it away.

On Monday, along with 2 other recycling committee members, I talked to a local gardening club about composting and rain barrels.  Tonight is the recycling committee meeting.  Then Saturday is the volunteer fair.  I need to put together a board that represents this year's Earth Fair for the display at the volunteer fair.  I still have the display from last year, so I will be reusing that.

Terra-Cotta Soldier Costume

My oldest son is doing an oral presentation on the terra-cotta soldiers in China today.  He needed to write a report, make a 3D model (his was out of clay), and wear a costume for it.  He did everything himself except for the costume, that was my job.  So while he was busy making the clay soldiers, I was busy making this outfit for him.  I spent all day Saturday making the front armor out of soda tabs and black ribbon.  It took 4 spools of ribbon to make it and most of my tab collection.  There are ribbon ties for his neck and waist.  It doesn't look like it in the picture, but it is pretty long.  The "manly" skirt is blackboard fabric that I cut and sewed with no pattern.  I added a thick ribbon to the top of it and left a small slit at the top side so that he could slip it on and off easily.  With the left over blackboard fabric I cut out a mustache and small triangle goatee which we attached to his face with duct tape.  He just needs to wear it for 10 minutes, so I'm not worried about the duct tape.  He looked great when he had everything on last night.  I'm looking forward to hearing all about it later today.

Terracotta_Warriors_-_China.jpg

Current Projects

It feels like forever since I last blogged.  I know it hasn't been, but I use to blog daily.  Here is what I have been up to.  I've been slowly knitting a cabled cowl from the fisherman's wool that I Kool-Aid dyed last year.

I've woven a couple of more inches on the weaving sticks.  I'm thinking that this might be a belt.  I did get to test using this on-the-go, and it is a great traveling craft.

I made 6 more clovers for another garland.

I picked up these two wooden things and glued magnets on the back of them.  I bought them with St. Patrick's Day in mind.  I know they don't go with that theme, but they are green (even the ladybug has green on it) and they remind me that Spring is coming.  I've been fighting the Winter blues lately, so any reminder of Spring is a good thing.

I made more paper beads.  I need to sit down and make some bracelets soon.

My husband and I celebrated out anniversary recently, and he surprised me with a kindle.  I wasn't sure if I would like it, because I love the feel and smell of paperback books.  However I love it.  I can carry all of my books around with me in this one little thing.  Plus I don't feel self-conscious about what I am reading when in public.  This is why I haven't been posting daily, I've been on a reading vacation.  Even though I can't take a real vacation until April, I can escape inside of a book.  I've read 10 books in the last 2 or 3 weeks.

Even though I want to finish the 3rd book in a trilogy, I need to work on a costume for my son.  He needs it for Monday.  Then tomorrow I will be an instant challenge appraiser at a local Destination ImagiNation tournament.  I can't talk about what I see at the tournament though, at least not until after globals.  By then the excitement of it all will have gone away and I won't talk about  it anyway.  It'll be fun and inspirational though.