Recycling Frenzy

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I Can’t Seem to Stop

My frenzy of making things out of other things has moved on to the blanket from my bed. Several years ago I splurged and bought a beautiful Merino wool blanket. It was lightweight, a kind of waffly weave, perfectly warm and not too hot for my furnace of a husband.

But I forgot, sort of, that we had cats. Cuddly ones. And their little sharp front claws, over just a few years, shredded my blanket as they were frolicking around. Sigh.

So I put it in the closet, because I couldn’t bear to part with it. Then one day I felted it and found myself with a large-ish piece of beautiful fabric. Using a jacket I already had as a pattern, I made a dandy new jacket in this gorgeous orangey springish color.

To simplify the sewing, I didn’t put a pocket in the jacket, but I had just enough fabric to make a little purse to go with. Sort of an external pocket, which I think is what pockets used to be. And I saved some buttons from a sweater I made years ago that turned out to be a mistake, except for the buttons. Voila!

P1010818What’s in your closet that you’re not using? Add some love and make it into something new!

 

Knitting

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Making Something Out of Almost Nothing

I love knitting. It’s sort of a meditation for me. My son and I even wrote some doggerel about it when he was in about 4th grade; I don’t remember all of it, but it began with

My mother is forever knitting;

She does it whenever she’s sitting.

It was a limerick. You really don’t want to get your imagination involved here.

But I digress. After Christmas, I was rummaging in the basement storage room and got into my bags of yarn. And bags and bags. I thought how ridiculous it was to have that stuff sitting down there not being useful; some of the yarn in those bags is probably 40 years old, for crying out loud. So, first I sorted out the yarn by color groups, and then I started making scarves. So far I’ve made six of them, and here they are.

IMG_1244At our group Christmas market, I had realized there wasn’t enough Guy Stuff there–the few men who showed up looked a little lost, and besides, guys need stuff too. So initially I started out mixing up guy colors. The guys in my life seem to prefer the more regular stripe patterns, but I like the random ones too.

I cast on about 300 stitches to make a scarf about six feet long with a size 7 needle–a long double-pointed one–and just knit every row, so there’s almost no mental energy involved. I leave a hand’s length of yarn at the end of each row, and every couple of rows I tie them up to make a nice fringe. Piece of cake.

IMG_1245They might show up at next year’s holiday market, or I might give them away. My husband has been in the hospital lately, and these make for great waiting-around hand work. Try it out, and let me know what you come up with.

And it’s really nice to see that pile of old yarn shrinking.

Words of Wisdom

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Quotes to move you

I’m not so good with words. I’m more of a math person. So when I need to say something meaningful, I often look to see what others have said on the subject. There are just so many people out there who are smarter than I am, and I figure I’m not about to try to reinvent the wheel. You know what I mean?

This has led me to make a whole line of cards with quotations on them. And I just thought I’d share them with you. (I’m sorry; some are a little hard to read. Just click.)

Feel free to use these quotes whenever you want; or you can click here to go to the Quote Note section in my Etsy shop. Here you go.

What’s your favorite quote? Maybe it would make a nice card. Let me know.

Hiatus

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Lessons from Time Off

You may only now be realizing you haven’t heard from me in a while. I took a break from blogging, and here’s why. First of all, I started blogging in relation to my card shop, because someone told me that’s what I needed to do. But I’m not interested in selling, selling, selling. I don’t want to be famous. Plus, the thing is, I’m just not a diarist, or a big talker. I’m really pretty quiet. But I stuffed all that inside me and plunged in, posting twice a week.

The big surprise is, I like doing it! It’s fun to share in this way, and I love getting comments. But I realized I hated the deadlines. That feeling of dread that I was out of material and needed to post something. It reminded me of college. And not the fun part.

So I took some time off. And you know what? I learned a few things. I remembered that cyberspace isn’t reality. I focused on the day in front of me and the friends I needed to actually talk to and physically be with. I got back into reading. I got back into doing what I love to do: making cards instead of talking about making cards. I relaxed. I took some great trips. I remembered to be here now. Here, not in cyberspace.

But on the other hand, I’ve missed checking in on this spot. So I’m getting back at it, but in a different way. My next birthday I’ll be eligible for Medicare, for crying out loud, so that must mean I’m grown up enough to do what I want. Right? So, no more deadlines. But occasionally I do have things to put out here, and that’s what I’m going to do.

Here’s a quick peek at what I’ve cranked out in the past month or so. I’ve been having some fun. Big show coming up in a couple of weeks; I’ll keep you posted. When I feel like it.

British Details

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Even though it was in the low 50s and raining most of the time, our trip to Britain was huge fun. You just keep calm, put up your umbrella, and carry on. Sometimes it’s the small things that are the most fun to remember when you travel; here are a few things I noticed along the way. Wish you could have been there too.

Field Trip

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An In-Town Expedition

Two friends and I have made a resolution, just recently, to have a teensy little adventure now and then. Like, once a month. And to pretend we’re tourists here at home and go somewhere fun. This first trip wasn’t all that special, but recently we gathered up my dogs and went for a short hike along the bike path just north of town. And it sure felt special. It certainly wasn’t an exotic expedition, but it got all of us out to a place we don’t usually go, and

gave us all a break from the things we usually do.


It was a beautiful day, and it was just so great to be together outdoors. Of course the dogs loved it, but the people did too. Sometimes you just need to breathe some different air.
And it doesn’t have to be very different to give you some space and make you feel like you’ve been somewhere.

We resolved that we’re going to do this once a month or so. Maybe some museums we just don’t ever seem to get around to. Maybe more hiking close by. Maybe a tour of the city on rented bicycles. (We have a new program called B Cycle. It’s fabulous. They’re doubling the number of bikes they had available last year.) Maybe some shopping in Boulder, or a spa day. We’ll see. I can’t wait!

 

What to you do to get away from it all when you can’t really get away?

May Day!

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Only Different.

There’s plenty to celebrate in May, which you already know if you’re on my email list. (What!!?? You’re not?? Boy, are YOU missing out!) (Have you not noticed that there’s a place to sign up, right over there on the right?) I hope you’re having a very festive May Day; I always remember watching with envy as my older sister danced around the may pole at her school celebration; it seemed so beautiful and happy.

But wait, there’s more! How about the Patron Saint of bakers?

Even if you don’t bake a cake for St. Honoratus, you could but some cupcakes. I bet you’ve at least heard of a cakewalk, right? Here’s how it works: Everyone brings a cake. Put them all on the floor in a big circle. (Baxter and Henry had better be somewhere else; I’m guessing your dog should too.) Put on some music, a la musical chairs; when the music stops, you get the cake you’re standing by (and, we all hope, not on). Isn’t that silly?

Silliness! That’s what May is all about.

Gift

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It’s Not Even Christmas

The other night we had the family over for dinner. There were 14 of us. No particular occasion; it’s just something I resolved to do more often this year.

Our daughter brought our Christmas gift. From last Christmas. She forgot to give it to us about a million times (Christmas is complicated in our family, because everybody has a couple of sets of parents, and then there are the out-of-town relatives. So we usually sort of downplay it, except for the food. Sometimes we don’t get around to even the big dinner until January, though) and showed up the other night with a sparkly box with a gift inside.

It’s a Christmas ornament. Now, I have to point out that it’s April. But I just love this beautiful thing. I’ve hung it on a house plant in the stairwell, so I get to see it every day. So I guess it’s really not a Christmas ornament, but rather, it’s a year-round ornament.

So, since I’ve been seeing and thinking about this every day, here’s what I can tell you about gifts.

The best gifts are the surprise gifts. It’s just so wonderful to get a gift from someone when you don’t expect it.

The best gifts are made by hand. Lisa did the beading on this ornament. I don’t know how she did it; I muck around with beads occasionally but I can’t imagine doing this. I think of the painstaking work that went into this little package of pulchritude, and I go wobbly.

The best gifts are inexpensive. I love to create something out of more or less nothing, and I love when other people do that too. It’s not about the money.

The best gifts reveal the heart of the giver.

So, keep those ideas in mind when you’re looking for something special for someone special. Or when you’re not looking, but you find it anyway.

 

 

Notes about Notes

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Paper and Pens

Or don’t you like to write letters. I do because it’s such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you’ve done something.

Ernest Hemingway

 

Recently I sent a 52 Weeks of Mail note to an old friend. He was actually a colleague of my first husband’s, and I haven’t seen him in about 28 years. It was the end of the Final Four, and Bruce was and is a big basketball fan, and I always think of him at that time of year. So I just sent a little note, saying that.

I was surprised and delighted to get a note back. With a memory or two that he shared with me, of things I had completely forgotten. And a teensy update on his life, sparing the details.

It was such a lovely thing to receive. And it couldn’t have happened through email or Facebook. Much as I enjoy Facebook, it’s just not the same.

And here’s why: First of all, you get to see some handwriting, which reveals some things and gives you a one-degree-of-separation sense of the person that you don’t get any other way.

And second, and more important, it takes a little time. It takes a little time to write a note and say what you want to say, and it takes a little time to decide what you want to say in return. You’re less likely to be stupid and more likely to be caring.

And third, it’s just nice to have a thing you can hold in your hand. The touch of paper is really nice and sort of comforting, isn’t it?

I love that there are people out there who remember me sometimes, even though we haven’t been in touch in a long, long while. There really is a world wide web, and it isn’t on the internet. It’s a web of friendship, caring, and memory. I’m moved to strengthen that web, just by receiving a one-page note in the mail.

So, I’m thrilled and motivated. The first half of my 52 Weeks of Mail effort was about contacting people who are already in my life but not, usually, on paper. The second half is going to be about finding some old friends and maybe even contacting some strangers I’d like to know. I think paper and pen is a gentle way to do that; it doesn’t demand immediate response and you get to savor it for a long while.

How about you? You should do this too. And I guarantee you, the best way to make sure you actually do it is to go over to the Facebook page and tell the world you’re going to do it. OK? Trust me, you’ll be glad.