Hi There Hammy

Makeitawesome‘s idea to make a pregnant rabbit doll is pure, sweet, wonderful genius! I loved the doll on it’s own and my face broke into a huge grin when I realized that there was a tiny peanut baby rabbit inside that you can pop out. Oh, it’s a great day…

I picked up a book last month that made my eyebrows shoot up and my mind start to whirl with possibilities. The book was Pine Needle Basketry: From Forest Floor to Finished Project. I’ve been vaguely looking into make baskets but materials like willow wands or other grasses require lengths of time where they’re drying and, therefore, a considerable amount of forethought. Something I don’t particularly enjoy doing. Pine needles, on the other hand, blanket forests and are already dry and ready to go. All you have to do is bend over, pick some up, take them home and soak them in hot water for 15 minutes and you’re ready to basket! I’ve been using some 3 inch pine needles, some from the tree in front of Simpson and some from where they were innocently clogging a gutter in Franconia. They’re ok, just a wee bit short for my purposes. What I dream about… even aspire to are Florida Long Leaf Pine needles. They’re ten inches long and perfect for big-ish baskets. In the mean time, I made three wee baskets out of the 3 inch needles…

This one is made from the pine needles in front of Simpson. I used hemp to bind the needles together in this one. It’s a bit too thick, but it did stay where I wanted it to. I bought some waxed linen that I haven’t tried… that’s next.

This was my second basket. I used needles from the Franconia gutter and some synthetic sports thread my aunt is lending me. The needles are a wee bit too thin and the thread is really slippery so these baskets aren’t as sturdy as the firs one and took much longer to make.

You can see how the basket is started…

This is a teeny tiny basket. I’m not sure what I would ever put in any of these but they were great practice for bigger, interesting things. Plus they took long enough so that I can gauge how well I’ll be able to stick with this sort of craftiness if I ever did a larger project.

There was a time when, if asked if I would ever go on a cruise, I would vehemently even passionately said “NO WAY!”

That being said, I just found something that would make me pause a moment and then slowly say “Nooo-o-ooo-o…?” not quite so decisively.  That thing? They’re called Craft Cruises. They’re pretty much what the title hints so alluringly at; luxury boats that travel about, stopping at various ports where there are things to do and see that would be interesting to a crafter. Not only do they have the very idea of craft cruises… they even have cruises geared toward specific kinds of crafting (crochet, knitting spinning, needle point). For example the hand spinning subcategory of Craft Cruises is described thusly:

Our enriching handspinning cruises allow you to improve your skills while visiting some of the most interesting ports in the world. Each day you will experience something new.

Unlike most handspinning retreats, with our handspinning cruises you are pampered onboard a beautiful cruise ship.   Our handspinning cruises provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere where you can be yourself without having to worry about anything except having a good time.

Handspinning classes will be offered while the ship is cruising and while we are in port there will be numerous opportunities to meet local fiber artists along the way.  Visiting fiber farms, local handspinners and yarn producers along the way will inspire you and give you a glimpse into other cultures that most tourists rarely enjoy.

Doesn’t exploring the Norwegian Fjords or New Zealand & Australia while knitting and spinning along the way sound fun!? Sure does to me…

So. I threw two batik “parties” (I’m using that term lightly… there were brownies involved) and this is what those crazy kids made (more or less). The fabric is about 4 feet long (shorter in some cases because, as the glue was drying, two strips got stuck together so firmly that they had to be amputated) and roughly two feet wide. We used elmer’s glue, watered down acrylic paint and plain ole white cotton fabric. It doesn’t get any simpler.

Now these beauts are hanging around the common rooms. The process and results were awesome, but I’m not quite sure that these are as impressive as I’d imagined them turning out. Ah well…

I did some block printing in college (so long ago, I know!) and I loved it. So when I spied block printing supplies in an art store when we were in Worcester over the weekend, I splurged and bought a roller, some ink, some carving tools and three different sized blocks. I carved my first (and smallest) block yesterday and did some test prints…

Look familiar?

I’m looking forward to making more prints from the dream bunny and carving more from the extra blocks I bought. My next project is to figure out how to make a recycled frame for these. Any ideas?

Mimi and Lola are some special additions to the shop from now ’til Easter. Enjoy!

Visualizing the warmth provided by natural gas within a home as knitted yarn…. an absolutely beautiful idea. And perfectly executed to boot!

And here is the “making-of” video. Hint: they filmed everything in reverse and were unraveling the knitted pieces. Double genius…

I just worked my way through a wonderful blog my friend Schirin posted a link to yesterday. The blog is called Farmama. It’s written by a woman living on a farm with four children and is making her life as sustainable as possible. I appreciate the simple, bright beauty of her photographs and her stories about knitting sweaters for her children starting with raising the sheep, all the way through the dying, spinning and knitting process. Oh my heart! I’m inspired beyond belief.

It’s been too sunny and warm the last couple of days to not take Linus out in the snow to play! He was out for a good long romp and now he’s busy drying off his incredibly muddy paws.

Meanwhile, happening elsewhere… I finished knitting a second New Aviatrix hat for Aunt Carol! I just popped it in the mail this afternoon.

On April 1st, I’m taking over for a woman in the Admission’s office when she goes on maternity leave and today I went to her baby shower in the library. It was fun, there was cake and someone actually wound up buying her one of my wooliemans that I have in Stardust bookstore down the street! (I’ll give you a hint… it’s the minty green one) It was a treat to see her pull it out of the bag and have that instant of “Wait a minute… that looks familiar… OH!” I whipped up a baby hat one night using the Aviatrix Hat pattern I found over on ravelry. I had a blast knitting it, and for all of you knitters who read this I would definitely recommend it. It’s made using short rows which is essentially how you knit the rounded heel of a sock. Very cool and very fast!

This is the hat I knit using a good portion of my left-over bits of yarn from other projects. I love when I can dip into that stash and get rid of some of those teeny tiny balls. And here are two lovely photos from Rogue Sheep on ravelry/flickr. I wish I had a baby I could plunk the hat on and confirm how cute I think it’ll be, but for now I’ll have to be content with Rogue Sheep’s sweet little pictures of her finished version!