Teaching Trash to Treasures

I've had a couple of occasions to teach my passion to others. I had a small program at the school I'm working at, which I called "Celebrate Sustainably" and taught the few families about ways to wrap presents that don't waste so much...and then we made tshirt bags, greeting card boxes and recycled notebooks.

I've also done a few individual projects with the afterschool kid care program. One week we made our own "wrapping paper" out of grocery bags, and the next time we made recycled notebooks. These kids just soak up this sort of thing.

Additionally, I get the privilege of teaching this to 15 college students for a wellness workshop. Pretty excited about that. Will probably be able to continue to offer it as I've been told there was high interest in the class (sizeable waiting list)

Come find me at the Farmer's Market

I've been in a crafting rut lately. I've done a few batches of crayons here and there, and I'm always knitting but I've been rather uninspired.

And then, last week I found out that West Duluth (the Spirit Valley neighborhood) holds a Farmer's Market on Thursdays from 3-6pm. Found it by accident....was taking Grand Ave home instead of the freeway. Anyway, I learned that for $30 I can set myself up every Thursdays from now until the end of the season...and I figured, why not. I'm going to give it a go.

I'm not 100% sure they'll let me pay and start the same week but I'm crossing my fingers that I can. I'm so darn excited. I might not sell much, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. If nothing else, it has me excited about crafting again.

Oh yeah, and even better....when I was checking out garage sales in my parents' hometown, I found a blender for $4. So now I can do papermaking again. Woot!

Goals Revisited

I haven't posted on here in forever so I figured its time for an updated goal list...
Re-do Sheldon's shell and send on to recipient.... Looked at this the other day and STILL not sure what to do to fix it. Might take it to Yarn Harbor and ask the lovely ladies there for some assistance


finish the sweater I started in 2007 and send to recipient... All done and given to my mother. Of course, I gave it to her in the summer so I don't think she wore it right away...but maybe by now?

have a garage sale or simply donate the stuff that needs to be gotten rid of... I have not done much of this yet...BUT I have assigned more belonging to be sold or donated, as well as corralling it all into one area instead of spread out through all belongings. Oh yeah..and I have gotten rid of at least one large bin of crafting tshirts as well.

no buying of yarn.  I succeeded for about 4 months, and then I had someone commission some baby hats and stuff so I ended up buying too much yarn as always....but that being said, I've made over $100 on that so I guess its ok.

finish at least 3 partially made things in the WIP box ... this one was particularly satisfying. Some of the "finishing" just meant weaving in ends, which I hate doing. But I've done it on the scarves and socks and other random things in my box, meaning they could progress to the gift/sale box of stuff. But additionally, I finished a partially made Knitter Critter from over a year ago..and sold it immediately and had someone commission three more! Made $65 off that endeavor!

make more gift bags and use or sell ... I have not even touched my fabric since moving in September but eventually I will hit the need to do them again and will probably whip off a lot.

 find something to make with the acrylic yarn...donate, sell or gift the FOs .... I've got one scarf made and another in progress. No reciepients yet but I love having stuff on hand for either selling or donating so its a good thing to have around. Doll clothes comes next! Its just a matter of my hands keeping up with my ambitions. Might donate some of the yarn to the people at Yarn Harbor...they let people who do charity knitting take the yarn they can use. I just have to get over the need to be a packrat and then everything will be ok!

Goals

I have lots of stuff and little space....so here are a few goals to help out with that.

__ Re-do Sheldon's shell and send on to recipient
__ finish the sweater I started in 2007 and send to recipient
__ have a garage sale or simply donate the stuff that needs to be gotten rid of
__ no buying of yarn. can only get by swapping stuff I don't like for stuff I do. (exceptions made for special gifts with specific recipients. Then only buying what will be used)
__ finish at least 3 partially made things in the WIP box
__ make more gift bags and use or sell
__ find something to make with the acrylic yarn...donate, sell or gift the FOs

One Week Left!

Wow...time has gone quickly. We're just spending this last week finishing up stuff I couldn't do at a distance or that couldn't be delegated, etc.

Working on programs today. Printer was being a pain in the butt and has ruined about 10 pieces of paper...thankfully I bought way more than was needed. I can always use parts of the papers for cards, or blend it up into homemade paper since its a nice shade of blue.

Did a second trial run of the makeup today since I rarely wear any.

Working on badges for my junior paparazzi at the moment.

Need to finish the seating arrangements....lots and lots to do!

Finally the dress fitting....

It hasn't actually happened yet...but, failing another poorly timed snowstorm, I should be doing my dress fitting this coming Thursday. It just so works out that I can also do a trial run of my hair that day. Its going to be a very short trip to the cities (drive down Wednesday after work and be back in time for work 5pm on Friday) but I think it will be worth it for those two things.

Crossing my fingers for no bad weather or mishaps on anyone's parts.

Not such a whirlwind of a weekend

So this has got to be one of the periods of time I have been at my parents house in a long time. Got done Wednesday night. I'm either leaving Monday night or Tuesday morning.

Wednesday I got a ride from the person who answered my Boreal ad and it turned out I vaguely knew. That got me to Duluth two hours before my shuttle. Read a really cheesy romance novel about a time travelling Viking....which I heard about in one of my favorite webcomics, Questionable Content. I'm not a big fan of romance novels but they are easy reads...and the premise was too goofy to pass up. Apparently everyone else thinks so to because there was at least 5 holds on the book before me.

Anyway, got to the Mall of America around 3pm, locked my suitcase in a locker and wandered for the hour or so until Mom got there to pick me up..but we didn't want to tackle traffic and wandered the stores for another hour and a half or so.
over
We printed all the sheets of vellum for the invites and let them dry just in case. Cut them all on Friday. Got the layout for the other piece figured out today and we hope to print and put together on Sunday. After that we just need to do the RSVP cards....and stuff envelopes (and label them).

My SIL came over today and played with makeup. I don't normally wear it. In fact it is possible that the last time I wore anything other than costume or stage makeup was probably at her wedding slightly over 3 years ago. So after we finally got that figured out we ran to Ridgedale and bought the things she wanted me to have my own of. Also took care of a couple other things.

Once we got back again we hashed out a basic timeline for the day of.

Jumping back a day, yesterday we went to the venue in the early afternoon to ask questions and  look again and then went to buy fabric for my flowergirl's dress......I swear the pattern looked easy but when we started trying to figure out what we needed, we got confused. And the first saleslady was really freaking snippy with us. Not cool.

Anyway...I think that's most of it for now.More in the next couple days..

Update on the car and wedding prep

Well, my car should be done getting repaired in the next day or two. In the meantime, I made myself drive Nathan's car to work on a couple days, even though stickshift makes me nervous, doubly so in winter. It was easier than getting rides. I hate making people go out of their way for me. Then there was the added "bonus" of my coworker getting stuck on our 1/4 mile ice sheet downhill driveway. I had told her I'd meet her at the top, but ran behind so she started down cause "it didn't look that bad". Obviously it was bad, cause her truck got stuck. Thank goodness for the sand in the back. The good part that came out of it though....my landlord, who is also my neighbor, was stuck behind us for a few minutes while we tried to get moving. Before this episode the only spot sanded was the turn to their place. Now, according to Nathan, the whole thing is sanded...why they couldn't have done that before, I don't know.

Anyway, to get to the cities, I had Maureen post a request on Boreal....by that night I had a ride offer to Duluth, from where I will then catch a shuttle to the Mall of America and hang out until my mom can come get me.

Shortly after I posted last time, I did order the Spectators. Will test them out when they get here and see if I want to go with them or not.

Our wedding rings came a couple of days ago....here's what mine looks like. Its an Irish-Gaelic phrase that means My Soul Mate.

I could have sworn I had more to write but I'm not thinking of it right now.

More life and weddingness

So, was planning to drive down to the cities February 2nd or 3rd and stay there for a few days to tackle a bunch of wedding stuff. Most importantly the fitting of my wedding dress! We've got the real fabric now instead of just the muslin we used to work out the design. I will be able to get a much better grasp of how the finished result is going to look...but we can't exactly do that if I am not there.

So, why would I possibly not be able to go? Yeah, I definitely crashed my car into a sign after a nice 180 on a slushy/icy road and its not currently driveable. Didn't know that anything was really wrong the night of it, but when I got it towed the next day, issues started becoming apparent. Repairs would be costing me a very large chunk of change if I didn't have insurance. As it is, my deductible is $1000. Not what I need when I'm getting close to my wedding. Add onto this that in the months since we got engaged, Nathan also had to do exceedingly expensive repairs on his car after the timing belt broke and destroyed a good part of his engine. Not starting off on the right foot for money saving!

I'm hoping that somehow or another I will make it to the cities because in addition to the dress fitting I want to scope out the restaurants in the area near our site so we can choose and hopefully book a place for our rehearsal dinner. I need to buy the fabric for my flowergirl's adorable dress that I want to make. No fairy wings though. Our wedding is going to be odd...I mean "unique" enough for most people as it is :) I love that it is going to be uniquely us...but I don't want to overwhelm people.

One thing I need to get my butt going on is knitting the flowers for my toss bouquet. I've got the pattern I was going to use...I just need to do it! I suppose I need to decide what yarn I'm using. Might help. I was contemplating using the yarn that I made from start to finish....I carded, spun and washed it, and just recently dyed it too. But I kinda want to be selfish and use it for myself.

Not so much a thing I'd deal with while home, but another dilemma is my shoes. I have some cute white ones I bought for the ceremony and dinner part of the reception. But I'm a dance snob. I'm very very particular what is on my feet if I am going to be dancing any period of time. So I've been thinking about buying myself a new pair of dance shoes. Just can't decide which ones! The Rugcutters or the Spectators. Neither one will really match the dress, so its more about what I think will be more comfortable and continue to get use after the wedding. Hmm...just as I was checking the links I noticed one thing else that may factor in. The Spectators have a suede sole which is what I like dancing on. The Rugcutters have a raw leather sole...which is sometimes too slippery for me. And since I haven't been dancing enough lately, I might not be so safe in those. The Spectator has a higher heel but its wide enough that I think I won't crash in them. I hope.

On a different note, the awesome people of Ravelry have been great in supplying the cards I need to make boxes....I'm really curious to find out what people think of them

Well, if you're curious on other wedding details, you can go to our Knot website

Wedding Planning Update

This past weekend was another whirlwind wedding (and family) weekend. We got our engagement photos done (finally, after a few attempts to get one set up...its rather difficult when you live 5 hours away from the photographer!)

Met with people from Queen of Cakes in Edina. Told them about this cake and showed them the picture (via the link on my previous blog post). Figured that it was not going to be doable, being that its fondant, we want buttercream (partly for the taste factor, partly for the cost factor....anything they do in buttercream doesn't cost extra!) But when the first lady looked at it she started getting interested and showed it to another in the room and they were both getting excited about figuring a way to make it work. So I'm pretty thrilled about that.

We talked with our DJ on Sunday since all of our contact up to this point has just been via email or facebook.

Oh yeah....added a ton of stuff to our registries. Target, Bed Bath and Beyond have the most things so far but we're looking into doing REI as well (signed up for it but I don't think I've added anything to the registry yet)

Got all our paper for the invites. I had wanted to get stuff for the programs as well but I really didn't know how I wanted to do it.

what do I want?

I think the hardest part of wedding planning is just deciding what the heck I want out of something. Right now I'm back into looking at wedding cake stuff....trying to decide what I want and what would look good, and what can they do with buttercream (cause even though fondant looks neat, I've heard it doesn't taste all that great...and I think its more expensive?). On one hand I'd love to have a crazy cake like they have on the show Ace of Cakes (if the cost wasn't so understandably astronomical) but on the other, sometimes a simple cake sounds best.

I've been perusing flickr for good stuff. Here is one neat cake with birch bark and another with piped on ferns and fondant mushrooms. Minus the marzipan lemons, this one is a nice design. I should say, the lemons are pretty freaking sweet looking...just would have nothing to do with my theme or interests! Oh...here is one I love, but I'm fairly sure its fondant...but its a cute birch bark tree!

woohoo!

Woohoo! They're done. Well..there is one more that is in progress but all I've got left is an arm and a tail and its super cute. But these guys were all done and I couldn't wait until all the final animal was done to get pictures! Just on the off chance that any of the kidlets these are going to ever check my blog (doubtful but you never know) I'm not saying which one goes to who. Not until after this weekend when they get them!

Spinning "Exotic" Fibers

Some people think its so strange or even macabre to spin with fur from your own pets. I don't get what the big deal is. We make yarn from sheep, llama, alpaca, goats....but also things like rabbits. Last I knew, those can often be pets (so can the big animals if you choose to..but smaller animals are more common, I understand that)

Its not like I'm shaving my dog bald to get her fur. All I'm doing is brushing her and saving the fur that comes off the brush.

Well, whether people think its weird or not, I'm saving Moxi's lovely golden fur to spin. I was originally going to send it away to have someone spin it for me, but there is a woman in my area who will be offering a class in March for this for fairly cheap...so I figure why not? I want to learn how to get better on a spinning wheel anyway. I don't know that I'll ever buy a wheel and use it regularly but its a skill that is dying out and I want to learn more.

Depending on how much yarn I get out of it, I have two plans at least for the finished product: a stuffed dog (like the one is this post ) and maybe a rose or something ornamental.

Frankly I'm pretty excited that I finally have enough fur collected to do anything with it. About half a paper grocery bag. I'd have tons more if the fur she sheds onto the floor was viable, but of course that's not! I swear, I'd probably have her weight in fur by now of all she has shed!

Almost Done...sorta

I keep feeling like I'm almost done with all the critters for Christmas...but then I think about it and I still have a good 5 hours left of work, just on the main 6 (which actually got expanded to 7) I have one Knitter Critter 100% done and photographed. 5 are just missing arms. Due to the expanding to a 7th, that's an extra 5 or so hours on top of the time it will take to do the arms for the others.

Well, at least the 2nd pair of socks is getting close. I just turned the heel last night! It will be done in plenty of time. Yay for that.

Christmas Knitting

No matter how early I start, I think I always end up running out of time for all my Christmas knitting. Two years ago I had to give my SIL only one sock because I hadn't finished the second one. Last year I had to give my mom only one of her washcloths because I hadn't finished hers (I made some for all the women in the family.....they may be simple projects and my family isn't huge...but it was a lot of work)

But anyway, I think I've made a good start. One pair of socks is done. Another is in progress and will go quicker since they are a shorter pair and I'm doing them in only stockinette stitch...that makes them go lots faster!

And as I mentioned before, I'm making lots of jellybums. At least 6 minimum. Maybe another 3 or 4 depending on time constraints. Unfortunately I still haven't gotten word on favorite colors and animals from a couple of the kids and I don't want to duplicate anything...color or animal if I can help it. So...I figure since the style of legs is the exact same on all the animals, I'm just going to start making legs in all the different colors I have and when I figure out and make the critters that need them, they'll be ready!

Crafting Update

I know...I don't update this all that often. Anyway, just updating on what's going on in my crafting world. Main priority for a while was projects for the Odd Ducks Swaps I was in...did a flying monkey for my Oz swap. Can't reveal the other just yet since she hasn't recieved it yet.

Getting going on my Christmas knitting....again, can't reveal too much yet cause I don't know who reads this....although I am making Jellybums for a lot of the kids...should be fun.

My crayons have gotten a recent boost...my coworkers at my new job love them....some they are buying for themselves. Some are buying them for nieces, nephews, friends, etc. Its pretty sweet. One person alone nearly wiped out my supply of larger crayons! I need to get cracking....or peeling first I  guess :) Although, I have set my coworkers to that task when things are slow....some of them find it relaxing :)

Knitter Critters!

Thanks to everyone who participated in helping me name my stuffed animals. The win goes to The Mad Tatter with the the suggestion of Knitter Critters. It just rolls off the tongue and I've been using it in my head for a few days.

Anyway...in Knitter Critter news, I've just purchased three more patterns from Jellybum....a beaver, a mouse and a goat! I'm very excited to try them out. Which reminds me, I still owe my gramma a raccoon now that I've figured out how to do the face properly. Must get on that soon.

Apparently I'm back on a stuffed animal kick

When I first started knitting the Jellybums critters (for which I'm trying to find my own name for right now...thanks for everyone who has posted suggestions) I went on a bit of a rampage making them and ended up burning out on making small things for a few months. Finally after making two shawls, a sweater, a a hat and some other odds and ends I am finally back in little knit mode. My mom requested three for the babies of co-workers (I did twin monkeys for the twins, blue and pink and I'm working on another pink monkey) I must have started the pieces of a moose before I went down in flames, so all he has left is I think the arms and one leg.

I don't remember when I would have told my cousins kids about the stuffed animals but I must have because all the girls have asked for one for Christmas. I'll knit ones for the boys too so they aren't left out. Just have to figure out the colors and critters. Trying not to duplicate for anyone!  I'm making some for a few other Christmas gifts as well..can't name names just in case. I've got my work cut out for me.

Just have to keep other bigger projects on the side for when I want to do "extreme knitting" the little stuff requires too much attention and just doesn't show up on camera quite so well!

NAMING CONTEST

Here's the deal. Not everything I make has some part of it that is recycled, repurposed or reused. Some things are just fun knitted things. Mostly stuffed animals. I want a good name for when I sell those (ie Made by Second Chance Creations and *blank* or something like that)

This will run until the end of this month unless I find the perfect name before then. Whoever submits the winning name will recieve one of my knitted critters like this gal

"Extreme" Knitting...aka, knitting in unusual locations

Let me preface this by saying: I knit a lot. I knit everywhere. So far the only places truly off limits for me are weddings and funerals. Although I think if someone gave me the go ahead...I'd do it. I do intend to knit at least once on my wedding day, if for nothing other than a photo op :)

I've knit in dentist chairs while being worked on, in restaurants, bars, my bathroom, at the movies, buses, and in countless other places.

Where I live, most of the people have gotten used to seeing me knitting at the bar. But I think it throws the tourists for a loop. On one occasion I know I was photographed (under the pretense of taking a picture of her friend....you know "I gotta get a picture of this cause its so funny but I don't dare just take a picture....so I'll take a picture of you with *fill in the blank* in the background). Maybe it truly was just a picture of her friend...but the amount they were looking, giggling and not-quite pointing...I'm pretty sure I was the object of the photo.

To make a long story short, it gave me an idea. I started carrying it out then but gave up for a while until renewing it yesterday. I want to get pictures taken of me knitting in as many unusual places as possible. "Extreme knitting" if you will...to follow with the concept of "extreme ironing"

I posted this on Ravelry to get suggestions for future pictures and have been getting great ideas. One person is even facilitating their idea by sending me waterproof yarn so I can knit underwater, and glow-in-the dark yarn so I can knit in the dark. I'm so excited to try them both!

Future pictures to watch for: next May you will see pictures of my knitting on my wedding day (if only long enough for the pictures). Around Halloween expect some knitting goodness in costume. Perhaps even this weekend, mayhaps I'll knit at the Renaissance Festival..

Anyway...here goes the current photos.

If you have pictures of your own, please post to http://www.flickr.com/groups/extremeknitting