Casting Off.

October 1, 2010March 17, 201811 Comments

I had every intention of showing up here yesterday. But there's a funny thing about planning a long road trip alone with your kids and realizing that departure is less than two weeks away. It causes kind of a panic-attack-freak-out. It causes much obsessive-compulsive list making, laundry washing, gear organizing, and even a some on-line shopping. More than, perhaps, you were planning on. A lot more.

I'm a tiny bit overwhelmed, but I'm working on it. So I missed my visit here yesterday to say "hello" for fear that I would simply say "AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

(breathe…)

And I think it's good. I'm beginning to pull it together. I think the theme for our road trip will be "Go With the Flow". For all three of us, and even Pete back home. Chill out and roll with it. That will be the most fun, won't it? I'm trying in earnest to start that chill out right now.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

In other news, I had a knitting night with a dear old friend and actually completed something! Cast off. Done. Ends woven in and all.

Yes, I finally cast off the fifteen-month socks! Sage love's them. (Almost as much as I love having them off my needles.) I guess that means I can do anything.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

In other news there is a LuSa Organics giveaway (my organic body and baby care products) over on Petite Purls. Check it out!

Wool Gnome Hat Pattern.

September 9, 2010March 17, 201826 Comments

I am feeling honored today to have had one of my patterns featured in the latest issue of Living Crafts Magazine. Honored, I tell you. I introduced you to Living Crafts Magazine some time back, and to see my pattern and my girl on their pages had my whole family tickled.

The pattern is a refined version of this gnome hat from last spring. Those were the first gnome hats I made and Pardis, the editor of Living Crafts, asked if I would work up a tutorial for her. I of course agreed!

Edited: I get so many emails asking for this pattern! The pattern is available through Living Crafts Magazine by visiting their back issues page and picking up a copy of Fall 2010. Enjoy!

To celebrate Living Crafts Magazine is offering two of you lucky readers a free issue. If you don't already have a subscription (gasp!) or if you'd like to score an extra copy for a friend, leave a comment below and I'll pick two winners by the weekend. (Feel free to friend LuSa Organics, Clean, and Living Crafts Magazine on Facebook for extra drawing luck/karma.)

Comments are closed. I'll announce the winner later this week!

And a head's up for those of you planning to stitch up your hat: there is one error in the magazine. The pattern increase for a regular sized hat should read 400% (not 200%). (The 200% increase should make a sweet doll hat though!) And do upload your hats to the Clean Flickr pool when they are done!

Tutorial : : Shadowbox “Butterfly” Collection.

August 19, 2010March 17, 201815 Comments

Note: no butterflies were harmed in the making of this project!

As a rule I don't buy gifts. There are a few vintage exceptions, but
most gifts from this house are handmade. When I was visiting friends in Milwaukee I stumbled upon a gift I made for them two years ago for their wedding. I thought you would appreciate it, so I shot a few photos. (It was tricky to photograph with all of those reflections, but I think you get the idea.) The butterflies pop up off of the fabric and leave sweet little shadows beneath their wings.

The project was made with an old Nikki McClure calendar. We love Nikki's papercuts and have her work all over our house. I can never bear to recycle the calenders because her work is so gorgeous. This project was the perfect way to repurpose one calendar.

Want to make your own? Here is how it was done:

1. Gather your supplies:

Junk mail, old calendar, letters, or photographs
Big hole punch (butterfly or other graphic shape)
3-D sticky dots
Shadow box
Fabric for background
Tacky glue

2. Neatly and tightly wrap back of frame in fabric and secure into place with tacky glue. Allow to dry.

3. Select and punch images suitable for the size of your hole punch. Punch out a few more than you'll need.

4. Lay out your images on the now dry fabric-wrapped frame backing. When you are pleased with the arrangement, grab your sticky dots. Cut down if necessary (I cut each dot into 3 pieces) and affix dots to back of your butterflies.

5. Firmly press into place.

6. Check for dust or errant hairs, clean the glass, and assemble your frame.

With a little guidance, this project is simple enough for kids and elegant if done by a grown-up. Easy, beautiful, green, and butterfly approved.

Rainy Day Activities.

June 24, 2010March 17, 201810 Comments

It has been raining here almost every day for weeks. Quick rains, gentle rains, fierce rains, long-hard rains. Walking across the lawn barefoot I find water squeezing up between my toes.

Because of this we've found ourselves doing more kitchen-table-crafting than we normally do in June. Its been sweet, really. Though my garden is starting to resemble a jungle instead of a productive veggie patch.

Our saving grace during the last two storms has been the amazing package we received from Stubby Pencil Studio
this week. Packed with paints and markers and pencils and crafts that
are so delicious it is blowing my mind. (Watch for our giveaway from
them coming up soon!)

If the rains return this week we have some projects on the ready. Here is a preview:

We've had a secret plan in the works for these wooden cubes. I'll share what we make after the next deludge.

We've been saving our beer bottle caps
for a long time. We have some great projects in the works with these
already. The possibilities are limitless with simple free components
like these.

I'm always inspired by what other folks are creating too. Here are two projects on our list from the web:

This sweet gnome Celebration Ring from Mothering with Rhythm and Rhyme made me smile the first time I saw it. So simple and so adorable!

I've been meaning to paint up some of these garden sticks from Sweet Things for a long time. Since we don't find ourselves in the garden much when its raining, we could at
least be working on a garden project while we wait for the clouds to
clear. Aren't they lovely?

What are you inspired by these summer days? Feel free to share a link to recent projects you've completed or plans in the works in your home.

Small Girlie Sweaters.

June 23, 2010March 17, 20188 Comments

There are a lot of little girls in my life. A lot. There is my own girlie-girl of course, and with a few notable exceptions most of my close friends have young daughters. My current small but unending knitting project has been on the needles for 12 months and 1 week. Indeed, I have lost my enthusiasm for socks on tiny needles. If I applied myself to those toe reductions they could be done in an evening. But its been a year. I'm over it.

I promised myself to finish Sage's socks before the leaves turn, and then I put them away. I needed something completely different. To rekindle my knitting fire I've picked up some sweet girlie projects that speak to my tiara-wearing pink and purple side. Below is the wool for a soon to be cast on sweater for Lupine. The colors are so her, the handspun rainbow yarn from this Etsy vendor is so dreamy soft… I can't wait.

And just last weekend – the one year anniversary of casting on Sage's socks – I cranked out a sweet ruffled tank top from yarn in my stash in three days flat. I love you, size 8 needles. The pattern is Monica (found on Ravelry for free) and I did a few simple modifications. Lupine and I both love it. I sized it to fit her (hopefully) for two summers.

Last night I cast on another girlie top, a sweater for a little girl in my life who I don't see nearly enough. She is owed a hand-knit from me when her baby gift, a woolen sleep sack, failed to fit her sweet round belly.

Oh, I love knitting in the summer. How weird.

Make Your Own Bubble Wands

June 19, 2010March 17, 20186 Comments

Originally posted last summer, this is one of our favorite quick summer projects. We made these as birthday party favors when Sage turned five and find ourselves turning to this project each year. Enjoy, and happy Summer Solstice weekend to all!

Lupine
and I spent part of the day playing in the backyard, chasing enormous
bubbles through the grass. I wanted to share this playful summer idea
with you with a simple bubble wand tutorial. Here goes!

Materials

Pliers/Wire snips
1 dowel or small tree branch, approximately 24" long
3 feet of wire (ours was copper wire recycled from a remodeling job)
1 C unnatural dish soap
4 C water
bucket

The (Magic) Wands

Special
touches like glitter, paint, and ribbon streamers are a nice touch.
These instructions are for your bare-bones bubble wand, but don't let
that limit your creative spark!

Spiral one end of the wire around stick 4-5 times to secure.

Shape
remaining wire into a shape that creates one or more closed loops. (You
needn't be fussy about how closed the loops are. If the wires overlap
and touch it is close enough.) We made stars and dragonflies. Your
design should be fairly two-dimensional for ease of use.

Optional step: If you have loads of wire left after completing your design, trim to approximately 5".

Tuck the second wire end safely away so no one gets poked (around the stick or turned on itself it left exposed).

The Bubble Juice

We have tried many recipes and this simple one is the best. (We skip the
glycerin and corn syrup found in other bubble formulas. We have found them to be unnecessary
and some leave sticky marks where the bubbles pop.)

Mix 1 C unnatural dish soap (we used Dawn) with 9 C water. (I wish I could tell you to make this with our delicious LuSa Organics soap,
but alas, those bubble aren't tough enough for backyard mayhem.)

Stir gently to dissolve.

Play!

Edited: If you do make wands, won't you post them to the Clean Flickr pool and then leave a comment here? I'd love to see your creations.

My Project on Rhythm of the Home

June 1, 2010March 17, 20186 Comments

I have a sweet new project in the summer edition of Rhythm of the Home! It is for a child's felt photo book. I made my first one for Lupine when she was a baby and worked up a pattern for Rhythm of the Home this spring. Have a look!

Rhythm of the Home is a beautiful Waldorf-y website with essays and projects that are gentle, natural, and family-nurturing. I was invited to be a guest-writer on their blog a couple of months ago too.

Pop over, take a look, and if you stitch up a book I'd love to see how it turns out!

Freezer Paper Stencil.

May 19, 2010March 17, 20189 Comments

By now I'm guessing you've heard about freezer paper stenciling. It's a quick, simple, affordable way to screen a few shirts, bags, or anything you can think of. I got crafty this week and threw together a stencil and made myself some LuSa shirts. It was so much fun!

I wrote a tutorial for an upcoming issue of the Saponifier Magazine so I can't spill the beans and share my full instructions yet, but here's a sneak preview. If you'd like a full tutorial from me I'll happily share one after the issue comes out. Otherwise a quick google search will yield some good info as well.

One beautiful discovery I made was that you can indeed reuse your stencil! Two, three, even four impressions can be made from one screen if you are careful when you peel it off.

Imagine what you can make! Birthday shirts for little ones (perhaps just a big number in a big circle), a tee stating your super powers, gender ID shirts for those long haired boys (Sage had two – one that read "Wise Guy" and one that simply said "BOY."), "Who owns organic?" shopping bags… endless possibilities.

This photo taken a couple of years ago is my first effort at freezer paper stenciling: a wind turbine and the words "Yes we can." across the bottom. (It was my election day shirt. Shamelessly political.) And the one below? One of my new LuSa shirts. (Shamelessly self-promoting.)

What will yours be?

Soft Stars Shoes – Remade.

May 13, 2010March 17, 201831 Comments

When Sage was little he had a favorite pair of red shoes that we all referred to simply as his "starry-stars". I still love them. So does Sage. We couldn't wait for them to fit Lupine. They are now her size, and I brought them upstairs a few weeks ago and placed them in her shoe box.

But Lupine has her own taste. And the starry-stars didn't make the cut. No amount of sibling or parental enthusiasm would shift her opinion.

I thought it was ridiculous to pick up another (more girlie) pair of
starry-stars to suit her pink and purple preferences, but our current shoe scene is pretty grim. She looks past the soft-soled, foot-healthy shoes in her shoe box and heads straight to her costume bin for the hard soled shoes that were thrifted as "dress-up play
shoes." Second-hand girlie shoes. Shoes that are, according to Lupine,
"So pretty – and so owie!"

But this is my girl. The one above in the thrifted crown. She loves fancy. Sparkly. Pretty. Pink. Girlie. The daughter of a tomboy, and she's wearing a tiara. I'm not sure when it happened, but someone clearly snuck in and programmed her when we were all sleeping.

Alas, I love her for all of her girlie sweetness. Its adorable really. My boy is all in camo and Lupine is prancing around the house like a fairy in my silk slip. So to satisfy both her girlie-ness and my healthy-shoes only rule I set to work on the starry-stars. To girlie-fy them.

No, they aren't rhinestone studded or gooey pink now, but they are CUTE!

I changed out the laces for some pink velvet ribbon and then covered a few buttons with Japanese mushroom and snail fabric. What do you think?

Really, polka-dot mushrooms and velvet ribbon can make anything yummier. I don't think you can go wrong with that combo.

And now? I can't get them off her feet. They are fancy and they feel good. What more can a little girl ask for? (Or her mama for that matter.)

P.S. We'll be offering a giveaway of a Soft Star Shoes gift certificate in a few weeks. I'll keep you posted!

Hooray for Homemade!

May 11, 2010March 17, 201821 Comments

I am feeling increasingly encouraged to end my relationship with the garbage and recycling men. (I mean that in the best way.) We are sending far too much down the pipe in the form of bottles, jars, bags, and packaging, even for our almost-homemade existence. It is the vinegar bottles. The beer bottles. The bulk bags from the coop. The occasional box of crackers. While we don't buy shampoo or conditioner anymore (we use our LuSa soap and an apple cider vinegar rinse) and we make our own toothpaste and deodorant, we still generate unnecessary waste.

So this weekend I put two new projects into motion to reduce our footprint: cloth bulk bags and homemade vinegar. (Next week we'll revisit our homebrewing past and put an end to the majority of what remains in our recycling bin.)

Cloth bulk bags have been on my to-do list for ages. I often bike to the coop but not for my big weekly shopping. For that trip I haul our glass pantry jars to the coop to refill so I drive. Really it's a ridiculous trade off. One green choice for another? I'd rather bike and use recyclable containers that I have the strength to haul home in the bike trailer.

I sewed the bag above out of a pair of thin cotton thrifted capris and a scrap of Amy Butler fabric. I attached a hair binder towards the top as a closure and a grosgrain ribbon towards the bottom for writing bulk bin numbers. The ribbon is easy to find (even on a half-full bag) and erases well so the next bulk number can be added when you return to the coop for a new item.

I've only made the one so far, but I'm prioritizing a few more (large and small) before next week's shopping trip.

The second quick, simple project was vinegar. (The recipes come from Wild Fermentation,
by Sandor Katz – a book that you should go and get your hands on right
now if you don't already have a copy. Amazing stuff in there.) I have two batches in the works: Pineapple and apple. All told I think I spent more time chopping the pineapple for the kids to eat than I did prepping the vinegar.

Pineapple vinegar was a good excuse to indulge my kids in a pineapple (a source of weekly exotic produce begging). It is simply a fermented blend of fruit peels, water, and fresh local raw honey (thanks, Heather!). I'll report back in about a month with how it tastes.