Craft or Bust Week 4 roundup and check-in (Jan 24-30)

Notes & Announcements

It's Week 4 of CoB — woohoo! We've made it a month! (A little scary, actually.) Way back at the beginning I mentioned giveaways and goodies. Well, the goodie-talk popped back into my head this week, what with it being a whole month since we started ... and while I do have a giveaway planned for Very Soon, Very Soon is not Now. So I present to you the idea of the Craft or Bust RAK List. RAK meaning "random act of kindness," a.k.a. a gift that you give completely out of the goodness of your heart.

How it'd work

The idea of RAKing is to spread general positivity and enable other people to do things they wouldn't have been able to do without your help. So to do RAKs, you need a) wish lists and b) addresses at which RAKs can be received. This is the basic premise:

1. You make a wish list of craft items you want or need in order to do stuff relating to your CoB goals. (Okay, your wish list can include non-craft items, too, if they're somehow related to your CoB goals ... you never know. ;))
2. You can have people contact you for your mailing address, or contact me for it if they want to surprise you. Decide how you prefer to have your RAKs sent (or if you want to give people the option of surprising you or not).
3. Send me your info.
4. I'll post the wish lists in a central post that people can refer to — and/or I'll link to your blog post that contains your wish list. I'll probably ask that wish lists be re-sent monthly, to make sure that they don't go out of date.
5. If someone sees something on your list that they have, that they want to gift you with, then they can get your mailing address, and off goes the RAK to you.
6. You get goodies, the RAKer gets good karma, and maybe everyone gets a little more motivation to craft. :D

Note that this isn't a swap, so it's not one-for-one. You send people stuff because you're just that darn nice (or in the interest of destashing, or whatever ;)), and they can choose to send stuff back, or pay it forward, or do whatever they choose with your gift.

It's not exactly a standard giveaway, but as part of the RAKing, I can guarantee I will personally pick at least one person a month to gift with something ... So what do you guys think?



Enough blather. Time for...

Roundup of Week 3: What We Crafted From Jan 17-23

• Elabeth posted on her blog about two weeks' worth of baby blankets (that's a photo link) and sweaters, charity hats (photo link), frogging, and cardigans (yes, another photo) — oh, my! She even got in some spring garden planning. Busy, busy. :D
• Michelle/halloweentango knitted, prepped for the TwitKAL, and worked on her art card exchange project. Read about it on her blog.
• Velma did some stash enhancement, Ravelympics stuff, and had cocktails (is that really a craft, Velma? ;)). Read about it on her blog.
• Sarah hit things with hammers (that is, she did some wirework), and re-photographed some old projects, through which she learned about exposure locking and white balance. (Sounds like a good subject for a tutorial-type post. Ahem?)
• Anna/This Good Life spun, germinated seeds, made felt, dyed and made a new store banner. Woo! Read about it on her blog.
• Luna is also checking in for two weeks — she took roving photos, spun some lock yarn and photographed it for a tutorial, signed up for Sister Diane's Blog Tune Up workshop (sounds useful...), worked on prep stuff — design plans, display pieces, and furniture painting — for her physical shop location (really??), and knit on her patternless mitt.
• Meredith C. realized she would probably have to frog her hooded scarf — oh, no! — spun yarn, tried spinning woolen, and knitted on her entrelac stole. Read about it on her blog.

Hurrah for everyone!

Check-in for Week 4: What Have You Done Lately? (January 24-30)

This week didn't feel that productive for me, but then, it was my birthday week. I had to allot some time to non-crafty adventures. :D Sunday, I finished knitting the left wristwarmer of my original knitting pattern and cast on the right wristwarmer. I also swatched some stitch patterns for another pattern idea. Monday, I dyed the fiber for my TwitKAL project, knit some of the abovementioned right-hand wristwarmer, and in the wee hours of the morning, cast on the abstract caterpillar cowl (scroll down to see the pattern on that page), because technically it was my birthday. ;D Tuesday, my birthday, I did nothing except the aforementioned cast-on. Wednesday, I finished knitting the cowl (Ravelry link). Thursday, I was useless took a day off crafting. Friday, I did a weaving demonstration for a friend of mine who just bought a loom, which forced me to warp the Cricket. Yay! Saturday, I spent the day being a pirate and running around in the rain. Not really crafty in the handmade sense, but maybe crafty in the rapscalliony sense. ;)

What did you craft this week?

[Edited to add: Don't forget to post your check-in comments in the format described on the rules page, to help give me more time to craft and less time spent hunting links down. ;) Thanks!]