New art for the craft room, a tiny craft mess reveal, and more triloomy goodness

It's been mildly busy for the past couple of days, in a sort of ramp-up-ish way — like if I keep going, I might build up enough momentum to re-earn the name of the blog.

Pretty stuff first, so my ugly pictures don't scare anyone off. A while ago, I started knitting a "Tinker shawl" for someone's Wheel of Time costume. That didn't end up panning out, but I wanted to finish it anyway, in hopes that maybe someone else would want a really loud bright blue, red, and green shawl. Hey, weirder things have happened. ;)


But I needed red cotton yarn for this week's themed project(s) — I haven't mentioned it yet, but I'm doing a themed collaboration with Megan of Late Night Design. This week's theme is "pirates." So I ripped out the red part of the shawl in the above photo, and with the aid of my trusty new triloom, I whipped out another triloomed triangle and crocheted an edging on. Voila! A piratey new head scarf for the Etsy shop! I don't have good photos of it yet, so it's not up yet — it's hard to photograph your own head. ;)


New piratey cotton head scarf on the triloom.


I warned you that it's hard to photograph one's own head. Please kindly ignore the open medicine cabinet. ;)
Then I dashed off another quick cotton triangle in variegated ocean colors, just to see what it would look like.


Piratey head scarf + ocean-colored triangle, yet without purpose. Maybe it'll be a head scarf for me.
Then today I popped onto Twitter and got a hint from Darrah of Darrah Parker Photography that Something Special was up with her blog post today — her first vlog, by the way! I went on over and saw that today she did the drawing for her birthday/blogiversary giveaway. There was a drumroll from the invisible man as she picked a number out of a hipster hat. Ta-da!


Commenter #15 is the one!
And guess what? I won! Look, here she is, announcing me as the winner — see my blog address down there at the bottom?


What you can't see, because this is a still shot, is that she's doing a cute little eyebrow-quirk with her former-actress self. You should go watch the vlog so you can see it in all its glory, and hear her talk about the crafty business owner's journey, too.
So now I get to pick a photo print from her Etsy shop, to go up with the other bits of art that will decorate the craft room, helping to inspire my creativity and remind me to keep dreaming and all that. Of course, first, I need to get off my butt and clean the craft room so there's a nice place to put up said art.

And finally, because some people have been threatening to clean their rooms before I can see their crafty mess to compare it to mine (I'm talking to you, Jackie!), I'm posting a very sneaky peek at part of my craft room mess here. Yes, I suffer from crafty mess syndrome (something I'll probably go into more in a future post), but I've recently embarked on a compassionate decluttering journey to recreate my craft room in the image of — er, the image of Creativity Embodied, I guess. ;) So this is a "before" shot — I'm being brave by posting this, so be nice to me, if you can bring yourself to!


The first shelf I'm tackling in the craft room! The mission: to replace the plastic bags and cardboard boxes so that my yarn and projects reside in hand-sewn washable fabric storage boxes. This will also help reduce my obscene fabric stash.
And that's all for now, folks. More soon in the crafty adventures of the Quicksilver Crafter. I'll let you know which of Darrah's lovely photos I pick to adorn my up-and-coming crafty studio space!

Former sweater seeks new structure (non-knitting okay)

This week's magical transformation: I took a sweater(ish thing) and made it into two skeins of yarn. A little backwards from the norm around here, but the yarn is going straight back into another project, that is, the hairpin lace shawl that we're doing for the Ravelry hairpin-lace-along.

There are, oh, two big plastic storage boxes' worth of thrift store sweaters waiting in the craft room to be given new life, and — miracle of miracles — I actually remembered to dip into them when I was searching for shawl yarn. Therefore this:


Sweater!


...Sweater!!
...turned into this:


No longer a sweater.
Which is about 716 yards of some kind of synthetic-fiber ribbon yarn. Unfortunately, the content tag was cut out of the original sweater (although the sewn-in ends of it were still there for me to rip out before I could reclaim the yarn ... grumble grumble), so I can't be sure what synthetic fiber it is without doing other tests, which I probably won't bother with. ;)

As I've never hairpin-crocheted with synthetic-fiber ribbon yarn, I have no clue what the end product will look like. It could turn out monstrously icky. I'll find out in the coming days, it seems...

Better creativity through adventurous living

Weigh anchor and let's go!
You may remember that my creative goal for this quarter was to deepen my sense of my own crafty identity, specifically by designing and executing a creative project that shows off my personal creative style, regardless of whether anyone else gets it. You may also have noticed that I haven't done that yet. ;)

Why: I'm having a bit of a creative identity crisis, which I guess has been in the making since at least the beginning of the quarter, since I set goals related to it. I haven't forgotten my goals, but the more I think about Who I Am creatively, the more I remember that I love super-detailed, quirkily gigantic projects that demand a long-term commitment. That's who I am creatively: someone who likes to sink into the details and get lost in something epic, emerging on the other side of the project with a deep sense of satisfaction and a gigantic Thing to show off.

Thus, I keep trying to think of things that are big, quirky, crazy. I come up with things like the Master Knitter certification; a new costume for Dragon*Con; a big handwoven wall hanging. But nothing catches my attention and holds it. It's not that these things sound bad, or boring, or not hard enough. They just aren't engaging my creatively insane brain. I suspect I'm suffering from needing to live more to be more inspired.

I wish I could find the blog post I read a few weeks (months?) ago, on how writers need to be more than writers. To be a good writer, one must also live, experience, love, hate, succeed, fail, dream, feel. It isn't just writers who need to do this, in my opinion; it's all creative people. We all need to draw deeply and constantly on our humanity and our passions in order to express them in our creative work.

My inspiration, once upon a time, came from multiple sources: from a voracious, omnivorous consumption of science, art, film, speculative fiction, newspaper and magazine articles, history recent and ancient, classic literature, modern amateur poetry, people-watching at theme parks and malls and schools ... Once, my experiential intake was reasonably large, so I had a lot to draw from, and a lot to spit back out with my fingerprints on it. I'm no world traveler (though I've been to Indonesia twice, and that's about the extent of it), but I had enough material to work with that it worked. Once upon a time.

Other things have gotten in the way, and I haven't been doing much of any of that recently. And I'm starting to think I have a lot of research to do on the things that make me me before I can find a creative project that embodies my me-ness.

So it seems like the real challenge for me this quarter is only indirectly crafty. I need to get out the novels, the DVDs, the theme park maps, the beachy sunglasses, the sketchbooks and notebooks and books about funny headlines, the passport. I need to go and be an adventurer first, to kick-start the mental transmutation of adventures into creativity.

What adventures are you having, or have you had, that feed your creative brain? Even if you don't craft, you've done something that inspired you to tell a story or take a picture or buy a souvenir. I want to hear about the adventures you've had that help build you as a passionate person. Give me a jump-start! ;)

The Great Craft Room Rescue begins (and a Love That Room review)

It's nice how clean can be contagious.

For just over a week, the first mate and I have been making a conscious effort to clean every single day. We started with the kitchen, since it's the room that gets used most actively — we move things in there literally every day, it gets dirtied every single day, its pile of clutter evolves every day. The whiteboard that hangs where we can see it all the time has a count: "Days the kitchen is clean." That doesn't mean the kitchen has to be in a constant state of near-perfection; it means that we — mostly he, since he's taken responsibility for that area ;) — made the effort to clean the counters, put away dishes, put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, etc., that morning, so that the kitchen feels usable, even livable, for most of the day.

This was the kitchen's "cute spot" a couple of days into the effort:


The sunflower came from our local organic CSA and is not a regular denizen of the kitchen. ;)
Aside from the niceness of having clean space, a bonus to making incremental but definite cleaning progress is that I want to clean even more. I really like clean space. Seeing it makes me want to make more of it, and keep what I have. So for the past few days, thanks to the cleaning virus, I've been picking at the several-years' accumulated mess that is the craft room.

In today's craft-room-archaeology project, I excavated a storage stool that was hiding beneath an inherited, old-school electric Singer sewing machine/table, and I cleaned off the top of a box of thrift-store sweaters destined to be recycled into yarn for new yarny projects. Then I went to check my inbox, and found that the Love That Room e-book is finally out. Yay! And hurray for synchronicity!

FYI, Love That Room is an e-book based on an online course created by Lisa Baldwin of Zen at Play. The goal: to help you de-clutter physical spaces that are holding you back from enjoying them, in a way that respects what you aren't ready to let go of yet and helps you uncover things you love that are buried in the mess. I've been waiting a couple of weeks for the e-book to be ready, and now I have it in my greedy little hands. ;D

Those are affiliate links (at least, they should be — I have no idea if they work yet...), but I promise my discovering it today of all days really was synchronicity — I didn't write this blog post just to show off the e-book. ;) I'm actually pretty leery of giving my money to people I've never met who promise to help me do something I haven't been able to do myself, all with the magical power of their PDF e-book or online course or what have you.

But! I also freely admit I almost signed up for the Love That Room course last time it happened. I'm really drawn to its compassionate, intelligent, self-respecting aspects, and I do have a tiny little clutter problem in a few areas. ;) I'm also really big on dealing with non-ideal situations holistically and logically — if there's a clutter problem, that's partly an indicator of mental and emotional conditions. We're not random, unemotional beings; we do things for reasons, even when we don't see them, understand them, or like them. And Lisa seems like a smart, understanding person who gets that concept. I like hearing ideas from smart, understanding people; I haven't thought every thought there is, after all. There are also people who swear by her course ... but I couldn't quite convince myself to sign up.

Then she released the Love That Room e-book. Which, if I remember correctly, is less expensive than the course — at least, the advance copy is (and that's what's still on sale right now). I'm also big on guarantees, which Love That Room comes with: I can have my money back if I don't find the e-book worth it.

So there it was. Leery I may be, but when a product looks good, when I can have my money back if it turns out not to be, and when I know I'm honest and demanding enough to ask for it back if that happens, that's the magical convergence. Yes. I bought the e-book.

It sounds cheesy, but five pages in, I'm already glad I did. I'm still withholding judgement on whether it was worth the money, because although it looks pretty promising, I'm ultimately going to judge it by whether it helps me make real progress, not by how warm and fuzzy it makes me feel. I'm still, as always, skeptical: about whether I'll ever get my craft room into a place where I love it, and about whether this e-book can really help me do it. But I live and die by the facts, and here's an interesting one:

When I started writing this post, I was absolutely not going to post photos of the current state of the craft room. I have photos, but they were taken for posterity — specifically not for public display, except after I finally have the room cleaned up, so you can all ooh and ahh over how amazing the transformation is. ;)

The longer I sit here and type, though, the more I think, Eh, maybe I will just post the photos.

Oh, I'm not going to. Not yet. ;) Caution is one of my numerous (and sometimes contradictory-seeming) middle names. But if I'm considering posting the photos, it's because I'm more confident I'll succeed at making the craft room super-cool. Since that's not a usual side effect of blogging itself, at least for me, it's possible that the e-book is actually having a positive effect on my attitude. And I'm a skeptic, not an optimist. Facts carry far more weight in my mind than random positivity. So if I feel more confident, there must be some new idea in my mind that's convincing enough to seem factual.

Will the attitude shift last? We'll see. Tune in next time for the continuing saga of the Great Craft Room Rescue. And in the meantime, feel free to check out Love That Room. You can always get your money back if it doesn't work. ;)

Craft or Bust Week 20 Check-In and Roundup (May 16-22)

Just chugging along, crafting every week ... How's everyone else doing? I have a grand total of one check-in (hi, Jessica ;D) from last week, which is funny, since I did say I'd do this by myself if I had to, and maybe I will have to ... ;)

Roundup of Week 19: What We Crafted From May 9-15

• Jessica finished her lace socks! Hurray! She also knit more on her vampire socks (see her sock-knitting awesomeness at her blog), started knitting a Citron (mmm ... Citron — someday I'll make one, too...), baked brownies, updated her resume, and applied for a job that will commemorate her return to the "real world." Gasp. ;) (Good luck! Hope it's an unsucky job! ;))

Check-in for Week 20: What Have You Done Lately? (May 16-22)

What I did this week:

I'm still writing one page every day, which is pretty awesome. It's making me start to suspect I might be able to craft every single day, although trying this has failed in the past...

Sunday, I tweaked my new blog banner and background behind the scenes, and went to see mermaids at Weeki Wachee (not crafting in itself, but mermaids doing routines in a spring is pretty creative ;)). Monday, I finished weaving my first triloom square. Tuesday, I Navajo-plied the rainbow probably-Merino singles, finally finished weaving in the warp ends on my long-abandoned one-stripe bag weaving project, made a copper shawl pin, and swatched for a custom order. Wednesday, I washed fabric to make storage boxes with, washed some handspun yarn, spun the last of a batt from Spazzy Handspun Yarn, made another shawl pin, and FINALLY changed the blog template and layout! Thursday, I took some photos at Wall Springs Park and listed the shawl pins in the Star & Crossbones Etsy shop. Friday, I photographed the one presentable spot in my kitchen ;) and kicked off the hairpin-lace-along on Ravelry. Saturday, I picked out a thrift-store sweater to recycle for the HPL-along and started writing a basic fingerless gloves pattern.

What did you craft this week?

Don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page! And if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up — it's easy!

Hairpin lace, anyone?

Today's the first day of the very first hairpin-lace-along over at the Hairpin Crochet Ravelry group, in honor of which, I post here a photo of one of my very first pieces of hairpin lace. Yes, it's very red.


Hairpin lace in worsted-weight cotton. Hurray.
For the first HPL-along, we're doing the woman's hairpin lace shawl pattern from Coats & Clark.

Feel free to come on over and join us if you want to try your hand at hairpin lace (or maybe you're a seasoned hairpinner already!). The HPL-along basic info thread is here. All you need is yarn (768 yards or less, according to the pattern), a crochet hook, and a hairpin lace loom. You can even make your own hairpin lace loom; there are some ideas on the Ravelry HPL group's resources page.

I think I'm going to end up using a really light yarn and wearing my "shawl" as a head scarf or a belt. I seriously do not need to add another item to the already-overflowing scarf and shawl drawer, especially since, you know. I live in Florida, where there's not a lot of call for scarves and shawls, even lacy ones. If this project works out and doesn't frustrate the crap out of me, I'll probably make an HPL sarong — which I will use. I hope. ;)

Ahh, practicing the yarn arts in a humid, hot climate...

Blast from the past: my first finished (knitted) object

There it is. Possibly the very first finished object I ever knit, enshrined in all its old-school, film-camera, scanned-into-the-computer-at-a-low-resolution-that-seemed-reasonable-at-the-time glory.

I was going through old photos on the computer today and found this one in my 2002 scrapbook folder, and I can't remember ever seeing it before. I'm pretty sure I gave the bag away to someone — was it one of my sister's friends? It was squeaky acrylic yarn that might have come from some kind of "learn to knit" kit, and I know I'd started knitting some beginner project with it as soon as I got the yarn years before ... but the experience was so unsatisfying, so outright frustrating, that I mistaked the crappy yarn and crappy plastic needles for my own inability to knit, and put the project down.

Years later, I found it and decided I would finish a project, dammit, and nothing would stop me — so I ripped out the old project (which was probably a scarf anyway, and who needs an acrylic scarf in Florida?) in my very first official project frogging, and reknit it in a new pattern, horrible squeaky yarn and all. And maybe it's the fact that it's completely blurry, but looking at it now, I actually think I like the thing. Sure, it didn't match anything I owned or would ever wear, but I like the colors. I like the tassel-y ties. I like the shape of the little pouch. I have no clue what pattern I used so if I want a new one I'll have to go pattern-hunting or invent my own.

The weirdest thing about this is that if my file hierarchy is correct — which it probably is; I hadn't lost my mind and my organization skills yet in 2002 ;) — I knit this way earlier than I can remember knowing how to knit. I think I didn't knit a lot after that project, as the next time I picked up the yarn arts, it was with crochet first ... but now that this photo has been excavated from the depths of the hard drive, I feel pretty comfortable pushing back the date from which I can count myelf an official knitter. Come on — I made a pretty little pouch that someone else liked so much I gave it to her! That means I was a real knitter, right? Even if I forgot for a couple more years before rediscovering it?

Maybe every day isn't a new discovery, but every couple of years is. ;) And this is why I don't like to get rid of stuff, even old blurry photos of things I think are horrible and ugly at the time. ;D There's always a chance I'll find something old and ugly and see it in a completely new perspective, or be able to use it to relearn something about myself that I'd forgotten.

The blog gets a makeover

Notice anything different? Of course you do, assuming you've been here before. ;) Yep — the blog finally has a custom background and banner, in a nice new template. I'm a month late for my blogiversary, but that's not so bad, for me.

Miss the old blog? Aww. Well, here's a little screenshot — a very little screenshot, because I forgot to take one before I changed the blog, and I had to go to my Ravelry profile and get the thumbnail image there. ;)



AND I have shiny new Disqus comments, so that we can all reply to each other and have nice little conversations, if we like. No more half-baked Blogger comments. Why don't you leave a fresh comment about what you like about the new layout, and what you don't like so much, and try out the snazzy new system? ;D

The loom invasion continues: inkle arrival and first piece off the triloom

It took me three tries, but I finally got the hang of weaving on the new triangle loom. Here's a photo of Triloom Weaving Take Two in progress. If you look closely, you can see that I failed to alternate over-under, over-under in some of the vertically-oriented lines:


Since I'm doing the continuous weave method, is the screwed up bit warp or weft? Neither? Both? I'll go with weft, since the vertical yarn weaves around the existing horizontal yarn...
Even three sets of written directions couldn't quite make it clear to me what I should be doing — some directions told me that I needed to alternate this or that, or that the yarn needed to wrap around this but not the other ... It was a little like reading sewing pattern directions, but without diagrams to study.

Then I remembered YouTube. And voila! A triangle-weaving video from Hazel of Hazel Rose Looms saved the day.


Third time's the charm! Finally finished a whole triangle without ripping it out.
And here's the finished triangle off the loom:


I did the crochet-chain finish across the top (of which you can see a tiny bit in this photo), and left the short sides unfinished. The finished fabric has lovely drape, doesn't it? Cheers for recycled linen yarn and an open weave. On the other hand, it came out a little small — 28" across the top and 26" on the sides — possibly from a combination of the open weave, the fabric's bias shrinkage off the loom, and the tightness of the weaving. (I tried not too weave it too tightly, but maybe I did, anyway.)

But it was just big enough to wear as a head scarf.


I'm not entirely sure I like how head scarves look on me. My round half-Asian face plus round forehead is not particularly flattered by this look, I think.
Now I'm not sure whether to make another piece or few and attach them to make this into a larger item, or just keep it as a head scarf that will probably sit in the head scarf basket with all my other abandoned head scarves. Thoughts?

Oh, and I almost forgot! Photos of the newest loomy arrival, my inkle loom:




Lynne, the previous owner, kindly did some example warps on the loom for me.
It was the previous owner's first inkle loom, and now it's my first. Welcome, new inkle thing. I'll tackle you next.

Craft or Bust Week 19 Check-In and Roundup (May 9-15)

Notes & Announcements

I FINALLY found a badge-maker that will make something pretty out of the most recent CoB Flickr uploads! Hurrah! I can't limit it by date, so it changes when people upload new things, but here it is:



In other news, you guys have been quiet lately and I think I need to do the rounds of everyone's blogs and make sure some and you haven't vanished. ;)

Roundup of Week 18: What We Crafted From May 2-8

• Jessica turned the heels on her lace socks, finished the gussets, created another cookie recipe (you can see the recipe on her blog, and wrote a "mostly fictional" autobiography, also on her blog.
• Meredith M finished Abrazo "again" — see her blog for the story. She also gardened and knitted on her Que Sera.

Check-in for Week 19: What Have You Done Lately? (May 9-15)

What I did this week:

For one, I did my daily writing every day of the week. :D Hurray! I didn't do much aside from that on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Monday, I moved some fleeces from trash bags into king-sized pillow cases (not crafting, but craft cleanup ;)) and spun some more of the multi-colored probably-Merino yarn. Wednesday, I finished the probably-Merino singles and Navajo-plied the cottony Merino I spun the week before. Friday, I played with my freshly-built triangle loom :D, sketched a design and wrote some directions for making washable fabric boxes, and started going through a pile of fabric for sewing said boxes. Saturday, my new inkle loom got here (eep! loom attack!) and I watched some inkley videos, though I didn't do any actual crafting.

What did you craft this week?

(Don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page! And if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up — it's easy!)

New crafty denizen: the 30" triloom!

I present to you (drumroll!) my newest loomy acquirement, the 30" fine-sett triloom! (Possible duh: That's short for "triangle loom.")



(And here's a less angle-y photo. ;))



You may be aware that First Mate Brian attempted to make a triloom for me a while back, but neglected to commit to all the finicky details like doing math and counting nail marks ;), and consequently abandoned the project, convinced that he was incapable. The wonked-up product of said attempt is still hanging neglected in the laundry room, but I'll save the poor mutant triloom embarrassment by not showing photos of it until I've rescued it (and I WILL, oh, I will...).

Anyway, some time ago I discovered the TriLoom list on Yahoogroups — which led to Brian building me a square loom (and here it is with yarn on it) from frame parts we picked up at Jo-Ann. The dear TriLoomers have been feeding my triangle loom craving ever since. (And also my craving for a rectangle loom like the one in this Youtube video. The loom stash is taking over ... but I'll never have more looms than pairs of shoes.) And finally, FINALLY, I have a working triloom, care of Hideaway Homestead, which has nice, inexpensive plywood triloom kits. I wanted the 3-foot loom, and this one is 30", but oh, well. I'll just have to get another one! ;D

Now the question is, what the heck do I make with it? Last night as I was lying in bed, I remembered the equation for finding the hypotenuse of a triangle ... but I failed to remember how to solve it. Sigh. Once I give in and look it up (I feel like a loser, not being able to remember something I could do in five seconds ten years ago ;)) I'll know whether two triloom triangles will cover one side of the big square pillow forms that currently sit naked on the futon. But I'm thinking a triangle with a 30" hypotenuse should do fine for making myself a head scarf. That means I'll have to start wearing them again this summer, but I can manage that, right?

Off to explore, anyway. Wish me luck with the new loom — and wish my new inkle loom a swift and safe passage as it makes its way to my front porch. :D The loom invasion continues...

Photo Post: Maybe Merino, Rainbow-Flavored

For your visual enjoyment, the yarn I've been spinning lately:



The fiber is from a grab bag that I won at the Florida Fiber-In's auction last year, so I'm not completely sure of the fiber content, but I'm reasonably sure this is all Merino. I'm planning on Navajo plying it to preserve the color sequence, and then ... I don't know. A hat? A skinny scarf? A mismatched pair of wristwarmers? What do you think?

We were interviewed by the Florida Etsy Street Team!

Just a quick heads up — our (well, really "my") interview with the Florida Etsy Street Team is up on the team blog now ... Go and check out my ubergeekery and my overuse of the winking emoticon!

And hey, if you've ever wanted to know why my crafty business is called Star and Crossbones, you can find that out in the interview. :D

Craft or Bust Week 17 Check-In and Roundup (April 25-May 1)

Notes & Announcements

Sorry for the lateness of this post, again ... This past week was mostly taken up by prepping for upcoming events. Maybe I'll do better next week. ;) (At least my arms won't be all stiff from beating the crap out of a drum while sitting in the front of a dragon boat, so it'll be easier to type...)

Roundup of Week 16: What We Crafted From April 18-24

• Velma went yarnbombing in Eureka, started a lace shawl, knit most of a hat, worked on a formerly-abandoned crochetex hat, and started another spindle of handspun laceweight. Read about it on her blog.
• Luna did a multi-week check-in: She knitted a starfish hat, worked on a freeform crochet project with handspun, a crocheted bag with bulky lock yarn + needle-felted locks, made some spinning batts from dyed locks, worked on her blog, and — BIG CHEERS! — opened her own yarn and spinning wool shop in Elizabethtown! No wonder she's been too busy to check in. ;)
• Jessica ran lights for a performance of John Cariani's "Almost, Maine," finished the gussets on her vampire socks, and knit about 3 inches of the legs of her lace socks.
• Halloweentango (Michelle) summarized her week with "Uhhh, wellllll……." Read why on her blog.
• Elabeth did a multi-week check-in: She worked on getting the Arkansas Fiber Arts Extravaganza Web site set up, worked on vendor apps, and worked om the vendor room layout. She also knitted a ladder shawl store sample
  I also worked on some knitting projects, finished a ladder shawl store sample, made a bracelet with diamond glaze and magazine pictures for her friend Nic's birthday, and did pre-yarn-room-moving cleaning.
• Meredith M didn't have a to of time to craft, but she worked on Que Sera and Abrazo and had her husband take photos of finished objects. And while she hasn't been writing in her blog, she has stuck with trying to for a full quarter — why don't you go over and visit her blog and maybe follow her there and leave some comments to encourage her? :D

Check-in for Week 17: What Have You Done Lately? (April 25-May 1)

What I did this week:

Sunday, I made a strawberry cheesecake pudding pie — I've never made a pudding pie before, so I think next time I'll go heavier on strawberries ... Monday, I did a lot of boring admin stuff like registering for sites and alerts that have to do with my crafty business, and organizing my bookmarks. Tuesday, I did some more organizing, wrote a blog post, and brainstormed new blog post ideas. Wednesday, I posted a blog post and spun some more of the cottony Merino yarn. Thursday, I fixed the semi-broken contact forms on my crafty Web site (erk). Friday, I finished weaving washcloths on my Cricket loom and tried hand-sewing the edges and washing the washcloths in the washing machine ... which worked! Hurray! Saturday was eaten by the dragon boat races and a fashion show ... but at least I got some ideas from watching the people at the show!

What did you craft this week?

(Don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!)

Giving you a reason to celebrate Pay It Forward Day

Tomorrow is Pay it Forward Day, a day of purposeful random acts of kindness. (We — or at least I — should be RAKing every day, but PIF day is a good awareness-raiser and reminder.) What should I do for PIF Day? I'm stymied. But I need to do something.

Because random acts of kindness have serious power — power to cause ripples we can't see and may never know about, but the effects of which can last for years, even lifetimes. I know, because RAKs have pushed me forward and given me hope and inspiration I'd never had before. When I was active on Yahoogroups years ago, I met some beautiful, selfless artists, both hobbyists and professionals, and I owe them big time for championing my creativity and seeing beauty in even my smallest, first efforts at art, until I learned to value it myself. (In fact, I could use a little more of that championing now. My inspiration levels have been sporadic lately. ;))

I'm pretty sure that without the gracious, positive spirit that drove my artist friends — people I've still never met in person — to RAK and otherwise support me, I wouldn't believe in my crafting ability enough to have officially started a crafts business. I'd have dabbled, sure, and maybe sold a piece here and there. But it wasn't until I saw that other people valued me and my work that I considered my work might be marketable enough to work hard to bring it to the world. And while I'm certainly not rich (yet? ;)), or as creatively productive as I'm aiming to be, it would have been a pity if I had died without ever trying to combine inspiration and making a living. RAKs have helped me check that item off my bucket list, and it's in honor of the people whose positivity has supported me, past and present, that I want to pay it forward, too.

To me, the spirit of paying it forward/performing random acts of kindness is a little different from the spirit of donating to a charity. PIF and RAKs are more direct, more immediate, more personal: You choose a specific person and do something good for them right now, yourself. No intermediaries, no holding kindness in reserve until a disaster strikes and it's needed desperately. PIF and RAK are almost like preventative positive acts — do enough of them and they could help keep disaster from striking, or at least lessen the impact of the disaster if or when it does strike.

I still don't have much of a clue what I'm going to do tomorrow, but to encourage PIF/RAK spirit in other people, this is what I'll do:

For every comment I get on this blog post containing the story of a PIF or RAK someone has done this week (from April 25 through May 1), I will give a random, surprise discount to a future order from the Star and Crossbones Etsy shop.

So if I get 10 comments on this post that meet the below criteria, 10 random future orders from the shop will get a surprise discount.

Furthermore, I will give 15% off any item in my Etsy shop to each person who posts a PIF or RAK story.

For comments to count, you must:

a) Post the comment on this post.
b) Tell me about how you paid it forward or RAKed someone this week (from April 25 through May 1).
c) Use an identifiable name to post the comment and/or provide your Etsy username in the comment. To get your Etsy discount, use the code PIFDAY2010 and tell me the name you posted your comment under. Add the aforementioned information in the "comments to seller" box when you check out, OR convo me before you make your purchase and I'll adjust the listing for you.

One PIF Day discount code per person, if you please ... but one person can earn multiple surprise Etsy discounts for other people. I'll add one more surprise Etsy order discount for:

• each tweet that contains a link back to this blog post and includes "@starncrossbones" (so I can see that you tweeted about it ;));
• each Facebook mention that contains a link back to this blog post and tags Star and Crossbones (you use the same format — type "@Star and Crossbones" into the Facebook post and it should link to the Star and Crossbones Facebook fan page).

If you tweet or post on Facebook about my PIF Day goodness, leave another comment to let me know about it, okay?

Let the PIFing and RAKing begin! Remember, anything you do from April 25 through May 1 counts! Aaaaand ... go! ;)

Craft or Bust Week 16 Check-In and Roundup (April 18-24)

Notes & Announcements

Nothing much to say this week, except that I hope everybody enjoyed last week's awards post, and that I'm late in the day posting this. ;)

Roundup of Week 15: What We Crafted From April 11-17

• Jessica finished Yong's second mitten — woo! — crocheted the strap to finish her Harry Potter bag, turned the heels and made it into the gussets of her vampire socks, cast on more socks, hung lights for a play (with a slightly expensive mishap), and baked a pile-like carrot cake. ;) Read about the socks on her blog.
• Sarah went on an "epic" cross-country drive, set up an online shop for her future mother-in-law (link? ;)), had Great Patience with some filching of text, made a gigantic stash of wireworked and hammered jewelry findings, bought eyelets and a setter, and started playing with ideas involving lace appliques and necklace components.
• Halloweentango (Michelle) wrote a caption for the photography competition she entered recently, checked out spinning books from the loibrary, and won the CoB project of the quarter ... ;) Read about these and other things on her blog!
• LunabudKnits AKA Stephanie Stratton had a crazy week, but still worked on her "Russian wheel" enough to finish it! Hurrah!
• Velma started knitting a vest called Spunky Boob Cover (ha ;D) and got about halfway through it, blocked the stole she finished last month, and wrote a DIY lace-knitting tutorial that got fe4atured on Craftzine (awesome!). Read about it on her blog.
• Meredith M. worked on a Que Sera cardigan from Knitty and an Abrazo wrap from Twist Collective (and the second one involves a new technique for her: beaded lace knitting) and gardened.

Check-in for Week 16: What Have You Done Lately? (April 18-24)

What I did this week:
Sunday, I played some more with the blog redesign. Monday, no crafting. Tuesday, I bought some Clun Forest fleece from Maya at Springtree Road, finished spinning the fiery Shetland roving, and started spinning some cottony Merino roving from the stash. Wednesday, I received my Shetland fleece from Dew Dance Farm, wove a loopy wash cloth, washed some Shetland fleece, and spun some more cottony Merino. Thursday, no crafting. Friday, I wove yet another loopy washcloth, and Saturday, no crafting.

What did you craft this week?

(Don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!)

Fiber delivery on Earth Day Eve

A big box came in the mail today, stuffed with fiber from Laura of Dew Dance Farm. There's some colorgrown cotton (big thanks to Laura for throwing in an extra bit to top off the box!) and a little more than a pound of some super-clean-looking Shetland fleece.


Mmmm, cotton...


Nice fresh raw Shetland wool — on the sheep not too long ago!
The Shetland is going in the wash tub this week — this fleece is getting babied into a shawl if all goes well. The cotton? I have no clue what it's going to do, but if I can figure out which bit to plant, I may try to grow it alongside the Japanese indigo and the flax in my minuscule square of yard this summer.

Craft or Bust Week 15 Check-In and Roundup (April 11-17) — and First Quarter Awards!

Notes & Announcements

AWARDS!

CoBers, WE DID IT! We made it through the first quarter of 2010! :D Whether it was hard or easy, whether you succeeded at your goal(s) or not ... We made it, and here we are, with a fresh new, hopefully crafty quarter before us! :D

IN HONOR OF YOUR MIGHTY ACHIEVEMENTS, in honor of your willingness ITSELF to participate, in honor of your bravery in signing your name to the list to try to meet your crafty goals ... I present to you the Official Craft or Bust First Quarter Achievement Badge! You all deserve it!


And there are some other graphics, too. Right-click and download (or click the graphic to go to Flickr and download it) the badge(s) of your choice and display them proudly wherever you choose! It'd be nice if you linked them to the rules page, but like pretty much everything CoB, no requirement. (And if you need me to change a color to match your blog, or put your name on a badge, or something, let me know. :D)


And what you've all been waiting for (or, well, you know ... maybe I'm just being hyperbolic ;)) ... the PROJECT OF THE QUARTER!

This very first prestigious award goes to...

Michelle/Halloweentango's handmade journal with watercolor paper!

For you, a special badge:


And for all those of you (us!) who were nominated, honor to you, too! You also get your own special badge:


Trumpets sound! Confetti falls from the sky! Doves fly around with whirring wings!

Craft or Busters ROCK!

Feel free to post your proudest achievement(s) of the quarter with your check-in today. :D

Now ... back to crafty business. ;)

Roundup of Week 14: What We Crafted From April 4-10

• Courtney joined us again after a bit of a break! She repurposed a shirt that didn't fit into a bag that does. Read about it on her blog.
• LunabudKnits, a.k.a. Stephanie Stratton, has been painting a spinning wheel that will be going to Russia. Coooool. She's also been spinning some alpaca and has acquired a bunch of fleeces for The Blanket.
• Jessica finished the legs of her socks and made it into the heel flaps (oh, the endless heel flaps...), made it halfway through the thumb gusset of Yong's second mitten, made peanut butter cookies, and daydreamed about knitwear while looking at yarn on the Internet. (Hey, me, too! Well ... I've been looking at fiber and thinking of yarn, anyway...)
• Michelle a.k.a. Halloweentango did a Whole Bunch of Stuff that's on her blog, which she kindly requests you check since she didn't want to wear out her crafty fingers with a neverending update. ;)

Check-in for Week 15: What Have You Done Lately? (April 11-17)

What I did this week:

Sunday, I wrote a poem (I think the first of the year!). Monday, I wrapped up my Very First batch of Phat Fiber yarn samples. :D Tuesday, I took some photos of the front "yard," bought some fleece (...as if I need more fiber...), designed a mini yarn label for the Phat Fiber samples, and started spinning some Shetland roving from the stash. Wednesday, I did some writing exercises. Thursday, I worked on a new blog banner (yet to come!). Friday, I worked some more on the blog banner, a sidebar graphic, and a new blog template. I also wove some of the green linen scarf on my Cricket. Saturday, I finished the linen scarf, warped the loom again, and wove a wash cloth.

AND, because it's Awards Day, I'll share my proudest achievements of the quarter: This quarter, I am proudest of the fact that I actually crafted every single week, even when the week sucked. ;) AND (again with the AND) I am also proud that I have a sincerely great group of people crafting along with me, who are willing to come back here every week and cheer each other on, and share their crafty projects when they want to be shared, and who inspire each other. Seriously, guys. Thanks for crafting with me. I appreciate every single name on the roster and every single check-in. Extra special thanks to Velma, the first volunteer. If you hadn't signed on and proved I wasn't crazy-in-a-bad-way, I might be sitting here talking to myself pathetically instead of creating crayon-colored Illustrator graphics for a group of awesome people who happen to also be awesome crafters.

Thanks, everyone, for helping me have something to celebrate on this grand day in April. :D

Sooo...

What did you craft this week?

(As always, don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page. ;))

Surprise flax for the fiber garden

Fiber garden. Does the idea make you drool? It excites me. I love gardening (though I've never had a true place of my own to do it), and I love the fiber arts. Not much is cooler than the marriage of two loves, and a fiber garden would definitely be that.

A few weeks ago I started collecting seeds in anticipation of planting season — although since I live in Florida, our growing season is completely wonky compared to the "normal" one that all advertisements and nearly all magazines seem to target. I'm actually a LOT late on some of the things I'm going to try to grow, but on the other hand, a few years back I tried to grow radishes, and they worked better "out of season" than in, even working with Florida's seasons. What can I say? I'm weird, and it affects my world. ;)

Anyway, I have some lovely Japanese indigo seeds from Light in the Forest Wools and Textiles, and there are some colorgrown cotton bolls with seeds still attached coming my way from Dew Dance Farm. My flax seeds from last year, however, were a casualty of the messy tiny porch situation; the bag fell on the ground near the hose at some point during the winter and a passing bug appears to have chewed its way in, kindly letting in the hose moisture. The seeds may still be viable, but then, maybe not. So I started looking for other sources for flax seeds. Seeds aren't terribly expensive, after all. I sent out a few Etsy messages, and one seller offered to send me a sample of a few seeds to try to sprout, as he sells/uses flax for non-gardening purposes and he wasn't sure whether they would work. I said, "Sure, I'll test a few! Thanks a bunch!" They came today.

And there are more than a few.


An entire package of flax seeds is rather more than I expected as a tester
Suffice it to say "whoa."

So. Big shout-out to The Dream Weaver Shop for their kindness and generosity. Bob at Dream Weaver even sent me a link to a shop that DOES sell flax specifically for growing in case these seeds don't work — what a super-friggin'-nice thing to do. Pop on by their shop and browse a little, 'kay? They've got tea, jewelry and incense resins — and lots of Nice. ;D

Oddly enough, though, their supplier appears to be right in my area:


Hurray, I need a camera that actually does macro!
See where it says "Port Richey, Fl"? That's virtually down the street from me. Small world? ;)

Starting fresh for spring: continuing to be creative in the second quarter

Flowering sunshine mimosa plant in the front "yard"
Now seems like a good time to post about fresh starts. It's a time of beginnings: of the year's second quarter, of spring. Of celebratory tax return spending. ;) And it's wedding season, too. Lots of freshness floating around, almost like at the new year.

Except we're far enough into the year to have had a chance to slip away from our 2010 resolutions — or intentions, or goals, or whatever you want to call them that seems most positive to you. ;) But it's still early enough in the year that we have time to catch up. HA!

I do have a bit of a peeve about failing to meet my goals, and bleep if I'm living peevefully this year.

One goal I really want to meet is to continue being creative. And "create" contains the idea of "fresh start" inherently, so that goal is a bit paradoxical (in a good, mind-stretching way). I want to continue creating regularly, so the act of creating itself isn't a fresh start, but I want to keep the feeling of constant newness that makes creativity so invigorating.

After all, creativity is by nature a series of fresh starts, or little discoveries. Forgetting that can stick us creative people in a rut where we feel pressured (by our own chosen identity, by others, by the need to finish a project, whatever) to keep doing the same creative thing(s) we've been working on, even if that isn't fulfilling us any more. At least, I have that problem sometimes. ;) Of course, I've also had the problem of not even feeling like I CAN create on a regular basis, much less be truly creative.

But Craft or Bust has utterly kicked that idea's butt. I absolutely can be creative on a regular basis (and apparently the formula for that has a lot to do with creating safe space, something I Really Am going to write about more later. Really! Later.) And now that I no longer have any excuse for thinking I can't output craftiness on a regular basis, the next step in being Truly Creative is to grow into my creative identity.

Which ties back into the fresh start thing. One of the things people do when the new year starts is think about who they were in the past year and who they want to be in this coming year. Being who you reeeeeally want to be isn't always simple or easy, of course. For one thing, you have to KNOW who you want to be, and then you have to be ready to be that person. I have a pretty good idea of who I want to be, but I was nowhere near ready to be that person when 2010 opened.

Now, I'm much more ready.

:D

So this spring I'm refreshing the "be who I want to be" idea. I'm not inventing a new me this season, though; I'm aiming to be more me, more fully me, more true to myself. I want to create, and sink into, a solid sense of personal artistry and crafty identity.

Thus! the theme of 2010, Quarter the Second, will be: Discovering and Deepening My (Creative) Identity.

And that means iiiiiiit's EXERCISE TIME!

Not exercise like jogging ;) — exercise like "for homework, answer these three reflection questions in at least one paragraph each." (I like that sort of homework, and maybe that makes me a nerd. A nerd with claws and pointy sticks! ;) Anyway...)

This spring, I assign myself to list Core Identity Traits: themes and ideas, personality traits and characteristics, that I think of as part of who I really am and want to be. Things I'm happy to be and have (when I am and I do), or that I would be happy to grow into. For example, I am/want to be/would be happy to be more:

• inspired
• artistic
• colorful
• natural
• quirky
• wild
• instinctive
• intuitive
• centered
• brave
• independent

Therefore, these are themes I can draw from and on as I become more myself.

Further, I assign myself this project: To design and create an art/craft object that shows my creative personality.

It need not be practical. It doesn't even need to be understandable to anyone outside my head. It may express me at an extreme, or use obscure symbols that mean nothing to most people. If I do it right, said project will fulfill one important requirement: It will resonate with me, as a designer, a crafter, an artist, a creative person, a human being with an identity and a place in the world.

This sort of project is absolutely essential to my creative growth, because even if it's completely nonsensical to people who aren't me and don't know me, it will give me a blueprint from which to build creative pieces that DO speak to other people in a way they can understand. Before I can speak to others truly, I need to know how to express my own truth to myself.

Barbara Bowen wrote in a blog post on the SmARTist Career Blog, "Authentic style is a combination of communicating an emotional truth and mastery of your chosen materials. The more you acknowledge and feel the emotional truths in your life, the more they infuse your art. Distinctive style emerges when you tell the truth about life, using materials that are so familiar that they’re like a language you learned as a child."

And so, to really come into my own as a creative person, to remember what it's like to be me and to be truly creative, I need to learn/remember how to convey my personal truth in my creative work. I need, after this long desert winter of the creative soul, to regrow my awareness of who I am and what I have to offer, so that when I create, live, and act, I do it distinctly as me.

The fun bit about that is that I also get to explore and do crazy things and indulge in creative projects completely for fun (something it's DEFINITELY easy to lose track of when building a business of your creative work — again, in my experience ;)). To make sure what I love, think, live and enjoy infuses my work, I need to give myself permission to rediscover what's fun and inspiring, even if it doesn't produce anything marketable right away. The investment in my creativity is bound to make me and my work more appealing in the future.

Exploring and having fun and rediscovering me will also help me look at my 2010 goals afresh, so I can refocus or even let go of goals that won't help me get where I want to go or grow into who I want to be.

Please feel welcome to share your own Core Identity Traits, if you want. Or talk about your own 2010 goals and explorations. I'd love to hear about everyone else's spring growth. :D

Craft or Bust First Quarter Project of the Quarter Nominations!

Craft or Bust Quarterly Awards: First Quarter Nominations

WE DID IT! We've all worked our crafty butts off this quarter — and even those of us who have crafted less than we'd like have at least dared to challenge themselves! You all deserve to be recognized ... so next week I'll post a big hullaballoo for everyone, in honor of your crafty awesomeness. This week I present to you, after our slightly extended nomination period ;), the honorary nominees for project of the quarter!

If you didn't have a project nominated this quarter, no worries ... you are still much loved! Maybe you'll have something nominated next quarter ... and you can always nominate your own projects. ;) Just remember that to be nominated, your project needs to be in the CoB Flickr pool, so I can post a photo of it up for everyone to see. :D

On to this quarter's nominations! The following projects were nominated for creativity and for showcasing the best work of the CoBer who created said project. I present to you ... the nominees! Taaaa-daaaa!


Color is a Lifestyle Socks by Velma


glam-15 by Helen


Lily of the Valley Pearl Necklace by Sarah


Monster TwitKAL yarn by Me! (Crystal)


Bobbins by Anna


Citron WIP by Elabeth


3/05/10 craft or bust by Carmen
VIEW PHOTO ON FLICKR HERE

DSCN0824 by Meredith C


first two-ply evah! by Michelle/halloweentango


Handmade journal with watercolor paper by Michelle/halloweentango



And now, the POLL!




Voting ends on Saturday night next week, so get your votes in! :D BIG HULLABALLOO for all you great crafters next week! :D

Craft or Bust Week 14 Check-In and Roundup (April 4-10)

Notes & Announcements

We do indeed have a new member, Helen, a.k.a., helen-style. Welcome, Helen. :D Here's her Livejournal, and her CoB goal is to keep crafting! ;)

Also, QUARTERLY AWARDS! :D :D :D .... are today, but later today. I know. I wanted to do them as part of this post. Buuuuut we only have one nomination for Project of the Quarter, and I'm thinking maybe some of you thought nominations were due today, as opposed to before today so I could post the poll today...? ;)

So I'll give you guys until, oh, 4 p.m. to get in your nominations, and then I'll come back and put up the awards/voting post in the evening. If I still have just one nomination by this evening, then I guess that one nomination will win by default! :D See last week's post for nomination info (that post is right below this one ... since I haven't written any other posts this week ... mumblemumble...).

Do me a favor and e-mail me the nominations. The comment system is currently acting funky, and I don't want to miss something. (If I leave someone off the roundup this week, or if someone other than Michelle nominated a project, also drop me an e-mail, since the comment moderation issues could have kept the comments from getting through. Thanks.)

Onward...

Roundup of Week 13: What We Crafted From March 28-April 3

• Jessica nearly finished the legs of her socks, and went on an adventure on Wednesday with two of her friends to the Ben & Jerry's factory, where she took some great photos!
• Halloweentango (Michelle) entered a photography competition (ooooh! Good LUCK! Your photos are lovely, so I know you have a great chance!), worked on a second handmade journal, repaired an old (and much-loved?) skirt, took photos of things to put in her Artfire shop, worked on an acrylic painting that has lain abandoned since last fall (nice!), and made some projects with handspun. Wow! Good week! Read about it on her blog.
• Velma spun more yarn, did a blog facelift for her seventh blogiversary (hurrah!), finished knitting her socks, and started knitting a vest. Read about it on her blog.

Check-in for Week 14: What Have You Done Lately? (April 4-10)

What I did this week:

Sunday was Easter. No craftiness that day. Monday, I washed some handspun. (That sort of counts? ;)) Tuesday, I listed six handspun yarns in my Etsy shop. Yayyy! My first yarn update of 2010! I also spun and Navajo-plied a skein of mohair (I think) that I got in a grab bag at the Florida Fiber-In auction last year. Wednesday, I started spinning some Corriedale batts I carded a long time ago, took advantage of the still-cool evening to knit on my Silken Scabbard, and wove a little bit of the scarf on my Cricket. Thursday ... no crafting. Friday, I finished spinning the Corriedale and spun a bunch of mini skeins. Saturday, I spun some more mini skeins and dyed them.

What did you craft this week?

(Don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page! ... and don't forget to NOMINATE! something — or more than one thing — for Project of the Quarter! And post your achievements summary, if you wrote one. ;))

Craft or Bust Week 13 Check-In and Roundup (March 28-April 3)

Notes & Announcements

Woohoo. Welcome to the second quarter of Craft or Bust 2010! Inspirationalesque post coming soon, when I'm not so sleep-deprived and can edit it with more than 5% of my brain.

So now that the first quarter of the year is officially over, let's do some awards! I'll try to make this as simple as possible, and as always, if you have a better idea for something, feel free to drop me a line and let me know. Without further ado, I give you ... how the First Quarter CoB Awards will work:

• The period from now through Saturday, April 10 will be the gathering-of-info period for the awards ceremonies. Nominations and achievement summaries are "due" on this post or in my inbox by the end of Saturday, April 10.
• During the next week, write your achievement summary: Meditate on your CoB achievements, write a little self-pimpage for the Special Awards Ceremony Roundup. Tell us what you're most proud of doing during CoB so far, whether you feel you're on track, whether you want to adjust your goals, etc. You don't have to submit an achievement summary, of course, but it might be a positive thing to think back over the entire quarter so far, and I'd love to feature everybody's personal reflections in the awards roundup. :D
• Please send in your "CoB project of the quarter" nominations by the end of Saturday, April 10. We'll have ONE generalized award for this quarter, but there might be more categories next quarter, or I may invent some award categories on the spur of the moment if I see useful trends in the nominations. ;) Look through the photos in the Flickr pool and choose the projects you think deserve an award. Then send me this information (you can e-mail it to me or leave it as a comment on this post ... I don't care which ;)):
  
  • The name of the project you're nominating
  • The name OR Flickr ID of the person the project belongs to
  • The reason you're nominating the project to be recognized
  • The URL of the Flickr page with the photo you want to use to nominate the project
• You may make as many nominations as you want. Make sure you send in all of the above info for each nomination.
• The nomination information and the poll will go up next Sunday. (This is why I need the info by the end of Saturday. ;)) Voting will close at the end of the Saturday after that.

Please note when looking through the Flickr pool that I'm not sure yet whether Helen Volkova is planning on officially joining us, so if you do choose to nominate something she put in the pool, you may want to include another nomination, too, in case she doesn't sign up. :D

Did I leave out any vital info?

Roundup of Week 12: What We Crafted From March 21-27

• Jessica finished a glove for Yong, made muffins for her Russian class, worked on a slightly abandoned pair of socks again, and expanded her six degrees of separation board, which is slowly annexing a living room wall. ;)
• Elabeth dyed yarn, put iron-ons on baby shirts, and shared her secret to eternal youth. That's in last week's comments, but you can read about the rest on her blog.
• Halloweentango (Michelle) had a slightly problematic week (like me and Luna ... maybe it really was a virus! ;)) but rescued it by making a handmade fabric journal! Yay! Read about it on her blog.
• Velma spun oodles of art yarn. Read about it on her blog.
• Meredith C is back with us again (no worries about intermittent checking in — you can check in whenever, remember? ;D). In Week 11 she finished her Dropped Rib Vest (ooo), and in Week 12 she worked a bunch on her Leafy Lagoon tank (that sounds cute). Read about it on her blog.

Check-in for Week 13: What Have You Done Lately? (March 28-April 3)

What I did this week:

Sunday, I read some more of the Mary Thomas knitting book and plotted future designs. Monday, I knitted on my Silken Scabbard. Tuesday, I photographed some handspun, finished some art yarn, knit a couple of rows of the TwitKAL shawl, wove a square on my 10-inch frame loom, and spun a bit of a Spazzy Yarn batt. Wednesday, I took more yarn pics and started spinning another yarn for the shop. Thursday, the Internet went out (eek ;)), so I did lots of laundry and washed some yarn. Friday, there was still no Internet, so I did a butt-load more laundry, finished the yarn I started Wednesday, hemstitched the weaving that's been on my Cricket for a couple of months, spun yarn samples, and spun some of the wool/silk top I've been nursing for a while. Saturday, I finished spinning the wool/silk, took yarn pics, measured and weighed yarn, spun yarn samples, and played with the template designer on Blogger in Draft.

What did you craft this week?

(Don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!)