Goal Number One

I don't like to make New Year's resolutions.

I find them hard to keep, plus January is usually a VERY busy time of year for me, so it's hard to get started on new things. I just got back from a weeklong trip to Japan for work, and got back just in time to grade piles and piles of midyears. Instead of grading those midyears, I'm going to spend a few minutes thinking about what I would like to accomplish in the creative part of my life this year.

Recently, I've been thinking about why I like to make things. Sometimes, I make things that are useful. Often, I make things that are not useful, or in any case, not useful to me. Keith will often ask me what I'm working on, and then ask...why? Often, I don't have a good answer. I just like to make things. I find it soothing.

But then, what do I do with the things I make? Some people make things and sell them, but I don't think I have that kind of drive, at least not at this point in my life.

However, I think it would be nice to have a little more purpose behind my crafting. Hence, goal number one:

Every month, I want to choose a charity, and make a donation of something I have made.

Since January has mostly gone by, for February I have chosen to make a donation to Knitting and Giving, a charity group based in Connecticut that collects hand-made items for homeless shelters and poor families. For my donations, I've started turning my leftover stash yarn into hats for newborns. They knit up quick, and it's easy to try different variations so you don't get bored. I found about a billion free patterns on ravelry - I liked this one, which was very simple and easy to experiment with.

I know not a lot of people read this blog, but would anyone out there be interested in crafting and giving this year?

A Travel Necessity

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm planning on doing some traveling next week. And in the wintertime, Keith and I do a lot of back and forth between home and Maine for skiing. One of the biggest annoyances of travel, for me, is laundry. I always end up with random socks and underwear stuffed into corners of my suitcase.

Luckily, Keith has an abundance of super-large t-shirts, like this one.


And with a little bit of fiddling, I was able to turn it into this (apologies for my terrible photography!)


It slips easily over the doorknob, or on a towel hook, to hold dirty clothes. On the way over, I'll use it to hold my shoes so they don't mess my clothes up in the suitcase!

It's not beautiful, but it sure is useful. Want to see how I did it?

First, I cut the hem off the bottom of the t-shirt. Then, I cut off the sleeves. I angled the cut so that I'd have as much of the t-shirt body left as possible, like so:



Then, I cut off the top of the shirt just below the neckline:

I turned mine inside out, so the original t-shirt design is inside my bag. I put a little star on the new outside, because I wanted to. Then, I sewed up the bottom of the shirt, and the holes where the sleeves were. That left me with a bag that looked something like this:

(It's actually much more even than it looks in the picture!)

I cut off one of the sleeves and cut a strip out of it that was about 12x3". (That's the handle.) I folded it over and sewed up the long seam...

And then turned it inside out. To give it a more finished look on the inside (because I'm weird like that) I folded the ends in and sewed them as well, like so:
Now, back to the bag. I folded the top over, and the folded it again, so that the raw edge wouldn't show.I stitched over the fold, leaving quite a bit of space so there would be room for the drawstring. The first time, I didn't pin it, and then later wished I had.

And, voila! Time to attach the strap. I put mine in the back, and stitched over the existing seams (so there's room for the drawstring to go through!)

I cut a little hole between the two straps, and used a safety pin to lead the string around the top of the bag. For the drawstring, I just used the hem I had cut off the t-shirt.

Voila! Rufio approves :)

A million uses for an old T-shirt

Since we got married, dear hubby and I have been trying to cut down on the clutter. We both came into this marriage with quite a bit of stuff, and now we have to combine.

However, I have a problem. I have a really hard time throwing stuff away.

I always think to myself...what if I need that again someday? Won't I regret throwing it away if I someday have to spend money to buy a new one?

But when you live in a one-bedroom condo, you can't keep everything. We have basically no storage space at all. We keep our seasonal decorations in the attic at my parents' house, and Keith still has loads of stuff that has never even made it's way over here.

The outgrowth of these two problems - overwhelming amounts of stuff, and inability to throw things away - has had some creative consequences.

Keith has more t-shirts than anyone I know. Most of them, I think, he has gotten for free over the years. So, a raiding of his t-shirt pile was an easy step to decreasing the amount of "stuff" in our home. I have already decreased my pile of t-shirts by making a T-shirt Quilt, and I'm in the process of making one for hubby as well. But in the meantime, I've found lots of uses for old t-shirts.

From a variety of old shirts, I knitted a rug for our kitchen floor. It's much nicer than standing on the cold tile, and washes easily.

From a too-small t-shirt with a cute logo, I made this little bag. It's perfect for storing the essentials in my big ski bag - deodorant, tape, batteries, for my boot warmers, etc. That way, the little things don't get lost.
Members of the ski team I coach tend to leave things behind - and once they've been in the lost and found for a whole year, I consider them fair game. Hence, a little coin purse.


I have a few more up my sleeve, but those will have to wait. I'm preparing for a big trip next week - going to Japan for a week! I'll be working most of the time, but hope I'll find some time to do a little sightseeing as well!

Green Crafting

Today, I finally felt like I started to get into the holiday spirit. Keith and I did a little Christmas shopping, and I got to do a little bit of Christmas crafting!

Last week, my mother sent me an email suggesting fabric gift bags for holiday gift wrapping, with the idea that reusable bags would cut down on the time we spend wrapping gifts. Earlier this week, I read on MegaCrafty about all the waste that is caused by holiday gift wrap. According to the EPA, between Thanksgiving and New Years, Americans generate 25% more waste than normal. I read here that during this period, Americans buy 2.65 BILLION Christmas cards, and there is a 40% spike in the purchase of batteries. Most gift wrap, apparently, is not recyclable, so it all goes directly to the landfill.

So, I decided to take a tiny baby step towards reducing waste. (Side note: check out our baby tree! Our place is too small for a real one, but it doesn't quite feel like Christmas without one. For some reason, the cat LOVES this tree...by which I mean loves to eat it...which is odd because it's plastic!)

I looked at a tutorial here, but honestly, it was pretty easy to figure out. I had some holiday fabric left over from last year, and cut it to fit some gifts I have already bought. Then I made a few more for gifts I intend to purchase...or because I think it will be useful to just have some on hand. The most time consuming part was just cutting things properly, and that's probably just because I am completely incapable of cutting in a straight line. Each bag probably took 10-15 minutes to make.

So this year, after Christmas when holiday fabric goes on sale, I'm going to buy a bunch and make some more. They're just as pretty as paper gift wrap, and so much more practical!

Something I'd like to try...

Anybody ever seen these before?

Sailor's Valentines were originally made (or brought home) in the 1800s by sailors traveling long distances who wanted something beautiful to bring home for a loved one. Sailors would decorate octagonal boxes with local seashells, often including a sentimental message ("Forget-me-not" was understandably a popular theme). The island of Barbados, often a stopping point on long voyages, became a popular place to buy Sailor's Valentines for those who did not make their own.

The one in the picture above was made by my grandmother, with a sailing ship scrimshaw in the center.This one is my favorite. The center is a picture of my grandfather, which was actually printed in National Geographic magazine after he went on a sailing trip with them. The shells spell out "Love is Forever".

As a history teacher, I love when creativity and history intersect. I like knowing that I'm part of a continuum of people who make stuff - although my reasons for making things might be different, I like to think about why people made things and what significance the things they made held for them. I can only imagine what a cherished gift a valentine like this would have been, brought home by a loved one who had spent years away at sea. I think the history of these beautiful valentines is fascinating, and I definitely want to try and make one - perhaps as a valentine for my sweetie?

Has anyone out there ever made one before? I'd love to hear about your experience.

Some other things I've been up to...

The odds and ends of my craftiness...

This sweater started out as a baby size...it ended up almost big enough for me to wear. (Yet another lesson in the importance of knitting a gauge swatch...but since it wasn't intended for anyone in particular, I just left it). The yarn is nice and fluffy, though!

Some tiny socks for a friend having a baby!
And, to use up the last of that yarn, some tiny Christmas ornaments :)

I donated the sweater and ornaments, among other things, to my church's annual fair. It's the biggest fundraiser of the year for us, and I'm always amazed at the incredible stuff people make and donate!
I just love these little bags shaped like fruit!And personalized marshmallow roasters...Keith and I are in charge of the book room (I always take home boxes of them...which I mostly read and then give away or donate back the next year). Isn't he cute?
So many books...

The fair is, for me, the beginning of the holiday season, and one of my favorite parts of getting ready for Christmas. Anybody else out there in blogland have any fun, crafty pre-Christmas traditions?

Today, I want to share a little bit about my crafty roots!

This is my nana in her studio.
Since 1984, she has been making and selling Nantucket baskets, as well as offering classes through her home studio, known as Peg Hall Studios. The name of her studio comes from her mother-in-law, Margaret (Peg) Hall, an accomplished author and artist in her own right (I'll have to blog about her another time).

Nantucket lightship baskets originated in the 1860s, when "light ships" were commissioned to warn ships of the dangerous shoals off the southern coast of Nantucket. Life on a lightship was tedious, so the men on the ships took up basketmaking to relieve the boredom. The resulting baskets are strong and beautiful, and are now made in a wide variety of styles and colors, including purses, often known as "friendship" purses. Nantucket baskets last so long that they are often described by the rhyme:

"I was made on Nantucket, I'm strong and I'm stout, don't lose me or burn me and I'll never wear out!"

I recently decided that I wanted to learn how to make baskets like my grandmother, and have been impressed by how detailed the work is and how strong the finished product is. I just finished my first basket! (Actually, I made one when I was a kid...I started it when I was 8, and finished when I was 18...so I don't really count that one :)

Here are some of my Nana's designs:


And here's the plug: Peg Hall Studios has joined the 21st century by setting up an Etsy shop! Please check it out here - Nantucket baskets make beautiful, timeless gifts for the holiday season!