How I spent my summer vacation, Part I

My house is quiet. Really really quiet. The kids are in school. The pets are lounging in their favorite cozy spots. The hubby's at work. I'm here. Alone. Hold on, I'm taking a moment -

...Wow. This is kind of weird... and nice.

I realized about a week after all the busyness and craziness of summer were behind me that I still have a blog, which has been neglected since the start of the summer. I didn't really intend to take the summer off from blogging. Last summer, I had a bunch of blog posts with all the things I was up to creatively. But this summer, it kind of got pushed aside. With both kids starting school this year, I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them. That fuzzy sentiment started waning around late July when I heard the umpteenth fight over whose turn it was to play with Luke Skywalker/the red piece of sidewalk chalk/the giant stick in the yard/the sand bucket/the BIG shovel/the other shovel... you get the idea. I know, I know - bad mom. But thankfully, I had my little guy's 3rd birthday and a vacation to ready for, and then it was back to school mode through the start of school.

But I do have a few projects to share from the summer....

I made these guys for two birthday boys this summer. I'm not sure what to call them, since disembodied heads of Star Wars characters doesn't sound right. Stress balls? Hackysacks? No wait, please don't kick them. I don't know. I think they're kind of cute though. I winged the pattern for them, but I think they turned out ok. I'm going to try to replicate them for my kids, so when I do, I'll probably write down what I do.

I've got a few more projects I can't wait to share. I was able to finish most of my summer projects, and have a few recipes to share too. And I am blocking my Featherweight Cardigan as I type this, which is very exciting. I missed my goal of having it done by my vacation, but it will be a great sweater for the fall and spring.

Resolutions

I've never been one for resolutions. Ok, ok, I've made resolutions, so I'll rephrase. I've never been one for sticking to resolutions. I guess that's pretty universal - does anybody really? I resolve on January 1 to take better care of myself. And by January 4 I'm eating a bowl of Corn Pops and three - yes, just three - bites of chocolate cake for lunch. Not one of my better moments.

But I guess you have to keep trying. The chocolate cake went into the trash, and I spent the next day trying to declutter our family room - another one of those resolutions: get our house organized and decluttered. So as I'm going through the tangle of yarn, needles, hooks, beads and wire that resides in a basket by my couch - a literal tangle of all these things, mind you- I start to think that I really should be making some crafty type resolutions as well. Keeping better track of and organizing my supplies immediately springs to mind. But it seems the right time of year to set goals for myself creatively. And considering how knitting/crochet/crafty stuff somehow always seem to take priority over those other pesky tasks like, say, cleaning and organizing, perhaps these are resolutions I might actually be able to stick to.

So in no particular order, and off the top of my head.... this year, I want to:

• Knit and FINISH a sweater for myself.
• Explore colorwork a little more - work more with Fair Isle and try intarsia.
• Start and hopefully finish a blanket for my son.
• Work more with wire knitting and crochet.
• Decrease my yarn stash by (gulp) half.
• Learn needle felting.
• Post at least weekly to my blog.

I think I like creative resolutions a lot more than the other kind. Now off to decrease that stash of mine - starting with a nice chunk of Brooks Farm Solo Silk leftover from my Clapotis.

So tell me, what are your creative resolutions?

Unwrapped

Now that the holidays are safely behind us, I can share some of the projects I've been working on - generally in a panic - throughout the past month and a half. As usual, I took on a bit more than I should have between everything else I want/need to do at Christmastime. So I've got to say, I was really proud of myself for getting everything finished and wrapped in time for Christmas.

French Press slippers
I knew right away that I wanted to knit a pair of French Press Slippers for my sister. These are slippers I've been coveting since I first saw them, and I knew they were her style as well. The pieces that make up the slippers are a wonderfully quick knit. The end result is very long and floppy and looks nothing like the photo. Until you throw them in your washing machine and the little felting gnomes come out with their little felting magic to take your weird floppy looking knitted... things and turns them into soft, felty, snuggly slippers. Thank you felting gnomes.

Coffee cuff
This cuff (pattern found here)seemed like a cute way to package a coffee shop gift card for my daughter's preschool teacher. And a nice quick knit too.

Felted clogs
The pattern is so clever. Somehow the entire slipper is one piece, with minimal seaming (much appreciated after all the seaming involved for the French Press Slippers). It was a lot of fun to see these come together. My first knitted gift for my mother in law.

Panda hat
I had gotten a cute panda outfit for my cousin's newborn daughter, but it seemed incomplete. Crochet to the rescue! In two evenings I had a matchy matchy panda hat.

I also made a crocheted wire bracelet for my mom, but completely forgot to photograph it before I gave it to her. Is it odd to ask someone if you can photograph their gift once it's gifted?

I'll have some big (well, big for me) crafty news coming up soon. I'm very excited for the start of the new year and some new projects. Happy 2011!

From yarn to wire

When I first started knitting, I came across Knitty Gritty, a television show devoted to modern hipster knitting projects. Of course, I once saw a knitted tissue box cover on there, so "modern" and "hipster" are relative terms. But there was one episode I ended up saving on my DVR for months (and likely deleted to make room for yet another Imagination Movers) about wire knitting. I wasn't crazy about the projects they had done, but the idea intrigued me. I wasn't quite there yet with my own knitting, and not quite ready to take on the challenge. About a year ago, though, I thought why not? I bought some beading wire, a string of cheap beads, grabbed my knitting needles and set to work.

Massive fail.

I had the wire wrong, the needle size and type wrong. About 3 hours, one jumbled mess of wire and beads and two gouged bamboo needles later (RIP my lovely Chiao Goos - alas wood needles and wire do not mix), I threw everything back into the store bag and shoved it in the bottom of my stash box.

Then on a lark, I took the bag out and brought it with me on a weekend crafting retreat. A good friend (thanks Jenn E!)taught me how to crochet, and something clicked. I crocheted a granny square, then I took out the wire and beads and the lone hook I had and made a necklace. The wire took on a whole new form when it was crocheted in a simple chain rather than knit - light, airy, flexible, a perfect base for whatever I wanted to string on to the wire. I knew I had found something new to love.

Since that first necklace, I've moved on to other necklaces and bracelets, trying different styles, different type of wire and different beads. As if the thrill of new yarn wasn't enough (Yes, that really is the kind of geek I am. New yarn THRILLS me.), now there's a whole new section to ooh and ahh over.

Above is one of my favorite pieces I've made so far. It's fairly simple - craft wire crocheted with these little Czech glass beads I picked up at Crystal Bead Bazaar in Lawrenceville. What an awesome store. But that's a subject for another post.

And this weekend I made a big leap - I actually gifted my first piece of jewelry. Granted, it was to my sister, who I think by law has to like everything I make for her, but I think she really did like it. It was a cuff bracelet, crocheted with the same black wire, mother of pearl coin beads and little silvery gray pearls.
I was really pleased with how it turned out, and, of course, completely forgot to photograph the finished piece. Instead, here's the bracelet I wore this weekend - smokey quartz colored wire with fire polished glass beads.

Tonight or tomorrow I'll be making something completely different - blueberry jam. Can't wait to share that with you... the photos, that is. The jam is all mine. Until then...

Something new

I have been staring at this blank form for what seems like forever. I wanted my first blog post to be witty and clever. I wanted it to tell you all about me in a way that doesn't seem like I'm trying too hard or that I'm trying to come off as something I'm not. I want the perfect first blog post. And because of that, I've stared at an empty blank post form for days. Well, not just staring. Typing a few things, then deeming it not good enough, too quirky, not quirky enough... you get the idea. Instead of just starting, I get wrapped up in the details of starting, wanting that first try, that first effort, to be perfect. This is the story of most of my endeavors.

I remember when I worked as a reporter, staring at that blank screen, willing the perfect lede (newspaper speak for a story's first sentence) to come to me so that I could write the rest of the words I already had banging around in my brain. People would tell me to just start writing, then go back to the lede. But I can't. It's just not how my brain works - I need that jumping off point. That first sentence was and still is the hardest. But once it's there, it's like opening the flood gates, everything just pours out of me. It's just getting there, getting that perfect start so I can move on... that's the challenge.

But it's time for something new. My days of writing ledes and editing copy full time are long behind me, replaced with days spent playing princesses, exploring new playgrounds, potty training, building block towers and baking cupcakes. In between, I've been exploring my own interests and hobbies, and surprisingly, they haven't involved writing. I have found that I love working with my hands, and even more so, I love MAKING: simply the act of working to create something tangible. I learned to knit a few years ago, and a few months ago, I learned to crochet. From there, I've gotten into knitting and crocheting with wire, which has turned out some really cool pieces of jewelry. If I can get over my fear of failure, you might be seeing some of it on Etsy. Until then, I'll be talking about them here.

So here it is: Maggi Makes. It's a chance to explore writing again and to share some of what I've been up to -- knitting, crochet, baking, cooking, making. This is my new endeavor, and here's my jumping off point - I'm ready to take the leap.