Lazy afternoons... right.

My little guy has been fighting me tooth and nail on naps. It's made for a wonderful series of comical mishaps during our afternoons as we try to work though the whole "if you don't want to nap you need to stay in your room for some quiet time" thing. Broken mirrors! Foot after foot of tooth floss emptied out of containers! Missing keys! Headless toys! Cries for snacks every 15 minutes! Comical, right? I'm sure I'll look back on it some day that way. I hope.

In the meantime, though, it hasn't left much time for writing on my blog. I like to keep my evenings to actually making things instead of blogging about making things, so the afternoon nap/quiet time is the perfect time to sit down and write. Not so much the past couple of weeks.

But the making has continued, even if the blog has not. I've tried a few new recipes, which I can't wait to share, and I've got a new make - these very-cool-if-I-do-say-so-myself earrings, made with Habu Silk Stainless. I love them, and I can't wait to keep playing with this yarn.

I'll need to add a picture of me actually wearing them, but right now I've got the whole its almost 90 degrees outside and I've got no air conditioning look about me, so that will have to wait until later.

I need to get back to working on my Featherweight Cardigan. I am making some decent progress on it -- I'm currently working on the second sleeve. I had a bit of delay because of couple of my size 6 double pointed needles went missing (likely from the same imp mentioned above), but have since reappeared. My goal is to have it done by the first (official) day of summer.

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.