Arts/Crafts

Cold Sheep Update: I haven’t bought yarn for a year!

November 26, 2018 by amanda 2 Comments

After years of following along in the Stash Knit Down group on Ravelry, I decided last November that I’d bite the bullet… I’d go “Cold Sheep” (buy no new yarn) for 1 year. It helped that my dear friend had come to the same conclusion, and we decided to make a friendly wager. The first person who bought yarn would have to buy a skein to give to the “winner”… I love competition, so it was on!

I feel like I should mention that I have a little bit of an advantage… my “stash” also includes 8 adorable, baa-ing pets that happen to make wool. This means that I have a stash that’s constantly renewing itself. I do not need to buy yarn! If I need yarn that bad, I can always spin it up. Sure, it’ll take a lot longer, but I obviously didn’t get into knitting/spinning because I need instant gratification, LOL.

3/8ths of the reason that I have no excuse for buying yarn

In this past year, I’ve completed 54 projects for a total of 17,131 yards(!!!) but my stash still has a LONG way to go. I have quite a few sweater-quantities of yarn that I want to use up, including one that I spun during Spinzilla this year. (Pictured in the top photo.)

I thought for sure that when I hit the 1-year mark, I’d be ready to go on a buying spree, but the reality is that this year has taught me that I’m really content with my stash. There are so many skeins in my stash that I love, and they’re still waiting for me to get around to them. Knitting from stash has forced me to be more creative with yarn substitutions and patterns. It has taught me that there will always be more yarn, and I don’t need to get sucked into the fear of scarcity just because I see a pretty skein. If I don’t get that one, there will be plenty of others.

This week my friend broke her streak and bought some yarn. She sent me a gorgeous skein of Must Stash Yarn as my prize. I contemplated if I wanted to end my streak too, but I still don’t feel ready. I thought the Black Friday sales would be too much to resist, but they just weren’t that tempting.

I don’t know how much longer I’ll go, but I’d like to get my yarn to at least fit in my small set of IKEA cubes. With the fact that I keep making yarn from my wool, I don’t know if that’s even an attainable goal. I might need to start selling the stuff that I spin (or other yarn from stash) in order to make that happen. The good news is that my stash is 17K yards lighter than it was this time last year, and I feel really happy about reducing my consumerism at least a little.

If you’re thinking about Cold Sheeping in the new year, I say “Go for it!” You might realize that it’s not for you, but I bet you’ll learn some new things about yourself during the process. I definitely did!

Spring on the farm

February 10, 2017 by amanda Leave a Comment

I know, I know… It is still winter, but it is almost feeling like Spring around here. 🙂 Colorado has a weird way of teasing you. Today it is 80 degrees out, but tomorrow we’re expecting snow.

fullsizeoutput_15e5 — PeanutButter and Laurel

Still, here on the farm, we’re in full “Spring” mode. We’re clearing the garden and getting it ready, growing veggie and dye plants under lights in our sunroom, our sheep are pregnant(!), and plans have been made for incubating our Spring chicks.

Our rented ram, PeanutButter, just went back to his home after 2 months here on the farm. He is less than a year old, but he approached his job as a stud with MUCH enthusiasm. For the first few weeks, he hardly ate or slept because he was so focused on his task. Once his work was done, PeanutButter calmed down and spent lots of time in the pasture snuggling with the ewes and hanging out with our guard llamas. He learned that he really loves to be scratched, and the kids were so sad to have to send him home.

Some of my finished objects and WIPs for this year

Now that PeanutButter is gone, things are a little quieter around here. I’ve been working on decluttering a bit. As I organized my craft supplies, I realized that I had an embarrassing number of knitting WIPs on my needles. Now I am trying to clear at least one project off of my needles each week. So far I’m keeping up with my goal, which feels awesome. I’ve also cast on a bunch of new stuff, but we won’t talk about that for now. 😉

Finally, I’m getting back into the swing of training for my races this year. After finishing a 50-miler in December, I lost my running mojo for a while. Although I felt better than expected after the race, I just needed a mental break. The long hours of training in the months leading up to the race had left me a bit burnt out, and I needed to rediscover my love of running.

Now that it has been 2 months, I’m ready to get back into the groove of training. I signed up to run Leadville again, and my official workouts started on the 1st of February. My training runs have felt awesome, and it is so nice to have a fresh start.

In everything, I’m really enjoying the shift of seasons. The quiet that came in the darkest months, and the new growth that is starting as Spring draws nearer.

Glorious summer!

June 23, 2013 by amanda 3 Comments

This summer has been absolutely dreamy so far. We’ve been building forts, soaking up the sun and salty air, playing board games for hours at a time, reading amazing books, and crafting our hearts out. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous, and we have finally been here long enough that we are finding our “clan” and have plenty of like-minded friends to hang out with.

Some of our current favorites are:

Bird Bingo – This game has been getting hours of play each day. My oldest is a passionate birder, and it has been great to see everyone else (including the adults) expand our bird-identification skills and have fun at the same time. I also love that reading is not required, so all of my kids can play together.

Qwirkle – Another great board game that is great for all ages. This one allows kids (and adults) to work on strategy, matching, and simple math. We all love it!

Creativebug (and their awesome summer series for kids!) – Creativebug has been a favorite site of mine for months, and we are loving it even MORE since they are offering a ton of great workshops for kids. I have the monthly subscription, and I have taken workshops on embroidery, quilting, dress making, soap making, stamping, upcycling, you name it… They are taught by some of the best teachers (Natalie (Alabama) Chanin, Anna Maria Horner, Amy Karol, Kaffe Fassett, Rebecca Ringquist, Rad Megan, and so many more.) This week the kids and I worked on a quilt, an embroidery sampler, a table runner, and a teepee all inspired by Creativebug.

The picture above is of a wholecloth quilt that I am making, based on one of Anna Maria Horner’s Creativebug classes. The long orange stitches are basting stitches which will come out when I’m all done. 🙂 On the front you can see how I’m quilting around the motif, and the back shows just my stitches in my cotton thread.

The glorious beaches! – We’ve been spending at least one day a week unplugged, feet-in-the-sand, enjoying the beautiful Pacific Ocean. We usually go with friends, and often have the beach to ourselves for at least a good part of our day. Summer camps are incredibly popular in this area, which means that there still aren’t many families out and about, even though school is out. We’re happy that it isn’t crowded, but I feel a little sad that so few people around us are getting to enjoy all of the natural beauty of our area. Soon the fog will be rolling in, and these sunny days will be few and far between on the coast.

Project Based Homeschooling – We’ve always loved project-based learning, and Lori’s book and blog have been a long-time source of inspiration. I signed up for her upcoming master class, and I can’t wait to dig deeper.

This summer, my 11-year-old has decided to focus on an astronomy project. He is reading a ton of books on astronomy, mapping the night sky, and writing about what he sees each evening, inspired by websites like earthsky. We’ve been learning so much!

My 9-year-old is working on version 3 of her dog encyclopedia project. She has worked for several years on compiling information on breeds, illustrating, and writing a book. Each version of her book has been more refined and used additional sources. This year’s book is already looking amazing! I can’t wait to see the end result.

My 5-year-old decided that her project will be learning all about sewing. We’ve been reading lots of books and getting even more time with hands-on learning. It has been great.

So what are you and your family doing this summer? I’d love to hear more. Feel free to drop me an email or comment below. I always enjoy being inspired by other families!

Growing my craft

March 11, 2013 by amanda 1 Comment

I love making New Year’s resolutions. This year, I felt really stuck, though. I just couldn’t figure out how to put my hopes for the year into words.

Last year, I focused on quantity — I wanted to get 12 different groups of 12 things done. The year before that, I also focused on quantity — knitting up at least 50 items. This year I wanted something more meaningful, not just a numeric goal.

Over the past few weeks, I finally figured out what exactly it is that I want to work on: I want to get back to being more of a do-er. In the crises mode of the past two years, through my mom’s diagnosis with leukemia, her treatment, our big move to a new state, and my mom’s death, I feel like I’ve been treading water in terms of the things I am able to do for my household. I was able to maintain the skills that I already knew, and continue to do those things for my family, but I haven’t been able to grow my skill set. This year, I decided that I really want to learn new things and continue to find ways to be more of a producer rather than more of a consumer.

I’ve found so many fun projects to work on this year that are growing my skills, and I am loving it. I’ve started working on reverse applique and hand-sewing my own clothes. I bought my supplies through Alabama Chanin, and I have found the process so relaxing and fun. Here is one of the shirts that I’ve been working on. Once I finish backstitching around the stencils, I’ll cut out the top layer on the inside, to reveal the cream material underneath. I can’t wait to model it!

I was also inspired by French Kids Eat Everything to really dress up my table and have a nice tablecloth. I looked on etsy, and found so many beautiful ones, but decided to give it a try myself. I’m currently working on hand-stitching a border around the oilcloth that I bought, and I am loving it.

Also, I was inspired by the doll blanket that I made my daughter for Christmas to try to make a king-sized version. I know, it is crazy, but it is the perfect project when I just need some mindless crochet.

The "grown-up" version — The “grown-up” version

So, are you working on anything new? I love inspiration!

Craft Activism

March 15, 2012 by amanda Leave a Comment

One thing that I love is when a book inspires me to do something that I wouldn’t attempt otherwise. Craft Activism by Joan Tapper and Gale Zucker managed to do just that. 🙂

I belong to a few websites that offer copies of books for bloggers to review. We aren’t obliged to post about the books, but I love to share when I find a good one. When I saw Craft Activism listed on one of these sites, I was really excited. I’ve heard great things about this book, and the topic is one that is dear to my heart.

Craft Activism is a celebration of people who are passionate about DIY, creating and making a statement. Some of the ideas are ones that get a fair amount of press (yarn bombing, quilting to raise awareness, etc.), whereas others are ideas that I’ve never heard of apart from this book. One such crafter is Ruth Marshall, who hand knits some amazing, intricate “pelts” of big cats and other animals. She is trying to raise awareness about poaching and other issues that are threatening wild animals. For each crafter who is profiled, there is also a pattern so you can join in on their movement. For Ruth Marshall, there is a scarf pattern that looks like an ocelot. The pattern for the color work is breathtaking. I can’t wait to try it!

Some of the other projects in the book include a sassy sweater with pro-cycling (as opposed to anti-cycling) color work, a small quilt with a message for peace, a pattern for sewing an adorable, modern housedress, a crochet granny square greenbag, and so much more. The project pages are widely varied, and I think anyone could find something to try. I love that they encompass so many crafts, and not just one or two.

I was inspired by the section on embroidery to pick my needle back up. I haven’t embroidered (apart from the small amount done on knit toys) since I was a child. Reading the section on embroidery with attitude made me really miss it. I had so much fun tracing the pattern onto the tea towel and firing up my needle. I’ve since remembered how relaxing embroidery is. How could I’ve forgotten?! Watching me embroider inspired my 8-year-old daughter to pick up her needles too, so now we’re sharing the craft together. She has decided to work on a fairy design. If you’d like to try the pattern that I’m working on from the book, there is a copy of it here. It is a tea towel that says “Hot Stuff” and has a volcano. It is so cute.

P1000511 — The start of my "Hot Stuff' embroidery

There are so many projects in this book that I can’t wait to try. I love that it has helped me think of new ways to express myself through crafting. It has really encouraged me that I am not alone in my desire to share my passions by creating. It is such a beautiful portrait of the many faces of crafting and how we are all so different and yet so alike. I hope you check it out and enjoy it too!

Charity Knitting – 5 Ways You Can Help

February 23, 2012 by amanda 2 Comments

First, I want to apologize for my absence on here. We’ve had a tough couple of weeks, with my mom in the ICU due to complications from her leukemia / bone marrow transplant. She is still in the hospital, but things are more stable than they were before. Cancer is such a horrible disease, and we’ve really been reminded of that over the past few weeks.

We flew to be near my mom, and I really wanted to knit and create while we were there. I didn’t want to make just anything, though. I wanted to work on projects that could give back somehow. I think that tough times remind me of how much suffering there is in the world, and it gives me a kick in the pants to start helping some more.

Luckily, I’ve had the privilege of knitting for several great charities over the past few years, so I knew what kind of items I could make. I’d love to share some of them, and hopefully get more knitters involved. 🙂 When I first started looking for charity knitting a few years ago, I was overwhelmed at the choices. I wanted to find reputable charities that were truly getting the items to those in need. I’ve found several great organizations that do just that. A lot of these projects use scrap amounts of yarn and a minimal amount of time. If your kids know how to knit, these projects are simple enough that they can get involved.

1. Mother Bear Project

What it is: The Mother Bear Project is a group that provides a simple gift of hope and love through a hand-knit or crocheted bear to children affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations. Each bear is signed with the name of the person who made the bear. The coordinators at the Mother Bear Project take pictures of the children receiving their bears and email/post them. As always, the pictures from the latest distribution are so beautiful. They have stories on their webpage from some of the children who have received the bears, if you’re in the mood for a good cry. 😉

How you can get involved: All of the bears for the Mother Bear Project use the same WWII-era pattern. It is SIMPLE, which has been great for me. I need mindless knitting right now! The whole bear is basically made as a tube (knit flat or in the round, you decide), and then you split for the legs and pick up for the arms. The clothes are knit as part of the bear. I can finish a bear in a few hours of work, and they only require about 35 yards of 3 colors of yarn. If you have 50 yards of each, you can easily embellish as you wish. The bears do not need to be “realistically” colored (duh, they are wearing clothes, y’know…) so any yarn in your stash can be used!

The flat version of the Mother Bear pattern is available in the beautiful book, Knit for Peace, and it is also archived on the DIY Network’s site. If you have the $5 to spare, I really encourage you to order the pattern directly from Mother Bear. They will send you the pattern in the mail as well as a brochure explaining the program and a tag to attach to the first bear with your name on it. When you mail in your first bear (or set of bears) they will send you more tags. If you mail in more bears than you have tags, they’ll write tags for you.

For each bear that you send in, they ask for $3 to cover the “bear fare” (the costs to fly and get the bears into their new country.) When you pay for the pattern, your first bear’s “bear fare” is included in the cost, so there is no need to send in $3.

For more information, the Mother Bear Ravelry group is excellent. They host monthly challenges that include drawings for yarn and other knitty prizes 🙂

2. Wool-Aid

What it is: Wool Aid is a community of knitters that creates warm clothing for children in the coldest climates that have the least access to resources. All items knit for Wool-Aid need to be made of natural fibers of at least a worsted weight. The thicker the better.

How you can get involved: The Wool-Aid Ravelry group is a wealth of information. They keep an updated list of all of the current campaigns. Their blog also has details on where knit items are currently being sent and what is most needed. If you want to get involved, join the ravelry group or read on their website for which items are currently needed and their guidelines, and then mail them to their headquarters. I recently participated in a campaign for children impacted by the earthquake in Tibet, and I was so happy to be able to create some warmth to children who really need it.

3. Mittens for Akkol

What it is: Mittens for Akkol is a group that knits for an orphanage in Akkol, Kazakhstan. Akkol is very cold, with snow starting in August and lasting through April. Temperatures reach 40 below 0 and the orphanage is not well-heated. The organization was started by two parents who went to adopt two children and then realized that they wanted to help all of the children there in any way that they could. Each year the very active yahoo group makes up a database for all of the “graduating” children in the orphanage (those who have to leave because of their age) and helps to make a warm wardrobe for them, including thin and thick socks, sweaters and scarves. Each grad asks for certain colors, and knitters sign up based on what they would like to make. The group has a hard deadline for when the items will be delivered. They are flown out there in luggage and hand-delivered. It is beautiful to watch as everyone works to complete the projects for those children. The group also works on items for the “baby house” and other projects each year.

How you can help: Join the yahoo group and/or ravelry group, and see what is currently needed. There are always new campaigns cycling through, so it is easy to get involved.

4. Bundles of Joy

What it is: Bundles of Joy is a group that supports babies in the Pine Ridge Hospital OB Ward (which is part of the Pine Ridge Reservation.) Poverty is extensive on the reservation, and many of the babies have no clothes or other items waiting for them when they go home.

How you can help: Join the ravelry group and see what current campaigns are running. Bundles of Joy accepts non-knitted items as well, so feel free to check out their ravelry group and see what items are needed the most right now.

5. Your local hospital/homeless shelter

This one doesn’t need much of a description, but I really encourage you to see what is available in your hometown. When my mom was in treatment in Colorado, she was so blessed by the hand knit items that were donated to the hospital (and made by us.) A soft, fuzzy hat can bring more comfort to a cancer patient than you could ever imagine. Most hospitals have programs. Ravelry allows you to search by location, and you can easily see what kinds of opportunities are available in your hometown. If nothing is available, try calling your local hospitals as well as domestic violence, homeless and pet shelters. Needs are different depending on the population that is served, so you can easily find charities that would love items made out of yarn that might otherwise seem undesirable. For example, most cancer wards prefer that you use acrylic, whereas charities like Wool Aid or Mittens for Akkol are happy to take items that are not machine washable, since the population that they help doesn’t have washing machines.

If you knit for a great charity that isn’t mentioned here, please feel free to leave a note in the comments or email me. I’d love to hear about them and share the word!