I love books — old, new, hardback, paperback, electronic — I just can’t get enough of them. I am currently downsizing my collection, but couldn’t resist going to our city library’s book sale. I found non-fiction titles for myself, brand new books that will become gifts for others, and children’s books for [...]]]>

I love books — old, new, hardback, paperback, electronic — I just can’t get enough of them. I am currently downsizing my collection, but couldn’t resist going to our city library’s book sale. I found non-fiction titles for myself, brand new books that will become gifts for others, and children’s books for my daughter.

Of course I had to check out the craft books and I came home with some not-so-typical choices. No sewing, knitting or crochet! Here’s what I got:

The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to Be The Artist You Truly Are This book looks like fun. Here’s the sentence on the back cover that sold me: “Somewhere deep inside, we all have a longing to make things — be they drawings, music, hand-knit sweaters or loaves of bread.”

Country Living Making & Displaying Quilts I don’t ever see myself making a quilt and don’t own any other quilt books, but I love Country Living publications. The beautiful pictures always inspire me.

Crafts and Keepsakes for the Holidays: Christmas with Martha Stewart Living I don’t own any holiday craft books, either. I am still committed to handmade holiday gifts and there are some really cute ideas in here, plus lots of yummy recipes.

Good Things from Tag Sales and Flea Markets Does this book even need an explanation? Honestly, I think I have checked out this exact copy at least twice. It’s filled with information on how to shop, what to buy, and how to restore thrifted items.

Print Magazine’s 2004 European Design Annual: Print is one of my favorite graphic design magazines. I love all of the annuals, but there’s something special about the European edition. It’s a nice change of pace from the design we are surrounded by every day.

I’ll be devouring these over the next few weeks and will let you know how they are. I’m curious what everyone else is reading these days.

Share your favorite crafty recommendations in the comments!

I find this time of year difficult. I love Autumn. I can’t wait for bright red and yellow leaves, crisp breezes, wool scarves and pumpkin soup. I have to stop and remind myself that the last few weeks of summer are also wonderful:

A few months ago when Amanda wrote about her love for [...]]]> I have a lot of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s books. In fact, one of the first books I read when I started knitting was Knitting Without Tears. Elizabeth’s attitude was so confident and fearless. I was instantly addicted.

A few months ago when Amanda wrote about her love for EZ, I realized that I have never read The Opinionated Knitter. What? When I checked the library, I found they didn’t have it. Double What? Thanks to the wonders of Interlibrary Loan, I’ve spent the past month pouring over the pages.

The graphic designer in me loves the diverse typography. Just look at her signature—so bold and beautiful! And her newsletters are typed by hand—simply awesome.

All of the artwork is hand drawn by EZ. I didn’t realize that these (free!) newsletters were for her wool customers. How did I miss that she designed patterns and sold wool?

I adore these excerpts of her handwritten journal.

Happy knitting, indeed.

I am fascinated with all of the beautiful projects crafty people are making with coffee bean sacks. I’ve been meaning to make a covered bulletin board like this one for a long time. I just never got my act together and actually got the sack.

Then I found [...]]]>

I am fascinated with all of the beautiful projects crafty people are making with coffee bean sacks. I’ve been meaning to make a covered bulletin board like this one for a long time. I just never got my act together and actually got the sack.

Then I found this great piece of burlap and decided I just had to get it up. There was no sewing involved. I used 3M removable hooks instead of putting holes in the wall. The grommets were from my stash. The whole thing took less than an hour from start to finish.

Now I just need to start filling it with inspiration!

A few days ago I discovered Austin Kleon’s How to steal like an artist (and 9 other things nobody told me). It’s [...]]]> Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity. Isn’t it weird that when you have something on your mind, you start to see references to the same thing all over the place?

A few days ago I discovered Austin Kleon’s How to steal like an artist (and 9 other things nobody told me). It’s a list of things I’ve learned over the past 20 years living a professional creative life all summed up neatly in one blog post. How convenient! Here are my favorite quotes:

• We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
• Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of previous ideas.
• …it’s in the act of making things that we figure out who we are.
• Ask any real artist, and they’ll tell you the truth: they don’t know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing.
  Every day. (Emphasis mine.)

Today I stumbled across a talk given by “Eat, Pray, Love” author Elizabeth Gilbert where she “muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius.”

Her advice to creatives echos the same sentiment as the last bullet point above.

…don’t be afraid. Don’t be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be. If your job is to dance, do your dance. If the divine, cockeyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed, for just one moment through your efforts, then “Ole!” And if not, do your dance anyhow. And “Ole!” to you, nonetheless. I believe this and I feel that we must teach it. “Ole!” to you, nonetheless, just for having the sheer human love and stubbornness to keep showing up.

Wow. Enough deep thoughts for today? Links found via Kirsty and Kate, respectively.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I’ve been getting [...]]]> I love e-window shopping on the Tiffany website. I get all happy when they send me a new email. Their product photography is so perfect and their jewelry designs are so timeless. My favorites are the pieces in their sterling silver collection.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I’ve been getting (almost) daily emails filled with all sorts of beautiful hearts. Whenever I see the Return to Tiffany heart, I think of my little crochet heart pattern. They are about the same size and shape. I thought it would be cool to turn my little heart into a Tiffany-inspired charm.

I made a few and decided the less fuzzy the yarn the better. The pink heart is Koigu, I think. It makes a nice loop without interfering with the heart shape. I really wanted the sparkly silver and gray yarn to work better, but the loop was too bulky. It looks nice all by itself, though.

This is something that’s been bouncing around in my head for awhile. I’m glad I finally took a few minutes to sort it out. It really only took a few minutes, too. Love those little crochet hearts!

stash: pink yarn from the bits and bobs, silver and gray yarn from a recycled sweater, crochet heart pattern from the archives

The time for holiday crafting is almost up and I’m almost finished. I didn’t have too much to make this year because I bought a lot of gifts off of etsy.com. Still, there are a few things that need to get done. Cal Patch’s book is making it hard to stay [...]]]>

The time for holiday crafting is almost up and I’m almost finished. I didn’t have too much to make this year because I bought a lot of gifts off of etsy.com. Still, there are a few things that need to get done. Cal Patch’s book is making it hard to stay on track.

I got this as an early Christmas present and there are so many things I want to try! I haven’t even had a chance to sit down and read it, although I did look at the pictures. The day after Christmas I’ll be all over it!

How are you doing in the final days of gift preparation? Are you braving the malls for last minute gifts? Logging extra hours crafting in the wee hours? Share in the comments!

Some enjoy 24 Hours of Le Mans or 24 Hours of Daytona. I prefer 24 Hours of Craft. Last weekend I attended another local craft retreat. It was just as much fun as the first one. I brought my sewing machine this time and was very productive.

• [...]]]>

Some enjoy 24 Hours of Le Mans or 24 Hours of Daytona. I prefer 24 Hours of Craft. Last weekend I attended another local craft retreat. It was just as much fun as the first one. I brought my sewing machine this time and was very productive.

• finished a beach blanket wedding gift
• used the Big Kick for the first time to patch my daughter’s jeans
• sewed half of a rollie pollie (bean bag chair)
• hemmed a pair of my daughter’s jeans
• taught friends how to unravel a sweater for yarn

The one thing I kept thinking all weekend was sewing [insert any craft here] isn’t hard. Finding time and space to get a project finished is the challenge. No one played with the on/off switch on my machine or jumped up and down on the fabric I had laid out on the floor. I didn’t have to stop and make food or put anyone to bed. I worked from 1 pm to 1 am on Saturday and then after breakfast on Sunday until checkout.

Thank you Kaitlyn for organizing this event and for the super cool pin. The weekend was just what I needed to get my sewing mojo back.

Our Sunday class at retreat wasn’t really a class, but more of an exercise. Anne led us in a morning of meditation and contemplative knitting. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work for me. I’ve never been good at meditation. Things are always popping into my head — what’s [...]]]>

Our Sunday class at retreat wasn’t really a class, but more of an exercise. Anne led us in a morning of meditation and contemplative knitting. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work for me. I’ve never been good at meditation. Things are always popping into my head — what’s for dinner, need to email that file, got to finish the laundry. When Anne suggested we try for 10 minutes I didn’t think I would make it, but she offered a tip that really worked for me. You pick a word — something with no emotional attachment — and when a random thought enters your mind, you say that word to bring yourself back to meditation. It worked. I was really surprised. I went the whole 10 minutes.

Then we tried contemplative knitting. It’s the same type of meditation, but this time with a few balls of yarn and needles in hand. We knit for 15 minutes: any amount of stitches, any stitch pattern. The key is to be aware of the yarn in your hands making each stitch. This time something amazing happened. The random thoughts that went through my mind were no longer about mundane things. They were creative ideas about patterns, designs, projects, color and texture. I still used my word to shake them away, but I was excited that they were there and that I remembered them afterward.

I’m so glad Anne came and shared this with us. I’m hoping to incorporate contemplative knitting into my daily life and creative process. Now I just need find a quiet time in which to practice it.