Today's Inspiration

Today's inspiration should make my husband happy.  You see I am a clutterer...not so much a hoarder, I can get rid of things.  But instead of putting things where they belong, they lay where they land.  I know I'm not the only one and I have a very good reason for this.  If I put it away, I will forget to use it, forget I have it...like having my gym bag out is a visual reminder that I need to go to the gym.  Having my Avon books out reminds me that an order deadline is coming up soon and I need to make phone calls, send emails and get my order ready to submit.  I leave a pile of sewing next to the kitchen table, where the machine is, so that once I get "enough" to sew I can spend and afternoon doing it.  Ok so the pile has been there well over a month....!?  I have magazine's I need to finish reading.  Crochet projects half done....because if I put it away I won't have that visual reminder to finish it.  Makes sense right?  But in the mean time....I have piles EVERYWHERE!

So after getting my Zumba shot in the butt this morning this is what I plan to do this afternoon.  Let the pile attack begin!

If you have any tips and techniques PLEASE, yes I am begging, share them with me!

Jane Austen Crochet Shawl in Recycled Yarn

Hello there!  I've been away yet again.  I don't know if it is because blogging is not my strongest point or because I feel like I have nothing to say that anyone cares to read...?!  Either way, it doesn't matter, it's good therapy...LOL

So one thing I did last year was purchase some "recycled" yarn.  If you remember this post showing some of my purchases.  The yarn had been pulled from sweaters found in garage sales or Goodwill or what have you.  They then wound it up and sold it on Ebay...a GREAT FIND!  Well I finally got over the intimidation of how unbelievably small this yarn is, not to mention how I was going to maneuver it with my long skinny fingers!  So I started with this color, kind of a sage green:

85% Silk 15% Cashmere

And a pattern I found on Ravelry: The Jane Austen Shawl by Wendy Lewis  Wendy mentions how she can just imagine Jane wearing this shawl over an empire waist gown.  I can imagine it keeping the chill off of a cool spring evening walk across a flowering pasture.  How fun is it to dream about period events where your creations can come alive!

It was so long I had to block it on the floor!

ECU of pattern!  Too bad I have beige carpet!

As you can see the shawl turned out beautifully!!  Jane Austen is one of my daughter-in-laws favorite authors, if not her most favorite!!  So I thought what a perfect mothers day gift for her.  I know it will be a little late getting to her but I am really excited to share this recycled treasure with her.

Even though the finished product looks NOTHING like it did before it was blocked, it was actually kind of ugly, I liked the result so much that I decided to try another pattern with one of the other yarns...it is about halfway finished and includes beads!  Yeah!  I will have it up for sale on my Etsy site once it is blocked and all purty up.

Thanks for hanging in there to read my sporatic posts!

Ebay Yarn Addiction

Oh for the love of ebay!!!

I did some shopping today and came away with these beauties!!! 

What a beautiful color combination!!  This yarn is 60% wool (a blend of Himalayan goat fiber and soft New Zealand sheep wool) and 40% recycled sari silk fibers. 

I love the idea of using recycled yarn...especially high quality yarn at affordable prices!  This is an 85% silk/15% Cashmere blend.  A beautiful red that I am looking forward to!

100% Cashmere!!!!  WOOHOO!!  Isn't is pretty?!  This is another recycled yarn and  I can hardly wait to wrap it through my fingers and see what lovely garment is just dying to get out!!

So I will be happily searching my patterns and getting inspiration for these lovely yarns.  YEAH...SO EXCITED!

Crochet A Good Cause

One of my goals in my blog is to talk about what I'm currently working on.  But...since my current creation is a gift I have to wait until I give it away before I talk about it....don't worry, I'm taking pictures as I go!  So since I can't talk about that...I've chosen to talk about crocheting for a cause.  As many of you know my birthday was a couple of weeks ago.  Joe and I spent the day by the beach and when I got home I had this beautiful bag along with some hand picked flowers from some of the neighborhood kids.

Costa Rican Messenger Bag

Well I could immediately tell that this bag had been crocheted.  But out of what?  It was pretty stiff and felt almost plastic.  Upon further research I found out that it was indeed plastic, recycled grocery bags to be exact...AND a portion of it's purchase price went to help a Leatherback Conservation Project in Costa Rica.


Ain't he cute?



Not only did it help the leatherback but it also helped the Sea Turtles at Sea Turtle, Inc. right here in South Padre Island, TX!  According to their website these bags are created with approximately 80 plastic grocery bags.  Finding a use for these bags keep them out of our oceans and landfills thus helping to keep them away from wildlife where they can accidently harm themselves.  The women of Costa Rica crochet these bags, and are paid a fair wage thus helping not only the turtles but their family as well.

There are so may ways that we can use the craft of crochet to help our world.  Here are just a few I found:

Virginia Beach SPCA Wildlife Program Baby Nests

Hugs for Homeless Animals Snuggles Project

Scarves for Special Olympics - You will see another post from me when I finish my contributions!

You can upcycle and recycle just about anything you can put your mind to...find something that you are passionate about and let your creativity be your guide.  God gave us our gifts to share...I can't think of a better way than to help others...can you?

Some more birthday shots for you...

My new tire cover...Life IS Good!!

Toes in the sand...just like we like 'em!