by Susan, on September 1st, 2009
No, this post isn’t about peace, racial equality, and other laud-worthy goals. It’s more pedestrian—it’s about a real dream.
Last night I dreamt that America had a new reality show, called The First Family. In this episode, Papa Obama was trying to bolt together the frame of a bunk bed. As the girls bounced around him, he struggled along. But the bed kept collapsing. And I kept yelling at the screen, “get your staff to do it!”
It seems the pressure of self-imposed deadlines for my Grand Adventure—and fear about letting down my partners—was on my mind at bedtime yesterday. Usually I’m in the editor’s seat, badgering designers to complete projects and send me the written instructions. Maybe I need a staff…
by Susan, on August 24th, 2009
Five spools of fuchsia thread? Why do I have five?! I don’t have any fuschia fabric and I don’t have any plans to make anything in that color—it doesn’t suit me.
Yesterday, before placing an order for thread that changes color in the sun (check it out here, I took stock of my sewing supplies. It turns out that I have way too many spools of thread colors I’ll probably never use, as well as a gazillion bobbins half full of thread in colors that I’ll probably never use.
Before the recycle/upcycle bug really took root in me, I would have pulled the thread off the bobbins and tossed it all away. Not anymore. I spent most of the evening mulling over project ideas. At the same time, I was cutting t-shirts into strips. This cutting is one of the early steps in a fun and easy process that turns tees into yarn that I can crochet into really cool stuff.
Then it hit me: Use the unwanted and leftover thread on the spools and bobbins to sew together fabric strips.
What a great way to add interesting visual texture to my crocheted fabric, as well as double the thickness of the T-shirt yarn.
I can’t wait to show you the Bucket Hat I’m making. The project will be in the alternaCrafts ebook that’s in the works. It’ll include step-by-step instructions to create the sewn T-shirt yarn and crochet the hat.
by Kat Prawl, on July 16th, 2009
Suzanne and Susan have done the self-introduction thing, so I guess it’s my turn. You won’t be hearing much from me for awhile, although I do plan to work on some craft designs and instructions as we go forward. For now, though, I’m slaving away in the hot (type) forge, working on formatting ebooks and writing smartphone apps, as well as fiddling with the website and any Web apps we might decide to try. But I won’t burden you with the details. If you’re interested in electronic publishing from the geek’s point of view, visit my techie blog. Likewise, if you have problems with our technology, your answers may come from me, via a customer support infrastructure we are still putting into place.
When I do have a chance to get up from behind the computer, I enjoy making jewelry, particularly with wirewrapping but have also dabbled in various bead stringing and weaving techniques. So alternaCrafts will truly be about Crafts, plural.
But for now, back to the tech side. Talk to you later.
