It’s that time of year again….

I know it has been awhile since I’ve posted. Sorry, dear readers… both my husband and our dog have had medical challenges this summer… so I’ve been the care giver and medication monitor and administrator for them; as well as chauffeur to and from doctor’s visits and surgery. Add to that the normal challenges of life – leaky roof after a hurricane, and other surprises…and I am lucky to have found time to breathe let alone write.

I hope to remedy that now that everyone is stabilized and on a routine; and to punctuate that, I have begun making holiday presents with my upcycled yarns and fabrics. Some of my yarn was too small to make anything with – so I knitted it up into a small swatch and will sew them together with a flannel or fleece backing to make throws and lap blankets. If the yarn was too small for even that, then it will go to make wrapped rope baskets. 🙂

I do have enough yarn to make a few scarves and some afghans and perhaps a shawl or two – so that is what I am doing…and exploring the different stitches I can make while using the knitting looms.

On a different topic, I had a good laugh when I bought a used cookbook aimed at frugal cooking and planning…it was so old, that the prices it quoted gave me the giggles….for example: a six pack of soda for $2.00 – definitely a trip down memory lane. But some good tips in the book all the same. 🙂

Hope to be writing more regularly now that things have calmed down…it just proves the old adage “life is what happens when you are making plans”. Be well.

Floating along…

I know I’ve been remiss in writing, here and on Wind in Her Mane, and elsewhere…mostly it is because I’ve been making things….lots of things, some more worthwhile than others, but if I don’t experiment, then I don’t learn anything new, and I am okay with wonky looking projects.

Every time I do something, even when it turns out “ugly” or uneven, I learn more and the next iteration is better, and better.

I am sure that as the seasons change I’ll be back to writing…I have several writing projects that are “in process” with a few chapters done, and story arcs outlined…I’ll get around to them, eventually.

Besides making things (upcycling fabrics and yarns) I have been diligently trying to get my hubby to make decisions around when he will retire (he’s 66 as am I) and where we’ll be living when that happens. I am a planner, and he is not so much (though he is good at it for work, he doesn’t often use those skills for himself). I’ve also been doing lots of research about retirement, and living on a fixed income. I have loads of friends who have already retired and they range from folks who are well off to folks who are barely making it on their combined pension and social security.

This has me thinking about a lot of ways in which single older people or those with no families, or no support systems could be helped. It also explains why so many older people are homeless. Have you looked at rents lately? OMG. Even owning your own home isn’t the cakewalk we were lead to believe in our youth… property taxes and maintenance get more and more expensive while fixed incomes are, well, fixed. God forbid you should have any health issues or pets with health issues!

There has to be a better way…not that I think I can solve the problems of the world, but I am certain I can come up with some small something that might help. Fixing big problems always starts by fixing what is easily fixable, and when people see that, they are sometimes inspired to tackle the larger problems.

Well, this has been longer than I originally intended…but that’s good. If I keep it up I might actually do some work on those chapters that are waiting patiently for my return to them…in the meantime, I will continue making things (rag rugs, and lap blankets, etc etc).

Be well, enjoy, and if you can help a friend, do it!

What to do with scrap material?

Well, if you like projects, you can sew one inch wide scraps together into a random roll of yarn, and then crochet (or knit or braid) a rug. The project pictured is 20 inches wide, and made from silk sari remnants. Very bohemian, and will be a great center piece table topper with a floral arrangement, or as a decorative table topper (for those small round tables one sees in magazines).

If you don’t want to sew the scraps together, you can always cut a small hole in each end and loop them through each other. 🙂

What do you do with scrap material? Quilt? Patches? I’d love to see and hear what your projects are… ❤

What to do with parmesan rind?

Make Parmesan Rind Crisps

Cut the rind into small squares, roughly one inch across. Rinse under a stream of cold water and dry off. Transfer to a microwave-safe plate and microwave on high for 1 minute.

These are like “cheetos” but with only one ingredient and you know what it is and where it came from!

Fabric and rope basket

It is relatively easy to make an upcycled fabric basket (no sewing machine needed) with fabric cut in strips made into a kind of yarn; and rope. I wrapped, and tucked the fabric every 5 or so wraps, using a crochet hook to pull the fabric down and through the previous row. There are numerous Youtube videos on how to do it. And it is very satisfying overall, when you’ve finished it. 🙂

Meatless Mondays

Looking for great recipes for a Meatless Monday (eating less meat helps conserve water and other resources planetwide!)?

Check out the website: https://www.mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday for recipes and more info on why eating less meat is both good for your health and for the health of the planet.

Happy Monday!

Photo by Mark Stebnicki on Pexels.com

A New Year, A New Basket

I just completed and sent off a basket I did for a friend – she asked for earth tones, and until she receives it and gives approval, I will wait to share a photo of it.

Right after I shipped her basket off, I started a new one. I love that I have so much yarn to work with (mostly from Buy Nothing gifts, and thrift store/yard sale acquisitions).

Here is the start:

And here is where I am today:

The rope is some clothes line that I got from a thrift shop ages ago. I’ve since bought some ropes of various sizes, but I also have a ton of plastic bread bags, that I need to cut up and turn to plarn. And I am going to play around with some variations on the wrap method. I will likely play around with the crochet methods, too. I have a lot of very small baskets that I’ve wrapped using plastic and yarn, and I hope to transform these to sculptures and possible mobiles. We’ll see what 2023 brings. 🙂

Stay tuned, and know that I hope you are safe, warm, well-fed and have time for some creative fun – wherever you are.

Sometimes we all need a little help from our friends

We have a friend who while already struggling with a ginormous electricity bill, thanks to the outrageous rate hikes in New England, her little dog Pippin has torn a ligament, is in great pain, and needs emergency surgery. If you can donate something to help, it would be greatly appreciated, if not – please share this GoFundMe with dog lovers and pet parents that you may know.

Like most folks post-pandemic, she has already depleted any emergency savings for health issues that she and her loved ones have had over the course of the last two years. She cannot afford the over $6K surgery for her beloved dog.

Here’s the link: https://gofund.me/14e3f939

Please help if you can…

Saw this article

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/replacing-red-meat-with-chickpeas-and-lentils-good-for-the-wallet-climate-and-health

I was glad to see this article and to share it with you. I am not advocating becoming completely Vegan or Vegetarian, but if you reduce the amount of meat you eat, like doing Meatless Mondays (or in our house, we eat meat mostly on the weekends) – you can help to reduce the strain on the planet, as well as eating a healthier diet.

Cheers, and happy holidays.

Got kids?

If you have kids, then you probably have a chunk of closet/drawer space filled with clothes your kids have already outgrown, but are still good. Maybe you’ve thought about recycling them or donating them. Here’s one more choice for you: It is called “Rockets of Awesome” and it is a kid’s clothing subscription box service, that also has a program called “Rockets Reverse” which lets you send the clothing that the kids have outgrown back for store credit.

The Rockets of Awesome subscription lets you preview the selections, and if you (or rather – if the kid) doesn’t like some of the clothes, they can be returned in the box they arrived in.

The Rockets Reverse is for “worn” clothing (aka used) that is in good shape and you get to return that stuff for store credit – and it doesn’t have to be their brand of clothes being “Reversed” …so it is a win/win for those growing kids and the best part (according to kids I have asked) is that the clothes are “cool” and “fun”.

Currently this company only ships to the Continental USA (sorry guys and gals – if you are in other parts of the USA and the world).

Got more questions about “Rockets of Awesome? Here is the link to their FAQs – CLICK HERE.

https://www.rocketsofawesome.com/