Truckload of Tickle

I never knew you could get tickles delivered! :-)

Random things of awesomeness.

So, you know when you go to the thrift store and see something kind of cool but you can't figure out what you'd do with it so you don't buy it? And then you go back a while later and it's still there, and you still can't figure out what to do with it so you don't buy it again. And then you go back a month later, it's still there, and you still like it, but this time, even though you don't know what you'll do with it, you buy it anyway. Because if it's still there, you were meant to have it.

That's what this is. Yes, it's a red ceramic tile toilet paper holder. Crazy, right? I love the color and wish I could see a bathroom that this was used in. Really. My bathroom is pink and I hate it, but I might be able to love a bathroom that had awesome red tile. Maybe. Anyway, when I got the roll holder home I had my lightbulb moment. This little beauty is going to become a dispenser of garden twine. Oh, yeah. I'm off to the hardware store to get a replacement springy thing to go in the middle.

The second brilliant find of the day, also at the YMCA Thrift Store, was the discovery of this ginormous roll of vintage Con-Tact paper, pictured under my new twine dispenser. Seriously cheerful, isn't it? And the roll is huge!

You may be wondering how I know this fab Con-Tact Paper is vintage. Well, look at the back of the roll...

Hints for covering walls!?! That explains the size of the roll....

Isn't everything easier when you read and follow directions?
And wear a little frilly apron.

I think everything in this room that isn't fabric has Con-Tact paper on it!

Seriously. Awesome.

I see a Con-Tact desk set in my future.
If there's any Con-Tact paper left over after I paper my kitchen...

And on to the kitchen. Check out the dining set.
So vintage, so hip, so now.  And Con-Tact on the fridge, too!

Saving the best for last.
She's also faux wood Con-Tacted all of her kitchen cabinets.
Check out the roll on the floor.

Wow. Just wow. I'm not sure how many yards of this stuff I have, but I'm getting inspired.

Too Many Cats

Since December I've been returning to my fiber roots with a new project.

One of the very first  yarn crafts I learned as a child was crochet. I taught myself from one of those little green "Learn How" pamphlets you could buy in the crafts section at Woolworths. Among my early projects was a round coin purse shaped like a cat's head.

Crochet was followed by embroidery, needlepoint, counted cross stitch, spinning, weaving, and finally, knitting. Looks like I've come full circle now.

How appropriate that my return to crochet is with a scarf pattern called "Too Many Cats." I snatched it up at the gift exchange that my spinning group has every year. This package was contributed by my friend Lynn, who raises beautiful Merino sheep. It's a brilliant pattern, easy to do, and it's so satisfying to complete each little row of cats in a new color.

Can you see the cats? They're standing on top of each others shoulders, with their little kitty legs framing the head of the cat below.

Like I said, brilliant.

Lynn picked out as many cat colors of this yarn as she could. I've got about two dozen colors to work with, and since it only takes three rows of crochet to finish a row of cats I can't get bored.

So far I'm up to 120 kitties. That's a lot of cats!

Thanks Moo Dog

Just a quick post today to thank the good folks at Moo Dog Knits for their article, "A Visit With Strauch Fiber Equipment Company"!

Working at Strauch Fiber is my day job. And all those ball winders? Yeah, I build those.

Be sure and check out the Moo Dog online magazine for other interesting fiber-related articles as well.

Thanks, Moo Dog!

A Fresh Start

Happy New Year Chickies!

Yes, I know it's already a week into February. I'm also aware that I haven't posted since last June. I am a bad, bad blogger....

I've written plenty of blog posts in my head. Really. It's just sitting down at the computer to put fingers to keyboard that seems to be the problem. But thanks to a little nudge from a friend I've decided to forgo another Sunday in the Teashanty carding my stash of fiber with the fabulous Strauch Motorized Drum Carder and get back to the blog. Lucky you.

So. What's new? Well, I got an iPad last summer which has been wonderful and very distracting. Words I thought I'd never utter..."Wait! I just have to finish this level..." Computer games. Who knew? But not just games! I can watch Hulu  and PBS (TV on the small screen, like back in the old days), check the weather, go on virtual vacations with Fotopedia Heritage, browse the latest Ikea catalog any time, and create my own decorating idea books with Houzz. Fun fun fun! Apple, I love you :-)

And speaking of Apple, I did a very fun little project using iPhoto back in December. I made a calendar for 2012 using photos of my garden. The quality of the paper and the printing were impressive. It was also super easy to integrate all the birthdays in my iCalendar into the printed version. I'll keep it when the year is over as an album of the best of my 2011 garden photos. Here's a peek:

I guess that's enough catch-up for now. As I think of things past I'll pop them into other posts.

In other news...

For those of you who expect blogs to be useful as well as entertaining I'll pass along my latest web discovery/obsession.

Weavers sometimes make yarn wrappings using colors inspired by images, places, and objects to create color ways for their fabrics. It's a really useful tool for seeing what colors "go together."

Original image from Design Seeds

Recently I wandered into a web site, Design Seeds, that does a similar thing with colors, using a photo to inspire color palettes that could be used for weaving, painting, decorating, or craftwork. I've been disappointed in the lack of winter we've had this year, so I thought this example was particularly nice.

If you're looking for a jump start for your next creative project you might want to hop on over to Design Seeds and take a look. You may see colors put together in new and unexpected ways.

Until next time my little chicklets, be creative, and think SNOW!