The Worsted Witch

Love From Woolly: A Lift-the-Flap Book of Woolly Gifts

Administrator — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:31:31 +0000

Photo from Love From Woolly: A Lift-the-Flap Book of Woolly Gifts

Witchbaby and I chanced upon Love From Woolly: A Lift-the-Flap Book of Woolly Gifts by Nina Michaels at the bookstore last weekend while we waited for the hub to get a haircut. It was instant love—well, for me at least. Witchbaby slapped her palms against the board pages and babbled to herself, but whether it was in approval or disapproval, I cannot say.

With gorgeous illustrations by Nicola Smee, Love From Woolly is part interactive guessing game, part touch-and-feel book, with actual knitted fabric peeking out from within cut-outs of socks, mittens, hats, and scarves that Woolly has knitted for her menagerie of friends. Her handiwork is, in turn, hidden beneath movable flaps disguised as presents, and your child is invited to guess the identities of the knitted gifts based on the rhyming clues offered. Utterly charming.

Enter Inhabitots’ Eco-Cutey Photo Contest

Administrator — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:56:46 +0000

Does your cutie patootie give a hoot about Ma Earth? Then enter him or her in the Eco-Cutey Photo Contest by Inhabitots—my latest writing gig—and stand to win a $50 gift certificate to the Inhabitat Shop, where you can go goo-goo-ga-ga over more green gear for your kidlet.

Sewn Rings

Administrator — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:40:22 +0000

Photo by allthosetrees

I love these rings made from precious metal clay (i.e. reclaimed silver) and embossed with running stitches. ($29, Etsy.com)

Photo by allthosetrees

DIY Projects from Living Creatively

Administrator — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:26:41 +0000

Photo by Living Creatively

Ain’t serendipity grand? I stumbled across Living Creatively recently and I’m ALL OVER its projects page. Above, a series of painted animal silhouettes, and below, a linen mobile that uses rub-on motifs to dazzling effect.

Photo by Living Creatively

DIY Bracelet From Magazine Subscription Cards

Administrator — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:28:14 +0000

Photo by TimeOut New York

Here’s a great tutorial on TimeOut New York on how to weave a swanky bracelet out of those pesky magazine-subscription cards. Unless you’re a complete mag hag, however, it might take you a while to get the 81 cards you’ll need for this project. I wonder if this will work for candy wrappers, too.

Recycled-Denim Teddy Bears by SaraBartsch

Administrator — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:23:34 +0000

Photo by SaraBartsch

The best use for old, worn-at-the-knee jeans? Turn them into teddy bears, of course! These precious patooties are made by a stay-at-home mother of three, who obviously knows a thing or two about cute. ($10, Etsy.com)

Kunklebaby

Administrator — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Photo by Kunklebaby

How darling are these? Made from 100 percent domestic organic cotton by Kunklebaby over at Etsy.com. The hand-stamped seahorses absolutely SLAY ME. And I covet that pleasant blouse, and not for my kidlet. ($16-$50, Etsy.com)

Photo by Kunklebaby

Stellapop Handknit Sweaters

Administrator — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:44:58 +0000

Photo by Stellapop

Simply put, Stellapop is pure knitting porn, even if this erstwhile knitter has temporarily hung up her Addi Turbos for diaper-slinging duty. And designer Mary Clark should know, since she hand-knits many of the pieces herself, rallying help from local Philadelphia chicks with sticks to cast on and off with merino wool, kid mohair, and ultra-luxe cashmere.

Photo by Stellapop

Martin: Angry Owl

Administrator — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:01:19 +0000

Comic by Amy Crosthwaite

It’s like Amy Crosthwaite shone a flashlight into the dark chasm of my soul.

Where To Buy Eco-Friendly, Non-Toxic Toys

Administrator — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:20:27 +0000

Photo by Camden Rose

Tip: Find out if your child’s toys contain lead and other toxins at HealthyToys.org

Damn Fine Tea Has Damn Fine Design

Administrator — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:04:05 +0000

Photo by Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

I was immediately drawn to Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea’s arresting, eye-popping packaging, but then they had to go and make a reference to Kurt Vonnegut and my heart was all aflutter. Note: The Dragonwell green tea is certified-organic.

Forest Bound

Administrator — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:43:15 +0000

Photo by Forest Bound

I’m completely enamored with Forest Bound, artist Alice Saunders’ absolutely breathtaking—for there is no other word for it—collection of accessories that recall a time long-past, complete with sepia-toned photographs, ink- and tear-stained love letters tied with ribbon, and the plaintive strains of Glen Miller and his orchestra crackling from a Victrola.

Photo by Forest Bound

Conserve Energy During Earth Hour

Administrator — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:55:21 +0000

Witchbaby is gearing up for Earth Hour tonight. Are you?

Is this an excuse to post more pictures of the Most Adorable Kid on the Planet? (Don’t you just want to NOM those cheeks?) Yeah, okay, you got me.

Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! HEART!

Administrator — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:43:07 +0000

Captain Planet! He’s our hero! Gonna take pollution down to zero!

The captain is back, and yes, he’s as cheesy, not to mention dated—hello Soviet Union!—as I remember. THE POWER IS YOURS…to watch episodes online at Mother Nature Network.

The Dover Sampler

Administrator — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:21:34 +0000

Art by Dover Publishing. Click to enlarge.

Every week I look forward to receiving Dover Publishing’s free weekly sampler of clip art, book excerpts, and craft projects. This week’s edition included sample pages from Cut & Color My Fun Furniture by Florence Temko, a book of cut-and-fold paper furnishings that includes a cat-and-rocking-chair tableau that I think is a hoot and a half. All that page needs is a basket of yarn and some knitting needles and you have my perfect setting.

Willywaw

Administrator — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:44:03 +0000

Photo by Willywaw at Etsy.com

These gorgeous bags, handmade by Ashley Van Etten of Willywaw, make me think of boardwalk jaunts and sand squishing between your toes. Crafted from 100 percent organic cotton canvas grown and milled in the United States, then printed with water-based inks, the totes are finished off with straps made from hemp webbing. ($28-$50, Etsy.com)

Photo by Willywaw at Etsy.com

Baby You Can Drive My Car

Administrator — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:40:20 +0000

Gratuitous baby blogging.

Thank you for all your kind words, stories, and well wishes.

Eco Scrapbooking Redux

Administrator — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:13:49 +0000

Photo by K&Company

It’s been a long time coming, but American scrapbooking companies are finally catching up to the green party bus. Just two years ago, the realm of eco-friendly scrapbooking was a wasteland in terms of commercially available supplies—which is ironic because the earliest scrapbookers were coaxed by the spirit of thrift and preservation. (And the lack of a Joanne’s within buggy-driving distance.)

Today, options made from post-consumer recycled paper—and printed with soy inks—abound. Here are some of the companies heeding the call for virgin-tree-free products:

DCWV: Green Stack Collection

K&Company: Amy Butler Lotus | Remake

Piggy Tales: Cinderella | The Steadfast Tin Soldier | The Ballad of Mulan | Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Jilibean Soup: White Collection | Kraft Collection

Hello Again

Administrator — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:39:14 +0000

I feel like I’ve crawled out of a very dark and deep hole, clawing the earth with bruised and broken fingers on my laborious ascent. To say that I found motherhood an adjustment would be the grossest of understatements—the ground opened up below me and swallowed me whole as I fell, Alice/Persephone/Innana-like, skirts ballooning, into the worst hell I’ve ever known. No one tells you how difficult taking care of an infant is, how the intolerable sleep deprivation and the endless divination of the needs of an inconsolable creature who cannot tell you what it wants will tax every last reserve of strength, dragging you to the brink of sanity before smashing you on the rocks of utter madness.

I’ve written about my history with depression before. When I became pregnant last year, my doctor weaned me off the antidepressants that had been so pivotal in my functioning as a normal, productive human being. So when the full fury of post-partum depression slammed into me just days after I first cradled my newborn daughter, I was completely armorless, like a burn victim without any protective skin. And when one of my cats died because he nibbled on the lilies that someone sent the baby, I blamed myself mercilessly and rued the day I ever got pregnant. Every day, all I could think of was how much I didn’t want to be a mother and how I would have traded my living child for my dead cat in a heartbeat. Most of all, I thought about how badly I wanted to die, too.

For months I dragged my husband—the most patient, wonderful person on the planet; a true übermensch if there ever was one—beneath the undercurrent of my unrelenting anxiety and the weight of my crushing despair. His best friend and partner had been spirited away by capricious fairies who had put in her place a battered, beaten-down Jasmin-shaped husk who could only communicate through tears, keening “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t” over and over again.

In between tedious, Sisyphean bouts of nursing, diaper changing, and infant consoling, I found myself curled up on the couch mentally willing the world to melt into nothingness, and I with it.

I probably wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for the help I received; if my mother-in-law hadn’t swooped in from across the country to ply us with the physical and emotional support we so desperately needed. I had to learn that there wasn’t any shame in asking for help and I wasn’t being a bad mother by going back on medication. Far from it. Without drugs, without therapy—without hope—my little girl wouldn’t have any mother, good or bad.

There are days when I still feel like I’m suspended on a tightwire 100 feet above the ground, but the good days are slowly but ever so steadily starting to outnumber the bad. It helps that my baby is no longer a recalcitrant grub whose boisterous full-body convulsions continually reinforced the fact that I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. She’s a mini person now who loves looking at the pretty baby in the mirror and enjoys being bounced on the knee to uproarious strains of “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain.” And she smiles—oh how she smiles! When I reach in to pick her up from her crib in the morning, her entire face crinkles up with pure unadulterated joy, like the breaking of a new day.

My New Motto For Life

Administrator — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:20:04 +0000

Photo by Everday is a Holiday at Etsy.com

Administrator — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:11:37 +0000

Witchbaby was born Nov. 29. Terminally exhausted from lack of sleep. Will be on maternity leave until further notice.

Administrator — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:35:51 +0000

Things that make me so angry I want to spit #28123—from Reuters: FDA defends safety of U.S. infant formula

Administrator — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:12:20 +0000

Free download from the Center for Health, Environment and Justice: Pass Up the Poison Plastic: the PVC-Free Guide for Your Family & Home

A Cobblestone Pullover for the Hub

Administrator — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:14:35 +0000

Yarn: O Wool Classic, a 100 percent certified-organic merino wool in “Evergreen,” which knit beautifully and bloomed gloriously after blocking.
Pattern: Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood, from the Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits; you can also purchase the PDF from Knitting Daily
Needles: Size 7 Addi Turbo circulars

I actually knit this last winter—it’s just taken me this long to block it and get it on my husband. I’m a lousy excuse for a knitter/wife that way. Plus, I really hate blocking, especially when it’s a huge one-piece like this because it takes FOREVER to dry in a tiny apartment, even with the windows open, and you’re constantly shooing away wool-loving cats…you get the picture.

Administrator — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:16:58 +0000

Seen on Bath & Bodyworks’ 3-in-1 Bubble Bath, Body Wash and Shampoo in Cool Kiwi Berry: “CAUTION: Use only as directed. Excessive use or prolonged exposure may cause irritation to skin and urinary tract… Keep out of reach of children except under adult supervision.” Seriously, people. What. The. Hell?

Administrator — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:37:24 +0000

Obama: “Few challenges facing America—and the world—are more urgent than combating climate change.”

Administrator — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:50:07 +0000

I forgot to mention that on the night of the election, during McCain’s concession speech, I rubbed my belly and told the baby inside that it was “safe to come out now.” Two more weeks to my due date!

Administrator — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:03:49 +0000

Pledge to eat one meatless meal a week and get a free Tofurky Tuesdays Care Package of Tofurky coupons and vegetarian magazines

Administrator — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:54:04 +0000

From Care2: Eating organic on a budget

Administrator — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:42:34 +0000

DIY holiday projects from BurdaStyle—love that shawl!

Happy Halloween & Blogiversary!

Administrator — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:05:11 +0000

Photo by kaytethinks, under a Creative Commons license

Happy Halloween, the most frightful night of the year! (Of course, with the state the world is in, who needs extra chills and thrills? I’m already petrified with fear.) Coincidentally, it’s also the third anniversary of the day I first registered The Worsted Witch; I didn’t pick Halloween intentionally but perhaps my subconscious latched onto the significance before I did.

Fall days just cry out for pumpkin pie or soup, and I have two organic sugar pumpkins ready to sacrifice themselves for the cause. The challenge now is finding a good-size pot, since we donated the last of our Teflon-coated nastiness to Goodwill last week—I couldn’t cope with nightmares about PFOA and “Teflon toxicosis” anymore—and we haven’t had time to stock up on stainless steel just yet, so I’m down to one cast-iron pan and a ceramic-coated skillet.

Knit Cupcakes, Crochet Cookies

Administrator — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:22:47 +0000

Photo by Tiny McSmall

I love looking at play food, don’t you?

Administrator — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:07:08 +0000

From Slate: Sarah Palin’s War on Science: The GOP ticket’s appalling contempt for knowledge and learning.” Writes Christopher Hitchens: “This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just ‘people of faith’ but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.” Can I get an amen?

Administrator — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:46:55 +0000

From The Washington Post: “BPA Ruling Flawed, Panel Says; FDA Ignored Scientific Evidence of Harm, Report Finds.”

Arm Warmers Close Up

Administrator — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:29:29 +0000

Yarn: Fuzzy Bunny Fibers handspun and hand-dyed 100 percent merino wool (obtained ethically from local Vermont farms). I adored working with this yarn—it was soft and luscious—and I’d buy yarn from the owner again before you can say “tallyho.”
Pattern: Mikado Fingerless Gloves
Needles: Size 5 and 7 Addi Turbo circulars