I couldn’t shake it, so I gave in, started a couple of dye baths in the basement, and let the fabric soak while I printed the postage and got the packages safely delivered to the mailbox.

It’s nice to have a box of dye supplies in the basement for urges such as this.  I used Dharma Trading Company procion dyes in China Red and Royal Blue.  I’d have preferred a darker blue, but I went ahead with the royal blue in the interest of instant gratification.

The napkins soaked for their allotted time, I wrung them out, ran them through the washing machine and dryer, and soon enough, these stained napkins:

got this new lease on life:

So.  There’s a lot less white in my everyday napkins now, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that.  I kind of liked the white.  On the plus side, the stains are gone, and I won’t be embarrassed to put these out for guests.

The whole collection now:

If my sewing machine hadn’t been put away, I’d have also sewn a few new ones out of those extra fat quarters in the background.  I may still.

I wish this little exercise had made me want the striped fabric a little less, but no such luck.  The nice ladies at Fat Quarter Shop are sending me a small sample of the Panier de Fleurs woven so I can decide if the weight is something I’d like to see in a napkin.  I’m thinking, if I like it, I’ll pass on the expensive fat quarter bundle I was originally drooling over, and just get a few 1/2-yards of the most interesting stripes.  I can fill out the rest of the set with thrift shop and eBay finds.  I’ve already gotten a head start on that today in fact.

If I do end up doing a new stripey napkin set, I can relegate this over-dyed collection to party duty.  They actually coordinate really, really well with my primary-color party plates and cups.  That would be the perfect use for them.

(Uh oh. It really sounds like I’m talking myself into making a new set of napkins, doesn’t it?)

© Lisa Clarke

As you may know, we’ve been using cloth napkins around here since 2007.  I’ve gone a little loopy over them from time to time (the evidence can be found here, if you need some convincing).  I have an everyday set, and three seasonal sets of 20-25 coordinating prints each, and I change them out in January, May, September, and December.

I have been very happy with this setup.  Sure, all of those coordinating fat quarters were a little pricey when I first bought them. But most of these sets have been serving us well for four to five years, and are still going strong.  I’d rather not do the math (I like to avoid rude awakenings wherever possible) but I do feel some optimism that the benefits have outweighed the costs at this point.  Plus if we keep using the same four sets for the foreseeable future, the savings will just continue to grow.

So why bring this up now?

A few reasons, actually.  For one thing, there’s the state of my everyday napkins.  They get used the most out of all of the sets, and they are showing signs of wear.  I sorted through them today and discovered that of the original 25:

• four have gone missing – can’t find them anywhere
• twelve had visible stains
• nine are fine

(12 stained napkins)

(9 napkins still in nice shape)

(a few extra fat quarters)

Technically, I can deal with the missing ones by making some more. I have extra fabric from that collection.

And I’ve been thinking (for nearly a year now) that I could deal with the stained ones by over-dying them in navy blue and/or red.

So, problem solved, right?

Sure.  Sure, it would be, if I didn’t know about this  (“this” being French General’s Panier de Fleurs collection). I’m in love with the stripes, in particular, and the fact that there is blue in this collection.  Most of the French General fabric I have seen in the past has appealed to me, but it’s been all reds.  Red looks nice in my kitchen, but blue is really what belongs in there.  So now that there’s one of these collections with navy blue stripes? Swoon!

I have started daydreaming again about kitchen improvement.   About navy, cream, and red striped napkins alongside dark blue stoneware bowls.  About new curtains, new seat cushions, and a new apron.

Our kitchen has gone largely unchanged since we moved here 14 years ago.  The more I think about it, the more I want to splurge on that fabric, make some new napkins, rip down the old white+navy wallpaper, paint the kitchen navy blue, pull up the old white linoleum floor, put down some stone tile, or wood, replace the cabinets, get a new counter top…

The price tag on the striped fat quarters is hard enough to swallow on its own, but factor in the chain reaction of home improvement that could follow? Probably best to let this one go.  But, oh! the wanties are strong with this one.  Really really strong.

*sigh*  Think I’m going to try the over-dying thing on the old napkins.  I’m sure it will breathe new life into these designs.  It’s a shame that no amount of dye could make watercolor flowers and teapots look like vintagey stripes, though…

Darn you, French General, and your old-fashioned, European countryside charm!

© Lisa Clarke

January was…

• Cinnamon rolls on New Year’s Day
• A rekindled addiction to polymer-covered pens
• Cookies when Mom & Dad came to visit
• A new set of crochet hooks for me
• A flower-petal crown for my cabled hat
• Clayathon 2012
• A finished sweater for a nearly 12-year-old son
• The younger’s new cardboard friend
• The Stirling Hotel’s beautiful outdoor Christmas tree
• My Father-in-Law’s birthday
• A warm day to play
• 3rd Grade International Day

…and a full moon in the background.

© Lisa Clarke

I found this one barefoot and had to convince him that it wasn’t that warm yet.  We compromised on sandals.  These sandals he begged me not to throw away last September, insisting “they still fit, Mom!” (I may have to arrange for them to disappear…)

It was so beautiful today. I might have been tempted to think it was a lovely Spring afternoon, if not for the condition of the grass and the other plants in the front yard.

The world is still so brown. Still so the color of January. I’m not going to complain, though. How often do you get to play outside at this time of year, without bundling up? It reminded me of a lovely day four years ago. And I hear we may get another one tomorrow. Ooh, yes please!

–

On another, completely unrelated note, I’ve recently started watching Downton Abbey, and I am so enjoying it! I find I want to watch something similar during the week, between episodes. I tried Bleak House, and liked that one a lot, too. Just finished it today. Do any of you have any other suggestions? I’ve never really cared for this type of drama before, but I am finding myself thoroughly sucked in, and craving more!

© Lisa Clarke

Even those of us for whom the Internet constitutes an additional limb need to be unplugged now and then. Maybe I should say we especially need to be unplugged now and then. It’s nice to fill up the battery with some good old-fashioned face time.

So the last time we spoke, I was waxing poetic over ball point pens. Since then, I’ve decided to let some of them go. They’re up for grabs in the shop for a limited time. You might want to hurry, since I am prone to change my mind at any time and go back to hording them all for myself…

I’ve also put some crochet hooks back up for sale, both ready-to-ship and made-to-order. If you hesitated before, you might want to take a look now. I picked out a brand new set of nine patterns to choose from, and I also added another hook size, for those of you secretly lamenting the lack of #7s.

Aside from updating the shop, I’ve been slowly (oh, so very slowly, in itty bitty dribs and drabs) cleaning up the dining room, getting my work space back in order, and transforming the room from dumping ground back into potential eating area. My goal is to get it cleaned up to the point that it looks like a dining room once again, albeit one that has some clay supplies out on the table. Slowly but surely.

I’m also working on a new sweater for me. Have I mentioned that? I wanted a cardigan hoodie, but I wanted something that would work up relatively quickly, since I’ve pretty much had my fill of long term projects at this point. Mom and Dad gave me a WEBS gift card for Christmas, and I used it to get myself some Northampton Bulky in Old Barn Red. I’m making a Common Ground with it, and I have to say, it was working up very quickly. Until I got to the diamond lace pattern.

I’ll save the knitty gritty for its own post, but suffice it to say, there was a lot of un-knitting, re-knitting, counting, un-knitting, and re-knitting again. Being my first experience with lace, it was to be expected, but it was still a little frustrating.  I finally finished the lace pattern last night, although I really should have been done with it a few days ago. With that behind me, I have hopes of getting the sweater done by the weekend. Bulky yarn and big needles mean that it really does go very quickly when I’m not making mistakes!

So, I think we’re caught up now. I’ll try not to be such a stranger this week.  And thanks in advance for taking a peek into the shop!

© Lisa Clarke

Years ago, after a particularly prolific polymer clay kick, I had a wicker basket filled nearly to the top with clay-covered pens. It was wonderful! I’d run my fingers through them, dump them out, arrange and re-arrange them on the floor… sometimes by color, sometimes by pattern, sometimes in a gloriously long rainbow. But eventually I sold all but about ten of them, and it really wasn’t very much fun playing with ten pens.

I’m happy to report my pen-making mojo is back. Over the last month or so, I’ve added a nice selection to my supply. In fact, I made twenty four of them yesterday alone!

So now I can play with them by color (plum in this case)…

Or by pattern (triangles)…

Or I can set them up in a gloriously long rainbow.

Sweet. You know what, though? When I have them all laid out like this, I can clearly see underrepresented colors and patterns. It makes me want to sit down and crank out another few dozen to fill in the gaps.

Last night, after I sanded and buffed my last pen, I sat on the floor deliriously happy pushing them around into piles. Neil suggested ever so gently that I really ought to sell a few. What?? And diminish my supply?? Never!!

Well, that was what I said to him, but in actuality, I do know he is right. Sometime soon, I will open the shop for a few days and let these pens go to some good homes. For now, though, if you will excuse me, I have another rainbow to build.

[edited 1/25/12: the shop is open! fifty different pen varieties up for grabs! check it out.]

© Lisa Clarke

What am I talking about?  Why, Aidan’s sweater, of course.  Four months after I started it, I am done. DONE!

Last night, before I went to bed, I folded up the sweater neatly and left it as a surprise on the corner of his bed with a post-it note, telling him he should put on a sweater, if he woke up cold. When I got up this morning, I saw that he had taken my advice.

So glad he likes it

Don’t look too, too closely at this sweater, as it is fraught with little problems.  Structurally, it is fine (I hope) but there are some aesthetic issues that cropped up when I dropped and later recovered a stitch, or when I had some difficulty picking up stitches for the hood, or when I lost count of where I needed to be for the ribbing on the edge of the hood…

Oh, and there is one other minor issue: It’s HUGE on him.  I don’t know where my gauge went wrong, but somehow I managed to mis-measure something.  I mean, it is gigantic.  I could wear this sweater.  And let me tell you, short and skinny Aidan, and I, with my ample curves, are not even close in size to each other.

I’ve toyed with the idea of washing it and hoping for some shrinkage, but I don’t know if that’s a smart idea. Do any of you more experienced knitters have any thoughts you can share?

Leaving it as-is is certainly an option. Aidan likes his clothes big. Luckily.  But it might be nice to lose an inch or two all around and make it a better fit.

The details

Pattern: Hooded Sweatshirt from Knits Men Want by Bruce Weinstein

Modifications: None that I did on purpose except Aidan chose to eliminate the contrasting stripe.

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers, color 9577

© Lisa Clarke

I’ve been staring at this mess for a few months now, periodically shoving aside enough things to make a work space, but never actually putting anything away. The only thing that stresses me out more than looking at that mess is the thought of cleaning it up. Which is why it stays there, and I mostly choose to spend my time in some other room.

Well, no more.

Usually when I return from the clayathon, I dump my supplies in a corner of the dining room, and don’t touch them for another six months or more.  The clayathon nearly always satisfies my polymer-related urges almost to the point of burn-out.  This time, though, it has rejuvenated me more than anything else, and I find myself feeling the urge to crank out more. More. MORE!

This, of course, would be easier to accomplish if my workspace didn’t look like a bomb went off in the middle of it.  It’s a pretty bomb of fabric, ribbons, thread, yarn, raw polymer, and recently-finished claythings, but a bomb nonetheless.

So yesterday I took a long hard look at the table, and decided that I need to be brutally honest with myself.  The first realization?  I’m not going to finish those quilts for the boys any time soon.  I’ve wanted to do it for months now, but I haven’t wanted it enough to take action.  So I admitted the fact to myself, and that allowed me to put away the sewing machine, the ironing board, the half-finished quilts, two tubs of sewing supplies, and miscellaneous fabrics and trims that were laying around.

What a relief that was.

It’s still pretty messy, as you can see above, but let me assure you it was much worse yesterday before the sewing stuff was retired.

This gives me new energy for tackling the rest of that mess.  I hope to get it done today or tomorrow at the latest, and then I can move forward with some fun plans, including a new videocast and teaching my son how to make clay-covered pens.  I may even combine the two…  stay tuned!

So, how does your workspace look these days?  Dealing with a mess, too?  Or are you one of those neat and tidy types?  And if you are a neat and tidy type, please tell me – what is that like?  Is it as blissful as it sounds?

© Lisa Clarke

If you don’t see the embedded video below, please click through here to view it. I promise the extra click is worth it.

If you find the idea of SOPA/PIPA frightening, please click the “Stop SOPA” ribbon on the top right-hand corner of my website (or go to americancensorship.org) and write to your congresspeople. It couldn’t be simpler. You give them your name and zip-code, and they will send a form letter to your representatives. It takes less than two minutes, and you don’t even have to come up with your own words. Not a US citizen? There is a petition you can sign, if you’d like to throw your support behind us.

I don’t discuss politics all that much on this blog, but this is important, and I hope you will join me in taking action. Thank you!

Edited to add: I just watched this TED talk by Clay Shirky. If you have an extra 13 minutes to spare, you might want to take a look at it, too. (video link is here, if the embedded player is not working)

© Lisa Clarke

I am home. Yay!

I had a great time, claying it up at the ‘thon as usual, but I am glad to be home. We moved to a new hotel this year, and while the work room was much improved over previous years (so spacious!) the hotel itself was on the creepy side. Apart from the ornate lobby, the place was pretty rundown. The heat in my room stopped working last night (it was 16 degrees outside!) and so I slept under three blankets, and I kept on my socks and my heavy wool sweater. Frigidity was a theme in that hotel. Just crossing the lobby from the elevators to the work room made me feel like a human icicle. I took a hot shower this morning, just to thaw myself out!

So it’s especially nice to be back home, sitting here in the family room next to a crackling fire, under the blankie of love.  The kids are doing homework and the husband is working on his magazine.  It’s all so cozy.  Warm.  Much appreciated.

Eamonn just asked me sweetly for some hot chocolate. How can I refuse? Must take a quick break.

Ok, hot chocolate duly made, and some Zen Tea for me. Now, what was I saying?

Oh, yes! Clayathon.  Less-than-stellar hotel aside, it was a great time as always. I wish I could have stayed another day, because I think I still have a few projects in me wanting to get out.  Here’s what I did manage to accomplish, if you’re curious:

First was the crochet hooks some of you ordered.  I particularly love this batch above my previous ones, because they are so shiny!  (Oooooh shiny!)  I sanded them as I always do, but this weekend I had access to a buffing machine, and I took advantage of it.

Next I worked on using up some of the leftover pieces I have been accumulating from all of the hook-making over the last several months.  I put several strips of the different patterns from the same color family together into one big sheet, and used the sheet to cover what I like to call these “crazy quilt pens.”

The rightmost 13 pens were done that way.  Then I took a break to make some new canes in a new color family (see below). I covered the leftmost four pens with the new canes, and then did 2 more crazy quilt pens with the new scraps I generated.

These aren’t finished yet.  They still need to be sanded and buffed. Maybe I’ll get to that mind-numbing job someday…

These are those new canes I  mentioned.  The one on the left is my usual Triangle design, and the rest of them are just kaleidoscopic experiments with what I had left of the colors I used for the triangles.  In a very uncharacteristic move, I just winged-it with the kaleidoscope canes, and probably couldn’t repeat them if I tried.

(Ok, I’ll be honest, I do remember exactly what I did to make these canes, but it’s only been a day and a half. I promise you, I won’t have a clue within a week.)

Late in the day yesterday, I switched from caning to do a little mokume gane. My mother-in-law had asked me to make her some replacement “stones” for a decorative object that had lost some of its pieces.  These came out just as I had envisioned.  Unfortunately, I envisioned the wrong colors.  Duh.  So, I will have to try again with greener blues and yellower browns.

My last project was this quickie.  Terri gave me a few channel bracelet blanks, which I filled with leftover pattern strips.  I was so thrilled to get these brass blanks, because they are perfect companions to the skinny mixed-metal bangles Neil gave me for Christmas this year.  It’s great to be able to add a little color to the stack, I think.

So that’s it! And once again I am consumed with the urge to get a buffing wheel for myself.  I mean, would you look at those shiny hooks?  No way can I get that look by hand.  I need to find an inexpensive bench grinder with a muslin wheel. Any tips from any of you who have one?

Let’s chat about this so I can put off my return to Real Life(TM) for a little while longer, k?

© Lisa Clarke

I just loved Eamonn’s Irish Hiking Hat so much, I spent much of the last month contemplating one for myself.  I found a lovely sea foam tweed on sale, and whipped this baby up in three nights.

I am much happier with the way the crown came out on this one.  I wanted to maintain the integrity of the purl columns from top to bottom, so I had to replace nearly all of the K2togs in the decrease rows with P2togs, like so:

1. P2, K2, P2tog, K6
2. P2, K2, P1, K6
3. P2, K1, P2tog, K6
4. P2, K1, P1, K6
5. P2, P2tog, K6
6. P3, K6
7. P1, P2tog, K6
8. P2, K6
9. P2tog, K6
10. P1, K6
11. P1, K2, K2tog, K2
12. P1, K5
13. P1, K1, K2tog, K2
14. P1, K1, K2tog, K1
15. P1, K2tog, K1
16. P1, K2tog
17. K2tog
18. K2tog

I had intended to also do another cable in there at row 8, but I forgot all about it once I got going.  I think it gives the crown kind of a flower petal look.  I like it.

Oh, I just reaaaaaaally love this hat!

Actually, let me amend that statement.  I do love it, but not when I am actually wearing it.  I’m not really too keen on the way it looks on me.

I think this experience confirms that I am just not a beanie person.

It’s ok.  I’m sure I will find someone, somewhere who would like to wear it.  I still need something for me to wear, though.  I’m thinking wurm.  If the beanie look doesn’t work for me, I might as well attempt slouchy!

© Lisa Clarke

Thank you for ordering crochet hooks this week!  I’m closing up the shop in a matter of minutes, and then I’m ordering my supplies and taking them down south to the Clayathon.  I can hardly wait for the weekend to begin. I’ve got several things I want to work on, mainly your hook orders and a few ideas I have for using up leftover patterned veneers.

I also want to thank you for your input on my last post. Holy cow. Next time I am looking to jump start conversation around here, I have to remember to ask you about shoes.  There are more comments on that post than any others in recent memory. By a long shot.

You ladies know your stuff! I ordered a pair of black Sanita clogs from eBay and with luck they will be here before my trip.  (I’ve written before about my difficulty buying expensive shoes, and my eBay solution, if you’re interested in that.)

I am just days away from finishing Aidan’s sweater.  Finally.  Six more inches on the hood, and I am DONE.  Just one itsy bitsy problem: the sweater fits me.  And I am built nothing like my beanpole of a son.

I’ll be back next week sometime, most likely, looking for help dealing with the giganticness of this sweater, but for now I am taking a quick detour into hat-making.  I just love Eamonn’s Irish Hiking Hat so much, and I decided I needed a tweedy pale aqua version for myself.

I don’t know about you, but when I decide I need a handknit for me, I feel like I need it yesterday.  I tried to force myself to finish the sweater first, but I lost that argument when I saw it is going to be chilly this weekend. I really need that hat so I can wear it to and from the Clayathon.  I couldn’t possibly grab any of the other hats around here that I may have used in the past.  Of course I couldn’t.

New shoes, new hat, new claythings… bring on the weekend!

© Lisa Clarke

Ok, who wants to help me be a little less winter-fashion-inept?

I am reasonably comfortable dressing myself in the warmer months, or pulling together an outfit around a pair of jeans, but in the winter, anything not jeans-based throws me for a loop.  I always end up feeling like I’ve chosen the wrong footwear and “frumpified” the whole outfit.

So here’s the challenge: Neil bought me the most comfortable pants ever for Christmas.  And when I say comfortable, I mean that I wore them for several days until Neil made me wash them. That comfortable.  I ordered a second (ok, and a third) pair last week so now in addition to my original charcoal gray pair, I have two black ones.  Here’s what they look like:

These are great flip-flop-wearing pants in my opinion, but that kind of weather is still several months off.  What do I do right now? It’s too cold to be without socks.  What kind of shoes work best here?

I could see dressing them up with some nice heels, a cotton blouse, a fine-gauge sweater, and a linen scarf for a night on the town, but that’s not what I’m after at the moment.  I want to wear them with a t-shirt, a nice hoodie, and… what? sneakers and tube socks? mary janes and argyle socks? black flats and gray socks?

The goal here is to be comfortable and casual without looking too dressed-up, too dressed-down, or 20 years older than I am.  Especially that last one.

Please educate me

© Lisa Clarke

Before Christmas I showed you how I went down a crazy path, and made a whole set of coordinating crochet hook handles for myself.  What I never told you was that I tried to use one of the hooks a few hours later, and it was terrible.

I’ve heard people say that they are fiercely loyal to the brand of hook they use, and that some brands just don’t work as well as others for them.  I accepted this, but thought it was kind of silly.  I mean, a hook is a hook, right?  Well, I just could not get that Boye size E to work for me.  I moved up a few sizes, and then down a few sizes, and none of them would obey my command.  I felt like a complete spaz using them – I was so surprised that I couldn’t make them work!

So there I was with a lovingly-made set of hooks that were useless to me. Useless!

Since then, I’ve worked little-by-little, in between holiday preparations and festivities, to make a whole new set for myself.  This time I covered Susan Bates hooks, which I have no problem using whatsoever.  Like the last set, I covered all of the handles in some variation of my Triangle cane pattern, making each of them coordinate with its own metal hook color.  Each hook was given Triangles in a different color scheme, and all of them are different from the ones I used on the original Boye hooks.

What can I say? It helps to have a sizable stash of canes to dip into when I need them!

My honest opinion is that the Boye hooks (on the right) are more attractive than the Bates hooks, when viewed all together like this.  But beauty doesn’t particularly matter when I can’t do so much as make a chain with them, I suppose.

So there it is – sixteen hooks.  And even after all that, I’m still in a hook-making mood.

Shocking, I know.

This coming weekend is the annual Clayathon, and I thought I’d make some more hooks – for you! 

I’ve re-opened the shop for a very short time, and you can place an order for a custom-made hook, just like you did at Christmas time.  I have a selection of nine different patterns to choose from so none of us gets bored with the same-old same-old (and by “none of us” I mean “me”).

Just like before, you can also order pens or shawl pins if you wish.

And if there’s anything else that I’ve ever made that you are dying to have, leave a comment!  My Clayathon time is largely unplanned and I might be able to arrange it.

Ok, so go order a hook if you like! And don’t wait too long… I have to stop taking orders noonish on Wednesday so that I have time to order the hooks I need before I leave for my trip!

Thanks

© Lisa Clarke

I started switching out the Christmas this week in the kitchen.  I always start with the kitchen – it’s the easiest room in the house.

All I have to do is swap out the linens: napkins, apron, and table mat.

Today, I also had to clean up the mess that had accumulated there, but, oh, it was so worth it.  The room looks 100 times brighter when there’s no clutter on the table top.

It makes me want to have company and serve them cookies.  So I did.

© Lisa Clarke

Tonight, being a weekend, there is no homework being done.  The fire has been lit, and the boys are playing Kirby together on the Wii.  This is a perfect time for me to get out the blog post I’ve had percolating all day.  Or so I’ve been thinking, until now.

You see, this Kirby game, for some reason, has got my kids all excited.  They are eager to share every little detail with me, and although I haven’t the slightest bit of interest whatsoever in this game, I have looked up every time they’ve said, “hey Mom, look at this” or “Mom, this is the cool part.”  I feel strongly that when we are all together like this, I shouldn’t be so fully engrossed in my own thing that they feel unimportant.  So I do my own thing, but I continue to remain available.

Tonight it’s not really working for me.  All of this Wii action is taking its toll on my ability to string together words into coherent thoughts.  These four simple paragraphs have taken half an hour to write.  I’ll be surprised if it’s not another thirty minutes still by the time I proofread the page and press “publish.”

I can barely remember what I even wanted to say here all day. It couldn’t have been that important, I suppose.  Something about blog housekeeping probably (new header, new avatar, blah blah blah).

Oh! I did want to tell you that I’ve put back an old feature I used to have (I’ve missed it): the list of top commentors and of links to the blog.  I really appreciate you being here, participating, and helping to build a sense of community.  I hope I can return the favor a small amount by sharing your links in my sidebar.

It’s the least I can do, really

Be sure to check it out – it’s at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Kirby is over now, and Eamonn is reading a Bad Kitty book aloud to me. I need to go give him my undivided attention. (Bad Kitty is far more interesting to me than Kirby, luckily.)

Have a lovely weekend!

© Lisa Clarke

It was just over a year ago that I got this lovely camera bag.  I loved it (as much as one could love a bag) and I took it with me everywhere.  I loved that I could always have my camera in tow, and that it was well-protected.  I really loved that the tote looked like a big purse and didn’t scream “I am a camera bag.”  We (my Olive Vine Tote bag and I) were happy.

Sadly, as sometimes happens, about six months into this blissful relationship, the seeds of discontent were planted.  Neil gave me an android tablet for my 40th birthday, and I became smitten.  It was such a handy tool, I naturally wanted to take the tablet with me wherever I went.

But the bag. Oh, my lovely Olive Vine bag! There was just no nice way to rearrange the padded dividers so that a 10-inch tablet could slide in there.  I tried all kinds of things, but in the end, I decided the only way to make it work would be to do some surgery on the bag.  I wasn’t willing to risk messing it up, so that was that. I had to live with it.

After that when I left the house, it was either without the camera, without the tablet, carrying two bags, or carrying one bag with the camera and tablet both flopping around loosely inside (oh, the horror!).

I am really not one to take the purchase of a $100 bag lightly, but I was having such difficulty leaving the house some days! Which electronics should I bring with me? How should I get them there? All of this dithering was driving me batty.  And so finally I sat down, spent an hour or two online, argued with myself a good bit, re-checked my blog revenue for the past year, and pressed “Buy Now” on Betsy.

Part of my bargain with myself involved selling Olive.  She really is still a great bag, and I’d still be taking her with me everywhere I went if she could only see fit to accommodate a 10-inch tablet!  I was planning to put Olive on eBay as soon as the new bag gets here, but I thought first that maybe I should give my favorite online community (that would be you, of course) first crack at her.

So, here are the details:

This “Olive Vine Tote” was made by Jo Totes, measures 15″ x 5 3/4″ x 11″, has a removable cross-body strap, six repositionable padded velcro dividers, and metal feet.

It’s roomy interior fits all of this stuff, which includes a DSLR, three lenses, a snap-on lens in a box, an external flash, a large wallet, and a million other small things.  Everything you see pictured on the bottom right was just moments before inside the bag for the top photo.  That’s how I always have carried it, and it doesn’t feel over-stuffed.

There are a few signs of wear, none of them structural.  Most notably, the green faux leather has worn in a few places: a few corners and under the zipper (which is mostly hidden). Also the (non-zippered) inner pocket is coming unraveled.  A little hand sewing should fix that right up, but I haven’t needed that pocket and so I have never bothered.

I originally paid almost $90 for this bag.  I’m not entirely sure what it would fetch now, after a year of use, but I found an even older one on eBay currently bidding at $46 with a day left to go on it.

This tote was well-loved, but still has plenty of life left in it.  My eBay plan was to start the bidding at $30, but have a buy-it-now price of $55.  Would any of you be interested in it for $50 + shipping? Be the first person to comment or email me that you would like it, and it’s yours!

If I haven’t had a nibble here after a couple of days, I’ll go ahead with my original eBay plan and edit this post to provide you with the link.

[Update: Olive is SOLD! I thought you might be a little disappointed, so I did a quick eBay search and found some other Jo Totes and some similar bags by Epiphanie. Have fun!]

Now, if you will pardon me, I am going to go stalk the mailbox.  Betsy should be here today, and I am eager to fill her up with camera gear, and tablet-y goodness!

(Please consider giving Olive a good home – she’s a lot less work than a new puppy, but just as much fun to carry around.)

© Lisa Clarke

Another year, another Project 365.  This was my third one, and I so enjoyed it!  These are a few of my favorite images.  You can see the rest on flickr or picasa (your choice – I’m in both places at the moment, waffling between which I prefer more).

This time around I gave myself a theme of “up close and personal” for two reasons:

1. it would force me to pay attention to the little things in life
2. it would give me some practice with close-up photography

I think it was a great success! Why? Because I had fun with it, because I am pleased with so many of the photos I took, because I’ve learned a thing or two, and because I am not ready to stop!

I felt this way when I did “a year of mornings” in 2010, too.

So, what’s on the docket for 2012′s daily photo project? I’ve decided to call it “a year in the life,” which is basically just a cheap way out of making a decision at all… I suspect there will be a lot of close-up shots taken in the morning, though… stick with what you love, right?

Speaking of things I love, would you like to see the 2011 handmades?

This isn’t just a highlights mosaic. This is all of them! I feel like maybe I was less prolific this year than in previous ones. There are still so many unfinished projects living in my brain (and some that have gotten a hold of my credit card to purchase supplies and are living in little bags my house).

You can see these completed projects up close here on the blog, or you can check them out on flickr or picasa.

So. It’s January, 2012. So many pictures to take and creative projects to tackle in the coming year.  The world is brand new with possibilities.  What should we do first?!

© Lisa Clarke

It’s been somewhat quiet in Blogland these last several days, but I have to believe there are a few of you out there still checking in, just as I have been reading a few long-time favorites, too – mostly via my tablet, from under my quilt, while next to a crackling fire.  Oh, I have such a rough life the week after Christmas, I know!

So for you who are poking your head in here this week, I thought I’d talk a little about one of the few handmades to make it under the tree this Christmas: Amigurumi Link.

Link, for the uninitiated, is the hero of the Legend of Zelda games, which have had a hold on my boys ever since they discovered Twilight Princess a few summers ago.

I made quite a few changes from the original pattern, not because I am some kind of crochet expert who thinks she knows better, but rather the opposite.  This was a really ambitious undertaking for me.  I’d never attempted amigurumi before, and there were just so many parts to construct! I started with less than a week to go before Christmas, and as I got closer to my deadline, I skimped in some places.

Most notably, I gave him looped yarn hair instead of crocheting his hair, and I skipped all of his accessories.

Somewhere around here is a medallion that I forgot to attach to his belt, along with a half-finished sword and shield.  I’ll finish them sometime, I hope.  (But first I really need to finish Aidan’s sweater. The poor boy has been waiting so patiently for that.)  In the meantime, the boys are happy with this Link doll as he is, and they were duly impressed that I made him.  It’s always fun when I can wow them a little!

This may very well be my last post of the year… I have all kinds of thoughts about how to re-organize my digital life for the coming year, and maybe I’ll be back to chat about that. Or maybe I’ll just keep it to myself. Sometimes those thoughts are really just too boring to write down, no matter how much fun I may have implementing them.

So on the chance that I am not back here until 2012, allow me to wish you a happy and healthy New Year!  Thanks for hanging out with me here for the last 365 days!

© Lisa Clarke

They’ve been spending the last few days staring deep into screens.  These particular screens are from their grandparents.  There have been other screens too, these few days since Christmas.  And while I would normally feel the urge to limit the time spent  playing with such devices, I’m letting it go.

After all, it’s Christmas. What is the week before New Years for, if not to spend it in your pj’s playing with your new toys?

That, and I can hardly fault them.  I’ve been playing with a few of my own new toys this week, too.  Santa was so good to us this year… you too, I hope?

© Lisa Clarke