Category Archives: She’s Crafty

before.

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Last week I posted about walking in the 40th Annual Walk for Hunger, and basically asking friends to kick in a little cash in my fundraising efforts (which are awkward at best).

This week, I decided that I needed to kick it up a notch. I’ve always had a problem with fundraising, ever since my days of Girl Scouts. I’ve made peace with this by pulling myself into the thing I know best.

IF YOU DONATE MONEY, I WILL SEND YOU COOKIES.

bread
This is just what I can do with bread. Just imagine the cookies.

Yeah, I said it. If you donate, any amount at all, I’ll send you a batch of my great grandma Bertha’s amazing oatmeal raisin or my extraordinary great aunt Gertrude’s chocolate chip cookies. It’s the only way I know how to raise money, so I’m doing it up GS style.

I’m trying to raise $1,000 to help hungry people, and I’m (as of this posting) 27% done. I hate asking for money, but I also hate world hunger, so this helps to solve both.

AND, if you donate $20 or more, I’ll also send you the zine I’m making about the whole thing, with both cookie recipes. (The only stipulation is that you refer to them as great-grandma Bertha’s or great-aunt Gertrude’s recipe.)

Now, who wants some effing cookies?



photo.jpg, originally uploaded by sundaykofax.

Teaching a zine workshop

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When I moved to Boston, I immediately contacted the Papercut Zine Library. I’ve started volunteering there, and on Friday I got to go to 826 Boston to help teach a zine-making workshop.

Boys! zine

Clara and I went to 826, and we spent two hours teaching four kids ages 8-11 how to make zines. It was a very positive experience – the kids were absolutely awesome, the staff was as supportive as needed, and each kid ended up with a pretty imaginative, awesome zine.

The two boys in the group were both into WWE wrestling (which I happen to have a knowledge-base of) so we bonded while they decided what kind of wrestling zine to make.

Wrestling zine

This zine features the author’s top five favorite wrestlers, and his top five least favorites. I have to say, I agree with him on Edge (but I don’t like him because his eyes stick out funny, and is therefore not cute). His favorite is John Cena, who hails from MA.

In all, it was the best zine-making experience I’ve ever had. Between Clara and I, we were able to give a lot of personal attention to each kid, and I’m so impressed that they were able to make clever, imaginative zines in two hours.

Pare it down, girl.

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I’ve been thinking lately about how wide and varied my interests are. I seem to have the personality where I get deeply interested in something, learn just enough about it to get it, then get distracted with something new … and repeat.

I have a few new up-and-coming interests that are of a professional nature. I’m going to be writing an article about youth librarianship, social web things, with my esteemed colleague Erin. I’ve been accepted as a reviewer of zines for Library Journal. These are both interesting to me, and all publishy.

Realizing that I could have professional success (or at least librarical infamy) if I keep this kind of thing up, I realized that I may just need to pare down some of my interests. I have simply too many things I want to do. I feel a list coming on…

Ongoing and Upcoming Projects:
Fix that accordion I bought, and learn to play it
Bind and cover books – with all the paper, board, and tools I’ve been hording
Master Knitter Level II
Knitting in general – and all the yarn, needles, and accoutrement
Letterboxing kits – carve stamps, write clues, hide boxes
Sewing wallets – sewing machine, giant tub full of fabric
Silkscreening – hoops and screen and paints and shirts
Painting – paints, brushes, and canvases
Develop last of the rolls of film I have – photo processing containers and chemicals
Wedding photography – take that camera I bought and shoot some people at their wedding (ha)
Making hollow books – random books I don’t want to read, but do want to hack apart
Learn more American Sign Language – I know about 100 words and can throw together a sentence
The 24 Hour Zine Thing – website, distro
Finish Outside Cat, the zine
Write a gyne zine
Work on DIY Reporter zine (bet you didn’t know that one even existed)
Play Pokemon Pearl on Shane’s DS
Practice the trombone
Work at a bike shop – sadly, I stopped, but I’m still accruing tools
Work as a children’s performer – I don’t know if I’ll have an opportunity to do this again, like I did with Toe Jam
Tell stories – I could get so wrapped up in the storytelling guild …
Work on Openknitting (bet you didn’t know that existed either)
Research for upcoming LJ zine column on medical zines
Start research with Erin for upcoming Library Review issue
Read books – like knitting, I don’t think I have a choice

Most of these projects require some sort of crafty supplies, and I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but Jason, Stella, and I live in a very small apartment. A lot of my crap is out and about, since looking at it inspires me to make something. (Or, like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, it bounces me from idea to idea.) I think the tools and supplies of my interests are suffocating us.

So, I’ve decided that I’m going to pack up a lot of the crap. I’m going to focus on just a few interests, and let the rest be for a while. I get jealous of Jason, because a lot of his ongoing projects are computer-based, and therefore take up a lot less room (even if they incite the same amount of panic and overwhelming feelings I have).

I’m declaring my cleared head!
I would like to keep knitting, but stick to one project at a time, with no starting random socks just because I have nothing else planned. Much like Goodreads has focused my reading to books I actually am interested in, Ravelry should do the same for knitting projects. Lastly, I think I’d like to finish the zine of Outside Cat. It would be something you would subscribe to, and I’d mail it to you. I’ll post about that later.

I don’t know about you, but I feel better. I’m hoping that my intense list-making skills and cut-and-run tactics have left you breathless with wonderment, and willing to make changes to your own lives (as opposed to feeling overwhelmed and ADHD, as I fear you might).

Storebought

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I’ve been mulling over the idea of storebought.

Background:
This is my first Christmas working as a librarian in a public library. I’m learning that part of being the public library here is getting Christmas presents from patrons. We have about 10 boxes and tins of treats in the back, that we’ve slowly been working our way through since Thanksgiving. The first Whitman’s sampler was gone in a few hours. After that, as the boxes and tins started rolling in, I began to realize that I needed to be very careful. If I didn’t pay attention, I’d ingest a few thousand extra calories each day.

As I looked over our selection, I realized that what I wanted to spend my caloric pennies on was homemade snacks. Food with no preservatives, with taste in mind rather than presentation.

Back-background:
I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, which took place in midwest frontier America. During Laura’s life, there were several scenes of experiencing the difference between homemade and storebought. In this context, ‘storebought’ meant hard candy, calico print fabric, and other items simply unattainable from the prairie, but magically available through Sears and Roebuck. I could imagine how nice it would be to give up wearing wool underwear for some nice, soft cotton.

At what point did homemade become the new storebought?

Craftland!

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From Make (via E):

Craftland is an annual holiday sale in Providence, RI that celebrates all kinds of handmade objects and the people who make them. I can’t wait to go and … steal ideas. Ok, not really. I’m starting to realize that even if I can figure out how to make something, it doesn’t mean I’m going to. I’m jealous that there’s an LED demonstration at the opening party tonight, but my plans for the evening are just as fun.

I realize most Outside Cat readers don’t live near Rhode Island, but I can say that this reminds me of the Chicagoean Renegade Craft Fair.