Snow, adventures, production
According to my stats, this is my 700th post… wow, who’d a thunk it.
I was down in Providence on Thursday to do my shift. It started to snow around noon. The store got quiet. The roads got progressively worse all afternoon. Getting home was a much bigger adventure then I like, although better for me then many. My waiting time was spent in a train station and not in a car on the highway. It makes me glad once again that I normally don’t have to commute.
We (well, mostly Ben) got the sidewalks and driveway cleared up, just in time for another hit.
Hmm, is the front door going to be frozen closed/open for the winter?
The compost pile has a peaked hat- it usually doesn’t match the garage roof.
And some other white stuff.
On a recent trip to the thrift store I found 4 very large Mens alpaca sweaters. It is one of those things where obviously a store or manufacturer or someone donated a lot of them. They are all never worn and some were obviously seconds. And scratchy. No wonder nobody bought them. $2 each for me!
So, I tried some shibori felting yesterday. This was a test. I removed the sleeves from the white sweater. On the left- I used buttons (mens shirt buttons- you know the size) and put a little rubber band to hold them in place. If I decide to do more of this, I need to find a supply of those tiny rubber bands that are used with braces. They are perfect for this- unfortunately I used up all I had.
On the right, I clipped the fabric with bull clips. Not a success. It doesn’t look like anything. I assume if I throw it back in the washing machine, it will felt up evenly, but we’ll see.
And Christmas production. I am making everyone who gets presents from this house, reusable shopping bags. I have loads of fabric that I will never find a better use for. This is a two-fer good thing. 1. I am using rescued fabric- would have gotten tossed if I hadn’t taken it. 2. I am making bags which will hopefully keep plastic out of the waste stream. Well, and then there is 3. If I use up enough fabric, I will have space to replenish my stash… that’s the dessert!
December 16th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
I found tiny, black “no hair pulling” rubber bands at the dollar store. It was a package of 300 … for a dollar.
They do come in handy.
December 16th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
… and if you can’t find them at the dollar store try the beauty supply store - they are used for the ends of tiny braids …
December 16th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
The bags certainly look awfully stylish for something that may well have ended up in a landfill site - wish I was coming to yours this Christmas!
December 17th, 2007 at 4:39 am
I wished I was at yours at christmastime too, haha, I would love such a fab bag! It’s indeed a very good idea, especially the second and the third reason
for using piles of fabric!
December 17th, 2007 at 11:49 am
It was fun to see your shibori felting experiment. I’ve been drooling over Nicky Epstein’s book, “Knitting Never Felt Better” that has a lot of shibori techniques for knitted pieces and have been wanting to try to shibori with my hand felted stuff as well.
December 17th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Those bags are a wonderful idea! I feel guilty accepting plastic when shopping - I’ll have to try making my own!
December 17th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Those bags are wonderful! You forgot the 4th benefit- they look great! I’d love to be seen toting my groceries in those bags!
December 18th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
I, too, love the Shibori - I have never seen it done with such a small object tied in. The effect is great. I especially like the grid that you have created. I third the tiny hair bands. They are available all over the place and inexpensive. Are you squaring off the bottom corners of your shopping bags (not sure if that is the right terminology) or leaving them at a 90 degree angle? I, too have made a few in the works and can’t decide which way to go. I like the way you did the handles. Thanks for 700 posts of inspiration!
December 18th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
I like what I can see of the bags. I would like to see a picture of a whole one. It appears that the carrying strap is all a part of the bag, not a separate strip sewn on. Is that right? I like that idea better than adding straps. I might even make some of these (and save the planet) if I can see the whole thing. Or, do you have a pattern for sale?
December 20th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Your shiboroi is wonderful. And I love your bags - I so whole heartedly want to reduce the waste! And I too have recently made gift bags out of a vintage table cloth with both elf and heart patterns! Perfect for Christmas. This will be our first paper-free Christmas!
December 24th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Congratulations on your 700th post!! Merry Christmas to you and your family, now I must go on preparing the house for the invasion of 13 adults and 8 kids…
December 24th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
happy happy Christmas!
I thanked you on my blog, but, idiot that I am, forgot to thank you directly for the beautiful photos! thank you thank you.
best wishes into the New Year.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:02 am
[...] Here’s a thought provoking example of a exchange standard along with an short informed essay about the effects it has on the adjacent parts of the system. The example is the trash chute in an apartment building. In my experience, at least in NYC, much of the trash is broken up into units the size of a plastic shopping bag. That happens to fit nicely into many of these chutes, and size standardization flows back up the supply chain nicely. There are household trash bins that take a standard plastic grocery bag for a liner. Living in an inner ring suburb in Boston, as I now do, I was surprised how hard it was to find a source for those trash bins. In seemingly related news my wife recently made some cloth grocery bags, which are identical in topology to the plastic ones. [...]