Crafting a Green World

Here’s another entry into the eco-friendly yarn field, again from Sirdar. I’ve already covered Sirdar’s Eco Wool, but this yarn is plant based. Just Soya is a lovely little yarn made from 100% soybean fibers.

Generally softer than cotton, Just Soya is another great summer yarn. It is silky, smooth and comes in DK weight. Perhaps a summer shawl or tank would be perfect to whip up in this yarn.

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Summer is here! That means cookouts, porch parties, and backyard picnics! You can fancy up your next outdoor shindig with this easy peasy fabric scrap banner. Here’s what you need to make one:
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Even more than a celebration of our nation’s birth (which I could take or leave, frankly), in our town, at least Independence Day is a celebration of our community culture. Between the fish fry, the farmer’s market, the Fourth of July parade, and the fireworks, I’ve got plenty of opportunities to show off my craftiness as well as my festive spirit.

The best crafts, in my opinion, are thematically appropriate (red, white, and blue, you know) without being too slavish (the flag isn’t for wearing, my friends) or too country (denim is best if it’s ironic).

And, of course, the best project has to be eco-friendly–what’s up with craft foam, anyway? It’s like wool felt for anti-environmentalists(not that I’m automatically a fan of wool felt, mind you–it comes from sheep).

Anyway, here are five 4th of July projects that satisfy my own discerning tastes AND are quite able to be completed by the big day. Fireworks away! Read the rest of this entry »

We are seeing lots of new organic cotton prints lately, like the Urbana Collection by Daisy Janie and the upcoming My Happy Garden collection by Cloud 9. Now there are a few more organic cotton prints available from Sukie, a UK-based design company. Read the rest of this entry »

We use billions of plastic bottles every year, at a huge environmental expense. Sure, you can recycle them and feel a bit better knowing that they’ll be turned into products like Ecospun felt, but recycling requires energy and raw materials and not all plastics can even be recycled.

Why not divert all that plastic from the waste stream entirely by turning those old bottles into something new? Here are ten plastic bottle craft ideas to get you going!
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New York City’s Cooper Hewitt is highlighting their Fashioning Felt exhibit in a big way. My mind is now filled with ideas about the possibilities of felt. 

 ”Fashioning Felt presents an extraordinary range of felt. From two-dimensional carpets to three-dimensional environments, each work reveals the virtuosity of both the material and the designers. The exhibition and book focus on felt that has been produced by traditional hand- or machine-felting processes; they exclude non-woven felt and techniques, in order to underscore the essential elements of feltmaking — wool fiber, agitation, moisture, and pressure.”

I fell for this Felt Ovoid Jacket and Empire Pant look. Isn’t this draped felt suit creative? 

Keep reading for more inspiration: Read the rest of this entry »

This place is not your grandma’s pottery painting studio, I’ll tell you that much.

In Wisconsin for Matt’s grandma’s garage sale, the family and I took a couple of days to recover up in Door County. Along with cheese curds, beaches, and dairy farms, we spent half a day at the Hands on Art Studio in Fish Creek.

Holy cow.

For a lady who loves to dabble in anything DIY, who hates cookie cutter crafting, and who plans to move everyone out to a farm before the eldest baby is more than a decade old (I’m speaking of myself, here), the Hands On Art Studio? Was awesome. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have not gotten your hands on one of the Junk Beautiful books you are totally missing out.

Sue Whitney is the ultimate when it comes to taking a piece of whatever and re-purposing it into awesome decor. Examples: an old grate becomes the centerpiece of a magnificent winter wreath, washboards and a printer’s drawer become a stylish outdoor patio table, a tire and drum become a side table, a vintage wooden milk crate becomes a garden cart, dominoes become a soap dish, an old urinal becomes a planter…and that’s just ideas from the Junk Beautiful Outdoor Edition.

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In 2007, Rowan brand yarns introduced PureLife a wonderful selection of 100% organic cotton. In the following years Rowan has expanded their PureLife line to address other areas of sustainability.

Rowan still offers their organic cotton yarn in DK weight that is naturally dyed using plants. New this season is their 4 ply organic cotton yarn, also dyed with natural plant dyes. The shades of this yarn are soft, subtle and sweet, perfect for summer knitting.

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A good thrift store is an asset to a community equal to that of a mom-and-pop hardware store, a locally-famous ice cream/snowcone/frenchie stand, and a rockin’ adult co-rec softball team: in other words, it’s crucial.

In my hometown, we’re lucky not only to have all of the above and a library that stocks just released feature film DVDs, but several excellent thrift stores—thrift stores small and quirky, thrift stores large and conglomerate, thrift stores frequented largely by the college students, thrift stores frequented mostly by the townies. As an avid crafter whose Crafting Manifesto dictates that I work primarily with recycled materials, I have throughout several years’ worth of projects figured out a way to use pretty much any kind of thrift store junk to make awesome stuff. Here are some of the possibilities: Read the rest of this entry »