Month: December 2013

2013 Project Roundup: Projects For Other People

Karen

I definitely got more crafty time in for 2013 than I did in 2012, and that’s good. While I made some tops and a tunic and a dress and a shower curtain and (ahem) a ComicCon costume for myself, I made a lot of projects for other people, too. (And that’s also good.)

There was the memorial quilt for my friend, which was the biggest project of the year, I think (followed closely by that ComicCon outfit). My dad got another Hawaiian shirt and my brother got a John Deere-print shirt–and of course Skyler got shirts to match both of those.

I made a stroller set for a friend’s first baby and Skyler got an owl hat, just because. And I made gifts: for current coworkers and for my friends–including this 50’s-inspired “hostess” apron  for a friend who loves owls and baking:

IMG_1831

And this stocking out of wool felt for another friend:
IMG_1812

Whew! I haven’t been sewing much on this winter break because of birthday party prep (more on that later) but today I am finally going to start that camel cape. Onwards and upwards.

Stay crafty, friends, and Happy New Year!

Auld Lang Syne

Karen

It’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow and after (nearly) 34 years I’ve found a version of Auld Lang Syne I really like:

This is Andrew Bird channeling “le jazz hot” and singing ALL the Burns lyrics (and playing octaves on that fiddle really, really well at about 3:42).

Tomorrow I’ll round up all the projects of the year and I’ll have a 2013/being 33 wrap up posted sometime this week. And then it will be 2014. And I’ll be 34. And vacation will be over. I’d better listen to more Andrew Bird.

Friday Unrelated Information

Karen

1. This is quite the winter break, as far as sleeping in goes. Apparently if I get time off, I revert to the sleep schedule of a teenager.

2. Despite sleeping like a teenager, I turn 34 a week from today. Earlier this month, I was looking at the Facebook calendar of birthdays and saw my own saying I’d be 34–and my first thought was, “That’s a typo! I’m not that old!” But yes, I will be.

3. I’m giving myself a birthday party to deal with…everything…and that means this week has been full of tissue paper crafts and festooning the swan:

IMG_2001

Good thing I have lots of help:
IMG_1996

Merry Christmas

Karen

..Happy Solstice, Happy Yule, and Io, Saturnalia! Here’s a sonnet to read. “There is much we do not understand” indeed. Peace.

December

by Gary Johnson

A little girl is singing for the faithful to come ye
Joyful and triumphant, a song she loves,
And also the partridge in a pear tree
And the golden rings and the turtle doves.
In the dark streets, red lights and green and blue
Where the faithful live, some joyful, some troubled,
Enduring the cold and also the flu,
Taking the garbage out and keeping the sidewalk shoveled.
Not much triumph going on here—and yet
There is much we do not understand.
And my hopes and fears are met
In this small singer holding onto my hand.
Onward we go, faithfully, into the dark
And are there angels singing overhead? Hark.

Christmas Vacation

Karen

If you can’t tell from how late I’m posting, I’m on Christmas vacation for the rest of the year–and I already started partying over the weekend.

The party started with reading a headline I never thought I’d read in a paper in my home state (and tearing up over the photo galleries and mentally cheering the judge*):
IMG_1899

It also involved decorating gingerbread cookies with the nephew and “Gromma” and “Grompa”:
IMG_1925

And it ended with watching the actual Christmas Vacation while somebody waited for Santa:
IMG_1904

It’s a good time of year.

 

 

*As quoted from the Tribune article linked to above, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby issued the nicest and most rational “suck it” that I have ever heard to conservative arguments:

Shelby took issue with the state’s argument that the plaintiffs “do not possess the qualifications” to enter a marriage relationship, saying there is “no dispute that the plaintiffs are able to form a committed relationship with one person to the exclusion of all others” and to raise children within that union if they desire.

Shelby said the state’s argument about the ties between marriage, procreation and optimal child-rearing were not compelling, nor was its assertion that the plaintiffs were seeking a new right.

“However persuasive the ability to procreate might be in the context of a particular religious perspective, it is not a defining characteristic of conjugal relationships from a legal and constitutional point of view,” the judge said. “The state’s position demeans the dignity not just of same-sex couples, but of the many opposite sex couples who are unable to reproduce or who choose not to have children.”

What same-sex couples seek is simply the same right “currently enjoyed by heterosexual individuals: the right to make a public commitment to form an exclusive relationship and create a family with a partner with whom the person shares an intimate and sustaining emotional bond,” he said.

Happy Solstice

Karen

stonehenge-winter-solstice-anonymous-300180(Not my photo of Stonehenge. Yet.)

It’s the winter solstice tomorrow–the shortest day, the turning point on the swing back to warm weather. Read about the astronomy, celebrate it like a hippie, wish someone a happy Dies Natalis Solis Invicti,  get your Christmas preparations all finished, or pick from any of these festivals. As the hippies say, “It’s all good.” We made it through the darkest part.

And here’s a Jung quote to ponder as we go through the rest of the dark and into a new year:

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Poems About Christmas Decor

Karen

From William Carlos Williams’ “Burning the Christmas Greens,” here is something to think about as you admire your decorations.

At the winter’s midnight
we went to the trees, the coarse
holly, the balsam and
the hemlock for their green

At the thick of the dark
the moment of the cold’s
deepest plunge we brought branches
cut from the green trees

to fill our need, and over
doorways, about paper Christmas
bells covered with tinfoil
and fastened by red ribbons

we stuck the green prongs
in the windows hung
woven wreaths and above pictures
the living green. On the

mantel we built a green forest
and among those hemlock
sprays put a herd of small
white deer as if they

were walking there. All this!
and it seemed gentle and good
to us.

Tuesday Project Roundup: All Wrapped Up

Karen

All of  the handmade Christmas presents are made now! First up, I finished the  scarf for the work gift exchange last Friday: IMG_1888Details: Red Heart Yarn “Stellar” (not too bad for acrylic and it had very fashionable metallic threads in it) and my own pattern–provisional cast on, garter stitch for about 30 inches, and three-needle bind off.

I may even have gotten carried away trying to be the MOST on-trend crafter at work and made a couple pom-poms for the gift wrap: IMG_1855No one was all that impressed by the pom-poms, though.

I also whipped up a few lavender sachets for a little gift for my best friend, Mr. Sunday Night Conversation: IMG_1857(My real gift is usually a nice dinner, but I know he will appreciate sachets. He’s good like that.)

I used lavender from my border out front and scraps of deeply masculine (ahem) oxford and wools from old projects. I even had the ribbon in my gift wrap supplies: IMG_1860 You’d think I planned it.