quickly before i go to sleep (i mean, it’s after 11 pm, so it’s past my bedtime) i want to let crafty friends, especially crafty friends in rhode island know that i’m going to be helping out and running the stitch and bitch on thursday nights from 6 to 9 at waste not want not in providence.
you can bring whatever projects you like – knitting, embroidery, alterations, anything. there is a $3-$6 donation for use of the space and supplies (you can root through scrap fabrics, etc to use in your work). come craft, enjoy some tea or baked goods, maybe do some shopping, whatev. if you don’t knit already but would like to learn, i’m also happy to help out with that. i’ll be there weekly, and it’s really nice to meet new people, and also to see people i already know and love, so come hang out!
the other really important piece of knitting news i have is that i have (finally) started my halloween costume.
it’s a squid. you can tell, right? i just started this week and obviously i’m making this up as i go, due to a surprising lack of squid suit patterns out there, but i think i can pull this off. i’m starting with the body and working down through the tentacles. then i’ll pick up stitches and knit the hood/headpiece last. i’m using the caron pound of wool, and while the color is good i think, the feeling of this yarn isn’t so much. but i think it’ll do the job, and if i end up wrestling any whales on halloween, i won’t be damaging fancy wool. anyway, expect some more interesting squid suit updates as i get to the more exciting parts of the costume construction. and keep your fingers crossed for me!
last night after knitting for a little bit at the taqueria, meg and emmanuel and i wandered over to waste not want not on westminster after being told by amelia about knit and natter on monday nights. things were quiet, but we got to poke around a little and this place is seriously really amazing. i’m so psyched that it exists. from their facebook page:
“Unlike any business that Providence has known, this business promotes resourceful creativity through recycling, reuse and repurpose of reclaimed materials and found objects. The shop promises to introduce new concepts and forward thinking to a city known for its thriving arts community. This non-profit business model is three fold, with a focus on thrift store sales, textile workshop and “upcycled,” boutique apparel, accessories and home ware.”
we walked in on a knitting machine lesson/demonstration and were so impressed and excited. monday nights are knit and natter nights, from 6 to 9. and on stitch and bitch happens on thursday nights:
how can you even argue with this flyer? amazing. i’ll definitely make it down to knit on thursday night. if you live in or around providence and like to knit or crochet, you should too. i think this place will be an awesome resource for conscientious, crafty people. and because i can get more than a little reclusive, it’s nice to find something new that will drag me out of the house and put me in a place full of people with a common interest. i kind of wish it was thursday already! go look at this place if you haven’t already.
dear everyone: this sunday! come see me and courtney at mass market 4 in boston. courtney makes beautiful things like this and this. i’ll be peddling a few knit things, some handspun yarn, and copies of nothing rhymes #5 which i seriously JUST made copies of. tonight i’ll stitch ‘em up and be glad to at least cross this one thing off my list.
SO. go to mass market. it’ll be really fun. check out their myspace page for directions and also a full list of who will be there – there are going to be a lot of good things! i’m excited! they also might still be looking for people to help out with working the doors, cleaning up, etc, in case you are interested in being involved!
a weekend so nice i won’t even tell you about it. just imagine a really phenomenal weekend, and double it. it was kind of like that.
instead, i give you: octopus turtleneck, swine flu masque, promotional knit beer sweaters, an awesome cat, and a lost in austen book review. if you’re wondering what happened to me in my own jane austen adventure, i did not get married and was left for dead by a bitter rival. i will now give you some time to get over your total shock.
okay. back to knitting. forever and ever.
ps. nicole – this morning at my meeting i almost said “it’s the little deets that make a big diff,” but i laughed just thinking about it and couldn’t actually say the words. so it looked like i was just gazing into my coffee and chuckling at nothing. oops.
in my knitting, dyeing and spinning, i think a fair amount about how i can keep my hobbies fairly “friendly.” as in, environmentally friendly, animal friendly, and personal health friendly. obviously, this is always a work in progress. but as with most things, the more you learn, the harder it is to ignore what you learn, so consistent improvement is inevitable.
so i just want to share with you some of my favorite recent discoveries. some of these i have already tried myself, and some i’m just eagerly awaiting a few extra dollars to try.
greener shades dye starter kit seriously go check this out! greener shades dyes are non-hazardous dyes that work on all animal fibers and don’t use any metal compounds to get really pretty colors. the starter kit is $34.95, but it includes all 9 colors and citric acid, and apparently is enough dye for about 14 pounds of fiber. if you don’t need/want all the colors, you can also get a 1/2 ounce jar of each color for $6.75, which is not bad at all. these dyes also meet the standards for organic fiber processing, which is nice. i haven’t used ‘em yet, but i plan on it very, very soon!
north star alpacas one of my favorite etsy shops. the alpaca fiber she sells is awesome to work with, and comes from her family of 15 alpacas. she also includes a picture of the alpaca your fiber is coming from with your order. mine came from celeste. i think this is a really nice practice because it gives a sort of feeling of personal connection with the animal, and also because alpacas have really funny and endearing faces and are great to look at.
enchanted knoll farm another great etsy shop i’ve had good experiences shopping with. they apparently live my dream life – a solar powered farm in the woods of maine, with lots of sheep and dyeing and spinning and other yarny treats? it sounds wonderful! it feels good to buy from a shop who really seems to care about the well-being of their animals.
cascade ecological wool bulky 2-ply yarn that’s not dyed or chemically treated. it smells natural and woolly, which i really like. (obviously, if you don’t like that sheep smell, it goes away when you block your knitting!) i used this for my owl sweater and am really really happy with it. i have half a skein leftover and can’t wait to knit more with it.
blue sky alpacas organic cotton a cotton yarn option that still uses no chemicals or dyes. and if you’ve knit with blue sky alpacas yarns, you know it’s maybe the best feeling this side of a free chinese buffet. probably healthier, also.
vermont organic fiber company i haven’t shopped here yet, but i’m more or less itching to. you can get organic, environmentally friendly yarns in almost any weight, and the colors are beautiful. reading their standards page is also very eye-opening if you’re wondering what might really differentiate regular commercial yarns from organic and eco-friendly yarns.
ANYWAY. this is barely an introduction to the topic. expect more updates on the subject as i test out new things. and as always, i still recommend just going to a thrift store and finding a nice big sweater to unravel. shopping second hand is always a great resource, and you will find bizarre and unusual yarns more often than not. maybe find a nice undyed wool sweater, and try out some natural dyes on the yarn you get from it!
also, i’d love to hear about products and practices you’ve tried out and liked. hit me with it!
ps. meg and i believe andrea, i think you both have mentioned on your blogs an interest in building spinning wheels out of old bicycle parts. i am very curious about this process! i found a few links (like this and this) but i’m wondering if anyone out there has more info. admittedly, i am more likely to just cave and buy an ashford or something, but i don’t know. maybe if someone more mechanical than i am wanted to enlighten me, this could be a fun experiment?
so, i wrote awhile ago about how much i love my reusable menstrual cup. if i had to make a list, in order, of issues that are very near and dear to my heart, taking care of ol’ uterus region is pretty high up there. so much so that sometimes i hang out around my apartment like this:
if that’s not dedication, i don’t know what is. so i was a little blown away when i realized people were finding my blog by googling “knit and crochet reusable tampons.” my first reaction was, is this a thing that’s happening, and i just don’t know about it?
but my second reaction was one of, i don’t know, disappointment? after doing a little digging around online, i couldn’t find a single source that would make me feel comfortable with the reusable tampon options i read about on blogs. obviously, i’m going to tell you why i feel that way!
first of all. i’m 100% not behind the commercial tampon and pad industry. a bleached, dioxin-soaked piece of rayon manufactured in a grimy warehouse is not something i’m going to put in my body. these products seem clean and sterile because they’re white and come in little plastic wrappers, but there are actually very lax regulations on what goes into them. a pure white product does not necessarily make for an actually clean product. these things also don’t biodegrade and are pretty bad for the environment.
so, for those reasons, i’ve been using the keeper since 2004. i really, really like it. reusable menstrual cups are great for your bod. there’s little to no association with toxic shock syndrome, they don’t contain any harmful materials, and they’re easy to sterilize because they’re not absorbent.
prior to getting my keeper, i used to make myself cotton and terrycloth reusable pads. i still like these for nighttime when i’m sleeping. the outer part is cotton flannel, with a terrycloth insert to make the pad extra absorbent. these can be washed by hand in hot water, or in the washing machine, and they’re a great alternative to commercial pads.
so i guess i can understand how people might think, if you can make and use a reusable pad, why not a reusable tampon? but i worry that people aren’t fully thinking this through, and i personally would like to say that knit reusable products should DEFINITELY NOT BE WORN INTERNALLY!! seriously!
first of all, a number of the knit tampons i saw were made with bright white yarn. this is not the natural color of yarn – obviously a bleaching process is still being employed. even the blogs that suggest organic cotton yarn didn’t address the fact that organic yarns are still often washed and treated with various cleaning agents that may not be ideal for internal use. and then consider how you will be cleaning these products – what kind of soap or detergent will you use? and do you know how much of these products will be retained in the very absorbent natural fibers of the yarn?
i don’t even want to talk about the sites that recommended using rolled up baby socks as tampons. do you have any idea how commercial fabrics are treated? or the quality of the yarns and dyes being used? probably not, and i find it irresponsible to recommend misusing these products.
obviously the idea of a reusable tampon seems more acceptable if you’re only worried about the environmental impact of the waste you’re producing by using them. but if you’re at all worried about the health of your vagina, WHICH YOU SHOULD BE, then you have to consider how dangerous it can be to use products that aren’t meant to be used in this way. yarn and fabric will usually include a list of the fibers they contain, but they don’t tell you how they’re washed, dyed or otherwise treated, and this is because they’re not meant to be used internally. i can’t stress this enough!
if you want to make responsible decisions in this area, i totally commend you. reusable menstrual products are better for your body, your budget and the environment. but that doesn’t mean that EVERY reusable product is a smart decision.
i’m including a nice little list of resources that i trust and recommend. this is an important subject and i would advise you NOT to let personal blogs or even general news articles be your main sources of information, and that goes for my blog as well. which is why i’m leaving you with these much more reliable sources:
the keeper – this is what i use, and i 100% recommend it!
the diva cup – this is what a lot of my friends use and like!
gladrags – cloth pads, menstrual cups, sea sponges and good info!
lunapads – more cloth pads and good information!
a guide to alternative menstrual products – a good introduction to the tampon industry and your alternatives!
seventh generation organic tampons – i haven’t used these, but if you’re going to use tampons, unbleached cotton ones are a healthier choice, and seventh generation claims to disclose all ingredients.
it’s also worth mentioning that while i obviously am all for diy ethics and making as many things ourselves as possible, i also think that it’s really awesome to put your money where your mouth is. why not spend a few dollars and support any of these great companies that are dedicated to providing us with good information and even better alternative products?
obviously, this is barely an introduction to the subject, and more than anything i encourage you to do some research before you start making your own internal products to save a few dollars. there are a lot of great options out there that will ultimately do just as much to save money, improve your health, and help the environment!
i want to share with you the things that have been recently shared with me.
yesterday, shannon sent me this amazing link about how great coffee is for you. not that i needed to be told twice, but as i sit drinking my third cup of the day (with many more to follow) it’s nice to note to myself that i’m getting plenty of antioxidants and maybe decreasing my chances of colon cancer. it’s also nice to hear that three or more cups a day is when the benefits really start to soak in. i’m so there!
also, thanks to jess’s recent post, i now know that our old apartment (which was condemned!) is once again renting units.
(picture stolen from jess)
i can only assume that this means that there are now working smoke detectors and probably the ceiling materials are no longer flammable? but obviously our old landlord did not feel it necessary to fix that boarded up window. ps that window has been boarded like that for about two years. even when people lived in that apartment. please don’t move into this place, guys! or if you do, invite jess over so we can see what has changed.
also, from knitty: this knit heart, which you should totally make for someone for valentine’s day!
and from craft magazine: this barfing unicorn, which might be one of the best pieces of embroidery i’ve ever seen. well, with the possible exception of this price is right piece. i’m so glad there are people who create things like this. you’re seriously making the world a better place!
and last but not least, thanks to the gentleman who performed all of his rap songs for me this morning at the bus station. sir, you know who you are, and i assure you that you dropped a few rhymes that i will remember and quote for as long as i live.
