2KCBW DAY 4

In the DVD player: Firefly
Currently Reading: Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

Whatever happened to your __________?

Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

There are a lot of different aspects to look at when looking back at a knitting project and it can make for interesting blogging, as much of the time we blog about items recently completed, new and freshly completed. It is not so often that we look back at what has happened to these items after they have been around for a while.

How has one of your past knits lived up to wear. Maybe an item has become lost. Maybe you spent weeks knitting your giant-footed dad a pair of socks in bright pink and green stripes which the then ‘lost’. If you have knit items to donate to a good cause, you could reflect on the was in which you hope that item is still doing good for it’s owner or the cause it was made to support.

So. Anyone remember the 198 Countries Peace Project?

If you're an astute reader and wondered why there was never any mention of it being sold, well, that's because it never was.

Intended to be shown at my Senior Thesis Show, back in May 2009, the idea was to sell the finished project and donate all of the money to Doctors Without Borders.

Making the project was a huge process. After several critiques from classmates and instructors, I ended up starting over. The results were lackluster, even to my eyes. I still have not come up with a satisfactory way of displaying all of the flags.

Don't misunderstand. I WANT to finish the project. Badly. And I still want to donate the proceeds to charity. The problem is that after over a year of unsatisfactory work, I am somewhat discouraged with it. I know there is a problem in the visual presentation, but I can't seem to figure out how to solve it. Additionally, I don't have a work space large enough to lay it all out and complete the sewing, and with no buyer in mind, nor a place to show it, it honestly has not been a priority.

One day, I WILL go back and finish it. I don't know when that day will be, but it will happen. I am disappointed and frustrated that such a great idea has fizzled down to this point, but at this time I don't have a whole lot of options.

____
The drawing for the Japan Relief contest is now closed. I will be drawing and notifying winners this weekend, and will announce them on Monday.

Road Trip!

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to show "Worth It?" at the Code Pink Mother's Day Vigil, on May 9-10. I'm going to send them the piece, but I'd really like to drive down and take part as well. The problem is...well, I'm in college. I barely have enough cash to live off of right now, even if I tap into the Emergency Fund (about $150).

I need $150 to go down (we'll be staying with Alice's parents, so most of our food and all of our lodging will be free). If you would like to help fund this little road trip, then you can check out my etsy shop. All of my jewelry is clearance to $10 or less right now. Even if that is all you buy, it would be a big help in getting me down there.

I hate to ask, but I think that the cause is important and I really want to take part. If I go, I'll also be taking information on the Peace Project with me.

If you are going to be in the DC area from May 8-10, I'd love to meet up at the show. I'll be there both days, and things start at 1 pm on the 9th.

Thanks!

To Do List

The things that have to be done by Saturday or OH MY GOD THE WORLD WILL END:

1. Finish Anthropology Essay--45 minutes
2. Do Anthropology readings and responses (about 50 pages)--1 hour
3. Get caught up on vest for Construction (I'm only a week behind...which means everyone else is probably finishing theirs today).--three hours
4. Finish SOMETHING for papermaking because Mr. W things I'm a complete slacker.--minimum 45 minutes
5. Hand out copies of Thesis paper--20 minutes
6. Hang show--3 hours
7. Fill in the little gaps at the end of the rows on the Peace Project.--2 hours minimum
8. Back the Peace Project.--probably at least an hour
9. For surface design: Dye a synthetic fiber, disperse dye a yard, burn out print, discharge print (this would be so much easier if the lab was actually open during the day, but no, it doesn't open until 7:30 PM. Hello! I'm working here!)--3 hours

Total hours behind this week: Minimum 34.5

That is on top of all of my new assignments this week, so add another 35 hours.

HELP.

Can I breathe yet?

Things around here continue to spiral out of my hands. I was productive this morning, accomplishing many things that needed done, but none of them were actually on my to-do list. I'm tempted to write them in just so I can cross them off and feel like less of a lazy bum.

My Etsy shop has been updated with new items and a new section.

Perhaps the biggest news is that I now know the dates of my show! It will run from March 2-6, 2009, and I'm planning a reception for 6th, though that is still up in the air and I need to peg down the exact time.

I finished spinning/plying some of the silk I purchased, oh, what? Two months ago? Finally. I had an awful time splicing the silk, and in the end had to settle with knots, which I can cover up later when I'm knitting.

I went to bed in a bad mood last night, and woke up surprisingly cheerful this morning. I couldn't figure out why, and then I got on Yahoo and found the election results (more like, they jumped at me screaming and I couldn't find my celebrity gossip or weird news). I still think that Darth Vader should have won, but really, it can't get much worse than Bush/McCain. If one of the candidates had to win (and I suppose they did) then I'm glad it's Obama.

(In an ironic twist, I've received about 70 flags for the Peace Project, but thus far, while claimed, the American flag has not been among them.

Teensy bit anxious?

I just received a message from another person who has had to pull out of the Peace Project due to health problems. While I am not upset (I have RSI; I understand completely), I am worried--This is a huge project, and I get a little anxious about it's completion from time to time. I have these horrible nightmares about it being a few days before the show and coming up a hundred flags short. It doesn't help that I haven't been in contact with most of my knitters--many people have signed up on the blog and left me no contact information, or I've messaged them on Ravelry and never heard back.

For this reason, I thought I'd go ahead and post a list here of all the unclaimed flags. This list represents all of the flags that still need to be made. There are 23 total.

As always, if you would like to sign up for a flag, please go to the List of Countries page (link the the sidebar) to sign up. If you request a country in the comments of any other post, I probably won't see it.

If you have a suggestion for any other place I could promote the project, please let me know. I have posts on Ravelry, Limenviolet.com/mb, Knittinghelp.com, and crafster.org, though I think the only one of those threads other than Ravelry that has gotten any hits is the Knittinghelp.com page, and that has been minimal.

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Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Andorra
Angola
Ascension Island
Bermuda
Brunei
Cayman Islands
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Equatorial Guinea
Fiji
Macao
Montserrat
Mozambique
Northern Mariana Islands
Paraguay
Pitcairn Islands
Saint Helena
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Tristan da Cunha
Tuvalu
Virgin Islands, british
Virgin Islands, United States

Time Warp

Classes started yesterday, and my first thesis class was today. I found out some very important news, which I shall pass along to you know.

Thesis is a two semester course. The show takes place during the second semester. Seeing as this is my first semester taking the class, I will not be permitted to have my show this fall. For that reason, I have requested a date in January (still TBA), but I will not get it confirmed for several weeks at least.

What this means, however, is that there is more time to work on my projects, namely the 198 Countries Peace Project. If you haven't signed up yet, then now is a great time to do so, because the sign up deadline has been pushed back to November 8, and the shipping deadline is now December 13--That's three additional months!

As always, if you have any questions about this, please let me know. I know that this has gone from a fiber blog to a thesis blog, but don't expect that to change much in the near future. Now that school has started, that's really all I have time for. On the weekends, I'll be working and attending the occasional convention or car show, but for the most part it will be school, Peace Project, and work, in that order, and really, only one of those is at all interesting enough to blog about.

Show Preview

Don't think that just because I haven't been posting, that I've been slacking. No. Not the case.

I haven't taken more photos, but the second layer of flags for the Peace Project is well underway. Will have more photos sometime this weekend.

In the mean time, here are some images of other projects that will be in the show:


This piece is about 1/8 of the way completed. I'm at 800/4700 rows. I know. Just looks like plain old garter stitch, right? A beginner scarf. What's it doing in an art show?

I'll tell you. That red portion represents one stitch for every person who died on 9/11, all 2993.

The black portion, which is only a small sample of the total to be completed (and is actually about double that length now) represents all American, American Allied, and Iraqi deaths since that date, including the war in Afghanistan (578 Americans in Afghanistan and 364 Coillition troops, plus 4145 in Iraq and 86661 Iraqi civilian, military, and pseudo-millitary deaths. I can't include the number of Afghan deaths because no one kept track of them; the number ranges between 1,000 and 5,000, depending on who you ask and where you look), meaning that it will be 94741 stitches total (using current numbers), or about 4737 rows.
The reason I'm using garter stitch is because in the military, soldiers are trained to think of themselves as a small part of the whole; the individual is at the service of the group. They wear their hair the same, wear the same uniforms, eat the same food, and live under the same conditions, just the way garter stitch lines up in perfect, neat, uniform rows. Conversly, for many Americans, the deaths of Iraqi and Afghan civilians mean that a faceless bunch of people thousands of miles away have died; it has little impact on them. By having all of the war deaths in the same color, it raises the question of Who's Who? Is that stitch an American, British, Iraqi, or an Afghan? Do the differences in yarn signify different countries?

Above all, however, you should be asking yourself this: compare the black portion to the red. All of these deaths have been taken in revenge for the loss of those 2993 on September 11. More than thirty times the number lost in the terrorist attacks. Has it been worth it? Is this really honoring their memory, their sacrifice?

Okay. Take a breath. This next piece isn't meant to be taken as seriously. It's not meant to be as thought provoking. It's poking fun, and while it should make you (or at least, some people) think (just a little) it's intended more as an opportunity to step back and laugh. That being said, I'd like to warn those of you who don't know me well that I am sarcastic and just a little bitchy, and if you are conservative (politically speaking and otherwise), please just turn back now.

George here represents the first in a series of embroidery pieces I'm working on (and yes, he is still in progress just like everything else). When have we had a President who has had an entire website dedicated to the stupid things he says? Okay, maybe we haven't had the internet for that long, but while Lincoln was not well liked in office, and not necessarily considered the best public speaker, I don't think anyone followed him around writing down all of his grammatical errors, or lying in wait for him to say something that didn't make sense.

Also, I somehow doubt that Bush will ever be held in the same regard as Lincoln. But that's an entirely different blog post.

As I was saying, if you are not familiar with this page,, you might want to pop on over and have a look. You'll get a good laugh out of it.
This series is called "Shut up and Get Along." It will be a series of "talking heads" from around the world--leaders from various countries who need to maybe take a look at some of the websites people have set up and think, "What? I said that? Really?" Just as the confident but off key singer occasionally needs a good friend to record them and play back that recording at top volume to shock their friend into perhaps lip syncing at the next choir competition, so these leaders need a quick twack upside the head and a close friend to say "What the hell were you thinking?"

In knitting, blocking can fix almost any mistake in sizing. If these leaders would relax a little, maybe lay out with a Long Island ice tea and a hot tub, a couple nice girls to give them massages (anyone know if Monica Lewinski is looking for a new job?), then perhaps the world would be a better place. If that doesn't work, we could just pin them all to our blocking boards until stop fighting. Whichever works.

Peace Project Press Pack

The Goal:
To promote world peace.

The Cause:
All money from the sale of the finished Project will be donated to Doctors without Borders, that they may continue to help people around the world regardless of race, religion, economic status, or political pressure.

The Idea:
To piece together one hand made flag to represent each of the 198 countries in the world, surrounding the words “Let there be Peace on Earth.” All fiber mediums are welcome, from quilting, embroidery, cross stitch, felting, and dying to painted canvas. The majority of the flags, however, have been knit or crocheted. In addition, flags representing minority groups, cultural areas, religions, and sexual orientations have been added.



The Symbol:
Peace is a long road. It doesn’t happen over night, and it takes work from everyone. While each individual flag is small (only 8” x16” in most cases), they symbolize hours of work and research on the part of the creator. Together, they form a massive textile piece over twelve feet in length. Each fiber artist involved has put her hopes and dreams for a better world into the piece she (or he) has created. Just like blocking a piece of knitwear, if we relax, give a little, and stretch ourselves just a bit, most of the differences in the world can be smoothed out until they are virtually unnoticeable.

The Show:
Brain child of Sheena Pennell of London, Ohio, the 198 Countries Peace Project is intended for her senior thesis show at the Columbus College of Art and Design, which will take from March 2-6, 2009, with an open reception on March 6 in Beaton Gallery on the CCAD campus (161 N. Grant, Columbus, Ohio). The show itself is dedicated to World Peace, with the Peace Project at it’s heart and will include several pieces dedicated to this theme, mostly made up of fiber.

The Information:
For continuing updates about this project, revisit this page regularly.
To download a PDF version of this page, click here.
To download a copy of the artist's profile, click here.
For more information about the 198 Countries Peace Project and how you can participate, simply follow the links to the right under "Peace Project Menu."
To contact the artist via e-mail, write to KnotMagickKnitter(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Peace Project Final Call

The "official" sign ups for countries are now closed, however, there are still 38 countries in need of representation. If you are interested in taking on a flag, please let me know ASAP so I can add your name to the list.

I'd like to thank everyone who has participated thus far. You are all so wonderful, and I'm happy to know you. I'm working on putting together a way of saying thanks as we speak.

There has been much crafting going on around here, but very little picture taking, so I'll have to save that for another time. Also, if you happen to live in Madison County and read the Madison Press, there will be an article on me, my family, and our car show exploits tomorrow.

Peace Project News

I probably should have done this sooner, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to say any of this.

Let me start off by saying thank you to everyone who has signed up, and especially everyone who has already sent their flags. You can disregard this message, please know that I am not talking to you.

Today's date is July 23. Sign ups for the Peace Project officially close on August 1--just eight days from now. I'm posting this message because at this moment, 52 flags are still unclaimed. I've had a lot of people post in various threads and in the comments saying that they would love to sign up, but none of the countries that they are connected to are available, so they will bow out.

I'd like to make one thing about this project clear: The 198 Countries Peace project is about bringing the world together, regardless of background, beliefs, or geographical location. Okay, so maybe you're from a small town in Iowa and have never been more than fifty miles from home, and the extent of your family history is six generations of farmers, all from the same county. Why not take this opportunity to learn about another country? See a bit of the world from your corner of the computer desk? I understand the desire to do a flag for a country that you feel connected to. I myself signed up for Canada for that reason. But the point of the project is to bring people and places together. Take a chance. Point randomly at the screen. Pick a nation just because you can't pronounce it, or because you want to know why it has a little green man on it's flag.

I probably sound like I'm complaining again, or begging, and in truth, I might (but only a little). I know that I can handle about ten flags personally, but if I have to close sign ups with 49 unclaimed countries, then I know that they will not all be finished in time.

Please, if you are interested in the project, and believe in it's goals, sign up for a country. If you feel you won't have time to make a flag by September 1, then please, pass on information on the project to at least one other person, and ask them to do the same. For the project to succeed, we need the help of everyone--that is the point. Dozens of knitters and crocheters and quilters all working together for a common goal in the hopes that our message will be heard.

Along that vein, because of the restrictions of time, I will no longer be accepting requests to do flags that are not on the list.

Thank you again to everyone who has volunteered so far. I'm grateful to all of you. W just need that final push to get these last flags taken care of. The first fifty flags were taken in a month; I'm sure that if we try, we can get these last fifty taken care of just as quickly.


"Peace may be a pipe dream, but I'm going to keep smoking it." --Alice Time

American Gothic

I do not think that I am pretty. Not in the least. I avoid being in front of the camera. But I do make exceptions, like when I need to show off my latest knit creation, or when I've recently finished a particularly cool costume. Of course, it helps when you have a fantastic photographer working with you, like Alice.

The dress for these shots is actually a tank top (the black with pink paisley is the original top). It didn't fit properly (i.e. I have huge hips and most shirts, even if they're long, ride up to become belly shirts. This one was particularly bad, but also particularly pretty). I designed and hand-sewed the skirt, with the intention of dressing it up and also weighing down the hem to keep it in place. Originally I was thinking more of a tutu, but the more I drew and worked on it, the more a longer, more Victorian look seemed better. It's not exactly historically accurate (not even close, really) but I kind of combined styles from around 1900-1910 with stuff from my own head and things from movies.

I really like the way it came out. It fits well and is pretty comfortable. Wearing the long sleeve black top and the corset over top was pretty hot, though. I drank a lot of water during that part of the shoot.

Unfortunately, out of the 200+ photos we took, we didn't get any really good just frontal shots showing off the dress. It was definitely more of an art/fashion shoot, telling a story. Alice lives in an awesome Victorian, and we used the setting a lot in the shoot. We had a lot of fun pretending that I was about to kill my husband. There are several shots of me involving a knife and also some deadly nightshade she found growing in the yard.

These are just a few of my favorite images, the ones that show off my part of the work (the costume) the best. We also took some pictures in a local graveyard. We went to the older part of the cemetery and found some tiger lilies growing by a fence which we used as a prop. We left flowers on every grave we used as a thank you; most of them were so old that no one cleans or takes care of them anymore, except to mow around the headstone.

I also finished up an afghan I was working on, but I have yet to hook up my camera to the laptop. Or really get a decent picture of it. Flash photos on my messy bedroom floor don't count, but it's been raining every day for...A month? Two? So I haven't taken any outdoor pictures (When it's not raining, it's 90 and humid).

As soon as I get the next flag for the Peace Project, I'm going to start stitching it all together. Squee!

Oh Canada Part Deux

Do you know what this image represents? Well, it's several things: the Canadian Flag, obviously. The flag I dibbed for the Peace Project, secondly (of course, I'll be doing the leftovers, but this was the one I really wanted to do). Mostly, though, it represents seven hours of my life. That little bit of fabric--eight inches by about nine--took me seven hours. I know this, because I watched The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, Now and Then, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights while working on it. Of course, after the first movie, I only had about an inch to show for my trouble. Forget the cake, the gauge swatch is a LIE! I spent the first two hours ripping out all of my progress and checking to make sure that yes, my gauge swatch did say four stitches to the inch, and yes, I did multiply that correctly.

I also tried a new way of knitting. Apparently, I knit strangely, and it results in twisted stitches. I assumed this was just lack of experience since I only learned to knit three years ago and most of that was being self taught. I figured that with time my rows of V's would straighten up and stop looking like zig zags. Then at Knitting Group last week, the LYS owner informed me that if I purled into the back of my stitches rather than the front, they'd straighten out. I tried that, but it was very uncomfortable, so I started knitting into the back of my knit stitches instead with the same effect. It's actually faster than my old method, too. Because of the angle the loops sat on my needle, I would stick the point between two stitches, then into the top one. This way I have a straight shot. Of course, I only have to worry about it when I'm doing stockinette, since my garter stitch looks fine, and that makes things a little complex, but it's not bad. I just have to follow the direction of the loops.

And that was a lot of rambling that I'm not sure made any sense at all.

I've begun with my job search, and have one interview lined up. I'm really angling for a job at the public library, working as an assistant organizer for the summer youth reading program, but I'm not sure they're going to get back with me. They're really bad about that, I've noticed. This is the third time I've applied there over the years, and I've never received any kind of response because "due to the volume of applications, we are not currently accepting calls regarding the application process."

I think that's all I had to say. Keep knitting away and sign up for your flag if you haven't already!

We have a photo!

Well, it only took two weeks and a lot of fiddling, but I finally got my new camera to work on my computer. Kind of. Actually, I found a memory card reader in the computer desk. I'd completely forgotten we had it. Either way, I'm confiscating it.

So, now you get pictures:


This is that other batik I was--am--so proud of. I really enjoyed working on it, The flower is based on the Italian Peace flag--hence the "Pace," which is Italian for Peace. The quote at the bottom came from Mulan (Disney can't sue over that, right?).

And yes, that photo was taken with the new camera. And yes, I am still looking for a free download of IPhoto, if anyone can point the way. All I've found so far are the updates for the program.

Hm. What else was there? My knitting content lately hasn't been too interesting. Neither has life in general. I'm chilling out, holding down the fort while my parents are out of town. Mainly, that means keeping Smokey, the three year old black lab, entertained. He's completely OCD about his frisbee.

Well, I'm off for another hour-long round of fetch before I head off to Alice's.

Please don't stalk me.

The decluttering continues, very, very slowly. But I did take a break this afternoon and get the PO box. You can now ship your flags to:

Sheena Pennell
P.O. Box 781
London, OH 43140
USA

Please keep in mind that all packages need to be received by September 1, 2008. You can find more information on shipping in our Ravelry group page, or by clicking the links in the sidebar.

Some Notes

I just wanted to leave a couple of notes:

1) The third episode of the podcast has been recorded for over a week now, but the connection at school has been bad and mypodcast.com is giving me fits, so I have no idea when it will finally be up.

2) Last night while I was crocheting, I had cold spots shooting from my elbow up to my pinky, which means it is time to take a few days off from knitting and crocheting. Carpal tunnel induced nerve damage is not good. I probably shouldn't even be typing now, but what can I do? Everything I love requires repetitive movements. We'll see how long this break lasts.

3) Yesterday I finished the centerpiece for the Peace Project. You can see a picture on the Flickr group. You can find that link on the 198 Countries Peace Project info page, at the bottom. I would post it here, but my internet connection is really awful and I don't think Flickr will load long enough for me to get the web address for the group.

4)One of the reason I haven't posted the last few days is because of what's going on in Tibet. I said that I would try to keep my political views out of this blog, but I find that that is all I really want to talk about. Therefore, no posts. But I hope that you are all keeping track of events. Episode four of the podcast is going to be dedicated to Tibet, and a few movements that Alice and I are planning.

Photo Overload

Okay, I'll admit it. I forgot to take a picture of the cincher. I'll try to get one soon. It will be so nice when I have readily available internet, and don't have to go to the school. I can just pick up the camera, snap the picture, and plug it in.

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Peace Project Update
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We are up to 133 promised flags, and I know of at least one person that has completely finished theirs. Spirals on Ravelry wrote up a lovely article on the project for This Week in Ravelry (thanks Sprirals!).

Speaking of Ravelry, there is now a page in my notebook where you can see photos of the project as it comes together. Also, don't forget about the Flickr group!

To make up for the lack of cincher pictures, I do have images of the Peace Project centerpieces, with the completed embroidery. The grease stain came off wonderfully--the dry cleaner is a miracle worker, and the nicest lady. I guess she had to try a couple of times to get it off, but I'm so glad she did!

Dash and Post

I am wearing my first ever pair of hand knit socks.

I am teh awesomeness.

Work on the podcast is coming along slow and steady. It would help if we didn't have to keep re-recording things (we've never done this before), and if Garage Band would allow me to record more than just thirty-three minutes, sixteen seconds (what kind of weird time is that, anyway?) Do any of you tech people out there have any ideas on how I can extend that?

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198 Countries Peace Project Update
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We are up to 112 claimed flags, and we also have a Flickr Group!

Teaser

I just finished my socks, but I don't have a photo--cast off just in time to leave for class, and I'm here now zoning out while using the internet.

But, here we have a few updates. The first foot or so of the centerpiece for the Peace Project. I still need to find some beads or sequins or something for the stars, but the embroidery part is done.



This is what the socks looked like around lunch time. I'll post the finished pictures tomorrow.

The Halfway Point

Well, now that one hundred (!!) flags have been taken, I thought I'd post an abbreviated list, just so you can see what countries are left:

Abkhazia
Afghanistan
Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Åland
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Ascension Island
Azerbaijan


Bahamas, The
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi

Cambodia
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chile
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Congo
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus

Dominica
Dominican Republic

East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea

Falkland Islands
Fiji

Ghana
Gibraltar
Grenada
Guam
Guatemala
Guernsey
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana

Haiti

Indonesia

Jersey

Kazakhstan

Kiribati
Korea, North
Korea, South
Kyrgyzstan

Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia

Liechtenstein
Lithuania

Macao
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mayotte
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Montenegro
Montserrat
Mozambique
Myanmar

Nagorno
Namibia
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Niue
Norfolk Island
Northern Cyprus
Northern Mariana Islands

Oman

Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Philippines
Pitcairn Islands
Portugal

Qatar

Rwanda

Saint Barthélemy
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
São Tomé and Príncipe
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Seychelles
Singapore
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
South Ossetia
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Syria

Taiwan
Togo
Tokelau
Tonga
Transnistria
Trinidad and Tobago
Tristan da Cunha
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu

Uganda
Uruguay
Uzbekistan

Vanuatu
Venezuela
Virgin Islands, British
Virgin Islands, United States

Wallis and Futuna
Western Sahara

Zambia
Zimbabwe

Fiber Content

For a while now I've been talking about my various craft projects, but I haven't shown any pictures--well, here's a couple to make up for it:



I made this....last week? Out of boredom.



Boredom is the reason I make most things. Since the charger on my laptop died, I've needed something to do during my Art History class, as surfing the web is no longer an option. This was a little something I started carrying around in my purse, and have randomly been pulling out when we go on trips to that I'm not focusing on how badly the prof is butchering any word that isn't Italian (she's American, by the way, and has been teaching for 25 years, so there's really no excuse), and why are we at a museum this early in the morning? And do I really care if we look at yet another Madonna and Child? I think no.

So imagine twenty-five college kids following a tall blonde chatterbox around like so many baby ducklings, and me trailing along at the end with three or four inches of crochet peeking out of my over sized Harry Potter bag. That is how this bag was born. And it's actually kind of funny that it was crocheted mostly in my art history class, since it is finished just in time for our trip this weekend. Perfect! Now if I can only keep from garroting the prof with my next project, we'll be just peachy!

In more cheerful news, I found a really cool book tucked away in our apartment. Well, actually, Alice found it. We have a bookshelf that is laden with Italian novels we can't read, encyclopedias that are ten to twenty years out of date, and board games with half the pieces missing. Yet the other day she unearthed this treasure:




This is an Italian translation of an American book from the early 1980's. Basically, it's everything you ever wanted to know about sewing, embroidery, macrame, crochet, needlepoint, knitting, and tatting. Tatting! I was so surprised to find that in there.

I've been studying this book ever since. I don't use pattern books, but I like "how-to" type things; How to make this stitch; how to piece these things together--more of a recipe than a detailed step-by-step.








And those are just what I found by flipping to random pages! This book even has basic color theory in it, which was really surprising for me.

I'm going to have to search Amazon for the English version--It's a Reader's Digest book. I don't have it in front of me, so I can't look up the original title, but I will post it later on. If I can't find it online, this copy might just fall into my suitcase. I think the best part is that even though my Italian is awful, I can still understand a good portion of the instructions because the images are so clear.


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Peace Project Update
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Eighty-Five. EIGHTY-FIVE!

Do you know what that number represents? That is the number of flags that have been signed up for. EIGHTY-FIVE! I actually counted twice because I didn't think there could possibly be that many, but there are. You are all so wonderful! I never would have expected this kind of response in less than a month!

I should be getting the center panel back from the cleaners this afternoon, so I'll be able to start the quilting and embroidery.

I will be gone this weekend on a trip to Rome, so you probably won't hear from me until Monday.