Just had to share. Check out the Bent Objects blog here.

Ah, easy crochet pattern. Easy to love. Perfect for Valentine’s Day. Thanks, Roxycraft. I haven’t quite figured out what the kids want to do for Valentine’s this year - something homemade. We’re still on the hunt. I just can’t bear to buy those cheap yucky store valentines another year. As soon as I’m feeling better (we’ve been slackers and sick all week long), this is sure to get done - mostly because Valentine’s class parties are next week.

I have a thing for magazines. Even if I never get all of the projects done! This new Knitscene magazine looks interesting - I love the cover project! Wish I were 18 years old again so I could wear most of the stuff!

Who knew? I am in love with pom poms these days. Check out how to make the hearts here. The rug can be found here. Now if I just had some for my roller skates…

I didn’t even know this existed - KNITCH - an online knitting magazine. Look at the pretty yarn! Look at the pretty ideas…love that baby cardigan with four flowers. I have a lot to learn.

Yeah for SPRING! Here goes wishful thinking since it’s still cold and January here in Omaha. I’m anxious for spring - mostly because then I know we will HAVE to be well on our way to Texas. Geesh. This waiting in winter thing is more difficult than I expected - patience schmatience. Very difficult stuff to be in limbo. I’m going to appease my worries with a little spring-like eye candy. The website for the above pics is here and the site includes a blog, craft school and boutique - some of it is still in the works but I’ve seen the magazine. It’s fabulous.

Each of the above pics is from Marie Claire Idees - a French sewing/knitting/craft magazine. I am a francophile (is that supposed to be capitalized? I don’t think so.). I love anything from/about/in/around France. I went there after my senior year in high school and had a great time but I’m wanting to go back and take my husband. He is not such a French fan but I think he’d enjoy the culture, photo ops and most definitely the food. J’adore le pays de France dans mon coeur.

I am going to reprint a letter I received in my email from SMALL Magazine (an online magazine; if you haven’t checked it out, go here).

Dear Small Readers,

We are writing to inform you of action taken by Congress this past August to pass the HR4040–the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). We are pleased that Congress passed a bill to protect our children from toys containing lead and phthalates and addressing other safety issues. However, parts of this bill will directly effect all small handmade toy makers, designers and store owners in a way that will put many of them out of business. The CPSIA rules now requires all children’s products, including natural handmade toys and clothing to be tested by a Third Party Lab, often at a cost of up to $4,000 per item. That could cost a small company more than $20,000 a season.

The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of children’s goods that have earned and kept the public’s trust: Toys, clothes, and accessories made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade children’s products will no longer be legal in the US.

If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while major food manufacturers such as Kraft and Dole prospered.

For small American, Canadian, Australian and European toy-makers and manufacturers of all children’s products the costs of mandatory testing will probably force them out of business.

A toymaker who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
A small-scale designer selling screen printed kids t-shirts from Australia will have to undergo expensive testing and provide permanent tracking labels for each item in order to sell within the US.

A work at home mom in Texas who makes handmade clothing must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.

A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import.
And even the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

Please check out the Handmade Toy Alliance to read more about this issue.

Also please consider signing the following petitions:


www.ipetitions.com/petition/handmadetoys

www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

Child safety and the environment is a top priority here at Small Magazine and we are concerned by the dangerous and poisonous toys that large toy manufacturers have been selling to our nations families. That is why we support the independent designers and companies making safe, handmade products for our children.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and we appreciate your help.

Sincerely,
Small Magazine
Christine Visneau & Olivia Pintos-Lopez
Small Magazine
editor@smallmagazine.net

I am almost done making a beautiful scarf for my sister LeAnne for her birthday. It is so pretty and lightweight and soft it is going to be VERY difficult for me to give it away. I hope she really likes it because it makes my eyes look so blue and I am sooo tempted to keep it for that very reason. I used this yarn above - Lion Brand PolarSpun in PolarBlue 100% polyester which is kinda sticky to work with (don’t expect to be able to frog anything - it knots up) but is very forgiving - I accidentally had a few yarn over holes and they were easy to disguise. I’m making it extra long. I found a pattern using this same yarn for a kid’s pullover here and I may just have to give one a try because all of my kids were fighting over who got to keep this super soft scarf. My kids are so easy to please - they love every project I make and that makes it worthwhile for me.

It’s not Halloween anymore but it’s so cold outside, I kinda feel grouchy enough to want to wear something like this! Knitted by the brilliant mind behind Things and Ideas. She has great instructions over at her blog which I love because it’s about knitting and gardening and gardening and knitting. And she’s moving, too, so I feel like we’re automatically related. Except that she lives in Scotland. These international knitters have so much more style.

This is a recursive post about a guest post. (You’ll get that if you are a TRUE geek like me, Lizabeth’s hubby.)

The guest post is up! You can see it over at www.lightrefreshmentsserved.com and it looks good.

Here is the image for the knitted bottle toppers that they didn’t post to.

 



 
The page that they live on can be found on their site by going directly here: Sundance Home Decor

 
Thanks for stopping by!

 
Post Poser Don

Spotted online and saved for future purchase and/or to spark new ideas when I’m doing my own crafting. Great colors and design! The jumbo stocking was sent to me by my sister, LeAnne, and is now hanging beautifully on our shiny black front door (really, black. really pretty!). It’s from Pottery Barn Kids. The cable stocking and stuffed, plump fabric candy canes are both from Country Home. The tree skirt is from Company Kids. I can’t remember where the mittens are from…anyone seen these? I hate to post it without credit. That’s what you get for saving inspirational pictures at 3 a.m.

I am officially in love with amigurumi. It’s probably not an eternal love but definitely infatuation. Let’s hope it lasts awhile! My elephant turned out pretty darn good - the stitches aren’t super tight but he’s a cutie and my kids were fighting over him in record time (always a good sign). Ben gave him a good go around with a squish, kiss, tickle and hug (all captured in the pics above). We haven’t come up with an official name yet but we’ll figure that out.

The above pictures deserved a post of their own! The Star Wars amigurumi can be seen here and the Indiana Jones amigurumi can be seen here.

I love amigurumi (say ahm-ah-goo-room-y)! My wool and cashmere elephant is coming along nicely. I have his body all crocheted - twice - because i just taught myself two days ago and had to redo the original chain foundation ring on every piece I had already done. He’s my first so I’m not expecting much and he’s bigger than most amigurumi but I wanted him to be big enough that I could learn easily. On the down side, my living room is a mess; my kitchen island is a mess; my office is a mess; my clothes are a mess (seriously need a shower) but I intend on finishing this little guy today! For a fabulous tutorial on how to correctly do the foundation ring, check out this video. Thank goodness for the internet!