Weekend link roundup 08-29-09

I got so caught up in planning Make'n'Tell that I completely forgot to do a link roundup last week! To be honest, I didn't come across that many great links this week (I blame Chris Hardwick, aka the Nerdist, whose tweets I rely on for much of my surfing fun).

First up, free handwriting fonts. Lots of 'em.
Next, I can't wait until Becky is old enough to design her own clothes so I can make them.*
Finally, a few cool things to do with an empty mint tin:
- Garden
- Kalimba
- Travel Watercolor Set

That's all I've got -- need to get a badge done for the Make'n'Tell (and don't forget to email me if you haven't and you want to participate publicly! I'll add your name to the list over there on the right.) and get Becky and Zack's new playhouse put together. See you tomorrow, with my first Make'n'Tell!

*Okay, I actually lost the link for this one, and I had to Google it. I remembered that the articles was titled something like "Mom makes back to school wardrobe from daughter's drawings" and you know how Google will give you a drop down with popular endings for whatever key words you start with? If you type "Mom makes" the first one it comes up with is "Mom makes out with daughter." Buncha freaks out there.

posted by Laura Y. @ 11:26 AM 0 comments

30 Days Hath September Make'n'Tell Challenge

I've been racking my brain, trying to think of ways to motivate myself to increase both my crafting and my blogging, and last night (or rather, very early this morning) it came to me: Make something every day AND blog about that thing. Remember when you were in grade school and you had Show'n'Tell and you brought your whatever in and told everyone a little bit about it? Pretty much the same thing here, except the whatever has to be created by me and the telling is done with pictures on this blog instead of in a classroom full of snot-nosed kids.

Should you be a crafty blogger yourself, I invite you to join me. Let me know you're participating by emailing (lauraDOTyonaATgmailDOTcom -- modify all caps to symbols) me your name and blog address and I'll link you over on the right there. There might even be a badge (hey, maybe that could be my first Make...). I know it's short notice, but feel free to join in at any time during the month. I originally thought I'd try to do this for a year, but then I thought I'd see how it goes for a month. So hopefully this will be an ongoing exercise.

Here are the rules, such as they are. If you don't follow them, we will all point and laugh (just like real Show'n'Tell). Seriously, these are the parameters I'm setting for myself. If something in these doesn't work for you, feel free to change it so it does. This is intended to help me focus and grow as an artisan, not be some kind of weird refuge for rule lawyers. Without further ado and in no particular order:

1. The Make can be in any medium, including but not limited to yarn, digital graphics, food, photography, drawing, painting, etc.
2. The Tell must include at least one photo.
3. The Tell must occur on the same day as the Make, unless the blogger gives previous notice (for example, I'll be on vacation with spotty internet access in the middle of September. I'll still Make on those days, but will have to post my Tells later. Before I leave, I'll post the exact days I'll be gone.)
4. The Make may be derivative but may not be wholly unoriginal. The best example of what I mean by this is with cooking. Today I made Indoor S'Mores. I followed the recipe exactly, with no deviation or modification. I would not count that as a Make. I would totally count it if I had, for instance, made little muffin cup portions instead of just throwing it in a pan as directed in the recipe. (Note to self: do that next time. Brilliant idea.) Generally, though, I want my Make to be even more original -- the idea, after all, is to stretch my creative wings.
5. There should be a Make'n'Tell every day of the month, except as noted in Rule 3.
6. The Make should be either a complete work OR consist of at least 30 minutes of work on an ongoing project. I do a lot of bigger projects, and I don't want to stop doing them, but I don't always have time or ability to do a big project in a single day. On the other hand, if I have a small project in mind and it only takes me 15 minutes to complete it, I'm okay with that. And some days I might only have time for that one little thing. So I think that should count, too.
7. The Make can be similar to a previously completed project. For instance, I've made several dresses for my daughter. I use an original pattern and modify it pretty much every time. Each instance of dressmaking would count as a Make. Similarly, every single Everlasting Bouquet I make is different and would count as a Make.
8. 30 Days Hath September Make'n'Tell will last for the 30 days of September, commencing on September 1 and closing on September 30.

posted by Laura Y. @ 11:21 AM 3 comments

I hope you don't treat your clients this way

Last week, I responded to an ad for a position that I'm both very interested in and very qualified for. It's a position with a marketing firm that would be attached to one of their clients, a big name in the crafting industry.* I got a call at the end of the business day on Tuesday, when I was busy picking up the kids, and the caller left a message that she was from this company and would like to schedule an interview with me. Rather than trying to return the call with two toddlers underfoot, I waited until first thing Wednesday morning. I got put through to voicemail, left a message with my name number and the reason I was calling (you called me for X position, I'm really interested, let's schedule). Left another message late Wed. afternoon, then again Thursday afternoon. I hadn't heard anything back by yesterday evening, so I sent an email to Ask a Manager, a great blog that I found through Recessionwire.

She responded right away (which was really awesome -- I know she's super busy and really didn't expect her to...I was more asking in case it happens again, because this is the second time I've had this "we'd like to schedule an interview but we'll never call you back" thing happen) with some pretty good insight and advice. And the commenters agreeing with me (and her) that regardless of the situation, it's really out of line to not return my call or at least email me has made me feel like I'm not crazy for being a little annoyed at this. I went ahead and left another voicemail this morning and reiterated that I'm a great candidate, really interested, etc. and asking her to keep me in mind if they don't find the right match with the people they're interviewing now, but I've pretty much written it off.

Now I'm focusing on the job I applied for last night -- a customer service position with a yarn company. Seriously, how perfect would I be for that?


* I'm being deliberately vague here, just in case something comes of it.

posted by Laura Y. @ 10:16 AM 0 comments

Weekend link roundup 08-22-09

In an attempt to a) blog more often and b) make my blogging more predictable, I'm going to start doing themes. Like a weekly link roundup. These are links to things I found amusing, or interesting, or that I want. There may or may not be commentary. There also may or may not be additional stuff after the link roundup, like about the kids or Etsy stuff or whatever. So here's the first ever A Frayed Knot Link Roundup. Please to enjoy. (Yes, I stole that from Joel McHale.)


Baby Link Costume Fitting for the inaugural link, no?
Eternal Earthbound Pets: The next best thing to pet salvation in a Post Rapture World
This is why you're fat
Sheep
What to do with the rest of the ashes after you've done this
And while I was looking up that last link, I came across this.

So also, I got the Everlasting Button Bouquets launched in the Etsy store. Only a couple for now, but more to come. As always, you can order custom, too.

posted by Laura Y. @ 3:33 AM 0 comments

Whoa-oa, I just dyed in your yarn tonight...

Yes, I finally got around to dyeing all my blanks! Lack of blogging last week was due to lack of being on the computer at all, and a few things suffered (like Etsy updates -- more on that in a bit). Friday was the one day I really had available to sit on the computer and get caught up, which would have meant delaying the dyeing for the eleventyith time. And I really, really was jonesing to dye some yarn. So, I did. This means that I have upwards of 300 unread emails in my inbox (!!!), but also that I now have this:




You would never know that Van Gogh's Starry Night was not my inspiration, would you?


Starry Night: Above colorway rinsed and dried. Not sure if this will end up being a Clapotis (the original intention when I was dyeing) or socks. Base yarn is...okay, I just spent a half hour going through my old blog posts to find out, and I have no idea. It's all stuff that was left over from the Great Stocking Fiasco of Aught Seven.


Heard It Through the Grapevine: This one's my favorite. It was dyed with leftovers and one bad mix from the other colorways, and I didn't think I would like it, but I really, really love it. This will probably be my next pair of socks.


Purple Haze: I had LOTS of leftover purple, so I just dunked it at various intervals and this is what came out.


American Thistle: In our side yard, there is some beautiful thistle. It is greyish green and lavender and makes me think of England. I knew that one of the yarns I had available for dyeing was a greyish white (as opposed to the more tan "natural" white) and thought it would be perfect. Unfortunately, inexperience with protein dyes resulted in colors that were more yellow-green and fuschia. The colorway still reminds me of thistle, but the more garish large American thistle. It's pretty, but not what I was going for. This base yarn I know is Regia Silk.


Bruiser: An experiment in blues, going from black to light blue.


I don't know if you've noticed, but I have a bit of a stubborn streak, especially when it comes to starting projects. After I had decided that I was definitely for sure going to dye yarn on Friday, I realized that I had no vinegar in the house. With acid dyes (for dyeing protein fibers, like wool), you need both acid and heat to set the dye. Heat's pretty easy -- just steam it in the microwave. But most people use vinegar for the acid part. I also had no car, which would have made it more difficult (though not impossible) to go out and get vinegar. Another product that lots of people use for setting acid dyes is citric acid. You can get it in powder form from most places that sell they dye. I didn't have any of that, either. What I did have was lemon juice, which is what citric acid is extracted from. So I did a little research and came to the conclusion that lemon juice should work fine. Guess what? It did! And the yarn doesn't stink of vinegar! Woohoo!

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About Etsy: I've (literally) just launched a new project line...recycled jeans as purse/project bag.



Becky woke up in the middle of my writing of the item description, so at present it needs a little help. But I'm glad I finally got it up there! I'll have another one up tonight (along with edits to the description), and also have some of the necklaces in additional colors going up in the next couple of days. Another new product line will be coming later in the week. Want a hint? It's a home dec item that you've seen an example of if you've ever been to my house. There's one right over the TV.

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And finally, knitting: I've had the Lug-A-Chug test-knitted (I'll post formal thanks when I post the pattern -- I'm rushing now to get this finished up since Becky's up and being VERY patient with me) and am finishing up my test of the edited pattern. Need to take pics of the construction and then it will be available over in the Patterns section! I'm really excited about everything I have going on right now: Beachy Keen is done and just waiting to be written up and sized then tested; new socks are on the needles; I'm making progress on Becky's sweater...things are going really well with the knitting and I am pleased. And of course, now I have lots of new pretty yarn to play with, so it can only get better.

posted by Laura Y. @ 11:01 AM 1 comments