By Tara, on March 31st, 2010% For the last day of National Craft Month, I wanted to share my crafty resources.
These are the websites and podcasts that I go to when I’m in need of some inspiration. I read a lot of non-crafty blogs too, but this list is just the crafty!
Craft Sanity – interviews with crafty superstars
Crafty Pod – website + podcast about all things crafty
Kim Werker – writer, crocheter, thinker-of-deep-craft-world-thoughts
Cast-On – the first (of the still alive) and the best knitting podcast
ColorBOMB – Velma is my color hero
Pioneer Woman – Cooking + photography that pushes me to be better
The Yarn Harlot – Is there any knitter who doesn’t already read the funniest of all possible blogs?
Posie Gets Cozy – Alicia creates a prettily be-flowered world I want live in
Make + Meaning – the most thoughtful musings on our creative community
Did I miss your . . . → Read More: Crafty Must-Reads
By Tara, on March 30th, 2010% Last April, I had the glimmer of a good idea:
I would make yarn, and photograph the process, every single day of the month.
Within just a few days, it turned into a fun (but challenging) group experience on Ravelry.
I wrote about the first Yarn Every Day Month here and this is my favorite bit:
I long to pay attention to the daily. A grumpy day will pass and it’s not until I’m falling asleep that I realize I haven’t touched any fiber all day (this is rare, but when it happens, I feel it in my bones). Many beautiful days pass without me capturing even a moment, with a picture or a small note . . . → Read More: Yarn Every Day Month (2nd annual!)
By Tara, on March 29th, 2010% Take a picture of my byline and win a free skein of hemp! . . . → Read More: Contest: Have you seen Inside Crochet?
By Tara, on March 25th, 2010% Next month I’m teaching a lace class at my yarn shop and I’m trying to pick a good lace pattern.
I want something with charts, with paired increases and decreases, and plenty of challenge.
You can see my current picks here.
Which one do you prefer? Should I pick one from this list or would you start with something else?
(let me know in the comments of right here and not on A Novel Yarn, because I don’t want us to skew the voting over there!)
By Tara, on March 24th, 2010% I’m celebrating National Craft Month by posting something crafty that catches my eye every weekday. Share your favorite crafty finds in the comments!
Oh, I just found the most wonderful craft-along, the Bronte-along!
The timing couldn’t be more perfect, because I just read Jane Eyre for the first time in January. How is it possible that I’ve never read it before? Bookish girls in big dresses who fight for their independence? Yes, please!
I’ve been pondering a Jane Eyre inspired yarn ever since finishing the book. Now that I’ve heard the Masterpiece Theater Jane Eyre is worth watching, I really have no choice but to rent the movie and spin a yarn while watching it.
Something dark, maybe gray or deep green, swirled with something imaginative, I think?
What would you put in an Eyre-inspired yarn?
By Tara, on March 23rd, 2010% One of my favorite things about Twitter (and there are so many things I love about it) is the proximity it’s brought to my favorite crafty superstars.
One of them, @sisterdiane, organizes a monthly chat for crafters. To join in, use the hashtag #craftsocial and follow along here. Every month it is full of fun conversation, wacky craft projects and links to everything crafty.
If you’re not sure how to use hashtags (or what I’m even talking about), but you’d like to use Twitter to grow your crafty business, check out my class (starts tomorrow!) on De-Icking Twitter.
I’m celebrating National Craft Month by posting something crafty that catches my eye every weekday. Share your favorite crafty finds in the comments!
By Tara, on March 22nd, 2010% The first goats born on our farm! . . . → Read More: New Goats!
By Tara, on March 19th, 2010% Win a copy of Handmade Marketplace! . . . → Read More: Handmade Marketplace – book giveaway!
By Tara, on March 17th, 2010%
I’ve never really celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, other than to forget to wear green and get pinched (ow!), but I love watching others celebrate it.
And since green’s one of my most favorite colors, it isn’t hard to find anytime-inspiration in the plethora of green-goodness across the web.
Here’s the good green stuff I came across today:
Cosy’s St. Patrick’s day update of yarny goodness Cloudlover’s yarn Yarn Harlot’s green knitting Craft’s cupcakes Heavenly Irish Brownies (mint!)
Do you have a favorite craft or food you make at this time of the year?
By Tara, on March 15th, 2010% Reading this post, by Diane (of CraftyPod) on Make+Meaning about Creative Missions, sparked all sorts of crafty, hopey, changey thoughts.
She says
even the most compelling hobby, when it becomes your paycheck, can start to look an awful lot like work.
And I can tell you, this is SO true.
Which is why, each year I look at what I want my business to DO. Not just pay my bills (although that’s a goal), but what I want it to do in my life and in the life of others and (this may be a little grand) what it’s doing in the world.
What does it change? How does it improve the people who interact with it, impact the environment, support the crafty world?
Reading the article, I was reminded that my business has a few Missions:
Promote sustainable fibers, especially that of small farmers – through using only sustainable fiber in my . . . → Read More: My creative Mission
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