Post 009: Life and Loss.

There is no life without loss, and no loss without life. Naturally all things that are, have a time to pass. This isn't something I say easily, as I often times find myself grieving. This world is grieving. Grieving life. Lives. Ways of living. 2020 feels like one big putrid, death of an era. Before you go on thinking that I am being dramatic, stick with me on this.

Seven people that I have known have passed this year. Clients, coworkers, friends. The distance makes it difficult, and COVID19 distancing rarely allows for adequate goodbyes. While these lives were not lost due to COVID19, I must wonder if some of this has been in part to the aftereffects of distancing and isolation. I support social distancing, masks, and caring for each other by staying safe. This isn't political. We need each other to survive. And we need to appreciate those around us as often as we can. Nothing is promised. Life is too short. A million cliches telling you to love your loved ones--and you get my passive- aggressive point.

Tonight I sort though yarn. This yarn belong to my great-aunt Dorothy. We called her Aunt Dot. We visited once a year, a state over. She would take us for walks, go gardening, take us to the creek to find shiny rocks, and visit with her sister (my grandmother who taught me to crochet). She was a stubborn lady, but very resourceful and independent. She passed away last year and the family has been cleaning up her possessions.

It's always hard going through a deceased loved ones items. For me, yarn and craft supplies are some of the most difficult to sort through. You sort through a person's ambitions and ideas when you stumble on an unfinished project.

 ...their intentions of completing a project that they had forgotten or misplaced...never finished.

Odd colors without a match, or the other side of the coin with a large amount of matching yarn that once had a project in mind.

It is my hope that by Christmas I am able to take these bits of projects past, these pieces of her memory, and make them into usable items for the family. This will not be easy but I believe to have the means to do this. Maybe I am too ambitious, but I'm going to give it my damned-est.

She used to yell at us for picking her tulips. And for eating too many tomatoes. She also hugged us tight and always cared for us lovingly. 

She was known for giving the oddest gifts. Zip lock bags of pencils, rulers, socks, a toy or two. She represents a time and way of life for me that is forgotten. 

May her odd-ball projects and leftover yarn be loved again. To that, I will toast to the rest of 2020. Come hell or high water, I refuse to let go of what once was at times. But perhaps carrying on a piece of her, or a piece of any of the lives that have been lost this year, will prove them all happy in legacy and a new beginning.

Post 008: Opening my Etsy shop!

Good afternoon all! As promised, today marks the first day of opening my Etsy shop to sell reclaimed yarn, finished crochet projects, and future PDF patterns as a crochet designer. I am very excited for this next step!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SalubriousStudios

Check it out for my first listing of a reclaimed yarn with 80% silk/20% cotton fiber content :)

You can also now find my page on facebook, by searching @SalubriousStudios on Facebook. 

If you are already a member of the page, you will see the progress of my latest project: a beautiful rainbow colored table runner made of embroidery floss. The colors are dreamy!

Happy crafting!

Post 007: WIP Anonymous

Anyone else suffer from WIP Anonymous? I start many new projects and rarely have less than four going at a time. I like variety and often my mood dictates where I spend my energy.

And boy does that energy have me all over the place lately.

The garden has been most plentiful, despite some scorching temperatures this year. My Cherokee Purple tomatoes are in full swing and have been well worth the wait.

In other places, such as the studio, I do most of my work with Salubrious Studios on the weekends. This weekend is no different. It is my hope to get some reclaimed yarn posted on etsy (for the first time since the early etsy days!!!!), this weekend.

I've also started trying to use up the bits of cross stitching threads that I've acquired. 

Of course it all started in March, pre-COVID19, with this cute change purse.

https://forum.lettucecraft.com/t/rainbow-change-purse-clutch/3449

I'm fond of the glossy sheen and the blendability of the different shades in a simple single crochet, two strands held simultaneously. Nothing fancy, just color-work. The intent is for a table runner. It is working up beautiful, but the joins can be a pain for someone not ready for the challenge. Soldiering through though, and loving every color gradient change! 

Happy Crafting!

Post 006: Heat Wave Weekend

Stopping in briefly to share progress on projects and the happenings of the weekend. It was a hot one this weekend in the midwest, reaching temperatures over 100. We still found ways to get out and enjoy the outdoors, but we quickly retreated back indoors afterwards!

We did some geocaching with family. We ended the day 3 points shy of the current Memory Lane Gameboard event.

It's rewarding to have made such progress, but SO VERY nervewrecking for my 'completionism' checklist mentality to be one geocache away. Perhaps tomorrow :) I just love how the hobby allows us to stop and look at things we wouldnt normally stop to see or appreciate unprompted.

Seriously, this was the view from a modest, country bridge this afternoon. It truly blows my mind that such characteristic interest is hidden in such unsuspecting places.

We also picked some blackberries with family--paired with a lesson in self sustainability. 

As for this evening it is back to sweater decon from last week. Progress has been slow as I've returned to the office, but it's a quite relaxing way to unwind at the end of the day. 

Getting there!  Happy crafting out there!

Post 005: Kitty couch

About a month ago, I took on the challenge of creating one of the infamous "crochet cat couches." As a cat lover, I jumped at the chance. I found the pattern here as a digital download for a more than reasonable price: 

https://www.e-patternscentral.com/detail.html?prod_id=1233 

It's a lovely written pattern, very easy to understand. With its use, I was able to create this!

Ta-da! Kitty couch!!! 🐱

I did not sew the individual pieces together as noted to do in the pattern instructions but rather I attached with surface and joining slip stitches.

I like the way it created a slight edge, similar to the thicker hems and joins of a real couch. It took me just over 25 hours while watching Netflix, but I crochet slow, had never worked with poly-fill sheets before, and my daily life is full of a lot of interruptions (work phone calls, housekeeping, etc etc). Ive included a few in process photos below. Have a glance!

              A pic of the home stretch!

Prior to cushions!

What do you all think? Kitty couch of the worthy?

Post 004: Cream and Olive Gray Deconstructed Sweater: Sunday Sweater Decon

Happy Sunday to you all today! The day has started off as any other Sunday--the fiance made a big morning breakfast for the family, and I began my jumpstart of morning coffee.

A little later, it was laundry time and then some time to get this sweater decon finished. I chose a combination sweater for today. It's more of a sweater wrap, but it had a significant hole in the front. This would require patching/mending or I could reclaim the yarn. 

It's an acrylic wool blend, and I saw merit in a simple mend, but I more so saw this as an opportunity to acquire some shiny cotton yarn for upcoming ornament crafting for the end of the year (I didn't mention the holiday, it's too early for that kind of talk, although it does sneak up on us as crafters--does it not?!?).

So I began the decon. The white cotton with shiny bits is perfect for the ornaments I intend to make later in the year. The olive-gray tones are acrylic and held together with a cream acrylic and shiny bits. I usually do not go for acrylic sweaters and typically reach for more organic fibers when doing a decon (wool and natural fibers are expensive otherwise, but time and reusing items are also important to me) but as you can see...

They're quite lovely!

And I am quite partial to the variety in the thickness of the white cotton strands, as it gives the yarn a very natural feel.

When I am finished, I believe I will likely get the ball winder out and create center pull balls for these, as it will not compromise the shape or tension of the yarn much. In other projects such as wool sweater decons, I will finish the yarns into hanks, soak them in water and gently hang to dry to even out some of the crimp to the yarn. I always prewash garments before a deconstruction because I like to work with clean things and a majority of items are secondhand so I like to ensure that there is nothing in the fibers that I dont want there.

Anyone out there do any sweater deconstructions to save the yarn? Happy creating, thanks for looking!

Post 003: Lazy Saturdays and ESO Online

Hello again everyone!  Today is a very lazy Saturday.  The fiance has pulled a muscle in his lower back, so we've decided to take it easy this weekend and stay in.  That means quite a bit of weekend housecleaning, and time to catch up on hobbies.  While I've been deconstructing a new sweater (will post about that tomorrow), the majority of my free time today was spent working on ESO--Elder Scrolls Online--achievements.  I've been playing ESO since launch and have played on both the PC and XBOX platforms.  While I feel that guild leadership and merchant resources were much more plentiful on the PC, I enjoy the XBOX version due to most of my friends having the gaming system.

Anyhow, as this is my first video game related post, let me introduce you to my character.

I play as none other than "SalubriousAimee."  I'm currently a level 802 Vampiric Firemage who wields a flaming Julianos inferno staff.  Before you begin saying, "oh, she's one of those," please know that I'm proud of my hobbies whether they be crochet, crafting, or video gaming so if you prefer my other posts, feel free to skip ahead, I won't be offended :)

So I've been working on the Graymoor achievements.  I've completed the map achievements (skyshards, delves, dungeons, landmarks, etc) and today I completed the harrowstorm achievement.  I'm thankful that the devs fixed the harrowstorm glitch! For the remainder of the evening, I will be fishing the area to complete the angler achievement.  Somewhere that Master Angler Achievement taunts me on the horizon, whispering, "try me, I dare you."  *laughs*

Achievement seeking...it's kind of what I do.  I like to see the check marks of completion *shrugs*
Maybe it's the illusion of productivity?  Maybe it's the shameless indulgence of a functional video game addiction.  Maybe it's just part of what makes me awesome.  Ha!  I'll take what I can get to relax and escape the daily grind where I can.  Whatever it is, I'm going to keep doing it.  Thanks for reading <3

Post 002: Plarn ReUsable Can Liner

Many times we want to take small steps to cut down our environmental impact.  Personally, reusable shopping bags have been a blessing in my household and I primarily shop at places that do not use plastic to baggage goods and groceries.  There are days though, where it's unavoidable--we forget the bags, or forget to put them back in the car....however it happens, most people end up with at least a modest stash of plastic grocery bags.  While we use them for our smaller trash cans when we have them on hand, they can be sent back to a few grocery stores to be recycled.  You can also add to the reduce-reuse-recycle chain by crafting with plarn.  Plarn is a "yarn" made out of plastic bags.  I've used this in many projects in the past, mainly to create durable reusable bags that make a statement about reusing and reducing our environmental footprint.  If you're interested in recycling plastics, especially thin plastics that you are not able to recycle or avoid using, then read on to see my latest project.

For those of us familiar with plarn, we've all seen the haphazardly crocheted mismatched reusable bags.  These are great, I'm not knocking them, but when form, function, and beauty match one another, MAGIC HAPPENS!  I was tasked with the idea of creating a reusable 13inch bag for someone to use for their recycling bin.  It was a swap item, so I wasn't charging, but I still wanted it to look amazing--my intent with anything I make is that if I can't see anyone purchasing or enjoying it, I won't make it--no sense in making things that people won't use or enjoy.  While there are many great cloth reusable bags that I encourage all to use, my specialty is crochet so I took it upon myself to make one out of plarn.  I did this because it makes a statement to follow the reduce-reuse-recycle chain, but it's also easy to clean, doesn't absorb scents as easily as fabric, and it's mostly durable when tightly crocheted. 

I began with the intent to make it a solid gray bag, as I knew I had enough gray bags to make this work.  After building up the base/bottom (simple sc increase on each round, I'll share details below on the build-up), I figured I'd throw in a motif.  I've done color motifs/color charts with regular acrylics and wool projects before, but never with plarn.  A quick search on the internet showed me that I couldn't find any other projects that utilize this technique on a large scale, outside of trim or smaller designs.  Go big or go home right?  So I used a graph that I found on Pinterest and began stitching away, using the graph as a guide. 

And it grew.

And grew.

And grew larger still.  I added a drawstring with a cotton string made of an old tee shirt (tee shirt yarn, tarn for short) also, for extra durability.  I did not trust a plarn drawstring, as it may snag more than a smooth cotton drawstring.  I also later added beaded handles to the edges to make it more user friendly--not pictured.

What do you think?  Care to share some of your plarn projects that go above and beyond the norm? 

Basic Instructions for building your own:
Round One:  Using your plarn, chain two.  Stitch six sc into the first chain made (which is also the second chain from the hook.  Join with sl st into first sc. (6 sc).
 Round Two:  Two sc in each st around (12 sc), do not join.  Begin each new round into the first stitch of the previous round.  Use a stitch marker if it's more helpful for you.
Round Three:  (1 sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next stitch) around.   (18 sc) 

Make a mental note of how each of the next few rounds, you are adding six stitches to your round total.  Crochet is like math, but the easy kind.  If you get lost, count where you are, and correct.  Crochet is very forgiving.

Round Four:  (1 sc in each of next two stitches, 2 sc in next stitch) around.  (24 sc)
Round Five:  (1 sc in each of the next three stitches, 2 sc in next stitch) around. (30 sc)
Round Six:  (1 sc in each of the next four stitches, 2 sc in next stitch) around (36 sc) 

Continue increasing in this fashion until the base is as large as you'd like it to be.  When your base is as large as you need it to be, simple sc in each stitch around to gain some height.  Because you are not adding any stitches, you will get even height, without widening or narrowing.  Make sure you count your stitches for uniformity.  It's easy to fudge just one stitch to correct it, but it's not so easy to correct several.  Mindfulness in your stitches, patience in your mistakes will get you a long way.

If you want to insert a color changing motif or chart into your project, this is where you will be adding it.  My tip for making this easier, especially with many color changes, is to carry your work over by crocheting over the secondary strand of color when using the primary strand for the stitch you are working.  Also, to complete an accurate color change, make the last yo of your sc stitch the color that your next stitch will be.  No one likes to see carry-overs, or extra knots that don't add to the integrity of the project you create.  If you're working with plarn, please be patient and work slowly to not damage the plarn.  It's wicked tough when stitched into numbers, but can be quite delicate when working with otherwise. 

When you reach the height that you desire (in my case, it needed to fit into a 13 inch trash can so I placed it inside to measure), then you can add the drawstring portion.  To do this, I separated the round into two--for example, if there are 40 stitches, I would mark off 20 stitches and 20 stitches.  I sc in the back loops in rows rather than rounds until I reach the end of the section.  At the end of each row, I chain one, and sc across.  For this project, I did six or eight rounds, and then folded it over.  I slip stitched the edge to the front loops of the first row that had previously been worked in back loops.  This helps reduce chunkiness in the project, and make things look a little more uniform.  FINESSE!  I hope this makes sense, if anyone has difficulty with this, feel free to contact me and I can explain further if needed.  Let me see what you come up with!

Post 001: Maintaining Creativity and Motivation in the Middle of a Pandemic

Like all of us, the COVID19 pandemic has changed the way I live my life.  If I plan to leave the house, I now have to think ahead, planning social distancing measures and remembering to wear my mask.  I've been working from home mostly, since the middle of March and this has caused me to create a new routine.  I've been fortunate to not get sick, but I admittedly struggle with the new social dynamics of not seeing my coworkers and the clients that I work with on a face to face basis.  There is so much to be said about non-verbal communication and body language cues that remote platforms and video interviews cannot replace or capture.  I'm optimistic for a "return to normal," however I am also realistic enough to see that the "new normal" is very much a reality.  In this "new normal, new reality," I've taken to blogging. 

Blogging in 2020 is a little surreal.  I'm reminded of my days as a teenager over 15 years ago (seriously, how did that much time go by?!?), starting up xangas and myspaces and the introduction to facebook--just trying to communicate with the outside world and share a little slice of my life.  I remember the awkward backgrounds and profile music that we all had matted to our personal pages.  Life these days however, if a little more laid back and calm.  It is still very hard to stay motivated when not getting out much.

I've completed my fair share of projects through this time.  A big part of maintaining that motivation has been joining a variety of groups on facebook with shared interests and mindsets.  I've gravitated towards self sufficiency, crochet pages, and a few geocaching groups--mostly because there's always a crochet project that I'm working on, the fiance and I geocache when we can, and well...self sufficiency helps everyone.  While I live in a small apartment in town, I've been able to maintain a modest garden, begin some long term food storage, and take steps to making memories rather than spending my hard earned money.  I'm sure in future posts, I will be able to share some of these elements with you.

Another huge element to staying motivated has been my participation in a website called Lettuce Craft which offers a community for craft-minded folks of all specialties to share their ideas and projects.  There are even personal and structured swaps for those who wish to make items for others, in exchange for your own package of goodies.  The community there has been most welcoming.

Other than reaching out to social networking platforms, I'm motivated to take the next steps in my works as a fiber artist.  I've always wanted to make and sell my own patterns.  While this is a long way off from the starting point of today, I'm optimistic that I can climb to that place I'd like to be in the world as a pattern designer.  We will see where the path takes me.  Thanks for joining me as I introduce this new blog to the world.  Diving in!