Organizing and a Visit to JP Knit & Stitch

I love this needlepoint project from JP Knit & Stitch!

 This past Sunday was a flurry of activity. The husband involved in the Soul Glue franchise finally, after many years, gave me the go-ahead to clean his desk! Why did I get so excited about this, you ask? Other than crafting, I love to clean and organize. The room we use as an office in our apartment is currently undergoing some rearrangement and reorganization renovations so that I can have a bit more space for my larger crafty endeavors. When the project is complete, I'll put up before and after pictures.

Later in the afternoon, I headed out to Jamaica Plain (near Boston for those of you not familiar with it) to visit with some good friends. We took a brisk walk and checked out JP Knit & Stitch, a store full of lovely yarn and fabric. If you're ever in the area, check it out. They also offer knitting, sewing, and crochet classes. I purchased this great black sheep tape measure while I was there. I'm kind of in love with it.

We eventually headed back to my friend Jess' apartment for a yummy dinner of pulled pork sandwiches and collard greens. The evening was a cheerful one. I brought a new yoga mat bag that I'm working on with me and crocheted away while we chatted. It was a full and hopeful day.

Yoga and Friends

This week I completed my fourth yoga mat bag. I don't do much yoga myself, but I know many ladies who swear by it. The bag is all crochet--from the drawstring cord to the strap. I used cotton fiber yarn. I think one of the reasons I'm so into making these bags right now is because of the yarn I've been using: It comes in a variety of bright, cheerful colors. On top of that, it's quite easy to work with. One of my goals right now is to get a bunch of these bags made and put them up for sale on Etsy and/or convince a yogi at a studio to sell them.

Something else I became excited about this week was the start-up of my good friend Libby's blog, Hello, Libby Dear. Libby and I met our freshman year of college and have been good friends ever since. She is a fashion bargain maven, and she has a fabulous sense of style. I love her blog already, and I can't wait to see what she does with it in the future. Check it out for style tips that won't make you go broke!

An Interest for Pinterest

Last week at this time I would have been up studying for the freaky exam I took. Now that the exam is over, I'm up, drinking coffee, and happily typing a new post for Soul Glue. I recently received an invite to Pinterest, the online pin board sensation that purportedly is a brilliant pile of time suckage. Because I have been known to troll the internet for items I want or like or confuse me, I thought I'd accept the invitation. If you're (p)interested (is it too early for puns??), you can follow me at http://pinterest.com/soulgluecollage/. Right now, there are just a couple of pins. My hunch is that there will be many more to come.

Heat Is Good

"What's a guy thinking, I asked somewhat impolitely, when
he's painting virgins in the dim former strip club light of a
Pittsburgh January, in what's essentially art for art's sake?

'I was thinking I'm glad the place is heated,' he said."

The above quote is from an article written about artist Jim Levendosky from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. My husband and I met Mr. Levendosky last summer, during a trip to northern Maine. Each year, Levendosky rents space in Eastport, Maine and fills it with his art. When not selling art in Maine, he drives around the U.S. in a ramshackle truck filled with his work. He gave Erik and I two articles written about him with the scrimshaw-inspired resin piece we bought. The articles summarize the life of a person who doesn't exactly seem to fit anywhere in particular except where his art is. The idea of living perpetually surrounded by what you love inspires me and, to be honest, makes me feel a bit envious.

I've been filled with lots of questions recently about the direction of my working life. I am a mental health clinician by trade, originally trained in expressive arts therapy. A few days ago, I passed a big, awful (thought truth be told, not so awful) exam in order to become independently licensed in my field. I'm immensely relieved that the studying, worry, and exam have ended, but I'm questioning continuing work in the field. What career is in the middle of driving around the country in a truck full of art and a 9-5 day job? While I'm figuring that out, I'm going to take some advice from Levendosky and be glad that my place is heated.

While I've been battling with this evolving existential crisis, I've been trying to hold up the creative end of the bargain. The purchase of a tablet computer inspired me to make a case for it--which I planned out in my brain weeks before actually owning the tablet. I used felt, cardboard, fabric glue, and embroidery thread. First, I measured and cut out 4 book ends, using cardboard from a box in our recycling bin. I then measured and cut out 4 pieces of felt needed to cover the boards. I glued the felt, front and back, to the cardboard using fabric glue (AMAZING stuff). I left approximately a 1/4" border so that I could sew the edges together. I used a blanket stitch, which I learned to do from a post from the Futuregirl Craft Blog. For the back flap, I cut out two triangles from a different color of felt in order to create a way to hold the tablet in place inside of the case. I attached the triangles to the back cover of the case with a blanket stitch. I then measured and cut out a strip of felt for the binding of the cover. I glued the strip equidistant between the two covers. In order to make a closure for the case, I sewed a spare button I had to the center right edge of the front cover. I cut out a smaller strip of green felt, made a slit in it, and then glued a small portion of it to the outside of the back cover. And voila!  From start to finish, this project took me between 3 and 4 hours, mostly due to the time it took to learn the blank stitch and sew the pieces together.

Other than the tablet case, I've been crocheting away. below are the results of the past few weeks. I've been working on a yoga mat bag, and will post the end results of that project soon. As for other crafty news in the world of Soul Glue, I reclaimed a giant binder I had filled with study materials for the above-mentioned exam and made it into a fabulous craft project book. Now all patterns, pictures, and random ideas for crafts I have gathered over the years have a centralized home. They're making friends. It's neat. Anyway, I am going to endeavor to make another Soul Glue post this week, and maybe even attempt to begin selling some items on Etsy--I'll keep you posted on that one.

Yay for cowls!!