Earth Day

So I'm a little late to the party, but hey, you don't have to go "green" on any specific day. You can do it ANY time.  I do my part as much as I can--here are some of the simple things I do and I hope they inspire you as well!

•  I don't use paper towels but on very rare occasions
•  I use my washable plates and cups
•  I bring coffee cups with me to school instead of buying a cup at the store.
• I type notes for school on my netbook instead of in a notebook
• I repurpose all old t-shirts
• Some become rags
• Some become underwear for my son
• Some are made into yarn and crocheted into hot pads
• No clothes go to waste! :)
• We recycle plastic, paper, cardboard and metal

We keep a relatively modest household anyway--we use our stuff until its dead and then we recycle it or repurpose it. I don't really feel like its "on purpose" or a conscious decision, I just think it comes with being a poor college student and being raised in a farm country where you save everything because you might need it elsewhere. My dad has jars of assorted nails and screws "just in case" and sometimes they came in handy.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not a hoarder. I have no problem getting rid of stuff that I flat out will never use BUT the difference is I don't tend to accumulate a lot of stuff like that in the first place. At least I try not to. Probably someday that will change, once I begin my career and have my own home and not have to rent and move things from place-to-place every few years.

Now for the good part! In the spirit of Earth Day, I'm trying to build up my inventory of items for the home. Including my new reusable cotton dishcloths.  I have several other items in the works to decorate your place that I'm so excited to start on!  In the meantime, I'd love to do a giveaway of a set of my dishcloths to YOU.

Visit my facebook page for a full range of colors :)

I loved making these because some of them are knitted, some of them are crocheted, and I freestyled all the patterns. Each cloth is unique in its own way. The cotton allows them to be machine washed, although I would probably wash them in cold water alone the first few times as I am unsure of the colorfastness of this yarn. These can be used for facial cloths in the bath, or for washing dishes! They are very versatile. They are also quite large--each is 9" x 8" so they are a bit rectangular. Sizes vary slightly due to the different patterns of each cloth, but as you can see from these pictures they fold up nicely and the size difference is undetectable.

There are three ways to enter (and you can do all three)--

• Leave a comment on my kitchen color poll on facebook 
• Here is a direct link to the post http://www.facebook.com/bowrene/posts/10150167935522086?notif_t=feed_comment
• Become a follower of this blog
• Leave me a comment on this blog post about what you do to go green!

***Just leave one comment stating what all you have done to enter the drawing***

These are the three entry methods, then I will draw a winner at random.org next week and that lucky winner will get to choose three of my dishcloths for their very own!  Please share with your friends as we need to have lots of entries to make things interesting ;)

Have a great week!

Squishies behbehs!

I looove squishy babies. I'm getting a new nephew or niece this summer and have been making a lot of items for newborns lately.

A new one is a newborn hammock. These are so great for newborn photoshoots

(Disclaimer: Hammocks should only be used for photo shoots and nothing more, babies should be supervised at all times and the hammock should not be suspended more than a few inches off the ground. I am not responsible for accidents!)

Had to get that out ^.  Of course it seems obvious, but then you've got the idiots that require the directions on the shampoo bottle. Now...I like to see how different companies mix up the shampoo bottle directions, but let's face it--they are there for a specific kind of person and that person may be the kind that would leave their kid hanging outside in their newborn hammock. <----that is not advised. again, I'm not responsible.

ANYWAY, back to the topic of hammocks and squishie babies. This was my first hammock, and as I got going on it I thought, "man, this is a quick and easy project that others should really try out!"  So I wrote a pattern.

Now I'm still working the kinks out, but I think it has actually turned out quite nice. My whole process is kind of agonizing. I sit there (usually in the middle of the night so I don't have to pull my yarn away from my 2-year old) and I have my netbook on one side of me, the yarn on the other and I go row by row or round by round writing down exactly what it is that I'm doing.  Sometimes what I'm doing is not quite symmetrical. When I make stuff for people, I don't typically count and pay attention to what I am doing as closely as I do when I'm writing a pattern. When I write patterns, I have to almost preplan each row or round ahead of time so that it will be symmetrical. Ultimately, I produce a better product that way and from then on, when I make that item its better than it ever was. That's a plus!

You can expect this pattern, plus another super special pattern, to come soon AND the baby hammock itself will make its appearance in the shop as well. I'm really excited for this, because it is a different direction with a lot of opportunity for growth.

Did I mention my hammock is modern and chunky and stripey (in pattern, not color)?  It is, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Pics will come once the sun is up, I promise!!

Cheers!