When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
     To dig the sandy shore.

My holes were empty like a cup.
In every hole the sea came up,
     Till it could come no more.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

I had big fun in San Francisco. My sister and I ate delicious things and drank tasty drinks and tried on a few pairs of shoes to boot. She took me wine tasting, and one of the wineries was just the prettiest little place ever, with a babbling creek and sheep. Sheep! Their job is to eat the old foliage at the end of the season. Nice.

But that's not all. I also got to meet up with one super-awesome blogger in real life. She's incredibly witty, is a vintage pattern master, and stages the most adorable photos of her outfits. Also, she made this:

Yes her Bitterness! We had fun scoping out the craft books with the hundreds of Anime characters that had descended on Japantown for the cherry blossom festival. Wow. She was lovely. Isn't that great? Blog people are as wonderful as you think they might be.

On Saturday Eva and I hopped in the car and headed east to Greencastle, Indiana for the "Fiber Event". It made the wool lover in me quite happy, if a little confused about which way to go next. There were just gobs and gobs of fiber-related stuff. The offerings ran the gamut from unprocessed fleece to fancy hand-painted yarns. There were even bunches of bunnies and two cute alpacas!

So, what did I buy? The yarns were pretty, but there was nothing so unique and wonderful that I felt I had to have it. The angora rabbits were 100% adorable, and I very nearly did come home with one of those, but I luckily regained my composure when I realized that building a hutch was on neither on Elie's agenda nor mine. I knew I didn't need a whole raw fleece—that is for a day when I wish to the wools some more serious commitment. But, I did want something, and I was really hoping to get my hands on some Blue-Faced Leicester wool. I'd heard so much about it and wanted to feel and work with it myself. And, that's what I came home with: some beautifully dyed BFL + seacell roving and also a drop spindle. Drop spindle! Why the heck not?

I tried out the drop spindle on some not-fancy wool this afternoon. It was fun, but I am definitely not good at it yet. The spindle makes me feel very official. Like, "don't mess with me, because I think spinning wool on a stick is awesome!"

Our little family has been busy flitting here and there on many a weekend during these last couple months. It's gymnastics competition season (yup, we do that) and this season seems to involve more far-off travel than last. Much to my luck, this weekend's meet dropped me into Erin's neighborhood, where we were able to get together. Yay! She and her daughter Kate, and Eva and I drank coffee (well, the girls didn't have coffee) and talked in a cute coffee shop with a subdued owl theme. Fun, of course. It's so cool to read someone's blog and then get to realize that they talk in the same voice that they write. As lovely as you would expect.

There were presents--pincushions! Because let's face it, we all could use another pincushion. There's always room for just one more. The photo up top is my present from Erin--adorable Last Minute Quilted Gifts pincushion and Denyse Schmidt fabric to boot! I don't have a decent photo of the one I made Erin, but she does. :-) The half-square triangles were scraps I had left over from my mini quilt, and the other fabrics were more Pop Garden.

Eva was funny on the way to the coffee shop. I was asking her what she thought it would be like to meet another kid whose mom had a craft blog. She said they could talk about their moms' Material Obsession. Indeed.

I've been thinking a lot about blogging today. Do you go through periods of doing this? I do, but I have a known reason this time. Smile Politely, Champaign-Urbana's very quality online magazine, did a post on this little blog for their Top of the Blogs column. Smile Politely keeps its reporting largely local and it's a real source of info for what's happening (that I care about) in this college town that's more complex than it looks from afar.

It was the first time I've ever really been interviewed, at least, when the interviewer wasn't asking me things like, 'What's your favorite color?' Joel was nice and I didn't get The Tough Questions, in fact he didn't really ask all that many questions—I did a lot of rambling. Seriously. I'd like to chalk it up to nerves, but I think I might actually talk that way. I brought him the simple patchwork coasters you see above. Elie thought that was weird and might make a person feel odd, and maybe it did, but I hope not too much. But, that's what I would do if I had a meet-up with you, right? I'd make you a little something?

Back to the interview. More odd than being interviewed, was being interviewed about blogging. I've been blogging for over three years now, and I really love it. But, what I love is not the blogging itself, but the incredible community of crafty people that I have gotten to know through blogging. Thinking back and talking to Smile Politely about how I started blogging made remember just what it felt like to stumble into craft blogs and be amazed by the beautiful work and comraderie that was happening here. I think about how much fun it was to wake up to my tea, open screen door, and computer that first summer and just sit and click through the craft blogs, following links from one place to another until I was just lost in it. Did you/do you do that? I feel a little sad that I take it for granted now. I have not reached the end of the internet. Maybe on the contrary, there is just so much out there that it can be a bit overwhelming to explore.

In the beginning of the article, I tell Smile Politely why I didn't start blogging, and that's all true (although Elie says it makes me sound like a wallflower, which I am not). But I think I missed a key point. Until finding craft blogs, I thought blogs were largely about being a mini-wonk of your area, about expounding on your opinions, and really enjoying confrontation and argument. I don't really enjoy these things. The few times that this blog has felt at all that way have been uncomfortable for me. So, finding a community, a craft community no less, that supports itself and encourages its members so much has been a truly lovely thing. I like you. Whether you're an old friend or a new visitor, thanks for being here.

Please do stop by the article if you're interested, and drop me a comment if you'd like—here or there. I'd like to hear from you.

We went off to the Third Sunday Market--an antiques/junk fest--today. It was a beautiful day for it. I always enjoy the market more when I have a mission, and my mission of the day was crochet potholders. I want to acquire a collection so I can do this with them. I came home with four. I did not buy anything from the stacks of feedsacks, even though it was very tempting. It's just the beginning of the season and they were marked up too high, IMHO. We also bought a glass juicer because the orange plastic one I got second hand in college finally broke. There was a stall with some of the most beautiful quilts I have ever seen. The dealer had a serious eye for color. Wow.

I wore this shirt I made on Saturday to the market today. (Another top from ISBN 9784834725506) I didn't think I would finish it this weekend because I hadn't bought buttons, but then I fished these white ones out of my vintage stash. All different, but all the same size. Fun.

Actually, I know exactly what you've been up to, all you folks who have been able to have a December and keep your blogs going. Hooray for you! I have enjoyed seeing all your Christmas, Channukah, and Solstice posts so much.

Eva made me the little mushroom for a Christmas present. In a totally non-biased parental way, I think it is the best. She actually did it one Sunday morning while I was still sleeping, but then she couldn't keep it a secret and she woke me up with it. Handmade cute present! Best wakeup evar!

OK. I am actually really happy to be back, But I will try to tone down the enthusiasm and use fewer exclamation points for the rest of this post.

We went away for Christmas and Channukah and visited the vast majority of our family in New Jersey. I ate soooo much good stuff, including pot roast, which I haven't had since before I was a vegetarian, which I no longer am. I am going to buy a slow cooker (crock pot :-)). Also, I found it liberating to call and order my favorite pizza ever whenever I wanted to from the place down the street. Why not? (In case you're wondering, it's floppy crust, fold in half, slightly burnt crust.) I also had the yummiest cottage cheese at Elie's sister's house. They get it fresh from a farmer and it is all whole milk and oh yum. I wish I knew a farmer like that.

And speaking of yummy, check out my new yarn. From my dad and mom I got yarn and Anthro gift certs respectively. I burned through them in one very enjoyable morning. Projects to come!

Love,
Dorie

Just had to pop in between working and sightseeing to say Hi. I'm enjoying London. This evening I just happened to walk by a window where the fantastic chrochet coral reef was being displayed. What luck! I flipped. It is fantastic.

This tile stoop is on my way to the place where my training is. I think it's so sweet.

And what fun we had there.

My sister lives in San Francisco, and we finally saved up enough airline miles to go out and see her. It was great! We got to meet her boyfriend, Brian, who is awesome, and we stayed in cute her place with windows that latch and a living room with a picture rail. (I love old places!) My dad was out there too so we got to see him and my stepmom. We had a day of nature stuff (Mt. Tam), a day of sightseeing (Alcatraz and Chinatown) and a day of shopping (just my sister and I).

Thanks to Bitter Betty and Futuregirl, I knew some good places to hit for crafty purchases. I went to Britex. Holy crap that place is amazing! So much nice fabric, and a wall of Liberty. I had to ask one of the Britex people if it was really Liberty, like it looked, and she was so funny and understanding. "Oh, yes that's real Liberty. You may feel the Liberty...you may caress and admire it." "Can I take photos?" "Yes, if you'd like, I'll take your photo with the Liberty." Really, they are so nice there. I think six different people asked if they could help me, and the store was quite busy.

Then to Japantown, which has so much stuff, but you'd never know it because it is all inside! I bought some Japanese craft books, including the popular Girly Style Wardrobe. I want to make Eva a little linen jacket and then force her to wear it. (Impossible! My child doesn't like layers.)

I also ate all the delicious food that I could. Oh, man. I have a new food love--Burmese! It's like blending the best of Thai with the best of Indian. My sister took us to Burma Superstar and I am forever grateful. Their food is the best, and their logo is also really cute, which never hurt anybody.

Ah, it made me miss city life. A little. Not too much. Actually it made me want to travel more, but I guess travel does that.

And the winner is...Bitter Betty! Yay for you! You will be the recipient of something I did not make this weekend, but will make in the near future. I am excited about it.

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and saying hi--it was nice to see who is out there!

On Saturday Eva and I trekked out to Indiana with the knit night women to the Greencastle Fiber Event. It was fun, despite being a very chilly day (we ate a picnic lunch in the "hospitality tent" while it was sleeting). Most of the goings on were indoors and involved purchasing natural fibers in various phases of processing. We bought fluffy roving, hand dyed woven wool fabric, and Eva spent her allowance on gross-out silk worm cocoons that still have the rattling dried worm insde. One smart vendor had a needle felting kit out where you could try it, so we came home with one of those too. They use cookie cutters as a guide for where the wool should go. Eva has made a sheep from the kit plus a flower from a cookie cutter we had at home already. We also got to see animals, and I almost impulse bought an angora bunny or two, but then my better judgement got a hold of me.