Grasses and Grains...A Study

I found all of these on the outskirts of a field near the old Stan's Fruit Stand. The one in the top right droops down when upright and reminded me more of wild rice. The compact pod with the 'hairs' is winter rye...the others are various and sundry grains and varieties of tall grass. I also have some scans of various leaves and some ferns from today...though they got a bit mangled in transit..I need to make them a bit more interesting before I publish any of those.

So I'm working on my very first piece of knitting. My husband's aunt taught me a few weekends ago. It's still rough and since I do it mostly while on the bus or when I have a bit of time I'm having trouble keeping track of whether the last row was knit or perl. I started using stitch markers...but then I forgot which color I'd assigned to which kind of stitch! But practice makes perfect and I can see that i'm doing better with each new row. Once I've exhausted this skein of yarn I'm going to try to learn the rest of the basics like increasing and decreasing. I'm excited to be doing this...already knowing how to crochet I can now conquer a whole world of fabulous patterns in both knit and crochet!

Botanical Art Scans

So we met the landlord in person for the first time yesterday and he basically implied that we could do what we wanted to the place as long as when we moved out it was not destroyed. He lives in NH so he probably won't be doing much visiting. This means I'm contemplating painting my craft/library room. I'm so excited. I still am thinking of the orange and turquoise color palette but I'm also intrigued by the new trend of citron and lemon yellow. I guess I'm just tired of living in the white and beige world of most apartment decor.

He also said I could totally build a little raised bed garden. The next door neighbors have an old futon frame that I can use for a trellis and I'm thinking of growing some peas. I'm also thinking some lettuce and cherry tomatoes and maybe some broccoli and some garlic (though I think this might need to be planted in fall for next year). I might even grow a bit of ginger for the flowers.

We're almost done with the moving and soon I'll be able to start setting things up in earnest. Tonight I need to do more packing and I need to use my circular saw for the first time! I'm cutting the drawer section off of an old desk so I can keep the drawer unit without it taking up all the space of a full desk. I'm looking forward to really getting off the ground with crafting and this blog by May. I'll start posting pics as soon as I've done something noteworthy.

So I've been outbid on my last ebay auction of buttons and I'm trying desperately to not go back and up my bid. I'm going to be strong and succeed. I got two more lots of buttons in the mail yesterday and there are three more that will be coming in the next week or so. (These are all in addition to the *huge* tin full that was my first purchase.) Clearly my first order of business after the move is to start making crafts and jewelery from all these buttons. In last night's batch there were a pair of metal shank earrings with a gear-like design which I think will definitely become earrings. There were also some really interesting brass and steel and other metal ones that I think will become a chunky necklace.
I'm really looking forward to being done moving. I'm still doing okay and haven't had any real breakdowns but I've also taken a few days off. Tonight I must clear the last of the things off my bedroom bookcases and tomorrow I must do *several* loads of laundry and make another attempt to cull my giant collection of clothing. Four boxes of clothing I'm not currently wearing is ridiculous. I heard last night about a woman who donated to a Lutheran organization that gives clothing and household items to immigrants, especially Iraqis who arrive here with nothing. I think I might do some research on that and maybe make some choices based on giving the clothes to people who could use them and value them much more than I ever would versus just donating them to the Salvation Army which is an option I'm not terribly fond of given their particular set of activities.

Wow!

Decoupage Gallery Some of the examples there are amazing. This is definitely one of the crafts that I'm looking forward to trying. Maybe some day I'll make something worthy of being in a gallery like that.

Hi! I'm Stacey and I'm obsessed with buttons.

Now that we've got that out of the way... I live in Western Massachusetts with my husband and our two cats Meara and Ivy. We're just moving into a new apartment and I am looking forward to really making the place into a home. I've started this blog as a place to write about my new crafting projects and for writing about the things I see that make me think or angry or laugh or just say 'neat'.

I feel a bit like I'm writing a personal ad here...likes movies, reading, intense philosophical and political discussion....

More later but for now I think I should just post this and get this thing started!