Tag! February 27, 2008

I was tagged by emmylouhelmuth today. I’ve never been tagged before but apparently it means that I am supposed to tell everyone seven interesting facts about myself and pass on the tag to other bloggers. So here it goes…

Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the San Luis Valley

1. I grew up in Missouri, went to school in Indiana, and have finally escaped the midwest! (No offense to current midwesterners out there, I just need some time to explore other parts of the country.) I am currently living in the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado. It is a rural desert valley the size of Connecticut surrounded on all sides by mountains.

2. I was a Peace Studies major in college and am currently attempting to live in a way that is consistent with my values as working in a non-profit, restorative justice organization as a full-time volunteer. I live with 6 other volunteers working in various non-profits.

3. Another way I live out my values is by eating vegetarian. (Again, no offense to you meat eaters out there) For me maintaining a vegetarian diet is a way to reduce waste and contribute to a more healthy planet. In the United States we feed nearly 70% percent of the grains and we grow to farm animals and the UN points to raising animals for food as one of the top two or three most significant contributers to the most serious environmental problems. For environmental reasons I choose to not eat meat. I don’t think that eating meat is wrong in itself, but I do think the way the developed world has created an unsustainable food industry is inexcusable. Still I’m the first to admit that its hard resist the smell of ball park hot dogs or breakfast bacon

4. I love to create things. I have had various handicraft hobbies over the year depending on my budget and time allowances. Right now I am very much into knitting and embroidering because they are crafts I can do for a reasonable amount of money. In the past I have made pottery but am unable to do that right now as I don’t have access to a wheel, kiln, etc. I am just now starting a weaving class and was loaned a rio grande loom from a former weaving instructor that happens to be a good friend of my coworker.

5. I do not love to exercising at all but am currently training for a 10 k in May to prove to myself that I can do it.

6. I’ve never been a techy person but in the last month I have started an etsy shop, created a flick’r account, posted in numerous forums, started blogging (obviously), and learned how to use dreamweaver.

7. I love to bake all things, breads, cakes, cookies, anything. I hate that high-altitude has ruined this hobby.

I will pass the tag along to Ni-Chern Designs, FluffyFlowers, Vintage Blue Studio, AntiGenre, Pulp Sushi, Suburose, BeneathTheRowanTree

A Fun Weekend in the Mountains February 25, 2008

A friend and me hiking at the Crags outside Colorado Springs

As alluded to in the “about me” section Iam spending a year volunteering full time for a restorative justice non-profit in rural Colorado. My house mates and I spent the last weekend at a retreat in the Rocky Mountains outside of Colorado Springs. Saturday we went for a long hike in the snow. The path was relatively warm but one misstep and we found ourselves up to our waists in snow. We passed the afternoon by snow tubing and playing broom ball (to which I was only a witness, not a participant). It was a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend of rest and fun. Growing up in Missouri we did not embrace winter the same way Coloradans seem to do. I have throughly enjoyed skiing, hiking, and other outdoor activities throughout even the coldest months. While living in the Midwest I would often find myself depressed in the winter months. Living here I am realizing that this was more likely due to the perpetual overcast days and lack of outdoor activities than anything else.

A Spring Scarflette February 22, 2008

A scarflette from recycled materials

As I have mentioned previously I am very in environmental issues. I pay close attention to the resources I consume including food, natural resources, etc. I try to buy second hand items over new ones. This interest is also reflected in my hobbies. It is hard for me to defend contributing to consumer culture by creating goods that use new materials that require a high degree of energy consumption in their production. My solution is to scour local thrifstores to find gently used items that can be repurposed into something different, useful, and beautiful.

One example is a scarflette I recently knitted. First, I found a gently used, high quality, 100% virgin wool sweater at a local thriftstore that contributes 100% of profits to our local homeless shelter, La Puente Home. I found the seam and began unraveling, and unraveling, and unraveling until the sweater was no more. It was now several balls of white wool. I then seperated the yarn into three grouped hanks and dyed each one a different color, blue, green, and purple.

Finally, I reknit the yarn, combining the three strands in a diaganol rib pattern to form the above scarflette. At the end I knit in a button hole and stitched on a large white button. Now this is a creation that I can feel good about and the person who ends up with it can feel good about it too.

Of course an entire sweater did not go into the creation of just one small scarflette. I have a ton of yarn left over and will be using it in several projects to come.

A New Home February 21, 2008

Welcome to my (kinda) new blog. I started out at hiloverde1.blogspot.com, but my good friend Brian Liloia was appalled that I was using blogspot over wordpress and he helped me get set up here instead. He is into this sort of thing so I decided to follow his advice and make a move before I got too involved over there. So here I am. As I find my way around this place I will be adding more features so be sure to check back often.

The Birth of Hilo Verde February 20, 2008

So as I said earlier I have been knitting regularly for about four months. Originally I took up knitting to be able to provide a inexpensive, personal, and high quality gifts for friends and family members. I knit up several hats for friends and family. Additionally I knitted socks for my boyfriend, embroidered a set of kitchen towels for my best friend, and a table topper for my mother. All of these gifts were well received and I have to say I was pretty proud of my work.

Christmas came and went and I was still knitting with the same fervor as before but this time I didn’t know what to do with my products. I had more scarves and hats than I could use myself. A friend of mine and fellow volunteer has an Etsy shop where she sold her handmade items and she encouraged me to try it. Thus Hilo Verde was born. My friend and I spent awhile brainstorming names and I have to admit that I was pretty picky. Finally we settled on HiloVerde which means Green Yarn in Spanish. I chose this name for several reasons. First, I lived in Spain for 9 months while I was in college and came away with a great appreciation of the culture and language spoken there. Also I am currently volunteering in the San Luis Valley of Colorado where there exists is an amazing mix of Hispanic, indigenous, and American culture. I wanted to honor these two locals with my shop name. I also wanted to allude to the fact that I would be selling items that were produced in a way that was environmentally sustainable and thus “green”. Almost all of the knitted items in my shop are made from recycled or natural fibers. Additionally I strive to support local businesses whenever possible.

Knitting Roadblock February 19, 2008

The famed original headaband – check back
for the new and improved (maybe) version.

Well I have been knitting regularly for about four months now and unfortunately I have come to an the knitters’ equivalent of writer’s block. I have been working on a couple of projects lately and cannot seem to move forward with them.

First, back in November I bought a great hand dyed silk/angora blend that I was using to make a hat. This was back before I knew really anything about fiber types. The yarn lacks any give and so the hat was just blah. I ended up taking it out and redoing it about 4 times before I decided to set it aside. Four months later I was feeling industrious and picked up the discarded skein. This time I planned to make a lace leaf pattern on a hat. I though surely after four months of knitting under my belt I would be able to produce a beautifully laced hat in no time. Think again. I have probably taken out and restarted this version of the hat another four times! The problem with lace is that once you make a mistake it is much more difficult to go back and rectify it than other patterns. This hat is still in progress so check back for updates.

The second never ending project is a headband from super soft hand spun, hand dyed yarn. I had just a little yarn left over from a couple of fingerless gloves I knit and I thought a headband would be perfect for this ultra soft wool. My first attempt I finished in one night despite repeated unraveling and reknitting. I posted this on Etsy but found that I had a hard time promoting the item as I wasn’t wild about it myself. This led me to once again unraveling it and starting anew. It is currently sitting on my kitchen table and I have yet to do the finishing touches such as buttons and appliqué flowers that I have crocheted.

So all in all it has been pretty frustrating couple of weeks as far as knitting goes. It seems I just can’t finish a project! I should probably set both aside and just start an easy no brain project for the time being. Check back for pictures of the finished projects.

My First Post… of any kind February 18, 2008

Well I’ve never been much for personal networking or blogging sites, but I thought I would give this a go. I recently started a small business at hiloverde.etsy.com and was looking for a way to promote my goods. I thought that a blog was a good option for reaching people outside my circle of family and friends. I plan on writing about my projects, other people’s work that I appreciate, and various other topics that I am currently contemplating. Thus far any of my attempts at personal journaling have failed as I don’t write regularly. Hopefully this blog does not meet the same fate!