Cebolla Mesa April 11, 2008

Well I know this post is a little late as it is now Friday and I will be talking about this past weekend, but I didn’t bring my camera along so the photos featured are borrowed from the boyfriend and roommates. I had to wait for them to share them. This past Saturday was spent hiking in New Mexico. We hiked down a gorge to the Rio Grande.

When we arrived it was super windy and chilly but as we descended we were protected from the cold. Along the path there were pretty light purple crocuses in various stages of blooming.

The water was pretty low as it has still been cold here, preventing mountain snow from melting. Because of the low level we were able to walk along rocks that are normally under the river. They were so smooth and worn down from water rushing over them.

Even though the water level was low the river was still very fast and powerful. It was good to sit and listen to the rapids.

Overall a great way to spend a Saturday.

My newest addition April 8, 2008

So last week I promised I would soon post my newest item.  As I am mainly a knitter I have been spending the last few weeks thinking about how I can take a traditionally cold weather craft into the warmer months.  During the early spring fingerless gloves seemed to be a popular item.  That gave me the idea of toeless socks!  Now it sounds funny but how many of us love to wear our sandels but feel silly wearing them with socks in the cooler months?  Toeless socks would be the perfect solution.  You can wear your socks and keep your feet warm while your toes are free to cradle flip flop thongs or what have you.

So now you are all very excited to see the toeless socks, I’m sure.  Don’t get too excited.  I decided to do some internet research to learn about the prevalence of toeless socks.  I learned they aren’t super prevalent, but I did come across an equally fun and exciting project, yoga socks.  Essentially they are toeless AND heelless socks that allow the feet to stay warm while still gripping the mat. So now I present you with my version of the yoga sock.

The yarn maybe familiar as the same yarn used to knit the multicolor scarflette from a previous post.  It originally was knitted into a gently worn sweater that I purchased from my local thrift store.  I then unraveled the yarn, washed it, hand dyed it and re-knit it into these.  For those of you who loved the idea of toeless socks, do not despair.  You don’t HAVE to be doing yoga to wear yoga socks and the toeless socks may still make an appearance yet.

Salmonella is Gross March 19, 2008

So yesterday when I was out and about town I saw that the front page story was that 20 residents or so had myseriously come down with Salmonella. I thought that was odd and read on hoping to find out where they had contracted said bacteria. The article didn’t say so I assumed it was from some dingy restaurant and hoped I would avoid falling ill and put it out of my mind.

So then this afternoon I receive several e-mails instructing residents to not drink the tap water. Apparently the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has placed a bottled water only restriction on the city water until further notice because that is what is making people sick! Residents aren’t even supposed to brush their teeth or wash dishes in the city water. Boiling the water is also not ok. They aren’t saying how the water became contaminated or how long the restriction will continue.

I’m not sure how common this is but I have never had anything like this happen to me before. Has this happened to anyone else?

Yay Front Page! March 18, 2008

I am very happy today because my birdie napkins that I wrote about earlier in my blog were featured today on the front page of Etsy by Portovert, an online guide to greener weddings! I embroidered little birds on high quality clothe napkins I discovered at a local thrift store. I can only assume the napkins are meant to be given as a wedding gift? Not sure but I definitely appreciate the compliment. I have had one other item featured on the front page, wool convertible mittens. This resulted in my first (and sadly, only) sale. Hopefully the same will be true this time, except of course it would result in my second and not only sale.

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 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.

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.