Bonus Fiber Content !

We had passes to take the kids to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA (Thanks Mom & Dad!).

They share the space with the National Canal Museum.

There's a small room across from the admissions area that recognizes the area's fiber heritage. Some of these are hands-on displays for kids, including one where you can twist four strands into a "S" or "Z" twist.

A second looks a little like a cage, and kids take long 'noodles' (made of cotton filled with fiberfill) and thread them through the 'bars' as if they're weaving.





There's also a LOOM (Please Do Not Touch!):



And a display where you can spin the wheel and see magnifications of different fiber types:





The entire building has FOUR floors. THREE of which are 'Canal Museum'.

The Crayola Factory is only one floor. More crayons in one place than most people suck up in their vacuum in a lifetime!


Also, lots of small people running around with marker all over themselves. The kids thought it was great.

They had the "Hall of Fame" where they show the 'Retired Colors" and the 100 Billionth Crayon, which was molded by "Mr. Rogers".

It was a little 'commercial', but then again, I remember 'back in the day', when we went to the Actual Factory for a tour, and the waiting list was over 2 years long at one point. Heck, you could step in some wax and trail it around all day!

Blog Catch-Up Post

I've been meaning to post these photos (as requested).

These are the 'gift bags' made from dish towels, displayed fetchingly upon my ironing board.





Directions are ridiculously easy:

1) Buy embroidered cotton dish towels on Deep Clearance at Target.
2) Put them away for a year.
3) Dig them out just before the holidays and remember WHY you bought them.
4) Embroider names with Mom's machine.
5) Sew together on the serger.
5a) Be sure to angle them so the big thick hem drops off.
5b) Put a piece of ribbon in the seam BEFORE you sew it, to tie it closed.
6) Rip out at least one bag because you forgot to do 5b.
7) Wrap all the gifts in tissue, stuff 'em in, and tie shut.
No wrapping paper, gift tags, or tape required.

8) Optional: Do a little dance when you realize how much time this saves.

January AC4C Project- Baby Packs!

The January Project for All Crafts for Charity is KwaZula-Natal Baby Packs.

List member SAM has set up a site
here with all the project details, as well as photos and info about this area of South Africa.

I sent my package a little early, and included two of the kimonos from Mason-Dixon Knitting, with matching hats and some diaper pins.

If The World Were A Village...

I've seen this come through my e-mail several times, but haven't ever seen the appropriate attribution for it. So, if anyone knows from whence it came, I'm glad to give credit where it's due.

In the meantime, here's a little food for thought...

If The World Were a Village of 100 People

If this world were shrunk to the size of a village, what would it look like?

If 100 people lived in this village:
· 52 would be women, 48 would be men
· 30 would be children, 70 would be adults.
· 7 would be senior citizens.
· 90 would be heterosexual, 10 would be homosexual.
· 70 would be non-white, 30 would be white.

· 61 would be Asian, 13 African, 13 from North and South America, 12 Europeans, and the remaining one from the South Pacific.

· 33 would be Christians, 19 believers in Islam, 13 would be Hindus, and 6 would follow Buddhist teachings. 5 would believe that there are spirits in the trees and rocks and in all of nature. 24 would be believe in other religions, or would believe in no religion.

· 17 would speak Chinese, 9 English, 8 Hindi and Urdu, 6 Spanish, 6 Russian, and 4 would speak Arabic. That would account for half the village. The other half would speak Bengal, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese, German, French, or some other language.

In such a village with so many sorts of folks, it would be very important to learn to understand people different from yourself and to accept others as they are.

But consider this.

Of the 100 people in this village:

· 20 are undernourished, 1 is dying of starvation, while 15 are overweight.

· Of the wealth in this village, 6 people own 59% (all of them from the United States), 74 people own 39%, and 20 people share the remaining 2%.

· Of the energy of this village, 20 people consume 80%, and 80 people share the remaining 20%.

· 75 people have some supply of food and a place to shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 do not. 17 have no clean, safe water to drink.

· If you have money in the bank, money in your wallet and spare change somewhere around the house, then you are among the richest 8.

· If you have a car, you are among the richest 7.

· Among the villagers, 1 has a college education. 2 have computers. 14 cannot read.

· If you can speak and act according to your faith and your conscience without harassment, imprisonment, torture or death, then you are more fortunate than 48, who can not.

· If you do not live in fear of death by bombardment, armed attack, landmines, or of rape or kidnapping by armed groups, then you are more fortunate than 20, who do.

· In one year, 1 person in the village will die, but in the same year, 2 babies will be born, so that at the year's end the number of villagers will be 101.

~~~
Now I'm sure that someone's going to go look it up on 'Snopes' or one of the other hoax-debunking sites, and find some error in the writing.

But as a quick reality check, I think it helps one to remember that if you HAVE, well then you're pretty damn lucky, because there are so many that DON'T.

Getting off my soapbox . .

I Can Has RAM?

Oh Happy Day! I bought myself some RAM for the holidays.

No, not a sheep. Computer parts!
(Don't even mention sheep to me. I am STILL carding that damn wool.)





Couldn't have been easier. The web site scanned my computer and said (not verbatim, of course):

a) This is what you HAVE.
b) This is what you CAN put in.
c) This is how we sell it.
d) How would you like to PAY for this?

I even INSTALLED it MYSELF. Yeah, it's that easy.
Easier than putting pants on a baby!

You literally OPEN the PC, open the package, and SNAP the RAM in.

Gotta press hard, the instructions say it takes 20 to 30 pounds of pressure to get the little buggers in there!

Hope like hell that you don't accidentally exert 30.1 lbs. of pressure and bust the thing,

SNAP! Like LEGO, only more expensive!

For less than $100, it's like having a new 'puter. Or at least one that doesn't suck! :)

Why is it that we're supposed to be petrified of "WHATsINSIDEtheCOMPUTER" anyway?

December Has Arrived

December is here, and along with it, a dose of cold weather.

My parents left this morning for the Caribbean (stinkers!).

The December AC4C Project is to make blankies for shelter pets. I whipped up several, using pieces of fleece that weren't large enough for baby blankets.

Two or three pieces serged together were just about the right size for a cat.

Wouldn't be suitable for a baby, as you wouldn't want all those serged edges right next to their skin. Our resident Cat, however, approved these heartily.

Photos to follow.

ETA: Photos! Two examples of smaller pieces, serged into something useful:

November Shipments

Finally back after picking up some nasty Spyware along the way.

After following NINE pages of directions, I seem to have the little bugger under control [quickly knocking on faux wood]!

A few quick photos of items that have gone out this week:





The scarf and mitts in the first photo (and several others like them) went to Cangleska, Inc., the shelter on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Cangleska

The scarf was knit for Marilyn, "The Baby Lady"* from the AC4C group, and sent to Re-Member on the Reservation in her honor. Re-Member

* When a group member donates 100 handmade items to the AC4C monthly projects, and the moderators verify the donations, "The Baby Lady" makes them up an authentically- sized preemie doll that can be used as a model for their handmade items. Several of us try to make a few extra items while Marilyn's busy "Makin' Babies'.

The scarf is 100% wool, and darn wide and long.

[My neighbor admired another scarf knit in the same wool, different color, and it ended up going home with her.]

The photo doesn't do it justice, because some little stinker manhandled (childhandled?) my camera. While it continues to limp along, working occasionally, the photo quality is... uh... poo-poo.