29 Ways to Stay Creative

I found this video on my twitter feed. I think it has a lot of good advice.


29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

Ravelry vs The United States Olympic Committee.

During the Olympics, Ravelry.com hosts an event called the Ravelympics. In a nutshell, a person will knit or crochet a challenging project during the Olympic Games. The goal is to start the project at the start of the Olympics and finish with the closing ceremonies. Participants will join online groups to track and discuss their progress. It is a fun event designed to challenge people's knitting or crochet skills and share their progress with other crafters. Last night, the United States Olympic Committee issued a cease and desist letter asking Ravelry to change the name of the Ravelympics. Here is a complete text of the letter In this letter, they said that the Ravelympics “denigrated the true nature of the games” and was disrespectful to the athletes.  Here is the text that says that.

“We believe using the name "Ravelympics" for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country's finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.”

When I read this I was extremely angry. I vowed to boycott the Olympics. I can understand a organization protecting their trademark but they didn’t have to insult knitting and crochet in the process.  In the name of this “disrespectful” hobby, people have made helmet liners for soldiers, hats and scarves for the homeless, and scarves for the Special Olympics. Not only that, they were knitting, watching the Olympics and cheering for their favorite athletes.Wow, if that is disrespectful I am glad to be disrespectful.

Issuing this letter made a community of over 2 million people angry. 2 million well organized people with pointy sticks. Thousands of angry knitters flooded Twitter, and the Olympic Committee’s Facebook page with angry messages. Many are talking about boycotting the Olympics and their sponsors. In response, they issued an apology.  In my opinion, it was too little too late. The apology said it was a form letter, I was skeptical of this. However, someone one on Facebook posted this link to a Cease and Desist the Redneck Olympics received. The language is the same. To be fair they did apologize and the USOC Spokesperson Patrick Sandusky has been apologizing to people over and over on twitter about the language in the letter.

I have had time to cool off and I am not as mad about this anymore. But the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. While I was reading about this, it turns out the Olympic Committee has done this before. In Britain, thousands of volunteers made pillows to be handed out to Olympic athletes as gifts only to be told they can’t hand them out. They told the volunteers they couldn’t hand out the pillows because they didn’t want to anger sponsors.  I used to love the Olympics but it seems that they care more about sponsorship money more than anything else. I am disillusioned and I still won’t be watching the Olympics.  

Advanced Style

One of my favorite blogs is Advanced Style. It is a blog that features stylish and colorful seniors. It is written by Ari Seth Cohen. He was inspired to write this blog by his grandmother. I have always said I want to be flamboyant and crotchety when I am an old woman. When I saw this blog, I immediately thought, “I want to be like this when I grow up.” The blog also has videos of the ladies (and a few men). Here is a video of Ilona Royce Smithkin. She is 90 years old, makes her own eyelashes, and loves color. 


The author of the blog, Ari Seth Cohen just put out a book. He and filmmaker Lina Plioplyte  are also in the process of making a movie. They have been filming it for 2 years. He has a Kickstarter Page to raise funds for the film that ends June 23. Here is a trailer for the movie.  Needless to say, I really, really want to see this movie when I can. I find this blog so inspiring. It inspires me to do my own thing, have fun with fashion and express myself. 

Making Yarn out of Plastic Bags

When I was in Seattle, the place I was staying had the newspaper delivered every day. The paper comes in this light green bag. When I saw the bags, I liked the pale green color. I immediately thought about making them into yarn. I saved the bags and have started cutting them up into yarn. I got the idea from a group on Ravelry called Thrifty Knitters. The forum had a link to this tutorial on making yarn out of plastic bags. I did some research and found another technique that makes a stronger yarn. The yarn made from plastic bags is called plarn (plastic bag yarn).

Here is what I have so far. I did one ball of each technique listed above. If you don’t get a newspaper delivered, this is a good project for those grocery store bags or shopping bags that multiply in your cupboards. Many people make the plarn into bags. Here and here are links to an example of that.I am not sure I am going to make a bag with this plarn. I will  have to see what inspires me once I have more to work with.

Repurposing Old Necklaces

Lately I have been interested in repurposing. Right before I left for Seattle I went through my old jewelry projects. I had made dozens of necklaces over the years that I never wore.  I tore up several of those necklaces. I wanted to re use the clasps As a bonus, I also gained some beads I was running out of that would have been very difficult to replace. 

 I also unraveled a crochet choker, a sample I made of a braided edging, and a purse.  I was experimenting with some new crochet ideas that didn’t work out. I think this repurposing is my way of clearing the decks for new ideas and getting rid of old ideas that didn’t work. I want to use these bits of yarn to make some crochet jewelry or motifs.