Magazine Mayday

It's May 1st, and by now many of us have spring cleaning on the to do list. After all, summer is just around the corner. 

Spring cleaning or even spring sorting a constant thing around here. It seems like every week I find something that I don't use or wear regularly, and it either gets re-purposed, or it makes its way out the door to the nearest thrift store as a donation. 

Today, I discovered that I had a
magazine mayday on my hands. 

I do have a healthy magazine obsession. Ever since I was a teenager, I've been perusing the magazine rack at all manner of stores that carry them. Whenever I travel I purchase one or two magazines that I normally wouldn't buy on a regular basis. The Sailor brings my favorite one back from South Africa whenever he flies through there. And I do tend to leave several laying around the apartment because they're easier to pick up and skim through than a book on most days. 

Buying a magazine or getting one in the mail as part of a subscription is still one of life's little treats for me. And as much as I love technology, there is something so calming about sitting in a comfy chair and paging through an actual magazine.

I have this rule though that if the magazines don't fit in the holders on the shelf, and if the magazine rack is overflowing, then I need to clear a few out. 

(Surprise surprise... the magazines no longer fit in the holders, and the magazine rack is about to burst.)

Something needs to be done. 

I'll be posting some ideas on what to do with that stash of magazines you may also have multiplying around your own home. In the meantime, I'm going to grab a snack and flip through the latest issues that I haven't gotten around to reading yet! 

Happy Handwriting

The Sailor has been joking with me lately about the mail. Whenever he's home, he tends to walk to the boxes and pick up the post. Usually by late afternoon I've asked him if he got the mail already. If he didn't, I volunteer to go. Last week he joked with me that I couldn't even wait one day to see what we got in the mail.

It's not that we get that much interesting stuff -- or even bills (hooray for online payments!) We do get the occasional card from friends and family, a magazine we've subscribed to, or something we ordered online. It's just that ever since I was a child, I've looked forward to getting the mail. 

Like many children of my generation I had a pen-pal -- several in fact. Daily, I anxiously awaited a letter from one of them. I always associated Sundays with that day to not bother looking in the mailbox. Sundays always disappointed me a little. 

Later, my forays to get the mail turned into awaiting letters from friends I made at summer camp, or cards and packages from home when I was at college. 

Overseas, I anticipated letters from family and friends and I got a thrill going to foreign post offices to mail cards with greetings in other languages. 

Recently, I noted that I only had a few stamps left. I realized my most recent book of stamps had lasted me way too long. I also realized that I couldn't recognize all of my friends' handwriting if I tried. It used to be that I could look at the address on a card and know exactly who mailed it to me without peeking at the return label. (There are still some friends for whom this is true!) Nowadays though, I have people in my life I've only ever texted or emailed. 

I have no idea what their handwriting looks like. 

Last week I put my stash of greeting cards nearer to the working part of my desk and I shopped for a bunch of new ones. I'm determined to bring back snail mail in my life. And even if I don't know my friends' handwriting, they could at least be somewhat familiar with mine.

Because you know, if I'm this excited about getting handwritten letters and cards in the mail -- maybe other people are too. 

But first, I need to buy some more stamps. 
 

Earth Day Every Day

Earth Day was this past Tuesday. I completely forgot, even though my trusty iPhone automatically put it on my calendar. I didn't mind. The Sailor and I spent the day wandering around garden centers looking for the perfect ferns and some red flowers to attract a few hummingbirds. What better way to celebrate the environment? 

I feel like most days around here are Earth Day in any case. I remember as a teenager, collecting aluminum cans was something we did for church fundraisers. Nowadays it's far more in vogue; our recycling bin is much bigger than our trash can at the moment.

We do our best around here to reduce, reuse, and recycle, but we don't obsess over it. I still use paper towels on occasion (after all, how else do you grease your cast iron pan?) and when we're out and about, we still buy a bottle of water when we're thirsty (usually after my glass bottle is completely empty!) 

But for the most part, we try not to waste food or electricity, and we tend to repair items in our household before we replace them. When we do have to replace them though, we usually donate the older item to a thrift store. (The Sailor is not a fan of clutter... and I have to say that most days it makes me crazy as well, even though much of the clutter stems from my own craft supplies. Here are more tips for Spring Cleaning, plus some tips on decluttering the craft supplies.)

And, of course, we plant stuff. We have a vegetable garden going at the moment, and now the porch is a perfect little plant haven for those times we want to sit outdoors. 

Happy Earth Day, every day! 

The In-Between Projects, Project

After whizzing my way through the zoo, I realized I didn't have another knitting or crochet project to start. Dishcloth 101 to the rescue. 

Long live the humble dishcloth!

I'm in the process of sorting out the office/craft room (AKA the Princess Pad as the Sailor affectionately refers to it...) Craft rooms and the supplies therein always need a good sorting. I can never remember what I have, so I've been reorganizing stuff where I can easily see it and therefore use it. 

I'm also realizing that eventually the little Peanut is going to have to sleep somewhere besides our room. So, I'm clearing out and making space and stash-busting of course.

Last year, just before we moved, I purchased three giant skeins of cotton yarn on sale. Don't ask me why... it's not like there aren't yarn stores here. I think I figured I'd need a go-to project as soon as we got to our destination. 

I didn't. I had plenty of other yarn in the pile. And so that yarn has sat on a shelf, patiently waiting for a project. 

I've scoured Ravelry for projects and nothing jumped out at me. I finally decided to simply stock up on dishcloths to use and to give away as gifts. So, now that I'm in between projects, dishcloths are the perfect excuse to use the yarn and to do some easy knitting and crochet in the evenings while catching up on TV.

Who knows, some of these may even end up as burp cloths.

What's your go-to in-between projects, project?

We Built a Zoo

Some people buy a zoo*. I decided to build one instead.

As soon as the palm tree and the giraffe were both finished, the rest of the animals arrived en masse! This pattern is super clever -- each animal ring gets gradually smaller as you make your way towards the top, so the crochet time subsequently gets less and less.

I'm not sure which animal is my favorite, but I'm leaning towards the lion. 

His mane and cheeks are the best! 

Having been on safari with the Sailor several times, I wanted to make my little zoo authentically African. As cute as the tiger was in the original pattern, I made a zebra instead. I used the same techniques to make the ring, and then I just sort of made up the head and the stripes as I went along.

Thumbs up for the pattern -- it was a worthy splurge. Plus, I ended up saving money in the end since I used up a lot of my stash yarn to make both the tree and the critters. 

 I think they're all going to be pals for a long, long time.

* We Bought a Zoo is a great movie. I highly recommend it, especially if you are an animal lover.