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How to Get Carried Away with a Fundraiser

January 24, 2013 by sue campbell

It’s that time again. Time for me to off the deep end, craft-wise.

Every year Nora’s school holds a fund-raising auction and each class makes a big-ass something that gets donated to the cause.

This year’s something was my idea, though now I have mixed feelings about not keeping my mouth shut — as I really just wanted to make it for myself. It’s going to be a supreme exercise in detachment to let this sucker go.

The finished product will look something like this

It’s a quilt, of sorts. We’re modifying the ingenious beekeeper’s quilt from Tiny Owl Knits by making it mixed media, so the little hexagons won’t just be knitted, but also crocheted and sewn (to maximize the skill set of all the class parents). Also, each child in Nora’s class will draw a bee which we’ll embroider on the fabric hexagons.

We need a total of 384 hexagons.

I'm slowly filling this jar and it's making me happy.

On top of that, we’ll build a beehive and provide all the supplies needed to start beekeeping (including bees!). Yes, people really do that here in Portland.

But wait, there’s more!

We’ll also make a donation of honey bees in the winning bidder’s name to Heifer International. (We feel kind of guilty about the idea of people who are doing well simply trading items of value with other people who are doing well, so we added that bit to help families in need. We’re just liberal like that.)

And we’ve got to get it all done by March 1st.

Did I mention that it took the woman who wrote the quilt pattern a year to make it? Never mind. I have complete faith in crowdsourcing, Waldorf style. Wool motivates us.

If there are any knitters or crocheters out there who want to bust out a few hexagons, let me know. I can supply yarn and stuffing and instructions. We need all the help we can get.

And please tell me about the craziest craft project you’ve ever done. We need ideas for next year.

Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: beekeeper's quilt, crochet, knitting, sewing, utter madness

Make This

November 23, 2011 by sue campbell

I really want to make this sweater from the current issue of Knitty.

I love the stitch pattern in the cowl. Since it would be unwise to begin yet another sweater project, I made a stand alone cowl out of a heavier yarn just so I could test drive the stitch pattern. It’s a great project for a Christmas gift: it takes almost no finishing and uses only one skein of yarn.

I wrote up the pattern to share:

Trinity Stitch Cowl

Thank you, Instagram, for somehow making me look less tired than I was.

Yarn: Aran Weight (1 – 50 gram skein)
Needles: size 10.5 – 16” circulars
Gauge: Not too terribly important
(You could easily and successfully make this out of worsted weight in perhaps a size 8 needle, and vary the size by using more of less stitches when casting on, just make sure your total number of stitches is divisible by four.)

CO: 96 stitches, join in the round and place marker at the beginning of the round
Round 1: P all sts.
Round 2: *[P1, k1, p1] into next st (1 st increased to 3 sts), k3tog; repeat from * to end.
Round 3: P all sts.
Round 4: *K3tog, [p1, k1, p1] into next st; repeat from * to end.
Repeat Rounds 1-4 for Trinity Stitch.

Repeat until you have just a few yards of yarn left, hopefully ending on a round 1 or round 4. Bind off loosely. Weave in ends. Block with a steam iron.

Send me a photo if you make one! Or better yet, make the sweater and send me a photo of that!

Link up with @bellebeandog and @taminginsanity!

Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: cowl, knitting, trinity stitch

My Thumbs are Sore

November 16, 2011 by sue campbell

I’ve been making stuff like crazy.  I’m trying to crank out some crafts for a fundraiser at Nora’s school, but it’s tough to be productive when Nora demands one of each item to keep for herself.  Negotiations are ongoing…

Link Up!

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: acorns, bear hat, crafting, gnomes, knitting, mushrooms, sewing, Waldorf

Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival

September 26, 2011 by sue campbell

On Saturday, Nora and I went to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, or, the If Sue Could Make Her Own Festival This Would Be It Festival, as I now like to think of it.

It’s an enormous gathering of all things fiber arts related: sheep, goats, rabbits, alpaca, llama, spinning equipment, knitting equipment, fibers and yarn GALORE. And a ton of nice people who know just what you’re going through as you fondle and ogle all there is to see and try to decide what to take home.

We met up with a family from Nora’s school.  Karri, the mom, is as much of a fiber junky as I am and some how that makes an event like this that much more enjoyable.  Best of all, Nora loved every minute of it.  She walked through marketplace petting yarn and saying “Ohhh, mommy, look at this one!”  And then through the barns petting critters saying, “Mommy, can we get one?”

That’s my girl.

Filed Under: Family Outings Tagged With: alpaca, angora rabbits, goats, it was all I could do to not buy a rabbit or an entire raw fleece, knitting, Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, sheep, spinning

Progress on the Dude

June 17, 2011 by sue campbell

Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: designed by Andrea Rangel, Dude sweater, knitting, The Big Lebowski

Progress on the Dude

May 13, 2011 by sue campbell

Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: Dude sweater, knitting, The Big Lebowski

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What kind of blog is this?

This is a blog for PARENTS. True, the writer, Sue Campbell, writes books for kids. But this blog is for grown-ups. It has some swearing and would be super boring for kids. Except for the swearing.

The PODCAST is for KIDS and PARENTS. In fact, my twelve-year-old daughter is my co-host.

If your kids like Sue's books, send them over to suecampbellbooks.com where there's some kid-friendly content. EVEN BETTER, join the mailing list. You get stuff for grown-ups and printable stuff for kids. And sometimes there will be super ill-advised giveaways or coloring contests for free books.

MORE ABOUT SUE: She makes an ACTUAL LIVING from writing words and marketing books and lives with her husband, two daughters, six chickens and one messy house rabbit in Portland, Oregon. And yes, Portland IS that weird. She really couldn't be any luckier.

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