Bank Holiday Weekend Projects

I keep seeing things I want to make, and as there's a three-day weekend right ahead it's perfect timing for a small project or two!

First, it was this funky little bracelet from Scavenging which brought a smile to my face. I like the idea of turning a credit card into jewellery, it just appeals. And it looks pretty smart too. I don't own a drill, but next time one of my cards expires I'll be looking into it.

Then, these cute patterns caught my eye over at Heart of Light. I particularly like the tunic-style one - can see it being the kind of dress you wear all summer.

However, as I've found out with my first slightly-too-ambitious sewing project I probably ought to start with something a little simpler. Which was why I was pleased to come across a step-by-step guide - with photos! (how can I possibly go wrong with this?!) to a simple circle skirt on Burda style.

And finally, I tried Lara bars for the first time recently. Pretty good, I thought - tasty, filling, but not too much so, not too sweet, nice simple list of ingredients. BUT, super expensive for a small snack. So, I started musing on how one would recreate one. The aforementioned simple list of ingredients seemed to predispose the snack to guestimated copying.

Luckily, others had trodden the same thought process before me. Delighted to find out the always-wonderful Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini, and the new-to-me Enlightened Cooking, had already done the experimenting part and come up with some recipes. Chocolate and Zucchini's here and Enlightened Cooking's here. I am definitely definitely going to be stocking up on bulk fruit and nuts and trying these out for next week's lunchboxes. Yum!

Happy (long) weekend to you all!

Photos: bracelet from Scavenging; pattern from Simplicity; skirt from Burda Style; bars from Enlightened Cooking

Isolation and Efficiency, and How They Came Around to Bite Us in the Backside

A couple of interesting links to share with you.

The title of this post is lifted from a speech I came across today whilst blog-browsing. It's Barbara Kingsolver's commencement address at Duke University and it is lovely - meandering yet whole, funny, uplifting, vivid, thoughtful. It's called "How to be hopeful" and paints saving our lives on earth as the next big battle, along the lines of historical battles such as the abolishment of slavery, universal suffrage and the civil rights movement -

"That will be the central question of your adult life: to escape the wild rumpus of carbon-fuel dependency, in the nick of time. You’ll make rules that were previously unthinkable, imposing limits on what we can use and possess. You will radically reconsider the power relationship between humans and our habitat. In the words of my esteemed colleague and friend, Wendell Berry, the new Emancipation Proclamation will not be for a specific race or species, but for life itself."

She also talks about ideas of success, describing how things seem to be at present:

"Exhaled by culture, taken in like oxygen, we hold these truths to be self-evident: You get what you pay for. Success is everything. Work is what you do for money, and that’s what counts. How could it be otherwise? And the converse of that last rule, of course, is that if you’re not paid to do a thing, it can’t be important. If a child writes a poem and proudly reads it, adults may wink and ask, “Think there’s a lot of money in that?”"

and as to what could be:

"You could invent a new kind of Success that includes children’s poetry, butterfly migrations, butterfly kisses, the Grand Canyon, eternity. If somebody says “Your money or your life,” you could say: Life. And mean it. You’ll see things collapse in your time, the big houses, the empires of glass. The new green things that sprout up through the wreck –- those will be yours."

I read that a couple of times, and felt kind of softened, comforted, open, hopeful... But the bit I really want to take from this is the following:

"The hardest part will be to convince yourself of the possibilities, and hang on. If you run out of hope at the end of the day, to rise in the morning and put it on again with your shoes. Hope is the only reason you won’t give in, burn what’s left of the ship and go down with it. "

Read the whole speech here: http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2008/05/kingsolver.html

I came across this through an interesting comments conversation (commentsation?) that sprang up from this post over on No-Impact Man , which in turn is a reply to this article in The New Republic. The article talks about a 'green bubble' which is bursting as the economic crisis draws people away from environmental concerns. It was difficult to read objectively because I kept wanting to say, "well, I'm not like this or that", as it takes rather a snide view of the green movement, however I want to go back and read it again without taking it so personally as it seems to me important to read things that challenge your views as well as those that bolster them. To read without bristling and feeling attacked, but to use their arguments to see what you agree with and what you don't, to see if you want to adapt your held beliefs, or if you can more clearly focus your position by working out what exactly it is that you oppose or disagree with.

the inaugural swap party

So, last Saturday I finally got around to hosting a clothes swap party. I kept putting it off for ages, worrying about how it would work, and whether people would come, and how rubbish my clothes were etc. etc. ...

But in the event, like a lot of things I worry about, it was really very good and none of my imagined problems came to bear...

I forgot to take photos, so I've whipped up some drawings in Excel to illustrate this post (drawing in Excel another pastime dreamt up that Looks Like Work But Is Really Just Me Whiling Away The Time). It's kind of fun!

So, hear's what I learned:

1. You don't need that many people - we were 6 in the end. Out of about 25 I invited, there was a lot of interest expressed, but loads who just couldn't make it and I was a bit worried it just wouldn't work size and taste wise but it was fine and I actually think much more would be a bit of a challenge in terms of logistics - lots of people wanting the same thing for example, and even just the time it takes to look through everything!
2. You definitely want a few drinks and nibbles. We ended up sitting around chatting and eating/drinking for a couple of hours before getting down to swapping. It helped everyone get acquainted and in the mood to run around trying on clothes like crazy

3. It really is satisfying when something that looked kind of ok on you, looks completely awesome on someone else.

4. There's quite a lot of flexibility in sizes. I am currently wearing a skirt whose previous owner weighs about half what i do, but although i have to wedge it over my thighs it fits the waist and is fine. Likewise, some stuff in bigger sizes looked good on the smaller people.

5. Mirrors are good - I could probably have done with another few, and especially a full-length one but we managed with just the ones in the bathroom.

6. It's really true that something you hate someone else might totally love. I put out this old tweed suit kind of for fun, because it looks just awful on me, but both parts went, whereas the cool Reiss skirt I thought would be snapped up noone really fancied.

7. It's a lot of fun - both having the party and having a whole load of new clothes to work into your wardrobe. Definitely worth doing. It's just such a win-win thing. You clean out your wardrobe of stuff that's just making you feel guilty for buying it or fat because it doesn't fit, or just taking up space and getting old. You get new stuff for free and you have a fun night out. Beats shopping any day...