we can't call it a "stitch & bitch"

i think i mentioned a little while ago that i was starting a "knitting club" at the school i work at. well, i decided to take an idea i saw in this book and have the kids make their own knitting needles.


i altered the instructions just a wee bit: instead of using dowling, we just used wooden chopsticks instead. much cheaper ($1 for a pack of 40 sets!!) and it saved the trouble of having to saw them to the correct length. the only trouble is that even after sanding and oiling, the yarn doesn't "slide" off the needles as easily as i would like. the kids don't seem to mind though. and the length of the needles is PERFECT! regular sized ones are really unwieldy for smaller ones to use comfortably. and all they needed to do was use a pencil sharpener to make the ends pointy.

fun, cheap, and diy. it doesn't get much better than that!

all the cool kids are doing it

it's voting day here in canada. even though the polls show my choice doesn't really have a chance of being the next prime minister (yet!), i still get really excited on election day. i can't wait to watch the results tonight on tv! (i guess that might sound a bit geeky.)

i've been teaching the "election" unit to the gr. 5's at school since november. it was such a perfect learning opportunity to have a real election called during the unit. today all of that culminated in a mock election.

i made a polling station just for that class, complete with yellow "election canada" signs showing where the voting was taking place. we were lucky enough to have a real polling station at our school and the nice supervisor lent me 2 cardboard barriers so the students could vote in privacy (just like the adults!). i had 2 students act as returning officers: one highlited each name on the list of voters, the other student handed out ballots. after everyone in the class had voted, we watched the real thing in action. the supervisor was really kind and allowed us to sit quietly on the stage and ask her some questions while the public came in and voted. the kids loved it!!

here's the little ballot box and ballots i made for the students with the names of the candidates in their riding.


hopefully some of those kids will still be excited to vote when they turn 18!

sensible boots

after years of grumbling through nasty winters without real boots, i finally found a pair i love. scored these vegetarian kicks at "winners" for $29! and they are soooo warm!

omg

does the fact that i desperately want one for noah mean i've turned into one of those crazy dog people?!?




wait, don't answer that.

excited about...

*starting "knitting club" with the kids at school tomorrow

*two consecutive days of feeling wide awake (!!)

*the golden globes are on tonight

*fake chicken baking in the oven for dinner

*feeling inspired enough to get back in the studio

owls are the new deer

lately i've been seeing owls everywhere. (well, not in real life but in lots of little crafty shops online.) these are some of my favourites.

marigold tree


at plain mabel


at chocosho


at chocosho


mirna


i've caught "owl fever" too. one of the new designs i did for the craft show in december was an owl necklace. (i kept a green one for myself!). and one lucky day during my holidays, i found two owl brooches while thrifting in the 'burbs.

thrifted brooches (one wood, one gold-tone) and 2 of my owl necklace designs

my kindred spirit

awhile back when i posted photos of all that jewellery i was making for the big craft show in december, a girl on flickr saw my pictures. this one in particular caught her attention:


she made a comment saying that she also made mixed tape art and suggested we do a trade sometime. i was so excited...all of tara's drawings were amazing. i sent her a list of about 6 that i fell in love with and told her to surprise me. i was thrilled when i found this in my mail right before christmas:



not only did she send me one of her incredible drawings but she also made a wicked mixed tape for me too! and as if that wasn't perfect enough, i also got a 1" button with one of her other drawings on it (coincidentally, it is one of the 6 i loved). i sent her a turquoise mixed tape necklace and some matching hairpins but unfortunately i forgot to take a picture.

in this world of ipods and mp3s, tara and i are keeping the memory of the mixed tape alive. hee!

2006

happy new year!! sorry for being so quiet for such a long time. i spent the last month suffering from the "blog blahs". i just didn't feel i had anything interesting to say or show you. but my resolution for 2006 is to update more regularly. keep your fingers crossed for me...

the holidays were fun and relaxing and jam-packed. we got to spend time with paul's family on christmas eve, then to my mom's side for a few days, then the day-long trek up north to my dad's where we spent the rest of the week. it was wonderful to spend so much time with family. i did a lot of sleeping in, relaxing, reading back issues of martha stewart living, a bit of knitting, lots of laughing, and watching cable tv (such a luxury).

there was so much snow up north and it clung to the trees for days. i love this picture that i took on our trip. it was a winter wonderland at both my mom's and my dad's place.