La Sirena

A Tale of Two Sweaters

Little Girl: Mom, my baby is sad.

Mom: Oh? Why is she sad?

Little girl: I think she is cold and she wants you to make her a sweater.

Mom [who can't imagine thinking about sweaters in the Texas summer heat, but also just finished unpacking some remnants of pink yarn, which her daughter is eyeing hopefully]: OK, I can make her a sweater. A pink sweater?

Little girl : Oh, yes!  With a hood!... [seizing upon a window of opportunity] You know, I think baby Mulan needs one too.  [After Mom has worked a few rows] I think the baby will need booties too... and a scarf... and gloves for the snow... and pockets...

After a while, a compromise was made:

Garden

I'm so excited to be able to do some gardening at this house.  Frida and I started on garden crafts right away.  Exhibit A: painted pots and a funky bird bath. 

While at the craftstore we picked up this doll closet for 50 cents.  Frida industriously went about painting every surface, including the back, bottom and insides. It is now home to as many 2 inch figurines as she can cram onto its tiny shelves.

Home

I knew that right before a major move, (out of state no less), was not the best time to begin a blog, but I was determined to get it going nonetheless.  We are in our new home now and of course, the fact that I have not posted does not mean that I haven't been crafting.  As I prepared these photos to post I realized that I've been doing some unconscious nest building in my crafting: several of my recent projects are for the home.

1. A one-skein fuschia crocheted basket.  Shown with the tortilla napkin I embroidered and edged during hurricane Katrina. (You can read about my experience "stitching through the storm" here: http://www.black-purl-magazine.com/FAL05-ARTstitching.htm)

2. A crocheted jug cover adapted from a free pattern on the web: http://hometown.aol.com/celtwich/Fancy.html.  We sit outside and drink cold fruit drinks during the summer a lot, so I knew I could use one.  I have a love-hate relationship with this variagated crochet thread, sometimes I think it is hip and interesting, like fall foliage, other times I think it is just plain ugly, like the worst of the 70s (at least it's not psychadelic acrylic).  It does keep the flies out of the jug though, at least so far...