Valentines Day Gifts

Two of my four children got home made Valentine's day gifts from me this year(the oldest wanted pre-paid minutes for his cell phone, and the toddler wanted a heart shaped mylar balloon).  The hoodie was altered for my little Galen.  A beloved and well meaning Auntie sent it as a newborn gift, bearing an embroidered, blue, football.  I just simply don't do sports motifs on my baby boy clothes, so for V day, he re-got the gift, magically changed by Mama to sport some magic mushrooms!
Tenar received this wool felt (up-cycled from sweaters of course) lunch box, completely hand stitched and naturally dyed by moi.  The little internal divider separates hot food from cold, and I gave him little pyrex bowls to fit inside, so he could carry his dinner leftovers for lunch, in plastic-free containers.  This project took me foreeeever.

Banana Split anyone?

Check out these awesome woolly split pants that my friend Maria made using the sleeves of a felted sweater! Sol and I are so in tune (most of the time) that he is practically diaper-free at home! Now he can cruise around eating tidbits off the floor, keep his leggies warm and be easy for me to pee. The other day he sat at the table with us, pushing pieces of banana around, most of them disappeared and when I picked him up they were all over his lap. Karuna said, "Now that's what I call a banana split!"

Secret stash?

I took these pictures a few weeks ago now, but haven't found time to post them.  I am excited that I created for my 12 year old son, a unique Yule gift, that was a lot more work than I originally imagined: a book with a secret compartment.  I imagine that it could be used for a cash stash, secret notes or little treasures.  His step-Grandma helpfully pointed out that the hole is just the right size for a pack of cigarettes (such a wonderful influence, right?).  He noticed that his digital camera fits inside.  What fun.  I hope to make more of these in the future.

I bought a thrift store book to use, without actually reading it first.  After slicing some of the page centers out, I began to notice that the plot was a bit scary, and deeply disturbing.  It is fiction about a man who does terrible things to young women after murdering them.  I was extremely creeped out when I discovered the content of my book project, and that is when I decided to glue the pages together VERY well, inset some screws through the bulk of the pages, and cover the hole with pretty, flowery paper.  I really hope the scary insides never get uncovered.  I told the same step-Grandma about this, and she revealed that she has read several other horror novels by this particular author, and that it is one of her favorite series of books.  You gotta wonder...

Feeding the Hungry

"The Gratis Cafe"

This is more of a brain storming post intended to explore some possibilities for aiding the hungry and homeless in Fort Collins. I read an article in the Collegian some days ago about students who dumpster-dive for perfectly good discarded food, mostly bagged day-old bagels and dented tinned foods from grocery stores. I also saw recently a *documentary of a zen chef from Tassajara Mountain Center in San Francisco, in which the center delivers leftovers (and their leftovers are quite exquisite) in little white Asian take-out boxes to homeless folks around the city. Both have got me thinking about how I could be of greater service to my impoverished compatriots.

If there were one or two free public locations with tables and chairs, near downtown, and appropriate for all weathers, a dedicated group of at least 15 volunteers able to pick-up and transport food donations and prepare meals, and a willing supply of discarded food donations from local supermarkets, food shops, and bakeries, donations of produce from local CSA's and home gardens, and individual contributions, a free "cafe" could be conceivable.

If anyone is interested in discussing how this idea could be put into action, please call, e-mail or comment on this post.

Thanks,

Kristianne Gale

970-484-0353

laurelfox@mac.com

*"How to Cook Your Life" with Zen chef Edward Espe Brown

Hazel's Birthday Gifts, aka Pincushion Redux

So here is what I decided to do about that pesky pincushion. It came to me at the last minute, seeing its completion only 6 hours before the birthday girl awoke on her special day. No more late nights for Mama for a while, please!

The scissors case is made of wool felt, in red of course, and blanket stitched together. I used some red print fabric to make a "bean bag style" pincushion, stuffed with several layers of cotton batting. It is the "flower" and seems to work pretty well as long as one is careful with how they put the actual pins in. I sewed the cushion onto the scissors case, then added felt leaves and embroidery. I am excessively proud of this little beauty!


I am also pretty proud of this simple little bag, made late on the night before the scissors case/pincushion. My sewing machine has been out of commission for years (I'll be fixing that problem soon!) so this is all hand sewn.



Finally, here is the whole present: Hazel's Busy Basket. She's got a slate board and chalk, a Waldorf alphabet book (because she'll be facing those letters already next fall in Kindergarten), lots of paper tied with pretty red string, three balls of yarn (The string games book I ordered has not yet arrived. I'll ask the fairies to slip it in quietly when it gets here.), homemade playdough in two colors, lots of fabric in nice fat quarters (thank you, Scott), an embroidery hoop, thread in a homemade bag, the pincushion/scissors case w/ goodies, and the homemade bag with hand-me-down rubber stamps and stamp pads. Whew! If that doesn't keep those busy little fingers happy and out of mischief, I don't know what will.

Solstice love

A wool child's sweater from the thrift shop becomes a Solstice sweater with a touch of embroidery.
These felted wool sweater slippers were easy enough for a total beginner.

Solstice was wonderful and very simple. Through the generous donation of a dear friend who sent me an entire box of felted sweaters (Thanks Kiri!) I was able to make sweet gifts for my family that were truly needed.

A toy for Galen

In the spirit of teaching a possessive toddler to give, I used the excuse of Yule to get my daughter to make a gift for her baby brother.  I of course made most of it, but she helped pull the needle full of rainbow thread in and out of the wool felt, helped stuff the wool inside, and helped pick out the nicest sounding bell and her favorite shades of silk ribbon.  Galen loves his jingly ring!

Stuffed acorn squash

2 acorn squashes cut lengthwise and seeded
1 onion diced
1 bell pepper diced
1 carrot diced
pre-cooked rice
spinach leaves

pre-heat oven to 350
brush interiors of squash with oil, then sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. salt, black pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp. coriander, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
put squash face down on oiled pan, bake 40-50 minutes until fork tender
saute onion, bell pepper, carrot in oil, add bouillon cube.
season with 1/2 tsp. salt, black pepper to taste, 1 and 1/2 tsp. coriander,1/4 tsp. nutmeg, and 10 large sage leaves chopped
toss in 1and 1/2 cups of precooked rice and spinach leaves until wilted

When squash is done, fill with sauteed mixture.
Serves 4

My family loved this meal, it was so savory. We all agreed that poached pears with maple syrup would have been the perfect afterthought.

Pocket pin cushion

Ivy, my pincushion is buried deep in storage at the moment. Here is a rough sketch, although Ani's felted spiral sounds amazing!

Sewing

I'm working on making a pincushion for Hazel's birthday present sewing kit. Scott helped me create a pattern for a ball ... but it's too big and the eight seams just aren't doing it for me. It'll be a fine ball for Rain. But not the pincushion that Hazel's kit needs. Any tips?

Make Stuff!

Busily working away on making stuff. Not bad for a person who used to be oh so un-crafty.

For the tree...
The pomanders (oranges with cloves) will be wonderful when they're all dried up and have lovely ribbons around them, ready for hanging up. And they smell nice too. The popcorn strings have been fun for the whole family to (munch munch) work on.

I'm very proud of this knitted pidge scarf. Only took me two years ....

And Scott says he's had compliments on the hat all over town. "Mostly from moms who knit or crochet..."

Felted Toys

These are some of the handmade gifts I've been making for Rowan's birthday and Christmas.

I especially enjoyed making Lowly's shoe.

For the love of chocolate!

Hey ya all.  First off, I want to tell you to take a look at the new blog description at the top, since I just changed it for us all, with our new, distant situation.  It was a bit outdated.  I must admit I haven't been crafting a single bit in a few weeks, due to chaos of moving, and mountains of boxes, but I do have some exciting, vegan, health food news to share.  This might be common knowledge, but when I looked on the "dairy" shelf in my new, fabulous and humongous health food store, here in granola town, Eugene, Oregon, I saw something most wonderful.  A new flavor of mochi that I did not know about: Chocolate Brownie w/ Walnuts.  I haven't actually baked and tried it yet, but it is sitting over there on my awesome new, flat top range, waiting for me to chop and pop into the oven this evening, for my nightly, after-the-kids-are-asleep sweet treat.

Rose Lotion For the New Apocolypse

The ingredients for this rich, emollient olfactory-titillating face and body lotion could all be wild-crafted or self-produced in the event of wholesale economic collapse. I recommend speaking to people in your community who have had experience in Apiarian preparations and/or oil extraction, or consulting your public library before it looses all funding, is forced to shut, and is looted for kindling.

1 t beeswax

1/4 t raw honey

4 T almond, or any available vegetable oil, lard or goose fat; or see if there are any eccentric old land-lovers left in your area who raise Emus, and ask if you can barter for oil.

4 T rose water

Put rose water in a blender with honey. (If electricity is unavailable to you, or if you are living in a highly degraded urban area see *) In a clean used glass jar, set inside a pot with a little boiling water, add the beeswax(measure by grating with a fine cheese grater) to the warmed oil. Swish around the contents of jar a bit until the beeswax is melted. Remove jar from heat. Allow to cool, but not to a solid state. Add oil and wax mixture to blender contents while blending on high. Blend for a minute or so. Store in a clean jar. Lotion should not separate.

*In an old tin can, rinsed as thoroughly as is possible with what remains of the little dew you collected that morning from the plexiglass fragment of the old rubbish heap you now call home, melt the beeswax in the oil over an open cardboard and scrap insulation fire, being careful not to burn or cause the oil to smoke. When wax is melted add honey and rose water and whisk vigorously with your old hairpin. Quickly remove from heat and continue whisking until a thick cream is formed and the lotion is cooled. Store in said tin can or broken glass cosmetic jar you found partially buried by that dilapidated ruin of a service station across the lot from your heap-home. Contents will separate over time, but are still functional.

Of course, no matter how powerful the grip of suffering, there are always fully-realized, enlightened beings holding the earth, the universe, and all beings of manifested consciousness in loving, compassionate radiant pure-presence. And at any moment any individual can fully awaken to the truth of the present moment to end all suffering.

God's Love--Consciousness--infinite, formless, ever-changing.

Fuzzy Legs:more than just leg hair

Tonight, in a rash and frenzied primal fit of fancy, I chopped the sleeves off an old felted sweater. Eureka! Leg warmers elude me no more! Add a dash of edging and a trizzle of needle felting, a pair of galoshes and Hari Krishna! I'll be the queen of the ball.

I have been making all kinds of new yummy foods since moving to this beautiful land of New Mexico. Tonight I stuffed peppers for the first time (they were filled with tofu and rice and spice). I baked them and served them with polenta. Here's the recipe for polenta, eat it hot with butter, it's as good as cornbread but has only three ingredients.

Polenta

in a bowl mix 1 and 1/2 cups of coarsely ground polenta with 1 tsp. salt, and 1 and 1/2 cups of filtered water. Set this aside and boil 2 cups water in a saucepan. when the water boils, add the polenta mixture, turn down to simmer and stir for ten or so minutes (until very thick). Preheat the oven to 350 and let the polenta cool for a few minutes. Spread evenly in an oiled casserole dish and bake for 40 minutes.

Getting Famous (well only a little, but it's a start.)

Now we are really going places! What started as a seed of an idea to find some other attachment parents who wanted to socialize, craft and earn dollars about a year ago, became a crochet circle.
That turned into a deep circle of friendship- some of the most beautiful and supportive friendships that one could dream of in a lifetime. Then we went into business- the Fort Collins farmer's market. Now, we have been invited to speak about our mission and sell our wares in a nearby city, Estes Park. There is a new natural food co-op opening there, and they are celebrating their grand opening tomorrow, with a theme of promoting a new, local economy. We fit in perfectly. They were in the newspaper with mention of us, a few days ago. I am rushing to finish our sign, stating our new mission:

The Woolly Mamas

Who we are:

A circle of creative, progressive mothers who love wool, fiber-art and crafts, our children, each other, and Mother Earth!

What we do:

Gather each week to craft together, share a nutritious pot-luck meal, nurture deep friendships, support one another as mothers, and inspire each other artistically.

Our mission:
Promote environmentally sustainable and community-building income earning opportunities for local mamas in ways that strengthen and nurture, rather than disrupt or negate the vitally important parent-child bond. By providing a physical and mental space where women can come together in defiance of urban and suburban isolation to raise children with the support of a community of women, while creating high quality, hand-crafted goods from organic and natural materials, we hope to:

• Foster within our culture a value for the life-path of mothering.
• Ensure that our children's needs are not sacrificed in the challenges of a changing economy.
• Revive cottage industry and allow mothers to supplement or sustain their families income.
• Promote the buying and selling of local, hand-made products.
• Form uniquely bonded communities who pool skills, experience and advice in natural crafting and mothering, who impart to our children the importance of remaining bonded to one another and the Earth.

Food, Children, Community and Health

Once again I am deeply grateful for the community of Mamas who surround me. And, as is typical, I'm grateful to them about the health of our children through food. I have reached a tough diet decision and I'll be needing all the support I can muster.

When my dear son was born I had an early intuition that he might have Celiac disease (the gluten allergy). It may be one of the reasons that he is named after the grandfather of mine who suffered the same condition. After worrying and fretting about it for some time, I have come to the decision that I need to drastically change my diet even while we await a formal diagnosis. Since he is still almost exclusively breastfed, it's up to me to keep him safe from the foods that hurt his sweet little tummy. I love that boy. I love that little boy more than I could have ever suspected. I am convinced that he is the sweetest being on the planet. (I love his sister too. She is also the sweetest being on the planet ... in a distinctly 3 year old way.)

So from now on, I am clearing my house, my life, my body of gluten, dairy and sugar. I've never tried to do this before and it's a big step that is leaving me a little panicky on the first day. (Maybe it's just the chocolate withdrawal.) But I have a deep certainty that I am doing the right thing and I have a patient and long-suffering dear husband who also loves his family.

So, dear Mamas, I hate to impose another set of dietary restrictions on our little circle, but ....

Luckily, I know that K makes the most delicious nut milk and coconut ice cream sweetened with agave. Ani can make any ingredient or set thereof into something impossibly delicious and gourmet *and* she did a lot of this diet's style baking for our dear little 5 year old friend with the same restrictions. And W knows so many fantastic recipes for vegan raw goodies that I know I won't be feeling deprived. I am planning to ask you all for recipes! Luckily it is the beginning of summer and W has me convinced that I can live on just fresh fruit and be perfectly fit. =-)

I'm also blessed in my dear friend C, who is our 5 year old's mama, though not a Woolly Mama. She's doing the same thing. I'm thinking that she would be a great candidate for joining our circle. I'd like to open it up for approval next Sunday.

I love you all and I am so grateful that through our community of Mamas I now feel that I have the strength and support to do this, when just 1 year ago it was too scary for me to even contemplate. I'll be keeping you all posted on what the doctors have to say about it.

Much love, Ivy

Mamas In the Sun

I have been slowly working on this post for three days now. It is a ridiculous testament to how busy I have been lately, and how slow my dial-up Internet connection is, that I must take a few days to download a couple of pictures and formulate a few thoughts into typed sentences. I love Spring, but all of the activity has me spinning. Not that it isn't anything I didn't choose. I just have my hand in a little bit of everything right now... crochet circle, crafting for the market, making and spending time with new friends, joining a women's choir, weekly ballet classes, gardening like an addict, reading several new books, a brand new attempt at homeschooling my eight year old, signing the boys up for various recreational activities that I have to get them to and from, and of course writing on this blog as well as my other personal blog... craziness.

So, we had our meeting at my house on Sunday. I loved it. I was pretty excited about it all week, and actually put some time into making my backyard into a more beautiful and magical haven for all of us mamas to enjoy. I was excited to clean my sun fountain and put it together on the deck. The element of water truly transforms any space. We are now meeting outdoors for the rest of the warm season, which is really nice in itself, as well as opening up a few more venues that we cannot use during indoor meetings because of cat allergy issues. Mine is one of those. I have a very beautifully soft and furry, long haired Siamese lynx mix who sheds uncontrollably and therefore owns the house. I agree with the statement that Ivy once made, "I will never be a good enough house keeper to host a guest with severe cat allergies". Since we all love K so much, and would never want to leave her out, we must reserve our cat residences for backyard gatherings only.
I had a really nice time at our first meeting in the sun. The kids played happily and harmoniously. They discovered my rock turtle and liked him so much that they were actually arguing over turns with him, which I secretly liked, because it is fun to see children get all wrapped up in playing with my little treasures. We ate a raw corn dish brought by W, tons of fresh fruit, Ivy's quinoa dish, K's pancakes with lemony maple sauce, fresh lemonade (my current passion) and my favorite thing, K's homemade vegan ice cream made from coconut milk, agave nectar and fresh vanilla bean. OMG what a treat. I didn't do any crocheting, but instead worked on my felted magic wands that I will sell at the market.

Here is my favorite project that I accomplished this week. I am making felted balls for children. I have made them before but without pictures/decor. I was also unhappy with the lightness of weight in the past. To really play with a ball, it think it is important for it to have some weight (unless it is for a little baby to pick up, and should contain a little bell for sound interest). I solved this issue with rubber bouncy balls. I am starting with them in the center. Everyone has a few laying around, if they have children. I will never have to buy any, but will use ones that people give me, as a good recycler avoids the new. Hear that everyone? Please pass on to me all unwanted bouncy balls, tennis balls, golf balls, etc. Tell your friends, and let me know if you see any at the thrift store. I'll pay you back if you buy them for me there. Thanks.

I started with natural, undyed wool and wet felted it over the ball.

I also did some over a rock, which I will cut in half, take the rock out, attach a necklace cord, and have little woolen pouches for crystals, tiny dollies, whatever.


Here it is after I needle felted decor onto the drying ball. Isn't it so cute? I am very pleased. I posed it on top of some flats of Irish Moss that I just splurged for to plant in the perennial garden bed. So soft and lush- can't wait for it to grow and cover more ground!
In response to Ivy's post, wow, gluten free and more. What a hard change. I support you 100% and will be happy to comply with my pot-luck bringings. Thanks for bringing me the bags of groceries that you weeded out of your kitchen today. They will be well utilized and enjoyed. This Celiac thing seems to be getting more and more common. It makes me wonder about evolution and the state of health of our young these days. Changes are in store, I fear. Actually I try not to fear change. I should say, I predict.
And yes, I agree, we are more of a movement than an organization.

Thanks to Ani, Something New

I am so excited to be posting my very first blog. As my little sister, a veteran blogger of the Gen Y crowd would say, "I thought you were a luddite." Well, no more, though I am using this high tech forum to write about how I can make my kids homemade hats.... Thanks to Ani for turning us on to this wacky modern invention/compulsion to make our diaries available to the whole public world. (Actually I'm having fun.)

As far as the Woolly Mamas being an organization (or maybe it's a movement)-- I think we're just about as organized as you can be when more than half your group is under the age of 4. Heck, we're organized enough to actually meet most of the time. It's more than I ever saw growing up. I'm almost as thrilled for giving my kids a regular play group time as I am for giving my dear husband a whole evening of alone time *and* Myself a whole night of deep connection to some beloved friends and colleagues (I can say that as a full time professional mom). Ah, this is the life!