Craft links

Have spent the better part of yesterday and today (I mean the snippets of free time I have, or the "free-time" spent holding a sleeping baby who'll wake up if I put him down) trawling through various crafty blogs. There's a whole world of stuff out there, I tell ya - so inspiring! Such beautiful fabrics and cool knitting projects, and so much more! (I know most of you couldn't give a rat's, but I need to vent somewhere - if I talk to Gord about it, his eyes start to glaze over - just like mine do when he starts waxing lyrical about planers and routers and, yeah whatever!)

Who knows if this inspiration will turn into anything beautifully handmade, but it's pleasant to immerse myself into a dreamworld every now and then! I'm actually really chuffed at the moment just to have the time to finish some of the numerous projects I have on the go. I finished the vest I bought wool for last year, and started knitting before Jasper came along. I'm not entirely in love with the finished product, but now that I've knitted it, I'm darn well going to wear it for a bit! While we were at Mum and Dad's the other night, I pulled out the pink/red cardie I started for Piper absolutely ages ago, and fixed the big mistake I'd made, so now I'm all set to roll along and finish that. I have plans to sew up the cardie and pants I knitted for Jasper, before I even knew he was Jasper - yes, the finishing is the hardest part, often, for me! And who knows, I might actually get around to finishing the Canada scrapbook before we head to Canada again!!

The more I wind these projects up, the more headspace (or heartspace) for new projects I feel I have - it's a beautiful feeling. I'm actually being very disciplined at the moment, not engaging with anything new until these old familiar projects are done, and it's paying off... Meanwhile, I'm planning a bazillion things to make once they're done!

On a different note, I have dragged out my "Spirituality of Pregnancy and Birth" essay to revise. My lecturer, when I handed it in a year ago, suggested I submit it somewhere for publishing, so I'm trying to get this happening. It requires me to cut around 3000 words, but I had a read through recently and don't think this will be so hard. This is another project I'm trying to wind up...

Oh yeah, while I remember, I wanted to post these links, for those of you who are interested and haven't discovered them yet:

Etsy is basically like an artist/craft market, but think global, with lots of cool flash tools. Basically I could sign up, make something, and list it for sale (kinda like ebay). I'm just way excited about this, cos you can get such a cool range of stuff, and you know that someone's carefully crafted it, rather than made it under financial duress in a sweatshop. You also get something UNIQUE, not the same product from the same shop that everyone else is wearing...

Check out the Colours tool - I could play with that all day! Apart from being totally mesmerising, you can click on any colour, and it wil pull up any product listed on etsy in that colour - amazing!

Mintd seems to be an Aussie version of etsy, but I haven't explored it much yet. An Aussie site means currency and postage are non-issues.

And this is an event: 2007 Northern Exposure Artisans' Market, held in four different venues in Northcote. An opportunity to check out some cool handmade stuff in person. Obviously only of interest to those living in Melbourne.

Anyway, I'm hyped about handmade stuff at the moment, my own and other people's, as you can tell! I know most of you probably checked this site to find out more about my family, my kiddos, etc, but there you go, you get whacked with CRAFT instead! Come back in a couple of days (nursing your bruised head!) and I might have some recent photos up!

But until then, love to all...