Playin' Catch-Up

Hello, everybody! 

Again, it has been a while since my last post.  Possibly a full month?  I really need to get a grip on this whole blogging thing. 

Pretty true in this case...



The good news is, since so much time has passed, I've got some cool stuff to report!  Here it is, list-by-list, as mentioned on the last edition of Knitting Safari. 

 My First Fiber Festival

First off, at the beginning of the last month, I got to attend the Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta. 

Since it was my first fiber festival, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I did have a handy list of vendors that were going to attend.  But let's just say I was very happy with what I had seen and experienced!  There was a live band...

...plenty of vendors selling their wares--raw fiber, yarn, and related accoutrements...

...and baby alpacas!!!   

Seriously--how cute are these little guys?!

My first booth, and possibly the one at which I spent the most time, was at Brookmoore Cotton.  There, Jill and Lita introduced me to their easy-to-spin cotton, and believe me, "easy" is an understatement.  Once they showed me the proper drafting technique,  that cotton was as smooth as butter in my hands.  I left their booth with 4 ounces of their natural green cotton silver, the spindle on which I learned to spin the fiber, and a big ol' smile!  You can visit them at brookmoorecreations.com, and see some of their pictures from the fiesta here. 

From there I wandered around and absorbed the sights and sounds of the place; I really wish I didn't have to work later that afternoon, because it was a little overwhelming trying to figure out which booths I wanted to see, what else I wanted to buy, and keeping track of time so I could come back home and get changed and eat before work.  In a nutshell, along with the spindle and the cotton from Brookmoore, I purchased a lotion bar from Inner Yarn Zen (links to Etsy page), and wool-and-glitz roving from The Fiber Ranch (link goes to their website), which I promptly spun into this loveliness in the course of one week: 

 

I might re-spin it and even out some of the bigger slubs--I was trying for an art-yarn look, but even then I might have gone a little overboard. 

 

Now that I know somewhat what to expect, I can't wait until next year; maybe this will be a catalyst for attending other festivals elsewhere. 

 

The Grand Canyon

I also mentioned last year that I was planning a trip to The Grand Canyon.  Now that I'm back in town, I feel I can freely express the details of the trip. 

 

My parents and I left the Thursday before Halloween, and drove 8 hours from our home in San Diego County to Flagstaff, AZ.  This was the first time I had driven over state lines, and my first visit to Arizona, so I had no idea what to expect.  We drove parallel to Route 66, through low desert, high desert, and mountains.  We motored through stretches of highway where there was literally no other sign of human activity aside from other vehicles and the roads on which we drove.  This was particularly surreal, and here's a screen capture from my phone to illustrate this...

 

You know you're in the middle of nowhere when your phone's GPS won't display a name for the "local" weather.

 

One of my favorite moments of our drive to Flagstaff was this:  by now we were already in Arizona, driving through high desert territory.  In the distance, we could see where the clouds were becoming too heavy to support themselves and the streaks of rain spilling down from the billows.  As we drove on, the stormy clouds got closer and closer.  I really wish I had taken some kind of footage (be it video or still photography) because it was actually really cool and pretty funny to boot, but it went something like this: 

 

Nothing. 

 

Nothing. 

 

Nothing. 

 

POURING! 

 

Nothing. 

 

Nothing. 

 

Nothing...

There was no inkling that we were going to be rained on--no little sprinkles to build upon, no clouds piling up on each other; it was just there.   It was almost like driving under a giant showerhead set on full blast.  And the storm ended just as suddenly as it had begun. 

 

We spent the night in Flagstaff, then continued on to Grand Canyon National Park.  The drive was absolutely splendid!  It had been raining in Flagstaff the night before, and there was actually snow on the ground and among the forests surrounding us as we climbed in elevation. 

 

Beautiful...



...Absolutely beautiful.

 

 

 The snow disappeared, though, as we inched closer to National Park territory and further onto the mesa.  But just because the snow goes away doesn't mean the chill doesn't.  I would estimate the high temperature was, eh, about 50-ish Fahrenheit. 

 

The visitor's center was quite lovely--very spacious, and the structures complimented the natural surroundings, just as it should.  After watching a film about the history of the Grand Canyon and its discovery, we hiked out to see the main event.  Of course one would expect the Grand Canyon to be just that:  grand.  But until you see it for yourself, neither words nor photographs can express how beautiful it is, and how dwarfed and insignificant you feel in its presence.  But here's a sample, anyway...

 

 

Needless to say, as with any other natural wonder (or even some manmade ones, for that matter), there is a lot of room for stupid people to do some stupid things. 

In Yosemite, it was people climbing Half Dome in flip-flops and wading knee-deep in the raging Merced River, blatantly ignoring signs that warned against even sticking a toe in. 

In the case of the Grand Canyon, our stomachs turned and churned as we watched reckless folks venture out far beyond the safety of the railings, risking life and limb and a drop thousands and thousands of feet down all for the sake of the "perfect" selfie. 

Just imagine people standing on that ledge while getting their picture taken.  And they're jumping. 
Yikes.  (No people were photographed to protect the identities of the foolish.)

Obviously they've never seen the book in the gift shops entitled Over The Edge:  Death in the Grand Canyon by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers (they have collaborated on similar books revolving around other US National Parks); it's a spine-chilling documentary of all the people who have died from falling down the Grand Canyon, whether it was murder, suicide, or a needless and preventable tragedy. 

But let's not dwell on that. 

 

The days we were there, we had incredible views and we were able to see the canyon from all different angles and in all different lighting types. from late morning to midday, to dusk. 

 

Note the contrast in color and clarity from the previous...That's the beauty of nature--it's always changing and evolving in big ways and in small, taking just moments or entire centuries.

 

 

 Our last night there, we were walking back to our hotel from dinner, and I looked out over the horizon to see a beautiful skyline of stars, including the famed Big Dipper and a faint tracing of the Milky Way Galaxy.  It was definitely inspiring, and would have been wonderful material for a stylized landscape painting. 

A note on the hotel:  We did stay at El Tovar, which is one of the National Park Grand Lodges.  It was completed in 1905, but has been constantly renovated to suit the changing times.  I'm not going to say much other than that after staying at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, our expectations were set a little high.  But our Zane Grey suite that we stayed in was pretty cool; there was a framed biography on the famed author, posters from films based on his books, as well as a library of his novels. 

 

Overall, it was a beautiful experience, and I can't wait to venture on to my next National Park destination! 

 

Blog Building, Projects, and Jobs (oh, my!) 

Well, that's actually where things kind of slump.  For now, I only have one other blog listed on my "Favorite Blogs" list, and there are so many more that I would love to look at and add!  That's where any readers can come in:  PLEASE comment, tell me about yourselves, other blogs you like--or your blog(s) for that matter, what you like about this one, and even what you would like to see here.  

Seriously, this is cool!  I know my blog actually has an audience!  Ah, the power of the World Wide Web...

 

I think I also need to include more pictures.  I'll work on that, too.  Here's another one, just for kicks. 

 

The calm before the storm; somewhere in the high deserts of Arizona, en route to Flagstaff on the first leg of our adventure. 

 

 

As for other post ideas, I'm working on one that I hope will be a series on another favorite subject of mine that doesn't  involve knitting, yarn, and the like.  What is it?  I'm not going to say...yet! 

 

On the job-sphere, I have applied to several companies, and so far it's looking good in terms of interviews. 

 

In regards to current crafting projects, I have postponed working on the Shore Thing tank, and other projects, to start Christmas gifts.  I won't disclose what I'm making or for whom, but I'll happily share after I have given to the respective recipients.  After all, there's no sense in spoiling anything! 

 

That's all I've got for now, but hopefully it won't be so long between visits. 

 

Take care!

Summer's End

Sorry I've been gone for a while; until now, I just haven't had all that much to post about.   I finally started back on my projects after lapsing for this one simple reason:  it's just been too darn hot to knit or crochet.  To some hard-core crafters, that may seem like an impossibility, but I have a relatively low level of heat tolerance, and it's been in the high 90's, in Fahrenheit lately; just handling yarn (especially the super soft, fuzzy fibers like wool and even some acrylics), along with the movements involved, can make me quite physically uncomfortable.  It's a shame, considering I have at least three projects going at once, and they're actually looking pretty good.  Here are a couple examples:

Blanket based on the Shipwreck Shawl; this main section is knit to the pattern's instructions, but I plan on crocheting the rest. (link to Knitty page, Link to the Knitting Harpy's blog)

The start of the Shore Thing tank, by Jen Owens, also on Knitty.  I truly am enjoying this knit, despite my usual heat-induced yarn aversion.  A good cotton yarn and a fun lace rib pattern will do the trick every time.   

I also have that lace shawl from earlier in the summer, but I don't have any recent pictures since nothing else has been added in the first place.  The design process is slow-going to boot, but since it's my first attempt at designing anything, I'm not surprised. 

To add to the boredom, my hours at the Park had been reduced due to the general slowdown in vacation season, but it has picked back up a little.  Hopefully I'll be able to find out about other opportunities there, or if I should apply for a second job. 

In the mean time, here are a few things I'm looking forward to in general, and some things I hope to accomplish here on Knitting Safari: 

• The Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta Since I'm finally a serious knitter, and starting to become an almost equally-serious spinner, I've been dreaming of a chance to attend a fiber festival like the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, known simply as Rhinebeck in the fiber arts circle (named for the Upstate New York town in which the festival is held).  Unfortunately, I live on the west coast, and I'm not really in a position in my life that can afford me a cross-country trip--at least not yet.  Fortunately, next weekend, the 3rd and the 4th of October, I get to experience my very first fiber festival, and I don't even have to leave San Diego County!  I can't wait to go, and I'm so excited to share how that goes! 
• A family trip to the Grand Canyon.  Now, I'm not disclosing when I'm going, or for how long, but I've been looking forward to seeing the Grand Canyon.  In 2011, my family and I went to Yosemite, and Sequoia/King's Canyon, and I have since made it a lifetime goal to visit all of the US national parks.  This will be check number three, and I hope it's a tradition that my future family will keep. 
• Keep building the blog.  As of right now, there's not a lot that's going on here, besides the occasional post.  Eventually, I would like to build up, maybe include some of my favorite blogs (and start following them again!), write some tutorials and put up links to helpful resources for knitting and crochet, and work on drafting some basic original designs.  Sound ambitious?  Perhaps, but anything can be done if you put your mind to it.   
• Knit a sweater.  Yes, the sweater may be a knitter's stereotype, but it's also a sort of a knitting rite-of-passage.  The sweater is classic garment that can be made in any weight yarn and almost any fiber, and incorporates shaping techniques such as increasing and decreasing, ribbing for any sleeve cuffs, an d other stitch styles for embellishment and other construction elements.  After the Shore Thing tank is complete, my ultimate sweater goal is to knit my own Aran sweater.  Wish me luck. 
• Working full time.  As you may (or may not) know, my career plan five years ago was to graduate with a bachelor's in Animal Science in four years, then go to veterinary school.  Now, I'm happy to have made it out in just under five years and to have had two summer internships, and paid ones at that, and I am so grateful that the most recent one has turned into a regular-season part-time job.  However, as much fun as I'm having, I do need to support myself and my crafting habits.  I'll keep you up to date on my adventures and where I find myself. 

Until next time, take care!

Windmills of My Mind

I know it’s been a while since my last real post, so I wanted to let you guys know I’m still here!  Actually, I’ve been having quite the time trying to think of something to write about, and I guess I’ve just been busier than I realize with work, finding another part-time job, building my resume and filling out applications (and preparing for a possible interview--no more on that since I don't want to jinx it), and cleaning out my closets, dresser drawers, and *gulp* the stash (which wasn't as much of a yarn stash as it was a useless junk stash).  That’s been a major undertaking with all the crap I’ve accumulated. 

Anyway, I thought this would be a good time to take a breather, and to share some of what's been going on lately.

 

 Back to School?

 

Normally at this time of year, I would already be sucked into the mad whirlwind that is back-to-school season:  getting ready for classes, complaining about textbook prices, cramming the car with all the essentials and nonessential alike,  moving back into the apartments. 

Now that I've graduated, I'm kind of in that awkward in-between phase where I'm happy I don't have to board that crazy train, but at the same time, I kind of, maybe, almost miss it.  I think it might be the nostalgia for a more idealized version of school; I might be a victim of what I have dubbed "freshmanitis".  

We've pretty much all heard of senioritis, in which the afflicted is a senior in high school or college, distracted from his or her current tasks by the overwhelming desire to "just get it over with already" and be done forever with further scholastic chores.  Symptoms include a decrease in motivation, occasionally coinciding with an increase in daydreaming and/or partying (usually if the patient is a college student) or other social activities. 

 

On the other hand, freshmanitis usually affects former college students, and can trigger a longing for those "happy" days in the freshman dorms where everyone got to know each other, future lifelong friends were made, independence was finally realized, and the pressures of college applications were just a recent memory.  Symptoms include an inexplicable desire to shop for new school supplies, occasional nightly dreams of attending lectures (and sometimes nightmares of being late for class), memories of what may be an idealized freshman year, and forgetfulness of what really happened during your actual freshman year--good, bad, or indifferent.

My mind has been pumping me up for the (nonexistent) trip back up to the central coast, new classes, and new roommates, all with absolutely no sense of dread, anxiety, or reservation. Yep, there's no denying that I have it bad.

As far as the question mark after my "back to school", it has been suggested that I do indeed go back and find something to further my career path.  I have thought of hitting the books again, but let's just say it's going to be quite a ways off.   

 

 

The Dog

I love my dog.  I’ve had him since he was three months old, and he will be 7 years in September.



Here he is then (I love this picture, especially the way my mom is looking at him and. talking to him)...





...and now.  As of just this minute as I'm posting.

 

However, there are times when he can be a little pain in the butt, especially when he wants attention—this can be particularly messy if my knitting is unsupervised.

A couple weekends ago, I went up to get the mail.  I had left my door to my room open to catch the lovely breeze that was coming through the house.  Little did I realize that my lace-shawl-in-progress, which I thought was well out of the beagle’s reach, was in danger.  I came back in to find this:

 

The horror!!

 

Of course, this was taken after I picked my dear project up off the floor.  Fortunately, it was just the ball of yarn and not the knitting itself that he had gotten to, and even then it’s not entirely beyond repair (though actually doing so is gonna be a b***h), but you get the idea of the sheer horror I felt.  I just wish I could have captured a photograph of the culprit’s very guilty beagle face. 

Sadly, this is not the first time this had happened; the first time, I was working on spinning the bundle of roving into my first yarn when I heard a rustling coming from under my bed.  Generally, I’ll let the beagle in my room if he just stays under my bed or on top of his own, so this rustling wasn’t unusual.  However, the way he was dashing to the living room made me suspicious.  About two minutes later, my dad came into the kitchen with a very familiar ball of blue merino/mohair/silk laceweight.  Turns out, the little scamp had gotten to the second half of the skein and had swallowed about three feet of yarn, and still had some sticking out of his mouth.  I wish I could have been there to see it, because Dad’s story keeps changing.  The moral of the story: there’s no hiding anything from a hound dog.  Oh yeah, and fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

Not Gone Yet!

Hello, readers!

Just wanted to say I'm still here--I haven't forgotten the blog yet!
I've had a lot on my plate lately, with a heapin' helpin' of internet connection problems.  In fact, I'm currently using my cellular service on my iPhone 4 to write this post, so I'm really kickin it old-school.

So to apologize, please accept this offering of a silly knitting joke (it's an oldie, but a goodie!)

One afternoon, a ditz was driving down the freeway, swerving all over the place, causing all sorts of mayhem.  Pretty soon, the local highway patrol comes after her and the pursuing officer starts wailing his sirens and flashing his lights.  When she ignores him, he gets on his PA system and orders her to pull to the side of the road.  After ignoring him a second time, he shouts, "Pull over!"  Finally the ditz rolls down the window, looks back at the officer, and shouts, "It's not a pullover, it's a shawl!"

The Scoop on Spinning: A Beginner's Perspective

If you've read my last post, you'll remember that I've recently taken my first leap into the world of hand-spinning. For the unfamiliar, spinning in this case refers to the process of twisting fibers—derived from plants (cotton, flax—aka linen, bamboo, etc.), animal hair (sheep’s or lamb’s wool, mohair, cashmere, alpaca, and many more), or even synthetic sources—into yarn.

I first caught the spinning bug when I received two skeins of Daisy Chain by Knit Collage in the Frosty Azure colorway as part of a graduation gift from my aunt (she saw me admiring it on a walk to Pike Place when I went to visit her in Seattle back in April); I knit a lovely mock-rib eyelet scarf, with a repeating pattern of k1, (yo, k2tog) on the right-side rows, and purling on the wrong side rows.

Top:  The full scarf.  Bottom:  Close-up of the scarf pattern.  I really wish you could see the tinsel (or "Angelina" as they call it) sparkling in the fabric! 

As I was working the yarn in all its sparkly, flowery glory, I couldn’t help but think about how much fun it would be to do something like that: to be able to make my own yarn in whatever color, weight, and fiber(s) I want, and spin in some fun little doodads here and there once I become more advanced. How hard could it be?

Now that I had the drive, I needed the supplies. At this stage, a drop spindle was the most feasible, and I knew I would have to make my own. In my neck of the woods, spinning supplies aren’t commonly found until the local fiber fiesta in October, and I wasn’t quite ready to make a full financial commitment by buying one online. I’d found several tutorials on how to make and use a drop spindle; this one from Of Wool And Loveliness was my favorite. And she’s right: it really did only cost $1.75 to make (I got my things from the bulk wood section at my local Michael’s). I just had to sand down the end of the dowel to fit my whorl (the wooden toy car wheel), and since I didn’t have access to a drill, secured some heavy plastic-coated crafting wire to the top of the dowel with some masking tape, after twisting the wire and coaxing it into the shape of a hook. Voila! I had my very own spindle!

I started with cotton for a while, just to hold me over until I could buy some wool. It was okay for practicing and making sure my spindle had enough spin, but I found that it was a little to ambitious to start. I’ll go over that more a little further along in the post. Then I found The Wool Lady and all her gorgeous yarns, crafting supplies, and bags of roving (see my previous post, “Fleece, Love and Happiness,” for more on that adventure).

As a total beginner in spinning, and having it go relatively well so far, please allow me to share some of my observations, tips, and my overall perspective on the matter. For those with more spinning experience, there may be a few “no duh, Sherlock” moments, but for all intents and purposes, they do deserve to be acknowledged.

• Take the time to really feel the fiber as you draft—that is, pulling the fibers out from the roving before spinning. Note how much distance the fiber puts between your thumb and forefinger, and how much it spreads out. This will determine how thick your spun yarn singles (un-plied yarn) will be, and is really useful for keeping things consistent. 

• Note that you probably won’t have nice, consistently sized singles the first time around. I certainly didn’t. It takes practice, which will eventually lead to muscle memory and better control.

• If you bought your roving already dyed in multiple colors like I did, divide the roving into thinner strips for a shorter length of a single color, and thicker strips for a longer length, assuming you draft it to the same degree. Also, plan out if and how you want your color pattern to repeat. This will come in handy for plying if you want your yarn to have a particular look.

• If you’re using a spindle that’s not quite heavy enough to produce a lot of spin, don’t let that bother you. As you store your new yarn on the spindle, it will get heavier and spin very nicely. However, if your fiber of choice requires a lot of twist, you might want to add some kind of weight.

• To quote Dr. Seuss, “I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true, that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.” Like this for instance: your loose end of roving accidentally blows into your spinning end and gets sucked up into a twisted vortex of doom.

Don’t panic. Take a breath, or two, or several, and gently rotate the spindle in the opposite direction until your roving is free; if it needs some help, gently run your finger along the spinning end of your yarn, starting at the top, going down towards your spindle. It’ll be free in no time.

• Lastly, get your hands on anything that could possibly be spun. You may find that you don’t really like wool, and that cotton provides the texture you’re looking for. Or bamboo. Or alpaca. Or mohair. Have you heard of chiengora? And even different breeds of sheep have different wool characteristics. Research. Put spinnable fiber in your hands. Experiment with plying, or using different amounts of twist.

If you have any tips and observations that I’ve missed, share them in the comments below!  I don't have any pictures of my handspun yet, but the moment I have something made out of it, I'll share my creation with you!

Fleece, Love and Happiness

I've been getting more adventurous with my yarn crafts, and I'm liking the results so far.
I'm working on my very first original pattern: a lace crescent shawl, constructed top-down in Cascade Yarns Kid Seta (the new version). Here's what I have of it so far:

It's been a while in the making, and I know it will be even longer before I finish, but I'm logging the progress and writing down just about every row, so I should have a pattern to publish by the time I bind off. For those of you with a Ravelry account, here's the link to the project: Cottage by the Sea shawl

I've also made some strides in hand spinning; I made my very own drop spindle, using the tutorial from Of Wool and Loveliness. I made mine as a low-whorl spindle, and it really did only cost $1.75, plus the time to assemble it. Last Friday, I drove up to Old Town Temecula and made a second visit to The Wool Lady; I visited her shop for the first time a couple weeks prior, and absolutely loved it! She is very friendly, and she's willing to give advice for whatever craft you do or want to learn. Her shop carries a selection of high-end commercial and locally crafted yarns, hand dyed and undyed roving, buttons, some shawl pins, and supplies for all manner of needlecrafts, including rug hooking. On my first visit, I purchased a bottle of no-rinse wool wash (which works really well--I also use it for spritz-blocking); this time, I came home with a bag of gorgeous, multicolored hand-dyed wool roving (see below).

I was originally going to buy the undyed, or maybe some dyed with a single color, as I'm usually a little nervous of pooling with variegated yarns, but I just couldn't resist those colors! I was also a little apprehensive about spinning it at first--the thought of messing up and "ruining" it teased me, much like that one obnoxious kid in elementary school that connivingly shouts "you're gonna miss! you're gonna mmmmmiiiiiiiiiissssss!" when you're playing basketball with your friends at recess. Nevertheless, I bought it with the intent of spinning it, so what else could I expect myself to do with it?

Uh... no. Nice try.

So, I just held my breath, parted out and drafted some fiber, and spun away. I haven't gotten around to spinning as much as I would like, but so far, I'm in love with the results.

 

 

 

Learning this on my own has been interesting, to say the least. Next time, I'll get into my thought processes on spinning, how I learned, and maybe, if you'll pardon the very deliberate pun as I giggle at myself, what got the wheel turning!

P.S. My apologies if anyone had already thought of the pun in my post title... and to any fans of G. Love and Special Sauce, or the Chambers Brothers, that I may have offended.

Busy, busy, busy!

The past few days have been a nonstop, whirlwind ride, and I finally have time to wind down and actually follow through with this whole blogging business.

For those who don't know me already, I'm a summer intern for the overnight camping experience at a branch of a particular *ahem* world-famous zoo (click here, or here). Sorry I have to be so elusive, but I think the PR department would be a bit happier if I just take you directly to the main websites. Anyway, as a tour guide, I have some early mornings and late nights, but I get to meet some awesome people, and talk about some of my favorite animals!

 I had the morning shift on Saturday and Sunday, both days requiring me to wake up at 4:00. Now, I'm fine when I have to leave the house, and I'm actually surprisingly chipper by the time I clock in at 5:45, but getting out of bed is no picnic. Saturday was particularly brutal since my silly beagle, Linus, was just winding up as I was trying hard to wind down.



"What do you mean it's time for bed?  It's only 9:00!"

Saturday was jam-packed--after work, I drove down to the mall to meet a dear friend of mine, and then we turned around and I took us right back to the park. It was nice to come and spend time as a guest for once, and being able to share it with her made it all the better! We arrived at 11:00 and stayed until about 4. 

To this day I'm still surprised I lasted that long.

 I wish I had thought to take pictures, but I think it's nice to view life with your own eyes once in a while, instead of through the screen of a camera or a phone. No selfies, just yourself and your friends and fellow humans in the moment. 

Sunday was almost the same, except I got to go home straight after work. No busman's holidays, no errands. Just home. And a nap.

 Then yesterday, Monday, things picked up again. I joined the other interns for our last intern event of the summer: a career information day that went from 7:00 to 3:30. Being able to see my friends from last year, not to mention the awesome breakfast and lunch provided for us, definitely took the edge off another early morning and long day.

Though the day was long, I learned quite a bit about how these internships and other life experiences can shape and mold us, prepare us for our ultimate goals, and lead us to pathways we would have never considered in the first place.  Never take anything for granted, and always see the opportunity and the (sometimes hidden) value in everything, even if it means you have to look a little harder.

I can relax now, and I should hopefully have new posts up soon, this time with more pictures (yaaayyyyy!) and a look at the crafter in me! 

Until next time,

Alex