Rockin' with Vickie Howell

So this morning, I was seized with the impulse to finally download the Vickie Howell Craft. Rock. Listen. Podcasts. At 7:15 in the morning, when I'm normally rushing around like a lunatic to get myself and the kids out the door to school completely dressed and with lunch. You know me; when I get the urges, I've got to give in. For some reason, I decided that my commute would just be detrimental to another person's health if I didn't have something to keep me Zen.

I only got to listen to one episode - the Sustainabilknitty podcast, with Billie Joe Armstrong's (from Green Day) wife, Adrienne, but it was great. I loved hearing about how she's teaching her kids and their classes to knit, and how she and Billie Joe are all about being as environmentally conscious as humanly possible. Vickie Howell chimed in and both offered some ideas for working with sustainable crafting materials (organic fibers and recycled materials); I particularly loved Vickie's suggestion on raiding thrift stores for old clothes to repurpose and old glasses that can find new life as candle holders.

I also loved Adrienne's insight into how disposable a society we've become, and how important it is to take the time to make things and show the people we care about that we took the time to make something just for them.

I've downloaded another Vickie podcast, so I'm psyched to listen to that on the way home. And now, I'll be wandering the Web looking for more interesting podcasts. Hey, it cuts down on my commute rage.

More Vickie Howell Love

As a thank-you for giving her upcoming podcast a shout-out on my blog, Vickie Howell sent me a ball of rockin' yarn from her Craft. Rock. Love. line. How pretty is this yarn? It's bamboo silk, so I'm doubly excited to work with it. Although right now, I just want to stare at it and pet it occasionally. Nice yarn. Niiiice yarn. Love the yarn.

I Got A Vickie Howell Shout-Out!

If you don't know who Vickie Howell is, get off this blog. Nah, just kidding. ;-) Anyway, Vickie Howell is the ultra-cool host of one of my DIY addictions - actually, the reason I became addicted to DIY - Knitty Gritty. She's also one of the hosts of Stylelicious, where you can learn to make cool stuff like tote bags out of duct tape. Check it out if you get a chance.

Anyway, I LOVE Knitty Gritty and Vickie Howell rocks. I've been reading her blog for a little while, and it turns out, she's going to start podcasting - like I needed more knitting stuff to do on the Web. :-) She's asking fellow bloggers to promote the link, so I link to the podcast (Look to your right. See the icon? Awesome.) and let the webmaster know. And I got a shoutout! I am so psyched!

In other news, still knitting secret stuff like crazy. But I'm also re-knitting Blanket. Need a refresher on the Saga of Blanket?

When Alex was first born, I crocheted him a blanket from this great light cotton yarn. Which I promptly forgot (okay, it wasn't prompt, it was like 10 months later) at a friend's house and I've yet to get back. Grr.

So I set out to make Alex another blanket. I got the same yarn - I believe it's Sugar & Cream, or something like that - I have to check the label, which is home and I'm typing this up at work. Anyway. I got the yarn in a really nice blue, white and yellow variegated, and made the Big Bad Baby Blanket from my Knitting Bible, Stitch & Bitch. Alex loves it. I mean, LOVES it. It is named Blanket, and he's like a miniature Linus. He can't sleep without it, travel without it, anything. Blanket is there. He wouldn't even potty train unless he was holding Blanket.

One day, about a year ago, Blanket started to unravel. So I checked it out, figuring I'd just stitch up the loose end or something. Oh, no. Blanket was literally wearing away in spots. I took custody of it, hoping to fix it and give it back within a week. No good. Blanket is now occupying a spot where I keep Will's & Alex's baby clothes, delicately wrapped in its own Blanket.

I knit up another blanket for Alex, this time with a worsted weight, blue yarn. No good. It wasn't Blanket. For over a year, I've heard about how he misses Blanket.

So finally, I go and get more yarn. Blanket Yarn. All I had to do was flash Alex the ball of yarn and he jumped up and yelled, "BLANKET!"

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Blanket, and realize I need more yarn. Gar. But at least Blanket's in progress. He may be a UFO for now (unfinished object), but he'll be done. Soon. And that's one picture I can post!