In Memorium

April 30th

is always a somber day for my family and myself.  Ten years ago on this date we lost my brother to a motorcycle accident. He was 23. He was my parent's youngest child and only son.  He was two years younger than me, and the best friend I have ever had.

Every year on this anniversary, we try to get together at his grave site and have a little cemetery picnic.  My brother was a new age kinda guy (even though that term probably has him turning in his grave right now,) and he enjoyed burning candles and incense.  Perhaps he would be more comfortable with the term pagan, although I don't believe any of his interests had anything to do with ritual or religion.  

I enjoy bringing him candles, incense, and beer.  These are the offerings I'm bringing to him today.  I hope he enjoys them!

I'm not religious, and I'm not much of a superstitious person, but I hope that a part of him knows how much 

I miss him.

If you would like to make a little crochet candle holder like the one above, I used this tutorial over on "Nature Nut Notes" blog, and a baby food jar that I cleaned with some goo gone.

Thanks for visiting!

Spring is in the air!

As the days get warmer, I feel growing excitement for the upcoming Spring.  I love Spring!  I'm wondering what I will be making in the upcoming months.  

Two years ago, I made this bunny beanie for my then toddler.

Last year I made these striped Easter eggs.

Five years ago I made this hooded poncho for my niece.

It's time to start thinking about what I will make this year!

Hmmmm...

Spider Pavilion

I live about 40 minutes outside of the bustling city of Los Angeles, California.  Most of the time the spillover of urban issues bother me to the point where I want to move FAR away, but on occasion I am reminded of all the awesome things that also come part and parcel of being so near to "the city."

Over the past weekend my husband and I took our youngest son to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to experience the yearly Spider Pavilion display.  Basically they have an enclosure similar to a small aviary where they release a bunch of exotic, web building spiders.  There are no cages, and no glass or barriers between the visitors and the spiders.  It is not the place for an arachnophobe.  It is however the place for me!  If you haven't guessed yet from the title of my blog, I happen to have an affinity for spiders.  It's a strange thing, I know, but before you close this window in disgust, allow me to say a few words on behalf of the "lowly" spider.

Firstly, spiders, similar to bees, demand a certain amount of respect.  While the creatures never seek to cause us any harm, we are all too aware of their innate ability to do so.  Especially when they are as large as the ones that were lurking in this pavilion!  In the spring time, the museum hosts a butterfly pavilion in the same location, and let me tell you, the museum goers walk much more cautiously when the spiders are loose!

Secondly, I genuinely have admiration for spiders and the beautiful webs that some of the orb weavers are able to create. Nothing is more peaceful to me than watching a spider spin its nearly perfect orb of silk.  There's just something hypnotic about a spider going around, and around in ever shrinking concentric circles.  And did you know that some spiders have golden silk?  Scroll down to the second picture, and if you're lucky you may be able to just barely make out the golden hue of the threads!  I can see it, but my husband can't.

Argiope aurantia

Nephila clavipes

AND, since this post hasn't been very crafty, I've decided to post this little crochet spider & web bookmark in honor of our little family outing.

I hope you've enjoyed this slightly different post, and I hope that I didn't frighten any of you too much with my creepy-crawly, not-so-little friends.

:)

A difficult time

Thinking about the devastation that has been caused by superstorm Sandy.  I am on the West coast and seemingly worlds away, but my thoughts are with the thousands people who are suffering and afraid right now.  I truly hope that our government steps up to help get these people back on their feet.  In addition, my heart goes out to anyone who has lost a loved one.  It is the worst pain anyone can feel.

A colorful morning

This morning I finally got around to organizing all that colorful embroidery floss that I was talking about.   I am new to embroidery, and only recently started collecting floss.  Most of it I picked up from thrift stores, or received from fellow crafters.  Eventually my collection became a ziploc gallon bag of floss, half of which was all tangled up.  So, I bought a little plastic box that came with a bunch of little plastic cards to make a bunch of little spools of colorful color.  Well, I got about this far along... (happily humming I might add!)

when I realized that I wasn't going to have enough of the little plastic card thingies.  So I decided to cut some more out of an empty cereal box!

First I traced.  Then I cut.  Not forgetting to cut the little notches!

Here's a peek at how I spent my morning!  Cup of Joe (with lots of cream!), a pair of scissors, and lots of colorful floss!  What more can a crafty girl ask for?

All done! Yay!  So therapeutic.  I think it's a good start.  Now to get every color under the rainbow!

AND,  for an extra dose of color, here's a peek at what I'm currently working on.