Join Women on the Bridge

“To honor the resilience of millions of women survivors of war around the world, Women for Women International is hosting a global campaign called Join me on the Bridge on International Women’s Day: March 8, 2010.

On that day, we will bring women from Rwanda and Congo together in peace on a bridge between their countries to demand an end to war and to demonstrate that women can build the bridges to peace and development. At the same time and in solidarity, we will bring women (and men!) together on bridges throughout the world, creating a truly global movement that says NO! to war and YES! to peace and hope.”

Quoted from Women for Women website

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend any of the bridge events but I have signed the pledge to give my support to the global Join me on the Bridge campaign. I want my government to know that I want them to invest in women. 70% of the world’s poor are women and 75% of civilians killed in war are women and children. It can’t go on like this.

Please, TAKE ACTION.

{ 1 comment }

Enchanting Brooch

I won a beautiful handmade brooch on my OWOH magic carpet ride a few weeks ago. As soon as I opened the box and laid eyes on it, I was captivated by it’s beauty. This delicately hand beaded piece of wearable art is created by the talented Jodi Davis. She has a collection of stunning, one-of-a-kind jewellery in her Etsy shop.



The brooch is pinned to my Clapotis shawl and it’s like a match made in heaven. It seems like the moon and stars have aligned to bring these two together. Maybe it will even bring me a bit of good fortune in the future. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

{ 4 comments }

Abracadabra! The pear is now a frog!

Cristi waved her magical crochet hook on my Pear Tawashi crochet pattern and turned it into a frog! I think it’s just brilliant and doesn’t the frog look adorable? I just want to give the cute fella a squeeze and a hug!



Cristi shared her interesting and informative journey of the pear transformation with me. Here is what she has to say:

Hi Cristi! So how long have you been crocheting?
I have been crocheting steadily for about 2 years now. I started when my Gramma died. She sent me her knitting needles and a bunch of yarn. She had tried to teach me to knit, but i was only 12 and lived in another state, and to be honest, I was not really very interested. When she died, I started crocheting because I thought it was easier and it made me feel connected to her. I still want to learn to knit, but I am having a lot of fun with crochet right now. I know she just wanted me to learn the joy of making things, which I have and it’s addictive!

Why were you looking to crochet a frog? Who is the frog for?
Ok, so this is a bit convoluted. I was without a job and wanted to make Christmas presents for my family. I thought of making those microwavable heating pads for my boy relatives, but I know my brother and knew he would be much more likely to use/enjoy something unique and not plain looking, but not cutsie. So I thought of crocheting a lizard or something as a cover for a heating pad. I found a couple of patterns I liked, but nothing clicked as “right”.

So as I was browsing through my Evernote logs for inspiration I found the pattern I had saved from your website and decided to make a frog. I found a pattern I liked for the legs and started making them. Along the way, I realized this was too much work for heating pads (after I had made four or five). I just ended up making soft cotton covers for the heating pads which went over very well, except for my boyfriend’s father. He opened the present when I wasn’t looking and thought they were sand bags to use for support for his camera… LOL … He was a little embarrassed when I told him that they were just heating pads, but tried to make up for it by using one right away. I told him that I totally didn’t mind if he used it as a sand bag, as long as he liked it. He perked up after that!

Right before Christmas, I finally found a job as a nanny and wanted to make something sweet for the children. So I made the frog as a softie for the little boy and made a FreeSpirit Doll for the little girl. Both were extremely well received.



Did you look for a frog pattern by googling or searching Ravelry?
I have some links I have saved as bookmarks that link to pages that store patterns, I also Googled, and searched Craftster. Though I am a member of Ravelry, I usually forget to check them out. I also use Evernote a lot to save interesting and inspiring things I find online so that I can find them again. There is so much neat stuff on the internet!

So what made you use the Pear Tawashi pattern for the body? Have you seen this pattern before the frog one?
I don’t know what made me think of using your pattern like that. I think it was one of those strange brain alchemy things where you mix alot of things together and something new comes out. It happens to me a lot.

Did you find my pattern easy to read and understand?
I did! it was very easy to understand, to make and modify. It was indeed well written and comprehensive.

PROJECT DETAILS OF TAWASHI FROG
Patterns:
Pear Tawashi pattern from Salihan Crafts and Frog Toy pattern from Caron.com
Yarn:
Green worsted I had from a vintage yarn score from Craigslist… epic story in and of itself!
Hook:
I believe I used G, im pretty sure, but I didn’t write it down (bad bad me) and H as the pattern calls for on the legs
Modifications:
I made the pattern with worsted yarn, but otherwise followed the patterns straight up. I made the “front” side first then when I finished making the “back” side, I single crochet all around the outside through BOTH edges. I turned them inside out as I found this made the frog thicker/taller. I put the eyes in then stuffed the frog through the “tail” and finished with single crochet to where I had started to single crochet around. I attached the legs amigurumi style to the sides of the body and to the corners where the body and the tail bent.


All photos in this post are copyright of Cristi Nelson

Thank you Cristi for emailing me and sharing your project with us. I had fun reading all about it.

If you have made one of my patterns and would love to show it off here, please email me at contact@salihan.com. I would love to feature you, yes, YOU!

{ 2 comments }

Seriously cute winter fruits

   
Photos from Ads of the World

How stinking cute are these fruits! LOVE their little knitted winter coats. The ads are to let people know that the Calgary Farmer’s Market is still open and has fresh produce all winter long. Very clever! Now I wonder who knitted their cozies…

{ 4 comments }

Shimmer & Tulle

Ellen from Shimmer & Tulle visited ALL 1105 blogs paticipating in this year’s One World One Heart magic carpet ride! Unfreakingbelievable!

She has picked her 8 favourite blogs out of them all and posted them on her blog.

Click on her banner below to check out her top picks. (Psst… I’m on her list! YAYYY!)



By the way, my OWOH giveaway is still on! Only a few hours left though. So quickly leave a comment here to enter the giveaway. It’s open to everyone with a blog. Good luck and happy blog hopping!

{ 2 comments }