The LC on the DL

They don’t even have to play and the more damaged and useless they are the better. I am searching for these to refashion into crocheted shopping bags, door mats, and place mats. I intent to rip the tape out of the casing and use as yarn. I have a few I think are bad in our personal library, after that I will be hitting the freecycle lists. If you are interested in repurposing your old tapes into an item such as I mentioned and aren’t so crafty yourself, I would consider making some for you out of your old tapes if you send them to me. Comment if you are interested and I will post the results of my experiment when I get a few items done so you can decide if you want some of your own. If you search on flickr you can see the geniuses that have already made some bags and accessories (I couldn’t find any I could include on this post under creative commons licensing).

The only thing I haven’t figured out what to do with is the casings since I really don’t want those going to the landfills either.

Cool link: VHS Clutch Purse Instructions 

We had a busy weekend what with the Easter bunny visit and all. I did last minute shopping at the ever handy Wal-mart and discovered every other mother in town waited til after 10pm to grab their last minute items. Wal-mart was a madhouse! Favorite item the kids received in their baskets? Parachute eggs! They are a little bit bigger than normal and have a parachute that is a bit bigger than a dinner plate attached to them. Inside is a gummy paratrooper. One ended up stuck in a tree but over all good times were had.

My oldest daughter organized a family talent show and movie night Saturday. She served Triscuit cracker pizzas and cola floats but my youngest son provided pretty much all the talent. She worked really hard on the family event and put up decorations, fliers, and had the three year old taking tickets.

The rest of the weekend was spent working on getting NixNews.com ready for release and tweaking out a new theme for linuxchic.net. I know I probably re-theme linuxchic.net more than I should, but while the orange madness seemed like a good idea a few months ago, it was starting to seriously burn my eyeballs. Hopefully you will find the new theme more attractive and easier to navigate. If you feel the urge, stop by NixNews.com and check it out. Feel free to let me know of any bugs, suggestions, or just random opinions you may have of it.

Image from Amigurumi Kingdom on Flickr

• HOW TO - Shopping Bag Wallet - Craftzine.com blog
  Instructables user Rollin made a how to for these wallets made from woven polypropylene shopping bags. I haven’t seen these bags much in the states; they’re more common in Europe, and very strong.
  (tags: DIY howto Crafts)

• Turn your tablet into a virtual Chumby
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  Feed items shared for the blog(a)gory.com audience.
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• Linuxchic.net Google Reader Items
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• Web Site Grader
  Website SEO Tools, SEO Score
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• My 50 favorite blogging resources
  Pronet Advertising favorite blogging resources and posts.
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I have been trying to finish up the pile of crochet projects I have had backed up for some time so that I could start some new ones on the Knifty Knitter Loom Kit I bought recently. I find fabric arts to be incredibly soothing to my soul and it quiets the mind. Can’t stress out when you are focusing on the yarn in your hands (or sewing needle and thread).

I finished up my daughter’s baby afghan that I dawdled on for so long I had to expand the size to grow with her and still be useful. I finished it up at a tad bigger than a crib mattress so that it fits her toddler bed quiet nicely and will continue to be a nice throw and lap afghan as she grows up. The green stripes match her bedroom fabric and the pink stripe in the middle is her favorite color. I think the only part she cares about right now is the fact that she can stick her fingers out through the afghan holes. She thinks that is pretty neat.

I also started and finished a smaller afghan for my friends who’s baby arrived about a month earlier than planned. The gift was about a month late but I think they like it just the same.

I made a purse as well as a market bag for my Grandmama’s birthday this week. The purse was made on one of my new looms and came out considerably smaller than I expected it to come out. It has a nice cabling pattern though. The market bag was made from recycled Target bags that I cut into strips then crocheted together with a speed hook. It was a big hit and I will definitely make more.

The first project that I attempted to make was wrist warmers for my 11 year old daughter. The pattern was a little too loose for my liking but she likes them quite a bit. I am currently making a fashion scarf out of left overs from the baby afghan and my small loom and should have that done any day now. I will be loaning the small loom to a friend at work as she wants to learn to make things. Next up, an afghan or two. The projects aren’t super fancy, but I like them anyway.

If you have an account at Ravelry (the social networking site for yarn lovers) feel free to friend me, I of course go by linuxhic.

• Knitting Pattern Central - Free Loom Knitting Pattern Link Directory
  Free loom knitting patterns
  (tags: knitting patterns knitting-loom)

• Virtualized Automaton: Ultimate VMware link guide
  VMware extreme resource linkage
  (tags: VMware reference)
• 7 Gadgets That Are Sure To Enhance the Twitter Experience | SearchRank Blog
  (tags: Twitter)
• A Legal Issues Primer for Open Source and Free Software Projects - Software Freedom Law Center
  (tags: Legal opensource)