Along with it, the link to this beautiful and brilliantly done video!

Yesterday I received my copy of the new book, Craft Hope, on my doorstep, and it is so incredibly lovely and just, well, perfect! I am so honored to have been included as a designer in this book, along with some amazingly and incredibly talented people.** I whipped up some easy peasy fingerless gloves to donate for people who might want to do some mindless knitting for the greater good and just have a small bit of time and/or a small bit of wool.

Even though they don’t know who to thank, there are thousands of people out there with items obtained from Craft Hope projects (like the recent project collecting hand towels for the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies to help clean animals effected by the oil spill, over 65,000 items!) whose days you’re making brighter.


More info:
*Craft Hope over on Facebook
*Interview about the book with Jade over at Lark Crafts
*All month this month over at Craft Hope: Month of Hope! Giveaways! Links! More about my fellow designers!
*BOOK GIVEAWAY! I’ll have an extra copy of the book to give away, and am not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, as I’ve been working on other things than the blog the past few months… Give it away here? Donate it?

**Who are the other designers? They’re Stefani Austin, Ellie Beck, Amanda Carestio, Christina Carleton, Lisa Cox, Maya Donenfeld, Malka Dubrawsky, Molly Dunham, Celine Dupuy, Cathie Filian, Wendi Gratz, Jenny B. Harris, Vickie Howell, Rebecca Ittner, Rebeka Lambert, Kathy Mack, Kaari Meng, Manda McGrory, Jhoanna Monte, Aimee Ray, Eren Hays San Pedro, Amanda Blake Soule, Blair Stocker, Amanda Swan, Beth Sweet, Susan Wasinger, Dana Willard, Rebekah Williams and Geninne D. Zlatis!

As for what these designers made? That’s for you to discover in the book for yourself!

The above pillow is part of Fine Cell Work’s newer collection of pillows.

Currently Fine Cell Work is in need of volunteers in Yorkshire. If you know anyone in Yorkshire that might be interested, please pass this along or direct them to the Fine Cell Work website.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!

Fine Cell Work is very eager to hear from any keen stitchers who might be interested in chatting to us about the possibility of going in to HMP Wakefield in Yorkshire to teach our group of male stitchers there. The group is well established and is full of very able men but currently no teacher is visiting and they would really benefit from a weekly or fortnightly visit from anyone who is familiar with stitching, either tapestry or surface embroidery – or even better both!

We are looking for 2 to 3 volunteers to go into the prison together and would need people who could commit to at least a year on a weekly or fortnightly basis. This is a great opportunity for anyone who is a keen needleworker to help foster and encourage our stitchers in a prison where the group has been established for some time but is now needing more regular contact from a visiting tutor.

If you are interested in helping us at HMP Wakefield then please phone the office and chat to Kim Nightingale on 0207 931 8973 or email kim@finecellwork.co.uk

And that’s only one example of programs that allow inmates to dually gain from the therapeutic process of craft and the practical product to sell. Here are just a few more examples:

A Stitch Doing Time
Our Children’s Place (NC)
Embroidery at Cuddalore Prison
No offense: Crochet Behind Bars
Hiland inmates restitch their lives
Shakopee Women’s Prison Project
Knitting Behind Bars (via Interweave)
Lithuanian prisoners knit for poor Afghans
Inmates learn social skills through knitting
Lebanese inmates stitch their way out of prison
From scraps of prison cloth a miniature world grows
Female convicts knitting winter clothes for Afghans
Stitching in Cells: Teaching prison inmates the art of quilt making
Lady Anne Tree: Meet the aristocrat who’s got the prisoners in stitches
Mosaic Liberation (post about Carrie Reichardt from Radical Cross Stitch)

And this is just the small list… Have any links for specific charities doing this sort of work? Send ‘em on!

Well, recently it’s made me jealous. Not because the little dude was fleeing from imminent danger and all of his little furry friends were scattered about running for safety. But because he’s hanging out in a pool looking like he needs a PBR in one hand. And during this heat wave in the East Coast, a sooty laundry basket with shedding fur floating in it sounds pretty good. Refreshing, even.

So thinking about refreshing things had me thinking about how beaches used to be, which is where I found the photo* below. The links below are quite useful photos for when you’re dreaming up a new project, wanting some new inspiration, or just want to escape the heat for awhile yourself. If nothing else you can marvel at how fantastically stylish everyone looked… even without central air.

More over at the Retro Pool Flickr pool and the Vintage Seaside Flickr pool. And extra loveliness over at the The Museum of Found Photography.

My favorite crafty and/or creative links this week?
*This Is Handmade (Thanks Rachel!)
*Jelloware: Drink from it… then eat it later
*The loveliest cooking blog that is Orangette
*11 year old grows veggies to feed the homeless
*7 yoga poses to improve concentration (Thanks Becky!)
*10 1980s toy commercials that will bring back memories
*Farrar, Straus and Giroux’s writerly blog Work in Progress

*Photo from hartman045’s Flickr photostream.

Wandering down the canal.
Discovering new nooks and crannies.
Roaming without a map.

Back at my house after wandering wherever my feet wanted to take me around DC, I’m reminded of the Prologue to “Off the Map” by Hib and Kika,

This is what it means to be an adventurer in our day: to give up creature comforts of the mind, to realize possibilities of imagination. Because everything around us says no you cannot do this, you cannot live without that, nothing is useful unless in it’s in service to money, to gain, to stability.

The adventurer gives in to tides of chaos, trusts the world to support her- and in doing so turns her back on the fear and obedience she has been taught. She rejects the indoctrination of impossibility.

My adventure is a struggle for freedom.

The last time I was reminded of this quote was September 5, 2005, writing about moving to a sheep farm in England. Nervous. Excited. Hopeful.

And now 5 years later, feeling somewhat similar. Wanting it all. Somewhere new and wild and wonderful. Wide-eyed and older now, I’ve crafted the solution to a wish made so long ago. And still, I’m nervous. Excited. Hopeful. For all the new adventures about to come.

And some craftiness (and randomness) for Friday:
*Local Harvest
*Knit Not War 1,000
*Bulgur Veggie Burgers!
*Giver’s Log (via Supernaturale)
*Vintage Bollywood superstar ads
*How Monopoly Helped Defend the Free World
*The Jak Pak: the jacket that turns into a tent!
*Sketchy Web Icons: 20 Hand Drawn Icon Pack
*Things That Are Not Steampunk (via Regretsy)
*How to Make Swatch Portraits (via The Purl Bee)
*An incredibly awesome clip of Grover singing a catchy Pakistani tune (Brilliant!!)