north carolina.

Because this tends to be where I live when I’m not in England, although one never knows…

lovely little surprises.

| Betsy

Sometimes it’s good to ride in the countryside. The other weekend we came across Shangri-La in Prospect Hill, North Carolina while we were delivering cupcakes to a wedding at a firehouse.

It was the best thing to discover on an otherwise slate-free Saturday afternoon. We spent the next 45 minutes wandering around this little tiny village wondering about the man who crafted it, what he was hoping to build, what his vision for Shangri-La was.

It’s amazing what you can find when you keep your eyes open.

From Roadside America:
Henry L. Warren was a retired tobacco farmer who kept building this collection of 27 leprechaun-sized creations until his death at age 84 (in about 1977).

Shangri-La was conceived by Henry in 1968. The first few buildings were constructed in his side yard next to his house, and the miniature town kept growing. At the same time, he used his creative energy to incorporate 11,000 arrowheads into the walkways of his home.

A sign in front says “Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” His wife told us: “As long as he had a cigarette and a Coca-Cola, he’d keep building.”


Also, check out this lovely review of Knitting for Good! over here at Supernaturale!

writing, knitting, brushing.

| Betsy

1. Coffee at my new favorite coffee shop Morning Times
2. Knitting with nostalgia
3. Why taking a photo pre-party is a much better idea than post-party

This week has been a pretty normal week, good news, bad news, work, play, tea, knitting.




After a few nervous days, there has been movement from hospital to rehab for someone close (thanks for your emails) and good news from doctors.

I met two wonderful women separately in one day who reminded me about why its important to go for what you love doing and how it nourishes your soul and the world around you.

I watched the pilot episode of The A-Team on Hulu and fell in love with Mr. T all over again. As they saved the day, I knitted a shrug for a dog that was supposed to be completed months ago.

Watching TV shows from my youth is always part nostalgic glee and part annoying confusion as I remember watching those episodes, but then jumble them up with similar shows like MacGyver, Buck Rogers and The Dukes of Hazzard. After several decades all the good guys winning and saving the kidnapped heir/girlfriend/visiting cousin/hapless bystander blur together into one giant melee of good vs. evil, where evil was more farce than actual evil.

Last night I went a 40th birthday party prom complete with tiara and due to forgetting my camera, was only able to capture the aftermath of several hours of wine, Diet Coke, waterproof mascara, dancing to the Eurythmics, and singing all the wrong words to Sinead O’Connor on the drive over to Durham.

It was a normal, average week. Not quite over yet, but soon, in time, we’ll wake up on Monday morning and do it all over again. The good, the bad, the work, the play, the tea. And maybe even, the knitting. And it’s pretty freakin’ awesome. Happy Sunday.

dreaming of handmade holidays.

| Betsy

I wish I was having the above evening right now. The evening where I cooked dinner with friends (who are in massage therapy school and made me able to turn my neck to the right again after sleeping weird), ate homemade apple crisp, played a game, and drank hot chocolate prepared by an ex-barista.

Instead, I’m home sick instead of going to see Synecdoche, New York and then watching a basketball game downtown. But, I can’t complain because the term craftivism has now been used by CNN.com, which means being one step closer to world craft domination. See article here.

And seeing that that article is all about making your gifts for the holidays, have you taken the Handmade Pledge yet? If not, you can go for it by clicking below…

I Took The Handmade Pledge! BuyHandmade.org

I’m not sure if technically I need to sign it again because I signed it last year, though?

With the economy in the tank, you might be finding yourself in a situation where you need to make your holiday gifts instead of buy. A situation that you may not have been in since the 3rd grade.

If this is the case, you may even be a little shocked that there are hordes of people making their holiday gifts in years past, too, before you started to wonder if Warren Buffett was really going to take over the world. Even more shockingly (and probably much to your relief) these presents were good presents, not the fabled 3-sleeved sweater from your aunt in Tulsa!

Have no fear, as one of the greatest things about all these crafty people are their ideas, which make gift giving less stressful and much more fun. So, need some gift ideas so you can turn your house into an elf workshop? (Ok, I confess I love elves. Especially Buddy the Elf and Hermey who should totally be in the Elf Hall of Fame. Every year I have to watch the 1964 Claymation version of Rudolph or it isn’t Christmas, even though I know it all by heart.)


To get you started:
*Martha Stewart’s holiday ideas
*HGTV’s Last Minute Handmade Gifts
*Upcycled Wrist Cuffs at craftingagreenworld.com
*10 Elegant Inexpensive Handmade Holiday Gift Ideas
*Better Homes & Gardens holiday ideas (link via Whipup)
*Giant thread of handmade children’s gift ideas over at Cafemom.com
*Domesticdiva.com’s list of SewMamaSew’s 30 days of crafty ideas from last year (rounded up from here)
*Handmade Holiday Craft Ideas from the awesomely awesome Susan Beal
(I can’t even begin to say how helpful this is!)


And if this still leaves you cold, you can find what your heart desires over at Etsy or a local handmade shop near you. For those of you seriously needing ideas on the cheap, I love this Recession Gift Guide of presents under $5 from Indiefixx!

teatime wisdom and bringing in the holidays.

| Betsy

As I was winding down from the day, I went to make a cup of bedtime tea. It’s starting to get really cold at night here in North Carolina, which means that nighttime tea is practically mandatory before going to sleep. Tonight’s tea was extra wonderful as considering what I wrote about yesterday, I found its accompanying wisdom pretty much perfect. Maybe it should become mandatory for all tea to be attached to little labels of awesomeness?

Even though I try to not start celebrating the December holidays until the tail end of November, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to go eat homemade butterscotch cookies while watching Julian Koster sing carols the other night at a friend’s house. Julian is currently on a caroling tour of the United States, and if you’re lucky, he might just play at a town near you. For more details, see here.

I highly recommend starting the winter holidays with an in-house caroling session by a traveling musician, musical saw optional. Even though he arrived in a 4-door sedan instead of some sort of fairytale holiday sleigh, Julian was as magical as ever. I’m already wondering my Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums are.

Lately:
*Cloth and Culture Now
*Design Altruism Project
*Dreaming of running around St Kilda
*Trellick skirt kit from Clothkits (via Needled)
*Whose Craft Is It, Anyway? by Diane Gilleland and Rachel Hobson (via Murketing)
*Claire Joyce’s new website…finally her glitter paintings up close! (via Extreme Craft)
*Amazingly brave article about my friend’s little sister, Olympic swimmer Margaret Hoelzer’s childhood sexual abuse and how she plans to devote her life to helping abused children

testing…the new blog design.

| Betsy

It’s beginning to get cold in my little part of the world. There are so many exciting things to get excited about this time of year!

Frost signals things like big boots, fluffy duvets, cups of tea just to warm your hands, snuggling, warm toasty fireplaces, holidays, crazily darned old wool sweaters, scarves, lip gloss, legwarmers, winter squashes trying to catch all the holiday Claymation movies you can. It’s the most magical time of the year, and I’m not talking about Christmas.

Here’s a photo from last Thanksgiving when I was in Maine to get you ready for all the good things to come.