More Corn Issues...

Today I got an iced coffee in a cup that, I realized after finishing the drink, was made from corn-based plastic. I researched it after I got home and found out that, sure enough, the corn can contaminate my food. This explains my achy back tonight. It could also explain other times when I've been super-careful about food, but still wind up feeling sick. Yet another thing to look out for in the future... and probably more and more as time goes on, since the idea of corn-based plastic (and other non-food products) will only become more popular, I'm sure. And I was lucky that this one told me it was corn-based... they certainly don't have to.

I also learned in my research that it's not as compostable as they say it is, and overall isn't really any better environmentally right now, except for the fact that it doesn't leech plastic toxins into the food.

I guess I should start carrying a stainless-steel or glass cup with me everywhere I go... although neither is really the easiest thing to do.

It's always an adventure around here.

Hooray for days that don't go as expected...

I spent all week looking forward to my crafty Saturday, going to the Craft party with a couple friends, then checking out Wonderroot with another friend. But before I even left for the Craft event, the friend who was going to pick me up from the Marta station bailed. I decided I would not let that stop me, so I just walked the mile and a half from the Marta station to Young Blood. The craft party wasn't what I expected... I was the first person there, and the only activity they had was a cheesy straw loom weaving project that I tried to get into, but it just didn't do it for me. Normally I would have walked in there, realized the project wasn't fun, felt dumb being all alone, and left. But I was still determined, so I hung out and met a couple people, like Carey from full of fluff, who taught me some new stuff about patterns.

After that I decided to walk up the couple blocks to Knitch, only to find that they closed early, just 30 minutes before. I was supposed to meet up with my friend Kat when she got off work around 4 to go to Wonderroot, and I was currently on the way from her house to where we were going, so I just... walked. I window shopped and browsed through boutiques along North Highland. I went to Paulo's Gelato to see if they could give me info about the ingredients in their gelato, and the girl behind the counter was absolutely not interested in helping, so I marked that place off my list for good. And I kept walking. By the time Kat called, I was just a few blocks from her house, so I walked the rest of the way and met her there. The whole trip (from Marta to Kat's) was only about 2 1/2 miles, and not a bad walk at all. Suddenly Atlanta seemed a lot more manageable... sure it takes a while to walk through all that, but there are a TON of cool communities and great shops between Inman Park and Virginia Highlands.

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So then Kat and I hopped in her car to head to the less walking-friendly area where Wonderroot is, only to find that it was closed for Labor Day. Not to be thwarted, we headed over to Java Monkey instead and hung out for a couple of hours, which was tons of fun. Now I'm finally home and winding down for the night, grateful for a fun and relaxing day, even if nothing went according to my "plan" for the day. I mean shoot, I had so much fun, I just had to blog about it.

Craft:08 Release Party Saturday

Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta is hosting a Craft:08 Magazine release party this Saturday at Young Blood Gallery. I got my copy of Craft:08 a couple weeks ago, actually, and I've been psyched about the cold pressed coffee instructions. I was also intrigued by some of the other articles (like how to make your own silicone ice pop molds, or a turning an old necktie into a sunglass case), but haven't taken the time to tackle any of the other projects yet. So I'm looking forward to the party, maybe I'll get to try some of the cool stuff they featured, and meet more Atlanta crafters. A couple of my friends are coming with me, so it should be good times.

The Gourd Purse

I made this a month or so ago, but just finally got around to having The Chris photograph it for me. Both pieces are crocheted with Lion Wool, using a popcorn stitch for the bumps, then felted. I call this my gourd purse because once it was done I decided it looks very much like a gourd, although I don't think that was the intention.

In case it's hard to tell from the photos, the purse has a small handle and a large one; the large handle fits through the small one to close up the purse for carrying it. That does mean it takes a little more work to get things out of it, because you have to slide the handle out, but it's so cute that I decided I'm okay with it. I'm pretty happy with the metal ring for an accent, too... it's great for clipping my keys onto. And the little orange cozy is actually the perfect size for my ipod mini, but I find it comes in handy to hold my Marta card, my apartment complex gate card, and my chapsticks. You know, all the little things I need to have handy at a moment's notice.

And since this shade of green is currently my favorite color, the gourd has become my favorite purse.

I made these up on the fly and I'm still terrible and writing out patterns as I go, so I'm no help there. Sorry.

Compost

So I've been wanting to experiment with a tiny porch-sized compost bin, but I was determined not to spend money on a box for my experiment. All my research on composting told me just a few things, like the fact that I should start with some paper scraps, then some old brown leaves, then my fruit, veggie, and coffee scraps. Oh yeah, and that the container should be dark. So as I was determinedly looking through all my stuff to figure out what I could repurpose for my compost bin, I came across this black plastic CD rack that we were going to take to Goodwill, and I realized that with a few holes drilled in the top, it would make a great mini-composter... with three different partitions so I can have a few different stages of compost at any given time.

So I was pretty proud of myself.

the search for the tasteful animated GIF...

Following a conversation with coworkers, I'm curious if anyone has ever come up with a tasteful animated GIF... I mean, in all the interwebs, there must be a few that are actually a good use of the technology. But I learned from a google search for "tasteful animated gif design" that the word tasteful is a relative term... but did not find any that our "team of experts" deemed to fit in the category of tasteful.

Christina pointed us to amazon's ad for kindle, front and center, where the animated gif cycles through some screens to show how kindle works. But I don't know if an advert counts. I pointed to k10k's "About" and "Issues" buttons at the top, because their hover state uses a nice animated gif, but Nikhil said that it doesn't count because it only comes up on a mouse action. Oh, and then I remembered the diesel sweeties has had a couple clever comics that use the tiniest bit of animation, but I don't remember which ones.

Does anyone have a better example for me?