Chilling out -- Greatful Dead Movie Clip -- New Riders of the Purple Sage

It's raining cats and dogs, it's stormy, it's an indoor day.
Is there a better way then chill out with some great Dead and New Riders of the Purple Sage music and a little Hippie cartoon?

Watching things grow

My zinnia seeds are sprouting. Instead of buying annuals this year I have bothered to plant ordinary cheap plant seeds...and voila, some have come alive. Between crocheting, gardening and answering my emails, I have finally (yeah for me) limited my time that I spend in so-called online communities, Etsy, craftster org. and more. It's the time of the year to get back to nature and down to some plain old garden work.

Old World Charm for my backyard

It takes more work to go green, but is so worth it.
Our stormy Okie weather didn't allow this retro look yet, but finally it's time for some old-fashioned line-drying. And the fresh smell is amazing.
I used to line-dry all my life until I moved here. It was tempting to just toss everything into the tumble dryer and be done with it. Several ruined sweaters and delicate fabrics made me rethink and finally drive to the hardware store. Half an hour extra work goes a long way, on our electricity bill and conserving energy.
(When I took the picture I didn't realize I had all my pink jammies hanging there as a focal point, but o well, that's just the way it is:)
Happy weekend!

Mixing up my YARNS

Just a brief post today.
I have placed large orders for hemp yarn and other natural sustainable yarns and I feel the need to work with my overflowing yarn inventory. Justification is the magical word!
I mixed a few unusual yarns and worked the combinations into new tam hats:
Avocado green chenille, regular worsted weight brown yarn and an extra strand of novelty yarn held together with the main yarns.
Same here, ice-cream colored feminine tam: pink chenille, cream and brown acrylic and the fuzzy extra strand.
A custom order, hope my customer will like it. Dark brown 100% hemp, warm brown cotton and terra red cotton. 3 different textures and different thickness.
Another scrap patchwork tam. You can tell I can't throw out materials and will use every decent length strand of yarn. The fuzzy brown yarn ties the colors together into a more coherent weave.
For this longer sock tam I have used copper red and black acrylic, combined with a strand of
terra red cotton yarn. It adds to the touch of the material and makes it super sturdy, but yet soft.
This tam is earthy in mainly green and brown acrylic, but spruced up with a "ribbon" (synthetic) yarn which features several pretty pleasing colors like gold, rust red, purple in a beautiful tie-dye effect.
Some of these tams are already for sale on my website and in my Etsy store, some still need to be uploaded.
My computer works slowly these days (or the cable) and a lot of times I just walk away from it to do other things because it takes forever to upload pictures.
Planting seeds into starter plant pots, walking my dog...and crochet. Besides other things:)

An ordinary day -- that's the way I like it

Things are finally returning to a slower and less hectic pace. Sid is recovering from his nose surgery, not quite there yet, but he is doing pretty good.
It's gradually warming up, but still windy outside. The strong wind gives me a headache and I had been "headachy" for days now. Today I feel much better. I started to plant my first flower seeds. I am an awful gardener, but with big plans each spring season. Trial and error:)
So, what do you write about when there is not much to write about? I guess I just appreciate the fact that nothing out of the ordinary is happening. Leaving me enough space to just work on my hats, drive grocery and yarn shopping, organize the house, go outside and -- feel content. If only for a while.
Last night I was lucky to stumble on another re-run of the movie Crash on FX. The finale/conclusion always makes me sad though. But what a refreshing show considering all the other crap that is usually shown on TV.
Blogging for others or writing my own personal journal?
Probably the latter recently, but I have drifted away from the whole "blogging about Etsy thing", daily store features of other Etsy sellers, Etsy community talk and all the other social network sites where sellers hang out. Oh well, maybe someone will look and read anyway:)
But, I have not been idle, so, I show off some new tams today:
(Above picture) I call it the "Traveling the gravel road tam" because it reminds me of a gravel-covered path or walk way, the colors range from black to light-colored stones, with a bit of brown earth thrown in there.

And here is a longer totally unisex tam for guys and gals.
Available at PurpleSageDesignz.

"Hippie" -- a label of the past?

First of all, let me say that composing a complex text in English is not always easy for a non-native speaker. A lot of times my texts sound flat and not well written.
But yet, I will give it another try, because I love to be "making a noise in this world"... share my views and thoughts. May they be heard or not, at least I made an effort.

I have found great online sources in my search for the subject on my mind "hippies today". And one of the starting points is defining who the hippies WERE before anyone tries to determine if there are still hippies around. This article contains vast information about where the hippies came from, their beatnik origin and the development of this counter movement.

A Most Merry and Illustrated History of The Hippies

and in a shorter version a wikipedia definition.

There are also great contributers of articles out there which explore the question of how one can be a hippie TODAY.

How to be a hippie

The age of hippies and the term "flower power"

Coming Out Of The Countercultural Closet__Reclaiming and Redefining Hippie

There also exists a forum HipForums
where "old and young hippies" can chat about their life style and anything "hippie".

My own background and how I experienced the counter movement at an early age in the 1960s and later in the 1970s as a teen/young adult is a bit different from the American Hippie culture and can be explored in this wikipedia article German Student Movement ("1968 Generation").

Strangely though I never felt like I had to define myself until I moved to the USA in 2003.


I am this 40s woman, immigrant, left wing voter, liberal thinker, pacifist, college educated (psychology degree) without a strong aspiration to get into the career rat race of corporate America or the traditional Health system, alternative medicine supporter, spiritual but not organized in any church (even though baptized Catholic as infant), non-conformist in many ways, environmentally conscious, modest in living, monogamous loving, hand-crafter, independence-loving and "tree-hugging", not vegetarian, tie-dye and bell-bottom loving, abstinent to mind-altering substances, married to a traditional Native American, and generally laid back and tolerant towards different life styles.

I don't like labels in general, there is no black & white or right and wrong in this world. And I don't fit all the cliches.
But if there has to be a label for me, my wares, and my lifestyle, then "Hippie" fits me just fine.

I have learned that it has a negative connotation in American society depending on who you talk to, but honestly, I don't care. So people may argue if there are still hippies around. And associate them with freaks, heads, laziness or just completely outdated and comical like a vintage cartoon, but I still believe in the beauty of LOVE & PEACE. And HIPPIE is a good word in my book.

And here is an exert from one of the above articles which sums up the answer to the question "Are you hippie or not?" very wisely in a nutshell:
>>>Being a hippie is a decision you have to make based on your beliefs. Nobody can truly tell you how to be a hippie, or whether you truly are one or not. People generally do what they think is right, and if you think the hippies for the most part were/are right then you may just be one :) >>>

(If you made it until the end of this post, kuddos to you, I am happy to find readers like you:)
Have a great weekend!

Looking forward to our vacation

Sid and I have been under the weather for a while now.
The weekend didn't happen as planned and we didn't drive to Shawnee's Arts & Craft Fair. It was an overall cool cloudy weekend with some sunny high lights, but the forecast of rain made us change our plans and just take "time out". It's a strange feeling when you are not really sick, but you don't feel like a "powerhouse" either. And your body sends you that message to take it easy or it will go into strike mode. I am a big believer in listening to body messages.
Great news is that we got our tickets to fly to Cancun, Mexico and stay at a nice hotel close to the beach for a few days.
A typical tourist vacation package nevertheless. But, I have done my fair share of back pack traveling throughout my life in Europe. For me this is actually a novelty. The convenient way of vacationing. So we''ll be the the typical American tourists, haha.
After camping in the Rockies and train riding through Germany we may actually enjoy it. My first trip to Mexico ever. I was thrilled to visit Spain when I was still living in Germany. I love tropical sceneries and I am a sucker for palm trees. Yep!

We need to "get out there"

And I am not talking about a cruise or the internet either:)
But into the real life sunshine and events>>>t-shirt weather in Oklahoma, hurray!

I have shifted to some warm weather designs because I am playing with the thought of doing my first craft shows this year. Coming Sunday will be an Art & Craft Fair in Shawnee, OK, and we'll go to look on. It's not too far to drive and we will have fun just looking around. That way I can easier decide if this is a way of vending for me.

I made this cute little toddler blouse the other day. And I think it's sweet. Maybe I will get into sewing more now that it starts to warm up. I'll see how well I will be doing with clothes.
I am about to list a few more other tams on Etsy and my website, check them out, the links are located at the left of my blog.

So far the new year really didn't present itself in any outstanding way for us, it's been work, cold weather and staying at home a lot. We are so ready to travel and have some fun.
We are in the process of planning a short spring vacation to Mexico. Searching for blues festival tickets in Oklahoma (Tulsa used to be great, but we couldn't find any info for 2008) and check out some craft and art festivals which we found with this website http://www.craftmasternews.com/index.htm

The whole online advertising and socialising sites and communities like Etsy are fine, but get boring after a while. Inspiration comes from the real world. I like being online, but the longer I use the internet, the more I see the importance to shut it off for a while and go outside and live.

Creating frenzy

What I have learned from completing my taxes?
Well, one fact is: I have way too much material and unfinished inventory.
This bothered me to the extent that it triggered a lot of energy to make new things. Loving this feeling:)
Above are only a few new tams that I have listed on Etsy today.

And I have uploaded a lot of sweet vintage aprons and some sewing patterns to my 2n etsy shop Retrochicboutique.

With snow storms still all over the country I also listed another warm patchwork scrap hat on my website Purplesagedesignz

That's not all. I have finished my first little girl peasant top of all the sweet clothes I am planning for my next project. Blumenkinder (flower children). I already registered the shop on Etsy, but I am not sure yet if I should test run them in my main Etsy shop first.

I love to create, and with sticking to my new schedule of creating first, marketing second I hope I will have a busy spring and summer season.
Off to enjoy my weekend. It is an amazing Saturday evening outside, with temperatures in the mid 50s.

Crafter or Salesperson?

I have been pretty busy between attending a funeral, cleaning house and spending time with the family. Breaks from "living online". Sometimes I wish my work would just end there after finishing my hats. The joy and dilemma of selling online. The "salesperson part" is the one I enjoy the least. Especially these days with all the requirements to "put yourself out there"...onto Flickr, myspace, IndiePublic, forums, yahoo groups, squidoo and all the new places that pop up every day.
I have decided to do no more then just tend to my lovely blog and list my items on my website and Etsy. Time will tell if this will be the right decision, but it feels right for me.
I will try to attend craft fairs and shows this year as well. Back to good ole' old fashioned selling.

And the beat goes on...

This Sunny & Cher song was in my head when I rushed back from the accountant appointment, taxes are done . A milestone every time in March, to move on with life and just go back to the routine. I love my routine.
This warm brown and dark red tam is a hat design I have done very often over the years, and yet, it's still fun to crochet.
Available on my website Purple Sage Designz

Spring is on my mind! What is better to express my longings for a nice warm breeze then with a lavender doily cotton tam?
Available on Purple Sage Designz

Color...I am crocheting "out of the box" these days. I love unusual color combinations and a bit of boldness.
Rust and dark citrine tam...available at my Etsy shop

I still love the Irie color combo and have made this Jamaica inspired tam.
You can read more about it in my Etsy shop

My Sari silk yarn and banana silk wool blend is here

With temperatures rising, being half way through my taxes (yeah!) my spirits are flying high again... and to top it off, my newest yarn order arrived super quickly.
Sari silk and banana silk wool blend...it looks even more gorgeous in reality than my quick pictures shows.
I can't wait to get all this accounting behind me and tend to the crafting part of my life again.
Running off to Staples to buy more ink, well, I still have a few days to go and print receipts and records.

The skirt is finished

Just a quick update, it's weekend after all. What a contrast, the popping colors in front of the dead grass.
I am so glad I took my pictures earlier, because now it's raining, adding some GREY to the day.
A good chance to grab those books that I always wanted to read and cook some comfort food.
Have a great and relaxing weekend!

Bringing color into my crafting life

with this "traveling gypsy" skirt. Please disregard the chaos in my sewing room, I am in dire need of a renovation. For this 4 tiered skirt I have picked some of my brightest fabrics from my stash and have cut larger patches to make it pop. I hope to finish it tonight. When it's freezing, cold and grey outside we just need to create our own colorful experience, voila.

I also finished a few more smaller tams. I have had a lot of requests for smaller sizes tams and have taken this into account. I will offer a wider variety of sizes from now on.

Brown, solid, simple and beautiful, a custom request.


My latest favorite color combination of sea blue and toasted almond, available on Etsy

Another tam made with hemp and virgin wool. This time I have tried a few tricks gathered up on the internet to get rid of the "sheepy" smell. Dish washing detergent to wash out the excessive lanolin (which causes the smell) and then a bath in hair conditioner since wool basically is similar to hair. It added a nice softening touch to the material, but now it smells "washed", not sure where I will list it yet. I have not quite figured this material out, but I like the look of the yarn very much. But how do you explain what a sheepy smell is, how intense, or how my conditioner smells, since we all have a different sensitivity and dislikes?

A Mix of Winter and Spring

Ponca City, OK

25°F
Cloudy
Wind: N at 12 mph
Humidity: 80%

Today

Ice on roads and walk ways should be forbidden at the end of February:)
As an accessory and clothes maker I have been thinking spring ever since Christmas was over, ha!
Far away from reality. More out of lack for any better ideas I was working on some warmer scrap hats and listed them on Etsy and my website.
A good move after all. Some have already sold.
So, should I wish for spring or hope that winter will make us freeze a little bit longer? The first choice would be so good for my sun-seeking warmth-loving personality, the latter beneficial for my business. How should a hat crocheter decide?

Flashback --- 1970s and 1980s

We bought a new scanner and Sid is going through the task of scanning some of our old photographs. I hadn't looked at my old pictures for ages, but glanced through the pile on his desk this morning. I grabbed 2 of them and took a quick digital camera shot. The quality is not the best for that matter, but I am not sure I want to post them clearer anyway, because, I think they are quite weird.
Pic 1: 1977 in France, I started my permed hair phase a la Barbra Streisand and wore ridiculous short bangs, corduroys, India cotton blouse and Swedish clogs.
Pic 2: With my younger cousin at my grandparents house, all "dressed up" for a Sunday afternoon in the mid 1980s. 80s attire, pumps, pleated pants and ruffled blouse ...what a tacky sight:)

It's easier to go "green" in small steps

(I listed this new tam on Etsy today, I took the picture last summer, isn't nature beautiful in its bloom?)

I wanted to write about "going green" for a while now, but I knew it was going to be a task to put all my thoughts into words. Therefore, I decided to write a short article about how ecological-conscious living can be achieved in small baby steps.
When I moved from Germany to the USA it was scary and challenging at the same time to witness what environmental "sins" were still allowed in the beautiful state of Oklahoma, please keep in mind, that urban and country living in Germany had been restricted by many laws considering trash, garbage disposal, paying high taxes on any energy-intensive product like gasoline, even for plastic grocery bags....
I also take into consideration that a densely populated country requires different restrictions in order to keep the environment alive and healthy.
My DH and I sometimes still don't see "eye-to-eye" on certain steps, but here is how I try to implement my European roots into the American Way of Life:
***Recycle for private and business matters, whatever possible I buy at the thrift store, clothes, ribbons, bags, books, dishes.............I guess anything other than underwear, socks and shoes!
***Never throw anything out of your car window and onto the streets or roads
***Avoid plastic bags if possible, use fabric totes
***Turn off lights and devices if not needed, electricity costs natural resources and money
***Return batteries, hazardous waste if possible, not throwing it into the house garbage
***Composting kitchen waste
***Save water (we have our own water well, but I still see it wasted if it's just flushed down the drain without any purpose)
***Buying less is more, enjoy an uncluttered living
***Refurbish used furniture with toxic-free stains and paints
***Wear a sweater when it's cool, keep the heat on moderate temperature
***Fill washing machines and dishwashers before running the wash cycles (I never had a dishwasher until I moved over here, so, that's one convenience I am thrilled with, but I fill it properly and scrub pots by hand:)

***Buy handmade and homegrown/homemade, we don't need cotton swamps made on other continents just to have them shipped across the ocean so that we can save 50 cents at the store. Buy seasonal fruits and vegetables which are grown in your area. Don't support sweatshops without any quality control and environmental-unfriendly production methods. Saving a $ does not justify importing all our daily goods, because it takes an immense amount of energy for transportation, unsafe uncontrolled materials may threaten our health and the huge quantities of unnecessary trinkets and one-way-products eventually will exhaust the resources of OUR earth.

Small steps, but we should never feel helpless, we always can do something good for our Mother Earth.
And one more thing, if I was an American national, I'd vote for a candidate with an environmental program.
But my naturalization is still a matter of the future.
PEACE and have a great weekend!

More online articles to read:
Small steps to reduce waste
Going green in the kitchen
10 environmentally friendly ideas for college students
Green parenting
Micro-Green - Small Steps to a Greener Existence

Spring cottons are coming --- and a great trip to the thrift store

I made these 2 tams for a very nice repeat buyer as custom orders. I especially love the lime with blue crochet tam. I wish it would finally warm up, it was a grey cold day, again.
But I rewarded myself with a trip to the thrift store today. My o my, I haven't even unpacked yet, but I am especially happy these book finds. 75% off.

The huge "Alternative medicine" is a thick hardcover 1997 edition and was only $2.35
(I prefer alternative health treatment methods if possible and have had good results for myself)
"Search for personal freedom" $0.80. A huge philosophy/art/literature/culture volume.
Craft book from 1975 $1
Mother Nature's Secrets for Thriving Indoor Plants 1975 for $0.15
A vintage ceramic strawberry tray (without picture) for my son's girl friend who collects vintage strawberries=$2.
Too much to go on about, I had a blast, and carrying my loaded bags across the street to the parking lot is my only limit.

Tam for starter dreads or short hair

Variety is key. I made a smaller tam design to accommodate those buyers who have just started out growing dreads or who don't have a lot of hair to tuck into their hat. This hat style will be ideal to offer in custom colors.
(Design of the day Feb 2008, something new and fresh every single February day).
BTW, we have 75F today, gorgeous day outside. I ran across town, got a hair cut, bought alpaca wool and snacks.
Tomorrow the forecast has announced snow, so, I better enjoyed it while I can:)

Slow and Introspective Days

Hello friends, I have a lot of time on hands these days. My beloved little Saturn gave up on a cold night and needed to be hauled into a repair shop with a wrecker because there was "no spark" anymore. This left me pretty much stranded at home.
The last quarter of the month is usually a slow month for every business, so, orders were scarce and I had the chance to round up all these unfinished projects. I finally kicked myself in the behind and listed them in my Etsy shop. More to come as I have procrastinated taking pictures for the whole month of January. It was a much needed break after Christmas, but it's time to fire up again:)
This afternoon I will attend a Native American sweat lodge ceremony and pray for a good year.
2008 started in a weird way for me, not really bad, but a little bit on the bumpy side. I just had another big dentist bill in the mail box yesterday. And this doesn't include the upcoming teeth extractions yet. And my little Saturn will cost me some $$$, too.
Our son moved from Idaho back to Oklahoma and started a new job. He stays in my hubby's craftroom which has been quickly transformed into a little bedroom. Well, Sid's computer equipment and desk has been moved to our bedroom for the meanwhile. Clint will look for his own place once his paychecks come rolling in. I enjoy having him at home. A tansitional phase for our family these days.
I need to think spring and start sewing again since the demand for warm tams will get less with each month. But our low temperatures make it hard to develop this energetic "spring fever".
There is a life without a car. But it's a hobbit's life at home more or less, but coming from Germany where I did not always own a car, it's not such a big deal. And it has been promised to have it ready by Monday anyway.
Slow days can be a blessing if you embrace them and just let life take its course.