The Craft Begins

Here’s some songs I’ve been grooving on lately.  Apologies for being a bad blogger – I got so sick I couldn’t even manage to sit in front of the computer.  I’ll be bringing you some more stuff later today!

Doesn’t this look like a cozy place to curl up?  I could do nothing but read until the end of my life and be totally happy.  I’ve made it my goal to one day settle down in one place and read every book in the library.  Ambitious, yes, but I think it would be quite the accomplishment.

I always want to pass along books that I’ve read and loved, but their names seem to slip out of my mind the second that I think of it.  As a solution, I’ve created a little online bookshop where you can stop in and see some recommendations if you’re stuck in a reading rut.  There are novels, photography books and even a little bit of music.  It’s a little sparse at the moment, but I’ll always be adding new finds.  So stop by if you’d like, browse a little bit, grab a cup of tea, and let’s chat about your favorite books.

This is something that I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I’m probably going to struggle to put it into words but I hope you’ll bear with me here because it’s something I think is very important.

The economy has taken a nosedive, people’s lives are filled with uncertainty, international relations are threatened, and it seems like there’s very little good news.  Despite all of the adversity, I think that we’ve been given a real opportunity to change the way that we interact with the world.

Despite a few high-paid examples, artists have become undervalued in our society.  I think that’s a shame, because art is what defined our humanity from the beginning on.  They don’t find complex financial calculations carved into cave walls, they find paintings.  School budgets are forcing cuts, and the art and music departments are always the first programs to go.  Though there are a few shining examples, overall the importance of art to our society has decreased significantly.

Now there’s less money, and more people are turning away from their high-paying jobs from which they were laid off, and they are re-discovering the things that they love, like art and music.  They’re learning what the rest of us have known for quite a long time – it’s a hard road, with little to no promise for success, but you can’t put a price on being able to do what you love and what you’re passionate about.

And there’s where the opportunity is.  I say when you can, buy handmade!  Instead of buying something cheap at a big-box store that’s going to fall apart in a matter of months, see if you can find it handmade or used.  Instead of going towards paying factory workers in some underdeveloped country pennies while systematically destroying the environment in other places, instead of going towards the bonus of an overpaid corporate honcho, your money will stay in your community or at least someone else’s.  You’ll be directly impacting the life of the person you bought from.  And odds are, the person who is hand making these items cares too.  They care enough to source their materials in sustainable ways, and to try to buy used when they can.  They probably shop at the farmer’s market, because they appreciate hard work and what goes into creating something from hand.  And you can go about your day that way too.  Sure, shopping at a farmer’s market might be a little more expensive, but in many ways that’s a myth.  Buying locally grown food means you get what’s fresh, what’s in season, and what’s also cheap (those strawberries didn’t have to fly all the way from Columbia!).  Plus you know that the money is staying in your community and supporting the people who are just trying to live their lives in the best way that they know how.

Obviously this isn’t the answer for everything.  You probably can’t buy a washing machine at the neighborhood co-op.  And it’s not always convenient and not always easy.  But I really think that it’s worth the effort.  You can support art, you can support your neighbors and friends.  You’ll be amazed at the interesting and wonderful people you meet.  You’ll know where you food comes from, and the life story behind your awesome handmade organic bamboo shirt.  It might mean living with less, but that’s not always a bad thing, now is it?  I think we have an opportunity to shift the way that our world thinks.  Instead of showing your status with a $900 handbag and fancy car, perhaps handmade, sustainable and locally produced is the new hot thing!

Here’s the roundup of beautiful, fabulous, gorgeous things for the week!

1.  I’ve been pining after this shawl by Las Lopez Las. A shop run by three sisters in Argentina, they have some very interesting takes on textile arts, and the kind of scarves you would love to wear but just didn’t know that they existed until now. I’ve been wanting to buy something, but I haven’t been able to narrow it down to just one thing yet.

2. Every Jot and Tittle is probably my new favorite shop on Etsy. It’s shops like this that make me wish that I was a scrapbooker, just so I would have a reason to buy some of her products. I might have to pick up scrapbooking, just so I can binge and buy everything in sight.

3.   For a musician, there has to be nothing better than a really well made, special guitar. I’m betting that the folks over at West Corinth Studio understand this, which is why they’ve built this beautiful guitar. Entirely handmade, utilizing refurbished and locally grown woods, you get something that is stunning as well as environmentally sensible! For those of us not musically inclined, they have other wonderful wood products as well.

4.  I secretly harbor a desire to spin my own yarn, however in the meantime I’ll have to settle for the gorgeous fibers over at Loop. She always has some great yarns, as well as the raw material for those with the luck and the patience to be able to spin themselves.

If you have any favorites that you’d like to recommend, please let me know! I’m always excited to find new and fabulous things, but I don’t always have the time to go out and search for them.