Inspired by TEDtalks

Have you discovered TED?  Experts in their field present their latest research, inventions, human behavior.  According to TED: "TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design -- three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future. And in fact, the event is broader still, showcasing ideas that matter in any discipline." (more here: http://www.ted.com/pages/about)  It's like going to excellent university guest speaker events, right from your living room couch.  Every time I watch a TEDtalk I learn something new from people who are incredibly passionate about their field.

Knitting and repurposing - what's old CAN be new again

Just when you thought I was a one-trick-pony, now for something completely different:

Goodwill Industries of Northern New England has an outstanding, popular blog.  A significant portion of the content is about "crafting" or "repurposing."  They invited me to post about a craft project that I completed earlier this year with "reclaimed yarn":

Transforming old sweaters
into new shawls!

Now, in this case, I did make a shawl, but really, you could choose to turn the yarm from an old sweater into a new sweater.  Or make hats, mittens, scarves - pretty much anything you can knit, you can knit from reclaimed yarn.

I've mentioned a few times in the past that Goodwill is my favorite bookstore.  Lately it's also my favorite yarn store!  AND the fabulous clothing I've bought there - to wear as is :-)  Skirts & pants from Ann Taylor or Ann Taylor Loft, Eddie Bauer, GAP and Banana Republic and just a few of my favs  (in fact, the pants I'm wearing today are courtesy of Goodwill, thank you very much).



If you're interested in the process of reclaiming yarn, I hope you'll head over to the Goodwill blog and read about it.  My post includs helpful links (I wish I could say that the concept of reclaiming yarn is my own, but it's not ;-) with tips for yarn-y success.  And many other posts there give tips for reclaiming all KINDS of materials (fabric, buttons, zippers, etc) for crafting!

Enjoy!

What can $10 buy you?

This awesome stack, for one thing.....

If you've ever bought a book at GoodWill, raise your hand! And then tell me: what book? How did you feel?

Book People Unite!

I stumbled across this WONDERFUL music video.  Recognize any of your favorite characters?

Brought to you by the good people at Reading is Fundamental and BookPeopleUnite.org

NOT TO BE MISSED: The Behind the Scenes making of Book People Unite.  OMG, I don't know what's funnier, Raggedy Andy talking about Raggedy Ann, or LeVar Burton discussing the tension on set between the Three Little Pigs and the Three Blind Mice.

Visit your local library!  Here's a link to information about public libraries in every corner of Maine.  (Don't forget to check out their summer reading programs - many libraries have programs for kids AND adults.  You win twice - read awesome books, and get cool swag!)  Best of all, if your local library doesn't have the book you want in their collection, you can access MINERVA and get the book via Interlibrary Loan - also FREE.

My favorite "book" store :-)

Look at this nifty stack.... just $25 and change!

  

• Marina Fiorato, The Botticelli Secret
• Philip Roth, Deception
• Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
• Chris Bohjalian, Skeletons at the Feast
• Kate Mosse, Labyrinth
• Caleb Carr, The Alienist
• Dennis Lehane, Mystic River
• Eric Abrahamson & David H. Freedman, A Perfect Mess
• Louise Bates Ames, Your Ten-to-Fourteen Year Old
• Mary Sheedy Kurchinka, Raising Your Spirited Child
• Garden Ideas: Creative Design Solutions

 I know, I know, what am I doing with MORE books?!  But at that price, how can I go wrong?!  Yep, my favorite bookstore... GoodWill.  I win, they win, everybody wins!

And the Dennis Lehane is a FIRST EDITION!  Whoo hoo!  (Which then raises the question whether I'll read this copy, or just admire it on the shelf ;-)

Pure delight....

Book Lovers Unite!

I might have missed out on the last gasp of summer weather, but my geeky self had a ball on Saturday as I helped sort and organize The Glacier, the fond term for the more than 20,000 donated books stored over the course of each year for the Annual Friends of the South Portland Public Library Used Book Sale.

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool book lover, and a sucker for used books.  Maybe it's my Yankee frugality, or my tree-hugging spirit of reduce-reuse-recycle, but I just can't bring myself to spend $25 on a retail book, when I know if I wait a couple of years I can scoop up the same book for two bucks at a sale that benefits a good cause.  How do I wait it out?  By browsing through the hundreds of books (maybe a thousand?) awaiting me at home (I know, there's probably a diagnosis here, but it's not Hoarders or anything.  Really, it's not).  My dear husband insists we could insulate our house with our books, and I think top of his list of "Why I Never Want to Move to a New House" is the spectre of hauling all my beloved books (and probably risking a back injury in the process).  Was I sad when Borders went belly up?  Of course, but mostly because it was the demise of the last retail location in Greater Portland where you could hang around well past 9pm, coffee in hand, and browse through.... books!  Nirvana!

This ugly duckling found her swans on Saturday.  Not just one, but a whole room of busy, book-loving people just like me.  Whee!

Dave on the move.  The children's books are still being arranged.

And I met Dave Kirkwood, the Angel of The Glacier.  Several times a week, ALL through the year, Dave processes the books donated at the South Portland Library into categories, which he then carefully boxes up and adds to The Glacier, a veritable pyramid of boxes the size of a small warehouse.  It's astonishing.  Dave quietly devotes this care and time, and then is the cheerful commandant of Sorting Day, hauling trolley after trolley of boxed books, patiently directly volunteers as we ask him, for the umpteenth time, "Um, Dave, what do you want me to work on next?"  He's amazing.

At the end of the day, I was tired, but excited.  I managed to hold down my purchases to a mere two full cardboard boxes of books.  Dave loaded the boxes onto a dolly and wheeled them out to my car (awww).  As we chatted on the way, I said I looked forward to seeing him next weekend for Cleanup Day.  He replied, "Oh, well, I won't be there this year for Cleanup.  I feel bad about it, but after a lot of thought, I've decided to go to my 60th high school reunion."  60 years!  Dave, you rock.

Can't find anything here?  Try the fiction room across the hall.

The book sale starts today and lasts til Saturday.  You can come in today if you are a "Friend" of the South Portland Library (a small donation, and well worth it, IMHO.)  And I promise I won't shop from your stash.