Artsy-fartsy in Atlanta

It's about time I did this. What have I been doing? Clearly not blogging. But here we go.

My and Becky just spent a week in Georgia visiting her first-grade teacher, Louise, and husband, Josh. For better or worse, they've remained family friends all this time. We used to drive to Omaha for visits, but they moved to the Atlanta area last year. It was Becky's third trip, but my first.

The World of Coke is pretty awesome. Here is a photo tour of some of the more crafty aspects:

These are in the lobby, but there are more elsewhere to total maybe 20, and they all seem to represent a different culture. And it is true; Coke has infiltrated every corner of the globe.


This is my favorite piece of art from the gallery area, by Comer Jennings. Something about colored glass is scrumtrulescent.


TINY scooter made of Coke cans. It was about four inches long.


More Coke can art.


And yet more.

Now we move to the Georgia Aquarium, where the gift shop houses these fun beaded creatures:


Puffer! If I'd been thinking, I would have noticed where these treasures are made. But I didn't, so we'll assume that some church group right there in Atlanta did them.

At the home of our generous hosts:

Egret! Strangely enough, this sculpture was made in MN but purchased in Omaha and now resides in Kennesaw, GA. Apparently, Gertens carries them and I think I need one for my own yard.


This is where we relaxed for TV watching, magazine reading, and knitting. I'm proud to say that I started and finished a project during our week's stay; a bib whose owner is TBD.


And this is the LYS where Louise works. The Whole Nine Yarns. We spent an afternoon there knitting and walking the area. Best place to eat in GA: Pure Taqueria. Just down the road and winning for most intriguing name: The Right Wing Tavern. I also marveled at the greenery, since we have none in MN right now. Oh, no. We have several feet of snow and roads with alternating patches of ice and potholes and no one knows where to park and if I have to wear long underwear much longer I'm going to implode!

Also, Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh, AND I'm entering a giveaway for this "Nelephant" by Danger Kitty Designs. Enter for yourself here!

One of these days, Alice.....

I will win a giveaway contest. Someday. This one is from Her Sunday Dress. Fun stuff!

ready for fall. and, apparently, winter.

Wait, no. I am not ready for winter. That is blasphemous.

But now that it is officially Fall and the trees have started becoming that dry, yellow/green combo, knitting feels more cozy and comfortable. In that spirit, I finished a cowl:



And it matches my hat!



This is what it looks like open:



No, I'm not angry. That's just my face at rest. This one is better:



The pattern is "Swirling Petals Cowl" by Casandra Roberts and it's available as a free Ravelry download. After looking at a gazillion cowl patterns, I decided to add the button and loop so I could sinch it tighter for the winter months of December, January, February, and March. Sigh.

I also decided to start a scarf for the Red Scarf Fund using this pattern and some nice, soft, inexpensive Paton's Chunky Shetland Tweed (in red), the same stuff I used for my green hat, Penny's ill-fitting sweater, and my hand warmers.

Knitting for charity is an easy decision

But deciding on which charity is not. If I had the time and money to make a metric ton of things to donate, I would gladly do so. These are the charities that I want to help out, but I'll probably have to narrow down the list a bit (or a lot).

Bundles of Love: Provides basic items for local infants in need.

Hats for the Homeless: Distributes warm clothing to homeless individuals nationally.

Mother Bear Project: This locally-based group sends knitted bears to kids in Africa affected my HIV/AIDS.


Red Scarf Fund (Orphan Foundation of America): Sends Valentine's care packages to young adults entering college who have no immediate family support.


Sheila's Shawls (Silent Witness National Initiative): Named for Sheila Wellstone, sends shawls to mothers and sisters of women who have died due to domestic abuse.

Snuggles Project (Hugs for Homeless Animals): Makes the enclosures for sheltered animals a little more cozy.


I don't know why this always enters my consciousness when I'm starting to think about the winter holidays, because most of these orgs, if not all, accept and need donations year-round.

I won the lottery!

The International Bloggers Community lottery! Thanks to Nina from Under the Rainbow, who tagged me for this award! It basically means people who like other people's blogs can check out still more blogs that must be at least a little interesting because somebody tagged them, too. It's like a chain letter, but we'll call it free advertising!




The rules of the award:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Copy the image above, the rules and the questionnaire in this post.
3. Post this in one or all of your blogs.
4. Answer the four questions following these Rules.
5. Recruit at least seven (7) friends on your Blog Roll by sharing this with them.
6. Come back to BLoGGiSTa iNFo CoRNeR (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS LINK) at http://bloggistame.blogspot.com and leave the URL of your Post in order for you/your Blog to be added to the Master List.
7. Have Fun!
Questions & Your Answers:
1. The person who tagged you: Nina; knitter, sewer, and mom in Finland
2. His/her site's title and url: Under the Rainbow; http://rainbowandhermagicdyes.blogspot.com/
3. Date when you were tagged: July 20th, 2009
4. Persons you tagged:

1. Nina from Under the Rainbow; she seems to whip up projects faster than I think is humanly possible.

2. Danger Kitty Designs; always has funny links before anyone else I know.

3. Havfaith from Delusions of Domesticity; knitting AND cool travel pics.

4. Mon Bouton Productions; Hailing from France, I can only understand a little of what this crafter has to say, but it's fun and makes me nostalgic for French class.

5. Sara from Handy Hooker; simply interesting to read!

6. Canary Knits; Um, giveaways and profiles of cool new designers. Awesome.

7. sknitter; kind of a go-to for when you want to know what's on knitting blogs everyday.

I read several other blogs, but these are the craft-related ones that I love and that post on a regular basis. Woo hoo!