Vox populi, vox Pack Rat!

Good Monday morning to you all! When I was little, I used to be OBSESSED with Garfield cartoons. Garfield, as some of you may know, hates Mondays. They are the arm pit of the week. So I don’t know if it’s being an adult and having to go to work on Mondays, or whether that fat orange tabby predisposed me from a young age, but Monday is my least favorite of the weekdays. Fortunately for me, I am super lucky and managed to snag a job at a super awesome school that let me have TWO WHOLE weeks off for the holidays. Boo-yah! So today isn’t as much of a drag as normal. But just in case, here’s a little pick-me-up for you and me both, in the form of today’s internet discovery.

We all need to spend plenty of time at Leethal.net reading, watching, and absorbing creativity via osmosis from Lee Meredith. This young lady is a whirling dervish of activity, be it knitting, sewing, screen printing, or ‘zining. Her latest ‘zine, Do Stuff, is dedicated to her favorite things, including an incredibly cute monster hat that she provides instructions on how to create. She is such a flurry of activity and ideas that I feel all motivated to get going on my own projects after reading one of her blogs (note: check out her recent post about her new Bad Movie Bingo creation. Sounds like it could be a good drinking game :P). Read over her site. Gawk at her recycled fashions (love the tea t-shirts!). Buy the ‘zine. And get moving on your own creative cocktail!

Photo of Lee Meredith copyright leethal.net

Pack Rat is a smooth operator

I dare you, nay, double dog dare you to resist the utter adorability of the little creatures over at Mochimochi.  If you can, well then you are made of tougher stuff than I. Blogger/creationatrix Anna sells patterns for her plush buddies (check out the Stackable Cats and the Luv Gun. Genius!), but she has a big heart and she also provides plenty of patterns and tutorials for free. My current craving is for the faux toilet paper. There’s something about the fact that the toilet paper has a face that just gives me the giggles. And even though toilet paper isn’t traditionally considered cute, I have to say that this guy sure is. Talk about squeezable, move over Charmin.

photo copyright Anna @ Mochimochi blog

Argh maties. Tell Starbuck that Pack Rat is going after the white whale

Oh this one hurts. I’ve been sitting on a razzy-snazzy knitting tutorial for the Pirate Queen’s Booty Bag for almost a year, waiting for international Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19).  I can’t BELIEVE I missed it! Well, actually I can believe it, it has my brand of absent-mindedness all over it. Regardless, I am kicking myself. But I present it here to you, in case some of some of you out there in craft land have a whole week’s worth of pirate-y festivities planned, you can still add this project to your agenda. And if not, well then print it and save it for next year, that’s the best I can offer ya skalley wags.

 Photo copyright Pat Kight and talklikeapirate.com

Pack Rat Magazine is on the bus

Story time. Gather round kiddies, pull up your sit-upons. Once upon a time I was a teenager. And because the rules of teenagerdom say, nay, decree that you will think you are a) way cooler than anyone who has ever existed and b) the most boring person to ever shlump around the Earth’s surface, I went WAY out of my way to separate myself from “the pack.” This included such outside-of-the-box thinking as: wearing blue lipstick; sporting socks on my arms (a la Tank Girl); strolling around in Cat In the Hat stripped tights; etc. Me and my Hot Topic wardrobe were beyond the status quo. And of course, like every person looking to rebel, I was all about dying my hair. I bought a lot of Manic Panic in those days, but was constantly disappointed when after a week’s worth of showers my Technicolor green hair would fade to a sickly green wash, the kind that kids who spent too much time in cholrinated pools had. But lo, some helpful person turned me on to using Kool-Aid as a dye. Oh the joy! The rapture! The color was intense and the effects permanent. Plus, it was a million times cheaper then the real dyes.

To use Kool-Aid as a hair dye required a microwave, a packet of said summertime fun beverage, and a microwave safe dish that you didn’t mind staining some ridiculous colors. You dumped the full packet of Kool-Aid (the various red flavors worked best) into the microwave safe dish, added about a cup of water, and nuked it for about two minutes, or until the liquid began to boil. Then you dipped your hair in while the whole thing was still hot and voila, you were part of the resistance movement. The sucky part was trying to get it all the way up to your roots. You didn’t want to burn your scalp, but you didn’t want your streak of fire-red hair to only go half way up. I scalded my fingers many a time, trying to figure that one out. I still don’t have any good answers.

Now that I am a million years older, I some times miss those dyed streaks of hair (and hair wraps. Remember hair wraps?), thus I was totally stoked when I came across this tutorial from Snowangels on how to use essentially the same technique to color yarn. She uses both the microwave (for single color skeins) and the stove top (for a tie-dyed look) to create vibrant pallets for all her knitting, crocheting, needle point, etc. needs. Just looking at the photos takes me back. And then I remember that being a teenager was as much fun as getting kicked in the crotch. I am glad that now I can get jazzed up about dying yarn instead of all that other crap. You know what else sucked? Cafeteria pizza. I’m just saying.

Pack Rat Magazine likes the cut of your jib

Now let’s just get one thing straight. In the eternal war of ninjas vs. pirates, Pack Rat is firmly in the ninja camp. That being said, we’re not so snooty as to turn down a good pirate site if we find one. And Knit Like a Pirate is pretty snazzypants. It’ll get you tricked out in pirate savvy knitting patterns in no time. My favorite is the gunner hat, pictured below. Good for both the high seas and New England winters.