my creative space - a trochet beanbag!

Plastic bags were collected.

They were cut in to strips and wound up. That's quite a challenge when you have more than a thousand to do!

Crocheters willing to crochet with plarn were found. Another challenge!

Getting them to produce the required design can also be a bit hit and miss.

But yesterday, I finished seaming up some beautiful, blue crocheted panels made by two of the trocheters.*

Diana and I filled it with recycled plastic that she had scavenged from wherever she could.

Lots of lovely blue.

And we have our first trochet bean bag!

It's a whopper of a baby weighing in at just under 20 kg!

Can you believe that it's 100% plastic? From inside and out!

With all it's ups and downs, and a promise of more ups and downs, it's pretty exciting!

Needless to say, there are great factors in play too: Experiencing happiness in helping others

Heather from across the globe has already said she and her mother would like to help by crocheting!  You bloggers and readers are amazing! Thank you!  Do continue to get in touch if you'd like to get involved! 

*trochet = trash + crochet :)

More creative spaces here.

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my creative space - finding ...

... that crocheting with plastic is FULL of challenges but it's growing on me!

... that it's great to do something different on the weekend

... that I don't always appreciate the nature of glowing, pre-dusk sunlight, even if it is in amongst the concrete

... some tiled patterns on a walk

... that I don't miss this kind of thing as much as I thought I would

... that even after shopping for that dress, I keep having the urge to take pictures of dresses. Is my subconscience telling me something?

... a nice day bed, not buying it, just admiring it

... that after 14 years of marriage, I didn't know that my husband once had a summer job carving traditional, wooden furniture and that his mother used to make her own looms, all by herself and weave mats, some of which were made out of recycled plastic bags ... YES, she was in the game well before us trocheters! 

... that it's been raining today!

... that Palestine is in the thoughts and prayers of many

And here my other new and not so new "finds":

a shop full of handcrafted items, where they have done new things with traditional Arabic accessories (yes, those wrap-around trousers)

and they have this great gift idea of a recipe and spice mix (this is one is for Kablie Rice)

and everything is made by needy women!


a creative mint - beautiful, creative blog

annie's place - and another one!

alternating cast-on for ultimate stretch - a knitting tutorial I'd like to try!

a great way to use up those awful adhesive book covers that I didn't have to use this year because our paperwork hasn't come through and so we decided to homeschool the kids full time!

thought walking - a great way to solve problems (article)

My contributions to #amonthof #mycreativespace can be found on instagram! I'm Fruitful Fusion .... what else? Look me up! 

And more creative spaces here!

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13. risk

... of not having enough yarn to finish a project 

... of not putting in to use something that I've made

... of not having it turn out the way I want it to

... of not having the motivation to finish a project

... of sharing something and nobody caring ... lol!

I'll take the risk!

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11. someone else's creative space

She loves mixing and matching colours.

She loves "thinking outside the box".

She loves, sketching and drawing and painting.

She loves creating powerpoint presentations of quizzes and games and has made one for me to teach my students too!

She loves creating movies with our phones, with her gifted camcorder and movie editing software.

She loves creating. Full stop.

She's chatty, affectionate, forgiving, witty and maternal. 

She's my special second-born who turned 11 on 11/11.

Allah yahfadhuha. May Allah protect and preserve her.

I must find all of her other stuff!

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12. from above

a finished shawl

(a first knitted shawl from some people)

in preparation for a North African winter

still not sure when 

It was an easy knit, but I'm not too sure about the lace border. I'm sure I missed a stitch here and there but, I think I'm alright with that.

And in all it's glory ... with our homeschooling parafernalia!

This post is a part of #amonthof #mycreativespace and I'm linking up to Made by You Monday

because having a finished handcrafted bit of goodness, on a Monday is something to be happy about!

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10. time savers

Here are some of my time savers! 

Colour palette tools - a great selection of tools to help with colour selection in design work

Photoshop actions - Do you use these in photoshop? 

Pinterest - for saving all my finds (be they design ideas, recipes, tutorials, diy tips, book recommendations) in one place and for being inspired by others as opposed to saving pictures on my computer like I ised to!

Google Reader - all my reads in one place!

Skitch - I can snap, note down and sketch my ideas on my phone, so I don't waste time trying to remember what I wanted to do with a certain design or even a ball of yarn!

My phone - I use it to follow patterns, watch youtube videos stitch tutorials and inspirational videos
It's a Samsung S2 and I LOVE it!

My kids - They wash dishes, do kitchen prep, and a few other jobs that save me time! OK, that was supposed to be funny ... but it's true!

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nature and colour

8. nature

9. colour

Playing catch up on #amonthof #mycreativespace

And excited to have the Trochet project mentioned on Jeddah Bloghttp://jeddah-blog.com/2012/11/11/trochet/ after our chat with Anosha!

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7. makes you think - traditions

It was Eid almost two weeks ago. Our families (both mine and my husband's) are in different parts of the world. We come from different cultures, with different traditions, and this got me thinking. There are Eid traditions that I remember from my childhood, like going to the outdoor prayer in the morning, visiting relatives and being gifted with money (Eidee or Eidiyyah). Being in the UK, we got used to sending money to other countries to have the sacrificial animal (udh-hiyah) slaughtered and distributed to the poor. Hailing from North Africa, my husband is used to personally taking care of this. Very personally. Meaning, in the garden or the driveway of the family home! This year, he didn't miss out on this tradition (albeit at the abattoir) and I was more interested in the wool (I didn't get any) than the meat but I realised that we have formed our family unit based on a combination of traditions. Some that we need to hold on to and some we can let go of and being proud of our own identities and allowing our children to see that. Some traditions deal with major issues and some deal with daily, mundane ones. But a religious holiday made me think more about this. We've adopted some of the other's traditions without even realising it and then we've started our own too. Subhan Allah! It's amazing!    

Old traditions:

Slaughtering an animal and distributing a third of it to the poor. This is an Islamic tradition.

Going to the Eid prayer after sunrise.

Greeting each other after the prayer. In my family, the tradition is to hug an "Eid Mubarak" to the right, then the left, then the right! In my husband's family, the "Saha Aidkoum" greeting consists of kissing the right cheek, then the left, then the right again and then the left again! 

Putting henna on. In Algeria, my girls were a bit shocked to have blobs of henna put on their palms while they were sleeping as they're so used to the intricate Asian designs. My sister-in-law has spoilt us too!

Wearing special clothes and gifting children with money.

My daughter was given this bag of goodies at the mosque.

Having traditional sweets. I'm used to the burfis and traditional Indian or Pakistani sweets. 

via

My husband is used to the traditional Algerian ones. 

Going out somewhere different, like a park, the Corniche to try and see some fireworks. I do like the idea of having a family meal at home but this Eid we decided to go out just for dessert! 

New traditions:

Having a fancy breakfast of a combination of traditional food, like Algerian Baghrir or sweets and South Asian Sevia, or just modern day treats, like Cinnamon Rolls 

and Mushroom and Onion Biscuits which is what we went for this year. 

Giving gifts sometimes instead of money. Even small gifts!

Treasure Hunt! My brother usually sets one up and the kids just love it! Well, he once created a very cryptic one for the adults which we had lots of fun with! It seems to have become a bit of a tradition and so I made sure there was one for them this Eid.

Spending time on Skype! Oh yes! This is the best way for us to see and talk and laugh with all of our loved ones across the globe!

Don't you love forming new traditions along the way? I wonder if I can come up with some creative ones!

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6. know your roots

Vibrant colours of Asia

East African equatorial climes

Walks to the library

Spicy hot currys and biriyani

Tropical fruits

Bustling London streets

Quieter suburbs

Saturday morning children's television

Flowing sarees and salwar kameez

Poetic Swahili

Sweet ladoos and burfis

Frostbite

Tea, toast and breakfast cereals

Expatriate communities

Wooly hats, scarves and leg warmers

The Red Sea

Are some of the roots I've grown from.

#amonthof #mycreativespace

I also wanted to let you know that the Trochet project was blogged about on one of my favourite crochet blogs: Crochet Concupiscence! Thank you Kathryn! 

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5. happy

That last post was a bit sneaky right? But, the fact of the matter is that although I love creating things with my hands, lately those "hands of time" have been dictating what I can and can't do. 

And yes, yesterday was day 5 of #amonthof #mycreativespace but some days are such that you have to go looking for the "happy" in it. You know, like when your legs are aching from a workout and you can't walk straight. One can be a grouch about it or one can feel happy that they can feel their legs and feel the affect of their hard work! This made me realise that blogging when you feel happy is so much easier than looking for that happy whether you're feeling it or not. Yes, I know that last sentence isn't grammatically correct! 

So even when there are reasons not to be happy, there are always reasons to BE happy. 

I've been unhappy about missing my family and a wonderful family wedding. But I was happy to cook and eat a lamb and pineapple curry that my Dad used to make and healthy coconut balls (by chance) that reminded me of my grandmother.

I've been unhappy about not finishing some works-in-progress. But I'm happy to have spent some time on this

and finishing this

This beanbag was made with a lot of help from one of our Trochet ladies. She made up two panels and I made the third and put it together. 

Speaking of Trochet, we had a lovely introductory session yesterday. It was a small gathering but lots of brainstorming occurred and that was the main purpose of getting together. It's quite challenging to get something like this off the ground in a city like Jeddah, which is not so tuned in to recycling, but every little helps. Knowing that it will help a huge community of people that need financial assistance, keeps us going. Meeting new minds and laughing with new souls, is something to be happy about too!  

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4. hands

#amonthof #mycreativespace

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3. notebook

Of course I have an online "notebook" right here! But I have a load of notebooks everywhere. There's that special something about putting pen to paper! I use notebooks for doodling ideas, study notes, graphic design ideas, crochet designs, homeschooling notes, oh the list is endless!

Do you keep a notebook or ten?

#amonthof #mycreativespace

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2. make lists

I love lists! And not only To Do lists. I love lists of things I like so that I can gain inspiration from them or just a feel good factor. I love pinterest and flickr for these visual lists. 

Here's my list of things I'm loving at the moment:

Kashida Design - a fusion of arabic type and product design!

source

This mug bag with crochet trim.

Click over to see how it unfolds. I love the idea!


Crocheting With Lucy Loop - a great little book for kids that are learning to crochet.

Seen here!

This great little pattern.

These teeny tiny flowers the boys picked for me on their early morning walk because I was a little under the weather!

This post is a part of #amonthof #mycreativespace

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