Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 11th. Hopefully you have already sent your cards out if you cannot be with your mom this weekend!

As you may remember, I recently learned how to knit, so Mother's Day was the perfect opportunity for me to try out some of my new skills by creating some little knitted items.

I'm not sure who's getting what yet (Mom, Grandmas, etc.), but here are two of the items I've made:

Knitted Bunny

Knitted Heart with Face

All this homemade gift-making had me wondering: What was the best  homemade gift you've made/recieved for Mother's Day?

When I was a kid, one of my favorite projects was a coupon book I made for my mom, listing out services I would do for her: wash the dishes, clean up my room, make breakfast, etc. My mom never actually cashed any of them in (she said she wanted to keep the handmade coupons rather than spend them), but I know that she loved them.

Personally I like getting homemade gifts because you know the person who made it took the time and effort to make something especially just for you--and it's one of a kind!

If you need any ideas for crafts your kids can make for the special ladies in their lives, visit our Mother's Day Crafts area for some quick and easy ideas.

Happy crafting for Mother's Day!

This Saturday, May 3rd, is National Scrapbooking Day. In celebration of this holiday, check out these great events and products and get inspired!

- Our Kaboose Scrapbooking Category Page features a beginner's guide to scrapbooking and fun tips on scrapbooking with your daughter.

- Our sister site Two Peas in a Bucket has an amazing array of events lined up for the whole of Saturday: online courses, contests, chats, and interviews with scrapbooking world superstars--all happening between 9 am - 9 pm CST. Check out the complete list of experts, giveaways, and classes they are offering on the Two Peas site.

- Pick up a copy of A Page Out of Life, a new novel by author Kathleen Reid, which focuses on the relationships of and between a group of women who belong to a scrapbooking group. I like to think of it as a Friday Night Knitting Club or How to Make and American Quilt for scrapbookers!

- Scrap, stamp, and support a good cause! Stampin' Up! Canada has teamed up with Big Brothers Big Sisters Canada to create a special "Loonies for Littles Stampin' Kit." $2 from each kit sold will be donated to the BBBSCA's In-School Mentoring program. The kit includes a stamping set, art journal, double-sided scrapping paper, textured cardstock, adhesive die cuts, and much much more.

- Check out the official site for National Scrapbooking Day to find scrapbooking events in your area.

- Browse through photos of some of the hottest crafting and scrapbooking supplies in my photo gallery from the Craft and Hobby Association Winter Show.

As you probably have heard by now, a photo of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus wrapped in what appears to be a bed sheet is featured in the newest issue of Vanity Fair--her back exposed, her hair tussled, and a startling shade of rouge applied to her lips--shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. Although the photos are a far cry from the illicit photos of other young celebrities (Vanessa Hudgens, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, to name a few), the shots have caused a firestorm on the internet and in gossip columns.

Although the cropped photos give off the illusion that Cyrus was not wearing anything underneath, outtakes from the shoot (which originally appeared on VanityFair.com, but have since been removed) showed Cyrus wearing pants, seated on a stool and fully covered up top with an artfully pleated bedsheet, which she wore almost like a tube dress. Miley's father (singer Billy Ray Cyrus) and mother were both on the set during the shoot, but reportedly left before the final shot.

In response to the intense media frenzy around the photos Miley told People magazine, "I was so honored and thrilled to work with Annie [Leibovitz]. I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed."

I think the photos are quite tasteful, but at the same time I don't think huge media companies (Vanity Fair is owned by publisher Conde Nast) or established photographers should be trying to convince young women to be photographed in even a vaguely sexual/sensual context. Yes, the photos are quite "artistic" but no, they are not an appropriate thing to be asking a 15-year-old girl to pose for--regardless of whether she is famous or not.

Miley and her team should have known better than to let those photos be taken, but ultimately it was the magazine's decision to publish and publize the shots. If Vanity Fair really gave a hoot about the message they are sending to young women across the world, they probably would have just printed the more mundane shots of Cyrus fully-clothed, or the shots with her father. It just seems to be another case of bad decision-making all the way around. 

Now in Johnny-come-lately fashion, Vanity Fair is only posting content of Billy Ray and Miley having their photo taken together--probably in an effort to minimize the amount of angry reader mail they will be getting for publishing that photo.

How do you feel about the whole situation? Did Miley go to far? Do you blame her or the magazine?

Behind-the-scenes vide of Miley and Billy Ray being photographed for VF:

I was so sad to attend class this week because I knew it would be my last. Just like last week, only two other people showed up to the session so we had a nice small group again. (I was the only one who attended all 4 weeks! No knitting school dropout for me.)

With lacing under my belt, this week we tackled cables. Teacher Diane dicated out a simple cable pattern to us, which we wrote down on cards:

And lent some double pointed needles (needles with points on both ends) to hold the stitches during the cable twists. Thankfully the pattern was fairly simple and after a few short minutes, my first completed cable stitch could be seen!

During the session I brought a circular needle from a knitting kit I had to ask a few questions, namely "Uh... what is this thing, and how do I use it?"

Apparently circular needles can be used just like a regular set of needles, and it is also used for knitting for knitting in the round, natch.

One of the other members of the class wanted to start on knitting a collar, so he was working with a circular set of needles. For practice Diane set me up with a set of double pointed needles set up for circular knitting. At first it was confusing to have a set of needles flying around willy-nilly, but once I got the hang of it (just concentrate on the needle with your working stitches and the empty needle), I made a nice little cuff.

I do have to say, knitting with a set of needles sticking out every which way is still a bit intimidating for me even though I tried it last night. I don't think I'll fully understand until I set up the stitches myself. 

All in all taking my beginner's knitting class was a great experience. If you are interested in knitting, I recommend heading over to your LYS (that's knitter's speak for "local yarn store") and inquiring about classes. I've found the best way to learn is by having the help of someone who knows what they are doing! If no classes are available, check out great online resources like YouTube and Videojug which have multiple video tutorials on how to do stitches.

A great instructional book I found is the Vogue Knitting: Beginner Basics on the Go book which is a pocket-sized handbook that covers all basic stitches (and even some easy projects) that is enormously helpful when you are in a pickle.

Now that I'm on my own I'm looking forward to creating my first project!

To see photos of my progress over the four weeks, check out my slideshow.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 of the "Tales of a Newbie Knitter" series.

Last week my hand was kinda acting up (I think I have a mild form of carpal tunnel (yuck!), so I started looking into learning how to stitch Continental--which is where the working yarn is in your left hand--the same way of stitching that the lady on the train showed me how to do. I remembered hearing that stitching might go faster and be less strain on your hands by using this alternate way of throwing the yarn.

Luckily I had some knitting project books sitting around, so I took a look to see if any of them covered basic stitching. I happen to have a copy of Heidi Boyd's book, Soft + Simple Knits For Little Ones, which had a section in the front of the book with instructions and diagrams for Continental stitching, decreasing and increasing. The instructions were quite clear and I was able to pick up Continental knitting quite easily. (I struggled a little bit wit the purling because my hand hadn't figured out how to maintain enough tension on the yarn when pulling it through the loop--I only began to work out a system last night after class!)

I'd been practicing my increasing and decreasing all week so by last night's class I was confident. This week there were only three people in the class (including myself). I have a feeling some folks might have become knitting school drop-outs. :( On the bright side, a small class meant plenty of personal attention. Diane came around to each of us and had us working on stitches at the level of ability we were at.

As a result, this week I learned alternate stitching terms like PSSO (pass slip stitch over), which when paired with a slip stitch and knit 1 causes a left-slanting decrease stitch, and YO (yarn over), which is another way of increasing when paired with a knit stitch.

Then I was ready to start lacing! Lacing is all about purposely creating holes in your yarn fabric to produce a pattern. Diane started me off with a basic pattern where I was creating rows of small circles.

Then I moved on to real pattern reading! If you've ever looked at a knitting book and read the instructions, it can certainly seem like a different language. Patterns are described by row with abbreviations for the different types of stitches or techniques needed. (Example: knitting one stitch is abbreviated "K1", purling one is "P1".) As soon as you are able to crack the code, you just follow the instructions (very carefully!!!) and viola! you're knitting lace!

My first pattern reading was a horseshoe lace pattern that required 8 rows. I was amazed I was able to follow along!

When I got home I tackled another pattern that was labeled for beginners, a feather fan pattern. Here are the results!

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 of the "Tales of a Newbie Knitter" series.

The Softies Kit is a new crafting kit by author Therese Laskey, and a follow-up to her 2007 book, Softies. What is a "softie" exactly? The term is generally applied to small-scale plush animals, often in whimsical shapes and designs. The craft of softie making his a far-reaching phenomenon, with Flickr groups and websites entirely devoted to the creating of these minature masterpieces.

Softies are all about individuality--many are made without set patterns and are stitched together entirely by hand--and softie artists encourage one another to advance in their designs and techniques in order to inspire one another.

After flipping through the book (read the Kaboose book review)--and even completing my own "Party Cake" softie with materials and instructions provided in the kit (view our slideshow of the kit and completed example craft)--I simply had to learn more about the woman who had put it together, so I asked Therese if she'd be able to take some time out for an interview, to which she graciously agreed.

So without further ado, get the 411 on Softies author Therese Laskey:

Name:  Therese Laskey

Hometown:  I was born in New York City but we moved overseas when I was a kid to the Middle East and I've moved a lot as an adult, so I don't really have a place I think of as my hometown. I live in Los Angeles now and I think I'll designate that my hometown from now on!

Occupation: Author and to support being an author :-). I work as a marketing consultant to media and entertainment companies like Nickelodeon, Disney and currently Electronic Arts in the division that makes cool games for cell phones.

How did the idea for the first Softies book come about? When blogs were first being noticed in late 2004, I spent a lot of time online following links from one crafty blog to another. I know, because of my bookmark dates, that I found Loobylu first and Claire Robertson really fascinated me, particularly the Month of Softies challenge she created.

I was amazed to find so many talented softie designers all over the world creating creatures based on a theme she designated each month. Where did they get the patterns? How did they know how to make 3-D figures? Where do you get nice felt???? I thought, well, there must be a book and I looked around and couldn't find one. So I decided then and there to figure out how to write a book proposal and how to get an agent and how to put it all together.

How is this second book a bit different? The Softies Kit has 10 new how-to projects from really talented designers, plus 5 of the best from the 1st Softies book, PLUS it has felt, floss and stuffing to make the Party Cake softie (below). It's great to have everything there to start sewing as soon as you get home from the bookstore!

Where, when, and why did you first learn to sew?  I learned to sew as a child from my mother who made most of my clothes - even coats! And I learned to embroider and knit from my grandmother. Both were really talented, but I have to say, I was more into reading books as a child than being crafty. Now I find hand sewing and knitting like yoga - totally absorbing and calming - a sorta zen thing.

How has your softie creating style changed over time? I'm not much of a softie designer - actually, more of a curator. For instance, on Softies Central, I create daily themes and feature softies from the best designers around the world. I think I have a good eye and when you look at hundreds of softies every week for the last 3+ years, you get to know who has an original vision and where all the cuties are!

Has becoming a part of the softies world changed your life in any way? It opened the door to an entirely new world for me....not just in terms of being able to write craft books, but also to an online community made up of so many talented, funny, nice people. I've been lucky to meet a lot of people in person by doing the Softies books and that has made all the difference! Plus [the softie world has made me fall] in love with felt and it re-awakened my love of working with my hands. I just wish I had more time for that part of my life.

Are there any forthcoming trends in the softies community? There is a huge influence of Japanese craft and design in the softie-making world which I think has led to more people getting into softie-making and encouraging people to 'up' the quality of their designs.

There are still lots of 'monstery' softies which are the easiest to make and great for beginners, but I think softies are getting more sophisticated too. If you look at some of the entries in the 2nd Annual Softie Awards, you'll see what I mean -- you could expect to see a lot of them in fancy up-market boutiques around the world.

Are there certain parts of the world where softies are wildly popular? There is a lot of talent in the US, and beyond that I'd say Japan, Australia, the UK, Scandinavia, Lisbon and Brazil/Argentina -- I think these are the hotbeds of talent, although I'm somewhat limited to what I find since I'm primarily reading blogs etc. written in English. Luckily I read a little French, Spanish and Italian so I can muddle through some of those blogs too.

Tell us more about the Softie Awards. My background is in marketing so I thought the Softie Awards would be a good way to get the word out about softies in general as well as my blog/book. The first one was spring '07 and we got tons of entries. That group is still up on flickr and now has nearly 5000 softies.  I did a special holiday version last fall and the 2nd Annual Softie Awards is up now  - I kept it to just 5  fun categories this time  and we're closing in on 700 entries with a week more to go. Then the voting begins which generates even more interaction as everyone can vote whether you've made a softie or not.

What projects are you working on? Where can people keep up to date on all things Softies? Softies Central - www.softiescentral.typepad.com for all things softies, plus I have a new book coming out in the fall - Zakka Sewing - 25 Household projects from Authentic Japanese Zakka designers.

More on Therese:

Favorite Color(s): Pink for softies - i do a lot of 'pink' posts on Softies Central, and then there are color combinations I like - red/turquoise; orange/pink, brown/teal

Favorite Movies: Out of Africa, The Bourne series, The Chorus, Il Postino

Favorite Music:  this is a little embarrassing - Broadway show tunes. But everything really except country.

Favorite Author/Book: I have a huge list -- including a lot of children's books like Alice in Wonderland, Wind in the Willows, A Secret Garden and a book that's coming out in the fall that I got to read an advanced copy of - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. For adult lit I love Daniel Martin by John Fowles and a new book that I'm reading now called The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman. My favorite in the craft category is a magazine - Selvedge - I can't wait to get my hands on that every month!

You can purchase both The Softies Kit and Softies  by Therese Laskey on Pricegrabber.com

Read our Kaboose review of The Softies Kit and peruse our photo gallery of a completed Softies Kit project.

Yes, it's true--the beloved tween/teen series Sweet Valley High has gotten a new face-lift with brand new artwork and according to New York magazine, minor re-writes to "update" the trials and tribulations of identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield to a modern-day setting.

New vs. old book covers

Book-smart Elizabeth no longer writes for the school newspaper, instead she pens--er, types--for the school website and dishes on an anonymous blog. Fictional-named boutiques and shops are now victim to the branding of J.Crew, Roxy, and Juicy Couture, and attractive young men are referentially described as being "Abercrombie-hot." With so many snarky references to pop culture (name dropping of the designer Roberto Cavalli, the TV program Heroes, and lip-gloss hunting at Sephora abound), this update of the series seems more like a product-placement lade Extreme Makeover: Fictionalized Twins Edition.

The twins themselves have gotten slimmed down and tarted up. Jess and Liz were always described as being "perfect" size 6s, now they have slimmed down to "perfect" size 4s. Yeesssh!

Perhaps it's just the sign of the times: Sweet Valley is no longer the quaint town, humming along in suburbia with brief flashes of soap opera worthy glitz and glamour--it's just become another homogenized, mall-ified, Everytown, with its inhabitants constantly trying to emulate Gossip Girl and My Super Sweet 16.

As a girl who grew up a fan of the franchise (although I was a little more inclinded to read the younger Sweet Valley Twins--far less boy-oggling and a shorter page count...but I sure did love me some Sweet Valley Sagas), I am a little sad to see that they haven't preserved that 1980s flavor to the novels.

What do you think about the Sweet Valley update?

Another week, another class.

I now know what it's like to be a caged animal. The store I take classes in has a mesh door they leave open to let fresh air in while we knit--the result is you can hear exactly what people who are passing by are saying. All last night I kept hearing people walking by cooing (and surely pointing) "look! How cute, it's a knitting class!" A pair of little old ladies walked by and said, "Oh I just love watching new knitters!" I half expected someone to attempt to throw tiny balls a yarn at us. Hahah!

I had been worrying that I had been doing something wrong all week because my practice piece was curling up on the sides. I thought maybe it had something to do with the fact that I had pulled the yarn out several times and restarted my work, but when I got to class my teacher Diane said that it was perfectly normal for a stockinette stitch to do that.

Who knew I was even stockinette stitching! Haha. Apparently that's what you call it when you have a piece of fabric you've knit where all the purl stitches and all the knit stitches are all on one side to give you that nice flat fabric.

Next I tried 1x1 ribbing, which is where you knit then purl a stitch across the row. The next row you duplicate the stitches you see in the fabric, so that you end up with columns of knits and purls alternating across the rows. What I ended up doing was inadvertently doing a seed stitch, which is where you knit one purl one than purl one knit one and it produces this bumpy elastic stitch. Oops! Guess it's all part of the learning process.

Eventually I started figuring out how to rib, then the class was ready to move on to casting off! Apparently there are many different ways to cast off, but we learned a simple knit cast-off, which I got the hang of fairly quickly.

Next up was "shaping" the fabric, which meant creating shapes in the fabric using decreasing and increasing stitches. This was quite fun, being able to dicatate an actual shape to the fabric, rather than knitting at the same width the whole time. I was able to decrease and then increase back out to form a little bow tie. ;) Diane suggested we also try increasing and decreasing in the middle of the row instead of just the end, which is apparently used in different instances to further shape things like sleeves.

Next week, lace!

For more images of my adventures in knitting, check out my slideshow.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 of the "Tales of a Newbie Knitter" series.

On Tuesday night I attended my first knitting class. I was running a little late (I had just got to the bus stop as the bus was pulling away--grrrr!) but managed to get to Downtown Yarns with a minute to spare before the start of the session.

I'd walked by Downtown Yarns a million times, but never stepped inside. The store was long and narrow, stuffed with shelves and shelves of skeins as far as the eye could see, arranged by color and type. Examples of adorable little dolls, clothing items, bags, hats, scarves, EVERYTHING were displayed throughout the store as sources of inspiration.

My teacher, Diane, met me at the door and directed me to a section of bulky yarns and told me to pick one out from the rack.

“Choose a fun color, ” she said, “it’s only for practice – it doesn’t need to match your wardrobe.” I was so overwhelmed with all the beautiful colors that were before me I just picked the shade that was the closest match to the bag I was carrying at the time – that’s how I ended up with my bright magenta hued yarn!

I took at seat at the end of the row. Surprisingly, there were a few men in the class (guess they're also tired of paying top dollar for fancy scarves and sweaters!).

Diane handed out a detailed lesson plan we would be covering over the four weeks of the series--there was a lot on the list! I was glad I had chosen this class over some other local establishments that offered only two or three sessions of two hours.

Diane began off the lesson by teaching us how to do a slipknot. I picked that one up easily enough.

Next we did some chain stitches by hand, by poking our fingers through the slipknot and pulling a loop through and forward. Not so hard, right?

We moved on to learning how to do a cable cast-on, which uses two needles to create the starting row. It was a little tricky at first, but after a few attempts I was starting to get it.

Now we were ready for the big time--knit stitching. Diane explained there are various ways to do a knit stitch, some people prefer to use what is known as the "Contiental stitch" where the loose yarn is held in the left hand, others prefer the "American" or "English stitch", where the yarn is held in the right hand and looped over. I had no idea there were several different methods of learning how to do one stitch! Diane demonstrated the English method, as it was the one she was most familiar and comfortable with.

This step was not so easy for me at first. I couldn't figure out exactly where my needles were supposed to come in and out and around from, but Diane came around and  redemonstrated the stitch for me. I got some help from the girl sitting next to me, who seemed to be getting the hang of it, and after a few minutes I was starting to get it as well.

Just after I got comfortable with the knit stitch, we were moving on the the Purl stitch. Diane explained that a combination of the Knit and Purl stitches are used to get that nice smooth "V" look all on one side of the yarn fabric. Yeesh! Who knew!? The Purl stitch is just like the Knit stitch, but a bit reversed, and this one was giving me a bit of trouble. I just couldn't wrap my head around which loops I was supposed to be going in or out of! I eventually started understanding it better right at the end of class:

I couldn't believe how quickly the two hours had gone by--knitting was both just as hard and far easier than I thought it was going to be. I know that's a bit of an oxymoron, but it's true--for those of us who are completely unfamiliar with the world of knitting it's like learning a completely different language--but once you start picking up a little bit here and then there, it becomes much much easier to figure out what's going on. And once you learn the stitch it becomes so very easy to do (kinda!).

Diane urged us to keep practicing all week, every day, and that's what I've been doing! I'm too afraid I'll start to forget the stitches and I'll be left behind next class, so I'm working on perfecting these stitches this week.

It's funny how many people have made comments about knitting or leant there advice since I've started this class. I was just on the subway today and the woman sitting next to me couldn't help herself when she saw me stumbling with my Purl stitch. She started recommending using what I thought might have been the Continental stitch or even another method called "Combined" stitching.

She took the needles from me and demonstrated the alternate way of stitching and told me that it was much easier and I once I got the hang of it I could be talking to people, watching TV, etc. all the while knitting away! Haha! I'll have to investigate it further tonight, but I guess knitters just can't help lending their knowledge to us newbies whenever they can! ;)

Next week I'll be learning how to increase, decrease, cast off and "slingshot" cast-on. I'll need all the help I can get!

For even MORE images of my knitting from WEEK 1, please see my "Knitting: Beginner Level" slideshow.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 of the "Tales of a Newbie Knitter" series.

I'm a little nervous today. Tonight I will be taking my first class in a four part series on Knitting for Beginners. As you may recall from my message board posting, I became inspired to learn how to knit when I viewed a Lion Brand Yarn fashion show at this year's Winter CHA show in Anaheim, CA.

I've chosen a local knitting store here in New York City called Downtown Yarns as the site of my knitting hazing--erm, I mean initiation--after reading a bunch of positive reviews online. Apparently they have a good selection of yarns, as well as prices (yay!), and a young, friendly atmosphere. Plus, they are right by Two Boots Pizza, so if I have to run out scared and crying from the class I can quickly take refuge with a slice of spicy pepperoni--the salt from my tears will nicely season the pie.

Why am I so scared? I'm not quite sure. Perhaps it's the fact that I've been thinking about taking classes for months now. Perhaps it's because I've told all my friends (and now I'm telling you) that I'm going to be doing this, so basically there's no turning back. I think I'm mainly terrified of being awful at it. Knitting is such an intricate and mysterious process to me at this very moment, I cannot conceive that I'll be able to understand it.

I will do my best tonight to be a quick study, an excellent student. I'm going to go early to pick out materials and beg the instructor to go easy on me. I'll report back later in the week on my progress. Wish me luck!

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 of the "Tales of a Newbie Knitter" series.