I’ve been interviewed!
No kidding! I told Marie of Craft Arsenal that even though I’m a webmaster for a big website and write blogs, I’m still not used to seeing what I write out there on the webernets. It’s so exciting!
Why was I interviewed? Crafting for charity and my Index of Indie, you see. If you read, you can also find out what I do during the day when I’m not blogging & crafting, and my attempt to explain why I do it. I don’t believe I’ve ever hinted where I work before on here … not because I don’t want to, I just don’t really think about it. It’s the title of the blog, isn’t it – it’s Crafter by Night, which by necessity excludes Fundraiser By Day … but the two are not mutually exclusive after all.
The interview is to be found at the Craft Arsenal blog, which was begun, as I understand it, in response to the Southern California fires … Marie, the author, was rather too close to the fires for comfort, and has started an Etsy shop (Witchfire) to bring in funds to help out. She sells donated items and there’s a raffle, too. Verrrry nice!
Marie also runs Marimello, where she posts about craft events and craft-related jobs, plus she keeps a calendar of crafty events which you can add to. Check it out 
Crafting for Charity: Crafters for Critters
I can’t believe I haven’t done this yet, but I can’t recall doing my Tuesday charity thing on Crafters for Critters. It’s listed in the Index of Indie, however I just ran across not one but two people who participate, and it brought them back to mind.
Crafters for Critters is exactly my kind of place – a bunch of crafters donate their handmade goods, and the proceeds are used to support animal shelters. A new group of nonprofits are chosen every six months (see the list here) and right now they’re supporting greyhound organizations like the Greyhound Protection League and Grey2K USA. Both are organizations trying to end cruelty to greyhounds caused as a result of racing. Oh! you can donate to the organizations as well as shop!
Look! you can get stickers too!
A variety of crafters, artists & designers (look at all of them!) offer their wares periodically through this charitable effort, I see the group periodically through blogs I read: for example, the site offers hats and notebooks from misshawklet, paper pad cozies from Jill Bliss of blissen, items from my favorite stitcher Subversive Cross Stitch, and the beautiful jewelry from fellow Austinite Jewel Alchemy. Lots more, too – you can look things up by category or by designer, too!
Current offerings include … Some lovely ladybug earrings from Jeweled Elegance …
This lovely flower bag from chic36, all the way from Japan, which I might buy if no one gets there first (seriously, I was looking at a shirt about half an hour ago and it’s already gone) …
Little Pop Flower notepads from La karta … tiny little things, just 5.25 x 4.25 …
Or perhaps you would like some vegan chocolate truffles from Lagusta’s Luscious? I would …
Well, that was a lovely trip – isn’t it nice what great things people are selling from their own stock for animal welfare?
Well, you must excuse me now, for aside from noticing a distinct spring-ish element in my choices, I’m also hungry for chocolate now.
Weird Stuff About Me
So I got this idea from Lisa at U-Handblog… basically, I just post 7 things about me that are weird. Or at least, I guess I’ll be posting 7 things that I think that you will think are weird, but which you may not think are weird … who knows what you’ll think, really?
1. I love Agatha Christie. I love the mystery genius and her characterizations. I love her occasional meanderings into esoteric topics. I love her writing. I just love her. I have read everything (seriously, everything) she has ever written – mysteries, fiction, short stories, plays, interviews. Most of it I’ve read twice. I’ve memorized a couple. I used to own over 60 of her books until an unfortunate incident forced me to get rid of over half my library.
2. I am the only kid I know of who was sent to the principal’s office for reading too much.
3. I write music. I started writing music at about age 8 and secretly kept doing so – I write piano music, and if you know clarinet or piano you might recognize me working out fingering on my knees or in the air. I love music – I started playing piano at age 4, I can read & write music from over 1000 years ago to the present (musical notation has changed significantly over time). Being a medievalist, I took several medieval music classes and was lucky enough to have access to a great manuscript library. There I spent much time with photocopies in music rooms picking out old chants. Since the advent of Garage Band, I’m now writing mostly electronic music based on piano interpretations of chant melodies.
4. I have lived in 19 different domiciles in the last 14 years in a number of states & cities. Yes, that’s approximately .74 domiciles per year. No, I don’t like to stay still, how did you guess?
5. In my 14 adult years, I’ve rarely owned a car. Although I love cars, I only love working on cars, and I do love pretty cars. But I really, really despise driving – it makes me quite nervous, and I’m night-blind to boot. Doesn’t mean I don’t have to do it, but … Most of the time I’ve lived within walking distance of my work, taken public transportation, or just lived in a place where owning a car is a rather silly & expensive proposition.
6. The only country outside of the U.S. that I’ve been to is the U.S.S.R. (cue Beatles song, Back in the USSR). I was 15 then, it was 1991, so it was still Soviet Russia. It was an awesome trip, and life changing. I’ve been to Siberia! It’s really sandy!
7. Qualified for the college swim team by several tenths of a second in 2 strokes, but although tempted because I do love swimming, I declined to complete any trials because practice was at 6 a.m., and I am not a morning person.
