Ringo is a funny octupus in crochet made by Laura Díez. She has written a tutorial in english and spanish. Thanks!

Ringo es un divertido pulpo de croché hecho por Laura Díez. Además, ella ha sido tan amable de escribir el tutorial en inglés y español. ¡Gracias!

Yesterday was earth day April 22. Skye from Crafting a green world sent in fun and informative post titled ‘Top 5 Ways Your Fabric Stash Can Save The Earth‘.

If you are into eco crafting you might also like to check out sew green | worsted witch | Abigail Doan | inhabitat what are you doing on earth day | nature moms blog | treehugger posts [streets are for the people] and [earth day - the new christmas] | this is my lab |

Bead Simple: Essential Techniques for Making Jewelry Just the Way You Want It by Susan Beal (of west coast crafty) and published by Taunton (March 25, 2008)

The book Bead Simple is a great concept, simple designs which are then made into variations by other designers and crafters who give their own personal flair to the basic design.

The book is very well laid out - excellent introduction and beginner instructions section at the front, very detailed “how to get started” and technical know how - perfect for the beginner beader. And there are lots of projects in here - this is a big book full of projects and their spin-offs. Lots of inspiration in here for the beginning beader

Susan’s idea with this book is to give the user a basic concept of what is possible with beading techniques and to encourage them to go out and create. There is probably not too much here for the more experienced beader, the projects are really quite plain and really rely upon the end user putting their own personal touch onto the designs. There are some exceptions to this of course, I did love the vintage button projects and the wearables - beads and ornaments stitched and incorporated into clothing and apparel are really inspired. I thought the charm bracelets to be quite charming and the belts terrific too. Other projects I thought stood out from the crowd were the ‘hardware store bracelet’ made using washers and jump rings and heavy brass chains found at the hardware and fishing tackle supply store.

Video and pdf formats available. Emily’s blog and link.

bonbonkakku is a new site a bit like threadless - design a t-shirt site, that enables designers to design fabric - readers can then vote their faves and the faves then get made into fabric which can be purchased from their shop. Current in store fave for me is the cute green dog. [thanks kylie for the link]

How to turn an old pair of jeans in to baby overalls/dungarees. Link.