CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA - GUEST AUTHOR AND CRAFTER LESLIE LANGTRY

Author Leslie Langtry loves crafts!  She knits, crochets, and does paper crafting, among other things.  She makes someone in each of her books a crafter. Even the men knit.  One of her characters actually wields circular knitting needles as a weapon.  That's fun. 'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy is free right now on Amazon, Smashwords and the iBookstore and .99 cents at Barnes and Noble.  Learn more about Leslie and her books at her website. www.leslielangtry.com. -- AP

My First Ukulele!

That’s right, at the age of 45, I finally learn to play an instrument and I picked…no, not the bassoon – but it was close – a ukulele!  I was in choir all through school (second alto – thank you very much) but never played an instrument.  Now, I have two teenaged kids who each play two different instruments, my husband played drums in school, and even the cats walk across the piano keyboard now and then.  So, I decided that since my one regret was not playing an instrument, that I’d play the ukulele.  That, and it’s the ultimate, portable instrument – perfect for a zombie apocalypse.  If a ZA happens, we will NOT be taking my son’s piano with us.

I signed up for a class and took lessons.  Here is a picture of me at my recital. 

As a crafter, I know, I should’ve made the skirt myself.  In fact, I’m looking for information to make my own lei and skirt.  Of course, that’s the fun of starting something new – finding some DIY project related to whatever my newest infatuation (that’s the word my husband uses) is.  That got me a’googlin’. 

First of all, I’m a knitter and crocheter.  So the first thing I looked for was a case pattern.  I do a lot of felting, and I didn’t want just the usual, black, nylon gig bag.  Here’s what I’ve found so far.

 I’m thinking the third one, probably in different oranges in what I can only imagine a sunset in Hawaii looks like (hint to husband). That got me thinking of other accessories.  Since I can felt, I can make felt picks – which is, apparently the kind you use on ukes.

I could make thousands of these.  I just don’t have thousands of ukuleles.  But I could make some.  

There’s the tissue box ukulele or the uke made from an Altoids tin.  I’ve never really eaten enough Altoids to empty a large tin.  But in the case of a zombie apocalypse, where I was separated from my beloved pineapple ukulele, I could eat a bunch of mints or use a bunch of tissues and make my instrument (and have minty fresh breath).

Now, I can hold up my ukulele AND I can unravel the thing and within hours (have you seen me trying to get knots out of yarn?) and use it as a rope in the aforementioned zombie apocalypse.

Now, I’m off to find some orange yarn and bug my husband to take me to Hawaii before the zombie apocalypse hits.  Oh, and I need to practice a couple of songs.

What’s your latest crafting obsession? 

Thanks for joining us today, Leslie! I hope you get to Hawaii before the zombies invade. AP