As summer approaches and people begin wearing fewer and lighter clothes, yarn becomes a little less popular for most people....but for me?  Still going strong!  While I might not choose to wear a heavy winter cap designed for sub-zero degrees (because, after all, this is the Midwest), there are all sorts of fun things to be made and worn that are more ideal for trying to keep cool in the Midwest Mosquito Season -- pardon me, I meant to say, summer in the Midwest!  Hats are in the making.... stay updated!  And don't forget, Designs by Ruthie always welcomes ideas and requests!

Our house is a place of celebration today.  We're excited to to announce that there is a baby GIRL in this mama's mobile home of a tummy! Welcome, Little One!  Stay in there for as long as you need to.  In the meantime, your mama is going to play with colored, wooly strings, pairing them together to make fun, classy, cute and sassy designs, and then whip them up to give outlet to what her colorful brain had come up with.  Hey! Don't forget to check out her new designs!

As a Montessori Preschool teacher, I spend my days with children, and it's not surprising that they should influence my creativity and craft.  I come home every day with funny, little anecdotes of things that were said and done that made me stop and have the thought, "what is going their heads?"  I hear pure, heavenly delight in their laughs in finding a tiny puddle - and then jumping in it to try to create the biggest splash possible. I see wonder fill their eyes as they see a butterfly fly for the first time after coming out of a chrysalis. I join in with their giggles as they explore humor and say something that they find completely hilarious.  I see their quirky little selves, little adventurers that they are, as they explore life, and it raises for me the question: why can't I be more like them?

Let me enjoy the puddles and the splashes.  What does it matter if my clothes get wet?
Let me stop in awe to gaze at the incredible beauty of nature.  If you don't stop, you won't see.
Let me not care about what others think of me.  At the end of the day, their opinions are not what matters. 
Let me think outside of the box, unlimited by the constraints of what I think I know.  

And let me be whimsically childlike in what my hands create.