Just scored the last set of these from anthropologie.com this morning! YAY! Looks like my luck is starting to change…albeit temporarily.
Cloud Sprigs sheet set // Anthropologie.com
The weather is gorgeous here today. Just as well, I need a lot of exterior motivation for too many chores and to-do list items. Time for more caffeine!
I have a new design brewing in Mountain Meadow Wool’s Kaycee. It’s one of my favorite methods of shawl construction. Photos to come, perhaps tomorrow.
Am tossing around a few names for the design, but nothing is firm yet. It’s so good to finally make some progress on some knitting again! The last month and a half has been a real whirlwind.
Am thinking I need to watch Magnolia again to really solidify the design. As if the other 300 times weren’t enough…
If you ever want to feel inferior try to sing along with Ella Fitzgerald. or Aretha Franklin. or especially Whitney Houston. Just forget about it.
More than anyone else in my formative years, there was one person that made me want to sing, as bad as I was. I’ll never forget having her tapes in my walkman on FULL BLAST because her vocal timbre was so excellent. So sad that her beauty and voice are gone. RIP Whitney. You inspired little old me more than you ever could have known. (And nobody looked better in spandex and hot pink lipstick.) I leave you with a couple of my favorite songs of hers.
Took these photos to show the gemütlichkeit I’m rocking at my new place. This is my little knitting nook:
The wall is lined with bags of yarn alloted to different designs. Am trying to spin their “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” angle instead of the lowbrow “Why is she storing things in paper bags?” one. This is Portland, after all! (Though I am definitely not one of the people “keeping it weird.”)
The lovelies on the table:
The candle is my favorite kind ever: Seda France. They are made here in the USA and they smell like heaven. This one is one of my top 2 favorite scents they offer (“French Tulip”—the other is called “Cutting Garden”). The grellow action is two new designs. The gray one is for Mountain Meadow Wool yarn and uses their Kaycee slubby singles. The yellow is a new yarn I just discovered at Urban Fiber Arts when I was helping out there for the Seattle to Portland yarn train. It’s by a company called Caress Luxury Yarns, and after a chat with the owner, Ingrid Reimers, I am happy to be producing designs for another great American yarn company. She carefully selects only the absolute finest alpaca, and it shows. I’ve never seen alpaca yarn this amazing in my *life!* (Sorry, Certain-other-American-alpaca-yarn-company, you have finally been bested.) Now I have Mountain Meadow for wonderful mountain merino™ wool, Caress Luxury Yarns for sumptous baby and royal baby grade alpaca, Cindy’s Treasures and Toots Leblanc for fluffy-soft angora/CVM blends, and Bijou Basin for springy, toasty-warm yak.
Oh, and check out this yummy white tea posy:
So many different senses being treated today. They are soothing this savage (and horribly tired) beast, for sure. Now to just chase the plague from my house before my friend shows up tomorrow. Yikes!
Another gorgeous, sunny day here in Portland. This has been the strangest winter I can remember, for sure.
I’m sad that I have to spend the day doing unfun responsible stuff. Oh well. I will let that motivate me to go as fast as possible so I can still do some fun stuff before heading back to the grind on Monday.
The good news is, this will be a short week for me. A dear friend of mine (who has learned to crochet–yay!) is coming to visit this weekend. We are going to have to hit some yarn stores, for sure. Am also looking forward to showing off Portland’s positives like Nouvrei bakery in the Pearl district, the Japanese Garden, Barista coffee, and Council Crest. To be honest, the 3 day work week will also be quite nice. (I love my job, but I love sleeping in, too.)
I have some fun photos to post of some things I saw yesterday. Will have to do so a bit later.
I had today off, so ran around doing all kinds of errands. Am now feeling very clipboardy and checkboxy about my weekend. My things to do this weekend:
1. Take a hike in MacLeay park (bonus points for walking there) — maybe even have a midday picnic?
2. Cook a couple of large meals that I can freeze in individual portions to save time throughout the week
3. Do a bit of laundry and put together some different outfits for the week.
4. Start my new regimen of drinking “half my weight” in ounces of water a day.
5. Knit a bit on the fancy-fiber-that-I-don’t-have-time-to-spin roving rug, and a couple languishing FOs.
Notice how there is no mention of working on new designs? With my new schedule (the streetcar can be late to you, but you can’t be late to the streetcar) and its exhausting pace (about to start doing some schooling stuff to move into a higher position at work), I’ve committed myself to getting more sleep. (Note: this also is partly a vanity thing as I see a real difference in my face when I don’t get enough sleep. /full disclosure) This means I have to either go to work late (can’t, time sensitive job), or cut into my own knitting time in the evenings. Will just have to focus on quality over quantity.
Well I finally have internet service at home. I want to stay inside scouring my apartment and updating my blog with delicious photos (new yarn from amazing American company) all day (it was a busy week, don’t judge), but sometimes I feel like Maria from The Sound of Music:
…You see, the sky was so blue today, and everything was so green and fragrant, I just had to be a part of it…
So I spent the first night in the new place, and it was stressful trying to clean it up enough to put down bedding and get the bathroom ready for my AM shower, but it all worked out in the end. Crashed at about 9:30, plugged in my cell to charge, and set my alarm (on my phone—it’s my only clock) for 5:47 AM. Unfortunately, the socket mustn’t have worked, so my cell phone (which was totally dead) didn’t charge, so my alarm didn’t go off, so I was late to work. On the bright side, I got plenty of sleep, and feel rested and refreshed today.
Also, I froze my toches off all night because I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the radiator! I turned the knob at the bottom because it wasn’t warm, so I thought turning the knob would make it come on, but it didn’t work. Shivering under 3 layers of polar fleece—didn’t know that was possible. Oh well, will have to ask the building manager about that the next time I see him.
Tonight, more cleaning. A lot more. Then hopefully bringing some more stuff in. Yay!
P.S. – This post needs more cowbell knitting.
There is going to be quite a bit of change for me in the next week. Am moving to my favorite neighborhood in all of Portland, YAY! It’s a bit scary, but still very exciting. So far I’ve had two SUV owners and one truck owner all offer to help me to move. Here I thought I was going to have to twist some arms. Also, insert rant about trying to find affordable child care for an unforeseen move here.
The great thing is, I’m now thinking of a new line of knits for the home. Bathmats, poufs, pillows for the sofa, afghans, etc.—all very simple and stylish and…comforting. I always wonder if people actually do make knits for the home. Guess we’ll just have to see.
Also, in response to the move and accompanying downgrade in space/finances, I’ll be posting pretty much my entire stash on the site for sale at rock bottom prices. Stay tuned!
My new year just got a little happier with the publishing of this crochet pattern.
It’s the one people have asked about the most, and it’s now available in 3 sizes. Pattern is offered in written and charted format, and includes clear schematics for assembly. For the pattern page on my site click here, or to see it on ravelry click here.
I love this one so much, I’m already reworking it in 3 shades of Fibre Company Canopy Fingering. Yum!