Saturday, February 27, 2010

reusing newspapers

I've been decoupageing. This is something I never thought I'd do, because I thought decoupage was lame. I've discovered it's actually the kitschy things that most people make with decoupage that are lame, not the decoupage itself (well, maybe it is, I'm not really one to judge what is lame and what's not). So I made some book covers.... That I then turned into books. And I hope they aren't lame.





They're both in the shop.

I always thought this would be more of a knitting blog. I do knit quite a lot. But knitting is slow, or at least I'm a slow knitter. Three inches of new knitting a week does not make for very exciting blog fodder. Books lend themselves to more instant gratification.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

It's snowing again....

But I don't want to think about that. Here's a lovely photo from.... I don't know, some famous garden in the middle of Paris (if you know anything about Paris you probably know exactly what Im talking about but the name is lost to me right now).



This is really here because I'm too lazy to take photos of anything craft - oriented. Maybe later.... For now I hope you enjoy these flowers and that it's not snowing where you are.

Friday, February 12, 2010

More signs from Europe



Please, interpret this sign. Hint: it was on the ferry between Calais and Dover (this isn't actually a hint, as it has little to nothing to do with a boat)

We were caught taking a photo of this sign by one of the ferry staff members. "Does this mean men are going to come running after you and your family from all directions?" "No...." He didn't think it was very funny.

Monday, February 8, 2010

snow!

It snowed here.... a lot. Well over 2 feet, and they're calling for more snow on Wednesday.... so that means more shoveling! I will be so in shape by the end of this winter.


Quinn thinks this snow is a bit too deep. He doesn't mind the cold, but he does mind needing to jump everywhere.

In retaliation I made this felt spring flower journal. Hand embroidered, I've never tried that before, I think it turned out alright. I kind of love felt.



More photos on etsy

Saturday, February 6, 2010

well, it's snowing



When I went to sleep last night this is what AccuWeather's radar looked like for my area. That's right, it was snowing in the entire state of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. And it's still snowing.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Signs of Europe, part I

I think I'm going to start a segment called The Signs of Europe. I went to France and England last September with a friend and we saw lots and lots (and lots) of confusing, unnecessary, or just weird signs.
I will begin with this gem from Mt Saint Michelle in France (which is an awesome place to go if you ever happen to be in the area.... the area of France)


What exactly does this mean? Not the sheep part, I can understand sheep crossing, which is funny but not as funny as red and black cars. We thought maybe it meant two way street, but this was next to a really big road with a yellow line down the middle.... and we didn't see any red and black cars.... or sheep, which was sad.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

cardigan!

Working (or not working) on an open book midterm. A stupid midterm that involves no upper level thinking whatsoever, just flipping through pages in the textbook to find the answer to multiple choice questions. Oh yes, this is supposed to be grad school. I’m not impressed yet, can you tell? Moving on….


Dollar and a Half cardigan (rav link). Loved knitting this, and I love the end result. Knit in Knit Picks Shine Worsted in the, um, Fedora colorway I guess? I don’t know, I finished this awhile ago and Fedora seems to be the most brown color there is. Did Knit Picks discontinue some shades? I don’t know, but as you can see, it is a very brown color. In hindsight I should have picked a wool blend, because this much cotton makes a rather heavy sweater (like as in weight, not as in warmth. Although it is warm, it’s just not light and fluffy like a wool knit). I like it though.


I have just discovered we don’t have a full length mirror here, and no one is home to take this photo for me so I am awkwardly standing on a chair in the bathroom, so bear with me on the photo quality….

Pattern is well written – went down a needle size for the lace parts though so I didn’t get poofy sleeves. My only real problem was the sleeves! So long! First time around I discovered this yarn grows significantly after blocking, so I had to rip back a whole bunch anyway to get it back to the size the pattern specified – and it’s still way too long. Look! No thumbs!

Real people do not have long enough arms for this pattern as it is written – seriously. BUT as written the sleeves are the perfect length to fold up, so I decided not to rip back again.

In other news my birthday was last week, and I got pretty flowers!