Cucumber Soup

2011-07-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm moving!

Well, not in real life, just in blog world.

Why? Just because I feel like it.

http://flossyandkate.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlossyandKate?ref=pr_shop_more

Love you!

Leather and London

2011-05-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

I think someone needs to invent a camera that uploads wirelessly. Actually, they probably have, so let me rephrase that: someone needs to give me a camera that uploads wirelessly. Oh, the doors that would open for me if only I wasn't held back by my laziness to hook up my camera to my computer via a wire....

So instead of updating you on new things which are documented by photos that are still on my camera, I'll update you on London:

We went to visit the Harmatan Leather Company, where we buy all of our most awesome bookbinding leather. I won't go into details, because really tanneries are kind of gross, but I want to give an idea about the huge amount of leather here

So much leather!

Found this sign. Just needed to share.

And if you're in London, visiting Borough Market is a must. If you like food, it's more or less heaven

See, tomato heaven

I have lots more great Borough Market photos, I'll share later

A long delay....

2011-05-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't mean to disappear for such a long time, really! Stuff came up, bookbinders went on a trip to England, Easter celebrations, and the fact that it is WARM means I can be outside, instead of inside puttering away on the computer.

So I thought I'd talk about organic free range eggs. I never bought them before because I usually buy eggs at CVS and they, surprisingly, don't have a huge selection of eggs (eggs at CVS? Why yes, there are no grocery stores in my area, I buy a lot of food at CVS). But last week I was at Whole Foods (a mile away, so I haven't been going during the winter as much), and I bought some free range eggs. I bought them because I thought it was the humane and healthy thing to do, but I was surprised to find that they taste so much better than regular eggs. It's amazing. I never really even liked eggs that much, but these eggs are fantastic. I don't care if you're interested in organic, or humane, or health, or anything, you should buy these eggs just because they taste so good!

That's all, I hope you enjoy your eggs.

Things in Boston

2011-03-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

I love a lot of things about being home in PA. I love trees and open spaces and grass and not being able to hear my neighbors.

But what I love most about Boston are subways. I like Boston a lot for many reasons, but I think that subways are one of the best inventions ever.

On that note, here are some messages I found in the subway:

Also, here is one last photo of winter. We had some wet snow on a warm day a few weeks ago. It stuck to everything and was pretty.

The other day I was walking past this statue on my way yoga. Two guys stopped me and said "Hello, we are visiting from China, who is this man on the horse?" I then tried to very concisely summarize the American Revolution. Finally, my history degree came in useful!

Woof.

2011-03-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

I really want a dog. Really. Sadly, my apartment building doesn’t allow dogs, and I really love my apartment. Also, since I go home via train, I would need to find something to do with Mr. Doggie when I went home. So really it’s not a good idea right now, so for now I just oogle at the pretty puppies that are around my neighborhood.

But then last night I had a dream that I impulsively purchased a baby dachshund from the pet store. Now, I realize that buying pets on impulse and from a pet store are both very bad ideas, but my judgment was a bit impaired – I was asleep. But the dachshund was tiny…. Really really tiny, about the size of my thumb. Pretty much the cutest thing ever, and I could probably have one of them in my apartment. Could someone please invent a dog that’s the size of a hamster??

<---my Pennsylvania dog, Quinn

Now I'm going to go somewhere outside my apartment, because the hallway is being painted and it doesn't smell great.

Also, I've had cereal for breakfast and lunch today. What's for dinner?

What I found....

2011-02-27T04:09:00.000-08:00

I found these while walking through Longwood Gardens last year, they're called Buddha Hands (if I remember....)

And then I saw them at Whole Foods the other day. Terrifying. Or maybe delicious.

Finally, a FO. And a Chinese New Year.

2011-02-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

A very belated FO, the Slinky Ribs sweater from Custom Knitting – I finished this back in August! This is a great book, and this is a great pattern, and I really like how it turned out. I fell in love with the picture of the sweater in the book so I used the exact same yarn in the same colors with no modifications. Which I guess defeats everything Custom Kitting was trying to teach me….

In other news, I started to repair this book:

So much electrical tape!! Do not put electrical tape on your books! Or any type of tape for that matter. On anything. Pressure sensitive tape is a nightmare to conserve, and is probably the number one way to permanently damage your object. If you want something (anything) to last for more than a year or two, stay away from adhesives, especially tape!! Even if it says “archival” on it, that’s a lie, there is no such thing as archival tape.

This tape actually came off pretty easily after applying a bit of heat, but it left this gummy mess. I managed to get it all off with a pick up square, but it took a whole long, sticky, disgusting day. And the sad thing is after I removed the tape I found that this book was in very good condition, the covers were still both securely attached to the spine. Why, oh why would someone do this to a perfectly stable book?

I might feel strongly about pressure sensitive tape.

Moving on....

I just got back from a Chinese new year festival – why it happened a week after the new year I can’t say, but it was really great. The dancing dragons visited each business in Chinatown, and if the store was big enough they even went inside!

And finally, I just finished making these cookies for a fundraiser tomorrow. Mmmm….

I also made a vegetarian sheperd’s pie yesterday. It’s delicious, I highly recommend!

Thank you, WHDH.com

2011-02-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

A dramatic way to describe the weather:

And just over a week later….

2011-01-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

We’re having another snow day! With MLK day this past Monday, this week was only 3 days long. It feels wrong to be so excited about this, since I do go to the most fun school ever. But it’s a snow day!!!

I have about a million photos to share with you. Are you ready? Okay.

This was my street after the snow last week. I love it when it's the sticky kind of snow that stays on trees and buildings. That's really the only time I like snow (except, of course, when it's giving me a snow day).

I finally saw James this weekend so I can now show you his Christmas present. I thought it could be a cooking journal or something, and I thought it was really funny. That's the biggest font we have in the bindery. Oh, the hot stamping machine.

Also this weekend we went out to dinner and we managed to pay with three generations of $5 bills. Amazing!!

I'm almost done repairing this nursery rhyme book, and some of the poems in it are really funny. Like this one.

P.S. If you don't get it, you're supposed to replace the pictures with words. Don't worry, you're not the only one who needed directions on how this weird thing worked.

I just put this photo album up on Etsy. I freaking love this paper - from Anthropologie!

Fishy photo album!

I'm also crocheting little hexagons. I have a whole bunch at this point, and hopefully I'll have enough to make a blanket soon because I'm almost out of yarn and I'm tired of it. This is a picture of the blocked version.

And this is a picture of the unblocked version. Now I could use some advice on this from people who crochet: Do I really need to be blocking these? Pinning and measuring these little things out takes forever, and once I'm done crocheting all these together I'm just going to end up blocking it again. I'm sure that blocking it before attaching will help the process, but if I don't do it will it end up all wonky since they're sooo scrunched up right now? I probably should have put this up top, I have little faith that I kept anyone's interest for this long. If you're still with me though, 10 points for you!

And finally I'm obsessed with crocheting this rag rug. I should have done something to show perspective but it's maybe 2 feet across at this point. I'm making it out of old cut up sheets, and you know what? Cutting up sheets is incredibly annoying and time consuming. But I just can't stop.... Must keep crocheting.... I would like this to go in my living room, but I have a feeling that really soon it's just going to become absurd to keep going. It's getting big enough that one sheet is only giving me two or three rounds, and then I need to cut up another one. I just don't have that many sheets!!

Snowday!

2011-01-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

I don’t know what I’ll do when I get a real job someday and they’ll be no more snow days.

This was the view of Boston from my apartment window at 8 this morning

And here it is now. Why is the snow sticking to my screen? I can't see outside any more, it's upsetting.

I’ve been spending my day off writing and preparing things to put up on Etsy. My newest addition is this Quote book. In class we had to do a series of case bindings that included titles. I decided my theme would be punctuation marks, and for all of them all I used paste papers that I made earlier in the year. I hope people like these, I have quite a few very similar to this....

I also hung some pictures on my walls, which is one of my favorite things to do. And I didn’t clean a damn thing. So far, a good day.

The Christmas Post

2011-01-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was the year of the book. Last year everyone got knitwear, this year it was books. Since I spend all day in the bindery anyway, this seemed like this best use of my time…. And seeing how stressed out the second years were around Christmas, I doubt I’ll have the time to make so many gifts next year. So books for everyone!!

I made a lot of photo albums. I figured they're more functional than a blank book, at least for most people. I did them all as coptics because I thought that would let them all open nice and flat, which it did.

I put spacers around each of the signatures (which were just one folio of 20 pt paper) to make room for the photos.

Do you see this paper? It came from Anthropologie - they were selling it as wrapping paper. It's actually really nice and handmade and beautiful, and I may have bought an unnecessary amount....

I also made about a million little pamphlets. I have some left over that I'm putting up in the shop.

German paper star ornaments!! Which don't have much to do with bookbinding, but....

A week before break we learned how to make boxes, so I went on a box-making kick. For really, I made eight of them!

I made a few more fun things that I haven't had the chance to give away yet, so I'll share them later (I'm talking about you, James).

I'm going to start keeping up the shop more, and hopefully posting here more. I spend all day practicing making books, and my bench is being over taken with models - it finally dawned on me that I could actually, you know, sell them. What a crazy idea!

Things!

2010-11-30T17:30:00.000-08:00

I re-watch the britcoms that run on PBS whenever they’re on, which is every Tuesday night. I’ve seen every single episode of Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances, and As Time Goes By several times, but I still keep watching them. I don’t really know why, I like them but it’s not like I think they’re the best thing ever or anything.

I love trains. Well, I love traveling by train, the trains themselves don’t really interest me.

I walk over a mile to Whole Foods every week to buy yogurt – they’re the closest place with Wallaby Yogurt, mmmmm….

I really like cereal. I could eat it for every meal. I don’t keep any in the apartment because I can’t resist it; seriously, it’s a problem.

I started yoga and I kind of love it, but I spend most of my time falling down and wondering how everyone else is standing on their head. I bought a bright pink yoga mat, with flowers.

Mom wants a black scarf for Christmas. I hate knitting scarves, but I’m doing it. I’m making something like the Foreign Correspondent's scarf; the pattern wouldn’t download right for me so I’m just kind of winging it.

Here's a picture of a gravestones, which is kind of morbid, but I like the flying sculls.

2010-11-08T13:38:00.001-08:00

I only like knitting patterns that do not have english translations. It's pretty annoying.

The past 4 months

2010-11-02T13:57:00.001-07:00

It's been a very long time since I've uploaded the photos on my camera. In celebration of my upload, I'm presenting a short pictorial history of the past 4 months:

Found this at work (well, my old work now).

This is now finished, and it fits way better than it did in this photo.

Bugs!!

My bench - I took this awhile ago, it looks way more awesome now.... And by awesome I mean lived in.... And my lived in I mean messy....

Repairing this funny little book.

More recently I celebrated Halloween by wondering how Paul Revere turned into the Headless Horseman

And sewing a curtain.

Boston

2010-09-26T11:45:00.001-07:00

So, its been awhile. But it was time well spent – I transported myself to Boston, where I now live in a cute little apartment and go to a cute little school. No, they wouldn’t like me calling it that…. A very serious little school. Where we bind books all day, eat baked goods, and wonder what that noise is. The bookbinding program is on the same floor as the piano tuning program, over the carpentry program and under the violin making program, so we really do spend a significant part of our day trying to guess what that weird noise/rattling/humming/bone-shaking vibration might be.

So far so good, and I’ve been knitting – I’ll get to that later in the week, can’t share everything with you right away can I?

Seriously.

2010-08-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

It's a grammatically correct, valid sentence. Surprise!

squash problems

2010-08-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

Garden update. Again. Apparently this is a gardening blog now, who knew?

So, I’m confused. I believe that I have both pattypan squash plants and butternut squash plants in my garden (yeah, I think that’s right but at this point no one can be sure).

If you don’t know, pattypans look like this:

And butternuts look like this:

And my squash looks like this:

Could they be interbreeding? Is that possible? Or could my pattypans just be weird shaped? So, they’re white like a pattypan, kind of spikey like a pattypan, and taste like a pattypan, but they’re shaped like a butternut and grew off of what I thought was a butternut plant…. Interesting….

In other news, mini red bell peppers!!

garden update

2010-07-04T06:39:00.001-07:00

I didn’t realize how big the butternut and pattypan squash plants were going to get. They’re pretty much invading the squash corner of the garden. But I have to say, I am impressed with myself. I started these from seeds – last year everything I started from seed was either destroyed by bugs or looked sad and sickly all summer. This year almost all the squash and cucumber plants I started from seed are still alive, and they all look surprisingly healthy. They even have flowers. I don’t understand it, but I’m not complaining.

Also, Turnips! I grew a turnip!

Also from seed. And a carrot. I have a lot more still in the garden, we decided these weren’t quite big enough yet so we would leave the rest in for awhile longer.

Mini red pepper plants (not from seed. I’m not that awesome).

Bush beans, pole beans, wax beans, purple string beans, and peas!

Peas! I was pretty excited about these.

Green peppers!

Way Better than Regular Yellow Rice

2010-06-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend Paul moved apartments. In short, it was really hot and everything was really heavy. But that’s not what I want to talk to you about. I want to tell you about the dinner I made Monday night.

We had no real food in the apartment (due to the whole moving thing), and we were tired of leftover pizza, so I used what we had and I think it turned out pretty good. I call it “Way Better than Regular Yellow Rice.”

First, make some Goya Yellow Rice. I’m not going to tell you how to do that, it’s on the box.

When it’s finished get out a big ol’ frying pan and combine cooked rice

Olive Oil! (A tablespoon or two. Or more! More can't hurt!)

A can of Great Northern Beans (drained and rinsed)

A can of Chickpeas (my favorite food ever) (also drain and rise)

A can of petite diced tomatoes (drain)

One Yellow Onion (diced)

A liberal amount of garlic (we use this jar stuff, I have no idea what amount this translates into in real-garlic world. But I always use a LOT of garlic. So use whatever you consider a lot)

Ground pepper, cumin, and paprika (I don’t measure things, I can’t say how much. A lot, I use a lot of most everything)

Okay, so that’s all in the frying pan, right? Now heat it up.

Consume.

Feeds 4 as a main dish, or 2 and one Paul. As a side dish it probably feeds 100.

Balls and beans. And bobby pins.

2010-06-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day I made this salad to go with our cookout.

Black Bean and Couscous Salad (or, as my 2 year old cousin calls it, “balls and beans”)

It was fantastic. And I don't like vinegar OR cilantro, but it was still good. We forgot to buy corn so I used tomatoes instead, and it was a good decision.

Bobby pins in the shop! These were so fun to make, I started making them and couldn't stop. I have about a ton already made sitting in a box, waiting for a home. I think the white ones would be great for a wedding.

not doing math homework

2010-05-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

All I can say so that the Summerfest craft show was a complete FAIL. I sold one whole thing! But I can say that I did better than most of the tables around me – turnout was horrible. I think I saw about 40 people who were not other vendors or volunteers. So in a way that makes me feel better, I failed due to circumstances, not because people don’t like my things. But a good turn out would have been nice– then I would at least know if people liked my stuff and if I should try again! Maybe I’ll look for another show around Christmas, but I’m taking a break for now. I’ve moved back to knitting:

Hopefully, someday, this blob will turn into this sweater. (Slinky Ribs)

Also, it’s very hot. Quinn doesn’t like it one bit.

Community

2010-05-02T11:14:00.001-07:00

My favorite scene from my favorite show

Good idea?

2010-04-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

If only Quinn's hair was longer than 2 inches.... If only....

newspaper and glue

2010-04-20T06:07:00.001-07:00

Decoupage may have taken over my life. Maybe. Picture frames, wine bottles, spaghetti sauce jars....

(in the shop)

I got a rejection letter yesterday that stated "We enjoyed meeting you and really appreciate you taking the time to interview for the position." Except I never interviewed with them.... Well, I didn't get the job but they did make me laugh. This morning I got a message from them telling me they had sent me the wrong message, and here's the REAL rejection letter - really, was that necessary?

Happy Easter everyone!

2010-04-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

And if you don't do Easter, then happy Sunday!

Most of my family was busy this year, so instead of our normal Easter festivities my parents and I went to Longwood Gardens, which was full of flowers and sunshine and children filled with sugar and whatnot.

In other news, I made a book out of a seed packet (In the shop)

I really liked how it turned out so I went back to the store and bough a million more seed packets (or 30 or so). It's not like these are available all year long, I needed to stock up (or that's what I said to myself)! So, anyone want some extra seeds?

Title? I don't remember.

2010-03-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

I’ve been having memory issues tonight. I’ve been sitting around meaning to say things to my mom or whoever, and then by the time I go to say it the thought is gone. And now I opened Word to write an update about something, but by the time the program opened I forgot what it was. This usually happens at the end of a semester during finals week or whatever, but this is actually the first day of the semester and last week was spring break (yeah, Drexel has weird semester times). This does not bode well for this quarter’s classes….

Oh well, here’s a photo of something:

Mont Saint Michel, France, 2009

Look what Quinn found in the backyard

2010-03-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Overly curious dog

Finds nest of baby snakes living in a stump

I saw five of them in there

By the time I came back with a bucket (I was going to put the bucket over the stump and wait for dad to come home to transport them somewhere more dog friendly), they had left the stump and were crawling all around the back yard. I hid inside.

Today the snakes are nowhere to be seen, good for me but Quinn is a bit disappointed.

bread

2010-03-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

I attempted to make bread the other day. I was surprised at how successful it turned out! I’m usually a miserable baker. It’s not that my baked goods turn out miserable, but baking itself makes me miserable. It’s tedious. I get bored. I have to measure things. I need to wait for things to finish baking so I can put the next round in the oven (specifically I’m talking about cookies. Baking cookies generally makes me an angry person.) Bread isn't as tedious though. Probably because halfway through you get to punch the dough, so you're no longer angry.

Before

After

Looks like bread, doesn’t it?

I used these instructions.* That’s right, instructions, not recipe. You don’t really need to measure or use any specific ingredients beyond yeast, flour and water. The only thing you need to to make bread is to do general things at generally standard times and you’re set.

The first time I added oatmeal and applesauce to my bread (couldn’t taste the applesauce though….). Today I made bread with raisins, cinnamon and sugar, oatmeal, walnuts and flaxseed. Way good.

*PS, if you use these instructions to make bread, note that it keeps saying salt is optional. Salt is not optional! I didn’t use any salt my first round and it really tasted like it was missing something. Next time I added 1 teaspoon of salt and I was set. You don’t need a lot, but you do need it! Also, I did use bread flour, which I could find at the regular grocery store. I don't know if it made any difference, but I used it and it worked well.

Oh my!

2010-03-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

I was on the front page of Etsy today. I was totally not expecting that. At all. Not even a little bit. What a surprise!

Thanks, whoever mystery person in charge thought my book was nice enough to post on the front page.

What’s on MY windowsill?

2010-03-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

Rapini broccoli. Since yesterday it has turned into a sad leggy mess. I think it’s because it’s been cloudy for the past week and they’re only getting light from my bootleg artificial set up. So, we’ll see how they survive.

Various herb and veggies I started only last night! So basically just dirt. There’s patty pan (which I’m very excited about) and butternut squash in here, as well as some various beans. Yes, I start my beans inside. I’ve been told that’s weird. But you know what, I’ll get beans before anybody else, so there! Also some poppies, basil, and dill. And a luffa plant.

Did you know that luffas come from a plant? Really, they do! And I found some seeds at Target!

And this violet that really really loves it here. It’s pretty much always in bloom. It’s a happy plant.

Also, here’s some knitting, it will turn into Slinky Ribs (I hope)

And YES I’m knitting it in the yarn recommended by the pattern. This is the first time I’ve ever done that. And it’s really nice yarn. And I want it to fit exactly like it does in the photo (the second photo, just to be unnecessarily clear), so I’m actually following the directions to the letter – that’s a first.

This is also why I don’t post photos of knitting – see, this is boring! It looks like a blob! A blob that wouldn’t even fit me – but the ribbing stretches (as ribbing does….)

2010-03-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

Can't complain, even though I don't think "delightful" is a very meteorological word.

What? Broccoli?

2010-03-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

These are my rapini broccoli seeds. Look! Spring! No, not really, in fact I need to keep them in my room because everywhere in our house where it would be normal to start seeds is still way too cold. But still, growing things.

Last year my mom and I started a vegetable garden for the first time. We had a broccoli disaster. I started 40 broccoli and cauliflower seeds (total, I did not have 80 plants). First of all, apparently broccoli seedlings (and cauliflower) get really leggy if they don’t get enough sunlight (fyi, no where in our house has significant sunlight, or our yard for that matter). So I had 40 leggy broccoli seedlings that really weren’t very far along when we put them in the ground (remember that sunlight problem I mentioned?) (I’m so into parenthesis today). So we planted them with high hopes, and within two days all but one plant was completely destroyed by bugs. Or maybe I should say vaporized. They were just gone. I would check on the garden once, and then come back two hours later and another row would just be gone…. And a few hours later the NEXT row would be gone. My one surviving seedling (of either broccoli or cauliflower, no one knew by this point), looked really strong and healthy, but never produced anything. So yeah, huge fail. String beans, tomatoes, and squash worked out well, but not the broccoli.

I decided I wanted to try broccoli again this year (who knows why I would ever want to go through that disaster again, but I do). But I went with rapini broccoli for whatever reason…. I haven’t even ever eaten rapini broccoli, but it looks good.

Here’s my bootleg seedling set up, a compact fluorescent lamp with a tin sheet to help reflect the light. I have no idea if this will do anything at all. Hopefully it will produce wonderful not leggy really strong broccoli. I don’t know where I’ll put the rest of the seeds I’m going to start next week….

But in reality they are looking a little leggy already. I could just be paranoid though.

We’ll see.

By the way, I got my rapini broccoli seeds from this lovely etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/HomegrownHealthy

reusing newspapers

2010-02-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

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.

It's snowing again....

2010-02-25T04:56:00.000-08:00

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.

More signs from Europe

2010-02-12T09:44:00.001-08:00

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.

snow!

2010-02-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

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

well, it's snowing

2010-02-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

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.

Signs of Europe, part I

2010-02-04T06:31:00.000-08:00

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.

cardigan!

2010-02-02T12:17:00.001-08:00

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!

vegan leather journal

2010-01-30T09:10:00.000-08:00

Finished this vegan leather journal this morning:

It's filled with sketch book paper, so it could be a sketch book as well. My favorite part is the button! It really is a vintage button, I'm not just saying that (I feel like a lot of people use "vintage" or "retro" to describe just about anything), it's from a box of buttons I found at a relative's house that probably hasn't even been opened for the past 40 years, so yes, definitely vintage.

The green thread with the flowery button makes me think of spring - which is nice since it's 17 degrees out.

pamphlet stitch notebooks

2010-01-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

I just posted these little books to my etsy:

They're simple little pamphlet stitch journals with images from old books on the covers. I love these things. Everyone I show them to loves these things. But I don't think anyone who sees this photo is going to love them. These pictures just don't do them justice, and I'm not quite sure how to fix it. Photographing objects to make them look awesome really isn't my thing. Some people can do a great job, and it also helps if you have a really dynamic object; these are basically sheets of gray paper, and, although cute, are not that visually stimulating in 2-D. I'll try re-photographing again tomorrow when it's supposed to be sunnier out - although I did take these photos in natural light, perhaps more natural light would help? But still, I'm not sure how I can make these look like a must-click-on item when people are flipping through the pages and pages of journals on etsy.... Thoughts? Suggestions? Random comments?

Mara

2010-01-27T20:11:00.000-08:00

Last week I finished the lovely pattern Mara (rav link). Used 500 yds of KnitPicks Telemark in "Northern Green" that I had in the stash. Nice pattern - easy but looks good. I'm not usually one for knitting shawls, I don't really have the patience for hundreds of stitches per row, so I don't expect to knit another project like this anytime soon. But I am glad to have that yarn out of my stash and turned into something pretty :)

It's been a bit cloudy and rainy here for the past few days (or months), and all attempts to photo this on a model have failed miserably.... but I think you get the jist.

Oh, Dinner

2010-01-26T10:40:00.001-08:00

Over the past few years I’ve actually started cooking. And enjoying it. This is something I never ever thought I’d do, because through high school I was more or less a cooking disaster. Yet out of necessity I started to cook. For over a year all I attempted was stir fry (key to a damn good stir fry: salt, pepper, insane amounts of garlic, more insane amounts of olive oil, and be sure to add some sort of beans into the mix. Mmm). Recently I’ve moved on to bigger and better things.

Last night’s dinner:

Cajun Style Baked Sweet Potatoes

Wow! So good! I've made these before. Super easy, and sweet potatoes are super good for you. Can't go wrong.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup

This is the first time I tried this one, and it turned out really well (not as well as this picture looks, as this is the photo from the website. My own picture of this soup looked entirely unappetizing. I am not a food stylist.) I added some barley too, because barley is on of my favorite things.

This is not complicated! I promise! I don’t do complicated food. So try it!

Hello!

2010-01-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hi all, and welcome to my new blog. As you may know, my last blog turned into a complete failure as I haven’t touched it for over a year. BUT, I thought that I’d try again, as I often think about things that I should blog about. Maybe I’ll be a bit more disciplined about this. Once a week, perhaps?

It’s crazy windy here today. I keep checking the weather to see if there’s a tornado watch posted because I keep thinking the apartment is going to blow away. So maybe I’m being paranoid….But really, I’m in an apartment, if there is a tornado where am I going to go? Apartments don’t have basements.

Blogs are weird, it’s like talking to yourself. In front of people. Weird.

In knitting news:

For Christmas I knitted everyone in the world (or maybe just in my life) a cowl. This means I have zero stash left (or zero stash left of nice yarn). So I pulled out of the closet this old thing that has been neglected for over a year now (much like the old blog).

My intention was to frog it, but I tried it on before I did and it’s actually kind of cute. So I’m finishing it and we’ll see what happens. I think it might end up to be a bit too tight around the bust, so hopefully something will happen there once I block it. If not then it really will be frogged.