Dainty Kitty

Kitschy Crewel

I spotted this from across the room, high up on a shelf at the Salvation Army (which used to be a dance club/skating rink called the Bus Stop because the dj booth was the front of a school bus and the back end stuck out into the parking lot).  I walked across what used to be the skating rink, sure that it would have a large price tag because a.) retro is "in" and b.) the Salvation Army puts stupid ridiculously high price tags on some things but was delighted to find that it was in excellent condition and the frame was just as unique as the piece itself.  And what's the price on that little blue sticker?  $4.99?  Hooray! 

I love this nearly as much as I love my scrapghan.  No, wait...I might actually love it more.  Maybe.



This kind of kitsch is representative of how I'd love my entire apartment to look.  I've always loved that seventies look even though you'd never know it to see my apartment now.  My last apartment, that is, since the current one is a serious work in process.  I also found the most amazing hide-a-bed couch at a second hand store a few weeks ago.  I nearly purchased its green, yellow and white flowery goodness.  It was a bit steep at $250 but it was in fantastic shape and, honestly, how great is a hide-a-bed?  I'm sure someone snapped it up but it's been on my mind like a boy I met at a bar, talked with for hours and then let get away without a name or number.   Finding that bed, this picture and starting that afghan has made me think about how I thrift shop (mostly books) and I think I might focus more on this kind of stuff - the stuff that makes me happy. 

Upper Valley Fiber Festival

Today Ginny and I went to the Upper Valley Fiber Festival which, despite a little mishap with some spilled tea and an allergy pill I forgot to take, was a great time.  I went to the Wool Gathering last year with a boyfriend and, man oh man, is going to this type of thing SO much more fun with actual knitters!  We met up with a few other Ravelers who go to the Sunday knit night, too (which makes me think there needs to be a term for a group of knitters - you know, like "pod" but more yarny).  Yeah, it's much better to go with people who understand (en, in some cases, encourage - ha ha).   

There was the obligatory duck herding.... 

That photo was taken right after the ducks passed/around between us which was kind of cute.

And baby angora goats....

A handful of (very loud) sheep...unlike his pen-mates, this little Rastafarian was still unshorn when we left....

And of course, fiber.  This photo doesn't really do this skein justice - the purple is really more pinkish.

And some merino sock yarn because we know how I'm an avid sock knitter - ha ha.  I'm determined to finish a pair, though, and actually spent a lot of time this afternoon on the toe of a Marigold sock I'm making with the Panda Cotton I bought a couple of weeks ago.  I had to start over a couple of times but am happy with it now and get to start the actual lace pattern (gasp) whenever I get to pick it back up.  Oh, and I'm using the magic loop method for them - hooray for learning a new technique!  I didn't pack at all today, though, and am feeling kind of guilty so, around Mother's Day activities tomorrow, I need to get quite a bit done which means trying to stay away from the needles.

Back to the sock yarn....

And I bought more fiber to spin even though I've yet to learn to spin!  I bought a drop spindle last year along with some nice fiber and some practice stuff but...I never put enough time in it to really learn.  Unfortunately, when I got home I realized there was no tag whatsoever for this.  I know that I bought it from the really nice lady with the angora bunnies but there was no information on her shop or anything in the bag.   I think it's a mix of sheep and goat with a little bunny mixed in but we'll never know.  It's very pettable, though, and I'm sure it'll make something nice some day.

Chris - who inspired me to go ahead and write this post tonight before heading off to bed - has some other photos including a a cute one of her with one of the angora bunnies as well as a photo of all us enjoying French fries whilst dreaming of what we'll make with our purchases.

Beep's First Trip to a Yarn Shop

Meet Beep.  He's an UglyDoll.   

While in Destin, Beep and I took a stroll down Miracle Strip Parkway and came across the cutest little yarn shop called Unwind.

Beep's first trip to a yarn shop couldn't have been a better experience.  It was a beautiful place and the owner, Ellen, was absolutely wonderful.  I wish I could move her and her shop here (because I really don't like going to my LYS all that much - it's never a very warm experience).

I fell in love with the felted Noro bag with the big red dot.  And keep an eye on the scarf next to the pretty blue sweater. 

Her window displays were adorable, too. 

I also fell quite in love with these seventy-five dollar namaste leather bags.

If you look closely, you'll see the reflection of a striped bag in the window.  I managed to walk out with only three skeins of yarn.  Remember that scarf I said you should keep your eye on?  My mom admired it so I (pretty blatantly) bought a skein of the Misti Alpaca 100% baby alpaca it was made from (the pattern was conveniently free with purchase) to make her one for Christmas.  I admired the other colors but the color they had chosen to knit it in was really the prettiest.  Maybe by the time December 25th rolls around, she'll have forgotten....I love this yarn and I love this rib pattern.  It's so soft (I gave a piece to Jake while we were watching BSG the other night and he rubbed it between his fingers for several episodes) and the pattern is so easy but makes such a pretty scarf.  I'm definitely going to make one of these for myself as well. 

I also bought two skeins of Jojoland Melody sock yarn for my second pair of socks.  :-)

And that was our trip to Unwind, the sweet little yarn shop!  Later on you'll get to meet Beep's friend, Bop.  But that's for another day.

Besides finishing my sock, I managed to (finally) unpack and get things ready for the living room rearrangement tomorrow so right now I think I deserve some curled up in bed book time....

A Wool Gathering

I almost went to the Wool Gathering again today.  I think I felt like I didn't spend enough.  I didn't buy any yarn (or come home with an angora rabbit which were selling for only twenty-five bucks - can you believe that?).  I'm sure that seems strange but I did buy a drop spindle and some wool roving to learn to hand spin with.  So far?  Tremendously difficult.  I got a book at the library today, though, that I think will help me out.  I also bought a merino/alpaca blend to spin when I actually get good at it.  If there's enough (and there should be), I'm going to use it to knit the Bainbridge Scarf.

Jake bit the bullet and went with me which was nice but he didn't really have a good time.  He liked talking to the ladies from the weaver's guild (one showed me how to use the drop spindle but I'd forgotten how to by the time I left - I should have asked if I could actually try it myself), a man who raised the border collies that were doing demonstrations with geese and a woman who raised alpacas.  It would have been more fun to go with some knitting girlfriends but...you'll have that.

Yesterday while waiting for Jake to get his hair cut in Yellow Springs (down the street from where the Wool Gathering was held), I worked on a crocheted hat using Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair in Purple Mountains. It's a gorgeous yarn to work with out in the sun but the hat was floppy and not very hat-like by the time I had it nearly finished so I frogged it.  I've also finished the arms, ears, tail and part of the head of the Hep Cat pattern from the Elisabeth Doherty book but I'm stuck for the moment as I don't have a hook tiny enough to make the eye patches.  So it's been a weekend of fiberous stalls and false starts.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not but there's a tie between another blogger and I for the Knitter's Hunk.  Both of us had nominated the winner, Alan Rickman.  Kim, who ran the whole thing, put together an assignment for us in order to determine the Grand Prize and Second Place winners (I love that we're winners no matter what).  It was an essay question of sorts (ahem, she's a teacher): You have to knit one (ONE) thing for your favorite Alan Rickman character. For whom will you knit? Why? What will you knit? Explain your choice of project, including color(s), yarn(s), etc.

My submission?

My character choice was easy. Who needs something knitted for him more than cold, dead Jamie from Truly, Madly Deeply? This was the movie that made me love Alan Rickman, after all. I had crushed on him after seeing Galaxy Quest but…oh Jamie, baby.

But what to knit? Fingerless gloves to make cello playing easier? A hat? A scarf? A sweater? 

No, no, no…I wanted to knit something that would bring us together.  Therefore, I chose a soft, warm blanket - perfect for snuggling and cuddling. 

I searched and searched. Finally I came upon the Luxurious Bedcover from the Suss Cousins Home Knits book. It’s beautiful – I fell in love instantly. The book wasn’t kidding, though, when it said this blanket was an investment of time and money. Completely knitted in seed stitch with forty three skeins at $12.50 per means Jamie and I aren’t eating for a month (wait – do dead people eat?) but he’ll have lots of time to watch his classic films while I knit and…he’s more than worth it.  

I thought about switching to a less expensive yarn but, after doing some research, I realized nothing would make this blanket quite as…well, luxurious as Suss Butterfly. I was a bit unhappy with the color choices, though. The orange is stunning but not very masculine. The black is beautiful but it doesn’t pick up the contrast as well. I would have loved to have found a brown to match Jamie’s hazel brown eyes but they, unfortunately, don’t make Butterfly in any shade of brown. Blue it is – at least it’ll match my living room! 

So when body heat doesn’t keep us warm enough, Jamie and I can cuddle under this insanely warm soft blanket. 

Naked. 

‘Cause Alan Rickman’s awfully sexy for a dead guy....

* * *

I wrote it up in Word and added a couple of hunky photos.   Yeah, I was that kid in high school who used a large font size when tying a paper in order to make is seem longer.  And I was an English major!  I  liked my English classes, I just  I hated writing papers.  It's silly.  My emphasis was on creative writing - I wanted to write books, not write about them.

Anyway, we'll see how I do!

Also, this is my 101th post on this blog.  I've had several blogs over the years (Diaryland, LiveJournal, Blogger) but I think I'm happiest here.  I've made some great friends on each and every blog, though - the crafty web world is a very good place.

To celebrate my mini anniversary, I put up another one of Bertha's amazing banners and changed the look a bit.

I think I heard my phone ringing with Elvis Costello's "Monkey to Man" a few minutes ago which means Jake called.  He's making turkey burgers tonight and introducing me to the world of Battlestar Galactica...I have my doubts but I'm going into it with an open mind (and a crochet project).

And in closing, a sweet smile from a fella I met at the Gathering yesterday....

 

A Glimpse of Things Other Than Cats That Live in My Home

After the AleFest, Jake and I stopped at the grocery store for an onion and vanilla ice cream (onion for him, ice cream for me to go with the delicious oatmeal cookies he'd bought at Trader Joe's earlier in the week).  As we passed a cart of discounted plants and flowers,  I had to stop. 

I came home with a Cyclamen ($2.99) which I transplanted (pot on sale at Lowes for $2.99) as a thank you for my parents who treated us to pizza and salad at Dewey's (in fact I'm warming up leftovers right now) and a mini rose bush ($2) for myself.  I'm not sure if the rosebush will bloom anymore - I can't find any buds on it - but it was too pretty to pass up for a mere two bucks.  The daisies and the lovely Muppet looking yellow flower are what remains of the birthday flowers I received from the office (Season Three Sept 4th - woot!).  Daisies are my favorite flower for for many reasons - the fact that they continue to hold their color and live for weeks is just one of them. 

I also came home with a new pet, aptly named Wednesday.  Who can pass up a Venus Flytrap for only two dollars?  Not me! I transplanted her into a cute blood red pot I also got on sale for $1.99. You're supposed to pot them in soil made for African Violets so I'll have to make another stop for a bag of that and a mister (as in the type that softly sprays water, not the type that means a new boyfriend) as you're supposed to keep the soil damp.  Last year I had a plant (named Gomez) which had leaves that would curl up when you touched them.  Gomez was totally awesome but, unfortunately, he didn't last long.  I'm not sure if it was the transplanting, where I had him in the room or the fact that I couldn't stop touching the leaves every time I walked by that killed him.  So I'm really going to try harder with my second vaguely creepy plant.  My apartment is pretty bug free so I'm also resisting the urge to go outside and find a few to feed to Wednesday because...well, that's kind of gross.

Ahem, Wednesday is also quite a lush and spends all of her time hanging out at the bar.  It's a bit embarrassing really. 

And I leave you with a quote from Henry David Thoreau...and my yucca plant.   

Totes, Stardust, David Brent et al

I just ordered the Total Tote on the left there (in lime) from Joann's - a late birthday gift to myself.  The Krafter's Purse (below, on the right - mine is purple and oh how I hate it when people spell "craft" or "country" with a "k") I currently carry is just a little too shallow and a little too small.   It's cute with a "c" but not very good for carrying a crochet or knitting project. 

Monday night I finished my first Kolenya and found that thumbs aren't so hard after all!  I cast on the second one last night and if the weather ever brightens up around here I'll take a photo. 

Last night I went over to Jake's and we tackled the graphite mess left from the fingerprinting process.  That stuff comes up a lot easier than you'd think it would.  Oh, and someone logged on to his MySpace account at some point on Sunday - how weird is that? 

We went to see Stardust on Friday night.  It was very good but it would have been better if Claire Danes didn't use a British accent...and maybe if they hadn't dyed her hair blonde.  I mean, I realize that she's a star therefore the blonde hair makes sense but it just looks really weird.  And Robert DeNiro didn't put on an accent - I don't see why she had to.  One more negative remark - I've decided that Ricky Gervais has one character and one character only.  I loved him as David Brent on The Office but after watching him in Stardust and the series Extras (it wasn't very good so we only watched one disc) I realized that David Brent is all he has which is really too bad.

Anyway, I read the book, Stardust,  by Neil Gaiman this weekend and actually found that I liked the movie better.  So I now have a list of Movies That Are Better Than the Book because two things makes a list, right?  I also read Dances with Wolves and it was horrible.  Anyway, Stardust - very cute movie.