sagan all my love

My inner nerd needs to come out for a second to tell you about these hilarious (to me anyway) scientist valentines you can use to share your love of Curie, Newton, Einstein, Sagan, or Darwin while you show how much you care. Have a wonderful weekend, Valentine's Day, and Chinese New Year!

journal pages

I finished three signatures for my Paris travelogue as well as four more to bind into other journals. I made mine on the less embellished side so that I can add things as I go along. I also left out the fabric bits on the pages - might try that technique in the future, but I'm happy with just using paper for now.

instant photo gratification

Taking this Remains of the Day class got me thinking about easier ways to journal photographs. Although digital cameras are very convenient and I no longer have to leave the house to get film developed, there are times when I just don't want to go through all the steps to get a photo printed (wait for computer to boot up, find the right cables to connect the camera, curse at crappy photo editing software, curse at printer for running out of ink halfway through the picture, curse at myself for not taking a better photo in the first place, etc). I recently found out about the Fuji Instax Mini Camera which looks like a fun and simple alternative and would be great for journaling on the go.

And because I would have to embrace the wabi-sabi nature of instant photos, my perfectionist self can just accept what comes out of the camera and not have to fuss with editing, etc. Now if I can just get someone to buy one for me...

Creature Comforts is hosting a giveaway of your choice between a Fuji Instax Mini or SLR Sloop camera bag - go to this post to make your entry.

shabby labby ding dong

In Remains of the Day, Mary Ann demonstrates how to use miscellaneous scraps (paper, fabric, and other odds and ends) to give her journals that wonderful shabby look. This is what initially attracted me to the class. I have a LOT of that kind of stuff, and ever since we moved into a smaller house a few years ago, the boxes of ephemera were becoming an albatross. I was prepared to let it all go last fall but heard about this class before I had a chance. Now I can put all the “remains" I've collected to good use! Here are the journal pages I started yesterday.

remains of the day

Several months ago, I found out about this online journaling class by Mary Ann Moss. Since then, more and more people whose blogs I read have been posting about it and I’ve loved how their journals turned out. Now that holidays and houseguests are well behind me, I decided to sign up and get in on the fun, too. My first foray into this journaling style is actually going to be a travelogue of our Paris trip from last year, so I’m looking forward to revisiting those memories as I work on my pages. Here are some photos of the fabric cover I just finished.




Notes & Materials:

-instead of 6“ x 9“ x .5", I decided to make mine 6“ x 11“ x 1.25"

-I did not have a large enough piece of 80 lb paper so I just recycled pieces of cereal box cardboard and sewed each piece in at a time so the cover would still be easy to fold. The thicker layer made it more difficult to free-motion stitch...I broke a machine needle but then replaced it with a denim needle and that seemed to help.

-I left the flap empty (no cardboard) to allow it to accommodate expansion in the signature pages

-tea-stained trim (on flap spine), decorator fabric samples from SCRAP, velvet ribbon from a Paris flea market, flowers from Studios Blackbird, buckle from La Droguerie

knitters without borders

As most everyone has heard by now, a devastating earthquake has caused terrible damage and taken many lives in Haiti. You may also have heard of a medical relief organization called Doctors Without Borders. I came across some yarn that donates a portion of proceeds to DWB and noticed a Knitters Without Borders badge on the page. After clicking on it, I decided it made more sense for my money to go straight to DWB instead of more yarn. If you would like to learn more, follow the links in this blog post and consider making a donation if you can.

a great start to the new year

Sock designer and author Cookie A came to teach at our LYS Common Threads last week, and I volunteered to put her up for a few nights. She's as cool and fun as you might imagine and I learned a lot from her class - highly recommend it and her book, Sock Innovation: Knitting Techniques & Patterns for One-of-a-Kind Socks. It was really nice to be able to spend an extended period of time getting to know her. The first night, we had a fabulous dinner prepared with some knitting friends: Nancy and her mom Caryl (who both own and run Common Threads), Kelie, Rebecca, and Shelly. The next day was Cookie's top-down sock design class and then dinner at a restaurant - no photos of that because it was too dark. Before she left town to attend TNNA, Cookie was kind enough to invite me to lunch with knitwear designer Anne Hanson, Anne's husband, David, and their friend Kim. Anne took some pictures at lunch but I was too shy to ask her to send me one - luckily, she posted it on her blog!

hello again

Really have no good excuses as to why I haven't posted since August. I won't bother giving any except to say that other things have preoccupied my mind and time. I'm actually only here now because I was just given a one-day reprieve until our holiday visitors start arriving, so I thought I'd squeeze in some long overdue blogging.

My latest knitting projects include a pair of mittens for a Facebook Pay It Forward project, a Shalom cardi-vest shown below still wet on the blocking mat, and Silver Streak, a cardi-wrap still in progress.

Last month, some knitting buddies and I went up to the Torrance Fiber Fest and I cheated on my yarn diet to acquire some gorgeous Malabrigo Silky Merino. Kelie has more photos of our road trip here.

And just a few days ago, our weekly knitting group held our annual White Elephant and I ended up with some lovely Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock.

And then Wendy gave me this beautiful Araucania Ruca that she picked up during her NYC trip. It's made of 100% sugar cane - so cool and so perfect for my inner pastry chef - love it!

Well, I should really stop procrastinating and get back to getting the house ready for our houseguests. Happy Holidays everyone!