Tuesday, May 27, 2008

MIA


lilacs2
Originally uploaded by Pairaschut
Whoa, it's been over a week since my last post. If you saw my name in the police blotter*, I just couldn't help myself. Every afternoon for the past two weeks, I would bike home from school and smell lilacs for 10 miles. I'm not kidding. Lilacs were perched on every block. So, you know what I did?

Early one evening as I was leaving school, I remembered to take a pair of scissors from my office, and when no one was looking there was a -snip snip- and I had a vase full of lilacs by my bed. I'm sure the neighbors never even noticed that they were a few blooms short!

I have many more things to share ~ Soph's birthday gift, my wall of art, etc etc. BUT I also have to pack for another little adventure!:: I'm off to CA for some camping and then another road trip back across the US to Boston! This year we're taking a northern route, with our fingers crossed that gas prices are on our side.

I'll be sure to keep you posted!

*Mom - don't worry, I was not in the police blotter.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Boston's South End Market

The weathttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifher warms, and we start reading a million and one articles about gardeners feeling the call to get out and dig their hands in the soil. It must be a similar urge that takes over knitters because I've noticed many people blog about the growing number of projects they're starting before finishing the first. Well, I took a break from my spring fever knitting::

Project 1:: Clapotis


Project 2:: Evening Shrug


(And don't forget Orangina, or the charade socks, the buttony sweater, and the EZ sweater)

to attend Boston's South End Market (SOWA). The website refers to it as a "weekly artisan outdoor market". Every Sunday a crafters, farmers, dealers (vintage clothing dealers) sell their wears.

It's a great market, because every week the combination of sellers changes, but you know you can always go there for some inspiration, tasty food, and a good time in the sun. Yesterday I walked around the market about three times waiting for a friend and I kept passing the vintage clothing tent run by DAME Vintage. I was taken by a bathing suit they had hanging on the end of a rack, and finally, after talking to the lovely ladies at the tent, I decided to try it on. This suit is amazing, I love the flower pattern on it (yes, it sort of reminds me of an old bedspread), and it fits like a glove. How could I not buy it? Plus - just a plug for the Dame ladies ~ they were so nice to talk to, and they seemed to really care about the goods they were selling. As with the suit I was buying, one of the ladies said to me "I love this suit and I really wanted to know who would be purchasing it". Talk about service.

But back to the suit, now all I need is an old fashioned swimming cap with all the frills. I promised the Dame ladies that I would send them some action shots with the suit on, so I'm sure we'll have a great time at the beach this year setting up a photo shoot. Imagine - clamming in the suit, canoeing in the suit, sitting on the dock...

After the market, my friend and I popped into the Gaslight for brunch, and a great brunch it was. This place was new to both of us, so I'm guessing that it opened sometime between when the SOWA closed last fall and re-opened yesterday. If you're looking for a brunch with you plate overflowing from home fries, toast, etc., you won't find that here. But you will find some delicious, french-inspired food that fills you up, but doesn't put you back to sleep for the rest of your day.

I don't have any pictures of the market itself, if you want to see it, you'll have to come for a visit! I do have some shots from the amazing old pier building that sits at the back of the market lot::


Thursday, May 15, 2008

If I twittered...


sail.boats
Originally uploaded by Pairaschut
If I had a tweeter account, this would be shared:

Think of "chia pet" when you read chia in this post. Standing in line at the coffee shop, the lady behind me orders a "chia" latte. I'm waiting for my coffee wondering what the hell a "chia" latte is and assuming that it must be something new for summer. While pouring milk into my coffee it finally clicks - chai latte. As in the spicy tea. Why didn't I order that? And how did the barrista not laugh?

Now, back to work. And look closely at the graffiti in this picture - "Do Work Boston". Someone is telling the city with the most type A people to get back to work. great.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Spring ideas

From Apartment Therapy - two great ideas for displaying and caring for house plants:

The Wet Pot - to me it's really just terracotta in glass... Although, rather than buying the expensive version, I might try it with just a plain old terracotta pot in a glass "vase" that I can pick up from China Town (a store in Cambridge, MA). This idea is particularly useful when you're going to be away from your plants for a while, or if you're not good at remembering to water.

And another use for glasses with plants? Check out this fun one.

Meanwhile, my little garden's coming along. And I started a new knitting project with yarn that makes me dream of watermelons!

Monday, May 12, 2008

New Directions, rolodexing, googlizing, organizing

So, as I mentioned, I want to add more dimensions to my blog. In some respects, these are already things I include in some posts, but now they will be organized in a way that makes it easier to find them again, and it puts some of these bits and pieces into unified "themes".

In a few years when anthropologists start studying bloggers (who am i kidding, we know someone is already turning the study of bloggers into a dissertation), I want to fit into the category of "reference blogs". Of course this is just in addition to be a knitting blog! My mom always taught me that knowing a bit of information is great, but even better is knowing where to find the information when you need it. SO, with that in mind, here's an update to the way things are changing:

When I'm online, I come across so many great ideas/resources/tutorials/destinations that I want to find again in the future, but that I also think are good enough to share with other people.

Example #1 - here's a blog that is also a pottery shop in the Bay Area:

places [to shop]:: Fourth and Clay
And I'm going to label this post "places [to shop]", so if you (or I) are ever looking for something, we can just refer to the lists of posts with shopping.

And Example #2 - here's a blog post with a great tutorial:

links [knitting] - for an afterthought pocket from NovaMade


It's sort of silly explaining this in a post, but I thought that it's also fun to share the organization. So - if you ever come across something cool, you can leave it in the comments and I can add it to the list of links!

I hope you enjoy the changes*

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Between Seasons

*****We interrupt this blog to wish Miss Sophia a very Happy Birthday! And check back soon when her birthday surprise is revealed*****

******Now back to your regularly scheduled program******
It seems that we are still between seasons here in Boston - two days ago it was a humid 78F, and today it's a breezy 56. It seems that my knitting reflects the weather.

A cowl for today::


Pattern ~ sixoneseven's Dolores Park Cowl
Yarn:: Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande
Needles:: US Size 10

Modifications:: I added embroidery, and the button has a special feature ~ I added an extra loop of yarn so that on chilly days I could wrap it around the button to bunch up the cowl closer to my neck::



And for summer? I'm working on Orangina! For anyone not familiar with this pattern, it's a lacy summer top with a boat neck.

This is really a fun pattern, the pictures aren't great, but I promise some good ones when it's done.

And sometimes I'm still amazed that simple knit-two-together's, yarn-overs, and passing-slipped-stitches over produces such an intricate pattern!::

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

New Directions

I've been thinking about my blog space for a while, and I'd really like to update it. Nothing too fancy, just making my tags more organized which will lead to creating posts from different angles. These are design/structure ideas that are floating around in my mind and are hard to explain, but should make for a better "user experience". But don't get too excited, it's something that I probably won't move on until I have a free Saturday afternoon (preferably a rainy one with a good movie, so I won't feel guilty sitting in front of the computer on a weekend!).

In the mean time, here are some other new directions in my life::

I'm really getting into sewing!

I worked on a secret project for a special birthday girl {to be revealed in about a week}. And, after purchasing a new little computer {another new direction - recognizing that I can't have a windows-free life!}, I made a padded carrying case for the computer::



Pattern ~ Modified version of the Artsy Clutch from Bend the Rules Sewing

Modifications ~ I just measured my computer, add a few inches, cut, and hoped for the best! In the end, the case is just the right size, my computer slides in without trouble, and is as snug as a camper in a down sack.

Instead of using the cotton flannel for the lining, I used an old sweater that I had felted first. This turned out better than I could have expected - it adds just the right amount of padding without being bulky.

And finally - one modification that I didn't make - next time I would make this with two button closures rather than just one because the extra padding doesn't allow the corners to lay nicely.


Other than that, it's a keeper!

And the computer? That's a crazy small Asus eee PC with a 7 inch screen and a steady state hard drive. Not a lot of computing power, but great for traveling light.

Friday, May 02, 2008

It's been a while...

And since we last met, I saw~

Some contrails in boston that remind me of a certain cell phone comercial::

Got stuck in a two-hour traffic jam, where a few photos were taken::

Tried to photograph a bee::

Took more blurry pictures of the socks I just finished for my pop::


Pattern: Retro Rib from the Interweave Knits Favorite Socks book
Yarn: Knitpicks superwash

New detail: the toe-up heel flap! Knitting this heel was great and I'll definitely do more.

Happy Friday!