Glass bottles by Johnny Miller.
Items just look so much BETTER when they're sorted by colour, don't you think? They take on a wholeness that has the ability to exude joy and happiness no matter how ordinary any single item may be. Here are some pretty examples of sorting and arranging:
Ingrid Jansen's (Wood & Wool Stool) yarn storage
via flickr
via Pinterest
via design*sponge
(How could I not include books?)
Photo: Simeli.
I love these crochet bike dress guards. Originating from the dutch town of Staphorst, they are meant to keep one's dress, coat or skirt from becoming caught in the spokes or worse yet, the chain of one's bicycle. They would also make it way easier to identify one's bicycle amongst hundreds of others locked up within meters of each other at dutch schools, libraries, trains stations or any other public space in the Netherlands where bicycles are practically everywhere (even on the bottom of canals!).
To crochet your own, there are a couple of very cute patterns on Ravelry:
This one is by Dorien from Just-Do's with an open space for your lock.
Ollie LOVES bagels. I give him one with cream cheese almost every day in his lunch box and we all enjoy them for Sunday breakfast too. I definitely won't get around to making a week's supply all the time, but it was such an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon!
Kneading dough is the best.
We both need a little practice with the shaping part.
Boil for 3 minutes.
This was Ollie's breakfast this morning - toasted bagel with cream cheese (although I switched to organic cream cheese which he said he doesn't like as much as the other stuff - sigh). Next time, we are going to try adding dried blueberries...yum!
Recipe is from here.
The fact that I can sync knitting patterns onto my iphone is, I think, my favourite aspect of owning one. A friend of mine requested a worsted version of the Still Creek Tam so I thought I would see how well I could read the chart from my phone.
Here's the chart zoomed in a little bit:
Here's how to do it:
- open your pdf in Preview.
- go into the "File" menu and select "Print"
- on the bottom left there is a pdf pull-down menu, select "Add pdf to iTunes" (see below)
- open iTunes with your phone connected, go into "Books" and your pdf's should be there
- select which files you would like to sync and then click on Sync and voilá! your pdf will be in your iBooks!
Source: Pinterest
Looking up makes you feel good. Here are some inspiring ceilings:
Painted chevrons, gold-painted crown moulding and a wedding cake chandelier - I love this. Source: Apartment Therapy.
Silver painted ceiling. Source: Pinterest.
Bold red-painted ceiling. Source: Design Shimmer
Gorgeous moulding with contemporary. Source: Pinterest.
Ditto but with traditional (this is the morning room at Clarence House). Source: Pinterest
Wooden beams - strength in contrast. Source: Beauty and Grace.
Variation in texture. Source: unknown.
I have recently discovered that making treasury lists on Etsy is fun.
above: Emma Cassi's home from Design*Sponge
Now is the time for me is to get my rear in gear and carve out a sewing corner. Ollie has been asking me if I can teach him to sew therefore it would be nice if we had a spot where things can be left out. Having to put heaps of fabric away before mealtime after working at the dining table will only lead to one outcome - next to no sewing. These workspaces, while some are not necessarily dedicated to sewing, inspire me to get started right away!
from nordicdesign.ca
from Design*Sponge
from Darling Dexter
Love that blue lamp with the rug.
I've been wearing the same hat every day for a couple of months now so it's time for some new ones. These are my favourites. Clockwise from top left: Rosebud by Jared Flood, hat in English rib and stripes by Garnstudio (free!), Oak Knot by Juju Vail and Susan Cooper, published in Juju's Loops and Viveca by Berocco (free!).
These are my current favourite children's hat patterns. Clockwise from top left: Hrönn's Nightcap by Lucinda Guy, yalliejane's Spritely Hat by Kayla Dyches, venusintweed's Capucine by Adela Illichmanova (free!) and Sweet Hex Child's Hood by Lisa Shroyer (also free!).
What are your knitting plans and favourite patterns for the New Year?
Just popping in to say hi and hope that you're having a fun and restful holiday with family and friends. The photo above is Christmas dinner dessert at my sister's - ginger cakes with chocolate ganache drizzled on top - definitely the highlight of my day. I probably won't be back until the New Year so best wishes to you all. Now back to drinking coffee, wiping runny noses, and assembling pirate ships!
The whale cardigan is coming along. I am up to the armholes so have started sleeve number one. Last night, it took me three cast-ons to realize I had grabbed dpn's three sizes too large. Um, yeah.
Spent the afternoon at my sister's "in the countryside" as Ollie likes to put it. Hercules the horse loves a pat on the nose, the old barn is leaning a little more, the apple tree is bare and the birds have eaten all the suet!
These are gifts for my niece and nephew. Pattern is Diane Soucy's Children's Mukluk Slippers with 8-stitch cable owl motif for the instep. I used Jakobsdals Othello (40% wool, 40% acrylic and 20% alpaca) held double on 4.5mm needles.
The pattern is simple and the slippers are quick to knit up with only one seam to be sewn at the middle of the sole. The instep is completed with short rows and then the cuff is worked in the round - easy, thank goodness 'cuz I had to knock these out fast; I'm trying so hard to get this finished for O in time.
Even though it's obviously not real ice and snow, the frozen dacha from Dr. Zhivago is still, for me, one of the most beautiful image sequences in film.
I can hear the bells on the sleigh as they approach the house, a beautiful combination of humble and grand architecture.
Some more dachas (although not frozen):
I finally cast on this week for Ollie's whale sweater. He originally wanted dolphins and I tried hard to come up with a decent chart for those but sperm whales work so much better and he's excited about that. Sadly, I won't have it ready for Christmas since the Stroll Sport I ordered from Knit Picks got lost in the vortex that is the Canadian postal system. Anyways, I've got it now and knitting this is really fun! I'm trying to do one stripe of colour per evening until things get too crazy holiday-wise.
The sweater pattern is Mandy Powers' "I Heart You".
Ravelry page is here.
I am so loving Pinterest these days. Having a place to plop all things practical, helpful and inspiring is genius. My pins are here if you want to take a boo. Let's follow each other!
