Dresser Update

so I have this old dresser, a freebie from my college roommate. It was a freebie to her. Back then I got it and it was a wacky green with wooden handles. Very farmhouse.

I got the bright idea to paint it a crazy purple (i still love that color, i think it's very dramatic.), take off the hardware and...do nothing else with it for like 5 years. Here it sits, housing lots of sewing doo dads.



And here it is now, still housing sewing doo dads, but in a much more stylish way.


With minimal begging, BF installed some knobs and a fun little handle. Although I am sort of over decals, i still have an inner squeal every time I see this one.

Now here's where we talk a bit about a shift that I am seeing in many of my creative endeavors. You see, those handles are ever so slightly not perfectly aligned. And ya know what? That's okay. Because I have realized that the vision of perfection I have in my mind is the greatest reason why it takes me, oh, EONS to finish things. I am really finding it easy to accept Good Enough these days. Because Good Enough is better in about a thousand different ways than Half Finished.

On Napping

[Taken on Sunday]

Ravelympics Redux

Yay! Another knitted thing! Two, actually!

These are socks that I made during the Ravelympics, a super cute little knitting Olympics hosted by the knitting Cyber-Leviathan, Ravelry. (I really just wanted to use the word Leviathan. I heard it last night during a show about dinosaurs and have been itching to use it since. It's a great word, leviathan.)

I want to interrupt this post to say that the slow photo uploading times of Blogger, combined with the generally terrible upload speeds of Knology mean that I have been sitting here watching those gray dashes whirl around that yellow triangle for some time now. That's annoying.

so, here are my socks! Let me just say once again, in case I have never said it on this blog before: handknit socks are one of life's greatest pleasures. If you ever by chance happen to save a knitter's life and they want to know how to repay you, you should ask for handknit socks. Everyone that knows good things should have at least one pair. But don't ask me for them; they are a pain in the ass. I am a slow knitter, and although i had lots of Real Life type things slowing me down, I persevered. Yay! Be all that you can be! Wait no, that's the Army.



Top photo is wildly inaccurate in regards to color, but that's ok. Bottom photo is probably closest, although they are a bit greener than that. Lovely all the same. Sigh.

One thing I have been trying to do lately is take part in all manner of challenges and what not. Meeting my goals makes me feel like I am actually accomplishing something. That has really become important to me. I did the Ravelympics and am currently taking part in two challenges at the gym. Being competitive and really wanting to feel obligated in some way to anything Outside the Home is helping to define my days a bit. And that's nice.

what about you? Did you knit? Did you crochet? Did you finish?

As a side note, I would like to say that I really enjoyed the Real Olympics this year. I watched a LOT of them, and I like how there are sports that are fun for People Who Don't Like Sports. Like biathlon is my new fave. Curling is up there too. LOVE skeleton, if for no other reason than to giggle at the terrible angle at which athletes are shot at the start. Spandex, running, full-on butt shot...not so cute. And also if you are a weepy sap like me, you get a kick out of seeing people achieve their dreams, try their hardest, and put on display all the good things that there are in the spirit of competing. What? No, I wasn't crying when the whole arena gave the Georgians a standing ovation. i just had something in my eye.

Oh! Knitting details:

Pattern: Embossed Leaves (found in the Best of Interweave Socks or some such thing)
Yarn: Classic Elite Alpaca Sox
Needles: US2's for the ribbing, 1's for the socks

On Screenprinting and Paying Attention

It's been a while since we spoke of failure around here.

I got Lena Corwin's Printing By Hand for Christmas. I had been itching to learn screen printing, and printing in general, and this book finally made me feel like the info was accessible. I have another book about it, but all it really did was confuse me. Not Lena! I got so excited about it that I made up a stencil, devised my first project, got all the materials out, and got started. I was bound for success.

And because I know myself, i read the instructions twice. Before even starting. I re-read each step as I worked it, and this is what happened:

A lovely, clear stencil all ready to go. BUT- I read the instructions, but not the bottles. I used screen filler instead of drawing fluid, and thusly ruined my screen. The project never got off the ground. Well it did get off the ground, but then crashed and burned.

But now we get the the annoying part of the post where I tell you the bright side: I ordered plenty more screen fabric and some more inks for cheap on Dick Blick. I got over the crushing fear of failure (again, it's a recurring theme here for some reason. This blog should be called Fear of Failure is the New Awesome. Only it's not the New Awesome, it's the Goofy Stumbling Block Which Exists Only In My Mind. But that's a terrible name for a blog, so we will keep things as they are. Anyway.). Also, the most fun thing about this is that BF came home, and was quite excited to see that there are screen printing supplies and instructions laying about the house. Turns out he is actually interested in this! This is- wait for it- a Crafty Activity We Can Do Together! This is pee your pants worthy excitement here. He never wants to do creative things with me, and for my part- i shoo him away from all my art supplies because he is like a toddler in that he picks things up, clings to them for about 6 seconds and then throws them down where ever he is at that second. So, I am thinking that this could be the beginning of Something Fun.

By the way, the intended project was to screen print some paw prints onto some fleece remnants I bought at the fabric store and turned into doggie blankets. We keep our house really cold to save on power (although the rates are so high here, I shudder to think of what our bill would be if we let it get over 63 in our house EVER) so the dogs get cold. And for about $3, two fleece blanket-like remnants with the opportunity for customizing- it was just too appealing.

Worth Mentioning

Like so many others in the blogosphere (I find it so strange that "blogosphere" is like a Real Word now. Huh.), I have been in hibernation mode. And again, like so many others, I am full of things to say, and they are all random and not totally coherent. It's funny- is this proof that things will find a universal rhythm if you let them- like that time i worked with 13 other women in a law office and within three months if you weren't on some sort of hormonal birth control you wound up on the Universal Monthly Cycle? Or is it simply that i have had too much coffee this morning? Anyway:

I found these two sitting this way yesterday totally of their own volition. I love their friendship, and the way that they stick together. These two teach me a lot sometimes. I only wish I could return the favor, but they don't seem interested in learning.


We have been in the most unfortunate position of discovering fleas. We caught it early, the vet has been most helpful, and we procured lots of very expensive sprays and medications and have been removing them from the house. Ever the optimist, I see that although I am SICK of laundry, the Spring Cleaning type phenomena around here is nice. I love nice tidy baseboards, organized closets, and switching furniture around. Although this does nothing for ridding the house of pests, it seems to have shaken my hibernation.

With the hibernation shaken, I made the Apple Cobbler with Cheddar Cheese biscuits this weekend out of Rustic Fruit Desserts. It was stellar, and I had it for dinner last night. And again for breakfast this morning. The cheddar gives just enough of a bite to the cobbler so that it's not sickeningly sweet. I declared the book a Keeper; BF remains skeptical. He says that it must contain two knockout recipes to be declared a success; I say he's inexplicably jaded with regard to homemade desserts. Bah.

Comic Relief is a great thing to have in your home. Even if it has fleas. She was restrained for the photo, but this was her idea. Honest:
If I had one wish, it would be for a space heater, so that I could warm up the sunroom enough to make use of it this morning.

I am finding the job search tough. There are no prospects, and because we have all we need in so many ways, I am surprised to find myself in an identity crisis of sorts. It's not sitting well with me, this trying to fill up my days and feeling like my sole worth is wrapped up in doing the laundry. However, I am pleased to say that taking my vitamins and doing as much exercise as possible, particularly yoga, is really helping. When I think about taking charge of my well-being, I feel better.

Lost returns this week. This is so exciting to me.

Bacon, basil, fresh mozzarella, and balsamic vinegar sandwiches are the best thing ever.

I've been knitting.

Hooray for February!

Can't Win Them All

Well, that didn't go very well.

I was feeling sort of badly about the fact that we use these disposable swiffer pads. In the past year we have all but eliminated paper towels from our home, we use reusable shopping bags all. the. time (seriously, i have gotten worlds better at remembering to bring them). But damn if we can find a way to make my best buddy the swiffer a little more kind to the environment.

Well guess what.

I thought i found it. I looked at a few tutorials, tried a few, winged it myself, and still- the right thing eludes me. It sucks, and i think it may also be because our floors desperately need to be refinished. Nonetheless, the only thing that makes mopping less fun is these towel swiffer pads. .

Fail, Fail, Fail, and more fail.

Have you made anything terrible and fail lately?

Good Things In Yellow

Today is a gross day. It's gray, it's cold, and it hasn't stopped raining all day. The dogs have gotten out of bed once today, and I am fighting so hard not to join them. When dumping my pics onto my hard drive today, i was happy to see lots of yellow around here- it cheers me up considerably.

Let's talk first about the second attempt at ravioli. MUCH better looking, no? It was butternut squash filling of my own devising, and i must say- delicious. Served with a pesto sauce, and it also froze beautifully. I am so so so pleased with this.

The flowers that the BF bought me are finally opening. And aren't they pretty! I am sort of not allowing much in the way of spending on stuff like this right now, but they were the last ones left, with no blooms open, and you could almost tell they would be yellow. So he was sweet and spent the $2 it required to get me these pretty flowers. I am so glad he did. He's good that way.
And finally, a pictorial that is proof, i think, of becoming an adult: a snack in my house. Yep, that's butternut squash and brussels sprouts. We are working hard at eating well, and it's starting to show around here. It would also seem that my dorkiness is starting to show (starting?!?!?) because i thought the color combo of the veggies in the blue bowl was so pretty I had to take a pic.
I hope your day is bright and shiny, and that you don't have to try as hard as I do to keep the gray away.