Monday, July 30, 2012

much love, monday

Description of Photo
Hi everyone!
I hope you all had a fantastic weekend of fun and relaxation.
Here's what I'm loving this week!

Description of Photo
this illustration, found via Jacqui-- I'm so ready for autumn!
   
Description of Photo
this CG rendering of an amazing indoor pool

Description of Photo
this sweet knitting illustration

Description of Photo
this forest carousel... it's made of packing tape!

Description of Photo
these ballet flats-- a playful twist on a classic

Description of Photo
this fairy-tale pretty Twinings for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
(it's entirely possible that I just ordered this in all three colors.)

Have a wonderful day!

Friday, July 27, 2012

fill-in-the-blank friday: the triumphant return!

Yay!  Lauren over at The Little Things We Do has brought back Fill-in-the-Blank Fridays.  So let's get to it!

1. I am a down-to-earth dreamer and a chatty introvert.  

2. I have always loved to draw and paint and make things.  My parents used to wake up in the morning and come downstairs and see that I'd already been up for hours working on a new project on the kitchen table.  

3. I hope to give people even half the amount of love that I've been given in my life.  I've been really lucky to have had the opportunity to know a lot of wonderful people, some of whom are still in my life, and some of whom are not.  I'm thankful for every one of them.

4. I can eat the same thing for lunch indefinitely.  For weeks I've been having peanut butter and strawberry jam, a glass of milk, and either a nectarine or strawberries-- and it tastes just as awesome every time!

5. I dream of a sunny little studio apartment where I can live with my two kitties and a lot of yarn and fabric.  

6. The way to my heart is by making me laugh and being genuine.  A good sense of humor is so important to me.  Ooh, another way to my heart is by being kind to people from whom you have nothing to gain.  If a man is absolutely charming with me but rude to a waiter or taxi driver, I lose a lot of respect for him and thus a lot of romantic interest in him.

7. I am passionate about responsibility.  It drives me crazy when people don't take responsibility for their actions, so I try never to make someone else feel that way about me.  

I'm headed to my best friend Marissa's house for a long weekend!  Yay!
I hope you have an excellent weekend, too.



Wednesday, July 25, 2012

deep river

This past weekend was one of my favorite events of the year:
The Deep River Ancient Muster!

     For those of you who may not know, I spent pretty much every Friday night and most weekends involved in a fife and drum corps from the time I was eight to when I turned eighteen.  It was such a cool experience, and I made some of my closest friends through it.  While I haven't been overly involved in fife and drum since graduating out, Deep River is not to be missed.  It's basically a huge gathering of fife and drum corps that lasts from Friday until Sunday, in Deep River, Connecticut.  My mom and I camped out with hundreds of other corps members from at least fifty different groups.  Friday was spent setting up and hanging out at the campsite, then Saturday was a parade and mainstand performances.
Description of Photo
Parade-side knitting, naturally.
(I was working on my Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica scarf all weekend, and I'm about halfway done!  Yay!)

Description of Photo
My knitting attracted these two kiddles, who then stuck around for most of the parade.  Not surprising, really-- for some reason, children have always flocked to me.  I'm like Mother Goose, but 22 and a brunette.  And sans goose.

Description of Photo
I thought this Celtic/steampunk look was pretty cool.  I always admire a man who can rock a scarf.

Description of Photo
My mom's fife and drum corps!  Yay Mom!

Description of Photo
The Ancient Mariners, who are known for being a little...hmm... raucus, shall we say.
They always put on a wild show and their musical ability is second to none.

Description of Photo
I love that while they dress semi-uniformly, each member adds distinctive touches.

Description of Photo
The littlest mariner

Description of Photo
Oh, and Santa was there.  I guess we know what he does during the other eleven months of the year.

Description of Photo
I loved the stud detailing on these snare drums, it gives a totally different look from the usual paint or decals.

Description of Photo
This trio of kids cracked me up, especially the little guy on the right.  He's just doin' his own thing.

Description of Photo
Heehee.

Description of Photo
Saturday night was full of good food (hello, steamed clams at 10 pm) and lots of music, then we headed home on Sunday morning.

It was one of the best weekends I've had in ages.  I even made some lovely new friends (Hi Dawn!  Hi Steph!  Hi Carol! Hi Justine!).  I'm looking forward to next year already!

Monday, July 23, 2012

much love monday

Description of Photo
Hi there sweetpeas!
Here's what I'm loving this week.
Description of Photo
this page from Madeline

Description of Photo
this cutie, found via Katie 

Description of Photo

Description of Photo
these kiddles

Description of Photo
this quote from an interview with Maurice Sendak

Description of Photo
this little ship

Hope you're having a great week so far!  
I had a fantastic weekend-- more about that soon!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

moonrise kingdom

On Tuesday night, I saw Moonrise Kingdom.
It was one of the cutest movies I've ever seen.
moonrise kingdom
Y'know what's in that basket?  A kitten.
I've gotta admit, I spent a lot of the movie worrying about something happening to that kitten.
I blame The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Which I hated.
But this post isn't about a movie I hated.
It's about a movie I loved.
So anyway.

moonrise kingdom
One of my very favorite actors in the world and one of my earliest crushes, Edward Norton, is in Moonrise Kingdom!  Yay!
He is LIT-trally the only man on the planet who could make high-waisted khaki shorts look good.

moonrise kingdom
I loved the storybook aspect of the movie-- interestingly, none of these books actually exist as published works, Wes Anderson just wrote passages from them, but he's currently working on a side-project of animating the books that Suzy brought with her.  Yay!

moonrise kingdom
I absolutely loved the whole movie.  Although it did make me a little melancholy that these two twelve-year-olds did so much to be able to stay together, and it made me very conscious of the fact that I don't currently have someone to go on adventures with.
(Except my best-friend-in-the-whole-wide-world, Marissa, of course.  But I mean a male someone.  A male someone who isn't one of my cats.  You know what I mean.)

moonrise kingdom

If you saw Moonrise Kingdom, what did you think of it?

moonrise kingdom embroidery
This awesome piece of embroidery is one of my favorite quotes from the film.

Have a fantastic evening!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

much love...tuesday?

Hi there!  
Here are a few of my favorite things this week.
Description of Photo
this embroidered dress-- I especially love how the armhole facings were turned into a design detail.

Description of Photo
this adorable cake and cakestand

Description of Photo
these beautiful neutrals

Description of Photo

Description of Photo
this cute and funny cat clothes hanger

Description of Photo
this rustic bathtub although I think it looks a little out of place in such a formal, modern bathroom

Description of Photo
these gorgeous blooming trees

Have a wonderful day!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

handspun

handspun yarn
...Have I mentioned that I've been doing a little spinning lately?
The pink skein is from the same wool roving as my first handspun, and the yellow is for my "Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica" scarf.  The color looked a little too dark and flat after I washed the yarn the first time, and there was quite a bit of excess dye left in the pot I was using, so I gave it another rinse this morning and it's looking much more light and buttery, with more tonal variation, like it did while I was spinning it.  It's hanging up to dry right now, but you'll be seeing the new and improved version soon when I cast on for the scarf!  Yay!

handspun yarn
This blue yarn was my first try at spinning merino wool-- I was really surprised at how different it was to spin!  It sticks to itself much more, so it's a lot harder to draft.  I love the color of this yarn though.  I always love robin's egg blue, and the little swirls of yellow, green, and purple add a depth that I really like.  I have another four ounces of merino, in yellow with shots of color, and I'm excited to see if it's more intuitive the second time.

handspun yarn
This grey was my first go at spinning alpaca and oh my goodness, it was a dream.  
The resulting yarn is soft and lofty and squishable.  I have another four ounces of the same roving.  When I spin that up, I think they'll become a soft, cozy hat.

What projects are you working on?
I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Friday, July 13, 2012

foxes



performed by Cherish the Ladies, 
words adapted from William Butler Yeats

Description of Photo

Description of Photo

Description of Photo

Description of Photo
1.2.3.4

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

bears. beets. battlestar galactica.

So guys.  
This morning I was spinning away on this beautiful tonal yellow wool, which is going to become a ruffled scarf.  I'm really pleased with how it's coming out, but as I was spinning it, I kept thinking, "What is this color combination reminding me of?"
yellow handspun spinning wheel bobbin
And then it hit me.

dwight shrute the office
Oh.
It's Dwight-shirt yellow.

dwight shrute the office
If you've been visiting for a while, you know that I love The Office.
And now that I've seen the connection between my yarn and Dwight's color of choice, I can't un-see it.

dwight shrute the office
It's also the color of Jim-as-Dwight's shirt in my absolute favorite moment in the entire series.
(it's in season 3, episode 20.  I laugh until I cry every time I watch it.  ohhhh jeez, I'm giggling just thinking about it.) 
So now this yarn is going to be my "Bears.  Beets.  Battlestar Galactica." scarf.

And I'm kind of excited about it.