today jeff found a new friend. he’s a shy little guy. a real slow mover and he fits on the tip of a finger. the garden is in full bloom so it’s no surprise to find this little guy. i hope we get to see more of him.
in other news of tiny creatures, the wiggler’s and i are growing pretty big these days. i’m expanding faster than i can find long shirts and stretchy skirts and my train rides are filled with silent hurried fingers on my needles.
i’ve gotten one sweater nearly done (ran out of yarn before i got to the sleeves) and a second sweater started, well so far just the hood. just waiting on another round of skeins to arrive to really get down to business. the house is quietly shifting it’s focus too. we’re having a bunch of work completed on the hallway upstairs and the back roof. a room that i’m too shy to yet call a nursery has been painted and FLOR laid in place. we’re just settling i guess. and hoping the next few months don’t pass too quickly so we run out of time and focus to get stuff done. i guess i should add agility and energy to that list too. i’m just trying to be quieter. which if you knew me you’d know what quite a task. but there it is. the quiet before what i hope to be a happy storm of new voices filling the halls of our home.
i’m not sure if my idea for that post title refers to the knitting projects i have in my head or upcoming posts, but either way i’ll do my best to work on both since i’ve been more of a slacker than usual with anything creatively minded. ok, not really, but i’ve been really bad about actually documenting any of it.
so where to start, well let’s just say it’s been a busy year so far here at chez mess. we geared up our energy reserves over the winter and put them to good use by finishing some long awaited refreshes of the house. i’ll have to post pictures soon since that documenting part has been slow going, but it shall be stated that we have finished work on (another reworking of) the garden, our 2nd bedroom, and have slowly begun tearing off part of the roof of our mud room to fix a leak that’s been begging for help for over a year. we still have to finish the patio outside and the hallway upstairs is the biggest project left in the house, well with the exception of my studio that needs new walls and insulation but that one’s too big to actual pretend it will happen anytime soon so eh…
what’s with all the renovation steam you ask? well, we’ll be enlarging the household soon and we’re trying to ready ourselves before we have no time at all.
yup, that’s right, it’s super weird for me to say out loud still but we’re expecting. and here’s the kicker, there’s two of ‘em coming. yipe! twins on the way, sometime in late september/early october. these little rainbow hats are the first of many projects i’ve been mulling in my head and after a recent score of *far too many* jamie harmon skeins of yarn from the maryland sheep and wool festival, my hands they are a twittering with woolens.
next up, knit stuffed beings of some sort and perhaps a few sweaters. oh lordie, we’re in for a ride huh?!
yeah i’ve been a lazy poster for the past few months. a lot of swimming, sleeping, working and of course eating. oh and rearranging. jeff and i stayed home for the holidays (yeah it’s been a while since i posted) and spent all of christmas weekend rearranging the house. his office moved into the basement where my studio had been and i got some much needed natural light by moving into the back office. yay! now she’s all set up and i’ve been sewing up a storm. it’s good to be back. how’s about a tour:
hopefully Laurie will be opening up her goodies soon! i can’t wait and hope she likes all the goodies headed her way for back-tack 4.
this swap has been so fun to do. i love the idea of combining three different types of gifts. and the option to include food is always ok by me.
This year’s theme: Gold, Frankincense, & Myrrh
The first item is something that sparkles [the Gold part] – and while these don’t literally sparkle, i thought the fabric i used for these pleated placemats made me feel all sparkly inside.
The second item is something which has some sort of sensory aspect to it [the Frankincense part] – and how could i not share some of our homemade peach jam from our peach tree.
The third item is a small gift for your partner for Christmas [the Myrrh part] – and i figured being in South Dakota, Laurie might need help keeping her hands toasty all winter long, and what better way then with Eunny Jang’s Endpaper Mitts. These I knit up with aqua and gray yarns from Frog Tree. My all-time favorite alpaca yarn. It’s crazy soft and wears so well for years.
so that’s it, it was such a great creative jolt that i’ve been looking forward to for so long. i just hope my partner likes it as much as i do!
so many of our friends are traveling this thanksgiving so last weekend we decided to have a vegetarian fakesgiving to get everyone together and get our fill of veggie bliss.
adrienne and i, as usual, went a little overboard and decided that it was not enough to do in one day to make 12 lbs of pumpkin gnocchi and pickup up 25 lbs of apples to sauce up and can. yeah. we have a problem with boundaries.
so after about 8 hours in the kitchen we had, well, a ridiculous amount of gnocchi and 29 jars of applesauce to give out for the holidays.
and after dinner, well things got downright silly. first some back story, my friend amy always gives me the best, most hilarious thrifted presents. last year it was this amazing square egg press, which i just love, i mean who wouldn’t, voila!:
and the year before that she gave my friend chris and i a joint gift. a volcano kit! yes! i never made a volcano as a kid for some reason. and who knows why it took so long to get this baby out of the box. but why wait any longer, right!
we’ll have to wait a few days to get the lava flowing but i’ll keep you posted.
next stop, real thanksgiving. and for us that means mexican thanksgiving. bring on the green chiles!
today my little sister turned 31. i don’t think i can explain how insane it is to write that down. my little sister friends, is no longer so little.
having someone who shares your daily routine for the formative years of your life is just so kooky. someone who really knows you, who really sees you at your best and worst. someone who would do anything to make you smile and who on occasion made you cry. someone who will be there. always.
we didn’t always get along. we didn’t always agree, but we always loved each other to the core. there’s just no way to write how much this little lady means to me. so i’ll just say happy birthday sister. i sure love you to pieces and wish i was closer and able to take you out for a nice long dinner. soon. soon.
henry and i set off this morning just as the snow stopped falling, which to be honest, made me a bit sad. i love snow. and i love walks in the park with snow even better.
what i love about my fellow dog walking wanderers is that when the city took over the main portion of a path leading from our neighborhood to the park, they met up on consecutive weekends and built a new path to circumvent the project. they even made three step areas out of stones and logs. brilliant. i forgot to take photos of them of course. not so brilliant. guess i was busy just enjoying the air and watching henry run around in the leaves.
on the way home we spotted the very best lost and found sign i’ve seen. thank you fellow litter hater.
well i’m humming away on my swap for back-tack 4, i’m hoping laurie will like what i’ll be sending her way. so while i’m crafting away, which feels so good given my extra super long hiatus on making of any kind, i’ve been ogeling her home. it. is. gorgeous. have a peek for yourself if you don’t believe me.
it’s taken me long while to get motivated to step away from the house renovations and get creative again… and to start things off i made a short video of the hilarity that was halloween this year. my sis and her husband dressed up as dog bounty hunter and his wife beth. dare i say amazing. so what better way to get my creative blood pumping than to make a wee video of their talented portrayals. oh just see for yourself:
our work on our house started within the hour that the sale was final. we found out quite quickly that though deconstruction goes fast and is wicked super fun, putting things back the way you want them takes what some would consider a lifetime. so when it came to the dining room that we began working on, hmm, was it really this long ago, yipes, well, we just finished. and by finished i mean i’m too tired to reconsider the wall paint one more time at the moment.
we actually went from this:
to this! and i can’t tell you how much lighter my step is when i come into this space now
and from this:
to this! ahhhh.
and just to pause for a second to again tell you how much i love the auction, the newest additions to the room were scores we made over the last few weeks. first off there’s this great pinball art from the back of an old broken machine:
and last but not least, new companions for our new dining room table:
the table was not an auction find but is also a new addition, this lovely teak vintage table with two hidden leaves came from my favorite mid-century store in town, home anthology. just try walking in there and coming home empty-handed. i double dog dare you. torture this place.
now we only have one room left on the main floor of the house. and it’s a small one, but perhaps replacing the roof on a small room isn’t necessarily a small job. but i’m going to pretend that it’s going to be really fun and fascinating… oh and it helps that we get to tear stuff apart first! let’s just hope it doesn’t take us 2 years to actually finish the job. i’ll keep my fingers crossed if you don’t mind.
okay, i’m a little late this week but here are my highights for tomorrow nights auction. there’s some good finds this week kids, so take a peek.
first off there’s a kick ass pinball machine up for auction and for goodness sakes it’s name is even hilariously cool. ladies and gentlemen, Future Spa:
next up is this adorable set of hansel and gretel puppets:
the best darn orioles sign i’ve ever seen:
i know it’s early but this old school santa sign is far superior than any of those damn inflatable beasts that will soon pepper my neighborhood… hmmm maybe i should give this guy a home:
why oh why are all the useful things these days not as fancy as this little gem… i mean this match holder is so gorgeous and detailed and well, it’s beautiful, no?:
