Bears and boys. And yarn.

In this week's edition of When I Have Lots of Money and a House to Decorate: That's right kids, it's polar bear wallpaper.



Shut the front door. I know, right? It's so perfect for me. I die.



Fall is hitting a nice, easy pace for me. Finally. I love this season and the progression of holidays. The football on the tele. The flash of a red tree against a gray sky. The smell of my house after I've been baking or cooking. The planning of your Christmas list. Sure there's a lot to get stressed about, but that would take all the fun out of it. So why do it?

I've been trying to find more time in my schedule to look at other people's blogs (perhaps should be spending more time updating my own, but oh well). And cataloging things I like on my pinterest (you're on there, right? it's such fun). And yes, still crocheting and knitting. Thank goodness for that.



This was my first commission project (thanks E)! Made for E's brother-in-law. E's husband liked the scarf so much (it was made for his brother), that I've been asked to make another one for his brother's partner. Awesome! I really hope they like them. It's hard to make scarves for people in Houston - too toasty down there. But I used this Rowan yarn called Summer Tweed, made with silk and cotton. I think it's the perfect weight and so yummy.

Oooh, this Auburn and Georgia game is quite the entertainment. And um, does anyone else have a crush on the Allstate Mayhem guy? aka Dennis from 30 Rock? aka Dean Winters? Anyone?



Okay, less hot there. But how can you not love Liz and Dennis?



That's better, right? I know, he's been in other shows too. I should investigate.

A swap

First off, I wanted to thank everyone for their kind comments, on the blog, on Flickr, via email, etc. I expected it would be difficult, and the whole thing has lived up to those expectations. Time heals I suppose. But gosh, it ain't happening in a hurry.

So what do I do when times are tough? Craft. Craft away, kids. I just packed up my friendship bracelet for Amy's bracelet swap. She read my mind, she did. I'd just picked out some thread colors at my local craft store because I was itching to make one. I was planning to blog about my love affair with these signs of those summer camp days of yore. (You know how I love camp.)

Next thing I knew, friendship bracelets were everywhere, and Amy had this splendid idea to swap them with new friends. I can't wait to see the one my secret friend made for me!



Also on the crafting front, check out my couch, in my soon-to-be-no-longer living room. There's a new addition there! Long ago (perhaps you remember), I was going on about how I wanted to take this awesome horse sweater I bought in Estonia and turn it into a pillow. I also recognized my skills in this area were pretty darn lacking, and I really didn't want to ruin it in a failed pillow-making attempt.

Meanwhile I'd started reading Alli's lovely blog One Pearl Button and was oohing and aahing over her astounding transformational skills when it came to old thrifted sweaters. So we worked out a deal, so-to-speak. A crafty blog swap. Except that I was making a specific request of her (turn my sweater into a pillow!) and she suggested I just surprise her in return( ... !).



I'd been admiring the Granny Square Slippers pattern on the Purl Bee for some time (oh I just love the Bee), and since I'd made myself a different pair of crocheted slippers just last fall, I decided this would be a great opportunity to try out this pattern and create a fun swap present for Alli. Ta daa!



Don't worry Alli, I washed 'em before I sent them! You can't help but try them on. I gathered up some other goodies for her and put them all in the mail. (Of note, it's so easy to shop for someone when they have a blog!) And in return I got a super-spiffy pillow to add to my sofa.



Wow, thanks Alli! I love love love it.

Alright, who's next?

Babies and tunes

Oh my GOSH. How are you bloggy-blog? I've missed you. I'm having some rare, stellar moment at work when things aren't piled upon my desk, and though it makes me suspicious, I just had to take the opportunity to say hi.

I wish I had more interesting things to share. Mostly I just mine about looking for new music. Here's the latest song (and band) that's on repeat in the ol' noggin.



It's a band called Local Natives and the song is "Airplanes." I might go see 'em when they come through town in April.

Hrm, what else. Crocheting and knitting as usual. I've completed two of my three scheduled spring baby blankets (for my three spring babies). Here's the first who came along, and his accompanying blanket. His name is Grant and he's my nephew!



Blanket suits him I think. Isn't he handsome? In a cute infant sorta way? Baby number two may come along today or tomorrow - mom is at the hospital as I type! Wish I could be there. And the last will be along in about a month. Woo!



I've got other projects completed and in-the-works, but you know me and the photo editing. I'm not even going to talk about the state of my DVR. But at this stage in life, I'm not one to consider a busy life anything but a blessing. Ya know?

Gave up sweets for Lent again. Always a good idea, though I had a few moments of weakness which I may or may not have succumb to. But now that I get to indulge guilt-free come Sunday, I think I need to make a cobbler with that last bag of peaches in the freezer. Also went and saw a lady about a Hoosier yesterday (you remember me and that obsession, right?). It's a craigslist find, and I'm still debating the decision. I will say that it would be much easier if I had a man and a truck at my disposal. But then again, wouldn't everything?

Better watch out

I had another one of my utterly insane mornings today, so when afternoon rolled around, I got out to get some air. Air being, hanging out in Joann's. I had to pick up some size 8 DPNs, but then the magazine rack called to me as always. (Speaking of magazines, OMG Gourmet! Every time a great one like that goes down, my heart dies a little. Sigh.)

The November/December Crochet Today was out. I've never bought this mag in the past (I lean Interweave), but goodness, how cute is this stuff? And you know how much I love the Christmas. I know it's early, but we knitters and crocheters need to start planning now. The holidays will be here before you know it (if you're lucky).



I die. Honestly are these stockings not the cutest? I'm gonna make 'em, I am. Maybe not before Christmas, but they're on the list. It's gonna happen.



A little ripple blanket for your tree! Whee! Truth be told, I have a tree skirt I adore already, but this'll be a good pattern to have for when I someday move into a home with enough room for two trees. And one of them will be one of those antique silver ones. Oh it'll happen. All I need is a dining room. Or a study. Right now, I ain't working with much.



I want to start crocheting more ornaments. They make good gifts and will help me improve my amigurumi skillz. Kyuuto!



In these days of dying mags, kudos to Crochet Today for having me at hello with this issue. I love the styling of this cover and the retro theme. It's all so very BL, as we used to say. (Right Amy?) That's another one that bit the dust. Sigh. Hang on, you crazy magazine kids!

It was all yellow

Okay, here's that finished baby blanket.



The shower was a lot of fun, with lots of sweets. Like so many sweets, it could make your head explode. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I had a good time catching up with college friends on Saturday, talking about babies and our families and such, and then on Monday night, one of the friends' sister had a baby. And then, you know, the owner of this blanket is still on the way. And my step-sister is pregnant. See what I mean about the babies?? They're everywhere.



This is the Tiramisu blanket, a very popular pattern, except I adapt it so as not to have to weave in the ribbon. I think life is easier if mom can just throw a blanket in the wash (although, delicate cycle please). I don't like pink but my friend is very girly, so I embellished with a happy flower. It looks nice I think.

And now, to yellow deserts! I made this banana pudding a couple weeks ago and it was so huge and I just couldn't figure out how I'd eat it all. I brought some to work, I sent visitors home with plastic containers of it, I tried to give some to my neighbor. In the end, not a drop was wasted, but I think my waistline suffered the most for that.



We made banana pudding a lot when I was growing up. Although I think most of the time we cheated and bought a box of instant pudding and then slapped all the pieces together. It really doesn't take long when you do it that way, and obviously still tastes good. But really, making the pudding from scratch just takes a jiff, despite involving a few more ingredients. And it's even better - like, lick-the-pot good.

So last summer I had some banana pudding from a restaurant, but I can't remember the name. They brought in a huge tray to the magazine I was working for, and it was probably better than any other banana pudding I'd had, and it was clear the reason I enjoyed it so much was the liberal use of whipped cream. So when I was hunting for a recipe to make this from scratch, I chose this one because it involves folding that whipped cream right into the pudding before putting everything together. You just gained a pound reading that sentence, didn't you.

Banana Pudding
adapted from recipe found here, which was adapted from recipe found here

For whipped cream:
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I always use Mexican vanilla)
2 teaspoons sugar

For pudding:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot milk
3 large egg yolks, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (yup, Mexican)

1 (12-ounce) box Nilla wafers
5 medium size ripe bananas, peeled and thinly sliced

Mix sugar, flour, and salt in a large heavy saucepan. Gradually stir in the hot milk with a whisk. Cook the mixture over moderate heat while stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Slowly stir approximately 1/4 cup of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks to bring them up to temp. Next add the yolks to the hot mixture and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture is fully thickened to a custard-like consistency and coats a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

While you let pudding cool to room temp, whip all ingredients for whipped cream to stiff peaks. Then fold 1/2 cup of the whipped cream into the pudding (oops, in re-reading this, just discovered I folded in 1/2 the whipped cream, rather than 1/2 cup! So just do whatever you like). Line a glass bowl or casserole dish with Nilla wafers, doing your best to get them up the sides. Alternately layer banana slices, pudding, and vanilla wafers, and end up with pudding on top, then spread remaining whipped cream over the top of all of it. Chill as long as you can stand it, then serve.

Share it with friends.

Busy fingers

I'm so close to finishing a gift for a baby shower I'm attending down in Houston this weekend. Just when I think I might be baby-free, another dear friend or loved one gets pregnant. And it's so easy (if a bit time-consuming) to craft something handmade, and it means ever so much to the recipient. At least, we makers of handmade things hope that it does.

I'm making a variation on this blanket for the shower this weekend.



Blankets are easy for these Texas babies, because they can be used nearly year round. Spread it on the floor and set them on top of it in the summer, or tuck it 'round them in the winter while they sleep. Alternatives being hats, booties, sweaters, etc., and no Texas baby is going to get a whole lot of use out of that.

So when a New York friend had a baby this spring, I was all set and determined to make it a little sweater. The winters go on forever there (or at least, it feels that way), so I know it will see some good use.



Its owner is named Luca and he's beautiful and cute as a button. I hope I get to meet him when I go visit my former city this fall. I'd never made anything with this many seams before - it did fry my brain a little. I dragged my feet and even more so when it came to simply sewing on the buttons - the last step. It seems I'd rather have yarn between my fingers than thread.



Although, if that's the case, I may not like my next endeavor as much: embroidery. I've been reading through this book lately, in preparation for starting my first projects.



I really think I'll love it though. It's a new way to make gifts or prettify things around my house. I want to have a whole stash of pillow cases like Alicia (geeze, I link to her blog a lot, don't I? Really though, that is one of my top five Alicia blog posts ever). I also want to make a set of days-of-the-week dishtowels (yeah, probably these) and swap them out for my raggedy, mismatched set. I'm finding that having pretty dishtowels makes kitchen time that much more fun.

Okay, must go watch SYTYCD now. I'm not going to say who I'm rooting for because frankly, I'm a bit torn. But they're all good eggs I think, so am hoping either way I'll be happy with the result.

Update, briefly

1. I'm currently listening to this song:


2. I caved on the Wayfarers.

3. I managed to scrape even more paint off bumper. Makes repairing it seem less appealing if I am such a putz. (Although to my credit, it appears antique store employees did this while trying to cram chair into trunk in Round Rock last weekend. End result: FAIL. I returned home sans chair.)

4. I am seeing Andrew Bird this Sunday. I will tell him you said hello.

5. It is nearly spring and snowing in New York, which reminds me that this is the time of year when the winter depression would hit me the hardest up there. High today in Dallas = 72. WIN.

6. I got my FSA card for vision expenses, so will probably order contacts next week.

7. I want to go to this concert but don't have the vacation time. Why on a Tuesday? Why why??

8. I am participating in first March Madness college basketball bracket with coworkers. Suddenly understand what all the fuss is about. Of note, Barack Obama and I both have UNC as winner of championship. So if I lose, I will be in excellent company.

9. I am working on this baby hoodie for one of my many pregnant friends. Obvs with different color scheme. Just say no to hot pink for babies. They have sensitive eyes.

10. Starting to get some photos from Chicago up! Swing night at the Green Mill was fabulous.



Now if only could finish writing the story. On that note.. back to work!!

When crafts attack

When crafts attack your coffee table, it might end up looking a bit like this.



Don't be afraid. The carnage is not as bad as it looks. Also you can click on the photo to get a breakdown of what all is going on there. It's a lot. I'm proud to say that today my coffee table is much improved, if not totally clear of the stuff. I did a big clean-up yesterday--mostly focused on cleaning the floors but everything got a little bit of tidying up. I love hardwoods, but damn, when it comes time to clean 'em, it's a pain. Swiffer to the rescue.

Now that all the holiday gifts are done, and baby gifts are almost done (next one's due in April, so I've got a short break), I was so very happy to bust out my ripple blanket again. I fully expected it to take a long time, so I don't rush it, and I set it aside when I need to. I love how it's always there, waiting in the wings for when I return. Plus it keeps my lap warm while I work. CJ loves it too.



I took that photo in Austin back when I was about to stop working on it for awhile, so it hasn't grown much since then. Just a few rows.. No rush, it seems to say.

This week at work has been keeping me so very busy. I hope that works in my favor when the layoffs come. If they come. When they come. Do we get to say "if" anymore in magazines? I still think one layoff per recession per person should be enough, and I've already gotten mine, so if I get another one, it just means the universe is out to get me.

Didn't have much time to browse the blogs, but I did get terribly addicted to this song. I think I'm a year behind on the Bon Iver bandwagon fun-times, but it is a lovely album, and "Flume" in particular, and it suits this time of year so much. Also it doesn't make much sense lyrics-wise, which I take no issue with, so long as the sound of the words and the music work together well. I think this is the primary idea behind Mr. Bird as well, which Paste magazine clearly didn't get.

Here's a choice snippet from their review:
"You might start by looking up the word radiolarian. The dictionary says it’s a protozoan. So you look up protozoan and learn that it’s a eukaryote. Before you know it you’re looking up organelle and cytoplasm and eventually end up with the word cell—you’re pretty sure that radiolarian isn’t a fancy way of saying cell, but you’re kind of pissed off that a lyric sent you on such a goose chase, plus, now you feel stupid and don’t even care what the word means anymore."

Dude. Why are you even stopping to look up the words anyway? I'm not against looking up words. I'm all for expanding the vocabulary. But if you gotta understand every word out of his mouth to enjoy the music, then Andrew Bird's just not for you. Do yourself a favor, put down the dictionary, and just listen, mmmkay? Geeze. These music reviewers today.

Oh, and also, today is this beautiful girl's birthday (seen here with her mom).



She's 8!! WTF, when did that happen? Oh my gosh, so big. Pls stop growing. Also, am sorry prezzie from your aunt is late. Should be arriving any day now I hope.

Farewell Mr. Potter

Did anyone else make this connection?




Surely I wasn't the only one. Or maybe I've just seen It's a Wonderful Life too many times. Yeah, maybe that's it.

My other takeaway from the inauguration fun times (aside from the fact that the whole day felt like the opening sequence to Sesame Street), is this groovy scarf that some muckety-muck was wearing on TV.



Isn't it cute? Sorta like a ripple blanket except long and narrow. And I like how it's striped but then there's a little surprise color at the end. Maybe I'll make one for next winter (tho in different colors). My one new scarf for the year. Because I have about 98273498 scarves already. Although this one is also in the running. But they're so different... Maybe I'll do both.

Yup, work on Tuesday was weird, hard to concentrate, and full of never-ending little thrills. Like hearing "President Obama" for the first time (and pretty much every time since). I feel like I'm living in some sort of alternate universe, like on 24 (except without all the carnage and torture, etc.). It still feels that otherworldly and surprising and unexpected. As if suddenly all your expectations were met. How often does that happen?

Plus, the man can bust a move. So if nothing else, we can be proud of him for that.



Is that a butt-bump he's doing there? God bless 'im.

As for my beloved friends and family who are perhaps not as excited about this as I am (not that you're not excited about a black president - we get it, you're not racist), I'm going to say this, and then we'll just agree to disagree and let it be. I hope, I really do, that you never feel half as alienated as I have at times during the past 6 or so years (the first two weren't that bad I guess). I hope you never feel as though a great portion of the country hates you and is out to take away your rights and those of your friends, and I hope your leader who you put your faith in never condescends to you and disappoints you at nearly every turn. All ribbing aside: it's a terrible feeling. Truly. So, I hope you never feel that. Because despite our opposing viewpoints, I do love you guys - you crazy, conservatives you! (Smooch!)

Oh, and before I go, I just want to say how excited I was to find out I won this book in the Holiday Kal-Cal this year! This was my first holidays to be a "crocheter/knitter" and I had lots of plans to make handmade gifts for friends and family. The Kal-Cal (that's knit-a-long-crochet-a-long for you yarn newbs) was a great way to keep track of those plans and share the results. I'll definitely do it again next year!

A few of the things I made for the holidays:



A crochet shawl for mom (pattern from here).



An LSU scarf for Mary Laura (though they had a crap-ass season, but there's always next year).



A washcloth for my sister-in-law (part of a set of four).

If you're on Ravelry (and you're into that sorta thing - that being all things yarn), I'm mandat on there. Making gifts by hand rocks. Speaking of, I better get back to that baby hat, ASAP. The babies, they just keep-a-comin'!

Micro machines

My poor cherry tomato plant has had a hard season. It was doing great in mid-May when the big storm came through and snapped it in half. Just the day before I'd used some of that velcro stuff to attach it to the railing because the bundle of tomatoes ripening on it was weighing it down. Bad timing.



This was one of the tomatoes that survived the storm and was allowed to ripen. Doesn't it look fine? So then the poor thing started its season anew. And grew to be full size again. But then I kept going out of town for a few days and when I'd get home, it'd always be all shriveled up. I did my best though. Watered it really good when I was here, and fertilized it too. Then it got mealybugs real bad so I went over every inch of it, applying alcohol with a swab to try and keep them at bay. Tried tried. These days, though, the fruit turns out like this:



I had just taken a picture of it the other day and then I saw that Amy Elizabeth was having the same problem. Aren't they freakish, these tiny tomatoes? Oh well, there's always next summer.

As for the big tomatoes (those came from the grocery store), I finally got around to making this tart. It has a very small window. I wouldn't dare make it outside of the tomato-and-basil season. (The basil did come from my balcony.) I found this recipe last year but didn't yet have a springform pan. So I made sure to get one earlier this year. This was its first test run.



This one is on the Martha website this time: Tomato-Ricotta Tart. Their photograph is so much prettier than mine. The tart turned out really well. My only foul-up this time was that my bread crumbs were not "fresh" as they requested. Specifically I used a baguette that had sat around a bit too long and was all dried up. So, as would be expected, the crust was all crumbly and didn't hold together well. No matter, the slices still made it to the plate fine. And really, all I wanted was the ricotta and tomatoes.

When I have leftover ricotta around, I love to slather it on a slice of bread, then layer fresh basil, slices of tomato, olive oil, salt and pepper on top and just eat it open-faced. It's amazing. So this was basically a tart version of that. What's not to like?

Okay one last thing. I'm going to take a page from Mary Beth's book and from the Postcards From Yo Momma book and share a recent chat exchange with mom. This was in response to me sending her the link to this pattern for a crochet Obama logo. I was beyond excited about making one. Mom is a McCain supporter.

Me: Look what I found. I'm gonna make one!!!
Mom: Okay, I am stupid. What is it (a basket?) and what does it have to do with Obama.
Me: It's the Obama logo!
Mom: oh Had not seen it. I guess I need to go to his web page and see it cos I still do not know what it is.
Me: http://www.barackobama.com/index.php
Me: It's on everything they put out. Scroll down to the store items at the bottom and you'll see the button.
Mom: Yep I see it. I guess it is not really supposed to be anything. It is just a logo.
Me: Yeah. It looks like a sun rising over a flag. Like "hope" or something.
Mom: Okay. I was thinking the round thing at the top was for Obama.
Me: All I'm saying is that I am excited I can make one out of crochet! That is BAD ASS.
Mom: Yes you can.

Awesome.

Crazytown Stampville

I've got a thing for stamps. It started last year, very mild. It's growing. And of course yesterday I stumble on the dangerous combination of Etsy + stamps. This equals a number of cool things, most notably Terbear Collectibles, which boldly proclaims itself the home of "the best custom made rubber stamps on Etsy." I'm in.


Handheld video game, Super Lucky Cat, Sparkling Diamond, Song Bird with Flowers.

This place has so many stamps. If you can think of it, they can make it. And things maybe you wouldn't have thought of too.


Double-Headed Eagle, Crying Kitty Cat, Snob Lady.

I'm toying with the idea of having them make a stamp for me. You get one guess as to what the stamp is an image of. I'm also thinking very seriously of having a stamp made for a friend who will soon be celebrating her birthday. It would be a custom return address stamp. She just bought a house not too long ago, and it's right up her alley (frequents card shops, collects teddy bears, gives gifts often consisting of bookmarks and tiny books full of cat quotes). Spot on.

I'd make one of these for myself, but I am doomed to always be renting and moving from one home to another like a penniless nomad. I'll just continue to collect those freebie return address stickers from places like the ASPCA or Veterans associations or somesuch, which I use freely without donating. Does this make me a bad person?

Okay, back on track here. This past weekend, I pretty much accomplished nothing except wasting huge amounts of valuable time and finishing this pillow. Woo! Were it not for the pillow, I'd be a lot more depressed about the weekend.



Here's the pattern. It was kind of a bear to work on, because you make piece after piece after piece and then after all that work you're left with a pile of pieces. Which you need to block. So not fun.



But when it starts to come together into one whole thing, it's very fulfilling. And sweet. I made a little flower to attach and also stuffed a sachet of dried lavender inside (which was collected off the stems of the fresh ones I bought at the Blanco Lavender Festival a couple weeks ago). So it smells dreamy. All along I was trying to decide who I was going to give this to, but now I just can't help but keep it. I'm too smitten with it to let it go.

By the way, if the yarn looks familiar, that's because it's leftover from the blanket I made for N's baby. Speaking of that blanket, it's owner finally arrived, and she's fabulous.



Hello pretty girl! You're going to be a heartbreaker.

Bueno!

I have a crapload of these Loteria cards. I just love them, but I've never done anything with them because I don't know what to do. Do you have any ideas? Once, in Mexico, I bought a box covered in them, which I still use as a jewelry box. So that's been done 'round here.



I've never even played Loteria. If it was one or two I could frame 'em, but I've got like two full sets of the big cards and one set of the cards you draw. Anywho. Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

Right now I am...

-Counting down the hours to the Lost finale.
-Really loving Jeannie Ralston's book The Unlikely Lavender Queen. I've had an advance copy lying around for quite a while now, and just happened to pick it up to read as it was being released. This was mostly prompted by the Lavender Festival being just around the corner. And now I find she's doing book signings and such here in town. I wonder if I should go to one. Hrm.
-Wearing a pimple cream mask. Yay!
-Working on this crochet heart pillow:

Well not at this precise moment obviously, but I was working on it a little while ago. I'm not making it for any particular person or reason. I have a lot of yarn leftover from the baby blanket, and I wanted to tackle something just a wee bit more challenging, but not so challenging that I can't work on it while watching So You Think You Can Dance, ya know? Of course you do.
-Really hankering to bake something. What should I bake? It should probably have fruit in it. I've got a lot of fruit 'round here lately. Watermelon, apples, pears, strawberries, and I've had my eye on the cherries at the store. They're almost perfect. Might have to peruse my Cooks Illustrated online subscription to see if I can get inspired. I don't use that thing enough and really it's the coolest. I can search by ingredient, and there's a high success rate for me with their recipes. Especially their baking recipes. Then again, why I think cranking up the oven when it's 95 degrees outside is a good idea, I'll never know.

Gifting

I'm officially 6 months into my crocheting endeavor. It started in mid-November, during a period of extremely high stress. The higher my stress climbed, the more addicted I became. I couldn't go to bed sometimes until I'd done one row (justonerow!), no matter how late or how tired I was. Now that my life has changed rather dramatically, the craving has eased. Luckily, though, I think I love it enough that it'll stick.

I finished my friend's baby blanket just in time for her shower this May. This is the first crochet item I've made for someone else, which made errors even less acceptable than usual (I'm already pretty anal to begin with). Thus, about a week into it, I frogged the whole thing because I was certain I was doing something terrible to cause ragged edges. But then I started over and discovered that's how they were supposed to look. Oh well.

N is having a baby girl, but the nursery is cream with a "dusty teal." I originally wanted to match the blanket to the room, but gave up on trying to figure out what "dusty teal" was and just did gray. I think it turned out nice. And how 'bout these stitches, eh? Many thanks to Ms. Paulson for a lovely pattern.



I desperately want to learn to knit next. But also want to keep doing more crochet. I haven't really gotten into doing stuff in the round yet, or dipped my toe into the wild and wonderful world of amigurumi stuffies. And I have plans for holiday gifts that I'd like to get started on pronto. Time will tell. Right now, family's in town, and the sun is shining.

Oh, and this week's Stuff on Etsy I'd Like to Buy featured item is one of the lovely prints at Berkley Illustration. I'm thinking of getting this one for my dad for father's day (hopefully he hasn't found my new blog yet...)



I want to get one for myself too. Luckily, Lucy and her husband Ryan, the man behind the art, posted on their blog today that they are letting us vote on the next critter he does up in fancy duds. I'm really excited about this because I love so many of his prints but there wasn't one that stood out above all others - which was making the decision-making process really tough for me. So, fingers crossed, maybe Barack Obama-- er, I mean the polar bear, rather, will win. Ahem.