the cowboy chair; cautionary notes on free furniture

last summer, whist searching for a place to live, i drove past an apartment building on my lunch break. we didn't end up living there, the apartment isn't the important part (though it is weird to note that we're now living a block away from that place after two moves), the important part is this orange chair.

moving moving

jose & i heard last week that we got an apartment we applied for in SE. this is exciting but also dreadful. exciting because our friend chelsea will be moving in with us (i imagine we'll be something like this), dreadful because i. hate. packing. this is what i have done so far:

wrapped up a smidgen of wall art to prevent scratches. and rather than move on to wrapping my breakables and stuffing them in boxes, i've decided to catalog our mugs. packing will make you do crazy things.

Bobbled Cowl

I love knitting with big yarn. I was able to whip this little guy out in a day and a half. I've wanted to knit myself a cowl for a while now, but I hate knitting stuff that's just a lot of the same. No measuring, just knit until you're out of yarn and you have yourself a scarf. Knit it in the round and it's a cowl. Booorrriiinnng. So, the day before yesterday, I wandered into my local yarn shop, Knitpurl (whose email list is less like spam and more like a rad knitting blog) to pick up some yarn for my new cowl. I needed something thick so that my attention span would last longer than the project, and I stumbled upon some very reasonably priced merino wool in so many beautiful colors that I could only narrow down to two. I took it home, and in a matter of hours I had this:

It was my first time knitting bobbles, and I have to say, they might be the easiest thing ever. This could be because I skipped all of the hard stuff my knitting books told me to do, but who can really tell, right?

words to live by - map wall art!

i'm pretty obsessed with 30 rock. i want to be best friends with liz lemon. better yet, tina fey. we could be best friends. we could!

this project is definitely lemon inspired. "i want to go to there" is usually uttered not re: a place, but (as joselyn so aptly put it) re: jon hamm. and i honestly couldn't agree more. still, the quote looks nice on a map, so here's some super cheap fairly fun wall art:

did i mention travel is among my other obsessions? 

you should obsess too:

Craigslist Dictionary: What Those Terms REALLY Mean

Cara and I are both very accustomed to spending hours searching Craigslist for the perfect place to live. We're both extremely picky when it comes to the apartments we decide to live in. We moved into our current apartment in August after searching for months for the perfect place. It took us so long to find this place that my mom was convinced that I would be moving back in with her for a spell once I had transferred to Portland. I will admit, we did cut it extremely close. I was packing up my room a few days before official move-out day when I got the call from Cara that we had gotten that cute midcentury apartment in Northwest Portland. Our building was recently bought out, and the new owners really want us to leave so they can remove the cute seafoam green and pink tiling from the kitchen and turn the pantry into a laundry space. We don't have to move, but we are looking and the more ads I click on, the wiser I get about what the renters really mean. I am prepared to pass this information on to you to enlighten and save you hours of clicking on intriguing titles only to find the home of your nightmares under the link.

sorry it had to end like this, little guy.

No Longer Gloveless

With fingerless gloves all the rage right now, I really had to get some for myself. My problem was that I am way too picky for my own good. All of them were either too short, too weird, not the right color, or they had too many holes in them. That's when I conceded to just make myself a pair. I began my pattern search. I quickly found out, though, that the pair of gloves I wanted didn't exist yet. I was too picky to even find a pattern I liked, so I decided to just wing it. And oddly enough, these were born:

It's actually a pretty easy pattern for anyone who is ready to start knitting cable stitches or using double pointed needles. It's also very easy to modify to use any type of cable panel you want or any length you want. And if you're worried about that weird lump on my left wrist, that's just my watch. I swear. The pattern is under the cut.

valentimes

i had the hardest time finding a valentine to make this year. i nearly went out and bought something cute and letterpress, but then i saw this. tea? in a card? yes please. thanks again, ds, for saving me some money.

inside left:

all wrapped up:

instead of muslin i used those flat cone-shaped coffee filters. i'm not sure they'll mail well, hopefully there's minimal mistreatment/tearing/exploding etc.. i would much prefer muslin, but my stash is all currently devoted to a duvet project (more on that tragedy later). the tea is super tasty and from a tea place down the block. i think the rose petal is a nice touch for saint v's big day.

once i wrap my head around how to glue a doily to craft paper without getting glue everywhere, friends can expect something oversized and ridiculous (because that's what i want sent to me, ahem).

happy saint valentine's!

thrifting gold : chip-n-dip

i was on my way home from a long morning of thrifting when i saw a sign for an estate sale. never one to pass up an estate sale, i pulled a quick u-turn after my futile inner debate, and stumbled across some great finds, including this:

oh shoot! it's the chip-n-dip from mad men. and man is it ugly. but really, how could i pass this one up? and at such a bargain price. i'm definitely pulling this out of the china cabinet next time i host a party.

trudy & pete would be so proud. mostly trudy. 

Turn an XL T-Shirt into Comfy Pyjama Pants

Whenever I get an extra large t-shirt, I always have to think about the possibilities of what the shirt can become. Will I make a halter top? A dress? Maybe I'll just resize it. No matter what happens to it, though, I never end up wearing my DIY creation outside of the house, or even outside of my room. The great thing about t-shirts is that they're comfortable and easy to wear. Most of my reconstructions take that away. I either feel way too exposed in my mini dress, or there's too much bulk from using laces and knots to resize the shirt, so I decided to bring comfort back to the t-shirt even after it's been chopped to bits with these cropped harem style pyjama pants.

mail call - stenciled bag

every time i leave the office to get the mail, i wish i had a bag. we usually have a pile of outgoing letters and even more incoming. the p.o. box is usually stuffed with catalogs and magazines, and i tend to drop ten things before i get back to my car. and i usually misplace the box key. i've been known to take it home for a long weekend every once in a while, wash it in my jeans, etc... well, no more! behold, the mail bag:

i made it with a super easy stenciling method.

here's the how-to:

If you can knit a scarf... you can knit a bow cuff

Beginning knitting can be an extremely frustrating process. While you're imagining all of the beautiful sweaters and complicated patterns you can create, you find out that you are far from knitting anything more than a straight line. Some people never make it past scarves, knitting more for relaxation or something to do with their hands. However, scarves can get a little boring, and they can take forever. Besides, how many scarves do you really need? Here's a project that a knitter of any skill level can make quickly, using scrap yarn.

Here's how to make it:

the case of the missing wooden earring

i bought these earrings last summer while on a road trip with a friend. they're made of redwood and have what must be a nonstandard sized post - because the backs are impossible to replace, everything is too big. needless to say, i lost one and haven't been able to wear them everyday. pretty heartbreaking.

to remedy the situation, i've made a few new pairs. they're not redwood, but i think i might prefer the fine grain douglas fir look. and they could always be stained...

here's the how-to: