Finally Number 19

It's happened. After much anticipation, a few sleepless nights, and some serious dread, I am on the road to crocheting.

As you will see above, I have mastered the tiny obligatory flower.
I also have a small swatch square of various single, double, and treble crochet rows. (Trust me, it's not interesting enough to photograph.)

I would like to thank the academy, the learn to crochet visually book, and my mother who pointed out (tactfully, even) over my shoulder, that the reason I had only thus far been crocheting messy triangles was because I was skipping every other stitch. She then corrected my skipping ways, and I am forever grateful.

You can read the picture books and watch the YouTube videos, but there's no substitute for an experienced eye critiquing your work in real live time and space.

(also, dear reader, forgive me, but I have found myself smitten beyond measure with the Shakeit app for my iPhone which produces the etherial and awesome polaroids you keep seeing. I have to warn you that there is probably no end in site to these rheumy gems.)

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Beach typography

Today I walked the beach, reveling in tide pools brimming with life, the pelicans gulping down their lunches, delicate shore birds probing their needle beaks into the sand--and of course--the shells.

Today I bring you found type, photographed against the stone tiles of my hotel room floor. 

(I'm in Mexico, where oro means gold.)

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Liberty. Obey. Cut. Happy. | A Photographic Essay

For those of you who follow me on my blogs, you'll know that I love a sign.  I also love graffiti, public art, and found typography.  (Oh, and cupcakes.)

Put me in Los Angeles for a conference (we're ending homelessness here, people) and send me out on an afternoon walk around the Jewelry District and the Fashion District, and I'll come back with iPhone shots of signs, stickers and graffiti I've seen along the way. 

Here are today's.

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Lines, hearts, stars, and more.

Or...what I did at my conference today.

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And then there was a tail. And a propeller.

 

I think the title says it all.  Finishing touches aside, this baby is ready to fly. 

(I know, right? Bad pun. Groan.)

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Wings

See? I told you. It's coming together.

Tail fin, nose cone, and propeller to follow.

 

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Buttons for booties

Sewing on the buttons is my least favorite part. Which means that the booties get completed, and then tossed aside, until a day when I have the patience to bother with a needle and thread, with tiny knots and precise placement.  

So today, I give you my latest in a series of adorable booties.  This pair is destined for the tiny kissable feet of my brand new niece, Anika, who I will meet in late March when I have the privilege of flying to Alaska (thanks Mom and Dad!), where she lives.

Until then, I will continue to knit the airplane for her brother, all while counting down the days until I'm on the floor zooming trucks and trading sticky kisses with the pair of them.

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gingerbread souffle with a white chocolate creme anglaise

This photo was taken mid-dinner party, which is exactly how a souffle must arrive, straight from the oven to the table, so that your guests can see it in all its puffed up glory.

Because of the mid-dinner party setting, the melee of a post-meal table is visible around the souffle pan, as is the little-more-than-candle-light by which we were dining.  By the time it was dished out and draped in a silky sheet of creme anglaise, there was no stopping me for another photo. You'll just have to imagine the shiny sauce, white but flecked with the tiny brilliance of vanilla seeds.

What was dinner, you ask?  Homemade sweet potato ravioli and a roasted chicken.  And lots of wine. And a bottle of port while the souffle cooked. And lots of raucous laughter.

Want the souffle and creme anglaise recipe? Buy this book.

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Wide body airplane

Okay, you're going to have to use your imagination on this one, since today's Thing-A-Day is only part of a thing. It's the main part of an airplane, a work-in-progress for my nephew.  I know it doesn't look like much, but that's because you have to imagine it with wings and a tail fin and a propeller.  Just imagine.

Okay, it's hard; it looks like a blue and yellow sausage. But trust me.  Wings, propeller, and tail fin are forthcoming.  Trust me; it will be an airplane.

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Packed and ready

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Today I packaged up my knitted hearts. Each was outffitted with a sturdy chair (complete with seatbelt) for the flight across the country to wish my loved ones a Happy Heart Day. 

I then gussied up envelopes with a jolly house that puffs heart-shaped clouds from its chimney.  They are now stamped and ready to go. I wish them safe travels and all of you a Happy Heart Day.

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Arranging a wall + Number 2

I'm not the decorator in my house, and because of that I'm a little decorationally challenged. I mean, I can hang a picture like the best of them, but ask me to put together a tableau, and I'm out of my league. Which is why the thing for todayis my very own wall party...part shelving, part letter collection, part art, with a few candles thrown in the mix to throw shadows around at night.

Also to note: in the above photo please find my first painting (number 2 on the list). Not necessarily finished, but put up nonetheless. Who was it said that art is never finished, merely abandoned?

 

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a handful of hearts

Tiny hearts from this fabulous (and free) pattern, which I must have printed out about three years ago and then never got around to. No more! I've knit up a troop of these happy hearts (some felted, some not). They have been telling me of their desire to travel...so they may soon be shipped out far and wide to wish my loved ones a Happy Valentine's Day.  

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TAD: I made my first Toy Society drop

Today for day one of Thing-a-Day, I bring you: my first Toy Society drop.

I left this cranky (but hugable) monster hanging from a tree in the whale parking lot of the Seattle Children's Hospital.  I hope he finds his way to a small person facing a scary illness and offers some hugs and a bit of defense against the fear.

 

The monster came from this book, which I received from my awesome sister, and from which I have made no less than six amazing yet cheeky cats in addition to this lovable, yet cranky, toothsome monster.

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