Wool socks

Found this great fingering-weight washable wool at an estate sale for $0.50 a skein!! I snatched up all they had to make socks and decided to make it up as I went along, no pattern, no nothing. Everything was going well until I ran out of blue wool! Oops...

 Was forced to improvise, but I think they came out alright...

Grant Heapes at the Gladstone Hotel Cafe

I fell in love with the Gladstone Hotel during our recent trip to Toronto. This amazing wall hanging by artist Grant Heapes was hanging in their cafe, and I was awed. It's made of small square pieces of fabric that are stitched together through the middle. This was beyond fantastic. Really wish I'd thought of it!

MMMG

Just discovered this Korean company. I'm going to have to start a business just so that I have an excuse to buy their stuff. These are their "Face pockets". I also love, LOVE, their tiny gift cards.

Doggie hats

Yes, it's been a while since I last posted. Super busy at work. But during thanksgiving, I made these hats for my brother (his dogs, that is) and he finally got around to taking a picture. They were a huge pain to size (try holding a hyper boston terrier still), but once I got the pattern down, the second hat took very little time. I used a washable acrylic yarn.

Project: Office Windows

The old, leaky, southwest-facing office windows. And by leaky I don't mean just air, but also water! The paint job by the previous owner was seriously suffering and one of the panes was cracked from a too-vigorous fly-swatting incident. In a pinch, we caulked like crazy to ride out the winter and vowed that these would be the next to get replaced. Even the siding beneath the windows was cracking from all the sun and rain. When we took out the window we found incredibly shoddy carpentry beneath. We had to properly rebuild the rough opening, frame out the window, build the sashes, waterproof, put up new siding, trim, and paint, paint, paint.

Time to completion: about 4 full weeks spread out over several months.

The High Line

I'd like my backyard to look like this.

Tissue paper pom-poms

Recently, I've been seeing these really cute tissue paper pom- poms EVERYWHERE. They were originally featured in Martha Stewart Living 2006 (online instructions here), but 3 years later, I still want to make a bunch for no purpose at all.

Anthropologie felt pendant lamp

When I saw this felt pendant lamp in the latest Anthropologie catalog I was super excited and seriously bummed at the same time. Don't you hate it when an idea that you've been toying with in the back of your mind materializes (in a mainstream catalog no less!) before you even have a chance to gather the rough materials? I'll probably go ahead and make my version of it anyway, since the $398 price tag is just too painful.

I want: Honeycomb Brackets

I recently bought some jeans on sale at UO and while surfing their website, I ran into the honeycomb bracket in the apartment section. Love it! The problem? Well, I would need two for a shelf (that's $36, ouch!) AND they are on back order until 9/30! Hmm...

Project: Headboard

Total cost: $15 of thick batting (stapled down double layer of the thickest batting from Joann's). Reused old plywood from the garage. Free coffee sacks from my local shop. T built the headboard more or less to my specifications. Actually, he made it 5 inches shorter because he just wouldn't believe that a 60" tall headboard would look good. As opposed to our many other projects, this was up and ready in no time. A year later, it's getting a bit dusty, but I still love, love, love it.