"Simple Flowers" by Constance Spry

While cleaning the hallway I found the umbrella stand. I bought some lilac stems this morning and snipped some things from the yard and now I have my very own arrangement a la "Simple Flowers". I love the photos in this book and the simple advice. The chapter on containers is good too.

Desk by the window

Vanessa Bell's "Interior with Housemaid" painted in 1939 inspires me to push all the tables and desks to the windows - and where there's no sense of privacy, place large painted screens.

Style Inspiration

This photo sums up all the elements I want to pour into our home: bookshelves, plants, and workspace. This room was photographed by Jason Schmidt for the New York Times Magazine, April 11, 1999. The caption explains the room belongs to George and Effie Soter and was used in the movie "You've Got Mail" as Jean Stapleton's apartment. I've added my inspiration pictures to a flickr set here.

Apartment Therapy's Spring Cure

Apartment Therapy's Spring Cure begins today and I am signed on! This is the diningroom "before" picture and there's my yarn stash in the foreground - not much left really. I'm knitting another Audrey sweater between bouts of mopping and sorting.

Golden Gate Gardening

This year I am embracing the cool fogginess of my backyard. I just got my copy of Pam Peirce's Golden Gate Gardening. We're lucky to have some fruit trees and some herbs that have gone native in back; I keep a pot of mint on the front porch. But this Spring I would like to put in a few more things. I want to grow some viney things.

Planting time

I am starting some seeds from last summer's farmers' market - French cantaloupe, a bright yellow melon, and some sweet peppers on the windowsill. I moved my yarn armoire into the kitchen to be a pantry. This has left my stash sitting around the diningroom suddenly homeless and vulnerable.

Jane Birkin's sweater

I love Jane Birkin's sweater in this Financial Times photo - the neckline, three-quarter sleeves, the ribbing - the color.

DSQed from Olympic knitting

About three little girl hockey player commercials into the pre-opening ceremonies show I DSQed myself from my UFO knitting project by starting a brand new scarf. Life is short. This will be a stripey scarf reverso style.

Olympic knitting

It's not a bad idea to talk yourself into spending two weeks every two years finishing up projects. I'm pulling everything out and getting ready for the opening ceremony!

Socrates' Personal Footprints

This is another shot at a pair of socks knit from the alpaca blend yarn Socrates (first pair felted, second pair lost half the yarn). I'm using Cat Bordhi's Personal Footprints scheme. All my projects right now are simple small things that fit in my raincoat pocket. I'm saving my energy for the olympics!

The Last Dickens

This book was a good time. I had to google all the publishers in the story - those Harper Brothers! I'm so excited about nineteenth century magazines. Don't you love magazines? I want to make a magazine - mostly I want to make the ads and write the "in the news" bits! The Christmas issue of Tiknor and Fields's Every Saturday features "No Thoroughfare" a story by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. I'm also going to keep a diary this year and write to my future self.

Classic Knits

Erika Knight's Classic Knits was at Half Price Books this week. I feel like knitting this cardigan in every shade of Alchemy's Haiku.

Wool binge

Sometimes I go on a Noro binge and I want to knit everything with self-striping yarn. Recently I've been on a Jamieson's binge. Every pattern I see I think, wouldn't that be lovely in a shetland jumper weight? A Jamieson's binge can be quite economical. An Alchemy haiku binge would not be.

"I mend people's clothes for free on the street"

Serge Debrebant's piece on Michel Swaine in the FT last Saturday caught my eye. It begins, "I've always liked clothes that had a life before me." Swaine has a sewing cart with an umbrella, a neon sign that reads sew, and a treadle sewing machine in San Francisco's Tenderloin.

Another Haiku Portrait Scarf

I'm so happy with the maroon and the orange versions, I've cast on a green. With my addi lace needles, this makes quick, waiting-at-the-DMV knitting!

Haiku portrait scarf

I've really fallen out of the habit of blogging my projects. I've given up waiting for a sunny moment to photograph my Veronik Avery Portrait Scarf. My first version is in 2 balls of Kidsilk Haze - sometimes I wear it tucked into my coat, but mostly I wear it like a cowl. This mini version uses just one ball of Haiku and I wear it constantly. I have some more Haiku in my stash - all destined for mini portrait cowls. I'm wondering if I can wear two at a time?

Short order naan

I'm back on the 5 minute bread bandwagon with a tupperware of light whole wheat dough in the fridge. I followed the directions in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for making naan to go with my chicken curry. I poured a little vegetable oil in a cast iron frying pan, tossed in a flattened disc of dough and covered it with a cookie sheet. It took 7-8 minutes. I should look up pita bread next.

Semi-solid sock waves

This bandless ball of yarn is a little more than a semi-solid blue. I love it in this feather and fan stitch. I've been paging through Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn and finding patterns for stashed sock yarn. 

Candied orange peel

This is a spoonful of orange syrup - it tasted like heaven. The smell of simmering orange peels filled the house with an incredible smell while I did some kitchen chores, read the paper. I had 5 degrees to go on the candy thermometer when I left the kitchen.

When I smelled the burning orange peel I knew my giant cough drop was done. 

Audrey in Shetland

I'm slowly coming out of my Christmas cookie coma. A few weeks ago I finished the Audrey in Unst sweater from Twist Collective. I made it a little small, so I'm going to add some hooks and eyes to the front bands. I ordered this Jamieson shetland from Schoolhouse Press (179 colors). They also carry Jamison & Smith shetland - that's hundreds of heathered colors to choose from. I love this sweater. 

Nuts for the holidays

David Lebovitz's Holiday Snack Mix is so good I just kept burning my tongue eating it straight from the pan. I used some back-of-the-cabinet leftovers for this batch, but I am planning one with pecans.  This is a great snack to whip up when you are doing some hard holiday crafting and need protein coated in butter and syrup and salt. Playing Keep the Car Running on repeat is also helpful. I don't know if our little parakeet is ringing his bell like crazy because he likes to play along or if he is screaming mercy. 

Mohair Portrait Scarf

You may recall Veronik Avery's scarf from Knitting Classic Style. I am working on it in a deep red Kidsilk Haze. 

Audrey in Shetland jumperweight

I went with the original design for Audrey. I would love to make this in a bunch of colors. I am haunted by the inside-out sweater. J Crew for kids has an inside-out sweater. I want to make one for myself - a little magpie-ish with a sparkly strand and a tweedy strand.

Coffee with Sherlock Holmes

Imagine coffee with Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson every morning. One year I put my knitted teacher gifts in jars like preserves. I love the hot coco mixes and cookie mixes in jars that look like a geological strata sample. This year I want to paste a scan of a favorite character or author into the lid and seal it with that fancy clear acrylic stuff. 

Felted Autumn leaf

This is the dish rag pattern in Frappe Merino and felted to death. I love the way these colors felt. I'm going to knit a bunch for coasters - coffee, tea, wine blends right in.