Umbrella Finch

I came across this print in my Suggested Shops and am completely in love!

This little guy is so cute in his rainboots and red umbrella!  I have always loved birds, even the multitude of pigeons here in Paris always catch my eye.  I do not think I would like to keep one as a pet, however, I feel like they shouldn't be caged. 

Corrabelle is mainly a shop selling the cutest rubber stamps, but I also find her watercolor prints very adorable as well. 

The Tower

Friday night we went to dinner at a nice, nearby Indian restaurant: Rani Mahal.  Luckily, our waiter spoke English enough to give us a basic rundown of the ingredients in the dishes we're interested in (I'm vegetarian and Megan is deathly allergic to onions).

We enjoyed our nice meal then took the leftovers home and headed toward the symbol of Paris: the Eiffel Tower.

We found a nice spot on the grass and sat to write in our Travel Diaries, then bought some cheap wine from a ... we'll call him a "traveling salesman".  Enjoying our wine, the positive atmosphere and the view of one of the most recognized structures in the world, we sat and chit chatted for a few hours before getting a closer look, then heading home.

One thing I didn't know, was that the Tower sparkles!  Not only is it lit up, for a few minutes that night it sparkled! 

Bonjour!

Bonjour from Paris! 

We made it yesterday after hours and hours of traveling, and let me tell you, that did a number on my body.  Between airport and plane food, anxiety and sitting (and trying to sleep some) on a plane for somewhere close to 9 hours over the ocean, my body was not a happy camper.  And to be honest, my mind wasn't either, the moment we walked into our hotel room I got all kinds of homesick.  My body ached with the realization that I was so far away, for so long!

We'll see if I actually make it the whole month here, I know, sad right? I finally get my dream come true, and I don't even want to stay :(  It makes me feel like a pathetic wimp, to be honest.  But, enough with unhappy feelings, let me show you some of things we've seen! (Not much, since we didn't do much yesterday and nothing yet today, waiting for my travel-mate's lost luggage to arrive, who knows when that will happen)

Graffiti Face (found on the way from the airport to the hotel)

Some pretty architecture (taken through a light drizzle)

Some of the views from our apartment window

Free Circle Scarf/Cowl Pattern

 *I am traveling today, I'll be in Paris tonight!

Its about time for a free pattern wouldn't you say? I wrote up this one with the coming fall season in mind, large cocooning knits are in style and the cowl neck is always chic and cozy.  The stitch pattern provides a bit of texture and interest and the size gives ample room to double it around your neck.

The pattern can be made with a wide variety of yarns and gauges, so make something special for you!

Materials:
Worsted Weight Yarn (1 skein of Berroco Vintage was used in this example)
Size 11 circular needles
Stitch marker

CO 152
Knit in seed st pattern for 9 rows
*Knit for 7 rows
Purl 1 row
[YO P2tog] across row
Purl 1 row
Repeat from * 3 times more
Knit for 7 rows
Knit in seed st pattern for 9 rows
BO loosely

Finishing:
Weave in ends
Wear fashionably

Ravelry Details Here.

How Appropriate!

Aren't these the perfect stitch markers to find just before my trip? 

I will be enjoying croissants and coffee while taking in the views of the Eiffel Tower and colorful tulips :)

I have a set of the elephant stitch markers from weeones and got my mom a set of collie stitch markers too, don't have a pair? Why not?  They are too cute to pass up!

Summer Dresses

Every Spring I come across these types of dresses and every Spring I want to get myself one and wear it everywhere and every Spring I never get around to it.  I love the crisp white, flowy, airy, boho look, not to mention they seem so comfortable!

1) Whimsical White Summer Dress from zwzzy
2) Sheer Lace Prairie Dress from clevernettle
3) Corset Top Sundress from squashblossomvintage
4) Mini Gunne Sax Dress from soulrust

What is your favorite summer outfit? 

Paris Sites

I'll be on a plane in T-minus 2 days!  I wanna go here, and see that, and take pictures of those, and eat some of that, and be there...

 Paris City Sites by redletterwords

Flashback Friday - Stretch!

Welcome this week's installment of Flashback Friday!  Don't know what Flashback Friday is?  Check out Christopher and Tia's Blog to find out how you can participate!  Now for this week's picture:

Clearly I am too young to remember this situation, but I remember parts of it.  The table in the background is the family table I grew up with, in fact my parents still have it.  Its been reupholstered, has a number of scratches and other lovelies that could only come from the hands of a set of growing children anxious at the dinner table. 

I wish I was that flexible still....sigh

How Adorable Are These?

I'll take one of each please!

Hand painted Locket Necklaces from kharaledonne

I think these necklaces are so stinkin' cute, it is so hard for me not to impulse shop in this store, but I really need to save moolah for my trip :/  Promise me you'll save some lockets for me please?

Stalking the Great MopedBird

The other day I had a chance to witness a site not many get to see: the Great MopedBird.  This elusive being perched himself on Daisy's mirror and I had the chance to stalk up to him.

A little closer...

A little closer...

And then woosh! He was off (you can see him in the upper left-hand side of the picture)

I'm so glad I got to witness this rare event at least once in my life, and I hope you get the chance too ;)

Ahh Summer. Finally.

We just got back from a nice, impromptu trip to Denver for the weekend and it really was a vacation.  We didn't have anything scheduled in to our days except Ultimate Frisbee.  We got to relax and spend time with friends, ate way too much food and didn't take enough pictures (I'd like to share some but my memory card is being weird and I'll be very sad if it deletes my photos).  Tonight we're heading to a concert in Albuquerque and the next few weeks are a whirl of trips, events and relaxing with friends, isn't that the way summer is supposed to be?

My biggest trip will be to Paris next Wednesday!  I'm going with a friend and we'll be there for a whole month!  We're taking an intensive language class, learning French of course and hopefully traveling and site seeing on the weekends. 

PARIS by ALPHABETdiva

What are your summer plans?  Anything you're excited about?

Some Things I've Been Crushing On Lately

Snow Cone Machine Handspun Yarn from Fabulosity

Balloon Dog Necklaces from Roscata

Terrariums from MossTerrariums

We've been in Denver for the weekend and are heading back this evening, my regular blog posts will continue tomorrow!

Tie Dye!

Last Thursday the girls of Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies and I did some tie-dying.  It was my first time since I was a youngling and, to be honest, I don't usually like the outcome of tie dyed clothing, but the adventure was fun and colorful!

And then, 24 hours later, I got to undo my shirt and guess what? Yup. I love it! There will definitely be more tie-dying in my future.

Oh the skirt?  I love it too, I got (took?) it from my momma a long time ago and wear it as a dress sometimes too :D  And the scarf?  That's my Citron!  Oh, and the facial expressions?  Matt was taking pictures and "coaching" me to look like a Calvin Klein ad "make your mouth look bored and the rest of your face serious and mad" and that led to the series of cracking up photos hehe.

Vegetarian Gumbo - A Recipe

Two weeks or so ago Matt asked me to make him some gumbo and I finally got around to it. Now that classes are over and finals are taken care of, I have time to cook again!  I love it :)  I've made some delicious banana bread (or so I'm told, I don't actually like bananas, but my honey loves the bread) and have bought ingredients and supplies to continue making delicious, healthy meals.

Here is the recipe I used/invented for the gumbo, I used mostly what I had on hand and a few "specially bought" items.

T

This photo has most of the ingredients, but not all, the beans were in the crockpot, the okra on the stove, rice in the cooker, etc

Ingredients:
Large Onion - Chopped
Green and Red Bell Peppers - Chopped
Scallions - Chopped (I had them on hand, they needed to be eaten)
1 Cup Carrots - Chopped
4 Celery Stalks - Chopped
3 Cloves of Garlic  - Minced
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1 package (4) Tofurky Kielbasa - Cut length wise then sliced
2 Tbs Oil
1 10 oz package Okra
1 lb Kidney Beans (mine were dry so I cooked them accordingly first)
2 Cups Rice
2 Bay Leaves
Garlic Powder
Oregano
Thyme

• Saute the onion and garlic until soft and yellow
• Add Bell peppers, celery, carrots, scallions and tofurky and saute until tender
• Add tomatoes, undrained and heat until boiling
• Season as desired and lower heat to simmer for 45 minutes-ish
• Cook rice on the side
• When the 45 minutes-ish is up, add rice, okra and kidney beans and heat through
• Serve with loaf of delicious bread 

 So clearly this makes a whole ton of gumbo, but its all good because the food is delicious, filling and pretty healthy.  It will also freeze well so you can make some and save it for later to avoid getting sick of it after eating it for a week straight hehe.

Citron

I used Southwest Trading Company's Bamboo for this project and have had the yarn in my stash for a long long time.  It was given to me (taken from?) my mother a long time ago and I wasn't quite sure what to do with it but when Citron came out, I knew. 

The project took my a little less than a week to complete, working on it in my off time (not plentiful during finals week) and I blocked it for a day before taking these pictures. 

Sorry no WIP photos, I'm very bad at taking those, but I think that since it was such a quick project, it can be forgiven this time.

It was nice to work on and complete a project that was just for me :)  Ravelry details here.

Cabled Tie-Front Bolero Pattern

Remember back in this post where I asked for sleeve suggestions for a coming design?

The most votes went toward short flutter sleeves so that's what I did!  What do you think?

The pattern can also be knit up without sleeves, which looks just as adorable, so you can personalize it however you prefer. 

The pattern can be found in my shop and Ravelry details are here.

Chic Gamine

On occasion our university brings various bands, musicians, magicians, illusionists, plays and comedians to campus.  The students can pick up tickets for free (we pay a fee at the beginning of the semester, so "free" is loosely defined) and community members can purchase tickets for themselves and their families at locations around town.

This past Friday, the band gracing us was Chic Gamine.  I had to pester the boyfriend out of the house to go with me and some friends (he had dislocated his toe and wasn't really wanting to go anywhere) and we didn't really know what to expect, all we knew was that its a chick band (with 1 man) from Canada.

The moment we showed up I could hear the music (we were only a tad late) and I knew it was going to be awesome!

Matt seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself as well and I only wish I could've stayed around to afford a CD and have the band members sign it.  Not only was the music phenomenal, a mix of indie, vocal, soulful music, the band was funny and relaxed on stage.  To top it off, they all wore the cutest outfits!

Even their website is adorable, I mean come on!

I encourage all of you to check out their website and listen to some of their songs, you won't be disappointed, I promise!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day :)  I wish I could be with my momma today, but I will get to see her soon!

Flashback Friday - Doing Homework

 Welcome to this week's Flashback Friday!  Don't know what Flashback Friday is all about?  Check out ChristopherandTia's blog to find out how to participate!

On to this week's photo:

My grandparents emailed me this picture last week, I've never seen it before!  I don't know where we were, but it looks like a hotel.  My haircut is the same as many of my other young pictures and I have my fair share amount of pens!  I wish my homework now was as easy and fun as it looks here!

My Huge Thrift Store Score!

So if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that a week or so ago, I made a humongous score at the thrift store!  I got a literal MOUNTAIN of yarn for quite a deal :D  Aren't you proud?

You can see there where I kind of nested myself in the middle while looking at each and every ball.

I found all kinds of goodies that by themselves would've cost more than than I spent on the whole lot!  So many vintage wools, Tahki Donegal Tweeds, handspun silk, handspun Camel (that's right. Camel) along with rovings of wool, silk, camel and others that I can't definitely place.  I got so many wonderful yarns!

Now, of course, I can't keep them all for myself, my studio would explode.  Speaking of which, I have to move my studio, right when I was finally getting it all set up too! Isn't that sad?  But its ok, I'll get it all set up again and show you all the final results :)  Ok, back to the score at hand, I can't possibly keep it all for myself so I will be periodically destashing some of the goodies in my shop, like this little collection:

Now don't you want to go scoop that up for yourself and make something wonderful with it?  I definitely want to see what comes of the destash, so if you wouldn't mind, let me know what you create with it!

A Definite "Don't" Turned Into A "Do"

If you know me even a little bit, you probably know that I loath fanny packs. Loath them. They are so awful. They are only ok if you are going on a long hike and need someplace to put your water bottle and trail mix (and you don't have arms to secure a backpack. That's right. Armless hikers are the only ones who can wear fanny packs.) But then I saw these.

Red Vinyl Fancypack

And now, my mind is having a small aneurysm trying to figure out how its so ok when fanny packs are oh so wrong.

Gold Fancypack

Get your own at carrotcake on Etsy!

Lovely Things from Helpful People

In case you don't know, the sellers on Etsy are some of the most helpful, generous people around and this post is to celebrate the wonderful things some of these people create :)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/42351013/lucite-glass-brass-necklace-margot

 'Margot' by Balanced

http://www.etsy.com/listing/42820595/handcrafted-sterling-silver-organic

Handcrafted Spiral Nest Ring by amyjoavnet

Musical Notes Necklace by ellesbeads

These lovely Etsians helped me to get my blog to post directly to my Facebook Fanpage and fix a little problem I was having last week.  Do you have any stories of Etsians helping Etsians?  I wanna hear 'em!

Tuesday Learn To Knit Day 14 - The I-Cord

Hello My Dear Students,

I know I didn't really come back and teach you new things the next week like I said I would, I got incredibly busy and these lessons fell by the wayside.  I know.  For Shame.  I apologize profusely and hope to get these back on track. 

This week, we're learning the I-cord.  I was teaching my friend how to knit this the other night and knew that I must show you all! The I-cord is used for a variety of things including straps on bags and various embellishments.  It is also good for knitting jewelry and those sorts of things.

Basically, knitting an I-cord is knitting in the round on a very small scale.

You will need two double pointed needles and whatever yarn you are using.

First, cast on probably 3 or 4 stitches (the more stitches, the thicker the I-cord.  Many patterns call for a specific number, so I'll leave that to them and give you the basics).

Instead of knitting on the side that the last cast on stitch is on, you will slide the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit the first cast on stitch first, instead of the last.

Continue with the rest of the stitches on the needle and when you complete the row, slide the stitches back to the other side of the needle (I hear making the type-writer sound "Ching" while doing this makes it easier ;))

Continue in this fashion until the I-cord is as long as desired and bind off.

If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please feel free to let me know :)