Butterflies and Silky Things

Since work recently has been Worst Ever (today especially horrific) I have had lingering sense of Doom and am in Worst Mood Ever. I feel that this might heal me. I have no immediate place to wear this but it is called The-Road-Ahead dress which feels karmic and nice. Healing will begin and guns will turn to roses and the streets will be full of dancing children and with one voice they will end sorrow and war and hunger. Maybe I will just feel Much Better.

Shiny Things

I am not a very good wearer of jewelry. I have a lot of it and very little of it ever makes its way from jewelry box, hook, bag to neck, ear, wrist. I wear the same bumble bee necklace and round silver pendent (a gift from one MEC) alternating days. I think, however, that I might be able to become a better jewelry wearer for this. Light, sweet, inconsequential jewelry.

HMB

Stuffed Cuties

I worship at the feet of Martha Stewart every day of the year and my love for her knows no bounds, but I especially have a sick, sick love for the Holiday Issue. The woman is genius. These stuffed animals are the most adorable things.

These have been on my list of projects to do since Christmas. My grandmother passed away two months ago and we have recently started cleaning. I found some of her old wool sweaters with stains or holes and decided to give these animals a try. I cut off the buttons and felted the wool by washing it on the gentle cycle in the washing machine (it took three washes for them to felt properly). I've started the lamb from my grandmother's fair isle sweater. Martha's directions are a bit vague and confusing (but it's probably me because Martha is never wrong. EVER.) but I am trying to work through them. I'll post pictures when it's finished.  It may run a bit along the creeptacular line, but I think it's a nice, subtle way to remember my grandmother.

MEC

Ikat Eye Candy

I'm a little behind in posting on one of last year's biggest trends, but I love ikat too much to ignore. The bright colors, the unusual eye-catching patterns, the organic quality...I adore it. I may be partial, having studied Southeastern Asian textiles, but regardless, it's cool to see cultural objects translated and adapted to western use. 

I don't always read InStyle, but I happened to see this Madeline Weinrib clutch in a spring issue last year and fell in love. I covet this. The fabric is simply stunning and it is a very wearable representation of the trend if you don't favor entire dresses or coats of this type of pattern, which at times can be overkill. It's just the perfect accent.

Unfortunately the $450 price tag makes it completely out of reach for me so my quest is to find affordable ikat fabric and attempt to make one myself.

MEC

Martha, Martha, Martha

While I know there are many who resist the isles of Wal Mart for moral reasons (and I am behind you! Hurrah! Fight the power! the man! corporate monsters from Arkansas!) I am always sucked into their magical ability to sell me things I didn't know I needed (but oh so desperately do) and their fantastic power to fit The Last Kiss right there, four paces from fifteen yards of grey tulle (one day I shall make a tutu just to twirl in) and there, two isles away the magical kits. Courtesy of one M. Stewart, ever more wonderful for her brief stint as a stool pigeon, Wal Mart is now carrying magical little packets of precut tissue paper in lovely colours, complete with directors to fold, twist, pull into existence flowers or pouffy tissue paper pom poms. There are also cards to be bedazzled with birds and butterflies and if you happen to like finger puppets or pipe-cleaner animals you are in luck, Martha has you sorted. I made the pom-poms and they now hang over my bed (see above) kind of like a big kid mobile. The other night in need of something that wasn't knitting to do in front of the telly I started in on the flowers. They are also very nice, mine look very much like the ones in Martha's picture except that of the three varieties of flowers I could only make two. One of them was deeply flawed and wouldn't work at all. It may be because I'm an idiot (very possible) or that Martha has failed, if only slightly (seems impossible). Anyway, lacking a steady hand for cutting and having no lovely tissue paper available (where does one get such a thing in Canton, Mississippi?) these kits are pretty great. I'm wondering if I could make a chrysanthemum like the one from the kit out of tulle and put it on a pin, or my fictional tutu, or my head...

HMB

Ooh la la

I have finished this just as the weather has gotten warm. I like knitting hats because they, like mittens, provide instant gratification. They also, on days like today, save me the trouble of doing my hair. The pattern was also dead easy and theraputicaly (is that a word?) repetitive. I might make one for my sister who lives in slightly colder climes. Thank God for ravelry.com, what did we do with out it?

HMB

Bikes and Libraries and Polkadots

While most of the nation is still frozen and cold, Mississippi has decided that winter is over and spring has come and the pansies are out. Yesterday all the mothers on my block walked with babies and strollers and little ones behind them in red wagons and the spaniel lay stretched out on the patio in the sun for hours. I am filled with visions of riding my bike to the library and back with a basket full of books. I think I shall wear this.

HMB

DOUX

doux: adjective (a) soft, smooth skin, tissue; sweet fruit, honey, mild cheese, spices; sweet, gentle music; sweet victory, pleasant memories; gentle, gradual climb; gentle voice, smile, person,