Decorating Inspiration

One of the challenges of renting an apartment is decorating. Since getting a part-time job at a Michael's Craft store, I have had to fight strong urges to buy everything. It's all so cute! And I get a discount! But back to complaining about renting... I'm afraid to do anything to the walls. We tried putting some 3M hooks up in the closet for our coats, and they fell off after a week. Not good.

So I've been trying to think of ways to decorate without heavy things. We don't have a headboard, and the blank wall above the bed is bothering the heck out of me! So I decided to mix the popular bunting idea with my Michael's supplies. Here's the inspiration:

The template (and top photograph) comes from Antibromide. I plan to make my bunting much larger, to fit the scale of my bedroom. I would have never thought of adding tabs to the top to fold over and attach to the twine! Before I found this tutorial, I was planning to punch small holes in the top corners, and thread the twine through. Now I have options to play with...

The bottom photograph comes from Design Seed. I saw a few color palettes on Pinterest, and thought it would be a great place to find a color scheme for my bunting. At first I wanted something with walnut brown and light teal, to match my duvet cover and sheets. The schemes just didn't feel right, and when I saw this relaxing palette, I knew I had a winner!

Below are a few more inspiration photos for the bunting. To see more (and more palettes), check out my pinterest page.

Source, source via this site.

A Knitter's Confession

I read a few knitting blogs, and the writers always gush about adding gorgeous yarn to their stashes. Here's my confession though... I hate having a stash! It stresses me out. I'm the kind of knitter that works on one project at a time.* Right now I have a pair of socks that are half done, a sweater that's mostly done, 2 skeins of gorgeous local yarn from my brother (Christmas present!), and a skein of Madeline Tosh with pattern from my mom (Valentine's present!).  Ack.

Why am I telling you this? Because I discovered something wonderful. A yarn crawl. In D.C. In 2 months. With prizes! I've only been to 1.5 of the local yarn stores (the 0.5 was peeking in the door and being too weird to go inside. I always feel guilty browsing with no intention to buy), so this seems like a great way to see all ten local yarn stores.  TEN! Then I realized that I would want to buy something at each store. Even if I stick to 1 skein, things could get pricey very quickly! While I am getting a sweet tax refund, I'm not sure blowing it all on yarn would be a good idea. It would only make my stash grow!

There is plenty of time to decide if I want to participate. Technically, this would only cost $10. But I like supporting small businesses, and I'm definitely going to want to buy in every store! What do you think? Should I do it? More importantly, will my boyfriend survive me taking dragging him to so many yarn stores?!





* Sort of. Technically I have a blanket that I've been working on for a few years. And 2 finished knit purses that need linings sewn into them... Finishing touches were never my favorite part!

Off the Needles: Arctic Circle

I'm still catching up on my knitting from 2012! This lovely cowl was another project for my yarn store to display (I still can't get over the fact that people pay me to knit!). I really like creating these samples, because I get to work with yarn and patterns that I wouldn't choose for myself. I loooooove the look of cowls. But I hate wearing them. I'm not a big fan of having a lot of fabric around my neck. I'm pretty sure this comes from my intense hatred of turtlenecks when I was little...

This yarn was big and squishy, and the pattern was really fun to knit! The arrowhead stitch was new to me, and I love the look of it.

Pattern: Arctic Circle

Yarn: The Fibre Company, Tundra (60% alpaca, 30% merino, 10% silk) in Snowdrift

Modifications: none

Ravelry Post: here

Book List 2012 Part V: Mysteries

A lot of the books I read this year were mysteries. I enjoy the excitement of trying to solve the mysteries myself, and I get so involved that I usually finish the book in a day or two. This part looks short, but it's because I grouped the mysteries by series. You don't really want to read 19 entries about the same character, do you?

Mystery Books That I Read in 2012:

The Harry Hole Series (The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, Leopard, Snowman)

My dad got me started on the Icelandic/Nordic/Dane/etc. mysteries. It started with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and it's still going strong. These mysteries tend to feature a flawed, middle-aged male character. Jo Nesbø creates beautifully complicated plots (but not complicated enough that you can't follow them). The hardest part is keeping track of all the foreign names! The lastest Harry Hole novel is on my book shelf, waiting to be read...

Stephanie Plum Series (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly, Four to Score, High Five, Hot Six, Seven Up, Hard Eight, To The Nines, Ten Big Ones, Eleven on Top, Twelve Sharp, Lean Mean Thirteen, Fearless Fourteen, Finger Lickin' Fifteen, Sizzling Sixteen, Smokin' Seventeen, Explosive Eighteen, Notorious Nineteen)

 I love these books. They are short, witty and have great plots. I started reading the series after receiving one as a gift, and I couldn't stop. The first book was made into a movie, but I was disappointed with it. The humor of the characters didn't come through, and Ranger was not nearly as hot as I imagined!

Vish Puri Mysteries (The Case of the Missing Servant, The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing)

I chose these because the covers looked nice. They are good mysteries, but they remind me of Holmes. The main character will do a bunch of stuff without explaining his motives, and then randomly solve the case in a way that makes it difficult (if not impossible) for the reader to know what's coming. Still, they were fun reads.

The Keeper of Lost Causes (Department Q #1)

This book. It's a typical northern European mystery: Struggling middle-aged male character, etc. But this was possibly the best mystery I read all year. I'm soooo impatient for the next books to be translated into English!

Heat Wave (Nikki Heat #1)

I'm a fan of Nathan Fillion. It started when my friend got me hooked on Castle, and continued when I discovered Firefly. This book is "written" by Rick Castle, the character on Fillion's tv show. It was pretty bad. Really bad. Please don't read this book. Just watch the tv show!

The Hangman's Daughter Series (The Hangman's Daughter, The Dark Monk)

I first read these because they were free to borrow on my kindle. They are set in Bavaria in the 1600s, which makes them different. It was interesting to read about daily life back then, and I believe some of the names and places are based on the author's family tree.

Southern Vampire Mystery Series (aka Sookie Stackhouse Series, aka the books True Blood is based on!) (Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, Altogether Dead, From Dead to Worse, Dead and Gone, Dead in the Family, Dead Reckoning)

I confess, I am a fan of True Blood. I know it's a ridiculous show, but it's a guilty pleasure. It's fun to read the books: The first season followed the first book quite closely. But from there, the show started going in its own direction. The next few seasons did loosely follow the books. They aren't close enough that seeing the show ruined the books though!

Off the Needles: Countess Mitts

I finished off a few things this winter that I haven't shared with you yet! This pattern was one of the samples I got paid to knit for my LYS. It comes as a cute little kit from Blue Sky Alpacas that includes yarn and the pattern.

Ohhhhh my the yarn! When I win the lottery I'm definitely going to buy an alpaca farm. And then just roll around in alpaca. It's so soft! SO soft. This was amazing to work with!

I should note that I knitted this to gauge. I have fairly small wrists, and these were snug on me. I would suggest going up a needle size if you have larger wrists.

Pattern: Countess Mitts, from Blue Sky Alpaca

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Royal (100% alpaca)

Modifications: None

Ravelry Post: here

Book List 2012 Part IV: Non-fiction

This list is pretty short. Like, 3 books short. Does this mean I should be reading more non-fiction books?

Non-fiction Books That I Read in 2012:

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, by Rhoda Janzen

A memoir about how the author coped with a divorce and a devastating car accident. It was interesting, but didn't grab me as much as other memoirs.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), by Mindy Kaling

I wasn't sure what to expect out of this book. I knew Mindy was an annoying character on The Office, but nothing else about her. I was really impressed to learn about her career. She did a great job of connecting anecdotes to form a cohesive book (as opposed to Tina Fey's book, which you could tell was written by a sketch writer). As yes, as a twentysomething girl, I could relate to it.

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them, by Donovan Hohn

I found this while I was browsing the NYTimes best sellers lists. Or maybe their Top 100 Books of 2011? Either way, it sounded interesting. And it is! The author explores everything that could have happened to the duck bath toys that fell overboard while crossing the ocean. EVERYTHING. From where they could have ended up, to the impact of disintegrating plastic in our oceans. This one is definitely worth checking out.

Book List 2012 Part III: The Classics

In high school we had to define what a "classic" book meant. I think we decided it was a book with a message that could speak to many generations blah blah blah... To be honest, most of the time classics = old. This isn't to say that they're boring! I guess the first definition still applies. If they weren't great books, people wouldn't be reading them 100+ years later. Or maybe people just read them because they are free on the Kindle... Anyway, here are the classics, in the order I read them:

Classic Books I Read in 2012:

Emma, by Jane Austen

Goodness, these books make me laugh. The women decide in the blink of an eye that they are madly in love with Mr. Soandso, and then spend days swooning over them. It seems a little unrealistic, but I guess there wasn't much else to do back then. It's a cute love story though.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

More drama! I was familiar with this plot line from the Bollywood movie Bride and Prejudice. The book doesn't have nearly as much dancing :(

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen

Yes, I went on a free Kindle book Jane Austen kick... Apparently this book is also a movie, which I don't understand. Because nothing happens. Nothing. It's a bunch of rich people living in the country, hanging out. They act out plays and walk around. Pretty boring. Oh, and people fall in love.

The Complete Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I had read one or two Sherlock mysteries in high school. But I loved reading all of them! Doyle must have been ridiculously clever. Reading this gave me a new appreciation for the British tv show about Sherlock!

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

This book goes back to my goal of reading all the books that have characters in A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It's a little terrifying. Dorian is quite terrible. So, don't ever wish that you can be forever young, okay?

The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells

This book also fits my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen goal. It's a short read, and you actually feel sympathetic towards the invisible man. Sometimes.

King Solomon's Mines, by Sir H. Rider Haggard

Another book from my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen quest. This turned out to be really interesting. Once you get past all the old African slang, it's a great adventure (and only a tiny bit racist for how old it is).

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

I don't know how I missed this one growing up! It's a wonderful adventure. Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, GO. Now.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne

Somehow I always thought the 20,000 leagues referred to a depth. Once I got over that, this was a really fun adventure. I think part of why these old adventure books are so great is that there was a lot of unknowns back then. It allowed writers to create their own places and creatures, which is exciting!

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Jules Verne

I really like Jules Verne.

The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne

I realllllly like Jules Verne. This may actually be my favorite of his novels. Think Lost, but less confusing. And with no chicks (sorry dudes).

The Child of the Cavern (or The Underground City), by Jules Verne

This one actually wasn't as good. But still good.

Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen, by Jules Verne

Okay, I may have gone overboard downloading free Jules Verne stories. But this was a cute coming of age/ adventure story.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, by J.R.R. Tolkien

I wanted to reread this before I saw the movie. It brought back a lot of memories (and made me want to reread the LOTR series!)