I Said Yes on a Mountain in Maine

Remember when I wrote about the recent wedding I was in? Well, I forgot to mention that I nearly caught the bouquet. Nearly. It flew through my hands and I was left with just a few petals. As I turned to watch its arc, it slammed right into the stomach of another bridesmaid behind me. As it turns out, I did not need to catch that bouquet after all.

Hippity Hoppity Blog Hop

Chelsea over at Hipster Spice was kind enough to mention me in a recent blog hop. Thank you! You know, these questions were harder to answer than the ones posed by Lattes and Llamas in my recent Liebster Award post. Well, here we go!

Discovering Doilies

I do not consider myself much of a home decorator. When the bearded fellow and I moved to Maine, our first apartment was adorned with two things: one Star Trek calendar and one framed picture of Leonard Nimoy as Spock (swoon).

Over the years we have slowly developed our self-proclaimed style: simple, unpretentious, with a vintage twist. The bearded fellow has a keen eye for color and design. Try as I might, I can only coordinate colors when I am not actually trying to do so.

On Saturday we suddenly had an urge to add houseplants to our apartment. For years we have lived with endlessly multiplying spider plants that simply will not die. Which is great, because I sometimes have a brown thumb. This time we wanted something more sophisticated. Peace Lily. Fern. Ponytail Palm. You know, something Poirot would have.

While hunting for suitable plants and holders we made our way to Michaels. I took a look at one aisle, the bearded fellow took a peek down another. It was relatively quiet until the bearded fellow happened upon the most ridiculously adorable hunk of ceramic we have ever seen. Not a plant pot, but, for some unexplained reason, we just had to have it.

Lost and Found

It happens. We forget that we have projects tucked away, in some dark corner of the house, waiting patiently for rediscovery. For me, that project is a knit short row shaped skirt that I started, oh, you know, eight years ago. I am not sure what it is about this skirt that kept me away for so long. Rather than continuing to hide it in a deep dark corner of my closet, I decided, against all odds, to sacrifice it for another project: a crochet storage basket. I’ll probably end up filling this yarn basket with more yarn. Ironic? I think not.

That’s eight years of curl in that yarn. Better than a perm.

Yarn Bombing, For a Cause

While I have never participated in a yarn bombing project (yet) I sincerely appreciate those who do, especially when it is for a good cause. Recently, I saw an intriguing series of posts over at The Grange Range that reminded me of the importance of acts of kindness.

California Dreaming

The bearded fellow and I are flying out of Portland tonight for an overdue visit home to California. I dutifully packed my bag last night with everything I needed to transition from Maine late spring weather to California summer weather. Aside from cramming as much as possible into my bag, there was one thing that made packing a lengthy process.

The endless debate of how much yarn I should actually bring with me.

There are current projects: upcycled cotton sweater yarn to make this adorable pattern, bright pink for a summer scarf gift, and an airy variegated option for a lace shawl.

There is also yarn for future projects (if I somehow magically happen to finish all the above projects in one week and need something else to keep me busy). Cotton in three colors for washcloths, face scrubbers, etc.

I mean, I should just bring them all, right?  Who knows what may happen. I could be stuck in traffic (it is California after all), bored in a long line at the store, or inside due to rain.

In the end I decided to pack most of the yarn. Three projects for the plane ride and the orange cotton in my packed bag. If you look closely, you can see the cotton yarn showing through the bag’s material on the left. If this gets any worse, I may decide not to pack any socks. To save space. For yarn. Lots more yarn.

Little Miss Matched: Punchy Pop

After several days of noticing my tendency to match my yarn of the day to my outfit of the day, I decided to create posts dedicated to each discovery of this anomaly. Can it be called an anomaly if it happens often? On to the good bits.

Welcome to: Little Miss Matched.

It’s okay. You can laugh.

Little Miss Matched struck again this afternoon while I was sitting at my favorite lunch spot, making crafts and munching lunch. Today’s color combination reminded me of a punchy color scheme you could wear to stand out in a crowd.

Imagine: light gray knit socks with geometric shapes in colors of neon pink and blue. Kapow! Look at me world! Ya can’t stop me from sashaying down the street today!

You get the idea.

Oh, this also happened.

Guess who spent five minutes watching this tiny snail make his way across a tiny blade of grass. I especially like how the dandelion behind the snail is shriveling up in fear as if to say: Oh no! Don’t eat me next!

What would you make with these vibrant colors?

Be Different

I love noticing things around me that normally go unseen. This morning it was this arrangement of freshly made headbands…

One of these things is not like the other.

…that reminded me of this cute card that I received earlier this year.

Wise words from a young kid.

Where do you find inspiration?

Coordinating Colors

My office is conveniently situated on the bank of the Stroudwater River in Portland. This also happens to be the home to one of the many trailheads for Portland Trails, our local land trust. Lucky for me, and the handful of other businesses here, there are plenty of opportunities to escape from indoor office life to gaze at wildlife and trees instead.

The bearded fellow and I often meet here for lunch as his office is right across the street from mine. Most days I can be found with both lunch and craft projects in my hands. Recently I noticed a very interesting trend developing.