Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Guest Posting at Delightfully Noted!

Yikes, it's my very first guest post! Won't you come visit me over at Delightfully Noted? I'm sharing where I ended up after outlining my plans for a classic Halloween costume here.

(I love the graphics Jennifer added - very Pinterest-ey!)

Linked up to the Newlywoodwards Pumpkin Parade

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

I love/hate technology

My smartphone is the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me.

Someone asked me last night what I liked and didn't like about my phone, as she's in the market for a smartphone. I have an iPhone 4s, which is sort of irrelevant to my train of thought here, but anyway. I love that I always have a camera on hand now, and so many moments that I would usually miss because I feel weird carrying around a real camera are easily captured. I love that I can quickly and easily share cute videos or pictures with my family via text or email. I love that I now have GPS even if my car doesn't. I love that I can check the weather forecast from beneath the jumble of my blankets without even fully opening my eyes. (I admit though that I sometimes remind myself of Phoebe from Friends, the one where she walks into the apartment and asks, "Hey, can we turn on the TV? I think it's raining outside.") I love that I can access all my favorite blogs and shopping and to do lists and schedule with a few taps. I love streaming Netflix on my laptop, which in combination with my DVR totally makes up for our lack of cable tv, because it saves me from flipping through the channels to relax and lets me watch what I want, when I want.

But.....I feel like it often overtakes my life. I despise looking up from my phone, and seeing my husband totally absorbed in his as well, both of us completely tuning out the room, and each other. I love pulling the laptop into bed so that I can knit and watch Real Housewives of whatever before I go to sleep while simultaneously referencing my pattern online.....but I also hate realizing that my husband is downstairs watching tv and working on his laptop far too late into the night at the same time.

I like that everything is all neatly bundled into my smartphone, but every time I think of taking a technology free weekend I have so many, well what about this questions. Like, well I would turn it all off but then it's also kind of our home phone so what if someone needs me? Or what if I ONLY use it to take and send that daily photo? (And if I pre-schedule a daily email does that even achieve the purpose of unplugging? Or is that cheating?) Or what if I'm knitting and I haven't printed out my pattern, can I fire it up to check on it then? And what if my husband implodes from not being able to do his fantasy sports or whatever it is that he's over there pecking away at? Doesn't the very fact that I have so much heartburn over the mere suggestion of 48 phone/laptop/tb free hours - EVEN when I'm just proposing it TO MYSELF - say that this is sort of a problem?

I'm not sure if I have a point here.....this is just a stream of consciousness that I felt the need to document. Electronically......(is this irony?)

Monday, October 7, 2013

Wicked Craft Week

A whole week of crafts....which means a whole week of posts AND new ideas....which means you probably won't find that kind of commitment here! You WILL find it though over at Delightfully Noted! 


And while I can't quite manage a whole week of fresh content, I CAN do one day. And look - there's me on deck for Wednesday's post! I hope you'll come check me out, along with everyone offering up something for Wicked Craft Week. :)

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

It's October!

Ahhh, can't you just smell the pumpkin spice latte in the air?! (I was at a non-Starbucks coffee establishment last night, and asked for a pumpkin spice latte and the girl looked at me as if I'd asked for something unheard of. It wasn't on the menu, but they DID have pumpkin chai. Is it possible the entire world DOESN'T anxiously await pumpkin spiced everything season like I do?)

So anyway, now that it's all officially fall and everything, I just wanted to put up a little note about Halloween hats. I have 3 (er, 4) available in the shop right now! I'll put up a more definitive deadline closer to Halloween as it's somewhat dependent on workload, but I think orders will need to be placed within the next THREE WEEKS to guarantee delivery by Halloween. (And keep in mind that you may need to order earlier if your community does trick-or-treating the weekend before like mine does. Halloween falls on a Thursday this year!)

The perennial classic pumpkin head:

The "boo" earflap hat:


And the newest addition, the monster hat! (This one is pink as it was a custom order, which is obviously not always the scariest color, unless you are a 5 year old boy - then pink might be downright terrifying! As pretty much everything in my shop is made to order, color options are always up to you!)


And this one isn't strictly Halloween, but darn it, I just like this owl hat! :) It could be partly costume.


Monday, September 30, 2013

Weekend Productivity

 This was my favorite kind of weekend - no real plans, gorgeous weather, and a full list of projects!


And wine. Love wine. :) I'm a red wine kind of gal all year round, but something about it in the crisp fall weather is just the best. I'm probably showing signs of my age, but the above photo was from Friday night. And it was perfect. A little crafting, nice glass (just kidding, it's not a nice wine - two buck chuck!) of wine, junky tv show, quiet, lovely.


Putting the finishing touches on a newsboy hat. This is before I noticed that I put the button strap on at an angle. Argh! Just grab the seam ripper. :)


It's so nice to actually be able to gather a bunch of finished hats up and SEE how much I got done! I finished up the monster hat that I started last week, the gray is the newsboy hat, and I managed to start AND finish a little elf hat for a new December baby! Plus I have the brown swatch in the back that has a bunch of stitch experimenting for a project I'm about to cast on. AND I made a couple meals this weekend - I felt like superwoman! That is before I figured out that I didn't actually turn on the dishwasher after I loaded it. Right back down to earth.





I took a couple of new photos of the newsboy hat to update the listing. I had a rare combination of daylight, time and finished items so I tried to take advantage. I also grabbed some shots of a new listing - the monster hat! This is a topper for a Halloween costume, so it seemed right to make it a little....nuts. Silly googly eyes, mouth full of pointy teeth, and all in pink, purple and green to match a little girl's costume. Can't wait it ship 'er out!