Star-Crossed Lovers

I'm kinda in love with today's discovery, animator and illustrator Kirsten Lepore.

In Bottle, snow and sand have a love affair via messages in a bottle. Also, be sure to check out Sweet Dreams for some cupcake-squash action.

And Guess Who is one of my favorite games! :)

Catching Snowflakes

A weekend free of the cold virus and I can't go anywhere because of snow. Having done sufficient grumbling in protest of the white stuff and the winter season in general, I'm now trying to appreciate its beauty. Enter Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley of Jericho, Vermont, who revealed to the world the delicate charm and individuality of snowflakes through photomicrogaphy more than 100 years ago.

Today, Kenneth Libbrecht of Caltech really likes snowflakes and provides everything you ever wanted to know about them and other ice phenomena, including natural snowflakes, designer snowflakes, frost crystals, snowflake physics, snow activities, and snowflake touring.

Here are some highlights of his snowflake photos.

If you like the cold and snow and can afford some snazzy photo equipment, Libbrecht gives advice about how to pursue snowflake photography. Julie Falk also shares some basic tips.

And for more pretty, check out:

Snow and Ice Pattern Photos, Snowflake Pictures, Gallery, Wallpaper –- National Geographic

"Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand." ~ Henry David Thoreau

My real reason for having a blog: Exhibit A

Created by Oatmeal

"Stay" in the '90s, Ethan Hawke.

I left the house and reentered society today, being mostly recovered from my cold, and playing on the car radio was one of my favorite songs from my youth, 1994's "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories. I still know all of the words.

Of course, my love for this song is directly related to its feature in one of my favorite movies, Reality Bites. And thus began my '90s love affair with Ethan Hawke. I don't so much care for him now and I'm not exactly sure what appealed to me then (certainly not the greasy hair). Maybe I just loved Troy Dyer.

"You can't navigate me. I may do mean things, and I may hurt you, and I may run away without your permission, and you may hate me forever, and I know that scares the living shit outta you 'cause you know I'm the only real thing you got."

Okay, he's also pretty adorable in Before Sunrise.

Ghost Riders in the Sky

Who needs lullabies? This is what my dad would sing to us at night when we were little. I still find it oddly comforting.

"A cold is nothing to be sneezed at."

Goofy, err Mr. Geef, I feel your pain. Oh, the drama! By the way, I want to join Mabel's bridge club, or any bridge club for that matter. :)

Electronics Need Love Too

I decided to try my hand at felting in the form of a kindle kozy for my aunt using Patons Classic Wool in Cognac Heather. I first knit a swatch and took measurements before and after felting to determine my gauge. Then I calculated the number of stitches and rows needed to achieve kindle dimensions in felted form. I knit in the round leaving the bottom open for stitching later and a flap at the top.

Tools for felting include a towel, tongs, measuring tape, timer, and a zippered garment bag/pillowcase (optional). With the washer set to mini load, hot wash, and heavy agitation, I let the kozy stew for two five-minute sessions, checking the felting after each one. Then I put it back in for about two minutes until I was satisfied that the stitches had disappeared, the fabric edges had stiffened, and the kozy fit the appropriate measurements.

Once sufficiently felted, I wrung out the excess hot water, rinsed it under cold water, wrung it out again and positioned it on the towel with my cardboard kindle inside and wooden spoon under the flap.

After several days of air-drying, it was time to think about embellishments. I cut leaf shapes from three green shades of eco-felt and pinned them in place.

Using antique gold embroidery floss, I attached and decorated the leaves with back and fly stitches, unintentionally stabbing myself numerous times. Once the embroidery was finished, I sewed the bottom closed with a sewing needle and thread. I also used the gold floss to attach another one of my Mamaw's upcycled buttons and cut the button hole with a utility knife.

The kozy is complete.

Knit Jewelry Frame

Another belated Christmas gift for my friend Rachel was a knit jewelry frame and initial hooks. With two shades of blue acrylic paint (Caribbean and Paradise), a metallic gold paint pen, and spray-on acrylic sealer, I transformed these boring white initial hooks with the idea that they'd be perfect for displaying necklaces.

The Quilted Lattice Knit Jewelry Frame pattern is available for free at the Lion Brand Yarn website (after registration). In addition to the knit piece, I needed an 8x10 frame, low loft quilt batting, card stock, fabric, and buttons (optional). It's amazing how difficult it is to find an affordable and attractive 8x10 frame! Thankfully, my search for buttons only took me as far as my Mamaw's sewing box. Yay, upcycling! The key to this project is stapling, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I cursed like a sailor.

Success! Here's the frame with some of my jewelry, including my Christmas present from Rachel, a butterfly wing necklace for my collection (worthy of another post). She also got me those squirrel earrings for my birthday. Girl knows what I like.

And for presentation purposes, I used the cartoon effect on some jewelry pictures printed on and cut from card stock.

Hold the Pink!

Owning my 3rd laptop in 10.5 years, last week was the first time that I dropped one and seriously damaged it. Today, I picked up (and paid for it through the nose, of course) my newly renovated pink laptop. It was not pink before the incident, but the cheapest and closest replacement part was pink. I didn't realize exactly how pink until today. Yikes!

And so, I decided to make my own laptop sticker with some Shabby Chic vinyl shelf paper. Ah, much better!

Attention casting directors everywhere!

Watching Downton Abbey it occurred to me... someone should cast Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith Crawley) as actress Deborah Findlay's daughter... Or does no one else see a resemblance?

While watching Arn: The Knight Templar...  Sofia Helfin and Elizabeth Mitchell should play sisters. Or sisters separated at birth, the younger of whom grows up in Sweden.

however far away...i will always love you robert smith

And now, as it is has safely arrived in SFCA, I can unveil my latest ::ahem:: masterpiece.  In order for you to replicate its awesomeness, you will need:

1.) An above average appreciation of the lyrical genius of Robert Smith;

2.) This amazingly awesome knit chart. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!);

3.) Perforated cross-stitch paper;

4.) A black Sharpie;

5.) Embroidery floss/needle;

6.) Patience, patience, patience (That's a lot of black)

I stumbled across the knit pattern while researching Cure-themed baby crafts (They don't exist yet... but they will). And since I can't /won't knit, I decided to try it as cross-stitch instead. I transferred the pattern to some perforated paper that I've had lying about for ages, and tried not to be TOO anal-retentive about copying it perfectly. I had to go all out with the sharpie once I realized the white paper peeked through the stitching. In the end I decided to use needlepoint stitching instead; both because it was more fresh in my mind and because I wanted to finish the thing within a reasonable time frame.

I originally underestimated the amount of black I'd need, which wouldn't have been a problem if 310 wasn't the shade of embroidery floss most likely to be out of stock at every major craft store in a 20 mile radius.  I wasn't entirely sure if I should go with red lips,  but in the end, I'm glad I did, mostly because it justified using a red mat  for the frame. I used a pre-cut mat, originally intending to cut it smaller by myself.... Just kidding. Instead I used photo squares, made black with my ever trusty Sharpie, and mounting it on TOP of the mat.

When knitting goes wrong.

Tintypes

Among my paternal grandmother's possessions are several tintype photographs with no provenance dating between the 1880s and early 1900s. I consider us lucky to have them because many family photographs were destroyed in the flooding of 1972's Hurricane Agnes. I only wish I had names to go with faces! These photographs obviously meant something to someone, but we'll probably never know who their subjects were. Alas, they provide a glimpse into lives lived more than a century ago.

I do believe the boy in these first photos is my great grandpa, but otherwise, I'm clueless.

.

For help dating photographs, check out:

Dating Your Vintage Photographs (1840-1900) Part I: Image Formats

Dating Your Vintage Photographs (1840-1900) Part II: Women's Clothing Styles

Peaches wants to help.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy 60-something birthday, Dad! I chanced upon a book I thought he would like the other day called Classic Western Stories: The Most Beloved Stories compiled by Cooper Edens. Apparently, Edens has one of the largest collections of vintage picture books in the world.

He also received his birthday Harvey Wallbanger cake (made by Mom) after dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.

Team Bates!

I now interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this brief, Boyfriend of the Week-esque fangirl squealfest.

But first... some context. Are you watching Downton Abbey on Masterpiece? Why not? Because I'm here to tell you...

YOU SHOULD BE.

No offense (or as the Brits say... offence?) To the folks at PBS, but the original ITV trailer is vastly more compelling:

 

Kilwillie getting his kilt on!

This isn't your Grandma's Masterpiece Theatre. Written by Julian Fellowes (who wrote the equally awesome Gosford Park and was, once upon a time, Kilwillie on Monarch of the Glen), Downton is an epilogue-of-sorts to another Masterpiece, The Buccaneers.

Based on an unfinished novel by Edith Wharton, the eponymous title characters of that series are "nouveau riche" American girls on a quest to legitimize their money by forging mutually beneficial matches with land rich, cash poor British aristocrats.

In Downton, Elizabeth McGovern plays Cora, Countess of Grantham, who in her youth was just such a "buccaneer" and is now the happily married daughter of three grown daughters. But no son, which, in the primogeniture-happy land of the English aristocracy, is a bit of a problem. It's even more of a problem because the sizable chunk of change she brought to the union has been, unfortunately, entailed to the estate, meaning that it will go, not to her daughters, but to the next Count of Grantham. And after an unfortunate incident involving a White Star ocean liner and an iceberg, the next Count of Grantham is a third cousin who happens to be a staunchly middle class solicitor from Manchester.

In Downton Abbey there is an upstairs and a downstairs, whose intersecting lives form much of the drama.  But despite the obvious correlation to the original Upstairs, Downstairs (which also, as I recall, featured a story line centering on Titanic - upper crust Edwardian society was nothing if not insular), Downton Abbey most reminds me of Manor House; the level of intrigue is on par with the best of reality television.

But to get back to the promised squealing, every Count needs a mysterious valet, right?

Clive Owen in Gosford Park

Brendan Coyle in North and South

Bates (Brendan Higgins) and Anna (Joanne Froggatt) share a moment.

Half an hour later....

Sorry... I'm not sure if that was appropriately squealy; should have used more exclamation points.
I'll try again. Dear Brendan Coyle: You are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bearcubs, GRRR!

I'm not a particularly punctual person, whether it be birthdays or lunch dates. It's a bad habit. But I did manage to finish my belated Christmas presents before an entire month transpired! My friend is an assistant for a middle school marching band called the Bearcubs (too cute!) and I told her that I would make her a wrist band for summer band camp. First, since she will be marching in the summer sun, most likely sweating, I wanted to make the band with cotton yarn, which limited my choices of orange color hues, but eh close enough. Secondly, I wanted to spell "BEARCUBS" without making the circumference or width ridiculous. So, here is the final product. It's a little too big for the wrist, but works well on mid forearm. Also, in hindsight, I'd probably add an orange stitch to the top and bottom right of the letter "B." We'll consider this a prototype and work toward perfection. How many months 'til summer?

I also felt like getting crafty with candle holders. Obviously my friend is musical, so I ran with that theme. I used a color palette of pale pink, black, silver, and gold and two web images: a silhouette woman with musical hair and an excerpt from Debussy's "Clair de lune."

And she got me knitting books! Super excited!