I just wanted to share a little something with you all before I head back to NJ for Christmas.

These are buttons commissioned by Ms. Blue Garter for her February Lady Sweater. They look huge here, but they're only 1" in diameter. Made from fabric from my grandmother's stash, so I guess it can be considered vintage, 'cause it's probably really old! The fabric is a little sheer so the shine of the button shell comes through.

They should be arriving on your coast any moment now, Sarah! I hope you like them!!!

I've been doing a lot to get into the Holiday Spirit this week. I think it's working.

Tuesday night, the NYC/SNB ladies wrapped presents for Children of the City, a very worthwhile charity. Only a few of us braved the snow that evening, but we were well rewarded with Glad Tidings!

I bought a one pound bar of chocolate at Trader Joe's in Brooklyn. It was supposed to be for candy-makin', but I couldn't resist busting into it right away. Oops.
I also bought a crate of clementines that I've been enjoying all week. They look very festive in a bowl in my dining room.

I've also been having a really grand time selecting items for my etsy favorites, but every time I go to check on them, one more has sold before I had the chance to buy it!!
I like to think that all of my friend who read my blog are buying them up for my Christmas presents. A girl can dream, no?

Yikes! It seems like, the last thing I remember is that it was the day after Thanksgiving, and I was talking about Christmas gifts.....
Then, I blinked my eyes and now it's December 16th! Christmas is next week!!!

I've been very, very busy the last month. Too busy, it seems to post anything here. I don't like to post without pictures and it's been nearly impossible to take pictures in my new place.
(Busy = getting home too late = no pictures).
These, however, are pictures of what's been keeping me so busy. Curtains. Lots and lots of curtains.

This is my roommate's bedroom. He has two windows that I made four, eight foot panels for. They're totally lined and have hidden tabs on the back that create cool pleats on the front when you put a curtain rod through them. It's kind of cheating, but it's cute.
The room is a pale gray color and the curtains are gold, with a white leaf motif, the fabric from Ikea. They're fully lined, but still let in a good deal of light. This was taken on Saturday around 11am without a flash. The (east facing) room is fairly dark, but you can see the sunlight struggling through.

This is The Blue Room. The Office/Wardrobe/Crafting Room. The Multi-Purpose Room. The It's -Good-To-Have-3-Bedrooms Room. This room and the gray bedroom are separated by french doors, so I wanted to create a real sense of privacy, but in a way that didn't feel static.
Enter the hospital curtain track. This was a project that took over 2 months to complete. I ordered industrial medical supplies online to get the type of rack with rollers that I could mount to the ceiling. I never ordered enough of what I needed at one time. But now it's finished and I am incredibly triumphant!!!
This fabric* I purchased online and I was amazed at how it matched the walls. It's hard to see in the picture, but around each motif, between the brown and white, is the exact color blue of the wall! Amazing.
Each panel is over eight feet long and nine feet tall. Fully lined, so that from the gray room you see only white. They hang straight from the ceiling to the floor and can be pulled back from the middle of the room to allow for the french doors to be open. Whew!

I've also been busy crafting, but they're all gifts so I can't share. I have: 2 knit hats, 2 sets of fingerless gloves and two eye masks from Amy Butler's In Stitches (which is a great source of holiday gifties).

*I have over 2 yards of it left. The fabric is 52" wide. I paid $15.95/yard and would be willing to work out a trade or a deal if anyone is interested in it. It's really beautiful, but I can't imagine using it for anything else in the apartment, now that it's on the wall.

With Thanksgiving just past, I know I've got Christmas shopping on the brain.

Every year, in an attempt to have a less commercial holiday, I try to make as many of my gifts as possible. This year, however, I've been busier than normal and so I've needed a little help to check off everyone on my list. This is where etsy comes in.

If I can't make handmade, than I'll buy handmade. Or some of the amazing vintage finds that have been so carefully culled.

These are just a few of my favorites, which I hope to inspire you towards a homey-er, handmade holiday.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

If you had talked to me a month ago, I probably wouldn't have said that. I probably would have just started crying and ran away, leaving you in stunned silence, but I'm feeling differently right now.

At Thanksgiving, my family has a practice that makes me cringe, but it's sweet in its way. Before we can eat, we go around the table and everyone says what they're thankful for. With nearly 13 of us gathered around the table, it can take awhile, and I usually get all shy and can't think of anything thoughtful to say.

This year. This year, though, they won't be able to shut me up. For real.

I have an adorable new apartment and an amazing roommate and a really, really good job, which I love and a cousin who survived cancer and a soon-to-be sister-in-law who I adore and tons of friends who would do anything to make me smile and THE MOST FANTASTIC FAMILY, who loves me more than I can explain to anyone.

So, yeah, I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Friday night I shuffled off to The Point for a workshop. I say shuffled because it was bitterly cold and it was a Friday evening after a long, long week. I would have rather been tucked up on my couch with a glass of wine, watching a DVR'd episode of Ugly Betty.

But Jared was going to be there! And wasn't that enough to make the trip worth while? So, of course, I'm glad I went. I've never knit lace more complicated than some Feather & Fan, so I was taking a big step outside my comfort zone with the Hemlock Ring Blanket. But I figured that under the watchful eye of Brooklyn Tweed and the capable folks at The Point, I could get over my fear. Right?

So right!! I caught on right away to the clever cast on Jared taught us and was knitting along in no time at all! We have a two week break for Thanksgiving and we'll be back the first week in December for the second installment. I've knit quite a bit on my own, but after round 35, my eyes were starting to cross, so I put it down for a while. I'm really looking forward to the next class!!

(Had to sneak in this picture of Ms. PassionKNITly with Mr. Brooklyn Tweed. So cute!)

See? Knitting content. I promised.
This is a sweater that I started back in August, after the Olympics were over.
It's still not finished.

This is Jil Eaton Minnow Merino. It's a superwash merino, because I think it's generally intended for children's garments. The colors offered are crazy bright This hot magenta was the most tame of the bunch.

It's a sort of loose single ply, but sooooo soft. I'm a little annoyed by how the loose ply is already all fuzzy (I know it's going to pill like crazy) but the softness and warmth make up for it.

It still needs sleeves, but I put it on the dress form at work so I could steam block it a little bit. I wanted a soft looking structure and originally planned on letting the stockinette on all the edges roll naturally, but I didn't account for the extra length and width I would need to accommodate the rolling, so I added a simple edge by picking up stitches, knitting one row and binding off. It's still very simple looking but hopefully the edge will keep it from rolling too much.

This was my first real weekend in my new place (real, meaning, it wasn't Moving Weekend or Halloween) and I have to admit, it was a little rough.
Important items are unpacked and tidied away and I'm settling into a routine, but with that routine comes a reminder of all the things that my new life isn't.

It isn't a life that I'm sharing with someone a love. It isn't a life that I'm building with someone else. It may be strange for some of you to hear, but I've never experienced this before. I've never been so completely on my own.

An independent life is something that I'm having trouble adjusting to. I don't know what it's like to make decisions that affect only me. Simple choices like what color to paint a wall or what to buy for dinner seem so daunting, because I'm out there floundering on my own, with no partner to turn to and ask, "What do you think?"
It also feels incredibly indulgent. And risky.
I'm struggling a little bit, but I'm hanging in there. I'll be back with some knitting content really, really soon.

Oy! I've been tagged for a meme by Ms. PassionKNITly, herself!

7 Weird Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me (here we go):

1. I hate, hate, hate bell peppers. More than a normal person should, probably. I've been known to cry if they appear in my food and I wasn't aware that they would, because that means that the food is entirely inedible. I get teased about this a lot, which I don't understand, because it's the *only* food that I don't like.
   
2. I don't like talking on the phone. This includes ordering food for delivery and calling my grandmother. If you don't hear from me often, don't be insulted. (Sorry, grandma!)
3. I'm incapable of "saving" food that I like. If I have a box of candy, or jar of pickles, or bag of chips, or whatever, I will systematically eat it over a period of no more than two days. I'm am always genuinely shocked when I visit friends and find easter candy in May. Shocked. Consequently, I don't keep snacks in my house.
4. I fall asleep *really* easily when in transit. Cars, buses, trains, subways. Like, scary easy.
5. I can't watch TV without knitting and vice versa. Unless there's someone to talk to or something, but I can't just sit an knit - it drives me batty.
6. I have to take glucosamine for my hip. I call it "my old lady pills".
   
7. All my family's pets are named after jazz musicians: Miles (kitty), Parker (kitty) and Ella (doggy)!

I apparently have to tag 7 other peeps:
John
Patty
Jess
Ana
Jill
Steph
"Lucy"

VOTE!!

Look who's been busy!

The shop is now open!!

OK, OK, I know it wasn't exactly fair to just drop an "Oh, I'm moving" and not provide the details. So unfair!!

I'm moving to Sunnyside this Saturday. I'm moving in with my dear friend, Kevin, who you may remember from his appearance here. It's the lovely top floor of an adorable two story house, with a front garden and a little gate and a stoop. I'm smitten!

And I'm going to have a work room. And office/sewing/yarn storage room. I'm excited beyond words. I'll be sharing it all with you very soon! Wish me luck!

OK. Well. This isn't very exciting. I'm in a kind of state of limbo because I'm moving on Saturday. (OK, *that's* exciting!). So, I guess, I'm in crafting limbo.

My quilt is not finished. I did by a walking foot for my sewing machine so I'm all set once I get settled in to the new place.

The owl cardi is finished and blocked and awaiting a zipper. I'm so-o-o-o-o close, people!!

This is the only thing that I'm knitting right now. It's for a "Knitting for the Home" installation for The Point. It's a place mat. (Is placemat one word or two?) Only, to be honest, it's way to fuzzy for something you're going to be eating food off of. I can't even remember the name of the yarn. I took the label off at the store and didn't bother to make a note, except that I know it's 4.5 stitches to the inch. I thought it looked kind of neutral, not too girl-y, which I don't know why, but was a requirement for place mat (placemat?) yarn in my brain. So, I've knit one and I've only just started the second one and it has to be done for the first of November and I DON'T feel like knitting it anymore. So many other things that I'd rather be knitting!!!

Ah, well, I'm almost done. Done with the limbo - crafting and otherwise. Can't wait to be settled and getting on with life (crafting and otherwise).

The physical demands of my job can be as varied as they are unexpected. Some days, I'm on my feet non-stop. Some days, all I do is sit on my "you know what".

So while I do have a steady rotation of jeans and flats, I'm always wondering if I can get away with wearing a new pair of shoes, skirt, dress, you get the idea.

This was a kind of failed experiment: vintage high-waisted jeans and platform loafers. The jeans were great, the shoes, they hurt the feet. The terrible part is that cute platform loafers are a necessity when wearing, really, really wide leg, high-waisted vintage jeans to create the illusion of long legs. Wide leg jeans + short little me = stumpy legs. Thus the necessity of a little lift.

*Sigh* I guess neither one will be making it back into the work rotation.

Some things I'm loving right now:

Very vintage apple computer pin that I found while cleaning out my parents' basement.

A new purse that is actually an industrial tool bag.

My new Holga baby. This makes me *really* happy!

Well, the leaves are done and installed at The Point. I think it came out pretty cute, so you should go check it out. If it inspires you to make a leaf or two, I'd love to keep adding to the tree.



This is a peek at my finished quilt top. The color in the photo is really close to how it actually is. All cool blues and teals and browns.



This is a detail of the patchwork portion. I'm really, really excited to finish it, but a little nervous as well. This is a queen sized quilt and the process of putting it together just seems so daunting!

Leaf count: 58 (64, with these guys here).



There's still time to contribute! Take your leaves to The Point before October 1st!!!!!!

I am knitting and soliciting knit/crochet leaves for an installation I'm creating for The Point for October. I'm going to created a tree with knit/crochet leaves in their window.




I'm making as many as I possibly can and I have everyone at the store working, too. But, with a project like this, more is always better. My favorite part of the whole endeavour is having many different people contribute. It speaks to the sense of community that knitting seems to foster and which we strive for at The Point.

Anyone who would like to contribute can knit from one of the patterns linked below and drop the leaf(ves) off at The Point. If you're not local, put them in the mail! Our deadline is Octber 1st!!

merino stripes leaf pullover

a tree undone

Yes, I really have been doing activities other than eating at lots of great NYC restaurants (and sometimes on the street) and sleeping in other people's apartments.

No, really, I have! Here's the evidence!

This is a "I moved home with my parents and need something to keep me busy" project. It's a very simple quilt that I started in the beginning of July and I that is very nearly complete. The patchwork topper was done this past Monday. I'm going to make some binding tape, or whatever you call it, this weekend and hopefully have a new quilt by the time the cool weather sets it!

I'm *SO* excited! The quilt is another personal goal that I set for myself. I think I started collecting fabric for it almost 2 years ago, but was unsure of how to proceed and a little scared. Now here I am, nearly finished!

Oh, I also have my Olympian Sweater, a.k.a. The Owl Cardi, which is also very nearly finished (I just need a zipper!), but at work*, cause that's where I've been working on it. Pictures soon!

*Yes, I knit at work. I have the best job!

My month of crashing at various pads around NYC ended with an action packed Labor Day weekend. Courtesy of CityMinx, who was kind enough to go away for an entire week and let me feed her cat.

Here's a recap*:

Rooftop at The Met - Jeff Koons exhibit.

A multi-ethnic eating tour of the LES, organized by Big Onion. Definitely check them out.

Lunch at Bread, with Sandy.

A view from the lower end of 5th Aveue. I was really sad for it to end!!

*Not pictured, but equally fun: dinner and a movie with The Rainbow Gentleman, lunch at Cafe Gitane with Jess, dinner at Village Yokocho.

(Phew! That's a lotta links!)