steven alan knitted button hat

tanja wanted to see better photos of my steven alan cashmere button hat. i'm not good enough at knitting to make something similar, but i hope these images help.

i would love to figure out how to crochet something similar to my other steven alan aviator cap because they no longer offer it. someday it will fall apart and i'll be very very sad.

clothes swap party idea

all photos by stephanie


stephanie of even*cleveland has been hosting clothes swap parties, which of course makes me wish i lived in cleveland so i could participate. from handmade invites to tasty snacks and a boutique display sensibility, even if you came away empty handed, it would still make for a lovely party. on this blah holiday monday (i'm stuck in my basement library carrel...), thoughts turn to neglected and unloved clothing in my own closet and a need to throw a party.

nesting

i'm in full nesting mode these days. my house is a wreck, a hodgepodge of incomplete projects. we've finally committed to painting the walls after three years of living here. a north-facing apartment with a dark kitchen and even darker bathroom = tricky. i'm going to paint a pegboard dark grey and mount it next to our new kitchen shelves. i sense another ikea trip this weekend.

i love frazier and wing's new hanging garland, as seen on d*s. alas, at $400, i'm going to have to use this as inspiration for an arts and crafts weekend. off to maine tomorrow morning to watch matthew fall out of an airplane. i will be proofreading my paper proposal and taking photographs of the event, since i prefer avoiding excitement and adventure.

march

I wanted one of these, but I was too slow. Ahhh, Etsy...




But I did manage to get one of these little lambs. So far, March has been more lamb and less lion. I'm not exactly thrilled by the wind and the rain, but the 40 degree temperature is sheer loveliness.

*Everything sold in under 10 minutes. It was about as intense as a Wiksten shop update!

new mittens

i received these perfect mittens from erica yesterday. they're deep olive-white and fit my hands exactly. i just took them out for a morning jog (wind chill 13 degrees), and they were extremely warm and comfortable to wear. i've never owned a pair of mittens that fits so precisely, and they're beautiful to look at, too. thanks erica!

stephanie congdon barnes: love notes

"periodic mini-collections based on a theme"
available jan. 22

knitting

i've been knitting these pixie hats because my sister in law is due in a few weeks and i've yet to come up with a decent present. i've been using debbie bliss' baby cashmerino, but my friend margaret gave me a skein of chunky yarn from argentina, so i tried to make one for myself. i'm not completely satisfied with the results, but i'm off to a good start. i think the cashmerino is better suited to this type of hat. my ultimate goal will be to replicate my crocheted steven alan alpaca aviator cap, which they no longer sell.

rabbit on the seashore

have a happy wednesday

stephanie congdon barnes + new blog

this squirrel will be on sale today at 11am pst on stephanie's etsy site. i've been waiting for him for a while, but my chances of actually buying him are slim. her creations sell pretty darn quickly.

speaking of beautiful handmade things that sell out quickly, it sounds like jenny gordy's wiksten etsy shop will be updated pretty soon. thanks to her, i am now obsessed with 'the fashion diary of Punky B.' even if you can't read french, the photos are incredibly inspiring.

slouching towards winter

keri russell's hat (last seen at sundance, 2007), is lovely. in fact, it is so lovely that there is an entire crafts thread about replicating it. but if you aren't inclined to pick up your knitting needles and give it a try, there seems to be plenty of options out there. the key is finding something that is just slouchy enough to hang insouciantly without looking deflated.

according to the november issue of Lucky, keri likes to shop at erica tanov, which tends to stock a lot of knits. i wouldn't be surprised if she bought hers there.


Rachel Comey slouch hat, baby alpaca, $120



Anna Kula floppy beret, merino wool and mohair, $160 (too floppy, but nice fabric)



Free People montreal slouch beret, fiber content unknown, $28



Urban Outfitters wide ribbed beret, wool and acrylic, $24




Misa Harada paul balloon beret, wool/poly/nylon, $145



i tried to find a similar hat last year and failed. instead, i bought this steven alan cashmere button hat on sale. it's not quite the same thing, but it keeps my head warm and doesn't muss my hair too much.



me, a new patagonia top, and three funny little gourds. arena farm, concord, mass.



a few parting, gratuitous images::::

Stewart+Brown cashmere peasant cap (fair trade sustainable fibers), $160.




Orla Kiely double face tweed coat with faux fur collar, $695 (part babushka, part mod)

arts and crafts loves

so i bought those camilla prints yesterday, but i didn't manage to snag one of jenny gordy's lovely 'tova' shirts on her etsy shop. stephanie congdon barnes is updating her etsy shop on wednesday, and it would be amazing if i could buy/afford one of her soft toys.

yesterday night i went to see the brunettes, a band from new zealand. the lead singer is the wife of a friend of a dear friend who just returned from two years of research. the last time i went to a concert (june 2005, spoon) was with that friend, so it's only fitting that he bookend a period of my life that was a bit lackluster. it's october, and i'm ready for a sea change.

recycling

i gave up on the ripple blanket. it was too heavy and yarn-guzzling. i started unraveling it and managed to salvage quite a bit before i became frustrated. now i'm doing a single/triple crochet that should go more quickly.

blanket update

i have a bad feeling that it's going to be extremely heavy and very warm. i'll have to buy more yarn on friday. i think those are my colors for now.

Ann Wood bird--Liberty

i saw the Joseph Cornell retrospective at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem last month with matthew. it reminded me of how crafts-oriented i used to be in high school and college. my rooms were always filled with odds and ends ready for collages or decoupage. when i decided to finally put my Ann Wood bird in a safe display space, i realized i lacked the materials for decorating its box. i managed to find some glue and an old issue of Nature magazine from the 20s that i bought at a flea market last month. thank goodness for ikea's cheap shadow boxes.

i'm not sure if the liberty fabric looks quite 'right' with the background, but it'll do for now. oh, and Liberty is standing on 'grass' that i collaged from small snippets that i found in various martha stewart wedding issues. it's amazing how hard it is to find large swath of grass depicted in magazines. people are always standing on it.

progress

it's not perfect, but i'm learning. i'm a terrible stitch counter. for a month or two, my counting went like this: "one, two, three, four, five, six, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, fifteen. . ."

the most exciting thing about crocheting is that i'm really spending the time to understand how these stitches are constructed, rather than following a routine.

at the rate i'm going, this blanket is going to cost me $300 in yarn. serves me right for only buying wool/alpaca blends. i'm trying to justify it as an (imperfect, one-time only) heirloom piece. i hope i finish it.

better than blogging?