The Golden Iris

Working at a paper store, just like working at any other store, has its pros and cons. For the creative person, it's fabulous - great ideas, great products, and a discount! Of course this means that you end up buying more stuff than you really need at any given time. Take me, for instance. I think personalized stationery is a fabulous idea. It's, well, personal. Of course, to get the real thing is prohibitively expensive for most of us, and who really writes that many letters or notes anymore anyway? Perhaps we should write more. It would get us out from the pale glow of our computer screens and bring back some of that fine motor control we've adapted to pushing virtual iPhone buttons. But I digress. Regardless of how much we really do use it, I found out that personalized stationery is not all that hard to get, and lots of the materials you use to make it can be reused for the next time (you know, after you write a bunch of letters). Ingredients: 8.5x11 paper A2 e

What was supposed to be a quick trip to the drugstore this morning turned into a much longer trip with several detours. The best detour was a garage sale. 8 books, 2 nearly brand new pair of shoes (to fit my crazy sized feet), and 2 star cookie cutters. $15. What a deal! And even my haul at the drugstore was cheap. Most excellent.

Na na na na na na naaa.... Yes, it's a real Katamari ! I don't have any photos of stuff sticking to it, but with its magnets you can roll it through the junk drawer and pick up all kinds of stuff. And, you know, rebuild the universe. I realized I never wrote about this, even though it was a Christmas gift. Sadly this is a dangerous object in our home - all those strong magnets are dangerous for our various electronics. So it sits in the windowsill, generally being awesome, but kind of lonely. I made mine from Amy Shimel's Magnetic Katamari Pattern , with scraps of acrylic from my mom. And lots and lots of strong magnets and more stuffing than you think would fit into such a small ball. This is usually about as much crocheting as I can stand, so it was a good small project.

This week has brought some lovely things from the garden. Sweet peas... A lovely apricot daylily... And what's this? Yarn? Yarn in the garden? Yes, you guessed it, it's secret stealth knitting time. I received some lovely Schaefer Yarns Judith in an incredible purple (called Betty Friedan). Impossible to photograph, even with a contrast color in the full sun, but still gorgeous. It's a lovely 100% alpaca that looks like it's going to be a joy to work with. I can't tell you much more until the pattern is published, so, until next time, happy knitting. (Don't worry, I won't totally disappear!)

It's done! I'm amazed I've finished something else. Maybe I'm getting some knitting mojo back. Here, modelled by my lovely lamp, is the new Clapotis. The stats: Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert Yarn: Trekking XXL, color 105 Needles: #4 Modifications: Less width, more length, a looser gauge for a scarf/wrap that's more suited to the spring and fall (and probably the not-so-intense winter) here! I love this, I love the way the colors gently blend and don't repeat. It blocked up nicely and I think I'm going to be much happier with this one than my old one. Not that I really enjoy retiring old knits, but there is always room for new ones. Especially when they're as delightful as this. What's next? I'm still telling myself I need to finish the bedjacket, but I've also got another top-secret sample knitting gig coming down the pipe, so you may not see much knitting from me for a while. All in all I'm already doing better on my summer