a new old dresser

before

here's my sad little dresser, bought on craiglist in 2006 for $35.  many things got coated in this shade of leftover brown paint back in those days, and i put on some fake-crystal-looking knobs from home depot.  those things are junk, as you can see from how many remained on the dresser five years later.

so, with inspiration from none other than pinterest (you're shocked) i did the baking soda and vinegar and steel wool thing and added some beautiful handpainted knobs from buckleberry on etsy and came up with this:

after!

i'm noticing now that i should have pushed the drawers all the way in, but it never looks like that in real life (actually this is pretty good) so, oh well.

i also hung up my necklaces after seeing the odette sneak peak.  this corner still needs some work, and one day the scarves might be hung on something other than the blue twine our christmas tree was wrapped in.

by the way, buckleberry is a great little shop and the designer was SO helpful and accommodating, helping me pick just the right color and shipping super fast even though it was christmas time and these were not a gift order.  here's the only knob close-up picture i took that wasn't terrible and blurry:

oh and this is funny.  much of the delay was due to this $#%#$ knob that would not come out because the screw was stripped.  MANY attempts by both ben and i, two different screw extractors, two different tantrums (moving has been stressful sometimes, ok?!) and finally i just drilled the heck out of the hole it was in and hammered it out.  that felt good.  and here is the little sucker:

i saved this knob for weeks to take a picture for this blog.  lame.

another project soon once i find the right color spray paint.  !  how exciting.

one line a day

i know this project has made the rounds of pinterest recently, via design*sponge, via ashley from under the sycamore - but i actually made this over a year ago!  i never used it, i didn't think it was the right gift for anyone else at the time, and then lo and behold, perusing pinterest a few weeks ago i saw that my lovely friend kim had pinned it!  just the right gift.  i surprised her with that one!  i will say i took virtually no creative liberties and copied this almost identically from the original.  i guess there was nothing to fix.

one reason i never used it was because i got this journal in 2011, and I LOVE IT.  and now i am loving filling in 2012 and seeing what was going on this time last year.  fun to see prophecies, such as pondering whether or not we will end up in baltimore when we were on a road trip last may, or wondering if elmore was getting sick back in july, a month before he died.  wait, that one was not fun.  but interesting, or maybe eerie to see i guess.

slowly but surely, home projects are to come...

the first sunrise of 2012

for the second year in a row, we pulled ourselves out of bed, bundled up with tea, cider, and treats and found a sunrise-watching spot... a little different than last year's spot...

an homage to our new, gritty city.  the sun rose over the domino sugar sign!  it was perfect, actually.

and bam, there it was!  even though the locale was very different, the sun didn't disappoint (as if the sun cares how i feel).

my favorite way to start the new year.

ironically, i guess this would fall under "personal," so soon after writing off the "personal."  a couple comments reminded me that the number of comments on a post doesn't always indicate interest, and i've had some reminders that real-life support isn't always what it's cracked up to be...  i'm still not sure i feel very satisfied or comfortable writing much "personal" and i guess what i want is for my creations, and hopefully one day my photos, to be more inspiring than whatever news i might have.

that's on me to push myself and step it up!  crafty dayeseye's recent post (particularly "eight") and her attention towards growth really inspired me.  but i couldn't figure out how to leave a comment!!

just my luck

right after i posted my mitts... i lost them.

should i knit new ones?  it's 27 degrees right now...   good god.  or i lost them in the basket we keep hats, mittens and gloves in.

::sigh::

a hundred posts?

well, this post was supposed to have pictures of today's sunrise, like last year's new years.  but i spent all day dueling with technology, forgetting to get the pictures off the camera before ben took off with it until wednesday.

woops.

this is my 100th post.  i can't tell if that's a lot or not - i've had this blog for two and half years... in those years i have learned a lot about knitting and sewing, but do you know what post got the most comments?  my cat dying.  that sucked, and i was hesitant to post anything because i typically avoid personal posts, but it verified my suspicion - that we're all just interested in getting into someone's life.

blogs are not real life, not even close, and i am absolutely guilty of doing the same.  i'm not really interested in changing my blog towards the more personal; as much as i love comments too much, posting that stuff here ends up being unsatisfying.   

so i guess what i'd like to do is push myself a little more, learn to take better pictures, and start coming up with more original designs.

this is way too much typing without a picture.

i don't really make new year's resolutions, but hopefully 2012 will bring a finished meredith.  because 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 didn't.  what?!  yes, this is a sweater of epic frogging and time-outs.  because apparently an 11-color fairisle isn't ideal for one's first sweater.

GAUGE.

these are the before pictures... the back is now unraveled for the 2nd (or maybe 3rd time).  i'm starting over.  again.  i don't think i even like this sweater anymore - it's about having knitting closure!!

mitts

cabled mittens using this pattern
back in november (catching up with life a little bit here)

lion brand fisherman's wool
gauge was tight, but they fit nicely after blocking
added another cable because i have long fingers, made the thumb longer also (see project page for modifications)

i like them.

a little bunny

for my favorite "faux-niece" (one of my best friend's daughters who calls me AUNTIE LALA.  i love it.)  e turned 3 last month, and i got this bunny to her in the timely manner of one month late.  i've had a lot going on.
 

this bunny is the Well-Dressed Bunny - i liked the simplicity of it, as well as the fact that 3 is a good age to dress and undress things. non-human things i mean.

miss e also loves fairies so i fashioned a set of fairy wings (this took a few tries and some experimental wire until i just decided to make stuffed wings).

i used lion's brand fisherman's wool (that skein just doesn't quit) and made no modifications.  the whole bunny has a lopsidedness which, fortunately, i think is cute, but was unintentional and a result of poor stitching on my part.  she doesn't sit on her bottom very well either!  stitching the mouth was hard for me, apparently because i overdid it (as usual).  when i got to the eyes, i did about 3-4 quick stitches, and they were just right.  will ever remember to go easy?

if there is a soul in the world who cares to know the pattern i concocted for the wings, i will post it, but i figured the chances were slim that there is a need for them!

tomorrow is my first day off in a couple weeks, and hopefully the eve of my return... how dramatic...

l

addendum:  did i never post e's gift from her 2nd birthday last year?  that is weird because i was happy with it and i usually think WAY too much about posting things.  well, here is manti, in cascade 220 superwash, the collared verstion, with blue buttons:

(the third picture i mostly just posted because of those eyes!)