sleepy saturday

this one has been hitting the blogs pretty hard and i just couldn't resist!:

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? (marielle)
2. What is your favorite food? (malai kofta)
3. What high school did you go to? (st. johnsbury academy)
4. What is your favorite color? (green)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (???)
6. Favorite drink? (gin & tonic)
7. Dream vacation? (greece)
8. Favorite dessert? (bread pudding)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? (???)
10. What do you love most in life? (bunnies!)
11. One Word to describe you. (sleepy - right now, at least!)
12. Your flickr name. (subliminalrabbit)


1. Untitled, 2. Vegetable Kofta, 3. Mayo Center, 4. Green Womble House, 5. teenage daydream, 6. That Cool Refreshing Drink, 7. Karistos - Greece, 8. Bread Pudding, 9. Artists Field Bag, 10. Macro-Bunny, 11. "Being a Duchess is so tiring.... Zzzz" Duchie Day #12 - A Wallpaper, 12. Subliminal Messages 2

it's been a crazy week so i don't really have anything crafty to show, but i'll leave you with some images of my cacti, which i adore:






happy summer!

calling all california residents!

today's the big day! VOTE NO ON PROP 98. i know there's little motivation to hit the polls yet again this year, but if prop 98 passes so many people will be out on the streets. the cost of rent is already so high, and without rent control, who's going to be able to afford to live here anymore?

in need of some tea

whew! it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, and there are a couple more knocking this month. between trips to las vegas (work) and san francisco (fun), looking for a new home (the suburban experiment has failed), and saying good-bye to my boss (tequila nights, oh boy), i've barely had time to knit a stitch! this hasn't helped either:


bryan received rock bank as an extremely generous thank-you gift for being a very good person. he is quite good at the drums; i, frankly, stink and am sticking to guitar! neither of us has dared pick up the microphone quite yet...




over the past couple of weeks i've been thinking more and more about my impact on this earth. beigeberry's experiments with urban gardening under the tutelage of her very earth-conscious sister has inspired me, as did san francisco in general. i've expanded my indoor garden to include basil and chamomile and am planning to add wheat grass, tomatoes, and lettuce later in the month after i return from a two-week trip. in the meantime, we've switched to cloth napkins and reusable bags for all purchases, not just groceries. i'm trying to find good biodegradable garbage bags for the bunny litter since it's 100% compostable, and we're looking to move somewhere we can walk around more so we don't have to hop in the car every time we need/want to go somewhere.

wish us luck!

and she's done.

lace ribbon scarf by veronik avery from spring '08 knitty. i loved this knit enough that when i dropped a stitch in the airport and realized i was going to run out of yarn anyway, i ripped, frogged, and cast on again. i made this one skinnier than the original pattern but it's more than wide enough for me.


now if only i could keep the cat from sitting on it while it blocks!

a welcome package

i can't even begin to describe how difficult things are becoming 9 to 5 (or should i say 8 to 7?) but lucky for me, a wonderful friend sent me just the remedy to help me forget my worries:


now go read her review of the film and then netflix it - or, if you're a dedicated austen fan, just buy it. trust me. this, and the first five episodes of the latest bbc bleak house, have quite saved me this weekend. and given me a propensity to use words like 'quite'!

and on quite another subject - last weekend i drew up a new design with my mom in mind:


and i promptly sent off the originals! happy mothers' day to all the mothers out there! mom, i miss you, and can't wait to see you in june!

weekend score

today i went to the monthly pasadena city college flea market, and boy did i score!


that's six skeins of brown sheep cotton fleece and one of a nice tweedy wool - all for less than $20. some yarn store in maine went out of business and a friend was selling off bits of yarn for her at the market. ahh, bliss!

i also finally found a couple of different simple earring displays for a buck each:


now i just need to build a light box, find a decent printer for cards, and i'm in business!

the calm before the storm

things at work are in upheaval; my boss has given notice, and i've been given her team - and much of her work - to manage. while i look forward to the responsibility, being the insane kind of person who enjoys a good challenge, i am feeling a bit drowning-ish. we're going to to make some changes so that i have some semblance of focus, and thank goodness for the summer interns, who i suspect will save all of us.

in the meantime i'm trying to unwind at home with that rhythmic click-click of the knitting needles.




the olive branch yoga hoodie is all but done - just a zipper to install, which will happen this weekend. the pattern was riddled with errors but they were easily caught, and this hoodie is going to be SO comfy.

and happily, my mom cheered me up with a surprise package:


umm, how utterly ridiculous are these?! i love them! THANKS MOM!

mr b saw those photo cards and decided that he wanted to model my trinity stitch scarf, completed months ago (which i wear all the time, despite the heat):


ahh, yes; life's looking up!

new things

okay, so have 'yall tried magic loop yet? i don't know that i'll ever go back to dpns. don't get me wrong - it can be fun to play with lots of little pointy sticks all at once and it certainly turns heads when KIPing, but... ohhh, this is so easy! and fast! and ladder-free!


i decided to try this technique for the sleeves on my olive branch yoga hoodie. i'm fairly certain that with some discipline this weekend, i'll finally be finished. unless i decide to do the pockets. *wood knocking* the yarn is so soft and snuggly, i can't wait to wear it!

i've also been playing around with some ideas for a new sweater. let's check in on my work station.


all's right in the world when your work station involves a cat!

for this project i've been trying out knit picks harmony wooden cable needles, gifted to me by beigeberry. i've fallen in love - the grooves in the wood hold cable stitches perfectly without being an absolute pain to knit from. and the wood is so smooth and rich. can you tell?


ehhh, no; my camera focus isn't so great with all this color going on!

time to get moving!

despite the weather

flowers of my labor

thought i'd show off a couple of pieces i made when the gals were over on sunday:


the flowers are based on a tiny piece of a larger aubrey beardsley illustration and i'm having a really, really difficult time not wearing 'em!* i think i'm going to have to make more pieces in this general direction...

the biggest win of that afternoon - other than spending time with my lovely ladies, of course - was the discovery by DM of the most wonderful pen in my collection. i'm not sure why i hadn't tried it out before, but man! these things sure are fine, and they don't bleed one bit! i promptly went out and bought an entire set in a slightly larger tip size (thank you, michael's coupon!).


i've also been knitting away at the hoodie and i've just approached the patterning on the back. it's sooo soft - can't wait to snuggle into this one!


*announcement to come in the next few weeks... stay tuned...

sense & sensibility, part II

on friday i finally succumbed to the sore throat and cough that had plagued me since a whirlwind day trip to salt lake city on tuesday (snow was involved). so i was a sensible girl and spent the day here:


mmm, it's a lovely new quilt we bought a couple weeks back. it's just the right weight and i adore it - and i spent many hours beneath it on friday, whilst checking my blackberry between naps and, ... why, what's this?


it appears to be a hood! (can't you tell?) well, the scarf had a bit of a mishap in the los angeles international airport and had to be ripped back. i was a bit despondent and being sick and all, i need something soft and scrunchy and nice to knit. oh, i do love this blue sky cotton!

i've since knit quite a bit more on this one - but was interrupted today when a couple of crafty ladies stopped by for brunch and jewelry making.


both gals proved quite adept and i sent them home with some spare sheets of shrink plastic to experiment further! such a nice sunday; such a relaxing, crafty weekend.

sense & sensibility

i can't help myself - the BBC version is on masterpiece theatre right now and i've only just completed this:


i absolutely adore this knit - worked all in one piece with very simple but flattering shaping. if it weren't for the miles of edging (350 stitches around the body, yikes!), the process would have been completely pleasant. and even so, the finishing wasn't too horrible at that - i think this may just be my favorite new stash buster!


close up! i know the hooks & eyes are on backwards but i tried 'em every which way, and this was the prettiest!

i am dying to start in on the olive branch yoga hoodie but alas! i waited until saturday to order the pattern and now it won't arrive until monday. i can't abide idle fingers so...


this is veronik avery's lace ribbon scarf. i've since jammed through a couple of pattern repeats and adore it!

for anyone who might be wondering, mr b is doing much better on his new medication. sweet little boy - i'll leave you with that.

feels like spring

(new print by ashley goldberg.)

a weekend's work

falling stars


the first spring leaves


stormy day


shooting stars
me and mr b are off to see the vet again - wish my little sneezy boy well!

the disturbance

hmm, what's maeve staring at?...


ah ha!

(this one's for you, sze! sorry i keep missing your calls!)

the color conundrum

i love love love knitting with color. so i end up with lots of stuff like this:


but when it comes to the wearing? let's just say that back in the day (you know, like, two whole years ago) more often than not i would wear the 'harry potter uniform' - all black. (for some reason everyone who worked on potter would show up to the office in all black all the time. i don't think we were all morbid.) since then i've added lots more color to my wardrobe but nothing quite as heavily saturated as the yarns i love to knit with. so i'm a bit outside my comfort zone with these pieces, but gosh do i love seeing 'em knit up!




guess i just need to become a bit more brazen. my first couch was lipstick red, for goodness sake! you think this would be easy for me!

what is easy for me? ordering a gorgeous permanent marker set for jewelry making via amazon prime.


i mean, really; have you ever seen anything this beautiful?

(new knitty is up. and i actually really like several of the patterns this time 'round!: talia, yosemite, honeycomb, and lace ribbon.)

it's an infatuation!

i'm starting to play with public domain images - and also making little custom gifts for friends! this is the BEST instant gratification craft!

sunday, lovely sunday*

a week or so ago i came across this awesome tutorial on shrinky dink rings in CRAFTzine's blog and i just had to give it a try:


i loved how these turned out and i decided i had to have a pair of earrings to go with my favorite of the rings:


the earrings are just as shiny as the ring but light's fading and 'yall know how that is for photos...


oh yeah, there's also a cascade of leaves in our house! it's been a weekend of the craft.


*someone was spoofing the bloody song somewhere in the ether this AM, and i can't for the life of me remember who or what or where.