Sparkles and Sticks

.if i only make one thing this year.

... it will be these crocheted bunny slippers.  Period.

I also want to finish knitting the blanket behind me, knit two pairs of socks, knit a sweater, sew some pillows, create tons of scrapbooks, design wedding invitations and programs, make some jewelry, and make lots and lots of bright and pretty, magical things that want to burst out of my imagination and into my etsy shop.

But I am definitely going to crochet these bunny slippers.  And make little fluffy bunny butt pom-pom tails to put on the heels, and dance around the wood floors of my new abode while the theme songs of my favorite tv shows play, just like I did when I was a little kid.  And then Ashley will either want to cover my face in kisses or run back home to Wales where people act like grown-ups.  But given that he is excited about building a fort in our living room once his Visa comes through and he can move here, I am betting he goes for option one.  That, and he thinks I have pretty hair.

What do you absolutely have to make this year?

.we're engaged.

 

I told you 2010 was going to be huge! ; )

In early 2004, Ashley and I went to visit Tinturn Abbey.  It was our first adventure outside of the Student Village together (though it wasn't a "date") and when little flakes of snow started to fall from an otherwise sunny sky, our day was made magical.
 
On January 17th, Ashley took me back to Tinturn Abbey and proposed to me with a red plastic ring inside the Abbey Chapel. 
 
This time we didn't need snow to make the day magical.
 
(And the red plastic ring was just a joke, by the way.  The diamond one was tucked away in his pocket and the scrolls in the setting remind me of the deliate arches of the Tinturn Abbey windows.)

.craft crazy.

Hello my dearies!

Here are some important things you should know:

• I am leaving for a three week trip to Wales on tuesday evening (squeeee!)
• I have a to do list that is about 100 yards long (which makes it long enough to knit a hat, FYI).
• I have been scheduled for super long shifts at work yesterday, today, and tomorrow. 

So given all my current time constraints, last night I came home from work and did the absolute, most sensible and responsible thing possible. 

I started knitting a sweater.

I'm using Kimberly Hamlin's High Neck Cable Sweater pattern

And one of my favorite (and very affordable) yarns: Lion Brand's Cotton Ease in Taupe

I love this yarn so much, I could marry it.  Wait, now I am starting to have some strange fantasies about making out with a taupe sweater wearing Dick Van Dyke.  Or maybe Spike.

ehem.  Moving on.

I've also decided to jazz up the cable portion of the pattern with something a bit more feminine and etherial.  After some extensive Ravelry searching, I've decided to use the cable panel SmarieK Knits designed for her Regina Cable and Bobble Scarf, only I am going to throw in a few extra purl stitches so it will spread out across the front of my sweater more nicely.

SmarieK is a beautiful cable genius, and I am so glad I found her work on Ravelry.

I also plan on making the sleeves a little longer and adding a lovely pink button (that matches the ones on the collar) on the end of each sleeve.  

It's also worth noting that I have attempted this sweater before and it turned out "just a hair too small."  But since I know what I did wrong, I feel cofident in taking this new challenge head on.

Ok, time to get out the suitcases, throw some Dick Van Dyke on Instant Netflix, and start deciding what to pack.

Then maybe just a few more rows before bedtime. : )

.nicolette and paul.

One of my dearest friends is engaged...

...and I am totally jealous of all her gorgeous engagement photos.

Photographer: Alyssa Anne Photography

.2010.

Over the past few days, I have tried several times to compose a blog post to tell you all about what 2010 is going to be like for me.  And every time I have tried to do so, I have dropped the f-bomb. 

Now as many of you know, I don't usually swear.  Often, I find it much more satisfying and comedic to come up with more specific and obscure words and images to portray the intensity that would otherwise be expressed with a swear word.  I think that big words laugh in the face of simple little swearwords. 

Plus, I sound really stupid when I try to swear.

But 2010?

It's going to be f-in huge.  

Over the past few new years I have felt like I could carve out what was going to happen for the year to come.  I made resolutions, chose flights, chose apartments, chose roommates, and chose jobs.  I had as much control over my life as anyone can ever have.

I feel like 2010 is totally and completely out of my control.  It's going to be a terribly fantastic year, but I don't have a blue print, a pattern or a schedule for it.  It's going to be a terrifically full of important thigs, but all I have to guide myself through it is, at best, a rough one page outline for a thirty page thesis.

I am simultaneously terrified of and rediculously excited for 2010. 

I'll tell you everything specific as soon as I can.  But for now, let me tell you that it will involve lots of plane rides and some exciting new expansions for Sparkles and Sticks, among many other things.

.2009.

The themes, emotions, events, plane rides, and obsessions...

This was 2009:

(not necessarily in chronological order)