New Sweater and New Student

Things have been a little crazy around here lately! I just got back from LA and China this week for a work trip, and Dylan's been playing plenty of shows with his 3 bands.  One exciting development is that I now have a live-in crochet partner. Dylan has quickly picked up the basics and recently finished his first project, a simple crochet beanie.  As he was working on that, I crocheted along with him in the same pattern. A super simple unisex size beanie can be found here.

 I have also finished my annual sweater project. This is a great stitch that ends up being super fast. Watch the video here!

Lately

Just some things around the house...

Warm Night

My Astro Lamp

Dylan got me my favorite album of all time for Christmas this year.  The vinyl reissue of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness sounds so much better than the original (I'm a snot).  Above is the tattoo I got when I was 18 of the hand illustration from the liner notes.  Yeah, I love this album.

Books Read 2012

Now that 2012 is coming to a close, I thought I'd share a list of the books I've read over the past 12 months.  The good, the bad and the slightly embarrassing (ekk! enter Twilight series here - though the awesome Katy Goodman of the bands Vivian Girls and La Sera tempered my bashfulness by writing this during the big K.Stew/R.Pattz thing this summer).  This year, I became obsessed with Neil Gaiman, got voluntarily sucked into the works of C.D. Payne with others at work, and got to see the author of The Night Circus at a local radio show taping.

I'd have to say that one of my favorite reads was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  The plot line itself wasn't much to write home about, but the world she creates and the atmosphere she builds around it is nothing short of magic. In her writings she paints delicious tastes and smells, warm atmospheric lighting and divine costumes.  Oh, and it's a period piece. Wet dream.  My sister and I went to see Morgenstern at the Fitzgerald this fall for a taping of Talking Volumes for MPR. It was quite interesting to hear about her writing process (or the sheer lack-there-of in the early stages of her work).

2012 Reading List:

Stories by Neil Gaiman
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne
Youth in Bondage by C.D. Payne
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Youth in Exile by C.D. Payne
Revolting Youth: A Novel by C.D. Payne
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (not finished yet!)

The Babies

Last night we saw a great band "The Babies".  They are a dude from Woods and a girl from Vivian Girls.  Word.

Vanessa Bruno

Totally obsessed with these Vanessa Bruno sweaters.  So much going on, but totally unified.  Nice.

Ship & Shape Holiday!

My neon dip-dye mitts!

Lovely jewelry by ANNIKA KAPLAN

MADDY NYE of MN&CO.

Ship & Shape is out with a new collection!  You can find many fun wares from many great jewelry, textile and paper artists.  Check it out here.

New Sweater: Take it Slow

Alexander Wang

NYC Streetshot - source unknown

Today I'm a little aimless in my projects. Not really working on anything in particular. I made a few swatches that I could maybe design a sweater from. Here's a few inspiration photos for a new sweater. It does feel a little liberating to take it slow.

Halloweens

Just some photos from Halloween weekend 2012

Coolest Yarn Ever

I found this stuff today during a knitting emergency at the local yarn store. Holy crap, it's awesome.