Monday, December 19, 2011

current obsession: all knitwear

i am in the midst of crazy holiday shopping and haven't had any time to update. instead i will distract you with this. i just found this fun line called all knitwear. it's machine knitting in all shapes, sizes and colors. i am in love with these hats! and the sweaters are ridiculously bright and fun. i don't know if i could actually wear any of them but they're beautiful.  have you found any fun and inspiring things you'd like to share?






Friday, December 09, 2011

persimmon love

to me, fall means cooler weather, changing leaves, and PERSIMMONS! these lovely, strange fruits only come around once a year and only for a very short time. mid to late october are usually the best times for them. growing up we had a large persimmon tree in the backyard which would bear hundreds of persimmons. we gave plenty away but i also ate my fair share. unfortunately my family no longer lives at that house but, my parents are friends with the new owners. this means that i still get my annual persimmon fix (the store selection is never as good and i am always disappointed). we have both the hard variety and the soft variety of persimmon at our old place. i actually only eat the hard ones (peeled) and give the soft ones away. i did take a few this year though to see if maybe i could make some persimmon bread or something from them. here are some pics from our fruit picking adventure to the old house.

pretty leaves in front of the house


big basket of the hard variety of persimmons

unripe soft variety persimmons

soft persimmons on the tree
tell me, do you like persimmons? what is your favorite seasonal fruit?

Saturday, November 26, 2011

i'll wake up for yarn

it's that time of year again. it's black friday - time to shop in the wee hours of the morning or the middle of the night now that stores are opening late on thanskgiving day.  i don't usually participate in the huge black friday sales. however, there is one sale that i've been going to for the last few years. that's the purlescence pajama jammy jam. pjj is a wonderful yarn-y sale over at purlesence yarns in sunnyvale, ca, only a hop, skip and a jump away from my parents' place. discounts are all day but if you get there from 6am - 7am you get a 40% off coupon. i am so down with that. so mom and i work up early as usual and headed down to yarnland. 


the store actually wasn't too crowded at this point. they recently relocated into a bigger space in the same lot and it's much roomier, which may also account for the uncrowded look.


that back table was 75% off. i went back there many time.


samples from creepy, cute crochet
 all in all i had a great time and managed not to spend too much money. i don't have pics of my haul but, needless to say, everything was lovely.  i also got to talk a bit with someone there about spinning wheels. i really want one now. unfortunately they're a bit out of my price range right now. but i might go back at christmas just to try a few out.

that was my black friday fun. did you brave the mall? 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

happy thanksgiving


happy thanksgiving, everyone! i am thankful for all of my friends and family. i have the best friends and a wonderful family and i just wanted to say thank you for being you and for being a part of my life. this was a great year and i had 3 new babies born into my extended family. i love them all to bits and am looking forward to watching them grow into regular size human beings. i hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. i'll be back soon!

Friday, November 11, 2011

in love with pom poms!

i find myself with a slightly unhealthy obsession with pom poms as of late. i even bought one of those fancy clover pom pom makers and it makes me ridiculously happy to think about all of the pom poms i can make with it. it all started because of the picture below that i found on tumbr.

photo found on tumblr but originally from weareyouneak
how cute is that hat (and the girl, too). i immediately wanted on and thank goodness i actually had a couple of balls of the stitch n bitch full o sheep yarn at home in a bright orange. my yarn was worsted and this definitely looks like a bulky weight hat so i held my yarn double and cast on for a 1x1 rib hat. i think you could get away with using just one skein of yarn on this. i had to use a little bit of a second skein because i didn't start with a full skein. but if you were careful, i think you could do it with just one skein. that means this hat could only cost you $4.99 (plus tax)! the original costs about 25 pounds which probably adds up to about $40. i am quite happy with it but, looking at these pics, does my pom pom look small? hm, i might make a bigger on next time. i don't have a picture of me wearing because, well it's awkward taking pics of yourself wearing a hat. if you want to see full project details, visit the ravelry page here.




what do you think? are you in love with pom poms, too? what else can i put a pom pom on?

Monday, November 07, 2011

book event: the why chromosome

i figured since i already had blogger open i might as well fix up another post. last week i had the pleasure of attending the author event the why chromosome: why boys do love books. put on by bridge to books, it was an awesome event with 5 male authors with discussions about their individual reader beginnings and topics about male readership. this was a very unique event (in a good way). usually ya book events are heavily populated with female readers and authors. this even had all male authors and a mix of people in the audience. in attendance were andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri and greg van eekhout.

the discussion topics were intelligent and interesting.  they talked about what got them started reading - answers ranged from a parent reading aloud to them, an attentive teacher and libraries. libraries seemed to be very important in the factor in these authors' development.  they also got into discussions about graphic novels/comics and whether or not they were "good" for boys to read. happily i think everyone agreed that comics are a very good way to get reluctant readers to try something new and that there are many excellent comics being made today. this is sort of a near and dear topic to my heart because i've loved comics since i was a kid and find that they're generally written off as not being "real" reading. but any serious comic reader will tell you that there are so many truly intelligent and original comics being written all the time. sorry - end mini rant.

i had a great time and mrs. nelson's toy and book shop in la verne is an awesome store. i know it's not super close to those who live in l.a. proper, but it's so worth the trip out there if you get a chance. anyone who loves ya/middle grade/children books will fall in love with the store. now - on to the pictures!

the why chromosome posters
wall of ya awesomeness

i like taking pictures of small toys

apparently these are german penguins

l to r: andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri, greg van eekhout

john stephens and jonathan auxier
the gregs - neri and van eekhout
andrew smith and allen zadoff

delicious desserts

the why chromosome

Sunday, November 06, 2011

loft collection

has everyone seen the new loft collection by jared flood? to die! everything is seriously beautiful. and it reminds me that i have yet to try jared's new shelter yarn.  maybe as a present to myself at christmas i will buy myself a few skeins of loft and shelter.  for now, i will just ogle the pictures. below are a few of my faves.

jaffrey tam - look at those gorgeous cables

thayer

parson

stoncrop
that's it for me today. which pattern is your favorite?


Friday, November 04, 2011

november

wow - i really can't believe that it's november already. where the heck did october go? i know i've been missing lately. so much for my promise to post more. but life's been busy. my dad was ill as well which took me away quite a bit in the last couple of months. so instead of a long post i am just going to give you some pictures i've take over the last month or so. hopefully i'll be back soon with some new knits and holiday shenanigans. happy friday, everyone!

baby shower that i helped plan

vanessa with the baby mama

i made about 10x this many sliders.

adrienne's caramel apple cupcakes

our hallway at work

odessa hat made for charity

another bulky hat for charity

this pumpkin's mouth moves!

zombie hipster, cat, tippi hedren from the birds

marie antoinette, angel of death, flag girl

the birds!

do not mess with these people.

work friends are awesome.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

i love zombies and zombies in love





it's no secret that i am a big fan of zombies. i don't know what it is but the idea of undead creatures trying to eat my brains freaks me out - in a good way! if you're free saturday night, consider coming out to nucleus in alhambra to see artist scott c and get his new book, zombie in love. i was able to flip through a copy of the book at this year's comic con and it looked awesome. so that's where i'll be this weekend.

on the knitting front, i started a baby hat for my friend hannah. some friends and i are planning a baby shower for her in a few weeks and i hope to have some hats done to use as decoration. and tiny baby hats are just so cute. i'll take some pictures soon.

what are your plans for labor day, dear readers?

Sunday, August 28, 2011

graphic guise

hello again! see, i told you i'd be back. last weekend was quite eventful. i had two book-ish events and also managed to see rise of planet of the apes, which was much better than i expected. everything you've heard about the special effects is true. they're pretty amazing. the orangutan is my favorite. onto events!

on saturday i helped out at the graphic guise event put on by my friend's org, bridge to books. it's a really great organization that aims to get kids excited about books. illustrators/authors kazu kibuishi, bob boyle, james burks and dan santat were on hand to answer questions and work with the kids.

IMG_1267
rainbows!

IMG_1353
the beginnings of a great story.

IMG_1311
james burks

IMG_1329
bob boyle

IMG_1345
kazu kibuishi showing the kids panels from amulet 4.

IMG_1359
dan santat, kazu kibuishi, james burks and bob boyle with the graphic guise poster.

it was a great event. the kids really had a lot of fun - and the adults did, too. bridge to books has lots of fun events. to check out what's coming next, go to www.bridgetobooks.com.

Monday, December 19, 2011

current obsession: all knitwear

i am in the midst of crazy holiday shopping and haven't had any time to update. instead i will distract you with this. i just found this fun line called all knitwear. it's machine knitting in all shapes, sizes and colors. i am in love with these hats! and the sweaters are ridiculously bright and fun. i don't know if i could actually wear any of them but they're beautiful.  have you found any fun and inspiring things you'd like to share?






Read More


Friday, December 09, 2011

persimmon love

to me, fall means cooler weather, changing leaves, and PERSIMMONS! these lovely, strange fruits only come around once a year and only for a very short time. mid to late october are usually the best times for them. growing up we had a large persimmon tree in the backyard which would bear hundreds of persimmons. we gave plenty away but i also ate my fair share. unfortunately my family no longer lives at that house but, my parents are friends with the new owners. this means that i still get my annual persimmon fix (the store selection is never as good and i am always disappointed). we have both the hard variety and the soft variety of persimmon at our old place. i actually only eat the hard ones (peeled) and give the soft ones away. i did take a few this year though to see if maybe i could make some persimmon bread or something from them. here are some pics from our fruit picking adventure to the old house.

pretty leaves in front of the house


big basket of the hard variety of persimmons

unripe soft variety persimmons

soft persimmons on the tree
tell me, do you like persimmons? what is your favorite seasonal fruit?
Read More


Saturday, November 26, 2011

i'll wake up for yarn

it's that time of year again. it's black friday - time to shop in the wee hours of the morning or the middle of the night now that stores are opening late on thanskgiving day.  i don't usually participate in the huge black friday sales. however, there is one sale that i've been going to for the last few years. that's the purlescence pajama jammy jam. pjj is a wonderful yarn-y sale over at purlesence yarns in sunnyvale, ca, only a hop, skip and a jump away from my parents' place. discounts are all day but if you get there from 6am - 7am you get a 40% off coupon. i am so down with that. so mom and i work up early as usual and headed down to yarnland. 


the store actually wasn't too crowded at this point. they recently relocated into a bigger space in the same lot and it's much roomier, which may also account for the uncrowded look.


that back table was 75% off. i went back there many time.


samples from creepy, cute crochet
 all in all i had a great time and managed not to spend too much money. i don't have pics of my haul but, needless to say, everything was lovely.  i also got to talk a bit with someone there about spinning wheels. i really want one now. unfortunately they're a bit out of my price range right now. but i might go back at christmas just to try a few out.

that was my black friday fun. did you brave the mall? 
Read More


Thursday, November 24, 2011

happy thanksgiving


happy thanksgiving, everyone! i am thankful for all of my friends and family. i have the best friends and a wonderful family and i just wanted to say thank you for being you and for being a part of my life. this was a great year and i had 3 new babies born into my extended family. i love them all to bits and am looking forward to watching them grow into regular size human beings. i hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. i'll be back soon!
Read More


Friday, November 11, 2011

in love with pom poms!

i find myself with a slightly unhealthy obsession with pom poms as of late. i even bought one of those fancy clover pom pom makers and it makes me ridiculously happy to think about all of the pom poms i can make with it. it all started because of the picture below that i found on tumbr.

photo found on tumblr but originally from weareyouneak
how cute is that hat (and the girl, too). i immediately wanted on and thank goodness i actually had a couple of balls of the stitch n bitch full o sheep yarn at home in a bright orange. my yarn was worsted and this definitely looks like a bulky weight hat so i held my yarn double and cast on for a 1x1 rib hat. i think you could get away with using just one skein of yarn on this. i had to use a little bit of a second skein because i didn't start with a full skein. but if you were careful, i think you could do it with just one skein. that means this hat could only cost you $4.99 (plus tax)! the original costs about 25 pounds which probably adds up to about $40. i am quite happy with it but, looking at these pics, does my pom pom look small? hm, i might make a bigger on next time. i don't have a picture of me wearing because, well it's awkward taking pics of yourself wearing a hat. if you want to see full project details, visit the ravelry page here.




what do you think? are you in love with pom poms, too? what else can i put a pom pom on?
Read More


Monday, November 07, 2011

book event: the why chromosome

i figured since i already had blogger open i might as well fix up another post. last week i had the pleasure of attending the author event the why chromosome: why boys do love books. put on by bridge to books, it was an awesome event with 5 male authors with discussions about their individual reader beginnings and topics about male readership. this was a very unique event (in a good way). usually ya book events are heavily populated with female readers and authors. this even had all male authors and a mix of people in the audience. in attendance were andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri and greg van eekhout.

the discussion topics were intelligent and interesting.  they talked about what got them started reading - answers ranged from a parent reading aloud to them, an attentive teacher and libraries. libraries seemed to be very important in the factor in these authors' development.  they also got into discussions about graphic novels/comics and whether or not they were "good" for boys to read. happily i think everyone agreed that comics are a very good way to get reluctant readers to try something new and that there are many excellent comics being made today. this is sort of a near and dear topic to my heart because i've loved comics since i was a kid and find that they're generally written off as not being "real" reading. but any serious comic reader will tell you that there are so many truly intelligent and original comics being written all the time. sorry - end mini rant.

i had a great time and mrs. nelson's toy and book shop in la verne is an awesome store. i know it's not super close to those who live in l.a. proper, but it's so worth the trip out there if you get a chance. anyone who loves ya/middle grade/children books will fall in love with the store. now - on to the pictures!

the why chromosome posters
wall of ya awesomeness

i like taking pictures of small toys

apparently these are german penguins

l to r: andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri, greg van eekhout

john stephens and jonathan auxier
the gregs - neri and van eekhout
andrew smith and allen zadoff

delicious desserts

the why chromosome

Read More


Sunday, November 06, 2011

loft collection

has everyone seen the new loft collection by jared flood? to die! everything is seriously beautiful. and it reminds me that i have yet to try jared's new shelter yarn.  maybe as a present to myself at christmas i will buy myself a few skeins of loft and shelter.  for now, i will just ogle the pictures. below are a few of my faves.

jaffrey tam - look at those gorgeous cables

thayer

parson

stoncrop
that's it for me today. which pattern is your favorite?


Read More


Friday, November 04, 2011

november

wow - i really can't believe that it's november already. where the heck did october go? i know i've been missing lately. so much for my promise to post more. but life's been busy. my dad was ill as well which took me away quite a bit in the last couple of months. so instead of a long post i am just going to give you some pictures i've take over the last month or so. hopefully i'll be back soon with some new knits and holiday shenanigans. happy friday, everyone!

baby shower that i helped plan

vanessa with the baby mama

i made about 10x this many sliders.

adrienne's caramel apple cupcakes

our hallway at work

odessa hat made for charity

another bulky hat for charity

this pumpkin's mouth moves!

zombie hipster, cat, tippi hedren from the birds

marie antoinette, angel of death, flag girl

the birds!

do not mess with these people.

work friends are awesome.

Read More


Thursday, September 01, 2011

i love zombies and zombies in love





it's no secret that i am a big fan of zombies. i don't know what it is but the idea of undead creatures trying to eat my brains freaks me out - in a good way! if you're free saturday night, consider coming out to nucleus in alhambra to see artist scott c and get his new book, zombie in love. i was able to flip through a copy of the book at this year's comic con and it looked awesome. so that's where i'll be this weekend.

on the knitting front, i started a baby hat for my friend hannah. some friends and i are planning a baby shower for her in a few weeks and i hope to have some hats done to use as decoration. and tiny baby hats are just so cute. i'll take some pictures soon.

what are your plans for labor day, dear readers?
Read More


Sunday, August 28, 2011

graphic guise

hello again! see, i told you i'd be back. last weekend was quite eventful. i had two book-ish events and also managed to see rise of planet of the apes, which was much better than i expected. everything you've heard about the special effects is true. they're pretty amazing. the orangutan is my favorite. onto events!

on saturday i helped out at the graphic guise event put on by my friend's org, bridge to books. it's a really great organization that aims to get kids excited about books. illustrators/authors kazu kibuishi, bob boyle, james burks and dan santat were on hand to answer questions and work with the kids.

IMG_1267
rainbows!

IMG_1353
the beginnings of a great story.

IMG_1311
james burks

IMG_1329
bob boyle

IMG_1345
kazu kibuishi showing the kids panels from amulet 4.

IMG_1359
dan santat, kazu kibuishi, james burks and bob boyle with the graphic guise poster.

it was a great event. the kids really had a lot of fun - and the adults did, too. bridge to books has lots of fun events. to check out what's coming next, go to www.bridgetobooks.com.

Read More