the list - 2012

banksy wall calendar 
It's December, and I'm making the lists. Want to see what's on our wish list for the holidays?
I may have already snagged this, as I heard they sell out quickly. If you haven't heard of 
Banksy and you have Netflix, I totally recommend that you watch Exit Through the Gift Shop.

arbor longboard

for my favorite grown-up skater boy. 

 

scandinavian toy cats
fun and cute for Lo and/or baby.

 

turquoise lomography fisheye 
neato! love the color. and it's on sale.

umbra fish hotel 
we snagged this for Lo, since she still talks about Goldie ... a deceased fish from two years ago.

 

cool chalkboard ornament  
(that you could totally diy.)

field notes 'northerly' edition 
white + silver + finch paper ... so pretty!

What's on your list?

Lion Brand Notebook guest post

I'm so excited! Today, I'm guest-blogging at Lion Brand Notebook, Lion Brand Yarn's blog. If you've seen my knitting over the past couple of years, you'll recognize that I use Lion Brand yarns almost all of the time. Especially my go-to yarn-of-choice, Wool-Ease Thick and Quick. Check out my guest post to see lots of chunky accessory projects that are fun and fast to knit/crochet, perfect for gift-giving.

cyber monday

Hey, friends! It's a great day to grab something cozy. All day today (Monday, November 28th) until 11:59 PM CST, enjoy 20% off anything and everything in my Etsy shop. Just enter promo code CYBERMONDAY at checkout for your discount.

Hand-knits make fantastic gifts for your best girl friend. Your mom. Your sister. Your boyfriend. (Or, duh ... yourself.) Happy (handmade) Cyber Monday.

28 weeks (Thanksgiving edition)

The grateful list, 2011:

- tiny baby boy clothes pre-washing in the laundry

- a big-sis-to-be who goes on and on about how excited she is to help out with the new little dude

- comfy sweatpants

- Vans slip-ons

- caramel apple spice cider

- pancake Sunday mornings/doughnut days in our pajamas

- turkey, cranberries, stuffing and pie
- handmade vintage potholders
- baby kicks to the ribcage (and not the bladder)

- cameras to play with

- a yellow kitchen

- friends who are hilarious (and always there when you need girl time)

- time for late-night knitting

- a husband who can do it all

- made-up songs and stories from Lo

- iPhones

- dark rinse Gap maternity jeans, oversized cardigans, and leggings

- my own little butterball in the oven

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

skip the chains + shop Market Day Black Friday!

Instead of getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to stand in line, get trampled by crazy people, and buy something corporate and boring, do Black Friday the Market Day way. Here are three reasons to do your Black Friday shopping with us:

1. We have UNIQUE gifts. Market Day is great for those hard-to-give-to people. Make the rounds. Get inspired. Buy something awesome. We're all about selling handmade and local, which supports a creative economy of makers—meaning you can get something cool for Uncle Joe, instead of, ya know, a sweater. We have more than 50 vendors, so you can find something for everyone on your list. Bonus: All that sweet, sweet holiday spending stays in the community.

2. We're nice! No grabby people on their sixth cup of coffee, arm wrestling you for an iPad. (Okay, maybe we'll be on our sixth cup of coffee—but we won't be crazy about it.)

3. We keep reasonable hours! 9a-2p. Sleep in, for Pete's sake.

 
See you there! 

(Where?) Des Moines Social Club. The Kirkwood Building. 400 Walnut Street. Downtown Des Moines at the  corner of 4th and Walnut. From 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. More details at www.marketdayiowa.com.

27 weeks

I have no idea where the time goes. Next week I'll be in my third trimester. The dude weighs about 2.5 pounds. And I have decided it's officially the time for warmth and comfort. I'm a big fan of comfortable anyway, so digging out all of my oversized cardigans has been the task of the week. I've also been eating my share of bananas as a potential remedy for the super intense middle-of-the-night charley horses in my calves. Ow ow ow. We have half-way transitioned Lo into her new bedroom. We think. And last night, she spent her first night in her new, bigger bed. There's getting to be less and less room for her to sit on my lap or lay next to me on the couch. I have a third ultrasound (to rule out previa) tomorrow and we've got our fingers crossed for good news.

I'm definitely looking forward to the holidays (and the food that comes with them) and I'm excited to make a turkey on Thursday. Feeling good, knitting lots and keeping comfy. That's the name of the game.

December Daily/Journal Your Christmas

If there is anyone who can get me excited about starting a December holiday journal this year, it's Jamaica. Good grief, Charlie Brown ... she nailed it. I just snagged one of her perfectly simple and modern little December books. With custom letterpressed cover and 31 dated pages printed in coordinating ink on soft white Mr. French cardstock and 10 assorted stickers in traditional and non-traditional colors. (Gasp.) Can you tell I'm excited? She has them available in charcoal gray or chartreuse. Get yours here. Whether you're doing Journal Your Christmas or a December Daily this year or a combination of both, it does not get easier ... or better looking ... than this.

finger knitting (for little fingers)

I knit a lot, and for a couple of years now, Lotus has been asking me to show her how to knit, too. 

Finger knitting is a great introduction to knitting or weaving, and it's perfect for kids. 

 

Lo is in preschool, and I taught her how to finger knit when she turned four. She can almost handle the needles, too, but this is a little bit more fun for now.  She asks me if she can finger knit all of the time!

 

She loves picking out yarn and making things all by herself.

A few months ago, we made a little video to show you how to get started. I'll let the video explain, but it's basically like knitting on a loom. You wrap, and then lift the loops over each other to make knitted rows. Easy peasy!

When you're ready to finish off your strip of finger knitting, carefully remove the loops from your fingers and cut the yarn, leaving a 6" tail. Thread your tail through the eye of a needle (without pulling apart the loops) and go through each loop with your needle, one at a time, until you've caught all the loops. Pull tight and make a knot. If you want to make doll/stuffed animal scarves like we made here, cut a few pieces of fringe and attach them to each end. Hope you and your favorite little knitter have fun with this!

meeting Tony Alva

Last night, we got the chance to hang out with skateboarding legend Tony Alva at our favorite local skate shop, Subsect. (Tony is one of the original Z-Boys and is considered to be one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. If you've ever seen Dogtown and Z-Boys or Lords of Dogtown, you'll know who I'm talking about.)

Bo has grown up skating and Tony has been a huge influence for him ever since he can remember. So it was extra cool for Bo to be able to meet and chat with him. He was a super chill guy and had a lot to say; he really liked Lotus's name and even went so far as to give us suggestions for the new baby's name. Which was pretty rad.

It was all part of Subsect's 'Get on the Bus Tour' 2011 which was hosted by Vans, and they packed the house. Andrew Langi was also there and the Vans bus was outside handing out lots of sweet t-shirts, hats and stickers.

We always have a great time hanging out at the shop for awhile, checking out the boards.

And hanging with Kevin and the rest of our friends there.

They even had free hot dogs on the grill. This girl ate two of them.

After we had chatted with everyone, we grabbed dinner at Zombie Burger and watched the fireworks. 

 It was such a rad Saturday night. We feel pretty grateful that we can do fun stuff like this right here in Des Moines.

Thank you, Subsect!  :)

NYC: yarn, fabric, a dress and a pair of Levi's

So, you know we had to shop in nyc, too, right? Just a little bit. Here, I will share the documentation of our shopping adventures. Yes ... yes, this does deserve its own post.  ;)

Hello hello, Marimekko.

Oh my. Jamaica and I drooled like crazy over everything in this store.

It was almost overwhelming.

Gorgeous bright prints ... everywhere!

We each debated over the awesomely huge prints and patterns, which are usually sold by the repeat and are kind of spendy. But we decided that you really need to go there with a plan and a pattern in mind. And I didn't have a plan. But wow, we had so much fun looking around.

Then, Jamaica introduced Kristi and I to Malin+Goetz. We walked away with a couple of indulgences and a crapload of samples. Samples are fun!

Everything in The Future Perfect was amazing and, well ... perfect. I really, really was into that green, yellow and white drawer set. Along with a crazy cool glass-top coffee table supported by skateboard wheels/trucks. Too awesome.

And then, sigh. Then, there was Purl Soho.

This year, I got to go inside. (Unlike last year ... see story here.)

I sort of flipped out over the Knit Collage yarn.

And flipped out again when I realized that they carried the brand-new Brooklyn Tweed yarn, Loft. I mean, of course they have it! But I was so totally stoked to see it there. (Here I am, making some kind of excited exclamation about Brooklyn Tweed to the guys who worked there. Yarn nerd.)

All of the displays were so fantastic and textural.

And I loved seeing all of these rad Purl projects in person – I had admired all of these online at The Purl Bee.

I have actually started knitting this exact baby blanket (in different colors) for our new little dude.

So many yarn colors and fabrics and samples ... I could have stayed there all day.

(Seriously. I could live, work and sleep there.)

I spent my last day in the city exploring a bit on my own (and taking the subway all by myself for the first time.) I magically ended up at Lion Brand Studio. Check out that huge crochet hook in the window. They always have such cool displays.

Like this life-size knitted tiger pelt! (Whoa.)

I loved the way the store was set up – the sampling wall is just too cool.

I knit with a lot of Lion Brand, and it's hands-down my go-to yarn of choice when I'm working on new projects. It was fantastic to be able to check out some of the specialty LB Collection yarns they offer that I had never seen in person before.

They also had all of the new Martha yarns on display. I picked up some of her mint green Roving Wool while I was there and can't wait to try it out.

So, what did I bring home after all of that? Well, there's only so much room in a suitcase. I brought home a wooden NYC building block set from Muji for Lo, and she's been playing with it a lot.

Other treasures included some yarn from Purl Soho, kitchen towels from Marimekko, a pair of skinny Levi's that I scored for $10, and a dress from Anthro that was $100 off. (Not bad, huh?)