***My SP7 has been revealed!! Its Brianne!! Check out her blog and her very cute son Owen....THANKS AGAIN BRIANNE...this was fun fun fun***

I'm becoming increasingly obsessed with Ploymer Clay...check out Bethany Cooper's designs and her Etsy store - mostly made with polymer clay...I just bought this pendant from her....ooohh...I'm soooo excited!

Check out the Sunrise Circle Jacket KAL that Susan told me about....it's a really cool pattern available here. Adorable!

April 5th is sign-ups for Back Tack III.....I'm participating this time....!!

What kind of tree is this?

I saw this cute little washcloth made by Pink Purls back in February and decided to try my hand at an "M" for my hubby.

Specs:

Yarn: Sugar Cream Lily Cotton in orange/pink/yellow varigated yarn

Needles: Size 3

Pattern: This pattern from Knitting Nonesense.

Notes: The "M" pattern was hard to see, so if I do this again, I would choose a non varigated yarn and instead of doing the letter in garter stitch, I would do it in reverse stockinette stitch. The "M" is actually a lot clearer in this picture then it is in person.

The past few days have been soooo eventful!.....Let me start by saying a public THANKS to Susan and the awesome yarn she spun for me....here is a swatch (yes, I DO swatch...no matter what Beth says!....okay....so I never swatch, but I couldn't resist on this one.) I also snuck the little bunny in there (it's not a dog!! long ears=bunny....according to Susan anyway....I don't know what planet she comes from where bunnies have long ears). Okay, so maybe it is a bunny...

Another bucket of joy came in from SP7...and booooy did she go NUTS this time...wow!! THANK YOU SECRET PAL!! It came via UPS, and I passively opened it up thinking it was something for work...to my surprise it was BURSTING with color and surprise.... Zorro by Isabel Allende (one of my favorite authors thank you very much for reading my mind!)...yarn from Hand Painted Yarns...a kit to make a black plaid purse (so cool!....I'm really into this right now)...a gorgeous dark green frame decorated with little sparkly jewels....a really cool candle called "duck farts!" lol....i guess duck farts smell really good....if they smell anything like this candle....and....hhaahh, I'm out of breath....and my favorite thing of all....2 very special handmade goodies....
a little drawstring bag made from a pattern from "Last Minute Hand Knit Gifts"...this is what the bag looks like, but mine is really pretty blue-ish gray:

...and last but not least and really pretty doily (crocheted I think...I'm so jealous you know how to crochet!)...its blue and green and white. THANK YOU SP7....but there's one little problem....I STILL DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE:( I did some investigative work involving google and the UPS tag...with no luck:(

SP8 is just around the corner...sign up before its too late!

Does anyone care about where I've been for the last week or so...probably not, lets keep it real. Well... I traveled to Portland, OR for the first time and LOVED IT. It's a creative, happy, peaceful place with plenty of interesting people to look at and talk to. I could live there. Hubby and I also headed down to Orange County this past weeked for his parents 38th wedding anniversary! Wow...can you imagine?!

My husband and I were in Southeast Asia this past summer on our honeymoon. On our way back...we "got stuck" in Tokyo and "had" to spend the night. (Read between the lines....we gave up our seats....told our people that we had no control over it....and got a free 24 hour trip to galavant about the city...not to mention $1000 voucher for a future flight! Love it!)

So being the lover of Japanese-anything that I am...I picked up this stationary...Its a cut out placed on top of the most beautiful (and PERFECTLY placed - gotta love that precision) origami paper.

The above picture is this gorgeous mural/mosiac/peice-of-art-that-makes-me-happy-to-live-in-San-Francisco. I'm lucky enough to live next door to it, and often sit at my window spying on boat loads of tourists posing next to it for photographs. Is it rude that I yell at them out of the window "move it, your ruining the picture"??

Am I the only person that thinks it's weird that tourists want to be IN the picture? I can't tell you how many laughs we got while in Indonesia watching tourists pose next to a statue....often times imitating the face on the statue....usually in sacred places....odd.

Other news in the blogosphere:

I'm into tissue holders these days....check out these that Bird in the Hand made.
An a tutorial by Stardust Shoes.

Great Blogs: Mommy Coddle and Simple Sparrow

Great Concept: Use What You Have Month

and I love this quilted handbag.....Wise made so many of them...and so did Creative Little Daisy...

PDX Super Crafty of Portland put together this great resource for crafsters thinking of building their own businesses.

I just finished and sent off my CD for the Penguins CD Club! Its an awesome set if I do say so myself....here is the set list:

1. Kahyangan" By a Gamelan Orchestra feat. On Degung Klasik Vol.3
2. "Indigo" By Lady Mecca and mixed by Carmen Rizzo
3. "Appleorange" By Alpha
4. "Glory Box" By Portishead
5. "El Estuche" By Asterciopelados
6. "Progression Sessions" By LTF Bukem and DJ Conrad
7. "Sea Song" By Doves
8. "Sometimes" By James
9. "Going, Going, Gone" By Stars
10. "Jamma Jenngii" By Baaba Maal
11. "Le Parcours d’unne Larme" By Princess Agnes
12. "Breathing Light" By Nitin Sawhney
13. "1er Gaou" By Magic System
14. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" By Isreal Kamakawiwo’ole
15. "All That You Give" By Cinematic Orchestra Feat. Fontella Bass
16. "Nothing Without You" By Dohl Foundation & Fun Dr. Mental, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

If your a total music whore too, like I am...lets do a cd swap! Email me or leave a comment.

Stacey Beach....where art thou?? If you haven't figured me out yet, I'm your Secret Pal 7!! Recognize the little birdies??
For those of you who like "wtf is she talking about"....the back of these little birdie cards have clues to my identity sent to my SP7 for her to figure out who keeps sending her goodies.... hopefully she'll actually find her way here so that I don't look like a total jack-ass giving impossible to crack clues!

I'm working on ruffles right now using the buttery soft yarn that my SP7 gave me (and the beautiful stich markers that SP6 - Susan made for me....didn't actually NEED them for this project...but I could'nt resist...they just make me so happy, so I threw them on there!!). Forgot to mention that SP7 used the brown/pink and brown/baby blue color combo in my last package which I totally dig. I've been paying attention to the color combo since then, and apparently (according to some HGTV remodeling show I was watching in the middle of the night while bored out of my mind in fort worthless), the color combo became famous b/c it was a favorite of Louis XIV. So thats why you see a lot Parisian flats painted using this combination! I'lll just have to go to Paris myself and verify this fact!
I'm having some major ergonomic blogging and knitting related carpal tunnel issues, so my hubby (looking out for my health as well as his sanity as I turn into a total BABY when I don't feel good....poor guy...) has banned the above mentioned activities (thank god for wireless...I'm posting this from the bathroom...he thinks i'm brushing my teeth...ssshhh don't tell!). Anyway, the good news, is that i decided to make the Sticky Wicket beeswax candles as a result of my total bordem.....not bad, huh?

Alas....I'd like to unveil my very first pillow project slash creative swap that I'm doing with Susan. It's an homage to the 1970's-catholic-school-cordaroy-uniform meets Denyse Schmidt!
What do you think Susan? I'm throwing this puppy in the mail this weekend....(unless you think it sucks, which, just let me know and I can make something with a different color theme or something...i'll only be a little hurt...actually...really sad...just tell me it got lost in the mail or something and i'll make you a new one:)

"The shot location was picked because
1) if you look at the very highest point of the yarn in the picture, that is about the location of my house, and
2) the little park where I took the pic is the farthest upstream that Lewis and Clark traveled up the Columbia River on their trek west."
How cool is that?!

A new picture in this morning on the beautiful yarn that Susan's sending me! Susan was kind enough to entertain my yarn porn addiction and take some hank shots before widing it into a CP (that "center pulling" for those of you like me who had NO IDEA what the heck that is) ball.

Susan...your so hard on yourself....this is awesome! Not "stinky"!
Pic's of the pillow I made her for our swap to come....stay tuned!

I'm diggin....Amy Butler designs (fabric and patterns!). She's allllll talent and you gotta check out her prints and patterns.
Repro Depot Fabrics is an EXCELLENT place to find interesting fabircs, buttons, t-shirts, patterns what-have-yous! This one is called "Rodeo Music" - how cute is that? ....just trying to find something to make out of it! A small throw perhaps?!

Came across Marta's blog and her interesting broches and other bead, button and felt peices of art...can't read one darn word on her site (Portuguese...damn me for not being more linguistically versitile!)...but the photos are BEAUTIFUL!

I'm going to Portland, OR for the first time in my life next week for 2 days and I AM EXCITED!! I know there is a huge DIY crafting community there, so I can't wait to check it out. I'm looking for cool places to check out...so leave a comment if you know of any! Collection ideas...
Bolt Fabrics on Alberta
The Ella Posie shop of our own, Posie Gets Cozy!

Secret Pal 7 is coming to a close, and I'm in the process of slowly revealing myself to my pal. I'm sending her on a little treasure hunt to my identity before sending her final gift. Mean you say? OOohh nooo not eeeeevil at all......bbbbuuuuaaaahhhhh......

I'm just getting spoooooiiiiiled this week! Susan just sent me a picture of the yarn goodness that will be miiine allllllllllll mine!! (please excuse my tendency to behave like a 4 year old...i can't help it!).

It's so beautiful and perfect and I love it. She said that its quite a bit of yardage at DK weight so....I'm going to try to find a pair of toe-up socks to knit with it....this will be my first for:
1. knitting with yarn spun by someone i know
2. knitting with DK weight yarn
3. knitting socks for myself
4. knitting toe-up socks
5. knitting with commissioned yarn!

thank you susan!!

I'm Baaaaack!!!!

The past two weeks have REALLY tested my patience....they have been full of:
1. Texan hair
2. Bad food and lots of cholesterol (Olive Garden and Fudruckers to be exact) crap crap crap.
3. Sinus and stress head-aches
4. A cat-fight
5. sore feet
6. Human Resource violations (no joke!)
6. turbulance, flight delays, re-routing and cancellations
7. Mean flight attendents named "Henrietta".

But I'm back in San Francisco now, and I've never been so appreciative of the Hubby and the Home!

I came arrived to a really really special surprise....HAIGHT & ASHBURY HANDMADE STICH MARKERS BY SUSAN! They're so beautiful and so special, and they're by far the nicest markers that I own. Note all the special details.....Thank you SUSAN, these set the tone of a peaceful weekend for me!!