handmade pay it forward!

do you like handmade gifts and making handmade radness for other people who feel the same? then check this out!

Melissa at misocraftyknits posted something awesome that i've never seen before, a handmade pay it forward. can we all just agree right now this idea is far less depressing than that movie? no one should be getting shanked at the end of this hopefully. anyways, super lucky me i managed to get in on the fun! so here's the deal...

i will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post. the gift will be handmade by me and it will be sent sometime in the next 365 days. it will be a surprise. surprise gifts in the mail = always awesome.

1. in your comment, tell me your two favorite colors (that will help me make an appropriate gift).
2. to join the fun and receive a gift, you must play along, too. pay it forward on your blog by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post.
3. you must have a blog (that is updated, as i will blog stalk you to find the right gift for you).
4. after commenting here, you must re-post this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours. if not, i will choose the next person who comments.

sounds pretty fun right? i know i post a lot about knitting but what i make and what you make doesn't have to be knitting, it can totally be anything you like to craft by hand. spread the love!

silly philly

db, bro and i will be fording the river in search of the mystical land of "philly" this weekend. we don't know what it's borders contain, but one can only hope lands of gold, bike lanes, good vegetarian food and people who hold doors for the people behind them. see you when (if) we return...

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flip flop season 2012

hell yes. it's opi "pompei purple", that perfect 80s acid unicorn pink i've wanted since the day my next door neighbor and i had a nail painting extravaganza in her parents' basement circa 1993.

i kind of can't stop looking at my toes, this color is amazing. i feel bad for boys when it comes to nail polish induced euphoria, they have no idea what they're missing.

vacation

as you can see, uzo and i take adventure and chillin' very seriously.

frye carson shorties!

i can barely even talk about these. i've wanted these boots for over a year and by an absolutely magical series of events db got them for me as a surprise! is that not a completely amazing surprise?!

db - "do you know what you're wearing to miles' birthday party?"
me - "not really"
db - "can i make a suggestion?"
i must have had a baby heart attack when i walked around the corner and they were on the table.

i scuffed the bottoms to make them mine forever immediately, i'm gonna have these babies until i'm dead! thanks db!

light and bright

i'd like to welcome these lovely textiles (and future textile) to my life. i noticed this nice pile of newness looking amazing and realized that i have a serious light or bright as hell theme going on in my life right now and naturally documenting it was the first thing i thought of (after making one seriously ridiculous outfit for myself).

from the top...
- a totally rad crop top which is going to vastly enhance my summer. shockingly being from f21 it's made in the usa!
- my awesome and way useful custom llbean tote for weekend adventures and trips to the grocery store made just for me in maine :) and yes, the bow is necessary. for one reason or another i have bows on most of my carrying devices... and bikes
- a freshly finished of the 2012 dirty dozen... more pics of that soon
- a wicked cool zip hoodie i scored from aa during their april fools day sale
- madelinetosh tosh dk in luster aka future cardigan
and finally
- not new but soon to be newly useful, one of my favorite brimfield scores! the most awesome apron ever which i'm planning on turning into a dress this week since i'm on vacation! oh the joy $5 can buy.

future city garden

this lovely weekend db and i will be gathering plants and dirt to put in our mini garden! it won't be as glamorous as this, but you have to start somewhere right? probably flowers because i'm reserving the veggies for a larger container garden. it's going to make our courtyard a little less prison-esque... haha who am i kidding? it's going to be nice though, i'm pretty damn excited about it.

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living the dream

do you ever have so many insane things going on at once that you absolutely can't concentrate on a single one of them? that is me right now. honestly, the only part of my day where i can just feel like a human is when i'm walking uzo. if i told my former, pre-dog self this i probably would have been like "what?! that's the best you can do? a stupid dog walk?" but let me tell you, i am so happy i have that stupid dog walk right now, it's great.

i never would have thought up half the reasons i love having uzo. it's awesome having a chill little dude that is happy and doesn't have a worry in the world in your everyday life, kind of lifestyle inspiration. there are plenty of things that deserve thought and worrying about obviously (how to avoid making waste (plastics damn you!), how to support things worth supporting like responsible farming practices and not supporting things not worth supporting like buying clothing that's made without regard for human rights or imports from countries with governments that are terrible) but beyond that i would like to be more like uzo. he doesn't give a shit where we're moving in june, how much money we have saved, whether our car is running (which is barely) or anything like that. he cares about the weather, laying in the sun outside and if he gets to sniff piss all over the neighborhood, a practice i like to call "catching up on neighborhood gossip". i even sing him songs about himself while we're walking and i think he might like it. he's so happy every single day it's totally contagious.

dogs really are man's best friend.

easter

easter has always been my fave holiday. it means spring is here for real and everyone is always dressed fun for once. it's like the day all the boring dressers get brave and wear something other than grey, it's great. also the BEST candy hands down, and bunnies are the non-religious mascot? hell yes.

happy weekend guys!

dirty doz: short row sweater victory!

i love this! this is the purl soho short row sweater and the 5th totally complete of my 12 projects for 2012! i honestly like how it turned out so much i kind of want to make another one. judge me, that's fine, i know i deserve it.

anyways, i realize this is a ridiculous garment. who knits a cropped, backless, barely even cap sleeved sweater? me apparently. whatever though, it's fun and i'm all about that sort of thing. i used madelinetosh pashmina which i discovered is the softest thing not attached to a cute bunny or my dog i've ever touched. i'd totally use it again for something else just as small... it's fucking expensive (hell yeah for webs gift cards!).

i can't wait to wear the shit out of this thing, i'm sure my vavó will be excited i'm going to be especially cute on easter this year :)

birthday money silk scarf adventure

when i get money for christmas or my birthday i tend to save it forever and agonize over how to use it. my parents taught me very young to save most of it anyways and it ended up buying my books up to halfway through college. the other part that i was allowed to spend i somehow developed a little system of writing who gave it to me on the bill and keeping it in this wicked beat envelope in a secret spot to be used only for things that the person who gave it to me would approve of and want me to have. i still totally do this and i've managed to get a really nice set of interchangeable bamboo knitting needles like this, bought the supplies and lessons to build myself my very own nantucket lightship basket purse and nabbed a pair of frye flats that i wore all over europe last summer that i wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. they were so comfortable, didn't give me a single blister and looked awesome, worth every penny (thanks vavó and auntie connie!). this gorgeous silk scarf however, was a bit more difficult to figure out. it's cute i want it... but for $96 i'm going to get some plain silk and a silk screening class! unlimited silk scarves forever! my family must think i'm so weird.

leahgoren.etsy fab picasso silk scarf