No Fair Furniture

Yes, sorry, I'm on a furniture kick at the moment. That's what happens when you have a fireplace in a room that would be lovely to use in the current crappy single-digit temps, but you have no furniture to sit in front of said fireplace. We've tried pulling out the camping chairs--yes, a tad white trash--but it doesn't offer any sort of comforting effect. Couches and real chairs are needed.

So admist the "affordable" furniture search, Design*Sponge kicks today off with a post about Henry Road, complete with a picture of the most beautiful chair (below). So that leads me to the Henry Road site to check out what other wonderful furniture they have (I obviously like to torture myself), only to be in awe of all the lovely pieces. Luckily (for me), the pieces are all out of my price range or sold, but still, it doesn't make them any less drool-worthy. Going forward, this type of furniture will fall into the "no fair" category.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

This makes me want to buy an antique and reupholster it...oh, wait, I don't know how to do that.

Super cute!

This one may be a tad whackier than my taste, but I still like it. It looks very cozy and makes me want to grab a blanket, my dog, and a book (or knitting).

A Chair to Go with the Couches I Crave

Yes, I'm still in home decorating mode...unfortunately, the cost of my taste locks me in dream decorating mode. I saw these chairs in the HGTV Dream Home and instantly began drooling. They're from Ethan Allen and way out of my budget for a couch, let alone one chair. But I do love them so. The blue is amazing, but of course you can pick just about any color under the sun. This blue makes me think of spring...I NEED spring. The cold weather is killing me mentally, so I think for now, my dream chairs will remain in blue.

"Dear Chairs, I love you. Love, Carrie"

Even in white, you're alright. (See what I did there...rhyming. Nice.)

Oh, chair, please be mine...but in blue. Soft, warm blue.

Your nailhead detail is so pretty. Please, oh please, be mine...someday.

Yay for Yellena!

I've been a longtime fan of Yellena James' art. And just recently I learned that she's expanded her medium to the home and to feet!

This is the piece of artwork that I've always found stunning. You can get it here.

Schoolhouse Electric Co. is carrying her light fixtures. So lovely!

And sconces!

She's paired up with Keds to make these cute pairs!

They scream "spring," something I need a little of right now!

Lovey Gifts

I came across some of the cutest couples' gifts completely by accident. And with Valentine's Day just around the corner, I thought I'd share. You can find all of these lovey gifts over at BoldLoft. Super cute!

Happy Birthday, Mommy Rose!

It's Shane's mom's birthday today, so I thought I'd share the happy little treats that will greet her in the mail when she gets home.

A handmade card...

...and a makeshift card envelope.

The lace shawl I knit over the summer and have been holding onto for this special day...

...and this beautifully illustrated version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Mommy Rose loves children's books with great illustrations. I went to Barnes and Noble in search of a different book (a novel), but I passed this book and couldn't resist picking it up. The illustrations are so soft, but have so much energy, too.

Couches I Crave

So we haven't quite pulled the trigger on painting the living room yet. We had good intentions, but the more we talked about the color, the more we thought we needed furniture first so that we don't "paint ourselves in a corner." I believe in buying quality furniture that you love, because then it should last you a long time. But from a cost perspective, that's not always easy to do. I'm hoping to come across something amazing on Craigslist or in a resale/antique shop, but so far I'm coming up short.

IF (and that's a big, long, faraway, possibly never IF), I had endless supplies of money, one (all?) of these couches would be in my home. I found some of them through Design*Sponge's Living In feature (where room decor is based on popular movie settings). The rest were through links of links from the Living In features.

Ah...to dream.

Neve Designer Collection on ClubFurniture.com

Henning Sofa from in Living In's National Velvet room. Available through Anthropologie.

Chesterfield Sofa from Living In's Fantastic Mr. Fox room. Available through Anthropologie.

Chesterfield Sofa (yes, the same name as above) from Living In's Annie Hall room. Available through Club Furniture.

Gwyneth Tufted Fabric Collection (minus the pillows...not liking those) on ClubFurniture.com

Two of 10 for 2010

I mentioned that I'm participating in the 10 Shawls in 2010 group on Ravelry, which brings me to my second shawl for the year. The pattern is called Citron (because it looks like a citrus fruit wedge), and the pattern can be found here and on Knitty.com. With the exception of the black yarn, I pretty much just used leftover yarn from my other lace knitting. That means my KnitPicks sampler pack has just about come to an end...sigh.

I've been asked where my shawls are going, and I don't quite have a good answer. Some are going to be set aside as birthday gifts. But I'm also pondering the thought of doing the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk, which is 20 miles a day for 3 days. To participate, you have to raise a minimum of $2300....yikes. I'm sure I can do it, but it does seem a tad daunting. IF I decide to walk, I might use some of these shawls as auction items. If I don't walk, my friend Miss Jodi, is for sure walking, so I could also use the shawls to help her. We'll see. If I do walk, I need a lot more ideas than just shawls...that's for sure!

More New Yarn!

With my addiction to knitting lace and shawls growing each day (tune in tomorrow to see my latest finished shawl!), I picked up a new skein of yarn at my local yarn shop a few weeks back. It's called Harmony by Jojoland. I wish the colorway had a pretty name, but alas it's just called "HC06"...bleh. It's way to color-changing pretty for such a computer-generated name. Oh well. At least it'll be lovely to look at.

Disclaimer: none of the pictures below were taken by me. I just "borrowed" a few from online. ;)

Isn't she a doll. I love all the colors mixed together. I can't wait to get started on something...not sure what though.

Here is another shot. I only have one skein, since there are 880 yards to work with. Most of the shawls I've done have been under 400 yds. Maybe I can get two shawls out of this!

Here's an example of lace knit with the Harmony. The striping is so gorgeous!

And here's an itty bitty baby sweater that someone did using two strands held together. I'm not sure if the colorway is the same as mine, but I love how it turned out!

Some Clouds Do Have Silver Linings

Remember the Barbie cake day yesterday? Well, I'm starting to realize that the bad morning I was having was really a warning for the superfantastically craptastic day that was to follow. I should've just gone in search of that GF Barbie Cake to emotionally eat in a corner somewhere, but instead, I stuck it out narrowly escaping the looney bin...or prison for the potential stabbing of another person with a pen.

Ahem...maybe it's just better to say, that is was a day. And not a good one. Until I got home, that was. First, I have a good husband who knows better than ask about said bad day, but let's me vent when I feel good and ready. And then I have a dog who lets me smother him with bad day kisses and hugs to the point where he can barely breathe. And there was the GF brownie...and the ice cream I bought. But the surprise of all bad day surprises was TWO RAKs (random acts of kindness) waiting in my mailbox. WOW....wait til you see them!

From Rav member yarnmagic, I was given a postcard from her home of Norway, Norwegian jelly candy, and the most luxurious lace yarn ever to enter my hands. I'm talking 1312 yards of blended baby alpaca, silk, and cashmere. drool! I pet that yarn almost as much as I did Dexter.

And then, another package from Rav member winemakersister had a copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac. This book is a knitting classic and includes such great patterns. Below are a few of my favorites that I can't wait to someday do.

I think this is proof that the universe can come full circle. All is right with the world...for now, anyway.

It's a Barbie Cake Kind of Day

Why are some mornings so much harder than others? The same clothes are in my closet. I woke up at the same time...give or take a few minutes. Overall, everything was relatively the same as it was yesterday and the day before that and the day before that, but this morning...the bathroom outlet stops working (which turned out to be an easy fix, but I didn't learn this until I moved all the hair stuff into the bedroom to use), I couldn't find an outfit to save my life (I'm still not happy with what I'm wearing), Dex felt the need to lick my legs everytime I changed (and I was changing a lot!), and then trying to get Dexter downstairs to go out before I left (which by then I was already late) was an impossible task that required Shane booting him down. Why? Why can't life be simpler?

Then I was on a blog and came across a Barbie cake. I wasn't really a doll kid, but I did have multiple Barbie cakes for multiple birthdays--all of which I loved (really, who doesn't love cake?). I don't really want to be a kid again, but there are days when that was simpler than the random morning theatrics of adulthood. As I kid, I wore a uniform to school, my mom did my hair, our dog was old and lazy and did what we told her to do, and I got a hot lunch at school that I didn't have to pack or plan. Nice. When school was done, I could come home and eat cookies and all the sweets I wanted. No worrying about working out or diets. Simpler times...for sure. If I could find me a gluten-free Barbie cake right now, I might just have to take the rest of the day off to return to a temporary child-like state.

For now...random web images of Barbie cakes will have to do:

Miss Jessica's Swap Ishbel

I told you that I had mad itch to get started on knitting more lace, and I wasn't lying! As soon as I got my new yarn, I got started right away on Jessica's swap shawl (a shawl made in exchange for new blog banner art...and another blog banner surprise coming in the future!). I miscalculated how much yarn I'd need when I ordered, so I had to add another yarn in. I used the alpaca cloud hank from the KnitPicks Sampler I bought last summer (a supply that sometimes seems neverending). I think the gray lace yarn actually helped to make the color-changing yarn pop more. I'm really pleased with how it came together. And as always, the Ishbel pattern is a dream to knit!

The other exciting part of this shawl is that it kicks off my participation in the Ravelry group, 10 shawls in 2010. But the joke with Miss Shelley is that because I knit so quickly and addictively, my group should be 2010 shawls in 2010....maybe if I didn't work. ;)