around the studio

I am so proud of myself for straying from my usual neutral palette. Superwash wool doesnt equal merino wool, for some reason thats what I was thinking when I chose this yarn.

So many projects going on around here that I can't keep them straight in my head. So many things that never get finished or things that get started and take off in an entirely different direction.  Sometimes I feel like a squirrel, so much running around collecting and looking for things for certain projects that when I finally get everything that I need I either forget about what started the hunt to begin with or it evolves into something totally different that requires a million other things. Argh! Very frustrating, sometimes I wish I could just focus! I did get one thing accomplished this week, I made matching crochet scarves for my daughter and her best buddy Dog-Dog. I have made my daughter crocheted items but have had a hard time getting her to wear them. This time she asked for a scarf with red in it so I modified Stitch Nation's Taffy Pull Scarf to suit my daughter. I love Stitch Nation's Bamboo Ewe yarn and wished so much that I had used it for this project. It is so soft, inexpensive and natural.  The problem is that the standard craft shops don't sell all of the colors. Instead I chose a superwash wool yarn that I ended up hand felting a bit in hopes to get it soft and itch-less enough for my daughter to wear. It helped but it is still a bit itchy. Nothing is ever perfect, life would be alot easier if I would just embrace acrylic yarns like everyone else. They are cheap, soft, sturdy, easy to work-up, available everywhere and in every color and weight imaginable, if only it wasnt plastic. So frustrating. Anyway, here are a few items in the works or laying around the studio waiting for action...

A little crocheted knot flower. I have been working with these guys for awhile now, I keep thinking I can make necklaces, headbands or something with them. I like the idea of combining metal and crochet.

They match, almost.

The finished scarf, reminds me of a cupcake.

This is a doily stamp that I have been looking for forever! I have had an idea for a linen bird mobile since I was pregnant. I have had all of the materials and everything but I had been looking for a lace or doily pattern to stamp or stencil on it. Now I have found it, I just have no idea how to stamp on fabric, I will have to do some trial and error to decide if I need an ink pad or an acrylic paint.

Here is a gem I picked up at the resale shops, a pirate ship! I have no idea what I am going to do with it.

Awesome cribbage board that I found during my treasure troving. Definitely an item I will be selling on etsy when I get around to it.

One of four lovely walnut bowls from the resale shops. Not really certain what I am going to do with them. I was thinking of painting the insides with a really high gloss paint in fun colors, we will see.

out of the studio: Hermitage Museum & Gardens

A must see in Norfolk Va is the Hermitage Museum & Gardens. This museum is off the beaten path and tucked back along the Lafayette River in the picturesque neighborhood of Lochhaven. I discovered this museum back in art school when the head of the department got stuck teaching a drawing class over the summer. He decided that if he had to teach all summer then he was going to spend the whole semester teaching outside. So everyday we all met at the museum and while the instructor relaxed by the river reading the latest best seller, we were instructed to draw every tree on site and every architectural detail of the building, not a bad way to spend a summer. It was also a place that my husband and I were considering having a wedding, the grounds are absolutely lovely but it may have hurt our pockets a bit. So here are a few pics taken by Daniel of our rainy winter excursion to the Hermitage, only the grounds, because I have never actually seen the inside except once when I asked to use the restroom during one of those summer drawing classes. One of these days I would like to visit the actual inside.  Perhaps the spring would be a good time to return for another look around.

Bit O Irish

I have been told that I am a quarter Irish which if true would make my daughter an eighth Irish I think. Like me she most definitely has the fair skin that would be right at home in Donegal or Wicklow or dancing in the heath and boglands. We didnt do a whole lot around here for Saint Patty's day, another odd holiday that I need to get some traditions for. Perhaps Daniel and I could run the Shamrock Marathon that they hold in Virginia Beach every year, I have always wanted to say that I ran a marathon, despite the fact that the last time I ran a mile was probably in sixth grade. I dont know, it would be quite an accomplishment but I think whipping up a shephard's pie and washing it down with a pint of Guinness and an Iris coffee to finish sounds more my speed and would do the holiday more justice. For the rest of the year I will have to keep my eye out for a great recipe for Shephards pie, or perhaps a nice black pudding. This year though we just whipped up some green confectioneries and shouted Happy Saint Patty's Day to everyone we encountered. Or as Madeline called it, Happy Saint Maddy's Day!

The recipe I used for vanilla cupcakes called for room temperature eggs. I never realized how long it would take to bring eggs out of the fridge to room temp. I got quite impatient and tried to get creative. One way was to put them in the muffin papers and put them on top of the coffee maker that was brewing, it worked pretty well.

Maddie super excited to be my kitchen helper. She couldnt decide which holiday we were celebrating.

The time honored tradition of licking the beaters.

The moss in our backyard which I wish would grow more, one can never have too much moss. I swear a leprechaun would be right at home there.

Our green cupcakes! We made three different shades of green icing but they didnt turn out as green as I wanted. Thats ok, they were pretty darn tasty.