I came across these fabulous pictures in Holly Decor8’s Interior Styling pool and had to share them with you.
I am now having to sit on my hands I’m so desperate to start crocheting a granny square garland. What a great idea. And absolutely gorgeous styling too.
{Idea and pictures from Dottie Angel. This is why I’m learning to crochet. I also want those knitting needles – does anyone know what make they are?}
Today is the Minx’s fifth birthday. And so of course she comes bounding into our bedroom this morning full of energy and excitement and shouts about presents.
For some reason it seemed particularly dark and I felt even crapper than I usually do when it’s time to get up, but it had been raining all night, which would explain the darkness, and when I asked the Husband what time it was (he keeps the alarm clock on his side of the bed) he said ‘oh, it’s twenty past seven’. I felt so dreadfully unrested that I asked him to double check but he reassured me about the time and we hauled ourselves out of bed and downstairs to begin the unveiling of half a ton of Disney Princess/Calico Critters/My Little Pony crap tempered with the occasional improving book.
This process had been going on for about ten minutes and I was just about to start making birthday waffles when I happened to glance at the clock on the VCR. Which said 3:52. Yes, my Cambridge-educated Husband had got his long and short hands mixed up and we’d all got up at 3.35 am. And of course after that the Minx was so excited it took her ages to go back to sleep, and she woke up again for the final time at 6.30 am.
So if you thought that today there would be a moving eulogy to my five-year old daughter or even any substantive blogging at all, then, dear readers, you are very much mistaken.
Instead here are a few pictures of the Gigantic Granny Square Blanket I crocheted for the Minx’s new dolls house.
She had expressed some disappointment that the blanket provided (a thin scrap of dark blue jersey) was too small for the sofa bed, so I decided to make the dolls their very own gigantic granny square afghan. I was very pleased with how well the yarn went with the decor and it seems that the (rather creepy) dolls are too.
This is another step in my ‘teach yourself to crochet’ campaign. After a few false starts I can now granny square along fabulously thanks to the Purl Bee’s excellent instructions. I’m almost tempted to start on a full-size gigantic granny square blanket just for us.
The yarn is the scraps from my first ever pair of socks. It’s fascinating to see how differently the yarn works up in different patterns.
It’s about this time of year that I start getting inundated with invitations to attend Maison & Objet in Paris. I’m not able to go this year, but as the business is growing it’s still very much on my to do list for next year.
Here’s who invited me today. Just loving the colour story on these. I’ll have to get a catalogue I think.
I love getting comments on the blog because then I get to read your blogs and you really a gorgeous and talented bunch aren’t you?
Last week ‘Jess’ commented about running, so I went to her blog and discovered that she’s a pretty amazing photographer. I love the moody otherworldly atmosphere she achieves. It’s ‘atmosphere’ that transforms a technically competent photo (like the ones I take) into something special and I’d love to know how to achieve it more often in my own work. Check out more of her beautiful photography here. {All photos below copyright the very talented Jessica Eskelsen}
Speaking of comments, I’d love to get more commenting/conversations going on this blog. That way I can have one of those blogs like Decorno’s where she writes nice short posts and then gets lots of lovely and interesting discussion from her commenters while she puts her feet up and watches telly.
What makes you comment on blogs? Are there any things that stop you from commenting? If you’ve been lurking on this blog but have never commented, why not? (<- she says, hoping to trick you into commenting 🙂 Is there anything I can do to encourage more comments on this blog? Won’t it be embarrassing if this post gets no comments?
While we’re in a photography frame of mind, I just wanted to highlight Holly Decor8’s Interior Styling group over on Flickr. She also talks more about it here. It’s a place to post up any pictures of corners of your home that you’ve styled and photographed and is hugely inspirational.
Anyone can join the group, and it includes some professional stylists, though be aware that Holly is curating the pool quite strictly and also making sure that images reflect her own particular aesthetic, which of course might not be yours.
Holly is also posting up a styling challenge every month which I’m hoping to do. January’s challenge is already up for the group, so make your way over there to check it out. I’ll post up my offering when it’s done.
Do let me know if you’re also going to take part. I’d love to see what you come up with.
…watching the sunrise
Do you remember a couple of Januarys ago I started a photoblog called Today I Am Mostly? I didn’t have enough time then to keep it going then, but I’ve missed doing it so much.
This year I’m determined to really work on my photography and photo styling, so I thought it might be a good idea to revive TIAM. I’m not going to commit to every day, but I’m hoping to post two or three photos every week throughout the year. I’ll post them on ‘mirrormirror’ and also to www.todayiammostly.com and to my Flickr page f you want some unadulterated eye candy.
I’ve also retrospectively published a picture here.
So this year I decided to ask for the new Nook e-reader from Barnes & Noble as my Christmas present. I’ve been avidly using both Amazon’s Kindle for iPhone app and Barnes & Noble’s E-reader iPhone app (both available for free) and decided it was about time I got the real thing.
After reading many reviews we decided to go for the Nook rather than the Kindle 2, though it was a bit of a gamble as the Nook is brand new and was only delivered to stores just before Christmas so it was impossible to do any sort of real-life comparison.
I chose the Nook mainly because a) it wasn’t Amazon, with whom I have a love/hate relationship b) its Android operating platform allows for future software updates which means it can be upgraded without buying a new machine c) it allows you to ‘lend’ books out to someone else (though only for two weeks) d) it reads PDFs, which will be great for knitting patterns and other stuff. Synching with the Barnes & Nobel iPhone e-reader is apparently coming soon, and will be delivered via a software update.
I don’t have a Kindle 2, so can’t compare it with that, but I can compare it with er, an actual book. And so far I’ve been very pleasantly surprised.
The Nook screen comes in two parts. The upper ‘e-ink’ screen which is where you do your actual reading and a colour touch-screen below which is where you navigate. To ‘turn the page’ you push small buttons on the sides. There has been some grumbling online about how slow everything but this was apparently solved by a software upgrade that was waiting for me when I unpacked my Nook. Certainly I have no complaints. The touch screen is pretty good, though not quite as responsive as the iPhone and ‘page-turning’ is MUCH quicker than turning the page on an actual book.
The grey e-ink screen is at first somewhat disappointing for someone who is used to spending all day gazing at a bright computer or iPhone screen, but it is designed to be easy on the eyes, easy to read and economical on battery life. I have to admit that when I’m reading it I sometimes forget that I’m not actually reading a real book – I’ve even caught my eyes wandering to the left to see what’s on the ‘other page’.
Another huge advantage is the size and weight. It’s about the same size and weight as a small old-fashioned cloth-covered hardback (an illusion which is also fostered by the cheap cloth-covered cover we gt for it). I like to read in bed and it’s really easy and manageable, moreso than the actual book would be – I’m currently reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which apparently clocks in at 560 pages and 1.9lbs in real life.
In short, I’m a complete bookworm and I’m sold.
They’ve gone. This morning the Minx and the Husband left brandishing brand new light-up shoes, a brand new and utterly hideous Ariel backpack and a brand new Hello Kitty umbrella (and that was just the Husband haha!) and a soft quietness descended over the house.
Apologies for the longer than anticipated blogging hiatus. Our first Christmas in North America has been hectic, sociable and, as the Minx would say, extremically very fun.
I’m currently in the middle of setting up the mirrormirror sale, so here’s a quick peek of what we were doing on Christmas morning instead of going to the pub. More substantive blogging tomorrow.
I’m somewhat scared of heights, so my emotions on Christmas morning ran the gamut between extreme terror and extreme thankfulness that I was still alive. And not a drop of alcohol in sight.
Thanks Ziptrek Ecotours!
You’ve seen mine! Now show us yours.
This is a very lazy on vacation post with the idea entirely stolen from Liz at Violet Posy.
If you’ve done a blog post about your Christmas decorations, lack of decorations, other holiday decorations, beautiful decorations that you’ve seen round and about or anything else festive that you’ve done and want to show off then use the fun widget below to post up a link to your blog.
It will be running from now until 6th January or Twelfth Night or the Epiphany, the day when decorations are traditionally taken down in the UK (or else you face a year of bad luck).
I’ve added a link to my post and to Violet Posy to get you started and show you what it will look like.
