This is apparently what our new sofa looked like before it left the manufacturer. So fabulous to see it with the cone legs at last. It looks even better than I thought it would. Ameer and his team have done an incredible job.
It should be delivered next week, so then we get to see it in situ and sit in it. Can’t wait!
I’m sorry and I’m enjoying life in the US more than I ever thought I would, but from a design perspective I still wish I was living in the UK, there’s so much fabulous stuff coming out of there.
A case in point are these spectacular ‘River Mirrors’ by British artist and designer Caryn Moberly {via The Art of C}.
Each River Mirror is created from beautiful pieces of burred elm and resemble water flowing between the natural banks of a river. Caryn uses the natural undulating shape of the tree to form the ‘river banks’, and so no two mirrors are the same.
I find the choice of wood particularly poignant – as a very young child I lived close to a stand of magnificent elm trees and remember feeling quite overwhelmed by their height and majesty. It pains me somewhat that, due to Dutch Elm Disease, it is unlikely that my daughter will ever see a mature elm tree in all its glory.
I’ve just finished knitting a cardigan for me – the first garment I’ve knitted for myself in about twenty years – of which more anon when I’ve taken some pictures.
In the meantime, though. I decided that I really ought to focus more on finishing off my Interminable Blanket, as I’m getting so bored of having it hanging around. I’ve been gently knitting up squares in the background – I’ve decided to make it 5×4 squares instead of the original 4×4 in order to make it a bit more practical – and recently decided to bite the bullet and start sewing them together.
The first order of business is blocking – washing the squares and pinning them out to stretch them. I wish I’d done this a bit sooner, as it is so inspiring when a screwed up bundle like this,
turns into lovely smooth even flat squares like these
I then took my courage in both hands and started sewing. Sewing and me have developed a hate/hate relationship over the years, so I was by no means convinced that I’d be able to come up with a neat enough seam, given that the seams on this project are pretty visible. But after several false starts and lots of undoing and redoing I’ve come up with some seams that look pretty good to me.
Here’s the first row of five blocks all sewn together
And here’s a close up of the stitching
I’m hoping that the edges will unfurl again as I sew the strips of blocks together and add the lace edging, though the whole thing will probably need another blocking when it’s done.
All the way through this I’ve not been sure that I’d be able to sew it together well which I realise now has been somewhat demotivating. The knowledge that I can actually do it AND make it look good AND that the process isn’t even painful has made me set to like a thing possessed. I’m hoping to have this finished this month, only about five and a half years after I started it. I do wish I liked the colour more though.
Fun whimsy or a little bit sick?
Apparently Paris Hilton has been Tweeting about the house she’s had built for her enormous collection of chihuahuas.
The house is 300 sq. ft and two storeys, and features a clay-tile roof with copper gutters, intricate ceiling mouldings and a black crystal chandelier hanging in the bedroom complete with a closet and central air conditioning. It was designed by Paris’s interior designer Faye Resnick and is apparently furnished with faux designer doggie products from such design world luminaries as Jimmy Chew, Pawda, Sniffany & Co. and Chewy Vuitton. Oh and it has a price tag of $350,000.
Am I alone in thinking that in this day and age, this is just a tad inappropriate? I just hope those dogs like candyfloss pink.
Our lavender bushes at home have been pretty spectacular too (though I forgot to take photos when they were at their peak, so you’ll just have to imagine them). In the recent dry weather (no meaningful rain in Seattle since mid-May!) the flowers have been drying on the bushes and I’ve been collecting the dried flowers, because it seemed like the right thing to do.
But I don’t really have any idea what to do with it all. I’m not really the sort of person who makes lavender bags (though maybe I’ll knit some). According to all these links, I’m supposed to be making lavender sugar, lavender lemonade and lavender oil; using it in cooking; making lavender teabags to put in the bath; using the oil to heal burns and wounds and making eyebags from lavender, flaxseed and rice. As a linguist, I am intrigued to note that the name lavender comes from the Latin verb lavare ‘to wash’, so it’s obviously well worth putting in the bath.
Has anyone else got any good ideas? I particularly want to try using it in cooking, so any good recipes would be much appreciated.
Somebody on Ravelry suggested putting all the yarn for your work-in progress projects for the month into a separate bowl or basket. This month I’m attempting to finish my Interminable Blanket (I’ve started sewing it up, yippee!) and my Lacy Wrap and for my quick and easy portable knitting I’m treating myself to a new pair of orange socks.
Dawn Bassett of Seattle-based LiT Shades makes bespoke lampshades for any room in the house, using designer fabrics such as Marimekko, or custom letterpress printing.
Until 7th August Dawn is running a competition on her blog where you can win your very own custom couture lampshade. All you need to do is send in a picture of a lamp in need of a revamp and Dawn will pick one to crown with its own special bespoke shade.
I mention this by way of a public service announcement because I love my readers, though I don’t particularly want any of you to enter as I’ve just entered my own sadly neglected Ebay lucite lamp. Anyway, if you must, full details of how to enter are here.
A lamp in need of a vamp.
One of my absolutely favourite artists is the incrediby prolific Portland-based Amy Ruppel (I just wish we could afford something nice and big by her).
Her latest endeavour is a limited edition run of pictures of the official US state animals (no, I didn’t know until I moved here that every state had one either). If you don’t manage to nab one of the originals, she’s also making prints.
Here are a few of my favourites – clockwise from top left Virginia, Arizona, Utah and Washington. You can buy them here.
Washington’s state animal is apparently the orca, though after going on not one but two fruitless ‘whale-watching’ trips, we are convinced that orcas are just a figment of the Washington State Tourist board’s imagination.
When people ask me what I miss most about the UK, I usually say ‘Greece’.
The Husband and I spent a lot of time travelling in the Peloponnese, the Pelion and island-hopping - mostly in the Cyclades – before the Minx came on the scene and we can’t wait to go back there with her.
Anyone who’s spent any time in Greece will know that most restaurant meals will be accompanied by a simple Greek salad, or horiatiki (‘village salad’) which is remarkably similar wherever you travel in Greece. A lot of people are scathing about Greek food but there’s something very comforting about this simple salad and we’ve been eating it a lot here in Seattle this summer as we’ve managed to find a good source of Greek feta. We usually accompany it with some grilled lamb or chicken.
Here’s my recipe – which serves 2-4 people. All the quantities are very approximate, just add or subtract different quantities of ingredients, to taste or depending on how many you’re serving and what you’ve got to hand.
Ingredients
Tomatoes – the redder and juicier the better. I chop up about a punnet of sweet cherry tomatoes
Cucumber – about half a large one, cut into thickish rounds.
Red onion – about half a small one
Green pepper – we’ve seen salads with and without peppers in different areas of Greece, so these are optional. Here in the US, I like to use the pointy, slightly spicy, green Anaheim peppers. Add one or two chopped and deseeded peppers to taste. If you’re not using peppers, add a bit more cucumber.
Olives – we add a handful of pitted Kalamata olives from a jar, but any sticky, salty black olives will do
Feta cheese – feta just means ‘slice’ and in Greece this salad normally comes served with a thick slice of feta placed on top
Oregano – this salad is always seasoned with a good sprinkling of dried oregano. When we first had this in Greece I was surprised that they used the dried stuff when fresh oregano grows pretty much wild and it felt strange to use dried herbs on a salad. But it’s traditional, and it works.
Olive oil – the salad is dressed with a good slug of olive oil. I like to add to add a little red or white wine vinegar, but again that’s not always the case in Greece.
Method
Assemble your ingredients and serve the salad with the slab of feta still intact on the top. At the table, serve the salad by mooshing up the cheese with a spoon and stirring it into the other ingredients, to create an oily, cheesy dressing. Never add salt to this salad – the olives and cheese are plenty salty enough.
Kali orexi!
We went, we saw, we bought. AND there was air-conditioning. What more could you ask for?
UCU has grown up. It still has a pleasantly friendly and chaotic vibe, but there was so much more stuff that was actually worth buying. Still a lot of felt though.
Here are a few images of the Uprising. I’ll talk about some of the individual stallholders over the course of the week.
