• Pysanky

    Pysanka Wednesday

    Today I have an egg that I actually made last year, but never got around to sharing anywhere. Last year I didn’t really make enough eggs for my lines to fully even out, so a lot of the line work is a little wobbly and uneven – you can really see it in the close-up. Overall though, I’m fond of the design. Not too busy, but also not too simple. I also really like how the vine around the egg came out. The orange band through the middle of the vine was actually a mistake, but I ended up really liking it. Now if only my lines had been a…

  • Book Love

    Redoing the Bookshelf

    I don’t know what it is, but something about the sun shining in and the ability to have the windows open and a breeze rushing through the apartment just makes me want to clean and decorate. Unfortunately, satisfying that urge can be difficult when you’re on a strict spending fast – no, I can’t buy those new throw pillows; no, that bookcase is not purchasable right now… So to satisfy my urge I set my sights on rearranging our single big bookcase – it belongs to the apartmentmate, and is a beautiful, antique behemoth that has its home in our dining room and doubles as a liquor cabinet. Me and…

  • Pysanky

    Pysanky Friday

    I finally got around to varnishing those pysanky I teased on instagram a ways back, and so today I have one of them to share with you in detail. I was still getting my sea-legs back on this batch, so you’ll notice that my lines aren’t all terribly straight. This particular egg (which I’m calling the “Big Vine” Egg) was actually the result of a catastrophic mistake – those massive vines on the side were NOT supposed to be that big. But that’s what happens when you’re not being attentive and get a big blorp of wax smack dab in the center of your egg. The top and bottom of…

  • Fashion,  Life

    I Have a Sweater Problem…

    …A very big sweater problem. And it’s just a tad out of hand, as you can see. While I must admit that some things are a little tighter around the middle area than they used to be, I’ve been relatively the same size on top for about a decade now and my taste really hasn’t changed that much. I’ve never been really daring when it comes to trends, so most of the items I go for are pretty classic (or as more than one person has put it “boring”… I like classic better) kinds of styles. As a result, nothing really gets purged unless it shrinks or felts in the…

  • Baking and Cooking,  Links

    Miso Soup Love

    There’s nothing quite like miso soup, particularly when you need something satisfying and light, but FAST. Well, satisfying, light, and fast that’s still warm and comforting that is. I never have been much of a salad girl. But anyway – miso soup is not only fast, but it’s easy to make and to customize. All you need is dashi stock (Japanese fish broth), miso, some tofu (if you like it) and really, anything else you want to throw in. For the dashi stock, I just use granulated dashi stock, since it’s hard to find katsuobushi in this area and I feel weird ordering it from amazon because they market it…

  • Knitting and Crochet,  Links

    On the Needles…

    On the needles at the moment is a Liesel scarf (ravelry link) using some of that lovely yarn I broke all my spending rules for a few weeks back. This will be the third time I’ve attempted this scarf – I love the pattern soooo much, but as of yet have never been able to successfully complete it. The first attempt was a number of years ago and I think my lace skills were just not yet up to the task. I don’t follow written lace instruction well – it’s very hard on my eyes – and I hadn’t learned to read charts yet. So after many many mistakes, it…