Oh the Cuteness!

My friend and knitting guru Suzanne had a birthday party recently that carried the theme of "Share Your Craft", and she teamed up with another Stitch 'n Bitch member to also make it a de-stash party. I brought a bag of fabric and miscellaneous crafting goodies to give, but I had no idea how much other people were bringing! Needless to say, I came home with a LOT of yarn, fabric, and knitting needles! I don't have any plans for the ones above, but I'd love some one-skein project ideas from you guys! The big pile of Fjord is going to become a lap blanket for Johnny, and I'm not sure what I'll do with the white and cream yarns yet. I also came home with these cute fabrics and colorful needles! But, I cleaned out my own needles and realized I have an extra pair of 11's and 3's, and I was wondering if anyone out in internet-land would fancy a trade? I really need a needle gauge, any kind will do! Since I have all these vintage plastic ...

Today I'm another year older, another year wiser (or so they say). Two weeks ago we had our housewarming party and celebrated my birthday with all my friends. It was such a sweet low-key party and we had such a lovely time. And look at that slice of birthday cake! It was exactly what I wanted. There's more photos on my flickr if you want to see everyone, but here's a few highlights:  We projected Buster Keaton & Fatty Arbuckle's silent films on the wall in the living/dining room. It was really fun with the party music in the background. And at the end of the night we watched Looney Toons with the remaining guests.  We had so much yummy food to eat and lovely drinks to sip! (No, those apples aren't real lol.)  Apparently I'm three, not only shown by the number of candles but by the style of cake, which I specifically requested after seeing a smaller version in the case at Baskin Robin's. Jamoca Almond Fudge om nom nom. We got J...

Karol hosted a backyard BBQ at his house some time back and I just wanted to share some of my favorite snap shots. I love gatherings like this; a little potluck in a big back yard full of fruit trees, some tandem bike rides, and then a toasty fire pit started up as the night came down. I've been bad about forgetting to bring my camera with me to things lately and I'm making a Spring resolution to get better about it haha. I wonder if there's a market for people who don't have photographer friends to hire me to come shoot their really small gatherings for a tiny fee and some noms... Hmm. As always, there's more photos on my flickr (you need to scroll down a little on the page).  Karol manning the BBQ.  My two favorite guys!  Love this pic of Karol & his roommate Alaxka.  Karol, keeping warm.  Megan warming her toes by the fire.  Megan and Miles taking the tandem for a spin... And then me and Karol. Someday whe...

I got to go to a big pinball convention in San Jose, and now I'm totally obsessed! The vintage machines from the 1950's and early 60's have such wonderful imagery and colors, and I'm determined to have one in my house someday, though it will probably be quite a long time from now. Until then, to tide me over, I hear that here is an awesome pinball museum in Alameda that lets you pay $15.00 for as much pinball as you can play in a day! If you can't find me, you know where I'll be... And as always there's plenty more photos on my flickr, here.

I don't know how I forgot to post about this (derp) but the stitch & bitch group I created over 4 years ago had a booth at the Oakland Fiber Festival  this past summer. Unfortunately the fair is taking a hiatus this year, but will hopefully be back the next. We had about 6 of our members come together to sell their wares and it was a great success, not to mention a great time! We'd like to do another fair this year, so if anyone knows of a good one here in the bay area please let me know! We did a free make & take, teaching people how to crochet a chain and add a button to make it a wrap bracelet. I spent most of the day manning this particular part of the booth and I had a blast!   Carolyn stepped up as the main cashier when I got swamped by people for the make & take.  It was so nice to see everyone's different styles come together to make an eclectic and crowd-pleasing booth. Go Oakland!  Suzanne made these brilliant starched ...

Johnny and I are off enjoying the long Valentine's weekend in San Francisco, so here's another goofy filler post for ya! My friend Glen (Check out his shop where he sells his wonderfully tiny paintings!) recently threw a pirate-themed birthday shindig for his lovely fiance. When we heard the words "costume contest" we knew we were shoe-ins, being complete nerds and already having epic costumes from prior events stashed away. The party also boasted a rum drink contest, which we kinda sorta also won, but it was ruled we couldn't win all the contests so we had to relinquish the best cocktail title to my friend Vanessa and her vegan hot buttered rum. I made a version of my Drowning Mermaid cocktail, last seen at my housewarming party, but I substituted peach juice for the guava and it was delish! There were also fun games like finding hidden pirate flags, a treasure map version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and a coin toss. Oh, and our prizes for...

Over the summer some of my  Stitch & Bitch  girls and I decided to have a jam making get-together. Laura, the hostess, and my friend  Carolyn  had never made jam before, but Erin, Heideh, and I were old pros and wanted to teach them. So we all got together and drove out to Brentwood to go to a farm to pick strawberries which was a total blast. Then we headed back to Laura's house to get our jam on (sorry haha). We hulled the massive piles of berries, zested and juiced lemons, and picked lavender from the garden while a cute little chocolate lab named Charlie distracted us. Massive pots of boiling water, bubbling batches of jam and preserves, and trays of sterile jars were everywhere. Luckily it wasn't too hot that day but the house still got steamy. Carolyn and Laura had a great time learning a new skill, and ended up with almost a dozen jars each of some truly delicious strawberry jam. I had enough jam at home so ...

Well, the holidays kicked my butt yet again this year but they were, as always, completely amazing. I had tons of work to do between  WSPS  and  WCM  this year, as well as getting ready for the  RAC's  holiday fair (which went REALLY well, photos to come), hence the posting drought. But, as part of my new year's resolution I'm going to focus more on my own business and crafting, as well as a huge project I've had in the works since last year, and as part of that I'm continuing to play catchup on here. Anywho, on to the holiday at hand: Thanksgiving! As some of you may know I host a Thanksgiving dinner every year and invite all my friends who can't make it home to visit their families. I started it 3 years ago when my parents decided they didn't feel like celebrating it anymore.  The original had 7 people ,  then there were 12 , and this year there were 18 in all! It was so big I couldn't host it at my place anymore, but my best frien...

In the first part of this post I told you all about the good times and creepy fun I had exploring the abandoned amusement park next door to our campground. Little did I know that when I returned to the campground Vanessa would have yet another surprise for me. She said there was a neighborhood of abandoned houses just outside the campground, and we should go check it out. *Swoon* I couldn't get out there fast enough! And they literally were right next door. We had to climb over a tiny fence to get into the neighborhood, and I couldn't believe what I saw. About a dozen houses, all in various states of decay. Their styles and colors and the objects strewn about placed them as being built in the 1960's. Some were nearly perfectly intact on the outside, while others were flattened. It almost looked like the whole group had slid down the hill in a weather-related catastrophe, and that's the only theory we have going because I couldn't seem to find any information on t...