she wore a green beret

(Yes, the Green Berets song would have been more fitting, but I had Prince's Raspberry Beret song stuck in my head the entire time I was making this, so there you go.)



Pattern: Purl Beret, from Purl Soho
Yarn: Koigu KPM in a glorious green (1.16 skeins) in US1 and US3 needles



Ariel gifted me this absolutely gorgeous green Koigu the first time (of many) that I helped her move, knowing that I had been staring at it for months. Seriously, this yarn glows. It's so pretty.



It needed to be seen, so I didn't want to make socks. Then Grumperina started posting about this Koigu beret she was making and, well, that was that. The yarn had found its project. Though I still have most of a skein left to find something to do with.

movie star spotting

They've been filming a couple of movies recently around Boston, though I'd never seen any of the filming happening. This weekend, however, filming of "The Town" came to a street corner near me. It's a movie directed by Ben Affleck and starring Jon Hamm, so I decided to see if I could see anything. And while a lot of other people got shooed away, I managed to find a spot just next to the crew where I was able to watch for a few hours.

And did I see anyone?



There's Ben on the left and Jon on the right. They were filming a shoot-out scene in the street. So lots of gunfire and screeching tires and the like. I was most excited to see Jon Hamm, as you might be able to guess from the next few shots.





And where I was standing was right next to this.



Both of them came by me at separate points, but I was trying not to be a pest and so I didn't say hi (for which one of the crew women scolded me later. "You should have said hi to him [Jon Hamm]. He totally would have said hi back!"). Oh well. Still a pretty cool way to spend a Saturday morning.

in stitches

More sewing!

The project that made me drag out the sewing machine again in the first place was a birthday gift for a friend. She's an astronomer, and I was going through my craft materials and found a pair of socks with stars on them. And they were just asking to be made into a sock monkey.



And this past weekend I decided I should make another box bag, this time for myself. So I did.





And the lining even goes with the doggy bag theme!

birthday blips

A few photos from my birthday...

Puppies playing in Harvard Yard



A cow grazing in Harvard Yard



A cupcake



And the birthday cake I made with my giant cupcake pan (devil's food with vanilla frosting, yum!)





Maybe some year I'll get my wish of finding David Tennant on my doorstep, alas...

thread the needle

I've actually been using my sewing machine again! I know, it's a freaking miracle. But I'd been feeling the urge for the last month or so, but I had to wait for the temperature to go down. Ironing while melting didn't sound fun. Here's what I've been working on.



I used this box bag tutorial to make the smaller of the two bags, which was pretty small. So, on the next one, I improvised by making the pieces as large as I could get out of the umbrella fabric and went from there. The one thing I had to really guess at was the cutting and stitching of the corners to form the box edges, but I think they came out pretty well. And I even remembered to add the ribbon loop on the second bag.



I'd picked up the fabric at Bazaar Bizarre almost two years ago with a particular friend in mind--and this was even before I had a sewing machine!--and finally I made her something from it. The bags were really not difficult to make and I had fun doing them. And this was also my first time sewing in zippers and using interfacing, so I'm pretty proud all around.

warm hands

Mittens complete!



Pattern: Skyline Mittens by Emily Miller
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted in purple mystery and Manos in gold on US6 needles

I'd been wanting to do these since they came out since I loved the idea of a city skyline. And even though charts and colorwork and I don't always get along, I'm pleased with how these came out, even if one is larger than the other. But luckily that's only noticeable when they're right next to each other. :)



And now I have absolutely no idea what I want to make next! Time to paw through the stash I guess.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

The FOs seem to be happening around here, but now I have nothing on the needles!



Pattern: Dublin Bay Socks
Yarn: Twisted Fiber Arts Arial in Netherfield on US 1 needles



As the yarn is self-striping I wanted a simple pattern but something more than just plain stockinette. Dublin Bay gave them a nice little bit of lace down the sides and made them more interesting to knit.



I'm also in love with Twisted Fiber Arts. Her striping yarns are just amazing. And how could I resist a yarn in the colorway Netherfield? Oh, Mr. Bingley. Not quite Mr. Darcy but still, Jane Austen for the win.