Twin Peaks makes Dave's skin crawl.

Special Agent Dale Cooper quote print, via Citizen Smith Designs

I haven't been able to watch the return of Twin Peaks yet, so I'm rewatching from the beginning on Netflix. Also, Dave does NOT like Twin Peaks, so I watch it when he's not around (because I'm nice like that). We lost him on the episode with the dream. At least that scene from The Simpsons makes sense to him now!

Anyway, I was browsing Etsy for train cases (I've been looking for one in good condition [no gross fabric] and the original tray for so long!) while watching this afternoon, and it occurred to me that there are probably some good TP-themes enamel pins on there! Turns out there weren't many, so I branched out to home goods. I don't think Dave would like it if all our throw pillows were stuffed logs, because I would probably tell him every day that my log has something to tell him and Log Lady freaks him out, but this print would slip nicely under the wire. 

Berries in March

Last Saturday, Dave and I picked strawberries at South Coast Farms. The berries were red, the sun was shining, and combined we probably picked about 11 pounds. We've been eating the sliced and drizzled with cream, and I've been eating them every morning with cottage cheese, but I've got to figure out something to do with the bowl of bruised berries. Syrup? Ice Cream? Preserves? Whatever I decide to do, I'll have to act soon. Bruised berries don't last super long, even in the fridge. 

What's odd about picking strawberries in March is that, on that same day, my friends and family were posting pictures of snow in New England. Living in SoCal sometimes feels like an alternate universe. 

Hulk Snap

So, that knitting project that I lost? Well, I found it soon after I wrote that post and I've been working on it in between other projects (it's long garter rows that just keep getting longer, so it's not super duper exciting). It was going to keep me occupied on a ride to LA this past weekend, and it worked for a few minuets...until I snapped the needle. 

Whoops. 

scatterbrained

I'm sure I'm not the only one who loses knitting projects. To be fair, I haven't picked this particular one up in about 3 years. Some might find rows and rows of garter stitch meditative, but it functions more like Ambien for me. Melatonin. A cup of warm milk (which I think is actually pretty gross, unless you add chocolate). Give me cables! Give me colorwork! Give me charted lace designs! My brain and my needles will come alive.

The project I'm looking for is Scalene, which is a perfectly cute and functional neck-wrap-thing. (Not really a scarf, not really a shawl. What should we call that?) The problem is so not with the pattern, which I picked up because I thought it was clever. It's got a slash to pull itself through! That's always been my beef with scarves/shawls is that they are a bit of a pain to wrap in a way that keeps them on your neck. It's exactly the kind of thing I want to wear, but I just wish I knew how to get myself to finish it!

I was, and hope to still be, knitting it in some absolutely delicious Brooklyn Tweed LOFT. It knits up so squishy, and I love the rustic nature of the yarn. I would love to finish it so I could wear it...

So let me know if you see it, K?

Knitting mojo?

Knitting was my first.

Actually, that's not true. Crochet was. 

But knitting was my first fiber arts love. It let me to the prolific knitting blogs of the early aughts, to their aspirational WIP's turned finished projects. I wanted a collection of hand knits so badly. When I lived in Brooklyn and Massachusetts, all that wool made sense. But then I moved back to California, and suddenly I didn't need those hats and scarves and mittens. My knitting activity tapered off. 

And then I discovered sewing. Faster than knitting, more suited to a warm climate, and equally fiddly. I never really warmed up to cotton yarn, but the options in cotton fabric won me over. Now I am borderline obsessed with sewing. I'm always thinking about the project I'm working on, or what to work on next; and I'm always acquiring more sewing patterns, as if I'll eventually have time to get to them all. (HAH!)

But this post isn't about sewing, it's about knitting. I think it's about time I picked up the needles again, and this article from Twist Collective fall 2016 let me know that I am not alone. I have lost my knitting mojo, and I want it back.

It's been in the background of my mind for a few years. Knitting. I've started a a few projects, and finished even fewer, but it creeps into my thoughts. It's when I'm at a store and I think "I could knit that," or when I am watching Luke Cage for hours on end and I wish I had something for my hands to do. When I put it that way, it doesn't sound like very much fun. It's interesting, but I don't even sew because I find it "fun." I am fascinated by fabric construction, and I love to see how the stitches nestle into each other so neatly. It's an odd kind of thrill I get when I stop to look at that, and I guess that's why I love it. 

Thinking back to what drove me 10 years ago to knit, it was all the pretty finished projects in scrumptious (yes, scrumptious) yarn. I used to love cables and rich textures. I'm sure I can figure our a way to make these work for my warm climate.

... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6 ...

On style, and whether or not I have it

I'd really like to say that I have a "summer style," and that it involves a lot of loose dresses, flowing silky hair, and soft white linen. But that would be a lie (and not only because I'd never be able to keep that white linen clean). I've never managed to pull together a wardrobe cohesive enough, with an adequate number of staples, to have a "look" or a "style." My mom cals me artistic, but I know that's code for weird and eclectic.

I'm going to try to change that this fall. It will be a challenge, though. Living in the southwest means we don't have the seasons that the other 3/4 of the country gets, so I'll have to get a little (read: a lot) creative (starting with summer would have been a lot easier). I'll have to work with colors and texture to get the autumn-y effect I want, rather than replying on the items of clothing to do that for me.

Selecting a color palette seems like a good place to start. I looked at a few on Pinterest (oh, Pinterest - what did we ever do without you?) and tweaked the colors a bit on colorpalletes.net - et voila!

It may not be perfect, maybe a little juvenile, but it's a start. The two colors on the ends are good neutrals, and of course the whole palette works with black and white (what doesn't?). I think it'll be less bright and contrast-y in clothes form. 

Up next, mood board time. 

The crazy side of a DIY wedding.

I have decided to embrace my crazy and make my own wedding dress. I'm sure many more talented seamstresses than I have attempted and failed, but I'm my own kind of blind-to-my-own-shortcomings kind of persistent. I am convinced that it's going to come out (nearly) perfect, and I'm going to look awesome.

I preordered 8.5 yards (holy crap, that's a lot of fabric) of Rifle Paper Co's "Les Fleurs" fabric (it's the "birch floral rayon in navy"), which apparently will ship in August. I have until then to practice on some less hard-to-come-by rayon.

As of now, I'm planning to make Vogue 8727 (option C, of course). I've had this pattern sitting on the back burner, because it is super fabric-hungry. But the full skirt is gonna be killer.

In the meantime, I've got some rayon I bought at Hart's Fabric in Santa Cruz. I'm planning to make a version of this dress in a few different fabrics. How may full-skirted halter dressed is too many?