Just Makin' Some Navajo Rugs

So I have been making some:

To Dye For

I recently started dying some of my knits and have been really happy with the results:





More styles/colors in the shop!

My new kick is natural dying! My favorite so far is with onion skins (photos to come), it makes for the most beautiful golden brown. Someday I will have a dye garden like this dude:

Sans the creeps of course.

Today I ordered some Indigo and Madder seeds to get things started (blue and red respectively). I guess the Madder takes up to 3 years to get roots substantial enough to use, lame, but whatever, we'll see if I can squeeze some red out sooner than that (my houseplants have been growing like crazy in this SoCal climate!). I'll post the progress, but if any of you out there have any natural dying experience please share!

Good Morning Sunshine!

As a general rule I try to stay away from any food that is "processed", not to say that I don't ever partake, but generally you know? Like breakfast cereal? No way. Pretty much the worst thing for you in my opinion. So for breakfast I usually make eggs with corn tortillas or a smoothie. This morning I made a smoothie and it was a particularly good one:

• Mixed berries (frozen ones from TJs)
• A banana
• Nancy's Yogurt (low fat plain is my faaaaavorite)
• A handful of spinach
• About 2 square inches of fresh ginger
• And 2 teaspoons of spirulina

And I went for a run this morning! This is one of my favorite songs to listen to while running:

If you see me do a little shimmy while running I am likely listening to this song.

I thought I had some other stuff to mention in this post, but it has escaped me, I'll add it later if it comes back.

Spicin' things up a bit!

So I know, about every 6 months or so I announce, "This time I'm gonna do this blog for REAL!!" and then after about 4 posts things fizzle out... whatever, once again I am going to try and get this thing rolling. Hopefully with a bunch of original content and tutorials (yay for tutorials!!).

I have been going through a stage of personal growth lately and really feel the need to get my shit together. Me, the stuff I make, and my silly blog are not going to be *magically* discovered so I need to grit my teeth and get to work. Besides, working a 9-5 desk job is k i l l i n g me. I really need to just work for myself and I am not going to ever be able to do that without a little blood, sweat, and tears.

So here are my resolutions as of late:

1. Buy the bulk of my produce at the farmers market
2. Eat less sugar
3. Make a "5 things to accomplish this week" list and actually accomplish all 5
4. Watch less TV (my landlord provides free basic cable, both a blessing and a curse)
5. Within the next year transition from full-time job/part-time self-employed to full-time self-employed/part-time job
6. And some other boring crap I won't get into here

Anyway, let's do this thing!

And I made baked eggs for the first time tonight. I guess baked eggs are the new poached eggs or whatever.

First I made cauliflower gratin (roasted cauliflower/some other crap + food-processor), baked an egg on top, and put some kale chips and hot sauce in there for good measure. Delish! The picture looks kinda gross, but I swear it was good. I baked the eggs in two vintage Le Creuset "French ovens" I picked up at the thrift store for a whopping $2.99! For both!! I love thrifting!

Embroidered iPhone Case

So I got a fancy new iPhone 4 (NOT the 4s, that lady that talks to you on it seriously creeps me out). And I didn't want it to go the way of my last iPhone, clumsy is an understatement, so I ordered this awesome DIY embroidery case from Connect Design. Not too bad for $22 (w/ shipping), but it comes from South Korea so takes about 2 weeks to arrive. I really like the "Emotional Cross Stitch pattern" as bulleted in the included instructions:

• The Cross Stitch Case is made of particular ultra slim design for improved grip and usability with compatible side-button.
• It conveys a sense of Unique style through the fabric pattern of cross stitch, and makes a better fashion item for Apple iPhone 4 users.
• It is possible to customize into any style or design that one prefers.

I started with this:

Used some graph paper to make my own pattern and ended with this:

And I'm pretty happy with the results! Even got some chevrons in there (chevrons are the new triangle)! As far as product review, I think it is a great buy: easy to use, affordable, six or so colors to choose from, and pretty sturdy. It took me a while to finish it so I just put the case on my phone and carried the supplies around with me to work on in spare moments. The kit comes with three colors of embroidery floss (but super cheap at craft stores and there are a million colors to choose from so don't limit yourself) and a blunt needle, so just pack in a little pair of scissors and you are good to go.

If you like my design and want to use it, feel free (just link back here if you share please).

NOTE: if you haven't done cross stitch before (and the included instructions don't mention this), you only use two strands of the six stranded embroidery floss at a time. If you want me to send you a PDF of my pattern just let me know in the comments. Happy stitching! Send me a photo of how it turns out!

ETSY SALE!!

Everything 20% off and free shipping on all orders of two or more items!! Now through Sunday!

Check out my shop here!

Morning Coffee

Love that coffee, Cafe Otto, Glebe by the pretenda

Few things are more pleasing to me than coffee in the crispness of the morning.