The Shelf

I purchased this plain off white shelf from Craigslist for $15 and spent some time trying to figure out what to do with it. My initial reason for the purchase was to use it in the kitchen for tea and such, but it was so deep it blocked my light above the sink.

When Claire was visiting we did some brainstorming. Tried it in both bathrooms and the dining room. The dining room won and we chose the paint colors - chocolate brown and type of robins egg/teal.

David and I happened to be near Home Depot one weekend so we stopped in and got the paint we needed. They now have those nifty sample sizes which are perfect for projects like this. The very unhappy paint mixing lady got us all set up and we were off to begin our project.

You may note this became "our" project. This is because David really likes to paint. Not only does he like to paint, he prefers tedious or detailed painting. This is yet another reason he completes me. I prefer a large flat surface to slather paint all over, no edging for me.

It took me a little while to figure out what to put on the shelf, but eventually I found a few things that I think come together nicely.
Sorry the above and some of the following photos are blurry and ill composed. It was late and I was being impatient with the camera.

The coffee pot on the top shelf is a Jebena from Ethiopia, it survived the journey home with David, surprisingly. The clay cup next to is one I picked up in Swaziland. The yellow basket is a very old sewing basket passed down to me from David's grandma Helmuth.

On the shelf are some books on dyeing yarn and tying climbing knots. The pipes on top of the book are also both from Africa. The hand blown glass sand timer is a gift from my mom ages ago. Then there are a couple of vintage cards and a photos of my brother and I from back in the 80's.

Oh and the pretty orchids on the table a generous gift from my boss, and so far I haven't killed them, hooray!

My Weekend

This is what my weekend looked like. Lots of tea, knitting, and the dvd player remote. Most of my time was spent all snuggled in by a nice warm fire watching the snow fall and Agatha Christie mysteries (by the way, I am LOVING our wood burning stove).

I am determined to get Julia's sweater finished in the next 48 hours and I am definitely gaining ground. I have 2/3 of a sleeve and the collar to go. I do have buttons, but I'm not too keen on them so I plan to look for something better when I get the chance. And, actually, our knitting group it taking a jaunt down to Fancy Tiger tomorrow so maybe I will find something super cool down there.

What did you do this weekend?

The Winners!!!

Now announcing the winners for the Blogaversary prizes! David randomly drew numbers and our winners are......Corvus, winning my hand-spun yarn, and scottishbunny2003, snagging David's sweet photo.

Thanks so much for joining in on this Blogaversary celebration. I have so enjoyed reading all of your comments, thank you so very much and keep them coming.

Don't forget to give David a little love over at his Etsy shop. And stay tuned, I'll be back next week with some knitting updates, Christmas present plans, and new recipes.

Up and Running

Alright ya all, your chance to enter the drawing ends tonight at midnight mountain standard time. I shall announce the winner tomorrow (cause hopefully I won't be up that late tonight).

Here's an exciting tid-bit of news, David's shop is up and running! Hoorah! Head on over there and show him some support - dhelmuth.etsy.com

A last look at the two loverly prizes....

Thursday Chance

I'm a schmo and didn't get a chance to post yesterday so technically this is your Thursday opportunity to enter the drawing. On the bright side I made huge progress on a project, but it is a secret for now.

This Seasons New Hat

This is my new slouch hat that I just love. David says it looks frumpy (shout out to Sammie ;) ), but I like it anyhow.

The pattern is Felicity and can be found on Ravelry as well. I followed the pattern , just adjusted my needle size. This yarn is my own hand spun, hand dyed. You may recognize it from this post and this post.

If you haven't checked out the give-aways for this week look at my blogaversary post!

Gray hat for a Grey Day

Two years blogging also means two years of having an Etsy shop. As I have said before, I hope to one day make Etsy my full time job, but for now I will enjoy the shop as it is.

I have been slow to add new items this fall - ya know, new job, new apartment, and custom orders have been keeping me occupied. But, for this week of Blogaverary celebration I wanted to be sure to add some new items to the shop.

Today started off sunny and warm, but has turned wintry, gray and cloudy - so, I thought I'd add a new Gray Wool Hat to my shop in light of the turn the day has taken. This hat is great because it is one of the few things in my shop that is truly a unisex gift. It can be so hard to buy the menfolk sometimes, but I like finding items like these cause then if the hubby doesn't like it I can wear it! ha.

If you haven't seen this week's give-aways be sure to click on the blogaverary link above.

Blogaversary!

What a busy day. Lots of work at work, grocery shopping after work, and then I felt the need to be a foodie till my about 9:30pm. I made myself a pork chop with roasted asparagus and honey balsamic glazed carrots (yum). Following that I canned six jars of strawberry jam and made olive and sun-dried tomato tapenade. But believe it or not today's post isn't about food.... it is my blogaversary!

It has been two whole years of blogging, unbelievable. In honor of my two years typing I decided to have a sweet give away for all you faithful readers (and the newbies too).

Fun thing number 1 to Give Away:
Hand Spun, Hand Dyed Yarn

This lovey skein over here on the right is 320 yards of my personal spindle spun super wash wool. It is called Sapphire Rising.

Fun thing number 2 to Give Away:
The HDR Photo Above

In honor of my two years I'm gonna give my hubby a little boost as he prepares to open his Etsy shop this week (since there isn't anything there just yet have a look at his Flickr)! Some lucky winner will receive an 8x12 photo of the gorgeous fence and sunset shown above.

How do you win these exciting items you ask? Well, let me tell you.

Leave a comment with "Yarn!" or "Photo!" or both! The two winners will be posted on Friday.

I plan to post each day this week and with each additional post you can make another comment that will be entered in the drawing. So, that means you could have your name entered up to five times!

What are you waiting for my friend, post your comment and share the fun with your friends.

Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp

Made this last night - it is perfect with plain yogurt! My only changes were to use pecans instead of almonds and I left the peel on my apples (mainly out of laziness), enjoy!

Weekend Update

Ah, it is the end of another work day. And this one included a chimichanga at lunch so there are no complaints here.

My weekend had a long "to-do" list attached to it and I'd say I feel pretty good about my accomplishments. Although, I will admit that I added more projects to my list than I finished.

My Saturday morning was spent tidying the house (check that off the list), balancing our budget (check), and hanging pictures and such (check). These cuties photoed are in our bathroom, what do you think? David really doesn't like them. But they are so functional!

In the afternoon a friend and I head down to Denver. Our only real goal was to visit Fancy Tiger. Goal accomplished, as well as a couple hours of coffee house knitting. Fancy Tiger is a great craft boutique. Their fabric had me fondling and wide eyed. Not to mention the books, yarn, fiber, and needle point. It is a modest sized store, but there is a very lovely selection.

Sunday I worked on some more projects. Recipes to try this week (check), grocery list (check), paint mirror frame (more to come on this project - check), cut fabric from Christmas presents (check), and relax with hubby.

All in all a wonderful weekend. Oh and did I mention it snowed this weekend. Yup, the first snow of the season. It wasn't inches or anything, but it has stuck around. And it looks pretty lovely with the autumn colors.

Stay warm!

The Wedding

No not my wedding that was four years ago - yeah FOUR, crazy! Actually we celebrated last week, our anniversary was October 2nd. But, the wedding I'm about to post was my dear cousin's in Virginia. I was her matron o' honor and David did some photography for the big day. Oh and did I mention I knit the wraps for the bridesmaids? - just thought I should throw that in. Anyhow, hope you enjoy the photos.

Yarn Crawl

The last Saturday in September a car full of ladies from my new knitting group and myself headed north for a yarn crawl. If you haven't heard of a yarn crawl let me explain (if you have, you can skip to the next paragraph). A yarn crawl is a progressive shopping trip centered around yarn. Generally these trips are taken in groups and often they are to new or somewhat distant locations (meaning not just your local yarn shop).

Our trip was Fort Collins based, about an hour drive. The first stop was Lambspun. This shop had many varieties of yarn as well as a small, but quality, fiber selection. I didn't make any purchases at this shop, but I did enjoy looking around.

Next up on our stops was My Sister Knits. This shop also had a lot to offer. First, the setting of the shop is just beautiful! It in an old carriage house behind a gorgeous walk through garden area. The shop had many yarns that I use and look at often such as Cascade and Manos del Uruguay. At this shop I found a deal in their sale section. Four skeins of Harrisville Designs New England Shetland. These colors will make some wonderful mittens!

Our last traveling stop was at a shop in Loveland, CO, which is between Fort Collins and Louisville. The shop is called Woolen Treasures. If you ever get the chance to stop by this shop I highly recommend it. She has a great button selection and at the moment a lot of wonderful varieties of alpaca yarns. I picked up this beautiful ball of Schoppel-Wolle called Zauberball - it is going to make some pretty amazing socks.

Those are all of my latest finds. Following our yarn crawl I did manage to find some yarn perfect for my next sweater, more to come on that later.