Last Pink Post in February

Of course there will be pink in other months too...but I started this month of love with a pink post and will end it with one too: this from my boyfriend's perspective.  We both like to take pics and compare so we can see the day from both of our viewpoints: so this was his take on my Valentine's Day Heart Soap project. 

Enjoy and onward to March!

Post Postscript

I finished my flower post and got back to work, only to find this gorgeous handbag campaign by Loewe from Spain, so just a quick PS:

The flowers are in Turquoise, Pantone's Color of the Year for 2010 and I love, love these shots...

The dreamy, languid imagery reminds me of The Fountain, a film by Darren Aronofsky, also director of Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler.  Also set partly in Spain, I fell in love with The Fountain and its themes about life, creativity and fighting for everlasting love, highly recommended.  I'm also incredibly excited about Aronofsky's next venture: Black Swan with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, 2 of my favorite actresses in a ballet battle, can't wait!  OK, one more shot:

And to continue the flower theme today, I saw my friend Koru Kate's post for her Koru Wedding Style blog.  Now she's a wedding planner planning her own wedding and I wish I could make her this Flowerette Sash from J. Crew, pretty!

Damn Groundhog...

Really, Punxsutawney Phil, you had to see your shadow and run away for weeks and weeks?  I was loving this amigurumi groundhog from Planet June, so cute and innocent, and then you doomed us to 6 more weeks of winter?  You may be the most famous ever, but the other groundhogs don't even agree with you!

It's raining in NYC today and supposed to change to sleet, ice, snow... and then a NOR'EASTER by Thursday??  Well, I'm thinking about spring anyway and these flowers were crafted out of sugar by the amazing Sylvia Weinstock.  Here are some closeups (don't mind the traces of icing from the cake they adorned).  I'm SO into these...

My Valentine's Eve arrangement reminded me to surround myself with flowers until spring comes (ok, well, *always* would be nice too), so this is my desk at work right now: a white phalaenopsis orchid and orange ranunculus:

I wasn't familiar with the ranunculus until I saw this beautiful arrangement on A Little Sussy and now I'm definitely obsessed with them.  On my way home last night I got some tulips because I agree with Suburban Zen about buying some for yourself instead of waiting for someone else to send you some.

I also walked by Carlo's Bakeshop, the bakery from the show Cake Boss on TLC.  I wrote about the long lines that are now outside on the weekends, making it impossible to get in there for a cannoli, but the cakes sure are pretty.

P.S. the animal-directed sarcasm at the top of this post is done waaay better by the author of FU Penguin: Telling Cute Animals What's What.  I'd go into further detail, but my Mom is reading this, so expletives will be left out for now.

Here's hoping that spring gets here soon, it will definitely improve my mood, but for now, flowers will have to do.

2nd Christmas, Late Valentine's and Other Celebrations

It was almost like 2nd Christmas yesterday as we celebrated 3 birthdays, an anniversary and I brought some late Valentine's Day gifts too.  And this after the start of the Olympics, President's Day, Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras!

I had to wrap up the heart soaps I made, so I made a few miniature gift bags from a Martha Stewart pattern. 

And I wanted to be purple for the day, so I wore this beaded tank from Forever 21

and some light purple jewelry: this beautiful beaded necklace from Cameo Sisters Designs and ring from a trip to Chicago

My Dad had bought my Mom some little purple glasses

and I brought purple wine (and yea, my grandfather likes the box stuff )

And of course there were presents!

I got this gorgeous lilac Le Creuset casserole dish for my Aunt Liz.

[from Yummery]

On the Yummery site, Erin from Erin Cooks explains that this color was only recently made available in the US and right now Sur La Table has the exclusive on the lilac and the darker purple cassis colors, fab!

The other day I mentioned a gift that made me think of pink, pearl and ribbon and that was this Lion Brand knit flapper cloche for my grandfathers wife, Ruth.

Instead of the Landscapes Yarn in the pattern a very helpful woman in the shop recommended the yarn on sale this month: Wool-Ease Thick and Quick.  It's a lamb' s wool/acrylic blend, also a Super Bulky weight and surprisingly soft: it knit up in about 5 hours, so yes (relatively), quickly!  

I say pearl because at some point the shape reminded me of Pearl, the pink octopus in Finding Nemo.  It was even able to stand up on its own!  Let's compare:

[from freewebs.com]

Actually, this would probably make a pretty good amigurumi.  Eventually I got to the end of the knitting part and was all proud, until I realized that I hadn't joined the round.  Oops...

It was sewn up quickly, just ironic since I was already using circular needles, so why didn't I think of that before?  But it turned out fine and then I added this cool 2-tone pink/blue ribbon from Paper Presentation.

It was a good, relaxing day.  And I love that my Mom always has flowers around the house.  Maybe someday i'll learn how to keep a plant alive.

Chillax...

We use this word at work and it always cracks me up and defuses whatever tensions are going on.  Do you need a weekend?  Do you want some time for quiet contemplation with Tobey above?  This week's Time Out New York encourages you to "Find your calm"...

and I'm so glad to see two of my favorite places in the city mentioned as solutions: Lion Brand Yarn and Make Workshop. 

I talk about Lion Brand A LOT and mentioned the sewing class I took at Make.  Both places have affordable classes in a supportive environment of creative people and I'm all for that.  My first post ever was about The Zen of Crafting. 

So, tonight I stayed in and knit a birthday gift for a party on Sunday, so no spoilers yet, just a few hints: pink, pearl, ribbon.  Even with a minor snag I kept it mellow cause don't you hate it when an evening of calm crafting goes awry and you start fretting instead of being lulled into a Zen moment? 

So, happy weekend!  What do you do to chillax?

Can You Knit a Marshmallow Today?

This is City Bakery on 18th Street and yes, those are marshmallows hanging from the ceiling.  I got some nice comments on my heart marshmallows so I know people love 'em and City Bakery is hosting their 18th Annual Hot Chocolate Festival TODAY, Thursday, 2/18 with unlimited hot chocolate and hot chocolate themed knitting workshops for the price of a ticket, wow!  You can read about the event on Grub Street, where Chef-Owner Maury Rubin says that "knitting feels like hot chocolate".  I agree! and thanks to my friend Jenny for reminding me about this.

It's sponsored by some of my favorite yarn shops in the city: Downtown Yarns, which I also mentioned here and Purl Soho (there's the ad for the event in the window):

They also have Purl Patchwork, a fabric store!

I have a work thing and can't make it to the event tomorrow, so I bought a few ginormous chocolate chunk cookies on my way home, but if anyone goes let me know how it is!

From the bakery I also had some other errands to run:

I stopped by Anthropologie (love the sweet clothes, charming fabrics and dishware and the Mistral soaps, even though I just made some of my own).  Hey, is anyone watching Man Shops Globe on the Sundance Channel about buyer Keith Johnson's adventures procuring product for the stores?  Also got some wool for a present at Lion Brand Yarn (which I heart! as I explained here).

The bunch of ribbon is from Paper Presentation: an incredible store that I could get lost in for hours.  I heard about it from awesome prop stylist Leslie Siegel.  Seriously, check out her portfolio: it's amAzing!  Those are also some little pink pinking shears up in the pic.

I passed Cupcake Cafe and even though I posted about Valentine-themed store windows yesterday I just have to include this since I love how happy the polar bears are with their treats.

When I finally got home my sweet friend She Crafty had sent me Making Candles & Soaps for Dummies.  I've been experimenting with both lately and need some pointers, so I can't wait to dive into this book and see what I can do to improve. 

She Crafty's profile pic is her adorable French bulldog, Crumpet (love her name!)  One of my all-time fave movies is Best in Show and on Monday night a Frenchie named Bru won best in the non-sporting group (first time for this breed!) at the Westminster Kennel Club 2010 Dog Show.  Go, Bru! and thanks again, She Crafty!