The best presents

I love handmade gifts. And knitted gifts are the best kind. Here is a picture of AJ in his sweater made by my friend Jeanne. She made this sweater and a lovely kimono top.



This is the Bookworm Sweater from Louisa Harding’s Miss Bea’s Rainy Day. How appropriate considering AJ's mama is a librarian!

This sweater is awesome -- looks great, is a nice weight, not too heavy but cozy for cool spring days, and with room to grow. I did have to make one minor modification and open up the neck a bit, due to AJ's 90th percentile head circumference...

You can see the opened neck here, it looks pretty cool:


Thank you Jeanne!

I Heart my Hoosier (style) cabinet

A few weekends ago, a new piece of furniture came into my life:

This is the Hoosier -Style cabinet we picked up at a local antique/collectible shop. I didn't know how much I wanted one of these until I spotted this one. It isn't an actual Hoosier cabinet -- that would have cost us quite a bit more money... but it looks a lot like the one we had in my family kitchen growing up. I think having this in my kitchen now is reconnecting me to my old 'home' -- it feels very comforting. The finish has this pale spring green wash to the oak-like wood, like a table of my grandmother's that I have.

Here is a photo of the table from our old condo in Massachusetts:

Someday maybe I'll have a studio and can have the two pieces together in the same room! The table is currently being stored in our basement...

For now, the Hoosier is in the kitchen, a much better item of furniture to store all my craft and office-y stuff than the previous setup, especially with a rambling infant prowling around.

It is definitely an inspiration to me right now -- and is influencing my current projects. I've been doing a lot of embroidery, and have some special projects up my sleeve...