Nachtfalter Update (and waxing poetic about Top of the Lake)

Oh, this pattern. 

This is Nachtfalter, one of the Holla Knits Summer KAL sweaters, and I'm totally in love. It starts off easy - just a nice, cabled ribbing. 

But then it blossomed into this gorgeous, addictive lace, and I couldn't put it down. 

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was knitting while glued to Top of the Lake (streamed on Netflix). This little BBC mini series caught my attention and ran with it. It's gorgeous, suspenseful, thrilling and very dark. Elizabeth Moss stars as Robin, a detective in New Zealand specializing in children and sexual abuse cases, and she is superb. I'm a huge Mad Men fan, so it took me a minute to adjust to seeing Moss in another role, but once she hooked me, I couldn't stop watching! Also Holly Hunter has a small, but amazing part. All-around, a very talented cast. 

Ok, I'm done gushing. What have you been watching?

P.S. I love that when I do a knit along, I have pictures of projects at every stage. Usually, I'm way too busy knitting to stop and take a picture. 

Summer Goals or Bucket List or What Have You

This little row of sticky notes is my summer to-do list:

1. Etsy Clearance - I still have a ton of the felt stuff that I used to sell in my shop, and since Etsy came out with a new app, it makes it even easier to do a quick sale. Soon I will have everything listed and at low-low prices! 

2. Crochet Beach Bag - Alycia from Habitual Homebody runs fun, monthly crochet-alongs, and this month's is this Beach Bag. I might not make it by the deadline (which is Wednesday... and I haven't started..) but this is the perfect bag to take to the grocery store on my Vespa. It shall be made! 

3. Donut Quilt - Inspired by Amanda from Hey Porkchop, I'm dying for this Donut Quilt. Chris gifted me the pattern for Valentine's Day, and it's been waiting, patiently, for me to make it. It, too, shall be made! 

4. Library Card - I've lived two blocks away from a branch of the Burbank public library for over a year, and still don't have a library card. For shame. 

5. Blog Re-design - I'm thinking something simple. I love the look of these templates from xoSillyGrrl on Etsy. 

6. Camping - I love camping, and summer is the time for it. My tent and grilled-cheese-maker will not gather dust this year! 

7. Web Series - I'm burying this big news at #7: I've written a 6-episode web series and will be filming it this summer. I'm terrified. 

8. Pool Party - Every weekend. Snacks + Friends + Pool = Party. 

9. Beach - More than last year, which means at least once. Yeah, I'm kind of silly for living in California and not taking much advantage of the beach. 

What about you - what are you doing this summer?

A Lacey Red Hat and talk about Show Biz

Here's a hat I've been meaning to show you for a while. Remember how I said I was all about knitting with my stash yarn? Yeah, that motivation also created this hat. The pattern is Debbie Stoller's All-Day Beret, and the yarn is Knit Pick Shine Worsted left over from this debacle. 

What do we think? I'm going to talk business right now, and by business, I mean the entertainment industry. Aka, The Business of Show. 

There's a trend right now for ladies my age to get not just one headshot (that looks like them and is lovely), but lot of headshots with different "looks." Inevitably, one of these "looks" is some sort of hipster person wearing a slouchy hat such as this one, and/or glasses.

In some ways, I want to embrace that trend because I look darn good in this slouchy hat! And I love wearing fake glasses. But in other ways, it seems silly and I think I should just trust my local casting director to know that if I look like a person in a picture, I can also put on a hat and look like the same person, but a hipster. 

All this to say: I haven't actually worn this hat in public, but it turned out great. 

Random Bits from the Last Few Weeks

1. Have I introduced you to my new nephew, Brennan? He's adorable. 

2. I hung out with a friend and filmed a music video for the band, Animal City. I got painted real pretty, and at the end we all jumped into an (incredibly dirty) pool. It was equal parts fun and disgusting. 

3. I got a request for more pictures of my bunnies (ahem, I'm lookin' at you, Julie!) - this is Lady Grey and Sir Thomas More, and they are totally in love, and snuggle constantly! 

4. My Mom painted me this thank you card, and I loved it so much, I framed it. Thanks, thrift store frame! 

5. A friend adopted this tiny dog named Dharma, and she fits in a hat.

6. I'm really amused by these spam emails. If I was single, I'd totally say I was "certainly having a look for boyfriend." Anyone else fascinated by spam?

7. Facetime with my sister, and my other sister (Kate, my sister's oldest friend).

Ps. I'm sure you know that Google Reader is on it's way out, so be sure to transfer over your blog roll before July 1st. BlogLovin' is a great way to keep up with blogs (follow me by clicking here). I use The Old Reader, because I still miss the old Google Reader!

Returning from Radio Silence

Long time, no blogging! I haven't really talked about it much here, but my day job is in post production, and the weekend before last, we moved buildings. That meant 12 straight days of work, and a lot of shopping, coffee drinking (my Starbucks name is Hilda), and lifting. 

With the new building, comes a new (teeny) office for me! I got to pick out my paint colors, and my boss gifted me the fun hot pink office supplies. I thought my tokidoki unicorns fit in nicely.

I ordered some coordinating washi tape from The Sewing Post on etsy, which I'm going to use to spiff up my plain office supplies. 

The new office is also close enough to walk to work, which is amazing. LA is great, but it's not known for it's walkability or public transit. I look forward to many nice walks, before it heats up and the "nice" walks turn into "sweaty" walks. 

 

So that's where I've been for the past two weeks, but now I'm back at it! How's your summer so far?