MondayLunchCrew

I’ve been looking for a kaleidoscope for a long time now. I used to have one when I was young and recently was reading Just Enough where it used a kaleidoscope in a analogy. I finally picked up a kaleidoscope at the Japanese Cultural Center. It was from a table of crafts to benefit the [...]

Found this one at the National Museum in Ueno Park Tokyo. Notice the soap dispenser and faucet are on the further surface and the closer side is the hand dryer. The product is designed so that there is economy of space. No extra dripping of water from sink to dryer so there is less cleaning [...]

Downtown is getting a bit of a make over for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The lamp posts are getting painted and the front doors of the Intercontinental are getting fixed up. I saw on the news that Four Seasons is renovating their suites for the Hollywood VIPs coming up North of the 44. [...]

Pattern: Better than baby booties Ruffle Rib pattern by Ann Budd Yarn: Fortissima Socka I’ve used about 1/3rd of the yarn. More baby socks are to come. I’m planning on trying all the patterns in the pdf above. Needles: 5 DPN 2.50mm I’ve managed to have matched the self-stripping yarns so that the two are [...]

For knitters that is. I’ve always wind up my skeins of yarn into balls by ways of wrapping them around my knees as I sit in a lotus position. Sometimes that works, sometimes it’s a tangled mess. This time around, I had three skeins of manos to prepare and decided to try something new. Worked [...]

I thought I had lost a big yarn needle in the sofa cushions so I went digging for them. Didn’t find the needle, but did find a needle threader that I thought I had lost and this: No idea where it’s from or how it got in the sofa. Love how it’s just like a [...]

For the first time in ages, I found classes at the Creativ Festival (formerly creative sewing and needlework festival) that I want to attend. Fall Show this year is October 19 – 22 and I just signed up for some knitting classes on cables. Since I do enjoy cables quite a lot, I decided to [...]

I was staring down at a small ball of left over yarn. I couldn’t do a swatch with it. There was very little left and I decided at that moment to pick up my crochet hook, and to teach myself to crochet with Japanese Books. I can’t read Japanese, but the pictures should be enough. [...]

[Summer 2005] Crying over the lack of: Unsweetened silk soy milk (green box) Spiral cut ham ready to eat chicken breast Any decent meat at the local grocery Can’t find seitan anywhere No skim that tastes like 2%. [Summer 2006] Happy about: Light silk soy (even if it only comes here in one flavor in [...]

Way back in the fall of 2005, when I was trying to teach myself how to knit continental from a book, I spent some time knitting at a Timothy’s downtown without the book I was learning from. This was just when I had mastered the knit stitch and was going to tackle the purl. So, [...]

She was good enough to sit for me for a few minutes while I photographed her last week. Here are the photos. Here’s a preview:

I decided that I’ll start a new cross-stitch project after my big finish. With no piece in mind, I start going through the stash. At one point, G says to me: Just how much stash do you have? Me: Well, not too much, but enough that now I’m finish one project, I’m looking in my [...]

Jenny was right, it was a giant Mirabilia. It took I think about 5-6 years to finish. Granted, I put it down for most of those years. Since I put it down last week, it probably only had an hour’s worth of work on it. Mostly in trying to find the stitch here and there [...]

Been doing a bit of reading of late and really enjoyed these two small books by Seth Godin. Unleashing the Ideavirus. You can download your own copy to read. A great thesis on how to distinguish yourself in your marketing given how traditional marketing is so easily overlooked these days. I know these ideas really [...]

I was so swayed by Chelly’s comment that I started to look for a new project to start. I went digging in my oversized pile of stash to look for frames. This is when I saw an UFO. All it needed was beading, some back-stitching and filling in some missing stitches! It won’t be long [...]