Sensing a trend: Sock Monkey!

Sock monkeys seem to be a big hit these days. We had three Christmas gifts in our little house alone. My friend Sue (Hi, Susan!) sent us the Fred & Friends Wine Monkey Wine Caddy. Hello, adorable! I shall call you Ferdinand.

And, my sister-in-law Emily, who writes a great blog over here, sent us a pair of these completely adorable sock monkey egg cups with matching monkey spoons from PG Tips. I kind of like eating breakfast with a cute smiling face staring back at me. I think they need names! What are some good twin names?

And Santa brought Lola got the third sock monkey present. A silly monkey creature that she cuddled to death. With her teeth.

It's great to see knitting winding it's way through popular culture. Knitting is a huge trend in my mind, but it seems all kinds of people really enjoy handknits right now. Is it that people are turning toward simpler times because of the economic downturn? Or, are knitting designers following trends more closely? Or, is knitting just that cool, come on... you know it is.

Sneak Peek!

I am over the moon with excitement about my newest project. This is just a little preview of what's been on my mind and on my needles for the last few months. I'll have the finished pieces in hand by the end of the week, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you!

Henry, The Dog

Bamboo beauty

I love this fun basket my parents sent us for Christmas. It's made from recycled bamboo chopsticks, stained with black tea leaves and strung together with a little fishing line. It's simplicity makes it strikingly beautiful and I love the shadows it creates.

1/1/11

Welcome to a new year! I love new beginnings and fresh starts. I love the new path of a new year, a new month, even a new day. And what else do I love? New projects! So today is Day 1 of my new 365 project. It's something I've been wanting to try for a few years to help me keep track of all the cooking, gardening, knitting and roofing projects that go on around this house.

These garden lights and rock landscaping were an unexpected yet completely needed project during 2010. With the incredible productivity and drive of my husband's mother, -- who doesn't like when I keep calling her my mother-in-law, so I suppose since she spent FIVE WEEKS with us in 2010 I could start calling her by name on my blog -- Pauline moved bucket after bucket full of roof rocks from piles on our patio down to landscape our garden beds. And I didn't take a single photo of her! That's why I need a photo-a-day project. I love the results of her efforts more than I could have imagined. The new landscaping also motivated Thomas to install low-voltage garden lights along the new dry riverbed path, along the deck edge and up the patio staircase.

Every time I go outside I feel like it's a new garden. Day or evening. Thank you, Pauline. Now it's time to dream about what we will get ourselves into in 2011. And I promise to provide photo evidence!