attempt #5

so i restarted knitting the cardigan again last night. hehehe. actually, not a laughing matter since this is attempt #5. yes. you read that correctly... five. after doing some good 'ole proportions, i calculated that due to my tight knitting, i have to use the pattern for a size large to make an xs sweater for myself. hahahhahahahhahaa. now that is something to laugh about

lskdj;falkdsjf;alkjds;flakj;dslfkja;sd

that's how knitting makes me feel. blahhhhhhhhhh. my old friend from college, nikki, arrived last night and she is moving into the 'hood!!! hurray!!! nikki, a seasoned crocheter, informed me that the back of the military inspired cardigan with which i am 1/2 way done is damn small because i knit too tight! i hate loosely knit patterns, but didn't think to use a larger needle. i had been lying to myself all this time that i was skinny and surely could fit. and yes, while i am skinny, there is just no way i could fit something that is 4 inches too narrow in width. hahahhaha. so tonight i'll be undoing all that work and starting over (i'm cheap and hate wasting anything).

welcome to the 'hood, nikki!!! i'll be needing you to consult me on all things knit/crocheted!

bunny buffet and scrabble

there's no doubt that i have the cutest bunny in the world. like me, he is a mini-rex who is smaller than the average mini-rex (although i'm no mini-rex) and has a voracious appetite. he is also bossy and hates when visitors mess up his pad (ha! also like me). whenever i clean his cage, he stands in the way and tries to nudge me out. so, how do i distract him? with bunny buffet! essentially i give him full reign of the haybox to distract him while i change the cage as fast as i can. usually he is blissfully occupied. however, only once he caught on and expressed his displeasure by peeing on his own bunny buffet, ruining a pound of dinner! bunks also likes to test our patience by destroying all things paper or cardboard left within bunny height, that being hip height and below. we had left the scrabble board out overnight because we are serious about competition and didn't want to stop an unfinished game. sure enough, bunkins scrambled onto the coffee table and helped himself to the scrabble box all through the night while we slept. apparently scrabble is "edge of your seat fun!" for bunnies as well. he's lucky that he's so cute... sorry, blog, for having neglected you. now you have 3 posts in one day

a hole in our wall

when mom and dad bought the condo, they knew right away they wanted to punch a hole in the wall between the kitchen and the living room to make a breakfast counter. the question was just when.

well, the day came earlier this month, when dad decided to cut a small hole to "check out" what was inside the wall. inside of the kitchen, 2 large hanging cabinets had to be removed. and oh yes, that's a 1960's oven on the right!
this condo was built in the 60's (hence the ancient oven) during the days of super inefficient construction that involved slapping on a layer of thick plaster onto sheetrock. end result? inches of powder all around the apt after the hole was cut. poor bunkies had to be locked into the master bedroom. he was not thrilled.

2 weeks later, mom and dad returned, and after much architectural design and cutting, dad finished chopping out the hole. that's dad lingering in the darkness on the other side of the window. the view from the living room. dad used wall molding to support the countertop. now all that's left is for andrew and i to stain the counter top, paint the window frame white, repaint the living room wall (which now has joint compound all over it), paint the kitchen cabinets white, change out the kitchen counters, tile the backsplash, retile the kitchen floor!

knitting makes me loopy

i've found a crafting technique that has humbled me. belittled me. cast me on the floor and stomped on me.

i'm currently trying to make this cardi. in cream. note the instructions deem this an easy level project... http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/march/march.html

so why is it that a decently crafty person (me!) ends up with a blob? i mean ok, ribbing is tough to knit. and i am teaching myself from online tutorials. but is it as tough as making a shirt from scratch with no pattern (yay sarah's shirt! pics to come soon!)? apparently! i think i have met my match...

i am so making this!

same flowers as mommy's mother's day shirt! and retailing for $148 at jcrew!

We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.

i was supposed to be named after jimmy carter, the author of the above quote. but, seeing that i turned out a girl, my parents scrambled to name me. then, my brother was named jimmy, or "chi-ming" as he is called in cantonese.

dad, my partner-in-crafts, keeps quite the clutter of products on the bathroom sink counter at home, and thus, whenever he comes to visit, the lack of counter space in the bathrooms drives him nuts. doesn't stop him from visiting though! instead, he built over-the-toilet shelves for both the master bathroom and the guest bathroom.

andrew and i were then put in charge of decorating them. so we started off painting them white. however, they still looked rather stark. since the shower curtain in the guest bathroom featured light blue, brown, and tan and i had noticed that the dollar store sold light blue, tan, and white sea glass, we decided to mosaic the shelves! only one major problema: mosaic-ing with sea glass requires an appreciation for random chaos and i prefer things to be symmetrical (just more mathematical that way). so andrew was in charge of design.and put into its rightful place the master bathroom has light blue tiles and white walls, with shiny silver picture frames and a mirrored medicine cabinet. thus, we decided to mosaic that bathroom shelf in an art deco-ish manner with small mirrors and glass marbles. i took charge of laying out the pattern on this shelf, since it was very orderly and required precision. dad had added a small slot on this shelf for andrew's bathroom reading pleasure. heheyes, that is andrew in the corner petting bunkins' head with the bottom of his foot. poor bunny! installed in the bathroom! isn't it a beauty? today's episode of "dr bunkins' apothecary" was brought to you by the word mosaic.

¡arriba ceviche!

i belong to a football club. fc ceviche. while we don't always win, we always have more fun than our opponents (except last weekend when brawls almost erupted). my friend jeremy and his wife amy, both of whom are crucial members of the team, just had a wee baby marcus. since we take our football very seriously (we sport those pink jerseys proudly!) and recruit at a very young age, it seemed very appropriate, even necessary, that baby marcus be added to the roster. and to make it on the roster, he needed a jersey. one pink jersey coming right up!

since even the size small jerseys are too big for me, i felt no guilt in dismantling the beloved camiseta. shrinking each edge by 1.5 inches (somehow 1.5 inches seemed oddly precise to satisfy my mathematical tastes), i then resewed each piece back together the same way in order to preserve the logos and the general look. ignore the blue stain on the left sleeve. i spilled too much detergent on it after the only time i ever wore it (when it was adult sized of course) and thus stained the sleeve! at least marcus will now know that it's clean. the jersey on the right is andrew's adult medium one. so obviously the wee small one for wee marcus is on the left. ¡bienvenido al equipo, marcus! raw fish!

baking a poisonous plant

did you guys know that the leaves of rhubarb are poisonous? eeek! having never tasted this potentially poisonous plant, i decided it was a perfect opportunity to bake said poisonous plant into a pie! i mean, why not? it'd be quite the adventure.

so, with my trusty "joy of cooking" book, i set off to convert poison into deliciousness, while andrew documented the progress (he does the cooking in the house, while i do the baking). of course i make the dough from scratch! it's the best part! the white spots are little bits of butter. mmmm butter... poking holes so that the poison seeps out while baking... (jk, it's so the pie doesn't explode) wonder why we have no picture of the completed pie fresh out of the oven? because the person in charge of documenting decided to dig in instead of document. wrong d, buddy! oh, and might i note that this was a strawberry rhubarb pie. 2/5 strawberry, 3/5 poison

i totally had the right idea!

spiegel is selling a rosette dress that looks very similar to the mother's day shirt for 159 bones!
http://www.spiegel.com/shop/product_single.aspx?style_id=35730188&index=54&gp_coll_id=5001&gp_cat_id=5002&nav_cat_id=12991&category_id=12993

happy mother's day!

of all the people to whom i have given my crafts, mother is the most proud of my handiwork. she is frequently the guinea pig for my newest ideas. for this year's mother's day gift, i tested out a flower collar idea that i found on my most favorite crafting blog of all time (http://katiedid.squarespace.com/katie-did-journal/2009/5/1/tutorial-flower-collar.html) on a plain navy long-sleeve shirt and here are the results!
and 'round back:
close up:i love you mommy!

ribbons!

ribbons as bows are pretty lame. actually very lame. they're too girly and those that know me know that i hate hate hate girly things. so, i prefer to exploit the satiny look of ribbons for decoration. such as to line the edges of curtain ties from ikea!
or to decorate pillow cases that i designed and made from satiny green cloth:

when in doubt...

take me to a bead store. in feb of this year, andrew and i took a day trip up to balto to visit goosey, my crafting partner in crime (she is one of the most talented artists i know). the museums were all closed and it was cold as hell. so where did we end up? why, beadazzled of course! mmm, shiny...
we also visited a library of johns hopkins which had a display on bookbinding (no, i don't mean footbinding, bookbinding!). the doors to the building were massive and even had engraved hinges! hmmm, these would look great in the apt...

florentia's christmas gift of 2004

during my first year as a wee teacher, i cross-stitched this for florentia for christmas. 2 cheetahs (she likes cats) and the chinese characters say "mom and pumpkin" (what florentia calls samatra). i signed the corner in chinese.

make it happen

many folks have told me that i should document my projects for posterity, so here's my best attempt at that. dr. bunkins has asked that his projects (aka damage) also be documented, so here's my best attempt at that as well.