Sleep-In Saturday!

Saturday mornings are my favorite thing ever. EVER. The boyfriend and I can stay up as late as we want on Friday nights, binging on baked goods and watching Bob's Burgers without any threat of forenoon obligation. 

Waking up slowly and naturally (and quite happily) is almost akin to nirvana (the euphoric kind, not the flannel wearing grunge kind).

I wouldn't trade a sleep-in Saturday for anything in the world. This is living.

FRED FLARE FASHION SHOW!

 On the 14th of last month, I had the privilege of hanging with the folks from FredFlare at their super fun spring launch!!!! I was on the fence about taking pictures, so I only have a few sloppy instagrams and a handful of dicey Instaxes.

(If you want to see high quality photos from the event, check out the Guest of a Guest blog.)

The day was super long. The three hour bus ride trashed my hair. I had to put myself back together in a bus station bathroom, before being insanely early for the taping. Luckily, I wan't the only one that was early and I made fast friends with a make-up artist and a filmmaker (among others).

The show itself was adorable (OBVS); lots of quirky accouterments and adorably curated ensembles! I clapped until I couldn't feel my hands! At the end, I had a quick opportunity to chat with Chris (half of FredFlare) before grabbing a slice of Earth Mother pizza from Two Boots and rushing back to catch the bus back to Jersey.

The day ended as perfectly as it began, but we'll save that story for another day...

How was YOUR day, today?

Herbal Medicine Workshop @ Evermore Herbs

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend an herbal medicine workshop at a nearby modern apothecary.  It was really exciting. We learned a lot about a myriad of herbs and their medicinal properties, and different simple preparations to those properties to work.

The instructor demonstrated how to prepare teas, tisanes and salves to cure/treat a ton of ailments. Upon leaving the shop generously provided with a fantastic gift bag containing herbs we would need to get started. The instructor was just as generous as the shop, and gave us each a samll aloe plant from his personal garden and a small container of rose salve.

I can't wait to put this knowledge to good use, and hopefully come up with some unique recipes to share with all of you!

Furry Friends: Gus the Hamster!

There's been a lot of interest in Gus since my post last week, so I thought that I would  take a few seconds to formally introduce him to all of you.

Gus is a Winter White hamster that has been an integral part of my creative process for around 4 years (which is incredible as he was only guaranteed to live 18 months). In his younger days, he would change from the grey that he is in the pictures above to a brilliant white during the winter!

His little habitat shares a table with my sewing machine and a handful of positively charged knick-knacks in my studio. Let me tell you, Gus is the perfect assistant! When he's not nibbling on cherries or sunflower seeds, he's picking out fabric and agreeing that everything should be coated in gold glitter.Sometimes it's good to be surrounded by "YES" men (or rodents)!

Having Gus in my craft room forces me to spend time in my creative space everyday. Even if I'm not working on something, I still sit in the workroom for a few minutes just to feed him a few treats and play.

In a way, having this lil' guy around keeps me inspired. I adore him :-)

My Day in Pictures: 9/7

Sorry for the unintended hiatus!

School and being sick had kind of overwhelmed me.

In addition, I still cannot access my photoshop program. (ugh!)

Today, I thought I would just share a few photos from my walk/bus ride/class.

I just kinda snapped quick photos along the way, so it's like a little walking tour or something.

I had to get up at 9 to make sure that I could make it to the bus on time. HOWEVER, the bus was over a half an hour late. So in turn, I was late for my crafts class. I arrived sweaty and 15 minutes later than everyone else.

Luckily, we started making punch rugs today and it soothed the stressful morning just a little. There's something about repetitive movement that just kind of puts you in a trance state. I was in punch rug nirvana.

I stopped by Borders (it's closing!) on the way home, and picked up a few paperbacks I'll probably never get around to. The mall is directly across the street from my house, so I popped in there too. Bath and Body Works has hot chocolate scented candles!!!! Of course, I scooped up a handful. I'm totally reckless when it comes to home fragrance.

I'm actually going to light one right now and lay on the couch before my head explodes!

Have a good night!

<3

Robbie

Coming Up...

-Hurricanes and He-Man

-The Never-Ending Braided Rug Maybe a Failure.

-The First Roll of Film From My Diana Mini

-Acrylic Stash-busting + Vintage Craft: God's Eye

...and much more

sneak peek: paint-by-number clown.

Today has been the most lazy day ever!

-I put bean soup (from the Little House Cookbook) in the crock pot.

-I watched the kitties roll around in cat nip.

-I worked on my fall wardrobe and a halloween pinterest boards.

-I watched Dave play Paperboy for a while.

-I ate breakfast @ 2:30.

-I worked on a little clown paint-by-number.

and now, I'm going to get an obnoxiously long bubble bath before leaving to knit at Lea's house!

Sometimes, you just need to recharge your batteries.

What are YOU up to today?

<3

Robbie.

Coming Up...

-Hey! Pizza Face!

-The Never-Ending Braided Rug.

-A Work on Hiatus: The Bathroom.

-The First Roll of Film From My Diana Mini

-Acrylic Stash-busting + Vintage Craft: God's Eye

...and much more

scenes from a yard sale

Here in New Jersey, we're in the midst of the most disgusting heatwave ever!!! Today, I think there was a point where it reached 115 degrees. Gross!

What better way to celebrate than by having a yard sale?

The thing is that once you pay for a permit, that's it. You're sort of locked in.

So, we dragged our things out on to Dave's aunt's front lawn (which is 2 blocks from the beach), and baked them under the hottest sun.

I wish I could complain, but we made almost $200. Not bad for three hours of saying "hello" to strangers.

<3

Robbie.

Coming Up...

-The Never-Ending Braided Rug.

-A Work in Progress; The Bathroom.

-The First Roll of Film From My Diana Mini

-Acrylic Stash-busting + Vintage Craft: God's Eye

...and much more

A Trip to the Cape May Zoo: Part 2

I started this post on Tuesday with a peek at the goats and pigs of the Cape May Zoo. So, if you are interested in following the whole trip, start there.

There were exactly 750 million birds at the zoo. I counted. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal if I weren't deathly afraid of birds bigger than my fist. When I was little guy, I was trapped in a car by a gang of street wise geese who wanted more than day old bread. It damaged me for life. They were everywhere; pecking on the hood and the doors, stomping on the roof and peering through the windows. Probably, one of the scariest moments of my life.

Anyway, I somehow held it together well enough to snap a few photos.

Enjoy!

<3

Robbie.

Coming Up...

-Connor the Clown-A Work in Progress; The Bathroom.-The First Roll of Film From My Diana Mini-Planning and Prepping: A Braided Rug

-A Trip to the Zoo with Il Filato Dolce: Part 3

-Book Discussion; The Life of Pi

-List: Inspiring People

...and so much more.

WIP..... monday?

This is all I have to share today. Kinda sad, eh? It's the front of Otto the Owl, and I'm pretty happy that it doesn't look as crappy as I thought it would. It's still 999 bajillion degrees in my house (well, not tonight, which is why I'm going to be quick), and it makes knitting almost impossible. Knitting wool with sweaty hands is gross and it's not really much of a pleasure. My Elizabeth Zimmerman books arrived and I've also been admiring those for the past couple of days. I even took them both to work today, so I could read during my lunch break. She's actually quite funny whilst being EXTREMELY informative.

Alright, like I said, short and sweet. It's cool tonight, so I'm going to go knit while I'm not sweating.

<3

knitxcore.

Tribble-tastic.

You maybe wondering what this is, but first we're going to discuss what it is not.

It is not a cat beret! As badly as Adrienne wanted it to be a special cat sized beret that she could wear while watching Amelie and eating stinky cheeses, this mysterious knitted circle is 1870 Pearl's Tribble dishcloth. It knitted up super quickly, involved fun construction techniques and helped me get over being really angry at the lady from the LYS. It's really absorbent, and I'm putting tribbles under all of my houseplants.

OHHHHHHH!!!! W8 a second! I forgot that I haven't shared that story with you all, yet. Midnight Purls and I frequent a Stitch 'n' Bitch (i hope I'm not infringing on any copyright laws typing that!) at our LYS. We've been going for a few months now, off and on. We can't make it every week, but who can? So, last sunday, MP calls to make sure that they are, in fact, open. The woman who answered the phone was kind of short with her but, it was assumed that maybe she was busy. MP picked me up, we stopped by Starbux, and went to the LYS. (Keep in mind, MP has already driven an hour in total.) We go in and the store is a mess, the regular ladies no longer work there and there is one customer in the store. We kindly inform the woman behind the counter that our group (who meets every sunday) will be in soon and that we were wanted to get the table ready. She said she had no clue what we were talking about and informed us that ,"there will be no bitching". Can you stand it? srsly? The woman was once again short and walked away before answering any questions. After standing there in shock for about 3 minutes, we decided to leave this episode of the "knitting twilight zone" and we would go home and order yarn online and watch a movie. What crazy events led to this strange "stitch-uation"? How am I going to get in touch with the people I liked from the LYS? Does that woman's fun fur poncho itch so badly that she was already in a bad mood when we got there?

Needless to say, it will probably be quite a while before MP and I step into Fiber Arts Studio's Yarn shops again. Small, independent businesses should offer stellar customer service. After all, it's all they've got. If I wanted half-assed answers or someone to stand behind the register and grunt, I'd go to A.C Moore.

<3.

knitxcore.