Years and years ago I brought home this toolbox from a thrift store or antique mall, I don't remember which. I've slowly stocked it with tools purchased as I've needed them, and now it's a pretty well stocked little box. The paint is all chippy, and might have to be stripped and replaced soon, but right now I like it's tattered look.

While I was painting my spice rack, I gave my hammer a little glossy coat of white and light turquoise. I was somewhat inspired by these fancy and ridiculously expensive axes. Plus, it will probably keep it safe from the hands of Mr. Heylucy, who does not always return things to their proper places. In fact, he was quite surprised by the many contents of my toolbox, which he had never noticed before. I do keep it in the corner of my little studio, but I'm not sure how he missed it all these years. I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have to guard it a little more closely now. 

A few of the items I have collected and use:

I love my little red screwdriver, the tip flips around, so I have two phillips heads and two flat head screwdrivers all in one. And sanding blocks are so much easier to use than sandpaper. Fine grit ones are especially helpful for smoothing paint between coats. My drill and level don't actually fit inside, but they are probably the things I use most. Drilling is fun! This weekend I repaired an old shovel, it had chippy brown paint and the hand had fallen off, so I scraped and sanded it, gave it a coat of glossy green paint, and got a bolt with a locking nut to re-attach the handle. Cleaning out the chicken coop will be so much easier now. 

I don't know who R.H. Raynes was, but I hope that he (or she) would be pleased to see his toolbox in good hands. Do you have a toolbox all your own? I hope so! 

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When I was a freshman in high school I got to choose an elective class. Being a freshman, I got last pick and there weren't many options left. It came down to a choice between geography and woodshop. What else could I do? I chose woodshop. It was the 80's, and I was the only girl in the class. I wasn't highly successful, I made a piggy bank that wobbled and a box with an ill-fitting lid, but it was fun anyway. I've liked power tools and the smell of sawdust ever since, but wasn't really confident enough to use my toolbox for anything more than simple repairs. I think that is going to change. 

My spice cupboard was once again out of control. The lazy susan I put in there didn't hold much and didn't spin well, and searching for that one particular herb often meant pulling out five others before finding it. I happen to have a narrow bit of wall not too far from the stove that seemed like a good location for all those little jars, but I knew I would never find just the right sort of shelves for the space. So I measured and sketched and went to three different hardware stores, and asked for advice from some very patient lumber and hardware men. I spent about $25 on supplies and plywood and trim cut to size. I bought a very nifty corner clamp to ensure that I ended up with perfect right angles, and cleaned off the spout on my bottle of wood glue. And then I got to work.

I did a little bit each weekend for the past two weeks, and apart from a little help from Mr. HeyLucy, who demonstrated how to pound in the nails, rather than tapping and bending them, I did it all myself. With the paint nice and dry, last night I hung it up and stocked it with most of my little jars of herbs and spices. 

I am feeling pretty proud of myself. It's not a huge project, it's about 12 inches by 30 inches, and it's not perfect. The wood isn't super high quality and there are some little gaps in the trim. It's sort of rustic and crate-like, which luckily, is a look I happen to like. I may add another shelf in the top section, but in the meantime, I do like having that little open space to display a couple vintage postcards. 

Now I'm in the middle of cleaning out and organizing my toolbox, which will get it's own post soon. We have some scrap wood from an old fence that's just calling my name now, and I'm trying to figure out where to set up a table saw. I think I'm going to have to clean out our shed next, and turn it into a woodshop. 

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Are you ready for more iPhoneography stuff? I thought I'd tell you about some more apps and show you what you can do with them, and then at the end I'll share a few links to some iPhone photographers to get you inspired. 

You probably have the Hipstamatic app, right? I think it's a lot of fun and I get every new lens and film and flash as soon as they come out. The unpredictablitiy is part of its charm, and I like that. But. I think it can be over used. Seeing photo after photo with the same sort of greenish tinge gets boring. I tend to think of it as a second camera if I'm out and about and taking lots of pictures. I'll do mostly regular photos and then take a few with my Hipstamatic app, and every now and then I'll end up with something that I really love, like this picture of my family, watching a bike race last summer:

I think it can also be used effectively for a series of related photos, although I haven't been organized to do anything like that yet :o) 

A couple Hipstamatic tips: if you shake your phone, the app will randomize your lens, film, and flash, which is a fun way to try out different combinations without any effort. Also, if you look through your album and find a photo that you particularly like, you can tap it and then, on the bar that appears across the bottom of the screen, tap the little camera with a gear icon and you can change the camera settings to match the ones used in that photo. The other nice thing is that you can order prints. I will get around to doing that one of these days and let you know how they are, I've heard good things!

The funny thing is, the same people made another app called Swankolab, and they seem to have forgotten about it, which is a little sad, because I love it. Swankolab is like a darkroom on your phone. You chose a photo from your camera roll, and then mix up the various chemicals and develop your picture. You can create formulas out of different chemical combinations and save them to re-use. And the order in which you mix the chemicals can make a difference! The picture at the top and the one below were both processed with Swankolab using a formula I came up with and call Crisp Sepia (if you want to try it out: Jerry's Developer, Grizzle Fix, Vinny's BL04 are the chemicals). 

Not only do you end up with some really nice effects, the app itself is really well-designed, you can tell they put a lot of thought into it, with the bubbling chemical sound effects and the developer tray which you can shake and watch your photo slowly appear as it processes. Here's another formula I made, called Pale Antique (SwankoDev A19, Larry's Developer):

And that brings me to another app, which is pretty new, called Diptic. I plan to use this regularly, I hope you don't mind. It's very simple, it's just a nice way to make little collages of related photos. It can save at high resolutions (the photo above was saved at 2592×2592), so I bet they would even print nicely and be great for scrapbooking. 

Okay, one last silly fun app that I need to play with some more: Tiny Planets! What does it do? It turns your picture into a tiny planet, of course! I don't have a good example, but there is a whole flickr group, so go there and look. 

Oh, and I did want to briefly mention Instagram, if you're using it, please feel free to follow me, and I'll follow you back (I'm heylucy, of course)! I didn't think I needed yet another social networking app, and I don't post a ton, but it really is a lot of fun, so join in! Just think, if you had been following me, you would have gotten to see a picture of my feet and other exciting happenings in my life (okay, I am really boring, maybe you should follow some other people instead). 

 Okay, here are some iphoneography sites that I have bookmarked that I think are good for inspiration:

• iPhoneography.com is the place to go for all the latest about photo apps, and there are often slideshows from budding iPhone photographers. Lots of great info!
• Life in Lo-fi is another good site for app news. 
• iPhoneographer E. Caves
• iPhoneogenic
• iPhone Film Lab
• iPhoneography Central
• Deb McLean is a professional photographer, but for a little while she was doing occasional iPhone photo posts on her blog. Really lovely stuff there. 

It's pretty amazing just what you can do with a camera on a phone, so get out there and take yourself some beautiful photos! 

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I don't know what my deal is right now, I just haven't been in a blogging mood. I'm sure I will be again soon, I've just been a little busy and doing a lot of writing at work, which makes me not want to write so much when I get home. I have been cooking and knitting and taking some iPhone photos, so I have plenty to blog about. Oh, and getting the garden ready for this summer! I can't wait to plant some stuff and I have bee news too. Tonight, however, all I can really manage is to share a picture of these socks that I finished a while back. They are pretty and pink and very cozy. I like them. 

I'll see you again soon, even if it's for another quick post like this one.

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First, you might enjoy watching this: 

BE LINEN MOVIE from Benoit MILLOT on Vimeo.

 

I might have mentioned before that I really love linen, it is by far my favorite fabric. I would be happy if my entire summer wardrobe was linen. I'd also love to have linen sheets and drapes and furniture. I love the way it drapes and the way it's wrinkly and crisp and smooth. I love the color of natural linen, and I love the way it smells. Is that weird? 

So, Quince and Co. just introduced a linen yarn and some really lovely patterns to go with it, and before I knew it, I had ordered a couple skeins and the pattern for Le Petit Sac. The yarn arrived on Saturday, and it's just as lovely as I imagined. It's very smooth and has a tight twist, so it's not as splity or nubby as other linen yarns I've worked with in the past. It is not the easiest yarn to knit with, since linen has no give at all, but I knew that before I even ordered the yarn. So it's a little bit of a challenge to work with, especially since the pattern is full of twist stitches. But it's small, and I am just moving along slowly and steadily, and I will be done just as soon as I can. 

I know it's just a simple little bag, but I'm pretty sure I will be using it all the time. The fabric is quite sturdy, and while the pattern doesn't call for it, I think I will probably line it (with linen, of course). I love the little loop in the strap right at the base of the bag for holding a single flower (or whatever else you might think of). Sweet little details like that are important, don't you think?

While I was waiting for my yarn to arrive, I happened upon this clever cowl/hat on Ravelry. I love vintage lace just as much as I love linen, so when I saw how the designer had used a pretty scrap of lace to tie up the hat, well, I had to make myself one too. I used a skein of Savannah, by The Fibre Company, which I had in my stash (coincidentally, a blend of merino, linen, cotton and soy!), and it was just the perfect rustic, soft, drapey yarn for a squishy cowl and a slouchy hat.

Cowl:

And hat:

I have more knitting to share, but I just love the soothing colors of this post, so I think I will end here for now. Oh, and I'm also working on the next iPhoneography post, so that should be up later this week! 

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Oh hai! I sort of forgot I had a blog, I have been doing things like working and cooking and reading and being lazy. I don't think anyone is reading any more, but I'll try to get back in the swing of posting again, and maybe people will come back? 

I know this info is out there on the internet, but I was recently having a Ravelry conversation with another knitter working on her own Juneberry shawl, and she asked about my preferred method for blocking, so I thought I'd share my response here, just in case anyone reading is working on their first lacy project and wondering what to do when they finish knitting. 

First of all, I am obviously still pretty new to lace, and I'm sure there are many ways to do this. This is just what I have been doing, and it's worked well for me. If you have any suggestions, please add them in the comments, I'm always ready to learn better ways of doing things. Also, I waited to post this until I had a project finished that needed blocking, so I could take pictures. It turns out that my Daybreak shawl was much more challenging to block than any of the lace shawls I've done, so at the end I'll tell you everything I did with that, and what I learned from all my struggles. It also turns out that I am not too crazy about the finished project, I love the pattern, and I love the yarn, but they just don't belong together, I think. I'll probably frog the whole thing and make some crazy bright socks instead. 

Here's what I like to do: 

• Fill a sink with tepid water and some wool wash if you have it (I like Soak, Eucalan is another nice one. They are a little pricey, but I have been using a tiny bottle of Soak and have blocked 7 or 8 things and still have half a bottle left). 

• Just drop your finished item in the sink and walk away for a long time. Let the weight of the wool pull it down under the water. I’ve left things for a couple hours, no problem, but I would say at least one hour. 

Daybreak, just settling in for a soak

• After that, pull the plug and let the water drain. You can walk away again and just let gravity get a lot of the water out for you. If you’re impatient, you can go on to the next step :o) 

• Get a big towel and carefully lift your knitting out of the sink and lay it on the towel. Wrap it up like a burrito. 

• Take the burrito to your washing machine, and lay it inside. If what you are blocking is large, place another towel opposite for balance. 

• Run the spin cycle for just a minute or two. It sounds dangerous, but it really won’t hurt anything and it will get so much water out, you won’t believe it. 

Here I am inserting blocking wires along the edge. They didn't really work out in this case.

• Now for the fun part! Find a spot where you can pin it all out. I use a couple big towels on the floor in my little studio (the only pet-free zone at my house), so you don’t need anything fancy. One day I’d like to have a blocking board, but this works just fine for me. Blocking wires are really handy for lace, but you can get by with just some pins. You just have to be careful about getting everything straight and even. Either way, you want to really pull it into shape. It’s pretty amazing how much bigger a piece of lace will become, and how strong the yarn can be, so don’t be scared to give it a good tug. The pattern will give you some measurements to aim for, I think of them as a guideline and don’t worry too much if I’m a little off.

Then you just have to wait impatiently for it to dry!

So I thought that with my Daybreak shawl I could use blocking wires in the outer edge and gently curve and pin them out. The problem was that it took two wires for each half of that edge, and I couldn't get a smooth curve, there was a big jog where the wires intersected. I did get it mostly pulled into shape with the wires, however, so I just eased them out and carefully fine-tuned the edge and just used a few pins to hold it in place. 

I was a little worried, because I didn't want the pins to pull the edge out into little points, but it came out nice and smooth, so it all worked out just fine. 

So there you have it. Blocking makes the difference between something being ho-hum or incredibly beautiful. It's also one of my favorite parts of knitting. I don't have anything lacy on my needles at the moment, so I think I should remedy that ASAP!  

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I've enjoyed the cold winter weather these past few months. Handknits and boots and sweaters are nice. But spring is my favorite time of year. I can't get enough of spring flowers, and I love the green hillsides, the buds on the lilacs and Easter and my birthday. The longer days boost my energy, and I want to soak up as much fresh air and sunshine as possible, despite spending eight of those sunny hours indoors at work five days a week. 

I'm still loving the daffodils in our yard, and picked an enormous bunch today. With each new type that blooms, I declare a new favorite. Today I love the little apricot ones (center left).

Of course I can't forget the tiny grape hyacinth and snow drops with their green-dotted bells.

We don't have any ranunculas in our yard, but Trader Joe's was well-stocked the other day, so I brought these peach beauties home for just $4.

What are your favorite spring flowers?

While in Spokane, I got to spend a fun day browsing antique shops and malls with my sister-in-law (her excellent finds are here). I showed you the elephant pitcher I couldn't resist as we were checking out of our last stop, but that's hardly all I brought home. 

I also couldn't resist this tiny pink dress, not with it's $5 price tag (actually, the shop owner quoted me $6 and then lowered it as I got ready to pay). 

I've been wanting to start designing some knitwear patterns, and one of my first ideas is a sweet little baby cardigan. The details on this dress are providing all sorts of inspiration, and I am thinking I will document the design process here as I figure it all out. I hope you don't mind. 

I love this round, smocked yoke:

And the miniscule embroidered pocket:

I have a couple things to finish up, but once my needles are free, I have the perfect pink yarn and a head full of ideas to turn into a sweater.

I'm also enjoying playing around with the video camera on my phone, and I so loved the lodgepole pines surrounding my brother's house in Spokane. I'm still figuring out all the editing, but I rather like this brief glimpse of the wind bending the trees.

 Did you catch that brief glimpse of my nephew and his chip bag kite? I will have to tell you more about that, but in the meantime, here he is with his "smile for the camera" smile, curved lips just like a smiley face. He is the funnest 7-year-old I know, and I miss him already.

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