Iced Tea Dress

While I spend perhaps too much time adding every second item on ModCloth to my "love list", this dress in particular stands out to me. I love the lace skirt, the fitted waist, the straightforward but flattering top... and the fact that it comes in not one but three different colors! I'm currently torn between blueberry and raspberry. Which is your favorite?

 note: I am in no way compensated by ModCloth or any other company - I just really love their clothing!

Knitting and Some Indoor Fall

Yeesh. It's been awhile, hasn't it? It's been a busy week. I somewhat accidentally(?) started talking to a recruiter at what is basically my dream company, which is fantastic, but it sort of caught me off guard. I keep worrying that I'll screw something up and ruin my chances.. But I think that's just silly worry and I need to go for it!

(Edit: dream job is on hold for now; they're not looking for "junior candidates" apparently :/ )

Aside from that, I've been working on a few craft projects.

I've knitted (and subsequently undone) two pint glass cozies for hot drinks. I'm still getting the hang of the whole knitting thing, so each project teaches me something and looks a little better than the one before.

I taught myself cabling! It wasn't as nice and even as I wanted, but I'll give it another shot sometime.

I also made a cupcake. It was a bit too big (slid off easily) and didn't really hold its shape well, but I love the look. I'll try to recreate it again soon. Inspired in part by Twinkie Chan's crocheted cupcake coffee sleeves.

And I learned to make a scalloped edge! A bit harder to do with knitting than with crochet, but I totally figured it out.

I'm a big fan of knitting after only knowing how to crochet for several years. They're both good for different things, but I love the difference in knitting and purling and how easy it is to make ribs and different patterns in knitting. Below is a picture of the cupcake cozy unfolded - see the different stitches? 

from bottom: ribbing (knit and purl alternating), knit, purl, purl scallops

I hinted here about a fall craft I was working on. I finished it up in about a day but it took me a week and a half to hang it up (whoops). See the tutorial on A Beautiful Mess! I think I might leave it up all year, since I love fall so darn much.

This week's faves

This non-leather jacket from Express. I already have a real leather jacket that I absolutely love, but this red color is so pretty. (check out the other 9 colors too!)

Gojee.com, a beautiful recipe website that lets you fill in what you have on hand, what ingredient you're craving, and what you don't like, and you get a photographic list of recipes by some great food bloggers. Professional photos make recipes so much more appealing, don't you think?

I love this Ravelry project - tiny little pillows that can be sewn together into a cozy knitted quilt. I don't have a big enough yarn stash to do this sort of thing right now, but I suppose I could get a start (and get some more practice with knitting).

  

Jo Totes's new Betsy Bag. I already have this one, but if I didn't, I would be seriously considering buying this new edition. And I love the mustard color, which was my second choice for the one I have. So pretty! The front reminds me a bit of flower petals.

So excited for fall crafts. Even if I don't get the full blown autumn leaf show here in the bay area, I can still do what I can to make my home feel festive. Here's a peek at what I'm working on right now:

Monday.

On Monday:

- I finally did some Ruby coding for the entire morning (with the help of an almond croissant, a large black coffee, and a cappuccino at Red Rock).
- I rode my bike there ^ and back.
- I made lunch and dinner with veggies that needed to be used up.
- I washed my car (the actual action of washing, not paying someone to).
- I baked a banana peanut butter pie, no recipe (it turned out pretty good, but there are adjustments to be made for next time).
- I made some progress on my current knitting project, a cabled pint glass sleeve.


And yet somehow I feel a sense of unaccomplishment. Perhaps this means it's time to look for work again soon??


And hey, I even took some outfit photos. This is my "bike to the coffeeshop outfit".

hole: courtesy of roller skating earlier this year.

nail polist: Revlon 092 - Blue Lagoon. Not gonna lie, I like Essie's quality way better.

Outfit details: shirt, shorts: Express; tights: We Love Colors; boots: Alloy.

And, my little balcony garden! Not pictured: basil.

A little green pepper - almost ready!

Spearmint:  this was from the produce department in the grocery store
(just fresh mint for eating, not a plant).
I put it in dirt, thought it had died and stopped watering it,
and then a few weeks later it had started growing!

Peppermint, a cutting from a friend.
Turns out mint is actually a weed and will grow like crazy.

Roughing it

I spent Labor Day weekend camping in the Sierras, where my friend DJ owns some land. It was rustic in the sense that there were no showers or toilets, there was the risk of bears, and I only had roaming (ie. $$$) phone reception. However, we did get to drive in to the property, so I brought a carful of food and supplies.

It was really nice to have a weekend off from my internet/phone/Netflix addictions, and I had a lot of fun planning meals for eight of us.

I didn't want to ruin my DSLR, so I brought my old point and shoot. Sad, sad photo quality. :( Except for the ones which are good, which were taken with Scott's nice camera.

I made some waterproof sandals, inspired by a combo of this tutorial and my Ssekos. How to coming soon!

Oh joy of joys! There is a Chick-fil-a in Sacramento, right along the way!! It'd been about 2 years...

My craft for the ride - learn to cable knit. Success!

A mile up, and still climbing.

Almost there!

The Sierras

Scott, excited to camp!

The dirt road in to the campsite.

 

I dug a fire pit while everyone else looked for land markers for the property.

Making a campfire skewer with my dad's Swiss Army Knife <3

Scott, blowing up air mattresses in the tent.

My tent (ie. Scott's, because I own 0 camping supplies).

Even a covered vestibule for storage!

My friends' tents.

yup.

DJ, our fantastic host! 

This is actually what the sky looked like. Amazing. I've gotten so used to city-lit (and SF foggy) night skies.

Breakfast! The food stash. Fortunately, bears did not eat it.

Wide angle lens: Fits a lot, warps people's heads.

Breakfast lasted a full 3 hours. We just kept cooking - bacon (regular and Canadian varieties), biscuits, eggs.

"Browning" the biscuits. Erm..

Eggs scrambled with sausage and onion. A frittata, perhaps?

So much bacon. My cast iron skillet got a nice inaugural seasoning.

There was actually another entire day/night after this, but photos got pretty monotonous after awhile, and I just enjoyed the experience. Picture: more trees, more campfire, more stars.

I hadn't been camping in years, and this was so much fun. I can't wait to go again, but probably somewhere less than 5 hours away.