taco take II

Well, I made another taco. This one came out much better than the first. I've had many (& I mean many, far too many) requests for more. Made the first taco for my friend Mandee's Taco Art Show, who knew then that it would become my most requested item? So odd. I'm not sure how well taco's fit into what I usually make, I think I'll just stick to making giant ones every few months for close friends & family but might start making/selling a cat toy version in the spring for fun. Currently have a cat toy taco on the field being tested by two cats in New York, hopefully they will report back soon with any pattern adjustments.

favorite things

Wearing the majority of my favorite items today:




Two "key" necklaces
1. Typewriter Key (gift from friend)
2. Tiffany & Co. Key

3. OhKuol Druzy Ring
4. Sephora by OPI 'Keep Me On My Mistletoe'

5. Forest Bound WWII era Canvas Tote Bag
6. (with a)Black Apple Pretty Girl Pin

7. most comfortable socks (who remembers where they buy socks?)
8. most comfortable boots (or shoes, it seems), repaired at Gagnon's

catching up

Last week I deleted twitter & facebook from my phone in an attempt to be more productive & finish some requests I've been collecting from friends. I've completed a pair of silk/bamboo wrist warmers for Jen, 98% done with a taco (another!) I’ve been putting off for months & am finally caught up on a blanket I promised to have ready last week (should be done by the end of this long weekend). Family related items are really on the back burner but maybe this long weekend I'll get to those too. I know I said I’d talk less about crocheting, more about weaving but sadly not a lot to report on that end. Winding down on crocheting has been difficult & still getting super nice emails from Bazaar Bizarre shoppers asking for custom orders. Starting next month I’ll make more of an effort to stick to my only weaving rule.

We've been in Salem for just about 7 months now & it's going well. Last week the city had a Christmas tree bonfire on the beach, it was the biggest fire I’d ever seen. The event was kind of weird & totally awesome; they set up bleachers & little kids started a "let’s go fire" chant, like a sporting event.



Standing on the beach in the middle of winter was almost as fun as the bonfire itself. Salem is pretty great.

yeah, I like love, so sue me.

Made an Etsy treasury for Valentines day (too soon? Not according to the candy aisle at CVS). Mostly based on egg-a-go-go's adorable print & a favorite song, of course.

2012; year of weaving

This is the year I learn how to weave! I purchased a Leclerc Bergere, rigid heddle loom in October. Still trying to figure out how to use it correctly. I'm in the 'guess what the instructions mean & hope it looks like the picture' stage.



I'm used to making full items while watching movies, hardly needing to look down. Now if I want to do anything it involves most, if not all, of these steps;
1. read instructions 2. huh? read three times 3. google what that word means 4. find video of someone else doing it 5. is that the same loom I have? watch three times 6. try it out, get it wrong 7. stare at the wall wondering why I thought I could do this 8. organize yarn by brand 9. no, by color & weight 10. more weaving videos.
It feels like I'm getting nowhere, I'm trying really hard to understand it only "feels" that way, I can't expect to be great at it over night (even if I did, kinda, unrealistically believe I would be at first...).



Grow art hoop (christmas gift from SQ) made by pilli pilli.

So I'm not a natural born weaver as I had hoped, it's still fun, in a different than I thought/maddening sort of way. Trying to stay positive, keep at it, all that sort of stuff. Who knows when I'll actually make something but the place has never been so organized, which is a plus. & if you have any upbeat, get me through hours of feeling like a failure playlists you'd like to share I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations.

new favorite

Finished this week:





1. grey cloud scarf made with this yarn by KnittinK. It's such an amazing yarn I decided to keep for myself.

2. silk/mohair blend cowl to sell when I stop being so lazy.



I loved this song 10 years ago; found its way back into my playlists this year, still dig it.

yule-time

Some photos of the Christmas gifts I made for my sister & brother-in-law. For Lisa, olive & fig scarf (though we aren't sure if the fig color is staying) & for Jason, midnight tweed wrist warmers in 100% wool.






Recycled map tags from greying ghost etsy, it's possible my brother-in-law seemed more interested in the tag than my warmers at first.

The weekend was spent cleaning. My house finally looks like we live in it instead of just moving in, & it's not covered in yarn, for now.

tree & cookies

We finally got a Christmas tree! Late this year. We accidentally got a really fat one. We had to buy more lights & ornaments to fill it & still it seems sparse.




Sunday was spent making dozens & dozens of Lebanese cookies with my family. We made several different kinds, mamool is my favorite.




That first photo is of ghraybeh, a Lebanese butter cookie. Since it doesn't require a cookie mold to make, like the others do, I'll post the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups blanched almond halves
1 teaspoon orange blossom water (optional)
Also optional; my family apparently includes in the recipe a "jigger of scotch"...just us, am I ruining a Hallal family secret?

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Beat butter in mixing bowl for 5 minutes, or until fluffy. Cream in sugars. (here would be where you add in the orange blossom water/scotch or both) Slowly add in flour.

Chill in the refrigerator for up to one hour(we didn't bother doing that)

Roll into a rope that is 1 1/2 - 2 inches thick. Cut diagonally into diamond shapes (so instructions say, we just rolled into a ball)

Place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Place one almond in the center of each cookie.

Bake for 12 minutes (apparently these cookies are supposed to stay light, not "golden" so make sure you don't over cook!)

Remove and cool on cooling rack.

Holiday Shopping!

With all the bazaar bizarre madness I didn’t realize just how many custom orders I’ve been collecting! The goal is to complete the urgent ones by Friday, mail them out Saturday & start my holiday season with loads of shopping at Mass Market this Sunday.
I dig a lot of the vendors, some I can highly recommend as I recently bought items for myself from them are; Forest Bound, K.O’brien Jewelry & Toil & Trouble.





Other recent purchases pictured/recommended; META by Marissa Falco & my new favorite headband by Sew Mary Ann, whose items you can purchase at Aviary in Jamaica Plain. You can also find a few of my items at Aviary as well, great place to holiday shop if for some reason you can't make it out to Mass Market this weekend!

Since this post is holiday related, here is my kind of holiday song.

Bazaar Bizarre 2011

Sunday was Bazaar Bizarre Boston & such an incredible day. In the three years I've been doing shows this event was a personal best, I know a few other vendor friends were saying it was for them also! Had my A+ seller/right-hand man Melanie with me again this year, don't know what I'd do without her help. Had more than a few repeat shoppers, nothing beats seeing my items holding up & people back for more as gifts! Got to meet blog/twitter friends face to face & started a list of Ravelry names. Many, many thank you's to the Small Craft Advisory for the insane amount of thought/care/energy/personal time you all put into this event year after year, you ladies sure know how to throw a party!

Got some photos but sadly didn't have time to take them until after most items were picked over, here are a few:


Oh, that's just me.




Above:
-Margravine (side project which I hope to devote a lot more time to over the next few months!)
-Repeat Press
-Gather Here

Below:
-Sew Mary Ann
-Mimi Kirchner
-Made in Lowell





You can find the rest here on my flickr.

Starting tomorrow; some fun, quirky not scarf related custom orders I've been collecting.

BBB2011

BAZAAR BIZARRE BOSTON, this weekend already! Stop by & say "HI!" on Sunday? I'll be even more sleep deprived & might sing you a song.

zoning out

This is when I forget to respond to emails, update twitter, let alone the blog, kind of busy.




Was in Toronto for a few days for my niece's birthday. The fuchsia cowl with the bow was a birthday gift for her, she looked cute in it. Got back Sunday & have been making things like mad. This photo below is pretty much what I'll be looking at from now until the new year.




& what I've been listing to while working; Ahallal Tracks. If you use last.fm you should add me so I can listen to your radio, always looking for new music to zone out to, especially now. Like this band name, Woven Bones: