8 Things Friday

1. Green! Appropriately enough, I really started noticing the green things popping up and peeking through on Tuesday, which was Saint Patrick's day. On my short walk across the mostly-dead grass on the way to class that morning, I bent down suddenly to feel between my fingers the soft, slender strands of new grass fighting its way up from the earth, between yellowed clumps of deadness. There are tiny buds on bushes, and the tips of globe willows are, as always, among the first trees to show signs of life. Thick, waxy tulip leaves seem to grow taller every day, rising up from their hibernation. Soon the forsythia bushes will be fully bright yellow, and then will come the daffodils, the culmination of those tulip bulbs, and grape hyacinths: yellow, red, and purple lining front walkways and edging fences and walls.

You know, until we get our customary late-April snowstorm, but I'll take what I can get when I can get it in the way of Springiness.

2. I am quitting coffee. Don't freak out, those of you who know me and my undying love for the drink! I'm certainly not quitting cold-turkey, nor will I give it up completely. But my teeth are very much not as white as I would like them to be, and if I don't have at least one cup before noon-ish, I have an awful headache all afternoon. I am dependent. So I'm going to use up the rest of the cannister I have now, then finish all the decaf I have to wean myself off it slowly. I'll buy a little can of each for guests and emergencies (like NEEDING to stay awake late to finish homework, or drive late), and I will still have coffee and coffe drinks occasionally when I'm visiting people or out at coffee shops. But I intend to switch to tea once all my coffee is gone, probably black tea to start, since that has the most caffeine and that's what I like the most. But that stains your teeth too, and you can become just as dependent on caffienated black tea as you can on coffee. So eventually I'll train myself to like some (flavored) green teas, and maybe some red, which both have no caffiene. I even know this really cool tea shop owner that could totally hook me up....

But overall, I think I'll be healthier for it, hopefully have whiter teeth eventually, and won't be so dependant on it. Wish me luck!

3. I'll be visiting family Monday through Wednesday. Both my mom's sisters will be in town (in her town) those days--one gets there, then the other, then the first one leaves, then the second one leaves, so that's within the overlap--and my grandparents are home, too, having been gone since just after Christmas! I'm looking forward to spending time with all of them.

4. The swap night at Weekly Fiber went over pretty well! I got rid of ALL the yarn I brought! It was just skeins and balls of acrylic in various colours, and had pretty much sat there since I bought it or was given it. I'd used some of a few of them, but apparently they weren't going to be doing me much good. Gone, gone! Unfortunately the quilter Jen said she might bring didn't show up, so my scrap box is still as full as it was. But I got rid of all the patterns I brought (one was a multiple, one I'd accidentally grabbed in the wrong size, and one was for a kid's jumpsuit which I knew I'd never make). Also got rid of a crafty magazine, a couple bags of plastic "crystals" like you put in the bottom of a vase, and some ribbon. I came home with all my scrap fabric, of course, as well as a few of the other crafty magazines (catalogues, really), four big nifty buttons, and a brown fleece wrap that looks very cozy. I think I'm going to applique some felt and/or fleece flowers onto it, maybe with some beads in the centers of the flowers. We'll see.

Anyway, success! I think we should do this every couple of months just to help us clear out our old stuff, and get new, inspiring stuff.

5. Also success: we have a new member! She used to sit near my family in the church where I grew up, but has lived here for the last several years, and is now a friend of Jen's, who brought her. She's just (re)learning to knit, and she took this pattern from me last night, which was the multiple I bought (I grabbed it TWICE because "Ooh it's on sale and I've wanted it! Yoink!" having forgot I already had it) because she had seen me in the same pattern (more or less--the Simplicity is based on the first one on this page) at an art gallery opening last Spring. I wish her luck in her crafty endeavors!

6. Does anyone have any wonderful ideas for things to do with fabric yo-yos?



I just started making them last night without really knowing why, and intend on making many more. I quite like this bag, and I think the ones from the fabric I used for these ones, especially the bigger, fluffier ones, would make great flower brooches. (I'll see what I can do about leaves.) But what else? Shall I make a table runner out of them? A curtain? A crazy skirt or vest with all different sizes and patterns? Show me lovely things with fabric yo-yos!

7. Happy first day of Spring! It's official now. :D

8. In all my Not Accomplishing Much At the House On My Day Off yesterday, I stopped by my favorite vintage store/art gallery to poke around and came home with this for a very reasonable $26 and in very good shape:





Lovely lovely, isn't it? Honestly, I have a couple other dresses very similar to this, but I never wear them because the lining is SOOOO polyester that they don't breathe, and I sweat, and it's gross. But I think the lining of this is cotton/polyester, and the outside fabric is practically gauze. Very springy!

I'm thinking a cream-coloured choker with a big fluffy flower off-center, my hair down and curled, and brown riding boots, maybe.