Knotted Together

Knotted Together is Moving

2010-08-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed that this blog hasn't been updated in a while. For that reason, Knotted Together will be merged with Untangling Knots and moved to Untangling-Knots.com! The blog features mostly crafty stuff with only occasional posts like the ones here.

If you're interested, please check out my blog in its new location and update your readers/bookmarks/links/whatever.

summer treats

2010-08-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

fresh berries and peaches over vanilla ice cream

zero

2010-08-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today I wore the circle skirt I recently made (read more about it here) with my plaid top from H&M and my gold loafers. It seemed like a good idea and looked cute when I put it on but my top refused to stay tucked in nicely. I usually wear knit tops because I have a hard time finding woven tops that fit. This is one of my few tops that aren't knit and I suspect that is the reason why it won't stay tucked in smoothly.

Sorry for the big silence. July was a crazy month for me what with my cousin's wedding, my first cardigan pattern Miette's release, and my UK Visa application. I wanted to give a small shout out to jesse.anne.o who guessed what I was naming my cardigan pattern.

toasty

2010-07-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting around for my friend to come pick me up. We were going to have a picnic and hang out in the park but today is going to be 100+ degrees out. Not the best weather for being outside. I think we're going to go out to lunch somewhere instead. It's not quite the same, but it will do.

Today I'm wearing one of my favorite band t-shirts. I love band tees but they're hard to wear stylishly in the summer because you can't really wear layers. Don't ask me why I thought it'd be a good idea to wear a black shirt when it's this hot out. I couldn't answer. I'm also wearing my cat's eye sunglasses. I bought them on the same trip as the dress I wore yesterday. I don't wear them too much because they have cheap overly dark lenses so they're not the best for driving and such. Today I'm not driving so I thought I'd break them out and wear them.

roll with it

2010-07-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

I'm really behind on blog stuff. It's been too hot for much makeup or computer usage and then I went off to a wedding in Alabama. I needed to get myself to post and I really need to catch up on the blogs I read.

This is my summer wardrobe of choice. A breezy light dress and nothing else. I like to go barefoot around my house and yard. Why not? I don't wear flip-flops and shoes can get hot. I bought this dress a few years ago when I was in Ashland, Oregon to see some plays. I went through a phase where it didn't quite fit but it fits again and I'm happy to wear it more. It's different from the styles of dresses I usually choose in color and cut.

Rock, Flag, and Eagle

2010-07-07T23:28:00.001-07:00

I had a pretty awesome 4th of July but I wasn't the photographer. You can check out some rad fireworks pictures and cunning outfits here at my sister's and Rubie's blog.

Here's a hint of our 4th of July inspiration:

never grow up

2010-07-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Dress: H&M
Cardigan: By Me
Cami: B.P.
Shoes: Thrifted

Sorry to drop off the blog-o-sphere. I received a blog award for my other blog today and I realized that I hadn't updated either of my blogs in a week. Oops. I had my sister snap a few quick outfit shots before we went out to din. We went to Dos Coyotes. Sooo good.

Today I watched a couple bad vampire movies with my friend Vicki. We go buy cheap used vampire movie DVDs at Dimple Records and then have bad vampire movie marathons. I have a huge collection of bad movies now. Today we watch Dracula 3000 (which is probably the worst of all the ones we've seen), The Lost Boys (which isn't actually a bad movie), and Innocent Blood. When I was younger, I couldn't figure out what vampires had to do with Peter Pan so I was really confused by The Lost Boys until I saw it when I was in middle school. I'm convinced that I can't be the only one who was confused about that.

jeunet

2010-06-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

I'm working on the technical stuff for a pattern I designed. I was working on the design last semester while I was in the middle of a surreal movie kick. I watched a bunch of Jean-Pierre Jeunet films while I was knitting on the project. Yes, I can knit and read subs. Here is what I watched

City of Lost Children

Amelie

A Very Long Engagement

These are the three that I own and watched. I want to see the Delicatessen as well. I think my sister has a copy of it for us to watch. If you haven't seen any of these, you should. City of Lost Children can be a bit weird for some people, though. If you like Terry Gilliam stuff, you'll probably like that one. A Very Long Engagement is the most straight forward of all three. Nothing that bizarre or surreal ever happens in that one. Everyone seems to like Amelie.

Anyways, the reason I decided to post this was because I decided to name my new knitting patten after one of the characters in one of these movies. You can see the prototype here. I've knit it in red for the pattern photos. If you've seen these movies, can you guess what I'm naming the pattern?

options

2010-06-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Top: H&M
Pants: Thrifted
Shoes: Born

I couldn't decide if I wanted to wear my shirt tucked in or untucked today so I took pictures of both. I ended up leaving it untucked because I took those pictures second and I didn't want to fuss with my shirt anymore.

I kind of hate taking pictures in the summer. Summer pictures are meant to be taken early in the day. I can't just take my pictures whenever in the day that I have a spare minute. Okay, well, actually I can but then I end up with dodgy shadows like my pictures have had lately. I took these around noon and if I didn't angle my face just right, I'd look like I had no face because it would be massively blacked out by shadows. I do like the way these turned out but they were a bit of work to do by myself. The dramatic shadows are fun but it's hard to feel when you have the right amount of light on your face and what not.

insert black, white, and red joke here

2010-06-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

Shirt: ??
Shorts: Talbots
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Thrifted

I had a terribly exciting day today. My sister and I did the recycling and then we went to the thrift store with our hard earned $14 from the recycling. I didn't find anything at the thrift store that I loved enough to take home with me. I'm getting a lot better about not bringing home random crap that I love at the thrift store that realistically has no place in wardrobe.

My sister took this last picture of me. It turned out really cute, despite being a bit awkward. She said it looked like the plants were going to eat me, though.

no food in the house

2010-06-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

I went to make myself dinner last night and there was NO FOOD IN THE HOUSE. I should have realized that because I made the same discovery when I went to make myself lunch earlier that day.

What does one eat when there is almost no food in the house? Scrambled eggs with fresh rosemary and thyme (we have a little herb garden) on sourdough toast (that stale bread in the back of the fridge) with laughing cow cheese spread on it. With the some-what-stale bread in the back, I found a bottle of my favorite ginger beer that I had been saving. It turned out to be a pretty decent dinner.

Today my sister and I hit the grocery store and bought EVERYTHING.

P.S. The secret to the best scrambled eggs is to plate them when they look like they need to cook for a few seconds more. They continue cooking on your plate so they're perfect when you eat them.

weekend snapshot

2010-06-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

I had a sort of busy weekend. I went out with my friends Ashley and Danielle on Friday night. We had an impromptu late night photo shoot at the old train station near my house before my friends dropped me off.

Most of the pictures are pretty goofy but I like this one.

Saturday we celebrated my sister's birthday. We went to Toy Story 3 and had a big late lunch. Sunday I met with my friends from college in the bay area. My friend Sarah who lives in Boston is spending the summer abroad in Taiwan. Our friend Kevin and I convinced her to get a long layover in SF so that we could spend the day hanging out.

We went to Bittersweet in Oakland when we were hanging out. They have the best hot chocolate I've ever had. It tasted like a melted dark chocolate bar in a cup. I highly recommend going there if you're ever in the area.

So good! I got home pretty late last night and today I'm going to do absolutely nothing. Yay!

not so easy

2010-06-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

Dress: H&M

My sister took my pictures for me today. I suck at having other people take my picture. I either look horrible and awkward because I don't get to run around to the other side of the camera every couple of pictures and see what I need to fix or I get really bitchy. Today I got bitchy. I should probably just stick to using my tripod and remote.

P.S. How do you deal with short full skirts when it's bare leg weather? I'm wearing cut offs under my dress so I don't have to worry about being ladylike.

nevada city, ca

2010-06-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

Ashley and I went to Nevada City on a whim yesterday. I took a copious amount of pictures as usual. Here is a random selection.

This one is probably my favorite.

Ashley stopped and read every poster every time we walked past a board like this.

This might give you an idea of what the area we were in looked like.

There was rad old mining equipment everywhere. We were especially taken with this scoopy thing. I think it was a water wheel.

This is the oldest existing theatre in California. I took a picture of the placard if you want to read more about it. Go here.

Ashley and I decided that the neighborhood where I shot these pictures could not be real because it looked too much like something out of a fairytale or movie. That house in the top left picture seriously looks like a play house.

sunshine on my window

2010-06-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

Skirt: Talbots
Top: ???
Shoes: Thrifted
Belt: Thrifted

I don't recommend taking pictures at 2 in June. The sun would not cooperate with me. I stood everywhere, in every direction but the shadows were not being nice to me.

My mom bought me this skirt while she still worked at Talbots. It has little bicycles all over it. It's pretty cute but I need to add belt loops to it. I love the embroidery but I'm actually not a big fan of bikes. When I was in 6th grade, I fell of and broke my front two teeth in half and that sort of killed biking for me. I still biked but I slowly phased it out as my primary mode of transportation and started walking more instead.

slow down

2010-06-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Top: River Island
Shorts: Thrifted
Shoes: I forget.
Necklace: Thrifted

I don't know what it is about being at my parents' house but I always seem to revert to dressing like I'm in high school. These shoes are from high school but I still love them. I can't wear a lot of my shoes from high school at my university because of the combined effect of WA weather and leather soles. The leather soles soak up water and they're way too slippery on the damp ground even when they're dry. It's unfortunate but I always have a happy shoe reunion to look forward to.

loquats

2010-06-12T09:57:00.001-07:00

Our cherry tree is producing like mad so my mom bought some cherries over to our neighbors. They also have a fruit tree that is ready for the picking. My mom brought over a handful of the fruit and then we looked it up on Wikipedia to find out what exactly a loquat is. I thought it was going to be similar to a kumquat or a hybrid or something. It wasn't.

They have a texture kind of like a cross between a cherry and an apricot. Inside they have three or four big seeds that have to be removed. They're sweet and delicious. My neighbors don't like them and I think they're crazy. I can sort of understand. They're really small and a bit of work for not a lot of fruit but I think they're well worth it.

You can read more about them here and I highly recommend eating them if you can find them!

intrepid explorers

2010-06-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

The other day my friend Ashley and I got ice cream and went exploring.

The rest were taken without a flash. I forgot my tripod so they're a bit blurry. I like the overall look of them, despite the blur.

That's me looking embarrassed about being caught in the fountain by a dog walker.

It didn't stop me from getting back in.

After this we hit the 24 hour donut shop. It was a good day.

i got cat class and i got cat style

2010-06-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

Dress: I have no idea. I've had it for over 6 years
Shoes: Thrifted
Belt: Thrifted
Scarf: Thrifted

This outfit is a few days old. I'm really behind in uploading pictures. I tried wearing my hair a new way. I like to wear my hair up, especially when it's hot, but I always seem to wear it in a ponytail, a bun on top of my head, or pinned up braids. Expect to see more of this outfit soon! I went on an adventure the day I wore it and have pictures to share from that.

What do you think about my hair with the scarf? I was pretty pleased with it because it stayed in place all day, but there were moments when I felt like it was too housewife-y.

buried treasure

2010-06-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

I found these pants when I was working on my room. I bought them at H&M four or five years ago. I didn't wear them much because I never could figure out what to wear them with. I wore them to a few shows but I mostly wore these pants as costumes. I woke up this morning and decided that I wanted to wear them with this shirt. Unfortunately I couldn't find that shirt. I'm hoping that it wasn't a casualty of moving and shows up soon. I just threw on a t-shirt but later today I decided to try coming up with some outfits to wear these pants with.

Option 1: This is what I wore for most of the day. It's a little too high school for me. I used to always wear tight pants and band t-shirts when I was that age. I put on my black cardigan when the weather cooled down and it looks a lot better that way.
Option 2: It's pretty simple but it's wearable for the summer. When I put it on I felt like I should be going to a Secretions show or something in this outfit but seeing the pictures now, it doesn't look overly punk to me.
Option 3: This was way too warm for summer. It's a look that I could wear in WA, though. I like touch of yellow so that it's not only black, white, grey, and red. That's one of the problems with these pants. My outfits always look so White Stripes-y to me.
Option 4: Sorry for blinding you with this one. I mostly put it on to see if the shirt I can't find would look okay because it is also a button down. The pattern clashing here is actually growing on me.

In conclusion, these pants are hard to wear. I'm trying to decide if I should let them go or not. Feel free to offer opinions. I won't be offended if you say they're hideous and should be burned.

old town

2010-06-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

I went to Old Town Sac the other day with some of my friends. We forgot that it was the Jazz Jubilee and were kind of bummed by the huge crowd. I forgot to check if it was okay to share pictures of them on my blog so here are some scenic shots by the river instead.

And on another note, I recently joined IFB. I always enjoy their articles so I figured why not become a member? There is now a link to my profile in my side bar where it says "Where to Find Me". Just click the IFB badge and feel free to friend me if you're on IFB. =)

what's next

2010-05-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

Dress: Talbots
Shoes: Thrifted

I finally got my hair done! Emily Maker at Salon Bravissimo in Sacramento did it. I'm quite pleased with the cut and color. My hair is still pretty dark (I changed my mind) and it has red and violet tones to it. Not that you can really tell in these pictures... I took them on a whim after 8 so I played with them on Photoshop because they were a bit dark.

not so fair weather friends

2010-05-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

The first four shots were taken at maybe 11 or 12 at night. I was playing with the exposure length. The last two were from the next morning.

We've been having weird stormy weather. It's supposed to warm up soon.

where is the sun?

2010-05-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

Where's the summer weather at, Nor Cal? This picture is from last summer. I finally made an appointment to get something done with my hair. I thinking of going back to this hair color or maybe something redder. My hair is currently a shade darker than this and badly faded. The red tones are always the first to go.

P.S. Anyone in the greater Sacramento area know of a good thrift store with furniture or a good second hand furniture store? I'm on the hunt for a desk and I'm not having much luck. I have found two 1930s chest of drawers, a 1930s vanity, and a 1950s bedroom set. Too bad my room is way too tiny for any of that with a queen sized bed and drum set. I just can't seem to find the right desk.

the jean genie

2010-05-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

Jeans: Thrifted
Shoes: Thrifted
Belt: Thrifted
Shirt: ???
Cardigan: Talbots

I found these jeans at a thrift store in Tacoma months ago. I was looking for jeans to turn into cut offs and I found these babies. They were unworn which is weird because I'm fairly certain that they are 15+ years old (based on their lack of spandex and their given size in relation to fit). At first I was planning to make them into cut offs but then I decided they were too awesome to chop. After that I was thinking of making them into pencil leg jeans that hit at the ankle like I usually wear. I'm not sure if I could fit them so they looked right and still be able to bend my knees because all of my jeans with that leg cut are stretchy. Today I finally decided to just wear them. The deciding factor was actually the fact that it was raining (thank you Place County for imitating the state I just left) and all of my cold weather clothes are still in boxes from my move down the coast. The legs are definitely growing on me.

In other news, my hair still needs to be dealt with and I applied to work at my favorite craft store. Cross your fingers.

last night's dinner

2010-05-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

Blackberries.

Roasted vegetables with yogurt. I've got Yukon gold potatoes, zucchini, garlic, and onion in there.

Nom.

one week

2010-05-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have one week left in Washington. The weather is actually being sunny and nice, but I'm ready to be back in California. The scarf is from my last adventure to the thrift store.

primary colors were made for summer

2010-05-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

Scarf: Thrifted
Skirt: Thrifted
Shoes: Thrifted
Necklace: Thrifted
Top: H&M
Cardigan: Talbots

I'm wearing half of my purchases from yesterday. You can't see it very well in these pictures but the scarf in my hair has navy polka dots on white with a big navy border. I put it in my hair to keep back the bits that didn't quite reach my pony tail. You can probably see that it didn't work as planned. I should have known that it wouldn't do much when I had to pin it in place. Super straight hair with no texture and polyester don't work well together. It still looked cute so I left it in even though it didn't function as planned. The skirt was one of my other finds. It has pockets! I love it but I'm thinking about hemming it a bit shorter. I was thinking of making it hit directly below my knee caps. I like longer full skirts for the summer but I'm not sure if this length is the best for me.

The last of the four pictures shows my feelings about the state of my hair and location. I had a hard time getting good pictures because the lighting is just wrong in my room outside of my nook. My nook is where I'm doing my research for my final papers and the table I usually use to take pictures on is covered in books and papers. Boo. As for my hair, my bangs just desperately need to be cut and I need to get my roots dyed. My roots are looking way more blond than I remember. I naturally have dark ash blond hair but my roots usually just look dark grey when they grow in. Actually, they're kind of invisible unless I do certain things with my hair like pin my bangs back because my natural hair color reflects the colors around it really well. I wonder what my natural hair color is up to these days... It will probably be a few more weeks before I can something done with my hair because finals and moving are going to continue to eat all of my free time. Meh.

thrift store adventures

2010-05-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

Top: I.N.C.
Skirt: H&M
Leggings: AA
Boots: Merrell

Today was delightfully sunny and comparatively warm. I'm done with classes. We get a few days off to work on papers and cram for finals. Instead of working on my paper on virginity and women in early Christianity in the late Roman Empire, I hit the thrift stores with my friend Alyssa. Alyssa and I lived on the same floor freshmen year. I don't see her much anymore, but I wanted to make sure I hung out with her before I moved back to NorCal for the summer. She has her own fashion blog called Dizzy Miss Lissy. After looting the thrift stores, we grabbed some linner at the Metropolitan Market.

Bread, cheese, and soup. Always good choices.

After noms, we headed back to school to take a few outfit photos and to work on final related stuff (boo). I snapped Alyssa's pictures and she took mine. I'm horribly awkward when other people take my picture. It's kind of unfortunate.

I really like this detail shot I took of Alyssa's ring. If you want to see more of the pictures I took of her, you'll have to check out her blog.

This is a peak at what I bought at the thrift store. I'll show you what everything is sometime soon!

doodles

2010-05-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to draw a bit more because my knitting design sketches have been looking a bit dodgy for the last year or so. I figured that the reason why those suck is that I never draw for fun anymore. I was going to try to make myself draw something at least once a week but with finals coming up, that plan kind of already died. Here are the drawings that I did manage to do. Instead of working on my research paper, I scanned them in and gave them a quick coloring on Photoshop.

I was feeling the Victorian's when I drew this because I had just gone over the courses that I'm hopefully going to take when I'm at Lancaster. I love me some Victorian Lit. This is the only drawing that I did before 1 A.M. on a Friday or Saturday so it's really the only one that I can say anything about. I have no idea what I was thinking of when I drew the others. Anyways, this is how I tend to draw. Cartoony and exaggerated. I have drawings from middle school that look pretty damn similar in style to this one.

music is the victim

2010-05-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Cardigan: Talbots
Top: Risver Island
Shorts: Talbots
Tights: From Nordstroms
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell
Belt & Watch: Thrifted

Last night I was waiting around for my friends to show up and I didn't know what to do. I ended up putting on the Scissor Sisters and taking some pictures. I keep myself entertained.

Did anyone do anything fun on Friday?

some more of olympia

2010-04-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I went to Olympia pretty early in the day so we could find parking easily. We puttered around by the boats, went to the farmers market, and went shopping.

Me and my bright ass red coat.

Sarah.

Here is a peek at my purchases.

I bought two dresses for a wedding that I'm going to this summer. I couldn't decide which I liked best so I bought both. I'm leaning towards the white one because it's an outdoor wedding in Alabama in July. Hot. I also bought two cards with art from one of the artists featured in the art walk. The pie one is for mother's day and I just plan on sticking the arcade one on my wall because it is awesome.

olympia arts walk

2010-04-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the Olympia Arts Walk with my friend Sarah. Shops in downtown Olympia replace their window displays with local art displays. It was pretty cool to see. A lot of the shops had art that related to what they sold (the shoe store had paintings of shoes, etc.) and some had displays inside as well. Late in the afternoon, there is a Procession of Species that anyone can join in on. Some of Sarah's relatives were participating in the procession (they were Samba drummers at the end) and that was one of the main reasons we went down to the Arts Walk. I took waaaaaaaaaay too many pictures of the costumes and sculptures so here is a (relatively) small selection.

This was a puppet. The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.

spring fever (literally)

2010-04-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

T Shirt: The Academy Is...
Shorts: Talbots
Cardigan: Foxcroft
Leggings: American Apparel
Boots: Merrell

Spring in Washington isn't exactly my favorite. I always get excited for it and then my allergies and the crazy weather kicks in. The weather alternates between a week of nice weather and two weeks of horrible weather. The weather pattern gets your hopes up and then crushes your spirit with gloomy weather. The week of nice weather knocks loose insane amounts of pollen and my seasonal allergies go crazy. I never had allergies before I lived in WA so I'm extra wimpy about them. There's also the fact that if I'm congested for an extended period of time, I'll end up with a sinus infection like I have now. Joy. Massive quantities of lemon ginger tea with honey and decongestants have made life bearable.

Lets talk about clothes now instead of me whining about being sick. I busted out a band t-shirt today because I'm dying for summer. Something about spring and summer makes me want to dig into my band tee collection and wear those all the time. Warmer weather brings the edge back to my wardrobe. I tend to dress very soft and girly in the cold. I threw on this awesome cardigan my mom and sister bought for me for Christmas a few years ago. I liked the way the polka dots and zebra print picked up the different patterns in the logo. I added my bright blue shorts to the mix because they add a nice punch of color to the outfit and because I'm pining for shorts weather. I layered them over my leggings because it was a bit chilly this morning and I'm too stubborn to open up a new package of black tights when warm weather is so close. I was really excited to be able to put my hair up in a bun on top of my head because I've been growing it out. As you can see in the top photo, it didn't work out quite as well as planned but at least it's progress. The last additions to my outfit were my boots and I put my red coat on over everything because it was raining out.

Morningwood

2010-04-19T23:43:00.001-07:00

A lot of blogs post about celebs and musicians that inspire them. I feel like 90% of the time those posts are about Zooey D. or Audrey Hepburn. It's kind of a shame because there are so many other fashion icons out there. Here is one of my favorite under appreciated fashion icons.

Meet Chantal Claret from the band Morningwood. I adore her style and attitude. She wears a delightful combination of stripes, sequins, studs, and menswear. The band's most recent album (which is excellent) is appropriately called Diamonds and Studs. Chantal helped fuel my love for big belts that sit at my waist and I used to wear an amazing double breasted vest because I realized how well they show off curves from seeing videos of her. I'm always impressed by the way she accentuates and flaunts her figure.

It's not just her clothing and hair that inspire me. It's mostly her attitude. She can pull off anything because she just stands so proudly and confidently. The band's music makes me want to throw my chest out and do whatever the hell I feel like. Her confidence just oozes onto me whenever I listen to the band's two albums.

If you aren't familiar with the band or Chantal, I definitely recommend checking them out.

Morningwood
Originally uploaded by carolina_rivera

Please note that none of these images belong to me.

Lazy Apple Crisp

2010-04-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

I had been thinking about apple crisp a lot. I decided to see if I could make a quick and easy apple crisp using only ingredients from my university cafeteria. It turned out quite delicious and was quick and easy. Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

1 Medium Green Apple
1 Packet of Spiced Instant Oatmeal
2 Table Spoons of Room Temp Butter
You will also need a ramekin.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While it's heating, peel, core and dice your apple.

Put a layer of apple in your ramekin. Sprinkle a light layer of your instant oatmeal on top. This layer will keep your crisp from getting too juicy. It also will help spice up the apples. Repeat until you only have one layers worth of apple bits left.

Pile the last of the apple on top with out the oatmeal layer.

In a separate bowl, mix the rest of the instant oatmeal with the butter until the butter is evenly distributed through out. Crumble the topping over the apples in the ramekin.

Bake in the oven for 15-25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and the apples are tender.

Let it cool for 5-10 minutes before digging in.

Nom.

walkies weather

2010-04-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Blazer: Merona
Short Sleeved Sweater: Vintage via thrift store
Shorts: Levis via thrift store
Tights: Merona
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell
Belt: Thrifted

I wore this on my walk today. It was perfect for the spring weather because it wasn't overly warm but it still fended off the chilly wind. I love that I can wear my blazer again. I don't get to wear it much because it's not water proof for WA and it's usually too warm when I'm in CA.

north tacoma love

2010-04-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've always lived pretty places. I guess I've just been lucky like that. Today it was beautiful out so I took a walk with my camera. I decided to photograph one of my favorite novelties of North Tacoma. The gulches.

They're kind of random. The streets are laid out on a grid for the most part but then you'll hit a big hole with trees in it that the streets have to curve around or dead end into. There are only a few bridges that cross the gulches.

The neighborhood butts right up against the gulches. I'd be creeped out in one of those buildings. I'd worry that my house or shop would fall into the gulch.

what i wore to the farmers market

2010-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Dress: Talbots
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell
Scarf: Thrifted
Cardigan: Made by Me
Tights: HUE

I wore this to the farmers market yesterday. I had my red coat on top because it's been ridiculously windy. It hasn't been that cold out but the wind has made it feel freezing.

I bought this scarf at the thrift store almost a year ago. I never can figure out how to wear it. I also wear a lot of prints and adding on one more always seems like too much. Yesterday I was wearing all solids so I just grabbed the scarf, tied it around my neck, and went. I quite like the way it looked.

proctor farmers market

2010-04-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

My friend Sarah and I went to the Proctor Farmers Market this morning. There weren't a lot of fruit and vegetables but there were a lot of beautiful bouquets of flowers.

They had quite a few booths selling gardening supplies and seedlings. I'm so glad it's finally spring!

One of my favorite things about this particular farmers market are the dogs. Everyone from the neighborhood brings their dogs with them. This fellow was too cute to pass by.

My big purchase was some goat cheese and a baguette. Nom. Goat cheese is my favorite cheese. I was hoping to get some fruit too but I didn't see anything that appealing.

This is what I wish I could have bought. Okay, so it wasn't really at the farmers market but whatever. It was in the window of a store we walked past on our way back to campus. You can see my red coat and bag in the reflection.

wilted spinach and sausage

2010-04-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

I cooked myself dinner last night. That might not sound too exciting to most people but I live in a dorm and don't have my own kitchen. I eat most of my meals in the cafeteria. Bleh. My floor in my dorm has a kitchen. It's inconvenient to cook there all the time but I try to cook occasionally.

Occasional cooking is more difficult than you would think. Because I don't cook very often, I would never go through a bag of flour or eat a whole carton of eggs before they spoiled. It takes a bit of thought to figure out what works well to keep on hand. One of my favorite things to buy is chicken sausages. I can do a lot with them and I can put them in the freezer so they don't spoil. This is one of my favorite ways to cook them.

I had one Aidell's garlic artichoke chicken sausage. In the cafeteria, I acquired about a handful of sliced mushrooms, about four large handfuls of spinach and some balsamic vinegar. I brought the sausage to room temp and sliced it into half inch rounds. I heated a frying pan to medium heat and added a little dollop of olive oil. After that I added my sausage to the frying pan along with a handful on slice mushrooms. I let those cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms looked slightly darker and glossy. Next I added four large handfuls of spinach on top of everything else. I stirred everything around in the pan until all of the spinach was wilted and a dark green color. I added balsamic vinegar to taste and then it was ready to eat!

a new blog and an explanation

2010-04-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

I love Untangling Knots. I love it a lot. That's why I'm making a new blog. I've been getting really bad blogger guilt more and more recently. I post off topic things. I have even more off topic things that I want to post about. I feel bad for posting oodles of photos that have nothing to do with knitting or sewing or crochet when I know that that is what my audience is tuning in for. I want somewhere to share photos that I love and adventures that I go on without feeling guilty. This is the new home for that stuff.

I'm going to turn this into a lifestyle kind of blog I think. I don't want to get into personal drama here but I would like to share a small wedge of my life that helps inspire the content in my other blog.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my previous works, here is a quick introduction. My name is Andi, short for Andrea. I am currently in my 20's and an English major at University of Puget Sound. I'm originally from Loomis, CA. It's a small town in the greater Sacramento area. During the school year I live in WA but for the rest of the time I'm back in Loomis at my parents. Next school year, I will be studying abroad in Lancaster, England.