feathers in progress

I started another project!It is a catnip feather toy for Winslow!

The feathers are made from felt and have a little bit of embroidery on them to make them look a bit more feather like. I am knitting a long cord to tie around the feathers and hang from a stick. If I cant find a good looking stick, I will just buy a dowel.

The catnip must be pretty strong because as soon as I opened the container Winslow woke up from his nap and came over to help me.

I ended up ripping out all my stitches again and starting over because I still had way too many! As you can see I am about a quarter of the way done. A lot more knitting to go!

Here is a close up of my knits:

I think I may run out of this yarn before I finish. Fingers crossed I don't, but if I do what should I do? Get another dye lot of this same yarn? Switch to a different color? I am kind of thinking grey might look alright.

bike stuff

So far my bike riding has been going well and I am now obsessively looking at bikes and bike stuff to make my ride easier and more cute. Here are a few cute bicycle accessories that I found recently.

1. Pluto Basket With Cage Lid from Adeline Adeline
I really, really, really, want this! Imagine Winsie sitting in there...

2. 'Spread Your Love' by Hamed Kohan (part of the Seoul Cycle Design Competition) via designboom
These tires are great! If I had them I might not avoid water puddles.

3. Bike Bow via Fuck Yeah Girls & Bikes via Pinterest
Fantastic! This is going on my making list. Who wants one???


Another thing, while in Portland (the Pearl District) over the weekend we saw this really awesome bike trolley/wagon thing. Does anybody know what it is and if people can rent it? The people riding it were apparently celebrating a birthday and I want to rent it for mine because I can't think of anything I would rather do on my birthday. (If I were to rent it I would need some friends to help me pedal.) My sister snapped a quick photo (below); it is a bit difficult to see, but definitely awesome!

Dinner from my garden

Last week I was able to harvest a few things from my garden and I had friends over to share in my bounty!

I made zucchini pizzas from this recipe I found on Kalyn's Kitchen via Pinterest, grilled some watermelon (this one was not from my garden), and blended some cucumber drinks by sort of following this recipe from A Box of Kitchen found via foodgawker. The zucchini pizzas were a huge hit as was the watermelon; the cucumber mint drinks didn't go over so well even though I actually liked them and don't normally care for cucumbers. I can't wait to get more vegetables so I can make this all again!

FYI: I updated my garden 2011 flickr set; check it out!

Avocado Hair Treatment

My hair is super dry and damaged after spending too long trying to bleach it out and get it back to its natural color. (I didn't finish yet and my hair is a lovely pale orange-blonde color.) Tuesday I decided to use the avocados I had in the fridge as a conditioning treatment.

I mashed up a few avocados with a fork and mixed it with a bit of vinegar (a recipe I found online said to mix lemon juice in, but I didn't have any) then worked it into my damp hair. Truthfully, I don't think it did a thing, but it surely didn't hurt. Does anybody have any suggestions for repairing dry/damaged hair?

Cooling Neck Wrap

I have decided to use bicycling and walking as my only modes of transport while traveling within a two mile radius of my house. Since my work is within that distance I have started and am planning to ride my bike to work everyday. Foreseeable problem (the reason I hadn't been bicycling previously): it gets so hot in the afternoon! I am not quite sure that it will help, but I made one of those neck wraps that are suppose to help keep you cool.

First, let me say that it looks best when tied in a bow (I made it extra long so I could tie it in a bow) and I feel a tiny bit like Colonel Sanders while wearing it. The wrap is just a long tube with the middle portion sectioned off and filled with some of those water absorbing crystals. By 'filled' I actually mean I used 'not even half a spoonful because those crystal things absorb a lot of water'!

Does anybody know how to clean these? I am worried about the day in my not so distant future where this thing will be gross from sweat and dirt. It was a really easy project though; I have even been asked to make one for my friend's son.

When people say that mint is the easiest plant to care for they are right! I left my mint in the dark and didn't water it for months and still didn't kill it!

For the last two months or so I have been taking clippings from my neglected plants and have helped them flourish into what you see above.

The plants are even ready for a fourth clipping, not sure if I will yet though. I want to keep the plant cut back so it will fill out instead of getting spindly like it was before. Does anybody want some mint clippings of their own?

I also have some clippings of pineapple sage that I am trying to grow. They smell so wonderful, just like pineapple. I really hope they start sending out some roots!

Can't wait for mojitos! Or mint limeades! And possibly some not-pineapple-pineapple drink!

My Fourth of July Weekend

Over the long weekend I went to Les Bois Park to wager on the horses and I set off some fireworks at a friend's house. It was a pretty good weekend; I ate hotdogs and even got a tiny bit of a sunburn.