Yellow Yellow

Last week, the camera club held its final competition of the year. I've enjoyed the competitions, because rather than going through my stash of fairly recent photos to see which ones I can enter, I try to take new ones specifically for the competition. 

This latest competition had a theme of 'Mostly Yellow'. I first thought about using my yellow Pyrex.

Then I thought about using sunflowers and of course a typewriter.

However, for the past few competitions, I've tried to do something unusual and creative with crafty objects. (Either that, or I take photos of thrifted shoes, which is equally fun.) I wanted to end the camera club season with a nod to my signature style.

Having no yellow shoes on hand this time, 

I decided to use the sewing supplies. 

I had an idea in my head of how to arrange the objects, but instead I started out just photographing the stuff haphazardly:

(It clearly wasn't working. Even if I had turned the measuring tap the other way, something wasn't right here.)

Once I straightened out the tape measure, I thought things improved slightly. 

But the photos still weren't there yet.

In the end, I remembered my original idea and decided to spell out 'yellow':

And I loved it! 

Apparently the judges did too. It scored very well and I walked away with first place in the 'Mostly Yellow' category. In fact, I got three first place ribbons that night -- I tied for first with a black and white print, and I also tied for first with my color print. 

One of the judges asked how long it took me to gather the yellow items. I somewhat sheepishly admitted that everything was already in my stash of supplies -- I needed to only root through a container. Then she wanted to know how long it took me to arrange it. Honestly, not long. Even though I played around with the orientation of the supplies for a while before I actually spelled the word, I knew from the start what I wanted to do. 

It's not always like that though. Usually my original thoughts are only a seed for what the photo or craft becomes. Sometimes it takes me an hour or more to arrange stuff and figure out where I want things to go. Other times though, the first ideas are the real deal, or at least fairly close. If I had actually scribbled down my idea, my first sketch would have looked similar to the photo above -- only I would have drawn a yellow zipper for the Y. (I was too cheap to buy a yellow zipper, so I used what I already had.)

The black background made the whole thing stand out. Plus, as one judge said, 'Everything looks great on black velvet!' In my case, I used a black scarf. I laid it on the floor, arranged the items and aimed the camera straight down.  

I liked this idea so much that I may have to spell out the rest of the rainbow. I'm sure I already have the craft supplies for the job. 

The Great Gravy Boat Giveaway and a Happy Blogiversary

Six months ago, I tentatively published my first post on this blog. I say tentatively, because I knew I needed to start a blog for me, even if nobody else read it. 

Thankfully, it appears that some people do actually read Typing Sunflowers. Whether you have stumbled here through a random Google search, or because I gave you the actual address, or because you're a fellow blogger seeking inspiration, welcome. I love having visitors! 

To celebrate my six months in the blogiverse community, I'm giving away a little of my Pyrex collection. I told myself I wouldn't end up becoming one of those 'collectors', but becoming a member of the Pyrex Collective III blog opened up a whole new world to me -- and I couldn't pass up any inexpensive piece of Butterfly Gold. I found this little gem at an Idaho yarn store that also housed antiques. (Um, hello, dream retail job...) 

I started using my gravy boat a lot -- even for non-gravy items, like the juice needed in this orange marmalade cake. 

Soon, I found a matching underdish on Etsy. (What did we do before Etsy?!) The plate was also being sold with an additional gravy dish and matching plate, and all three were cheaper than purchasing just the plate on eBay (And what did we do before eBay?)

Now I had two gravy boats and two plates. The Sailor doesn't mind my thrifting habits, but he does mind excess. And really, I don't need TWO gravy boats (especially in the same pattern!) So I'm giving this one away: 

That's right.  

I'm GIVING AWAY a gravy boat. 

The underplate is included -- exactly what you see in the picture above. All you have to do is leave a comment below, telling me which Pyrex pattern is your favorite. If you don't have a favorite, that's okay. You can just say hi. Or tell me what you do collect -- or what your favorite color is. Just leave a comment. Contest is open to anyone -- not just Pyrex collectors. Most of us probably started with only one piece in our collections. Maybe this gravy boat is meant to kick off yours?

Contest closes at 23:59 EST April 30, 2013. Winner will be chosen at random and announced May 1st. No purchase necessary. The winner has two weeks from the date of the announcement to contact me for their prize. If I don't hear from the winner within the two weeks, they forfeit their prize and I will draw another name at random. Void where prohibited by law. 

(And yes, contest is open to those outside of the USA. I travel a lot, and I believe Pyrex should be available in all countries. In fact, I'm feeling so generous, that I'll even pay for the shipping.) 

{This giveaway is now closed. Winner posted here.}

Words

Sometimes words are not enough. 

But sometimes words are all we have -- sometimes words are the things that tether us to the hope that there is still good in this world. 

Within days of my brother's death, friends from around the world rallied together and supported me in ways they will perhaps never know. 

Several of those friends sent me this plant, along with a note that read:

"Like this plant encased in glass, so we envelope you with love and send prayers from around the globe, for your peace and encouragement..." 

 

Every time I see that plant,  

I am reminded of those words of comfort. 

I am reminded that I have friends who care, friends who love me, and friends who, although they may not understand exactly what I'm going through, are sharing in my grief with me.

I don't know all of the people affected by the tragedy in Boston. I do know that I have been to Boston before and loved it. Former work colleagues live there. I know people who have run in that same marathon before. I have a friend who was called back into work yesterday, in order to organize hospital logistics for the wounded. 

I know that right now, the grief that Boston feels is very real. I also know that people around the world care and are praying for the city, the victims and their families, and those affected by such an act of violence.  

I wish I had the right words for Boston right now, but I don't. But I hope they somehow feel comfort in knowing that so many people care -- and that so many of us send prayers from around the globe. 

Counting Calories?

I truly believe that a picture is worth 1,000 words. Or in this case, a few thousand calories.

Ukrainian and Russian nibbles for my knitting club. Jelly filled donuts, Lepeshki, Ukrainian Poppy Seed Cake, Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes, and more donuts -- all served in vintage Pyrex. Of course.  

Hankering for more Pyrex eye-candy? Check out my latest post on the Pyrex Collective III blog here.

(That's all for today. My last post was a bit long, and after baking that mess above, I'm still too exhausted to write anymore!) 

Handmade Wedding Invitations

I promised you a little tutorial on how I made my wedding invitations here.

I knew I wanted to make my invitations from the start. I have always enjoyed working with paper (and as obsessive as I am about yarn... paper and I go way back. I think it's still my favorite. Just don't tell that basket of wool sitting next to the stack of scrapbooking supplies.) 

I didn't get married that long ago... but Pinterest wasn't around for ideas when the Sailor and I finally tied the knot. Thankfully, Michaels and and other craft stores were. Nowadays, there seems to be no shortage of places to purchase supplies -- at least here in America. (For those of you who don't live near massive chain stores... I do still believe that sometimes the most creative projects blossom with using only what's on hand! I also believe in Etsy... and how easy it is to order something from across the globe.)

Nevertheless, I did have an arsenal of craft supplies at my ready. Because I married a sailor, and since we met on a ship, I wanted to somehow incorporate a sea theme into the invitations. I also knew that many people wouldn't make the wedding due to travel, so I spent extra time and money on the invitations. I wanted to give the people who couldn't make it, their own little keepsake of our day. 

I started by scratching out some ideas in my notebook. I find that some people are afraid to even sketch ideas -- like they will mess up. Impossible, I say... that's why you sketch the idea. 

Most of the time, my finished product only resembles the sketches in one small way. In this case, I took away the concept of putting the info on handmade luggage tags. The Sailor and I traveled a lot in our dating years, and we still do today, so I wanted that to be part of the theme. 

I knew I wanted to put all of the info on the luggage tags -- I've always loved scrapbooks and invitations that are very hands on. I thought it would be fun for people to pull out each tag for the information. 

Once I found the blue paper, it all kind of fell into place.

Each tag held various bits of essential information: 

Shore leave: I used a printed map of South Africa on the front, and on the back, listed the nearest transportation hubs.  

Navigation: The Sailor acquired some old navigation charts for me to use on the front of these. On the back, more specific details of where the wedding would be held and how to book rooms at the location.

Port History: The photo on the front is one of the Anastasis Mercy Ship -- where we met. You can see from the photo below, I listed the port cities we traveled to together. I also found small silver beads and tied them onto the hemp on this tag -- they reminded me of miniature wedding rings.

SOS: Life-ring on the front; RSVP contact info on the back.

Once I got the luggage tags together, I still needed a way to keep them all together with the invitation. A friend of mine helped and we came up with the idea to use a flap, and then we hammered little brads in to keep the flap from falling apart. 
 

I wrote the actual invitation by hand on the inside of the invitation, and the flap held all of the tags. I chose a Bible verse that seemed particularly applicable to our situation, and put the first half on the front, and the second half on the flap.  

For half of our dating life, and now our marriage, 

we have been separated by a sea.

 

"Many waters cannot quench love, rivers cannot wash it away..." 

Song of Songs 8:7

I tied everything together with hemp (I love using hemp for all kinds of projects, but this time, it looked a little like mooring lines) and I found little anchor trinkets to put on the front. I also used necklace clasps on the hemp -- I searched until I found ones that looked a little like a life-ring.  

I also tied the bottom of the invitation together with a little hemp knot -- you can see the brad, but I've already untied the bottom. 

Our wedding was on a serious budget. The Sailor was in navigation school right before we married, and I was working as a volunteer with various non-profits. I decided to splurge though on the invitations, but in the end, to make and mail 60 of them (many of them internationally), only cost about $200. 

I never bothered to price what it would have cost to have someone else print them for me, but I don't think it would have been much cheaper. Plus, I love how they turned out.

After the wedding, I ended up using the same luggage tag and blue theme for my scrapbook to showcase a few photos. 

Like the invitation, I used the tags to write info on the back. For these 'style' shots, I wrote stories of when and where I got various bits of my wedding ensemble. 

I also used the tags and leftover anchors as part of my thank you notes. 

I think overall, people 'got' the sea and traveling theme, and they felt included in the day, even if they couldn't make it.
 

Have you previously made, or are you currently creating invitations for anything by hand? I'd love to hear your ideas.  

Work in Progress

I used to be the type of person who only read one book at a time. I may have read voraciously, but I still kept to one book. I couldn't understand how people could keep plots and characters straight if they read two or more books at once. 

That didn't stop me from carting around more than one book when I traveled, though. I had to finish one before I started another, but I still had more than one with me. That was a total pain. (Luggage limits aside... schlepping a bag full of heavy books around on a train isn't exactly fun.)

Over the holidays, I acquired a nook. The Sailor suggested I get some sort of e-reader, especially for traveling. He thought it would come in handy. On our recent travels, instead of taking four books with me, I only had to bring one nook. I even found myself reading more than one book at a time on it. 

Now, I find that in addition to the books I'm reading on my nook, I also have several scattered around the apartment that I'm reading at the same time. 

I'm not sure when exactly this transition happened, but apparently I really can read more than one book at a time. 

Similarly, I used to be a one-fiber-project-at-a-time kind of person. I usually had to finish a crocheted blanket, or a knit sock, before I could think about starting a new project. 

This weekend, I Iooked around the apartment and gasped. With the Sailor gone, I tend to leave my craft paraphernalia all over the place, and I noticed I had not one, not two, but FIVE W.I.P.S. 

(For those uninitiated into yarn verbiage: W.I.P. = Work In Progress. A W.I.P. means you have things 'on the needles' as they say, but not yet finished.)

There's this shawl (Citron Grand, if you're wondering): 

A (headless) knit bobble sheep pillow:  

(Get the free pattern here at Purl Bee)

A possible crocheted sweater (as yet undecided if this yarn will work for it):

 

A basic baby blanket: 

Plus I'm about to cast on for another pair of fuzzy slippers like these. (Spring may be here, but my feet still get cold. You can read more about my slipper obsession here.)

I almost forgot... I also still have a bag of granny squares that I need to do something with. 

I like that I've got so much going on though. It means that when I was going out the door for the camera club the other night, I didn't have to hunt for a project to work on during the meeting. (The irony is not lost on me -- knitting at a camera club meeting...) I grabbed the shawl, knowing that I could easily squeeze a few rows in without a problem. The sheep? His head needs to wait until I can concentrate on it (no TV, or distractions). The baby blanket? Easy to work on while carrying on a conversation when friends come over. 

Clearly, I've gotten over my issues of working on only one thing at a time. I blame the nook.

Pinned

Today was a perfect laundry day. Cold, but perfectly windy for drying clothing outdoors. 

Clothespins are of course essential when hanging the washing outside. They also make for a fun photo experiment. I love taking simple everyday things and making them into art.

 
Today was also my local camera club meeting. You may remember from this post that I used to be a little skeptical of my camera club. Now that I'm in my third season with the club, I've grown to appreciate it, and I've definitely learned a lot.  

Plus I'm a little competitive. I did well the first year in Category B, and earned enough points to work my way up to Category A. Last year I also did well (although some of the best photographers were nowhere to be found that year!) So far this year, I scored highly in the first competition of the season with several photos -- Knit Lit is still one of my favorites. 

I didn't want to miss out on entering the competition while we were in South Africa, so I left my photos with another member to enter for me. 

I kind of forgot about the whole thing until tonight, when I got my photos back. I've already shown you this one that tied for second place in the color category. 

Tonight I discovered that the black and white one above, 'Pinned' tied for second place in the black and white category. 

Our next competition is looming -- I can enter one color, one black and white, and one with the theme of 'mostly yellow'. I have some ideas brewing in my mind... sunflowers may be involved. Regardless of whether I win, I'll be sure to share the results with you. 

Gathering the Gooseberries

I went through a little bit of thrifting withdrawal on our recent travels. (Or 'drifting' as the Sailor likes to refer to my junking habit.) 

I think thrifting is the ultimate form of recycling though. Besides, who doesn't like a good treasure hunt? 

This weekend, I went out for coffee with my mom, and on my way to exchange some yarn in between, we stopped briefly at the nearby thrift store. 

THIS... in its full glory, called out my name. 

Those of you who know your vintage Pyrex will know that this Gooseberry refrigerator set is not an easy one to come by. I've seen the prices on eBay and frankly, it scared me off of ever finding one in an antique store, let alone a thrift store. 

But a few months back, I found this lonely little dish here. And I got a little glimmer of hope that more Gooseberry must be out there somewhere, at a reasonable price. 

My mom said she thought she saw rainbows burst out of me when I saw the full fridge set. You can read that story here and see what else I bought that day. I know I spent more money than usual (seriously people, I'm more of a bargain thrifter, not splurger... but occasionally there are times when rainbows burst out of me and I can't control myself...)

Of course my rule in purchasing Pyrex is that I have to actually use it. It can't just sit there looking pretty (although it IS pretty, isn't it?!) 

Avocado and tomato salad, along with homemade fennel soup. I remembered I had a fennel soup recipe I wanted to try out, so I purchased some at the local farmer's market. 

I've never used fennel in anything before -- but it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The soup was little more than butter, onion, garlic, chicken stock and the fennel... but I think the secret was in cooking the fennel for at least 30 minutes to bring out the flavor. Yum.

As usual, everything tasted better in Pyrex. 

 

Springing to Life

Today finally felt like spring. Glorious spring, where life starts to emerge, slowly, from winter stillness.

Buds form on the trees, flowers push through the ground towards the sun, and even the birds chirp a little louder. 

I even sat outside for a bit to soak in some sunshine. 

(Oh outdoors and sunshine... you have been missed!) 

As much as I complain about the winter, I actually do love all four seasons. Even winter has a purpose. Without winter, there would be no true spring. No renewal, no rebirth. None of those buds forming or flowers beginning to grow.

How sad would that be? So I for one, would like to apologize to winter. 

I'm sorry winter, when I blame you for being so long and miserable. I'm sorry that I want to shovel you away along with the snow. Actually, you're just part of the cycle of life. You've been keeping things under wraps until the time is right for them to start to grow again.

So thank you, winter. Thank you for all that you've done. But now it's time for you to leave until at least November, maybe even December. (Snow, you can show up in time for Christmas...)   

Spring is definitely in the air -- and with it, my heart (like the birds) sings a little louder. May this season of renewal and rebirth bring you a basketful of hope and happiness.

Happy Easter.

Happy Anniversary

This past weekend, the Sailor and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. It's the first time in a while that we've actually been in the same country together on the day, so we decided to look at our wedding photos while we had the chance.

Pulling down the dusty scrapbook made me realize how long it had been since I looked at our photos. Then when the invitation fell out, I realized I really should do something more with it besides sticking it in the album. 

It also reminded me how much FUN I had making all of our wedding invitations. 

So much fun, I'm going to share even more with you... a little tutorial, if you will. 

But not now.

Soon, though. 

I promise. 

{update: wedding invitation tutorial here}

Old Books are Super Sweet

Over the years, I have always poked fun at my mother for her love of old books. Just the other night, she was telling me about a Sinclair Lewis book she recently finished, and I asked if she was reading anything a little more modern these days. 

(She wasn't. This is besides the point, however.)

The next day, the Sailor pointed to a book he'd never noticed on the shelf and asked what it was -- it was an old copy of 'The Real Book about Ships'. We took it down to page through... and while at the shelf I unearthed my 1953 copy of 'Aboard and Abroad' -- an entire volume dedicated to fifties style travel to and from Europe.

Obviously, much of the information is out of date. But there are a few hidden gems, like a reminder of former steamship Cunard's ad campaign: 'Getting there is half the fun.' 

I concur. Getting there (and around) usually is still half the fun. (Sometimes it's most of the fun! If you missed the post a week ago about renting a car in Mexico, you can read that here.)

But I digress... sifting through those books reminded me that I'm turning into my mother a little. I may not be reading an old, dusty edition by Sinclair Lewis yet, but I definitely have my fair share of older books -- especially cookbooks. (You can read more about that here.)

This weekend, I wanted to make a pineapple upside down cake. I could have just looked online, but I decided to use the recipe from an old cookbook, instead. I picked 'The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedia Cookbook' -- the 1966 new revised delux edition. 

I should have known when I set out that this dessert might flop. At the very least, it was going to put everyone into a sugar-induced coma. For a 9x9 inch pan, the recipe called for 1 cup of brown sugar AND 1 cup of white sugar. I thought it must have been a typo, but I proceeded as directed.

In addition, I really, really wanted to use my new (yet old) round Pyrex 8x8 cake pan I recently thrifted. So of course the batter was going to ooze out over the top since the pan was too full. 

I flipped the cake over once it cooled... and the whole thing started to slide off the plate. No photos... my fingers were too sticky from all of the pineapple juice to handle the camera. I took one bite of the gooey cake and my teeth started to hurt. 

I chalked it up to another kitchen disaster. If you need more proof that this wasn't my first kitchen flop, you can see more here.  

My mother reminded me (after taking her own bite and nearly passing out) that people didn't eat sugary stuff as often back then as they do today. So maybe it wasn't a typo on the cookbook. Maybe it was just a once-a-year-special-occasion cake?

Regardless,  I'm going to think twice about making something sweet out of an old cookbook again.

The Princess and the Pea

No matter how much I travel, it is always wonderful to come home to sleep in my own bed. I used to brag that I could sleep anywhere, and for the most part it is still true. Just because I can sleep on a plane though, it doesn't mean that it is comfortable, OR good for my neck, for that matter. 

Some nights -- and depending on the hotel chain and the quality of bedding -- I really do feel like the Princess and the Pea. 

No matter how great the trip, there is always a marvelous moment when I get home and realize I get to sleep in my own bed. 

A while back, I made this adorable Princess, fully equipped with mattresses, blanket and pea pod. I wanted to post it earlier, but I also wanted to wait until my friend received the gift package I mailed. I had a suspicion she was perhaps a reader on this blog; I didn't want to give away the surprise before she received the doll for her daughter.

Now that both the package and surprise are in the correct hands, I can share with the rest of you this gorgeous and fun Princess and the Pea.

The pattern is from Itty-Bitty Toys by Susan B. Anderson. This isn't the first toy I've made from this book, nor will it be the last. All of her patterns are adorable... and an absolute joy to knit. I've made several reversible toys from the book, and a few hand puppets, but by far, this was my favorite doll to knit.

I especially loved the little pea pod that goes with the doll. 

While I didn't make nearly as many mattresses as I could have, the Princess seems to have plenty to keep her occupied for a while. As for me, I'm happy with the one mattress I have at the moment. 

Snowflake Garlands

I thought for sure we would return home to witness the trees blossoming, buds springing forth from the ground, and a serious temptation to continue to show off my pedicured feet in the form of sandals. 

I was wrong. 

Yesterday, the Sailor and I watched in disbelief as it snowed. 

And snowed. 

And snowed some more. 

Blue skies today mean that the snow is melting, although more wet stuff is forecast for the rest of the week. Forget salads and detoxing post-cruise, suddenly, I'm finding myself wanting to bake.

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I have an affinity for vintage Pyrex. I even blog at a collector's site, although my small kitchen won't permit me to have quite so many pieces of Pyrex. 

I started out loving the yellow and orange Pyrex because it matched my kitchen (Sunflower colors? Why yes, thank you...) 

Along the way, I've gained an appreciation for many of the fun colors Pyrex made -- pink and aqua have now also found their way into my collection. 

I resisted purchasing anything with snowflakes on it though -- I figured I could only use those pieces over the winter, and I wanted my vintage stuff to serve more of a purpose than simply sitting on a shelf as decor. Nevertheless, I found this piece for only $3 and I was hooked.

Last week, once I had unpacked and did the necessary laundry, I did a quick round through town to the thrift stores. I wasn't having much luck at the first two, but then I found something that caught my eye at the third one. 

It's the Snowflake Garland pattern -- one that I don't have yet, and one that I certainly don't need. In fact, I've definitely passed up this pattern in other shapes before. But an 8x8 baking pan with fantastic handles for only $3? How practical is that? 

Now that I actually bought the thing, my only decision is what I'm going to actually bake in it. 

Winter will come and finally go, at least for a few months. Vintage Pyrex, though...  you're here to stay.

Red Bugs in Mexico

Our recent cruise itinerary included Mexico. For someone who is as well traveled as me... I had never before been to Mexico. (Don't laugh, I made it to countless other countries before I even ventured into Canada.)

The Sailor had previously been to Cozumel before and joked that we wouldn't miss much if we simply stayed on board for the day. Nevertheless, we made the obligatory rounds through the tourist spots, and then on a whim, decided to rent some sort of dune buggy for the day. 

Excited as we were at our spontaneity, the rental place was all out of dune buggies. But the owner offered us a beat-up old red Volkswagen instead. 

We took it. 

From the moment we sat inside and turned the ignition, we were laughing. The car sputtered to life. My seat flew forward in the tracks every time the Sailor braked. I got stuck in the seat belt and had to shimmy out when we stopped. There were no side windows, the rear-view mirror served no real purpose, and when we stopped to put gas in the car, the attendant pulled out a rag that was being used to plug the petrol. A rag.

Then the rag blew away. 

Some German tourists walked past and stopped to take a photo of our Bug (while we sat inside, waving to the attendant that the rag had blown away.)

After driving halfway around the island and having the vinyl sun roof flap on my head, we rolled it up, only to get baked by the mid-day sun. 

At one point I mistakenly turned around, looked at the non-existent back seat, and I noticed the floor was rusting through. 

The Sailor and I suddenly felt like the Flintstones. 

We managed to get the whole way around the island, and returned the car in one piece (or at least in the number of pieces we left with initially!)

Every time I meet a couple who has been married 50 plus years, I make it a point to ask them their secret to success. Without a doubt, every single one of them says to keep a sense of humor going throughout the marriage and life. 

There were numerous reasons I fell for the Sailor; his sense of humor was definitely tops. 

Later that night, my neck hurt. In fact my whole body kind of felt like I had been jolted around on a wooden roller coaster. The biggest pain of all? My stomach hurt from laughing so much. But that made everything else worth it. The Sailor and I still have a good chuckle every time we talk about the Bug.

Cruising to Calm

My motto for 2013 is supposed to be to chill out -- no matter what happens. 

Well, if you've been following this blog, you know that 2013 has thrown a few curve balls my way. I'm still trying to stay pretty chilled out, because really, what good is it stressing about stuff that is beyond my control? 

This past week, the Sailor took me on a cruise. It was in the works for some time, and happened to still fit right into our schedule, despite the timing of my brother's death a few weeks ago. 

I sent the Sailor this card years ago...
It made me smile when I found it in the closet back in South Africa.

A fellow former shipmate and friend of mine sent me a message right before I boarded: 'Hope the cruise is good for your soul...' 

The cruise was indeed good for my soul. There is something calming about being on the water. Warm weather and fabulous food never hurt either. 

 

While on board, I also celebrated my birthday... 

I took in a few sights of the sea... 

 

And of course the palm trees and sunsets on land...

The last day of the cruise, the Sailor and I went to a butterfly conservatory -- quite possibly my favorite excursion of the sail.

Was the cruise good for my soul? Absolutely. Am I going to still aim to be chilled out this year? Most definitely. 

PS: In case you haven't noticed... most of these are Instagram pics. I've only recently discovered how addictive the app is. Follow me there: typingsunflowers.

Two-at-a-Time Sleeves

While creating the blue cardigan the first time, I worked on the sleeves and made them both at the same time. 

The first time I heard of this technique, I thought 'Huh? How can you make two sleeves at once?' 

But after making my first-ever sweater and forgetting how many rows I did from the first sleeve to the second sleeve, I vowed to make both sleeves at a time from there on out. That way, if they were the wrong length, at least they would both be the wrong length. 

Besides, when you make a sweater, sometimes you end up with second sleeve syndrome (similar to 'second sock syndrome', whereby you are too fed up to make the second sock by the time you finish the first one.) 

With this technique, you simply cast on for the first sleeve with one ball of yarn. Then you cast on for the second sleeve with the second ball of yarn. You have to be careful about getting the two balls of yarn tangled together, but I found that if you keep each ball in separate little bags on either side of you, they won't bunch so easily. 

I've also heard that if you are the type of person to get bored with your sweater by the time you get to the sleeves, then you should simply knit the sleeves first. I can attest to this technique, since I had to start everything in my cardigan over again, except the sleeves. Although, if you are also the type of person to skimp on buying extra yarn, you may run out of yarn on the body of the sweater with that method (far better to have shorter sleeves rather than a shorter sweater, right??)

The Great Cardigan Remake - Done

In the midst of everything that happened last week after we got home from our trip, I realized that I never updated you all on the status of the great cardi remake. 

I found these fabulous buttons at a hobby shop and I finally sewed the sleeves on, and put all of the finishing touches on the cardigan. 

I must confess that I was relieved to finish it... but I wasn't super thrilled with it at the end. Maybe it was just too hot in South Africa, or I didn't have the right shirt with me to wear with it.

Now that it's unpacked and I'm cold again, I'm looking for more occasions to wear it.