Oilcloth iPad Case

I thought I'd take a photo with a little context - though this was last weekend before we got nearly a foot more of snow. As you can see, I made another iPad case. The first one was fine really, but when you are using your iPad to surf the internet in the back of meetings, the velcro really gives you away. I'm also, well, me, and I kept spilling things on it and the tan didn't hide as much as I would have liked. But mostly I found this great oilcloth in Austin, Texas and knew immediately I wanted to use it for a case.

Adjustable Bow Tie

Hurray, something you can make for a guy! I'm always on this difficult quest. Though bow ties aren't for every guy, luckily, I have many fun guy friends that they are perfect for. I think these are fairly easy, a beginner's project, and they are quite rewarding. This is a real bow tie you must tie yourself. After a few tries, you'll get the hang of it. It's fabulous. I want to work one into my wardrobe. A photo-loaded tutorial after the jump.

chocolate babka

Here's the thing about our household. I found this recipe in Martha Stewart's excellent Baking Handbook when all of Atlanta was trapped under snow, making do only with what it already had in its kitchen pantries. The recipe calls for a full two pounds of one type of chocolate, and I thought, "Well, I'm sure we've got that!"

Good thing I made it; this bread sustained us and neighbors through a full three days of offices-closed, grocery-stores-depleted, full-on Deep-South snow freakout.

pressed & framed botanicals

I've been seeing some beautiful botanical prints lately that I'd love to somehow reproduce (in spirit, if not in detail). I've only marginal drawing skills, but Mother Nature herself offers an ideal way to bring the silhouettes of ferns and other plants into our homes without having to render their likenesses in pencil - pressing plants. It couldn't be more straightforward, and there are infinite ways to mount and frame your finished product - but I've got a few tips to help people along.

Chunky, Speckled, Crocheted Cowl

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Fifty-five ways. Or fifty-five little chains to start. I love something easy, something you can just make as soon as you decide you want it. I'd had an image of this woolly, chunky cowl in my mind for a bit. Over Christmas break, on an exciting trip to Michaels, I grabbed a hook and a skien and made it happen. It took no time, it's just a tube of double crochet. This is a great project for a beginner. It's almost too simple to write a pattern for, but I will, for formality's sake.

ch 55, sl st in 1st ch st to make a ring.
rnds:  ch 3, dc into next ch. continue with dc in each chain until the end and sl st into 3rd ch.
to finish: sl st and weave in tails.

Repeat until you're out of yarn or it is the height you want it. This took exactly all of one skein, it worked out perfectly with about 3 inches of tail on either end. I bought another skein (which is, by the way, this Lion Brand Yarn, Wool-Ease in Barley) because I thought I wanted it to be really huge and floppy and that I might double it - now that I've worn it like this, I quite like it as it is and may make myself a matching hat. I used a N/9.00MM hook.

leather bike accessories

Jessica has promised before that this won’t become a bike blog, and she’s absolutely right, because I know nothing about bikes. My bike once belonged to Allen’s mother, and Allen does all the work on it. It’s not that I’m not interested in working on the Schwinn, but Allen is good at it, enjoys it, and makes it awfully easy for me to sit inside sipping lattes while he changes tubes with numb fingers.

What I am good at, bike-wise, is imagining how pretty it could be - if only I didn’t personally need gears and brakes, if only the frame were powder-coated a beautiful cream, if only it had a bunch of honey-colored leather accessories. So Allen gave me a gorgeous Brooks B67s saddle for Christmas (and told me, very sensitively, that he’d chosen the model for those with wider hips). I’ve been working on accessories to match.