Fiber Fool

Last week was a big week! It was my mom’s birthday and the one year anniversary of Brandon’s arrival in our family. I think we’ve all come a long way since he joined us. And overall it has been worth the numerous times he has peed on me when I’ve returned home from running errands as a day does not go by that he doesn’t make me laugh out loud from the very tips of my pee covered toes. He is quite the character and full of so much personality that I couldn’t have guessed he possessed when I first met him.

I fell behind in blog reading this past week. I’ve been working feverishly on a design that I’m anxious to get off the needles and photographed. I’m quite excited by it though it has taken much more time than I originally anticipated and am very glad to have taken the journey with it. In catching up on my reading in the wee-est hours of Monday morning I stumbled upon the mention of August Break via Jeanine at four rooms. I really like the idea of being more present and using the camera to aid in that goal and to not feel pressure to write to go with the photos if I don’t want to. So, I think I’m going to keep this week’s linkity somewhat briefer that past weeks and for the month of August, if I don’t feel that I have much to say I’ll do so with a photo!

I think I can safely say there will be the usual food post every Wednesday this month anyway. Last Monday I processed over 300 photos - the vast majority of which were food photos! One advantage of the CSA is that it is forcing me to cook more at home, despite the heat. And the CSA cooking is sparking other cooking and baking adventures as well. Of course all of this kitchen activity is making my yoga pants a bit more enticing… Must find time (and to be honest, motivation) once again to hit the gym!

Crafty

• I’m in love with the idea of these lace adorned lamps, but I think I’ll have to make them with handknit lace… (via Craft)
• These homemade twist ties using wire and Japanese masking tape are a great finishing touch to goodie bags and easy to make!
• Ever made yarn from wolf? Deb got to meet several and make some yarn and shares the experience on her blog.
• I’m loving these homemade sandals using cheap flip-flops and a recycled tee as the starting point. As a bonus, flip-flops are on clearance or will be soon!
• How could my Swedish heart not love these gnomes?

Food & Drink

• We’ve been feeling the pain of hot summer sun and what better way to get over that than with some no-bake cookies!
• Or cool down with some herbal sun teas and simple syrups!
• If like us you have a plethora of zucchini, summer squash and cucumbers (we don’t have any of these right now) check out Tea & Cookies wrap up of recipes for Cukes and Zukes week of Summer Fest.

Photography

• Some great tips to minimize memory card data loss in two parts with a third to come yet.
• If you were amongst the many who loved my suggestion of a photowalk as an activity to take the place of some TV watching, you may find these 5 ideas for shooting close to home helpful.
• Who knew the US is out to get photographers’ wallets upon reentry?
• Find triangles in food photography to make the eyes take in the whole scene.

Humor & Misc

• I ran into this early last week and it has been pretty viral in getting out there, but if you haven’t yet taken the time to watch Jane Austen’s Fight Club, you really should!
• This list of best and worst job prospects in Urban Fantasy in 2011 is quite amusing (via Chris, co-author of the post)
• Speaking of Chris, she posts linkity posts covering many topics, some though provoking and informative, some about making things, some just amusing or cute each Friday.
• And, it was Chris who turned me onto a great blog for e-book readers - Books on the Knob. Each day posts appear alerting readers of free and low-cost e-books from a variety of sources, including Kindle formatted books!

Reading Update

Not much to say here other than to mention that I finished Peach Cobbler Murder by Joanne Fluke and that it has such a cliff hanger I broke my usual rule and queued up Cherry Cheesecake Murder on the iPod next.

Progress in print and e-book reading has been slight. Mostly due to my new fascination with hidden object games on my iPhone. I played The Mystery of the Crystal Portal and Paranormal Agency this week - oops! Of those two, Crystal Portal was quite well done and was what sucked me in. I had a lot of little complaints about Paranormal Agency such as the fact that it was obviously not written by native English speakers so list of object to be found became a bit of a guessing game at points.

I did take a bit of relaxation time yesterday and soaked in a tub with The Memory Collector and finally made some decent forward progress on it, but I expect another frantically paced work week so we’ll see if I keep it up.