My iphone arrived last week, and I was testing out the camera by taking a few pictures in my living room.  While these were random pictures of nothing in particular, it turns out that this non-composed photo actually captures my domestic situation quite well.

See?  Nothing much to look at. 

But on closer inspection, we have all the ingredients of my home life:
1. Fake flowers.
2. Fairy lights.
3. A ridiculous lamp (difficult to see, but it's Peter Pumpkin Eater).  4. An interesting cotton print (in this case, a pillow in Marimekko fabric).
5. Another ridiculous lamp (unfortunately, not on).  Also, drapes from Restoration Hardware.  I loathe blinds and think that RH has the ultimate selection of drapery.
6. A skirt in progress.
7. The Rebar cookbook, hiding.
8. Bathrobe.
9. Something from Nancy (in this case a Casablanca coaster).
10. Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, Vol 1.  (See swatch, below).

Here's a new toque, finished just in time for spring; you can find the pattern here.  While I really liked the colours the designer used in her toque, I decided to use up yarn that I already had; therefore it is brown. 

This is a swatch for what will probably be a short-sleeved cardigan (to go over dresses or to be paired with a skirt).  However, so far I can't think of exactly what to do with the design that isn't completely yawn-inducing.

Last night's dinner was vegetarian cassoulet and what's awesome about this recipe is the minimal prep time.  There's no dicing of carrot/leek/celery; vegetables are left in chunks, making it a perfect weeknight dinner.  The stew followed on my first trip to Faubourg, where I plan on going back to do more pastry reconnaissance.  Yesterday was also my first time in Southlands, a strange rural-ish pocket of Vancouver, where people actually ride horses in the streets.  

Nancy asked me to make two baby bibs for her friends.  It's hard to say no to Nancy.  She just sent me Season 6 of Dexter on DVD, and she never told me to get my act together when my baby present to her ended up being  4months late. 
This is a tomato bib for Julian.

This is obviously a bib for Ella.  (Also, stitching in cursive embroidery is one of my things.)
Apparently I made a customized bib for Ella's older sister a few years ago.  Now that I've been reminded of this, I vaguely remember it (I think), but honestly, once I finish something and give it away it's very much out of sight, out of mind.  Anyway, apparently Ella's mom liked the first bib very much and framed it, and very much wanted a bib for her second child.  When someone likes what you've made that much, it's hard to say no.  It also puts a lot of pressure on the second attempt; she could take one look at this and say "I was going to frame it, but actually, I'll just use it and let it get stained with mashed sweet potato instead".  (Speaking of which, I never ever mind when things that I make get used and spoiled.  Sweet potato stains come with bib-making territory, after all.)

A few interesting pieces of costume jewelry: 

A Tatty Devine necklace (I just learned about this jewelry designer by way of Kat's blog).
You have mail.

Another Tatty Devine design. 
I like that the fox looks either slightly startled, or like he wants to sleep but feels that he must also be alert.

Susannah also just introduced me to carrotbox rings.
Pretty green glass.

Carrotbox is all about glass and plastic rings. 
Pretty pale pink with gold flecks.  You please me.

The 21st century flea market is a good place to go to stock up on fancy cutlery, china dishes, and pyrex ovenware from the 60s.  Susannah inaugurated me yesterday, and I saw so many items that my mom has (or has had) in her kitchen.  I only picked up one place setting of nice silverware from 1947, and am now planning on replacing my very-not-special dishes with china dishes.  May as well make good use of not having a dishwasher.

When topstitching, it's really important to use a longer stitch length in order to prevent the edges of your fabric from getting all curly.  This is something that will drastically improve my sewing, and something that would have been really useful to know a long time ago. 

There is a Saint Bernard breeder on Lasqueti Island.  (Those dogs must scare the living crap out of Lasqueti's feral sheep population.)

Another tomato bib.

Tiramisu ice cream (from "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz).

Deep dish winter fruit pie (pear/apple/cranberry/dried figs/ apricots/orange zest, and topped with a pecan crumble).

Finished spindle socks.

I'm such a picky shopper; this is one reason why I don't shop much and another reason to sew more.  Here are some vintage patterns that I have my eye on:

Advance 4331.  A bathrobe for warmer weather.  I particularly like the one with the scalloped edge.

McCall 3416.  An elegant bathrobe/housedress for drinking tea and doing one's hair.

McCall 8973.  I think I would get a lot of wear out of this one.  And clearly I like fitted bodices and full skirts, it's kind of my thing.

McCall 4263.  For work.

Vogue 5767.  I already bought this pattern and have some fabric which might be appropriate (although perhaps a little bright; I'm thinking that an intense blue might not suit a 40's shirtdress.  We'll see.)  I'm planning on making the short-sleeved version with no front pocket.

In addition to sewing vintage frocks, my other plans for this year include improving my pastry skills (making pastry is not one of my strengths, but since I seem to be eating more pastry these days, I might as well make my own).  So far I've shied away from trying my hand at puff pastry, but with Michel Roux's help (a 3 star Michelin chef who wrote a book simply titled "Pastry"), I feel confident that I can, at least somewhat successfully, create rum babas with chantilly cream, apple turnovers, and proper croissants.  I'd like to cycle to Port Ludlow in April, taking a detour to La Connor to see the tulips in bloom.  I'd like to go to England in the fall.  I'd like to write up patterns to post on this website.  I'd like to start learning Spanish.  And I'd like to find a new poker group (our former poker group sadly dissolved when half our members moved away).  But a 1940s shirtdress for the summer would be a good start.

This was the phrase going through my head today.  An ambitious undertaking is what I want right now.  Researchers say that people are happiest when they're fully absorbed in a task that is almost too hard for them.  Right now, doing something ambitious is likely so appealing because what I'm really looking for is focus; to be able to just concentrate fully on one thing for large chunks of time, to bring together my scattered energies.  I want to focus on something that's fussy and involved, time-consuming and challenging. 
This is one of the reasons that I decided to hike the Annapurna Circuit in October.  It seemed ambitious since it was more hiking and more altitude gain than I had ever done before, and all I had to do on any given day was just walk - no other responsibilities.  While I was happy that the trip was successful, I was actually a little disappointed that it wasn't that difficult (we stopped early-to-mid afternoon every day; hiking all day, every day would have made some difference.  As it was, I only gave it a 4 out of 10 on the challenging scale).

Hi.  I'm in Nepal.

Thankfully my next week or two is light on the scheduled commitments, and I intend to keep it that way;  without  focused quiet time, life mostly tends to be about day-to-day routine.

Are you going to a potluck?  If so, this soba noodle salad with eggplant and mango is the perfect thing to take.  It's seriously good, served at room temperature, and you can even transport it on the bus without fear of having a gooey mess at your destination.  Perfect, unless all of your friends hate cilantro.

See this typewriter brooch?  A while back, I ordered one for Nancy from Craftyfolk's etsy shop.  I wish I had picked up more than one because it turns out that I might need this too.

Today I received an (ahem, rather large) order of socks from Sock Dreams.  Since I wear skirts and over-the-knee socks pretty much every day this is not a complete indulgence. 

As God is my witness, I'll never be without socks again.  No, nor any of my folk.  If I have to lie, cheat, or steal.  As God is my witness, I'll never be without socks again.

And to end on a note of awesome, Dolly Parton singing "In the Ghetto".

It's been a week comprised of a) being out; b) being social; c) being at work; and d) studying.  As of yesterday, I was living in my own filth and eating take-out sushi for dinner.  Today I have groceries and the carpet has been vacuumed.  There's swiss chard-chickpea stew simmering on the stove alongside a pot of rice.  This is progress.  (However, my bathroom needs cleaning and my inbox is out of control.  Such is life.)

On Sunday, Tara and Deb and I went cross-country skiing in the Callaghan Valley.  A couple of months ago, my manager gave me her cross-country ski equipment (thanks Elisa!).  Despite a pretty spectacular wipeout into the trees on Cypress in December, I was looking forward to getting out skiing again.  I've barely cross-country skiied as an adult; when we were kids, my parents would take us out skiing a few times a year.  We were pretty wussy and whiny kids.  "I'm cold."  "I'm tired."  And so on.  It's amazing that they kept taking us out, but it means that now as an adult, I can get from point A to point B on a pair of skis, so long as there aren't a lot of hills involved (hills are scary).

This was exactly the third time that Tara had gone cross-country skiing.  She was a trooper, despite the fact that the terrain had as many hills (scary) as flat stretches.  And even though it was kind of a wet day, it was nice to be out in the quiet and the snow and the trees.  And to eat Tara's home-made peanut butter cookies on the way home (thanks Tara!). 

One unexpected thing that happened this week was a spontaneous visit with my next-door neighbour.  We've never really gotten to know each other, but now that she's about to move we finally spent an hour or two chatting, and it turns out that she's interested in cycling and food and textiles.  In fact, she even gave me her button and fabric stash and a bag of stuffing (thanks Margie!). 

The other thing that happened this week?  I finally decided to join the 21st century.