Saturday I devoted my whole day to thrift shopping/antique mall-ing in search of a dresser for the studio. Mission accomplished!

If you'll recall, it was on my Complete the Studio to-do list. Also on the list is Paint the dresser. I'm tired of painting at the moment, and it's been raining for four days, so painting is not going to be a high priority for awhile. I can live with it like this for a good, long while, actually. It would be better if it was a brighter white, to match the walls, but I can deal for now. The shape is just what I wanted, and the size is perfect. I love the handles, and, while I didn't really want anything too shabby chic or distressed, the little painted swags on the drawers are kind of sweet.I also didn't think I needed a side table, but when I saw that little white one for $45 I kind of had to get it, and it turns out that it's really coming in handy.

I managed to thin out my yarn stash, and fit nearly everything in the bottom drawer. There are a few balls of sock yarn in one of the top drawers, and it's so nice that it's all safe from those pesky cats. I decided to display part of my creamer collection on a tray on top.

I need to find some small projects for the odd balls of yarn. What do you do when you have leftover yarn or orphan skeins?

Once the dresser was organized I was so inspired by my pretty new space, I worked on some treats for the shop. There's a couple peepers in there right now, and I hope to have some pincushion/needlebook sets by the end of the week. It's so nice to work out there now. It's a small room (barely 10'x14'), but I've got so much of my junk organized and cleaned out that it's just so easy to work. 

And, since you haven't seen this fuzzy face for awhile, I leave you with the one and only Winston:

I can't take it when he looks at me like that. I had the day off today, and spent it in the studio with the rain and then snow blowing and blustering outside, and I had to let this muddy thing in because I felt sorry for him. I hope my carpet will come clean.

I have been a tiny bit obsessed with scarves lately, so this will be the first in a series of posts about the scarves I’ve been making. I finished a knitted one, experimented with a wrap and some elastic for another, and am raiding my vintage lace and eyelet for yet another. I have some more ideas I want to try out soon, too. I’m going to start with the easiest one of all, however. If you’re in need of a really, really quick project with maximum satisfaction, this is a scarf you have to make. I take no credit for this idea, I saw it here, where you can even order a kit, although for about the same price you can buy your own fabric and have enough for two scarves. The key is to use Kaffe Fassatt’s shot cotton. That link has really good photos, and you can see the two colors blended in each swatch.

They’re just really lovely, the depth of color makes the fabric look almost like silk. I chose two blues, as you can see. All you have to do is get a yard of each of two colors (you could even use one of the stripes or plaids if you want to go a little more crazy), cut them in half lengthwise and sew one half of each together along a short end. I pressed the seam open and stitched again to hold the seam allowance in place. Then toss it in the washer, dry it, give it a light pressing and trim off the long, ravely bits and throw it around your neck!

Winston came by to participate in my photo shoot. He was asked to leave when he started trying to lick the subject’s face.

Another shot of the fabric because I just love it. I will probably keep pulling out threads along the edges as I wear it to get more of a fringe-y effect.

And now, to change the subject completely, a friend gave me these beautiful red and white egg cups and ceramic egg tray for Christmas, and I was playing around with them yesterday.

My sister-in-law gave me the red chicken egg cup a while ago, and they are all so happy together! They’re all from Anthropologie. When my friend handed me the bag I didn’t even have to open it, I just told her I loved it right away. We went to Anthropologie while I was in Boise, and that store is just like the mothership to me. I may have splurged on a new bag, which, coincidentally, goes nicely with my new scarf!

Today I decided that my New Year’s Resolution is to clean the microwave and the cubbyhole where it resides. I hope I can get it done by December. It’s a somewhat frightening task in its enormity.

I'm tired of that apple pie post, so it's time for something new. Unfortunately it's almost 10 p.m. and I'm tired, so I'm going to write a short post about fungi. I like mushrooms, but I don't know much about them. Interestingly, we have quite a unique specimen growing on one of our oak trees. We know it is interesting because one day we found a note on our front gate from a gentleman who was making a documentary about mushrooms and he asked if he could return to film our Chicken of the Woods mushroom for his movie. We called him to let him know we were happy for our fungi to have it's 15 minutes of fame, but sadly, his funding fell through and the compelling drama of the world of fungi has yet to be made.

Our tree has since died, but we left the massive trunk standing, and the Chicken of the Woods are still growing.

Last week, Jamie Oliver made Wild Mushroom and Venison Stroganoff and he used a chicken of the woods mushroom. I'm not sure if my culinary skills are up to something so exotic. I've never cooked venison and don't know any hunters, but it did look pretty good.

I also got some macro filters for my camera last week and took some extreme closeups.

For those of you not fond of fungi, I'll leave you with a little Winston shmoopie love.

How can you not love that little furry face?

I’m still trying to learn how to use my zoom lens, and I was practicing this morning. Sally kept walking closer and closer. I think I have a picture that is nearly all beak. In this one you can see her pretty blue eyes. Er, eye.

The dogs run through the dew and drink out of Sally’s pool in the morning, then go lay in the dirt, so they’re always a bit disheveled looking in the morning. Here’s Winston’s dirty face:

There has been quite the chicken soap opera going on around these parts, but it will take several entries to share that tale. In the meantime, meet Colonel Sanders:

Something I really need to work on: check the white balance before taking pictures! I was so concerned about my aperture and shutter speed that I forgot that the last time I used my camera I was taking pictures in the kitchen in the evening and had the white balance set on incandescent. Doh! So that’s why everything is blue. That’s also not the first time I’ve done that. When will I learn?

And now, a list of movies that should not be viewed on an empty stomach:

• Big Night
• Eat Drink Man Woman
• Howard’s End
• Mostly Martha

Do you have any to add to the list? I’m just trying to serve the public here at Hey Lucy, and prevent any unnecessary hunger pangs.

I watched Mostly Martha last night, but it was after dinner, so I was okay. Next on my Netflix queue is No Reservations. I’m going to see how it compares to Mostly Martha. I usually hate Hollywood remakes (for example, Shall We Dance, the Japanese version, is far superior to the U.S. version), so I have very low expectations.

Since the last post was about starting something new, I thought maybe I should try finishing some things for a change. All finished:


The pattern is Embossed Leaves, and this is the third pair I’ve made. I love this pattern, not only are they pretty and easy to knit, but they fit my big feet perfectly. This time I used some old Blue Sky Alpaca yarn that I had in my stash, and the gauge is probably a little big, but they’re so very soft and cozy. I’ll enjoy them a lot this Winter. As you can see, getting a picture outside without a dog in it is nearly impossible. Here’s what most of my shots looked like:


Winston finally got tired of posing and went to lay on the doormat.


His fur is growing back quickly. I hope it cools down soon, for his sake.

Next project, nearly finished:


I’m not even going to link to the post where I described starting this sweater, it was so long ago that I’m completely embarrassed. The pieces have all been knit for ages, but I needed to seam it, and it turns out I don’t really like seaming. Especially with this bulky cotton yarn. And then there was the crocheted edging. I want to like crochet, and I want to be good at it, but I think it’s going to take awhile before that happens. My hands feel all claw-like tonight after working on this. It’s just two rows, one of single crochet, and then one of crab stitch, which I didn’t think I was ever going to get the hang of doing. It is nice though, so it was worth the struggle.


I just have to sew in a zipper, which I am going to attempt tonight. This pattern is Blue Sky Alpaca’s Zip Cardigan (free!), and the yarn is Blue Sky Cotton. It’s lovely and soft.

One last nearly finished project, another bluebird pillowcase:


The first one I made for my Christmas swap with Yvonne. I was really tempted to keep it for myself, but I resisted. I still have to stitch up the hem and seams. I may even make one more, so I have a pair.