Two Sweaters by the End of the Week?

See that pile of hand-knitted goodness? Those are the pieces to my Central Park Hoodie, which were finished before the Christmas holidays. I put them on hold because, well, I was running out of yarn. It seems to be a common thing with me these days. *sigh*

Anyway, because I didn't have a chance to block the pieces before I went out of town, I started a different sweater, Cassidy, in its place. I will be finishing up the second sleeve of Cassidy today. Then, while those pieces are blocking, I can seam up the CPH and assess what I can do with my remaining yarn. I'm hoping for button bands and a ribbed collar, at the very least.

In other craftiness, The Brain and I decided that we wanted to add some more color to our apartment. San Diego is filled with a lot of hand-crafted, colorful artsiness (see the Spanish Village Art Center for an example--we like to walk down there on the weekends and browse the galleries). We also like to browse through all the arty goodness at Bazaar del Mundo, and were pleasantly surprised with a gift card to their shops by The Brain's parents after their visit with us last November.

The first thing we knew we wanted to pick up were some lengths of hand-woven cotton cloth in some vibrant colors. Combined with a couple of wooden dowels from the hardware store, we think these will make some lovely wall hangings for our bedroom. The only thing stalling us now is the question of how to attach the cloth to the dowels. The Brain is all for just gluing the cloth around the dowels at the top and bottom, but a) we don't have a glue gun, and b) I'm afraid the glue will soak through the cloth and look tacky. I would prefer to fold the cloth over the dowel and sew it down, but we don't have a sewing machine and I'm not sure either of us are confident enough with our hand-stitching to make that idea look presentable. So for now, our pretty cloths are languishing in the office, waiting for something to give. I have a feeling I'll end up caving and going with the glue idea, but don't tell The Brain that! ;-)

My other favorite find at the shop is the variety of colorful paper flowers they have all over the stores. We put together this bouquet of six huge blooms for about $20. They add so much brightness to the dreary winter living room that I want to get more for every room of the apartment. Love! :)