Happy Summer Solstice!

My current knitting with its circular twirl is reminding me of an abstract sun::

It's an adult pinwheel sweater... and when held at the right angle, it's producing some great sun flares::


To celebrate this year's solstice I baked a Spice Nut Cake with Orange Frosting::I thought something citrusy with a bit of orange or yellow would be the perfect solstice cake. The cake and frosting recipe can be found here. I used candied orange slices to create the little sun decoration using these directions.

We decided that celebrating the solstice should become a regular event around here, included in the celebration is the making of Summer Resolutions and Goals for the season. What do you want to accomplish or do differently to make the most of your summer?

I hope you're enjoying the day and enjoying the sunshine*

some snippets::

a fun new yarn::

wearing-in the new sweater::

and a California Poppy::

Looking at the last picture, can't you imagine Georgia O'Keefe painting one? We went to the Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams exhibit at the SF MOMA. Two of my faves.

Change of Plans...

We interrupt today's issue of Soundtrack Monday to bring you the Weekend Recap::

On Saturday a tutu was made::

This was a simple, no-sew tutu, just requiring scissors, tulle, and ribbon. Anyone with some creative juices will understand how to get from the picture above to this, but if you need more details, let me know::

The tutu was required for a party on the beach, with a fantabulous view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I went as a mime {with a tutu}.The party required "Soundsuits" - your costume had to make noise ~ I was the Insurgent Mime, there to crash the party. Get it?? fun fun!

Knowing that the evening on the beach would end with a chill, I knit up a quick Foliage hat with my leftover Eco wool from the Vivian sweater {pictures of Vivian coming soon}. I'm loving Foliage in black, and it went so well with the mime outfit.

And finally, on Saturday, we didn't do much dressing up, but we did help out at a bike race. More fun in the sun, and plenty of time for knitting {there are some fun new projects in the works}!

Now, back to work:-)

Soundtrack Monday

A little late...

I've had the soundtrack from Slumdog Millionaire in my head lately. A great movie accompanied by really great music, so here you go::

A study in texture::

Photos from our trip into the mountains.








Unfortunately Vivian wasn't finished until the ride home, but she's blocking now, and I'm hoping to sew in the zipper this week!

Monday Soundtrack

A fun ditty for dancing around in the summer sun! The perfect contrast to the past couple of days we spent camping in the cold mountains, with rain and hail to boot. It was fun, but I'm definitely happy to be warm again.

go, dance, drink your sunny-d*
I discovered this, as I'm sure many did, watching Juno. It's All I Want is You by Barry Louise Polisar.

::the weekend::

There was definitely some knitting** on the deck::

But this didn't last long, because we moved all activities down to the dock.

First we towed a dock:: This was a public dock that came loose and floated its way over to our neck of the woods. We were overjoyed with the increase in dock size {ours is much smaller}, so we set ourselves up with some drinks, and a few lawn chairs, and we were about to float the day away... that's when we saw four kayakers headed our way - they were here to reclaim their dock, so rather than vacate the premises, we found some paddles and joined them for the ride.

That, my friends, opened up a world of possibilities.

We started simple, we untied our dock, picked up a few more drinks, and took it out for a ride.

On our next trip, we flew a kite off the dock::

Eventually we jumped off the dock::The water was a burly 33-35F, flowing into the lake from the melting snow. Jumping required courage.

And, you know, one thing leads to another, and before the end of the weekend, we bbqed on the dock::Yes, while the dock was floating in the middle of the lake. And yes, we did have a few boaters pull up along side us to see what this monstrosity was, but none of them took us up on the offer to dock their boats with us.

Warning ~ only try to bbq if you've spent a couple of days on the dock and feel confident with your dock maneuvering skills, especially when the thunder starts to roll in.

**I'm almost finished with the hood of my vivian, so pictures will come soon!