Gocco printers for sale at Paper Source! at West Coast Crafty.

DIY printable fabric labels at Craft.

Straight sided triangular cosmetic bag tutorial at Craftster.

Neat, furoshiki bag at Swiss Miss.

Hike: Wallace Falls, at Seattlest.

Good hikes around Seattle, at Ask Metafilter.

I love Index, Washington, and it makes me sad to hear that somebody might cut down the view.

The Frock Shop redid it's website and now they are selling lovely things online! Also, it looks like they are having a sidewalk sale on nice days this week.

In the comments for my first post about the sweater Emily reminded me that I should check the gauge on my swatch after I had washed it. This makes a tremendous amount of sense. She also reminded me that when choosing which size to knit on a sweater pattern you should take your own measurement and add an amount of ease, in this case I'm going with 2 inches, which also makes a tremendous amount of sense. Thank you Emily, your advice saved me from a few embarrassing post-sweater conversations that would probably have included the phrase "you didn't ___?" spoken in one of those amused/outraged Everybody Knows That tone of voice. If a tone of voice could roll it's eyes this would be that tone. I hear this tone a lot.

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Blocking out exterior noise and how to soundproof your apartment at AT:LA and AT:Home Tech.

How to light and outdoor party, hassle free, at AT:SF.

Oooh, fire lanterns that lift themselves up by their own heat. At Oh Happy Day.

The saga of reupholstering an ottoman at Home By Sunset. I must remember this, I'm sure some reupholstering is in my future.

In the category of Best Blog I Somehow Never Knew About: Making It Lovley, Nicole kept track of everything she did with her first house. I'm keeping the before and after kitchen pictures in mind because I hate our wood kitchen cabinets yet fear changing them (we're not going to be in this house forever so the phrase resale value haunts me.)

Decor8 is doing a month of orange and I love this collection of interiors using orange.

We're headed up to Orcas Island next month for a wedding and we're planning on staying for a few extra days on either Orcas or San Juan Island. I'm looking at the list of places to stay on Orcas Island at Seattle Song, but personal recommendations are always the best.

Do you have recommendations for fabulous places to stay on either Orcas Island or San Juan Island? I'm thinking more relaxing than sightseeing, more getting away from it all than being right in a little town, and while I'm not particularly inclined to get out of bed and make conversation in the morning, I'll consider bed and breakfasts that are worth it. Views of water or sunset and possibly and in-room fireplace would be fantastic. Also, any tips on what to see or eat while we're out there?

Delicious energy bars at Chow.

This week in frozen crack, Chow on Edy's/Dreyer's "Loaded" ice cream.

Easy tiramisu at The Amateur Gourmet.

Homemade cookies and cream pudding pops at Baking Bites.

Chocolate frosted cupcakes with a secret! at Celadon Cupcake.

Am I a supertaster? at Slate.

Garden Party, a cocktail that contains Chartreuse, at Imbibe.

Domicile is seeking a whole wheat bread recipe.

New stainless steel cookware from Le Creuset, at The Kitchen.

More about cookie baking at Splatgirl.

I've finally gotten around to knitting a whole sweater. When Lion Brand released the new version of Cotton-Ease yarn and I saw the Charcoal color I decided to use that to make ChicKnits fabulously basic Ribby Cardi. I'll be keeping notes on this site (otherwise I'll lose them).

The beginning of the notes:

To be safe I bought eight balls of the yarn, which I finally found at a Michael's craft store. I swatched last night using size 6 needles and came out with 17 sts/ 24 rows over 4" St st. The gauge is 19 sts/24 rows over 4". I'll be making the all-ribbed version of the sweater so I'm slightly less concerned about gauge. I'll go ahead and make the size sweater I would be making if I did get gauge. Should I do a size smaller instead?

The pattern calls for certain parts of the sweater to be done on smaller needles, so I'll be using a size 5 for those. Since ribbing often does better on smaller needles, I'm not too concerned about using needles smaller than the size 7 called for in the pattern.

I'm going to do the all ribbed version of the sweater with the stand up collar. I'll be sewing in a separating zipper. I might make the sleeves slightly long as I like longer sleeves to snuggle into. I'm going to use a tubular cast on for the hem and cuffs, but need to learn a tubular bind off for the top edge of the collar. Also, I have to learn to do finishing seams. This might take me a while.

links to tubular bind offs (thanks Maggi!):
- at Savannahchik Knits
- at My Fashionable Life
- at Crankygrrrrrl
- list of techiques at Knit Flix, including a note for the My Fashionable Life bind off

Very expensive but possibly worth it mascara recommendations: Yves Saint Laurent Faux Cils at A Grrls Wrrld, and Shiseido Advanced Volume Mascara at Lip Gloss and Laptops.

Four types of wrinkles and how to get rid of them at The Beauty Brains.

Favorite cheap beauty tricks at Faking Good Breeding. Lots in the comments too.

What to do about too-low cleavage? at Sundry Buzz.

Sorta sad story about the I'm Not A Plastic Bag bags, at Making Things.

Capsule Letters, small pill shaped plastic cases for secret messages, at Cool Hunting.

Voting is open for Fred Flare's Next Big Thing contest.

The Germinatrix recommends Le Labo's Rose 31 perfume, it sounds wonderful.

Less than a week after buying my thrift store crock pot I found a another one. This new one has a removable interior which is so much easier to wash. It was more expensive but I happened to find it on 50% off day, and it has pictures of herbs on the outside. I'm smitten. I made a batch of eight hour oatmeal in it and it didn't scorch the oatmeal* or burn down the house.

* In the previous crock pot entry Quackyduck mentioned that newer slow cookers cook at higher temperatures (to prevent food-borne illness or some silliness) so they might not work for some recipes. As the comments on Alton Brown's recipe for Overnight Oatmeal reveal, the newer cookers might just be the cause of burnt oatmeal... or it might be a glitch on some recalled Rival cookers over heating control problems.

eating:
Dancing Deer Backing Company Molasses Clove Cookies
Ok, so it's not quite a summery flavor, but the store didn't have any strawberry pies.

watching:
Dr. Who
We're hooked after two episodes.

buying:
Crystal Palace Circular Knitting Needles
I like the little rotating bit.

reading:
Cook's Illustrated magazine
They like the onion goggles!

doing:
filing
Oh boy. Filing. My folders aren't as fun as these from See Jane Work.