I love the bleedycake over at Going Bridal. I must make one for each holiday. Bleeding leprechaun cake, bleeding easter egg cake, bleeding Arbor Day tree cake…

I found a yarn shop in my very own town! I think it opened recently as it isn’t in the yellow pages or anywhere else. It’s called The Knitter’s Studio, and the gals inside were very friendly and cheerful. They carry all sorts of yarn, arranged by color, which makes a pretty presentation. I expect I’ll be back very often, although they don’t carry my current trail – Zucca. They also had some very nice knitwear for sale, every Rebecca I could imagine, kits and books. They have a website which isn’t ready just yet – The Knitter’s Studio.

Here’s where they are if you’re in the area: 648 Menlo Ave, Suite 1, Menlo Park, CA. The shop is a storefront on the next block over from the main shopping drag, Santa Cruz Ave, so you can park in the lots which are located between Santa Cruz Ave and Menlo Avenue.

I joined the Bonny Doon Vineyards wine club, D.E.W.N., a while back and the third shipment for the year just arrived, the labels are neato so I wanted to show you – click here to see ’em. They were designed by Matt Flansburg.

I spotted issue number 3 of ReadyMade on the newsstands this weekend. It is another very good issue.

More on Letterboxing: I first heard of Letterboxing from this article in my Father’s Smithsonian when I was in college. I seem to remember a much longer article. But briefly the history is, it started on the moors of Dartmoor somewhere around 1854 and people have been trading clues ever since. This article is what inspired Letterboxing in North America to be set up. Here is a little more on the history.

oooh – maganda’s pretty pretty necklace

Look at what Spinning-Jennie has been up to – recycled magazine envelopes and a pretty mirrored purse pomander compact (with instructions)

Emira at Soapboxgirls has found that a simple sheet of felt on her Swiffer works just as well at picking up cat hair, and is reusable so it is nicer to the environment. She is searching for a reusable electrostatic cloth. A quick search on Google pulls up allergy specialty stores, but could one find them in drugstores?

I just realized that my cutting table would make a great blocking surface for knitting. I could draw a grid onto the paper, cover it with clear plastic and pin down as needed. Now I just need to get around to knitting something which requires blocking.

What is the difference between Dream Whip and meringue powder? I wonder if Dream Whip would work to make royal icing.

simple recipe for generic pudding pops at erica mulherin

Bob’s Psycho-Sparkle Shower Cleaning Method over at spinning-jennie

American Homebody suggests one of my favorites, Geocaching, as an option for getting out of the house. I’m even more fond of Letterboxing, it’s more like treasure hunting and no expensive equipment is required.

I have wondered about this too – why does butter in California come in shorter, fatter sticks than most other places? Girlhacker points us here (second question) for an answer of sorts. Do you know?

my mini pencam

A few people have asked about the mini pencam I keep going on about. Here are some details:

• I bought the mini pencam which is exactly the same as the pencam mega, just smaller (and released later). I know because I ended up purchasing both and returning the larger one.
• it’s about $90, I hear it sometimes goes on sale at Target for around $60
• like squib said, the “macro” focus ring is somewhat of a joke, but it exists on both the mega and the mini
• reviews/pictures:

  http://www.kungfugrippe.com/pencamreview.php

  http://pencam.org/pencam/

  http://dutchpink.com/random/debs/

  http://www.hencio.com/pencam/about_pencam.php

  http://www.geocities.com/charles_islas/aiptekmega.htm

• I put up some untouched, right-off-the-camera pictures for you to view here, they are rather heavy K-wise, just so you know
• I adore it, but it isn’t a great only camera. It doesn’t have zoom or a flash, does poorly in low light, and there is not little view screen in the back. It isn’t compatible with Macs, and lots of people have had trouble installing the camera manage software (I didn’t have any trouble). It eats batteries very quickly, and seems like it could break easily as well. But, it’s teeny, about the size of half a pack of cigarettes, lightweight, and cute.