neato – briva in-sink dishwasher, via shiny shiny

There are so many pretty things at Illico Design, and check out this two person Jou-jou, lollipop. Illico are the people who make the reusable dish stickers, as seen everywhere.

Recently the peoples at Purlygirls were dissing Red Heart*, just wait until they see what my project for the Fall Knitty is made out of. Speaking of Knitty, the first of two summer surprises is up.

* Not that there is anything wrong with that! I’m just using it to work the Red Heart – Knitty – surprise pattern connections that exist only in my brain.

Everything is back to normal here, except of course for the giant charred hole across the street.

I am completely in love with the kitchen curtain project in the July/August 2004 ReadyMade magazine. It’s based on a Shaker kitchen towel idea and is delightfully simple.

And, although I’m not one for designer bags (I’ve been using the same black Old Navy bag for four years) this, the Netflix of bags, is interesting – Bag Borrow Or Steal.

At 3:45 this morning I woke up suddenly and looked outside. There were no alarms going off, no sirens in the distance, no people around, and the not yet occupied three story town house across the street was completely engulfed in flames that were shooting at least another two stories into the sky. The only sound was the crackling and splitting of very hot wood. By the time I had my wits about me and was pulling on my jeans a guy was outside shouting “Fire! Wake up! Fire! Everybody wake up!”. We phoned 911 and were told that trucks were already on the way. Outside the heat was incredible. The fire completely burned down two new townhouses that were under construction but were standing and had roofs and windows, it gutted the townhouses next door, destroyed the condo on the other side, set the roof of the independent movie house on fire and melted our next door neighbors vinyl siding. Every time a news station interviewed a fire chief we listened in and learned that no one was injured. The fire department got the flames under control at around 6:30, and the remains were still smoking at noon.

So, double check your renters insurance, phone your relatives, hug your loved ones, make sure your smoke alarms are working, and leave a large tip for the people who work in the coffee house with free wireless. And, posting here will be slow until the phone company manages to replace the lines which, as far as we can find out, have melted together.

Very useful – instructions for a DIY bottle cap tripod, inspired by this. Via Gizmodo. Boing boing linked to another DIY tripod project a few days ago but I haven’t been able to get it to load.

Those Gap shoes that are just like flip flops but don’t go between your toes are on sale, and I promise that is the last time I’ll mention them.

Knitty has a book of knitting patterns coming out, it’s titled Knit Wit and I’m so happy to be able to say I have a couple of patterns in it! yay! One you’ve likely seen already but is done in a new type of yarn, and the other is easy and (I hope) practical. Amy has posted a picture of the finished book on the Knitty weblog and you can see it here. See how practical it is the way it not only stays open but stands up? This is the height of thoughtfulness. And! you can preorder the book at Amazon.

Stuff I am loving at Plum Party — the bright Tepper Jackson bags and pjs; the shiny happy French Bull dinnerware; and these supercute Spitfire Girl box cards – invitations in a box with fun toys.

Pyramid shaped watermelon (third picture) – notice the sand and little cut out camels?

via gizmodo

I’m still doing the candy thing – Liquorice Altoids are strong enough to make your whole bag licorice scented. I’m generally a fan of black licorice but I’m not sure if this is quite for me. And, beware (!) of Eclipse Lemon Ice gum – I thought I would be getting lemony goodness and I got horrid menthol cough drop wierdness.

We found a place to live next year! yay!

These Stamp Cups are clever – they are coffee cups with a shaped bottom so that instead of coffee rings you get a floral pattern.

via gizmodo

I seem to be coping with Finding A New Place To Live stress by becoming interested in candy – Harry Potter candy, itty bitty Tootsie Pops from Diablo, gigantic Chupa Chups the size of melons that I didn’t even pretend I was going to buy, small boxes of Japanese candies, and, when everything else has been eaten, tiny chocolate chips meant for baking. I have procured an embarrassing number of those Gap flip-flop-alike slides. And my beloved Bonny Doon has a new web site, and a new wine club. And, The Final Countdown is an excellent thing to sing (or in my case hum because I don’t know the words, are there words?) in the car on the way to many many house viewings.

One of the things which is keeping me uber busy in the month of July is finding a new place to live. So, if you know of a house in Seattle for rent that has at least one bedroom and space for two offices you will live in my personal Eternally Grateful Hall of Fame forever if you let me know about it. We’re not too keen on the parking in Capitol Hill but anywhere else is fair game, also we’re not ruling out duplexes or an apartment in smaller complexes. *

Things I wish I had more time to talk about:

– how the Harry Potter candy you can find in the stores is so much better in my imagination

– how my friend Amy has launched her vinyl goodies business Sugabeats and why you should check it out

– how the Summer Knitty entitled Sex and the Knitty is full of things that will make you swoon with delight

* Our family and friends in nice, cheap Cleveland keep asking us why we’re not buying a house and then we ask them if we can borrow four hundred thousand dollars and then they stop asking us about that.