Life right now // AUGUST 2014

loving the Molly's podcast A Homespun House. Sweet and inspiring!

thinking about small businesses, coffee and books.

eating food from different countries every day. Yesterday was falafel <3

wondering how to move in to Shetland! *obsessed*

listening to Lost Stars. My obsession with the Begin Again OST is still strong!

enjoying playing tourist in Paris. 

making progress on my crafty projects. multi-tasking is my way of life.

struggling with job applications.

feeling exhausted after walking miles and miles in Paris for the last 4 days.  

dreaming of Winter knits. I'm filling the house with wool!

finding it easier to get up early (mostly so i can knit!)

celebrating the leaves turning yellow and red. Fall is the best!

watching the new Doctor Who series! not sure how I feel about Capaldi yet.

hoping to make it happen.

SHETLAND WOOL WEEK // COLORWAY

I need your help!

As you've read here last week, I am taking part in the Shwook hat knit along to celebrate the Shetland Wool Week in October. Shwook is a fair-isle hat that requires 5 different colors. And I bought 8 balls. Each one prettier than the other. And now I can't pick the final 5. So I made a few combo, snapped pictures, and now I would like for you to help me pick one. What do you think? Pink or no pink? Yellow or not? That yarn is just so pretty!

SHETLAND WOOL WEEK // KNIT ALONG

I have quickly mentioned it here before, but in October (4th to 12th) will take place the Shetland Wool Week, a celebration of knitting and pretty yarns (and sheeps) in Shetland. Even though I can't go, I (and many others) will participate from my home, knitting a Shwook Hat, a pretty fair isle hat pattern that is free to grab on the Shetland Wool Week Website!

Melody from Mandarine's has created a Ravelry group for the Knit Along (sponsored by Jamieson & Smith!) that you are all free to join. I think it would be awesome if we all knitted something together at the same time, don't you think?

All you need is the free pattern and 5 tiny cute 25gr balls of Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumper Weight (or something similar). I actually bought 8 very pretty one and now can't decide which 5 to keep, so I will need your help with that soon!

Shwook hat in progress - from the very lovely Lori

Can't wait for October! We can never have to many hats right?

I Love Books // Summer 2014

Here's a little bit about what I have been reading this Summer. I'm always looking for some good books so feel free to share your favorites in the comments :)



THINGS A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME - Biz Stone

Biz Stone is the co-founder of Twitter (get the book title now? ^^), also worked on Blogger when it was first launched (!!) and likes to call himself a creative genius, which is not far from the truth I think. He's also really good at writing, so the book is a pleasure to read and almost feels like a novel. A very smart and funny novel. I don't think you need a Twitter account to enjoy the book. We're humans in a world that evolves around technology and that's what he talks about. He is also seriously inspiring and has a very positive attitude very different than like Zuckerberg (i'm strongly considering deleting my Facebook, but that's not the point). The book is brilliant, read it!

Fave quote: "You are writing the story of your life. Edit it as you go. (...) What's worth saying?"

THE GOLDEN COMPASS TRILOGY - Philip Pullman

After Harry Potter, this is probably my favorite book series from my childhood, so I decided to read them again this Summer. It's a kids story, told by a kid, but so well written and rich in its style and subjects that I could still be 70 and want to read it. It's moving and funny and smart and magical, everything I love.

Fave quote: “We feel cold, but we don't mind it, because we will not come to harm. And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin. It's worth being cold for that.” 

THE MAGICIANS - Lev Grossman

I read that book 4 years ago I think and I only really remember the first part. I know why now. It's a BIG book, divided in several equally BIG parts and I strongly feel that it actually should have been divided in two separate books. I'm probably sure I would take a lot more pleasure reading the second part, which is REALLY different from the first one. My second issue is with the main character, which I don't have a lot of empathy for, and the writer doesn't make much effort in making us care for him I found. The result is that I didn't cry when someone died or something sad happened.  But maybe that's just me! However, the book is really really well written, and much more adult than HP (they get compared a lot), and the story is like a book inside a book which is awesome. I've just discovered there are two more books in the series and I think i'm going to give them a try!

Fave quote: "It's like he's opening the covers of a book, but a book that did what book always promised to do and never actually quite did: get you out, really out,  of where you were and into somewhere better."

LOVE, ROSIE - Cecelia Ahern

So I actually discovered the book after watching the trailer for the movie based on it. Started to read it the next day. It's about Rosie and Alex who have been best friend since the age of 5, and we follow their life till age 50. It's also about love, and how life sometimes gets in the way. In an epistolary format. Well, more like a 21st century version, emails, chats… Which is actually perfect for the story! It's really (really) sweet, and funny and I loved reading it. Until the last few chapters. I'm not super into the way it ends and what I think is the moral of the story. But i'm still very excited for the movie to come out!!

Fave quote: “You deserve someone who loves you with every single beat of his heart, someone who thinks about you constantly, someone who spends every minute of every day just wondering what you’re doing, where you are, who you’re with, and if you’re OK. You need someone who can help you reach your dreams and protect you from your fears. You need someone who will treat you with respect, love every part of you, especially your flaws. You should be with someone who could make you happy, really happy, dancing on air happy.” 

PS: If you are following me on Instagram, I use the hashtag #LeaLovesBooks to document my readings!

Your verse

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. 

To quote from Whitman: "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" 

Answer. 

That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse." 

What will your verse be?

John Keating - DEAD POETS SOCIETY

YARN ALONG // the lucky find

Joining in with Ginny for the Yarn along. 

I love to read. I love to knit. Here's a little bit about both.

Almost two months ago i stopped by a Phildar shop in Paris and picked up a new catalogue. Then I went home, skimmed the pages quickly and fell in love with the lovely scarf/chèche. I mean seriously that color? That's basically my description of Fall (you know, the BEST season of the year!). So i went looking for that yarn. 10 shops and a few weeks later, I had nothing. The yarn used wasn't in stock anymore or would ever be because the brand was moving on to their winter yarn and this one (a mix of coton and linen) doesn't qualify I guess. Then Monday I was in Paris and went to one of my favorite shopping spot basically just to look at pretty things. I know they had a Phildar corner so I went to well look at pretty yarn basically. And there it was. The yarn I had been looking for everywhere. 9 balls of them, at only 99 cents each! Apparently they had been lost and forgotten for a while in a box. Obviously i grabbed them all (even though i actually only need 4/5 for the pattern). Lucky day right? The color is even prettier in real life, i'm in love. And i don't even mind that the pattern is in french even though i only know how to knit in english! I translated everything yesterday and quickly casted on. Can't wait to wear it!

Books now! I have been reading A LOT of magazines lately. Pictures + words, it's basically the best. I started a subscription to Taproot (that name is awesome) and got my first issue in the mail last week. Full of beautiful words. I also grabbed the most recent issue of Flow Magazine which I find crazy inspiring. Have you read any of this two magazines?

As for novels/fictions, i am reading Where rainbows end (also known as Love, Rosie) mostly because they made a movie out of it, I really really liked the trailer and so I thought I'd read the book first. I ALWAYS read the book first. Are you like that too?

Anyway, that's it for this week, can't wait to see what you are all working on!

ps: the blue scarf is done!! Well i still have to bind off and then block it which is probably going to take forever since it's so big but i'm excited! I'll post about it soon!

Favorite things to do when the house is empty

Loud music. And lots of dancing.

Doing things at weird hours. like deciding that 11pm is the perfect time to sort your closet.

Making little crafty messes in every single room. yarn. everywhere.

Not doing the bed. Sorry mom! (also works with the dishes obviously)

Wearing the same comfiest shorts over and over again.

Spending all morning reading in bed.

Doing a Harry Potter Movie marathon on the big TV in the living room.

Really long baths.

More dancing. I'm slightly obsessed with the Begin Again OST.


what about you?

1 PHOTO & 20 WORDS // my mom's flowers

Water & Sunshine. 

Watching the flowers bloom and trying to keep them alive for the Summer. 

Wish me luck.

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Joining in with Abi over at Creating Paper Dreams for A photo & 20 words. check it out.

52 weeks of art journaling - TWO

On my 25th birthday i started working on a new mini album to record my thoughts on that special year, who i am and want to be, what i like and dream about and all the little details that make the everyday. I am following along with Rachel Denbow's class 52 weeks of art journaling (which is amazing!) and using a Dear Lizzy mini album along with a massive amount of scrap supplies i have been hoarding forever. Here's a look at some recent pages:

LOOK UP/LOOK DOWN is something I like to do when i am out taking photographs. It's a fun way to change your perspective and see things differently I think. But in my everyday life I am more of a look down walk fast kind of girl. Which is so bad because you know, the sky is so pretty and full of possibilities. Also, if you're wondering, those blue stitches are supposed to be stars yes :) On the left i just found a cute photo from a magazine and wrote on it with a sharpie. 

EVERYTHING WILL BE JUST FINE. Hopefully.

Next is my Summer 2014 Happy List. I got the idea from this post by Julia Paige just after watching the prettiest loveliest movie i've seen in a while. It's called Begin Again (or New York Melody if you're in France) and it's about love and music. Seriously, go see it :)

Other things that have been making me happy lately would be knitting, reading before bed, quiet days, happy mail and dancing. What about you?

One last spread, following a prompt from the class. What do you want? What do you need? I'm pretty sure happiness lies somewhere in the middle. Simplest page i've done so far. A piece of paper, a black pen. I really like it :)

Want to see more pages? There is some here and here!