Knitting + Pear Cider

Montreal was gorgeous and immaculate. I will post some more pictures of our trip soon, but here is a cute pic of us with Coco for now. What is better than eating fruit bars on top of a mountain with crisp 70 degree weather in August?



I finished Brooke's birthday scarf. It is so nice to be off the size 17 plastic needles and using my size 6 Addis again! This scarf was very quick (four hours tops), and was pure garter stitch. Of course it got more compliments than anything else I've ever made. Isn't that how it always is?



I enjoyed a knitting meetup with some of the 'Degenerate Knitters'. We drank delicious pear ciders, laughed so loudly we drew attention and got lots of knitting done.



The Clapotis is 2/3 of the way done. I'm slightly enjoying it again, but it is boring me. At least until I get to relish in dropping the row of stitches every twelvth row.



Isn't the color of the cider lovely? What a refreshing summery beverage to accompany our knitting festivities...

I must sign off, my friends. I'm off to Ft. Lauderdale for a long weekend with my family, and a 10 year high school reunion. It should be a riot and I'm looking forward to catching up with some friends. Take care!

Curtains, Murals & Croissants

I'm generally not a novelty yarn type of gal.



However, when one of your best friend's birthdays is next week, you'll actually be in the same town, and they had given you 2 balls of rainbow novelty yarn to make them something months ago, this is what you get:

I had actually pulled it out, and restarted this on my lunch break yesterday. It's quick, fun, and quite suitable for South Florida. Mike's mom gave me these huge needles, and they're perfect for this project.



The picture above looks like a curtain to me. Perhaps one of these days, I'll knit some lacy, gauzy, linen curtains like I've seen around from Mason Dixon. In that 'fantasy', I'll also sit down and leisurely eat freshly baked croissants for breakfast at home every morning.

I forgot to show you a mural I helped paint for my friend's daughter's room. We used a projector to trace the graphic, and three of us finished it in an afternoon. It matches the graphic on her daughter's bedspread, and she approves! The daughter was the recipient of the dog purse I made, and was a quite gracious two year old.



I'm off to Montreal this weekend with Mike, David and Sara. I'm uber excited, and hope to get a book read and Brooke's scarf finished during the drive. My headlamp is ready...

...and no, I'm not joking.

Turqoise Market Bag

I finished one of my market bags. This was adapted from a Peaches N' Cream pattern. I'm not the greatest at crochet, but I enjoyed this fishnet type of stitch, and how easy it is to improvise with this craft.



It really is quick. I'm no convert, but did enjoy a crochet refresher lesson with my friend, Clara last Sunday.

I also added individual Pink Peony Cards to my shop today.



Alright, someone needs to get off the computer and pack for a weekend roadtrip. Goodnight!

Illustration Friday: Missing

This week's topic for Illustration Friday was "missing".



Lately, I've been obsessed with eggs. In a good way though. You can make any type of food, from quiches to meringues to cakes to savory crepes. They have all types of nutrients, and the shell can be eaten as it has calcium (thanks to Survivorman on the Discovery Channel).

I had a cockatiel named Peaches who laid unfertilized eggs quite frequently for a few years. She would sit on them constantly and become so hopeful. We'd have to take them away after a little bit of time. She always seemed so betrayed when she realized they were gone. I didn't want to show the poor hens, but I showed the aftermath of the missing piece.

Yellow Icarus Wings

I added two sets of these cards to my etsy shop today here. I will be adding new cards soon, sold individually...



I have to get going now, two of our friends are coming over for dinner tonight. Mike is going to make enchiladas, so I'm going to attempt to make churros and a chocolate dipping sauce. (Or churros y chocolate, which was the name of my old Spanish book!).

Oh, and mojitos of course. I just made a simple syrup, and added a splash of vanilla extract. It made my kitchen smell delicious.

Enjoy your weekends!

mariss+drew: open for business...

This is officially my whole hearted attempt to rev up my etsy shop, mariss+drew. If I announce it to my crafty and blogger friends, then I must follow through! You guys are great for accountability.



I did the half-hearted attempt in December, to get the first sale out of the way and make myself figure some things out.

I hope to make paper goods and perhaps some prints in the future. I'm obsessed with correspondence and stationary, and books and bookplates, so we'll see what happens.



I came up with the name last year. My brother and I were always "Marissa and Andrew" or "Mariss and Drew". One of the phrases I miss most is our names together, since I'm now the only piece left.

Sometimes when people die, you end up talking about them a lot. I feel like I do alot on this blog, but it's just a part of my life now, not necessarily a morbid thing. You just want to talk about that person sometimes, since they're a part of you, and always will be. They're just as important to you in death as in life. But I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me or uncomfortable. That would never be my intention.

Andrew inspired me to finally put myself out there, and use the talents I posess. He was the one who drew all the time, and filled journals with an entire universe he created for a comic featuring an alter ego he created, Rydek. He even had labeled the weapons and parts and pieces for all of the aliens in their universe. It was amazing, as he was.
In his passing, I had to re-evaluate what I wanted to do in my life. One of the things was making things for people, like I had always said I wanted to.

Either way, I'm looking to have fun with this creative outlet, work some stuff out, and enjoy myself making some art.

I still have more items to finish and put in the shop. Please be patient with my while I get everything up to speed! And thank you for your encouragement and support, in all aspects of my life.

xoxo, Mariss