a drift wood heart.

I've been chided for not posting enough. My apologies! When I go on vacation I let all my responsibilities slide, I'll have to work on that next time around. I just got back to the city last night and every time I come back, my apartment feels more and more like my true home.

Jane, of Ill Seen, Ill Said, was kind enough to let me share my blogging space on her weekly "Where we blog from" feature. It was my first guest blogging experience. Thanks, Jane!

One of my favorite additions to my apartment is my drift wood heart from Hear Black Market. Nate and Katie make gorgeous drift wood creations, cards, and earrings from their home in Hawaii. Not to mention, they are some of the lovely people I've gotten in touch with thanks to blogging.

I'll be back this weekend with a surprise for you.

Keeping busy

School is out for a few weeks (summer classes!) and I'm in this strange situation in which I actually need to find things that will fill my time.
So far I've:
1. Gone out for coffee with friends.
2. Started knitting a blanket
3. Visited the AGO.
4. Done yoga every morning. This video, though terribly cheesy sounding, is great!
5. Made dinner for a friend. This spaghetti sauce with a very famous lemon yogurt cake for dessert.
6. Read Paul Arden's "It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be" as well as his other books.
7. Listened to a poetry reading.
8. Danced around my apartment to a great song recommended by a friend:

Another one for good measure:


Now I'm heading to the prairies to visit family and friends!

Aran Cables

(Folk Aran Golden Cardigan)

I`ve tossed around the idea of knitting a blanket for my apartment for awhile now. It`s one of those projects that is constantly set aside for more exciting. This past weekend, I bought some Cascade 220 Superwash in (no surprise here) grey that I`m determined to devote to the making of a nice cabled lap blanket. (Okay, I wavered a little and checked Ravelry for sweater patterns...).

Now that I am dead set on knitting a lap blanket, I`ve been looking around for inspiration online. Elena`s Making Margaret posts are fascinating, I love hearing about the process of creating. Folk`s Aran Golden Cardigan features lovely diamond aran cables, the same found on the Flocks carpet, below. My lap blanket is sure to feature diamond cables. In the meantime, I`m swatching with the help of the book Traditional Aran Knitting.

Jane also has a lovely post about Aran textures over on her blog.

(I cannot remember where this photo is from, but I know the carpet is from Flocks)(Flocks Carpet)

For more inspiring photographs not related to knitting at all, check out Brian Ferry`s Cliff Edge Series.

Also, Smitten Kitchen`s Spinach and Chickpeas dish is delicious. I`m off to make it for dinner.

St. Lawrence Market

I managed to live in Toronto seven months without visiting St. Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning. Nikole wrote about it here last summer. So, Julie agreed to get out of bed early on a rainy Saturday morning to join me at the market. There were so many options to choose from: fresh loaves of bread, salmon filets and so many cakes! In the end, I bought eclairs, dined on homemade pirogies for lunch and took home organic lemons and coconut oil for my hair. I can't wait to go back!

Spring clothes!

spring clothes!, originally uploaded by erica_knits.

A little color introduced in my wardrobe thanks to the lovely selection* at Robber.
The lovely ladies at Robber are celebrating their one year anniversary this weekend! Make sure to stop by if you're in the area.

Lovely Kate blogged about HEARBLACK's gorgeous etsy shop today. Do stop by and take a look. I have some lovely items coming my way from these fine folk, I can't wait to show you them when they arrive.

*From left: Steven Alan skirt, Alternative Apparel tee. But the black leggings with purple flowers are from Aritzia.

Flags!

roygbv, originally uploaded by youngna.

This weekend I was stuck inside writing papers (almost there!) and dreaming of gorgeous summer weather when I bought this gorgeous photo by Youngna on 20x200. Even though this photo was taken in the winter, the colorful flags make it feel like summertime.

It also reminded me of this photo I snapped at The Workroom last weekend where Karyn has the loveliest window displays.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! If you're like me and just about done school, good luck! Summer is almost here!