Vive la Révolution!

I love celebrating holidays, whether they have any significance to me or not. So that's why this past Monday I hosted my second annual Bastille Day fête. Last year's fête came about as a result of having to work on the Fourth of July on a freelance project about Paris. The Fourth of July is generally my favorite holiday of them all, so naturally I was very sad, and decided to remedy the situation by celebrating a similar holiday just a few days later: Bastille Day. BD07 was such a huge success -- with me, my stomach, and my Francophile nature -- that I decided to make it a tradition, this time with friends included.

Five friends joined me for soupe à l'oignon gratinée, ratatouille, quiche, baguettes, and that most French of desserts: petits gâteaux. And of course lots of vin. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen last weekend, but the result was well worth it!

This:



turned into these:



And these:



became this:



We also had this:



this:



and of course these:



Bon appetit!

Down to the wire

I made the Wallis Cardigan from Interweave Knits Summer for my mom's birthday. I like how it turned out...perhaps I'll make one for myself. I haven't put the buttons on it yet because I was literally knitting down to the wire on this one (several nights of three-hour naps and a mad race to the post office at 11:30 last Saturday morning). But when I see her next, I'll add them on. I made the smallest size using six balls of Ella Rae Baby Cotton. More photos over at Ravelry (subtropicalkatie).

Somewhere over the rainbow

My Mosaic

I saw this over at One Scheme of Happiness, and it looked fun!

-Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
-Using only the first page, pick an image.
-Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into the mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

Here's mine:



1. Katie and Nichole, 2. I *heart* Tater Tots, 3. Cuthbert, 4. I want to be where the Sun warms the sky, 5. CROP CIRCLE MAKER - Matthew Williams, 6. i love you water. i miss you diet coke., 7. Iceberg Graveyard in Antarctica, 8. Chocolate Cupcakes, 9. one would., 10. Autumn in the Mountains, 11. L'été indien, 12. Great Wooden Roof

We have a winner!

Congrats to Jacob for being the first North Dakotan visitor and winner of my North Dakota contest! Although, he's not a knitter, he still gets a prize—a lovely hand-knit scarf, which I will make one of these days. Special thanks and shout-out to Kate and Barbs, who facilitated all this! Turns out my North Dakotan visitor is my friend's mom's friend's friend's son—I think, whew! And in honor of this joyous day, here are a few of my favorite photos from my days as a prairie princess, aka North Dakota resident:

It's about time

And I'm done. The reason I started this blog back in fall was to commiserate with others over the Vogue Knitting lacy dress from last summer. And finally, just 10 months after I started, it's finished—well, mostly. I still have to weave in ends and sucker some poor sap—Richele or Sippi, this means you—into photoing me modeling it. Until then, a taste:



And there are plenty more where these came from over at Ravelry (subtropicalkatie).

Good and green

A few green things:

1. Purl's Joelle and Jen made some great points in their e-mail newsletter yesterday about crafting being green. So true! Check it out:

"Maybe you don't think of needlecraft as part of the growing green movement, but in our own small way, we crafters are true conservationists. The act of choosing to hand-make say, a quilt or sweater that can easily be store-bought saves a good amount of labor and industrial waste, all the while filling our spare hours with enjoyable work and spurring on our creative spirits. Our fabric scraps are salvaged and cobbled together and transformed into a patchwork treasure and yards of leftover yarn are stitched up into a little hat and slipped into the pocket of the sweater. In the end, the rewards are many: a handmade gift for you and those you love that can be beautiful as well as functional."

2. Taking green crafting to the next level, why not buy local? Just like groceries, buying yarn from nearby farms and spinners can help save packaging, gas and it supports local farmers. That's what I did two weekends ago at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. My friend Richele and I carpooled up to West Friendship, Md., for the festival. It was my first time to go, and it was amazing. I bought lots of yarn—too much, in fact—from Mid Atlantic-area companies and discovered many more that I want to try once I deplete my stash a bit.

We saw some llamas with haircuts.



And some cute baby sheep.



And we enjoyed some delicious fair food (Being children of West Virginia and Mississippi, respectively, Richele and I are big fans of state fairs, county fairs, local festivals, etc. For instance, I spent my 21st birthday at a county fair in Bloomsburg, Penn., but that's a different story. And more importantly, we're big fans of the food that is served at fairs. I'm a pseudo-vegetarian, and I maintain there is no better food in this world than a festival corn dog—perhaps I shouldn't mention that in a blog about being eco-friendly, but whatever, it's true).

3. My schedule/life is a bit more hectic now than a few months ago, but I've still managed to do a little knitting/sewing. The lacy dress is back in the picture since I-can-wear-white-after Memorial Day is fast approaching. I've been piecing it together and have only the sleeves left to set in, so I should reveal it on here sometime soon. Get excited.

Meanwhile, I've been itching for a little springtime quirk to perk up my wardrobe, so I made Amy Butler's Barcelona apron overlay using some of her new Midwest Modern fabric (purchased locally, of course). You can see the fashion shoot of that below. Thanks to Richele for the awesome pictures and for putting up with my America's Next Top Model-esque antics. Appropriately enough, it's green, which is my second-favorite color to wear.



And it's reversible!