Home again, home again

In the midst of all this cold, snow, ice, and stress, it is time to take a bit of a break and head home for the weekend.
I plan to leave tomorrow and  spend my weekend keeping warm, crocheting, and watching Downton Abbey.

Oh and maybe I'll say hi to my little sister, Bear, while I'm there :)

I absolutely love the William and Mary life.

Colonials

Books

Awful coffee

Amazing professors

The best friends

But (not to be cliche) there really is no place like home.

Family

Puppies

Cats

My own room

Not having to leave the house for food

I can't wait til I'm snuggled up in my own house surrounded by comfort, family, and pets!

Wonderboy lives near by so he's tagging along for a ride home as well.

Though secretly I think he just wants to come so he can meet my dogs, Ebony and Lucy.

Ebony!

Lucy!

They are the sweetest things! Who wouldn't want to meet them?!

(I must credit my older sister Lemur and my younger sister Bear for the adorable puppy pics!
Where would I be without them?)

I hope your weekend is as great as mine is going to be!

Cheers,
Crsityn

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

It is time to introduce you all to my current work in progress (WIP), also known as the love of my life.

I have tentatively named her (yes, she is a her) my Tangled shawl, after one of mine and Wonderboy's favorite Disney films. 

Mainly, the name comes from the colors because while working the second set of hexagons with dark purple, lavender, and yellow I couldn't help but think of all those purple flags with yellow suns from the movie.

Not to mention that the more I work on her the more I feel her becoming playful and innocent with a little bit of a daring edge like Rapunzel (which also happens to be my favorite fairy tale).

Okay so maybe I've given my shawl a few too many human characteristics?

But did I mention I love her?

I started the Tangled shawl about a month ago, over winter break, and am about two thirds of the way through with the hexagons. This is my first work with granny squares and it takes more time than I was expecting it to, though I am anticipating that this shawl will be done just in time for spring, 

which will be the absolute perfect time to show her off!

I'm using Lisa Harding and  Debbie Bliss yarns. These brands can be a little pricey and I am not used to spending so much money on yarn, but the quality is definitely worth it.

As for the pattern I am using a variation on motif 37 from the book "Beyond the Square". 

I do not own the book nor do I have access to the pattern so I formulated my own pattern and came pretty darn close if I do say so myself! (I will post the pattern with the finished project, until then you will just have to wait in anticipation :) )

I really seem to have a thing for shawls lately. I just ordered yarn for a second shawl. This time it will be simple and all grey. I find I work best by having two projects going at once. One is something real easy that I can work on during downtime after a long day of classes 

(such as the gift for Mrs. J I am working on, which I'll post later, or this next shawl project)

the other is something a bit more intensive

(the Tangled shawl)

that I can sit down and work at  on the weekends and really get to enjoy the beauty of the work.


Cheers,
Crsityn

Tea Time!

With the weather turning cold again today all I feel like is a nice cup of 

HOT TEA!

And this is the most lovely tea set to serve it in.

<3

Stay warm today!

Cheers,

Cristyn

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway!

SNOW!

This is my first snow in Williamsburg! I went to bed after a well fought snowball fight in the William and Mary sunken gardens and a nice hot shower, though unfortunately upon returning to my room I discovered my unfathomable lack of hot chocolate!

.............

And this morning I woke up to this...

Classes were cancelled til noon, which meant sleeping in!

So overall a pretty good time over here in Williamsburg today.

Cheers,

Cristyn

Love Actually...

...A few things I actually do LOVE:

1- Colonial Williamsburg; it is one of my favorite places ever. I am not a world traveler (yet!), but I know that out of all the cities in the world CW will always hold a special place in my heart.

It is beautiful and quaint, and it is never hard to imagine myself sitting outside reading, writing, or crocheting with all the lovely colonials!

2- Grey; something about the color grey just encourages me to snuggle up and take a nap.

Some of my favorite sweaters are this color and if I am ever in doubt (whether picking out cloths or choosing yarn) light cozy grey is always my go to.

3- That being said, I adore bright pastel-ly colors in a room. They liven up a mood, create space, and make me feel happy.

4-Thrifting; I frequent Goodwill more than is truly healthy and the antique shop in my home town is to die for.

I adore vintage, pretty much vintage everything. 

Why buy it new when you can buy it old?

5- Coffee; as a college student it is a need, but for me that rich aroma and bracing taste is just as calming and relaxing as it is energizing

6- Haiti; if you have never been I will not push you to go. Visiting a third world country isn't for everyone, however if you ever do go I can guarantee you it will be a life changing experience.

As an anthropologist in the making the cultural codes were fascinating and in contrast with my own, 

but as a human being the people were bright and friendly and full of life despite the hardships you could see all around them.

7- Crocheting

Cheers,

Cristyn

Friends, Photography, and Reenactments

Time to bombard you with pictures!

Not a whole lot has gotten done on the crafting front this weekend as I decided that a day in Colonial Williamsburg was in order. This is by far the best way to start off a semester (even if the weather was rather chilly!) Thus I spent most of my day in CW with my hall-mates Sam and Steven. We did a tour of the governors palace and went in as many buildings as possible in order to stay out of the frozen January wind.

I also went to the Sinfonicron at William and Mary Saturday night as one of my friends just happened to be first violin! If you have never been to a sinfonicron performance GO. It was well worth the five dollars and three hours. The play was indeed very loooooong. However, it was "Sullivan and Gilbert" so it was hilarious! I attended the play with A, Wonderboy (my absolute best friend) and Mrs J (A's roommate and our resident history buff), and as far as college nights out goes, it was really tame though definitely my scene and more fun than a crazy party anyway.

Stone angel pot in the governor's garden

Powder kegs in the armory

By far one of my favorites! It's one of the many benches you can find throughout the gardens.

A house keepers desk

A child's doll in the governors palace. I just found this to be the cutest thing. 

Perfect inspiration!

Original colonial drums in the armory!

Me in the ballroom. I was so ready to waltz! Too bad Sam and Steven would not have cooperated with this plan : /

Jar love!

Bridge behind the carpenters

Amazing place! The bindery, sooo many BOOKS!

Place setting for a ball.

Beautiful stairs!

Lovely quaint bed in the stables. 

Unfortunately, whoever lived there probably found it more smelly than charming.

Charming winding staircase

WIGS! Need I say more? I am so glad that this is no longer a thing!

And to end the day right, Sinfonicron! (That's Wonderboy in some ever attractive Crocs, no worries I soon fixed the situation)

Cheers,

Cristyn

Beautiful beginnings...

... don't you just LOVE an alliteration?

Not only do I feel that this is the start to something pretty AMAZING, but today was truly beautiful; fifty degrees in January! The next best thing to snow and no school.

Classes ended by twelve today for me so A, my partner in crime, and I decided to give the local bus system a try. We kinda winged it on a line we had never been on but the risk of getting lost really paid off. Not only did we find the yarn shop we had been looking for, but we also found a cool little tea shop and A was able to get some NEW TEA for our tea times.

We spent a good while in the yarn shop called The Knitting Sisters and I got this really LOVELY colored yarn! I saw it and just had to have it! Truthfully I went in intending to buy just the one skein of yarn I needed to finish my current project, but I sort of lost control. They didn't actually have the yarn I needed so I reasoned that by getting this yarn the trip wasn't a total waste.

I mean just LOOK at all the potential this color has!

Admittedly, my camera couldn't grasp all the perfection of the yarn, so you may have to just trust me on this.

I haven't decided what it's going to be yet, though I am considering a tea cozy or fingerless gloves. What do YOU think?

I also got this in the mail today...

It has 75 different GRANNY SQUARE patterns (!) all of them are simply GORGEOUS. I can't wait to start trying some of them out. I'll post some pics when I have a few completed.

Here's to the start of something good,

Cheers,

Cristyn