Craigslist find!

Ah, Craigslist. There are few things I check for periodically: an armoire for our bedroom (we don't have a closet in that room), a cupboard for our bathroom, and seating for our front porch. Among other things of course...Craigslist is wonderful for window shopping!
I was excited to find this cupboard when I started my search:

After a number of emails back and forth with the seller during the day I decided to drive out after work to pick it up before someone else snatched it up. As he told me, the first one to pick it up gets it. Well by golly, that person was going to be me! :) So I called my dear husband and asked if he would accompany me on a little road trip (about 40 minutes drive from home...hmmm). After all, I couldn't very well go to some strangers house I have been in contact with over email by myself, right?

Turned out the owner is in the process of moving to Canada and has connections to the Detroit Tigers, so I think my husband was hoping we could stay and talk baseball!

Once we got it home I went back to the bathroom and I'm pretty sure the room had shrunk! The piece will fit, but will completely cover the wall to the toilet. The room is so small that I think it will look too crowded. So, I changed my plan, which was accompanied by rolled eyes and sighs by my husband. But he just doesn't have the vision! At that point he gave up trying to understand me and went back to watch the game, telling me to call him if I needed help moving it somewhere. After nearly 10 years of marriage, I think he realizes that there are some things about me he will never understand. Some girls love shoes, and I love vintage furniture! lol Maybe one day I will find the perfect vintage couch to replace the ugly black leather couch from my husbands bachelor days, but even I have to admit it is practical with two kids...much easier to wipe off leather than fabric and I don't care if the kids are crawling all over it. One day though...

So once he left me to my own devises, I grabbed the can of stripper that I used this summer to refinish our front door and went to work. Yes, I am impatient, but I really couldn't wait to see what was under the green paint! It's actually a pretty color green, but isn't the color I wanted for this piece. And the owner said that the unpainted drawer was original to the piece, so I hoped the rest of the piece would be as pretty. I got the paint off the top, wiped it down with mineral spirits and found this:

Gorgeous!!! I was literally doing a happy dance in the middle of the room.

So now I have a plan: I'm going to finish stripping the top and the lip of the piece, then I will add some soft wax to the top to protect and seal the wood (I ordered Fibbes & Sons soft wax from Etsy). The rest of the piece I will paint white and I think some glass knobs would really look better than the white porcelain knobs that are currently on it.

Love the beaded details!!!

Next I need to look at the back of the piece. The panels that are missing seem to simply be a veneer, and I don't think they affect the actual structure of the cabinet. But I need to inspect it more closely to be sure. There are also two small pieces that have come off the bottom right of the cabinet that need to be attached. They aren't broken, just detached, which is good. I think some wood glue will take care of that without a problem. You can see the open spot in the top photo, just look at the bottom edge, just past the cabinet door.

Once it's all done, I think I will use it as a tv cabinet for the front room. We bought a very boring tv stand from the thrift store a year ago for our old tv that has since broken and been replaced by a smaller one. This will raise the height of the tv a bit and there is still plenty of room on top for the small cable box and the Wii console. The cupboard can hold games and dvd's, and the side cubbies can hold coloring books, etc. I wouldn't mind it for some craft supply storage, but at this point it would serve more of an aesthetic purpose, rather than a practical storage purpose...I have too much stuff! lol

So what do you think of my Craigslist find? Would you have jumped on it, or is it too "old-timey" for your taste?

Tangerine Booties!

 

Look what I made yesterday! Babies are arriving here almost daily it seems, and so I made these sweet little cuffed booties for the newest arrival, baby Finneas! This isn't the best photo, I had to take a quick shot using my iPhone before we went out the door to meet the little guy, but I think you get the idea of how cute they are!

 

The pattern is from Annoo Crochet, and she shared the pattern on her blog yesterday. Almost as soon as she posted it via her Instagram account, I had the yarn and hook in hand and off I went! I used a 3.5mm hook and Red Heart Soft worsted weight yarn in Tangerine. Her samples include a cute little flower, but since these were for a baby boy, I left them off. I like the cuffs for the winter, especially since they add a little strength and will keep them from coming off excited little baby feet. The work up very fast, and would be a fun project for really anyone to try!

What's New on the Needles? And Paczki Day!

Ok, let me pause for a moment to say I think that could be a fun series title...especially as much as I am knitting/crocheting nowadays. With that said...

I finished the baby cardigan a couple days ago and is going to head to the little recipient hopefully today! Just in time too...her mom just delivered the baby this morning and I can't wait to see a picture! She texted me about 30 minutes ago to say that little Wren has arrived safely after only 3 pushes (so jealous - my deliveres were no where near as easy as that! lol), a head full of hair and weighs 8.5 lbs. 

I learned a lot along the way and can't wait to show you pictures of the finished project! I will post photos soon! Maybe she will even send a picture of the baby wearing it so I can share that too!

The night I finished the cardigan, I grabbed this beautiful Debbie Bliss yarn that I bought in my first trip to a real yarn shop. Oh my, it's sooooo pretty! It's a lovely turquoise with silver hints and has been teasing me since I bought it, but I held strong and made myself finish the cardigan before I started with this. I bought it without a pattern in hand, and immediately went to Ravelry to find the perfect one. I wanted something light, so I decided that a lace scarf was in order. I landed on the Florence scarf and decided to add a little extra sparkle with some silver lined glass beads.

I have finished my first lace pattern repeat and have realized that adding beads is making this a very slow process. I love the look, and I know it will be beautiful once its done, but as with anything new it takes a little getting used to. I am using a crochet hook to add the beads, and I think it's much easier than putting beads on the yarn before knitting. I would naturally panic that there werent enough, and once you get going, how can you easily add more? This way I can just add as I go, and I also like that it causes the bead to be on 2 threads of the yarn, which is so fine that any extra strength will be most welcome. Eventually I will thin out the beads and then pick them back up towards the end of the scarf.

I'll be sure to post pictures as I go, but feel free to follow along on Instagram for the most up-to-date pics. :)

And for all of my friends in the Detroit area, or expatriates...Happy Paczki Day! And since most of you will have no idea what I am talking about, you can learn more about the Fat Tuesday tradition in Detroit here or here.

via my Instagram

These were waiting for us as work this morning! Mmmm.....!

I indulged in a raspberry-filled Paczki today, and yes, the guilt is high, but it's sooooo good and impossible to resist. And it's only once a year, right? Its one of those things that bond a community, as cheesy as that sounds. A bit like how everyone is a little Irish on St. Patty's Day, everyone is a little Polish on Fat Tuesday. And we all know how food bonds people together, no matter what the reason or celebration. That's my story and I'm sticking to it (like a paczki to my waistline! lol)

Oh, and if you are trying to figure out how to pronounce "paczki", there are some variances, but in my area, we generally say "POONSH-kee", though some say it closer to "PUNCH-kee". And I believe that's technically the plural, but no one really calls it a "paczek".