Crystal's Favorite Things!
Here's a list of things I super love right now and thought you might like them too:
1. First, I just have to tell you because I am so proud: Ian wrote a short story that will be published in a book coming out this summer. The collection is called This Is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death. It's the "sequel" to their first collection Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die. I've read the first book and a few stories from the second and I just can't get enough! It's so interesting to think what the world might be like if there was a machine that could tell, from just a sample of your blood, how you were going to die. Morbid? Perhaps. Fascinating? I think so!
They have offered a preview of Ian's story so if you're interested in reading it, you can find it here. If you want to know more about the whole Machine of Death phenomenon including free pdf downloads and podcasts from the first book, check it out here.
2. I'm obsessed with this gorgeous "Seed Stitch Wrap" over on the Purl Bee. I've just recently learned to knit...like, I can do knit, purl and increase (just one kind of increase, I'm told there's more than one way to do it). Oh, I can also "knit in"...very impressive, right? Anyway, I want to make this wrap, like, so bad! Once I finish my current project I'm going to seriously consider making one.
3. I'm waiting ever so patiently for Alicia to release a kit for these adorable felt bunnies, complete with Liberty dresses and knit! caplets. She says we have just a week to wait...but a week is so long! I might not buy a kit since I have lots of felt and Liberty at home already but a sweet little kit all packaged up for me is very tempting!
4. I've mentioned this before but my brother makes gorgeous wire-wrapped jewelry. I have a few pieces that he's made and I wear them nearly every day (I'm even wearing one in my blog photo).
I mention this because he set up an etsy shop: Akua Hana. He and a friend have teamed up to sell his jewelry and her Venetian masks. I don't know much about the masks, never having seen them in person, but I can tell you that the pendants are gorgeous. They're even more stunning in person.
5. So, I was reading Martha Stewart the other day and found a tiny article about a couple who bought a goat farm. Did you know it's my dream to own a goat farm and keep bees and sell honey and cheeses and everything wonderful? And here these people are living my dream and it made me happy and then a little sad. And then I saw that they sell homemade caramels from their website and I suddenly felt it was really important to support a fellow dreamer. Now that they've arrived, I'll tell you that these caramels are SO good! Ian prefers the original sea salt and bourbon vanilla, I prefer the chai. A side note...I bought the "festive" gift set because it had lots of caramels, a blank card with a cute goat drawing AND came in a pretty dupioni silk bag that I can reuse. It's, like, win/win/win!
So there you have it...my five favorite things for February!
1. First, I just have to tell you because I am so proud: Ian wrote a short story that will be published in a book coming out this summer. The collection is called This Is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death. It's the "sequel" to their first collection Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die. I've read the first book and a few stories from the second and I just can't get enough! It's so interesting to think what the world might be like if there was a machine that could tell, from just a sample of your blood, how you were going to die. Morbid? Perhaps. Fascinating? I think so!
They have offered a preview of Ian's story so if you're interested in reading it, you can find it here. If you want to know more about the whole Machine of Death phenomenon including free pdf downloads and podcasts from the first book, check it out here.
2. I'm obsessed with this gorgeous "Seed Stitch Wrap" over on the Purl Bee. I've just recently learned to knit...like, I can do knit, purl and increase (just one kind of increase, I'm told there's more than one way to do it). Oh, I can also "knit in"...very impressive, right? Anyway, I want to make this wrap, like, so bad! Once I finish my current project I'm going to seriously consider making one.
3. I'm waiting ever so patiently for Alicia to release a kit for these adorable felt bunnies, complete with Liberty dresses and knit! caplets. She says we have just a week to wait...but a week is so long! I might not buy a kit since I have lots of felt and Liberty at home already but a sweet little kit all packaged up for me is very tempting!
4. I've mentioned this before but my brother makes gorgeous wire-wrapped jewelry. I have a few pieces that he's made and I wear them nearly every day (I'm even wearing one in my blog photo).
I mention this because he set up an etsy shop: Akua Hana. He and a friend have teamed up to sell his jewelry and her Venetian masks. I don't know much about the masks, never having seen them in person, but I can tell you that the pendants are gorgeous. They're even more stunning in person.
5. So, I was reading Martha Stewart the other day and found a tiny article about a couple who bought a goat farm. Did you know it's my dream to own a goat farm and keep bees and sell honey and cheeses and everything wonderful? And here these people are living my dream and it made me happy and then a little sad. And then I saw that they sell homemade caramels from their website and I suddenly felt it was really important to support a fellow dreamer. Now that they've arrived, I'll tell you that these caramels are SO good! Ian prefers the original sea salt and bourbon vanilla, I prefer the chai. A side note...I bought the "festive" gift set because it had lots of caramels, a blank card with a cute goat drawing AND came in a pretty dupioni silk bag that I can reuse. It's, like, win/win/win!
So there you have it...my five favorite things for February!
Dude. Ian's story and the entire book sound fascinating. I will definitely check it out. And way to go, Ian! Huge congratulations on that.
ReplyDeleteAnd what the what! I got so excited about that goat farmer article too! Those caramels looked incredible, and it's so cool that you bought them. I secretly want to be a goat farmer/beekeeper. Except I don't think I have the commitment to do it all the way. I'd really love to have a goat or two though, and a hive of bees on my property.
Definitely checking out Ian's story. And I clicked over to Purl Soho and now I'M obsessed with that wrap. Well, just reading about it hooked me in for sure!
ReplyDelete