So, what have I been doing, you ask?  Well… there’s this:

David and I got engaged last weekend :)  We’ve actually been planning the wedding for a few months, so there’s also been a lot of this:

Tissue paper flower sweatshop up in our living room!

Like just about every engaged lady person in the last few years, I love the trend of tissue paper pom poms and mason jars.  So when I tried my hand at some tissue paper flowers and they turned out well (so well, even David liked them!) I decided to make all the flowers for our wedding.  By hand.  For a while, it was like a tissue paper confetti explosion around our coffee table.

Seriously, my dog always had tissue paper stuck to some part of his being.  Usually his nose.  Adorable!

So now that it’s finally official, I can post stuff I’m working on for the wedding.  Which is good, because it seems to take most of my waking free time.  We’re having a small family backyard wedding in October and I’m already enjoying all the DIY opportunities it affords me.

So now that I’ve broken the silence, I’ll try to be here more often.

Oh, and PS. You can check out the wedding madness more often via my Pinterest boards.  Three people have already asked if I was engaged after watching me pin wedding ideas non stop for… a long time.  Follow me here.

Anyone else out there planning a DIY wedding?  Do share your latest wedding news!

Day 2 – 3KCBWDay2

Today’s topic is a Photography Challenge.  Well, been there, done that.  I am ill prepared to do it again.  So instead, you get the Wildcard topic: Crafting your perfect day.

Starts with coffee and some lounging on the patio.  This is the dream time, time to figure out what would be the most fun to do with my day.  It would probably involve some quality time on Ravelry, stalking potential projects and the perfect yarn.

Part two is a trip to the yarn store next to Whole Foods.  Feel some lovely fiber…. mmm.  Since it’s the perfect day, I will probably buy something totally unnecessary but wonderfully luscious feeling.  Because hey, what’s a perfect day without some splurging?  Followed up with a trip to Whole Foods for some quality chocolate and other fine foods.

Part three is me, curled up on the couch with at least six or seven episodes of my latest television obsession to keep me company while I knit.  Doctor Who is always a good standby, if nothing strikes my fancy at the moment.

Part four is some community-oriented crafting.  Whether this is with my knittas or out in the world, knitting with some new friends at a coffee shop, I’d love to spend part of my perfect day enjoying casual conversation and stories as we happily knit together.  This is what I love most about knitting, I think, and miss most when my schedule doesn’t allow for a lot of free time.

Day 3 – 3KCBWDay3

Welcome to Day Three: Your Knitting Hero! I think this topic was intended to highlight a superstar knitter who I admire, but I’m taking it in another direction.  My knitting hero(es)?  The four girls who were my first knitting victims students.

I don’t know that these girls were ever dying to learn to knit, but I think they recognized my desperation for friendship and community when I first asked them if I could teach them.  They’d come over to my house toting wine and yummy snacks and patiently wait their turn as I bounced between them, trying to simultaneously learn how to teach while showing them the ropes.

Soon, they dubbed our group “The Knighthawks Knit Back the Night” and became affectionately known as my “knittas.”  They even nicknamed everyone: DJ Knitting Pretty, Knittin But Trouble, Knittamarushu, and me – Mama Knitta McPhee.

While they may still just be humoring me with the occasional knitting project, just the fact that they wanted to learn and came at it with a sense of fun and openness was awesome.  We don’t have a regular knit night anymore, but I still count them as some of my closest girl friends and I’ll always be grateful for the time they’ve spent with me and the excitement of being a Knighthawk… Knitting back the night!

Guys, confession time: I am not feeling very articulate about color today. Probably because all I want to say is that while I love love love bright color in theory, I don’t know that it matches my personal color palette so well.

So I buy lots of beautiful varigated yarn in artfully dyed skeins and it sits… in my stash… forever. Because I am terrified of what muddled color combination is going to come off my needles if I ever try to knit it.

That being said, I think this hat turned out awesome. I think it’s because the variation is on a gradient.

I loved the color of this cowl. It’s so sunshiney and happy. I still feel that way. But I have a hard time having that much brightness right up under my face! It doesn’t mesh as well as I’d like with my personal style, so this beautiful cowl languishes in my hall closet.

And that’s totally a bummer! It might be easy to get paralyzed, worrying that you’re wasting your time knitting with a color you love, but will never wear. But here’s the other thing about knitting – there will always be someone who would be a eager, willing recipient! That comes in handy when you make something that you want to, but can’t quite, love.

So I say, buy colors that you’re drawn to. Just think of it as pre-buying for a future gift giving occasion.

Of course, there are go-to colors that I will definitely wear. Purple is one. This is my first massive project… the Knitty Honeycomb Vest. I was originally attracted to the pattern by the model photographs that featured a brown tweed. While I’d still love a brown tweed honeycomb vest, I thought I’d like something that was a little more me. Hence, the deep purple that’s become one of my signature colors over the last few years.

Then there are colors that I am continually drawn to. Green, orange, and blue definitely fall into that category. You may have noticed, since they are also the primary colors for Brownbetty Style. They just always look awesome together! Particularly on my lovely models :)

So there you have it… a rambling post on my various feelings about color. Now that I have a pretty well established stash of bright colors, I seem to be gravitating more toward neutral colors… browns, greys, silvers, ivory. As I log more knitting years and assemble a collection of rainbow accessories, I’m ready to fill in my closet with some more basic pieces that will hopefully stand the test of time.

So friends. Do you have complicated feelings about color palettes? Do you gravitate to the same colors over and over again?

Pilot Mountain, NC – my first northbound landmark

Last weekend was my road trip to Michigan. In case you’ve never trekked to Michigan from North Carolina before, it’s a long trip – 13 hours. Anyone else who lives 700 miles from their point of origin has my deepest sympathies.

When I was in grad school, I went home every two months or so. I made the trip on my own (and later, with Cash… he’s does awesome in the car, except when he’s panting in my ear). Spending 13 hours on your own in the car is daunting but the mind has a funny way of tricking you so that 3 or 4 hours passes in a flash.

Cash smells smells at the VA Welcome Center

Now with David, we drive up less often, but my parents come down to visit more often as well. Still, I really wish someone would get on with it already and invent a teleporter. I miss getting to visit them on random weekends like we do with David’s family.

Driving through Virginia and West Virginia are usually my favorite parts of the drive… unless it’s raining, snowing, foggy, busy, or time for the state troopers to meet their ticket quota.

The East River Mountain Tunnel between VA and WV

(Also, let me take a moment to say that yes, I am aware that taking photos while I drove was probably not the smartest thing… ever. But… I got nothing. No one died, hooray!)

You may notice I have no photos and nothing to say about Ohio and that is because… driving through Ohio is the worst. Seriously, it takes 6 out of the 13 hours to get through it. It’s flat, boring, and overly laden with speedtraps. Ohio can suck it. (Okay, maybe suck it is a little strong. I’ve made my peace with Ohio’s neverending roadways, but I’m telling you. When someone finally invents that teleporter, it’s going to be someone who finally had it with driving through Ohio. Or Indiana. Or Illinois.

It’s all corn, country music, and conservative billboards! What do you expect?

Ahh, finally. We’re home.  This is the photo that got me busted for snapping pictures while driving.

But it’s such a welcoming sight, what can I say?

Obviously I’m not the only one who was glad to reach our final destination :)

So what’s the longest road trip you’ve taken? Did you do it by yourself or was it so long you needed a partner or two in crime?

But I cannot deny my roots! I am a knitter and I’m pretty stoked to participate in the 2012 Knitting and Crochet Blog Week that’s coming up next week.

My lovely friend Dana somewhat willingly models my handknits

So I’m taking this challenge… to blog (almost) every day for a week. Want a preview of what I’ll be talking about? Here’s the schedule…

• Day One: Color Lovers
• Day Two: Photography Challenge
• Day Three: Your Knitting Hero
• Day Four: A Knitter for All Seasons
• Day Five: Something a Bit Different
• Day Six: Improving your Skillset
• Day Seven: Crafting Balance
• Wildcard: Craft Your Perfect Day

I don’t talk about myself as a crafter very often, so I’m looking forward to getting into that more and sharing it with you guys. Get ready, get set, get your knitting nerd on!

PS. In case you want to find other blogs participating in the challenge, just google the tags below.

PPS. Thanks to Eskimimi Makes for organizing!

Things I plan to do while in Michigan:

Make some earrings with my mom.

Talk some Doctor Who with my dad.

Visit some friends.

Do some of this.

And some of this.

Read some of this.

And finally, do a lot of this. (Minus the scary bear teeth.)

It’s a 13+ hour drive home, but I am loaded up on podcasts and junk food. So wish me luck!

What are you all up to this weekend?

Here are a few of my shots so far.  I feel that I am conforming to the Instagram standard of taking pictures of my pets, food, and dining companions pretty well.

It’s important that you see how happy I am when I eat egg rolls.

Are you on the Instagram bandwagon?  I need to see your pretty pictures!  I’m on Instagram as brownbettystyle.  Leave your name in the comments and let’s share!

I’m so pleased to be featured on Craftsters and Creatives over at Sangui(knit)ie this morning!

You may remember Cate from her excellent post of process vs. product.  She’s a new blog friend and a complete doll.

Head over there to check it out and welcome to all the new friends visiting!

I was looking for light summer recipes that would make good use of our Papa Spud’s box and I fell down the rabbit hole.

I had no choice but to go through their entire recipe archive!  I swear, no choice.  But as a result you get the benefit of my long, arduous work… a selection of awesome and delicious looking recipes just in time for the weather warming up and fresh foods popping up from the ground.  Enjoy!

PS. Check out my Pinterest page for more recipes… I just couldn’t stop.  Oh, and click the photos for links to the original recipes!

Asparagus, Spinach, and Feta Frittata

Yum.  David and I signed up for this weekly vegetable box from a local Raleigh company called Papa Spuds.  It’s like a farm CSA, but you pay weekly and get to pick what comes in your box.  And then they drop it at your door.  It’s basically an online farmer’s market and we love it so far!

We got some fresh asparagus, chard, and goat cheese in our last two boxes, we swapped them in.  It was effing delicious!

Sweet Potato, Kale, and Red Onion Pizza

We also have a ton of sweet potatoes hanging out in our pantry from Papa Spud’s.  This recipe has a link to a pizza dough recipe, but I have used and liked The Pioneer Woman’s recipe as well.

I made dough on Tuesday and we had homemade pizza with goat cheese, fresh mozzarella, asparagus and bacon last night.  So good.

Surprisingly, pretty easy.  Not as easy as putting a frozen pizza in the oven, but I think the extra effort was totally worth it.  And I love that you can make whatever kind of pizza you want with what you’ve got on hand.

Black Quinoa Salad with Mango, Avocado, & Tomatoes

This recipe looks so easy and yummy that I went out at lunch and bought quinoa (KEEN-wha).  I think I’ve had it once before but I haven’t ever made it.

I’m looking forward to making cold salads for summer lunches.  I’m pretty much sold on anything that has mangos and/or avocado.

Grilled Polenta Cakes

Again, have eaten polenta but never made it.  These look so good with fresh tomatoes and basil.  I can’t wait to try grilling these… it will be a nice alternative to heavy burgers on a warm spring night.

Black Bean and Mango Tostada

Mango, avocado, and lime must be my go-to spring/summer flavors.  Everything with these ingredients looks so mouthwatering.  This tostada recipe will be a great, quick weeknight dinner option.  Also – no cooking required.  That’s full of WIN.

Smashed Chickpea and Avocado Salad Sandwich

Mmm… creamy avocado and cilantro.  I might eat this all the time.  I might also have to get me some homemade bread.  Store bought will certainly do, but don’t those thick slices look heavenly.  I say it again, mmmm…

Cilantro Hummus

I won’t lie, I would totally eat this for lunch and call it good.  David and I got some cilantro hummus from Trader Joe’s when we went to the mountains and we both loved it.

Since Santa brought me a food processor for Christmas, I think it’s only a matter of time (and finding fresh cilantro) before I start making this on a regular basis.

Oatmeal Cookies with Coconut, Lime and White Chocolate

Finally, no summer meal is complete without dessert, amiright?  Two Peas and Their Pod must love coconut and lime as much as I do, because they have no fewer that 5 recipes with this combination in multiple formats.

I made these last night.  The taste is so light and subtle, but the cookie is pretty hardy with the oatmeal.  These are great springtime cookies and I imagine they will be in regular rotation as well, if David has anything to say about it.

Woo! I’m a big deal!

I think Rachele did an amazing job of capturing me and my style (particularly with my copycat pixie!).  Seriously, scoop neck shirt + cardigan + big bead necklace is pretty much my work uniform.  It works, I’m not ashamed of it.

Rachele was kind enough to give away portraits to her sponsors in February so I got a pretty sweet deal – a chance to pop in to Nearsighted Owl (one of my first daily reads every morning) and a great personal portrait.    But was that enough? No.

Enter my mom (hi mom!).  She loved Rachele’s work too and tried to commission a portrait, only I beat her to it.  So she had Rachele do one of David:

I love his cartoon beard too.

Which is ALSO amazingly awesome!  He’s slowly getting used to being immortalized in crafty ways :)  This is also David’s signature look and she captured it to a T!  He’s just as hot as a cartoon as he is in real life.

Rachele also sent us one of us side by side, which I want to get framed and hang on my wall.

Aren’t we cute?

So, the moral of the story is: I love them.  This is basically just a post to show them off.  Hope you don’t mind!  I don’t think Rachele has listings for portraits in her Etsy store at the moment, but you should stop by and tell her what a great job she did.  Fingers crossed, you’ll be seeing a little bit more of her around here as she may be guest posting soon!