dipped crystals

Spring is in the air every once in a while here in Vancouver...the rain is a bit warmer, there are crocuses popping up everywhere. I've even ridden my bike to work a couple of times and I am a wimp when it comes to riding in the cold or on rainy days. With longer days and warmer weather, I've been working on orders that are headed off to Portland, Montreal, and Ottawa, respectively. There will also be some select Camp + Quarry at a certain bookshop in Winnipeg and Saskatoon...details coming soon. Having so many pieces ready to go, I took the opportunity to update some shop photos and wanted to share them here. I still really, really, really wish I had a new camera with better macro abilities, but with a little photoshopping I can usually get my pictures to look passable.

I love these stones. So much variation. My favourite one right now is a gold dipped clear quartz that has a bit of a tangerine inclusion (you can see it in one of the shots below). I'm saving it for my next online order of that listing. These guys are all live in the Camp + Quarry Etsy shop now-ish. Have a wonderful Sunday!

chicago/vancouver exchange

Back in January the weather and lack of daylight was feeling pretty lame, so I decided to set up a small package exchange between some blogger pals. The idea was pretty simple. You collect $20 of goods that represent your local area and send them off to your exchange partner. In return you get $20 worth of goods that originate from their part of the world. With participants from Western Canada, across the US, and a couple from the UK I hope that everyone ended up with a package as amazing and thoughtful as the one I received from Caiti of Life is a Canvas. Despite the fact that she's moving to Ireland (!) in short order, Caiti managed to put together a beautiful package with lots of Chicago amazingness. I had no idea that this particular chocolate company was from Chicago and feel pretty fortunate that she sent me some flavours that I've never seen before. She also sent along some tea, stationary, and more. Seriously, an incredible package! 

Below are a few pics of some of the bits I sent her from Vancouver in return. Soap from my favourite Vancouver shop, Old Faithful. A Canadian Easter classic (I have to wonder if Caiti enjoyed this thing...I personally think they are delicious, but many people hate them passionately). And, finally, a few paper goods from The Regional Assembly of Text. 

I'm going to be organizing a second round of this exchange in the spring, so if you'd like to participate shoot me an e-mail. I hope that everyone who was part of the first round had a lot of fun putting their packages together. 

Thank you, Caiti!

PS - I totally forgot to mention that Caiti even included some locally-made treats for Lola. Those are long gone, so alas, no pictures! But if you check out my Instagram feed (campandquarry) you can see a bit of her excitement there.

seattle

Jeff and I spent the weekend in Seattle. We travelled light. I left my camera at home and relied on my phone alone to capture a few things along the way. We visited Bainbridge Island for the first time (an easy and cheap ferry ride from Pier 52). We ate some amazing food, especially the dinner we had at Revel, and we lamented Vancouver's lack of little neighbourhood bars (because in Seattle they are EVERYWHERE and dogs are allowed to hang out in them). It was a good weekend, marred only by horrible weather on Saturday and the fact that I absent-mindedly left one of my bags in the hotel. Perhaps in the next couple of days I'll share a few more photos from our trip here. I think the iPhone 4S does a pretty decent job on the fly.

I know posts have been few and far between here lately. Chalk it up to winter and my constant busy-ness. Full-time work...who knew it would take up so much TIME?!? I've been at my current job for just under a year now (since graduation last spring) and am just starting to get the hang of this whole work/life balance thing. How do you keep up with life outside of work? What do you do on your days off?

a recent project

For the last few weeks I've been working on a piece using my Brooklyn Tweed Shelter yarn that my mom gave me for Christmas. My thing these days has been working through an entire project before starting something new. At least that's what I've been forcing myself to do with knitting projects, otherwise I find I'll abandon a project and never return to it. This stickin' to it thing has been really good. I know that it's saved me money, because I've been limiting myself to buying yarn for the project at hand rather than the project that I dream about starting down the road. Besides, I find it fun to go get what you need and get started right away rather than waiting to finish something else up first. After making four cowls using the softest baby alpaca yarn this winter I wanted to try something a little more interesting and challenging...and thus picked the Romney Kerchief (why it's called that, I have no idea).

A quick five dollar download later, I was facing the prospect of learning a new method of casting on before I could get started. This was the perfect pattern, really. It challenged me to learn a few new things (grafting garter stitch, blocking, blah blah...) but was still relatively straightforward. I know this might be boring knitting talk for those of you who don't knit, but you might be interested in knowing that YouTube is a great source of knitting tutorial videos. I learned to everything I needed to know to make this piece from videos I found there.

Now I have two balls of Shelter left in a beautiful red colour called "Long Johns". I'm considering whether to tackle another of these kerchiefs or to try something new, perhaps this cable and lace cowl. Ultimately I dream of getting up the guts to tackle this beauty or perhaps this gorgeous sweater. Are you knitting anything these days?

five friday favourites

A few awesome things to share with you today: some new Etsy favourites (and beyond) and an M.I.A. video that my friends Jacqui and Blair introduced me to. It's a good Friday kinda song.

Translucent porcelain cups by stepanka on Etsy seem like the perfect tea cup to me. These blue quartz Astrid earrings from Katie Diamond Jewelry are blowing my mind (I love the studs, too). The new Yokoo-related Etsy store "Mother" is rad. The Travail Apron is perfect, as are many of the other creations. Check Mother out if you haven't already (discovered via For Me, For You). And finally, I've been working on a knitting project using Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter yarn. It's my first lace piece and I'm down to just needing to graft and block...both of which I have little to no experience with and so I've been putting it off. I love checking out the Brooklyn Tweed blog for knitting inspiration. And their made in the USA yarn is beautiful in person.

february photos

my view today  |  a stranger  |  words  |  hands  |  dinner  |  10AM  |  button

My first week of participating in the february photo a day challenge (#febphotoaday). I think this is the first winter that I've really noticed how limited our daylight hours are here in Canada (even in the south of Canada). So many of my pictures suffer from poor lighting right now, though the mornings are much brighter. When I have some daylight this weekend I plan to spend lots of time with my camera. I have organic cotton scarves to photograph, new jewelry to share, and a plant conservatory that I really want to visit for a photoshoot. Always so many plans, so little time. I hope you enjoy these first seven photos from the photo challenge. They were all taken with my iPhone 4S. Mostly on the way to work. Onwards! Friday!

update

Just popping in today to let you know that a shop update is in process. Silk scarves have been listed here and here. Cotton scarves will be there soon. I have a busy day of photographing and editing ahead of me. Thanks for all of your comments about the scarves I've posted so far here on the blog and on Instagram!

silk scarves

As I mentioned yesterday I had Friday off and was able to catch up on some projects that have been in the back on my mind for many, many weeks. Dyeing these silk scarves was one of those projects. Both are 29" x 29" silk with a rolled hem. I dyed them in a very concentrated dye to achieve this subtle lavender colour. I could see wearing one of these on a spring day as a light extra layer. I also have some new organic cotton scarves to share (I'm psyched!!!) but they're not quite ready yet. These silk dudes will be in the Camp + Quarry shop soon. Have a great Saturday!

a friday favourite

I have this amazing, spring-like Friday off today and am going to use it to drop some jewelry off in Gastown and work on some new organic cotton scarves. Lola and I already went on a nice long walk and found some snowdrops and got some much needed Vitamin D and exercise. Today is the perfect day to have off and the perfect day for this song. Enjoy and happy weekend!

february photo a day challenge

I'm participating in the February photo a day challenge on Instagram and wanted to share my first photo with you here (I'll post the rest, too, in batches...it'll keep me honest and help me stick with this). I took this photo this morning on my way to work with my iPhone 4S. Gone are the sunrises. I'm generally leaving the house in daylight now, which is a positive sign that spring is on its way. This picture is of Canada Place as seen from the Seabus. We live in a beautiful city. Too bad I spend most days at work rather than exploring this amazing place. Looking forward to an impromptu long weekend...today is my Thursday. Yesssssssssssssssssssss...