london coffee culture

tea may be the most iconic drink in britain, but in london coffee is definitely king. i can't imagine london without its independent coffee shops but turns out the coffee bandwagon didn't arrive until 1952, when the first espresso machine arrived from italy to a small bar in soho. (is it just me, or did everything great come from soho?)

cool to think that what we enjoy at typical cafe culture was really trial and error in desperation to break even. for every three cafes that opened, two would close. i love the narrator's subtle humour as he walks us through london's main coffee houses. neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

get a load of the clothing and style!

i wonder if any of the coffee shops featured here are actually still around. 

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catching dreams

dream catchers are so magical. so whimsy. some nights i sleep so soundly, knowing the catcher in the window by my pillow will catch the bad dreams. other nights, i'm not so sure. i think my dream catcher may be flawed, or at least it doesn't know that freakishly strange dreams are also bad. i've been having a lot of those lately. return of the repressed is an understatement.

loving these images of dream catchers.

Source: beautiful-wild.blogspot.com via katie on Pinterest

Source: crushhhed.tumblr.com via katie on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via katie on Pinterest

Source: blog.lenacorwin.com via katie on Pinterest

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wes anderson: from above

it's just as if everything wes anderson does is brilliantly aesthetic, a bit coy and a lot charming! take this, a short featuring his hands. like it would be right out of a, well, wes anderson film.

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community kite project

kites.

they're gorgeous fragile things that fly so mighty in the sky. there's nothing like the feeling of freedom when your kite picks up the wind and takes off, slicing in and out of the clouds.

the community kite project just finished in london, a week-long exhibition at SpaceFiftyFour in shoreditch and free kite making workshops. yes. free. i joined the guys there yesterday afternoon to make my own tissue kite. i've been giddy all week at the prospect. they even called me out on having planned my kite's design beforehand.

i love what they write about the project,

Community Kite Project is a week-long festival of kite making and decorating workshops, for everyone, for free. No cost, no catch, just a chance to explore your inner child, get imaginative and make yourself a fully functioning kite to keep and of course, fly. CKP believe fun and imagination are precious commodities and we would like to share them with as many people as possible.

my kite has already found itself a place on the wall. a nice touch to brighten up the flat during these gloomy and rainy days.

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tea shelf // an ikea hack

i bookmarked this idea from design*sponge years ago but it never left my mind. we face a major storage situation here in our flat. it's essentially a small cube, so to speak except for the two skylights that are godsends for light and giving the studio and airy feel. we work with a kitchen the size of a wardrobe and the teeniest stall of a bathroom.

we have to make do with every inch of space we can get. so: shelves.

we managed to clear out a whole shelf in our "wardrobe" kitchen by putting up this tea shelf near our kitchen table/desk/stuff holder. tea boxes take up a lot of room! and we scored some more dishes space by putting hooks under the shelf for our tea and coffee cups (we only have four, so problem solved).

materials used: 

-ribba art display shelf from ikea (55cm long x 9.5cm wide) 

-four cup hooks 

-two wall screws

-screwdriver

total cost: £7.20  (shelf: £5.20, hooks: £2)

time to assemble: 10 minutes

well, when you have a handy boyfriend, you don't have to spend any time assembling it. you just chat and keep him company while he pulls out his important screwdrivers and gets to work. well done, davey!

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keep calm and carry on

the history of these five words explained in such a charming video.
next stop for me: barter books in the north-east.

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avery cowl in twig

complete: the avery cowl from quince&co in a twig coloured wool.

this is the first pattern i've actually purchased and couldn't have been happier with how it turned out. next time though, i'm going to print out the pattern so that at least i can knit and watch movies at the same time instead of having to check the .pdf every thirty seconds to see if i'm on the right track.

alas it's done and just in time as the weather warms up a bit and i can get away with going outside in a light jacket and sweater. with the weekend ahead of me, i can start on the next knitting project: a pair of simple handwarmers to use as a demo for a knitting course i'm teaching this week and next at the artyard.

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note to local londoners: if you know someone or you want to pick up some knitting needles for the first time, i am teaching a two-part course next week and again later in march. basics in knitting! tea, wine, good tunes, nice company! find more info here.

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