calendars

Calendars are just an annual excuse for me to indulge in my stationery ('e' for pencil, as I now remind myself) obsession. For 2010 I have four calendars and yes, it is completely unnecessary to have that number of calendars. There are two of them in my tiny kitchen.

So this year, I'm aiming to contain myself and only buy one for my office and one for home. I spent a delightful hour trawling design and stationery blogs to pick my favourites and here are the ones in the running to become Sarah's next top calendar.

from top:

hand silk screened lunar calendar by sunken treasure

wooden rabbit calendar by the paper thieves

laser cut calendar by rob ryan

poster calendar by yellowlion

cat calendar teatowel by kauniste

poster calendar by caitlin keegan (extra points for writing space)

'hooray hands' desk calendar by curious doodles

astrology calendar by prismatic

snow

Scotland is covered in snow right now and we got some in our little village too. Normally it misses us out, but the sky was banked with snow clouds and it fell for hours. It looked really pretty, which almost makes up for the total havoc it caused.

I took these photos from my garden. I thought the church spire looked particularly spooky.

shetland wool

I just bought heaps of shetland wool the other day. It's a really lovely yarn - soft, but holds well, lightweight and very warm. It is not as soft as cashmere or merino, but it wears much better than either with no bobbling. Sometimes I prefer seeing a big basket full of wool than actually knitting it. With a basket full of wool, you can still dream about all the amazing things you will make...whereas knitting is all about losing count, cursing and unravelling.

rob ryan

I've been following Rob Ryan's work for a few years now and always hoped that one day I would magically own one of his papercuts. My favourites have come and go, but his new work for TAG Fine Arts is spectacular even by his standards. This one is my all-time favourite, no question.

image via TAG fine arts

h&m home

I suppose these might look really cheap in real life, but I can't help getting a little excited by the washed linen pieces from h&m's home collection. I know fake vintage-style is despicable and Priscilla 'style-maven' Carluccio puts it top of her hate-list, but still! Is it really that bad? Real vintage linen is a freakin' fortune and these are so affordable! Please, please, pleeeease can I buy some? Just the napkins and the 'Cinammon' cushion cover and then I'm done, I swear.

images via loveandfolly and h&m

quilts

I love these quilts, from the collection of African-American textiles at this gallery. As soon as the cold weather starts, I become obsessed with bundling up. There is nothing quite so nice as being wrapped up in a beautiful blanket. It goes without saying, of course, that there is absolutely no excuse for the 'slanket'. What a wasted opportunity for some good old blanket time. Slankets are so...undignified. (This is coming from the girl who secretly likes getting colds because then I can reasonably wear pyjamas all day and drag the duvet down to the couch to watch tv. My standards are puh-ritty low.)

images via ricco maresca, via arrow and arrow

VERABEL + FOX

A freakin' awesome collaboration between artist Alyson Fox and jewellery maker Verabel. Alyson's original illustrations have been screen-printed over vintage lockets and the finish looks honest-to-goodness as though they have been enamelled. When I looked earlier, there were still some left in the shop, but I have a feeling they won't last long. Thanks Eve for sending me this link!

images via alyson fox and verabel