While this post is unrelated to plant-based food, it does relate to beautiful, hand-made things…and also a proposed DIY project (but the DIY part doesn’t come until the end of the post!).

Yesterday was my Mum’s 92nd birthday, and we had a lovely do at Bid’s beautiful new home with lots of champagne and delicious goodies and a fabulous cake made by master cake-maker Biddy:

All week, I was wracking my brains for a gift for her and eventually happened to find this beautiful hand-knitted “endless scarf” at a fabulous New West gift store called Brick & Mortar–seriously, I want to buy EVERYTHING in this store, which I first discovered a couple of weeks ago when I was shopping for cards and wrapping paper (which they have in abundance) for my niece’s graduation present. I’d also volunteered to pick up a gift for Erin from my brother and came across these beautiful handmade wooden pens made by a New Westminster artist, who makes the pens from wooden wine casks!

The wine-cask pen got the seal of approval from Johnny and it went well with the gift that J and I gave Erin–a leather tree-of-life journal from Oberon Designs:

Anyway, the scarf I ended up getting my Mum was made by thingslauraknits , who appears to make three products: the endless scarf, the “bow band,” and the knitted hair bow. Everything Laura makes is in a seed or garter stitch. Talk about keeping it simple!

The scarf is perfection–soft, flattering, warm, cozy, stretchy–you name it. If you just want a fashionable scarf, you can leave it hanging; if you want to be warm and cozy, you can double it up.

Here’s a picture of my beautiful Mum in the scarf:

When I called her yesterday–on her actual birthday–she said she was actually sitting  up in bed swathed in her scarf because it was so warm and cozy. After I got off the phone, it occurred to me that a scarf like this might be the perfect thing for my trip to Dublin in a couple of weeks: I can wear it with a light rain coat and lighten my packing load. If I’m cold, I can double it up; if it rains, I can wear it like a hood; if I’m uncomfortable on the plane, I can scrunch it up into a pillow. You get the idea!

I returned to Brick & Mortar today, but, alas, the only remaining endless scarf was dark green–a colour I’m insanely attracted to, but am forbidden from wearing by the same darling ninety-two-year-old woman you see in the picture above (Imagine the following in a British accent: “But Green does NOTHING for you, darling!” Grrrr…thanks, Mum!). Anyway, I’ve been promised a phone call from Brick & Mortar as soon as a gold scarf comes into stock, but….just in case, I’ve located a pattern that I might just try from a blog called stuffstephdoes. Jeez…a lot of very talented people exist out there in internet-land!

Anyway, my trek to Brick & Mortar today was not fruitless since I managed to pick up a few little gifts to take to my sweet girlie in Dublin for early Christmas presents. As I mentioned, everything in this store appears to be handmade and most of it is local. The little liquor bottle earrings are made from re-claimed wood by a local fellow (The Uncommon Good) who apparently has an affinity for Sailor Jerry style design–it was a real toss-up whether I should buy the wooden Sailor Jerry swallow earrings or these little liquor bottles that I eventually settled on. Anyway…how cute are these little items??!!

Aaaaand we’re listening to Van Morrison this evening….