Kim's Favorite Things

-
So the shoes in my last post were fun, but certainly not practical - in Taos, or in my lifestyle. I can just see myself tottering along in the gravel and mud trying not to damage my cute shoes. I do have some cute shoes, mind you, but they patiently wait in the closet for a night on the town, or out of town, when there's more pavement than sagebrush.

As I wander through my days, I notice things that make things easier and happier. Like Oprah, I have an ever-growing list of Favorite Things. The difference in our lists is that mine is mostly practical, and almost always inexpensive. You wouldn't be all that excited to be on my "show" the day I'm giving away all my Favorite Things. No big TVs or cars or spa vacations. Heck, I'd like to win some of those things! But in your own life, without all the lights and cameras, I think you might enjoy some of my finds as much as I do. So I'm going to start sharing them with you, one at a time, as I notice them or discover them. I hope you'll enjoy Kim's Favorite Things...

First up, a Thing I use often. In fact I use it almost every time we have a sunny day, which is quite often in Taos. It's this dandy little PRESSA folding, hanging, dryer-thingy from Ikea. And it costs a whopping $4.99. I bought it when we were RVing, and did a lot of hand washing of laundry, but it's proven to be super useful back in our house.


We have a washing machine, but no dryer. Well, that's not exactly true - we have a "solar dryer," which some people call a "clothesline." We don't really have room for a clothes drying machine, and to be honest, I would feel sort of silly using one when we have all this perfectly good sunshine, which actually dries the clothes faster than the machine, and makes them smell wonderful too. Besides, I actually enjoy going outside and hanging things up with wooden clothespins. The downside is, I can't do laundry on cloudy days, but so what? This isn't Seattle. And in the frozen winter, even on sunny days wet clothes would freeze rather than dry out there, so I hang them around the living room, where they dry quickly by the huge south-facing windows.

But back to the PRESSA. A full load of wash will quickly fill up my two outdoor lines, and this little gizmo adds a lot of extra hanging space, with 16 little springy hooks that hold tight to things like socks, undies, and cloth napkins. What else can I say? I love this thing.

The sad part, for me at least, is you can't buy it online. You have to go to an Ikea store. I got mine when we were passing through Salt Lake City last year, and I wish I'd bought two. If you happen to go to Ikea to get one of these, will you please pick one up for me? I could really use it in the kitchen, to hang up washed plastic bags for re-use.

~~~

Today on PositivelyVegan - Chef Bo Rinaldi

Comments

  1. KatherineOctober 13, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    You are my husband's dream girl...well, that is after ME of course! You're so practical about how you live your life, and I'm all about inexpensive, too. We do have a dryer, but if my Steve had his way, we wouldn't. Like New Mexico, Colorado sunshine is abundant! Huge brand new IKEA store in Denver, too.

    I'm with you on the shoes. Very cute indeed, especially those black tile booties, but working from home, my uniform of the day is jeans, t-shirts, and flat shoes. My feet rebel if I try to push them into heels these days. *sigh**

    ReplyDelete
  2. Zoe NelsonOctober 13, 2011 at 10:26 AM

    Well, that is one cool gadget! If I'm at an IKEA, I'll get one for both of us. (Watch out -- you'll probably be getting several of these in the mail.)

    I love my clothesline. I have a retractable one that will stretch from my shed to the house. It rolls up inside itself when I'm not using it. I was telling my neighbor (originally from Miami) about my clothesline and she thought I had a "line" of "clothes" that I sell as well as my jewelry! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 13, 2011 at 8:05 PM

    I have a centered (raised higher) tension shower curtain rod over my tub in my bathroom. If I am careful, I can hang my blouses and tops on plastic hangers in such a way they will not need touch up after they dry. No dryer or iron - oh happy day. Underware goes on clothespin hooks. Air is pretty dirty here, so the towels and sheets do go in the dryer - sadly. I'll let you know the next time I go to an Ikea. I need a bunch of small stuff there I can't get on line either. Norine

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment!

Popular posts from this blog

cats are not dogs, and how tangling string untangles frustration

-
Image
As Airbnb hosts, we have lots of lovely interactions with guests while they're here, and with potential guests making inquiries before they book. I try to be really clear in our listing, about the house, amenities, and rules. The trouble is, some people would rather not actually read the listing, or if they do, they just ignore the parts they don't like. Oy. I mean really, who thinks cats and dogs are the same thing? Today I got a booking for two nights in March, from a very nice-sounding couple coming down from Canada. They were very excited to stay here at Mermaid's Nest , and everything was great... until I got to the part in their message about bringing their cat... Ruh roh... I had stated very clearly in our listing that we allow small dogs . Cats were not mentioned. Neither were goats, snakes, skunks, or rhinos, because I figured people would see that part about dogs , and at least ask before assuming all other animals were welcome. Oh, silly me. Apparently the
Read more

where to buy what i make

-
Image
I closed my Etsy shop recently. What??? Why??? Well, because I think Etsy has done great harm to the livelihoods of makers everywhere. If you do manage to get noticed, which is pretty difficult these days, it's impossible to compete with the pricing on so-called "handmade" goods that are mass produced in foreign countries. Equally frustrating to me is the number of actual makers who drastically underprice their work, effectively turning themselves into voluntary sweatshop laborers in order to stay in the game at all. I'm not playing. I would love to see makers of all fine handmade things everywhere reclaim a sense of dignity, and charge a fair price for their skills and talents. Until I find such a group of folks that I can join, I'm back to being on my own here, in my own little shop, charging a reasonable price for the quality materials and hours of work it takes to make the things I make. I feel good about this. The Shop, at the moment, contains exactl
Read more

soft spring scarf

-
Image
If you come here often, you know that I finished this pretty little swath of yarny love a few days ago. The yarn is from CandySkein , and I love it. A lot. It's a beautifully hand-dyed, washable merino fingering weight that was quite wonderful to knit with, even though I'm sort of a lazy knitter and usually use something quite a lot more bulky. This worked up into a delicious, lightweight-but-warm fabric that's perfect for between-season wear. Pardon my pilly worn-all-winter sweater, and focus on the scarf. It's my favorite style - an asymmetrical triangle, worked from end to end. It has a ziggy-zaggy edge on one side, and a smooth edge on the other. The pattern is called the Hitchhiker Scarf, and you can get it on Ravelry . I test drove this one for a day and loved it. But as I do with most of the things I make, I also decided to let it go. Only three have made it into my personal wardrobe for keeps, and I'm just fine with that. Make them, love them, let
Read more

yarn that speaks for itself

-
Image
I've had this amazing ball of hand-dyed-and-spun yarn for months. It was made, and given to me, by my friend Valerie, which makes it even more special. I've moved it around the house, looked at it, held it, and asked it what it wanted to be, but it's been very quiet. I've loved it so much just as a ball of yarn, I was in no hurry to knit it into something else. Here it is with my great-grandmother's hand carved crochet hook. So much wonderfulness. Maybe sometimes yarn can just be yarn, at least for a while. As the weather got colder, I started think of hats. Not just baby hats like I make for the hospital, but big hats. For me. That wind on the beach can really bite a girl's ears in the winter. So, long story short, I knitted my beautiful, most favorite yarn into a hat. I found a really easy pattern for a beret, which Rick made for his daughter (yes, he knits a bit). Here's the pattern . It's really cute! And here's my hat. Also really cute.
Read more

and what do you do?

-
Image
I'm in my outdoor office this week, at the picnic table on the patio. I have a favorite vintage tablecloth, lilacs in a martini shaker, and tea in my new favorite cup, made by Charan Sachar . I'm considering a new format for my blog, which I'll try here today. I suspect that only three people actually read this, and yet I persist. I like to write, so that can be good enough. I have lots of things to talk about, so I'm going to try dividing my time here between Life Stories and Ponderings, and of course, Knitting. Feel free to tell me what you think, or even just grunt if you're out there. Really, have no idea. Pondering... I like meeting new people. But I hate the inevitable moment when New Person will politely raise their eyebrows and ask me, "And what do you do?" It's sort of like the human equivalent of dogs sniffing each others' butts. We need to size each other up somehow , right? What better way than to sniff out what a person d
Read more