I know, you're probably asking yourself why an art historian would bring home something like this. Well, for one, it only cost a dollar. Its also not difficult to notice that two people painted this - or, more likely, one person painted it and someone with questionable artistic ability painted over it for no apparent reason. The reason I loved it so much was the original colors - the green of the leaves and the blue background are great.
The chili peppers are another story - the plan is to possibly remove some of the paint (since its very thick and totally different from the original painting style) and re-paint the chilis. Gotta love do-it-yourself art restoration.
Confident in my recently aquired French reading ability, I finally ordered some knitting patterns from France. I think Phildar rivals Interweave in the wearability of their patterns - no crazy multi-length cardigans or insane colorwork a la Rowan or Vogue. I ordered the Tendances winter 05-06 magazine, which worked out to only around $10 including international shipping. Here are the highlights:
I want to make ALL of them! Yet that may be something of a challenge: