Last week a whole pile of wonderful stuff arrived through my door, including this amazing Very Special Project from the equally amazing Marian of Made Marian. It is a scarf — a glorious, beautiful, delicate blue scarf:

It is completely stupendous though totally unnecessary and I’m thrilled to have been gifted with such a wondrous thing; I’ve worn it all over town already. More than loving it, though, I was completely impressed by it. I mean, the fact that you can take what is more or less a ball of string and a couple of chopsticks and make a scarf out of it is pretty damn cool. The fact that it was made by someone I know and not some kind of magical fairy is even cooler.

Scarves: Not made by magical fairies. Who knew?

One of the other things that arrived through my door was my fabulous friend Tara from London by way of Toronto, who came toting 12 balls of yarn, half a jumper and several pointy sticks. We went out for coffee and I watched her knit; we went out for dinner and I watched her knit; we went out to the pub and I watched her knit. Finally, when we went out shopping and inevitably ended up at the yarn store, I asked her if she would teach me to knit, too.

It took an enormous amount of patience and about five false starts, but she did it, and now I can more or less do it, too. Behind the blue scarf Marian made me is the first few feet of the scarf that she inspired and that Tara taught me to knit. I don’t have a lot of faith that I’m ever going to learn to make anything more elaborate that what is more or less a very wide but straight line even though Tara bought me Stitch ‘N Bitch. My knitting skills at this point are decidedly less knit one, purl two and more knit one, knit one, knit one and, I suspect, destined to stay that way,

But it doesn’t matter: I love knitting. And I also love how I came to knitting, too. Traditionally women learned to knit in large social and family circles, of which I have neither. I learned from my internet circle: inspired by Marian and taught by Tara who was taught by our other friend Lucy, all of whom I know from online.

Anyway, many, many thanks to all of these ladies for my new obsession. I’ve got a whole new cause of RSI and I couldn’t be happier.

So the thing about new gadgets is that they almost always require new apparatus for carting them around. The annoying thing about new gadgets is that the carrying cases can cost as much as, and sometimes more than, the damn gadgets did in the first place – if you can even find them at all.

I’ve just plain given up on finding a sleeve for my sparkly new phone, and in terms of laptop bags, I very nearly despaired. If you’re a guy, it’s easy: head to Timbuk2 and order up anything that catches your fancy. That’s it – you’re sorted for whizz and Es. If you’re a chick, though, most of the options out there are enough to make you weep with the ugly.

Even the custom Timbuk2 bags, while very well intentioned, are bit misguided in their execution:

Call me crazy, but that just is not $210 worth of pretty.

Much better looking are the variety of laptop sleeves out there, which you can of course shove into the roomy bag of your choice. My standard for good sleeves is that they be custom sized to your laptop. If you’re a Mac owner, than the world is your oyster (but you already knew that, you smug Mac whore, didn’t you?)

Velvet Idole makes really well produced leather zip cases for all Mac laptop sizes, and considering how very stylish they are, €75 is a fair price. Fabrix Cases also makes Mac sleeves in some truly lush prints from florals to camos to business stripes, but for $50 they’ll make you one sized to your exact lappy dimensions:

If you prefer something a little more padded and just absolutely beautiful, you can buy one of the Tilly Moss sleeves I’ve been lusting after for almost a year. Again, they’re sized for Macs but for a mere €30, you can get one to snuggle your exact technological proportions.

Unfortunately, I am under strict instructions to by not just a sleeve but an entire laptop bag, preferably one made of armour. As recent events have proven, I am un-naturally hard on hardware, and if I could be forced to compute in a padded vault, my huband would probably lock me in there and just shove food under the door. Luckily, this isn’t a viable option, but buying a bag from Computer Fashions is:

These bags are hand made in a really fabulous range of Amy Butler fabrics, usually combing florals with dots or stripes. They come in two ranges: a narrow profile padded laptop messenger bag ($49.00), and a larger, deeper laptop/diaper bag version ($69.00). Both can be custom sized to your gear, and there are options you can add like key clips, adjustable straps and mobile pockets, too.

And one will by mine. Oh yes, yes it will.

Greetings from my manic world, a planet so very insane I have virtually no idea what day of the week it is anymore. Given this fun fact, I’ve decided that since any day could be a Sunday, I’m going to roll out a Sunday Style just because I damn well feel like it.

Today’s topic: the joys of working from home. While any number of people are inclined to bitch and moan about the challenges of churning out designs, code and copy from a lonely turret, I myself am a fan of the self-imposed den of uninspired isolation.

While I’ve worked in some very nice professional spaces in my time, I don’t care how big the corner office may be, how expansive the view, or how fast you can get an intern to bring you a half fat double shot fair trade extra foam latte – you still cannot wear bunny slippers to the office. This fact, coupled with the annoying presence of other humans and the doubly irritating lack of cigarettes, makes working at home a complete and total winner for me.

Unfortunately, I am no longer allowed to wear the fabulous bunny slippers outside of the house. This leaves me with a fundamental question of what I can roll out of bed and wear that will allow me to comfortably sit on my arse for 12 hours a day and still have a husband at the end of the night.

• Yoga pants. I don’t care if they are so three years ago. They are comfortable, and while they don’t have monkeys stamped on the booty like my favourite pyjamas, they also don’t make my husband threaten to divorce me on the grounds of irreconcilable humiliation when I walk the dog in them.
• Monkey knickers. In 12 colours. My personal protest against not being able to wear monkey pyjamas all day long. Unfortunately I can no longer find them online they do not ship to Ireland, and no, you cannot have mine – don’t be disgusting.
• Fake Uggs. Because bare feet and bunny slippers are apparently unacceptable attire for short public outings. In the summer I wear flip flops; in the winter I wear €20 red BearPaws from TK Maxx that make me look like a cross between an elf and an Eskimo. This is still better than divorce, and way cheaper than £130 for Uggs, too.
• A good support bra. Because let’s face it: nobody lounging around in monkey pants is going to willingly choose to endure the discomfort of an underwire. Having said this, nobody wants navel-gazing boobies, either. The best solution is to wrestle the twins into the lingerie equivalent of a hammock. Depending on the demands of your rack, this can be either cute and cozy or something entirely industrial strength.

And there you have it: more information about the underwear and daily attire of your friendly neighbourhood web designer than you ever really needed to know.

I know, you’ve barely survived Christmas and yet there are less than 30 days to Valentine’s Day. We have solved this problem in our house by ignoring this wretched Hallmark excuse for a holiday, until one of us remembers what day it is, eyes the other up and says “Wanna?” That solves the dilemma of what to give your loved one very nicely at Chez Moi, thank you very much, but I understand other people get a bit more consumerist about the whole thing.

Valentines gifts I would like to buy but can’t because they won’t ship to Ireland:

• Custom Sharpies. Not only are these an excellent boy gift, but they come in 8 very groovy colours, too. And really, who doesn’t love Sharpies? Especially a Sharpie that says “This is MY pen. Back off, bitch.” Which, apparently, they won’t print for you anyway.
• Custom M&Ms. In Valentines Day colours, even. Not very much type fits on there, though, so I was planning to abbreviate my romantic sentiment to “Happy VD!” Which, again, it seems they would have declined to print.

I suspect the reasons they won’t ship abroad have nothing to do with postage and tracking issues. They just don’t understand our sophisticated European humour. The frustrations of not being able to purchase these is almost enough to make a gal wish she lived in New Jersey. But not really.

Anyway, this considerably narrows my Valentines horizons, but there are a few items I’ve been keeping an eye on that you can use as gifts until my next marriage:

• Meg Pickard’s new Valentine’s Day cards off of Moo, about which she’s very excited. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have one that says “Wanna?” yet, but I’m planning a campaign for next year.
• Obviously, if you are a single girl, you are obligated to be the Valentine’s Fairy for all of your single girlfriends, showering them with cute cards, little pressies and pounds of chocolate. I suggest these very fabulous Friendship Rings. They work out at about €3.50 each!
• Custom cartoons! I love the superhero idea, though this may have something to do with my childhood obsession with my Wonder Woman Underoos. Which, tragically, do not come in an adult size marked Lard Arse.

Should you wish to buy Irish, however, I can recommend Cocoa Bean Chocolates. For an excellent gift, you can buy one bar in each of five snazzy colours, wrap each bar in matching knickers tied with a bow, and give them to the woman you lust. Who will very likely then let you into her knickers, but not her chocolate stash.

There are several problems with not being a lesbian. Chief among them is that I have a partner who is incapable of being seduced by the charms of adorable decorating items, and who in particular has no affection for extraordinary paper products beyond a preference for a certain brand of loo roll.

Yeah, like I can really hang a conversation about style and design on that. Thanks, buddy.

So, having nobody else with whom to share my ridiculous love of all things paper, I bring it to you for this week’s Sunday Style. Please note that I do not actually care if you like paper because if I do not get to share this stuff with somebody, I will implode. And possibly do something vicious like wallpaper the couch.

• This week’s paper craze is brought to you by my love for all things Write Robinson, particularly the Cabin cards from the Holiday Collection. Since the holiday season has blissfully passed, I wish she’d makes blanks for these as she does for so many of her other cards. I can’t even get organised to send last year’s cards, let alone next year’s.
• Again with the Etsy, retailer Sidney Ann is cranking out the most creative and fantastic coasters. Tragically she will only ship to the US and Canada. Still, they would make fabulous gifts. Preferably for me.
• Speaking of coasters, Dooce scored some extremely rockin’ recycled coasters in her Christmas stocking. Notice that she lives in fucking UTAH and has a local Anthropologie, while I am forced to survive with no Anthropologie at all, and not even an IKEA. Yes, I live somewhere less cool than Utah.
• And we all know about these right? Okay, just checking. What I didn’t know is that if you cannot be arsed to select 100 of your Flickr photos to be used as Text Mini Cards (and I totally cannot be arsed), you can just select a pre-set pattern and click “Fill Rainbow” and they’ll deliver your cards to you in 100 different shades. Nice!

I’ll just close with a mini-rant about sellers who won’t ship outside the US. Or, if they’re really adventurous, past Canada. (Oh the adventure.) I know that only 21% of Americans have passports, but I honestly do not think shipping coasters to Ireland counts for terrifying international travel. You don’t need to pack a bag, buy a power converter, learn to use odd money or God forbid speak another language. You just need to go to the post office and fill out a green slip of paper you stick to the damn packet.

It’s in English and everything.

I can’t remember who it was, but someone made the point recently that you don’t need a brilliant business idea to be successful in the brave Web 2.0 world – all you really need is a website and brand that looks more Web 2.0 than the other guy. Add some Ajax and wait to get bought, baby!

To start you on your way to fame and fortune, I’ve thoughtfully compiled a Web 2.0 Start-Up Kit for you. It includes absolutely everything you need except the funding. Which, since I’m not asking for 20% of your company, shouldn’t be much of an issue.

• Stuck for a color scheme? Don’t worry about it; just use someone else’s! Here are 70+ colours from other start-ups who got where you want to go. No need to re-invent the wheel, people. (They obviously aren’t.)
• You are, of course, going to need stripes in your design. Stripemania lets those among us who are stripe challenged create nicely controlled tiling graphics. Or just steal other people’s previous attempts. Either way, really.
• Did you say badges? Right you are, gotta have badges or you’ll never get funded. The appropriately named Web 2.0 Badges is a very handy online badge maker that also allows you to add text to your unique snowflake of a creation. On the off chance you know how to use PhotoShop, you can also download the PSD files for all badges (ever) for free.
• But wait, that’s not all – you’re going to need shiny, glossy mirror images plastered all over your logo and header or nobody will buy your non-existant product and you’ll never be an internet millionaire. Reflection Maker to the rescue! Set your background color and upload your image and you’re off. (Try it with a badge! I don’t think anyone’s done that before.)

All of these resources were found trawling through Macintosh Journal, which shockingly is not a start-up but a blog. On the rare occasions when they can tear themselves away from wanking over their new iPhones, they post a nice collection of design resources, although naturally they have a strong preference for anything that reeks of Apple, stripes, reflections and badges.

Quick, someone buy them.

This Monday edition of Sunday Style is brought to you by the fact I had no idea yesterday was Sunday. Now that’s a holiday!

Etsy is one of my favourite places to shop online, perhaps my very favourite. I am just a sucker for unique, handcrafted stuff. All of my sisters got Etsy stuff this Christmas; virtually all of my girl gift giving is done there, and any boy gifts I can find, too. In case you’ve somehow missed the Etsy phenomena, it’s a marketplace somewhat like Ebay, but only lists handmade goods, there’s no auction and you pay the seller directly – normally by PayPal, but cheques work too if your seller is local.

Which, as it happens, works out brilliantly if you’re Irish because there is a small but amazing cadre of women in the Republic and NI turning out some brilliant stuff, mostly all of which I want.

For totally adorable:

• Cattapilla Designs in West Cork makes gorgeous felted handbags, including one I want so badly I am in actual danger of wetting myself.
• Voododoll from Omagh makes the most kick-ass soft dolls, perfect for hipster babies* or girlfriends. Also adorable and totally cheap iPod Nano cases.
• Got art? Check out Sirens Rising for tiny but perfect canvas artwork with original style and fetching characters. More tiny artwork from Vintage with Love in Sligo, who mostly makes jewelery.

Beyond the cute and scrumptious, you can also find fashion items with high style from local Etsy sellers:

• This gorgeous necklace from Darerca Design in Wicklow is lavender and freshwater pearls on crocheted wire and is stunning. And it’s $59!
• Bonzie in Waterford makes original Irish couture clothing with a vintage vibe, including the world’s most gorgeous scarves that are a very reasonable $70. Also jackets, corsets and even custom wedding gowns, none of which I can afford and all of which I want. Drool…
• HuggleKnits is rockin’ the Dublin style with her unique Huggles, a cross between a shrug and a capelet. She’s suggesting wearing them as scarves or at home jumpers but I think they are really cool and would wear them out as a totally hip shrug over something fab. They are $25!

There are loads more Irish sellers, too. Etsy’s user interface is uniformly excellent, except for the regional search, so I can’t link you to the Irish goods. You have to go here and type in Ireland. Prices are set in US$ but for local transactions, you would just pay in yoyos. If you suck at exchange rates, $25 is about €17 – just go here to calculate prices.

*Note: May feature buttons, which are not baby safe unless welded on to doll. Or baby.

I know, I know, everyone and their dog already has a blog. Duh. But with the new year coming up, who knows – you might want a fresh start, a side project or a new design to kick off 2008. Here are some of my favourite blog resources, naturally geared towards WordPress, and of course totally free because as we all know, I am cheap.

Weblog Tools Collection gathers newly released, good-looking themes from the wild that you won’t always find in WordPress’s own theme gallery. Some of them are just eh, but these are my favourites:

• Structure is an extremely professional, multi-purpose theme that really exposes the CMS power of WordPress. It is an excellent starting point for a newspaper website as well. If I had a WordPress Theme of the Year award to hand out, Structure would win it.
• Something more traditional, but nice and very easy to edit for a personal blog or small business: FantastycVector (with bonus horrifyc spelling.)
• My Diary is piles of fun for a personal blog, assuming you have PhotoShop and can edit the header graphic.
• For faux-hipsters, Deep Blue is a nice clear layout that totally drank the Kool Aid on the Web 2.0 colour pallet so will probably work perfectly with your achingly hip new logo.

For finishing touches, you’re quite likely to want to personalise your blog or add to the theme in some way.

• Dreamstime has almost 3,000 authentic, free images. They are also searchable, and include both photos and illustrations, though you have to dig a little harder for the illustrations.
• A set of totally rockin’, completely free blog icons for things like RSS, trackbacks, etc that can also be munged for general web design.
• Many, many sets of icons on which the provenance is a little hazy, so they should be used for non-commercial sites only. Also brushes and illustrations with the same caveat.
• And finally, StatCounter, the web’s best free stats counter that isn’t Google Analytics. It can also be turned invisible, free of charge, so the oh-so-ubiquitous SiteMeter can go take a leap. This has much better reporting, anyway.

So go forth and make with the pretty blogs.

Every Sunday, assuming I have found the time to find anything particularly interesting in the week, I’ll post new loves and lusts and the occasional hate letter. Kicking off this Sunday in totally classy style, I reveal myself to be a cheap whore. (On the plus side, most clients appreciate this. No, not those kinds of clients.)

I’ll happily admit to being an iStock buyer of long standing, but honestly, it’s getting a little spendy. Virtually nothing there these days is a single $1 credit, and I don’t want to spend just over €3 for a single vector button, thanks. Also, the search is contaminated to the point of serious suckitude. Luckily, I have new resources so I can continue churning out blog fodder on the cheap!

• Lucky Oliver brought you the man himself in yesterday’s Jesus composite. It’s a very, very nice royalty free stock photography and illustration site, where images really are just a buck. It is also charmingly designed, and I have to say that from a UI point of view, the image search options are extremely user friendly. I’m running all searches at Lucky Oliver first now, and using iStock as a backup whilst Oliver’s inventory grows.
• Far fewer images, but totally gratis, are the vector art illustrations at Vecteezy. There are some really nice illustrations, objects, icons and buttons here.
• Wear Pallets joined my sidebar this week courtesy of nouns at One More Hour. WP is nicking daily photos from street fashion blog The Sartorialist and using them to create web design colour pallets. There are some decent results there, and the colour combinations are very trendy for all you bleeding edge designers.
• Even better, though, is COLOURlovers. My God, all I do is drool. I pretty much want to make websites in every single one of those colour schemes. Forever. The Trends section has the best combos.

If you only check out one of these sites, go with Lucky Oliver. It’s new, it’s growing, it’s indie, and it has an active, supportive user base. These people are going to do great things.