Sunday Supplements (and Sunday Puppy too)

Here's a lesson in the stubbornness of English Bulldogs: They are very stubborn.

You want them to turn and face the camera? Well, that's going to take a bit of cajoling sometimes…

There's no treat here. We were just fooling her. She wasn't fooled. Anyway, here's what we've been up to this week…

READING

How to make money without a job - For the first time in my life, I'm self-employed, and it's a whole new exciting world for me! This Forbes article is like a quick guide to earning money on your own terms. I'd love to hear from and meet other young professionals doing similar things.

How Philadelphia out-Portlands Portland - Haven't I been telling you for months that Philly is on the brink of becoming too cool for school? How can we compare?

Well now Yelp will do that for us! Here's Philadelphia's hipster heat map, and here's Portland's. Do you think they're accurate?

ADMIRING

The five most clever redesigns of the Stars n Stripes - I enjoyed that good dose of American patriotism this holiday weekend. Here are some smart re-interpretations of the most famous piece of sewing the haberdasher Betsy Ross probably ever did.

My own handiwork! Here's a little known fact: As a student I was President (and founder) of the Glasgow University Stitch n' Bitch group. I was also Vice President of the Student Union, which had just launched a new coffee shop, and it was a great way to combine the two. The group helped drive traffic to the new meeting place, plus I like to think that I helped to make knitting cool on campus.

It'd been a long while since I brought out my knitting needles, but I recently made a pair of booties for a family friend's little cutie:

The pattern is based on Babystovler, a Danish bootie pattern from the 1940s. You know what I want to do now? I want to make an adult version. Hello friends, you're all getting slippers for Christmas. I just need the patience to make them all.

And speaking of patience, eventually this was the best our pooch was going to give the camera this week. "You want me to face the camera? Here you go. One shot. Where's my cookie for being so cute?"