Can’t we just be soft and cuddly this Friday?

What’s more cute and loved than our favorite animals? We walk them, we talk to them, we gaze upon their beauty in the stillness of nature and still, there are never enough words to explain how much we appreciate them..until this week. Anyone with the least shred of animal decency in them clicked on All Creatures Great & Small: 30 Best Quotes About Animals so they could wax poetic with their furry and feathered friends while at home, on the beach or deep in the woods.

Abigail Wick is our resident sex columnist who, in addition to being a great writer, has a voice that will make you melt. It’s like buttah. Any of her columns could fit here in the warm and fuzzy edition but Flirting As Art? Acting coy yet direct to get what you want is a pretty soft and sexy way to go, especially if you just embrace being a flirt and work it to your advantage.

Just above your fireplace is a small shelf that many call a mantle but you, the budding artist, the home decor maven, you call that a blank canvas. In 25 Wicked Halloween Mantles, Shelter Editor K. Emily Bond pulls from all over the internet to bring you 25 creative ways to light up your hearth for the spookiest night of the year. Note to budding artist/home decor maven: make sure when lighting the fire in the hearth, your creative touches haven’t drooped too low to make your wicked mantle, wicked messed up.

Who doesn’t love a warm knit sweater when the weather turns cold? We caught up with knitwear designer Anna Cohen and Imperial Stock Ranch co-owner, Jeanne Carver recently to talk DIY. What we love most about the collaboration of sheep rancher and designer is that the product that comes from them can be so high fashion and environmentally sustainable. Read more about the designing duo in Anna Cohen and Imperial Knits Partner Up For Some DIY and the kits they’re now producing from the Imperial Stock Ranch in the high desert of Shaniko, Oregon.

Don’t deny it, when fall comes, something inside you screams for comfort food. Hot casseroles, hearty soups and soup bowl sized lattes can’t come fast enough to quell your cravings for inner warmth. One thing all that good cooking and drinking doesn’t always fix is the reduced amount of sunlight we have to endure and the dopamine and serotonin deficiencies our bodies endure. Not to fear snuggle bunnies, writer Luanne Bradley’s 12 Top Foods To Beat The Blues will have you smiling in no time, decorating your mantle, flirting with your partner while wearing a warm sweater and calling Fido over for a quote that just happened to come to you.

The post The Friday 5: Warm and Fuzzy Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

Post Portland Fashion Week, Anna Cohen and Imperial Knits sit down with EcoSalon to talk DIY.

Portland Fashion Week can mark another first for their past runway season with the launch of the first ever knit-it-yourself kits come to life on the runway. With a bold turn away from traditional ready-to-wear runway designs usually featured at fashion week, the designs were created from the collaboration of heralded designer Anna Cohen, and guest designers Chrissy Gardiner and Edie Eckman along with Imperial Yarn – a branch of the Imperial Stock Ranch.

Designs varied from chunky knitted sweater dresses to knitted belts and knee high socks and illuminated the growing popularity for DIY and as Cohen says, “a very clear desire for people to go back to the roots, to the land, to simple processes that feel like home.”

“This focus on creating beautiful product and the responsibility that comes with it very much aligns with my history and commitment to helping bring high fashion and sustainability together. We are in other words, very well matched. How exciting for this relationship to bring me closer to the roots of fiber than I have ever been,” says Cohen.

DIY kits are fairly new to the scene with designers like Wool and the Gang and Alabama Chanin at the forefront, but both Cohen and Imperial Knits are ready to join the growing ranks who see using their hands as a way to become even more connected to their clothing.

Jeanne Carver, Imperial Ranch co-owner, who runs the family’s 140 year old farm with husband Dan on 30,000 acres of Oregon’s desert high country, says as far as the popularity of knitwear itself, she has seen a marked increase in the apparel and fashion world.

The post Anna Cohen and Imperial Knits Pair Up for Some DIY appeared first on EcoSalon.