Sunday, January 31, 2010

Crafty sunday project(s)

So as you may have all figured out, I have figured out how to use and abuse the "photo right from phone to blog" feature on my camera...it's only been 2 years, but get ready for a whole new level of inconsequential blather.

This weekend I was a domestic whirling dirvish. Saturday was HN's birthday, and beknownst to me but not to him, his dad was coming down for a surprise dinner Saturday. All week long his sister and I had been planning on having an old person double date on Sunday, and HN had been saying he would just love a quiet night in with beef fondue for his actual birthday- mostly because he had so much to do on Saturday that he knew he would be tired. This statement would come back to haunt me. A few times.

Anyhow, once I got the word that his dad was coming into town, I had to tell him that his sister and her family were coming over for dinner on Sat, which of course would be cool in it's own right but see above about overwhelmed with work and tired, which led to a lot of "oh. ok. I thought it would be a quiet night in. Hmm. ok.", with me all feeling bad but trying to be positive because I knew his dad's visit would make him happy. Saturday itself consisted of us leaving the house by 9am to get started on errands (seriously, he had that many to do!) and, expecting our dinner guests around 4, at about 2 I started prodding to go home, because I knew he would want the house clean to show his dad (who was coming around for the first time since we've really settled in, and HN does love to show off his home). HN dug in his heels. He did not want to stop what he was doing and go home, and he did not really want to clean (which would have been fine actually, I would have done the cleaning but I was stuck out of the house with him). So basically the early part of his special day consisted of me nagging him to stop doing what he wanted/felt like he needed to be doing and let's go home and clean. I'm pretty sure at this point, the girlfriend of the year award I got for my awesome presents went into the trash.

Anyhow, we got home, got the house mostly cleaned and at some point HN went on strike. Angry strike. "It's my special day and I wanted to do my own thing and have a quiet dinner and you dragged me home to make me clean when I didn't really even want to have company for dinner and have I mentioned it's my special day and I'm going to go upstairs and read because when I look at you I'm a little annoyed and I don't know if I ever noticed before how pushy you can be" strike, which was pretty awesome because he's just never like that. I was at this point super psyched that his dad was coming because otherwise dinner would have been mad awkward.

His dad's showing up had the intentioned effect and he was all super and grateful and happy and we fondid dinner, which was awesome and made me wonder (as I do every time) why we don't fondue more. I also learned that 90% alcohol and 71% alcohol do very different things in fuel canisters, but all's well that ends well. The night ended with an ever so slightly tipsy HN (2 glasses of wine- woah!) passed out on the couch- mouth open and hand in pants- and me just looking around at the mess that had been our sparkling home just hours before. Satisfactory indeed.

Sunday I woke up and began to clean the party shrapnel of the night before: 1001 dirty dishes, empty wine bottles, chocolate cake crumbs and a random box of cheerios thrown into the mix at some point. Then HN departed to visit with his dad and go to Home Depot for even more birthday tools and I stayed home and decided that because I have roughly 1000 knitting projects going on, I should start sewing again.

First up, to get back in the loop of sewing I made a kitty mat. I got a new shelf from Ikea last weekend and Kitty seems to enjoy hanging out in a particular box so I thought I would welcome him officially with a little felt bad stuffed with some leftover quilt batting. Naturally he hasn't been back since, but I spiked it with catnip this morning and I expect results. You can't really see it, it's the lower left square. Mostly this picture is just about showing you how organized I am (for) now.

Also, I was right about this shelf changing my life. It is as awesome as I knew it would be!

Projects 2 and 3 were to finish up some little zipper bags that I had started way back when, for the wedding I went to where I decided to bring goody bags. I still have a few more to make, but I was psyched to get these 2 done, mostly because the material had been cut and pinned like a year ago and it was just a disgrace that they were still sitting there undone.

The pink one rules. I think I've finalized my plan for bags, other than interfacing. The other one is pretty but made from a fancy placemat so it bends a lot. Once I fill it with crap I'm sure it will work itself out.

Then it was onto the finale, which was the whole point of the exercise: Dog Jacket! I've been toying with the idea for a while, because her other jacket fits ok but is a little weird in the chest, because she is also a little weird in the chest and it wasn't made for her breed. We get by, but it's awkward at times. Also, it's not that pretty- it's blue checkered fleece and I'm tired to people calling her him, and me having to backtrack to explain that she's a girl as evidenced by the fact that she's pretty, der. That is my issue and I own it and I am not ashamed. So for dog jacket part deux I pulled out the fleece and outdoor canvas I had bought way back when I first conceived this gem and got to it. I googled, I blog surfed, I found a pattern. I discarded it and decided to freestyle.

Old Dog in Old Jacket. Not bad, but could be better.

The pic way up top is the almost end result. It needs more work in 2 ways: 1)must tailor bum a bit so it's not so "my mom made this" looking (which it hardly even is because I made straps AND they face the right way AND have velcro so they're adjustable!) and 2) I'm going to add another strap closer to her armpits. Somehow in my logic, the strap ended up around her lower belly and while I don't hate it, it's not the best place. Or at least it's not the best place if you're only doing one strap. Plus it leaves lots of her underbelly exposed, so I thought I would just add another, thicker strap around the chest which would serve to add some warmth and also to keep unsightly wrinkles from forming around her armpits. for not having a pattern and being a bit spatially challenged though I'm pretty happy with it. It's also not as warm as I thought it would be, but it's a good midweight coat and is in fact windproof which, along with being pretty, was the majorest of the goals. It's also not a coat in the traditional sense. It's more in the horse blanket/jacket style which I like because sometimes it can be a struggle to get her to stand still and get into the sleeves of a regular jacket. In my head, velcroing her in seems easier, and it's definitely more adjustable I can say that.

What I'm SUPER psyched about though is that I was so patient and undeterred throughout the whole day of sewing. I used pins, I thought about how stuff would work (and it worked like I thought it would!) and I even ripped back seams like 5 times, which is mega progress for me, because I am just not good with turning back and re-doing.

a clear sign of a good night

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Virtual Tour

So I was giving a virtual tour to a friend today and thought I would share. I think I've described my galley kitchen to most of you, but I never quite nail it, so I thought pictures would be better. Input welcome from my lady friends out there on placement of objects. Cabinet space is at a premium, so I choose the visual kitchen instead. It's a fine line between keeping things where you can see them, and looking like you live in a garage...I'm not sure how well I dance the line. Maybe some other shelving unit is in order, but I have yet to meet it.






Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Notes from the edge

So I'm in LA (the state, not the hellhole city) and I think I might have inadvertently checked myself into the Lizzie Borden suite at La Quinta.

Check mah bloody hand prints:
There's several sets in and around the bathroom. Had I noticed them before unpacking, I might be inclined to ask for a new room. However, I be lazy, and I be tired- having broken my own personal record for awesomeness last night- so for now I'll just hope they captured the criminal and that the joint isn't haunted.

Also, I tried to get a tour of an alligator meat farm and was denied. Apparently "No Tours" even means me. Who knew?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A purpose in life

Since the last project I finished up* (I don't remember what it was, because it was from way back before I moved) I've been looking for something else to start. I am currently in the middle of Girasole (and by in the middle, I mean I have so far knitted a 4 inch circle), but I'm struggling with motivation on that.

For 1, it's a lot of stuff I don't know how to do yet, which is something I always struggle with. I know once I dive in, it will work out (or it won't but I'll learn something either way) but I have a hard time really getting going. As my dad says, I have a hard time with the concept of practice. Rationally, I know it pays off but I have such a hard time spending hours on something knowing it's going to be sub par because I'm new at this.

Secondly, because it's stuff I don't know I get really frustrated, really easily. Frustrated like I swear alot. and if there happens to be a person in the room I swear at that person. HN gets scared when I knit, because his first time bearing witness to the process was the day I started Girasole, when I had FINALLY gotten it started right after like the 10th try, and then I just massively screwed up and right then he walked in and made the mistake of saying "Hello" I said "Don't talk to me right now" and he didn't understand what I meant and so he kept talking, perhaps inquiring to me what was wrong that I was being like that. I overreacted, taking out my frustration on him and foul language ensued. So now he has a mommy dearest like phobia of me when knitting, and I've relegated myself to only knitting Girasole when alone and calm.

So, anyreallylongramble, I've been on the hunt for a project I could work on in polite company, preferably something easy and involving knitting. Sewing is kind of out right now, my sewing room is not yet set up and I'm not a "work in the dining room and clean up every night" kind of girl, nor is HN a "go ahead and work and sprawl all over the dining room and don't worry about cleaning up every night" kind of guy. Howard Stern says if you live with someone you have to compromise, so for the sake of my relationship I will not even pretend to work in the dining room. So knitting it is. I looked through my stash at home (I'm back on my use everything up kick- food, yarn, fabric, nothing is safe!) , but most of it was bought when I was new to knitting, so I bought one and two balls of everything which you can only make scarves or hats with and I'm all set with scarves right now so I needed another idea.

Right now I'm up in beantown, spending some vague amount of time crashing at my original second home in Medfa and when I'm here I'm always inspired by Becky's patience and ability to conquer new painstaking things she's never done before. There was the xmas decoration, the cake, the quilts, the knitted cable bag, the taco rice incident, which was before the time of blogging so there's no picture but it was a marvel of patience and painstaking detail that is forever impressed in my mind- she totally made it look just like the one on the magazine! Dude!

So naturally I'm inspired right now because not only do I have someone who will agree with and encourage any odd idea I come up with, I'm sitting here surrounded by all of her cool stuff that she made, and I'm also sleeping in the craft room which means I can see all of her craft stuff, including her books. So this morning, while I was trying not to work I started poking through Mason Dixon knitting, and remembered that Becky was working on a log cabin blanket once. I googled around a bit, saw like a million different ways people have done it and so I think I've found my next calling. It's not stashbusting, but it's easy and I can keep it all over and just pick up and knit some rows whenever.

So basically all this blather boils down to: I'm going to knit a blanket. It is going to be awesome!

*Oh! I remember it was my hat. I love this hat, but it's too big, because I did creative math and did not swatch it when I made it. F! I just don't think I have it in me to frog it and do again. Maybe if I line it with fleece it will fit, because this yarn doesn't shrink. I want to love it because I love it, but honestly it's huge. I look like the dude from Fat Albert. Gah.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Ooops, I did it again

Wow. That's really all I can say right now. Let me roll back to yesterday morning.

I had some leftover quinoa kicking around in the fridge, and because I'm really exploring the studio space these days, I decided to see if I could make it into breakfast. Which you can, if you add bananas, almonds and some milk and then microwave it all. Breakfast porridge, and damn good at that.

For lunch I defrosted some Moroccan chickpeas with prunes and olives I had frozen before leaving for Chile (note: don't freeze chickpeas, they get mealy), because I'm still doing that "no waste food" thing (with a renewed dedication after coming back from Chile but I digress) and had that with some more quinoa (victory is mine, it's all gone!)

Then I had some carrots for a snack in the late afternoon, while I was waiting for my latest Cook's Illustrated (LOVE THIS MAGAZINE) treasure to cook, that being Cajun Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage. It was fucking superb, though next time I might bother to hunt around for a high brow sausage instead of the one at Super Fresh. But again, I digress.

Anyone good at math? Because if you review my food choices for yesterday, you'll see that I ate rougly 10,657,357 grams of fiber. Surprise!

No seriously, surprise. This morning when I woke up, tummy was a little rumbly but I remembered the beans and that I had quick cooked them vs soaking, so a little gas is probably to be expected. Little did I know that there was a ticking time bomb within. Even less did I know that my morning coffee was just the match needed to light that fuse.

So here come I, tooting my way down the stairs this morning giggling because I'm 12 and farting cracks me up and I shuffle into the kitchen and make my coffee as per normal, then settle down on the couch with cat and laptop to do my morning wake up surfing and see what everyone I know who blogs is up to. 3 sips into my coffee, something starts to happen "down below" I'm all "do I have to burp or something" and my stomach is all "no, you need to go upstairs. Like now. No, really NOW. I SAID NOW! RED ALERT!! RED ALERT!!"

Eventually my muddled brain catches on and I realize this is constitutes an emergency so I throw coffee, cat and computer aside and run for it. Made it in time, and I won't go into details but the next 20 minutes gave me time and cause for reflection; specifically on what the fuck I ate that could have caused this, and whether I might be possessed by something similar to but of a slightly different ilk than that girl who projectile vomited in the Exorcist. That's when I realized: in my quest to test gluten free living (it's a phase, I'm just about sure of it) I had inadvertently replaced carbs with fiber, pretty much totally. So I pretty evenly divided the time spent upstairs between exclamations of horror and raucous laughter at my own obliviousness- with a few "thank god HN has left for work"s thrown in for good measure. It was like that time I drank the magnesium citrate, only inadvertent and a complete surprise. And like the time of the Magnesium Citrate, once I regained consciousness I felt like a totally new woman. And also I realized that I still need to chew my food better, but I won't go into it.

So here am I, the new incarnation of Kerry once again settled into the couch with my morning coffee and hoping that this isn't *just* like the time with the MC, specifically that it's now over and isn't going to be an all day affair.

Happy Friday and you're welcome!

oh, and totally off topic: the other day I was testing out a new camera for work and they saw something in my eye! A resident came and looked at it, a ful dilated eye exam and multiple Dr consults followed and the end result is "it's not a tumor, it's a scar" but check the pics. The scar is 3Disk Diameters, aka, pretty fucking big! The blu blockers are for my comfort and your entertainment

"mother, is that you?"

how gross is that?
That black thing, all of it, is the scar. It should all look pink like below.

For reference. Yellow bit is the disc (optic nerve).
This is a 30 degree picture, see how normal everything looks? Sneak scar is on the roof of my eyeball!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Feliz Ano Nuevos! Bienvenidos Bicentaria!

Home sweet (COLD!) home!

I made it and will post pics soon but right now and busy dealing with the house. HN and I came back with fire under us to get unpacked. doh!