Where's that damn muse?

I have been told I need to revitalize my hobbying strategy. Lately my hobbies have included, in no particular order: advanced worrying, budgeting for the weak willed, feeling guilty for spending money, cooking after cooking, trying not to kill plants, and not finishing hats. Also I have been experimenting with frustration and playing zombie computer games.

Yeah, maybe he's right. But I'm sure you guys can sympathize. I have ideas for things I would like to do, but all of them require Bright Shiny Purchases; right now I can't justify spending for anything new. I have lots of great yarn, but don't feel like knitting or crocheting. I have a scanner, printer, camera, thread, modge podge, awesome aluminum tape, altoids tins, nature, a sewing machine that hates me, a needle punch doohicky, perler beads and the more stuff I put on this list the worse I feel for not doing anything with it and/or feeling like there is a need to buy anything ever. Gah! Rampant vicious consumer guilt cycle! I want little projects, not quite instant gratification but something that I can put down when the pastry cream boils over but still want to pick back up when the strawberry tart is done.

Really, though, I want something that is mine. Something that is more than just copying someone else's project. Something that is immune to the critique of others. I read on someone else's blog recently that cooking professionally is the equivalent of saying I love you to complete strangers every day knowing they will never, ever say it back. What I'm looking for right now is a project that lets me say I love you to MYSELF, because I know I will totally reciprocate.

Know the feeling?

New Year

I had a fantastic day yesterday, getting a tour of some of the better, more interesting and downright perplexing craft supply shops around Portland. I didn't get to have my own yarn spun at Yarnia but I did find some amazing insane old craft magazines at Knittn Kitten (expect vegetable bouquets to appear here in the near future), and some Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric at the Fabric Depot .

That's going to be my kitchen curtains. Seriously, it will be awesome.

But the most inspiring spot was Twisted. I invite all of you to visit me and we'll go there. There are couches, and tea, and wonderful people and they only have one (1!) yarn that has acrylic in it. I couldn't find it. They have patterns all over, books, you can sign up for lessons... and some sock yarn so stunning it made me want to conquer my fear of double pointed needles.

In between my new printer/scanner, my new camera, and the existence of Twisted, I am excited for what I can do this year. But here's the thing. I'm not going to assign myself anything. I'm not going to say now what I will and will not do this year. The only promise I'm going to try and keep is that I will finish the projects I start, in some form or fashion.

I have some old (1902) issues of Good Housekeeping magazine. So many articles and ads on how to keep busy with fabric and paint, home decorating and food. How lucky we are that these things we call "crafts" can be our comfort and solace, inspiration and meditation as they have been for generations before. I wonder if it isn't so much the finished project, but the work itself that is important. After all, how often is it that we keep the work for ourselves? But the time we spend in creation, that is ours, and ours alone.

Save some time for yourself everybody, and fill it with what you love. Happy New Year!

Too soon?

I decided that we're going to make our holiday cards this year. By "we" I mean, I get to do all the fun stuff, and then he gets to write something clever. Considering the kind of project it is, I consider this a fair distribution of labor.

I got some paper, and some stamps, and some notecards and stuff - man there is a lot out there as far as papercraft is concerned. I mean like, whoa. I don't usually do any of this type of craft soyeah, these cards will, in fact, cost more than our card usually do, but hey! Snowflake glitter!

Any of you scrapbooking types have any suggestions for websites, ideas, glues, that kind of thing?

I still have some modge podge.....

(also hey, if you want one, send me an email with an address, unless you know I've got it already.)

Little things

This really is the only good use for that percolator. Also, I made a set of origami box lights for our stairs. Now if only we could be finished unpacking.

Also, I crocheted a hat, but haven't taken a picture yet.

Crafting home

Maybe it is a girl thing. It probably is, something to do with nesting. Although in the car, I wish I had a tape recorder, because HE said he wanted to really pull the house together, to not have anything in boxes, because we've come to far to live like kids in their first apartment. Or at least something like that, I'm paraphrasing.

We still have no furniture, it's on a truck somewhere, and yet, there is already things hanging on the wall. I bought a few plants and pots for the patio and we've discussed furniture placement. Oh, and the spongebob bathroom is mostly set. That came together first.

I have 652 other ideas for what to do here, with immediate finances being my major limiting factor. (Hello! Idiot! It is not cheap to move across country! Put down the awesome stone patio accessories!) Some of those ideas I know to be, well, a little quirky. This time, though, I'm giving myself permission to try them. They may not be things that most people would do in their houses (and some may be failures that I hate) but I'm going to try them anyway, because even though once again we find ourselves renting a space with beige carpet, white walls, and blinds, it's still supposed to be our home.

So maybe its time to live that way.

Cross country crafting

Does it make me completely crazy that I am considering gathering bags of dirt along the way to Oregon so I can make a series of dorodango when I get there?

I'm glad crochet takes up so little space. Planning at least one surly cake for the route.

Gnomenclature

This unfinished project has caused no end of trouble. Not the project itself, which is done with needle punch embroidery (a quick way to smile according to the French on the packaging) and allows me to stab something repeatedly with a sharp object. That part is great. I haven't even stabbed my leg yet and only have to finish that one mushroom.

The problem is the design, which I stole from someplace online. The free pattern listed itself as being a gnome. This is not how my beloved sees gnomes. I can see his point, but I know of gnomes like this. Then, we fight. So it is a battle ground gnome/man's land in my house. My sweetheart is such a troublemaker. Don't get him started on Santa's not-really-elves, either.


I think it's going to be a little pillow when it is done.

Tailoring advice, please!

It is time, after years of chocolate, raspberry puree, passion fruit coulis, chlorine bleach and other assorted products, for me to start replacing my chef coats. The ones I have, I love. They are short sleeved so they are great in the summer and when reaching in to scrape out 40 quart bowls of cheesecake batter. They are a women's cut so I don't look like I have on my big brother's shirt and weigh another 30 pounds. They also are no longer being produced, although when they were, they were like a hundred dollars a pop. No thank you!

So I found a short sleeved jacket for twenty dollars. The problem is, it fits in the shoulders and chest, and everywhere else is just not right. Lame! I think, maybe, I could tailor it myself. I know, it's sewing, but I can hem up the sleeves and bottom of the jacket, and I think I could take in the sides a bit. But I'm not sure. Should I even try? Just take it to a professional? Whatchall think?

When did thread get so expensive? It should be 75 cents.

I have already discussed my feelings on sewing. Hemming is almost worse than sewing, because hemming is something I have to do, rather than something I am doing by choice.

Now, let us discuss chef pants. Chef pants are designed 1. for men, 2. to be washed and worn a gazillion times until they fall apart, 3. out of enough fabric so that in the event they catch fire, the actual pant is nowhere near skin and finally 4. for men. Given these factors every pair of pants I get for work I need to hem. Lots.

I got two new pairs of pants this week to replace ones with holes that were potentially against the company's HR policies. So now, I must hem.

Can you tell I'm trying to delay?

I hate hemming.

Scooped you again, Catch

Yeah, that was so a goal for this year.

At least it's an excellent template if I do decide to go and do it in granny square.

all work and no play makes Homer something something

14 hour work day! Still came home and knitted most of an egg cozy. Guilt is powerful.

Will finish tomorrow.

Also, my life is pretty lonely these days, but I am happy to report that my cat still loves me. Just look at the way he cuddles!

Maybe it is a found object thing

I really like making collages. Something about putting together other people's stuff in another way appeals to me. It started in the way back era of the mix tape, I would make a collage for a cassette cover. I still do, sometimes, with CDs I make . I have tried doing similar things with photoshop, but it just isn't the same. Maybe it's just an excuse to play with glue. I don't know.

Anyway, i saw this ugly box while my sister was around. It was a dollar. It needed buying, and fixing. So far, I've done about half. The grapefruit on top makes me happier than you can believe.The other thing I like about collaging? Sometimes you find pictures like this:
I just need to figure out what to do with it. Awesomeness.

To make room for the tuna!

I made chocolate Guinness cupcakes! And cream cheese frosting!

With those two forces combined (that will happen in the morning before work) I figure that I can take over the world.

Okay, jeez:
cake stuff:
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 cups ap flour
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch fine salt
1 bottle stout
1 stick butter, melted
1 big glorp vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream or yogurt or whatever substitute you have on hand

frosting stuff:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup heavy cream
a pound or so of confectioners' sugar (I find the texture of this stuff unsettling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prep your muffin tins as per your preference. I usually do the little baking cups because I am lazy.

Mix everything in the cake list up to the salt together in one bowl. In a bigger bowl, mix the stout, melted butter, and vanilla, beat in the eggs, and mix in the sour cream. The liquid will look extremely unappetizing right up until the time you get the sour cream mixed in. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, don't overmix because, you know, it's cake, and we don't want it to be tough, because that's nasty.

Fill your muffin tins. I found that a 1/4 cup scoop did pretty well for this, but I wasn't real precise about it or anything. Bake for about 12 minutes, turn your pans around, bake another 12 minutes. The cake is pretty moist, so you'll want to let them cool in the pan so they don't go awry.

For the icing, beat the softened cream cheese until it goes all fluffy. Beat in the heavy cream until the combo cheese/cream mixture goes all fluffy. Beat in the sugar (you may want to add more or less, depending upon how you like it) until the cheese/cream/sugar combo is fluffy.

It's a pretty lightweight icing, so definitely wait until the cupcakes cool before frosting, because that stuff will totally melt. Although, for the record, it is still quite tasty melted.

Apparently those self portraits got so frustrating that I have a new default thing.

ALMOST TWO LEGS LONG!!

You know what is great about making scarves? If you aren't being fancy, you don't even have to count anything. Just go until it's about as wide as you want, turn around go back the other way, over and over until it is done.

Brain seems to greatly appreciate the associated opportunity to think about something else.

Breaking in the new couch

Oh Em Gee is it totally way more comfortable to crochet on the new couch than it was on the futon!

Even the cat endorses it!

I'm not dead yet...

... I feel fine. I don't want to go on the cart. I feel Happy, I feel Happy!

also I am completely bored with everything within arms reach of my couch. But, writing this, now all I want to do next is nap.

I even BOUGHT soup.

current mood = right stroppy cow. Good thing I am weak and defenseless.

Time limits are for suckers.

As I was working on today's craft thing, I realized that, by way of a general approach to life, I am not totally awesome at paying attention to arbitrary recommendations about how much time I ought to be spending on things. Take, for example, thingaday. Now, I have spent way more than 20 minutes on stuff basically every day. Today was especially awesome, with my efforts clocking in at about 3.5 hours worth of crafting. Likewise with exercise--recommendations from doctors usually end up in the 30-60 minutes per day neighborhood. I train for marathons, which means hours and hours of running at a stretch, plus I lift weights three times a week. I work well over my allotted 40 hours per week. I don't come even close to getting 8 hours of sleep a night.

But here's the thing: I feel great. I make my deadlines, I don't feel unusually stressed out or tired, and I like it that I have intuitively grasped the concept that the rules people make up for how we should all comport ourselves need not prevent me from enjoying myself.

Anyway!

Today I took a $2 XXL t-shirt and turned it into a little dress by following this tutorial. I haven't yet put on the straps because, after 3.5 hours, I was done working on it for the day.


Interesting things to note:

• sewing stretchy cotton fabric is not nearly as difficult as I was led to believe
• there is a lot of thread in the seam that attaches the sleeve of a t-shirt to the torso of that t-shirt
• it is really hard to pin up something for yourself while wearing it when you have no help

Here's what I am thinking: the combination of this turn-t-shirt-into-dress technology and the bleach stencil technology could easily be combined into some kind of super hyper awesomeness.

I will totally finish this darn scarf before the end of the month.

Continuing on the crochet adventure, the scarf is now officially one leg long. See:


The good news is that now I know what I am going to do with it when it is done.

blurry photographs brought to you by pictures in the dark

I am happy to report that I made more progress on that crocheted scarf thing that I posted a picture of yesterday:



Still not finished, but hey, at least it is floofy and majestic. Actually, I think I am going to need to incorporate a second skein of the obnoxious gold accent yarn that I am using, because I seem to be close to using up the current skein. Good thing I bought so many of them when they were $1 a skein at my local Michael's.

I also drew a heart on my belly in a fit of pique. Don't know whether this counts toward thingaday, except it was sort of art-motivated; I was thinking about how to deal with a tattoo that I have that needs covering, and then thinking about the concept of the beauty mark, and thinking about the philosophy of beauty, and after a while in my head discovered that I had absentmindedly obtained a pen and started doodling on myself:

I suppose I am just lucky that it is in ballpoint and not sharpie.

Channeling my inner fourth grader

All right, so there was no post yesterday (although that does not reflect a dearth of craft; I crocheted for an hour in the airport:

and then made 350 desserts with the adoxograph [no photos of that, sorry]. It just turns out that Kathy's job is hard work, and getting up at 5AM on a Sunday to go to the airport is hard work, and in the absence of the scarf being done and photographic evidence of the desserts, it was kinda hard to get motivated to write something).

However!

Today is a new day, and so I drew/colored a hand turkey. Hand turkeys were a great favorite of mine in my youth, and, I must admit, it was nice, from a nostalgia perspective, to revisit that particular form of self-expression. (Hopefully it will be nice from a punctuation perspective to use fewer commas in the rest of the sentences in this post. Yeesh.)

Here's Tom:

The fat cat looks displeased.

I can't remember whether I was a color inside the lines person as a child now that I am old, but if my current performance is any indication, I may have been a get distracted by other things person. Seriously, can I not even color for twenty minutes without stopping to watch a TED talk?