Tuesday Project Roundup: Who? ORLY?

Who, who, who? Owls!

Owls on the front:
And owls on the back:

The yarn was a thick Italian cotton I found online and the pattern was from here. The yarn is off-white, not a pinky cream like it appears in the modeled shots, and I have to confess that I went with white after Mr. Isbell pointed out that it would be "like the owl in Labyrinth." But you know what the yellow eyes make it look like? The ORLY owl:


ORLY?
YaRLY. Owls!

Why I Still Live Here, Despite The Legislature

"Homesickness is a great teacher. It taught me, during an endless rainy fall, that I came from the arid lands and liked where I came from. I was used to a dry clarity and sharpness in the air. I was used to horizons that either lifted into jagged ranges or rimmed the geometrical circle of the flat world. I was used to seeing a long way. I was used to earth colors--tan, rusty red, toned white--and the endless green of Iowa offended me. I was used to a sun that came up over mountains and went down behind other mountains. I missed the color and smell of sagebrush and the sight of bare ground."

Wallace Stegner, from the essay collection Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West. (The title's from the Big Rock Candy Mountain song!)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. This week I discovered the Twitter feed of Sockington the cat, the latest cat-related internet craze. Some gems include:

tiny meow behind you please turn around it would mean a lot to me if you turn arHUNGRY HUNGRY HUNGRY

stretching neck at you streeeetching neck OH NECK IS STRETCHING NEAR YOUR HAND OH GOD SO CLOSE TO ooo petting what a surprise

2. Speaking of the internet, should I be on Facebook or Twitter? Apparently this will help me find a job.

3. Items baked this week: Cinnamon swirl bread, a whole-wheat baguette from Laurie Colwin's recipe, oatmeal-butterscotch chip cookies, and dulce de leche brownies. I made my own dulce de leche, too.

"Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still."

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday in the Christian calendar, which reminded me of the T.S. Eliot poem of the same name. I wish I had studied this one in college, because I'm sure there's a lot more to it than I'm getting now. It's long; you can read it all here. But this excerpt from the end of the last section seemed to fit with the weather today and my general mood. (Not literally "the aspiration to move from spiritual barrenness to hope for human salvation," as Wikipedia says, but maybe the hope for spring? And better times?)

Wavering between the profit and the loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things
From the wide window towards the granite shore
The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying
Unbroken wings

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices
In the lost lilac and the lost sea voices
And the weak spirit quickens to rebel
For the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell
Quickens to recover
The cry of quail and the whirling plover
And the blind eye creates
The empty forms between the ivory gates
And smell renews the salt savour of the sandy earth

This is the time of tension between dying and birth
The place of solitude where three dreams cross
Between blue rocks
But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away
Let the other yew be shaken and reply.

Wednesday Tune: Happy Birthday, Ralph Stanley

Bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley is 82 today, so today's tune is one of his: "The Darkest Hour."



It's just before dawn, of course. Which is another way of saying things have to get better.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Here Come The Owls

That's what the next step in the pattern is called: "Here come the OWLS!". I'm as excited for them as the pattern writer was.
I've been trying to take my time on the owl sweater, though, because I don't have another sweater to work on when I finish it. (I've been thinking about this one, but I'm not sure I can justify buying yarn while unemployed.) To keep the owls going slowly, I pulled out some gray alpaca from the yarn basket and made some fingerless gloves over the weekend.

Because--have you noticed?--it's acting a lot like spring lately. And I've been watching a lot of Victorian miniseries.

We Haven't Had A Toby Picture In A While

He sure is good company.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Have you noticed I haven't had any local political commentary lately? I'm only getting the Tribune on Sundays now and it's been lovely. The less I know about what the patriarchs in the Utah Legislature are doing, the happier I am in the mornings. (Of course, the paper boy decided to deliver the paper every day this week, just in time for Buttars to disgrace himself again.)

2. Since I mentioned WWII on Tuesday, I have to mention that Yesterday was the National Day of Remembrance for the American citizens who were put into internment camps during WWII. Families could only take what they could carry--what about their pets?

3. And I was so excited to post the quote about pie on Wednesday that I forgot Wednesday's tune. To end the week of sad stories and WWII on happy note, here's Big Rock Candy Mountain, "a song about a hobo's idea of paradise," according to Wikipedia.

It Was A Nice Dog, Too

So I went to the main library yesterday around noon. Nothing makes you feel more fortunate than seeing a homeless dude who's smuggled his dog into the library with him by hiding the dog under the blankets on his wheelchair. No, I don't have a job, but I don't have to smuggle Toby into a warm place to spend the day. Nor am I in a wheelchair.

Comparatively, I have no problems at all.

Did You Know Last Saturday Was International Pie For Breakfast Day?

I missed it, but I learned about it and found this fantastic quote on my daily read, EvenCleveland:

Pie is the American synonym of prosperity, and its varying contents mark the calendar of the changing seasons. PIE IS THE FOOD OF THE HEROIC. No pie-eating people can ever be vanquished.

The New York Times, 1902

I need to make some pie!

Tuesday Project Roundup: Thrifty AND Prepared, Just Like The 1940s

After all the knitting lately, I finally used my sewing machine again last week. I cleaned out the closet when I got my craft shelf and found some extra pillowcases, so I tried out the embroidery stitches on the Bernina:Something new to decorate with for free!

And I pulled out an unfinished project from a couple of years ago--this pencil skirt:(It's finished but too dark today for a modeled shot, so here's the pattern. Early 50s, I think?)

I had originally thought I would sew this to wear to the second job of Christmas 2007 but ran out of time, and by the second job of Christmas 2008 I had made more than enough dresses to wear. But while thinking of the job search these past two weeks, I realized that a plain black straight skirt would be all kinds of useful, so I finished it up.

It's my interview skirt. I don't have any interviews yet, but--in keeping with the 1940s theme here--I did it before and I can do it again.

If I Could Make This Link Sparkly, I Would

So my oldest and most helpful friend--who very conveniently studied graphic design while I was learning music theory--sat me down last week and got my portfolio cleaned up and got my portfolio site redesigned and up again.

Check it out: portfolio.karenkaminski.com

I even got a mention on her company's site, which she also designed! I am so going to have a job soon. (Hey, "Yes, We Can" worked for Obama, didn't it?)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. The weekly baking report: I made the French chocolate granola (awesome), the chocolate cookies (awesome and getting made again this weekend), the slow-rise bread that appeared in the NY Times about a year ago, and a light wheat sandwich bread. And today I'm making cheesecake for our Valentine's Day dessert. It takes 4 packages of cream cheese. That's two pounds. I guess love is being able to eat a pound of cream cheese with your sweetheart?

2. Speaking of Valentine's Day, how about some Wilson Pickett to express our feelings?



I also like Elwood's addition to the lyrics (which you can watch here):
"You know people when you do find that somebody hold that woman, hold that man. Love him, hold him, squeeze her, please her, hold her, squeeze and please that person, give 'em all your love. Signify your feelings with every gentle caress because it's so important to have that special somebody to hold, kiss, miss, squeeze and please!"

3. Why yes, I have learned how to embed video. How could you tell?

Valentine's Day Is Coming Up

Click the last one for bigger, and find more "I love you more than____" hearts here. I love that someone said, "I love you more than Arthur C. Clarke."

Wednesday Work Tune

I realize that "Work Tune" is kind of a stretch, because I'm not playing real work songs like "Union Maid," but I think the blues count, right? Here's Robert Johnson's 1936 recording of "Walking Blues" for your Wednesday listening.




Why this one? I like the nervous energy in it, and I like the verse around 1:30:
Well, some people tell me that the worried blues ain't bad
Worst old feelin' I most ever had
Some people tell me that these old worried old blues ain't bad
It's the worst old feelin', I most ever had

Tuesday Project Roundup: I'm A Versatile and Experienced Knitter

...and I've been writing cover letters way too much lately. Although I've been getting a fair amount of knitting time in, too: behold the tan sweater, finished after three months! It took three months, yes, but it's exactly how I wanted it to be. I used this pattern to start with, but I kind of had to fake the measurements since I was using a different yarn size. So I'm glad it turned out so well.

Of course, I've had lots of help these past two weeks at home. Someone even had to help us with the photo shoot last night:

GOSH

(Actually, I have more portfolio stuff to do, and I'm going to get awesome cover letters written for The Summit Group, Crowell, and Love Communications. I don't suppose anyone reading this has an in at any of those places? No? GOSH.)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. My baking spree continues: Today it's peanut butter cupcakes from the latest Martha Stewart, and I have cinnamon swirl bread, chocolate granola (scroll way down), and "world peace" cookies planned for the next few days. I'm going to weigh 900 pounds by the time I get another job.

2. In my new routine, I totally forgot that Monday was Groundhog Day, Candlemas, and a Druidic holiday: Imbolc, the beginning of the end of winter. Time to start seeds! (Read more about them all here.)

Dickensian

I've been watching a BBC miniseries version of Bleak House this week (yes, I got it for the title) and it's awesome. I don't have a lot of patience with reading Dickens, but watching it is great. According to Wikipedia, Bleak House is "held to be one of Dickens's finest and most complete novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon." After just the first two installments, there's already been a Mr. Krook, the bad landlord, a Miss Flite, the crazy bird lady, and someone named Mr. Guppy. And a minor character will die of spontaneous human combustion! Really, what more could one ask for in a miniseries?

Wednesday Work Tunes

Tuesday Project Roundup: Why Yes, I Do Have A Lot Of Spare Time Lately

The tan sweater is still in pieces, but I'm hoping to have it finished in a few days. I'm done with anything related to job hunting by 3:00 or 4:00 every day so I've been watching movies on the computer and knitting until Mr. Isbell gets home.

I've also been cooking like there's no tomorrow: I've made two loaves of bread, chocolate pudding, and cinnamon rolls in the last four days, and am trying to decide what yeasty baked good is next. Because, hey! I'm home to oversee the risings and the second risings and the bakings, so why not?

Keeping It In Perspective

In addition to pulling together a portfolio and biting my nails over my long weekend, I started reading about Ernest Shackleton's 1915 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition:

There is nothing that makes you think, "Wow, it could be worse" faster than hearing about people stuck in the frozen Weddel Sea.

They were for all practical purposes alone in the frozen Antarctic seas...Nobody in the outside world knew they were in trouble, much less where they were. They had no radio transmitter with which to notify any would-be rescuers, and it is doubtful that any rescuers could have reached them even if they had been able to broadcast an SOS....
Thus their plight was naked and terrifying in its simplicity. If they were to get out--they had to get themselves out.

And in a nice cross-media tie-in, I watched Encounters at the End of the World Saturday night. (Highly recommended, especially for Werner Herzog's voice-overs.)There are crazy scallops underneath the ice in Antarctica! And seals make weird clicking whistles underwater! The world is a cool place, and I'm not trapped in the ice. It could be worse.

Friday Information

To just jump right into the information: I was laid off from the agency yesterday. They were as pleasant as they could be about it--gave me a few contacts at other places, some vacation pay as severance, and offered portfolio help. But still.

On the bright side, I have lots of fabric and yarn piled up, so I won't have to buy more of that for a while; I can now go to the grocery store in the middle of the day; and Toby is really enjoying playing in the box that I used to take all the stuff from my desk home.

So let the search for a new job begin. If anyone reading this needs a freelance writer, let me know at karen(dot)kaminski(at)gmail(dot)com. I have some great skills--knitting skills, sewing skills, writing skills...

Two Happy Things

1. There are magnolia trees in front of Kingsbury Hall*, and last night I saw that they're starting to bud. Spring is coming--the early-blooming magnolias know it.
2. The Married to the Sea comic site, which is updated daily, also makes me happy. Here's a favorite:


*The magnolias were the highlight of the performance for me. A radio play does not make for gripping staging, and I would think that holding a script would make it easier for actors to deliver their lines, not harder. There was a good pro-science crowd, at least.

Why I'm Not Going To Grad School

I've had two classes to go to this month--dance class and sewing machine class. I reported on swing dancing a few weeks ago and predicted success at the end of the four week class. Well, let's just say we dropped that class and will re-take it before graduation. We missed last week at the last minute to go to the Utah Democratic Party inaugural celebration, and last night Mr. Isbell and I looked at each other and said, "Let's not." (To make us sound less like lazy quitters, the class was HUGE, so we weren't sure we could pick up what we missed; and our original plan was to take it with another couple, which we still want to try to do.)

But sewing machine classs was going well, and tonight was going to be my final class. Except while not at dance class last night I got a call from my friend Sean saying, "Scopes Monkey Trial! Kingsbury Hall! Culture!" After some confusion, it turned out he had scored tickets to the one-night only LA Theater production of "The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial." So I'll be skipping class tonight*, too.

Apparently, I'm still 21 and think skipping classes without consequence is AWESOME. Hey, let's go get a bagel instead of going to Music Theory!


*I can still go to the Saturday morning session of sewing machine class, so I won't miss vital information about using a walking foot. Otherwise, I would have had to say, "No Monkey Trial."

Tuesday Project Roundup: Piles Of Projects

Which pile should I start with? The pile of quilt fabrics?
Turning this into a quilt shouldn't be too daunting, because the final product will consist of just long columns of these fabrics, like this or this. I just need to get started. (I decided against making a doll quilt to practice, because most of my motivation on a project comes from anticipating the final result, and, well, Toby already got his new rug.)

This pile of yarn will be that owl sweater I've been talking about since November:

And then there's this pile, which is the sweater I've been working on for ten weeks now. It will look like this someday...

Maybe I can blame Toby for impeding progress. I had to snatch the pieces from the jaws of death right after I took this.

Feeling Sad? Do Something For Someone Else

I did something for my cat...Toby got a sheepskin rug from IKEA yesterday and it makes him so happy that I get happy, too. (Kitty happiness also trumps my animal-cruelty principles, apparently.)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Wow, a president who promptly does what he has specifically promised to do? Yes! Obama Issues Directive to Shut Down Guantanamo.

2. I know Tuesday's picture of my skirt wasn't very detailed, but I just saw this, which is essentially what I made, brown buttons and all. And it wasn't $195.

Not me. But I have a similar skirt that was cheaper.

Wouldn't It Be Cool If This Was What You Did On Thursdays?

I found Wayne Levin Photography in my internet wanderings last week. There are more whale pictures on the site. Check out the "Fish Schools" series, too--really cool and a little sinister. But then, I'm pretty terrified of the ocean. I like whales, though.

I Think We All Feel This Way:

And I loved this shot--"Good bye! Good luck! Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!"

Photos from the NY Times. You can read the complete Inaugural Address on their site, too.

UPDATE: Just saw this headline--Obama Orders Halt To Prosecutions At Guantanamo. He's not wasting any time!

Tuesday Project Roundup: New Blog Format, New Storage, New Skirt, New President

It's a good day!

First, notice the new blog format? The archives are now a lot easier to go through.*

The new storage, built by my dad and furnished with boxes from IKEA**:

There are quilt fabrics in the top half of the stack in this close up:

The skirt I mentioned last week:

And, of course, OBAMA! I have Mr. Isbell's laptop open streaming the beginning of the ceremony as I write this.

*The images in the archives were lost, sadly. But I was unable to search them for particular posts with or without images before. We'll just say 2009 starts a new phase in the blog.

**I highly recommend the elderberry flower concentrate from IKEA foods--"Fladersaft." Mix one part concentrate, two parts gin, and three parts water, and serve with a lemon slice for a delicious elderberry sour apertif.
*

Just 24 Hours More

Boing Boing pointed me towards the online portion of the Harper's Index for this month--it's all about Bush. And while I appreciate that he didn't bring about a Dr. Strangelove-like "nucular" winter--which I fully expected when the war(s) started--these just reminded me alll over again how really and truly bad the last eight years have been:

• Days since the federal government first placed the nation under an "elevated terror alert" that the level has been relaxed: 0
• Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA PATRIOT Act, according to the ACLU: 50
• Minimum number of Bush appointees who have regulated industries they used to represent as lobbyists: 98
• Portion of Baghdad residents in 2007 who had a family member or friend wounded or killed since 2003: 3/4
• Percentage of U.S. veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have filed for disability with the VA: 35
• Chance that an Iraq war veteran who has served two or more tours now has post-traumatic stress disorder: 1 in 4
• Minimum number of detainees who were tortured to death in U.S. custody: 8
• Percentage of EPA scientists who say they have experienced political interference with their work since 2002: 60
• Minimum amount that religious groups received in congressional earmarks from 2003 to 2006: $209,000,000
• Amount such groups received during the previous fourteen years: $107,000,000
• Rank of Bush among U.S. presidents with the highest disapproval rating: 1
• Average percentage of Americans who approved of the job Bush was doing during his second term: 37
• Percentage of Russians today who approve of the direction their country took under Stalin: 37

There's more online, if you want to get worked up even more. But guess what? Tomorrow will have happy news!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Wow, how about the captain of the jet the landed in the Hudson yesterday? That's one hell of a pilot.

2. The ability to embed video on this blog continues to elude me, but if you go here, you can watch an announcement by my favorite singer Neko Case: For every blog that posts her new single, her record label will donate $5 to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary! I'm playing along--this link will download the song directly and get a $5 donation. http://www.anti.com/media/download/708
(If you don't want to download, you can also hear the song on the info page. It's the number of blog posts that gets the donation, not the number of downloads.)

3. I have a shelf being delivered tomorrow that my dad built, so I can spend the long weekend stacking fabric and sewing. Yay!

I Don't Mind Winter When It's Sunny And In The 40's

So I can post these pictures from an exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts) without complaining too much about the cold. (I can't complain at all after reading about Shackleton.)

There are 14 images from the show online, with informative captions, and they're worth a look. For example:


And the caption:
Painter George Marston joined explorer Ernest Shackleton on two voyages, the 1908 Nimrod expedition and the ill-fated 1914 Endurance expedition to Antarctica.

In his painting Aurora Australis, he uses the southern lights - the southern counterpart of the northern lights - to frame an iconic view of polar exploration at the turn of the 20th century, showing the rough shelters and sled dogs.

Lacking a canvas, he painted the scene on a salvaged piece of tea crate

Also, who knew there was an Antarctic equivalent to the Northern Lights?

Thing #24: Learn How To Dance

Before I thought of the 29 Things, I had already planned to take some sort of Continuing Ed class with Mr. Isbell in 2009, just to get us off the couch and away from re-watching old seasons of The Office. Once I realized I'd like to know how to dance going into the next decade, we signed up to learn "East Coast Swing." Our first class was last night.

We picked swing because it was a more convenient night than the general ballroom dance class, and because I thought the music would be better--you'd expect big band swing standards from Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, and Tommy Dorsey in a swing class, right? Well, that wasn't the case. Although we're not really dancing yet, either, just going through the steps, so I guess we wouldn't have done good music justice anyway.

Despite my disappointment in the music (Bad 90's swing revival stuff? Really?), it was fun, and when I got home I learned a lot about the history of swing. And now I want some saddle shoes:

This will so be us in a month.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Project Overload

Currently working on: Navy corduroy skirt using this pattern* (and the FANTASTIC buttonhole feature on my new machine).

Currently planning to work on:
-Quilt top
-Tan knit t-shirt
-Striped knit t-shirt
-Navy floral blouse
-Brown Japanese rose-print dress
-Vintage orange floral dress

Currently wishing I had another two weeks off to sew.

*That isn't my photo in the link; it's the designer's. It's been too dark for pictures here, hence no modeled shot of the plaid blouse from last week and no pictures of the pile of sweater pieces that are growing at the rate of cave formations. And no pictures of the failed cowl that was supposed to be so chic because, well, FAIL.

Happy Birthday Jack London

The Writer's Almanac tells me that today is Jack London's birthday, so I got some more details from Wikipedia: Born in 1876, he worked in a cannery, sailed as a pirate and as part of the California Fish Patrol, went to the Klondike with goldrush fever, got scurvy, bought a ranch and a yacht, amassed a library of 15,000 volumes, and died in 1914 of a morphine overdose.

I didn't realize that he died so young--I guess children's copies of The Call of the Wild don't get into a lot of detail about death from alcoholism and accidental overdoses.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. The URL tells you all you need to know:www.cutethingsfallingasleep.org. Just don't watch it when you're in an afternoon tired funk at work.

2. I've been thinking about quilts--Thing 4 on the 29 Things. To practice quilting and binding a big quilt, I am thinking about making a doll quilt. For Toby. To sit on when he looks out the window. Because I am a crazy cat lady. (Although I think I would be crazier if I made a doll quilt for actual DOLLS.)

3. I've also been thinking about storage solutions, so this is appropriate: Translate your name into an IKEA furniture name here.

Poem For A Sluggish Morning

"Waking From Sleep," by Robert Bly:

Inside the veins there are navies setting forth,

Tiny explosions at the waterlines,

And seagulls weaving in the wind of the salty blood.

It is the morning. The country has slept the whole winter.

Window seats were covered with fur skins, the yard was full

Of stiff dogs, and hands that clumsily held heavy books.

Now we wake, and rise from bed, and eat breakfast!

Shouts rise from the harbor of the blood,

Mist, and masts rising, the knock of wooden tackle in the sunlight.

Now we sing, and do tiny dances on the kitchen floor.

Our whole body is like a harbor at dawn;

We know that our master has left us for the day.

This Guy Isn't Telling Kids To Get Off His Lawn

Via BoingBoing, yesterday I read an interview online at PingMag MAKE, "The Japan-based interview magazine about 'making things' " with a 97-year old botanical illustrator. The man, Chikabo Kumada, sounds like the most serene and happy person on the planet. He has an exhibition planned for his hundreth birthday!

I think the interview is just fascinating to read. The first few questions set up his career, so you could skip those if you're pressed for time, but it's really worth a look--there are quotes like this:

I hit the renaissance of my life when I turned seventy. That was when I really bloomed. Up until then it was like I had been like living in muddy water. (laughs)...So my 80s were really like the bloom of youth for me. But when you reach such an age, you could really die at any moment. So I felt that it was important that I didn’t miss anything, and I took another close look around my garden. And that was when I realized I was able to see things in flowers and leaves that I hadn’t been able to see before, and my work got more detailed.

And this: "I believe that any living thing can be beautiful if you love it."

Tuesday Project Roundup: The Vacation Projects

I didn't get as much knitting finished as I'd hoped during my time off after Christmas but the new sewing machine certainly helped me get some projects done.

I finished this tunic pattern from the 70's in gray corduroy. It looks medieval to me, but Mr. Isbell said that I looked like an elf from Lord of the Rings and my mother mentioned Star Wars. I think those were all compliments, though.

Here, I just look like a cat wrangler. (It's really tricky to get a picture of gray corduroy in a dark apartment at dusk. This was the best one.)

I was able to start and almost finish another blouse, using all the seam finishes and bell and whistles on the new Bernina. This one has already prompted Mr. Isbell to say, "The collar is like a Star Trek villain's," but I like it. It just needs buttonholes and a hem.
I'll try to have a (better-lit) modeled shot next week. Maybe there will be some knitting, too!

29 Things

I turned 29 Saturday--which for me marks a new year much better than any drunken New Year's Eve goings-on--and I made some birthday resolutions of things I'd like to have happen before I turn 30 and magically become a bona-fide adult. So here's my list of 29 things I want to accomplish before I turn 30:

1. Learn the names of the Wasatch mountain peaks--I only can point to Mt. Olympus
   
2. Pay off the remaining debt
3. Get a queen size mattress
   
4. Make a queen-sized quilt
   
5. Hike Bald Mountain in the Uintas again
6. Finish reading The Silmarillion
7. Knit Christmas stockings (starting with Toby's, of course)
8. Visit the north end of Zion National Park
9. Be less wimpy about riding my bike on cooler days (80% of Copenhageners ride their bikes throughout the winter. So does my father. I'm shamed enough to try to be tougher in the spring and fall.)
10. Eat at Red Iguana
11. Eat at The Paris
12. Chill a watermelon in a stream on a picnic in the mountains
13. Knit at least one thing for charity using up yarn I have
14. Get a new desk chair, if an affordable molded Eames chair exists
    
15. Cook moules marnieres and frites
16. Stop biting my nails. (God only knows how, since I've been wanting to stop biting my nails for about 20 years, but I'd like to have lovely grown-up hands now.)
17. Learn how to sew knit fabric
18. Drink an Old Fashioned at the bar at Bambara
    
19. Learn how to apply eye makeup that doesn't look scary or amateurish
20. Go to the Oyster Bar one Monday a month after work for a half-priced appetizer
    
21. Replace my Rubbermaid kitchen garbage can with a broken spring top with something nicer. Because a 30-year-old should not have duct tape on her garbage can.
22. Knit an elaborate cabled sweater*
    
23. Build my collection of Bach CDs
    
24. Learn how to dance
    
25. Stop getting plastic bags from the grocery store
26. Have tea at The Grand America
    
27. Make cloth napkins and use them for everyday meals
28. Go out to breakfast one weekend a month
29. Go to Moab for New Year's Eve
    

*I think this is the one to knit--after I finish that cardigan and make an owl sweater and Christmas stockings and the charity thing, of course. Hey, I have a year.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Tomorrow is my birthday! (And Tolkein's.) I will sew on my new sewing machine and eat some seafood. I've made a list of things I want to accomplish by my next birthday that I'll post on Monday.

2. Today is Issac Asimov's birthday, and yesterday was both J.D. Salinger's and E.M. Forster's birthday.

3. Well duh, New York Times: an article announces that it costs less to make things than to buy them. At Jo-Ann, the supplies to make a child's apron and chef hat cost $7.90 for fabric designed with gingerbread men, iron-on letters to spell "chef" and elastic. Making a hand-knit throw costs $40 for nine skeins of yarn and $6 for knitting needles; a similar-looking item at Pottery Barn costs $129.

They don't mention that it takes about four months to knit that throw.

Happy 2009

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."

T.S. Eliot

Going Forward Into The New Year

I hope your New Year's Eve is as calm as it is for these alpacas. Don't get too drunk tonight--no one wants to start a fresh new year with a hangover.

Tuesday Project Roundup: NEW SEWING MACHINE!!!!!!!

Look what is in my house RIGHT NOW:
Compared with the 1962 Singer I've been using (goodbye, Old Paint), it is like a spaceship. I hear the Also Sprach Zaruthustra theme whenever I look at it. This is the beginning of a new Sewing Age. It makes buttonholes! It finishes the edges of your seams! There are nineteen different stitches to choose from! It comes with accessories! (Cat butt not included in all models.) And I think the Swiss Army made its ballistic nylon cover:
Best (early) birthday present EVER. Thank you Mom and Dad!

It's Monday

And if you're home on vacation, you can just do this:

Notice there's still a blog here? That's good! But it still looks the same--I figured out how to make the change but still need some more info to do it. So we're waiting on that. NEXT week it will be all new and improved.

Testing!

This is only a test.

Happy Christmas Eve

Like the rest of the blogging world, I won't be posting the rest of the week because of Christmas. But I have more plans than celebration and vacation--I'm going to attempt to move the blog to Blogspot (gasp!) to help with the organization and overall look.*

So I will leave you with three things to read for the next three days:

1. Tonight I'll be reading The Tailor Of Gloucester (this link even has the illustrations!) to everyone. Mr. Isbell can humor me, Toby can look at the pictures of the mice, and I can commiserate with the Tailor about not finishing his projects and buttonhole quality. And we can all say NO MORE TWIST.
2. If you'd rather read something to yourself or if your cat has a longer attention span than mine, I recommend the Christmas chapter in The Wind in the Willows. It's the winter chapter where Mole rediscovers his old home after living at Rat's all summer and takes Ratty there on Christmas Eve. There are also caroling field mice.
3. And if this is all too cute, here's something adult you can read: It's Nigel Slater describing Christmas in Vienna in a Guardian column last year. You will want to listen to Strauss.
   

*I am a little nervous about this, but I have reinforcements I can call in (hi Amber!) to fix things if the move goes horribly awry. So if you don't see a blog here next Monday, don't panic; it just means that I'll need another week to have someone who knows what she's doing fix things.

Tuesday Project Roundup: All I Want For Christmas Is Some Crafty Time

And after today, I will have time--I have tomorrow through January 4th OFF. I'm going to try to finish that taupe cardigan (I have to start over on the back, though, so it may not happen), sew two shirts, and knit one of these cowl-y scarf-y things:

(Found, along with a pattern, on the suitably titled CopyCat blog of craftiness.)

We Made It

Yesterday marked the Winter Solstice, so at least we can have more light as we fight "the depressive psychological effects of winter on individuals and societies," which Wikipedia defines as "coldness, tiredness, malaise, and inactivity."

I've mostly escaped malaise and Mr. Isbell and I have been pretty good about staying active, but the coldness this year has been getting to me. My fingers and toes are ALWAYS cold, and Toby and I are in front of the space heater like it's a roaring fire. (If only it were.)

But at least December is almost over, then there's just January and February. We can do it, right?

Friday Unrelated Information

1. www.postcardsfromyomomma.com is a collection of emails and IMs that adult children have received from their parents, and it's priceless. (Especially the "dads" category, no offence to any excellent fathers.) Maybe it's because I think moms are so awesome, but I get such a kick out of reading them:

Got it! Good photo! Did the studio send out the buffet for you?!! Is that a hotdog/cigarette/donut you’re eating?!! Who is the young lady in front of you?

I really must know what you have in your mouth. Dad is curious, too.

Please reply immediately. Love, Mom

2. Speaking of parents, I was visitng last Sunday and my father had taped part of a sales flyer shouting THESE ARE THE FINAL DAYS to the calendar in the kitchen. With six days left until Christmas and Snow-mageddon on the way in just hours, I couldn't agree more.

3. And, from The Onion: McCain Stares at Screen, Attempts to Write Family Christmas Letter:
Forty-five minutes later, after two aborted attempts to compose the letter from the point of view of the family cat, Oreo, and another about what 2009 held in store for the McCain clan, the Arizona senator took a break to make a cup of hot cocoa and listen to the grandfather clock ticking in the background. "Jesus," McCain mumbled. "Jesus Christ."

So awesome. Go read all of it.

Food I Cook For Myself

Oyster stew is a traditional Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve supper in my mother's family, but only she and I like it. Mr. Isbell doesn't care for it either, but since he was at band practice last night, I made some for a week-before-Christmas-eve dinner for myself. (And Toby. Toby, I discovered, is a big fan of oyster stew.)

I've started reading some M.F.K. Fisher again, to compare her with Laurie Colwin, and in Consider The Oyster I found this about oyster stew: "mildly potent, quietly sustaining, warm as love and welcomer in the winter."

And also very popular with spoiled housecats.

A Poem For Shopping

This was on the Writer's Almanac site last month. Don't worry, the deer is not being hunted...

A Deer in the Target

by Robert Fanning

I only got a ten-second shot,
grainy footage of the huge deer
caught in the crosshairs
of a ceiling security camera, a scene
of utter chaos in a strip mall store,
shown on the late local news.
The beautiful beast clearly scared
to death in this fluorescent forest,
its once graceful legs giving out
on mopped floors, think Bambi
as a fawn its first time standing.
Seeing the scattering shoppers,
you'd think a demon had barged
into this temple of commerce,
as they sacrificed their merchandise,
stranded full carts and dove for cover.
And when the aisles were emptied
of these bargain hunters, who was left
but an army of brave red-shirted
team members, mobilized by
the store manager over the intercom
to drive this wild animal out.
I wager there's nothing on this
in the How to Approach
an Unsatisfied Shopper
section in the Target employee handbook,
but there they were: the cashiers
and stockers, the Floor Supervisor,
the Assistant Floor Supervisor,
the Store Manager,
the Assistant Store Manager,
the District Associate Manager,
the District Supervisor,
the District Assistant Supervisor
and visiting members from
the Regional Corporate Office,
running after it, it running after
them, bull's eye logos on their red golf shirts,
everyone frenzied and panting: razor hooves
clattering on the mirror-white floor tiles,
nostrils heaving, its rack clearing
off-season clothes from clearance racks.
All of them, in Target,
chasing the almighty buck.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Too Busy For Projects

There's a reason I made last week a week of Things That Are Soothing: I left the house yesterday and came home thirteen hours later. It's Christmas! It's Christmas in retail! There are parties to attend! Parties to plan! Presents to wrap! Booze to stockpile against the coming Canadian cold front! You get the picture.

I have sewing projects planned for my winter vacation between Christmas and New Year's (bless you, winter vacation) and I'm knitting when I can, but there's not much to show for this week.

I don't want to complain too much, though, because as frantic as Christmas can get, we can't forget what it's all about: The night when we get presents.

It's Monday

Go to it as thoroughly as Toby washes his leg:

Friday Unrelated Information

1. It's my sister-in-law's birthday today--the big 3-0! This year she's gotten a dog and started grad school, too, so she's officially an adult now. Happy Birthday!

2. If you're not working or attending a questionable performance of Babes in Toyland tomorrow, you should go up to the Holiday Open House at Blue Moon Ranch. There'll be free hot chocolate and snow-covered alpacas.