Tuesday Project Roundup: Not A Pencil Skirt

I got a fancy new purse for spring and I didn't want to just throw it in my wire bike basket, so of course I had to sew a liner for the basket. I just made up a pattern and used some fabric on hand--a big vintage print and leftover pillow backing fabric. (When everything you own is either aqua, turquoise, or orange, all your fabric coordinates!)

Now I can carry my purse and it won't get wire marks:


And look what else fits in there!
I was putting it on and he came to investigate and jumped right in. No, I did not try taking him for a ride.

Today, We Ride

If it's not going to be like Copenhagen, maybe it will be like this:

Lady parade, coming through!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I got caught up on the new Glee episodes last night and my favorite hair insult ever was in the latest one (the cheerleading coach is always making fun of the teacher running glee club's hair):
"I thought I smelled cookies wafting from the ovens of the little elves who live in your hair."

2. My friend Kara told me about a store that sells apparel fabrics here in town and now I can't wait to check it out! I am really excited about the thought of getting suiting and silks and nice things in person instead of online.

Thing #20: Find A Perfume

Thing #20 on the 30 Things is done, and the winner is L'Heure Bleue, by Guerlain. Created in 1912, this is described by Guerlain "a bouquet of roses softened with iris, violet and vanilla," but you have to go read some of the reviews on Basenotes: "An old woman sobbing softly in a church" (?), "a mixture of White Diamonds and baby powder" (!), "thawing earth and sulking, hardy blossoms." Apparently, it is a love it or hate it sort of smell.

To me it smells mostly like violets (I'm no perfume expert), but expensive violets--kind of how I imagine someone's apartment in Paris would smell. It seems calm, and kind, and confident, and those are all good things to be when you're 30.

This Week's Poem

"the door to the invisible," from Back Roads to Far Places by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

the door to the invisible
is visible

the hidden door

is not hidden

i walk through it forever

not seeing it

i am what i am

and will be

what i will be

Tuesday Project Roundup: Pencil Skirt #2

I'm on a roll! Here's a repeat of last week's skirt in a different print (from here):
I love this silhouette but it's not the most practical one for walking fast, riding a bike,* running away from zombies, etc., so I'm going to have to move on as soon as I get skirt #3 from this pattern finished.

*Obviously we did not die on the ride to work yesterday, but we did get two honks, and not approving ones. I'm sure cyclists don't get honked at in Copenhagen.

It's A Big Deal When You're Sedentary

Today is the first bike ride to work! I met up with my bike-and-knitting-friend Kara on Saturday morning for some practice in a neighborhood parking lot.
(Oh hai, do I look like I know what I'm doing? Because I'm going to be on the road with the cars soon!)

We circled and stopped and started and amused/puzzled the neighbors to no end, and then we rode to get brunch. It was pretty much like this video. Let's hope the Monday commute is, too.

Wonderful Copenhagen from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I found a Michael Chabon quote about being a grown-up that I liked a lot:
We are accustomed to repeating the cliche, and to believing, that “our most precious resource is our children.” But we have plenty of children to go around, God knows, and as with Doritos, we can always make more. The true scarcity we face is of practicing adults, of people who know how marginal, how fragile, how finite their lives and their stories and their ambitions really are, but who find value in this knowledge, even a sense of strange comfort, because they know their condition is universal, is shared.

2. I know this has made the rounds already, but for some reason I can't get enough of it. Inexplicable.

Yes We're Going To A Party, Party

It's my mom's birthday today! Happy birthday to a great mom!

More Background On The Skirt Obsession

Another reason I'm suddenly into skirts, as stated yesterday, deserved its own post: I've started watching the TV show Glee. A sewing blog I read linked to another blog devoted entirely to one Glee character's outfits, which were mostly cardigans and skirts. Without having seen the show, I started following the outfit blog for some fashion inspiration.

Fortunately, my friend Kara found out that I had never actually seen Glee and she loaned me her DVDs of the first part of season one--which I watched in a week. Guys, I love Glee! There's music! Unpopular kids! Insecurity! Drama club! Gay teens! I LIVED this in high school. And I can finally think about it and not cringe.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Pencil Skirt #1

Hooray, a project that fits and has big pink flowers on it!
(Toby wanted me to get him and his heater in the picture.)

This is one of my new favorite patterns: It fits, there are no fussy details (Cynthia Rowley, I'm looking at you), and I can make it in about 3 hours. In fact, I'm working on a second skirt from this same pattern this week and have a third one planned out, too.

After being more pro-dress than pro-skirt for the last couple of years, I'm really into skirts suddenly. I think that's because I realized that skirts give you far more options for wildly mixing colors and patterns.

Today's Quote

...is by Galileo. Yay science!

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them. He would not require us to deny sense and reason in physical matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct experience or necessary demonstrations.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I know why so many writers are alcoholics. It's been so busy lately that I've had a hard time shutting my brain down at night. I have also discovered the Negroni. Coincidence? If it stays busy, before you know it I'll move on to pink gin and then probably just a straw.

2. Do you need a panflute? Find out below.

Happy Birthday, Barbara Kingsolver

I have liked everything from her that I've read. Maybe instead of reading Dune for the nth time again, I should go to the library in her honor and get one of the short story collections I haven't read.

Quarterly Report: 30 Things

It's been three months since I put up my list for this year, so I thought I'd report on it. Seven things are done or going well, I've already had to modify a couple other, and the rest are pending. Commentary on successes, modifications, and challenges below:

1. Put the money that I was using to pay off debt into savings for a down payment on some sort of house, townhouse, or condo.
Yes, I am doing this every month--Toby needs a yard to play in. I'd like to start channeling some extra money in there in addition to the main savings.

3. Stop buying non-essentials (ready-made clothes, really expensive fabric, shoes, magazines, etc.) for three months (months TBD)
I'm cutting this back to a month at a time with the option to extend it to the full 3 if I can get back into the frugal habit. (I think that May and June will be the months--I want to start after I get my tax return, which is getting spent on things like vacuums and desk chairs and end tables.)

6. Buy a living room chair--armless, small-ish, but comfy. This will help with seating to accomplish #22.
Done!

7. Sew new pillow covers for the living room.
Done!

8. Buy a vacuum.
As soon as I get my tax return.

9. Refresh my yoga skills and then...
10. Start doing yoga once or twice a week.
I'm going to try to get to the intro class this month, then get into the habit of an evening class in May.

13. November-March, walk or ride to work at least twice a month. April-September, up it to at least four times a month.
I get a resounding FAIL on walking from November to March--I think it only happened once. And my 4 times/month goal in April isn't going to happen, but I will try to ride at least once. Fortunately, I have a bike buddy who works across the street from me to get me going.

14. Eat at one new restaurant a month--any meal, but it has to be somewhere I haven't been before.
So far, so good! Between Vegas and fun work lunches with my bike buddy, I'm doing just fine. And I'm counting the bar at Bambara as a restaurant for this month.

18. Stop biting my fingernails (I mean it this year).
Really, how hard should this be? It's not so much the nail as the skin around the nail that I destroy, and the more stressed I get the more that happens. Maybe I will try a manicure next week.

19. Wear more colors of lipstick than "pink" and "darker pink."
Um, not only have I not been wearing new colors, I've pretty much stopped re-applying it after all the morning coffee at work.

20. Find a perfume I want to wear regularly.
Samples of some classic Guerlain and a new Chanel scent are on their way!

21. Stock and maintain a home bar and keep it stocked. No drinking it up and not replacing it. TAX RETURN = BOOZE. Hooray!

22. Have more people over to the apartment--not huge parties, but a few people for dinner, or drinks before a restaurant, etc.
Yes! Between a wine class (see below) and the three attempts to see Sherlock Holmes, Toby has had lots of after-work visitors.

23. Learn more about wine.
I learned about value wines of Italy in January and that was really fun. I really want to take one of the classes on French wine later this year.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Not Easy, Green, Etc.

I can't say this is my favorite project ever, but at least it's wearable:

It's another Cynthia Rowley for Simplicity pattern, but I have to complain that the fit is really inconsistent from pattern to pattern: Cutting the same size in all three, the yellow dress was way too big in the bust, this tank from last year was also a little loose, but this tunic ended up really snug in places.

Unfortunately, it's easier to take something in than to add fabric that you've already cut off*, so even though I planned this as a dress it ended up as a tunic. (I, ah, probably need to start walking more and stop eating lemon bars for breakfast, too.)

But it's wearable, and it's done, and I do like this part of the pattern a lot--that decorative piece around the slit has a backing of sky blue, for just a little contrast:




*Say it with me now: MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE!

Probably Wrong, But Funny

(Click for big. Not as wrong--or as funny--as this, though.)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Have you seen this story of the World Rally Championship in Mexico? You need to read it because it's awesome:
Bill Caswell, an unemployed Chicago racing freak, entered the Mexico round of the World Rally Championship in a 1991 BMW 318i that he found on Craigslist. The car cost $500...he found a loophole in the FIA rules that let him enter a twenty-year-old car in the same event as guys like Ken Block and former F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen.
He gets mooned! He almost falls off a bridge! He finishes third in his class!

2. Haven't we all wanted to see Michael Buble being stalked by a velociraptor? Now we can, thanks to bubleraptor.tumblr.com.

A Poem For When It Is NOT Snowing

I am not even going to talk about this snowstorm. Instead, here's a poem from The Writer's Almanac this morning about springtime and Easter.

The Saints of April

by Todd Davis

Coltsfoot gives way to dandelion,
plum to apple blossom. Cherry fills
our woods, white petals melting
like the last late snow. Dogwood's
stigmata shine with the blood
of this season. How holy
forsythia and redbud are
as they consume their own
flowers, green leaves running
down their crowns. Here is
the shapeliness of bodies
newly formed, the rich cloth
that covers frail bones and hides
roots that hold fervently
to this dark earth.

--For Jack Ridl

Manicure SOS (First-World Problem)

Does anyone reading this get manicures and have a place to recommend? I don't know what it's going to take to get me to stop destroying my hands, but that might be a place to start. (Of course, I would feel too embarrassed at the state of my hands right now to go to a manicurist, so I'd have to try to get them fixed up a little beforehand. Kind of like cleaning the house before the cleaning lady gets there.)

*Doesn't that post title look like it could be a song title?

Tuesday Project Roundup: Prints Charming

Groan! Sorry, I only have a pile of spring fabrics this week. The current project has to be turned into a tunic instead of a dress because of length and fit issues, so I wasn't very excited to finish it Saturday.
But as soon as I can finish the now-a-tunic, I can make those pink flowers on top into a pencil skirt. The bottom fabric is for another skirt and the two in the middle will be dresses.

It's Monday

It's going to be a busy week at work, but at least I can listen to Otis Redding knocking it out of the park with his cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."



Otis knows what it's like to be unsatisfied! He knows how it feels to have to write websites when you just want to shop online! Sing it, Otis!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Life has posted some previously unpublished pictures of Steve McQueen from 1963--"enlarge" will take you to the full gallery, which is well worth it:


2. My office started a March Madness bracket thing, which I don't understand at all. I do understand a contest between cake and pie, though. (Pie for the win!) March Madness: Cake vs. Pie.

3. I don't get a newspaper any more, as you might have guessed from the lack of all political content over the last six months, but yay, a health care bill passed! I really didn't expect it to.There's a good Paul Krugmen op-ed from the NYTimes to read here.

A Poem For Thinking About Stuff

Lately I've been going crazy shopping for spring fabric and thinking about shoes to buy and things to get for the apartment (more than usual, I mean), so today's poem is about things.

Things

Liesel Mueller

What happened is, we grew lonely
living among the things,
so we gave the clock a face,
the chair a back,
the table four stout legs
which will never suffer fatigue.

We fitted our shoes with tongues
as smooth as our own
and hung tongues inside bells
so we could listen
to their emotional language,

and because we loved graceful profiles
the pitcher received a lip,
the bottle a long, slender neck.

Even what was beyond us
was recast in our image;
we gave the country a heart,
the storm an eye,
the cave a mouth
so we could pass into safety.

I Know It's Called "Before," But A Lot Of "After" Was Left Out

I finally watched Coco Before Chanel last night and it was about what I expected: More romance than fashion, with lots of montages. It started out pretty well but ended with Chanel being reflected in endless mirrors while models who were 2010-skinny put on a fashion show. I know there was more to the "after" of her career than that.

I enjoyed that the film's first half presented her as so cynical about love...until "the love of her life" died and the penultimate montage made it seem like she spent the rest of her life mourning him. (What about Stravinsky? Or that German officer she met in WWII? Talk about a pretext for a film.)

But it was enjoyable, if only to see some sewing and fabric on film. My favorite part was near the end, when she unrolled a bolt of powder-pink boucle suiting in that same "my lover is dead and I'm sewing through my grief" montage. I want some of that boucle!

Tuesday Project Roundup: If You Get An Outfit You Can Be A Yogi, Too

When I wrote "Refresh my yoga skills" on my list of 30 Things, I never really did the math on when I actually last did yoga. Well, it turns out that "in college" doesn't mean just a few years ago anymore, and after a decade without yoga I think I need to amend #9 to be "Learn yoga skills all over again."

Fortunately, I have a way to carry my mat to class now, assuming I can make myself start going:

This was a fun, fast project made entirely of fabrics I had around the house. The pockets around the bottom, the strap, and the lining were left over from the pillows I made before Christmas, and the body fabric was a filing cabinet cover I made when I moved here that was recently retired in the Post-breakup Living Room Re-do of '09.

I have to give special thanks to my crafty friend Kara, who inspired me with her bag last month and then suggested this pattern (a free Amy Butler download). Thanks, Kara!

Two Years Of Toby

Today marks two years of Toby in my life! He's the best cat and the best friend and very probably the love of my life.*

Here he is on day 3 (so small!):

And here he is on day 728:
I love this cat so much. Here's to many more days.

*I'm also celebrating two years of being a crazy cat lady; can you tell?

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Today in 2003--seven years ago--W announced the beginning of the Iraq War. Seven years is longer than our involvement in any war except Vietnam, but don't worry: The War in Afghanistan has just tied that (8 years, 5 months).

2. Moving right along, this set of pictures of Paris in the springtime will get you singing "April in Paris" or "I Love Paris [in the springtime]."

3. It will be bike-riding season soon. I see many more devoted riders out already. I'm always intimidated by the thought of riding again but then I get over it.

Because The Internet Is Great

I found a new site devoted to pictures of Mick Jagger (with an awesome URL)--what better thing to share on a Thursday?

Serious Mick.

Good Mick.


Houndstooth Mick!

You're welcome.

Next Time You're Around A Typewriter

I just learned two more pangrams (sentences that contain all the letters of the alphabet) in addition to "The quick brown fox" and thought I'd share:

1. Viewing quizzical abstracts mixed up hefty jocks.
2. Back in my quaint garden jaunty zinnias vie with flaunting phlox.

Now you can impress your friends while trying out different typewriters.

Tuesday Project Roundup: So Much For Finishing Before Spring

I know that we will have a few more snow storms before the weather really starts getting warm, but the equinox is Saturday, and I don't think I will have sleeves and button bands by then.

Oh, well--as my mother said when I complained that this sweater seemed like it was taking forever, "It seems like thin yarn."

Let's Hear It For The First World!

Yesterday morning the Liberty of London for Target merchandise hit stores, and now I understand the mentality that leads to stampedes for discount DVD players. Fortunately, it was a Sunday in Utah so no one was rioting for floral-printed home goods, but I ended up going to four different Targets anyway. My friend Kara and I were on the phone comparing selections between Targets: "I'm at Jordan Landing and they have candles and stationery!" "Centerville has a lot of dresses!"

Yes, driving miles and miles in a car, to get stuff made in China, that I don't really need but was heavily hyped and marketed*...yay, America!


*I am happy with what I bought, though. And I appreciate some good hyping; I work in advertising. Besides, I focused mostly on home stuff like a teapot and dishes. So very practical!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Sherlock Holmes was watched successfully last and and it was delightful--definitely worth the wait(s). The story was more faithful than I could have hoped, with actual lines of dialogue lifted straight from the books, and even though they made Irene Adler his girlfriend (and dressed her up like a romanticized prostitute from the Wild West*), most of the Holmes adaptations do that. Besides, I have the BBC for more accurate costume dramas--this one combined my literary crush and my actor crush. Enough said.

2. *Irene Adler was a lady marrying nobility in the one story in which she appears. I don't think she would have chosen fuchsia satin.

3. Happy birthday, Jack Kerouac!

Third Time's The Charm

My work friend and I are going to try one last time to see Sherlock Holmes in a theater tonight, so wish us luck.

And since I'm talking about movies, check out the gallery of movie posters "if they were honest." I really love the one for UP:

Wednesday Project Roundup: Travel Knitting

Even though I am still slowly knitting my way through the not-so-elaborate cabled sweater, it was too bulky to take with me on a carry-on to the beach. So I started a new project, also very popular in the knitting world--a short sleeve cardigan from a free pattern here.

I'm using the yarn I got in the fall to make a different sweater that I just got too bored with (it was a spring color anyway). So I unraveled what I had done and started again and got about six inches of the new pattern knit over the weekend.

Ultimately, it will look something like this:

Tuesday Vacation Report

I'm back from the beach and, while it was a little chilly and I was fighting a head cold, it was nice to be by the ocean.

It was especially nice to hear it at night. One of my favorite chapters of The Gastronomical Me describes MFK Fisher's visit to the coast of Mexico, and she has this to say about the ocean:
"I slept like a cat all night, dreaming good dreams in my well-being, but hearing the waves when I wanted to through the dreams."

(I brought some vacation knitting, so I'll put up a Project Roundup tomorrow.)

Two Pretty Things For Monday

Jackie Kennedy and the Taj Mahal:

And closer:

Found via Life again, from her trip to India in 1962. Lots of great pinks in that set.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Monday was Holi, a holiday I knew nothing about. According to Wikipedia, "Holi, or Holli, also called the Festival of Colors, is a spring festival celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and others." I like spring and colors. Read more here.

2. The slideshow name says it all (and the captions are funny): A History of Obama Feigning Interest in Mundane Things

3. And finally:

Let's Talk About Accessories

Specifically, big sunglasses: I found the archives of Life magazine last Saturday and got sucked into looking at pictures of Jackie Kennedy, whose trademark (after Camelot) was big sunglasses.
Then I saw this stylish lady on The Sartorialist yesterday, who is also making me want to talk about leopard print, as well:

I haven't worn big sunglasses in a few years because I think there's a risk, with short hair, of them looking like this. But now I am reconsidering.

Maybe The Universe Is Telling Me I'd Really Hate This Movie And, Therefore, Doing Me A Favor

I tried to go to the Sherlock Holmes movie at Brewvies again last night (a week after my work friend and I got to see five minutes of it before the film broke) and, as you might guess from the title of this, no deal. When I had checked the schedule online Monday night there was an 8:00 showing, but when we got to the theater it had been pushed back to 9:30 to accommodate a special event for Engineers Without Borders.

Dammit, Brewvies, as much as I want to continue liking you, you're making it really difficult. You should probably consider hiring projectionists who aren't so stoned they put the film in wrong. Perhaps updating your website a little sooner than the day of an event would be a good idea, too. (And universe, I know the film is in no way faithful to the Conan Doyle stories, but I really like Robert Downey, Jr. And now this has become a challenge.)

Tuesday Project Roundup: One More For The Beach

I probably should have spent my time finishing a sweater to wear instead of sewing a spring tunic (the latest reports are predicting rain in California), but I used the trip as an excuse for some more Liberty of London fabric.
I made my favorite Simplicity pattern (for about the sixth time) and it was delightful to work with the Liberty print--so much color and detail.
I bought my fabric before I saw that Target was launching a similar print, so I hope no one asks me if I got it at Target. And I hope I can layer a sweater over the sleeves easily.

Like Christmas Morning

Last week started looking up when I discovered nearly 30 full-length Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes on Google Video*. Thirty of them! That I don't have to wait to arrive via Netflix!

Over the weekend I was finally able to see Space Mutiny, featuring the many nicknames of the hero (seriously, watch it):


And I watched Final Sacrifice, featuring the sidekick...ROWSDOWER:


I love this show so much. Toby is affronted by my laughter in the evenings.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Have you all heard about the killer whale killing a trainer at Sea World? Let's see, we make a creature with highly evolved social networks and communication skills and the ability to swim vast distances live in something the size of a bathtub, alone, and we're surprised when this happens? I'd be plotting to kill my captors, too.

2. The latest science news tells us that the world we know may be a giant hologram, so maybe I shouldn't let things like #1 upset me so much. It's also kind of reminiscent of The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

3. I saw this image on a t-shirt but now I can't find a link to the shirt, just the image. "So long and thanks for all the fish," indeed.

Nice Things

It has been a week of crazy clients, anxiety, and stupid things happening (Toby's space heater broke, I tried to go to Brewvies Tuesday after work and the film projector broke, etc. etc.), so I had to read some Franny and Zooey last night. Here is a scene of Zooey watching a little girl playing with her dog--and yes, in the book it's all one paragraph:

A fair-sized maple tree stood in front of the girls' private school...and at that moment a child of seven or eight, female, was hiding behind it. She was wearing a navy-blue reefer and a tam that was very nearly the same shade of red as the blanket on the bed in van Gogh's room at Arles. Her tam did, in fact, from Zooey's vantage point, appear not unlike a daub of paint. Some fifteen feet away from the child, her dog--a young dachshund, wearing a green leather collar and leash--was sniffing to find her, scurrying in frantic circles, his leash dragging behind him. The anguish of separation was scarcely bearable for him, and when at last he picked up his mistress's scent, it wasn't a second too soon. The joy of reunion, for both, was immense. The dachshund gave a little yelp, then cringed forward, shimmying with ecstasy, till his mistress, shouting something at him, stepped hurriedly over the wire guard surrounding the tree and picked him up. She said a number of words of praise to him...then put him down and picked up his leash, and the two walked gaily west, toward Fifth Avenue and the Park and out of Zooey's sight..."God damn it," he said, "there are nice things in the world--and I mean nice things. We're all such morons to get so sidetracked."

Does This Apply To Writing Websites, Too?

What is demanding and fulfilling is writing a single word, trying to write le mot juste, as Flaubert said; writing several of them, which become a sentence. When a writer does that, day after day, working alone with little encouragement, often with discouragement flowing in the writer’s own blood, and with an occasional rush of excitement … the treasure is on the desk.

[...]The writer who endures and keeps working will finally know that writing the book was something hard and glorious, for at the desk a writer must try to be free of prejudice, meanness of spirit, pettiness, and hatred; strive to be a better human being than the writer normally is, and to do this through concentration on a single word, and then another, and another. This is splendid work, as worthy and demanding as any, and the will and resilience to do it are good for the writer’s soul.

I don't think Andre Dubus wrote for the web a lot, but it's still something to consider.

Tuesday Project Roundup: This Looks Like Another Vacation

Why yes, I am going on another quick trip in a couple of weeks--this time to the beach in California. (I haven't traveled this much in two years. Poor Toby!) My oldest friend is also turning 30 and has arranged a beach house weekend for eight other people, with menus and itineraries and everything else planned. So the least I could do was make a new dress for the event:
This was one of the new Cynthia Rowley for Simplicity patterns and I have to say I like it a lot. Here's a better idea of the fabric color (and my own lack thereof):

(While we're on the subject...spray tans: Pro or con? I'm thinking con, but I don't want to blind everyone in the group with my special shade of pale, either.)

All This Sheep Hair

(Click the image to make it bigger.)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I always wish I had gotten a better grasp of the concepts behind math instead of just memorizing the rules, so this new series from the NY Times is perfect: A math professor is going through math concepts a step at a time in a weekly column. There's more to be learned than just math, too--in the second column, he tells us that "The word 'calculate'...comes from the Latin word 'calculus,' meaning a pebble used for counting." Who knew?

2. I've debated sharing this, because it could mean more people camping out by Target on March 14, but did you know that they're collaborating with my favorite textile designer Liberty of London and releasing a collection of clothes, homewares, and even bicycles? Check out the teaser video here.

3. Do you know what else happens March 14? Mad Men Season 3 is released on DVD! I can't wait for March 14.

Happy Birthday, Wallace Stegner

He would have been 101 today!

"If there is such a thing as being conditioned by climate and geography, and I think there is, it is the West that has conditioned me. It has the forms and lights and colors that I respond to in nature and in art. If there is a western speech, I speak it; if there is a western character or personality, I am some variant of it; if there is a western culture in the small-c , anthropological sense, I have not escaped it. It has to have shaped me. I may even have contributed to it in minor ways, for culture is a pyramid to which each of us brings a stone."

Thumbs Up

There's a long article about Roger Ebert up on Esquire.com right now, and it's worth a read. If you didn't already admire a man who described watching the first Twilight movie as "driving a tractor in low gear through a sullen sea of Brylcreem," you probably will after reading this.

Tuesday Project Roundup: More Experiments With Knits

After I found that fabulous navy wool jersey at such a great price, I had to order more "wool knit" from the same place. As it turns out, though, that's a crucial difference in terms: You might picture wool jersey (i.e., t-shirt fabric) but if you order wool knit, you end up with something like the world's nicest stretchy terrycloth. So I went with a novelty top.

This silk Anthropologie blouse had a similar shape to the pattern I used for the first Vegas dress, so I thought I'd go for a similar look, sans giraffe.

While I'm not sure how successful my copy is, it didn't cost $228. That might be enough of a success right there.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Happy birthday, Charles Darwin!

2. This week, the Astronomy Picture of the Day site taught me that volcanoes can form lightning when they erupt. Go see the picture (and check out out the "lunar fog bow" [night rainbow!] while you're there, too).

3. Happy Lunar New Year on Sunday. All the newer casinos in Las Vegas were decorated last week--here's a big tiger from the Bellagio:

A Poem For The One You Love

Because it's Valentine's Day this weekend, and because this poem works equally well (or better) recited to your cat (whom you will always look out for), or your family members.

This Year's Valentine

by Philip Appleman

They could
pump frenzy into air ducts
and rage into reservoirs,
dynamite dams
and drown cities,
cry fire in theaters
as the victims are burning,
but
I will find my way through blackened streets
and kneel down at your side.

They could
jump the median, head-on,
and obliterate the future,
fit .45's to the hands of kids
and skate them off to school,
flip live butts into tinderbox forests
and hellfire half the heavens,
but
in the rubble of smoking cottages
I will hold you in my arms.

They could
send kidnappers to kindergartens
and pedophiles to playgrounds,
wrap themselves in Old Glory
and gut the Bill of Rights,
pound the door with holy screed
and put an end to reason,
but
I will cut through their curtains of cunning
and find you somewhere in the moonlight.

Whatever they do with their anthrax or chainsaws,
however they strip-search or brainwash or blackmail,
they cannot prevent me from sending you robins,
all of them singing: I'll be there.

A Craft Thief?

For the first time at this apartment, a package I was expecting has gone missing. What makes me suspect a craft thief? The package had vintage patterns in it. Plus, my JoAnn sales mailer hasn't arrived and I know that they're having a President's Day sale.

Will the patterns turn up? Will I ever get a 40% coupon for JoAnn? Who could be sabotaging my crafty endeavors? It's a mystery. (Also, am I glad this is my only problem? Yes.)

Tuesday Project Roundup: Another Positive

Since I'm finding the silver lining of my far-from-successful trip to Las Vegas, here's one more: I got to make another knit dress, this time with some really nice wool jersey.
(Please ignore the cat on a towel on the rug in the reflection.)

I used the pattern in the Sew U: Home Stretch book that taught me how to sew knits and I got the fabric from my favorite online discount place.
As I've mentioned before, I feel as chic in navy as I'm sure the hipsters and artists and designers feel in black. Plus, I don't get bored sewing navy fabric and I always have to think of Coco Chanel. So a win all around, made possible by Las Vegas (ugh).

Where You Folks From?

So I was in Las Vegas most of last week (which you may not have realized due to the magic of scheduled posts) but it just wasn't how I thought it would be: I've been twice in the last ten years and I guess enough time lapses between trips that I think it's a glamorous, exciting place complete with Elvis and Danny Ocean, when in reality it's a glorified miniature golf course.

There wasn't a lot of sunshine, I don't gamble, vast seas of humanity are not my idea of a good time, I missed Toby...I could go on and on (and on. Ask me about the cleanliness of the rooms in the Monte Carlo sometime.). But instead, I will choose to look at it as my oldest friend suggested: I got out of my comfort zone and pushed my limits, so really it was a trip of growth and self-discovery.

And I will remember this discovery when Vegas starts sounding exciting again in about five years.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. This has been making the rounds on all the design blogs already, but it's funny: Unhappy Hipsters, which puts funny captions to pictures published in the mod design magazine Dwell.

2. I've just discovered businessguysonbusinesstrips.com which has comics making fun of advertising life. This one is eerily true to life when the senior people and the clients get going:

3. Palm trees! I'll be seeing palm trees!

Thank You Very Much

So as I mentioned, I'm going to Las Vegas (where it is even more warm and spring-like than it was here on Monday), so of course I had to track down some Elvis videos on YouTube. While this isn't the original version of "A Little Less Conversation", the mix below does a great job of showing him in his bespangled, be-jumpsuited Las Vegas glory. Enjoy.

A Cocktail For The Last Half Of Winter

While I'm not one to get tired of whiskey or scotch or gin (oh my), sometimes it's nice to break out of the seasonal rut--which for me in winter is whiskey or scotch or a Gibson. I'm slowly stocking up my bar for the 30 Things, so when I was thinking of cocktail options I wasn't able to make a Sidecar with brandy, but I discovered the Chelsea Sidecar.

Take 2 ounces of gin, half an ounce of Cointreau, and a teaspoon of lemon juice and shake it up. Enjoy the lemony deliciousness and the frosty cold gin. Just enjoy slowly, because this one is strong.

Besides its delicious taste, this one gets extra points because it's an even lesser-known variation on an old-fashioned cocktail and it has "Chelsea" in the name, which makes you feel all sorts of late 60's mod and hip. Although that could just be the gin.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Viva Las Vegas

I have a trip to Las Vegas coming up with my friend from my stationery days, so of course I had to make some things to wear for it. As I reviewed my progress on the 29 Things at the end of 2009, I realized that I hadn't sewn any knits since that spring. Knits + travel = easy packing and no wrinkles, so I made a couple of knit dresses.

Here's the first, with some ordinary fabric from JoAnn (in case I was out of the habit of sewing knits). I used this pattern from Simplicity and, despite cutting the back a little crooked, it turned out pretty well.

The print reminds me of the old casino signs, so it's perfect for fabulous Las Vegas.

We Made It Through January

Happy February first (or Imbolc, if you're a Druid). Did we all enjoy the mix of snow and sun and high 40's yesterday? It made me think that yes, we can get through this. I always think of a Wallace Stevens poem at this time of year--"at the end of winter when afternoons return."

The Poems of our Climate

I
Clear water in a brilliant bowl,
Pink and white carnations. The light
In the room more like a snowy air,
Reflecting snow. A newly-fallen snow
At the end of winter when afternoons return.
Pink and white carnations - one desires
So much more than that. The day itself
Is simplified: a bowl of white,
Cold, a cold porcelain, low and round,
With nothing more than the carnations there.

II
Say even that this complete simplicity
Stripped one of all one's torments, concealed
The evilly compounded, vital I
And made it fresh in a world of white,
A world of clear water, brilliant-edged,
Still one would want more, one would need more,
More than a world of white and snowy scents.

III
There would still remain the never-resting mind,
So that one would want to escape, come back
To what had been so long composed.
The imperfect is our paradise.
Note that, in this bitterness, delight,
Since the imperfect is so hot in us,
Lies in flawed words and stubborn sounds.