tiny milestones

I was in a piss-poor mood last night due to a complete re-jiggering of plans based on an unexpected work project in the afternoon. The bright side is that I was able to reschedule the entrelac class I'm taking to Saturday (although with a cost/penalty...understandable on the shop's part, but grrr in general).

However, this morning I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to discover this:

that's right, so cool the stuffed dog toys are staring

On a whim, when it was pouring buckets a couple weeks ago I pulled out from my trunk (the one that things are sadly consigned to when they're the stuff of long ago dreams) my old college lacrosse track pants. I did not try them on, having looked at them and scoffed at their perceived circumference and thinking about the fact that it's my 10 year reunion this spring, and consequently stuffed them on a shelf.

Scene: It's early morning. Bleary eyed, the protaganist notes that it's raining. Again. But the protaganist needs to walk the furry fiends. She goes to grabaround on shelf, and pulls out track pants.

Me: "Oh, what the hell."

*pulls on*

Me: "Huh."

*does happy dance*

end scene.

***

a fledgling's attempt

It's a new leaf again - there was the defunct effort at an iWeb blog for a bit when I first moved out to San Francisco from Chicago, and there was long, long ago, my LJ account (still up, and still used sporadically to keep in touch with basically one web friend). As I re-engage with my own life, I think it's a worthwhile effort to attempt to record it. So here we are.

This year I will turn 30. It sounds like such a milestone, which is odd, because it's not like I feel any real social pressure to do anything "typical," like get married, or have a child, or even get into a committed relationship. What I did feel, at the end of last year, was that it was the right time for me to work on being happier with where I am. To feel less like I was at the whim of the stresses of my day job and do something about un-defining myself by it. To regain control by taking charge of my health, my hobbies, my habits. What is amazing to me is that it wasn't an empty effort, and I think I've done a pretty good job so far.

Thus, the manifesto. This blog will be about, in theory, my adventures in exploring my crafty, creative side, the one that helps me regain my sanity from my alterna-ego. So be prepared to be inundated with more detail than you ever cared about regarding my knitting, my nascent sewing efforts, my dogs, my cooking, and evidently, the new efforts I'm making at becoming a runner. And whatever else my brain comes up with.

******

Enough background then. To celebrate: here is a shot of the roasted brussel sprouts I rustled up tonight.

behold, my sproutyness

Nothing too fancy - rinsed, halved, tossed with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Easy-peasy. I love roasting vegetables. It's such a painless, simple way to get a deeper flavor out of winter veggies.

I am also in the process of working up a Noro striped scarf, inspired by my sister, via brooklyntweed's blog (http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/04/noro-scarf.html). The major challenge would be trying to come up with harmonious colorways based on vague descriptions when ordering the yarn online. They seemed so...cheery and different.

noro, all easter-y for some reason

Sadly, my colorways started approaching one another in two spots, which suspiciously came close to pooling, but which I have decided to interpret as an ombre instead.

yeah, I'm not sure how this is all going to work out.

Regardless, it's a lovely simple project that is happily mindless, which is a nice break from the cable-filled pieces I've been churning out lately. It's my first time working with Noro (Silk Garden), and I have to say, although I thought it seemed unpleasantly scratchy at first (far from the sweet, soft alpaca blends I've been working with lately), it has really grown on me. It's got a dryness that reminds me of linen, but it's more supple, probably due to the silk. Actually, what it's really made me do is start thinking about looking into a Habu-based project...perhaps the Kusha Kusha scarf? We'll see!