Hot

It's about 90 degrees here in my apartment, but I'm trying my hardest not to turn on the AC.  It will be worth in when the electric bill comes in.  The solution so far has been shorts/tank top and ice water.  It's cooler at night...

Texas spring has been so sweet this year!  We had an abundance of rain, so it was the BEST season for wildflowers.  There were tons of bluebonnets, indian paintbrushes, and indian blanket flowers.  I love the way you'll look out and see fields awash in spectacular pink and yellow.  Everywhere are pastures covered in deep, dark bluebonnets surrounding island-like oak trees.   Even the thistles have their quaint purple spiky charm.

I love Texas highways in spring.  Thank you Ladybird Johnson!

Too bad that can't last.  We're headed into the hot times.  I adore the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio.  It's a HUGE event spanning several days on the grounds of the Institute of Texan Cultures in which there are multicultural food booths and performances, as well as pioneer themed crafts and performances.  Last year at the festival it was 105 degrees all day.  This was exceedingly unpleasant and forced me to eat too many snowcones.  I hope it isn't quite that hot this year, because I can't not go. I look forward to it all year.

Okay, so I need to finished this post.  My laptop is blowing hot air on me, and that just isn't gonna fly. 

My BFL came in the mail.  I think I'm in love.

Fiber porn

Oooooohhhh Yeah.

Shawls

I have been inspired by this book.  I think my thin purple merino is going to become this shawl (it's a Ravelry pic, so you probably have to be a member to see it).  I haven't measured my wraps per inch yet, but I will do this today when I go to lunch.  Hopefully it is fingering weight.  It is pretty darn thin. 

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Update:  I think it's LACE weight.  This could be even better!  I haven't measured it very precisely yet, though.  Didn't have a ruler to measure it around.

Scatterbrained rambling

So today I realized that I spin much more efficiently if I hold the fiber in my right hand and roll the spindle down my leg with my left hand.  I used to be stuck in park and draft.  No more!  I still have a spinning wheel on my wish list, though.  I started a savings envelope today.  It is still very, very empty.  I'm going to put sparkles on it.

I always thought I would want a traditional looking spinning wheel.  There have been lots of walking wheels put on craigslist and antiques which may or may not be fully functional.  The truth is that I don't have any experience with spinning wheels and I would not be able to evaluate anything I would find on craigslist.  So I'm aiming for new.  I've read loads of good things about the Fricke s160, plus it looks like it doesn't take up too much space.  And it's relatively (this is the key word here) inexpensive.  Compared to so many other wheels.  I thought about getting a Babe....but they're made of PVC pipe.  That just doesn't look as classy (although it would match my niddy noddy).

We are FINALLY all moved into our new apartment.  This moving business really cut into my craft time--almost NO crafting whatsoever for almost two weeks.  Today at work I looked at a crapload of spindle smut.  This tempted me to bust out my dowel-turned-spindle and my bag of gorgeous, gorgeous merino fiber (with that gorgeous, gorgeous luster).  I even ordered some more undyed fiber today from a little shop in Navasota, Tx on Etsy (with free shipping!  Yay!).  Next time I go through Navasota to the Renaissance Festival I am DEFINITELY stopping there!  It's about 4 hours from San Antonio, though.  Okay, back to the subject.  I ordered 8 oz of blue faced leicester.  So far I have only spun with merino/silk, merino and corriedale.  It's all about broadening my horizons. 

I need to finish and dye the corriedale I already have on my niddy noddy. 

My new apartment is niiiiiccceeeeeee.  I call it my treehouse.  The balcony is made from wood and has a big ash tree branch hanging over it.  I strapped a bird feeder to the railing so I can watch the birds fight all day.  So far I've gotten sparrows and fat doves.  I would love it if those doves would sit in the tree outside the window and sing their sweet melodies.  We've also got a nest of mud swallows with eggs in their nest. 

And last thing:  after devouring almost a whole pan of phenomenal brownies (courtesy of the hubby and his generous dashes of nuts and semi-sweet chocolate chips) I realized that all my clothes are getting really tight.  Time to cut back.  I can never just let this go on and buy clothes in the next size up because wearing loose clothing encourages me to go ahead and eat more ice cream until those clothes get tight.  All I can do is start running again.  Ay chingao.

Apartment Therapy

Short stature-->can't reach top of window-->inaccurate measurements-->curtains too short.

Enter sewing machine.  Accompanied, of course, by the almighty Seam Ripper and ribbon-turned-tabs.

Failure evolved into success.  Gotta love that.  I want to embellish them with buttons, but I did not have them.  This was my first time standing and sewing.  It was aaaaaawwwweeeeesome.  I love this material.  It is strewn with little rosies.

And one last AMAZING thing.  Yesterday as we were leaving our apartment complex I spotted a box filled with goodies next to the dumpster.  It contained all of Rachel's favorite things--it was almost like someone left it just for me.  It contained:  books (including Memoirs of a Geisha which I have been wanting to read), a tart burner, plastic pastel gingham silverware (oh yes!), picture frames (including one with a DIY pained paper mosaic which I refuse to throw away), two pens, a yellow vase, and a completely unopened-straight-from-the-UK-tin-of-Earl-Grey.

Thank you garbage fairies!

Cute house for sale

There is a house that I love in Lytle.  Every time I drive by it I say, "I want that house."  It's just a cozy looking small house that is green with red trim.  It always has flowers growing all around it.

Today when I drove by I noticed a for sale sign.  So I went onto the realtor's website and looked at the inside pictures.  It made me want it even more--it's my ideal dream house.  I like their antique furniture.

Too bad I'm poor.  I guess it's not meant to be.  At least I got to see inside at least once.  Its flaw is that it is only on a half acre and that the price is ridiculously high for an old, tiny house.

My future llamas will need more room than that :).

Purple merino

I went to Yarnivore today.  San Antonio has two yarn shops (other than Hobby Lobby/Michaels).  Only Yarnivore sells spinning supplies.  They don't have the hugest supply of fiber but everyone there is very nice and it is good to have the option of buying fiber locally and not having to wait on shipping.

I bought some simply gorgeous purple Merino.  It's the color of mountain laurel blooms, but does not smell like grape Kool-aid.

 

Sweet geekery :D

Who needs spring cleaning when you can just toss all of your belongings into boxes and move them into a new space that is already clean.  And in need of your fine decorative touch?

Our current apartment is a bonafide disaster area.  Neither of us cleans anything at all when we can help it, and we don't have a washing machine or dryer so there is dirty laundry all over the floor because we dread the laundromat.  I had to give the shirt I'm wearing today the sniff test.  BUT we are moving in a mere thirteen days and I have promised myself that we will be washer-less no more.  Supposing we can scrape up enough money to purchase used appliances. 

Instead of cleaning out current pit of squalor, I have been working out in my head exactly how I am going to decorate our new apartment.  It has a second bedroom.  My craft room is going to double as a computer room, but this will suffice.  My sewing machine is going to be permanently set up.  I have a huge squishy papasan chair which is just dying to be set up in a cozy corner with a lamp hanging over it.  I can picture it now:  there will be a little table next to it with a CD player on top which can play my audio books.  And a little shelf attached to the wall with a coaster on top, just low enough for me to rest my iced tea at arm's length. 

I intend to whip up some 1950s-housewife-made-curtains.  Store bought are just not snappy enough for me.  I have even started a little silly cross stitch project:  a quote framed by borders.  It just says, "'Tis a Silly Place." With a picture of Camelot under it (the uninitiated would say it is only a castle.  Bah!).  I think I'm going to hang this in the guest bathroom (yes, we have two!  I'm not quite sure why...) so they can puzzle over it while they are on the toilet.  I will probably make a few more for this very purpose.  I thought of some good quotes from Monty Python, Firefly, Star Wars, Father Ted.  Ah, sweet geekery.  These aren't the droids you're looking for.

I want to hang some true kitschy cross stitch designs in the kitchen or living room.  One that says, "Home is Where the Cat Is."  I guess this would be a very apt description for us since we don't live anywhere permanent, and with any luck our cat will be with us for a long time. 

And for all that moaning, I am really excited to move.

Guthrie, OK

This past weekend we took a trip up to my father-in-law's home town of Guthrie, Oklahoma.  I was a little nervous because although Oliver and I have been together for nine years, I had still never met these mythical Okie relatives of his.  Every year I hear all of these horrid drug-related, white-trashy-Jerry-Springer stories about them.  So I am delighted to be able to relate that we are 1. still alive, 2. drug-free, 3. still in possession of all of our belongings regardless of all the purported "sticky fingers" that flourish there.

I am pleased to be able to report that I liked everyone I met, and they seemed normal enough to me.  I also got to get some baby cuddles, which has been pretty rare to come by since my only niece is now five.  Guthrie itself was also pretty fascinating.  It was the original capital of Oklahoma until 1910 when the seal was moved to Oklahoma City.  The city is a genuine Victorian boom-town frozen in time.  It was the site of the famous land run of 1889 and hosted some of the worst western outlaws.  It has so many beautiful Victorian mansions (filled with ghosts, according to the father-in-law) that I wish I could have explored.  To me it is just so odd to consider that the "old west" was really not that long ago.  I can hardly imagine how the country I live in could have transformed from being wild and lawless into this place in which almost every piece of land is owned by someone and it seems so hard to escape from modern conveniences.

We had a good time.  One day we searched in the woods for morel mushrooms and found a scant few.  Supposedly they taste delicious.  We also visited a few antique shops, a yarn shop (oh, YEAH), too many restaurants, and quite a few relatives.  One highlight was our visit to a gen-u-wine Carnegie library and frontier museum.  Very cool. 

So now I am having a very hard time catching up on my homework assignments that I put off last weekend.  And that I am putting off right now by blogging about them instead of working on them. 

I really want to spin but have no fiber.  Need to finish the ripple baby blanket by Sunday.