knitting in the post office

My printer is down, so I am forced to go stand in the xmas lines at the post office to send out ebay packages. To ease the pain, I bring my knitting. I dont' have to look at people, I have no idea how much time passes, and I get to focus on getting several more rows done without other leisurely tempations around, like food and video games (am loving Mass Effect).

Today I was in line and there was a man n' woman in front of me, dressed in white. From her platinum hair and rhinestone 'bebe' cap, to his shock of grey hair and weird sleeveless parka vest (that made him look like his arms and head were protruding from a giant marshmallow), they were a vision of winter in LA.

She had turned slightly to see me, and was using a low voice so I thought she was talking to her guy. But I glanced up and she caught my eye, repeating 'what a good idea, bringing that along'. I said it was easier to focus on than reading when in line, and asked if she knit. She said she just started and is working on a scarf, but won't have it done for xmas because she has no idea how to finish it. We did a mini workshop right there and I showed her how to cast-off. Then they were called to the next window and we smiled and separated.

Then the older lady behind me piped up with 'My husband use to knit', and I spent the rest of the time in line hearing a delightful little story about her husband's exquisite seamless sweaters and his attempts to teach her how to knit.

I had avoided going to the post office for most of the day, because it's usually such a chore. But it was downright pleasant today.

Finesse and Warmth

I tend to be heavy handed in a lot of things, spices in food, starting too many projects at once (I have 3 knitting projects going and all my good needles are now indisposed), eating too much good food, exercising until I can't see straight, getting emotionally wrapped up in things that should be the most minor of priorities. Which makes for a never ending string of suprises that I can lose weight by reducing food by a little, that exercise is just as useful if I do it in moderation, and that spices can be marvelous even when they are subtle.

For some reason, my heavy handedness tends to make some things less believable to me to. Like fingerless gloves. If my whole hand and fingers aren't covered by an insulating glove, how on earth are fingerless gloves useful? It makes no sense to me. I like the concept, but it seemed more fashionable than useful to me.

I've been sitting at this keyboard for the last few days freezing my fingers off, even w/ socks, slippers and a hat, my fingers won't stay warm. And gloves make typing impossible.

On a whim I decided I'd try to make handwarmers. Cause I have a lot of little balls of yarn that are not quite being enough for scarves or hats. I did a gauge, measured up my hand and whipped one up in about 2 hours. It fits my hand snuggly, stays in place, and only needs minor adjustments for the next one. I can type and knit with it on, and my left hand is now significantly warmer than the bare one. Surprise, fingerless gloves work, even without fingers. I've converted myself into a believer. And now I can't knit the other one fast enough.

Color Schemes, pleasant vs itchy

Went to the Christmas Castle Green tour on Sunday. It was a good turnout, but the apartments themselves were not as interesting as the last time I went. Since the last time, a few of the apartments have changed hands, and they are not as impressive. Also, many of the places were just open houses, and some heavy on the ikea. Not as many were decked out in holiday splendor, perhaps because this tour was not as close to xmas as the last one.

Castle Green attracts people who are not just buying a house, but buying into a community. The community being both the Castle itself (home to many artists, designers, interior decorators, architects and other art/craft related careers) and old town Pasadena, which is less than 2 blocks away. You don't need a car if you work nearby (or can take the rail) or in your home office, and you can walk to anything you need to buy. The condos start about 500k, the smallest being less than 800sqft, the largest being twice that. Still quite small. And no amenities other than the grounds and common rooms. Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there. If someone handed me one of those condos I would certainly move in, but I'd have to seriously cut down on the amount of furniture and kitchen gadgets I own.

One place was deep Moroccan colors and designs the last time I was there, and I was excited to see it again. It had changed hands to a local designer, and was done up in my least favorite color scheme ever, pink and turquoise. Those colors are not attractive to me separately, and together they synergize into foofy poodle nastiness that made me back out of the space. They are good colors when blended with others as accents, but when they are in the majority they make me almost nauseous.

Went running today, and after the weekend rains, the skies were crystal clear and bright rich blue. Rare in LA, especially in the valley. The Sycamores are getting ready to drop their leaves, and though they don't really change color much (sycamores leaves are slightly fuzzy so they have a greyness to their pale yellow green), they do take on a crunchy rumpled shape and a mix of ochre, sand brown and dusty yellow. Mixed with the stark white bark on the upper branches and crisp sky, it made for a very pleasant SoCal color scheme. I need to capture it.

Can we knock off the crappy weather already

I guess it's technically not weather. But I am really getting sick of the early darkness. It's not even 5pm and the sun is setting.

I hate you Daylight Savings Time. You suck the life out of me.

Tool users

We have a local gang of crows that hang out in our area. There must be good pickings, because they are around the same areas around the same time of day, every day.

It's pecan season now, and the crows love pecans. I watch them scoot along the phone wires that cross the alley out back with pecans in their beaks. When a car enters the alley, they drop the nut hoping it will be crushed under the wheels for an effortless meal.

I see them carrying pecans all the time, but when they drop them, it's always on the roads. Never the sidewalk, grass, or on rooftops.

I was walking in the alley today and a crow dropped a pecan trying for an SUV hit. It rolled to the side by the fence and was missed completely by the vehicle. While the crow still watched from his perch, I moved the pecan to the middle of the road and smashed it underfoot. He waited until I was out of the alley before he swooped to pick at the nut.

If I do that every time I see them doing the car trick, I wonder if they will learn to drop nuts in front of people as well.

Birthday

Spent a quiet morning cleaning house and getting ready for tonight. I have a bit of shopping to do, then my (at this point, almost traditional) attempt to make an angelfood cake. I've cooked a bazillion things in my life, and I've never been able to make an angelfood cake that came out the way it should.

It's always flat and hard, though it tastes just fine. I love good cake and angelfood always tastes like chemicals (egg stabilizers I'm sure) when storebought. My Nani could make a perfect one. Sure I like chocolate cake, but I get to have chocolate for everyone else's birthday. My choice is lemon, angelfood or coconut. I'm not a frosting maniac, the cake itself must be good. Moist, flavorful, a fine crumb.

Every other year I get the urge to try again. In the hopes that it will make a difference, I'm getting good eggs, washing all the equipment twice, and moving the oven rack.

Tonight is a low key gathering of a few friends, I wanted to do it on my actual birthday ( a weeknight) to keep it small. I'm looking forward to good pizza, cupcakes from one of those local cupcakeries (they are all the rage and I've never had one), and playing Hearts, which I've wanted to do for months.

First of many

First post means introductions. I've been on LJ for a while and since I already have a gmail account, and several people say they like blogger better, it's time for a change.

I'm making my way as an artist, not a writer. There are plenty of fantastically talented amateur writers out there, I'm here only to blog about experiences with my creations of food, art, crafts and related aspects thereof.

Thanks for stopping by.
-Stephanie


I'm on Etsy at

http://dragonarium.etsy.com

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Deviant Art

http://dragonarium.deviantart.com/

Flickr

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