A present from Portland

The Dude just came back from his west coast tour and brought me a little something from his travels:



It's Nikki McClure's 2010 Calendar and it is beautiful. I've never gotten around to getting one of these before but I have her book Collect Raindrops, which was also a present from the Dude from a past birthday. I really love her art and have been a fan of hers for a while now-- it's going to be awesome looking at this every time I am sitting in my cubicle. Nikki McClure was also at a show that Kim Phuc played so I guess that's also something work sharing. CELEB WATCH! (Just kidding).

Not to be greedy, but I also want Nicole George's 2010 Invincible Summer Queer Animal Odyssey Calendar.



I need one calendar for work and one for home, ya know?

Knit It or Quit It-- aka, arthritis at twenty-five

So last night I finally sat down and taught myself how to knit. With the help of a little bit of internet research, youtube tutorials, and a lot of stitches made and then un-made, I finally got the hang of casting-on and the knit stitch. My goal for tonight is to figure out how to purl and tomorrow I plan to try to cast-off. I don't know yet if casting-off is different than binding off but I'm sure I'll learn when I get around to that part. Right now I am just messing around with the tail end of some leftover yarn from previous endeavors but I have some lovely Lamb's Pride blue yarn in waiting for when I'm ready to give it a real go.

I've decided that I'm going to keep a projects journal-- something separate from the everyday journal I write in. This will help me keep track of different things I have done, what materials or methods I've used, and what the outcomes are. I have a terrible time remembering what brand X was that I am now out of but want more of or how many stitches I put in the chain for those perfect arm warmers I made months ago. In my teaching internship, we would have to journal about our day and try to analyze/learn from our reflections. This is exactly the same idea only without me being graded on it. Oh yeah, I'm also going to journal about recipes I'm trying to perfect. Yeah, I had to keep a diary in my master's program. It sounds more embarrassing than it was.

Pictures coming soon of the stuff I've recently completed or am working on right now.

Sweet Dreams...

All I've done all day is look up different molds, websites, and information about molding chocolates. I already went to the craft store tonight to compare prices and peeped a candy mold shaped like fast food (<3).

I've decided that I am going to make homemade chocolates for many of the people on my Christmas list. It's nice to be excited about a new project. I'm really enjoying researching and learning about the process for tempering and molding chocolate.

I'm looking for ways to reconnect to cooking and baking. Engaging in those activities can be very centering for me in many ways. I just wish that the kitchen here was bigger.

Also, when I was out today, I found a discounted cupcake kit with a recipe book, icing tips, 100 decorated cupcake papers, and a piping bag. Less than $4!!! There's an avocado butter cream icing I've had my eye on for a while so that is also in the works.

Tomorrow I'm making my new favorite chocolate chip cookies for ADD Fest at Roboto. I've only made this recipe myself once before so there is still some experimenting to do, however, this method is tried and true by two reliable friends and Cooks Illustrated.

Book Project 2010

I've finally decided to become the type of person who gets rid of books. I have a rather large book collection -- my favorites are sentimental children's books, young adult fiction, queer lit, and texts from college.

So the challenge I am putting forth for myself is to read all of the books that I own that I have not yet read or that I want to get rid of after giving them a second perusal.

I have filled two crates so far. I'm already taking a small pile of worthless reads to Half-Price Books tomorrow to try to get a dollar or two for them.

I haven't decided on a date yet to finish all of the books by, mostly because I want to list them first and maybe pull some more from the permanent collection.