Yarn Utopia

Finding things

2008-07-13T16:31:00.002-05:00

I keep finding interesting crafty things I completely forgot I made while I am decluttering and packing. Case in point, this winged heart I designed - it is the prototype for one I did as a centerpiece of a quilt block. Okay, so it is a totally horrible picture, but it is on my cellphone camera which doesn't do macro shots well. I don't remember if it is truly peyote stitch, but it is using seed beeds. I also don't remember what type of thread I used, but I apparently waxed it well, as that strand that sticks out to the side is stiff as all get out. The heart in the middle contains an eighth note motif -- come to think of it the winged heart part may have been based on someone else's published design and the note was my modification, but this was quite a few years ago. Either way, I kind of want to figure out something else to use this remaining prototype on....

Coming to the end of that rope

2008-07-11T22:28:00.002-05:00

Holy freaking pile of steam shovel snail snot on a long pier to nowhere.

I truly think the management company of this goodnessforsaken complex I live in is truly trying to make me fully appreciative of the choice I made in opting to move out of this place. For four months AT LEAST they've been chasing down a fricking leak in the bathrooms of the six units that share a wall -- I was the one who pointed out the leak in the first place, probably because I definitely had an issue with my toilet as well at the time. The leak didn't go away with the toilet repair. It didn't stop when they replaced my shower stems or the stems of the other five - but the water did stop seeping when they sealed the vinyl on my bathroom floor. Apparently one of the units below still had an issue over the last month or so, but when I complained yesterday about someone coming in my apartment AGAIN (and moving stuff around) without leaving a note as to why and they mentioned something about this ongoing problem...and I talked to the guy about it...they thought they solved the issue because it was due to one of the upstairs tenants taking a shower without the curtain inside the tub.

Uh-huh. Yeah - like he wouldn't figure out after once or twice that he was flooding his bathroom that way?

This has been going on for MONTHS, people.

Sigh.

I mentioned, once again, and very politely (they are a new management company, after all -- and they did drive off the one maintenance guy who sort of knew what was going on with this situation) that I thought it might still be in the wall since I heard a drip late at night when there was no other noise, but only when I was standing in the bathroom. No water has been seeping in my apt for the last month, so who knows. The apt manager said since I was moving out at the end of the month they wouldn't rip up my walls or inconvenience me any more - as they have to renovate in here anyway.

Blow me some more sunshine, jerkwad. Guess what I came home to tonight. Yup - 10:30 at night and my bathroom completely demolished. My clean towels (and my dirty clothes, and every other surface for that matter) covered in plaster and wood bits. My etagere disassembled and pieces of it in the bathroom and in the dining area and pretty much everywhere else -- goodness only knows if I'll ever get it all back together again. Everything that was on the etagere all over the place, and covered in plaster and wood. The shower curtain destroyed and laying in the tub, along with my last roll of toilet paper (which is soaked through, by the way) and no way of knowing if the toilet is even functioning. Oh, and a gigantic hole in the wall and ceiling, covered incompletely with garbage bags and duct tape.

Can you tell I am happy about this situation?

What the blue blazes do they expect me to do? I am trying to clean this place up to move, not demolish it (although they seem to be doing a great job of that). I am almost afraid to go check my closet. If they decided to break a hole in there and destroyed any of the dresses I have on that side in the process, I might just break down and cry. Heck, I might do that anyway.

Idiots.

Happy Independence Day!!

2008-07-04T08:03:00.002-05:00

...and it's going to be a hot and muggy one!

Yesterday one of the coolest things happened -- I was out to dinner with my mother and her husband, who happened to be wearing his Pearl Harbor Survivor ballcap. Two little kids saw the hat when we came in the restaurant and sought him out later on -- to thank him for serving our country. They had visited Pearl Harbor a couple times and were very excited to meet someone who had been there when the war started. It was very cute and so touching...

Hanging with a bunch of other friends was nice later on that evening -- mostly people I used to work with, who I don't get to see often. One former co-worker hosts a heck of a 3rd of July party annually, pretty much as an excuse to blow up as many incendiary devices as possible. I missed the finale because I was inside talking to a knitting bud, who is married to one of the cronies of this crowd (small world :) but we heard it -- I think they lit off three finale boxes together plus a few more things with fuses tied together. Every year I am amazed that no-one gets blown up.

Today we'll see what happens - a few parades offer, fireworks in every city, naturally. I don't think I want to wander downtown since it is usually a madhouse (and since it is already so humid outside) but I would like to hear one of the symphonies or bands later, I think.

I've kept on with the apartment cleaning -- just two weeks and a couple days to go before the movers get here! Egads time is moving quickly. Today I moved my RH stash out to the car to go home with Mom. I'm not using it -- as evidenced by the fact that it just sits there -- and she makes lots of afghans for the grandkids, so home with her it goes. So much yarn that my trunk is full and I had to put some on the backseat --- and I still have scads of yarn hanging around. I really need to finish the de-stashing process. I really need to finish packing. Give me another week and we'll be in full blown panic mode. Time to get working again...

Six years already?

2008-07-01T07:16:00.003-05:00

A month ago I noted that my bloggiversary was coming up and was going to commemorate the date -- perhaps with a small contest, a site redesign, and some fun. Then life got a little crazy.

Right around the actual date, I started a new job (same company - just different department) that is in a much different field from what I've done for the past ten years and it's kept me hopping. Add to that a lot of the other craziness that is life (still working on the move, helping out friends, accepting singing gigs, etc.) and I haven't spent a whole lot of time on the fancy schmancy part of the blog. :)

So yes, it has been six whole years since I started this blog. I did not know how to knit when I first started - I was a crocheter who planned to learn to knit, and the blog was to help keep track of projects as well as to let me diary life. It is my only successful journal; every other journal I ever started has but a few pages written before I abandoned it to the ravages of time. I think the trick with a blog is that it also appeals to my techie geek side, and allows me to play with my photos as well - when I get around to downloading them off my camera (note to self - clean off the memory cards already!).

I am in fact still knitting and crocheting, although not as frequently as I'd like due to the madness around me, but I've recently finished a couple of small projects. One was a pair of thumbless mittens for a friend's baby shower (and they are so cute!) and I am working on another gift for the same friend. I neglected to get a pic of the mittens (hint, hint, E) but I'll get a pic of the other before I gift it to her - at the very least for my Ravelry project page, which has also been sadly neglected.

Will this blog continue to host a lot of knitting content over the next few years? Who knows - perhaps it's time to change the title to something that suits the potpourri of things that I tend to journal. At the very least, I need a new template. So, stick around, gentle readers - the ride can only get better.

2008-06-26T17:43:00.001-05:00

Go, Michael Barnes. I thank you for your review, and your rant. I completely agree.

Rollercoaster ride

2008-06-22T22:52:00.002-05:00

Life certainly likes to throw curveballs.

I've been working on finishing up a gift and helping to plan a baby shower for a friend - interrupted slightly by the trip out of town but it is not something that will take me long to do... The fun part comes in with the other things going on. Thankfully the concerts are over for a while, but my new job will keep me busy - I just changed positions at work and it is going to mean long hours for the next couple weeks. I am confident I can handle it, but it will definitely mean changing my schedule around. Add to that a few additional things -- the moving I am already working on, weddings I am already scheduled to sing for, and now a totally unexpected funeral which I am honored to sing for but very sad that it has arrived -- and it's going to be a very busy couple of weeks. I'm juggling crystal goblets and someone keeps trying to toss me a chainsaw.

I suppose that it is a good thing that I thrive on being active. If one of those goblets has to be set aside (say...blogging, for example), I promise not to drop it entirely and to get it back into the rotation in due course.

One more concert series down

2008-06-21T23:09:00.003-05:00

Performance is full of highs and lows.

Weeks on end of long rehearsals can be a low, but the performances themselves are one heck of a high. Tonight's performance of Verdi's Requiem was no exception. Even though a requiem is by definition a mass for the dead, it also has many moments of absolute transcendence and much meaning for the living - we ask God for His mercy, eternal peace for the deceased, and we sing His praise. Mozart's Requiem is still my favorite of those compositions I've heard, but Verdi's is absolutely amazing.

Of course, one of the lows comes right after performance -- when you've expended the energy and lost the adrenaline high...but you at least know you've done well, and the content of the music does much to keep that high going.

That brings something else to mind, based mostly on something someone said to me this past week on what they believed (or rather didn't believe) in. You know, I really don't know how people who don't truly believe what the words mean are able to give as much of themselves to such a performance as the composition requires. This is not to say that they aren't capable of performing it , but does the meaning of the words therein turn them off in some fashion? I know that there are pieces (such as the Ave Maria, for example) that I do not perform as well as I might simply because I have a problem with some of the meaning behind the words, and perhaps my performance of those pieces is the poorer for it. How much harder is it, then, for the people who don't believe at all the entire basis of the choral work? Does that affect also how much you get out of it in the end - less of the adrenaline rush, less of that frisson of amazement at the end? Or is the verbal content unimportant or irrelevant to some? There are pieces that I will not perform because I disagree with the meaning of the work, but that is a personal choice - does it make me less of a performer that I make that choice?

Well, enough of the heavy thinking -- I am way overdue for some sleep...

Radio Silence

2008-06-20T07:54:00.002-05:00

Once again our herione disappears into the ether, forsaking the wilds of the interwebs for parts unknown. Seeking adventure, she wanders ever further afield - away from the lure of a constant 'net link. Well, technically I suppose I could drive into town with my notebook at any time and sit at the coffeeshop, which has a perfectly good wireless connection, but that would ruin the romance of the scene, wouldn't it?

As a matter of fact, currently I am out at a ranch a few miles north of Victoria, Texas, where a wonderful family has kindly offered to host myself and another chorus member for the duration of our performance in the annual Victoria Bach Festival. The ranch is just beautiful, and the stay has been almost idyllic -- broken up only by the fact that we've had insanely long rehearsals to prepare for these concerts. :) Although we've prepared plenty back in Austin, we are bringing together three (or more) groups that haven't had much time together, so the full orchestral and chorus rehearsals are important - but exhausting.

In the small amount of time I've had to wander around town this year, I noticed a shop I don't remember from last year, although it is obviously old enough to have been around that long --- if I can remember to get a photo of the sign I will, because this is a great one. We're performing tonight in Our Saviour's Lutheran Church here in town, and then tomorrow back in Austin at the Long Center. KMFA is also doing a broadcast about the show tomorrow night - Verdi's Requiem for the interested...

Does anyone still use Ravelry for swaps?

2008-06-16T17:24:00.002-05:00

So in all this decluttering I've been doing, I've been sorting my yarn stash as I've gone along. I've got a couple large bags of yarn I plan on destashing and I thought Ravelry might be the way to go...if people are still using it these days. I know I haven't been keeping up with it lately myself, but I'd rather post there than eBay (although I can certainly post to Craigslist, I suppose ).

Thoughts, anyone?

2008-06-14T11:00:00.001-05:00

Went shopping for clear storage bins at Sears - found instead bedding sets 85% off. Fair trade.

Score!

2008-06-13T08:51:00.003-05:00

Yay, I have a new table!

No pictures until I move into the new place, sorry -- but by then I also hope to have replaced at least my sofa. Cleaning/de-cluttering proceeds apace; I spent a couple more hours at it yesterday evening while I was waiting for the table to be delivered. The new table has a smaller footprint than my current one so it fits nicely into the space I had available. It makes it a little more difficult to put the boxes I've already sorted someplace, but I'll work around it.

The dining room is about half-way done, the entry way just needs sorting of the big stack o' shoes and then I need to tackle the remaining third of the main room (the part that isn't officially the living room, which I am counting as done). Once I've gone through the remaining clutter, I can pull out the books/yarn/videos/etc. that I intend to sell and document them -- then it is just a matter of getting them listed on Craigslist (or off to Half-Price Books for some of it). If I keep at my current schedule - excluding the time I'll be otherwise occupied for work and chorus performances - I should have the main rooms completely organized within the next two weeks. That just leaves the bedroom, and I've already tackled the hardest part there, which was thinning the herd in my closet. :D Given that schedule and the amount of time I have left before the movers come, I think I might just be able to pull this whole thing off.

2008-06-08T20:47:00.002-05:00

Just a test to see if I can get this recalcitrant blog to publish already...

Be glad I didn't have a camera...

2008-06-05T16:49:00.002-05:00

Heh.

Gotta love those days when you are downtown Austin and something makes you double-take. Well, maybe you don't. Today's double-take brought to you by everyone's favorite: Leslie. He was walking up South Congress in a semi-normal crop top and cheerleader skirt, but the skirt only covered the front half. The back half was nothing but thong. And it was windy today, y'all.

Funnier than seeing Leslie was watching the reaction of the other people on the street - many of whom obviously have never been treated to his presence before.

...and hopefully this post will actually make it through. Lately Blogger has been acting up, so the last week or so of my posts haven't actually made it over to my blog as yet. My apologies for the spam to any RSS feeds out there when it finally does catch up.

Once again

2008-06-04T18:47:00.002-05:00

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: chiropractors are wonderful. Well, good ones are -- I've unfortunately been on the receiving end of treatment from a not-so-good one before and that was not a happy thing.

Today, however, a GREAT session means that I can get yet more housework done. I did three hours with the organizer on Monday (and my back let me know it for the last couple days) so I am going to limit the hard stuff to about an hour a day. However, there is plenty of little sorting and shredding that can be done sitting down as well so I can get that knocked out as well. God willing, this move will go smoothly!

Cooling off

2008-06-01T20:38:00.002-05:00

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah.

That shower you take after being out in the blazing heat for several hours doing something that gets you extremely grimy is the BEST SHOWER EVAR. That is all.

Revisiting a friend's artwork

2008-05-31T20:36:00.004-05:00

V's veil
Originally uploaded by Cyndiva.

The photo is a re-tread, but I ran into a couple ladies today who were talking about this very veil. My friend V did an inSANE amount of work on designing and knitting this and it came out absolutely stunning.

Today was one heck of a day -- I got up really early to work out on my Wii Fit and shower, then grab breakfast and head down to the Knitting Nest to meet Franklin. I must say, he is just a great guy to talk to -- and Delores, I hear, was well-behaved. She must have been hung over from Guero's the night before (or still out playing with Leslie) because I didn't run into her at the opening of the photo shoot. Granted, there were a lot of people there, so it is entirely possible that I just missed her, but I don't know how. Heh.

Right now I have to get back to some serious photo editing that I owe another friend and then perhaps I can post more updates to my Flickr account from today. 7 weeks and counting until the big move!

2008-05-29T13:04:00.000-05:00

Successful lunch mission completed to get new lamp at IKEA. New problem: fending off overwhelming covetousness for other stuff...

My own private army

2008-05-28T20:16:00.002-05:00

One of the things I think I am looking forward to the most in my upcoming move is having my own washer and dryer for a change instead of schlepping down to the communal laundry room or laundromat. With the exception of the occasional weekend I've gone to my mother's house (and taken a load or three with me) or the months I was recovering from a back injury and was physically unable to do my laundry, that's...let's see...almost SIXTEEN YEARS I've been without a washer and dryer in my current place of residence (and yes, I am counting college dorm life in there).

Not only has this led to me having far too many clothes in general - sometimes it's easier to pick up a new outfit if you don't have the time to spend an afternoon doing laundry or the laundry room is not available - but my word, the sheer mass of undergarments is nigh to unimaginable! I mean, I could clothe a third world country with the numbers of these things I own; outfit my own small army of Amazons. Granted, they'd be outfitted only with unmentionables, but I'm sure that would prove a tactical advantage in battle.

I've already successfully pared down the contents of my closet to less than half of what it contained before, so surely this task will not be insurmountable. I pity the poor soul who goes dumpster diving for goodies later (hey, I live in an apartment complex -- I've seen people do it!) and comes up with a discarded bag of old panties, though. Well, at least they are clean.

Wake-up call

2008-05-25T19:49:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was all set to rant about the cruddy "bouncer" at Zilker Botanical Gardens, and I realized that basically I was just transferring my stress about some other things in life to another situation that probably didn't deserve as much angst as I was giving it. Well, it deserved _some_ angst. I mean, come ON.

Oops, I'm sidetracking myself again.

At any rate, I've been trying to keep myself busy enough to avoid the pity party -- and been marginally successful. Of course, the busy part probably didn't decrease the stress levels even if it did distract me a bit from this last week of absolute insanity. Due to a disappointment that happened this week I've been a bit sulky (although I didn't want to admit it) and I was even contemplating skipping church this morning. Yeah, bad move, I know.

As it turns out, sometimes God is sending us pretty loud messages, but it takes us a while to clue in. As much as I tend to worry about things, I went to church after all, and the gospel lesson and sermon were over Matthew 6:24-34. Even the hymns and the opening lesson whapped me over the head with the "let go, let God" concept. Regardless of what the future brings, I know whatever happens fits in with God's plan for me.

2008-05-24T10:55:00.001-05:00

Nice - just got hassled by "security" at Zilker asking if I knew
about the photo policy. He actually made me fill out a session pass. More later.

Retaining my ability to write

2008-05-22T20:53:00.002-05:00

So much has happened in the past week, it feels like an eternity since I last took the time to put pen to paper (or thoughts to blog) outside a quick splat from the phone on the go.

Life is still a little stressful but I've got an exciting opportunity coming up. In addition I am working really hard to get my apartment in order so I can actually move in a couple months. Add to that a concert to sing next month, and three (count them, THREE) friends having babies in the next 12 weeks -- one being one of my bestest buds in the universe -- for whom I need to finish knit gifts, and well, my life is a little full at the moment.

In the midst of all this, I have still been knitting and crocheting, teaching, singing, taking pics, walking and all that. Yes, I bring the craziness on myself but it definitely helps decrease the stress from other outside sources that I don't have control over.

Well, come August life will be different one way or another.

2008-05-21T09:07:00.001-05:00

And the week gets better - third freaking flat tire this month.

Hot work

2008-05-17T06:36:00.002-05:00

To the celebration of no few of my friends, I've finally made the step to close on a new place -- and I will definitely be moving in a couple months. I've been working on getting decluttered for this for a while, and now I can make the final arrangements for the move.

To celebrate (and to give my poor eyes a break), I also finally upgraded my television set. No longer do I suffer through hi-def content (okay, from my game console mostly) on my 20 inch standard television. We went HDTV, baby! Well, as soon as I finish setting it up, anyway. These things are work, I tell you - and I only got the 32 inch model. My original plan was to get the 26-inch, but they had a deal on a really nice 32-inch by the same manufacturer for not much more, so it came home with me. Throw in the zero-interest financing and I decided the budget could handle the slight increase, since I'd been saving for the upgrade anyway - it may mean no new yarn purchases for a while, but I am pretty sure my stash can bear me out.

It's pretty, what can I say. If it were pink, there wouldn't have been a question. Then again, if it were pink, they probably would have been clearancing it for a couple hundred less, because only weirdos like me would by a 32-inch pink television. Heh.

2008-05-14T21:59:00.001-05:00

It is insanely hard not to go wild on retail therapy when I'm as stressed as it's been this week. I haven't...but that HDTV is tempting.

2008-05-12T19:15:00.000-05:00

If you pride yourself on your food, label your salad bar accurately. Grape tomatoes are not cherry, and penne is not tortellini.