February 2009

Friday Unrelated Information

By in baking, Friday Unrelated Information 2 Comments

1. This week I discovered the Twitter feed of Sockington the cat, the latest cat-related internet craze. Some gems include:

tiny meow behind you please turn around it would mean a lot to me if you turn arHUNGRY HUNGRY HUNGRY

stretching neck at you streeeetching neck OH NECK IS STRETCHING NEAR YOUR HAND OH GOD SO CLOSE TO ooo petting what a surprise

2. Speaking of the internet, should I be on Facebook or Twitter? Apparently this will help me find a job.

3. Items baked this week: Cinnamon swirl bread, a whole-wheat baguette from Laurie Colwin’s recipe, oatmeal-butterscotch chip cookies, and dulce de leche brownies. I made my own dulce de leche, too.

"Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still."

By in poems, T.S. Eliot 1 Comment

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday in the Christian calendar, which reminded me of the T.S. Eliot poem of the same name. I wish I had studied this one in college, because I’m sure there’s a lot more to it than I’m getting now. It’s long; you can read it all here. But this excerpt from the end of the last section seemed to fit with the weather today and my general mood. (Not literally “the aspiration to move from spiritual barrenness to hope for human salvation,” as Wikipedia says, but maybe the hope for spring? And better times?)

Wavering between the profit and the loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things
From the wide window towards the granite shore
The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying
Unbroken wings

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices
In the lost lilac and the lost sea voices
And the weak spirit quickens to rebel
For the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell
Quickens to recover
The cry of quail and the whirling plover
And the blind eye creates
The empty forms between the ivory gates
And smell renews the salt savour of the sandy earth

This is the time of tension between dying and birth
The place of solitude where three dreams cross
Between blue rocks
But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away
Let the other yew be shaken and reply.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Here Come The Owls

By in knitting, Tuesday Project Roundup 2 Comments

That’s what the next step in the pattern is called: “Here come the OWLS!”. I’m as excited for them as the pattern writer was.
I’ve been trying to take my time on the owl sweater, though, because I don’t have another sweater to work on when I finish it. (I’ve been thinking about this one, but I’m not sure I can justify buying yarn while unemployed.) To keep the owls going slowly, I pulled out some gray alpaca from the yarn basket and made some fingerless gloves over the weekend.

Because–have you noticed?–it’s acting a lot like spring lately. And I’ve been watching a lot of Victorian miniseries.

Friday Unrelated Information

By in Friday Unrelated Information, tunes 2 Comments

1. Have you noticed I haven’t had any local political commentary lately? I’m only getting the Tribune on Sundays now and it’s been lovely. The less I know about what the patriarchs in the Utah Legislature are doing, the happier I am in the mornings. (Of course, the paper boy decided to deliver the paper every day this week, just in time for Buttars to disgrace himself again.)

2. Since I mentioned WWII on Tuesday, I have to mention that Yesterday was the National Day of Remembrance for the American citizens who were put into internment camps during WWII. Families could only take what they could carry–what about their pets?

3. And I was so excited to post the quote about pie on Wednesday that I forgot Wednesday’s tune. To end the week of sad stories and WWII on happy note, here’s Big Rock Candy Mountain, “a song about a hobo’s idea of paradise,” according to Wikipedia.

It Was A Nice Dog, Too

By in sad stories

So I went to the main library yesterday around noon. Nothing makes you feel more fortunate than seeing a homeless dude who’s smuggled his dog into the library with him by hiding the dog under the blankets on his wheelchair. No, I don’t have a job, but I don’t have to smuggle Toby into a warm place to spend the day. Nor am I in a wheelchair.

Comparatively, I have no problems at all.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Thrifty AND Prepared, Just Like The 1940s

By in hire me, sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup 1 Comment

After all the knitting lately, I finally used my sewing machine again last week. I cleaned out the closet when I got my craft shelf and found some extra pillowcases, so I tried out the embroidery stitches on the Bernina:Something new to decorate with for free!

And I pulled out an unfinished project from a couple of years ago–this pencil skirt:(It’s finished but too dark today for a modeled shot, so here’s the pattern. Early 50s, I think?)

I had originally thought I would sew this to wear to the second job of Christmas 2007 but ran out of time, and by the second job of Christmas 2008 I had made more than enough dresses to wear. But while thinking of the job search these past two weeks, I realized that a plain black straight skirt would be all kinds of useful, so I finished it up.

It’s my interview skirt. I don’t have any interviews yet, but–in keeping with the 1940s theme here–I did it before and I can do it again.

If I Could Make This Link Sparkly, I Would

By in friends, hire me

So my oldest and most helpful friend–who very conveniently studied graphic design while I was learning music theory–sat me down last week and got my portfolio cleaned up and got my portfolio site redesigned and up again.

Check it out: portfolio.karenkaminski.com

I even got a mention on her company’s site, which she also designed! I am so going to have a job soon. (Hey, “Yes, We Can” worked for Obama, didn’t it?)

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