Science sews

Did any of you check Elizabeth Hartman's blog today

Science Sews!

a.

Books books books!

I feel as if my last few blog posts have been questionable in terms of their relevance to science, sewing, or sautéing, so in the interest of “crafting” (sewing’s cousin, right?) here are two things I made in pottery class this year. I call them “bird mug” and “flower bowl.”

Ah, I feel like a legitimate part of the group now. Legit enough to get to my real post: books books books! I begin with a sad fact: I lost my list of books to read some time ago. It’s hard enough trying to recreate a list of books that you came up with yourself, but it’s a whole new ballgame when you’re attempting to recall titles and authors that other people had suggested. Unfortunately, at least 83% of my list was made up of other people’s suggestions. Needless to say I gave up and started over, hence the book email I sent to you all a few months back.

Keeping in line with my first book list, I did not want to be confined by my own literary experiences—it’s more fun incorporating other people’s recommendations into the mix. I also realized that in addition to discovering what others have read and enjoyed, I was interested in knowing what folks intended to read. So here’s a little compilation of titles and authors, courtesy of you all:

The Hunger Games	Suzanne Collins
Bossypants	Tina Fey
In the Garden of Beasts	Erik Larson
A Game of Thrones	George R.R. Martin
Medium Raw	Anthony Bourdain
Kitchen Confidential	Anthony Bourdain
The Sisters Brothers	Patrick deWitt
The Paris Wife	Paula McLain
The Help	Kathryn Stockett
Modoc	Ralph Helfer
Polar Dream	Helen Thayer
A Complicated Kindness	Miriam Toews
Anna Pigeon series	Nevada Barr
Something Fierce	Carmen Aguirre
The Big Year	Mark Obmascik
Pink Boots and a Machete	Mireya Mayor
The Corrections	Jonathan Franzen
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective's Agency	Alexander McCall Smith
Sometimes a Great Notion	Ken Kesey
Merlin trilogy	Mary Stewart
The Power of One	Bryce Courtenay
Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card
Best Laid Plans	Terry Fallis
1Q84	Haruki Murakami
The Orphan Master's Son	Adam Johnson
A Study in Sherlock	Laurie R. King (editor)
The Night Circus	Erin Morgenstern
Still Alice	Lisa Genova
The Glass Castle	Jeannette Walls
Josephine B trilogy	Sandra Gulland
Trinity	Leon Uris
Song of the Dodo	David Quammen
A Primate's Memoir	Robert Sapolsky
Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers	Robert Sapolsky
South	Ernest Shackleton
Sand County Almanac	Aldo Leopold
Foutainhead	Ayn Rand
Three Cups of Tea	Greg Mortenson
Three Day Road	Joseph Boyden
The Hakawati	Rabih Alameddine
the Arthurian saga	Jack Whyte

The Lacuna                                       Barbara Kingsolver

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And this is the result of those emails...so far...

Almost all of these books, authors, or genres are on people’s “to read” list, and helped guide my wandering eyes while in the bookshops. Libraries are great, but there is something to be said about adding a couple new titles to the ol’ bookshelf, know what I mean? If you’ve forgotten, I suspect you’ll remember sooner rather than later. ;-)

Happy Reading!

Fig love

Spending and Shooting (pictures, that is)

This is a blog post of sort ofs. It’s sort of about crafting, sort of about Lara, and sort of about random things. Collectively, it’s about what I did during the month of January.

January was my buy-nothing month. And by “buy nothing,” I mean I purchased a camera that costs hundreds of dollars on January 1^st, and then decided to make up for the subsequent hole in my wallet by avoiding other frivolous purchases such as beauty products, fast food, and lovely warm coffee drinks that I enjoy almost every day. In addition to saving money, I figured this would be a good test of my will-power. I’m going to start off by saying I failed, but before you shake your head in disappointment, rest assured that I came up with a back-up plan.

I was lucky enough to get a Starbucks gift card for Christmas from my landlord, so that helped take care of the coffee problem. Feeling pretty good about myself, I became a bit more empowered every time I didn’t eat out or buy some cute item I saw. But then I chose to go to both the Banff Film Festival and an Oilers game on the same weekend (frivolous for sure, but our good friend Lara can explain both purchases, just not on the blog-o-sphere—sorry ladies). It went downhill from there.

Even though I was able to keep most of my dollars in my pocket after that weekend splurge of films, hockey games, and obligatory game day hot dogs/soft pretzels, I had a huge hurdle looming: Georgia. Georgia = tempting travel expenses, splurges on food and treats, and an adorable, present-worthy niece and new nephew. Granted, this trip was to serve as our family Christmas and I hadn’t planned ahead for my buy-nothing month by making gifts, so I was feeling a tad bit justified in any upcoming spending. After all, is a Prance-a-Pony unicorn for my niece REALLY a frivolous purchase?

Don’t answer that.

Georgia came and Georgia went; my mom and sister were gracious and treated me to 90% of the coffee I consumed. But now as I reached the end of my buy-nothing month I was presented with a problem—my bank statement. Somehow I’ve managed to wind up a couple hundred dollars poorer. I asked myself what good was an exercise in frugality and will-power if neither occurred? I needed to come up with some sort of remedy that wasn’t synonymous with punishment. Should I extend my buy-nothing month for another week? Should I put the equivalent amount I had spent into my savings account? Neither of these options seemed right; not buying something for a week is easy, and I always have the option of taking the money right back out of savings. I decided instead to increase my Kiva account amount by the amount of unnecessary money I spent in January (note: if you’re not familiar with Kiva, check it out: http://www.kiva.org/). One may ask, how will decreasing your account balance even MORE satisfy a lesson in will-power and frugality? My argument is that this month also made me consider the value of each purchase I made. I decided that if I placed a value of $xx.xx on Oiler’s games and film festivals, I certainly valued the idea of giving back to my community just as much. Hopefully from this point forward, I’ll think about how easy it was to throw a few extra dollars in the collection plate once in a while instead of buying a latte. But to be clear to my coffee break partners: I’m not planning on eschewing ALL future coffee outings—they are necessary for my sanity—perhaps just choosing a tall instead of a grande more often than not.

On a completely different note, let’s get on to what prompted this buy-nothing-month in the first place—my new camera. It’s definitely a starter DSLR (Canon Rebel T3i), but it was easiest on my budget and will be perfect for learning some tricks while in the meantime allowing my bank account to refuel before I eventually upgrade. I have been wanting, pining for, and whining about a single-lens-reflex camera ever since I was in high school. Over ten years later, I finally got over my hemming and hawing cheap self and put the money down. My first subjects were my niece and new nephew; after one week and over 700 shots later, here are some of my favorites. This counts as a craft, right?

As far as doing another buy-nothing month, I think I'd like to try it again sometime and be a bit more strict on myself. But I think I'll wait until my birthday month--chances are good I might get another Starbucks gift card to help me out.

A recap of today, and this past year.

A quick analysis of my day reveals that so far I've managed to:

1. Turn a cheestring into Ollie the Orangutan, as suggested on the packaging;
2. Eat 4 packages of '100 cal' Special K bars (This type of gimmick doesn't work for me apparently);
3. Contemplate whether this product is going to change my life: http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2012/01/pretty-hair-while-traveling.html;
4. Lift weights at Goodlife with our gym crew (whaddup M&L) (P.S. I was secretly thinking of cheesestrings the entire time);
5. Conclude that ramen is great, but pho is better;
6. Turn another cheesestring into Helicopter Heather;

Despite the fact that I have clearly already had a very productive and gratifying day, I am really going for it...a blog post to top off this day...

... so I present: Crafts of 2011!

I made a quilt.

 

I made pottery.

 Aaron and I made mittens out of his deer hide.

I made other random things.

This recap makes me realize that I didn't make much this year.

I've plotted an interesting relationship based on my observations of my photos from this past year:

-xo- 

Kim

Just Wishing and Hoping

I want to sew, but I know I should be working on my thesis. Seriously, this thesis thing sucks. Hard core. To cope, I allow myself to surf a few certain internet sites much too frequently. Sanity is just as important as a degree. Am I right? The last thing I made was a Halloween costume. I learned how to do a bubble hem skirt which was so incredibly easy. Cora loved the overkill of pink. I thought it looked like she threw up peptobismol, but it worked.

So, instead of sewing, I have been daydreaming. I thought it was going to be hard to find fabric I like for a baby boy. Not so! Here are just a few that have caught my eye in the last couple of weeks. This was only the icing on the cake. I guess having a daughter had blinded to me to all the wonderful "boy" fabrics there are. I still have not fallen in love with boy clothing patterns yet. I envision a mini-Lee that looks like me. Hey, he got a mini-Sascha that looks like him. It's the least I could ask for. :) Anyways, I guess I had better try my hand at plaid button-up shirts.

I bought Lee a new tent for Christmas. Our 3-person backpacking tent was getting a little tight with two adults, one kid, and a dog, so we upgraded to a good ol' car camping tent. Yep, we've become that family. Introducing the REI Kingdom 4!

What in the world does this have to do with sewing? Since we'll have a brand spanking new baby this summer, we definitely need a nice big quilt that we can all fit on. A quilt with a laminate back side. Otherwise known as a PICNIC BLANKET!! Woot! :) Check out this laminate. It's much to busy for a front, but perfect for a waterproof backside. Next project, maybe??

The other thing I have been wasting my time with is daydreaming. Daydreaming about silly stuff like what color walls I would paint my bedroom if I could. And, then. It happened. The unexpected of all unexpected. I was nearly moved to tears. Well, that could be this pregnancy hormonal shit, but I digress. Anna Maria Horner has turned my absolute, all-time favorite fabric, into a rug. I shit you not. Begin hyperventilation. I love this fabric so much that I backed a queen size quilt in it. And, put it on the front, in two different colors. And bought it in home-dec weight to make a bag for my mother-in-law. I'm psychotic.

 OMG. Amazing, right? To top it off she threw in another one that I might, dare I say, like more. Hello RUGS! I may have to invest. I wonder how well they are made?

Mmmm, on second thought, I can't cheat on my first true fabric obsession. That is what is on my mind this lovely Friday night. I think I should put the thesis to the side for an afternoon/evening and sew. Yeah, that sounds good.

Over and Out,
Sascha

Reflections of the season

As I sit here with my hands wrapped around a warm mug of spiced orange tea, watching the snow fall gently onto a blanket of white outside with the smell of Christmas cookies wafting through the house and my parents at the table with me laughing about the memories of the past year, I…..

Okay, fine. The above sentiment is stretching it a bit. To be fair I AM drinking tea, but doing so while looking out at a sea of dead brown grass--the first non-white Minnesota Christmas I can remember in a long time. My dad is sitting in the other room reading random news online and my mom is warming up leftovers for lunch. And I’m getting ready to put in a couple hours of work. Cue the Debbie Downer music….wha whaaaa.

But in reality, it’s not so bad. After thinking about where I was last year at this time—sitting at this same table unemployed—I’m grateful to HAVE a job. And it’s lovely to be back at home on vacation, rather than in a state of limbo wondering where I’m going to end up next. I’m happy that my family is lucky enough to have enough food to eat on Christmas day, let alone a surplus of yummy treats to be considered “leftovers.” And as far as my dad sitting on the couch reading about (get ready for this) “ion propulsion” for “satellites and stuff like that,” well, I’m just relived that I’m not the only one in the family who reads weird articles online for kicks. It’s turning out to be a Merry Christmas after all.

But enough reflection for the time-being—let’s get on to some projects! The below little headband I actually started early this year in MN at my favorite little knitting shop. It’s technically an ear-covering, but I wear it more as an accessory. Kim Ong made a beautiful one as well (and totally put me to shame by finishing it in a proper amount of time; read: anything less than 6 months). Hers has buttons but my button holes left a little to be desired, so I decided to close it with a broach—a decision which postponed the finished product another couple of weeks while I embarked on a broach search. In any case, I’m happy with it except for the fact that I put it on upside down for the picture so you can’t see the cabling. I’m too lazy to do a second take, hence the name “lazy winter headband.” Here’s the link for the pattern: http://www.plantsworld.net/maja/D__Lazy_Winter.pdf

Project number two was commissioned by my sister as a present for my niece—an owl winter hat. http://evelynnsmommy.blogspot.com/2009/12/owl-hat-pattern.html I actually completed this in a decent timeline. It has its imperfections, but I think it’s pretty darn cute.

So that’s what I’ve been up to--projects and reading weird articles online. Speaking of which, here’s an good one. Kim O—I was thinking of Aaron when I discovered this little gem: http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/21/9614979-why-does-running-make-my-nose-run

Cheers my loves—may you be in a state of contentment, reflection, and perhaps craft-ment this Christmas Day.