Distractibility
I officially do not have enough time. Well, part of that probably is because of my habit of wasting weekend mornings by faffing around on the computer, and then taking a nap, so it’s largely my own fault, but still, I think it’s a valid point. (I also apparently have enough time to write this long and rambling blog entry, but even that’s taken me the best part of two mornings, so I think it still counts as evidence that I have too much to do in my available free time. Either that, or I’m a really slow writer, which is probably also true.)
I started making a list of all the things I want to organize, redo, finish, or inflict an extra-thorough cleaning on around the flat. When the list reached 35 tasks, I had to put it aside and go for a little lie-down. (The sad part is that I hadn’t even finished adding items to the list — though, to be fair, I did break them down into some reasonably small subtasks, so maybe it’s not quite as overwhelming as it feels.)
My cooking and baking have been virtually nil lately. This week, for instance, I managed to prepare one thing totally from scratch: tofu frittata with asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes, from Vegan with a Vengeance; except that halfway through the baking my neurotic oven freaked out and thought it was overheating, and shut itself off (no, I still haven’t gotten that fixed), so it came out more as a scramble. That, plus the pizza I made last night, which doesn’t count as home-made because I cheated horribly with whole-wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe’s,* prefab LightLife soysage, and Teese. (At least I made the tomato sauce myself, and the broccolini was fresh, not frozen.) Everything else has been from a box or a tub, with a little fresh fruit and raw veg thrown in to fend off scurvy. I’ve got to do better. It’s expensive eating prefab stuff, and although most of the packaging is recyclable, it’s still a waste.
I’ve also been meaning to print out all the recipes from my favorite food bloggers — marking them as “keep new” in Bloglines works, but when you’ve accumulated maybe 150 recipes, it is rather difficult to remember which blogger created, for instance, the cool-sounding chestnut and apple muffins I’ve been meaning to try for the past three months — and put them in a notebook, organized by type and with credit lines so I remember who created which things. It just seems a little wasteful, though; instead, I should probably find some recipe software for Errol the Mac, who is portable and small enough to perch on my toaster oven as I prepare things, and move the recipes into that. (I’ve tried clipping recipes to Google Notebooks, but found it got overwhelmingly chaotic too quickly.) I really need to figure out the best solution soon.
In addition to not doing as much food prep as I’d like, I don’t seem to have enough time for knitting. I’ve got almost all of a sock that I knitted on the plane to Vancouver:
(The lace pattern doesn’t show up well in that, but trust me: it’s there. Once I get around to finishing the last four rows and doing the cuff, I’ll post a picture of it on an actual foot, probably mine — though I should probably shave my legs before taking the photo. Eeep.)
There’s also about 12.5 inches (about 31.75 cm) of a sweater, although the only photo I have shows significantly less progress than that:
Plus the cupcake hat for Christi’s baby, and a couple of projects that are currently hibernating (cabled scarf and checkerboard ankh afghan), and two projects that I haven’t had the nerve to admit to Ravelry I’m working on (hat for myself using this yarn, and a simple lacy scarf in black bananasilk). I like all these projects, but trying to split my time between them all means that nothing is moving very quickly at all — no way I’m going to finish the sweater before our annual meeting, which was my original deadline — and of course the knitting is a distraction that prevents me from getting other things done, too.
Then there are the non-knitting crafts I want to pursue. I spent yesterday afternoon practicing crochet with my grandmother, and actually succeeded in making a small single-crochet swatch. My how-to books have been helpful in learning the concept, but it actually helped a lot having an experienced crocheter right there to watch, to ask questions of (e.g., “Is it supposed to be this hard to work the chain, or am I doing something wrong?”), and just to chat: my grandmother and I get along pretty well but don’t have oodles in common, what with her being the widow of a Southern Baptist pastor and my being a godless heathen, but somehow playing with yarn and hooks gave us some common ground. It was actually one of the most relaxed visits we’ve had, and we’re planning to get together again on the last weekend each month. (Next month, I’m going to try teaching her to knit. Oh boy.)
Eventually, I hope to be able to make some of the cool lacework cardis I’ve seen floating around the Innarwebs, but maybe a good first non-swatchy project would be something small, maybe like these cupcakes. No idea what I’d do with them once they’re finished, but they should be fun and just challenging enough to help me learn.
I still haven’t been able to find the Pebeo Porcelaine pens I want, or the ShrinkyDinks, though to be fair I’ve only looked in one of the more indifferent craft stores. ::cough cough::Michael’s::cough cough:: If I can’t find them in a proper arts supply store, I suppose I’ll just order online.
I’m also curious about beading. This got started while I contemplated another sweater I really want to make, which calls for a silk beaded yarn for the contrast lace band around the waist and arms. Obviously, bug silk is right out, but I’ve got some vegan soysilk yarn I think would be a great substitute. The only thing is that it doesn’t come in a beaded version, and I’m not sure how to tell what size beads I should get to fit the yarn. (You can make the sweater without the beading, but I think the extra sparkle on the accent areas is rather prettier than the plain version.) I’d better learn, because there’s a throw blanket I really want to make, as well, that calls for beading along the edges. Then there is the possibility of making my own stitch markers, which doesn’t look all that hard. . . . What I may do is drop by one of the yarn shops and ask them if they could order a batch of the soysilk for me, and then ask if they have any suggestions on how to bead it.
Of course, if I had truly unlimited time as well as oodles of cash, I’d take pottery lessons and make all sorts of cool and practical mugs, dishes, and ovenware. Last time I looked, though, the classes were priced well out of my reach. I guess I’ll have to save that for when I win the lottery.
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* The organization of the Trader Joe’s near me still baffles me, and I still cannot figure out where they keep basics like baking soda, but they’ve definitely grown on me. I adore their Tuscan white-bean hummus, they carry whole-wheat pita (staff of life around here) that actually doesn’t contain honey, and their price for Gardenburger ribz is actually rather good. I also appreciate the fact that they slap a big honking V on the front of the packaging of their vegan store-brand items, and the staff actually know how to pack groceries in canvas tote bags. I just wish they didn’t overpackage their produce so egregiously, and would tell me where to find the baking soda.
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