December 22, 2008

10:16 a.m.

Sunny, Sunny Morning

I scraped off my car again yesterday, though I wasn't going anywhere. The ice came off all right. This morning there's a little more snow on it but it shouldn't be too hard to get away today. I still hear the sounds of shovels in the neighborhood. I'm sitting in my kitchen with the bright sun warming me. I never even turned the heat above 65 yesterday, though it was below freezing outside. Very proud of that weatherstripping on the windows. However, at one point I was squatting on the floor to adjust the DVD player, and I realized there is a cold breeze wafting around the bottom few inches of the living room. No wonder my feet are always so cold in there! It isn't a circulation problem after all. I've done what I could to insulate that room; I don't know what else I can do. But it's definitely the coldest room in the place.

Most of yesterday was spent sewing. The second doll, with its attendant modifications, didn't give me quite the resulting improvement I was looking for, but it's still an interesting and pretty doll. I might make another one for Dar, more along the lines of the first one. Carol said on the phone last night that she has 50% off coupons for Michael's crafts, and she just bought her first sewing machine (hooray! I am so in favor of this for her; she loves it) and one of those rotary fabric cutters and a big mat. I've been thiking of such a cutter ever since I saw my friend Red's quilts in Texas. She said she might gimme one of her coupons.

I finished Marc's scarf and am having a little trouble blocking it. I often get into these snafus when I'm in slightly unfamiliar territory. I didn't realize that stockinette stitch will curl along the sides. The scarf has chevron patterns at the ends, but it's mainly stockinette and it's curling like a cinnamon stick. I tried pressing some of it and of course the stitches flattened out so it looked like a crepe. Oops. Rose suggested pinning it down and sandwiching it between wrung-out but still wet towels, then steaming it with the iron and letting it all dry.

Meanwhile I'll need to make a quick decision about Pearl's scarf with the rooster motif. I've just about gotten to the head of the rooster on one end, so I think I'd better use some other stitch for the bulk of it. I wonder if I'll even finish it by Thursday. If I don't, I do have a great backup present for her I got in Austin -- a gorgeous, royal purple sari from the reclaimed sari shop.

I saw a darling movie this week: "Seducing Dr. Lewis." It takes place in a tiny fishing village on an island in Quebec. The 125 residents have been on welfare for 8 years. A big company is interested in building a factory there and they really want it, but they have to hire a full time resident doctor first. So they set out to entice someone to move out to North Nowhere to be their doctor -- using the most covert and ridiculously devious methods. It's cute in the way that Amelie is cute. I love hearing films in French anyway, though I don't speak the language.

I had several bizarre dreams last night involving the band. Chris kept leaving trash and garbage in my apartment, in my car... leaving the furniture everywhere out of place, car parts in my kitchen. This, on the eve of my visiting them. Am I annoyed somehow with him? Am I annoyed with some aspect of myself? Am I trying to tell myself to clean up the mess around here that has burgeoned into every room, as projects unfurl in all directions? AHA! I did clean up the sewing mess yesterday, but... the big handmade papers are still on the LR floor, the knitting corner needs a basket for all those skeins next to the chair, the present-wrapping paraphernalia is still on the kitchen floor. It is impossible to keep the kitchen table cleared. I think we have a clue here.

Well, now that I've figured that out, I have the rest of the morning to do something about it. I get to visit said band today, and Carol's mom and sister. She said they've done some more house projects so there will be some differences from the last time I was there. It was actually great to talk with her last night. In this gig lull, I feel like she's my friend, not just someone I work with at a job I no longer love. I hoped this would happen.