What Would Claudia Wear?

I'm not a particularly trendy person; I'll probably never be featured in a trendy fashion magazine where they visit the "streets" of whatever trendy city and find the trendiest girls to photograph. I'm not that adventurous when it comes to dressing myself; I have amassed a ridiculous amount of grays and neutrals in my wardrobe to the point where I have to consciously remind myself to STOP BUYING GRAY THINGS JOANNE FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

That's not to say I'm boring--nay, I do have some interesting items like sparkly tights, a pair of colored jeans, and a red plaid shirt that everyone says reminds them of a picnic table because that's what they always say to me when I wear that shirt. However, they all pale in comparison to my most interesting item to date: A yellow striped sweater from Anthropologie:

But wait, there's more!

It's interesting because not only is it yellow and stripey, which adds just a little punch of color and pattern to my outfits, it's technically backwards!

I wish I had better posture to show you all.

It's weird that it's purposefully backwards, but that's why I like it and I can't really explain more beyond that. Oh wait, yes I can: I like it because I totally think this is something Claudia Kishi would have worn and Claudia Kishi was 8-year old Joanne's default fictional Asian Girl hero (for a lack of any other Asian girl hero she could relate to). Except that Claudia would never have bought this in a store like Anthropologie (or would she? I feel like I can write a five-page essay on this topic). Instead, Claudia Kishi, who was truly before her time, would have bought a cardigan at a thrift store and consciously make the decision to wear it backwards, because she was Claudia friggin' Kishi. Then she would have dug around in her room and found a Snickers bar in a sock and eaten it.

Continuing My Journey into the Depths of Misery.

Took me way too long to figure out which pattern to use and where it should go.

The crafting process to give my knitting needles a home goes on this week and if I felt mildly frustrated last week, this time around I felt like ripping the fabric to shreds, and I would have except doing that would destroy hours of my work and upset me even more.

Before I get into the nitty gritty of my misery, let me introduce you to Zelda:

Pretty girl.

Technically, Zelda is not mine, it belongs to an old co-worker of mine. Two years ago, I asked her if I could borrow her sewing machine to make a Halloween costume, she obliged and I happily took it home and made my costume.

Slutty sushi!

Then I conveniently forgot to return Zelda to her and then I moved and then I forgot again and now Zelda lives with me. IMPORTANT NOTE: I do intend to return Zelda to her rightful owner--and definitely before we move even further from Seattle. So there. It's not like I'm holding Zelda hostage or something. Zelda totally loves staying with me.

Ahem.

So, this week I worked on putting together the inner pocket, where the needles will go, and the other panel. Up until this point, I've read over the directions multiple times just to make sure that I didn't miss anything. WELL. It's definitely one thing to read it and know what you are doing and then to execute it successfully. The instructions noted a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Simple enough, I thought, except I completely overestimated my ability to measure things. Did I learn nothing from last week? This is what it looks like when you think you sewed with a 1/2 seam allowance only to go back and remeasure and realize you were juuuuussssst a bit off.

So close.

It would be one thing if I realized this on the first piece I sewed together, and to a certain extent I noticed that it didn't seem QUITE like a half-inch, but instead of measuring it exactly I said, "Fuck this" and sewed all the pieces together. It wasn't until I got to the end that I realized maybe I should have listened to that little voice inside me saying to measure it exactly. So yes, I had to go back and add a tiny 1/8th of an inch-or so to all the panels. But the biggest insult of the day was to come later.

The semi-completed inner pockets

The biggest, hair-ripping-out-est insult occurred when I put together the outside panel. Remember that last week I had to fudge the numbers a bit and re-work the proportions because I wasn't paying attention to what I was cutting out. This week, my terrible math skills came to a head:

The finished panel is supposed to be the same size as the inner panel (obviously), which, when finished, measures 19x22 inches. I CAME UP AN INCH SHORT. DAMMMMMIT. Adding insult to injury, I actually cut out a 1.5x22 strip in case I came up short, but given the seam allowances, it would have been too short as well. I suppose I could use a smaller seam allowance, but I JUST GOT USED TO THAT 1/2 INCH SEAM ALLOWANCE.

It was at this point that I decided that it was enough for one day. I will work on cutting out another panel next week and I will probably finish it up then (hopefully). Until then, here is what the (mostly) finished outer panel looks like:

Perhaps my knitting needles are better off living in a plastic bag, like hobos.

Achievement Unlocked!

It only took me two months, but I have finished filling out the forms for my federal income tax return! Technically, it took me ten minutes to drive to the library and pick out the forms, leave/ignore the forms untouched on my desk for two months, wait for my appropriate W-2, 1099, and 1098 forms to arrive, 40 minutes to fill out a "practice" 1040A form, 5 minutes to realize that I did the math totally wrong (it somehow ended up showing that I owed $10,000 in taxes), and 30 minutes to refill the form on H&R Block for a more accurate assessment. Now all I have to do is mail it out--which ought to take another week or so.

After I was done, I was inordinately proud of myself. Then I had a craving for chicken wings from the Wheelhouse, but mostly I was really proud of myself. I am not sure whether it's because I underestimate myself and it comes as a surprise when I finish things or if I am just easily excitable, but I often give myself a self-five, no matter how small or large the achievements are, such as:

• Successfully programming the Comcast remote to our television
• Figuring out what that light switch in our living room turns on
• Making it up the hill, on the way out of Skyline, on my bike (well, any hill for that matter)
• Figuring out what is jamming the copy machine and fixing it
• Planning out what to make for dinner, thinking that I might be missing an ingredient, but when I look into the pantry or refrigerator there it is!
• Tasting chicken stock after it has been simmering for over three hours. Hellloooo, flavor country.
• Any time the seniors at the Center call me a "computer guru" because I know how to restart the computer, which usually fixes whatever problem they are having
• Successfully fixing the flushing thing/wand on the toilet
• Wandering into J.Crew and discovering that all they are offering an additional 30% off their already on sale items
• That one time I was thinking about making sangria and I walked into Crate Barrel at the U. Village they were having a sidewalk sale and I found a slightly dinged (but otherwise perfect) pitcher on sale for $6. We had sangria that night.
• Passing cars stuck in traffic while walking on foot (happened a lot when I lived in Seattle)

Although, I am also uncertain if I do this to keep me sane (reassuring myself that I am able to accomplish things despite the fact that I haven't worked in nearly a year) or if by continuing to do this I am going insane.

I made a hat! (and other things I with which I pass my time.)

Among the things I have done over this period of (f)unemployment, I have started and finished (!) a few knitting projects. Although, this might just be a record for me--I have started and finished knitting a hat in under a month. And with plenty of winter weather left to spare. It seems like winter will never end, despite the daffodils blooming in our yard.

True story: I actually got dressed in "real" clothes for this picture.

I got the pattern through Ravelry, which is the most awesome website ever if you are looking for patterns or inspiration for your next knitting/crochet project. Starting the hat was a bit tricky because I had never done an Italian Tubular cast-on, so I had to look up instructions and sort through all the different YouTube videos out there. But once I got started, I only made like 5 mistakes, which seems really low considering that most of the time I was knitting while watching Gilmore Girls.

A few months ago, I also finished a cowl scarf. I had bought the yarn on clearance not really thinking about the color only that I liked the yarn. So once I finished, much to my chagrin, I realized that with the color and the way it's striped, it kind of looks like a bacon scarf.

Bright side: My bacon-looking scarf is ridiculously warm.

Lest you think that all this time spent not working have been toward productively knitting cold weather accessories for myself, I have also wasted countless hours on Interwebs watching cute animal videos. True story: One night I stayed up way too late, just watching a dog named, Murkin, and his cute little kittens. You are just going to AWWWW all over the place. Behold:

EXTRA BONUS CONTENT!
So, here's an outtake of me trying to figure out my PhotoBooth program on my computer. It had been a while since I last used it, and my laptop is getting into its twilight years, so I kept on hitting the button to set off the camera, but when it took it's sweet time to load, I got up to open the door for some fresh air. And that's when the little punk decided to start working.

I can't wait to have a job again.

Glutton for Punishment (Part 2: The Epic Conclusion!)

When I last left off, my poor unfinished quilt was quietly folded aside and quickly forgotten as Spring finally rounded the corner in Seattle. Happily, eventually I got up off my lazy ass and started working on the quilt again. It was about the same time that I was making plans to move in with Jack, I realized that I still had my co-worker's sewing machine and perhaps it would be a tad gauche if I end up taking it with me to Anacortes. For one thing, it would make returning the machine infinitely more difficult. So I started working again, hoping that I would be able to finish by the time I moved.

I worked in fits and starts. One weekend I managed to finally piece together what would be the back of the quilt. But then the next step was to baste the quilt, which is sandwiching the face, the batting, and the back together and loosely sewing it together so that it wouldn't move while I quilted the thing together. Faced with a seemingly mountainous job ahead of me, I once again folded the quilt and put it away.

In another weekend, particularly rejuvenated after brunch with my friends at Toulouse Petit, I started working on basting the quilt. The only good thing about basting was that it is sewed together VERY LOOSELY.  The bad thing about basting was that I did it all by hand while watching Azumanga Daioh, in the original Japanese with English subtitles. Considering that I don't speak a lick of Japanese, the subtitles were necessary for my understanding their hilarious shenanigans. I found that I could focus on only one thing: either I work on sewing or I watch the cartoon. Eventually I decided that the quilt was basted enough (I sewed it down the middle horizontally and vertically and then diagonally twice making an X), taped the rest of the quilt down with blue tape, and spent the rest of the afternoon watching cartoons. And so it was until it came time to move.

I had a week in between my last day of the work and when I had to move. I thought I would have all the time in the world to slowly pack, run some errands, take it easy, and maybe work on my quilt. Boy, was I mostly wrong. Aside from deciding that taking the bus/light rail was too expensive and walking to places instead, I also tried to cram in as many happy hours as humanly possible. There were lunches with old co-workers; then my dentist found a pocket (a pocket!) of bacteria that may spell bad news down the line, and especially since I was giving up insurance for the foreseeable future, she suggested I get a few visits in to thoroughly clean the area, so I had three more dentist appointments scheduled; and the one day I spent shopping for and wrapping potstickers for dinner for my friends. There wasn't a lot of time to pack or to work on my quilt. However, I did find one afternoon to work on it, and I managed to finally quilt (as in officially sewing it all together) my first line. But, the apartment was such a mess, and quilting required so much space (since the whole thing was basted together), that I eventually packed it all away.

Long story: No, I did not finish my quilt before I moved to Anacortes.

However! Now that I was in Anacortes, I did managed to finish it sometime in the first month that I moved in. Partially because, finally, there was nothing to distract me, there was a ton of space (none of Jack's furniture had arrived yet), and there was nothing to do in Anacortes.

Check out the quilt in action! Draped on the couch!

I ended up spending about two days just quilting it together. The problem I had was the excess fabric that I needed to support while I quilted. Occasionally one of the blanket that I wasn't working on quilting would slowly slide off the table and then it would screw up the straight line I was sewing on--and, yes, it led to tiny little bunches which drive me slightly crazy, but not so crazy that I would want to fix it.

Another issue I had was cutting off the excess batting and backing fabric. I mentioned that my fabric cutting board was only 18x24, but now I had to cut excess fabric off something that was now about a twin sized blanket...and the living room floor was carpeted. So I had to wrangle the fabric, cutting every two feet or so, hoping that it would come out straight, and worrying that if I accidentally cut off the board, I would take a bit of carpet fuzz with it. But I finished anyways and now the only thing left was to sew on the border and I'd be finished!!

The border was the final bit of pain for me, because, as it turns out, I didn't cut the quilt out exactly straight. So where the border met the not so straightened edge of the quilt, it ended up bunching together. But, at this point I didn't care. It was completed....mostly. Some of the quilt came undone at the border about a week later (again with the not straight edges, it didn't quite meet with the border the first time around to get sewn together) and I had to fix it together.

It seems to have held up quite well now I've finished it. I've spilled juice on it and it has gone through two regular wash and dry cycles without looking worse for wear.  I've grown to love it and all it's small imperfections--although I'm not sure I want to attempt a second quilt, just to build on what I've learned the last time around. Anyways, let this be a lesson to you all--making a quilt is not for the weekend warrior, but it is pretty awesome once it's finished and your hate for the process has subsided.

Glutton for punishment (Part 1)

I was moving at the time, so my apartment was messy. I don't normally live in squalor or with bad lighting.

The other day I was reading Apartment Therapy and they had a post on crocheted granny squares. Between the lure of another comfortable blanket for myself and a seemingly fun project to while away the cold days of February, I briefly toyed with the idea of making my own granny square blanket. Then I remembered that this same siren song of DIY occured to me about the same time last year too when I decided that I could and should make a quilt. This week, I am going to share a story about my adventures in sewing a quilt. It's quite exciting for you, I'm sure--so exciting that I am splitting this story in two, the first part today (with a cliffhanger!) and finishing next week. Onto my personal quilting hell!

I have a tendency to fall in love with things very quickly and very often--puppies, pretty flower arrangements, and DIY projects--and once it clicks in my mind that I love it, I absolutely must have it/get it/do it. Well, sometime in January last year, I got the brilliant (BRILLIANT) idea to make a quilt after reading a post on Boing Boing about Boo Davis' quilting book (I think). I figured my sewing skills were decent enough that if I found a simple pattern, executing and putting together the quilt would be a fairly painless process. I was wrong. (SO WRONG)

I checked out Boo Davis' Dare to be Square quilting book from the library and looked for interesting patterns. I eventually settled on her Chatterbox pattern, which was an easy four block pattern that was just pieced together until it was big enough for a blanket. One interesting thing in her book was that she said making quilts were not for weekend warriors; quilts take time and you should take your time piecing it together. At the time, I was like: Okay, whatever.

Gathering the fabric took a while, but my spirits were high. Then came the cutting of all the squares. Holy crap. This was when the resentment began to set in--the whole patterned called for over 100 pieces of various fabric sizes for just the "face" of the quilt (not counting many pieces I cut out incorrectly), more smaller rectangles to make the border, and cutting three large unwieldy pieces to make the back of the quilt.

The general pattern in the book was to start with two pieces, block them together, do the same with another two pieces, and then sew the two blocks together to make a four square. Continue doing that until you have all the four squares in that row blocked together, then you sew the four blocks together until you have a complete row. Repeat. Once all the rows have been completed, sew all the rows together until the whole thing is pieced together. Sewing the fabric together initially wasn't so bad until I started blocking off the larger pieces. Things started to get real hairy because it just got kind of heavy, I didn't know quite where to drape the fabric to line it up for the machine, and all the pins. Oh god, the pins. I was stabbed so many times handling the fabric.

At this point it was...March, I think? I was pretty miserable because I had spent quite a bit of my free time (when not on the couch surfing the interwebs or eating or working or going to Kate's) on the quilt and all I had to show for it, a month plus into the project, were just blocked off rows. Plus, the damn quilt started to take over the living room; it was a project just setting up to begin to sew the blocks and then cleaning up.There was the sewing machine, the ironing board, getting the iron, laying out all the pieces in the order I wanted them. Then to pin them together, sew, press open, sew some more and repeat.

I was not even close to being able to put the layers together to baste the blanket because I hadn't cut the large unwieldy pieces for the back. The reason was that my little cutting board was only 18x24 inches and so cutting fabric pieces larger than that required some fabric wrangling which usually resulted crooked lines and shaving off tiny pieces of our area rug.

So, once I finished sewing together the face of the quilt, I folded it up and put it away. I patted myself on the back for a job well done and rewarded myself with a small quilt vacation thinking that I'd work on the piece for the back next week. Then, work got a bit stressful and more than a few weeks went by without working on the quilt. Suddenly it was April and the weather got nicer and I wasn't nearly so inclined to stay at home. So the quilt stayed folded up and neglected while I caroused around Seattle greeting the spring.

By now, you are probably on the edge of your seat wondering what happens to my project. Will it get finished? Does it rot away in quilt purgatory forever? Partially finished but never quilted together? Find out next week! Unless you've visited me in the last half of 2011, then you already know the answers.

Standing outside in cold weather + hot soup = best idea ever

Stuff I was aware of, but I didn't really believe would make a huge difference:

• A homemade broth for your soup base is amazing. I knew that homemade broths were always superior to the canned stuff at the store, but, in the past, I was always too lazy/busy/impatient to actually try it. Thanks to my longer-than-I-previously-anticipated unemployment status, I had all the time in the world to make the chicken stock and I think it made the soup from "meh, dinner" to Jack yelling at me one afternoon before I dared to reheat a bowl of the leftover soup without his knowing.
• The key to making a delicious broth is simmering it for hours on end and the best part is when you finally get to the OMGWTFBBQthisshitistotallyfallingoffthebone stage, because that means you have arrived in flavor country (to steal a phrase from a friend).   

Thanks to a handy blog post from the Chasing Delicious lady, Ten Reasons to Make Broth from Scratch with Recipes & Tips, it finally motivated me enough to try making a homemade broth and I haven't ever felt the same way since. I think I'm a changed person. ...Well, not too changed, since a week later I went a stocked up on canned stock because it was on sale at the store and I had coupons. It was a steal and I don't regret buying canned stock at all.


Anyways, I made soup a few weeks ago for dinner when it first started feeling vaguely fall-like. It started out as a "posole" as per the directions from the Real Simple recipe, but I decided that I didn't like hominy and I just said "Fuck it, we'll do it live" and doctored and adapted the recipe from there. So now it's more of like a chicken vegetable soup. Also, I can't guarantee that I would be able to replicate the same dish again, so don't ask me to make this for you.


So this is what you need: (taken from the original Real Simple recipe here)
According to the original recipe, this should serve 4, but I would hoard it to myself.
-Some olive oil, about a tablespoon
-1 onion, sliced thinly
-At least 4 cups (32oz) of chicken broth, I think I ended up using about 6 cups.
-1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, drained of the water
-some dried red pepper flakes or a sliced jalapeno pepper (or use whatever suits your fancy)
-2 cups shredded chicken, cooked (I used the chicken from the broth, but whatever, do what you want)
-1 15oz can of corn, drained
-1 lime cut into wedges
-Cilantro, chopped, and green onions, diced, for garnish
*Since I used my homemade broth, I also kept the carrots, celery, and onions in the broth to have more vegetables in the soup.

This is what you need to do:
-Heat the oil in a dutch oven or a sauce pan over medium heat.
-Add the onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook it, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown and caramelize, about 10 to 12 minutes.
-Add the broth and tomatoes and bring it to a boil.
-Add the jalapenos and/or red pepper flakes
-Add in the chicken and corn, simmer until all the things are heated through
-Garnish with cilantro and the green onions and serve it with a lime.
-Enjoy your trip in flavor country. Send me a postcard.

I'm so cool. Look at all the awesome things I've done.

It's been a month since I last worked and I am both enjoying this time off and achingly desperately to get another job. Perhaps its the American mentality that you live to work (or maybe that's a child of an immigrant's mentality), but some days I feel like my identity is closely tied to what I do. Without a job, I just feel lost, without something to anchor me down and give me a day to day purpose.

It also occurs to me that I don't necessarily need a job to to define myself. I can find things that I'm passionate about and, if I'm supremely lucky, I can find a job that meets my expectations for myself. But then again--have you not seen our economy? I am seriously wondering how much longer until I go back to retail.

In the meantime, I've been keeping busy. I finally have the chance to cook through all cookbooks and magazines that I've collected all these years. I've been able to take a run during the day. I'm now caught up on every single trashy reality show on air currently (so happy that Jersey Shore is back). I have managed to kill all my useful brain cells by watching said reality shows. I have watched a group of deer come into our back lawn nearly everyday to defecate and eat the bushes. I'm very nearly halfway through Dance of Dragons. I've also caught up with the TV series. I finished my quilt. And I also had time to fix it once it began to fall apart. I've watered the lawn and taken out the trash (to various levels of success since I haven't done that in years). I have also explored a bit of Friday Harbor with Jack. And, I've finally had time to enjoy being sick since I'm home all the time anyway.

Up next: Car camping!