Knitting is a dangerous hobby

Honestly I think knitting is the primary reason why I haven't been blogging as much as I did when I first started.  Well, that and the fact that I don't have internet access at my apartment and have to lug my (admittedly small and very light) netbook with me into work and use the library's wifi.  I'm a lazy slob, I'll admit it.  But the knitting is to blame too.  I've been knitting on the bus to work, at home, while waiting for a ball game to start.  It's getting bad.  I actually have to negotiate when I will put my knitting down and do something important, like jump in the shower and wash my hair so I don't look like one of Downtown's resident homeless when I go to work the next day.

*sigh*

 It probably doesn't help that I've given myself the task of knitting gifts for everyone on my Christmas list this year.  I believe in homemade gifts above all others.  When I was growing up, my family was dirt poor.  So much so that my Mom got in the habit of "bracing" us for the potential of not having a Christmas.  Every year.  But somehow she always scraped together enough to buy some yarn and make us all slippers.  Which, since we only had electric space heaters for most of the time I was growing up, went a loooong way to keeping our feet warm through the winter!  They were beautiful, practical, warm and - even better - they were handmade by my partially blind mother with carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists and she always would give them to us with this self deprecating statement like "I wish I could have given you guys something better" or "I know its not much but" or something like that.  Many times she will talk about how much she regrets the past, not being able to give my sister and I better things, like she had disappointed us or somehow been a bad parent.

It makes me want to shake her and kiss her at the same time.  My Mother is incredibly talented.  She is a master of crochet and has taught herself to knit.  In fact she was the one who taught me when I went back to Ohio last month to visit with her.  She cooks from scratch, makes the world's best flour tortillas, made my birthday cake every single year and baked sugar cookies and cranberry-apple turnovers for every Christmas morning.  She sewed the dress I wore to homecoming and the one I wore to graduation and the one I wore as Maid of Honor at my best friend's wedding.  She taught me how to cook; how to read a recipe and how to ignore one.  She taught me how to suck it up and carry the heavy loads and do without or to make do with what you have.

She is an incredible woman.

Ok, back to the knitting. :)  So far I've knit a pair of bright orange legwarmers (hurry up and get chilly, weather!  I wanna wear 'em soooo bad!), a shawl and two scarves.  I finished the last one just this morning, promising myself I would wait to start the next one until after I've checked my email and updated my blog.  I have the skein sitting in my huge purse.  It's big enough to hold all my purse things and my knitting at the same time and my mama gave it to me!

crazy life update

Yes, things have been crazy lately.  I'm just grateful all the craziness comes in terms of "lots of stuff that have to be done NOW" as opposed to anything tragic or sad.  Nope.  I moved into a new apartment this weekend.  It was in the same complex but in a quieter section away from the noisy-messy-rude college kids (man, don't get me started!).  Since it was in the same complex, and I lack what could be called traditional furniture, I had the brilliant idea to schlep everything from the one building to the other primarily by myself.  By hand.  Do you know how many books I own??? I have to think I was on something when I came up with this little scheme.

Amazingly enough, though, it worked!  I moved my entire apartment, cleaned up the old one and got my new one into cozy livability in one weekend.  In the meantime I ache in places I didn't know I could and I feel like I hiked up Mt. Wasson, oh, maybe two or three times in one day.  I wish I had kept track of my mileage and how much weight I lugged.  It would have been neat to see how many calories I burned.  Did I mention that I'm upstairs, again, so there were two flights of stairs to traverse on every trip?  Crazy!

Will pitched in on a bunch of the heavier stuff which was desperately appreciated, especially when it came time to move my antique Chinese desk.  It's beautiful, with deep relief carvings on all sides and the back of the matching chair.  It's not particularly heavy once you've got the drawers out, but its awkward and it causes me anxiety to imagine the reliefs getting chipped or damaged in any way.  I will have to post a pic and share its loveliness!  Time to bust out the camera and get my lazy blogging butt back to work!

My Grandmother

I spent a wonderful time in Ohio visiting with my family.  I had to share these pictures of my grandmother which she graciously let me make copies of.  Presenting: Carol Arter.

Carol and Tom Arter, 1951

Tom and Carol Arter, 1951 (?)

Carol Arter, c. 1950

Carol and Tom Arter, on their honeymoon, 1950

My grandmother is gorgeous!  I have many, many more pictures of her, but these are some of my favorites.  I would love to have her sense of poise and polish, not to mention her clothes!  And my grandfather is quite the looker too, no?

In Ohio...

...on vacation, hanging with my family!  So probably no posts for a little while until I get back.

Outfit Snap!

I seriously love my new digital camera!  The pictures I can take are soooo much better than the one on my cell phone which is what most of my images have been taken on!

My shirt is an awesome thrift store find, this time the St. Mary's Auxiliary Thrift Store (St. Mary's and Silverbell).  I usually scour the men's section for small sized western shirts and I snagged this one for $4.  Red is one of my favorite colors and I love the handkerchief print and pearl snaps!  Western shirts were popular from the early 1930s thru to the late 1950s so I have a few in my closet just to get a bit of that pin up feel along with making my inner cowgirl happy!  The red rose in my hair is a barrette of my own creation.  The earrings were found discounted after Halloween at a Walmart years ago and they feel so Southwest, Dia de los Muertos that I bust them out all year 'round.  Makeup: eyebrow pencil is Wet 'n Wild, Mascara is by Rimmel, lipstick is Rimmel "Red Alert".

The Fashion of Frankenstein

I've been watching some vintage horror films the last few nights and some of the costumes in Frankstein (1931) with Boris Karloff were so incredible I had to share them here.  The lovely actress is Mae Clarke in the role of Elizabeth, Henry Frankenstein's fiance.  This post is fairly picture intensive, so be patient.

Elizabeth's all-lace dress fits her like a glove, and the scalloping around the sleeves and bottom hem of the blouse is just exquisite.  The 1930s still had that slim silhouette that was so predominant in the 1920s but the waist of her dress emphasizes her curves beautifully.  I love her triple strand pearl necklace and drop earrings, and, it's a little hard to see in the picture, there are two heart shaped brooches (?) attached to the neckline of her dress.  Her pin curls are absolutely perfect!

 Elizabeth's sun dress was a little harder to see in this scene, but again it has a very flowing, lengthening feel to it.  She is wearing the same necklace as in the earlier scene along with a big hat to shade her face from the sun.  The trend in hats throughout the movie is very "cap" like, hugging close to her short curls.

Elizabeth's wedding dress is absolutely fabulous.  It's a little difficult to see in the picture but her dress features a sweet heart neckline and the lace sleeves are somewhat transparent.  Her veil is one enormous piece, trailing several feet behind her as she moves through the Frankenstein household.  It hugs her head like a cap and is pinned just above her ears with two sprigs of flowers.  By far my favorite costume!

Where to Eat in Tucson: Planet of the Crepes!

 Well, actually this is less of a where than a what 'cuz the "where" changes frequently!  Planet of the Crepes is a food stand that moves around and about the Tucson/Marana/Mt. Lemmon area.  I discovered them when they parked across the street from my work and since I've never had a crepe before, I had to try it...Lord almighty!  It was one of the best things I've ever eaten.

  First crepe I tried was a smoked duck breast with havarti.  Second, the mushroom, goat cheese and tomato crepe.  I am dying to try their sweet crepes.  Then again, I don't know if my waistline can take it!  Actually, though, they are quite light.  The crepes are thin but moist and succulent wrapped around the awesome fillings.  The come served up in a complex wrapping of wax paper, stiff card-stock-like cone then a thick napkin around the whole lot so busy office people on the go can grab their lunch without getting it all over them.

That's my crepe.  About, oh, 30 seconds before I inhaled the whole thing!  Sweet lord.  The melt-y goat cheese and the pesto and the mushrooms?  Divine!

To snag one of these luscious lovelies for yourself, you have to track 'em down first.  Follow this link to their Facebook account here to get updates as to where they will appear next.  They also have a Twitter here.  You've got to get some of this!