243

That's an indirect reminder to myself that I have a day job.  As in:  "This is your living, Sherlock, not 240 types of tobacco ash."  "243." (fires up blowtorch).

Would you prefer the alternative?  I was told, in a tweak to my contract in order to preserve some vestige of my sanity (not to mention time to get my hands dirty at the drafting table), that I would get Tuesdays off.  Which gave me two luxuries to brood over in my walks: the loveliness of said days off and the hour of my death.  Keats again, (partly) paraphrased this time, and I suspect the latter will happen first.  This Tuesday will make 3 in a row that I've had to work anyway.  I begin to despair of Tuesdays (which comment, incidentally, sounds like a caption for Raiden, aka Mournful Cat).

But where was I?  Right, speaking of Tuesdays, this is the hat I'm working on last-minute for Knots of Love, and that I promised to drop off at the knitting table at Knit 'n Purl on Tuesday evening.  Still will even if I have to dash over from clinic before the store closes, speeding all the way (I can only assume there are no police officers reading this blog).  I suppose I'll have to finish it by tomorrow night instead of joining the knitting circle on my deadline date.  Well, keeping it cat-hair-free will now become an interesting proposition.  If you'd like a copy of the pattern for your own knitterly edification, you can find it here.

Plans

Here's a preview of coming attractions on the sewing front, assuming I manage one of these days to acquire the perfect storm of time, inspiration, patience, and supplies (you know, fabric, buttons, zippers, trim, the works).  I find myself fascinated by the fashions of the mid-1800s through mid-1900s anyway, and this is not helped along by the Patterns of Fashion book series or the Ralph Lauren fall runway show that my local outlet store happened to con me onto the email list for.  Not that I needed the extra coveting of Turn-of-Last-Century inspired couture to unleash the inner costume designer.  Also, I'm still waiting for the promised/threatened delivery of a Rosie-the-Riveter-esque print.  So, in the meantime, I'm paying it forward.  Feel free to covet.  Or, you know, mock me for the fact that there's no way in hell I'm ever going to get these done, plus Omelet shawl, plus heather green yarn that wants to be 1930s sweater-dress, plus Dalek cross-stitch, plus...well, you get the idea (and I've lost count).

A theme, a theme!

Look it up if you want, it's a quote from a Keats poem.  It also captures my scatter-shot approach to a "knitting" blog.  Let's just say that while Omelet shawl was flying stealth on extra-long circulars, I had an itch to belly up to the piano and belt out a few tunes.  Including the one I hinted at last post.  After recording it on my phone in some obscure Android-platform sound file format and instinctively converting it to mp3 on my computer, I realized...in this day and age, you just can't share sound files like you used to.  So in the spirit of showing off, but without the cajones to actually broadcast on YouTube, the following is my attempt to convert an mp3 file into a video.  I anticipate not a few snickers from Sherlock fans out there, but keep in mind that my muse was not the TV series character at all, since the song was written long before I sucked it up and got cable and discovered actual good stuff on PBS.  Enjoy "Baker Street"...or something.

JDMDPhD and other harebrained notions

I regret to say I haven't accomplished much on the knitting front because I've been even more ADHD than usual.  That said, my weekly progress report goes something like this:

Made a somewhat passable napa cabbage stew for dinners for the week.

Got my car totaled 2 nights ago (alas, poor Tart, I knew her well), and while the insurance companies fight over who covers my rental car, I am essentially SOL in terms of transportation.  Work should be...interesting over the next few weeks.

Spent yesterday evening getting creative with spaghetti.  Well, when you know you only have the contents of your fridge to rely on for the next...how long is it going to be?...you start figuring out interesting ways to incorporate such varied ingredients as tofu and saltine crackers into actual edible concoctions.  Result: slightly vegetarian spaghetti and meatballs.  Gave myself seconds of just sauce, if you must know.

Ingredients: whole wheat spaghetti noodles, diced Roma tomatoes, tomato paste, about a half cup of ground pork, 1 block medium-firm tofu finely chopped, 1 egg, 5 saltine crackers, minced ginger and garlic, and a hodgepodge of spices from my pantry (I think the tally included salt, sugar, fresh-ground black pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, thyme, and generous helpings of dried basil).  Heat olive oil in saucepan, drop in 2 cloves garlic and cook on medium heat until oil absorbs flavor, discard garlic, drop in diced tomatoes, cook until pasty, add tomato paste and spices and simmer over low heat.  Meanwhile, mix together meat, tofu, egg, saltines, minced garlic and ginger, and spices of your choosing, shape into balls/ball-like structures and brown in a separate pan.  When browned, add to sauce.  Boil spaghetti to desired firmness, drain, place in bowl and ladle sauce on top.  Enjoy.

And finally, decided to put together a recording of a song I wrote around this time last year, now that I finally have 1) a piano, 2) a smartphone, and 3) time on my hands and nothing else I can accomplish seeing as I'm stuck in the house tearing my hair out.  Alas, it seems all social media was equipped for photo and video but not music files.  Huh?  If anyone knows how to work around that, let me know!  Otherwise, I'll spare you both the agony and the amusement.

Oh, right, the title.  Well, my sister and I have decided that one day we're going to start a band.  It'll feature her on vocals and me on piano/backup vocals.  We're going to be called JDMDPhD, after our degrees in chronological order.  Look for us, you know, one of these days, when pigs fly.