01 May 2008

New Month, New Blog


Let’s give this blogging thing another try, shall we? There are elephants and deer and that’s fun, right? Who can resist blogging when there are elephants on your page?

To be honest, I kinda lost the ol’ knitblogging spark. I haven’t been knitting lately partly out of respect to my poor, dilapidated elbow and partly because I’ve been focusing on other obligations, but you know, I just haven’t been feeling the love for taking photos and talking about yarn. It’ll come back, I’m sure, but I’m wanting to shift directions a little bit. I really enjoy the writing more than the photography and it seems like lately, to do blogging in the arts/crafts sphere, you have to have a mega-camera and mad Photoshop skillz, neither of which I have nor do I see having in the near future. So, I’ve got a few knitting things to post but I’m probably going to start doing more writing about a variety of topics that are on my mind. I don’t even know who reads this, if anyone, but I just wanted to check in and say that I think I’ve reached the point where I the blog needs to take a little bit of a different turn. I’m not sure what my “voice” is and what I want to focus on, but I think it’s time to expand a bit more into a general blog that will focus on crafty stuff but not necessarily exclusively.

And so, top o’ the month and all, time to take a little pulse check and record what’s been going on in Leslie-ville.

1. I recently submitted a contract for full-time employment come fall. I’ll be playing the part of a real, live professor at a local college… and that’s probably about all I should say about that.

2. I’m still writing on the diss. And that’s definitely all I want to say about that. Unfortunately, everyday when I sit at the computer to write on the da** thing, I have little more to say about it either.

3. One of my new goals, or a goal I’ve always had and ignored, is to cook more for myself. I kicked that off last night with a pizza I cobbled together from a variety of recipes. Mmmm… pizza…

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Followed recipe with exception of baking a few minutes before adding the toppings, per the review suggestions, and dusting my pizza stone with corn meal before baking.

Toppings were a conglomeration: minimal olive oil on crust, topped with fat-free ricotta, pepper and garlic salt, mozzarella, parmesan and goat cheese crumbles.

Overall pretty yummy but very, very filling. Started tasting a little bland after awhile so next time, I’ll use the crust with a regular tomato sauce and toppings with more zing. Will also only do half the crust and freeze the other half. I’ll be lots and lots of pizza this week.

4. Still working on finishing old projects and avoiding new yarn and fabric purchases. After some more Ravelry sales, I’m starting to see a difference in the stash. I may even be able to find the floor in my storage room by the end of summer. I’m not entirely sure if it’s from finishing things or just other cleaning that’s left me with new stash places to hide yarn throughout the apartment. Either way… floor is good. Of course, I’m off to the Guild auction tonight so we’ll see how long my streak goes. I’m pretty sure I haven’t bought yarn since December (at another Guild function… a bad omen). I’ve picked up a few fabric pieces here and there but nothing worth getting whooped up about.

5. One of my old projects has been revived… Baudelaires from the Tour de France Knitalong last summer. Christina and CJ are doing a CookieA knitalong and I invited myself to the party. Polite, no? Hey, at least when I invite myself I usually bring booze. Anyone up for a virtual manhattan or gin and tonic? If you get them really drunk they generally forget that you were rude enough to just show up. I’m hoping that if I really go wild and bring the Jell-O shots they’ll also forget that I started the socks before they did, yet will still be knitting on them when they’re on their fifth or sixth pair. Like fine wine, projects have to age a few years. That’s my philosophy and I’m sticking to it!

That’s probably enough of a catch-up post. I figure when I start yawning about my own life, it’s time to shut it up and move along.

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