The Veiw from Here

Craftyness for today:
I have been a big fan of old window panes as art or decor for a long time. I have several of these things lying around waiting to be turned into objects of beauty and wonder. The main one, a 6 pane thing, I started painting on ages ago and have yet to get back to. It will have birches in the wind, 'cause I love birch trees and their delicate little leaves. But that's someday.
Today I pulled a glassless one out and used this paper I got at Art/Media (one of the places here to find lovely papers and stuff.) that I LOVE and tried to put it in the frame. It was unfriendly, but I got it in. I think I would much rather glue stuff onto glass next time. And I am not super happy with the little flower doodads that I painted. But 1) my paintbrushes are in very sad need of replacement and 2) I was to lazy to really put the effort into making them look better. They will do. But this project is definitely more craft than Art. The other piece will be a work of Art. Like many of my works of Art, it's definitely in the right place, unfinished, and in the closet.

Automobile-less?

I am contemplating selling my car. I do not particularly like my car. It's an SUV. And it didn't cost me a penny and it runs well and it's handy for carrying large loads... But gas in the PNW is over 3$ a gallon, I live 1.8 miles from work (20 mins walking). I live less than a quarter mile from one grocery store and about .5 miles from another. I live about 600 ft from a bus stop. and less than a quarter mile from the MAX (light rail) AND the trolley (in the other direction.)
I spend 45$ a month on insurance (how is it only 45$ for me? PERFECT RECORD for the last 15 years and I drive less (a lot less) miles than the average person in my geographic region, and my car is not new.)
I spend between 40-80$ a month on gas. I fill up only 20$ at a time and if I am not driving out to the suburbs often, that lasts almost 2 weeks. 2 weeks on less than half a tank of gas.
Anyway that's at minimum 85$ a month. A bus pass is 75$.
So economically I save between 15-50$ a month by not owning a car.
And I gain some exercise and the stressless-ness of not driving.

But I like driving. I like having a car. I like being able to carry large loads of stuff from, like, the nursery or home depot or the grocery store when we need to buy cat litter and cat food. I like the freedom to pop over to friends' houses or across town. Or to the coast.
But I hate the car I own.
I can sell it for about 4 grand and pay off some bills AND save money each month by not owning it.
And then I can save for a GOOD car, something I won't be ashamed of owning.
I can rent a flexcar if I need to go to home depot.
so, do I go carless in one of the best cities in America to do so? Am I ready, me, a California born and raised driver, ready to not have a car?
I don't know.
But it's on my mind, and I am leaning towards not having a car, for now.

4 l33t g4m3rz

Bizzaro by Dan Piraro

and This.

and the total is

449- four hundred and forty NINE.
Good thing I have Children of Hurin on the way. (just have to have a 1st ed. you know.)
I guess I have had more books in my life that have moved on. I have certainly read many, many more than this. But still...I thought I had more. There are a few in the basement, but I think they are outdated textbooks.
Someone out there has 90 of the same books as I ( and she has like 1200 books) so I may be perusing her library for new books!

Craftyness

Tank top, finally, a pic, here:















The Harry Potter shawl, looks more like a sparkly bat ray right now:












And cupcake and card making for volunteer apprication week at my work. We made 90 cupcakes and two kinds of buttercream and about the same amount of cards. Here are some I did today( We didn't get em all done last night.)












freezer full o' cupcakes:

Why I need a ball winder

550 yards of yarn wound by hand. =P

But this yarn will hopefully, magically, turn into this shawl.
It's the Wing o' the Moth shawl from Knitspot and a rather dramatic departure from my usual projects. but the tank top(still blocking) has convinced me "I can knit anything now".
And it might not happen, but since it's the Harry Potter yarn, I am hoping for some conjuring magic to aide me.

Door pt.2

These are the doors that were hung in the frame for the bedroom. The closet door frame is really wonky, one side tilts way out to the left. But the yarn on the knobs( that I installed) will keep the cats from climbing all over the place and knocking things of shelving.


The walls of the bedroom are purple, and it's a nice enough shade of purple, calming, like lavender or something. And since I went to all the bother of refinishing the door, I got a little arty with it. I do not recommend painting in a dim, dank basement. It dosn't show in the pic, and no one but me would prolly care, but the paint isn't as neat as I would like. But it will do. Also, the flash makes the purple look a little crazy, it's much more subdued than it seems.

So now I have door. And I am happy. And Matt helped me in the hanging of the door and it was a process, so I am glad he was around to help or it would stull be in the basement. I'm handy, but I only have two.=)
Pics of the knitted tank top later, it's still blocking.