Stix on the Beach: Tales From The Happiest Hooker!

all in a row

Yesterday there was a light drizzle and a need to turn a lamp on at noon. Days like that are when I am most inspired and motivated. When it is hot outdoors, I lay around and lack ambition. But when there's a chance of rain coming down is when I feel the most up and at 'em!

(Days like yesterday are also a reminder of how it will soon get harder to take photos from inside the apartment and I would rather pour kerosene in my eyes and light them on fire than ever use flash).

I've been getting things all in a row because there's going to be a change in my routine starting this weekend (because my daughter Marissa is going to be working somewhere magical!). And after literally seeing a sign this past weekend, I will be busy starting something (that's not a business!) that I promised myself to aspire to attempt after we made it through our frightening financial crisis.

 
At night I've been switching back and forth between reading a real book and crocheting the Bollywood Blanket. I'm halfway through The Radleys: A Novel ― about a Vampire family living a normal life in a small village in modern-day England. I much prefer reading about a Vampire family living a normal life in a small town in modern-day Washington. The biggest difference between these two stories of undead families is one has heart.

But if you're like me and have a library card that you actually use, then definitely check out The Radley's! It won't cost you anything to give it a try and there are some great lines of humor scattered throughout. I'm just really glad I did not buy it for fifteen bucks at Barnes & Noble when out shopping a few weeks ago.

And just to be clear: I was not paid for that review.

What I am halfway done with and totally excited about is the Bollywood Blanket! It has been the perfect simple and fun cluster crochet project I was craving to do! When it's complete, I'll put up  the specs — including which and how many yarns were used and ways to save cash on 'em. And for the love of Gandolf, I will show you how easy it is to weave in the tails as you go.

You know I am all about the Big Reveal, so the photos are totally misleading as to how huge this blanket really is: when it's all done, it will be appoximately 62 inches long and 77 inches wide! Just the right size to roll myself up in a Bollywood blanket burrito!

Right Around The Corner

The Kroeger-Melrose District neighborhood of the Anaheim Historic Colony.

Had to cancel an appointment on Thursday that I've waited seven months for. Now I have to wait another six months. My family knew realistically that this wasn't the right time because of my health and pain and having a lot of actual good stuff to take care of, but I am still totally disappointed. Yet, I am one of those crazy peoples who believes fate occasionally steps in to screw-up your plans in order to make something better happen in the future.

So what to do while I wait for March to arrive? For starters, become better acquainted with my diamond-in-the-rough neighborhood of Anaheim. Marissa and I have both begun a love affair with our colony community. When we step out our front door, we can quite literally turn one corner and come face-to-face with the newer ultra-modern Anaheim West Tower (formerly City Hall West) OR turn the other corner and step back in time to national-registered historic homes of 1900. It is a trip. We've made it a goal to glean more of the history behind our little gem of a 'hood we call home. We think looking into the past will be a cool project to help time fly by. Afterall, the future is right around the corner.

Mito Garden and Pathway to Friendship/Anaheim West Tower

Turning Over a New Leaf

Life is going in a new direction. Even though the sudden flip from negative to positive is totally awesome, it's still causing me to have mild panic attacks. I am experiencing some degree of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome from nearly being homeless. Or maybe it's from being peri-menopausal. I'm betting it's both.

There's quite a bit to accomplish over the next few days: a potential life-changing decision to be made, a new transportation to learn, a new look to create, a schedule to keep, a mouth that needs to filter what the brain wants it to say. It's absolutely exciting, but it also makes me want to take a nap.

Bollywood Nights

The other night I told Marissa we will need all these crochet blankets 'cause one day we'll live where it gets really cold. She laughed, but I told her that it has been known to snow in Malibu. Although, I would prefer to move to Forks, Washington (where it rains, like, 200 days a year!) and live in a cozy two-story Victorian house (with my vegetarian vampire husband).

Temps in Southern California today are expected to reach close to one-hundred degrees. No doubt I will be crocheting with the air conditioner on full blast. But even with the heat, I wouldn't break a sweat with the simple and stress-free stitch I've switched to for the Bollywood Blanket! The thing is, I'm not quite sure what stitch it is. (Go ahead, laugh while I go turn on the a/c).

As I was saying: the cluster stitch started out as the "Special Stitch" (photo with instructions here). But it was (ahem) too big for my liking. So I started the clusters over and eliminated a loop, bringing it to 4 loops on the hook before pulling through all of  'em. (You can tell I'll never be writing any patterns). I did find a stitch pattern that looks and sounds just like what I'm doing now:

Alternate Double Clusters
Odd number of sts (add 3 for foundation ch)

Row 1: 3 DCTOG all in the 4th ch from hook, *1 CH, skip 1 ch, 3 DCTOG all in the next ch, repeat from * to end, turn.

Row 2: 3 CH, skip first 3 dctog, *3 DCTOG in next ch SPACE, 1 CH, skip next 3 dctog, repeat from *, end 3 DCTOG under 3 ch, turn. Repeat row 2.

♥ ♥ ♥

In a previous post, I wrote that I wanted all the clusters to face the "right" way. But I changed my mind. (Mom says I have to try fifty-seven variations of something before I'm happy). I like the definition the blanket develops by having "back" and "front" rows.  And it's super easy just to keep turning and changing colors (Bethintxl on YouTube has some of the best tutorials on crocheting!) and not get lost and confused when you stop to eat a cookie!

To elaborate more on the definition, I'm making all the right-facing puffy clusters with bright Bollywood colors, and the wrong-facing clusters with tan ("Buff" in Red Heart) and Caron Simply Soft yarn (I think it's Persimmon and Mango because I remember wondering if I should throw 'em in the blender or crochet with 'em) double-stranded with pink Bernat Baby Coordinates yarn to give a flat-back shimmering jeweled look.

I honestly believe the Bollywood Blanket may be finished by Christmas! I'm so not into the whole idea of rushing through crochet and knitting projects just to get 'em done (it's the journey, blah, blah, blah) like some crafters can be. But I would love if the Rip, Rip Hurray Ripple started a tradition of having a winter holiday blanket  to look forward to. The cluster blanket is an easy pattern, you could start this weekend and begin your own tradition. If you do decide to start one, be sure to comment and link to your blog (or wherever you have photos at)! Also, if you're crocheting any kind of afghan right now, be sure to share. I'm going to need some ideas for next year! :)

Creating A Family Tree

                                                                                            ~ Ojibwa Indian saying.

 

October is an odd time for me. It's the only month I want to hurry up and get over with. And it doesn't help that I hate Halloween. I wish Halloween was at the beginning rather than the end, because I despise how it has become a month-long holiday. Do we really need thirty-one days for celebrating one day of children panhandling for cheap candy? If it weren't for October, I could seamlessly start the Christmastime cheer in September.

Anyways, with all my annoyances and bad associations with this month, I always forget we moved to Anaheim in an October. On Saturday we signed our lease renewal. We spent nine months barely holding on to our home, yet the fantastic property management people actually offered us another year-renewal and at the same rent we've been paying for the last two years. I celebrated by buying some Red Heart yarn.

While we were signing the lease, we also discussed all the minor repairs that need done around our apartment to spruce it up again: sinks and tubs re-glazed, carpet clean and stretched, funky light bulbs replaced. Just days before all hell broke loose here this past January, I wrote a blog post about putting down roots. Well, I am back in that frame-of-mind again. But where as I have spent that past three seasons digging through closets (and cupboards) looking for stuff to sell so we could eat, I'm now going through closets (and cupboards) looking to scale down for a fresh start. Eventually, I may come across essentials to donate to Goodwill, but there are families much closer to home who appreciate free goodies.

We live in the heart of a hard-working, middle-class city.  The neighborhood around our apartment complex is kept meticulously clean (living in an historic district that Disneyland helps pay to maintain has its perks!) and the complex itself is kept-up daily by a team of maintenance workers. But it's also the residents who, although only renting, also contribute by having a pride-of-ownership mentality. We all struggle to keep root here, making us like a family of trees. Therefore, many of us around here are aware that one's trash can be another one's treasure. The area near our outdoor trash chutes is often an impromptu gift shop: stacks of like-new paperback novels and magazines, bags of pressed and folded clothes, small piles of unbroken toys, boxes of spotless shoes — and my favorite — free furniture!

In horticulture, there is the practice of pruning trees to keep them healthy and growing better.  Here's hoping applying the same practice by getting rid of the stuff I am better off without is true for the Tree of Life too.