Flora Necklace - My First Etsy Front Page!

Flora Necklace - Pink, Peach and Yellow Lucite, Antiqued Brass and Silk, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

I can hardly believe it, but this little necklace made it to the Etsy Front Page last night as part of this treasury! Of course I missed it, but a fellow member of the treasury managed to track down an archive and sent it to me. Check it out! Much thanks to NoelFales who makes some really killer stuff!

I've been working on coming up with some more cohesive groups of work, and this is part of my new collection called "Flora"

I have been SO busy lately. I hope to share some of the fruits of those labors with you soon! Stay tuned for new work and some exciting news!

Sheepish...

Last Thursday morning was the Wonderful Things Annual Sale, dubbed the O'Dark Sale by my friend Tina because of how early she has to get up to get there. The deal is, if you're at the door at 7am you get a stamp and everything is 40% off for the day. 8am means 30%, and 9 is good for 20%. What this means is that she was up at 5:30 I was up at 4:30. Lest you think she and I are the only crazy ones, there was a line of 20+ people at that door at 7. Tina has some great photos in her post about the event and you should check it out! This year it was just she and I, and we were super quick. Tina needed to be at work, a solid 45 minutes away, by 9:45. We really wanted breakfast. We made it with time to spare! We were in the door, through the shop, and in line to pay by 7:35!

I set myself a budget based on how much money I had awarded myself for exercising (if you're on Ravelry you should check out the Exer-stashers group) and then totally blew it. Oops. I tell myself it's alright because this is the last yarn shopping I'm doing until Rhinebeck. I may allow myself one skein at Clermont, but really. This is the year of stash knitting. I will be keeping track of how much I knit up, an I do aim for a big number.

Anyhow, enough babble. Here are the goodies:

6 skeins of Cascade 220 in Walnut Heather

Miraculously, I was the very first person at the 220 wall...I think this helped our speed because last year it was a mess!


Pagewood Farm Chugiak in Chocolate

I didn't even hesitate when I saw this color. I snapped it up. Then I realized it was the same yarn I was using for a pair of socks! Yarn I happened to buy at the sale last year. If there was any doubt in my mind that I wanted it, that sealed the deal.


Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select in Java

This was a bit of a strange color choice for me, but you can't deny its beauty, and I've wanted to try Cherry Tree Hill for a while and see what all the fuss is about. Tina loved it too (though not so much the mustard colors I kept hurling at her.)


Cleckheaton Country Silk 8ply in 3 Colors

This was my downfall. I found it in the orphanage (the last of or discontinued yarns go there) and I couldn't resist. It's merino with silk tweed!! What's not to love!! Plus the colors are undeniably fun. Until this point I was pretty much sticking to my budget. I think I'm going to make some crazy colorwork slippers with them.

Fiber Friday: Plans on a rainy day...

Last year I made it my mission to knit every gift I gave for Christmas, and I succeeded (baaaaaarely). The only exception was the goodybag you see above which I sewed for my Aunt and filled with a pattern she wanted, some gorgeous Jitterbug, and a set of batching stitch markers that I made. I would have knit her something too, but she loves to knit as much as I do (and we knitters always like knitting goodies*)! Having set the bar so high last year, I feel like there's no way I can back down from the challenge this year! My list has been made (and way overly ambitious) since January, but I haven't gotten much done in the way of knitting yet.

I know that the Yarn Harlot has her own special friend who makes her knitting schedule for her every holiday season. I think I'm going to try! I'm sure you all think I'm crazy for thinking about these things now, but just you wait! Of course I'm not going to tell you what I'm planning, both so that it'll be a surprise for the giftees and so that when I fail miserably there isn't any proof, but let me just say that it involves sweaters (yes! plural!) and vests (also plural!) and fairy wings..and on and on. I know I might sound like I'm complaining but I swear I'm not. I LOVE giving handmade gifts, in fact I'll go out of my way to come up with an excuse to gift. Onward with the knitting!

How soon do you start planning for Christmas? Do you like to make your own? Is anyone willing to talk me off the ledge when I'm about to commit Christmas Eve Knitter Harikari with my double pointed #5's?

Want more Fiber Friday? Click it!

*By the way, if anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas, it's a box bag from Jess of Stitched by Jessalu! Just sayin'...

I don't need a passport to walk on this earth...

This song is called Hello Bonjour and is available on Michael Franti and Spearhead's album Yell Fire!

I think Michael Franti says it all. I'm leaving really really early tomorrow. I'm so sad to say goodbye to my new friends, but excited to make new ones! Ceci and my Argentine "Banana FoFana" family threw me a "surprise" party (the surprise had to be aborted when I made plans to go out this evening! As for Banana FoFana, I'll explain that another time!). I'm putting (parts of) Michael's lyrics below so you can read through them. I'm not packed, and I'm leaving in about 7 hours. I'm sorry this is late!

This video was filmed in Ireland. Pay special attention to 0:09 - 0:13. That blue and yellow flag? Boca Juniors, baby! Argentine soccer...what what!

___

I don't need a passport
To walk on this earth,
Anywhere I go cause I was made of this earth
Im born of this earth,
I breath of this earth,
And even with the pain I believe in this earth, So
I wake Up every mornin and Im steppin on the floor,
I wake up every mornin and Im stepping out the door
I got faith in the sky,
Faith in the one,
Faith in the people rockin underneath the sun
Cause every bit of land is a holy land and
Every drop of water is a holy water and
Every single child is a son or a daughter of the one Earth mama and the one Earth papa, So
Don't tell a man that he can't come here cause he got brown eyes and a wavy kind of hair, And
Don't tell a woman that she can't go there because she prays a little different to a God up there
You say you're a Christian
Cause God made you
You say you're a Muslim
Cause god made you
You say you're a Hindu and the next man a Jew
Then we all kill each other
Cause God told us to NAH!

-Hello, hello!
-Bonjour, bonjour!
-Hola, hola!
-Konnichiwa, konnichiwa wa!

....complete lyrics available ::here::

___

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SA Sunday: It's a plan!

It's a plan!, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Two weeks from Tuesday my friend Ashley and I will embark on our cross-country adventure! We will be flying up north, then busing down through northwestern Argentina, into Chile, and then down and back into Argentina. This map shows our plans! The towns I hit are the "major" towns, or rather, our base camps. There are great places to see surrounding all of these areas, and we may end up spending some time in those as well! We're very excited, and trying hard to come up with a feasible budget plan for this. Ashley just bought her plane ticket to Jujuy, and I'm working on getting mine as well!

If you'd like to see the map larger so you can actually read some of it, click here!

From the top:
Jujuy, A
Salta, A
Tucuman, A
La Rioja, A
San Juan, A
Mendoza, A
Santiago, C
Valparaiso, C
Vildavia, C
Osorno, C
Bariloche, A
El Bolson, A
Buenos Aires, A

We're very excited! I'm not sure how consistent my blogging will be, but I promise to do my best!

Don't forget that my Etsy Discount Offer is still available, until this Thursday!

Want more SA Sunday? Click it!

On a sleepy endless ocean when the world lay in a dream...

This is a song written by the late, great Dave Carter for himself and his partner Tracy Grammer. The song is called Gentle Arms Of Eden and is available on their album Drum Hat Buddha. It's a great album, I highly recommend it!

I didn't become aware of these two until after Dave had passed away, and that saddens me deeply. I was thrilled when I came across this video of them performing live, because I had never seen him play before! Dave and Tracy are another way that I have kept myself close to home while traveling. Their music is so rich and emotional that it moves me to tears at times. When I need to feel close to my family, this is the music I turn to. My younger brother covers a good number of Dave and Tracy's songs, and we have a great time singing them together as a family. This year I'll miss Tracy's performance at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, and I'm hoping that my family will sing extra loud for me!

If you would like to hear more from Tracy she has some really great songs up on her MySpace page! I urge you to support her. I can't think of an album of theirs (or her's alone) that I don't recommend!



I have to add a bonus, because I can't only share one song! This is another family favorite. I didn't make this video, it was made by another Dave and Tracy fan. I think it's great!

Tanglewood Tree by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer from their album Tanglewood Tree.

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There's a word for it!

There's a word for why I don't always want to go out and party, why if someone shows up two hours early for a get together, I'm likely to run out of steam before I planned, and why my mom is always telling me to make sure I have my own space. There's a word for why I find craft fairs as exhausting, and turn grouchy at the thought. There's a word for why I totally panicked when I realized what exactly this Study Abroad adventure would entail.

"Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice?

If so, do you tell this person he is "too serious," or ask if he is okay? Regard him as aloof, arrogant, rude? Redouble your efforts to draw him out?

....

What is introversion? In its modern sense, the concept goes back to the 1920s and the psychologist Carl Jung. Today it is a mainstay of personality tests, including the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Introverts are not necessarily shy. Shy people are anxious or frightened or self-excoriating in social settings; introverts generally are not. Introverts are also not misanthropic, though some of us do go along with Sartre as far as to say "Hell is other people at breakfast." Rather, introverts are people who find other people tiring.

Extroverts are energized by people, and wilt or fade when alone. They often seem bored by themselves, in both senses of the expression. Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone. In contrast, after an hour or two of being socially "on," we introverts need to turn off and recharge. My own formula is roughly two hours alone for every hour of socializing. This isn't antisocial. It isn't a sign of depression. It does not call for medication. For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: 'I'm okay, you're okay—in small doses.'"

Caring for your Introvert by Jonathan Rauch as discovered on Barbara's blog.

Onion, Carrot, Garbanzo Bean Soup!

Onion, Carrot, Garbanzo Bean Soup!, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Yum! There is nothing like second day soup! My journey of cooking for myself is ongoing, and this was my adventure last night. I set out to make this Broccoli, Onion, Garbanzo Bean soup from my new favorite food blog Farmgirl Fare but it veered off path pretty quickly. To start with, despite having about eight fresh produce shops and five supermarkets within three blocks of my house, no one had broccoli worth feeding to a chicken, if they had it at all! I subbed in some carrots instead.

I ended up using:
2 huge carrots
3 small yellow onions
4 medium cloves of garlic
1 can of garbanzos, rinsed
2 cans of water with three SA sized chicken bullion cubes (that means tiny, by the way)
1/4 tsp cayenne
Salt and pepper
1/8th cup of cream

I cooked the onions and carrots in olive oil for a bit, added the garlic, then added the garbanzos, cayenne, water and bullion cubes, simmered for about 20 minutes, added salt and pepper and blasted it with the immersion blender (which I officially cannot live without.) I added the cream later when it had cooled a bit. I couldn't resist eating some last night when I finished making it, but most of it went in the fridge, and I just ate some now! I am really proud of myself. I've definitely had some failures in the past couple of months (and choked them down so as not to waste food) but this one I would actually feed to other people! Yay! It's simple and cheap and SO good. I garnished it with some Finlandia (it's like a really, really light cream cheese) diced red peppers, and tarragon.

Next time I'm going to add spinach to get some more iron in it, and roasted red peppers because they are delicious. Also, a little less cream.

Ravelry Meet-up, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ravelry Meet-up, Buenos Aires, Argentina, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Yesterday I finally made it to the new Buenos Aires monthly Ravelry meetup! This started in March because a few of us out-of-towners wanted to meet the local knitters, but I was never able to make it as it always fell on the weekend of my Birds class. Ravelry has a strong fanbase here in BsAs. There must have been 18 of 20 of us, knitting together in the food court at the big shopping center, Abasto. There was one particular security guard who was very curious about what we were doing, and he kept walking around us, but every time I said hello he scurried away. We had a blast:)

This photo isn't even of all of us! I didn't realize I had my camera with me until a bunch of folks had left. What fun we had! So many people from so many places! Canada, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, USA, and I'm sure I'm missing some! Ravelry is amazing!

Intent Update

You may or may not remember my Statement of Intent to keep track of what I was eating and when in order to figure out why my energy was so low. Turns out I was basically starving myself. Oops. Also, very unlike me! It's basically a result of my stomach (and I think maybe my heart)being homesick. Turns out I enjoy eating a lot less when I'm alone.

On Monday I set out intent on cooking some food that would be appealing to me and make me want to eat. Remember my new-found faith in the connectedness of all people? I stumbled across Farmgirl Fare a great blog about food, from a lady who lives on a farm:) Can't get much closer to home than that!

I went for two recipes: Use it or lose it lentil escarole soup and Slice of Toasted Heaven Lemon Coconut "Bread". I didn't follow either recipe very well, because I didn't have a measuring cup or spoon, so I did everything by ratios...sort of. I did the "bread" first, using a drinking glass (which I believe is closer to a cup and a half) as a measuring cup, and sort of eyeballed everything else. It came out pretty well but I'd use more coconut and vanilla extract and less lemon juice next time. It's delicious though, and I love it and recommend it. Toast it! She's not kidding. It reminds me of a blueberry lemon pound cake my mom makes. If I can find blueberries here I'm going to add them next time.



While that was baking (for 40 minutes instead of 60-70, because Ceci's gas oven is different that what we normally use) I started up the soup, again with no measuring cup. I also only had one tomato, and no escarole. I used two kinds of lentils, and a ton of carrots, and probably not enough liquid so it's pretty thick. I also added a little cayenne, and cooked up some hamburger in Penzey's Southwest Seasoning that Mom gave me! I threw that in after I blended everything. I don't want to brag, but lentil soup is one of my favorite things on the planet, and this may be some of the best lentil soup I've ever eaten. I am very proud of myself. It also keeps me going all day! I made enough that I can probably eat it for 10 meals, so I threw a bunch in the freezer for next time I'm craving it.

I was only on Farmgirl Fare for a short time, but I have about a dozen recipes I want to try. I can't recommend her more!

Faith

I made my flatmate laugh today...in Spanish. Through her I am beginning to find faith. Faith in the power of human connections that erase all barriers of language and culture and make all things possible for those who are willing to open their hearts and minds.

Late but certainly not least!

Congratulations Connecticut!

Hopefully the rest of the states will follow!


p.s. I don't intend to make this little linky-post thing a habit, but I spent a ton of time in the car this weekend and I have no tape deck so I listened to the news. Cool happenings! I think I'll listen more often.

Terrorize me, please.

Yep...I'm finally seeing a Physical Therapist, fondly referred to in my family as Physical Terrorists. My mom, a PT of 25+ years, got me in to see one of her co-workers about my (allegedly chronic) knee pain. Turns out there's a very good chance that we can get me back on my feet! After more than 6 years of knee pain, weight gain and gym-fear it's possible that this problem I've been told is chronic can be manageable. My therapist is teaching me how to tape my knees, I've bought new sneakers (apparently I supinate and they make special sneakers for that...who knew?), and my mom has been working her (painful) magic on my poor muscles that have been pulling my kneecap off course for years. My next appointment is tomorrow afternoon, and I'm excited!

I could be in shape! I could exercise and go hiking again! I could play soccer with my brother out in the yard!

One of those moments that makes you say "whoaaa"

Are you ever walking a walk you've walked a hundred times when the reality of your existence in that place hits you and you have to stop and say "whoaaa"? I live for those moments. Those are the moments when I realize a shift has happened. The Robin Marie that used to walk that walk is gone, and in that moment I recognize a new self. It may be the most minute shift, but it's a shift none-the-less, and that means adventure!

The biggest reason this shift is exciting is that I've been really down, and this may mean an end to that, for the time being.

Additionally, someone should really buy me a copy of Be Here Now because it would make me exceedingly happy.