Hopeful

Yesterday I had an interview for a cytogenetics job. It went okay I suppose. You never can tell. I tend to replay things in my head and wish I had said something more intelligent or eloquent, but I do not yet have the power to go back in time. Anyways, crossing fingers and toes...

Yesterday evening I went to a free yoga class. It focused on stress relief and meditation. While we did do a few asanas, most of the time we lied under blankets with our eyes closed and visualized stress being washed away into the ocean.

Sounds so flaky, huh? I had a hard time paying attention. I just know the woman next to me started snoring and I was concentrating so hard on breathing deeply I gave myself a headache.

Flaky or not, it is for that very reason that I want to learn to meditate. I have such a hard time clearing my mind sometimes. Like I mentioned, I replay situations in my head, sometimes obsessively so. I worry a lot and get very anxious. And just forget about it if I haven't had enough sleep. Basketcase = me.

Learning to meditate has been on my mind for the past few weeks as I have been reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I mentioned this book in a previous post. I am taking such a long time to read it because I know once I finish it I will be sad that it is over (kinda like flan. mmmm...flan). In other words, I like it. In the second third of the book, Gilbert goes to India to learn to pray and get closer to God. While I don't have such ambitions, I do relate to the author in her desire to learn to let go (sincerely, and not just repress or ignore things), live with an open heart, and most of all be happy. I'll let y'all know if I ever figure out what all that means and how to do it. Don't hold your breath though, I hear it's a lifelong thing.

(Before you think this book is totally zen flaky granola earthy crunchy, keep this in mind: Elizabeth Gilbert's life is also the basis for the movie Coyote Ugly. Interesting, no? I also hear that Eat Pray Love might be turned into a movie starring Julia Roberts. I really hope that doesn't suck.)

Swirly

I really like this ring because it's a rather clever use for a very pretty button. It would have been cooler if the green swirly etched button had been made of glass, but when is the last time you saw a button made of glass? I got the button at JoAnn's and I used inexpensive copper craft wire for the rest.

I was inspired to make this after seeing some stacked button rings online. Of course the way they take the pictures makes it impossible for you to see how they made it, but I figured it out and was sort of surprised how easy it is. I showed it to the ladies at work and was asked if I wanted to teach customers how to make it. I'm not sure how well a wire wrapping novice would do, so I said I'd have to think about it to get the logistics down. When I make stuff, it's all, "oh use a some of this and tweak it a little that way so it looks okay". I may tend to waste material (which is why I used the craft wire and not sterling silver) but it is SOOO satisfying to figure it out on my own. But I suppose if you're paying me to teach you something, you'd want a little more structure.

Since the last time I posted a ring I made back in May, I bought a ring mandrel. It's a long tapered wand marked with ring sizes. It made keeping the ring the right size a lot easier. But if you have a dowel or something the same size as your finger, you can use that too.

The button I used is about 3/4" so the ring is rather large and frankly, verging on the edge of crazy bead lady. But you can always use smaller buttons or beads or if you want to be crazy bead lady you can stack a few buttons to make it even bigger.

I'm working out how to make a ring from a pin back button and I'll post that when I have it.

Winter crafts turn to Spring crafts

This is the scarf I finished the first day it turned warm. Then it got cold again. But now it's pretty hot. So I guess regardless, I'm a little late in posting this picture. On the left is the reverse side and on the right is the right side. The scarf measures about 60"x7" . It has a tendency to fold down the middle and I'm wondering if I had used wool, instead of acrylic and had been able to block* it, this wouldn't have happened. Also with wool blocking it would have let you really see the lacy pattern. Oh well, next time. At least I can put it in the washing machine. *block = shaping or stretching out woolen garments by wetting or steaming them and drying them pinned to a mat or bed. Does not really work with synthetics.

Now that the weather is warmer I don't feel the urge to knit as much. So I turn back to my first craft hobby: jewelry making. This is a set for Marivonne (who is doing FABULOUSLY on her weight loss "journey". Do check out her blog to see how she's shrinking!)

Please ignore the wrinkly bed sheet, lol.

Months ago Marivonne had purchased some Swarovski crystals from Antiques, Beads, and Crafty People (crazy name!) in Pearland, TX for me to make something for her. And for most of those months I didn't have all the materials to make something and I didn't have any clue as to what to do with the beads. But since I now work at a bead shop, I used my employee discount to get a few findings and the perfect cloisonne beads to complete the set. I couldn't find a clasp that I liked so I made an S-hook and loop with some wire, hammered them, and filed down any pointy bits. I heard that it would make it stronger. Plus I like how it looks. I should get a little anvil and a hammer though. For this I just used the flat tip of my crimping pliers, which would take WAY too long if I were hammering a lot. Also, since I didn't have any gold filled headpins for the earrings, I made those also. I flattening down the tip of a piece of wire and bent it 90deg. This is probably the most expensive thing I have made due to materials- gold filled* findings** and Swarovski crystals*** are pretty pricey. In materials ONLY, the necklace is $25 and the earrings are $10.

*gold filled means that the outside of the material is gold and filled with some other metal. It is NOT gold plated, and will not wear off.

**findings are all the jewelry making materials (wire, hooks, clasps, etc) that are not beads

***Swarovski crystals are glass with lead (32%) making them sparklier. So do not put them in your mouth!

Pretty bird

These would have been good to have for my birthday pie.
(http://www.delight.com/Birdie-Birthday-Candle-Holders)

Irritating

The past few days have been irritating.

For one, my computer had a nasty virus. The virus blocked me from buying antivirus software online as well as accessing any sort of webmail. Just kept getting that "cannot find page" page. I felt guilty for not updating my subscription to Norton, but even when I installed a new version that I had to actually buy in a store, not all of the problems had gone away. I installed a free trial version of Spy Sweeper and that seems to have done the trick. God help me I hope that doesn't happen again. I think it screwed with Excel (but not any other MS Office software) and I'm hoping a reinstall will fix it.

Secondly, I've had a stomachache off and on for three days. It's either a bug or I'm stressed out. Not much is really going right these days so it wouldn't surprise me if it's the latter to blame. I took a really long nap today hoping that I'd feel better afterwards, and I did, but it resulted in the fact that I'm wide awake at 3:40am.

Another irritation: bad websites. For example, I want to apply for a teaching fellowship for the public school system. But their application page doesn't work. Tsk tsk tsk shoddy workmanship. That's public school for ya, I suppose. I'd laugh but it's actually pretty sad.

The dog is being very irritating. He keeps whining. And barking short little barks for no apparent reason. And he stares at me while I eat. It does not make for a very relaxing dining experience.

The cat is getting fat. That's not so much irritating as it is something else I have to be concerned about. She was thin for a while but we realized it was because the dog kept eating her food. Now the cat food and litter box are behind a dog proof barrier made from an headboard from Goo's old twin bed. The dog has short little legs so he can't get over it. But anyways, now the cat is eating all of her food and getting pillow-like. Plus I don't think she schedules in any exercise during the two or three hours in the day that she is not sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping, I'm going to try.