Get Yer Knit On

Up until a week or two ago, I hadn't done any serious knitting in months. Something about my insanely demanding job and freelance writing activities, combined with the 100-plus-degree weather here in the summers, made me put it on hold for a while.

But I plan on getting back into the swing of things. In fact, I've already started something -- as well as compiled a list of all the future projects I want to work on. I'll keep these items in my queue, whether it takes me a year, or five years, to get to them.

In an unsure order:

1. "Ms. Marigold," a V-neck, sleeveless tank
2. Glampyre Knits' famed "One Skein Wonder"
3. "OpArt," an optical illusion baby blanket
4. "Bonbon" bath loofahs
5. "Sonnet" cardigan, knit from side to side
6. The other mitten to Kate Gilbert's "Gifted" pattern (I got sidetracked after the first one.)
7. "Easy Drop Stitch Scarf" at Frazzled Knits
8. Picnic Knits' "Snappy Hat"
9. "Buttercup Beret" by Sweet Sassafras
10. "Saartje's Bootees" by Saartje Knits
11. "Cashmere Fingerless Gloves" by The Purl Bee
12. "Daytrip Cardigan" by Neoknits
13. "Tank Girl" camisole (I would probably alter this one a teensy weensy bit ...)
14. And something by Presents Knits. Maybe even this.

Whew! I should be busy for the rest of my life with all that!

First thing's first, though ... I have to finish this ...


... because it is a birthday present for my dear friend, Ms. KT. Happy birthday, KT!!! It's a Clapotis, the color of um, dirt -- yeah, that's right, dirt -- just what you wanted. ;-)

I know it doesn't look like it, but I'm nearly halfway finished, and I'll mail it to you as soon as I can!

Sun Jars

Yesterday my boyfriend and I made sun jars using one of Lifehacker's tutorials.


Sun jars are solar-powered lights in frosted jars, so they charge up all day while the sun is out and then begin to glow after sunset.

I've wanted some of these things for a long time, ever since I saw them on ThinkGeek. Unfortunately, though, everywhere I looked online the jars ranged between $30 and $40 -- more than I could justify spending on outdoor whimsies.

And then I came across the Lifehacker tutorial, which you can find here. The assembly process is pretty straightforward, and we made our two in less than 30 minutes. In the end, they cost us about $11 each. I'm happy with how they turned out, and they give off a surprising amount of light.


If you make some, let me know how they turn out!


Photos by Sway Sovay

The Near-Nightmare in My Sister's Closet

A few weekends ago I went to one of my favorite clothing stores in Scottsdale -- a consignment boutique called My Sister's Closet.

The place is an answer to most women's prayers. They buy and sell "gently used" name-brand and designer clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry, sunglasses, etc. And I am telling you, this store is a gold mine -- provided that you never go in looking for a specific sort of item. You have to just be ready to see where the shopping trip takes you, so to speak.

I went on a Saturday morning -- in fact, the Saturday morning the shop was unveiling all their new fall inventory and everything in the store was discounted even more than usual. I figured it would be worth checking out.

When I arrived, I was immediately overwhelmed. Here was my beloved, usually casual consignment boutique swarming with 100+ crazed women.

For probably a solid 10 minutes all I really did was wander the store from one end to the other, back and forth, weaving in and out of people and watching in semi-horror the chaos that was taking place. I honestly had a woman lean in front of me and step on my foot in order to snatch a top she thought I might be reaching for. (I wasn't.)

After I finally snapped out of it, I got down to business. But while other girls were grabbing animal print blouses and coats that looked like carpet bags, I was perfectly fine sifting through whatever GAP articles had come in.

I should confirm that I am, by no means, a style snob, although, thanks to nearly three years in the Scottsdale area and a year and a half working for a fashion mag, I do, for better or for worse, now know Burberry from Tod's and Alaïa from Diane von Furstenburg. It's not like I studied the labels, it just kind of happened. Kind of like how when I used to work at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, a byproduct of my job was that I learned the names of all the fish and could start telling the individual sharks apart from each other. Yeah, it's a little like that. But I digress ...

I have absolutely no shame in admitting that I love MSC both because I like nice things and I am frugal. Aren't a lot of other women out there, too? But on this most recent trip to the boutique, I rediscovered that there are different categories of frugality when it comes to Scottsdale women.

For example, I am not frugal in the kind of way that makes me feel obligated to buy a really hideous dress just because it's a marked-down Missoni. I don't consider buying an ugly, $1,000 article of designer clothing on sale for $200 to be coming out on top. I am more the kind of frugal that says, "Hey, isn't that the Banana Republic jacket I was looking at in the store window last year? Wow, it's only $17.50 here. I'm taking it."

Although there were women who staggered up to the checkout counter with both arms full, I walked away with only three things -- a white organic cotton cardigan knit in a lace pattern with a drawstring waist, as well as a light blue T-shirt with small flowers sewn on to one side of the neckline, both by J. Crew, and then a really lucky find: a black, sleeveless V-neck top with satin trim by Marciano by Guess.

The total cost of my purchases? $5 and change, thanks to some store credit I had after taking them some of my jeans at the beginning of the summer.

And on that note, happy Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week -- New York's annual celebration of all types of fashion, both beautiful and ugly.

Hunting

Some Background Information
A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I were guests at a dinner party in North Scottsdale. Our hosts were our friends -- who happen to also be our landlords -- who live in a newly finished 7,000-square-foot Southwest-style home that is utterly gorgeous (if not a tad outrageous), nestled into some Arizona foothills.

One of the great things about our friends' new home is that it's on the outskirts of town, therefore they have peace and quiet, privacy and excellent unobstructed views for miles and miles.

One of the not-so-great things is that there are a lot of unwelcome creatures and critters lurking around just outside of town, including, but not limited to: rattlesnakes, javelinas, bobcats, mountain lions (yes, mountain lions) and scorpions.

[If you're wondering what a javelina is, Wikipedia can help with that. That main lesson, though, is that they're wild hogs. I know they don't immediately look like cold-blooded killers, and I will admit that the baby javelinas can sometimes be cute, but make no mistake, the adults have sharp tusks that can do some major damage. Each year dozens of domestic dogs are reported as having been killed by javelinas.]

And on the night of this particular dinner party, our friends and my boyfriend and I found the largest any of us has ever seen of one of the above-mentioned species of vermin -- up close and personal ...

Yup, a mountain lion.

No, not really. Thank god, no. That would have been one seriously tragic dinner party!

What I meant was, we found several of these guys crawling around the property:


(A Very Poor Primer on) How to Hunt For Scorpions
1. Do not hunt for scorpions alone. Take at least one person with you, preferably more, say, a half dozen. This will ensure that someone is able to call 911 if events should turn in that direction. (Important: see #2.) Note that the odds of at least one person being able to dial 911 greatly increase with the number of people accompanying you. This is particularly true if you take into consideration #2 and #3.

2. Take a cell phone with you. Just do.

3. If you are hunting scorpions after perhaps many, many (many) glasses of wine, be aware that wearing flip-flops on the excursion is not a good idea.

4. Actually, wearing flip-flops to go scorpion hunting is never a good idea.

5. Things you will need: A pair of pliers. A spray bottle filled with a lethal concentration of ammonia. And a black light flashlight. Of these, the black light flashlight is probably the most important. Why? Because for whatever reason, scorpions ...

GLOW!!!

(And no one knows why.)

At any rate, the pliers you will need in order to grab the little buggers and keep them from moving. The spray bottle you will need to then stun and annihilate your victims. (The ammonia makes the exoskeleton disintegrate. Yum.)

6. Also, take a camera.

7. Good luck.


Scenes from a Scorpion Hunt






**No humans were injured during the course of the events described above. However, the same cannot be said for the scorpions.**

Photos by Sway Sovay

I Had No Idea He Could Do Flips Like That

I would highly recommend the film 500 Days of Summer. Not only was it creative and an interesting expression of storytelling, but it was also an honest movie about love and loss and growing up. I think its one of my new indie faves.

And, just for fun, here is a short song and dance video that Zoey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the film's stars, made to accompany the She & Him song "Why Don't You Let Me Stay Here?"

(I should mention that the music video's bank robbery theme really doesn't have anything to do with the movie; however, She & Him is comprised of Miss Zooey Deschanel herself and the very talented M. Ward. Also, Marc Webb directed both the film and the music video. Still, I wouldn't want you going into 500 Days of Summer expecting a high-stakes heist...)

"Xixi No Banho" is Portuguese for "Pee in the Bath"

First, some backstory as to how I wandered upon this bit of information. I am currently writing a series of articles focused on the waste management situations of various countries. In doing so, I have had to do a lot of research and read all the information I can pertaining to these countries' environmental-friendly and not-so-environmental-friendly practices.

Right now, I am writing about Brazil. And in reading articles for research, I came across this oddity:

Brazil Forest Group says "Go Green ... Go in the Shower"

Yes, it is what you think. It is an environmentally conscious organization promoting encouraging people to pee in the shower in order to save water. And if you click through, you will find a link to a YouTube video from the ad campaign, as well as the campaign's website.

Let me just say this: I see their point. And their point makes sense. However, I still think it's unsanitary and disgusting. No "xixi no banho" for me.

An Open Letter to Life

Dear Life,

Hey. So. It's been a while. Sorry I haven't had more time for re-examination. Guess I'll have to make it up to you.

Anyway, I guess the reason I'm writing is because I have a few things I'd like to discuss. Such as ... for example ... why July went so fast.

I mean, why did it go so fast? Right? Did you feel it, too? And for that matter, why is this whole year going so fast? It was January, like, yesterday. Are you sure you aren't messin' with the clock or something? Not even a little? It's OK, you can be honest ...

And another thing. A bigger thing. I would like to know why, exactly, you look like this. Please explain. Why am I coming home to an empty house, skipping dinner, pouring myself a glass of wine, watching episodes of My So-Called Life on DVD, keeping the thermostat on 82 to save money, changing my mind about dinner and having a sad, cold piece of pizza, turning to my blog (my blog! I swore I would never become one of those people ... too late ...), keeping an eye out for the hummingbird at the feeder outside the dining room window and washing new towels over and over again to get rid of the fuzzies in order to keep myself occupied on a weeknight? Hmm? ...

WHILE

... My boyfriend has been half a world away, in Venice, Italy, with his family, since last Friday, having a world-class life experience for one week, without me ... although he and I have known each other since we were 11, been dating for almost three years and have never -- I repeat, never -- been on our own vacation together ...

?????????




Whatever, no big deal. You must be mad at me for something I don't remember, and OK, I get that. It's fine. I'm sure, somewhere back there, I probably pushed the envelope a little too far and crossed you. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I will now take this time to say I'm sorry. So ... I'm sorry.

But still, I do think that maybe it was a bit much for you to have orchestrated for it to be Print Week at my job in the week leading up to my boyfriend's departure. You know I always have to work late every night of Print, so that was kind of harsh. And the fact that I had to drop him off at the airport at 4:30 in the morning? Seriously, what was that?! Adding insult to injury, that's what.

Sigh. Life, I love you, but honestly, you're really, really lucky that things like friends, sisters, sushi, chocolate, wine, Apple (yes, the company), fluffy pillows, the GAP and The Pioneer Woman exist. Otherwise, I'm fairly certain I would be hating you right now.

So that's it. I just wanted to say, "What gives?" and wish you -- and me -- a good rest of the week.

Oh, and one teeny, tiny request. I would like to take a vacation in September. Do you think that could be arranged? Let me know.

All the best,
Your friend Sway

Help! The Ride Through Freelance Hell is Making Me Nauseous

Note: If you look at this photograph very, very closely, you can see something melting in the red-hot center of the fire. That something is my sanity.

Hi there. I'm at an amusement park, trapped on a bumpy rollercoaster ride called Sway's Freelance Career.

In January, I challenged myself to get my freelance writing career off the ground by the end of the year. Well, now it's the middle of July, so maybe this is a good time for a checkup. [Er, it was the middle of July when I started this post, promise.]

Verdict: I've succeeded.

That is, if by "succeeded" we mean "contracted, completed and earned money from one or more freelance writing assignments." In which case, the answer is, "Yes! Yes! I've done that! I made that happen!"

But if by "succeeded" we mean "earned some sort of reliable income from said assignments," then the answer is no, not quite.

Right now, payments for freelance assignment make up a tiny, tiny fraction of my full-time income. And one day, I'd like that equation to shift in the opposite direction.

But do you want to know one very important thing I've learned about trying to make your income -- or at least part of your income -- via freelance writing?

It will steal your soul all your free time.

Because if you want to write for profit, you have to be writing all the time.

Every day I wake up, check my e-mail, check in on my assignments and follow-up as necessary, Then I go to my full-time job, where I work and write in between working. And then I go home, and I check in on my assignments and write and follow-up as necessary again. Write, eat, sleep, repeat.

It's pretty exhausting to always be stressin' about deadlines, and that is starting to take its toll on me -- on my energy, on my patience, on my attitude in general ...

But, then again, it's not like I didn't see this coming. And, it is what I've always wanted to do. And it is what I believe I'm good at. And we all want to do something we're good at, right?

So until I get to the point where every one of my articles nets me a healthy wad of cash, I have to find the discipline and motivation to keeping chugging along for the smaller payments.

Can I do it?

The Uniform Project

The Uniform Project kind of fascinates me.

Sheena Matheiken began the project in May 2009 to raise money for the Akansha Foundation, a non-profit that supports education in the slums of Mumbai. As the central part of the project, she has pledged to wear the same dress every day for 365.

Well, it's sort of the same dress.

Actually, to be fair, she has seven identical dresses. Seven black, short-sleeved, hang-just-above-the-knee, button-down tunic dresses, one for each day of the week.

But just because Matheiken is wearing the same thing every day doesn't mean her outfits all look the same. See for yourself.

She says the project was inspired by the uniforms she wore each day to school while growing up in Mumbai. She remembers how she and the other students were forced to be creative with accessories, etc., in order to project their individual personalities beyond their uniforms.

I find this concept interesting because it proves that you don't have to wear something radically different each day to let your tastes and uniqueness shine through. In fact, I think this project might prove that you can actually get a better idea of what another individual's personality is like by observing how he or she circumvents restrictions to deliver a distinct, personal brand of flair.

Ah, darn. I knew I couldn't do a post like this without using the word "flair" ...

Can't a Girlfriend Get a Sparkler?

Happy Independence Day to America and Americans everywhere! I hope you get to see some fireworks today, if you like that sort of thing.

I do, but somehow I managed to move myself into the middle of the only no-fireworks zone in all of Western America. (See below.) In this state, apparently "novelty items" do not include sparklers, but do include those annoying little popping things kids throw on the ground to scare the bejeebuz out of adults who weren't looking.

So for the sake of fellow Arizonans -- and those living in Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island -- this will just have to do: