Category: To Occupy my Time

Caravan the next morning.

View from my window.  That’s the fire pit and hidden between the two tiny houses you see are the fixins for s’mores.  It was a very cold night, so we just ate the chocolate.

More pictures from inside.  The bathroom door.

Standard sized toilet hooked up to city water.  There was also a tiny shower, which we did not partake in, sadly, due to the fact it was cold enough that the water froze.

More storage.

Our departing photo.

Great front porch, with our room service tray from the night before.

Back view.  That was my bedroom window.

Of course, I had to peek in the box on this side.

Caravan

Where am I headed on a cold winter day?

 

To Caravan!  My friend Deborah gave me a stay in a tiny  house for my birthday.  Caravan is the first tiny house hotel in the USA.

 

We stayed in the Roly Poly, which is 80 square feet.  Here’s the main section.  The ladder stores on the wall when not in use.

 

Standing against the ladder wall you can see the house from the other direction.  I was particularly enchanted with the string art.

 

Additional storage space built in under the lofts.

 

The queen-sized loft bed.

 

Deborah playing the uke.  A tiny guitar for a tiny house.

 

Storage space above the kitchen.

After warming up the soup dinner brought by Deborah, we spent the evening chatting, her on one loft bed, me on another.  Deborah tried out different songs from a new songbook. I caught up on the newspaper. Around 10:30 we got hungry and ordered room service from the Radio Room, a restaurant across the street from Caravan.  Delicious pork tostadas were consumed.

Seamwork Oslo Sweater Part II

Julie came over for a day of sewing and she helped me lay out the material.  So it was speedy, taking us only 10 minutes.  She also got to see first-hand how lazy a sewist I am.  “Aren’t you going to line up that grainline?” she asked at one point.  I shrugged and she adjusted it.

Here we are 90 minutes in and it’s looking like a robe.  The material is this great fabric I got from Rose City Textiles in their bargain room.

This was also the point in which the directions and I became estranged.  The way I was reading the instructions for the cuff ended up not making much sense, so I finally just added the cuff the way I thought it would work.

And done!  I really like it! It’s very soft and cozy and is the perfect length for a robe.

And here is the final tally. Although you have to add the hour I spent taping the pattern.  But I still consider four hours “an afternoon.” Color me happy,  Seamwork.  I also added snaps to the front to keep it closed. Worked great.

Seamwork Oslo Sweater part I

I’ve subscribed to Seamwork, a digital sewing magazine.  The magazine is free, and if you subscribe ($6.00  per month) you receive two patterns each month.  Each pattern is designed so it can be completed “in an afternoon”.  I aim to make the Oslo Cardigan, although I’m going to use it as a robe.  Let’s see if indeed this pattern can be completed in a timely fashion.

Below, Sentinel observes the detritus from too many projects.

The pattern comes in two forms.  A digital file that can be printed at a copy shop, or a file that can be taped together.  I didn’t make it to the copy shop, so taping and cutting I am.  I did this the night before I set to sewing, and forgot to start the timer, but I think the taping and cutting took about an hour.

Why yes, I’m making six loaves of bread today.

But I only have two bread pans!  So staggered baking it is.
At the time of this picture, I had two loaves rising, and had prepped the wet ingredients for the other four. When it was time, I poured the milk/water combo into a pot and heated it, then poured some of the warm milk/water back into the jar to loosen the honey.  Then I stirred in the butter–melted in the microwave–and that made it easier to pour the liquid into the dry ingredients while the mixer was going.
The bread turned out great.  But alas,  no pictures.

One letter’s journey to the wrong side of the country.

This arrived at work.  It was sent from New Jersey.  
Josias Campusano-Polanco?  Doesn’t work at my school.
105 Clark St?  105 is the street number of my building, but we’re not located on Clark Street.
Roselle, NJ 07203-2504?  None of those come close to matching the city, state and zip. (the 7,  2, & 0 match in that digit order, but nothing else)
So this letter traveled from New Jersey to my work in Portland, Oregon just because our street address is 105.  Weird.  I was so amused I wrote the recipient a note on the back of the envelope before sending it on its way.