Textile Stockpile

Packed up and moved out

2010-05-17T09:13:00.004-04:00

** If you tried the link below and it didn't work... it does now! **
It's been quiet around here because I've been working on this:

I've created a whole new blog and website over here. Please change all your bookmarks and links!

You can change your rss feed here.

Snow today, gone tomorrow

2010-03-03T11:47:00.000-05:00

Last week here in Michigan we got A LOT of snow. I'd guess it was almost a foot over a whole week. 8 inches of it was all in one day, and I even got to have a SNOW DAY from work!!! So when I saw that the temperature for the coming week was going to get into the balmy forties, I decided I should use the snow while we had it.

My mom-in-law told me about Snow Dying, she said you layer the (soda-soaked) fabric in a container however you wish, then cover with snow and pour the dye over the snow. So that's what I did. I waited until about 4:30 Saturday afternoon and soda soaked my fabric while I mixed 5 dye concentrates (I don't use a recipe or anything, I just mix between 1 tsp to 2 Tbsp dye powder with 1 cup of warm water). I set the dye concentrates outside to cool a bit while I wrung out the fabric and got my containers together.

Outside on the picnic table covered with at least 8 inches of snow, I slapped the buckets deep into the snow to keep them upright in case it got windy. The first bucket, I put about 2 inches of snow in the bottom, layered the somewhat scrunched fabric on top and then more snow. I packed it down a bit too. It was really heavy, wet snow. Good snow-man snow (and boy, you should have seen some of the pretty impressive snowmen around our house!) Then I poured the dye concentrate over the snow. The liquid was still pretty warm, so it did melt the snow a bit.

Bucket 1, one yard of fabric, two dye concentrates, lots of snow

In the other bucket, I scrunched the fabric into the bottom of the bucket and packed some snow on top. I poured the first color of dye concentrate over the snow and let it sit for just a minute (I was outside with no coat and just rubber gloves, and I am impatient). I layered a second piece of fabric, with more snow and more dye and did it all once more so I had three layers of snow and fabric. I basically followed the Parfait Dying instructions from Color by Accident by Ann Johnston, but added layers of snow.

These are two from the 'parfait' bucket

I figured for the best results, I would leave the buckets outside overnight and let them thoroughly re-freeze and make sure the dye can really get into the fiber, which I thought may have been slowed a bit by the cold temperature. The next morning I brought the buckets in and put them in the bathtub to warm up enough to scoop the snow out.

Then, rinse, wash and admire.

I didn't realize when I was mixing my colors that I was pretty much making purple each time. oops!

Next time I think I'll try layering the soda soaked fabric and snow but leaving that outside overnight (depending on how cold it is, it may only take an hour) so the fabric can freeze. Then pour cold dye over the snow. I think that would give me crisper lines and more mottling.

Also over the weekend, I finished my first toe-up sock! I knit around and around until the leg was about 12 inches from the heel. I was worried that the taller the sock got, the tighter it would be on my leg, so my first thought was to increase stitches. But I couldn't decide how to stick to my 2 by 2 ribbing and also add increases. So I increased every 8 stitches on one round, but changed to all knits to create a roll top sock. I did a few more increase rounds and maybe had a 1/2 inch worth of stockinette and decided I didn't like it. I ripped back to before the increases and decided all I would need to do to make the leg circumference bigger AND keep my 2 by 2 ribbing is go up one needle size. So for the last two inches of the leg, I used size 2 dpns.

Toe-up sock #1, toe taken from IK Summer 07, heel and cast-off from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy D. Johnson

I don't think I've been this fiber-productive in a long time. It feels pretty good and I think it fended off a cold I felt coming on. Solid proof: knitting heals your soul and your body. I'm sure the chocolate helped too.

Done with one... not so successful on the other

2010-02-22T17:58:00.002-05:00

We spent the whole weekend finishing up the living room. I am thrilled with this room. I feel like I'm in a totally different house! Here's a quick reminder of what it looked like before:

Note the DARK green walls, blue/grey cove, and dusty purple on the inside of the doorway. Also, you can just see the edge of a weird section of wood paneling on the left. What you can't see in this picture is that whoever painted this house used flat paint. So you can see every fingerprint, smudge and scratch from anything or anyone that has ever come near these walls. No one had ever filled a nail hole and the window and base moldings don't match the rest of the house.

Here is that same corner in the middle of the re-do.

Nail holes filled and sanded, moldings removed and wall partially removed. Also, no more paneling!

And here it is as of last night at 9pm.

New wall color is called Magnolia Spray. It's just on the yellow side of cream with just a touch of peach. It is so bright and clean. We had such a problem in here with the dark green paint, even with our big bay window it was always dark in here. We had FOUR lamps in here and with them all on, and all the kitchen lights on, it was still not light enough to read or knit comfortably. Last night I turned the lights off in the rest of the house and turned only two lamps on (and the new lights over the new breakfast nook) and it was totally bright enough to knit. Not that I was knitting...

Which brings me to my confession. I haven't been knitting. I have held it on my lap and stared at the chart. I have held the first 20 rows and stretched and examined them. But I haven't knit a stitch since I realized that every 4th line should have a little cable twist over 3 stitches and I wasn't doing them. I am having such a hard time reading the chart, I don't understand why the chart couldn't be ONE BIG chart with all the stitches for the whole 36 row repeat. I've never really done any cable projects before. I did one pair of socks with a very simple cable over 4 stitches and I am currently working on a baby cardigan with a cable over 10 stitches. I admit I am inexperienced. But I am not dumb. I can read a chart but why am I expected to remember so many repeats. Is it so hard to print a complete chart?!

See those sections of stockinette. They aren't supposed to be stockinette.

For the past three days, I've picked up the first 20 rows of the shrug and stared at it. Comparing it to the chart. Deciding which I want more; a finished, perfect shrug or a finished in a week shrug. I think I have decided. This is the first large garment I am making for myself (or anyone for that matter) and I do want it to be perfect. What's teh point of spending $65 dollars on yarn, another $5 for the magazine/pattern and all that time if the finished product is shoddy at best? I would accept a missed cable stitch in a sock. I've looked past bigger mistakes than that, and generally I am a 'make it work' knitter. But this is too much.

I think at this point I have figured out all the possible problems I'll have with this pattern and chart. I think I have the knowledge now to rip back and start over. I will start over with the confidence that it will be the last time I rip back and cast on for this project.

I am disappointed. But I am also sitting in my bright new living room. So I'll take the good with the bad this time.

I'll leave you with some more pictures of the finished (but mostly unfurnished in these photos) living room.

Day 4

2010-02-16T20:55:00.001-05:00

Or is it? Ok, right, this is day 5 of the Olympics. So far I am not making good time on my shrug. I am on row 9. That works out to about one and a half rows or about 140 stitches per day since Friday. Since there are 33,372 stitches (give or take a couple hundred) in my cabled shrug... I'll be finished in... um... about 240 days...

I cast on 103 stitches Friday night during the opening ceremony and worked the 'set up' row. No problemo. I moved on to row one and proceeded to cable my little heart out. I was just using the page right out of the magazine but I photocopied it so I could use my magnetic board to keep track of what row I was on. Moving along the charts to about row 4 when I realize there are two pairs of symbols in my chart that look exactly alike. But they have different descriptions. I was totally perplexed. I stared at the photocopied chart for too long and had no idea what to make of it. So I picked up the magazine and looked closely. The symbols WERE different. My photocopy just hadn't picked up the tiny little corners that were white on one pair and grey on the other pair. In addition to that problem, I was not even sure which of the four symbols I was using where.

So I ripped and cast on again.

I wasn't too mad or frustrated, but glad I figured it out before I got through one whole repeat of the 36 row chart. I got up and got four different colored markers. I filled in the four different symbols with four different colors. I didn't put too much thought into choosing what color markers to use for each symbol, I just grabbed four colors that would look pretty on my chart together. Blue, light blue, turquoise and purple. See where this is going?

Here is my color-coded chart. What? you only see two colors in that chart? yeah... let's not dwell here too long, the problem is obvious. Well, now it is anyway.

I ripped and cast on again.

So today I enlarged the big chart on the photocopier at work. and also made two enlarged copies of the smaller side chart (it goes on either side of the big chart). I cut the charts out and frankensteined them back together in the orientation I would knit them. I chose four VERY distinct different colors and carefully color coded my enlarged Frankenstein chart. I made little notes on the margins reminding myself of the tricky little things I had discovered during the four times I worked the first 5 to 9 rows of the charts.

So now I am home. The Olympics are on tv and I am ready to give this new chart with the knitting equivalent of training wheels on it a try. Because the fifth time's a charm, right?

I am not sure the 9 rows I have on my needle at the moment are correct. Some little sections look like they are setting up to be cables. There are other sections that look like I've been making stuff up as I go along. I think I'll try to follow the charts for a couple more rows and see if those rows start to make sense. If not... I'm going to have to call in reinforcements. I don't know who or what they'll be yet, so this color coded Frankenstein chart better help.

Cozy shrug for the Olympics

2010-02-13T11:42:00.000-05:00

I had decided a long time ago, exactly 4 years ago, that I would try again in the 2010 Knitting Olympics. I did not get a medal in 2006, so this year I have extra motivation to accomplish my goal. My first idea was to make fingerless gloves. The kind that also have a mitten part that folds back to reveal bare fingertips. I couldn't decide if that project would be too easy or too ambitious. I guess I just wasn't feelin' it.

There is a project in the very first knitting magazine I ever bought that I have always gone back to and oogled and oohed and aahed. It has cables and requires quite a bit of yarn. So I always had some excuse why I couldn't make it. Either I didn't have the money to buy enough yarn that I would actually want to touch my skin (yummy wool perhaps with silk) or I didn't think I could successfully read and follow the cable charts.

A couple weeks ago it was really cold in my house and I couldn't get warm. I couldn't keep a blanket on my shoulders and the one on my lap wasn't enough. In that moment I decided I had to finally make the Cabled Shrug from Interweave Knits Fall 2005. And with the Knitting Olympics coming up, maybe I had a better chance of actually starting it AND finishing it. And maybe even get to use it before it starts warming up this spring... haha, ok that last part is just funny. I live in Michigan, I'll still be using this thing in June.

Thursday afternoon I headed out to Knit A Round in Ann Arbor and used the gift card I got from my coworkers for Christmas. I found a gorgeous 100% wool that is softer than any pure wool I've ever felt. I couldn't believe it didn't have a bit of acrylic or silk or something in it to make it so soft. I picked out a nice rich chocolate brown but there wasn't enough. After another 20 minutes of petting each color (there had to be 25 or more colors to choose from) I decided on a green. Not quite sage, not quite celery, somewhere in between.

As an added bonus, the yarn I chose was made in Michigan!

And... I can't leave a yarn shop without some sock yarn... two skeins of Koigu. This colorway is so NOT me. I think that's why I like it. It's all rusts and orange and gold with just a few bits of light blue and a scant bit of purple. I've never used koigu before and have seen so much of it on other blogs for years and years.

I can't leave this post without an update on our living room remodel. It's not done yet. Soon though.

Kitchen wall: now you see it...

Now you don't!!!

Ryan is building a butcher block style counter top to go there and we'll have a little breakfast nook. I am SO excited. I have the most amazing and talented husband!

Hopefully this project will be accomplished peacefully along with the Knitting Olympics... fierce competition around here.

Pining for a lazy Sunday

2010-01-24T11:36:00.001-05:00

Our living room is still torn up. I spent half the day yesterday with a palm sander, going over every inch of the old paint. There have been so many coats of paint in that room and each one had a worse finish than the previous. So many drip marks and bumps and places where it looked like they dropped the paint roller on the floor and kept painting, not caring that there were little bits of who-knows-what in the paint. You can see a line around the whole room where it was poorly cut in. So, we're sanding every inch of the room. Since we are painting a light cream color, every little bump and ding will be very obvious. We are also patching a ton of holes. I think we are the first owners in this house's nearly 60 years of existence to ever patch a nail hole. I am not a perfectionist, by any definition of the word, but you can't just paint a room without removing nails and patching holes.

Because there is so much sanding and mess going on in there, we've cleared out pretty much everything except the dining room table and a couch. The tv and stand got moved into our bedroom and everything else is now in the sewing room.

Wish us luck, I hope to have this project done before Valentines Day...

It is a dark, cold, rainy Sunday here. It is after 11am and I am still in bed; with my laptop, a book, knitting, and the tv all right here... going back to the palm sander feels like punishment.

The rest of '09 and looking toward '10

2010-01-18T10:13:00.000-05:00

I've had some people prodding me for an update, so here it is. Just a quick recap since October.

Halloween

I'm a trucker and Ryan just got out of bed. Bella is the doggy that had to stay home.

Thanksgiving

R to L is Ryan, Shannon, Daddy, me, Leah. We stayed with my little sister Shannon in Chicago. She and Leah cooked us an amazing Thanksgiving meal Wednesday night when we got there and then on Thursday we went to Maggiano's for an amazing family style dinner where we gorged ourselves on crazy good bruschetta, pastas, traditional thanksgiving faire and amazing desserts!

Santa came

He brought us a Wii and Super Mario Wii, and Wii Fit Plus. I haven't been doing a whole lot other than playing Mario. I am addicted and in less than a month have gotten to the Castle at the end of World 5. I keep telling myself to slow down because if I beat the game this fast, then what am I going to do?! But I just can't stop.

Ryan's birthday is the day after Christmas and I planned a surprise birthday party for him. It was great and he had NO idea anything was going on.

Surprise!!!

For his birthday I gave him a pair of (one finished but unfelted and one almost finished) clog slippers. Here they are finished and ready for felting.

The only other gift I made this holiday season are the cutest pair of baby slippers I have ever seen! My cousin and his wife are having a baby in February. Her shower was the first weekend in December, but the slippers weren't done until the 26th. So I gave them to her at our family Christmas.

FiberTrends Pattern

I think Bella got more gifts than any of us. She was due though, she was a good girl this year and all of her toys were getting worn out, her balls didn't squeak any more and none of her stuffed animals had any fluff inside of them.

As for 2010, January is shot. We are in the middle of painting our living room. As you can see in the "Surprise" picture above our front room is a dark forest green. I've hated it since the day we moved in, possibly since before the house was ours. The room is not very big, and we have a lot of furniture packed in there since it is a living room slash dining room. That dark color on the walls makes it so dark even when the sun is shining through our large bay window. We are going to work on it all week after work, getting it prepped for paint and then hopefully have it done by the end of next weekend. After that is finished, my sewing room is an absolute mess. A lot of the stuff that had to be cleared out of the front room for painting ended up in my sewing room. And it was a pretty nice disaster before that happened too. Things just keep going into the sewing room and never coming out. So don't look for any sewing projects to be coming out of there anytime soon either.

I'll be knitting though... if I'm not playing Mario.

At what point?

2009-10-21T11:11:00.000-04:00

I have come to a stopping point in nearly ALL of my knitting projects. Each one has it's own little problem that I haven't had the time, ambition or energy to tackle.

Problem One

I started this Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater (free pattern for subscribers to Knitting Daily) with Louisa Harding Kimono Angora yarn. You'll never guess where I got this yarn. Tuesday Morning. Yes, the TJMaxx-ish home goods store. I found 5 balls of it, each marked 3.99. For angora yarn. There were others of the same kind there, but the colorways were particularly awful. I just hope I have enough of this pink to finish the sweater!
The problem with this sweater is fairly simple to fix, I think. Each row starts with knit 5. well, about 5 rows ago, somehow I purled 5. so I have three rows that look like stockinette for the first 5 stitches instead of garter stitch. If this were in the middle of a row, I would be able to easily (as easily as possible with fuzzy angora yarn) ladder down and fix those 5 stitches. Since the problem is the first 5 stitches of the row, I'm having a hard time laddering down and rearranging the stitches so they look nice. They got all stretched out. So, I think my new solution is to rip back to before I screwed up. But the problem there is that there are all kinds of increases for the sleeves through the middle of every other row. I am not sure once I rip back that far if I'll have the right number of stitches. I really don't want to unknit 5 or 6 rows one stitch at a time.
When I am only about 20 rows into a project, can I/should I rip it completely and start over?!
Why is there so much pain in knitting!?

Problem Two

I bought this sock yarn with a gift certificate that Ryan gave me for my birthday in 2008. I held onto it for more than a year for some reason. I went in May before the wedding to pick something out and decided I'd need a new pair of socks to start and take with me on our Honeymoon to Wilmington, NC. It turned out I did very little knitting on our honeymoon, imagine that! So, I've been knitting on this sock very rarely (see this post for part of the reason) and partly because it's not easy 2 by 2 ribbing and actually requires I read a pattern.
Last week I noticed that I have at least three pairs of socks on the needles and while I have TONS of sock yarn and can't seem to stop acquiring more, I think I need to stick to one pair and finish it. I also realized that this yarn is not superwash. it is 100% alpaca. I do not like to hand wash my socks and this yarn seemed to be making a sock that wouldn't hug my leg and may be a tad droopy, which I really don't like. But I didn't want to frog the little bit that I had started.
I left the partial sock on the needles and didn't break the yarn. I started from the other end of the ball and started a scarf. If I end up needing the whole ball, including what is started on the sock, I'll frog it then, but for now, I can't commit to the sock or the scarf.

Problem Three

This is a Malabrigo sock yarn I bought in Chicago last month. I love this colorway! it is not as teal in person as it is in this photo. Definitely more royal blue and charcoal. The problem with this is that I may have cast on too many stitches. It is a Christmas gift sock for someone. We do not have the same size feet, so I can't use myself as a guide. I really don't want to start over, but I really don't want to knit any further on this until I decide if it will fit.

Problem Four - SOLVED!

I started these Lorna's Laces toe-up socks at least a year ago. Possibly TWO years ago. The toe was fine and easy, I knit around and around for the foot until I got to 1-1/2 inches before the heel. I tried the heel twice, from two different patterns. Each one had it's own issue that I couldn't deal with (and can't remember because it was probably two years ago, and I won't bad mouth any patterns I used, because I'm not sure it was the pattern's fault). So, I frogged the heel twice (at least). A couple weeks ago, I was perusing the knitting section at Borders and saw this book by Wendy D. Johnson (pictured with sock above). It looked like it had great patterns and really great illustrations and step-by-steps. So I thought I would give it a try. It WORKS!!! I have a perfect toe-up heel with no holes and no funky issues! I am soooooo excited! I have wanted to learn toe-up socks for such a long time.

Since this is the only thing I've figured out among all the problems, this is what I've been working on. Instead of the Christmas gift socks. He's pretty used to getting a box with one sock in it for Christmas though, what's one more year. Does three years of doing the same thing make it an official Tradition?

None of this has stopped me from looking online for yarn, or wanting to start another pair of socks. And none of it has motivated me to do anything about any of it.

The Adventures of a Modern Squirrel

2009-09-30T10:08:00.009-04:00

Back in my day, we had to walk to school. Up hill, both ways. In three feet of snow. Gas only cost 29 cents per gallon. A loaf of bread was a nickel. Someone delivered your newspaper to your door every morning. And squirrels ran around all autumn burying nuts in the ground. Yes, digging a hole in your lawn or your flower beds and burying a nut and carefully replacing the soil.

But this is 2009. This is the future. The squirrels of today know that the best place to hide his or her nuts for the long winter is not in the cold, wet (not to mention dirty) earth. The best place would be somewhere dry, relatively clean, with some sort of covering to keep the snow and wind off of them. Somewhere like... our shed.

I got home from work on Friday and Ryan and Bella met me outside for some frantic tail wagging and little howls of delight... (Bella was excited too... haha, sorry, couldn't resist). We stood in the driveway a couple minutes and then Ryan asked me if I wanted to see something funny. He took me through our back yard to the shed, only about 40 yards from our back door. Opened the door to the shed and didn't say anything, just pointed to the salvaged dresser drawers on the floor. They were full, nay, overflowing with walnuts. Every nook and cranny had walnuts packed into it. All along the walls where the angled roof meets the walls, there were 5 to 10 walnuts in every little space.

So we stood in the doorway of the shed, flabbergasted, just laughing at how many there were. Ryan said that it only took the squirrel about two days to fill that drawer. I haven't been back in there since Friday, but I expect the next time one of us opens the door it will be like that famous episode of The Dick VanDyke Show where he has a dream of opening his closet door and thousands upon thousands of walnuts pour out of the closet. (That is a youtube video, the scene I'm talking about happens around the 1:30 minute mark, but I strongly suggest you watch the whole thing. freaking hilarious.)

Our shed is old and not in the greatest shape. I'm sure there is more than one entrance for the squirrel to get in, especially this big gap under the door.

We are going to leave the walnuts, we will probably clean up a bit, but all the nuts will stay in the shed. We're not into causing squirrel starvation. And, this is a good test to see if squirrels actually do remember where their nuts are hidden. It would have to be a really incompetent squirrel to not remember this big pile!

But he'll have to watch out, because Bella's on the hunt!

Meerkats and socks... if only it were meerkats WEARING socks!

2009-09-22T14:02:00.007-04:00

It has been a busy September for me and busy in a good way so far. The beginning of the month brought me a new job! It is kind of funny because it is also my old job, where I worked from 2003 to 2006. I am now fully employed again at a 9 to 5 office job, no longer working at home for Chris Roberts-Antieau. Which means I once again have paid vacation and sick days and I get evenings and weekends off AND... I get my sewing room back!!! (that's what I did this past weekend, I cleaned out all of the stuff that belonged to the studio and re-arranged my room to make it more cozy and efficient for what I want to do in there, pictures to follow.) So I think this new job was the perfect change for me. I love the people at the studio and especially Chris, but there were so so so many memories there of my mom that at first were comforting but now are painful. My mom had been working at the studio for more than 10 years when she died, she was the manager, she knew everything, ran nearly the whole show. Without her, everything was kind of handed to me to handle/figure out. Some of which I wanted to do, some not so much. Most of that didn't bother me so much. It just got to the point that I would stare at the art from about 10am until 5 or 6pm and just want to cry all day. I was tired of looking at it, mostly because it just reminded me of my mom and that she's not here.

The middle of September took me to Chicago to visit Shannon and go to the Renegade Craft Fair. It was very cool. Definitely what art/craft shows SHOULD be. I love that it is kindof small, so you don't reach your absorption limit for art goodies before you've seen all the booths. I'm used to the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, that really, if you wanted to see every single booth and go into the neat stores around Main Street and South University, it would take two days at least. But this we did in an afternoon. The reason we wanted to go to the fair was to check out if I wanted to be in it next summer. I DO! My goal is to stockpile up as much stuff as I can to sell there next year. I can stay with Shannon and have very few expenses. I am already getting excited!

I didn't buy anything at the craft fair, (if I had, it would have been this) but we did sneak into Nina and I did buy some yarn.
I stayed from Friday night through Monday about noon (yay for vacation days!). On Monday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo where we saw lots of cute animals. My favorite was the Meerkats. They are just so cute the way they snuggle together. Of course I took many pictures, here are a few.

It was a hot day, and we were there right about 11:30, so most of the animals were just hanging out, sleeping. Except for this guy.
I don't know what was in the corner of that little pool, but he was really interested in it. He was staring into the corner and pushing the water into the rock and it was splashing his face. He did it for a long time too. Maybe that bear has OCD?! Maybe he had to push the water into the corner 49 times before he could get out of the pool.

Monday was also Bella's birthday! She is now 3 years old. If that makes her an adult, someone needs to tell her about it, because she is still as feisty and playful as she was 2 and a half years ago. Except much more well-behaved.
(she moves so fast, it's hard to get a good picture of her). I brought home some of Chicago's best bacon from the Original Pancake House for her and her dad got her a stuffed lamb, a pig ear and a rawhide bone. One week later and all three are gone. She made quick work of that.

The end of September brings ArtPeers in Grand Rapids. Ryan and I are both participating in this event that places art in participating stores throughout downtown Grand Rapids. Anyone in the area this weekend should come to Clothing Matters to see my work and to Literary Life to see Ryan's work.

In October, I hope to start working again on a commissioned wedding guest book quilt for a friend that we started together in 2006. I also told Shannon that I would make her a quilt for above the fireplace in her new apartment. I am going to make some really pretty fabrics and make a Chicago city skyline for her. I'm also knitting about thirteen-hunnerd things... ok... maybe like 3 socks and a baby sweater. Not counting the things on the needles that I haven't touched in at least a year and the stuff not on the needles yet that I have in bags with the yarn, pattern and needles ready to go. And I'm not making any promises that I'll finish anything before I start something else.

Cabled socks, another good day

2009-08-23T21:22:00.007-04:00

These are Trekking XXL Cable Rib Socks from Interweave Knits Fall 2005. I have been working on these for quite a while. I have noticed a pattern, I tend to do the first sock pretty fast, then get to the heel on the second sock when all of a sudden doing the heel and especially the gussets seems like a HUGE pain in the butt. So I leave it and start something else or don't knit at all. Then when I finally get back to picking it up again, it goes so quick and I wonder why I let it sit there for so long.

I made myself finish these socks because I have started at least three other pair since stalling at the heel months ago. I have so much new sock yarn, that I wanted to start another pair, so I told myself I couldn't start another sock until these were finished. And it only took two evenings to finish them.

When I started these, I was using a bamboo cable needle from Knit Picks. It was big and too long, and just kind of awkward for sock yarn. So, I thought I would try to use one of those row markers that looks like a stubby safety pin as a cable needle. That was working ok, but I really couldn't knit the held stitches right from the marker, I had to slide them back onto the working needle. So, I was telling my mom all of that sometime last spring probably, and then the next time I saw her, she gave me this:
She was always breaking her size 1 bamboo needles. So, she took one of the broken ones and sharpened one end and sanded it real smooth and it is now my size 1 cable needle! Genius!!! It is the perfect size, obviously because I was knitting the sock with size 1 needles, but it's also the perfect length. It is short enough to not be in the way, and long enough to actually knit the held stitches right from the cable needle. It's perfect! Except that it is just small enough to get lost, or accidentally mistaken for a used toothpick and get thrown away. So I am careful to not leave it out on the table.

When I finally got to the end of the toe and started to use the kitchener stitch for the seam, I thought I remembered how to do it. I was too lazy to get up and walk a couple feet to the sewing room to get my sock book for the instructions. I did the first four stitches of kitchener right. then must've skipped something and was knitting the purls and purling the knits, and ended up with this half 'innie' and half 'outie' toe.

So today while I was waiting for the roast chicken to reach 165 degrees I un-kitchenered, and re-kitchenered. And now they are done and on my feet.

Getting it back

2009-08-19T08:09:00.005-04:00

I think I had a little break-through yesterday. Since December when my mommy died I have not really wanted to do anything, and planning our wedding took up a lot of my time and brain power. Since the wedding is over I have had a lot of time and extra brain cells to do the things I used to LOVE to do in my spare time. But somehow, none of it really interested me. I would stand in my sewing room and rifle through things, flip through a pattern book, feel up my stacks of fabric, dump out a bag full of already cut-out pieces to a project and then put them all back in the bag again. Knitting had even lost it's luster for me.

My mom and I used to talk on the phone every day. I'd tell her all the mundane details of my day and she'd listen as if I were telling her about my first African Safari and each round of a sock was a new animal I'd discovered. When all of a sudden I didn't have her to report to every day, I stopped doing things.

Until yesterday.

I got home from my meetings at work at about 2:30, ate lunch and took a little nap. Then while Ryan cooked dinner I sat on the couch and knit on a sock for more than an hour. Before yesterday I hadn't knit on anything for more than about 5 minutes at a time, and probably less than once a week.

After dinner we cleaned up the kitchen and I made a bee-line (B-line? what is that expression? V-line would make sense...) to the sewing room. Ryan seemed surprised when I didn't join him on the couch after dinner and asked where I was going. I told him I was going to go play in the sewing room. I think he had been waiting for this moment too.

So from about 8:00 until 11 I was in the sewing room working on this green shibori quilt. I started it quite a while ago, I dyed the fabric while I was still in school, the quilt top was cut and pieced when my sewing room was still in the basement. (the color in these pictures is so wrong. it's an avocado green, not so much gray)

I had started quilting it a couple different times on the sewing machine, but I never liked how it looked and ripped it out each time. I wanted to do something that would enhance the shibori design, not make it harder to distinguish. So I had some shiny embroidery floss in a pale yellow and tried that. I decided to use it to just make a running, almost like a basting stitch, from top to bottom. I made it wavy on purpose and left different widths between each row of stitching. A clever disguise to not-so-perfect piecing abilities.

A couple months ago I had found a big shoe box full of old thread. It must have been my great grandma's because the spools were all wooden. My mom could never throw anything away, so I sorted through the box and got rid of any empty and almost empty spools. I found a bunch of spools marked "pure silk" and wondered if that really meant it was silk. I don't know why I don't trust the spool, maybe it's really cotton, but they called it silk because it was really strong and shiny or something. I don't know. But I separated all the silk spools and set them aside to use some day.

So in the spaces where I left empty pockets between rows of stitching I used the "pure silk" thread to make smaller rows of stitches . It's not that visible from a distance, but up close I think it looks neat. So far I've only used a reddish color for the smaller patches of stitching. I think I'll do the whole thing that way before I decide to add another color. I thought maybe of adding patches of some french knots. We'll see.

What do you think so far? I'm not sure that the patches of red are even necessary. And I think my pictures are kind of crappy today, so maybe you won't even be able to tell me what you think.

Today I will try to continue with my productivity. I have to work all day, and all of my Etsy listings have expired, so I need to put some things on there to sell. I have quite a few new things, so I'll let you know when they are up. Ryan's website needs to be updated with some new show info too. So, on that note... I am stepping away from the computer. Not to return until I have accomplished at least 5 hours of work. Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, I got married

2009-08-10T08:08:00.005-04:00

I haven't been blogging like I said I wanted to. I have no excuses. Just laziness. The laziness has spread to many aspects of life lately. I got a good swift kick in the pants and really need to stay on top of the blog and also MAKE the time to do the things that I want to do.

So, In the time I've been away since January I just got married; no big whoop. ;) hehe

So many details and stories to tell... But I think I'll just let some pictures speak for themselves.

Lighting the Unity Candle (I thought it would look nice if we used the big unity candle along with two stubby votive candles. It did... but we had a funny little moment where the candles were too fat to reach the wick of the big candle. We eventually got it lit.)

The kiss

When I couldn't find the cake toppers to purchase anywhere, I told Ryan what I had pictured, and he used leftovers from our first Christmas tree to hand-carve these two little birdies. He is amazing!

mmmmmmmm cake!

Ryan successfully retrieved the garter!

And of course... the Chicken Dance!

So, that was our wedding... about 9 months of planning, a lot of money, a lot of misunderstandings, agreements and disagreements, for about 8 hours of fun. Totally worth it.

Cheap and Not-So-Cheap Thrills

2009-01-15T08:47:00.013-05:00

First things first, let's get the most important news out of the way.
I have new sock yarn. Yep, that's the most exciting thing going on right now, and believe me, in my current state I will take any little thrill I can get! I was reading someone's blog the other day and clicked over to a pattern and then saw a link for a contest, clicked that and saw the word "Sale" on the sock yarn store, clicked that, and only 2 minutes later I had new yarn on it's way to my house. It was such an impulse buy, but at only $24, including shipping, I got TWO skeins of Arucania sock yarn and it arrived yesterday. Perfectly timed arrival too, as I was having a shitty morning.

The solid skein is actually a gorgeous dusty purple, it looks more gray in this photo. I plan to make socks and use the purple as the toe and heel. Then, I'll have to use some leftovers of another skein to make purple socks with contrasting toe and heel. (I bought my mom a ball of this yarn in a blue and purple colorway. I can use that to go with the purple, it will be PERFECT! That brings up a question for another day about an in process sock she was working on before she died.)

On another side note, Shannon... I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA!!!
My old digital camera was only about 5 years old, but that is probably about 50 years in technology time.

Ok, so there's the exciting news out of the way. Next to tell you about Christmas gifts.
I had many many projects to finish before Christmas. I was working on a pair of socks for Ryan using Knit Picks Risatta. He got one... the other is ready to turn the heel.

The other Christmas project was a pair of thrummed mittens for Shannon. One is done, the other is about 5 inches in, I'm ready to put the thumb stitches on a stitch holder.

I have a small box of stuff to send Shannon this week, so my goal is to get it done and include it in that box.

But, (there's always a "but") I have been casting on new projects left and right over here. I knit a whole baby bootie that I didn't like so there won't be a second one. I cast on for a Calorimetry using straight needles, and needed a circular to fit all 120 stitches onto, and didn't want to get up to get one, so there that project sits. Then I also cast on for a neat little headband I stumbled upon on Pepperknits that uses leftover sock yarn. I have tons of that and boy do I need a headband! I was at the drug store last week and they wanted to charge $8 for ONE cheap-looking black spandex thing. So, I am totally enthralled and entertained by this simple 4-row repeat project. And I'm using leftover sock yarn that I LOVE LOVE LOVE from the Michigan Fiber Festival. It is just striping way more beautifully than the socks did and I am getting such a cheap thrill from this project that I want to just work on it all day!
So that is the competition for Ryan's second sock and Shannon's second mitten (and of course, actual work I have to do for a paycheck). Pretty fierce competition.
LOVE the new camera! Thanks Shannon, Love you too!

And one last little thrill. It amazes me after someone close to you dies, how important their STUFF becomes. Things they probably never looked at once it was thoughtfully placed on a shelf, their impulse purchases that they didn't like any more, their yarn that they coveted and never used because they were waiting for the PERFECT pattern. Every time I go to my mom's house since she's been gone, little things catch my eye. There are the obvious things, like, the sock box that Ryan made for her, the quilt I made for her, anything in her handwriting, old photographs and Christmas ornaments. Every time I go I come home with a bag full of stuff. Sometimes it is something that I need that now don't have to buy. Other times it's just a nick-nack that catches my eye. The most recent visit, I saw this cute little lamb, sitting on a lawn chair. He just spoke to me and I had to take him home.

So I put him on a shelf in my sewing room next to a card that I gave Mommy for Mothers day in 2001. He makes me smile when I look in his direction.

So tonight is my first Wedding Dress Fitting! My bridesmaid Kristy is coming and so is my future Mom-in-law (I'm going to say "mom-in-law" becuase it doesn't have that bad connotation that "mother-in-law" does, because she is certainly not "one of THOSE". And I am NOT saying that because I know she reads this, Hi Gayle!) I had forgotten about the dress fitting, and on New Years Day I was changing the calendar over to January when I saw "Dress Fitting, 6pm" staring me in the face and it felt like someone punched me in the stomach. The first wedding thing that Mommy can't be here for. I panicked and immediately got on the phone with Kristy to see if she could come with me. It is going to be fun and it's really going to suck at the same time.
I have to make the best of the situation. This WILL be my only wedding, this will only happen once and I have to start getting excited about all the little details again. It was destined to be this way, and I have accepted that. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

A brand new sewing room for the new year!

2009-01-09T12:10:00.011-05:00

So, I've been taking some time off work the past couple weeks, to let my mind and body mend after the shock of losing Mom. I decided to use this time, in combination with some money I got for Christmas to get new carpet for the sewing room. I have been wanting carpet in there since before it became my sewing room in February 2007. I also wanted to get the carpet in this week so that I could clean out the sewing room and rearrange the furniture and give me a project for a couple days. So I went to the Carpet Outlet in Adrian, MI and looked for a remnant for less than $100. I found a lot of very nice things, some way out of my budget and some that were just close enough to work. So I picked out a nice off-white berber and we came back the next day with the truck to pick it up. I hadn't yet thought of how it was going to be installed, with what tools or who was going to do it. I just had to have carpet... it was going to happen.
So here is a before picture of the total mess that was my sewing room only two days ago.
Note the wood floors: pretty but cold and hard. Bella doesn't even like to stay in there with me during the day while I work.

Wednesday morning I got to work packing up the sewing room. Our house is fairly small, so I had to stack everything up on top of, around and under the dining room table. We had to disassemble my sewing table, and take the doors off the closet.

Then Ryan pulled up all the trim while I drove to the lumber yard to rent the tools. It was only $30 per day to rent the big power stretcher (that we may have broken) and the knee bumper.

When I got back I pounded all the nails out of the trim. It only took two nails before I asked, "How much would it cost to just buy new trim?" So I went to Lowe's.com and looked for our molding and got my answer. At least $80. That's more than we wanted to spend, so I went back to pounding the nails. Then all the holes needed to be filled, the whole thing needed to be sanded and then painted. (all things that never occurred to me when I was buying carpet)

Ryan was in the sewing room nailing down the tack strip and stapling down the padding, and I was in the dining room pounding nails out of the trim. Bella was under the dining room table looking very worried. That was a lot of noise, and she was already nervous about me moving all of my stuff out of the sewing room. She followed us with every trip to and from the sewing room to the dining room with arm loads of books and supplies. So as soon as we laid the carpet out in the sewing room, she planted herself on it. I think she really just wanted to help.

Except that Ryan was on the other side of the room trying to pull the carpet into the corner. Not so easy with a 30 pound fur ball sitting on the other end.

At about 10:00 last night, the carpet was pulled, pounded, stretched and we think, finally in place and the trim was freshly painted and nailed back onto the wall, closet doors were back up where they belong. So we assembled my table, and moved the rest of my stuff back in. Here it is!!! (it's still pretty messy and unorganized, but it will probably never be spotless and uncluttered)

And this is what a guy looks like after his first time ever laying carpet.

After only watching one or two videos on the This Old House website, and me saying, "I remember when my parents hired a guy to lay their carpet I saw him do this..." I'm sure that was very helpful, since I was probably 14 the last time my parents got new carpet. And I'm sure I was paying such close attention! Ryan did a great job. Never complained, never threw any tools, didn't break anything (except maybe the rented stretcher, but I think it can be fixed) and we only lost the carpet knife once; right before we needed it and found it after the room was finished. Naturally.

What a guy. I love that I can call him on the way home from the store and say, "I just bought carpet" and less than a week later, that carpet is in our house, perfectly installed and no one is mad at the other one.

The finished project of 2008

2009-01-03T09:05:00.005-05:00

The only other things I didn't mention in my previous post, are the stuff that I have this blog for, the art stuff. I had one major project that I started in April and finished in... November. It was a big one though, so I guess 6 months or so isn't too bad.

I started with the leftover fabric that I dyed for the background of my X's quilt. I cut half of each color into 4.25 inch squares and then cut leaf shapes out of the other half of each color. I arranged the squares on my design wall and then fused them to the batting, with extra room all the way around.

My original idea was to have a leaf in each background square. So I pinned them all up, varying the color combinations.
That seemed pretty boring when I finally saw it all together. I liked, it, but it wasn't anything special. So I added some more leaves and moved some around, so it looked more "messy" and I was happy with it.

All of that only took two evenings to accomplish. The quilting was what took the most time. I used a tight satin stitch to sew the veins and stem on each leaf, and then did free motion quilting everywhere else. And the result is:
This is one of my favorite finished projects I've done. The colors are very soothing and I think the overall design is pleasing and has interesting focal points without being too realistic or representational. The only thing I could still do to it is clip all the threads on the back. Does anyone know if that is necessary if it were to be in a show? Do the judges look at the backs of the wall quilts?

The Ups and Downs of 2008

2009-01-01T16:37:00.014-05:00

The year in review, since it has been that long since I've posted.

January 2008
Ryan has life threatening sinus infection. Needs emergency surgery. Has no health insurance.
Judge's score: 1
We qualify for Charity Care discount and get most of our bills covered at 90%
Score: 7.5

April 2008
April fools day, I make dinner that looks like poop in the grass, but is really meatloaf and rice.
Score: 9.8
My birthday: a wonderful two-day long celebration that included wine, yummy food and yarn.
Score: 10

I had a kidney stone.
Score: 2
I have health insurance and I took lots of vicodin and slept for two days
Score: 8
I passed the stone at home
Score: 6 (there's another stone waiting in there to wreak havoc another day)
May 2008
We find a family of baby birds in our back yard that are learning to fly
Score: 10
Bella finds family of baby birds in our backyard that are learning to fly
Score: 2

June 2008
Ryan has a sinus infection again. Goes to doctor for drugs and is told to go to the hospital for pre-op bloodwork.
Score: -4
We still qualify for Charity Care discount
Score: 8.5

July 2008
I get engaged! Ryan asks me to marry him on the two year anniversary of closing on our house! I say yes!
Score: 10
August 2008
I harvest the few vegetables that grew in my mostly weed covered garden
Score: 6
September 2008
Bella turns two
Score: 9
Bella is still a puppy
Score: 7
October 2008
My mom and I pick out and purchase my wedding dress
Score: 10 (no pictures, in case Ryan reads this)

Engagement photo session with my friend and Bridesmaid Kristy
Score: 10

We are goofy
Score: 8.5

It must have been the windiest day of the year
Score: 3.75

November 2008
Shannon comes home from Chicago for Thanksgiving and Dad's birthday. We go out bowling and to a very nice Seafood restaurant in Saline.
Score: 9 (not a 10 because Leah couldn't be there too)

December 2008
Shannon buys tickets for she and I to go to the Lyric Opera in Chicago to see Porgy and Bess. We spend 2 whole days together shopping, laughing and eating awesome food.
Score: 10
I ride the train both ways and DO NOT mis-read my ticket and DO catch both trains
Score: 10

Saturday the 20th. I spend the whole day, from 11am until almost midnight at my mom's house baking cookies, chatting and even threw in a trip to the new(ish) Plum Market in Ann Arbor.
Score: 9.9 (not a 10 because the day is just never long enough!)
Sunday the 21st. Ryan and I go bowling with his parents for his dad's birthday. I get a Turkey (that's THREE strikes in a row)! and my final score is 163! My best ever!
Score: 10
Tuesday the 23rd. Wake up and get the kitchen cleaned up and ready for a whole day of baking bread for Christmas presents.
10:48 Call Mom because my kitchen Aid mixer is acting up. No answer, wonder why.
11:19 Text Mom to tell her Ryan fixed my mixer. No response, think it's strange.
noon Call Mom at home. No answer, get worried.
1:45 Call Mom on her cell again. No answer, really really worried.
2 something. my cell phone rings, it's the Washtenaw County Police, calling from my Dad's cell phone. They identify themselves and ask for Ryan. I start shaking uncontrollably.

Deborah Candice Schuyler
October 7, 1956 to December 23, 2008
My mommy, my best friend.

The judge has no score for this one. I can barely put my thoughts together for this. I am just completely lost, discouraged, pissed, and just totally totally sad.

The rest of Tuesday was spent waiting for Shannon to get home from Chicago, a day earlier than planned, and for Leah to get here from Grand Rapids.

Wednesday was Christmas Eve, which we usually spend with Ryan's side of the family. I felt numb and ok enough to go with Ryan to that. It ended up being very nice to be there. I planted myself on his Mimi's couch next to my soon-to-be cousin Deanna (who recently married into the family and also lost her dad two years ago) and was able to participate in Christmas there and also zone-out when I needed to. I got a hug from every single person there and that felt great. After Mimi's party we went to Ryan's parents house for our gift exchanging. I got everything I asked for and more. And everyone else loved what we got them too.

Christmas morning we packed up all the gifts and Bella and drove to Chelsea for my family Christmas. My mom had finished her shopping on Monday and had everything wrapped. So we still had presents to open from her. We weren't sure what to do, if we should skip it, or just go on with our usual traditions. We decided we would open things slowly. Open a few gifts, then eat breakfast, open a few more and then lounge and watch a movie. We wanted it to last as long as possible.

The first gift I opened was a hand-knit teddy bear, wearing a tiny hand-knit scarf. We all started crying and decided it was time to stop and have breakfast. She knit me that bear and must have been so excited for me to open it on Christmas morning. She had told me a few weeks prior that her tree was up and decorated and there was only one gift under it, and it was for me. I'm sure that was the one.

We proceeded through the day; laughing, crying, eating what little we had the appetite for.

Friday was the visitation, Saturday the Service. SO many people said wonderful things about my Mommy. Shannon and I both wrote something to be read by Leah. She was the only one of us strong enough to stand up there and speak without crying. Every single person at the service cried. The men you thought never cried in their life were crying. My mom was beautiful, smart, a smart-ass, so creative and talented, an amazing mother, a natural care-giver. There is so much to say that I can't put into words.

So, Because I know she loved to read my blog, because once a week was not enough of a visit for her. 2009 will be the year I start blogging again. I WILL work on my own art. I WILL make time for everything and everyone. My mom NEVER said "no" or "I don't have time" or "I can't" to her girls. When I grow up, I want to be just like her. And because you can never say it enough: Love you Mommy!

Christmas Re-enactment

2008-01-03T10:54:00.000-05:00

Here we have our Christmas Tree. It is real. I like real trees. Plus, someone else cut it down and was selling it in town. We didn't want it to die without having it's day of glory. We got the tree a little late in the month, less than a week before Christmas, so the tree is STILL up today. Not for long though.

Last year's tree was stripped of all it's branches and the trunk was saved. Ryan kept it out in the shed until this year when he cut the top 5 inches off of it and made my christmas gift this year.

Ryan carved it by hand with an exacto knife out of last year's Christmas tree. Amazing, huh?! The flash kindof washed out the detail. The body is carved in one piece and the little nose is carved too. the eyes and buttons are beads raided from my stash and the hat is fabric that he stiffened with glue. The arms are little sticks from the garden. The arms make me nervous. I try not to touch them, I feel like they will break just by looking at them.

I made a few Christmas gifts this year, I made a great hat for my sister. The yarn is Knit Picks sock yarn and the pattern is Chapeau Marneir from Knitty.

Fortunately her outfit on Christmas morning matched her new hat perfectly!

I also made my mom a scarf. While I was out buying her some sock yarn for Christmas, I found some perfect blue Angora blend yarn on clearance. Whenever mom looks at yarn she immediately rubs in on her neck, makes a face, puts it down and then goes back to the sock yarn. Most yarn is too picky for her to wear around her neck. So I hoped that this would be soft enough for her.

The pattern is simple:
Knit first three rows
K3, * (P2, K2, repeat, ending with a P2), K3
Knit back
End scarf with three more knit rows.

All of the gifts I got are great, here are some highlights. From my parents, I got a Kitchen Aid Mixer!!!!! I thought I was going to have to get married to finally get one. I've already used it to make a carrot cake and it was SO FUN! I love my mixer!

Also in the picture above is my new watering can. It's the tan colored camel on the left. It is metal and must be pretty old. We saw it in the window of a consignment/antique shop and I loved it, but the shop was closed. My mom went back later and found it. It is so fun to use that I am probably over-watering my plants.

I got some great books, some that I asked for, and some that were surprises.

Ryan picked out a great knitting book all by himself; the Knitting Answer Book. So far I've just flipped through it and it seems like it will be a great reference. I got another knitting book that isn't shown in the picture, because it took forever to ship and didn't arrive in time for Christmas. I think the book is Simple Knitted Gifts, or something along those lines. I know it is one I asked for, but I can't remember the title.

And of course for Bella, we got her a 34 inch rawhide shaped like a candy cane. We let her open her gift first, so it would keep her busy all morning. She saw me wrapping it just before we left home for Christmas morning at my parents' house. So she was already really excited about it.

We had to put it in the trunk of the car so she wouldn't rip into it before we got there.

Back to August: Michigan Fiber Festival

2008-01-01T12:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, getting back to posting about things that happened a long time ago now.

My best friend Leah and I agreed that instead of getting each other birthday presents in 2007, we would go together (along with my mom too) to the Michigan Fiber Festival at the end of August and spend the money that we would have spent on each other, on ourselves. It was a GREAT TIME. None of us had ever been to this festival in Allegan County, and Leah had never been to a fiber festival at all. I took my camera with me, but didn't take any pictures. I wish we had had someone take our picture with the Alpaca though.

We got to the fair grounds around 1:00 and had our game plan all mapped out. Since we all had a fixed amount of money we could spend there, we decided we wanted to see everything, and then go back around and buy. We got halfway thru the first barn and asked someone what time the thing was closing. When they said 4:00 we all panicked! We thought for sure we had until 6:00. Of course that assumption was based on absolutely no facts, just hope. So, we started just buying what we wanted assuming we might not have time to get back to what we wanted.

Since this was our first time at this festival, we thought this one barn was all there was to see as far as things to buy. Somewhere there was a barn full of animals and sheering demonstrations. There was supposed to be herding dog demonstrations. We did find the barns with the animals, and on our way there found a whole other barn full of yarn to buy. I was kindof disappointed because it was 3:40 when we found it and Leah and I were out of money. We'll have to plan better next time. And definitely go on the Friday or Saturday instead of waiting until Sunday to go.

So, this is what I ended up buying:
My first and last purchases: Sock yarn. I grabbed up the trekking because none of the yarn shops within an hour's drive of my house carry it. And the red colorway there is a superwash hand dye that I spent my last $18 on. I hope it looks as good knitted as it does in the skein. because I would consider NEVER knitting it if it doesn't.

This was the only yarn I bought with a specific pattern in mind. I brought the book with me so I could make sure I was getting the right stuff. It is a mohair loop. It is held double for the pattern and this picture shows it already wound doubled.

This yarn is 100% wool and very soft, about a dk weight I think. Each skein has almost 500 yards on it and I hope it will be enough to make a sweater or something. The color is somewhere between these two photos.

And for some current material; this is what I am working on now. I am to the point of cutting the yarn and winding it through the last 8 stitches of the mohair hat. It is supposed to be slightly felted when it is finished. When I tried the hat on at this point in the knitting, it doesn't really fit, so I decided to take some yarn from the other end of the barn and make a swatch to see how it will felt. Well, it doesn't. So it's going to stay on the needles until I decide what to do about that. (another reason why the only projects I seem to finish are socks.)
My other project on the needles is a pair of socks that I started on vacation in August. Specifically, Hartsville, Ohio.

The reason they are taking so long is because I really really dislike the colorway. I loved it in the skein, but now it is showing all the nasty browns and other pukey colors in the stripes. I know I will wear them when they are done, but they are just not fun to knit. So my new motivation is to get them done so I can start on the red hand dyed stuff from the fiber festival (see photo above). I also had to stop knitting on them to work on some Christmas knitting. That will be for next time.

I think I have the blog updated well enough to cover the important stuff that happened while I wasn't blogging. I hope to be blogging more in 2008. I also hope to get back into the habit of using my sewing room for my own work. It has been a hard year for me as an artist. Struggling with the issues of being paid to do someone else's art. when I do that for about 35 hours a week, it is hard to stay in there and clear all that out of the way to work on my own. I know it shouldn't be hard, if I really am the artist that I think I am. So this year, I will try to stay true to my own label as an "artist", not just the "paid to be" artist that I was in 2007. Wish me luck!

Travelling further back in time: August

2007-11-16T07:32:00.001-05:00

We didn't go far, or stay for very long, but it was a lot of fun anyway! We left our little Bella with my parents for the long weekend. It was the first time we had been away from her for more than overnight.

Our first stop was Cleveland Ohio for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We spent the day there and saw everything. We had been talking about going there for years, pretty much since we first started dating. I thought it was interesting, but not at all what I expected. I can't describe exactly what I thought it would be like, but I can't help but feel cost of admission was a little high for what is there to be seen. It was fun though. We left as the Hall was closing and found a map and planned out how to get to the restaurant we had picked out for dinner. About an hour later, we found it. Great Lakes Brewing Company. Food was good, beer was better.

After we waddled out of the restaurant with full bellies, we headed toward the hotel, which instead of being on Lake Erie, like I wanted, we had to drive about 35 minutes south to a small town outside of Cleveland. We had a limited budget and couldn't spend $100/night for all three nights. The hotel was ok. No frills or anything special, just a room with a bed and a bath. All we needed.

We hadn't quite decided what we were going to do the next day, so we browsed the tourist magazine that was in the hotel room. The only idea I had for the next day was to go on to our next destination and see the city. Our next destination was Columbus to bet on the harness races at Scioto Downs. Post time wasn't until 6:30, so we had a whole day to kill. In the magazine there was an ad for an enormous flea market only about 45 minutes away from our hotel, and somewhat on the way to Columbus. We only got lost a couple... ok, we got really lost quite a few times. But we found it. A couple of the vendors had puppies and after being away from Bella for less than two days already, I wanted to snuggle them. The sellers were pretty firm about the pups being held by SERIOUS buyers only. jerks.

We headed toward columbus and got there just in time to plan out our first couple bets and re-familiarize ourselves with the process. Unfortunately we did not come out ahead. The first time we had been to the harness races we did really well. We had no idea how to read the program other than to read the names of the horses and what race they were in. So we just picked horses by their funny names. We did pretty well for first timers. I think we broke even that time. This time though, we had some knowledge and could pick out a little information from the program. We bet on the first 5 races trying to use that information. The last 5 races we went back to our funny name system. Neither way worked. Out of the 10 races (and us betting separately for each race, so really 20 bets) we won ONE. One single race. Good thing we were only betting $1 on each race.

That night we stayed at the most filthy, scary, awful and not cheap hotel I've ever seen. I booked all our hotels ahead of time online. This hotel was scary. The room had a bed and a tv. that is pretty much all we had. No alarm clock, no remote control, no ice bucket, no plastic cups, no hair dryer. I think all we had was a single bar of awful hotel soap. The room reeked like paint and was visibly dirty. If I were more like my mother I would have complained and/or left and gotten my money back. I don't know where we would have stayed, we surely would have had to charge a more expensive hotel. So we ended up staying there. Even though we were tired from a long day and a lot of driving and getting lost, I couldn't get to sleep because I was thinking of all the different ways we could possibly be killed in our sleep.

We woke up the next morning (good thing I have an alarm clock in my cell phone) in time to shower and get the hell out of there. We glanced toward the continental breakfast on the way out, we paused and looked at each other and I just said, "let's go find a bakery". So we hit the road looking for some kind of little bakery, starbucks or ANYTHING. We found a Tim Hortons a little ways down the road and loaded up on caffeine and naughty breakfast items. Things with frosting and cheese and chocolate in and on them. And headed toward the next and final destination: Cave City, Kentucky.

We drove the 4 or 5 hours to Cave City and arrived at the hotel right at check-in. We walked in and told the woman at the hotel we had reservations. I guess we missed the time zone change sign on the freeway. It was an hour earlier than we thought. So we decided to go to the Cave first and come back to the hotel later. There were a lot of Cave tours to choose from in this part of the state. Mammoth Caves were right near our hotel, but I saw one online called The Lost River Cave, this one had a walking tour to the cave entrance and then a boat tour inside the cave! So we had to go to that one. It was amazing and I could do a whole blog post just about the cave, but I won't because this entry is already getting to be pretty lengthy. So here are some pics and brief explanations. If you want more, you'll have to go take the tour yourself. It is not expensive at all and is worth every penny.
This is a blue hole. One of the 5 or so places the river is above ground.

This is a section of the river that was above ground. Picture was taken from just outside the mouth of the cave.

After the cave tour we wandered the hiking trails and found something we could set the camera on and use the timer to get a picture of us together. It only took 4 or 5 tries to get one of me in the shot too. We were standing on some rocks in a little stream.

After the cave tour we headed back to Cave City to our hotel. This was the only night we spent at a NICE hotel. This room had a King size bed and a 2 person Jacuzzi tub in the room. I also found an ad online for a nice steakhouse. I looked at pictures and a menu online. It showed $20+ steaks and lobster and all the things you expect at a fancy steakhouse. So we showered and got all dressed up and went to the steakhouse. We drive up and from the outside it doesn't look very fancy. We think maybe they just don't spend their money on the OUTSIDE. So we go in and see everyone in cutoff jeans, tank tops, SWEAT PANTS. So, we're a little overdressed. We wait to be seated and look around. The walls are 80's wood paneling, with the tables and chairs that you would have found in a Pizza Hut in 1987. There is a small, not so fancy salad bar in front of the open galley kitchen. We sit down, thinking, maybe the menu will redeem the rest of what we saw so far. We glance over the menu, looking for steaks, seafood, wine list and beer selection... We see steaks. Just your average American restaurant style dinners, and no alcohol at all. So we decide to leave before the waitress comes back. We hi-tail it out of there and drive back to the hotel. We didn't see anything else along the way. The only option looked like a steakhouse Saloon type restaurant that was attached to the hotel across the street. We go into the lobby of our hotel and ask the attendant for a recommendation. We should have asked about a fancy place or steakhouse specifically, because when we asked for a good restaurant, he immediately referred us to the little mom/pop BBQ joint practically in the parking lot behind the hotel. We also asked where we could buy some alcohol. He pretty much just laughed and said, "welcome to the bible belt". It was Sunday and there is absolutely NO ALCOHOL sold on Sundays. We were pretty bummed that we couldn't have a glass of wine or beer with dinner, on the one night of the trip we were doing our romantic type stuff. But we ended up having a really nice dinner at the hotel steakhouse across the street. After dinner we had a soak in the Jacuzzi tub and watched the ever so romantic show "Ice Road Truckers".

Monday morning we slept in a bit and headed north toward home. Of course, I had scoped out a yarn shop and planned to hit it on the way home on Monday. It was in a little town called Bellevue right on the border between Cincinatti, Ohio and Kentucky. I had $50 set aside for splurging there. And I did. I got some nice variegated laceweight and a skein of Schaefer Anne. Turns out, I drove to Kentucky to buy laceweight yarn that is manufactured only an hour from my house.

We returned home and unpacked the car and then I went out to check on the garden. My mom and sister had been there Saturday night to water the garden and pick anything that was ripe. I had been having a problem with Japanese Beetles on my green beans. So I had a spray bottle of soapy water out there. It just takes one squirt and they die and fall off the leaf. In the two days since Mom and Shannon had been there I had an enormous swarm of Japanese Beetles. I probably did a bit of damage to the plant by spraying so much soapy water all over it to get ALL those bugs.

*shudder* makes me feel all creepy crawly.

Next time: Continuing with August, The Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan County.

2 finished objects and a dog's birthday

2007-11-06T08:50:00.000-05:00

I have been working on these socks since last summer. I cast on after we moved into this house in August. I started working on them again over the weekend and was surprised to see how close I was to finishing them, it only had about an hours worth of knitting left. Here they are,

Pattern is from Interweave Knits, Winter 2005. Yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Bittersweet.

If I had to do these socks again, I would definitely not continue the lace pattern along the bottom of the foot. I think it's wasted time/effort, but also it feels kinda funky on the bottom of my feet to have all that texture. I didn't even think of making the bottoms solid stockinette until the first sock was completely done. The pattern also calls to cut the yarn after the heel and start again, I think I would change that too. I get nervous about my socks not all being one long peice of yarn.

The thing in this house that makes me most nervous though... is this:

AHHHHHHHHHHHH There's a sock murderer loose in my house!!!
These are the worst things you could possibly ever step on. The nails stick up just enough to catch on a sock and RRRRRIPPPPP! I have lost quite a few socks to these strips, fortunately though, only store-bought ones. But it makes me extremely paranoid when I am wearing my knit socks.

The next finished object is a bag that I made for a baby shower that was last Saturday. I couldn't make it to the shower because my sister Shannon was home for the weekend. I hadn't seen her since April, so I thought that was a pretty valid reason to not attend the shower. I finished it Sunday night and will give it to the recipient when I see her this Saturday.

And now we travel back in time to September 15th 2007. Since Bella is such a good girl and just loves to play with other dogs, we decided to celebrate her first birthday by throwing her a HUGE party. There was probably 35 or 40 people here and at least 15 dogs. we had People food and dog treats and I made a cake (for people) shaped like a dog bone:

It wasn't that difficult to make the cake. I used three box mixes and baked them in a 9 by 13 rectangular pan. (each separately because I only have one 9 by 13 pan) then stacked them up with cool whip in between and let them sit in the fridge overnight so they would be more solid. Then I just used a sharp knife and carved out the bone shape using a paper pattern that I drew out first.

Here are two of the dogs that attended the party. Cricket is in front and Jada is in back. They are patiently waiting for the hand made dog cookies that are there on the picnic table. Just after the picture was snapped though, cricket jumped up onto the table and snatched as many as he could before his mom caught him.

The next morning, Bella opened her birthday presents. She got quite a few balls and bones and toys. She even got some scratch-off lottery tickets. She didn't win anything though.

The party was quite a success. there were only a few little scraps here and there and the only major problem was the weather. It was only about 62 degrees here. After a whole week of 75 to 80 degree weather, and then the whole week after the party it was in the 90's. We had a keg and a fire so the cold wasn't bothering me.

Happy Halloween (2 days later)

2007-11-02T09:39:00.000-04:00

I've taken a very LONG vacation from the blog. Long enough to get kicked off some of my Rings. So I am going to try to really make an effort to blog more than once a week. I thought I would start with Halloween and go backwards. I won't make it all the way back to April in one post though.

I made Ryan an award winning costume this year. In early October, we were at a birthday party for a friend and we started talking about Halloween and Ryan just blurted out, "I"m going to be a pissed-off sunflower for halloween". He said he hadn't even been thinking about it, but it just came to him, right then. Everyone thought it would be hilarious and my wheels started turning about how to make the costume. I would need a costume too, so I decided I would be Marilyn Monroe and enlisted my mom to make the white dress from "The Seven Year Itch". The costumes were for a Halloween show at a local dive venue in Ypsilanti where Ryan and the guys play quite often called "the Elbow Room".

This is him playing drums with his costume on:

and here is a better picture of the costume.
I used felt and sewed each petal shape inside out and stuffed them with fiber-fill and sewed them all to a store-bought knit cap. Originally I started with flat petals with wire clothes hangers glued inside, but that made it really heavy, so I had the idea to use stuffed petals and it really worked well. I sewed each petal to a strip of brown felt and then sewed that to the hat by hand. then I picked a couple places on each petal to sew it either to the petal next to it or to the hat more toward the top of the head, to keep it from just flopping down in front of his face. Then to hide all my stitches, I sewed two strips of brown together and cut slits into it and sewed it around the face opening, to look like the center of a sunflower. He had the best costume at both shows he played that weekend. The second show is where he won the costume contest. It was down to him and one other guy wearing a store-bought costume tied for first place. So they arm-wrestled for it and Ryan won! First prize was a brand new iPod Shuffle! I ask you this though... Who really won? The guy who wears the costume or the gal who made it? I don't want the iPod, I already have my own, but I just want a little recognition for it!

This is the only picture I have of me in my costume so far. I'm still waiting for a friend to send me the pictures she took with her camera.

On Halloween proper, we went to Monroe to go trick or treating with Ryan's niece and nephew. They were freaking adorable in their costumes. Ryan wore his sunflower head too and got comments from almost every person we passed. Kids laughed, older kids just said, "HA! HE's a Giant sunflower!!!!" After trick or treating we came home and charged up the camera batteries and emptied the memory stick onto the computer and gathered up some flashlights. We waited until midnight and then drove to some really old scary cemeteries. We took pictures in the pitch black hoping to see some gnarly scary ghosts on the images, but didn't really see anything. There are quite a few spots on the pictures, like glowing bubbles sort of, but I'm sure they are just light reflections off the moon or the flash or something.

This picture actually has some of the spots on it, but you proably have to make it big to see them.

Nothing too scary happened while we were out. I was expecting to get really freaked out and RUN back to the car. The first cemetery was the scariest. It is really really old, it is on the side of a road near our house and just sortof in the middle of a bunch of corn fields. We got out of the car and held hands as we walked up the the stones and shined the flashlights around and saw something moving... it was an american flag at one of the grave sites. So we just sortof stood at the edge of the cemetery and took the pictures. The next cemetery was completely fenced off, so we just pulled up and took pics from the car.
At the last cemetery we got out and walked around a little bit. There were some houses sortof near it, but it was way out in the country. All the stones were really old, people that died in the mid 1800's. We were standing there and heard something. kindof like a metal pipe hitting soemthing else metal. we stopped and just looked at each other, still listening. We heard it bang three times and I said, "OK, I'm ready to go". We got to the car and looked back and one of the houses near the cemetery had their outside lights on and we could see someone walking around, so we were pretty sure that's where the noise came from.

Ok, I think this post is long enough, next time I'll go backwards into September and tell you about Bella's First Birthday party!

I went to Chicago and all I got was...

2007-04-25T13:25:00.000-04:00

sick, and some ribbon.

So, I visited my sister in Chicago for the weekend and it was a lot of fun. I took the train from Jackson, Michigan Friday night, which was an hour late when it picked me up, then eventually became two hours late getting into the city because of other trains being in our way.

Saturday we went shopping and walked around town. We went to a cute little shop in Bucktown called Soutache. It was a little store with a whole wall of ribbons, a wall of buttons and a some other findings and metal clasps and things to make dog collars and key chains and stuff. I bought one yard of this pretty ribbon and a fob attachment to make a key chain. Shannon bought some cute used clothing at an upscale "value world" type place. And I did my big sister job of not letting her spend $250+ on a pair of shoes. Actually, my job was to not let her spend more than $250 over the whole weekend. We had a nice lunch at Silver Cloud and then went home for a rest. Then we hopped onto the El and headed toward downtown with the eventual destination of The Cheesecake Factory. We stopped at a dissappointing "chicago fabric yarn and button" or something or other store that had bolts and bolts of UGLY fabric. Stopped at the BEAN; My sister said we HAD to go see the BEAN and I didn't know what she was talking about and it sure didn't sound too exciting. But it was SO cool.

We did make it to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We did not order dinner. We each had a coffee drink and a piece of cheesecake for our early dinner. Shannon had Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake and I had the White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. If you know anything about me, this should sound weird to you. I am a chocoholic. I didn't order the full on chocolate overload cheesecake because I also ordered a Mocha to drink, which has chocolate in it. I thought it might be too much. I was wrong. I could have handled more chocolate. But I had enough of Shannon's to get my fix and neither of us finished our huge slices.

Sunday we started out early and went to breakfast at the Hollywood Cafe or something. I forget what it was called exactly. Then we took the EL for a while and walked for quite a while to get to the little neighborhood where our Great Grandma grew up. We had an address off of an old postcard, so Shannon mapquested it and we found our way to the house. It was kind of dissappointing to walk what was probably a mile or two from the EL stop to find a house that looks like it was built in the last decade. This is the house, about 20 feet from the railroad tracks. This is significant because Great Grandma had a little sister named Leora. When Leora was 4, she and a friend were walking to the store and had to cross the tracks. The girls walked between the cars of a parked train and stepped out on the other side onto the second set of tracks, just as another train came. Leora was killed. So it was very eery to see how close the house was to the tracks.

One redeeming point during our long walk to the house was this:

We were walking up a city street in a not so wonderful neighborhood very near the freeway when shannon stops and points across the street to this chicken, just mosey-ing on down the sidewalk. It was hilarious.

After we looked at the house we were tired of walking and I was not feeling very good. I had woken up with a migraine and I don't think breakfast was agreeing with me, so we figured out the shortest distance to a bus stop. Our next stop would be "Midwest Discount Yarn". The online description said they had mill ends and discontinued yarns at discounted prices. This place was pretty far away, but it sounded worth it. So we took two busses to find it. Closed. Closed on Sunday. of course. SO we got back on the bus headed for a yarn store that Shannon knew was open and was worth the trip. We were on the second bus when I started to feel a little queasy. I took a couple deep breaths and started worrying about this busload of people who might all get to see me puke soon. I told Shannon I didn't feel good and we got off the bus. I just needed some water and I started to feel better, but wasn't ready to get back on a bus yet. We walked a couple blocks along the bus route so we could just hop on when I was ready. We finally made it home with no puking in public. But without any yarn either. Yes... I felt that bad that I gave up a trip to a new yarn shop.

We had to leave Shannon's apartment at 5:30 to make it to Union Station so I could catch my train home. We got to Union Station at 6:19 or so and strolled toward the monitor to see what gate I should wait at. It wasn't on the monitor. So we found an amtrack employee and asked what gate the detroit train should be leaving from, he told us and we went in that direction, but the people at that gate were not even going to Michigan. I was starting to get nervous because the train was supposed to leave at 6:30. I saw another amtrack employee and whipped out my ticket and just said, "where am I supposed to be?" She said, "that train's already gone. It left at 6:00" as she pointed to the ticket where it says "6:00pm". "IT"S GONE" I mouthed to Shannon across the room. She looked puzzled. I got over to her and showed her the 6:00 on my ticket and we both said F***!. but then Shannon exclaimed, "you get to stay another night!!!" Which would have been great and awesome if I still didn't feel like crap with my stupid migraine. So we exchanged my ticket for the first train out in the morning and of course double and triple checked the time with the ticket lady. When we got outside Shannon stopped for a smoke and said I should call Ryan to tell him he doesn't have to pick me up tonight in Jackson. I just looked at her and started BALLING. I lost it. I was sick and when you're sick you just want to be at home. And honestly after only two days away, I missed Ryan and Bella and was excited about him picking me up at the train station. (Of course it's always more romantic in your head). It ended up being a good thing that I didn't take the train Sunday night. It would have been a long miserable ride with the migraine I had. Especially if I didn't get a seat to myself so I could stretch out.

So, that was my trip to Chicago where all I got was a neat piece of ribbon.

few and far between

2007-04-12T13:39:00.000-04:00

I just thought I'd stop by my own blog and drop a line. Once every two months seems to be my limit on posting. Not that there isn't "blog worthy" stuff going on around here. I've been sock knitting like crazy. I'm just stuck in a sock rut, and every sock I've worked on, including starting new ones have all been my old stand-by, not toe-up. I was just not in the mood to learn something new I guess.

I've been working on this sock for quite a while. I think I cast on last summer after we moved into the house. I'm getting pretty far on these, despite the needles being stolen and eaten right out of the stitches back in January. Luckily Bella was only interested in the bamboo, not the yarn. Maybe she doesn't like wool... I think in this case that is a good thing.

I have one more 16-row lace repeat to do before I start the toe. This is only sock 1 of the pair. hmmmm that kind of makes me want to go finish it right now.

So after my last pair was finished I cast on this sock. I think the yarn is Trekking, it came from my grandma's stash without a ball band. It seemed like it was a little smaller guage than usual sock yarn, so I was using size 0 needles. I was going along and after 6 inches of 2x2 ribbing and the heel flap and turn heel and even a few gusset decreases, I tried it on.... way too small. So, I stared at it for a couple days, then finally pulled the needles out of it. and there it sits. I'll eventually re-wind the ball and RRRRRRip the sock, but I just can't do it yet.

So after that, I started on my favorite yarn from my stash. My Trekking. I just love these colors. These are for me. I just finished the gussett decreases last night and heading toward the toe on sock one.

And of course I am still working on this pink silk/wool tank top from the cover of Interweave Knits (don't know what issue, magazine is upstairs and I'm lazy). Last time I worked on it, I had an extra stitch in the last row and just did a k2tog with the two stitches before the marker. So now I'm discouraged and think it will mess up the alignment in the lace.

I have not even started working yet today. I have the rest of today, most of tomorrow and all Monday to do almost 20 hours of work. I should be getting it done today and saving myself the stress of finishing 12 hours of work on Monday, but, that's how I do things I guess. Procrastination. Instead of working I have been ADD cleaning, packing, unpacking, doing laundry and snuggling with Bella. Oh, and washed a sink full of dishes. Which included a whole lotta stuff that we got yesterday at IKEA. It was the first time either of us had been there and we (well, I) went nuts; throwing things in the cart left and right. It was all a birthday present to myself. I told Ryan, in lieu of a birthday present this year, I just wanted us to spend a day together and go to IKEA and do some other fun stuff. So that's what we did yesterday.

Then we went to my parents' house for dinner (Seafood quiche, salad and yummy homemade bread), presents and cake. No singing. We don't sing. Except for my sister Shannon, I got a quite lovely saranade over the phone of an off key, out of tune, exuberant Happy Birthday song from Shannon. And since Shannon couldn't come here on a wednesday for my birthday, I am going to take the train tomorrow night to Chicago to see her and spend the weekend. I am SOOOOOOO excited. and kinda nervous. I've never ridden the train alone before. So I have to pack up a big bag of knitting and stuff to keep me busy for at least 4 hours. I am really excited about having 4 hours of knitting time though.

Here's some other stuff I got for my birthday from my parents.

I also got a 10 piece set of CALPHALON pans. Yeah. They are AWESOME. They are all washed and ready to use. I just want to go upstairs and cook a HUGE meal.

And of course, here's another picture of Bella. She has a little raw spot on the top of her nose from burying bones and treats in the couch cushions and in the bed. It's so cute how she pretends there is dirt there to cover the bone up with.

Ok, I think I have gotten all the non-work stuff out of my system. Now I need to get a start on this week's load of work.

Next post (hopefully some time before June) will have some Quilting/sewing content.

What could be better?

2007-02-20T16:27:00.000-05:00

Today I learned how to cast on and start a sock from the toe up! Very exciting. I was saving this Twizzle yarn until I learned the toe up method because I don't want to waste even an inch of it. So here is the start of it.

But even more exciting than that is THIS that was waiting for me in the mail box when I got home!

Thirteen sets of 5" DPNs. I can hardly contain my excitement! My mom bought these for me on Ebay for less than $30. What a deal!! I was planning on going to the yarn store and getting new sets of size 0 and 1, to replace what Bella ate. But now I don't have to. Now my only problem is this:

I have too many needles for my needle case... I don't think I'll complain too much about that one.

2007-02-13T18:39:00.000-05:00

Wow... It has been so long since I posted I don't even know what to say. There is too much, so let's pretend that I haven't been neglecting the blog, then there won't be a really long rambling post detailing all the mundane happenings since December 10th.

Christmas was fun, 3 days of presents and food.
I got a lot of great stuff; a stereo for my sewing room that has a dock for my iPod that allows it to charge and play at the same time! Plenty of gift cards including one for kpixie.com. (it has been so long since I posted, I have to brush up on my html for linking) And, I am coming to you live over the internet, on my own computer in my own house! My parents actually paid for a full year of internet for us! All I had to do was take the check to the office and sign my name. Very exciting to have internet again, although I am very glad I had that 4 month break from it. When I worked in an office and sat in front of the computer all day, I read blog after blog, checked ebay daily, checked my own web site stats, and bought way too much yarn. So, now that I have had a break from it, I realize I don't miss most of that stuff and now am out of the habit of reading a lot of the blogs I used to read.

The size 13 socks I was knitting were for Ryan. Christmas eve, he opened a box containing one hand knit sock and about 2 inches of the second sock, on the needles. And last night, only 2 months later, I finished the 2nd of the pair. He was very excited about the first one and now is really excited that there are two. It was pretty cute, since Christmas he's been asking me where his other sock is, when it will be done and reminding me that it isn't done and whenever he saw me knittng something other than his sock he said, "so... how's my sock coming along?" Of course I blamed him for it not being done because he has such big feet. Bella hasn't been helping either; she has already eaten two sets of 5" bamboo dpns.
Here are the socks, finished but not yet worn or washed.

And here you can see how much yarn I had left... gulp!
I am very relieved to have had enough to finish. I was really starting to worry.

I haven't really been working on any of my own stuff lately, other than just knitting along on socks. The next big adventure is going to be swapping my sewing room in the basement with the guest bedroom upstairs. Our house is a ranch style with a "finished" basement. I say "finished" because it is usable as another living room, but the drywall isn't finished and the ceiling still looks like an unfinished basement. But, off of that area is the 3rd bedroom of the house which is about 11 foot square, has berber carpeting, two very small basement style windows, no closet and I had to rig up so much lighting in there so I can see that I have to hit 5 switches when I walk in to turn everything on. The worst part of the basement room is that it is freakin' COLD down here. it has to be 10 degrees colder than the upstairs... which would put it at about 58 degrees. I'll be generous and call it 60 though. The upstairs extra bedroom is only about 9 by 10 feet, but it has two REAL windows that get great sunlight all day (they face north and west) it has a closet and some shelving, it is more convenient for work to be upstairs near the bathroom, kitchen, the front door, etc. Best of all, it will be WARM. So I want to paint in there before I move my stuff, I hope to start pulling out nails and start sanding and spackleing this week. I still can't decide on a color, I think I am going to pick out fabric for curtains first, then pick paint for the walls. Then I would also like to paint the basement room before I set up the guest room furniture in there. We'll see how that goes though, it is not a priority.

Life with Bella around has been rough. She just refuses to be potty trained. I don't understand how she can NOT be trained yet. How many times do you have to yell and, I hate to say it, smack a puppy's little butt before she gets it... NO POOP IN THE HOUSE. I don't care if we didn't SEE you do it, I don't care if you can still just barely fit under the bed, that is NOT where poop goes! Umbilical method training starts today. Whenever she is out of her crate, she will be attached to either me or Ryan by leash. She will not be out of our sight until she can learn that POOP goes OUTSIDE. She turns 5 months old tomorrow. Wish us luck...

Hey, remember me?

2006-12-10T17:46:00.000-05:00

We don't have internet at home still and now that I don't get paid to sit in front of the internet all day, I have gotten out of my old internet obsessions. I haven't even been able to read Harlot since October! I do have her latest book to read still though. Any way... Thought I would catch up with a quick post. We have a new addition to our little family, her name is Bella. She was born 9-14-06 and we adopted her from a shelter that was at the Novi Pet Expo the weekend of November 17. Here are some pictures of her from the first couple days we had her.

She was pretty stinky, so we ended up giving her a bath the first night.

And here we are hanging out on the couch.

She is a Sheltie mix, We aren't sure what she's mixed with, so we don't know how big she'll get. She was 6 pounds last week, probably up to 8 now. It's been almost a month since we got her and she is doing really well. She sleeps with us and is our new licking and biting and barking alarm clock. 7:30 is perfect during the week, but she can't differentiate between a tuesday and a sunday.

In other news... I'm still working at home, which means I spend all my time in the sewing room working and when the work is done, I don't want to be in there anymore. So, no new art to show off for now. And now that Bella is here, there isn't much knitting happening either. A couple more months and she'll be better around the needles and knitting. Right now anything that is within reach is a toy. Including our socks, my purple fuzzy slippers, a gardening glove she found in the yard, and used dryer sheets. She'll pretty much play with anything that she can carry away.

That's all for now. Christmas is coming and only one person is for sure getting anything home made. The trekking socks, well, it is still just one sock, not a pair yet. They will be wrapped and under the tree whether finished or not. More likely 'NOT'. I will try to post at least once a month for now, but I think we'll be getting the internet at home soon.

HOpe everyone had a lovely thanksgiving and that you all have a great Christmas too!

fuzzy

2006-09-19T14:53:00.000-04:00

Somehow I left the house today without putting my contacts in. Two months ago, that wouldn't have been a problem, I would have noticed as soon as I got to work and looked at my computer screen. But this time, I noticed when I was half way to work, which instead of the 10 minute drive I had 2 months ago, is a 45 minute drive now. So I couldn't turn around and go back, or wait till lunch time to go home and put them in... nope, have to wait till 5 when I get to leave. Which will be too late. I will already have a headache. grrrr...

So, I just wanted to slip into my own blog and write a little sumthin' sumthin'.

The entry deadline for Quilt National has come and gone and I didn't get to send anything in. I wanted SO bad to send in my black remazol wholecloth quilt that I've been hand quilting since spring. It is just moving along too slowly, and I don't want to rush it because I want it to be perfect. So, maybe next year.

It is my last week of work. Starting Monday I am officially an artist. Doing someone else's art, but that is beside the point. It's a stepping stone. It's all a stepping stone to my dream job, ARTEEEEEST. I'm still a little nervous, but I think it will all work out.

I dyed some fabric over the weekend, I am starting a multi-process and multi-layered piece to hang in a cool old frame in our bedroom. I acqured the frame from my old job at a frame shop. When customers would bring in art that was already frame, sometimes they didn't want their old supplies back, so they were up for grabs for employees. Needless to say that I have BOXES and BOXES of stuff in our basement that came from my almost 4 years at that job. Ryan too, because that is where we met!

Anyway... Not much else new to report. Going to look into getting internet hooked up at home in the next week or two. Then I can get back to posting regularly. Please know that I miss ya'll when I am so far away from the whole world, without my internet, without my blogs to read, without my Ebay... the list goes on... and now, my MySpace. ugh... I resisted for SO long, but I finally gave in and started a myspace. It's fun so far, addicting. Like when you first start reading blogs, you can sit there for hours going from one page to the next.

do it already

2006-09-12T16:00:00.000-04:00

Oh.... you have no idea how many times I've opened up blogger and started to write a couple sentences, read them over and then said, "that's dumb" or "that's boring" (not to mention the times that I stared at the blank screen) and just closed the window and went somewhere else. But today, even if it is dumb or boring... gotta write something.

Things are changing and I'm freaking out a bit. kinda starting to cry right now at work because I just changed something huge and I don't know what's going to happen next.

Quitting your job because you hate it and are bored is a good reason right? Quitting your job for those reasons, plus getting to work for an artist is a good reason. Except when your original job paid really well even though you had to get up at the ass crack of dawn and drive for 45 minutes to get there because you bought an awesome house too far from work. I have been weighing all these things for days. I am looking, searching, hunting for a 2nd job to go along with my awesome work-at-home-doing-art-for-someone-else-almost-full-time job, because I need to make up the difference in my pay, because HOLY MAMA, I OWN A HOUSE now and have lots of bills.

whoa... not at all what I expected to come out when I started typing. I really came to show some pictures of what I've been working on at home, which isn't a whole lot, but it's something.

I made my Grandma a roll up dpn case for her birthday and included a set of size 1's in the 5-inch length, which are THE BEST!

Turns out that she has never used the 5-inchers before... oh she will LOVE them for socks! How can a sock knitter use the long ones? I have tried since I switched over the the 5's and man, they just get in the way of each other. I love my 5" needles!

And, here is a purple rail fence quilt that I started back in the apartment.

It is layered and trimmed and ready for quilting and binding. I am thinking of some all over floral pattern. something to really be opposite to all the geometric stuff.

And, to all those that loved these pieces before... I had to do it.

I peeled off all the little details. I even threw them away. I really could just leave them the way they are now. I love them. But I will probably do some hand stitching on them.

For now... I have a stack of resumes to read and sort through. My replacement you know. Hard to read and process them all when you can't think straight.

Hopefully will be updating more regularly again soon. Still no internet at home.
But Sunday... Oh... Sunday is the Fiber Festival in Chelsea. I have $50 burning a hole in my pocket, and I will be buying yarn with it.

The difference 12 square feet can make

2006-08-18T09:44:00.000-04:00

We started our first big home improvement adventure last night. The hall closet is no more. I brushed my teeth and blow dried my hair and put my makeup on this morning and didn't bump my elbow once. It was great.

So here are some pictures of the bathroom up until 7:00 last night.

As you can see, the sink is tiny and not as deep as the wall on the right side of it. The other side of that wall is the hall closet.

And this is what it looks like now.

It will probably look like this for a few months until we fix the roof. That will be at least $1,000 to buy supplies and do it ourselves. And by "ourselves" I mean, Ryan and his buddies will fix the roof, I will hand them tools from the ground and go get beer and pizza and maybe make a cake or some other dessert (the strawberry shortcake with berries masserated in Vodka went over well last time). The roof has to be done before winter and we're planning on the bathroom costing another $1,000, so we'll have to save up for a while before we can buy the new vanity and fixtures.

There was only one casualty in the process (besides of course the closet). Here I am doing the first bit of demolition. I got to do the first wail on the wall. But in that first hit, becuase the handle on the hammer was so short, my knuckles hit the wall and my ring got smashed between the handle and the wall.
Now it looks like this:

Finally some freakin' pictures

2006-08-15T09:55:00.000-04:00

As soon as I got home on Friday I headed straight for the box I thought the camera cords would be in. EUREKA!!! I packed them in around my computer monitor at the last minute... I probably chose that box so I would remember where they were and be able to find them quickly. Isn't that always the way it goes.

So, the sewing room is assembled as far as the furniture goes. All the stuff that gets stored in or on the furniture is not so organized yet. I am getting an itch to get in there and get it done enough so I can sew. I think it's been at least 2 months since I have sat at the machine for longer than 20 minutes. And the button I sewed back onto my pants on Sunday doesn't count.

This is my sewing table and machine. I have the table set up so that I am facing the doorway when I sew. I don't like to have my back to the door when I'm sewing, especially because my machine is so loud that I wouldn't hear anyone come in the room. And, because of the hilarious habit Ryan has of sneaking up on me and saying BOO!

This is an old ugly hand-me-down dresser that I am not at all attached to, but it serves it's purpose. My dad built a little table top and I use it as an ironing surface and storage.

Here is a shelf that I'm going to store all my calico and hand dyes on. This spot in the room gets no direct sunlight, so it should be perfect to just leave everything folded and on the shelves. My design wall is there to the right. It doesn't get much direct sunlight either.

And last night I set up my little loom area. The sewing room isn't big enough to keep the loom in, so I set it up just outside the sewing room in the basement living area. That bench is FULL of all my coned yarn. When Ryan picked it up at my apartment to take it out to the moving truck I told him, it's not heavy, it's just full of yarn... The groan he made when he picked it up said otherwise.

On the other side of the wall behind the loom in that picture is about a 10 by 10 storage room that also has the furnace in it. There is no outlet on the wall in the living area of the basement, so I had to plug in that silver lamp around the corner in the storage room. The previous owners had their carbon monoxide detector plugged into that outlet, but there was room for one more thing, so I plugged in the lamp and turned it on. Nothing. Made sure the light bulb was still good and screwed in all the way, tried again, nothing. Went into the storage room and turned on the light switch and the silver lamp came on... Did you catch that? That stroke of genius? The previous owners plugged their carbon monoxide detector into an outlet that only works when the light switch is turned on. GENIUS.

Shannon and my parents came over on Friday for a weenie roast around our fire pit. It was our first party-type thing at our new house and all we did was come up with the idea. Mom brought the dogs, buns, beer and even some cooking tools. All we supplied was a little bit of gasoline to get a fire going... Which at over $3/gallon is nothing to huff at. haha. We tried to get my dad to drink a beer, but he wouldn't. We thought maybe if his only choices were beer or water, surely he'd choose beer. He ended up walking to the gas station around the corner to get a pop.

Here is Ryan and I sitting at the fire. Shannon took about four dumb pictures of us with fake smiles. I knew in order for a picture to turn out with us looking like we were actually having fun she'd have to do something funny. She did. She was wearing a skirt and sitting on a blanket on the other side of the fire from us. I yelled out a specific request, just before she took the picture, for her to do something very unlady-like... she did.

and here is one of Shannon and Ryan cooking their weenies. (They really were having fun, even though they both look bored out of their minds.)

It was a fun time and I think we're going to do it again soon.

Lost

2006-08-11T08:59:00.000-04:00

I had 10 extra minutes this morning before I had to leave for work, so I went downstairs with my camera to take some pictures of my roughly assembled sewing room in the new house. Then I remembered that I haven't taken any pictures yet not because I didn't have time, but because I don't know where the cord is to get the pictures from the camera to the computer. It's in a box labeled "computer stuff" and it is somewhere in the house. I haven't found the box yet. I am sure I put all the cords for my camera and my iPod all in the same box and then wrote on it, "camera cord" or something obvious. Because I knew I would want that before we set the computer up. I looked in ALL of my boxes in the sewing room, and the basement where all of the still packed boxes have accumulated. So of course, my 10 extra minutes turned into 15 minutes of me looking through boxes that I had already checked, then remembering I still had to put on my shoes and gather all my work stuff before I could leave. 20 minutes later I was on the road and stuck behind a gas guzzler that couldn't decide if he should do 5 under or 5 over the speed limit. If it isn't a soccer mom on the phone, it's a gravel truck... every single morning. For the two weeks I have been commuting to work so far I have been late. Why does it take 35 minutes to get TO work, but only 25 to get home, when I take the exact same roads?!

Shannon is in town this weekend and she is coming over tonight to see the new house. We're going to have a fire in the fire pit and cook hot dogs and s'mores. Ryan and I had our first fire in the pit earlier in the week and if you had been there you would have laughed so hard at us city kids having to start a fire with gasoline. It took so long to get the fire going and actually get the LOGS to start burning instead of the brush and newspaper underneath. And then the first dose of gasoline burned off and we had to put more on it. By the time it was a good fire we were bored with it and wanted to go inside. I think we figured out some better techniques though and it should be easier this time around.

Pictures on Monday. That is the goal. I think I just thought of where they are... I remember having some extra space in the box I put the computer monitor in... I think that's it.

I had a little time to knit last night. I am done with the heel flap on the brown/purple sock. It looks the same as the first one, you can see it here. I am anxious to get this pair done because it is boring the hell out of me. I want to start a pair of trekking socks. I got a brand new ball of Trekking in a certain boring colorway for a certain big-footed man that will get his first pair of hand knit socks for Xmas this year. I also got a set of shorter bamboo size 1 dpns that I am anxious to try out. It has taken everything in me to not start these socks without finishing the brown/purple ones.
Has anyone out there ever knit man-socks for someone with wider than average feet? I'm wondering if I should cast on more or maybe do some increases around the ball area of the foot. And I'm thinking that if I do a 2 by 2 riibbing all the way down to the toe it will be more snug and stretchy.

Peachy Keen

2006-08-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

Whoa, I knew it had been a long time since I posted, but I didn't realize HOW long until I went back to view my last post. (Surprise, I don't re-read my own blog after it is posted!) My excuse (this time) is that I didn't think all the stuff going on right now would be interesting to a whole lot of people that come here looking for Yarn Porn, quilts and other fibery goodness. Not much of that has been going on, unless you consider doing laundry "fibery goodness".

We just love our new house and are both so happy. We have melded our lives together perfectly. Yes it has only been two weeks, but we have been spending more time together than we EVER have, we've been making big decisions, we've been dealing with money, and still no fighting, arguing or agreeing to disagree. It seems like people are standing back, watching and waiting for some kind of shit to hit the fan. People at work keep asking, "How is the house" I say, "It's GREAT!" and they say, "so, how do you like having a room mate?" It seems like they just can't wait to hear some dirt. For me to tell them that he puts the toilet paper roll on the wrong way, that he leaves his dirty socks on the couch, that he doesn't do laundry or dishes. And honestly, I can't say that. None of it. Okay, the toilet paper roll thing we handled immediately, but everything else isn't an issue. We both lived on our own for long enough before living together that there isn't that, "oh, if I leave this dish in the sink, it won't magically become clean and teleport itself back into the cupboard" shock that you get when you don't live with your mom any more.

The main level of the house is pretty much put together, the kitchen was first, then the bedroom and living/dining room. This past weekend I started on the sewing room. All the furniture has found its final resting place, so this week I'll be organizing and putting away fabric and yarn.

And here is the list of home improvements, and in the tentative order of importance.

Tear down wall in bathroom. For some reason, the builder or a previous owner thought that having a hall coat closet would be better than having a bathroom big enough to brush your teeth in without hitting your elbow on the wall. So, goodbye closet. We don't need no stinkin' closet! The wall is coming down. We probably will end up actually fixing the bathroom last, maybe this winter, but the wall is coming down ASAP.

Break up and remove cement driveway. There is pavement on two sides of the house, the driveway and the back yard has a good sized patio. The cement is graded TOWARD our foundation, which means any water runs INTO the foundation. The pressure of the cement pushing on the foundation is also making it bow in and crack. So the cement has to be broken up and removed.

New roof.

Then we can start thinking about remodeling the bathroom

Finish the almost finished basement, which may include un-doing what was already done and starting over.

I also want to paint almost every room in the house. But, since the kitchen/dining room/living room will all be remodeled eventually, we're only worried about painting the bedroom.

Still no internet at home, and probably won't have it for a while. I'll take some pictures soon and will have to load them here at work.

I am still having a hard time grasping the OWNING part of this living situation. I can't grasp that I'm setting up my sewing room and it will stay that way for longer than a year. I still see For Sale and For Rent signs when I drive around and for a split second think, "oh, I'll have to remember to look that one up". And I'm still on the look out for empty boxes for moving. For two months I snatched up every empty box I could get my hands on. Now that our garage is full of empty and broken-down boxes, I can't quit the habit to acquire more. And the most surprising habit that has carried over from renting an upper unit apartment; when we drop something or walk around on our wood floors and they creek or I notice that I am walking with a heavy footed gait, I think, "the people downstairs will be pissed."

The ink is dry

2006-07-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

We signed all the papers, got the keys and some money that was part of the deal (towards a new roof) today. We had lunch with my mom and then headed to our respective homes to load up some preliminary moving items. I wanted to get my loom over to the house and Ryan wanted to get his motorcycle and tools over today. Mom and I intended on cleaing the house today while it was still for the most part empty, but we cleaned the windows and called it done. The previous owners cleaned it pretty well before they left.

So this is my last night in my apartment, my last night of sleeping alone and my last post in my apartment before I shut down and pack up the computer. We don't plan on signing up for cable or internet service right away. We are going to be so busy with unpacking, getting settled and doing our respective hobbies, that cable tv and internet is going to be fairly low on the list. Plus, it's a big expense every month and we want to make sure we aren't spending more than we have to while we're figuring out what all our bills will be like and all that fun stuff of home ownership. Not to mention all the nickel and dime things that will come along that we'll need/want to do to the house.

So, I won't have access to the internet again until I go back to work on Tuesday... OH MY GOD... Will I survive?!

I have to say that Yarn Harlot picked the WRONG day to come to Ann Arbor. She will be here on Sunday at the Library for a reading/signing and I know I will be busy at the house setting up everything and unpacking and as much as I REALLY want to go see her, I know I won't want to leave my new house for a couple hours for it.

That is all for now, pictures of the house and my new sewing room will come in due time.

One more week of...

2006-07-22T14:08:00.000-04:00

Living alone

Noisy neighbors

This lovely view from my bedroom window

Parking in a parking lot

The wonderful blasts of screamin' hot water in the shower when a neighbor flushes the toilet

Squeeky floors and bed noises in the bedroom above mine

Annoying, over-sensitive car alarms in the middle of the night

Going to Mom and Dad's to do laundry

My small hallway of a kitchen

The heavy-footed people in the stairwell

We close next Friday. We had one more speed bump to overcome last week, but that is past us, and now the only thing to do is finish packing and get really really excited.

Insert clever title here

2006-07-08T01:15:00.000-04:00

What a crazy week it's been. Nothing too frustrating, stressful or worrisome has been going on, but with the holiday on a Tuesday, it kind of messed up the whole week. Saturday Ryan and I went to a birthday party at his parents' house, which is usually a Sunday destination for us, so Saturday really felt like it was Sunday. Sunday actually felt like Sunday because I had to work on Monday. I left work early on Monday because there was no one else there and no one was calling because I think I was the only person in Michigan (and some of Ohio) that had to work on Monday. So since I left early and didn't have to work the next day, it made it kinda feel like a Friday. Then Tuesday was the holiday, so that felt like another Sunday because it was a day off and I did have to work the next day. Then on Wednesday, thinking the rest of the week would be getting back to normal, felt like a Monday. Thursday felt like Friday and Friday felt like a Wednesday for some reason. I can't really explain why today didn't feel like Friday, but believe me I was glad when I finally realized it.

The ratio of Yarn:Bills in today's mail made me extremely happy. I ordered some yarn from Elann.com on Monday. It came in the mail today. They are so quick and affordable. I got 3 skeins of a reddish/maroon and one skein of pumpkiny orange 100% peruvian wool to make a French Market Bag from Knitty. I'm kindof planning projects and hordeing yarn, I'm anticipating a... um... financial shortage coming. So I think I need to buy yarn while I can. Stockpile, ya know.

So tonight, I almost finished a sock. Just need to kichener it up.

BUT... The book that holds the mystery of the kichener stitch is packed somewhere in this mess of boxes and bags. That sounds like a project to tackle tomorrow.

I haven't used the kichener stitch enough to memorize it, I still need to read the instructions out of my sock-shaped sock book.

And the BEST most exciting thing I've been waiting and waiting for...

It's real, I really did graduate. Having not participated in the commencement ceremony and since it is summer whether I would be taking classes in the fall or not, it still isn't really real to me that I don't have to go back in the fall, or ever.

Third time's the charm

2006-07-03T14:13:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted because we've still been busy house hunting. The one I talked about last time was not for us. We made an offer, but ours wasn't the only one. We had a chance to counter offer, but the other offer was still higher and they accepted that one. Which, we have found out is a good thing, because our panicked counter-offer was too high for our income and we would have been broke after a couple months. I think we were getting a little too greedy and picky, we looked at at least 25 houses. A lot of them out of our price range, hoping we could offer less. So, we made an offer on a house that was actually our "first choice" for a couple days before we saw the other two that we made offers on. This one is a perfect starter house. We made the offer Friday evening and got a call about three hours later that our offer was accepted as written!!! I will have a studio in the finished basement, near the laundry room where I can do my dying. The yard is very large and we are only a couple blocks from town. We close at the end of the month, so I still have about 4 weeks to finish packing. Which really means, I can think about packing for 3 weeks, and actually start on the 4th week. It also means I have only 3 days to move out of my apartment and clean it and do any cleaning at the new house and get everything into it. No problem, right?

I've been working on a sock and started the Lotus Blossom Tank in the latest Interweave Knits. I'm using Elisebeth Lavold Silky Wool in pink. I'm almost done with the first lace repeat and it isn't too hard. I've only had to tink back one round so far. The lace pattern is not repetitive enough to be done while watching tv, movies or with any other distractions. This is "alone time" knitting; which is why I'm not farther into it after two weeks.

Good things come to those who wait... and... I always get what I want.

2006-06-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

After a month of wating for news and dealing with crazy bankers, crazy realtors and crazy home buyers (yes, us, we're going crazy), we have withdrawn our offer on the house. We went back to look at the house Wednesday night. It was storming pretty good and had been raining on and off for about 24 hours. We walked up to the porch and peeked in the windows. The house was empty except for a tv, a spiderman chair, a pair of little boy's underwear, random cd's, toys and cleaning products and a crib full of stuffed animals. When we walked in the door, I looked up at where we noticed water damage stains the first time through the house. We had examined the roof (from the ground) and it looked as though the water damage had been fixed and should be water tight again... well... we were wrong. Wet Plaster. We wandered the house and things we hadn't noticed before were everywhere; evidence of past water damage in the basement, stained carpet, shotty (shoddy?) cabinets in the kitchen. Seeing the kitchen with no appliances was a shock too. We knew they were taking them, but actually seeing them gone was weird. Made us realize that yes, we are going to have to drop a grand on appliances if we get this house. So, after talking to the listing agent about all these problems, he said we would be buying the house AS IS, which means we would not lower our offer because of the problems we would have to fix. Nor would we be reimbursed. So, they can keep it. We have found something else that is actually exactly what I pictured myself in. We overlooked it at first in favor of a newer house, but it turns out that the newer house has more problems. We're writing an offer on Saturday. And there is just no way that this deal can take any longer than we waited for the previous one. So we hope to have an answer in less than a week, and have a closing date set for mid-July with posession at closing. Which leaves me plenty of time if I decide to not pack another thing until then... and I'll probably do that. That's the way I roll. I like to wait till the last minute.

Everything with the house seems to be falling into place perfectly. If the process had gone smoothly, we would have taken their word for the pool being "opened" (which does not mean brown, murky water with toads living in it, as is the case right now) and we wouldn't have known that the roof does in fact leak into the living room, we wouldn't have seen all the stains in the carpet, or the water damage in the basement, or the stench in the garage that was so bad, we couldn't go in there. We would have bought the house, closed on it next Friday, and then had to spend $1,000 on appliances, at least $3,000 on a new roof, more on new carpet, paint and who knows what else. It was so frustrating, time consuming and maddening, but now it is over and it's for the best. I do not feel bad at all about losing this house.

Wait, what did you say? This is a knitting/fiber art blog? oh yeah... ummm

Skirt is done and seamed

Socks are done, as seen in last post

Heading toward the toe on sock 1 of the next pair

Mentally preparing to start my first garment... one of the lace bottomed tank tops from the current Interweave Knits. pink/cream wool/silk blend. (I guess the skirt was my first garment, but it was easy.)

I'm on a rail fence quilt kick too. I have ideas for about 5 more... those will probably wait till after the move though.

Boxes and Soxes

2006-06-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

I have had quite a productive couple of days. I've been ADD packing all week. I got a jackpot of boxes from a local produce store and started randomly packing things. I have 4 big boxes of clothes that either don't fit or I just don't wear anymore. All are moving with me, I'll go thru them after the move. Hopefully we'll have enough crap for a garage sale. The rest of the boxes I've packed so far have books and fabric. Ryan was very happy to find out that I alternated fabric and books in each box. So they don't all weigh 50 pounds. (When I moved out of my parents house I packed a lot of books in BIG boxes. He could hardly lift them... he didn't think it was funny) So this time, anything that is packed too heavy for ME to lift, gets unpacked and redistributed.

I still feel like it is too early to start packing. My lease is up July 31st, so regardless of not having a signed contract yet, I have to move somewhere by the end of July; whether it is into our house, or into a storage unit and live at my parents' house for a couple weeks.

Friday I finished this pair of socks, yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit 7018. My first pair of socks knit on size 1's. I don't think it was any more tedius than any other sock I've done. I love the tiny tiny any way.

And the most exciting accomplishment this weekend, was the almost 5 hours I've spent updating my website. I have redesigned the entire gallery. Here it is, Textile Stockpile Gallery, let me know what you think. The store section is up next, There are a lot of pictures that need to be redone, and I want the whole website to have the same format, just like the home page and all the new gallery pages. I think the white background is much more aesthetically pleasing than the black, and I think keeping every page with the same color format, really makes it look better, like every page is part of the whole.

"ABC's" or "I'm bored"

2006-06-13T11:20:00.000-04:00

Accent: Michigander. But the lower peninsula, so we don’t say “eh” after every statement. We sound like we talk thru our nose, and it’s usually stuffed from allergies.

Booze: Sex on the Beach, dark beer, cheap wine (the kind that just tastes like fruit juice).

Chores I hate: cleaning the bathroom and doing dishes.

Dog/cat: Dog. Allergic to cats.

Essential Electronics: everything. I’m a city girl, can’t do without my hair dryer, computer/internet, tv, iPod.

Favorite perfume: DKNY Be Delicious

Gold/silver: Silver or white gold

Hometown: Chelsea, Michigan

Insomnia: nope, gotta get my eight hours

Job Title: Office Manager

Kids: in the next 5 years or so I hope

Living Arrangements: moving out of my apartment and buying a house!

Most admirable trait: Conscientious and optimistic

Number of countries visited: only two. US and Canada

Overnight Hospital Stays: when I was born

Phobias: heights

Quote: "I am like no one in the whole world. I may be no better, at least I am different." Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Religion: None. Was not raised in a particular religion, but do believe in God, or some kind of higher spirit. I love to read about Greek/Roman mythology and the Hindu/Buddhist religions.

Siblings: one younger sister, Shannon

Time you wake up: 7am for work, my eyes pop open at 9am on the weekends

Unusual talent: can’t think of one at the moment

Vegetable I refuse to eat: peas, lima beans, brussel sprouts

Worst Habit: sitting on my feet and crossing my legs when I sit.

Xrays: Arm when I was in pre-school. An IVP in 2001, looking for kidney stones, found two… whoopee!

Yummy food I make: spinach/artichoke dip; cheese ravioli with chicken, zucchini and carrots; lots of stir-frys; Chocolate/Cinnamon biscotti

Zodiac: Aries

Don't I know you?

2006-06-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

One night last week, my mom and I were in a Chinese restaurant. We were sitting in a booth along the wall, waiting for our food when the people in the booth in the corner stood up and walked past us toward the cahsier. One of the older men that walked by looked familiar...

Me: Where have I seen that guy?
pause
Me: OH MY GOD!!! I have seen that guy naked!
Mom: WHA?
Me: That guy standing at the counter, I've seen him naked! He was one of our Life Drawing models in school!
Mom: {Cringe} Oh god... I recognize him from your drawings!!!

We spent the next 10 minutes cringing and saying "ewwww!"

I suffered through that class. It was 15 looooooong weeks of drawing naked people and being ridiculed and tormented by the instructor.

Hey, I said I TOOK the class, I didn't say I was good at it.

The mark of the devil

2006-06-06T17:25:00.000-04:00

Today is 6*6*6. I guess there are extremely pregnant women out there who are holding it in so their new baby won't have this 666 birthday. A lot of them had scheduled C-sections yesterday too. My first thought when I heard the date this morning on my way to work was, "damn... shoulda tried to conceive 9 months ago to try to get a kid with this birthday" He'd probably come out with screamin' red hair, black eyes and fangs. We could name him Lucifer. My sister had a boyfried who turned 8 on 8-8-88. Sorry for reminding you Shannon!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my apartment complex management for hiring a bunch of guys to spread mulch around all the trees and landscaping. I really appreciate being woken up at 6 am for four days in a row by semi trucks dumping loads of mulch into the parking lot outside my bedroom window and then the hours of bulldozers and trucks moving the stuff from the parking lot to the areas of landscaping. Oh, and don't forget the leaf blowers that blow the red mulch dust out of the parking lot. Really, I would gladly trade a couple hours of sleep every day to have a beautifully landscaped yard. Really. I mean it. A** holes.

I haven't blogged about anything interesting lately because I haven't really been sticking with any one project for more than an hour. Here's a run-down.

Sock: One sock done, 2nd sock is ready for heel flap

Whole cloth quilt: taking forever (hand quilting)

Skirt: knitting part is done. need to fold and sew drawstring area... doesn't sound fun, so it's been sitting in the living room for a week.

Modular scarf: DONE!!! and blocked!!!

But I did start a small quilt over the weekend. I was cleaning my sewing room a week ago and had piles of dyed fabric everywhere. I was organizing them by color and I ended up with a considerably large pile of purples. So without using my rotary cutter or mat, I cut strips of varying sizes of purples and put them all in a box. (a smarter person would have ironed the fabric before cutting it. I am not that person... I ended up ironing a box full of one-inch and smaller strips.)
Then the strips got sewn together in no particular order and not paying attention to keeping things lined up or at all even. As usual, I am a natural at keeping things even, so my un-evenness is subtle. Then the longer strips got cut into square-ish pieces and arranged on the design wall. Now it is almost all in one piece. It is hard because things don't line up like a grid, so I am having to do funky things to sew pieces into an uneven corner.

The original plan was to cut into each piece with a diagonal line or two and insert some avocado green strips, but I didn't like the way it looked. So I might machine quilt it with green. I love purple and green together.

My mind is just consumed with house stuff. We wrote an offer on a house we LOVE on Thursday the 25th. We still haven't heard anything. It is driving me crazy!!! When the realtor called me yesterday to tell me we probably wouldn't hear anything until FRIDAY, my heart sank and the rest of the evening I had that same sinking feeling you get when you get dumped out of the blue. Like a mix of depression, panic and anger.

It's just a house, it's just a house, it's just a house...

Jeopardy

2006-06-01T18:00:00.000-04:00

I just now got around to uploading the pictures from this weekend from my camera to the computer. So here was our set up for jeopardy watching...

The view from Shannon's front door looking out onto the porch. As you can see, Leah was not as excited about this arrangement as Shannon and I were.

And the view from my seat on the porch.

Genius.

Whirlwind trip

2006-06-01T09:18:00.000-04:00

We had a great weekend in North Carolina with Shannon! It was so sunny and warm and beautiful. We left very early Friday morning and drove straight thru to Asheville only stopping for fast food and bathroom breaks for us and the dogs. Here we are in my car before we left Ann Arbor. We tried to get a picture of all four of us in the car, but it turned out to be more of a portrait of Jada.

We got into town at about 6:30 and got settled in at Shannon's, then decided we all needed some exercise after sitting in the car for 10 hours. The dogs especially. So we went for a walk around Asheville to show Leah the huge gorgeous houses in the neighborhood. Then we headed out to Charlotte Street Pub for dinner at 10pm.

On Saturday we started out at Biltmore Village and went to the cute shops there (including Yarn Paradise!), then headed downtown to walk around a bit. We stopped for a rest and a smoke at this fountain. Saturday night we were at home, and it was so stuffy in Shannon's apartment, but so nice out on the porch, so we stayed out there. We wanted to watch Jeopardy though... So we rolled the tv stand to the doorway and turned it out toward the porch. The best of both worlds!!!

Later Saturday night we made Daquiris and sat on the porch for a good 6 hours. We played CatchPhrase for a long time, then just sat and chatted into the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday was Shannon's birthday. Remember that Knitting Olympics skirt that was to be Shannon's birthday present? Yeah, not done yet. We ended up spending most of the day sitting on her porch in the sun... well, they were in the sun, I followed the shade around. (I can not get a tan, it's impossible. I just go straight from pale to burnt.) At about 3 we were finally all ready to get out and do something. So we headed to the edge of town to a yarn store that we hadn't been to yet. When my mom was down there last week she and Shannon tried to go and it was closed. The hours were not posted on the door, it just said, "Tuesday and Saturday" Above the Closed sign. Who knows what that means, because they were there on a Tuesday and it was closed, and we were there on a Sunday and it was closed. So that was a bummer. Next we took the dogs to a park that had plenty of room for them to run around off leash for a while. We found a big stick and threw it for Billie. She even helped us get it off the tree. After we thoroughly exhausted the pups and worked up a good appetite, we took the dogs home and headed to a great restaurant called Provence 620. It was SO good. Seafood is totally different in North Carolina. Shrimp is a completely different flavor there than it is in Michigan. Probably because it hasn't been dead and frozen for so long before you eat it like it is in Michigan.

So we stuffed ourselves there and headed home to watch RENT! All three of us sat on the futon and knitted while we watched RENT. We had inteded to get to bed somewhat early, so we could get up early again on Monday to get on the road. Well, Midnight turned into 3am... and we weren't in bed yet. We got about 3 hours of sleep before waking up at 7:30. We were on the road at 8:20. Shed a few tears on the way out of the driveway and headed north.

And now I'm at work. That is all I'm going to say about that.

It's Thur-Fri-sday!

2006-05-25T15:52:00.000-04:00

Today is my Friday. Leah will be on her way to Ann Arbor late tonight then tomorrow we are getting up before the sun, packing ourselves and her two dogs into my little car and heading south to visit Shannon in Asheville. One more time before she moves north again. It's going to be a short trip. We will spend one day in the car, two days in Asheville and one more day in the car. Totally worth it.

But tonight, before all that happens, Ryan and I are meeting with our realtor to write an offer on a house. We could not be more excited about this house. It is just perfect, we both loved it immediately and only saw it for the first time yesterday. I won't say anything more about the house because I am SOOOOOO afraid that I am getting too excited about it before we even write an offer. Don't want to jinx myself.

There will pictures and stories when I return.

New addition to the Textile Stockpile franchise

2006-05-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

I have created yet another thing for me to keep track of online. Because 5 email addresses, a website and a blog is not enough. It's called the Textile Stockpile Warehouse. At this new blog you can buy things that I have made. Right now I have a selection of DPN Cases and a small selection of hand dyed fat quarter bundles and singles.

Enjoy!

Moebius... felted

2006-05-15T13:30:00.000-04:00

Mark this day on your calendar folks. Today is Monday May 15th, 2006. I am 26 years, one month and four days old, and I plucked my first grey hair this morning. No, I did not take a picture. It's sitting on my bathroom counter. If it's still there when I get home today I'm going to drop it in a lit candle or maybe put it in the garbage disposal.

I felted the moebius basket yesterday and it looks great!!! I am definitely going to use the extra ball to make a second one. Mom wants to learn to make it, so I'll wait and start it when I teach her. Hopefully some time this week. I finished one sock on Saturday and started the 2nd one Sunday morning before heading out for the "tour of mothers". We went to my parents house first and had lunch and talked about the houses we saw on Thursday and Saturday (5 total). We stuffed ourselves with steamed cauliflower and carrots, green bean and asparagus bundles (wrapped with bacon of course!), mozzerela cheese sticks and weenie-tots (pigs in a blanket... sausages wrapped in crescent rolls. So bad, but sooooooo good). We ended up eating later than expected and had to leave before the brownie cheesecake happened.

Then we drove to Ryan's sister's house to watch her two kids while she cooked dinner. I was so stuffed already from a late lunch that I only ate half of an enchilada for dinner. I just couldn't fit anything else in there. So we sat and chatted and played with the kids and I got to knit for a while. It was a fun Sunday.

The past two or three weeks have been stuffed full of house hunting and meetings and driving around looking for For Sale signs and checking out new neighborhoods that I have hardly had time to do anything else. I went right from being busy with school to buying a house. I'm not complaining, it's one of the most exciting things I've ever done (so far), but tonight I am taking the night off. I HAVE to go to the grocery store. I really should have gone Friday. I am down to frozen dinners, canned soup and peanut butter. I had the last two pieces of bread this morning, I have no milk, no eggs, no CHOCOLATE.

I have a new favorite house. Of all the houses we've looked at, this is the first one that I can picture all our stuff in and I can close my eyes and picture where a christmas tree will go, I can see me cooking dinner in the huge kitchen, I can really picture myself hanging out in the 2 person jacuzzi tub, but that's a given. This is the first house we've seen that needs absolutely no work, we could move right in and not touch a thing until we have a kid or two and need to add on another bedroom. It does need a new garage for Ryan, but what is already there is usable for a while. Unfortunately though, we think it might be too small for us. So we are going to go look at it again on Tuesday and also going to see two more in the same town. One of those is a similar style and age, but a lot bigger. Previous owners have already added on a few times. It has five bedrooms and 2 baths and it will need a new garage also. I so so so hope that this is the perfect house for us. I love going to look at houses, but I am so anxious to finally have one and start packing and moving stuff over!

knitting goes quicker when you're not feeling guilty about what you're not doing

2006-05-10T23:04:00.000-04:00

All I did tonight was knit. hahahahahahahaha, I love it! no responsibilites other than just entertaining myself. ahh... the life of a college graduate.

I Finished Moebius basket (except for felting) and only used one skein of yarn. I bought two for the project, so maybe I'll make another one and have a pair.
Maybe it isn't a basket...

Screw renting, let's BUY!

2006-05-10T09:24:00.000-04:00

It's the ultimate shopping trip. The most expensive thing we'll ever buy in our lives, but the most exciting. After only viewing one house to rent, but many many calls on others we have decided that renting sucks. We have a realtor, and are shopping for a lender. We looked at 3 houses last weekend and are looking at 4 tomorrow. We only have 2 months to look and one month to do the money, paperwork, closing and inspections. So we are spending all of our free time on this.

Saturday we met with our realtor and saw three houses. We were done at about 4:30 and had planned on going to my parent's house for dinner. So I asked Ryan if he just wanted to go straight to my mom's or if he wanted to drive around. He said he wanted to go drive around Dexter, because he has never been there and if we are considering buying a house there, he wants to go see it. I said, "you've been to dexter, that's where we went to look at that house that didn't have any appliances in it, and that's where we went to the Dairy Queen and walked to the park with the river." and Ryan said, "yeah, but I never paid attention". So we drove to Dexter, I showed him the downtown area, where the hardware store is, grocery, pizza place, you know, all the important stuff. Then we drove up and down the blocks looking at houses and then he said, "are there any roads that just go out into the country?" So I showed him what roads lead out of town to other places he knows and we drove around a subdivision with $500,000-$600,000+ homes and that took us out to a road that would lead us the really long way back to my mom's. So at 5:30 I called my mom to tell her we were going out to drive by one more house and would be there for dinner in about a half hour. She said that she'd fire up the grill because we were having the best hot dogs on the face of the planet. So we drove out the long dirt road to drive by the house on 4 acres that would need way too much work and is just too far away from, well, everything. So we ruled that one out and headed back to my mom's. We pulled into the driveway, I grabbed my sheets out of the back seat that I had brought to wash while we were there, and went into the house. Dakota ran at us, always so excited to see anyone walk through our door. I walked into the dining room and saw my dad standing there with the video camera and heard, "SURPRISE!!!!!!!!" My mom had been planning this surprise graduation party for a week. Shannon came home for it, Leah was there, my grandma and an aunt and uncle, a cousin, my friend Bekkah and her son Kahner (who I was knitting a hat for, but his head grew faster than the hat did) and Ryan's parents were all there. Ryan was in on it. I was telling Shannon later that night, "wow, Ryan sure can lie well... I don't think I like that." Leah was giving me hints up and down and all over the place and I didn't put it all together. I really was completely surprised and had absolutely no idea anything was going on. it was great!

Leah stayed with me Saturday night and she taught me the Moebius cast on. When I was visiting her in Grand Rapids in April, we went on a mad knitting shop dash. We found the best yarn shop and walked in about 5 minutes before they closed. We just needed to buy some needles, so we were going to run in and run out because we saw that they were actually open on SUNDAY, so we planned on just coming back the next day to really do some damage. On our way over to the corner with all the needles, there was the cutest little felted basket sitting there. We oogled it and fondled it and ooo'ed and aaaaa'ed. The lady told us the pattern is from that book there, so leah snatched it up, asked how much yarn you need for the basket and we ran around the store looking for wool. We each each got enough yarn to make a basket, leah grabbed the book and headed to the counter to pay. We got home and read over the pattern and found that we needed a 60" circular for the cast on. We were SOOOOOOO disappointed because we had wanted to get started on it right away and it looked like a quick project that we could do in one night and even felt them before I left on Sunday.

So while Leah stayed with me this weekend, she taught me the cast on that we've been waiting to learn since that weekend. I've been bugging her to take the book in to her yarn shop and ask them to help her cast on. When she knew she was coming to my surprise party she went around to the different yarn shops to get help on it so we could do it together while she was here!

What a great weekend!!!

Final Grades

2006-05-04T09:55:00.000-04:00

Final grades have been posted for my LAST semester. I got an A on my final test in physics. Pretty amazing considering how the semester started out, with the crying and all.

it's great to slow down and breathe

2006-05-02T09:47:00.000-04:00

**sigh** I have just been so busy lately that I have not had time to blog... Just kidding, I've been so busy NOT going to school and NOT doing homework and NOT studying and NOT working on projects under a deadline. It's great!!!

I've been knitting and watching tv and hanging out with family. I gave my apartment a real good once-over and cleaned the hell out of it. I had been accumulating all kinds of papers and piles of stuff everywhere, stacks of junk mail to deal with later, huge piles of wunder-under release paper, tiny scraps of fabric that got thrown on the floor and then tracked into other rooms. Pay stubs and deposit receipts from months ago, all kinds of rental ads, and drawings of things I want to sew or knit. The only thing I've really kept up with is the laundry. Which is amazing because I have to leave the house and drive 20 minutes to do it.

I had my physics final on Friday and I think I did really well. I definitely passed and I think I at least got a B on it. Which means I'll still get an A or a high B+ for a final grade. Wahooooooo!!! I guess all that crying and frustrtion in the beginning was worth it. As for my textiles grade, who freakin' knows. I'll let you know when I find out though. I'm guessing it'll be another week before grades are posted online.

Ryan and I have been apartment hunting, and we looked at our first one on Friday. It was a little house on the back half of an old couple's property, out in the country. It was a beautiful lot, with a view of the lake and lots of trees and flowers (and mosquitos). The old couple took us out and opened it up, it must have been closed up all winter, and possibly even longer, because it was pretty musty and stale in there. I would guess the place was about 800 or so square feet on the main level with two bedrooms, bath, kitchen, small dining room and a living room with a screened porch. Plus it had a full basement with a half bath, laundry hook-ups, a garage that can't be used as a garage becuase they caulked the door shut (wha...?). and the upper 1/2 story was mostly finished attic space that was large enough to be a bedroom if you don't care that the walls were made of cardboard stapled to the beams to hold the insulation in. (which really, I was just glad the place was insulated). So, the old crotchety lady showed us around the place, showing us every detail of the house and where she keeps extra 50's style drapes and storm windows and extra screws and instructions for appliances and who knows what else. All the while her sweet old husband was busying himself in the kitchen, smiling. He was a cool old guy, reminded me of my grandpa on my dad's side. So, she showed us everything and we were standing in the empty living room and she said that she didn't know what else to tell us about the place and "I would expect you would want to know what YOUR responsibilites are." She gave us about half a second to respond before she said, "well, I don't see wedding bands..." That's when I said, "no" and giggled, because in my experience, people say that and are just egging us on, ya know. It's something old people say, but don't care about the answer, just to get a rise out of us. So, she leaned up against the wall, crossed her arms and said, "well, that will be a problem, I am an old fashioned woman..." Ryan didn't give her a chance to finish her sentence, he looked at me, pointed to the door and said, "ok, you ready to go?" I said yes and we politely thanked them for their time. We walked back to the car with our arms around each other and said mean things about them. heh heh.

Now we are calling ourselves "new fashioned".

Hey look, she CAN finish something she started!

2006-04-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

I finished my little bag and felted it on Saturday, here is the before/after shot. The colors in the after picture are accurate. It was a fun and quick knit. I even have a whole skein of Manos that I didn't use, should I return it? I'd have to drive ALLLLLLLLL the way to Grand Rapids to return it... Yeah right, I'll NEVER EVER return yarn.

Last night I also finished Red Striped Rail Fence. The pic I took of the whole quilt looked exactly the same as before it was quilted, so here's just a closeup.

Last ever textiles class is tonight. It's a wierd feeling, I'm pretty excited about it, but at the same time, it's nice to have all that space and freedom and some kind of deadline and goal. I guess now I get to learn how to motivate myself to get things done.

I was over at my parents' house on Saturday, hanging out and doing laundry. I brought Shannon's skirt with me to work on, since it is my only WIP now, I did two whole rounds on the thing which took at least 45 minutes. I don't know how many stitches it has now, but it's a lot and there are still one or two sets of increases to do before it is done. Well, my mom had just finished a pair of KnitPicks socks, and didn't have another project lined up to work on. So, me, being the BRILLIANT and GENEROUS daughter that I am, gladly sacrificed my own project to give her something to work on. So, the skirt is in her trusted hands. HAHAHAHAHAHA... I cast on a sock on Sunday! I just can't not have a sock in progress. Add it to my list of weaknesses. I am using the dusty brown Pima/Tencel yarn for the main sock and the lilac color for the toe and heel, and probably a stripe at the top. (see yarn in this post, upper left corner) Pictures to come, it's less than an inch long right now, so I didn't take a picture.

Are you all using the Blingo search engine? It is SO cool! I have won three times, three separate $10 iTunes gift certificates. (and I've never gotten any spam from them) It's sponsored by Google, so you'll get the same results as if you were searching with Google, but instead you use Blingo and maybe win a prize! There are bigger and better prizes than iTunes too, you could win an iPod Nano, or a $25(or more) Visa Gift Card. The last iTunes gift cert. I got, I used it to buy an album on iTunes that I wouldn't have spent money that wasn't free on, Michael Nesmith and the First National Band, "Nevada Fighter". I bought this album (yes, on vinyl) in high school when I was going thru a pretty heavy Monkees phase (circa 1995 or so), so I thought I would put it on my iPod for a little memory-lane action.

I can see the finish line

2006-04-19T22:50:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow night is my last critique, then we will bring all our stuff in again next Tuesday if we need to do more work on it over the weekend. And next week I have one more physics class and then the final. And that is it. The end. Finished. I dun gradiated colledge.

So here is what I am taking to the critique tomorrow, I'm calling it "Red Striped Rail Fence" Title subject to change pending appraisal of it's cheesiness. (I always think my titles are cheesy and have considered just having a billion "untitled" pieces.)

and the detail shot

I haven't shown any pictures before now because I only JUST figured it all out at about 8:00 tonight. I am pretty pleased with it. I'd like to do another one, pieced maybe instead of fused, and I'll dye gradations specifically for it, these aren't perfect gradations, but they work.

I started to take some pictures of my sewing room after this week of frantic "gotta get a freakin' quilt outta all this fabric I dyed" fusing, but I am too embarrased. it's bad. Real bad.

In knitting news, the latest socks are finished and have been worn, but not washed yet. Hand wash only ya know.
Started on the felted bag with the green and maroon Manos. It's almost done, needs a front pocket and a strap. Then I'll felt it this weekend. After that is done, it's the skirt, and only the skirt.
I Candice, do take you Olympic Skirt in a monogomous knitting relationship. I promise to work with you until you become the beautiful skirt I know you can be. I promise to knit around and around for what will seem lilke an eternity and then knit some more, purl too. I promise to be faithful. I will not cast on socks. Even though that Twizzle is SCREAMING to get some action, you are my one and only knitting project. God help me.

Oh and skirt, I hope you know there will be a frenzy of dpns and sock yarn the minute I'm done with you, so, you know, don't get too upset.

Thank you all for your nice comments regarding Olive. Honestly I expected at least one a** to comment saying that I did the wrong thing and I am a horrible person. And I guess if that is what you do think, thanks for keeping it to yourself. And I'm sorry to those of you I made cry. T'wasn't my intention.

It's time to tell the story

2006-04-14T09:02:00.000-04:00

Today is the day the finalists of the Quilting Arts Magazine Calendar Contest are announced. I have changed the homepage on my browser to the Editor's blog, where the finalists will be posted, and am checking it obsessively. Whether I make it or not, I thought today would be a good day to finally tell the story of my entry. This is what I wrote and sent in with my entry. I've added pictures for the blog that were not included.

In December of 2004, I decided I was ready for my first dog. I started reading as much as I could about training puppies, comparing different breeds and talking to people who have had experience raising good dogs. My boyfriend Ryan and I went to the Detroit Humane Society the day after Christmas. We walked past rows of cages with adult dogs in them, and could see down the hall there were cages with animals that would not be adopted for one reason or another. We found our way to the puppy room, it was a small room with stacks of cages against three walls, there were quite a few litters of puppies that were 6 weeks old, and only a few puppies that were older. The top left cage caught my eye. A 12-week old female, white with huge black ears was whining and wagging her tail, so excited that we were talking to her. We grabbed her paperwork off her cage and went back up front so we could take her out and play with her. The employee took her out of the cage and we went into a little room where she jumped all over us and licked our faces and was so happy. I loved her instantly. We kissed her and put her back in her cage and told her we’d be back in a couple days. Back up front I took care of the paperwork and was told to come back on Wednesday, after she had been spayed and given the routine veterinary care.

We went back on Wednesday to pick her up, I think we waited in that waiting room for hours and hours, but it was probably only 15 minutes. A doctor came around the corner holding my puppy and I could see that she recognized me. Her tail started wagging and her ears laid down against her head. As soon as the doctor put her in my arms she peed all down the front of me. I got some final instructions and signed more paperwork and we were on our way home.

The first week was rough. That may be an understatement. The first week was a nightmare. I had no idea what I was doing. I had taken the week off work so I could stay home and get my puppy, who I had decided to call Olive, acquainted with her new surroundings. I spent a lot of time on the phone with my mom, my sister, and with Ryan, usually crying. I was having feelings like I had made a mistake. I didn’t know how to raise a puppy. I wanted to work in my sewing room, but every time I sat down, Olive peed on the floor, whined or needed some other attention. I don’t know what I was expecting; I guess I thought puppies slept a lot. This one sure didn’t. At the end of the week I had decided to stick with it, to keep working with Olive and she would be the best dog ever.

The next couple months brought lots of good things, along with bad. She was potty trained by the age of 4-1/2 months; she hardly ever chewed anything she wasn’t supposed to; she could sit, lie down, come when she was called and we were working on ‘roll over’.

Olive was about 8 months old when the aggressiveness started. It started with just some barking, whether we were outside with another dog in view, or inside looking out at another dog outside. The barking developed into growling and snarling. It got so bad that when she would sit by the window and see another dog outside, she would jump all over the window, sending the vertical blinds all over the place. At first, I would pull her by the collar and talk to her calmly. After a while, when I reached for her collar during one of these “freak-outs”, she would turn and snap at my hand. I refused to let her become the alpha dog in this house, so I kept pulling her back and was more firm with her especially when she snapped at me. Nothing worked. After about a month of this, and three separate attacks on Dakota, the 10 year old German Shepherd Husky mix at my parents house, we were on a walk with Olive and happened to pass by a woman in front of her house. Olive started barking at her dog through the fence, and this struck up a conversation with the woman, who happened to be a dog trainer. She worked with Olive for a few minutes and thought she could be a good dog with the correct training. As the woman was talking a man with two Jack Russell Terriers walked by. Olive, predictably, stood on her hind legs, barked and snarled and leapt at the dogs across the street. The woman stopped mid-sentence and just said, “oh my”. I told her how often that happens and that she has started to snap at me and other people who take care of her. Her unfortunate recommendation was to have her put down. Dogs with that much aggressive tendency are just not safe.

As we continued on our walk, I talked with Ryan and my parents, but no decisions were made. I was assured that they would be there for me whatever my decision was. I wrestled with every possible option available, but could only think of one thing. What if Olive hurts someone? I knew I could not keep her, but if I took her back to the Humane Society, she would be adopted to another family, possibly with another dog or small children. I couldn’t let that happen, so I made the awful decision to have her put down.

The morning of June 22, 2005 I left for work after a lot of kisses and scratches and hugs for Olive and quite a few tears. My mom came shortly after I left and took Olive home with her. My dad picked her up and took her to the vet. He had already made arrangements so that they could come in the back door, where she wouldn’t come in contact with any other animals. As soon as the vet laid eyes on her he told my dad he could see why we had been having so much trouble.

It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Olive was my responsibility. I volunteered to be her sole caretaker and give her everything she needed. I felt like such a failure, I would look around at other people walking their dogs and get sad and jealous. So many people have dogs, what is wrong with me that I couldn’t keep mine? But I have slowly realized that it wasn’t my fault. I did everything I could to keep her and take care of her so she could have the best life, and so that I could have a great companion as well. But I see now that sometimes, no matter how hard you try; some things just can’t work out the way you want them to.

My quilt is a portrait of Olive sitting in her favorite spot by the window keeping watch over the yard. I used hand-dyed fabrics and some commercial fabric and over-dyed commercial fabric. It was fused and then hand and machine quilted.

One over a quarter century

2006-04-11T15:10:00.000-04:00

I made it past the quarter century mark. At 10:22pm EST I turn 26.
So far, I've gotten cards from Ryan's family, and two skeins of sock yarn from his mom Gayle. She knows me so well. The card on top there is from Ryan's 3-1/2 year old nephew Joey, he told me he picked that card out for me because that possum is smiling. He had the cutest little grin on his face and was bashful and so proud of himself at the same time. adorable.

Saturday was Joey's little sister's baptism and at the last minute we decided we should bring a gift, and hey, why don't I make her a rosary. So this was my Saturday...

9am wake up with knitting pattern in head and have to sit in bed and knit for a while to test it out

9:30 get up and dressed, go to Ryan's to pick up his dad's rosary that I was going to take apart and use the cross and mary part for Matteson's rosary, and so I could get the number of beads right

Stick around and talk cars with Ryan and my dad... well, not so much talking on my part, but listening and thinking about how cute it is to watch my dad and Ryan hang out and work on Ryan's car

11:45 leave Ryan's and go to Bead Store. I decided at the last minute it might not be a good idea (karma-wise) to take apart someone else's rosary. I got lots of good advice and bought new findings for the rosary and pretty glass beads, even though I probably had everything I needed already at home (minus Mary and the Cross)

1:00 get home, gather rosary ingredients and metal working tools and ipod. I did not buy any eye pins or any findings, all the pieces were twisted and cut from sterling silver wire. each bead has it's own little link, hand made by me. Only the best for our little Matteson.

3:15 finish rosary, whip off iPod and clothing and get in shower, get dresssed, do hair and makeup, put on shoes and grab a bag of pretzels (didn't have time to eat) and get in the car to go to Ryan's and then to the baptism.

got to Ryan's right at 4:30, he got in the car and we headed to the Church

I just got back to work; I met my mom and dad at Panera for lunch and I got another present! Knitting Rules, by Yarn Harlot! Wahoooooo! I guess this means I have to finish "Secret Life of a Knitter" right quick. Tonight I have school and then Ryan and I are going out with another couple to Applebee's for $2 beers and 1/2 price appetizers. I'm a cheap date. Unless we're going to a yarn store.

Success with Remazols!

2006-04-07T16:44:00.000-04:00

A week or so ago I did some more work with the remazol/reactive dyes and this batch turned out pretty darn well, as far as the process actually working correctly. The colors did some funky stuff, which is to be expected with this process.
This picture shows four different designs. Starting on the left, I painted the fabric with green remazol (liquid reactive dye from Pro Chemical) mixed with Basilen Fixing Agent (by Jacquard, not sure yet where we buy it, it is supplied to us at school, I'll have to find out before the end of April and the free supplies (aka school) is over for good), oh, mixed in print paste and soda ash too. After that was dry, I mixed up a chartreuse, yellow orange and grass green and used my finger tip to dab it on randomly onto the green... as you can see, green remazol + green reactive = blue.

The next piece has two different designs on it. I painted it with the turquoise remazol first, then mixed up three different shades of blue/purple reactive dyes. The colors on this one turned out exactly as planned. On the left side of the fabric, I used a squirt bottle to just randomly squirt all three colors all over the fabric, and then used a plastic fork to move the dye around and mix it up. On the right side, I used the squirt bottle to make swirlies. These both turned out really well, the halo effect is very cool between the reactive and remazol. should have taken a close up... maybe I'll add one in the next post.

The third piece, all the way on the right was not at all what I expected. I painted it black with remazol, then used GREEN to make big leaf-ish shapes all over, just with my fingers. Then went back and put some of the yellow orange down the center of each shape. So, yet another funky and unexpected outcome: black remazol + green reactive = purple.

These are just some fabrics I already dyed a while ago that I overdyed. Far left was bright green and fuschia, I got it wet and scrunched it into a container and poured diluted bleach over it (like the low water immersion technique). Then once I saw it was acutally doing something, I took it out, rinsed it and put it in Anti-Chlor for 5 minutes and then washed/rinsed it out. The middle one started out a light brown/tan low water immersion and then I did low water again with a reddish brown that is now more red-orange. And on the right is the same light brown/tan low water fabric that I screen printed with purple.

These are 2 6-step gradations between green and blue. I sorta forgot that when you mix blue and green you get turquoise. I'm not a huge fan of turquoise, but I'm sure I'll use these for something. I used the instructions from Elin Noble's book, Dyes and Paints. Except I do mine flat on the table with a paint brush, instead of standing in front of 6 buckets for an hour stirring them all.

That's all I have for ya at the moment. Just wanted you to know that I am actually doing stuff when I say I have school at night.

maybe more than you bargained for

2006-04-06T10:41:00.000-04:00

How far would you go to use a 20% off coupon at a really great yarn shop? 25 miles? 100 miles?

What if you had a "20% off your whole purchase" coupon for a yarn store that was 614.3 miles away from home? Is it worth almost 10 hours in the car (one way) plus about $40 worth of gasoline, at least two fast-food/on the road meals, and a sore ass? I still want to say YES! sign me up! when do we leave?! Besides, travelling and shopping helps the economy, I haven't seen Shannon in a month and the yarn shop in question just happens to be less than a mile from her apartment, and the most important argument, I NEED more yarn.

*** WARNING***change of subject with no segue***

So last Saturday I went to see a psychic. This was not a cheesy, read your palm, crystal ball gazing, tell your future type psychic. She is a "metaphysical counselor". It was such a fun and eye opening, emotional, goose-bump inducing, tear producing experience. It was an hour of her telling me some things I knew about myself already but maybe weren't obvious, she introduced me to two of my spirit guides, I learned just a little bit about past lives, my relationship with my immediate family and something about this "power" she kept referring to that apparently I have but am afraid to use. That part confused me. She told me I am an old soul, and that this is definitely not my first lifetime as an artist.

Of course, I have been thinking about everything she said a lot and coming up with SO many questions I want to ask next time. So much so that I want to make an appointment to see her again, like, RIGHT NOW. I want to ask about Olive and why that experience happened to me and why it had to turn out the way it did and what I was supposed to learn from it. (I realize I have never really explained the whole Olive situation, it will come. in due time.) I also want some help with my headaches, and I wonder if she could help me with that. I have questions about what she told me in our session on Saturday about the greif I carry and how I can heal it. She told me that I have a "long thread of grief running through my emotional core" and that it is old and not necessarily mine. She said I have a way of "helping" people grieve, but it's not much help for them or me because I take it from them so that I have to deal with it, and they can't deal and get over it. That may sound like foooey, but it totally makes sense to me. I am always the first one to start crying... even BALLING at funerals, movies, tv, radio commercials... seriously, On-Star commercials should not make me cry, but they do, and it doesn't matter what day of the month it is. The best example of this is when Leah's mom Michele got sick, and sicker and passed only 6-months later, I was a wreck. I couldn't even tell my boss and co-workers I'd be gone the day of the funeral because I would lose it and look like a bumbling idiot trying to get the words out. So I had to email them, and I even asked in the email, tactfully, but with the basic message being, don't try to talk to me about it. Most of them complied; others didn't and got the bumbling idiot I knew would come out. Of course I am sad and miss Michele, but I think bigger than that, was that I can so easily put myself in someone else's place, that I was feeling Leah's grief. I was worried about her and how she would handle it and get through it. And of course want to help her in any way I possibly can. As soon as I saw her speak at the memorial, of course I cried through the whole thing, but I felt better after because I knew she would be ok. Wow, this is going off to a place I wasn't prepared to post about. I guess I'll just finish it up with, Leah, I am sorry I took some of your grief from you and I apologize in advance for giving it back to you, when I figure out how.

That was a little too heavy for a fiber art/knitting blog, dontcha think? So, let's end with some appropriate content. School tonight, dying gradations and color ranges for the impending quilt. I think it'll be a tree... that's the idea in my head at the moment. I was working on some Remazol/reactive dyes for the quilt, but they didn't turn out like I thought. So they'll probably get scrapped. (just not used for this project, not thrown away or anything, who do you think I am?!) I'd like to do some potato dextrin and a little more remazol this semester, but I think I'll proabably run out of time. Critique is the 20th, so that is coming real quick!

Well, now what?!

2006-04-03T18:30:00.000-04:00

One of the many things I've been drooling over lately is some Twizzle sock yarn by Mountain Colors. I've drooled over ebay listings for $18 plus shipping, I've touched it and squeezed it and rubbed it on my cheek at Flying Sheep in Ann Arbor... but the price of $21 for a pair of socks just seemed too much. I've searched for other places online that might sell it for cheaper, but no luck. So I just kept drooling... until yesterday when I had a realization. I went to a yarn shop with Leah on Saturday with the intention of getting two skeins of Lorna's Laces that I've also been drooling over for quite some time. When they didn't have any colors I liked (was holding out for either Motherlode or Tuscany and all they had was camouflage) I bought $50 worth of Manos del Uruguay solid(ish) colors for a felted bag instead.
Then we went to another yarn shop on the other side of Grand Rapids and they didn't have Lorna's sock yarn either, except for two skeins of the bee stripe socks and one lonely skein of Iris Garden. So I wasn't going to get anything, until I spotted the Twizzle. This store had a whole shelf full of it, at least 3 different colorways. I picked up one skein at a time, of each different colorway and squeezed. I must have this yarn today. but... $22 for a pair of socks? then I realized that Lorna's is between $9 and $11 (depending on what store you are in) for one skein... and me, being the math and physics wizard that I am, now understand that two skeins of Lorna's is the same price as one skein of Twizzle. And you only need one skein of Twizzle for a pair. TA DA!!! I now own one skein of Twizzle sock yarn in the colorway Elderberry.
But... now what? I have to find something else to drool over. That shouldn't be hard though.

Ok, ok... You got me, I am still coveting and drooling over the Lorna's Laces in Motherlode (and Tuscany). I can't help it. I am addicted to sock yarn... and I know I'm not alone. It is just the most perfect thing. You know exactly how much you'll need without having the pattern with you. Socks are relatively cheaper to make than a sweater or sometimes even a scarf. And they are useful, especially in Michigan where winter seems to last from October through April.

As you can see on the current pair of socks, I got a little carried away with the pattern and should have started the heel about an inch ago... rrrrriiipppppittttt

I had a wonderful weekend at Leah's house. We knit and shopped and watched RENT and we listened to our tapes of the Psychic we both went to, her two weeks ago and me on Saturday. We made gluten-free lasagna per Leah's dietary restrictions and a yummy salad and we made gluten-free brownies which were surprisingly wonderful. We also found a very good but very expensive chinese buffet for lunch on Sunday. mmm... crab cheese. too bad we didn't know we were going to end up there, or we would have brought zip-loc baggies... pretend I didn't say that out loud... we would NEVER do that!

So here we are,
Leah, learning to knit in the round... this picture is posed, she really is having fun learning to knit with 4 needles.

And here I am working on the modular scarf Leah taught me to make!

No pictures of us together though, the dogs couldn't get the zoom or the lighting right to take one of us... they were having a little trouble holding the camera; no thumbs, ya know.

Thanks George

2006-03-30T09:54:00.000-05:00

Now that I am officially into the last third of my LAST semester, I have finished the first project. (except for the hanging sleeve. Dammit, I just wanted to go to bed before midnight ONCE this week... ok?)

(sorry for the not so great picture)

Two weekends ago, I started quilting the X's. I straight stitched along the diagonal in one direction. Then I laid it out on the living room floor and layed the backing over the front. Pinned it really well, and then marked the top of the quilt so I could cut a long strip in the backing along the top. I used my seam ripper to cut a somewhat straight line thru JUST the backing fabric. Then I sewed around all four edges of the quilt and used the hole to turn it inside out, iron it and wunder under the hole closed. Then, as usual, I folded it up and left it for two weeks. Yesterday I decided was the day it gets finished. This week (although no different from all the weeks before it) has been extremely boring at work. There is just not enough here for me to do for 8 hours, plus, I am only here from about 11:30 till 5 on the two days I have school in the morning and there is still not enough to keep me busy for 8 hours. It is so frustrating to be stuck here with nothing to do but screw around on the internet, just for a pay check (for those of you who think I'm crazy for this last statement, just try it for a month or two, or 3 years, it gets boring fast). So that boringness is what motivated me to get the quilt done last night. So when I got home, I ate dinner and knitted on my sock for a bit until Good Eats was over, then went to the sewing room. I was in a mellow mood so I put George Harrison, All Things Must Pass into the stereo. So it was just me and George, finishing up the quilt. He is my favorite Beatle, definitely the cutest.

Here is one finished sock and a start on the 2nd of the pair. I really like the way it turned out. I'm glad I didn't do the regular ribbing pattern for this yarn, I think it would have striped funny and pooled. I haven't succumbed to S3 yet (second sock syndrome) because I get so excited to actually wear the socks I am making that I want to finish both so I can!

Progress on the skirt is nearly immeasurable. I think I've done one or two rounds this week. The stitches keep increasing every 3 inches, so now the rounds are over 400 stitches probably and it just takes forever to get around to the marker again. It's hard to stay interested.

This weekend is going to be SO FUN! I am going to the psychic on Saturday and then from there on to Grand Rapids to stay with Leah! We are going to knit and watch RENT and go to the yarn shops there and I am going to teach her to knit in the round and it will be just me and her and her two dogs, Billie and Jada. Girl time!!! fun! We have been looking forward to this for weeks! She signs online to talk to me while I'm at work and we just keep saying that we want it to be the weekend already! "Let's fast-forward this week so it can be Saturday FASTER"

It's funny, I always think I never have enough to blog about, but it always ends up being a long post. Maybe because I just sit here and ramble on and on, like a free-writing excercise... but not.

not much to report

2006-03-23T14:45:00.000-05:00

Not much of anything exciting has been going on, so here is a random bulletted list

I got an 89% on my second physics test

I have a desperate NEED to buy yarn online today

I got the RENT DVD for Christmas/birthday from my friend Rachel last weekend!

I finished the Ugg booties and started a second pair. Second PAIR syndrome is MUCH worse than second sock syndrome

I am now realizing how close the end of the semester is. Which is also the LAST SEMESTER EVER!

I have somehow built my bank account back up to where it was 3 years ago. I have not even tried, other than the not so successful "no new yarn in February" law. I just have been too busy with school and work and homework and family stuff that I haven't had time to go shopping. I got my tax refund, and I get paid 3 times in March! wahooo! All of these things make me think I can buy LOTS of yarn online, RIGHT NOW!

I get to spend time with Leah for 3 weekends in a row! That hasn't happened since at least 1998

I am going to go see a psychic and talk to my Spirit Guides on April 1st (never done anything like that before)

Starting my third and final textiles project for school tonight. It started out as an idea for a city skyline with all kinds of fabrics dyed with different processes, but now I am thinking a more abstract/geometric not quite foresty scene... just a row of trees. We'll see.

I have turned the heel and starting on the foot (after gusset decreases) on my sock

Shannon's birthday skirt has been neglected terribly since the end of the olympics. The end of May will come quickly and I will wonder where March and April went and why the hell I am rushing to finish a small and short skirt that I had 3 months to work on.

No pictures in this post because Ryan has my camera. He wanted to take pictures of his car engine before he started taking it apart so he would know where all the pieces go later.

I'll write more later when I have pictures and something interesting to say.

New cure for Migraines

2006-03-15T12:40:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has known me for more than a week knows that I get headaches... a lot of headaches. Eye strain, stress, not eating well or often, sleeping in an awkward position, wearing my hair too tight, wearing a tight hat... all these things will give me headaches, but not consistently of course. So yesterday, I felt one coming and took two advil at about 5:00 on my way to school. I got home around 8:00 and ate some dinner and the thumping in my head was slowly getting worse. I took two more Advil and went to bed at around 11. I woke up this morning with a POUNDING head, it was probably about 5:45, but I didn't look at the clock. I laid there for a while with the song "Captain Vegetable" from Sesame Street stuck in my head. (Yes, I have the kind of memory that can't remember the formula for the Force of Gravity, but I can remember a song from a show I watched 20 years ago; which is why I am an artist, not a physicist, doctor, or rocket scientist... I'm getting off topic.) So, I laid there for about 15 minutes and kept thinking, "the alarm will go off any second... I... am captain vegetable... eating crunchy vegetables is good for me... and it's good for you so eat them too, eat celery and carrots by the bunch! 3 cheers for me, captain vegetable!!!! CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH! ok, any second now my alarm will go off." So after the alarm didn't go off, I got up to take something for my head. It was 6:00 or so. I took two excedrin migraine and got back in bed. Usually the strong stuff takes at least 20 minutes to work, so I laid down thinking I'd fall asleep, sleep for 40 minutes till the alarm goes off at 7 and have no headache.... 20 minutes later I just got up. I couldn't fall back asleep with the pounding, my eyes were wide open, and I was daydreaming of a knitting pattern to draw up. So I sat on the couch, watched the news and finished one of these Ugg booties for Matteson. The other one just needs the trim sewn on and the seam sewn up. By 7:30 when I was uploading these pics (when I should have been getting ready for school and work), my headache was gone. So there you go, Excedrin Migraine + Ugg Booties = Miracle headache cure.

Last night was the critique for my remazol whole-cloth quilt, it went very well. No one had any suggestions or things they had issues with or wanted changed. Which is good, because there is probably nothing I could do about it if there were. Most of the people that had been watching me work on it the past two weeks hadn't seen it finished yet, and when they saw it hanging, their mouths dropped open and they gasped... so that's a good sign! I am quite pleased. Here is a detail shot of the hand stitching that I've started. I told the teacher there is no way I'll have it done by mid-April for the last day of class, but I told her my final goal is to send it to Quilt National in September, so I will definitely finish it by then. And I'll bring it in at the end of the semester in-progress. (please excuse the chalk lines in the photo)

One of the many things on the needles now, a new sock. 100% wool, hand-dyed with plants and stuff from Natural Dye Studio . Using a pattern from my sock-shaped sock book.

Where did the color go?

2006-03-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here it is, in all it's painstaking "glory"... my not so colorful wholecloth quilt top.

Three weeks ago when I applied the black undercoat, I made way too much dye, so I prepared two 45" square pieces. I decided one would be left black, except for my signature,to use for the backing; and the other I would do the quilt design on. So here is a shot of my signature on the backing fabric.

THAT is what the colors should look like. Bright and happy, showing no black thru the colors. I have no idea what happened. I did everything exactly the same. The problem was in the actual application of the dye, I know that for sure, but even that isn't giving me any consistant evidence of what to do next time.

It's not so bad... it's not what I expected or hoped for, but it does have some redeeming qualities. The design is very successful, symmetrical, and even. It shows off my squeeze bottle skills. And at least all of the colors are dull, instead of having all the rust orange color be bright (and correct) and the other three colors not turning out, then it would be really bad. I think it is successful enough to continue with my plan to hand quilt it. I'll buy batting this weekend, layer it and baste it. Probably will start quilting it so I can have an example to show at the critique on Tuesday.

big yellow ball

2006-03-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

You'll never guess what I saw this morning! The SUN!!! The sun is out in Michigan, there are no clouds and I actually heard birds... BIRDS!!!!! Ahhh... there is life in this cold dreary state. I still had to scrape my windshield this morning, but it was so sunny that I didn't have to wear my mittens and hat, and I didn't say a bad word when I stepped outside.

I started fixing the skirt last night. I decided to use a darning needle and a contrasting color yarn to thread thru all the stitches on the last correct row, then remove the needle and pull the stitches out. The lighter yarn is helping to keep all the stitches from just running all the way down to the cast-on edge, though it's still kind of a mess and a pain in the ass. it was hard to tell which row to pick up all the way around when I was switching between picking up purls and picking up knit stitches.

Back to school tonight to work on my latest project. I am using remazol dyes along with reactive dyes to create a variation on this weaving.

So far, I've painted the 45-inch piece of fabric with black remazol dye, and it has taken me about 5 hours to draw the design onto the fabric with a chalk pencil. I drew it free-hand and then made stencils from the drawing. I am going to use an avocado green, rusty orange, some kind of purple and a yellow for the design. Most of the background will stay black, unlike the drawing. The reactive dyes on top of the remazol will discharge the black and put the color in it's place. After it is dyed and steamed/washed, I plan to layer it with a black backing and echo quilt it, by hand. My goal is to enter it in one of the big quilt shows as a whole-cloth quilt. Which it is, since it's one big piece.

Spring break!

2006-03-03T09:47:00.000-05:00

I am back in Michigan and I am so glad I took the whole week off work. It's like going on vacation and then coming home and having another one where you get to sleep in your own bed and take advantage of your free time and get some stuff done. It's great. Even though I pretty much wasted yesterday. I don't know what I did, but the day is gone and I don't have much to show for it. Anyway... Here are pictures from Pisgah National Forest.

It was beautiful, it was a little chilly, especially so close to the big waterfall, but the sun felt great and we were just so excited to be outside and not thinking (or saying to each other) things like, "ahhh, I am sooooo c-c-cold" or "F*** it's FREEEEZING". See, we're outside AND smiling!

I got to go to a lot of yarn stores and I spent A LOT of money. $60 of it was my christmas gift from Ryan though, so that doesn't count. Isn't Ryan just the best for tolerating so many yarn stores in only 3 days! On our way home we had to drive through his hometown where his family lives, so we stopped in for a visit. When they asked him what he did on his vacation he said, "whatever Candice and Shannon wanted to do". What a guy.

Shown here (clockwise from upper left) is 3 skeins of pima/tencel (probably for socks), 2 balls of soy silk (maybe for socks), 1 skein of laceweight merino that I will be dying, maybe for a shawl or something, 1 lonely ball of a mix of fibers just to have, 4 balls of variegated chunky wool that I will weave for a scarf, 2 balls karaoke wool that might be a scarf, or something to felt, and the most exciting of them all, one ball of Trekking XXL sock yarn! I have been searching online to buy this but just haven't bought any and now I have some!!! I can't wait to start these socks, but they are in line after a couple other pair.

The solid fabric is 100% silk noil, the printed tree fabric is cotton.

I was leisurely knitting on the olympic skirt when I came to a section of knits that had one extra. I was about an inch past the last increase round. At first I thought maybe I had just accidentally been knitting instead of purling on that one stitch for the last 5 rounds, so I laddered down. The stitches came out and then stopped. I must have increased one extra stitch in that panel, so I have to frog about an inch of the skirt. I haven't touched it since Monday, I need some mental recouperation before I attempt to frog. So instead last night, I finished my first pair of socks! This entry is already chock full of pictures, I'll save the socks for another time.

Roving Reporter

2006-02-27T10:36:00.000-05:00

Just a quick one, Ryan and I are in North Carolina for a few days for Spring Break. THe weather is only about 10 or 15 degrees warmer here than Michigan, but it's enough. Plus, we've seen the sun every day so far.

Here are some pictures I uploaded before we left and never had time to write about and post. First is the finished Olive calendar contest piece. I'll take pics and send them out when we return to michigan in a couple days.

This is my Olympic knitting as of Thursday I think. Unfortunately I only managed to get to about 14 inches before the closing ceremonies. I am a little bummed, but, I got pretty close, and now it's pretty close to done and I still have more than two months before her Birthday.

Here is a picture of the stuff I got at the Fiber Festival two weekends ago. Not sure now what any of it is, but it's all handspun and pretty and soft. No plans for any of it. The roving is silk. I don't know how to spin yet, but some day I will, and I will spin silk.

Yesterday we drove to Pisgah National Forest and walked around and looked at the waterfalls and rocks. I have pictures on my camera, I'll save those for another post. Today we are on our own because Shannon has school until 4:00. We aren't sure what we're doing today, maybe walking around downtown. There's also a motorcycle museum about 30 minutes away that he wants to go to.

I am using my sister's laptop right now. It's a PC, at home I have a Mac. She has all kinds of options for fonts and colors and stuff... why don't I have any of that?!

ahhhh... so nice to only sit in front of a computer for 20 minutes instead of 8 hours. It's going to be a great week!

Full of Smartness

2006-02-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

First, here is a better picture of the X's quilt, hanging under the gallery lights at school.

Apparently, a deadline is a great motivator for me. Unfortunately, it gets me motivated to work on OTHER things. So, right now there are 8 days, 22 hours and 13 minutes left of the knitting olympics. I have 5 inches of the skirt done... on my way to 17. One would think that I would be using any extra time to knit... the skirt. Yeah.

This is what I did Wednesday after work, along with load another 10 or 15 albums onto my iPod. The pink will be on there too, but less of it. it will be sortof like a sunburst coming from a point at the lower left, not in the corner. I don't know how else to describe it, so stay tuned.

And here is the skirt, shown here with it's competition, the almost finished second sock, two skeins of noro that somehow showed up at my door while the "no yarn in february" law was in effect (shut up... two words for you: Close-out sale). And two balls of yarn that may or may not be the next pair of socks.

Wondering what any of that has to do with today's title? This news deserves a fanfare, a drum roll, cheerleaders, man-servants feeding me chocolate, a bottomless glass of wine, and a basket of puppies just for me.... Are you ready? Are you just on the edge of your seat? bwa ha ha ha......

I got a B on my physics test.

Hell yeah!

scarf story

2006-02-14T14:01:00.000-05:00

Boss guy: I like your scarf, did you make it?
Me: yep
Boss guy: I figured, I don't know where anyone would buy one like that
Me: What? a skinny useless scarf?
Boss guy: Haha, yep
Me: This was the first thing I ever knitted
Boss guy: Oh yeah, How old were you?
Me: .... 25

All in one piece

2006-02-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

It took most of the day Saturday, but all my X's are now attached to the background.

I started to lay it out over the weekend and I didn't like it. First, I eliminated all of the turquoise, blue and bright red X's. That helped a lot. Then I decided to complicate it further, because that is the way I am. I am always the one in class cutting out tiny pieces or using a squeeze bottle to dye 1/2-inch yellow circles and then going back to put a purple dot in the center of each circle.

All of the X's were cut with mitered points. Since my grid background is not 100% perfect, the mitered points of course didn't line up right, so I had a brilliant idea to cut all of the points off. Although this made the process of fusing the X's a little more difficult and time consuming, I think it turned out great! The tiny squares of negative space that are created where the X points meet are much more interesting than a mitered corner. See for yourself...

In order to get everything lined up, I used my little tacking iron to fuse just the center of an X to the background, then once I had four points that met each other, I trimmed each X and fused them down.

Sunday I did some more test dying for Chris and she is looking everything over this week and is going to let me know what she wants and how much. Which means I have to figure out how much to charge... I hate that part.

The olympic knitting is coming along well... I have about 3.5 inches of the skirt done and the i-cord drawstring started and it's about 6 inches long. The timing is actually working out pretty well. I was telling my mom over the weekend that I must be crazy for picking such a big project to knit when I have so many other things going on. I'm feeling the need to write out my school/work/homework/dying for Chris schedule and hand it to people when they think I'm over-reacting or exaggerating about how busy I am. But, I just had a physics test on Monday, which means no homework until Wednesday and I am just finishing up the time consuming part of the X's quilt, so I actually do have a little free time to knit. And as long as I knit about an inch or two per day, I'll have it done with time to spare.

Next project for school is going to be a Whole-cloth quilt... deconstructed. The plan, which really is not a plan, just an idea in my head is to use Remazol dyes along with reactive dyes just like that black yellow and purple quilt I linked to above. I am going to use a big, maybe 40" or so piece of fabric, and paint it with the dyes in some sort of traditional quilting pattern like a whole cloth quilt. The combination of the two dye chemicals work against each other and have sortof a bleach and over dye action. As in the black yellow and purple fabric I did before, I painted the whole piece with black Remazol, then after it dried, I went back with a squeeze bottle of yellow reactive dye and drew the circles all over, then went back with a squeeze bottle of purple reactive dye and put a dot in the center of each cirlce. The result is black with yellow and purple targets all over. So that will be the Whole Cloth part, then the plan is to cut it along the diagonal in strips and swip swap the order and sew it back together. That's the deconstructed part.

Trouble with the law

2006-02-06T11:55:00.000-05:00

It is only six days into February and I'm already having a hard time with the "no new yarn in February, in Michigan, excluding the fiber festival" law. and I am thinking of adding another exception to the law. How about, "no new yarn in February, in Michigan, excluding the fiber festival and excluding things that will be knit as a gift." I found this great **** yarn on ebay that I think will be perfect for something for ****. And her birthday is after my semester ends, so I'll for sure have time to knit them when I'm done with all this physics crap. That's it... hang on... I'll be right back.

Last Thursday and Friday evenings, I ironed and fused all my fabric, all 15 half yards of the green gradations, plus about 15 quarter yards of the accent colors for the "stitches". I discovered it's amazing what you can do when you follow the instructions. I always have my iron set to cotton and with a medium amount of steam. I hardly EVER change it. So I was wunder-undering all my fabric, and my iron ran out of water. For some reason I didn't add more water and then later noticed how much better and easier it was for the WU to stick to the fabric all of a sudden. Whatayaknow... someone already knew that and wrote it RIGHT ON THE PACKAGE!!!!

Saturday morning I cut out 200 4-inch squares of all the background fabrics, and then last night my mom helped me start cutting out all the X's. I still have about 50 or 60 to do, I stayed up until 1am tracing all the X's and we got a good chunk of them done. They are all ready to be cut now, and I'll be doing that tonight as soon as I get home at 6. Then I will stay up until the whole quilt is assembled onto the batting so I can take it all in one piece to the critique tomorrow night. Since I have to be at work from 8:30 until 5 every single ^(#^%)*@#$@ weekday, tonight is the only chance I'll have to do it. Then hopefully she'll understand if maybe the whole quilt doesn't get completely quilted until the end of the semester. It's going to be about 60 inches square when finished, so that will take me a while to quilt, and hopefully being able to do a little bit at a time throughout the next month and a half, I'll be able to bring it in again to show at the final critique.

So the plan of attack as of right now is to get my physics homework done today while I'm at work, so that I can have the whole evening tonight at home to assemble the quilt.

Pictures to come... And here they are!

My swatches and paint chips. My color matching abilities impressed me. This is the first time I've tried to match something like that. Some matches were more successful than others.

The quilt all laid out on the batting and fused.

Shown here with a few X's laid out.

I overdyed this commercial fabric... Any opinions on the pink for a border?

Happy Birthday, the Money and the Math

2006-02-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

I got a call this morning, and Ryan's new neice was born a little before 6am. Happy Birthday Madison! Now the little booties I made will finally have some feet to keep warm! I am not going with Ryan tonight to see her though, I have been sick for a week and a half with this sore throat and cough, so I don't want to chance getting the new babe sick on her first day out of the womb! Instead, I am going to my parents house to dye fabric, make a mess in my mom's kitchen and maybe get THEM sick.

So last week, I was reading Crazy Aunt Purl and she had an excel file set up for a budget. I downloaded it, and because I am a nerd sometimes (get that, a nerd that doesn't get physics or math) and thought it would be fun to track my money. I didn't really do anything with it, just saved it without adding any of my own information to the budget plan. And then Monday, when I realized the first of the month was coming and I need to get my rent figured out, I signed onto do my online banking to find my checking account had $4.53 in it. And my savings had just enough to still have money in it after I transfered enough to cover my rent check. Great. Wonderful. Superb even. That brought to my attention that I need to start being a little more careful with my money. I REALLY wish I had thought of that oh, you know, 3 years ago when I had over $3,000 in my savings account.

So I started with January, and filled in as many of the fields in the excel budget as I could. By my calculations, I spent around $500 more than I made this month. YIKES!!!! Ok, let me explain myself... I spent about $160 on (hopefully) a year's worth of contacts, about $85 on Rx's for three months, $117 on school books and my graduation fee (yes, you have to pay $90 to graduate, and that is not to pay for the diploma, I still have to buy that) and from there my explanations get a little fuzzy, not so legitimate and necessary for sustaining life as I know it. Ok, so... Mervynn's was going out of business, so I had to go. And I had to cash in on all the deals and steals, like, a new pair of tennies for $30 (they were half off!) and a couple new bras that were also 40% off. And then Ryan had a gift certificate to use at Old Navy, so I went with him and spent about $60 on a new coat, a sweater and a dressy sortof sport coat/blazer (that sounds bad, but it's very feminine and cute and I don't know when or where I'll ever wear it, but it only cost $6.97).

And that is not even counting the YARN... OH THE YARN!!!!!!!!!! Let's see, that trip I bribed myself with a couple weeks ago cost me about $45, I've been yarn stalking on Ebay a lot lately too, so in January I wracked up another $55 worth of stash items from Ebay alone. Yes, I spent almost $100 on yarn in January. I didn't include in there the $35 I spent at Elann.com to buy the yarn for the Knitting Olympics which is also my sister's birthday present. That I see as legitimate because I have a plan, it's a gift, and I resisted the temptation to keep adding items to my cart, "I'm ordering the yarn for Shannon's skirt, I might as well take a peek at their sock yarn and, ooh, this looks pretty, and oooh silk..." and so on.

So now I am officially on a budget. I will not be buying yarn in February, I will not buy shoes, I will not buy clothing. There is just one (ok, two) exceptions. February 18th is the Fiber Festival in Chelsea. There will be yarn and I have to go and I'm not promising I'll leave empty handed. In fact, I promise I will NOT leave empty handed. So that is it! No buying yarn in February, in Michigan. So that means, when Ryan and I are on vacation in North Carolina at the end of February, my yarn diet is rescinded.

Physics is still kicking my nether regions. I am really wishing I hadn't taken this class, but I have to keep movin' on it. I was pretty proud of myself last night. Usually I try to get all the way thru my homework before I call Shannon, so I can ask her all the questions at once, instead of calling her umpteen million times in the span of two hours or whatever it takes. So I got through my Lab assignment in about 2 hours, all on my own. Then moved on to my homework from the lecture portion of the class. Got that done in less than one hour and only had ONE question for Shannon! That's right, I understand Kinetic AND Potential Energy. Take that PHYSICS!!!!!!!!!! HA!!!!

This Sunday is the PuppyBowl, I know you all are as excited as I am. Mom and I will be knitting and watching the puppies chase each other around the football field (and giggling, but that's a given).

olympics

2006-01-25T13:15:00.000-05:00

Ok. I'm in. I have a feeling I'll regret it, but I've already sent the email. I am officially an Olympic Knitter.

I'm knitting Skating Queen from Knitty out of this Rayon/Cotton yarn.
I just ordered it today from Elann. I will do a swatch and wind all my skeins into center pull balls before the opening ceremony. It officially starts at 2pm EST on that Friday, so I will probably bring something to work with me that day, maybe I can start on the i-cord for the drawstring and leave it here for the two weeks during the olympics and work on it whenever I get a chance.

As for school... I am renaming "physics"... from now on I will refer to it as "The Class That Makes Me Cry". I skipped my textiles class last night, partly because I've been sick this week but mostly because I had a bunch of homework due this morning. I started it at 7:20, after dinner and dishes. but of course, I sat on my living room floor and tried to do a lab and homework questions while watching Good Eats, Unwrapped, and two hours of American Idol. at 10:00 I turned it back to the food channel, thinking it would just be background noise, since I didn't care about the show... at 10:30 when only one more question got answered, I turned the tv off and moved to the couch because my butt was numb from sitting on the floor. After getting through almost all the questions on my own, at about 11:30 or so I called Shannon for help on one question that I didn't understand, but ended up going over about half of my homework with her and changing my answers. These are one of the many many times I wish she wasn't 10+ hours away. At least she's still in the same time zone. Shannon, could you tell I was holding back from crying on the phone? I know you wouldn't have judged me for crying, but if I had started, it would have been ugly.

All I can do is just struggle through this class and get at least a C- to pass it so I can graduate. But there is one little brain cell that keeps telling me, "find out when the last day to drop this class is, you can just give up, there's still time" But I WILL NOT GIVE UP, if I give up, I'll just have to take something else in it's place, but then I won't graduate until next FALL!!! that is UNACCEPTABLE! or as Super Nanny would say, "unasseptible". So Shannon, you can look forward to many more calls, and possibly tears. Thank you in advance! You're the best!

And some sad news... I haven't touched my sock or any yarn at all in 3 days. There will be knitting tonight, oh yes there will... and if not... ya'll better watch OUT!

2006-01-20T18:26:00.000-05:00

I just finished my first ever sock!!!

As you can see, the left sock doesn't quite keep the toes warm... yet, I will cast on tonight. Promise. No second sock syndrome for me, cuz I have more yarn to cast on another pair after this one is done.

I got home Wednesday to a package at my front door. It's my ebay yarn from The Natural Dye Studio!!!
I love to order yarn on line. When I get yarn in the mail, it feels like it's free, like a present! I love to get things in the mail!

That's my sock yarn on the left, then two different colorways of wool slub (about 90 yards each) and the two on the right are cotton chenille. I am not ashamed to say that I do not have a plan for anything but the sock yarn. It's pretty and it's soft and I need no excuse to just keep it by my chair and pet it. Afterall, I am the only knitter on the planet without a cat, or four.

Speaking of cats, I had a dream last night that my mom bought me a cat. In the dream I picked up the strange plastic and metal mesh container that held the kitten and thought, "My own mother doesn't remember that I am allergic to cats". Then she told me that the woman who sold her the kitten told her that I could train the cat so I would not be allergic to it. I remember saying something next about training it to not sleep on my face all night. I played with the kitten until it scratched my cheek and then I woke up. Strange. I'm a dog person anyway.

If you have a tv that won't have football on it on SuperBowl Sunday, turn it to Animal Planet and watch the PuppyBowl. It's about the cutest thing you'll ever see, next to being there in person of course.

As for my cross stitch quilt, I have 3 sets of 5-value gradations for the background. They are perfect and I am very excited.

Next step will be to take them all to a store that sells paint and pick out some colors that look good and then I'll try to match them with dye. Shouldn't be too difficult, since I'm not extremely picky when it comes to my dye results, and also considering my timeline for this project.

Hump Day

2006-01-18T13:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Hump Day everyone!
I haven't thought of that phrase since high school. It reminds me of all the stupid shit that goes on in high school. Things like, "don't you know if you wear green on a Wednesday it means you are gay?!" (of course you know they did not mean 'happy') and the whole "what lunch hour do you have? I have B, do you have B? oh my god, who am I going to SIT WITH!?" Being called on when you don't know the answer, teachers ALWAYS call on the one that looks down at the book real quick to avoid being called on. And of course, waking up when your forehead hits your desk with a loud thud. Unfortunately, I can say that has happened to me, at least twice, well, maybe I am fortunate it only happened twice in all my years of school. All these things are coming back to me this semester. I am taking a physics class, which they covertly call "Physical Science 1" I thought I was taking a science class, you know, chemistry, periodic table, maybe the anatomy of a cell thrown in for fun, but no, it's physics. I haven't taken a math class since 2002 and I got a C in it. (in my defense, I would have gotten a B or better if I had studied for the final) So this morning, I was sitting in my physics lecture, listening to Mr. Physics explain some formulas for calculating acceleration and velocity and some other letters that will some day stand for numbers and then I could see him pointing at numbers and writing letters on the board and demonstrating things at the front of the class, but I was hearing, "this guy's wife must let him dress himself in the morning, his beard reminds me of Ryan, I miss Ryan, I wonder what we'll have to do in lab today, I don't remember putting deoderant on today, when am I going to have time to do my homework?, how many times will I have to call Shannon while I'm doing my homework to have her explain this to me, oh, he's writing something else on the board, maybe I should pay attention, pay attention!!!" That's usually how it goes, at least once per hour of lecture, I drift off to never never land and think about weird things. Another week of physics is over, only 13 more to go.

My textiles class on the other hand, has started off with a bang! wait, does that mean it's good or bad? I am confused about this metaphor. I meant that it is going well so far. My first project is going to be a large wall quilt based on cross stitch. Last night I dyed 10 half-yards of fabric, 5 different values of 2 different greens. and tomorrow night I will dye another 5-value gradation of another shade of green, (or is it a hue of green?) and rinse/wash the first 10 pieces. I am using instructions (modified instructions) from Elin Noble's book Dyes & Paints. These three greens will be the "aida cloth" background, which I will cut into 3 or 4 inch squares and arrange artfully on a piece of batting and fuse them to it. I will also dye lots of other colors to make the stitches. So each 3 or 4 inch square will have an X in it of a different color. The colors of the X's will also be chosen carefully and arranged artfully on the green background. This project will be a test of my ability to let things be planned and random at the same time and a way to give a quilt using the same base block (square with X in it) an interesting composition by manipulating color and value. So, pictures to come as the project gets further along and more picture worthy, all I have right now is wet fabric in buckets.

Yarn Harlot has proposed a knitting olympics, and I am extremely tempted to participate, against my better judgement of course. I don't know when I'll have time to knit, or you know, sleep, eat, breathe. I want to knit the skating queen skirt from Knitty for my sister's birthday. I haven't officially joined yet, because I am afraid to commit to something and then come February, not have time to knit it and then feel obligated to knit instead of do physics homework, or instead of working on textiles or something else important. And, the most exciting use of my time is... drum roll... Chris Roberts Antieau has commissioned me to dye fabric for her work! That is the most exciting thing ever!!! I still have to make up some samples for her and give her a price quote. So if all goes well, that is what I'll probably be spending my weekends doing.

As for my sock, I am past the heel, working on the knit around section until I get to start decreasing for the toe.

The bribery works

2006-01-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

Apparently, just the mention of yarn can motivate me. My plan yesterday was to get my errands done and then go to Knit A Round. I returned my stuff to TJMaxx, then headed to the Salvation Army, dropped off all four bags of stuff without a second glance even though one bag was full of shoes and another half full of purses. So I was driving away from Salvation Army, through the back of the one way parking lot when I realized where this little lot was leading me. The Salvation Army drop off lead me right to the front door of Ann Arbor's other knitting shop, Flying Sheep. Well, that must have been fate, so I had to go in. I got a ball of Sockotta and a skein of Classic Elite Silk Mohair in lavendar. I already had two skeins of sage green at home that I thought the lavender would look neat with.

Saturday I started my first sock and I am ready to turn the heel on it.

I just got that sock book from Borders today. I am not thrilled that it is shaped like a sock. I wish it weren't and I almost bought a different one becuase of it, but this one had the most patterns in it that I thought I would be most likely to actually use. I think the sock shape book is pretty cheesy and makes me feel like I am reading a childrens book. Like, maybe it should say "one sock two sock red sock blue sock" in it.

So after I made the requisite purchase at Flying Sheep I headed to the North side of Ann Arbor to Knit A Round. I probably made three or four loops around the store, touching everything and kept going back to the same couple things that were pretty and soft and I had equally no clue what I would make with any of them. So, the logical thing to do, find the really soft lace weight acrylic/nylon that only costs $3.50 for a 350 yard skein, and buy 6 of them. That makes sense right?

Bribery

2006-01-14T11:58:00.000-05:00

After a long and busy first week of school, it is finally Saturday. All I want to do is be lazy today, but I have stuff to get done before another hectic week starts. I have 4 garbage bags full of stuff to drop off at the Salvation Army, mostly clothing, shoes and purses that don't fit or are way out of style (I have such a hard time throwing things away that I still have stuff I wore my freshman year of high school... 1994/95). I have returns to handle at Kohl's and TJMaxx. So in order to get that stuff done, I think I will bribe myself with a trip to the yarn shop. This is one that I don't make it to very often because it is not convenient to where I live or anywhere I have to go... which I guess is a good thing in a way.

Last night I had a nice relaxing evening at home. I watched Bye Bye Birdie on tv and knit this:

a tiny mitten, on tiny needles with tiny yarn. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha

proof

2006-01-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to prove that I am not lazy.

I have started this Branching Out at least three times and finally got all the bugs worked out and I am about 4 or 5 pattern repeats into it. It is so much fun to knit!!! I can't do it while anything else is going on around me though, because there is so little repetition in the pattern, but that is what makes it fun! I'm using Decadence (100% Baby Alpaca) from Knit Picks. Which is much thicker than laceweight, but I want this to be a warm and useful scarf when it's done, not just a pretty one.

I also finished all the baby things I was working on. Here is the roll brim hat (Yarn Harlot pattern), for Kahner and the pink pixie hat and baby booties for the new baby in the family.

Also, I am uber-paranoid that my new iPod is going to get all scratched up from being in my pocket, or in my purse or in my car all the time, so I had to knit a little iPod Cozy. I made the pattern up as I went along and I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. So much in fact, that I've cast on one for my sister's mp3 player and am planning one for a digital camera too. It's a good way to use leftover yarn.

Today was the first day of school. I got up at 7 so I could leave here at 8:15 for my physical science class that starts at 9. Class goes until 10:50 and from there I went straight to work, worked through my lunch break and stayed at the office until 6:00. Tomorrow I get to go to work from 8:30 till 5:00 and then right to school for my textiles class that goes from 5:30 till 8:20. I am anticipating a very stressful and hectic four months. But, it will all be worth it, becuase these are the last two classes I need for my bachelor's degree. Does "bachelors" get an apostrophe or no? Which expensive class should I have learned that in?

Accolades

2006-01-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

Have you ever received a hand made present from someone and had to feign excitement, love and appreciation? I have, and it made me think, what if I am making all this stuff that makes me happy, but giving it to people and they have to say, "oh... uh... great Candice, thaaaaaanks."

This thought was quickly washed away by my favorite person to make things for, Leah.

Shown here, wearing her Christmas present.

She sent me this picture along with these words:

"yesterday night I got out the other gifts from you and just threw the new weaved scarf on.
Just for a place to put it till I got to where it goes, well I was wearing black and it just looked soooooooo beautiful.
You see I thought I would only wear it for super fancy but no, I realize now I love it just so much that I wore it to lunch with my aunties and Grandma. Well boy if they did not have a fit about it! and then to learn that you made this TOOOOOO........on top of all that you can do, boy they are floored. Then the cash out lady had to love it up too!
So now I came home and thought I would send you pics of me wearing it. Photographs photographed by Jon Wheeler Jr.
LOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEE you and your amazing care and creativity. It is so fun that I am getting such a huge Gigi collection, really fun when people come over and observe something and then I get to go on the tangent showing them everything that you have ever made!
Now I have one more thing to add to the list!
you amazing girl you!"

Leah knows by now that not a single holiday can go by without her receiving something hand made from me. She has said a couple times that her gifts to me don't compare to the ones I make for her. What she doesn't know though, is that I would make a hundred more quilts and weave a thousand more scarves for her, even if I never received another gift from her ever, hand-made or not. I love her that much.

Thing

2006-01-04T23:30:00.000-05:00

I have a thing.

I think we all know that I have a "yarn thing".

"yarn thing"

"yarn thing"

I don't understand how anyone can NOT have a "yarn thing".

I also have a "fabric thing" but that has slightly subsided since I began knitting over the summer. I could post 3 or 4 more pictures of my fabric stash, but I'll leave it to the imagination.
But I have an excuse... I'm a quilter, I'm a knitter, I'm a weaver. I do NEED this yarn and this fabric. and I will always need more and want more. That's just the way it is. I can't and WON'T feel bad about it.

The one that I don't quite understand though, is this need I have for pens. I have this need to buy pens. Pretty on the outside pens, pens that write really smooth gel ink, pens that are shaped different, pens that write but also do other things. I always have a pen or two in my car, I have two pens in my purse right now, and I even went out and spent $13 on a set of colored pens yesterday, even though I already have a set that is so similar to it, it scares me. I don't really write on paper, except maybe to plan out a quilt pattern or some other art work. I don't write letters to send in the mail. I haven't been taking academic classes in school for the past couple years, so I haven't had to take notes in class. I have no explanation for this "pen thing".
This is just one drawer full as an example. Yeah, that's right, I even have pens that are shaped like frogs wearing boxing gloves that REALLY BOX, and you know what? I don't just have one, but THREE of them.

So I think this is just an example of overabundance and obsessiveness in my life. When I like something, I REALLY like it, to the point of obsession. This goes for yarn, fabric and pens, but also with food and of course, shoes and purses. I think I need to work on that this year. Less shopping, more working in the sewing room. I predict now through mid-April will not be too hard to accomplish this though, I will be too busy with work, school and homework to shop.

And I am afraid to actually say this out loud, becuase then I'll feel the responsibility of actually doing it, but I need 25 pounds to be off my body. That is the weight I've gained in the past three years since I've been living on my own and working at a "sit at the computer all day" job. Now I've done it, I said it, let the work begin. It is, afterall, 4 days into the New Year. Let the betterment begin!

What I gave and what I got

2005-12-31T17:20:00.000-05:00

I had a great Christmas, it was spread out over 3 days, Christmas eve with my dad's family early in the day, then Ryan's family in the evening, then Christmas day with my immediate family, then the day after Christmas is Ryan's birthday, so the whole weekend was a big party, with presents for everyone! the best kind!

First, here is some of the stuff I made for people that I couldn't show pictures of before Christmas.
This is Shannon's "potato chip scarf" from Knit Picks, made from the rayon/silk varigated yarn from Forma Loom.
And this is a scarf I wove for Leah with Tencel from Heritage Yarns.

I also made my mom a roll-up dpn holder, because she has been keeping hers in ziplock bags. I didn't get a picture of it, but I made myself one yesterday, so here's a pic of it.

I also made some little stitch markers for my Grandma, my mom and for Leah, we're a knitting family. And for Ryan's dad, I made him a scarf, because he shaved his long beard this summer, for the first time in probably 25 years. So I figured he'd need something to keep his neck/chin warm this winter. I made it from grey Lion brand Wool, hopefully it is soft enough for him Ryan approved it's manliness, or at least it's un-girliness.

I am so excited about all the stuff I got!!! From my parents I got an iPod!!! ahhhhh!!! I've wanted one for so long! It's a black 30GB color screen photo iPod! ahhhh!!! I haven't really played with it yet though, because I need to get small earbuds for it, the ones that come with it don't fit in my tiny ears.

I got books from Ryan's family and some other small things. I also got some beads and... drum roll... a 20 yard bolt of PFD fabric!!!

One of my bosses gave me these great glass knitting needles. I was so excited that I cast on this scarf IMMEDIATELY and started making another Christmas present! although, it didn't get finished in time.

Shannon made me this great hat that I LOVE, and also got me some neat dressy earrings.
it's not the greatest pic of the hat, or me, actually. The hat has a pattern with two snowflakes, a diamond shape and two tassels on each side like pig-tails.

And from my best friend Leah, I got two skeins of yarn, both are hand painted, and she gave me her mom's pearl earrings inside a little leather pouch of hers. That is very special. I'm a little nervous about wearing them and losing them, so I want to take them and have screw backs put on.

So tonight is new years eve, I am heading out to Ryan's house in a couple hours where we'll count down to the new year, drink some wine for me, gin for him, probably some beer for both of us. I am considering running to the store to buy ingredients for Spinach Artichoke dip... yum! so cheeesy, so garlicky... yum!!!! funny how you can't really taste the spinach or the artichokes, but that is the name of the dip.

Back to work on Monday and back to school on the 9th, so there will be quilting and fiber related content soon. Promise. I got a B in Textiles this past semester. I am not too pleased. I don't think I deserve a B. maybe I'll have a talk with her when I go back in two weeks. oh man... two weeks, that will come so soon!

2005-12-23T14:26:00.000-05:00

I know, I know... it's been a week, more than a week. Sorry! I will make it up to you after Christmas with lots of pictures.

Last weekend, Shannon came "home" from North Carolina for Christmas. I say "home" because I think it depends on your definition of the word. If home is where you keep your things, it is in North Carolina. If home is where your family is; Michigan is home.

We spent the whole day baking and eating cookies on Sunday, I think we made at least 5 or 6 different kinds of cookies. ooooh yum. Even our dog Dakota got a treat! That would be Shannon feeding the dog yogurt. She's still in her pj's, I won't say what time it was when I took that picture. ;)

The days since Sunday have been somewhat of a blur. Those of you that have been reading my blog already know that my best friend Leah's mom Michele was diagnosed with uterine cancer in June. Her battle with that cancer ended on Sunday. We knew it was coming, but it doesn't make it any easier to accept or understand. Monday at work was hard, I had to email all 12 of my coworkers to let them know, because I knew if I went in and tried to repeat it that many times, I would make a blubbering idiot of myself. Most everyone was understanding and respected my request not to talk about it. All it took was one person to say, "I'm very sorry for your loss" to make me lose it. Just opening my mouth to say thank you, I could feel my face start to quiver and my eyes well up with tears.

The memorial service was yesterday, it was beautiful, as beautiful as a funeral can be. It started with a relative of Michele's and then a former coworker of hers speaking about her, and sharing stories. Then the coworker introduced Leah, you could hear everyone in the room quietly gasp, sniffle or otherwise share their disbelief that she can get up there and talk. But she did and it was beautiful. The love that mother and daughter share, even in death is just amazing. I've said it since the beginning of this six month battle, Leah is so strong and so amazing. I am so proud of you Leah! The service ended with a slide show of pictures of Michele and her family. It was so great to see so many pictures of her beautiful smiling face.

After the service, we all went back to Leah's house and stayed for a few hours, mingling with friends from high school, relatives and other friends and acquaintences of Leah and Michele. Leah handed me an envelope with a few pictures she had found while creating the slide show that she wanted me to have.
Here is Leah and I, we are six years old and getting ready to ride our decorated bikes in the Children's Fair Parade.
This is me and Michele, I don't specifically remember this day, but it looks like we had built some kind of fort in their back yard and were hanging out in it. This looks like it was about 6th or 7th grade. I'm not sure about the cat's name, but the dog is Lou Lou. (yes, I was allergic to cats back then too, but I just didn't care).

Michele's friends and family have been leaving stories and messages on the blog, I hope it continues for a long time. My mom wrote a wonderful story about her here (as well as some not so flattering pictures of Leah and I as kids). I also posted a story here.

My very very first memory of Michele: I was probably 5 or 6, Leah and Michele lived in an apartment above a storefront downtown in Chelsea. I have the most clear memory of Leah and I sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for lunch. Michele is at the counter, about to pour two glasses of milk, until I tell her, "I only like the milk with the BLUE cap." And even after that, and probably many other "picky-eater" moments that I don't recall, she still welcomed me with open arms, as if a second daughter.

a pair, or two

2005-12-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

After about three tries, I finally have a pair of booties! This is a different pattern than the first bootie I knitted. The first one was knit on two needles, so it had a weird seam and was just a little funky looking anyway, so I found a different pattern. I made one bootie with the new pattern and it was a tad loose and had some strange holes in it where I switched between needles (knit in the round). So I considered that one my practice bootie, and made two more with that pattern, and even took notes on the things I changed, so I could make a matching one. and here we have it... a matching pair!
It might be a little hard to see, but there is one row of frilly fringey yarn just above the sole. oooh, uh... did I say they were DONE? I still have to do some i-cord for a tie around the ankle, but THEN they'll really be done. But for now, I'm moving on to Christmas knitting, because the baby isn't due until late January/early February.

Here is a picture of the finished mittens that I never showed off. I still need to wash them and block them. The one I finished first is bigger than the second because everyone I showed it to, wanted to put it on, including men with big hands. So it is stretched out a bit, but I think I can fix that by washing and a VERY quick bounce around in the dryer.

They were really fun. I have this terrible urge to find the tiniest yarn and the tiniest needles and knit tiny mittens. I have no idea where that came from, but I really want to do it.

And here is what I've been working on at school. It's not too exciting, they are just practice pieces, I've been learning doubleweave.

The shorter piece on the right is what I started first. It is an 8/2 Rayon and Rayon Boucle warp and same for weft. It was a nightmare. It wasn't until I started to pull all the ends thru the heddles that I realized my mistake. the little bumps on the yarn were catching on each other and tangling, getting wrapped around heddles and snapping. I snapped 3 warp ends before I even had the thing tied onto the back beam. I managed to get it straightened out, tied on and tensioned, and when I started to weave, I was still getting the bumpy threads tangled on each other, so I could only tolerate weaving that much, which is probably about 6 inches. I decided to get some new yarn and tie it on to the existing warp and pull it thru the reed and heddles. It worked really well, it only took about an hour to tie each new end onto an old end and pull it thru and tie them all on the back. Once my new warp was on, I wove like the wind! That rayon is so soft and slippery and smooth, it's just great to weave with. Especially with doubleweave, because you have twice as many threads shoved into places where only half as many should be. Maybe that is confusing... if your yarn is 24 ends per inch (wraps around a ruler 24 times to equal one inch), you need 24 of each color (because in doubleweave, you are weaving two layers simultaneously), so there are 48 ends in one inch, where really only 24 are supposed to be. So I've come to the conclusion, even after using this great slippery yarn, I don't care for doubleweave. I can see it's usefulness, and possibilities, but I don't really enjoy doing it.

I don't mean to rub it in, but... MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IS DONE! I've never been so prepared, so early. This is the first year I've made a budget and stuck to it. I decided how much I could spend on each person I had to buy for, and I only spent that much and stopped shopping. In years passed I've started early and just kept shopping until Christmas eve. But this is the first year I can actually see the bottom of my savings account, so it made it that much easier to budget. I am waiting for one more thing to come in the mail. Something I bought on Ebay, I paid for it on the 23rd of November, I should have it by now. It better come, or someone's in big doooo doooooo.

Oh, the scarves, I never reported how much was made for Habitat for Humanity. We are still selling scarves randomly to people who stop by the studio, but last I heard, we sold about 30 scarves out of the 45 we dyed. So we probably donated close to $300. I didn't end up selling any of the bags I brought in. I think my prices were too high. The average college student, walking through the union at lunch time probably doesn't have $35 in cash. But I would rather not sell them than get less for them. I have to turn a profit, don't I?

I have 6 more days of work before I'm off for 10 days. I can hardly wait. I am already compiling a mental list of everything I want to work on while I have the time. I need to finish the calendar contest piece. I have a quilt I started last December that needs to be quilted, I'd like to re-vamp my website a bit and of course knit knit knit. I might also dress my loom for the alpaca shawl. But at the top of the list is to get a contribution to The Sampler sent out. I think I'll dye some fabric and cut it into fat eighths and maybe dye some silk noil yarn to go with it.

But now, it's back to work for me.

the cold... oh the cold

2005-12-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

I can't get away from it, everywhere I go, I am freezing! I am sitting at work right now, on the verge of shivering, I am wearing two shirts plus a fleece pullover thing and I am still cold. It feels like the heat in my car doesn't work anymore. My apartment was built in the 60's and I think "insulation" was a concept unheard of at that time, not to mention the windows are as old as the rest of the place and are drafty as hell, which can be fixed with those plastic sheets that you stick to the window with a hair dryer, but the stuff doesn't stick. So I am cold. The only place that isn't cold is in my bed with my electric blanket on. It is an exercise in will power and strength to get out of bed in the morning. Believe me though, it doesn't happen quietly, it's a bad sign when the first words you utter every morning are "sonofabi***".

Despite the cold, I have been having some fun lately. Last weekend, the EMU Textile Design Guild had a dye day. We learned to dye silk in the microwave, it was unbelievably easy and quick. We bought 45 silk scarves from Dharma Trading Company and dyed them.

Then on Wednesday we had a table in the student union where we sold the scarves. We bought the scarves for between $1.50 to $3.00 each and sold them for $10 to $12 each. All profits went to Habitat for Humanity. I haven't heard any figures yet as to how much we raised, update will follow, possibly tomorrow. We were also invited to bring in things of our own to sell at the table as well, I brought in three of my bags and haven't heard yet if any of them were sold.

Also last weekend, Ryan and I went to see Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash movie. Holy crap... I haven't seen such a good movie in a long time. Joaquin Phoenix is amazing as Johnny Cash, he does all the singing and was just incredible, not to mention sexy. My knowledge of Johnny Cash and his music before the movie was pretty close to nuthin', I knew he sang "I fell into a burning ring of fire and it burned burned burned..." and that was about it. So I do not have a biased opinion of the movie being good just because I'm a fan, which I am now, but wasn't before. The movie was over two hours long and we didn't fidget in our seats for a minute of it. Ryan is a tall guy and usually gets uncomfortable in theater seats, but he didn't even move throughout the entire movie, we were just enthralled. I highly recommend it.

In knitting news... I finished another baby bootie, I used a different pattern, this one is knit in the round so it turned out much better. I will do one or two more to get a pair, but probably after Christmas. Since all of a sudden I decided to knit Christmas presents for two more people. I'll have a pic of the bootie soon.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. There is an exhibit of his artwork here in Ann Arbor this weekend. I don't know which day, but Ryan and I will be going. I have never seen any of his artwork in person before, only posters and commercial copies. The entry fee is $2 and will be donated to Dawn Farm, I think it's a local charity, not sure. I'm just glad my money won't be going to Yoko, though, I'm sure she already has some of it anyway.

How to Knit at Work

2005-11-30T09:46:00.000-05:00

Knitting at work is a tricky thing. I have a job that lets me sit and do nothing and wait for the phone to ring, or wait for someone to come along and give me something to do. If you don't have a job like this, it may be a little more tricky. But for all you knitting secretaries out there... this is how I knit at work.

We are in the process of digitizing 30 years worth of files. Part of my job is to digitize these files by scanning them through our copy machine, which sends the digitized file to my computer. Since it takes a while to do this, a lot of my time is spent staring at the wall, waiting for one stack to finish scanning so I can put another stack into the scanner. This is a HUGE reason why less of this gets done than I have time for... it is extremely boring. A stack doesn't take long enough to go through so that I can go do something else, and it doesn't go through quick enough to stand there and wait... what to do? grab your knitting of course!

So yesterday, I brought with me my second mitten to work on, I was getting close to the decreases at the fingertips, so I worked on that while I digitized files. I was just about to do the first decrease, I checked my bag for a stitch marker... didn't have one. Crap! my plan had been ruined! I looked around, hmmm... paperclips... YES!!! a large paper clip fits perfectly on a size 8 dpn. bwa ha ha <> Nothing can stop me!!

Of course, when you are decreasing and trying to keep track of k2, k2tog, on this round, k around the next, etc. the phone will ring. The phone always rings when you are telling a co-worker a funny story that happened over the weekend, it always rings when your friend on the Instant Messenger is asking you a question about something very important, and it ALWAYS rings when you are counting stitches. How to remedy this? Post-it notes. Find a post-it note (you may need more than one, depending on what you are working on) fold it in half so the sticky part sticks to itself. Since I was switching between k rounds and k2/k2tog rounds, I wrote "k2, k2tog" on one side, and "k around" on the other side. When I passed the marker, I just flipped over my little post-it note, so if the phone rang, I wouldn't have to listen to what the caller wanted AND keep repeating to myself "knit two, knit two together" in my head, I could just read my little post-it note reminder.

I actually got to the point of casting off the fingertips yesterday. The pattern I am using has you decrease until there are 11 stitches on the needles, break yarn, thread yarn thru last 11 stitches and pull tight and weave in the end on the inside. Ok, piece of cake... I'll just grab my darning needle... uh... no darning needle. Ok, I don't have a darning needle, but I do have paperclips... lots of paperclips. For this I used a small, smooth paperclip (not the kind that has the lines scratched into it and not the plastic covered kind). If you have played with paperclips as much as I have (I am fidgety) you know that if you bend a paperclip in the same place about 5 times, it will break at that spot. I opened up a small paperclip, bent it until it broke in half and kept the half with the smaller loop on it. I stuck the yarn inside the loop and squeezed the paperclip until the loop closed, trapping my yarn inside. I then could use this to thread the yarn through my last 11 stitches. I didn't attempt to weave in the end with it though, I think that is asking too much of a paperclip. The make-shift darning needle has a little point that sticks out on the side (unless you work in an office that has needle-nose pliers, which I don't), so that catches on the yarn and snags it, save your end-weaving for when you get home.

I hope some of these office knitting tips will help you, whether you knit at work, on the bus, at the gym, at school or you just have not invested in all those "extra" knitting notions.

Knat

2005-11-25T17:38:00.000-05:00

Why isn't the past tense of "knit"... "knat"? Sit - Sat... knit - knat... right?
anyway... I have one finished object, one nearly finished, one started, and supplies purchased for two more projects... it's been a full day!

First, I finished a Christmas present this morning, here's a picture.

Of course you don't see anything, I said it's a CHRISTMAS PRESENT. The person it is for reads this... wouldn't want to ruin any surprises. Sorry... there will be a picture after the gift is given. I promise.

Second, the nearly finished is my mitten! I want to run around screaming I KNIT A MITTEN!!! while wearing it. does that make me wierd?

Going to mom's tonight for dinner with the family and then she can help me finish the tip of the thumb and the fingertips. I LOVE this mitten, the colors are great, it fits perfect and feels great, that Manos del Uruguay is just amazing, and it was so much fun to knit.

When I got done weaving and realized I couldn't finish my mitten, or start the second, I had to knit something. So I cast on this hat that I found on Yarn Harlot's blog. (it's not in a recent post, I have started from the beginning and am reading the whole thing. That's what I do when I'm bored at work. I think I have a knitting crush on Stephanie) I just got the last stitch cast on and joined to knit in the round when mom called and said she was there to pick me up.

See that pink curled up thing there next to my needle guage, that's a swatch, I even made a swatch to count my stitches per inch! woohoo!

Mom was picking me up so we could go out to Forma loom. It is a weaving/knitting shop WAY out in the country of Whitmore Lake (just about 10 minutes outside of Ann Arbor). I need some yarn for my double weave project for school, so this is the only place around here to buy weaving yarn and supplies. Here's a pic of everything I bought.

The two cones on the left are what I'll be weaving. They are about a pound each of sapphire blue and lilac, 100% rayon, and so smooth and shiny. After what I've been using at school, this will be a dream to weave with. I would like to take that rayon boucle off the loom at school and burn it and dance around it naked, it is such a pain in my arse.

That pink cone in the middle is some neat 2ply cotton and something else that is really cool, that I can either knit or weave with... what a dilemma. and the cone of white is a cotton rayon blend (only 14% rayon) that I plan to dye, what I do with it after I dye it is not yet determined.

I see you are admiring those two skeins in front of the cones. As well you should... that is a silk/rayon 2ply, space dyed in all my favorite colors. That will also be used for a Christmas present, so there will be no more pictures of the yarn, until after Christmas. It is amazingly soft and will be perfect. There is 300 yards per skein and can you beleive it was only $8.95!! I had to get two, even though one should be plenty for the gift.

What's with all the rayon today?

Thanksgiving part two is tomorrow. Yesterday I went with Ryan for his family's thanksgiving. It was SO much fun, their family is about 30 people at this point and they are all close and get along (as much as a family should anyway). It is the complete polar opposite of anything I have experienced. My family is very small and not close at all, with the exception of a few extended family members. So I feel very lucky to have found this other family that has accepted me as their own and lets me share holidays with them. Thank you Ryan!

So part two is my family: mom, dad, Shannon, Ryan and me. The plan is to spend the day watching old beta tapes of home movies and also The Monkees tv show. Shannon and I and our two best friends growing up, Tia and Leah (respectively) grew up watching two beta tapes full of Monkees episodes that were taped off MTV in 1986, when there was some sort of Monkees anniversary and a full day marathon. My parents had just gotten their brand new beta recorder and were taping anything and everything. Lucky for us, our beta still works and we can still watch old monkees episodes. We used to watch these tapes after school and we'd all call out which one was our boyfriend, "I get Micky!" was always what I would say, but now that I am older, I think I like Mike better. He was always the rational, level headed guy (and with the most "real" musical talent).

I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and that no one got trampled in any stores today.

RENT

2005-11-24T08:56:00.000-05:00

We saw RENT last night at the theater, it was amazing. I give it two thumbs up, 4 1/2 out of 5 stars and an A. Wow... It was just so good, and I am a die-hard fan and hard to please. I will be listening to the soundtrack for the next couple weeks, I'm sure. They did an amazing job at sticking to the original story and making it more screen friendly. I think the movie is much easier to follow than the play. I was dissappointed that quite a few excellent songs were left out, one of my favorites in particular is Christmas Bells which is at least four different parts singing different songs at the same time and they just go together beautifully and shows what talent Jonathan Larson had. The few parts they had to throw in for the story to make sense were good, I was skeptical for the first few minutes of each added scene, and my sister and I each took turns looking at each other and rolling our eyes followed by the "what the hell is this?!" look. But the scenes were usually necessary and well done. They were short enough to not really change anything or make the story too complex. The beauty of the stage version is how everything is played out on a single stage with a single set up, the pit band is on stage visible throughout and the same props are used over and over for different things. In my opionion, the stage version is pretty much cheese-free. It's hard to have more than one person burst into song and choreographed dance without a little cheesey-ness, and I think the movie did very well with that too. The movie has far more speaking parts than the play, but that's ok, becuase the rhythm at which the lines were spoken, kept the same feeling that it had in the play.

Go see it... No day but today! Oh yeah, and Happy Thanksgiving!

A watched pot...

2005-11-22T11:08:00.000-05:00

My day job is mostly me sitting in front of a computer all day. When I have nothing else to do, I peruse the internet, which is bad for a number of reasons.

My credit card gets a good work-out

My gluteus maximus is widening

This laziness has bled into the rest of my life

When I finally do get some work to do, I'd rather be reading blogs or playing on the internet

I check my web hosting stats at Yahoo! repeatedly, to the point of obsession.

Which brings me to my question of the day. Does a watched web site never get hits? If I go to my Yahoo Web Hosting page, say, 8 times a day to see how many people have visited, am I watching a pot that will never boil? or am I just impatient and irrational thinking that among the bazillion websites out there, mine should be more popular.

Last night I finished my first set of Fiber Art Post Cards, they went out in the mail today... only one day before the due date. I signed up for this group thing in October, because at that point I had plenty of time to work on them and was really excited about it. But then, of course, the due date got closer and closer and I lost interest before I even started working on them. But they are finished, done, ca-put and I really doubt I'll sign up for another one; it's just not my bag baby. Here they are...

Now I am on my way to school, to battle with the loom some more. I am learning double weave. So far it's not difficult... the maddening part is that I used an 8/2 cotton in combo with a rayon boucle yarn in my warp. the bumps on the rayon get all tangled up with the cotton and with other strands of rayon for a big nasty mess, so far I have snapped 3 warp ends, so tonight, hopefully I'll get it all straightened out and the tension right and be able to start weaving.

My little sister is home for Thanksgiving from North Carolina and I can't wait to see her tomorrow night! She is meeting me after work and we're going straight to the movie theater to see RENT. I can hardly contain myself... the two in combination: the RENT movie AND seeing Shannon.... ahhhh!!!!

it's back

2005-11-17T09:44:00.000-05:00

I knew it would happen, I've been in denial for at least a month or two.
Winter. it's here. and it brought with it snow and whipping cold winds. grrrrreeeeeaaaat... my favorite.

I guess the one good thing about winter, I can sit inside under a blanket and knit and not feel guilty. ok, honestly, I can do that in the summer too... I don't get guilty about knitting or sewing or weaving... because I am doing something, I'm not laying on the couch watching soaps and eating bon bons.

I finished the hat part of the hat, all that is left is the chin strap... which might take forever... I cast on 6 stitches and it has to be 26 inches long. yeah, twenty-six inches. sheesh.

Christmas present number one is half done. It's a not-girly-at-all-scarf.
Christmas present number two is not quite threaded onto the loom yet. I have the reed threaded, just have to thread the heddles and tie all the ends. That's the time consuming part, the actual weaving will go quick.
Christmas presents number three and four are still ideas in my head.

Who are they all for? I'll never tell.

I haven't done anything to the shibori panels. I think I have decided to do hand stitching on them, instead of peeling off the fused pieces. Maybe that will be on the agenda for my time off after Christmas. I like to save a week or so of vacation days and have the whole week between Christmas and New Years off work. it's great, just like being in high school again, without the homework.

I registered for my last semester of school last week. I am taking one more textiles class and Physical Science 101 with lab. I knew it, I knew I would leave one stupid academic class for last. Oh well, it shouldn't be too bad. I took physical science in high school and a biology and chemistry class, this should be review, right? The scariest class I ever took was Chemistry. I took it at the local community college, the lecture part was fine, but the lab was awful. Everything was easy, I understood everything we read, but I could barely make out what the lab instructor was saying. She had a VERY thick Asian accent. That was only half of the problem. The other half was the students in the class. I could not beleive the dumb things they were doing. My lab partner and I were seriously afraid. The worst part, the three students across from our lab station, were all nursing students. They couldn't measure liquids in a beaker, they couldn't follow instructions and their results were frequently wrong. I took a mental note of what they all looked like, in case I'm ever hurt and run into them again.

Tomorrow, I learn to knit in the round. Mom's going to teach me to knit mittens! I did a swatch of my Manos del Uruguay yarn on size 8 needles; perfection! After the mittens, I'll be attempting either socks or a sweater. Possibly both. I have a feeling that I will succumb to the sock obsession. Once I learn to knit in the round, I can make some better baby booties. I was just not impressed with the one I finished.