This was just too funny — I had to share. I’ve posted the whole article because The NY Times requires a free membership to read it, and I know some people don’t want to bother.
Craft Corner Deathmatch
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Monthly Archives: March 2005
A little start to spring cleaning
This weekend proves that Spring is definitely on the way. Yesterday, it got up to 71 F… don’t know what it was today, not quite as hot, but definitely nice enough to work with my balcony garden. The majority of my plants were moved when the winter rains began, so that they could partake in the wet. Today, I moved the ones that reside on the railing back into their proper places, and began the process of trimming things. Now, I have a pile of new trimmings mixed with slowly-turning-into-compost winter debris all over the floor of the balcony. I just didn’t have the energy to try to wrangle it into a garbage bag. That’ll probably take place next weekend. I do have another tulip in bloom, just didn’t take a picture, but it’s a very delicate pink… and I can see it through the glass door while laying on the couch.
On the illness front, my cold-that-was-coming turned out to be a no-show. Sure, I had a sore throat and a headache for a few days, but my temp never got over 99.8 F. Meanwhile, the husband is slowly recovering… he got hit hard. Since Tuesday, his fever slowly came down, and finally seems to have left, but he’s still got a nasty sounding cough and gets tired easily. I’m very glad I didn’t get sick. I’ve got a project similar to my manuscript paper due a week tomorrow, with the midterm the week after that… the day after my visiting in-laws want to spend all day Sunday with us. I’ll have to study that Saturday and hope I don’t forget anything.
In knitting news, I’ve gotten to row 106 on the Wool Peddler’s Shawl. That means 5 more rows, then I start the lace border. This one has gone a lot faster than I was anticipating. I am contemplating what my next thing should be… socks for my toesies, or a shawl for myself made with the Brooks Farm yarn I got at Stitches, or a sweater… I’ve been eyeing Mariah… if I made it from one of the new Knit Picks yarns it would only cost about $40 or $50 to make. I do have this wool/mohair yarn I got from Dyeing for Fiber (I’m slightly depressed that she decided to close her store, it’s gorgeous yarn). I originally got it to do Rogue, but after making Lavender Twist I have decided I don’t like a yarn with mohair for cables. I could just do a simple cardy from it…. hmmm… difficult choices.
Military Brats
I have noticed that there are more than a few military brats out there in the knitting blog world. So, I have added a few interesting brat links to my side bar.
Today, I found out about Brats: Our Journey Home… a documentary that is currently in production. It addresses the idea of brats as a lost American tribe… a subculture of people who grew up on military bases around the world and who feel different from the people around them.
I know my sense of normal is skewed compared to the majority of people I call friends. I also know that I have have experiences that they will probably never have…. I have been to places they will probably never go. I have trouble unpacking boxes. I don’t remember events by the year they happened, but by where I lived at the time.
For the curious…
The About the Film section is really interesting… it also has links to pages about things like Moving or Life on Base if you scroll down. There’s also information on the filmmakers, the people they interviewed, and how to make a donation to help them get through post-production and get the film into film festivals.
Tulips!
My tulips seem to have weathered the rainy winter much better than the iris bulbs I planted. My crocus bulbs seem to have been hit or miss. I’m afraid that for several of the bulbs the rain just made them rot. My bearded irises are starting to shoot up, too. Yeah, for spring flowers. I had to drive up to San Bruno to see my chiropractor this afternoon and the dandilions are blooming along the Palo Alto section of 280. Very pretty.
Meanwhile, there was yarn…
This is about 140 yards of a 60% silk/40% wool yarn. I haven’t measured the wpi, so I don’t know if it classifies as lace weight, or if it’s fingering weight. The silk is multi-colored: pink, yellow, green, blue… I got it from The Silk Worker. The blue ply is a 80% wool/20% silk that I got off eBay.
Okay, I’m going to go have soup now… soup is good.
It’s coming… I can feel it
I think I’m coming down with something. My husband’s been sick since Sunday, and now my throat has that scratchy, warm feeling. *ick* Thankfully, my manager let me work from home today cause my husband was running a 103.6 fever this morning and I wanted to keep an eye on him. It’s coming down slowly, but it is coming down. I just hope I don’t have something like that to look forward to… I’m a big baby when I have a fever (that is anything over 99.8).
On a happier note, I have pictures for sharing…
Here’s the stuff I dyed at my sort-of dyeing class. I carded it, mixing the colors slightly and started spinning it up. I used it to practice a long draw… lesson: works very nicely with rolags, doesn’t work with combed top, which is what I usually sping with. The singles are nice and fuzzy looking; quite different from the yarn I get normally with my short draw technique.
I got a package from my secret pal on Saturday. Pretty roving from Deep Color in Berkeley and a couple skeins from the Himalayan Yarn Co. They’re 60% wool and 40% recycled silk. They’re soft… softer then I would have expected. I had heard rumors that recylced silk could be unpleasant, but I think that’s really when you’ve got the skeins that are nothing but the silk. The wool is a nice match for the rainbow of colors in the silk. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it yet… maybe something felty.
Nifty update
I created a new space for listing my finished objects…. haven’t quite finished moving things over (as you can tell by the fact that Le Bete Noir is still listed in the Current Projects section), but it is officially up and running now.
I present… Finished Objects from Outer Space.