I am the Queen

of multi-tasking! I popped Galileo's Battle for the Heavens in the vcr, put a pen and tablet on the table next to the loom, and began sleying for my first rag rug. I'm using two pieces of cotton that I bought for $1.00/yd. at JoMar. I seamed them lengthwise into a long tube then folded and cut to within 2" of the fold with my rotary cutter. After that I just cut diagonally to join each strip to the next one. Voilá yards and yards of rag strips. The strips change about every 41" and the rug is 25" in the reed. I'm looking forward to seeing how it patterns. I'm sleying 12 epi (48 brown, 12 tan, 6 white, 12 tan). AND, by the time I finished sleying, the video was almost finished and I had a list of times and events so I can edit it for my World Cultures class.

Remember how excited I was about painting the basement and making my studio down there? It's become a dumping ground! (and just so you know, the pool table has been cleaned off several times in the last year and NO ONE has played pool on it) I should clean up the mess, but considering today was a free day I was determined to not spend it cleaning this. Then again, if it really bothered me, I could have cleaned it up rather than merrily taking pictures!

Inspiration

Look at these beautiful quilts! Sarah posted the link on the DyersLIST, so I think it would be appropriate to share. I especially like the Autumn Borealis - where she painted a fat quarter, cut it up and pieced it back together. That would be a good way technique to use with those square yard pieces I dyed this summer.

What to Choose?

I'm still pondering over my choices for classes at Creative Strands this year. The only thing I'm sure of is that I want to take the Soumak class and the Fleece and Pile Rugs class with Tom Knisely. I wonder if I have to put a 2nd and 3rd choice if I get the registration form there on the first day?

Here's what I'm thinking for the 12 hour preconference workshop:
Painting with Fabric Strips - Nadine Sanders
Cottage Garden Vest - Sharon Costello
Choose the Bright Colors - Carol Lee
Although I might not actually wear the vest, I would like to take the felting class. The weaving sounds interesting, but if Kate and Carolyn both take it, then we can share handouts and techniques. We'll have workshop looms there so we'll be able to see what we've done in the classes. I haven't done any natural dyeing, so Carol Lee's class looks good too. I may have to roll dice to see what I put down for my first choice.

My choices for individual classes are:
Friday PM
Spinning Sock Yarn - Merike Saarniit
Charm Bracelet - Peggy Wright
N�inding - Amann (Rudy was in our spinning guild before he moved to Maine)
I can always use some help with my spinning, but if I don't take the class I won't have to bring my wheel (except I'd like to have it at the room anyway). I know next to nothing about beading, although I have the start of a bead stash. N�inding sounds interesting - a new technique.

Sat AM
Soumak - Tom Knisely from The Mannings

Sat PM/Sun AM
Fleece & Pile Rugs - Tom Knisely

Any advice? I'm giving myself to Thursday to decide, then it goes in the mail.

All I'm Doing Right Now

Damn! Another sinus headache. I suppose that means I should be seeing an ENT specialist. Along with that, I think I need to go back to the orthodontist for an adjustment to my retainer. Part of the headaches are coming from my jaw and it seems like I can still grind my teeth. I'm not really a regular doctor visit person, but I might as well schedule all the other stuff I've been putting off. This could take a while (just to make all the appointments)!

When I could focus my eyes on something I started this. I found the yarn while looking for something else. It's Brunswick Impressions. It's the coordinating yarn for that fuzzy mohair hat. It's the center lace pattern from the Little Dimun. I wanted to do something different, but I kept coming back to this pattern, so that's what I'll do.



I'm hosting my spinning group today. I don't have much energy, but luckily we're a very casual group. Give us a place to spin and some food and we're satisfied! After that I've got to fill out my registration form for Creative Strands. Now you can't feel too bad when you've got that to look forward to!

The More Tedious Tasks

I've was moaning about sewing the mohair sweater together this morning. Finally, after making coffee and sitting down to do it, I realized that this 2 hours was only a small fraction of the time it took to knit it. What was I complaining about? Now that it's finished I'll always have this sweater - no more work. Then I read Carolyn's entry. Strikes a familiar chord!

The Pursuit of Perfection

I'm chiming in pretty late on this topic. It's been on my mind for the last few days, but I haven't had time to really put down my thoughts. I assumed I pretty much put the perfection goal behind me. I was able to wear (proudly, I might say) my first handsun sweater, knowing full well that I changed the edging from seed stitch to garter, but I can hardly tell and I know that no one else has. The irregularities in the spinning seem to be more of an asset in this sweater than a liability. I need to tighten up the buttonholes to keep the buttons from slipping out. But every time I wear it I get compliments and raves (of course, mostly from people that don't spin or knit - crap, there's that disclaimer again!) so I'm thinking that I've let this need for being perfect, well, almost perfect, go.

So what happens? I've been working on a small bag for the ST exchange. It's my first time spinning silk and knitting with beads. I stop and preen over my work every few minutes. I keep thinking that I need to post a picture here, but in the back of my mind I worry about what the recipient will think. The silk goes from tightly spun and plyed to loose fluffs of fiber. Do the beads look like they took me as much time to pick out as they did, or will she think they were plopped in as an afterthought? Eventually I remember how much I enjoyed the exchanges I've been in. Was everything professional and perfectly executed? Of course not. Did that diminish the pleasure I had opening the package and seeing the skeins (fish, fulled washcloths, hand dyed cotton, etc)? Of course not. And so I go back to finishing the bag, delighting in my first experience in knitting with handspun silk and beads. Take a look (the beads are different colors, but they are not showing up that way on my monitor).

Thanks Carolyn!

After all that bread baking yesterday I thought soup sounded like a good idea.
I made Carolyn's chicken soup and I have to say it was the best chicken soup I ever had. You've got to try it.



There really isn't anything like coming home to dinner all ready for you and then finding this delightful bevy of beautiful tools, from Finniwig Studios.

Those tools are just crying out for me to try a little tapestry. Oh well, so much for focusing - instead of finishing the sage mohair I've spent the last day or two trying tapestry crochet!

Mmm, My Kitchen Smells Good!

I've been spending the morning baking bread. I bought some Harvest Grains from King Arthur last week and thought I'd give it a try. As I was mixing it up I thought something looked very familiar. Oh yeah, I just fed the birds a mix that looked remarkedly similar. Why don't you see if you can tell the difference?



I love the placement of my house (although I had no say in it - we bought it when it was 7 years old). The southeast windows in the kitchen give bright light and a nice warm place for rising bread
(if the sun actually cooperates!)

Nothing New,

but I've been making steps towards getting my studio cleaned up and organized. Last night I was too tired to start anything new, so I headed downstairs and reskeined all the yarn I dyed this fall. Using the skeinwinder with the counter I now know how much I have a each color.



I have over 1800 yards of this teal corrie. I was thinking of using it for my Rogue-ish sweater, but is so soft and springy that it might not make the best wearing knit.



Not such a great picture - too little light, but at least you can see the results of my Get It Under Control Plan. The green and dark wine are being used in my languishing cardigan which I started this fall. I need to spin a little more of the brown and find one more blend to use as shoulder contrast.

I just heard the most amazing cellist on CBS's Early Show Han Na Chang. Absolutely mesmerizing!

A Slight Delay

We've got freezing rain this morning. Predictions are that the temps will be rising soon, so for now it's a two hour delay.



Yesterday we had midyear parent teacher conferences. Since they didn't start until 12:00 I had time in the morning to get some spinning done. This is from another batt of Linda Diak's. Tentative plans are to use this yarn along with the other one from Linda combined as contrast with the brown corrie. You know, I have 120 students and 20 parents came. I sat in the gym with 100+ other teachers, in alphabetical order, waiting for parents to show up. 7.5 hours! This parental disinterest however did have an upside - I nearly finished two hats. I was working on 16" circulars and forgot to take dps so I'll have to do the decreases this weekend.

Off to spin for a little bit.

Standing Up to Spam!

Thanks to Carolyn's suggestion I installed MT-Blacklist. Although it can spot spam, the thing I like the most is that when you get your email notification of a comment, it has a link that allows you to delete and rebuild immediately. No going into your site - deleting - rebuilding separately. On the email front, I finally figured out how to configure my SpamAssassin. Now spam is marked and filtered right into a folder. So far only one miss - and that was an email from Sheep Thrills!

I spend the entire weekend putting together semester grades and comments for the reports cards, along with other paper shuffling that comes with starting a new semester. Last night I finally got to knit on the sage mohair while watching Independence Day. No Superbowl for me - not because the Eagles didn't make it into the Superbowl, but rather a decided disinterest in football.

I love getting packages. I found a copy of Nöel Bennett's Working With the Wool on Ebay and it came today. It's a cool little primer on Navajo rugs. Now where is my Thunderbird bead order????

Standing Up to Spam!

Thanks to Carolyn's suggestion I installed MT-Blacklist. Although it can spot spam, the thing I like the most is that when you get your email notification of a comment, it has a link that allows you to delete and rebuild immediately. No going into your site - deleting - rebuilding separately. On the email front, I finally figured out how to configure my SpamAssassin. Now spam is marked and filtered right into a folder. So far only one miss - and that was an email from Sheep Thrills!

I spend the entire weekend putting together semester grades and comments for the reports cards, along with other paper shuffling that comes with starting a new semester. Last night I finally got to knit on the sage mohair while watching Independence Day. No Superbowl for me - not because the Eagles didn't make it into the Superbowl, but rather a decided disinterest in football.

I love getting packages. I found a copy of Nöel Bennett's Working With the Wool on Ebay and it came today. It's a cool little primer on Navajo rugs. Now where is my Thunderbird bead order????