Movies, Movies

Anticipating this three day weekend, I rushed home from school Friday and by 4:00 PM was spinning more of these lovely batts and watching Empire of the Sun. Christian Bale did an amazing job as a pampered prep school boy manically racing around the Japanese camp. I've seen it before, but found it more heartbreaking this time.



I showed you a bobbin of the Brushstrokes but never posted a picture of the batts in all their glory. I would have been finished plying last night, but I didn't feel like going down stairs to use the skein winder to free up a bobbin.

Besides marathon spinning yesterday I watched Obsession very much in the Hitchcock genre, but not quite there. I think it was the melodramatic music that did it in for me.

Despite the siren call of my fiber, I forced myself to go to the gym yesterday. It was my third visit after my very long furlough, and surprisingly it was a good work out. All cardio, I'll start back with the weights next week. Feeling virtuous I went straight to Joann's with my 50% of any item coupon and picked up a bolt of white muslin.

I'm going to do another color triangle today and dumping the 10 ml of dye after painting each piece just went against my nature. So, I'm going to use the low water immersion technique and sop up the dye with a fat eighth and then batch in a baggie. I did a three color gradation a year or two ago which led to a couple large wallhangings for Josh's apartment. Presently they are living in a box in the linen closet. He wants to keep them for his next place (which hopefully won't have as bad walls), I'm rooting for making rag rugs with them.

Last night found me watching The Hours with Laura. So many great actors and wonderful performances,but Good God, what a depressing movie! I kept watching, hoping, but no bright spots. Well, there were some, but they were provided by Josh, watching playoff games in the family room with his buddies. Some of the comments, yelled in unison, were pretty funny. We actually had to stop the dvd when the game went into overtime. All I can say is, if this is what they do when they are watching other teams, I'm glad I won't see him today at the Linc. He's already there - cooking steak and egg sandwiches and waiting impatiently for the kick-off.

Finishing Up

Not much new to blog about. I spent a lot of time this weekend doing fiberish pursuits, but nothing to show for it.

Friday night I celebrated Roc Day all by myself, spinning the Brushstrokes and watching Mona Lisa Smile. Pleasant little movie, but didn't knock my socks off. The wool/alpaca/silk blend, however, does!



I didn't finish the recycled sweater because I forgot that the reason I had three KnitSmart carriages was due to the breakdown of the electronic counter that's built into it. You are merrily knitting along and then blam! The counter resets to zero. I put a tablet next to the table and I counted out loud in tens, put a slash mark, count ten more. I hope no one was around, because I sounded like a two year old watching Sesame Street. I finished the back and then came up to my computer and ordered a new counter. Works the old fashioned way. Hits a little wire and counts down another number. With any luck it will be here by the weekend.

Sunday found me serging my twill samples and writing up my experiences. Once they're distributed I'll post my results. Once again, I'm left with an empty loom and no warp wound. Tonight I finished drafting my two block twill plaid, with a three color repeat, à la Alderman.

Recycling

I have a handspun sweater that just didn't fit right. It was too wide and too short. So last night I took it all apart, skeining the yarn on my niddy noddy. It looked like a pile of curly spaghetti, but it's been washed and will be ready to go tomorrow. I worked up a sample on the KnitSmart and hopefully I'll have the major pieces done by the weekend. Ribbing will probably have to wait for next week.



On the spinning front, I really loved June's yarn, spun from batts she bought at MDSW. No wonder I was so attracted to it, I bought three of the same batts (Brushstrokes) from Indigo Moon Farm at SOAR this fall! I spun a little sample tonight. Now to decide what movies I'll watch this weekend.


Indigio Moon Farm, Brushstrokes

Sometimes It's the Simple Things

that make me happy. I was playing around with my beads (the last thing on my vacation to do list), checking what I had, and what I needed to actually do any beading. I was thinking how I needed some really small zip lock bags but I assumed I would have to order large lots in order to get a decent price.

Then I went to the dollar store! Lordy, Lordy, look what I found - there are 50 bags in each package.



I bought three, but I'm going to have to go back and get more. Who knows how long they'll carry them?

Back to the beading. I realized I needed crimping pliers, some crimp beads, and a few other things before these beads can turn into something. I did, however, attach a swivel clip to an inkle band turning it into a lanyard for my ID. I'm sure there's a way to finish off the ends of the band, some sort of hemstitching perhaps, but of course I didn't think that far ahead when I was doing it. So I zigzagged the ends and then folded it around the jump ring and bar tacked it. Not very neat, but it'll do the trick.

Sometimes It's the Simple Things

that make me happy. I was playing around with my beads (the last thing on my vacation to do list), checking what I had, and what I needed to actually do any beading. I was thinking how I needed some really small zip lock bags but I assumed I would have to order large lots in order to get a decent price.

Then I went to the dollar store! Lordy, Lordy, look what I found - there are 50 bags in each package.



I bought three, but I'm going to have to go back and get more. Who knows how long they'll carry them?

Back to the beading. I realized I needed crimping pliers, some crimp beads, and a few other things before these beads can turn into something. I did, however, attach a swivel clip to an inkle band turning it into a lanyard for my ID. I'm sure there's a way to finish off the ends of the band, some sort of hemstitching perhaps, but of course I didn't think that far ahead when I was doing it. So I zigzagged the ends and then folded it around the jump ring and bar tacked it. Not very neat, but it'll do the trick.

Found

Just in case I didn't have enough irons in the fire, I decided to see if I could find my old KnitSmart knitting machine. I packed it away when I started teaching full-time, 10 years ago. I found the machine pieces in the attic and the keyplates in the basement. Now all I needed were the transfer tools, claw weights, etc. Where did I put them? I could picture a yellow plastic lunch box. I started in the basement. Found a pink My Child and a red Transformers box. Headed upstairs and looked in the hall closets, then up to the next floor where I looked under my bed (hard to see to the middle of a king-size bed - way too many dust bunnies), in the closets, and then up to the attic.

How do I describe my attic? Let's begin with the fact that I have four kids in their twenties, who have moved in and out several times. They also seem to be abnormally attached to their childhood teddy bears, baseball cards, and paper back series (Sweet Valley High, etc). However, they are not attached enough to actually move them to their homes (oh yeah, two still live here!) Eventually I found it. Rainbow Brite.

I put everything together, after cleaning off 10 years of dust, and it worked like a charm. I knitted up this tote in less than 2 hours, including the pocket and handles. Sewing it together took almost as long! Into the washing machine it went.



I made a folded hem (in red) but it didn't full as much as the rest of the tote - gives it a bit of a ruffle. The pocket should have been a little narrower and a little deeper. Oh well, live and learn.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Found

Just in case I didn't have enough irons in the fire, I decided to see if I could find my old KnitSmart knitting machine. I packed it away when I started teaching full-time, 10 years ago. I found the machine pieces in the attic and the keyplates in the basement. Now all I needed were the transfer tools, claw weights, etc. Where did I put them? I could picture a yellow plastic lunch box. I started in the basement. Found a pink My Child and a red Transformers box. Headed upstairs and looked in the hall closets, then up to the next floor where I looked under my bed (hard to see to the middle of a king-size bed - way too many dust bunnies), in the closets, and then up to the attic.

How do I describe my attic? Let's begin with the fact that I have four kids in their twenties, who have moved in and out several times. They also seem to be abnormally attached to their childhood teddy bears, baseball cards, and paper back series (Sweet Valley High, etc). However, they are not attached enough to actually move them to their homes (oh yeah, two still live here!) Eventually I found it. Rainbow Brite.

I put everything together, after cleaning off 10 years of dust, and it worked like a charm. I knitted up this tote in less than 2 hours, including the pocket and handles. Sewing it together took almost as long! Into the washing machine it went.



I made a folded hem (in red) but it didn't full as much as the rest of the tote - gives it a bit of a ruffle. The pocket should have been a little narrower and a little deeper. Oh well, live and learn.

Oh, and Happy New Year!