luxe

02.21.06
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

so. i woke up early this morning and was so tired that i have been in bed all day. i didn’t talk to anyone, check email, knit, nothing. i feel a bit better now. i know i am just worn out from all the work i have been doing, and my lupus does that whether i like it or not. i have also had fevers on and off, so i am not sure if i am getting sick.

on the upside i got all the brown sheep mill ends today, but didn’t get to mess around with them yet. it is not like the super soft stuff i tend to work with, but it will be fun to have stuff to mess around with, you know? also i have had some requests for spinning lessons as well as prepared batts, so this would be perfect for someone new. i am eager to card some stuff. can you imagine having a giant drumcarder? i would be forced to put crazy stuff through just for fun. i am sure after having to clean it out, i would cut that out right quick.

ooh! i dyed a ton of stuff yesterday, i will try to take photos of everything to-morrow, but this is the exciting part…i got this stuff from dharma trading that cleans dye off your hands…and we all know that i am not into gloves…if it is not biohazard nasty, i will not wear gloves…so my hands always are funny colors, and i don’t mind except for when i have to go somewhere and they are blue, this stuff…it is from germany and i think it has acid in it, but it works so frickin great! and it made my hands really soft, like it might have taken a layer of skin off. hmmmm. worth it!

i knitted a baby hat for one of my brother’s twins, with another to follow, although i need to head over to knittinghelp.com to get directions for a cable cast on as i only know one way and it makes a shitty edge. so. oh, but i used some silk/alpaca blend that i had dyed myself in teally blends and it knits up so pretty. i need to knit with my own stuff more often. it is fun! photos to follow, surely.

lastly, my friend that i cut ties with, i miss her so much and am having a hard time not calling her back. she is indiscriminant about who she will hang out with, but i do really know that we have a strong connection. it is that connection that makes it so hard for me. when she tells me the stupid/dangerous things she does, i feel like my sister is telling me this and we all know that i am not good at keeping my opinions to myself when it is someone i care about. other people enjoy drama, it gives people something to complain about. i have plenty of things to complain about already. and i do complain. i don’t want to be encouraged to talk crap on someone i care about. someone i don’t care about it fair game, however. well, if by some freaky chance she reads this, despite her computer illiteracy, i miss you, and wish only the best things for you. and i hope you will be surrounded by people who care about you.

off to learn a cable cast on.

smoochies,
n.

02.21.06
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

the yarn fest seemed to be a bust, aside from meeting some of the awesome cleveland snb girls. shannon was teaching class and it was so hot in that joint that i felt like i would drop, so we left. which bummed me out. but i am seriously considering dropping by one of their meetings…you hear me girls? drop me a comment, don’t keep lurking! tell me you love me, don’t just think it! i love you! i said! and i mean it! you hear me?! (and you all think….craaaaaazy lady! and i have the cats and yarn and spinning wheel to prove it!) most of the vendors were local yarn shops, and i realized that a yarn shop in pittsburgh carries habu stuff, so that was really exciting.

i spent a lot of time making mini skein samples to take with me to give shops that might be interested in carrying my work, and i gave a few to the snb girls and that was it. and it was like trying to get your senior thesis done delerious, can’t walk, have a really bad headache, been spinning for 10 hours of the day maybe more…and i didn’t need to. additionally, i don’t know how much of my yarn sold, but it seemed that in general, if it wasn’t cheap or boring, they weren’t buying. and in case i thought it was just me, the snb table was loaded full of amazing stuff and they didn’t have much luck, either, so. not cool. i will give their names and websites if they have em when i get em…k? oh, and photos of the yarn i got and gorgeous dyed roving.

we then went back to jason h’s house, which is amazing, i gave amy the tour while jason and jake were messing with the motorcycle…and fixed it!…and amy flipped out. it has a back stairway for your servants and a huge finished attack that would make a great studio…hint, hint…super cool house. we then went for middle eastern food and headed home not too long after.

today, we went to meet my inlaw’s new golden retriever, annie, who is adorable. i meant to bring the camera and totally forgot. i will take a photo of her soon. she is cute. i love dogs. i don’t think the cats would dig them so much, though. i guess she had 10 puppies at one time…craziness. so i forecast some doggie knits in her future, although i was told they can’t be too girly. sigh.

i am sure you remember how i always say that after i go through a busy busy period, or even finish a larger project, i get really bummed out and feel funky and out of sorts, well, today, i woke up totally out of sorts. i don’t know what to do with myself. i need to start a project that isn’t a skinny scarf for the “spring line”. and i need to work on fine art things, because when i don’t, i feel worthless. seriously. it is really really odd. or is it?

i have run across some awesome sites through the blogs i read…mini anyone? my favorite is the one with the sugar cubes. insanity. oh, on that note, the photostream bookmarklet on flickr has vanished, anyone know anything about it? it enabled you to take a photo from wherever by just clicking on it and it would put it onto your flickr account. i was sad that it was gone. sigh.

in reality tv news…i saw the new episode of project jay which was fantastic. i love that guy. so cute. and he cut his hair and it looks fantastic. and you all know that he loves knitting and crochet and quilts, right? right.

nextly, flavor of love. no link? well, the site sucks so much, i refuse! anyway, tonite, you meet the moms. and new york’s mom…it all makes sense…her mom is such an asshole that and so nasty to everyone, including her daughter, that i even feel bad for her now. she probably kept her in a cage, made her fight for her food and beat her. and then called her names. and. her mom has the same mega long scary nails and when she smokes, she holds the cigarette just the same way. oh, also when the mom came to visit, in front of flav she called her fat. and on tv. and she said that she was so stunned that she was so fat that she couldn’t hold it back. bitchface. evil, evil woman. and! ny didn’t dress like a total whore. so i imagine that the way she acts on the show is not what she is really like. also, her dad seems really nice and really afraid of the bitchface. i still want to know ny’s story. it is killing me. i feel for her. maybe it is the pschology gene that is rooted in me that makes me want to figure people out, know why they do what they do. and why i love reality tv. plus, i get to see the drama without being in the middle of it.

i got a bunch of dye in the mail…and by a bunch a mean…pounds! woooo hooo! anyway, i got some new colors that i have never used before, so i am really excited to try it out. i plan to do a little dyeing to-morrow. i used big oven bags last time for doing roving that is variegated in one color and it works so well. no mess, and then just throw it away.

i have a big order to send off, and then i will be updating the shop later in the week, i promise! i have been a bad, bad shopkeeper. bad!

warmfuzzylove,
n.

02.21.06
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

so! amy and i were planning to go to the knitting show today, but i didn’t sleep. at all. i had a patch malfunction, so i woke up with my skin crawling. jake put a new one on before he left at 4a, i think, and then i took a shower to try to calm down, and took a sleeping pill to no avail. when i did sleep, i had yarn nightmares, that i didn’t have anything done, etc. i really would like to have samples to take with me and give to vendors there that look nice, and i don’t have anything. it makes me feel lazy, although i know that i have been busting my butt. so, if i stay home today and spin, i should have some samples to take to-morrow. i called amy at 9:30a because i think she normally gets up early, and woke her up. the worst feeling ever, when someone gives you the sleepy, “hello?” i would really like to take some stuff. the problem, though is that shannon has classes for most of the day to-morrow, so it might be tricky to see her. then, i think there might be people selling fiber and it may all be gone to-morrow, although, i am broke and shouldn’t be buying anything. but it is rare for me to get to touch the fiber before buying it, you know?

i am off to get some coffee and i think do some dyeing and spinning, at least spinning. i got my box of stuff from dharma trading yesterday, which was really exciting. there is hand cleaner in there that is supposed to remove dye from my hands. i can’t wait to dye again with some of the new colors i got. yay!

off like a dirty shirt.
smoochies,
n.

02.21.06
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

so! i finished the yarn, although i really wanted to have more, i think i gave pgh knit and bead around 50 skeins altogether. the other girls that worked there asked if they could root around in the bags of my yarn gleefully. who am i to deprive anyone of yarny goodness? never! i was worried that she would think it was too many, but she seemed happy about the amount and asked if i had a sign, which i do not. she says i get my own big basket, and gestured like it was enormous. hopefully i will sell some yarn. we could use the cashola. couldn’t we all?

also, shannon will be at the convention teaching classes and manning her booth, so i am super excited to meet her. i wish i had more yarn to take with. i had hoped to make samples to put with my cards but i only have the few yarns that i saved for jelly belly makes these m and m-esque candies that are maybe my favorite candies now. oooooh. good@ they are choco inside and the shell on the outside are all different flavors. yum.

i have been tivo-ing tipping the velvet which is a really amazing movie. i had no idea that victorian england was so openminded. i am sure not everyone, but they had clubs where women dressed as men, and lesbians openly hung out. on a sidenote, when i was growing up, we always put our pjs under our pillows. i didn’t realize that that was an american thing, but on the show, nan said that she put her nightgown under her friend’s pillow, so i guess it might be.

and thanks for all the compliments on the yarns! keep comments coming! i love to know what you all like…

i am going to try to relax a bit and knit before all the excitement to-morrow.

smoochies, y’all.
n.

02.21.06
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

i haven’t been able to get to sleep lately, again, i have fits of it every so often, and i hate it. even sleeping pills don’t do it. so that is why at 1:49 a i am awake, hoping that blogging will make me tired enough to sleep.

i got interest in my louet that i am selling but i don’t think it will go anywhere. i emailed an ad to put in the weavers and spinners housecleaning page, but it is not up yet. i hope that will generate some buzz. if it doesn’t within a day or two i will put it up on ebay.

i found out that a blog friend that disappeared for a while had been very sick and has some of the same health problems as i do, so please put out some nice vibes for her to feel better. pain is bad, but utter exhaustion, it really blows your day. not much you can do asleep.

i am suddenly super tired. i am taking all the yarn to pittsburgh and sending the ones that missa from knit pixie wanted, and basically, i have really cleaned out my stash, it was hanging up on the walls and there was nowhere left, at all. so that will be cool to do all new things. yay!

nighto.
xo,
n.

02.20.06
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

for some reason i cannot stop watching the terrible trainwreck that they call “flavor of love”. there is a contestant nicknamed “new york” that is the freakiest, scariest woman or man(i say that because she could be a he, i think). so! i went to try to find out the story on her and everything that talked about the cast had nothing about her. curious? rumours have also been going around that he knocked her up and is with her. i couldn’t even find a photo of the woman to post.

another character, hottie has a website, and it is really hilarious. is university of penn a ivy league? just asking, is all. this site had all the sites of the girls (i use the term loosely) that have sites, or myspace things going on. or not going on. and when they list their “film” or tv appearances…oh, it is so sad. they sound like this “asian tourist” or “excited fan”. the humilation. my knitting appears on: my mom’s neck, a shelf in a closet somewhere, etc. you know? the season finale is sunday. while i don’t care about the result, i will watch it to see if anyone gets hurt. i am so not pc. the women’s college, ne university that i graduated from would be so ashamed. sorry, shc, i mean shu.

in other news, i was so exhausted today, after the insane hauling butt that i have been doing that i had a really hard time getting going. when i finally did, i wound the rest of the yarn i spun into skeins to dye, and then dyed them. all 9 of them. almost 1500 yards in 2 days. for me, that is a lot. i also dyed a few oounds of fiber. i dyed each skein only one color, darker at one end than the other, which i never do. but they looked really pretty, just shades of the same color. half are bright pink, half are teal. really pretty. it was a chore to ring em all out and spin em, with fiber, i put it in the washer to spin out. so. tiring. and i am not sure if it will all be dry in time to take to pittsburgh to-morrow. i was supposed to hook up with amy early, during her break from school and i don’t think that will happen. i am supposed to hook up with jason, who i don’t get to see that often and i am probably going to have to push the time back, methinks. i may have to blow-dry the fiber and then tag it. and write up an invoice, and i haven’t updated my site because i don’t know what is going where. sigh.

i have talked to my soul sister, regina about doing a project together that does a different subject using any media. she said she was into it, so hopefully we can get that going.

lastly, i am in the market for a new spinning wheel that can more comfortably spin for 8 hours at a clip, although this is a wonderful wheel. she has done nothing wrong. that said, if anyone is interested in my wheel, which is a louet single treadle, i have a bunch of bobbins, it has a built in lazy kate, i have the bulky flyer, which is awesome and the bobbins are really big. i can normally get more than 200 yards of bulky yarn on em. everything is worth about 550 bucks new, but i am open, so email me if you are interested. i would keep it if i didn’t need the money for a new one.

i am going to veg out and knit a bit. i didn’t have time to take photos, but i will before i get rid of everything to-morrow. i will, i will.

smoochies, y’all.

02.20.06
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

i have been in the studio at least 6 hours a day spinning. today, i was going to photograph yarns and i ended up tagging and skeining and labeling, etc for hours and no good photos. so that will be to-morrow. plus dyeing. and spinning. and when i get a lot done, as i have said before, i feel really depleted and depressed. it is really odd. my legs have been killing me and my wheel has to be tightened every other skein, so i may be getting another wheel sooner than later. this guy is just not meant to work so hard. she is meant to be more of a hobby wheel, i think. don’t tell my wheel i said that. it is doing it’s best. it’s best involves squeaaaaaaaaaaaaking. and squeaking. and squeaking. driving me crazy. so i tightened it and then a half a skein later, it would start again. that said, i spun more than 1000 yards today. maybe more. i spun 5 bulky bobbins packed full. here is the yarn i tagged today does it look like more than 30 skeins? it is.

after i get all the yarn ready to go and do all the stuff i was supposed to do ages ago, i am going to spin the yarn for the assymetrical cardigan that i just got the pattern for. hooray! what color(s)? dunno. any suggestions? the pattern is cool. it is knitting all in one piece from front left to front right in reverse stockinette and then the sleeves are attached. and my friend jade, who is australian, said commented that she had seen it before but didn’t want to spend the cash on the yarn from that company. heavan knows, neither would i. i am a cheapskate, which get me into spinning in the first place. i can make it nicer and cheaper. cheap! cheap!

i am off to knit and unwind a bit. my legs are hurting. i should design a wheel that is an exercise bike rather than a treadle, so i would be thin! i could be in bike races then.

smoochies y’all.
n.

handdyed worsted
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

so. we got to hang out with butter on friday for a while, and it was really nice. i haven’t gotten to really talk to him, so we had a really good time.

then, i decided that i need to start exercising my fat arse before i am forced to wear mumu’s all the time…rather than miu miu’s, and that is no good. i am getting there. so jake got me a dvd player for the studio because i was told that no one makes vhs tapes anymore. i got a ballet workout video because it seemed less embarrassing than other ones. why would i care? i get embarrassed by myself, even. still. i know, i know, i am not 12, grow up.

so, whilst trolling around the web…i found this…creeepy! site. don’t get me wrong, i would totally spin pet hair into yarn, and have my very own ziploc bag full of it. and dryer lint. and more! anyway, what is super gross is that they will make you a SCRUNCHIE out of pet hair. why not get it made out of human hair, just to make it a bit more gross? they also make all sorts of other stuff. i totally would spin my kitties hair into something. just not that. ew.

what else? well! whilst reading interweave’s “knitscene” a magazine intended for…i am not sure, really. but, i saw a sweater in the reader spotted in knits section and thought…hey! that is the asymmetrical sweater i have been looking for. although i would tweak it. but anyway, i went to the site, thinking it was a reader knit and i wouldn’t find a pattern, and as we all know, anytime i knit garments with or without a pattern i end up not wearing them, or ripping them out and not wearing them…so i would prefer to use a pattern so the sizing is a bit closer to accurate. ok…so…here…it…is…marta’s yarns

the yarn in the photo has not been added to the site, but is worsted weight merino that i dyed. i have bulky weight and laceweight, also in this colorway. and more to come. once i get all the yarns safely off to pgh knit and bead, i will update. and i have lots to update. so.

smoochies, y’all.
n.

i spun so much that my hands are killing me. so me and the cockups have a date tonite. hot hot hot! so this post will not be long. my hands are buzzing…and my arms, too. the skeins i dyed came out great, they are drying still. and the fiber i dyed is almost all spun, except for the burgundy. can you believe it has no pink in it? wha? i spun singles and will decide to-morrow whether to leave it as a single or not. the colors are really pretty in the tealy/pink one and the grey and pinky one so i am tempted to leave them.

i have also knitted a few loop stich skinny scarves with fuzzy yarns for my site and the sugar boutique that i think jamie will probably like.

i discovered that a combo of the spray oxyclean and the clorox bleach pen works great on dye stains and looks very cool because it foams like crazy. just saying, is all.

ok, i will leave you with this, no photos because the batteries are dead in the camera. i dunno if it is the camera, or what. i don’t even use the flash.

Your Candy Heart Says “Get Real”

You’re a bit of a cynic when it comes to love. You don’t lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart. Your ideal Valentine’s Day date: is all about the person you’re seeing (with no mentions of v-day!) Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic What turns you off: romantic expectations and “greeting card” holidays Why you’re hot: you don’t just play hard to get - you are hard to get

handdyed worsted
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

i saw a charity that knits stuff for 1-3 year old eastern european orphans. and that seems sweet. and so sad at the same time. so i am trying to figure out who i would like to knit for, i really liked making the chemo caps. i considered prayer shawls, also. anyone with suggestions, feel free to drop em by…if anyone wants to band together…a few of us…a bunch of us…two of us, whatever, let me know, there are few nicer things to get than a hand knitted item, you know?

smooch!
n.