luxe

did i evah? whoa! i do really like knowing exactly what i need to get done and having the materials do it. i finish with this fiber and move onto this one. no worries. so i spun for a think around 5 hours today, maybe a bit more, and tried to do skeining and steaming as i went. i made good progress thanks to shannon sending me fiber. thank ya, you bitter, bitter girl! i still need to find time to dye fiber to send with my order and get together some sample packs to take with to iowa. i would like to be a bit more organized this time, although i have been lucky to have nothing but great experiences when showing my wares at yarn shops. i found out that there are many in my mom’s area (i did mention that we were visiting them in iowa, right?) one of those shops actually is a fiber/yarn shop! whoa! wheels, etc! i may have a reason to visit more often. so that will be fun. there is a knitwits out there, too. i asked amy how many knitwits she thought there were out there…i googled them…tons! spelled differently, slightly different names, as is necessary for a fictitious name license, but it is funny.

i have 2 ply yarns for this big order and so all of my work has been…well…double. by dinner, i needed to go to joann’s to get beads for the fancy yarns and had an insane headache at that point, so i didn’t. i will have to pop out (as briefly as possible, i have a ridiculous amount of work to do) and get what i need from there. all i have is seed beads, which i do use often, but i need something a bit bigger.

speaking of beads, pgh knit and bead is closing at the end of june and i don’t think that i have the time to stop down. i can’t justify taking a day to go down when i have so much work to do, but for any of you that don’t know, they are closing, and their stuff is insanely reduced, so go and buy stuff. maybe i will call her and see how long she will be there. she has tons of vintage sequins that are on temporary strings, so are really easy to use compared to regular ones, but they are still a bit expensive compared to bulk ones. she has loads of beads, as well. hm. oh time! and when i was waiting for all this stuff, i had no money at all.

not much else. i will try to take photos to-morrow. i have just been hauling ass, to put it mildly. i wish i had more time to get stuff done, but what can you do? not much.

oh, also, i had some insane dreams involving baby chicks, which i may need to do some paintings/drawings or something of. what do they mean? i was trying to carry them and keep them away from some little kids and make sure they were ok. ideas?

oooh…over at boogieknits, she said that the knitpicks needles rocked, although the carrying case looks like a $3 planner, but you could use something cuter instead, really. i would imagine it is a standard size. you could use a cd binder, really. and they have sizes 0 -17…not all of them in the kit, but still. pretty cool. and pointier than addis and slippier than denise and with better joins that i can’t bust so easily. not that denise isn’t happy to fix them. so.

ok, off to attempt sleep. or to spin a bit.

xo,
n.

ok, so i spun so much yesterday that i made myself a bit sick. for some reason my studio gets really hot and muggy, despite the fact that we have central air. when i say hot, i mean sweat running down my back and wooziness. not cool. that said, i worked in there for about 5 hours and then took a break and went to the farmer’s market where i got snap peas, green onions for jake…he loves them, but they hate him, red pepper hummus and the most incredible cinnamon rolls from some amish guys that i have ever had (the best ever, not just the best from amish men, especially since that was the first from amish men, at all) i am not that big into pastries and such unless they are incredible, i am really picky, but these….oh.my.god.

so, i got home and we cooked burgers on our tiny bbq and i started to feel a bit funny, so i showered, plied some yarn, lay down…felt queasy and odd, took some migraine stuff and totally conked out. at 9:30p. i woke up around 2:30a, when jake was leaving and then fell back asleep until 11 this morning. i feel good today, though. so far.

i drank coffee for the first time since last week sometime, due to the cramps i had last week, and man, i feel high. craziness. yay caffeine!

off i goooooooooo….
n.

so! raining. again. what can ya do? dreary. maybe it is cool enough to open the window? that would rock. spinning and listening to the rain, mmmm.

so, yesterday, the 19 year old couple next door got into a big big fight (elizabeth, remember the ones that talked all night about smoking pot whilst you were here?) he was screaming at her and calling her bad bad names and she was pretty much just crying. i asked jake if he thought that i should call the cops. i am that person that always interferes. i don’t want to realize that someone was murdered because i didn’t want to get involved, so i always get involved. so anyway, there doesn’t sound like hitting is going on, but about 1/2 an hour later, i get back from the PO and there are still fighting. not long after, her mom comes and the boyfriend leaves. then her dad comes, then 3 cop cars, then one of them leaves to go and find him. and another one arrives. he shows up, the search his car, make him take off his shoes, find what looks like a bit of a joint and finally let him go, telling him he can’t go near her. i am assuming her threatened her or hit her, i am not sure that they would have let him go if he had hit her. dunno. and she obviously didn’t want anyone to call the police and just sat on the porch, miserable. i felt really bad for her. she seems like she comes from a reasonably upstanding family and is a smart girl.

i always hope that girls can get it right a bit earlier than i did. skip some of the drama. the ironic part is that i hate drama…well i love drama on tv, but not it for me. if that makes sense. so that was the excitement of the day.

i watched treasure hunters last night, which is like the amazing race, but way less evil. there is a pastor and his family who appear to be the most shady people of the bunch, and one of the teams were formerly CIA, so that is no good, eh? it looks pretty good. what else? well i watched kyle xy, which jake mocked me for…the dude has NO BELLYBUTTON! how could i NOT watch it? huh? it was actually really good. it including him peeing his pants. how can you lose?

i got 3 more postcards from the postcard swap yesterday that i need to take photos of and they were really pretty. i have gotten two that were lame and 3 that were really pretty. when i mailed my postcards, it turned out that i cut them about 1/4 inch too big so that i had to pay for a letter rather than a postcard. did you know that they have no weight limit? how many ideas does that give you? they were matte board, well, you guys saw them, but, anyway. i made sure that they were pretty much indestructible. not everyone did that, although a lot of people put them in envelopes and also on another card to protect them. i am going to do a swap again and make it crazy and HEAVY (er).

due to cramping, i have been drinking raspberry tea rather than coffee…and i miss it! so maybe some coffee today?

farmer’s market today, but miserable miserable weather. so.

smoooooochies!
n.

so, i have my bi-monthly period and the awesome cramps that accompany it. wooot! i decided it was best to stay in a semi-reclined position all day long to keep the flow to a minimum. i used 13 tampons today. seriously. holy shite!

what did i do? well! jakie did about 1000 loads of laundry. i am a bad bad bad housewife. i suck ass. he is all things to everyone. really. so i knitted about 2 rows of a sock and then fell asleep. and we watched the corpse bride which i was really disappointed in. it was okay, but no nightmare before christmas. and the songs kind of sucked, too. ah well. and we watched “open water” about the 2 scuba divers that the boat left behind in the middle of the ocean, and they died. or got eaten by sharks. but when i researched the true story, it looks more likely that they died of exposure. but the movie was mega boring. we kept fast forwarding. and the real story was better. ah well.

i had one of the exhaustion for no reason days today. so. what can ya do? lots of
stuff to get done to-morrow, including photos and listing stuff. sigh. it was dark all day today, so no photos, no listing.

oh! my nails are still on, although i didn’t put enough glue on, because i thought that less is more, but really more is more…so i get water underneath a few of them. otherwise, smooth sailing.

i saw a pattern for baby socks that are tricky for the baby to take off on boogieknits and i have a pattern really similar, it is just stockinette heel that makes it tightish. i wonder if it would be good to knit in some elastic to the ankle along with it being a rib? when i make baby hats, i normally make a little cord through it that you can tighten so they can’t hurl it out the car window. if i had a baby, they would have clothes strapped on. try to take that off! my younger brother has always been a nudester, especially as a baby, if my mom pissed him off, he would strip in public and run around. he may still do that. i hope not, though.

does anyone watch tourgasm on hbo? on tonite’s episode, the one guy on the bus has been using the water on the tourbus and everyone convinced him that he has a parasite. ringworm, tapeworm. i am not sure if that is for real. i will now go look it up on the internet. why? i don’t actually live on a tourbus, so it doesn’t really matter. even still.

oh, also, has anyone use the needles that knitpicks makes? they are like a combo of denise and turbos…whoa nelly! do i really need more needles? probably not. i am just saying, is all. anyone?

lastly, does anyone have a clue how to use the spellcheck on blogger? it doesn’t do anything when i click on it, hence the spelling errors. also, i don’t know how else to spellcheck my stuff with firefox. sigh. help?

there are so many new knitty and crafty books coming out, i cannot believe it. crazy stuff! stitchy mcyarnpants? what? no way! do people read books now? what? insanity! i thought it was just me. i did it first.

ok. so off to knit.
xo,

n.

so, i spun up a storm today and attempted to quit while i was ahead and mostly pain-free. additionally, i woke up with hideous cramps. sweeeeeet!

jake helped his brother and his sister-in-law move into their new house both last night after working, getting home at 8:30p and having gotten up for work around 2a… and early this morning he and his parents went to help again. he has had a really rough weekend that was not like a weekend at all. i hope his brother knows what an amazing family he has.

we got groceries when he got home. i had seen on another blog a woman who does lots of things that trash her fingernails, so she gets press-on nails from the store. i thought that would be a great idea. i can’t keep nailpolish on and my nails look gross and dirty all the time from paint and dye, etc. so, i got these nails that are french manicure and are fairly short, i could easily grow my nails longer, but they look really really nice. jake couldn’t believe that they were fake. so, i was on the back porch doing them and twisted amy’s arm to let me do hers, she has super short nails…and her hands looked so amazing! her fingers looked a mile long! we came in to show jake and he oohed and aaahed and when amy left, he said that he couldn’t believe how great they looked.

we cooked out and i made some coleslaw and then s’mores. i made some of them with peanut butter, as well, which are just too too much. we had a nice time. i took peeps out on her leash and she had fun, as she always does. i worry she will get fleas, which would be really bad with all of that fur, you know?

that is about it for now. i will be updating the luxe site to-morrow if all goes well.

oh, here is some fancy yarn for a big order i am getting together… what else? um…some silk, anyone? it may look good enough to eat, but is made from wormspit, so think again!

mwah! mwah! mwah!
n.

i spun spun gespungen for so long today that my legs are so sore. i am taking a break. i went out in the wet backyard barefoot (oh summer, i love you so) to eat the newly ripe black raspberries off of the bush, like i do everyday. jake thinks it doesn’t produce any because i eat them as they come in. good stuff. i risk a face-ful of thorns standing on tip toes on bricks to reach the high up far back ones.

so, i saw a little show about old men that make miniature street cars, the same as people that do trains with the diarama, etc, and i thought about how long will it take until the people who know what they are-are all gone and no one knows what a streetcar ever was.

so then, i caught a few minutes of a 1980’s version of diary of anne frank and then a minute of seventh heaven after gilmore girls and a lady on there had the numbers tattooed on her arm from the holocaust, and the little kid didn’t know what it was, and that made me wonder how long it will be until all the survivors are dead and that is something that no one really remembers. some people already don’t believe it. it is such a strange thing, as i get older i think about things that just disappear. gorgeous things as well as horrible things…mundane things, even.

i have always loved art history and that was the way that i could remember history, or even place when an event must have happened, according to art and design and literature. so it as a strange realization that so many things have slipped through the cracks of time and are gone. if no one documents it, it is like it never happened.

so nothing else to report, nothing but spinning going on here. no leaving the house. i know it is bad that i have become a shut in. soon the cats will multiply into 25 cats, and i will start wearing mumus.

oh also, i saw a lady’s sex shop on tv called “the grand opening”. ew. ew. ew.

xo,
n.

well. well. well. so i got the order stuff straightened out…it isn’t coming. i wish i had known sooner, but do you remember my psychic knowledge that it wasn’t coming? i am good. too good. i am hoping that the small order will come today, and some other things that a friend is sending that can help me get started. the sock yarns…no dice. i need to see if i can get them from louet in time. i am not terribly hopeful. ah well. i do feel better just knowing though. and all of your kind offers…i was blown away. you guys are amazing.

last night it stormed like crazy. i wanted to be on the porch to watch the storm. i love storms. amy stood out there with me but i don’t think she liked it too much. a tree on the next block down got hit by lightening and split down the middle and fell on a house. i will walk down today and see what kind of damage it did. it looks possible that it is just resting on the roof, but that would be a lucky lady if it did. crazy.

started another sock using the sensational socks book, which is really similar to the method i had been using, i am just wondering if it will come out huge around the ankles, but i am trying to be good at sox. the joy of sox.

ok. off to do some work.
thanks again for being so sweet to me! especially when i am just freaking out and feeling like i am in a cage. you are there to slip granola bars through the bars. and that is so sweet.

xoxo,
n.

i know that i only talk/bitch about my lack of materials to fill the orders, but it is all i think about. i feel like it won’t come. that is my gut feeling. i spun all day, using the odds and ends, but the singles i need to do and the 2 plies, i can’t do. i don’t have ANY merino. zippo. the sock yarns? all 10 colorways? no can do. and the order is due in less than 10 days now. my stomach hurts. all the time. i had to stop spinning because i felt faint and my hands were shaking. i had worked myself into a tizzy. i am in a tizzy much of the time. all of the time. ya. all of the time. not being able to do anything or make a call and find out what to expect, at least is fucking killing me. i cannot bear it. and i don’t know how to shut it off, because it is my only job to do this fucking thing right and i can’t.

i don’t know if it is a full moon or something but i have felt on the verge of tears all day. and night. and now. my backup small order got lost on their computer and rather than coming to-morrow, they are HOPING to get it out to-morrow. so. if i get anything this week, i will be lucky. by next week, i am fucked. i haven’t been listing stuff on etsy or luxe because i don’t know what i will have to send for the wholesale order, so i want to have back up stuff for them, if they even want to deal with me. they are wanting this stock for when they open, along with other handspinners, and if i can’t get my first order to them when they need it for their grand opening, i worry that they won’t want to buy from me again. i owned a shop for more than 10 years, i would be done with someone that did that to me. i don’t take that stuff well, myself.

i will shut up now. although, it is my blog, but i am even sick of hearing my own bitching, from inside my head and out. but it is all i can do. spin, wind, and bitch. i need to go start a sock or something to keep myself busy. my hands are too shaky to spin anymore today. i tried to skein some yarn and i nearly put the bulky bobbin-ful through the windowpane. so, i need to leave the poor yarn alone. it has done nothing wrong.

now do you know why i closed my tattoo shop? eeek.

today was mint chip at our local custard place and i didn’t even go! and they have it every other week or so. and it is my favorite. that is how shite i feel.

ok, off to kick something. someone. maybe i can pick a fight with one of the neighbors. chuck bobbins at them. not bobbins. maybe stuff from the freezer that we will never eat. ice cubes.

sigh.
n.

so. over the months, i have tried to listen to several different podcasts, the ones that are considered the best, like craftsanity.com, because monstercrochet herself was being interviewd. i only lasted a few minutes. i have listened to a few minutes of other ones…the stupid music that lasts 3 minutes and the hissing background noise and the tone of voice, too much like the NPR spoofs on saturday night live…what is wrong with me? everyone else likes them. or do you? it makes ME want to do a podcast that doesn’t sound like it is on NPR (not that i don’t like most of NPR, although i hate it when they read poetry or passages from books with overly theatrical pauses and the insanely slow sing-song of a new reader. and many of the podcasts are obviously tightly scripted and have that same singsong and…i cannot bear it.

i like listening to spoken word…we go and see henry rollins everytime he comes…since i was in jr. high…i like books on tape…i think it is just the way that everyone i have heard speaks…either like they are reading a book to a child, or are talking to a plant. neither is great. although i prefer the plant talkers.

i fear the backlash i may get. i appreciate all of the work that must go into a podcast (lots?) but they all seem the same, like a lot of blogs do. although, there are lots of exceptional blogs out there, so maybe there are podcasts that are exciting. right? i went with itunes’ recommendations and i wasn’t into them. and who would know better than itunes?

it makes me want to do one that does not sound anything like the shweaty balls skit, doesn’t have the sound of notecards in the background and is not recorded in a coffee shop or have a bad themesong that goes on for a long time. in fact, the dandy warhols will write the themesong for me. and maybe my friend jason h will work on production with me, because he knows about these things and has done a fake news show before that won a fake award! maybe more than one fake award! maybe i could win fake awards. i think video would be better. more exciting. even a slideshow, there could be a beep after each slide! yeah! and i could knit a sock in real time! so like a week later, it would be done. like a performance piece! joseph beuys would love it! (if you got that one, you deserve a cold, artsnobby hug!) i will have to look into it, and see if jason can make time for me. and i will have to start working out, especially if there will be video. and! botox, butt fat in my face, boob job, you name it, i need it. maybe i could wear a different costume each time to hide my decaying facade? regina could crochet them for me. maybe i could use the gorilla custume! ooh! costumes! my identity would be a secret! like gwar or the residents or slipknot! oh shite! you guys know who i am! well, clearly, i will have to name the thing something else and when i link it, i will say that i don’t know the crazy person that runs it. additionally, my voice is easy to recognize (similar to an 11 year old girl) so i will have to run my voice through a modulator. so now, a costume, dandy warhols soundtrack (i bet they will!) and a voice modulator. or i could dub it! in a really odd voice. like when tom waits sounds like an old bluesman with a lisp (my favorite one!) or i could just talk with a lisp. i always wanted one. they are so cute! ok. i think i had too much coffee. and then some mini m&m dark chocolate baking pieces. i was a bit desperate. and shaky.

so, my fiber didn’t come yet and last night i was freaking out. today i am as well. but i have been trying to use what i have to get some stuff made in the meantime and use up old stuff. i do have lots of stuff, i need to update luxe soon. i will. i swear. everytime i hear a car or truck or anything outside i run to the window, lik a nerd. additionally, i ordered a bit of fiber from another place just to have some stuff to work on and emailed them to ask if they could hurry and they emailed me back that they had a computer meltdown and if i hadn’t emailed, my order would have been lost altogether. insane, huh? i have some bad bad luck. oh me.

oooh! general hospital is getting crazy! crazies all around. i love it. love! it is better than it was when i was 8! and i know, because i have watching it for more than 20 years! whoa!

ontania’s blog, i found this website about airbrushing in magazines insane!also, on her blog, i found this awesome site to make your own newspaper clipping, talking cats and squirrels and more! supa cool! thanks tania!

how cute? too cute!

some photos? shuuuuuuuuure!
bits and pieces.
what is that, you ask? silk? and a 2 ply? yup! i am becoming so normal! and i like it! what do you think of that?

oh, also, i am planning to knit more hats for the red thread project go check out the site, it is really a great idea. we all know how i like quick projects. i like em! and it is a good way to use up all of your odds and ends…the term of the day.

smoooch!
n.

ok, so i saw this meme on regina’s blog…ok, so what you do is leave a one word comment that you think sums me up best. then, copy and paste this into your own blog if you would like me to do the same for you. and try to be creative…i mean, i know i am amazing and gorgeous, already. i wanna know new things, ok? ha! ok…so off to spin.

xo,
n.