luxe

so, yesterday, i woke up with a headache, took a mild pill for said headache, took a shower, had some coffee, slept all day. all. day. i woke up with a headache again today, although it doesn’t seem as bad as friday. i lead such an exciting life. i really really do. i get so mad at myself when i can’t get out of bed. it is such a strange thing.

when i finally woke up at 8 pm, i think, we watched the kingdom of heaven with orlando bloom, etc, which was not bad, if really long. it was on hbo or something. liam neeson and jeremy irons were in it, so that is something.

i am doing a couple of trades that i am excited about…one is with poppy who contacted me (isn’t that always so flattering?) and i am getting a cool necklace and a pink and green stained glass business card holder. wooot!

i have been drooling over diana’s gorgeous ceramics. i have degrees in clay sculpture and had so much fun doing the work for it. my hands know what to do and i really never even got frustrated (except when i threw pots, etc, rather than working on sculpture) somehow. i am inspired to take my alma mater up on the cheapo studio fee they charge to use their stuff. i can mix my own clay there for next to nothing, as well. a garbage can full of my own favorite mix of clay. mmmmm. her work is gorgeous and i am hoping to do some sort of trade with her, even just for a small piece…she uses lots of flowers (especially poppies, my favorite) and birds. so gorgeous. i came across her website via lisa’s wonderous blog, one of my most favorites. and someone i would love to do a swaparoo with at some point. fingers crossed.

the odd thing is that i always loved bird things, and then my good pal gabe (who is awol, btw) went into a hardcare bird/pigeon phase in his artwork, and then i started noticing birds. everywhere. and this vase i have had for ages that i adore became part of the luxe logo.

not much else to say, on account of me not doing anything at all this weekend, not even spinning all the gorgeous fiber i dyed, although i finished all the sock yarns, so that is a good good thing. wooot! here is some yarn for your viewing pleasure. i hope to do an update tonite, or to-morrow at the latest…

ok. off to shower.
smoooooooooooooooo….cha cha cha!
n.

i got up at a reasonable hour and had some coffee and got out my kashi granola bar and forgot to eat it. i then got ready to dye around 10 lbs of fiber and yarn. this took a while. then, i decided to skein a bit of my yarn. i got ready to go out with jake and his folks, who i haven’t gone out with in ages. it is after 5 pm at this point and in addition to getting up earlyish, doing a lot of work, cleaning and rearranging the kitchen and the living room, i was out in the sun (lupus doesn’t like the sun) hanging up yarn and fiber and then for a bit longer just enjoying sun. i take a shower and get dressed, etc, and start to feel crummy. start to get a headache. we get in the car to meet the folks and i get the mercury taste in my mouth. start to feel panicky, like i am going to barf, or cry. knowing that i waited too long to eat, didn’t drink anything but a soda and a double coffee with a teaspoon of cane sugar (mmmm) and whipped cream which qualifies as a meal in my world. when i was in high school i forgot to eat a lot and migraine meds weren’t anything back then so i always ended up in the hospital. not good. anyway, jake dropped me back off at home and amy hung out with me for a while (i am sure she was irritated and hated me. i hate me. but jake did offer for her to still come with. i would have if i were her.) and i waited for the drugs to do their magic. which they did, until now when i am starting to feel crappy again. so i did eat the kashi granola bar thingy (i love em!) and then jakey brought me leftovers from smokey bones, the new crap restaurant in town. the ribs were the most peppery/salty/dry things i have ever had. actually, there is this other local restaurant called the pepperwood grille that had the sickest food we (this meaning everyone there and everyone had different things and we all thought it was sickening) have had in a long long time. nasty. everything was coated in pepper. when i complained, they said that the name is pepperwood grill and so they use lots and lots of pepper. i am talking pepper encrusted. disgusting. also, amy got a salad that had peaches on it…tinned peaches. seriously. maybe in deadwood tinned peaches are a big deal, but not so much when you pay 20 bucks for a salad. anyway. i blow. but i got a lot of stuff done. i need to skein the sock yarn this weekend and it is ready to go.

i am sleepy. my meds are catching up with me. which is good. cause sleepy is better than migrainy.

oh, almost forgot, jake’s rash spread and is insanely itchy. he went to the dr, i called and got him in…i was ready for a fight…he has shingles and they gave him valtrex and cortisone cream and pain pills. anyway, i will keep you all abreast of his rash development. oh, also, the doctor said that if someone (me) hasn’t had chicken pox, they can get it. so keep your fingers crossed. i have my monthly dr’s appointment on monday so i will ask him if he thinks i need to take an antiviral. fingers crossed.

i cannot wait to spin all the fiber i dyed. i will take some photos, i swear. i should’ve done it when it was all hanging up. i really should add some spinning fiber to my site and i need to figure out what i will send to the charkas for africa program.

ok. sleepies.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooooooooooooooooox(how do you do an umlaut? what key?)
n.

there is a french movie called high tension that i got from netflix, jake will get mad if i say it, but we had seen a preview for it and he said i wanted to see it. i thought it was a “thriller”. it is an insanely gnarly horror flick. scary. i am hoping that i don’t have nightmares for the rest of my life. really really bad. and not just a horror movie like friday 13th that couldn’t happen, but more like a insane serial killer dude knocks on your door and starts ripping your family apart, etc. more like that. so. i am glad i don’t live in the boonies. that helps. but i sat there winding skeins of sock yarn and watching it like a dumbass. and then jake said not to watch the rest so he could watch it with me. seriously?

i didn’t get much done other than skeining the damn sock yarn. the bane of my existence. i hate winding. hate it. i wound around 4000 yards, i think. and i have more to do in addition to winding my handspun into skeins. so. it tires me out really quickly and i lose my patience in no time flat.

i don’t know if i said this before or not, but i got my yarns back that hadn’t sold from the renegade festival. they were older yarns from pittsburgh knit and bead that hadn’t sold. the SUCKED. not just that, but were really expensive AND sucky. holy crap. i am lucky that i sold any of my yarns at all back then. and they sold really well, actually. remarkably. and i owe those people some new yarn. christ! and of course, when you are new at any art or craft you see the beauty in it, rather than the flaws, and the flaws are beautiful and unique…and then you get the skill and the eye that comes along with it to understand that it actually isn’t so good. at all. somehow i didn’t realize how far i had come. after seeing some of that crapola…really far. i feel a bit ashamed that lexi and jenny and angela and jacey and therese and all the other more accomplished spinners there at camp pluckyfluff saw more work. hopefully they roll past my site to see the new things that suck less. or i like at the moment. give it time.

i only like how really thin thread or clear nylon looks for plying, unless it is a 2 ply or something. i have tons of other things to use but i just don’t like how they look. at all. especially for beading and sequins, i choose them most all the time.

i have dyeing to do to-morrow. gotta gotta gotta. some sock yarns and a bunch of top. as much as is lupus inflicted-humanly possible. on that thread…my good buddy is sickness and fiber pippi kneesocks was on herself about not doing enough work and not having the energy to clean her house, etc, general guilt that i think all sick-ish women feel…we do what we can, and it is good to let people know when you can’t do something at the moment. and good to blog it when you feel like a big lame loser who never gets anything done so everyone can tell you to stop acting like a nut, because it isn’t true.

wish me luck!
n.

thanks for all the rash comments…who would have thought that so many people had rash issues. sheesh! i guess that shingles, due to the involvement of spinal nerves is always only on one side or the other, and is commonly in the shape of a “belt” but of course only half the way around. his rash is almost exactly half the way around and then there are some little ones going up his torso on the same side. we can’t figure out anything else that he would react to that would only make a rash halfway around. so. who needs a doctor? i know it all! i know everything! i am NEVER wrong! ok. maybe sometimes. but if i don’t recognize it, then it isn’t true, right?

also, i finally uploaded some new photos using my in-law’s kodak which is basically a point and shoot digital, but somehow takes way nicer photos than our $400 fuji camera. for example…this is sportweight and thinner handspun knitted on a size 8 needle…i would not be able to even focus with our digital camera. pretty good, huh? i mean, it is not an expensive camera at all. and for most people’s photo needs it would be way more than enough. the fact that i can’t get close ups and good color saturation or detail. i really really hope that best buy lets us get a different camera. the sony one that i want! pleeeeeeease! yeah, my life is so bad. woe it me hold on a sec, i am going to slap myself.

i am back, and my attitude has been fully adjusted. that said, project runway tonight…outfits for dogs. do i need to say more? a bunch of the dogs were flipping out and trying to get their hats or jackets or whatever off. it was funny. some of the designers refused to do anything for the dog at all, despite the fact that it was the theme of the outfit. but anyway.

i spent a lot of the day packing up yarn, etc. i sent lady diana her baby stuff, and some other stuff, which is a secret! but a nice big box of pressies. i sent in my socks to shannon and some fiber that i tried to overdye and pick for her. purdy. i also had a freebie for ms. c.who is having a bit of a tough time at the moment and we all know that yarn cheers us up. so pop by her blog and say hi and cheer her up! what else? some orders, one of which i couldn’t find the actual skein of yarn, but had the same one in two smaller ones. after sending it off i found the skein in question…aaargh! so she will be getting an extra, which i am sure she won’t mind.

jake went to the post office with me and afterwards we went to the red star for supper, and sat at the bar. it was nice. dinner was good. i haven’t had a nice salad in ages. i love a nice balsamic vinegar, yes i do. it was totally empty. jake commented that if he could hang out there on a friday night and it was completely empty and he could drink rootbeer, he would like it. we are so cool, eh? afterwards, i came home and spun a bunch, my louet’s orifice was insanely hot…literally, i mean. that sounds dirty. it is the part that the yarn feeds into. crazy.

i HAVE to do dyeing to-morrow, and i hope to work on some paintings, as well. and…here is the pansy yarn i have been bragging up…

and because i am photo happy…some quicky sketches of kitties…we all like kitties here, right?

i signed up for the craftin outlaws show in september in columbus (that is the right name, yeah?) i may not get it, i guess, but it wasn’t expensive and it isn’t really far and hopefully i will see some of the cleveland crew. it can’t be so far away from the land of cleves, is it?

somehow i forgot to mention the incredible program that therese started. there is a donation program for fiber arts people through materialwhirled.com that i will be participating in. i will put a direct link up soon. for anyone who wants to link to the project, they would love you for it. her blog is incredible. i have always wanted to be able to do something like she has done…it is nothing short of amazing, and i am honored to be allowed to participate. you can donate directly to the organization or buy fiber goods. both go to the same place…you rock T!

xoxoxoxoxo,
n.

i was sick again today. bad cramps. bad isn’t even the word. i was in bed all day and then i got a fever, so i had the sweats, fell asleep for a couple of hours, which was great because it was 2 of the hours that i normally spend with jake at night before he goes to sleep. so.

all i did was knit the circular shrug. it has more than 200 stitches because i was too excited to use my handspun, which is thin and i won’t have enough and it may just take me forever. boring. although it has a faux rib that is really cool. especially on the wrong side. i really dig it. i am so slow in learning things and i know i say it all the time but i need to understand how things work to remember them, so if there is a repetitive pattern in knitting, unless i get why it works that way, what each stitch does, i have to look at a card every row. so when something clicks in my little brain, it is so amazing to me. so. that was my great day. i didn’t even feel energetic enough to catch up on blogs or read a book. i am just so out of it. and i have a ton of stuff that needs to get done. so.

i know i said stuff before about handspun, but it is a whole different animal than millspun yarn. the stuff i spin normally has some degree of stripiness to it and a bit of sparkle and it is just fun to work with. it really does all the work for you. i need to try to spin some that don’t stripe, i just get bored of spinning only one color. short attention span theatre, you know?

jake cooked burgers on the grill. i am not a bread person unless it is goooood bread, so i was going to just eat it with bbq sauce. velma sent me a care package a little while ago and i had tried everything else in it (a dill mustard that jake took to work to eat on veggies and looooooved, some wonderful raspberry jam…i love raspberry anything and this incredible bbq sauce) so the bbq sauce is the best i have ever had. i could eat it off of my finger. on icecream. in coffee. soooo good. she is doing a blogathon which may be over now, and i figured that i owe her…big time, so i sponsored her. you could head over and sponsor her, too. she is a good girl. and has a great name.

the new knitty gritty episodes have started and i hear rumors of uncommon threads being on, but i don’t see any episodes on the ole tivo. anyone know anything? on one of the episodes of knitty gritty they had some great charities to knit for. i need to make sure that i do something every month. it is easy to forget what is going on and my memory is horrible. if i write a note, i forget to read it. seriously that bad. lupus causes memory problems and i guess that must be what it is, although it sounds like an excuse sometimes, i know. for example, i miss or almost miss my hair appointments on a regular basis because they don’t call to remind me. and i need that. i realized i had missed my hair appointment a record 9 days later. my hairdresser never even called to yell at me. it was right after we got back from iowa and i was super sick, also, i made the appointment a bit earlier than usual to head off the roots and gray hairs before they happened, so when my hair didn’t look terrible, it didn’t occur to me that i had an appointment. it is actually quite embarrassing to forget everything. and importance doesn’t make any difference. i remember stupid facts and forget everything else. for example, if i can’t blogline a blog, i will forget it exists, even if it is something i am really into or a friend. so it helps me a lot to be able to put everything in one place.

when i go to my neurologist, i can hear him talking to other patients in the next room and it always makes me feel sad when you hear the people try to act like they know where they are and who he is, etc. they don’t even know what season it is. i forget so much that i relate a bit. it must be really scary. another thing is if i don’t put all my music on my ipod, i forget that i have even bought things, or forget bands that i really love. if i organize my art supplies in a way that they are all put away, i will forget that i even have them. when i see them again, it is like they are brand new. seriously.

i always watch a lot of tv whilst doing other things, it is a bad habit, but i have a hard time without lots of things going on, but there are some really good shows on lately. there is a new one called brotherhood and the link there is for a contest to win a trip to dublin for a week. woot! how nice would that be. also, i really like kyle xy(doesn’t kylexy look like a disease a bit?) jake refuses to watch it, but it is actually a sweet show. deadwood is getting dicey in a big way. bad things abound. i did some research online about the charactars on deadwood and it is pretty interesting. seth bullock, for example, was really good friends with teddy roosevelt. jane was a prostitute at the gem saloon for a while and didn’t usually dress like a man. and i saw a few pics of her and she was an ugly ugly lady. and she claimed that she had a child that she gave up with wild bill. although if you see how gross she was, you wonder. that sounded really mean, but i am telling you…okay, you wanna see? go here, then.

i have been trying to watch movies rather than crappy tv whilst spinning, and watched breakfast on pluto the other day which was a really sweet movie. very unexpected. i think it was the same guy that did the commitments and it is based in ireland. but does have crossdressing and loads of music. and gavin friday. odd. very odd. and liam neeson. how can you lose?

oh, also, whilst looking for a cardigan that i liked in a similar vein to what i am making at the mo, i ordered thissy pattern and thissy one, similar, i know, the second one i wouldn’t make the sleeves flared like that. i am a fan of extra long ribbed sleeves, ribbed up to the elbow, you know? i am excited to get them. it said that you should be intermediate to do them, so hopefully i can handle it. i am never sure what level i am at. i can do most things that i put my mind to. although, i hope to never put my mind to fair isle. i am not terribly fond of how it looks and i am a sloppy sloppy person, so i imagine it will be like a nightmare. but with yarn. and that just isn’t right.

a friend that is preggers is really sick at the moment, so i am putting together a care package for her and want to send a painting, which i need to paint, and my own health has put me behind on all of the things that i need to do. egads! anyway, as much as i hate being sick, it kills me to see other people sick. i don’t want anyone to understand how i feel. i don’t want other people to not be able to do the things that make them happy. and this friend is defined by the things she does, the same as me in a lot of ways, so think that the fact that she feels so unproductive in addition to feeling like shite is getting her extra down. so. i know she will be back on her feet and acting loony sooner than later.

jake has a mystery rash around about half of his waist. he had shingles before and this does look a bit like shingles, but it doesn’t hurt. it is in a belt shape, it really looks like a swipe of poison ivy or something, but we don’t know where he would have gotten it from and he always has clothes on (that i know of, anyway) whilst doing yardwork. he has a few that are migrating up from it, but all are on the same side, which is consistent with shingles. any ideas? it is itchy but not insanely so and not hurty at all. so.

i am actually getting a bit sleepy, i have no idea how when it is only 12:30a and i only woke up about 4 hours ago. i suck. maybe pukey is a better word than sleepy. and feverish. and i bit sleepy.

i hope to get photos up soon. and to get word on the camera.

i am on a no eating after 8pm diet, since i eat 90% of my food at night. i also got a belly dancing dvd, a ballet one and a salsa workout one that i really want to try to do a few times a week. because i do nothing and that is so bad. i have so little extra energy that i worry that exercising will sap the bit that i have, but i have to try to keep strong while i still can. and i am gaining weight. i saw photos of me with my niece and i thought it was a trick. i looked so bad. look so bad. and i wear overalls on the days that i do work, which is about 4-5 days a week, so in a word i am a MESS. my feet look good though. my feet can’t help it. they always tell me not to hate them because they are beautiful. my hands are pretty good, too. and that is about it. that is how i feel. really. so i need to be a bit proactive and try to look better before i slide into 40+ and am just a total sloppy mess and end up on extreme makeover with no teef (one toof) and gray scraggly hair and pants that my boobs rest on, etc, etc. so. we do not want that. no, we don’t.

xo yinz,
n.

see this.

i am utterly exhausted. i have a ton of things to do to-morrow that have to get done, packing orders and pressies among other things, like more dyeing. and it is best that i don’t blog in this sleepy state. mwah! n.

am i over this flu thing yet? not quite. i think it might be a sinus thing. i know, i know, i need to go to the doctor. what else? headaches. every day headaches. insane nightmares. i had one that i needed an operation, jake left me because he realized that i sucked and wasn’t what he thought i was, and that i had to move in with my mom. not that my mom doesn’t have a really nice new house. i am pretty sure i wouldn’t be able to take 3 cats (actually, i am sure jake would want to keep pavel, and if he didn’t keep him, pavel would kill himself.) and all of my art and fiber stuff. and i would be a 30-something living with my mom. in iowa. oh. no. and now, it must be 2 weeks since my last period because i got it again. i felt like poop all weekend and felt insane, as well. and now, cramps. bad, bad cramps. i know, i need to go to that doctor, too. sigh.

we didn’t get our camera back and i am a bit worried that they will try to give us the same camera and i don’t want it. especially after we had so many problems and other people did as well. so. i haven’t put new photos up or been able to update the site, but i hope to in the next day or so.

i have been spinning a lot, dyeing a lot and had to reskein a bunch of sock yarn to get it ready to send out to a yarn shop. jake helped me and was an absolute godsend. as usual, i was sweating, cursing, screaming, and he helped me through it. all 14,000 yards of it. how many boys will do that for you? and cute. really cute. and he smells nice. all the time. honestly. even when he’s sweaty, he smells clean.

i have been feeling really guilty about not blogging more lately and having no photos, but i have been really busy trying to get orders filled and then really exhausted when i am not busy. i have been overdoing it, but it is hard not to…i do as much as i can when i can.

i started a shrug, although not the “hug me tight” one that i mentioned before from lion brand. the pattern is utter shite. it has this simple schematic and doesn’t explain if it is the top bottom, sleeve, neck, make 1, make 2, no clue. garbage. i returned that crap book and found this shrug and started it, although as an afterthought i realized that i am lucky enough to have gotten the gray ghost pattern free from the creator herself a while ago. i hadn’t thought about doing it with half sleeves, but i think it would be nice. and in a lighter weight yarn but still on a bigger needle to keep it a bit more open, and lighter. so. after the circular one, which i am using my own handspun for, which is so nice, i need to use my own stuff all the time. not to toot my own horn. not to toot my own teacup. not to toot my own toes. it is fun to knit with though. i always just spin it and sell it.

well, my head feels like it might explode, so i am going to go and relax.
pictures soon. i swear. i have tons of stuff to show.

smoooch.
n.

i got an email from the flyingewe.com saying that ebay had just raised their rates on small ticket items (basically) and that if the charges stand she would be closing her store and probably having to get a regular job. i would imagine that the small ticket items, the millions of them on there, are really the bread and butter in the end, don’t you think? so evil. and how the hell do you boycott ebay? they own paypal and god knows what else. evil. should i write a letter?

i spun my ass off yesterday. with jake on night turn, i am able to get a late start, which is what i prefer, and work until midnight or later and still sleep and get a ton done. i have been spinning flower inspired yarns using combos found in nature, and they are amazing, and i spun 3 spools worth of yarn with pansies in them…i will post them as soon as they are skeined, etc.

i spun 2 spools of singles for the shrug i want to make from the lion brand vintage knits, so as soon as i finish this last bit of sock for shannon…i can start it! you know how the last week of school before break goes on forever? this sock is the slowest knit evah! between the fact that i have to use a smaller needle than usual to make a sock fabric and the pointy needles and the makeup of the yarn…slow going. ay ay ay! i cannot wait to knit something that is not a sock.

jake comes home at 7 tonight rather than 3a or later, so that will be nice to see him, and he rode his motorcycle to work because the weather is so nice. he looks so adorable in his bike gear. i never would have thought that i could be with someone so incredible. not just gorgeous, but the whole package.

speaking of how much i love him…i have been trying to organize the house because my mess has just taken over. he is a neat freak and i am an utter pig. when he is in mess it makes him miserable. and it is a mess. i have paintings i have done and artwork and plates and things that need to be hung and because of not knowing where to put things, etc, i have just let things pile up. i got big shelves for the kitchen for all of my dyeing stuff, i will take photos, i should’ve taken before pics. rats! and i hung artwork (5 paintings so far) and organized the counter in the kitchen and put things away and chucked things out. the bedroom is next and the closet and…so much to do. many of the rooms in the house need to be painted, i am just not sure what to paint them. i tend to pick badly and then have to paint right over it. which sucks.

much dyeing today. long time no dye.

smooochies,
n.

i meant to blog this the day it happened…let me give you the skinny…a localish woman raised wolf hybrids…this is to say, it had a miniscule amount of dog in it, hence they were registered as dogs. how does one keep these “dogs”, you ask? well, in a pen with an electrified fence, of course! just like pets. i keep my cats in an electrified pen, as well. who doesn’t? anyway, in addition to having them, she bred them and sold the “pups” i bet they are cute when they are babies. how does one take their babies away, do you think? see what happened! my friend john had a pig and she was inside/outside and had a big fenced in yard. when he sold his house, they people that bought it had a pet wolf, so when i heard this story, i thought it had been them, but it wasn’t. it was a totally different idiot altogether. i was thinking that the story sounds fishy and that it would be an excellent way to bump off your crazy mum, no?

what else? i pulled a muscle coughing (i think). weeee! ouch, that hurt.

more later. if you’re lucky!
smooochies,
n.

i overdid it a bit yesterday. ok, a lot. i got a ton done and today…a couple of skeins, packed up an order and sent it, that was it. no dyeing, no cleaning, no nothing. i went to the farmer’s market and then to the mall with amy to pick some stuff up for….thissy here little chica…mayumi schrieber who was born on sunday and this pic is of her at a few hours old. seriously! so one of my bestest friends in the universe who swore he would never get married or have a kid…has done both and is as happy as a clam. yay for diana and john! mayumi is in for a great life.

i am exhausted and there is a ton of stuff i want to blog about but i am spaced out. so. i am going to just knit i think and maybe just fall asleep when i fall asleep.

sleepy warm fuzzies,
n.