luxe

okay, right off the bat, nip/tuck has peter dinklage on it! whoa! and, they have a youtube reference, christian got a sex tape on there by accident and sees his ass and is upset by it. which i thought was funny. it has become really really big in a small amount of time. i love the enormous fake pregnant belly, too. hilarious! fake bellies crack me up! holy shite! i just saw mario lopez’s naked ass! when did he turn into an enormous beefcake? i thought he was a little guy. even his face looks muscular. craziness.

in other news, there is this amazingly sweet kitty (i think an older kitten) that has started coming around. i love her. i want her. i can’t have her. anyway, i have been really really stressing about her, i get so upset that i can’t stop thinking about it, and i think i talked the new neighbor across the street into keeping her. she said that if/when she came around tonite, she would take her. i told her i would help her get her fixed, etc. so fingers crossed everyone! the strange thing is that the neighbor said that the first time she saw the cat, she had a big dog collar around her skinny little stray cat middle. i can’t figure out what that was all about. she is all about love and will be a long haired cat whence she grows up. anyway interested in the most sweet and cuddly girl ever, email me! i want her so badly. if we didn’t have a jealous peeps that will peeps all over the house (more than usual) if we got a new cat, i would have taken her in already. sigh.

not much else. knitting and spinning and i need to get some of my swaps ready to go. i feel like a jerk. sigh. again. sorry velma! soon! i swear!

also, pavel gets aggressive when he is sleepy, he attacked me in the bathroom. he puts his ears back and latches on to my leg. he bit my foot, bit my leg, and if jake hadn’t yelled at him, he would have bitten me again. it is sad that i am the lowest on his food chain, after his papa and two other cats. i only weigh 10 times as much as him, why should he be afraid of me?

want some pics? here is some of my thrift haul from yesterday…
this strange curtain panel that looks hand printed…

a bunch of sewing notions including this… and this funny needle set… and inside…

and a garlic keeper, i might sell it on etsy. i am not sure yet…

and a scrap yarn knitted up for one of the orders.

off to do some work.
xo
n.

i am a bad bad blogger. i have had the migraine/fatigue combo that i know and love to well over the last week or so, i guess. i can’t even remember what day is what. for you migraine peeps out there, i am sure you are familiar with the brain scramble it causes after the fact. jeebus. on saturday, i got up after not sleeping very well (weird nightmares as always), took a shower, but on the uniform (overalls) and got to spinning. i think i watched the last 2 nip/tucks from last season that day, so i guess i worked around 2 hours. i started to sweat. and it wasn’t hot. sweat pouring down my back. i get ther mercury taste in my mouth. dizzy. i think maybe i didn’t eat enough. we were getting groceries that night so we were out of just about everything, i eat something and realize it is a migraine. i take my pill, grudgingly because it makes me really sleepy and fally asleep from about 3 until butta (jason) comes at 6ish, i think. i am a zombie all night. i am up until the wee wee hours. today, feel okay, but have the odd high that i get prior to a migraine, i spin a bit and then go to joann’s to use the 15 coupons i have (seriously, i get 2 sets of them) and i made out like a bandit. virtually anytime i shop in a box store of any kind, i get a headache, i think from the lights. i come home and conk out from 4 until 7:30. suck. so i got next to nothing done today. although, i got some more mesh for the woven scarves that go over so well at the boutiques and some yarn for them and scrap yarns that were seriously on sale. also, some triangular canvases cheap (woot!) which i did sketches for, some good paints and some halloween fixins for some yarns that will be really fun. wait and see! i need to do dyeing soon. i am out of dyed fiber for the most part.

so now, i was actually trying not to use the computer because i have the migraine high that normally turns back into the migraine full-on and i am nauseous again. so that is good. yay! i barely saw jake all weekend because i was either spinning or sleeping.

i had planned to do the tutorial, but obviously didn’t get a chance, as well as wanting to take photos of the zillion things i have done, yarns, paintings, drawings (everyday!) even if they are sucky. for instance, i have drawn my cell phone and my cockups, ne wrist braces for lack of anything else to draw. i am also working on some cute illustrations for some little paintings that i think will go over well. based on my favorite chicken boy vintage illustration. oh, also, i got fusable webbing to help with doing some art pieces with embroidery on vintage linens. finally. so.

also, i knitted up all of the scrap yarn that i spun. it goes a long way. i also got a couple of special requests for it. it is nice that everyone likes it so much. i am not sure myself what i think of it. again, if anyone wants something they see, it isn’t for sale on my site, so drop me a comment or email and i will make one up special for ya as soon as these orders get filled. i counted how many yarns are in them (on average) and most of them have more than 30 different yarns! holy crap! so you can knit it up in just garter stitch or a drop stitch on gigantor needles and it looks fancy. i made a couple of necky things with it, too, that look cool. i just need to attach a big button on them to close. i have done so much stuff, i have huge boxes full of all sorts of stuff all over the studio. i don’t like it being messy, even though i am a fairly messy person. ask jess, she saw the mess. i think if her hubby had put the baby down, she may still be here.

i also plan to do some shibori felted scarves from recycled wool sweaters, with embroidery and beading/sequins. i plan to pop by st.v de p to-morrow before my dr’s appointment. fingers crossed.

what else? not much, due to my sleeping all the freakin time. it drives me bonkers. i hate it. i know there is nothing i can do, but still.

ok. i am going to read (bad idea, i know). i have been reading before bed every night, drawing before that, and turning off the tv if there is not something really good on. just to try to quiet my brain in general. although, with it being fall, there are some good good shows on! that is a whole other post. and battlestar gallactica starts on my birthday! october 6! yay! and gilmore girls starts soon. i am so excited to see what happens. eeeeeep!

here is a scarf for sugar. handspun with all sorts of scraps for the fringe. must. have. fringe.forgive me if i posted it already. like yesterday. my brains are more scrambled than usual. also, i know not how to use the spellcheck for firefox (anyone?) it has spellcheck on blogger here, but it doesn’t do anything when i click on it, so i apologize for crazy spelling.

smooooooch!
n.

ok, i know that supposedly blogger had a scheduled outage yesterday at 4p. until WHEN? jesus! my post was missing bits and then i realized that a bunch of comments from the last few days (i moderate them to avoid spam or the super sneaky from-an-actual person spam) never got to me at all, but were sitting in the little comment section in the dashboard! so not cool. and then i worry that someone thinks that i am ignoring them or rejected their comment! so. not. cool. anyway, i changed it so that you don’t have to type in the code or anything, and i am sure i will have to change it back in no time flat due to spam. ok. i am calm. breathe. breathe. c’mon blogger. so not cool.

in other news, i have spun more than 10 lbs of fiber in about a week. ya. my studio looks like a herd of colorful sheep exploded. although is smells much better than that. also, i cut up yarn tonite, while in bed (poor jake) for some more of the scrappy yarns. i know i always say this, but they are for the shops i am working with, so if you want one, claim it now because it won’t be listed. i am doing a pinky purple orange one (i think) and a bluey, greeny, browny one. and again, for anyone one else that hoardes yarn scraps for no good reason, feel free to send em to me, i can swap ya something for them. kisses? love? hugs? cat hair? actually, i have been saving peeps hair to spin, it is several inches long and feels like angora. it really does.

i just needed to post about the comments. i think it is sorted out. knock on wood. oh, i may as well show you these fantastic new things i found…
covers for you mac that are the cutest thing evah!

this artistvia craftzine my new favorite bloggy. such great stuff on there. maybe they will want me to do something for them? please? please?

more to-morrow. some super art blogs.

off to read a bit. hopefully i won’t wake up with my sketchbook and pens and book and everything next to me this morning. it freaks me out because i didn’t even remember falling asleep. i think the cats drugged me and then stole all of the change from my purse (not much) and bought a jolt cola, which explains why pavel has been acting insane and dragging their giant cubes around the house and his 8 ft scarf that amy made for me. not you, pavel. for me. and it didn’t have baby kitten teefy bud-made holes in it then. not that you care about other people’s things. cats. no respect! especially not for me. i am the lowest on the totem pole in this house. papa first, then the two girl cats, pavel, then me. if i yell at them, no one stops what they are doing or even fliches. ridiculous. don’t i scare you?

swwwwwwwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.t.
n.

whoa. i did a lot of spinning last night. i made another scrap yarn, enough for two and a skinny scarf (ves) by a bit later, my hands were really hurting and i had a headache. i took my headache pills, but my hand braces on and decided to read (i have been drawing AND reading every night. what?) i woke up at…noon…with my bed exactly as it was last night, book and sketchbook and reading pillows still there. i don’t even remember going to sleep. i feel like i blacked out. so freaky.

needless to say, i am still in bed at almost 2pm. it took everything in me to go get a coffee downstairs and i don’t feel much better. and cramps. wooooo. it feels like i might explode. although, i am blogging. so. tired. in fairness, i have gotten a lot done this week. i am almost through all that fiber i dyed, so i need to dye to-morrow probably.

i am going to do a tutorial on making the scrap yarn. it is a bit time-consuming, but if you precut all of your pieces and laid them next to you as you spun, it would go pretty fast. and you can use cheapo yarns you have laying about for your base yarn, i will photo the new scarves i made out of yesterdays batch. i spun 4 bulky bobbins full of yarn (only one of those was scrap yarn, but it was around 200 yards, i think. not too bad.

okay, here are some extra pointers for the dishwasher dyeing…after i get my fiber wet (in the bag) i squeeze out most of the water because it will cause a really washy dyebath, which would be fine if you wanted that. i like to have different colors in each batch. also, make sure that you use gallon bags and squish the color around through the bag and look to make sure you have as much dye in there as you want. if it is packed densely, and isn’t checked, it won’t get on everything. use as much dye as you want. don’t be scared. i used the citric acid powder rather than vinegar and i don’t use much (of either) because it will causet the dye to only strike in certain spots, really quickly and leave other spots undyed. (i think that is why it leaves spots, anyway.)

once you have your dyeing applied and where you like it, if the bag is full of water, squeeze some out. not all of it, make sure it is saturated, but don’t leave a ton of extra water in there. i worry that it will weaken the bag and make it break when it gets warm.

i stack them in the dishwasher upright and squeeze the air out and leave the zipper open 1/4 inch. that is it. if you leave it open more, it will probably fill with water. i use the actually zipper bag, as opposed to ziploc because the zip stays closed and stays where you put it. got it? also, when you put it in, make sure that none of the dishwasher prongs are sticking into the bag, when it expands, it might poke a hole.

also, when the cycle is done, you can look at them (the are hot hot hot!) but don’t mess with them. if you aren’t happy with the color, you can put more dye in, and it normally will strike when it is still hot. i do it all the time and have never had a problem with it. i have even dumped out the super hot fiber into the sink, squirted the dye and let it sit and it took. spreading bad dyeing habits around the cyberworld! wooo hooo!

oh, also, after you have rinsed, i put my fiber into lingerie or delicated bags (the kind with the holes in them and a zipper, you can get them at target in the laundry section for a buck or two) and run them through the spin cycle and they will dry in no time flat.

i think that is it for dyeing tips. i will be doing a little tutorial for the scrap spinning soon. this weekend maybe. i need jake to be the photographer. and he does a good job! i gave him about a 30 second lesson when we first got our camera and he is a pro! he takes photos from interesting perspectives and NEVER cuts off heads and feet or takes off center photos of people, unless he means to. and that is a good thing. you know when you give someone the camera to take photos for you and they take the most horrible photos, far away, close up and cut important parts out. ooooh. hate. it. so! also, i am planning to do a thrifted sweater flower tutorial, too. soon. easy peasy. with patterns for the challenged. no worries.

last night i saw this cool article ontree paintings! via the craftzine.com blog. so cool. i think the trees are smiling! i may be forced to see what our ugly bushes draw. hm. i remember when i went to the gifted program in 3rd grade, we had to do “tests” with mealworms (i touched them! ew.) where we turned off the lights and follwed where they went with a pencil on a piece of paper. why did i remember that? and what was the point? we also did pinhole cameras and built pinball machines. i remember that program fondly, as i didn’t get beaten up there. just when i went back to my regular class the next day. or, like i told barb yesterday, had my pants pulled down at recess against the fence. pretty fun to be the new foreign kid! wooo hooo! everyone saw my lily white butt.

also, my buddy linda did an tutorial on her dirt yarn, although it is awfully pretty for dirt, and it was linked on the craftzine page. purdy cool. i wish i lived next door to her. and then i would be peering in her windows asking her to play and she would be laying on the floor silently sobbing. nooooo. please. please. it would be like cape fear. but with me as robert deniro. eeeeek! “wannnnaa spiiiin with meee?” “don’t you wanna dyyyyyyeeeee?”"i want you to dddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeee!” or “dye! dye! dye!” really, i can name a handful of people that may be in the same position should i live near them. although, i never go anywhere, cause i stay in and work, so i would think about doing that late at night when i couldn’t sleep and then in the morning, i would have changed my mind. no worries. i just freaked myself out.

i know i mentioned one of my most favorite authors ever, peter carey. i have been reading his book “theft” forever, cause i haven’t been good at keeping up with reading, although i am back into it. i normally would read a book every few days or week. so a few books a month, at least. i have slacked off since my spinning and knitting obsession started. before that i baked and cooked all the time. and i can’t do more than one obsesssion at a time. anyway, theft is about art thiefs and art forgers and for any art nerds out there (i know there are a few of us..huh, REGINA? ART ESPRIT anyone?) that love to hear about madder red, or have a think for alzarin crimson, it is a fun book, with some really interesting facts (although it is non-fiction) about how people smuggle art, or manage to change the date on a painting to make it worth more among other things. really a fantastic book. it is also told from two different perspectives. the main dude artist “blue bones” and his “slow” brother, “slow bones”, who stretches and preps his giant canvases perfectly, mixes his paints to the perfect color and texture and is secretly a really talented artist. and carries his own folding chair with him wherever he goes. i am almost done with it. next on the list (i think) is “the adventures of auggie march” by saul bellows. i like the artist auggie march and accidentally found out that his name was actually taken from a book. and it is super super long. and i like long books, because i get attached to the characters (unless it sucks, of course) and am sad when it is over. and sometimes wonder what is going on, like it is a tv show, and then remember it is just a book and am sad. “oryx and crake” is the book that most makes me do that. fan-fricking-tastic! lurve. i wish there was a sequel.

oh, also, i got some small oval canvases from michael’s for only a few bucks, and i love oval canvases. i am super excited to use them. i need to do some sketches and figure out what the plan is. i do everything in 3’s, at least, so we will see. i like 3’s. never twos.

i am going to attempt to do some work. i feel a bit more energetic. can you tell?
snoot photo anyone?

and look at these ballet feets..

oh, and the leafy yarn that flickr wouldn’t let me post for 2 days…

off like a dirty shirt! i will try to take some decent photos of yarns…
xo
n.

*edit…i have had issues for the last couple of days with moderated comments disappearing. if you left a comment and it never showed up, or i never responded, feel free to leave it again. it appears that blogger went out for a ride and never came back, if you know what i mean. sheesh!

ok, this is going to be quick because i am tired and a bit out of it. okay. a lot. i may have overdone a teensy bit today. i attempted to take yarn pics in a place other than THE yarn pic window, so the pics are poop. the only ones i kept were the one with the leaves, for autumn, which i plan to retake…which didn’t show up on flickr yet, somehow. hmf. and then thissy here one which i made when i decided that i have a TON of handknitted/crocheted stuff to make and wanted to use handspun, or mostly handspun, and do not have the time to spin everything and dye everything for that plus the yarn orders, plus not updating my site at all. which will stop when i get this stuff off next month. i promise. so. what is it, you ask? looks scrappy, you say? well, it is. i took a nubbly commercial yarn and then spun in long pieces of all sorts of stuff, including fiber, thread, yarn, weaving yarns, whatever. i also knit up this one big skein into two scarves and then used a bunch of different stuff for super long fringe. no pics yet, although there is a pic of some of the other scarves i did finish for these orders from handspun. anyway, i really like how it came out, and i like the fact that i finally have a use for every damn piece of yarn i have ever had left over since i started knitting. i swear it. so if any knitters out there have these bits, a guess about 6 inches or bigger, and feel like dropping em on me, feel free. it can be novelty stuff, anything, really. but it spun up pretty quickly and you can do a lot of the stuff you would do with a single that you were adding stuff to. also, for new spinners that want to learn new techniques without spinning a bunch of singles that will likely end up ugly, anyway, this is also a great idea. so. more pics. i swear.

otherwise, i took photos of my thrift score from yesterday, some of the stuff is hilarious. i got this crafty book which has the crappiest projects ever. when it looks horrible done by an artist, what will it look like done by your average crafter? in the 50’s? you know? one of the projects is a way to decorate your chainlink fence.
maybe, like if you live on the street up against one? that is seriously what the project is. i am not making it up. yipes! if they are meant to be done with kids, they don’t say that, or imply it, either. terrifying and fun, all at once!

i got some children’s books with adorable illustrations in them… very little! go check out more stuff in my flickr, if you fancy that sort of thing…

oh also, you know the check that i tore the house apart looking for? yesterday i told my mom i lost it (expecting her to ask me if i lost my brain, as well.) and she was super nice about it. jake came home today, and brought in a filthy beat up check that was stuck in the bushes. seriously. you know in mary poppins (when i was a nanny we watched it 100 times a week, i think, and they would ask me why i couldn’t clean up like mary poppins.) when they write the letter looking for a nanny and it gets torn up and blows up the chimney and she gets it? when i lose something, it is gone. i have lost so many things and they NEVER turn up. i get this feeling when i lose things that they have gone through a wormhole and are untouchable to me. i think that if i hadn’t told my mum that i lost it, it wouldn’t have turned up. i swear. jake said that maybe it was check goblins. i agree!

oh, and it is talk like a pirate day and i utterly forgot to talk like a pirate. aaargh! shoutout to the pastafarians in the hizzy. woot wooot!

hands are a-hurting, although i did get a good bit of work done before they got bad. so there is that. off like a dirty shirt!

xoxoxoxoxoxo
n.

yesterday, i did as much work as i could before i started to feel really tired and my arms and hands were cramping and sore, up to the shoulder. when that happens, i am not able to do anything, really. i get pissed off, i get mad, i get weepy. i couldn’t sleep. i got a check from my mom for our anniversary. i couldn’t find it. i turned the house upside down whilst feeling off of my head and sweating and hinging on hysterical. i went downstairs, planning to go out to my car to look for the check, in the middle of the night, i smell pee. i realize that peeps has been peeing on my favorite wicker amoeba lounger that jake got my for christmas one year. not only do i adore that chair and the white fuzzy sheepskin that used to reside on it, but the cats loved to lay on it. sun would stream in and illuminate their shiny fur. they loved it. peeps doesn’t want them to have anything. she has been pissing on it for a while. because it is wicker, it went straight through, and it is finished on the outside, so it was seeping into the bamboo supports which are unfinished, this is why, whilst we did smell pee, we couldn’t figure out where.

so, in the middle of the night, in my boxers and tank top, i drag the enormous chair onto the porch. peeps keeps meowing at me. i am so furious, i don’t even know what to do. i am not longer in physical pain at this point, but in utter mental anguish. i want to hit, smash, scream, cry, fall down and go to sleep. i don’t want to feel this. i don’t get in moods like this. i make excuses for peeps. i understand she is a cat and there is nothing i can do. i love her to bits, can’t lock her up because she would die and there aren’t any other options. last night…was a bad bad night. i took a pill. two pills and my nighttime meds and went to sleep as soon as i could.

the thing about feeling really sick is that the things that make you feel better…you can’t do. so you sit, or lie, with your hands on your lap and feel useless. i am what i make. it is who i am. when i have made nothing, i feel like nothing.

despite my hands condition, i almost blogged last night because i was so miserable. i could feel my face crumpling up. i wanted to tell someone. but i didn’t want to be in that frame of mind and unload it on anyone’s head. no one wants to get that kind of blast.

why am i telling you today? well, i am a bit more reasonable. not only that, but i realized after talking to my mom that she had the same night. and i have a feeling that some more of you out there also had a horrible time. feel free to drop a comment, anonymous if you prefer. or drop me an email.

today, i packed up orders and planned to go to my favorite thrift store. when i went, it was closed and i went to michael’s where i got the new book of image transfers which really kind of sucks, and i plan to return it. i want to do some tranfers onto plates and things like that, but ones that will actually hold up. any suggestions, let me know. i know how to do regular transfers with different methods, but i am looking for a ceramic transfer. so.

i also got two sets of stencils for a buck each! woot! and the foam brushes i use for everything are 15/$1! woah! i got 45. really.

i then went to goodwill, thinking i would find sweaters for the felting stuff i am working on, to no avail. not only are they expensive there, but they have such filthy gross crap there. if you donate it, they will take it. the furniture looked like it was left at a dump 30 years ago. really gross and dirty.

after mailing my stuff, i stopped at UFO my favorite…and got some really good books and sheet music. i am probably going to put some paper piles together to clear out some of the extra stuff i have that will never get used. a lot of it is the same stuff. also, i have tons of wallpaper samples, and i plan to get that together, too. please let me know if you are interested and what you like and i will put together a kit for ya. woo!

oh, also, whilst catching up on a few blogs, i found this amazing store selling these incredible hats! i emailed asking if there are any patterns, which hopefully will not offend. but woah! and funnily enough, i was reading a blog post this weekend about how some of the crazy hats on the whip up blog were hideous, and i thought they were very sculptural and interesting…i would feel silly wearing them, and i guess i look at a lot of handmade things as a piece rather than a hat, or whatever other functional object it may be. because as a hat, you would look a bit…unusual. regardless, i thought it was interesting that there are tribes that actually made and wore hats that were really rather similar. hmph! i can see the lady linoleum making one. with her eyes closed. and her foot. her left foot. ha!

i want to talk about this for a moment more. the post i originally read was not at all meant to be..well, snarky (knitting?) (and i think you all know why i use that word). there are those nasty people out there that are nasty because they are not creative and can’t make ANYTHING, ugly or no, so they pick on anyone that does make things. if you are a braggart, of course you are opening yourself up to getting picked on, and you deserve it, really. but if you are making things and it makes you happy, you should be proud of it. we all have the propensity to be artists. as one of my most favorite artists ever liked to say, “art is life.” what he meant by that, was that you should make every moment memorable and beautiful. what the definition of that is up for debate, of course, but as a creative community, i think the best thing to do is just to be as openminded and supportive as possible. we all make crappy stuff at some juncture in our careers (real or imagined)and there is a good possibility that we were really really proud of it and showed it to everyone and maybe even sold it for way more than it was really worth, we now realize with shame. so maybe we improve, maybe we never improve. it doesn’t matter. as long as it makes you happy.

so, i will take pics of the new yarns i have finished lately as well as my new scores. i have a couple of fall yarns that are really pretty, one of them with leaves. purdy!

even though my hands are so sore, i have been drawing as often as possible. i want to draw every day, like i used to, but i forget to. i draw whatever is on my mind or in front of me. as long as it is something. also, i have been trying to use a pen and not a pencil, so my lines get better. and no erasing. you know?

some pics?

smooooch.
n.

i spun so much today that my legs cramped up. and i even skeined and steamed some it! crazy, huh? it seems that it doesn’t suck as much to do a couple of skeins as it does to do…say 8. i run out of bobbins and use the lendrum bobbin (which kind of fits) on the louet. so.

the only other thing to report is that my friend jessica came by on the way out of town to pick up some fiber. i got to meet her hubby and adorable baby girl. our cat pavel has never seen a baby (or toddler, rather) he was terrified. the baby sort of reached out her arms and giggled in a non-threatening way…he scratched jake, who was holding him and ran away. and he hid away until they left! can you believe it! terrified. a nerdling.

oh, yesterday i watched “brokeback montain” which was remarkably boring. the cinematography was gorgeous, but the story…not so exciting. i do appreciate the comment on how difficult it is to let the world know who you are, no matter what that happens to be. and by difficult, i mean, you could get…you know…killed. otherwise, i was really underwhelmed. so. let the stoning commence!

today, whilst spinning, i watched “cassanova” after yesterday’s loooooooong flick, i didn’t have high hopes. wait..why have i seen 3 movies with the same dude in them lately. and two of the three sucked. anyway, it didn’t suck. it was really fun. oliver platt was in it, but they made him look different, with false teeth, and he was hilarious. i recommend it.

whilst grocery shopping, we saw JG and his lady, nichole. what did i get at the store? well, season doodads for yarns…leaves which have no stems, and are all soft, i cannot wait. after buying them, i noticed that barb had done all kinds of season things already. i am behind every damn year. sheesh. i bet lynn has hers cranking, too. anyway, i got flies and almost got glow in the dark spiders, but they were too hard to poke a hole in. i need to go to joann’s to-morrow to pick up a few things (got my coupons, valid to-morrow!) and i plan to check out the seasonal offerings.

i am suddenly tired. so off i go…pics? okay.
this is a big flufy bulky single called seaside

and this is a big fluffy baby who is terrified of giggling toddlers and vacuum cleaners. poor fella.

mwah! mwah! mwah! (oops i slobbered)
n.

there are a few of the skeins i have been working on over the last few days. they aren’t exciting, but i have these big orders for shops that need to get filled and it is much easier to just put my head down and spin. i do plan to do some more “art” ones this weekend. i also need to spin yarn to then knit things with for 2 boutiques and that is really stressing me out. i think i may need to just buy some nice yarn to use for some of them. and the stash, of course. i ordered a couple of different green fuzzy yarns to use with the felt flowers, but i have some other ideas, like scarves made out of old felted sweaters, or even other fiber sweaters cut and then embellished. so recycling even more and not so hard on my hands. which are giving me trouble lately. i thought i would butter you up with the fiber first!

i know, i know, i haven’t posted in a little while. i have had a few bad days. on wednesday, i got to talk to barb of saints and sinners on the phone for ages (although after the fact, i realized i was amped up on coffee and was so excited to talk to her that i think i talked at her. a blue streak. nonstop. and may have seemed….obnoxious. oops. she caught me at a moment of high energy) and we have sooooo much in common it is freaky. seriously. a small world. i love being able to connect with inspiring people with such great energy. i thank the gods of the blogosphere yet again.

whilst talking to her, i was winding yarn and steaming it, labeling it, etc. i had a hair appointment later and went and was there for hours. by the time i left there, i had a migraine cranking. i couldn’t see right, i felt strange and my face was numb and nauseous and shaky. needless to say, i didn’t do anymore work that night.

the next day, not so good. i tried to do some work and it didn’t go well. also, for the past few days my hands have been really hurting and weak. i have been wearing my stupid braces and i need to find new ones. any suggestions for ones that look moderately okay (not beige or navy) and are easy to put on. cock-ups they are called. i don’t know if there is an alternative. and actually, my hands hurt so much, i couldn’t hold a book to just read. fun! it didn’t make for a pleasant mood.

i had asked linda if i could buy a knitknit magazine from her and she just sent it along with a bunch of gorgeous handmade papers, fiber, including super soft angora and a tencel/merino blend which actually felt like the special stuff that is stretched, odds and ends and i do not know why i deserve to have such sweet people around me. i don’t! so sweet, and such a talented artist and craftswoman. thanks so much!

i spun a lot today (i think around 6+ hours), skeined and steamed some yarns and carded a few big targhee batts which i am excited to spin. i also got some yarn done wednesday for materialwhirled’s amazing effort with therese for charkas for africa. so many people have pitched in, which is incredible, but miss chocolatte herself actually makes the trek there holding all of her own stuff plus the charkas and whatever stuff she is taking on her back. and she is a petite little thing. she needs help in all forms, including someone to actually go to deliver them. i would loooooove to do it, i have relatives in south africa still, for those of you that don’t know, that is where myself and my older brother were born, and i would love to be able to go. my lame health just does not permit it, although i have always wanted to be the world traveller. i cannot say how much i admire that woman. and i keep forgetting to put the button up. must. do. that.

okay, lastly, a couple of questions…first, i have had a few people tell me that my blog looks all crazy and is smooshed all the way at the bottom. i am trying to get an idea of how many people see the blog this way in order to decide if “fixing” it would cause it to be broken for everyone else. so feel free to drop a comment and let me know if it looks okay or not.

nextly, i am thinking of doing a couple of yarn wallpapers and my collages made into wallpapers (www.helloyarn.com gave me the idea) would anyone be interested in this? again, drop a comment so i can have an idea if it is worth harassing my webby dude about it. i think it would be fun.

xoxoxoxo
n.

i have been so pooped today. i had a headache all day yesterday, but did some work anyway (aren’t you proud of me?) i have spun a good bit in the last couple of days and worked on something (it’s a secret) for part of my good pal velma’s swap back. and it is purdy. i kinda wanna keep it. but i blogged about it now, so i can’t. i suck at secrets. i am no good. i really wanna blog it…okay. i won’t. i really try to give people stuff that i would really want. and velma clearly does that. insanely good stuff. i think i told you that jake said he was jealous. so cute.

i spun these yarns today from really fluffy locks in all different colors from velma and then added all sorts of stuff. bad photo. it is gorgeous in person. i swear. i have been using some new techniques that i…well…made up because i don’t know any better, and i think it might be fun for others to try. i will type it up soon.

also, i saw a crazy yarn on pluckyfluff that she made with pieces of paper. i am actually not exactly sure what it is for. anyway, looking at it, i was thinking that if i shredded the tyvek envelopes that i get from the post office (don’t tell them, it is illegal i think to use them for things other than priority mail…oh also, if you use them inside out and any of the logo shows, they can refuse to mail it even if you pay the postage…it is a new thing) anyway, to shred it and then string it on strong thread and ply it into a yarn. it is waterproof and i think it would look amazing. so i plan to try that. i have been working on doing that with pieces of fabric and thrifted sweaters, too. cutting them up and stringing them.

speaking of thrifted sweaters, i have continued to make flowers out of them, and more scarves. it is super easy to do, but i plan to post a tutorial for those too. do you think people would need some templates for cutting them out? and the scarves that i use them for. they have really been a hit.

i got “NED KELLY” on netflix. it SUCKED. not only did it have incredibly overwhelming irish pennywhistle type music throughout…like from the shire in lord of the rings, but the story was insanely historically incorrect, not that it claimed to be correct, i guess, but the point of it was lost. which sucks, because it is an amazing true story. peter carey one of my favorite authors of all time, wrote one called the true history of the kelly gang, which is written as a diary of ned kelly and is historically as correct as he could be. it is amazing. and it shows that they were poor, and trashy and did illegal things. to a large degree, as in many countries, the irish were treated like 2nd class citizens and it was very hard to succeed in any legal way, but in the end, he was a regular guy, a horse thief, that ended up making a big name sort of by accident. the movie doesn’t really express that at all. or any of the other stuff that really happened. and so, i didn’t even finish watching it. ah well. i was spinning whilst watching it anyway, but i would rather listen to the stereo.

speaking of listening to the stereo, i have been making an active effort not to watch tv and spin/paint/draw/knit and listen to music all at the same time. if i am not watching a movie or a show i really like, i just listen to the stereo or sit in the quiet if i am in bed knitting or whatever. i think i introduce too much into my brain and i don’t think the old girl has too much room in there. i am really trying to work on blocking out some of the noise. i don’t have any trouble focusing on my work, but i have a hard time getting it together sometimes. i like tv, don’t get me wrong, but i attempt not to just leave it on for the sake of noise. you know? i pretty much never just watch tv. i get bored. it is kind of odd, but i am usually either online whilst watching my shows, or knitting or something.

oh…and the explaination of pooplets from peep…we keep finding mini poops on the floor in the dining room. also, she had peed on one of the sheers in there. no clue why. i put chili powder in the one corner where she enjoys peeing, and she stopped peeing there and moved to a new corner. i don’t know how to stop her. we put in hard floors because she ruined all the carpet, and i wipe down the floor with the stuff that is supposed to remove the scent. i find also, that if there is a spot that the other cats like to hang out, like on the bath mat, she will pee there, i think to keep them off of it, even if she also likes being there. is is frustrating and jake goes through the roof. her pooplets, there will be a little one downstairs and then the will be scattered in her path like she is a bunny, and then one will be stuck to her fluffy bum hair pantaloons. i am stumped. we used to buy all sorts of expensive cleaners, but i think it is just bad behavior. she is insanely jealous of the other cats and i have sort of come to accept it. any suggestions would be welcome. diapers? we actually have taken her to the vet a few times to make sure that nothing was wrong. nothing was.

some more pictures? okay. a new thrifted mug…

some of the fiber i dyed over the weekend… and this… and this… this… and this targhee… and then thissy one… that isn’t even all of it. woah! yay! it has made my spinning so fun! anytime i think i am getting tired of spinning, i realize that i just need new fiber dyed.

i think i have covered most everything. and then some. pooping, fiber, bad movies and more.

xoxo
n.

all of my fiber is dry (except for the silk noil) i was able to hang it up outside, so it was dry quickly. i dyed some uncarded targhee(i think it feels similar to merino, really soft and bouncy and spongy) fiber from frenecreek farm which is wonderful. i also got some washed uncarded tunis fiber from ebay, because i have been trying to use different things. it was supposed to be washed, it was washed, but it was both dirty and had all sorts of straw and crap in it. so gross. i will remember to stick with frenecreek and not buy from other people. the fiber came out gorgeous. i think it was about 10 lbs. although our scale, which i stood on (gasp!) and then stood on with the bags of fiber and it told me it was 3 lbs. what? a giant garbage bag filled with rolled up roving and two 2-gallon sized bags stuff full of uncarded fiber, which i hand picked. 3 lbs? our scale sucks. also, i can now say that i weigh 15 lbs less than i do, because the scale is clearly wrong. seriously.

ooh, i just saw a commercial for “running with scissors” and it looks awesome. also it was made from the creator of nip/tuck, and that is saying something! and the new nip/tuck season started and i loves me some nip/tuck. although, tivo screwed me out of the season finale, and i still haven’t seen it. i have no idea who the ripper person was. kathleen turner is on this week. not too shabby. i always meant to read the book, but i always feel inclined to read literature. i feel like i need to always be learning something, i feel guilty reading fluff. dunno why. ther is also a commercial a commercial for stranger than fiction, which looks hilarious, also. and they have 2 other promos that are not on any other channels. odd!

ok. i will now stop blabbering, but here are some photos…pics of the pressies from velma

one of 3 paintings. a bit of collage and loads of paint. likey?

fiber photos to-morrow.
xoxo,
n.