luxe

so first, let me start by telling you that the computer crapped the bed and had to take a quick trip to pittsburgh to be made temporarily okay, but she will still need to be sent in. the memory port is bad, but just the switch they did has made a huge difference in the speed. so that is where i was. additionally, i have had a combo of migraines/creepy crawlies/and pooped-out-edness (the clinical terminology) so on sunday, jake took the computer without me, because he rocks. raise the roof for jake…woot woot! the house, the house, the house is on fire…

as for the LJ mayhem, i am so blown away by the kindness i have been shown by my fellow crafty vixens! in addition to the wonderful comments i got on the blog, sheilah, of lefthandpinkie sent me a super duper nice email. and here is what i have to say about all of this chaos: there needs to be a new group that keeps out nasty people. a group for people who love fiber, in whatever form, and if you think their work is crap, then you keep it to your goddamned self (and you are damned!) like polite people do. savvy?(did you see the pirate talk lynn?) even in studio classes when you are being critiqued (and asked to be critiqued) no one is that nasty. i am not sure what they think will be gained by acting like that, by hurting people’s feelings. it reminds me of being a kid and getting pushed around, and the kids that don’t agree just keep quiet because they don’t want to get it, too, or be considered a friend of mine. the fact that a few people stood up for me really meant a lot. i guess i just don’t understand why some people are so worried about what other people are working on, if they use novelty yarns and make garter stich scarves, or some felted doodad, or use two needles to knit a wedding dress. i don’t understand. if i am not impressed with what someone else makes…who cares? unless they are hurting someone, i don’t care.

i assume that in real life, these people get walked on by everyone. in real life, they are the guy that mumbles that he will burn down the building when people pick on him. or go home and kick the dog. so online, they can be mean to someone, feel bigger than someone. that is the saddest kind of person in the world. rather than be the thing they aspire to be, the hate anyone that does. i remember telling someone who was super negative that it is just as easy to think good things as it is to think bad things all the time. she pulled a face. and i guess that really speaks volumes.

anyway, nuff said. more than enough.

i am reading a handmaid’s tale. which somehow, i never read. i love margaret atwood, and the book is crazy. i have fallen asleep reading it two nights in a row. that good! no knitting good. and that is good!

i got the new annie modesitt book twist and loop and am kind of disappointed. i guess taht maybe i was unreasonable to expect more, but she normally does wild stuff. my first complaint? the photos are lovely, however, every single photo of the jewelry is being held in a hand. not worn on a neck or wrist. held. so you have no sense of what anything would look like on. is that odd to say? also, everything is simple and a different version of the same thing. a while back a got arline fisch’s wire crochet book, which is just lovely. not only are there fantastic projects that you could copy if you wanted to, but there are tons of examples of wire jewelry artists’ work, and patterns for them! and some of the stuff is really unique, showstoppers, every single one. the book is really inspiring and shows you tons of techniques, rather than doing single crochet with beads on wire rather than yarn. i could figure that out myself, no? i got a couple of other wire books that i took back because they were so lame. i really get the books to glean techniques. i suck at following patterns and i feel like the fun is taken out when i know what it will look like. odd, huh?

i have a few swaps going on that i am behind on, plus the amazing people that gave me their scraps, i owe them, too, although i am not sure what to give them. i may make a series of collages or drawings and then send yarn, too, so it is a nice gift. and then i have a couple of swaps that the person wants a knitted item, and then i always get worried that they won’t like what i make. i am a nerd.

handmade arcade is this weekend, so i am starting to get into stress mode over that. i am never sure what will do well and what won’t. additionally, there will be some people i haven’t met yet…tracie lampe (mama of the lumps) and my girl shannon among others. i was thinking about bringing my spinning wheel to show people how i make yarn, but i don’t know if it would be bad business because i would be looking down at the wheel and not at customers. jake will come with me, but he is not used to being around sales stuff, so he generally gets a bit freaked out about it.

i meant to take photos of the new yarns i have done. some of the really fuzzy bits and pieces ones that are loved so well, but the light has been bad all day. sigh.

and i think i broke the machine at the post office. oops.

oh, also, has anyone tried the blogger beta? it looks good with tags, etc, but i see that you can’t switch back and i am afraid that it will screw up my template, etc. anyone?

off to cook supper!
xo
n.