luxe

okay, so some awesome linkies…a wonderful new drug that will solve every problems you can imagine havidol and then, for the lomo fans, and moleskine fans, a really cool new journal that you must check out…here and i found it all via barbe’s link to some really cute embroidered things that say rude stuff on this wonderful site notcot.com. so fantastic. how did i never hear of it before?

yesterday i FINALLY got my package for the french spin me a treasure swap. let me say that it was so worth the wait. so. worth. the. wait. my partner was none other than…laine zin zin!!! no way! no. way! i got a gorgeous mohair yarn. pink. me loves pink. i imagine it as a wrap or something. and a whole bunch of really cool plying threads. oh my. thanks so so much! i loooove it! i am sorry i complained. i just thought i had been forgotten. had i known it was you…i would have patiently waited. anyway. yay!

and then, for my spin to knit swap, my final package came and it is no other than carry, the of the knitwit podcast she sent me chocolate sheep including a black one that were yummy! plus, two little books of her patterns (how cool!) plus this bright red variegated yarn. i will probably make it into a neck, i think. anyway, thanks so much carry, and i will definitely check out your podcast!

what else? well, i dyed a bunch of fiber, mainly loose fiber, and then two batches for a couple of custom orders. i used merino that wasn’t superwash, plus other loose fiber and the colors are so much more muted than with the superwash, even with the citric acid. i seriously was stunned, even though i know. i am used to having to dilute everything way down, but it dyed much lighter than the dye appeared. still gorgeous but much lighter. anyway. i got mohair from rhlindsay, it is just uncarded, but is rather soft and washed. it has a good bit of vm (vegetable matter for the non-fiber peeps out there) in it, lots of brambles and burrs and such. i also dyed up the rest of the loose polypay that i had from homestead farm, it wasn’t so great, but i can put it in batts and it will be fine for texture. i also used the rest of my washed targhee, some loose merino in brown and nataural from lindsay that is a short staple, but the chocolate brown looked fantastic with the pink, again, for batts. i have it all over the kitchen. i reuse my zipper bags as many times as possible before they expire, but i manage to poke holes in them via the dishwasher rack. i was thinking about it, and unless the zipper stops working, i could really just tape up the hole with duct tape. hm. any ideas for a more environmentally sound thing to use instead of those bags? i use them an average of 4 times before they don’t work, the zipper breaks, etc. i thought of maybe just using the plastic grocery bags we get. we use em for scooping the cat litter, and i think at giant eagle, you can return them in a box, but i wonder if that would be any better than what i am doing? is there any kind of waterproof gallon or bigger sized bag that i could close well that would be biodegradeable? it is all this watching the living with ed about ed begley jr (really a funny show) and just the general state of things, like the 70 degree days we had in january, that makes me attempt not to be really bad. i could use shopping bags, but they don’t degrade either. i would be better off taking them back to the store. we never throw them away without using them, or anything.

oh! the bird in the attic! jake and i went up there, birdie actually slept last night, i was worried that he was dead, but at the rescue place, they told me that they sleep at night, and like they said, he was up as soon as the sun come up, tapping tapping tapping. anyway, when jake got home, we went up with a towl and the cat carrier, he had eaten and made a huge birdseed mess and really, in the winter, i imagine he was excited to have so much food and water! there was bird food in the water and seed all over the place and jake put the towel over him, scooped him up carefully, we put him in the carrier, he kept sticking his head out of the cage and sticking his beak out. he got his head semi-stuck at one point…we took him outside to see if he could fly. i was worried he wouldn’t be able to. he peeked out of the carrier, went right out into the grass, looking for bugs or something for a few minutes and then flew into the eve of the house behind ours, the gutters fells down, so there is a big hole going into the roof, so loads of animules live in there. anyway, he was fine, and we were happy. jakie is a hero! i looked online to see what the bird was, but couldn’t find anything. he was about the size of my hand, and black and gray spotted with sort of blue on his head. a longish black beak and small black eyes. and surprisingly laid back for a birdie. good guy.

not much more to say, i have a headache and i am a bit tired. i actually got a few bobbins of yarn done, so an update is forthcoming. woot. woot.

smoooch. smoooch. smooch.
n.