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Monday, November 04, 2002 ::: I finished the hood yesterday, but I think I made it too long, so I opened up the seam almost all the way to the chin, so it rests at the bottom of my throat. The rest of the hood will probably go down my back and keep that warm. I had a little over half of the second skein left, so I made a headband earwarmer thingy (knitted seed stitch for 23" stretched, then bound off and sewed the ends together). It's just too ky00t for words; I'll have to make one for my seester. She likes that sort of thing for skiing. Knit up quickly, too. Aw, crap. It's 3pm. I need to get on my horsie and go look for a job.
Saturday, November 02, 2002 ::: What a pain in the arse this is to knit with. I think it's the needles, actually -- my arms aren't long enough to deal with 14" straight needles. I should have bought the circulars, but they were more expensive and I was being cheap. :-( On the other hand, I really like the fabric that's knitting up, and I'm getting the hang of making sure that each stitch is loose. I guess I'd do it again, but I'd buy the yarn at WalMart, where it's a dollar cheaper, and I'd use either circulars or bamboo, or bamboo circulars. These metal thing have got to go; they make my fingers hurt. I'll have to hang onto them for a little while longer, though; I just can't justify the expense right now. Tomorrow I'll have to trundle down to Tyngsboro to see if I can't get a job at the Weathervane restaurant down there. After I'm employed and pulling down decent tips, then I can worry about spending a little money. Sigh. I just with I could find an admin job where I could wear jeans... I'd even wear nice shoes if I could only wear comfy pants... Then again, I just wish I could find an admin job.
Friday, November 01, 2002 :::
(I'm not going to post this to my regular journal. Just a little extra security. Had to post it somewhere, though, cause I'm thrilled!)
Thursday, October 31, 2002 ::: bellatrixx sent me a belated birthday present in the form of a little knitting kit, with a pair of #8 circular bamboo needles, some point protectors, a bunch of stitch counters, a really nice nail file (because knitting with a snag on your nail sucks), a couple of tapestry needles in a keen little case, and a nice bottle of nail hardener. The needles are the perfect size for the Lion's Brand Fisherman's Wool that I have, and I stopped off at World In Stitches today when I was in Littleton and picked up a pair of #3 bamboo circulars, which are close to the right gauge for the stuff I've spun. When I got home (finally, story below), I sat down and did some knitting with the needles bellatrixx sent me, and it turned out quite nice, and then... and then... I knitted some of my very own handspun wool. Oh, that was cool. That was VERY cool. The only thing cooler would be if I'd processed the fleece myself. I knitted this teency skein of Colonial, and it knits up lovely and soft. I can't wait to see how the merino knits up. I might have to go one size smaller on the needles; thank god the needles are reuseable, because god knows they're not cheap. So it's been a semi-productive evening, despite me locking my keys in the car at the Westford Post Office. As far as I'm concerned, my cell phone just paid for itself for the month. Wolfie was too far away to help me, and Mom & Dad weren't home, nor my aunt and uncle. I called my sis, on the off chance that she might know where they were. Not only did she know where they were (and they were between here and Maine without a cell phone -- no help to me), but she slipped me her Triple A number. For fifteen scary minutes, I had to pretend to be her. That was weird... they took my cell number so they could call me back, and when they did and asked for her, I almost said, "No, this is Diane," which would have fucked up the whole thing. I waited for a while, doing the Boston Herald crossword puzzle, getting colder and colder, taking my hair out of the braid to keep my ears warm, getting colder and colder, and finally the locksmith showed up, and pointed out my problem when I was trying to break into the car... the front doors are pickproof. Strange thing is that the guy didn't ask for ID or anything. He just popped the door, handed me the key, and drove off. Oh well. Off to WalMart with me tomorrow to get keys made. current mood: pleased I did mention the other day that I actually like untangling knots... Be careful what you wish for. I was skeining this latest batch of yarn, and made the most horrendous tangles... I got everything untangled, but the Narroowworker's Guild motto kept going through my head: "There's afine line between cool and tangly mess." I need to start spinning up the burgundy. I've got two whacking great skeins of the green and one piddly one of the burgundy. Equal time; the burgundy will get lonely. Then back to the white Colonial... haven't spun that for weeks, not since I bought the merino. current mood: exhausted  Which Spindle Are You? Now THAT'S a quiz!
4:05p - obsession And I bet you all have it going through your heads now, too, don't you? You're welcome.) It's nearly 4 o'clock. I need to leave for karate soon. I haven't done any spinning today. If I want to center myself before I go to class I need to go do it now. Obsess much? Me? Is that the sound of a cat laughing?
1:42a - good, good day. I took my drop spindle and spent a great deal of time chatting with people and spinning (I had little bits of green wool stuck in my belt most of the day!). When it came time for the later bouts, like semis- and finals, I took a bit of wool and my spindle and spun closer to the list... turns out that I was spinning next to a lady who was the first spinning Laurel in the East. She asked to look at my work, and thought she knew it -- she was flabbergasted when I told her than not only did she not know my work, I'd only been spinning for three months. Then the compliments started coming. I about dropped my teeth. She said that there were 6 or 7 spinners in the EK who could spin with my degree of consistency and fineness, and that I was spinning better now, after three months, than she was when she got her Maunche (EK A&S award, for those readers who may be from out-kingdom). She introduced me to the Guildmistress of the Narrowworkers Guild, because I make such a tight, strong string. She thought it might be suitable for weaving, which is actually one of my goals. She also had me show my work to a lady whom she said she considers THE card weaver in the SCA. At this point, my little head is spinning, and I told her that I'm Duchess Anna's apprentice. She said, "Oh, that's great! dammit..." with a smile. I mean, I was wearing my green belt, so it was pretty obvious I belonged to somebody, but it was lovely to think that she might have wanted to take me on for my spinning. I'm in shock. I mean, I would have entered it in Golden Artisan (A&S competition held at Crown), but I didn't have any docs or info on the dye used for the merino, so I felt guilty. I also didn't have anything to measure it against, so I honestly didn't know if it was any good. I guess I know now... I'll have to look and see where the next A&S competitions are. I ought to build myself a tablet weaving loom; I have an idea of two, and now that I know how to do a continuous warp, it ought to be a piece of cake. Ought to be... famous last words. I'm actually good at something. Good enough that someone really experienced would say "We have to work with you and develop your talent." I've waited all my life for someone to say that to me. I've been feeling so shoved aside, like I was a decent worker, but there was nothing really special about me, and now I feel special, just for a little while. I have a lot to learn, but I've found people who want to teach me. It's really gratifying to be noticed. The tourney was great, too; lots of great fighting, and Darius and Roxane won. It was a Very Good Day. 4:40p - spinning yarns Lessons learned:
I'm planning on making this a sort of start to finish process display for A&S, and showing the roving, the singles, two-ply and four-ply yarns, and maybe a small example of knitting or something for both the two- and four-ply. I'm really tempted to make spin up some more singles with the Colonial and try sewing with it; it makes a very firm yarn. I don't have to teach this Thursday, so I think I'll go in to Cambridge for spinning group. I'm going to ask the owner if I can pay as I go, since my attendance will be sporadic at best. I'm looking at pictures a lady took of a class on handpainting rovings. It looks easy enough; I'm going to have to do further research and see what I can come up with. They made such amazingly lovely rovings; I want to do it!
1:24a - must...resist...urge..to...ebay... Add to that the fact that I am now officially unemployed. Kimball's closed tonight; I got in something like 14.5 hours in the last two days, plus three earlier in the week plus fat tips the last two days means Diane gets decent-ish scratch. I've discovered that looking semi-pathetically cold garners you pity tips. And flirting with elderly gentlemen gets you "I wish I was thirty years younger/you remind me of my grand-daughter" tips. I like this "people giving me moiney for being nice to them" thing. I'm thinking about going over to this diner in Salem and applying for a job. They don't do dinner, just breakfast and lunch, so I could still do karate, and I love breakfast crowds. I'd better decide quick, though, before I have to take a job doing accounting shit in Andover. Bleah. In "brush with greatness" news, I met Clint Eastwood's wife tonight. She was nice enough, but she seemed to think that name dropping would make grapenut ice cream magically appear. My boss thought she was a lunatic, and it was hard for me to see her face, but I looked up pics of her and Clint. It was her, all right. Wish I could have accomodated her, but all we had left was strawberry, soupy butterscotch, and three or four flavors of homemade frozen yogurt. Still, it was kinda neato. I have found way too many unspun fibers tonight that make me go "oooh." I need a spinning wheel, and I need my mom to learn to knit better so I have someone to use my yarn! I think I want to learn to spin silk. It just sounds too, too yummy. This week has been strenuous at the dojo; I was there for all my classes, plus an extra on Thursday with Joe. That was a lot of fun; I like teaching with him. I'd ask to switch over if it wasn't my riding lesson night. Then again, all bets are off if I pass The Test. le sigh... I'm surfing eBay as I write this, and finding more and more lovely rovings in more and more amazing colors that I'd love to spin... a seller said that 4 oz of wool would make a lovely shawl. I need to weigh what I have; Wolfie said he didn't think that what I have would make much, but I'm spinning it up so fine and it's spinning so economically, that I think I'll do all right. I would like to spin a little bulkier, but then again, there's nothing that says I have to make only two ply yarn. I'm actually thinking of S-plying my Z-spun singles, then Z-plying the plied yarn. Makes an interesting cabled-look yarn, which I think would be neato for mittens or socks. And I want to spin some up for bellatrixx, who is swiftly becoming a dear, dear friend and who is encouraging me to learn to knit. I know that she'd really appreciate it. (darkwolfie's mom crochets, I think, but I'm not sure she'd appreciate hand-spun yarn, so as much as I wish I could impress her by giving her some, I doubt that I would, so I probably won't bother. Kinda sad, but I'll get over it.) Ooh... and there's Falklands wool, and Icelandic... I say again... le sigh... I guess I should get to bed. There's Crown Tourney in the morning, and I need to get up for it.
3:43a - let's twist again...
4:30a - chortle So now I have two smallish skeins and one fairly good sized skein, all of which need to be washed to set the twist. I'm terribly tempted to put them in the top rack of the dishwasher and run it without soap... that'd get the hot water at them without agitation. Wonder if anyone else has ever tried it? I mean, if you can use the thing for thawing meat... I find myself inordinately pleased about making this yarn. I've spent the weekend watching stuff like The Ship and Surviving the Iron Age and Frontier House, so I guess I'm just feeling happy that I've managed to create something that would help my clothe my family, if I were in a position to have to do that. In other, far more modern news, I hear that the look-and-feel that I was asked to create for a new feature on the sca.orgwebsite has been approved, so we can move forward with implementing the design throughout the section... indeed, building the section itself. I wish I could say more about it, because it's one of my favorite new things to come from the SCA and SCA.org, and I'm terribly thrilled and proud that my design is going to be its first face, but I don't think it's ethical to talk about it in too much deatil until it's ready to be unveiled. Suffice to say, it's very exciting, and I think rather unexpected (in a positive way), given the previous perceived attitude of the BoD towards electronic communication. I hope it'll be a lovely surprise for SCAdians around the world. Erf. Way early in the morning...late at night for me. I need to get to bed -- job hunting in the morning.
2:34p - creativity I want to do tablet weaving, and do ply-split braiding, and fingerloop braiding, and build another tent. I want to sew and embroider. I want time enough and space enough and money enough. I'm not sure there's enough of any of those things in the universe.
2:25p - grumph
1:12a - really good SEX I went to Mind's Eye Yarns tonight for their weekly Spinning Group. The room was actually split 50/50, spinners and knitters, but it was really fun and educational to be in a room with so many accomplished fiber artists. I'm not a very good knitter, but what I saw these ladies doing tonight could inspire me. Then again, if I bring my naalbinding in some night, I might inspire them, who knows? I bought two bundles of merino top (I think it's top; the definition I have for roving says that the fibers go every which way, and these certainly do not) for $8 each: a lovely burgundy that I've been sighing over since the Knit-Out, and a pretty green for to make stuff for Wolfie. I was torn between that and the blue... I think I'll buy that next week. I'm going to have to buy a new basket to keep all my treasures in! And I saw just the thing at JoAnn the other day... I guess I'll have to get a job just so I can afford this new obession. Oh, and I picked up a copy of "Spin-Off,"a handspinner's magazine. Woot! Plus, I got to spin on a wheel tonight -- an Ashford Joy,the one I've been drooling over. It was a double treadle, which I'm not so sure I like, but maybe I'll get to try a single treadle next week. I love the portability, but I'm thinking now that I really like the look of the Traveler. Very classy. I'm not sure I liked spinning on the wheel... it's odd, spinning horizontally when I've spun vertically for so long. I wasn't even sure I was spinning in the same direction, but when I looked at what I spun on the wheel and what I was spinning on my spindle, it was the same direction after all. Lucy, the owner of the shop, said that spinning the other way is for spinning spells. I almost said "You say that like it's a bad thing," but refrained. You never know when you're going to run into a born-again Christian type who's going to try to save you. (Nothing against them; I just don't need the angst or to expend the energy saying "no thank you.") It took about an hour to get in there (at 5 pm) and 35-40 minutes to get home (at 9:15), so it's not bad for an evening's travels. All in all, I really enjoyed it, and I learned a lot. Then I got home. I hadn't gone riding because I'm training for my black belt test, and I'm deathly afraid of hurting myself (getting thrown) in this last stretch before the test. And when I come into the living room, Wolfie tells me that he got to jump! I'm so proud... and so jealous! Of course, if I'd gone and I hadn't ridden, I would have been even more jealous, so it's just as well I went to spin. I'm still wicked proud of him... my Viking warrior! Oh, he do take my breath away.
2:52p - ooohhh... shineee.... pwetty...
7:36p - walkies And I *so* want a spinning wheel. I understand that the lady who owns Mind's Eye does layaway... so maybe... $410 is a lot of money for the wheel I want, but maybe, just maybe... Ashford makes a slightly less portable one, but the Joy folds up and weighs only 11 pounds. It's not really period, but I gotta ask myself if I really care? Is it more important to have a period wheel or a portable one? I suppose I could just resign myself to not having a wheel at Pennsic; I could still manage to take a larger wheel to other events. Sigh. I should really worry about getting a job first. Then we went to State Street and found the Rand McNally store, where Wolfie got a couple of city maps with buildings shown. Then back to the Park Street station, where we caught the T back to North Station, where we had parked. I'd venture to say that we walked around for a good four hours. My legs are very tired. I feel good, though. It was a good day. I spent it doing things I wanted to do, with my bestest friend in the whole wide world, and I'm happy. It was a good weekend.
11:12p - helium hand For each class, I think that I'll do an outline stitch, a filling stitch, and a knot or powdering stitch. For the beginner class, I'm thinking split stitch, satin stitch, and French knot, and for the intermediate/advanced class, I'll do stem stitch and Bayeux Tapestry stitch (also known as laid and couched stitch), which are the only two stitches on the Bayeux Tapestry. That one stitch might take up the entire time; if not, I'll have something else up my sleeve... maybe long and short stitch (brick stitch). I need to do up some exemplars of these in use -- while I know how to do them, they're not my favorites, so I don't have anything using them. I'm looking for linen and wool thread online to use in making Wolfie's new tunic. Twelfth Night isn't going to be possible this year; it's in Hartshorn-Dale (PA), which is wayyyy too far to go. So I don't have that deadline, but I bought this fabric in June and haven't touched it. I need to serge the ends and wash it out so I know what I'm dealing with, make a pattern, cut, and then start embroidering. I think I'll Fray-Chek the edges or something so it doesn't unravel while I'm working on it. Winter must be coming... I'm planning projects.
12:18p - mitten! Thanks for the compliments, though. I'm very proud. Next step: fulling it in hot sopapy water and the dryer to try to make it more dense and hopefully water-resistant.
10:10p - whee!! "Naalbinding, also called needle knitting, is a Scandinavian technique for making a sturdy, elastic fabric." (definition from Philia's String Page. I used the instructions found here to do a small loop. I bought a booklet at Pennsic called The Åsle Mitten Stitch, and it's WAY too hard for a beginner like me. I got the hang of it, but turning the row of stitching was kicking my ass. I'll stick with the beginner stuff for now. I also learned that s-plied wool comes unspun when I naalbind with it, but I can deal. I really want to make a pair of mittens for Wolfie. Maybe I'll try to find some black wool tomorrow, when Mom and I got to Fiber Loft. They'll go with his new cloak that he got at Pennsic. I need to find some nice melton and make us both coats to wear with our garb... my blue one got ruined in the wash. Maybe I'll color-remove it and dye it a solid color.
2:07p - fiber... it's good for you... http://nhnh.essortment.com/naturaldyeplan_rema.htm
12:56a - spinning yarns I'm all excited. I love learning new stuff.
11:43a - a-roving, a-roving, a-roving be my ru-i-in... I'm not at my home computer right now, so I can't add these links to my favorites for other sources, so I'll just stack them here. http://www.lavenderfleece.com/roving.html |
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