Spinning

Well, I have discovered a new store, Stick and Stone Fiberarts, and a new obsession, not too far from home that sells spinning wheels and has classes. Best of all, they'll teach you how to spin for free. I guess if they want to sell more spinning wheels that this is a reasonable expenditure of time and resources. Happy day for me as I've been wanting a spinning wheel since I was little. I know, I was a weird child.
I'm excited as getting a spinning wheel is exactly what will be happening for Christmas, or rather, the Winter Solstice. And I've been going in about once a week to play on their wheels.
The one I picked out is a very simple looking wheel, not too elaborate or decorative. I found it interesting the first day I was in there a man came in looking to buy a wheel simply for decor'. I thought that was a waste, but then I'm a geek.
I plan on joining the spinning guild, probably at the end of the week, and though my BaldGuy and the HO made fun of me, I'm looking forward to meeting some folks with whom I can geek-out with. I make fun of the BaldGuy when he starts talking about his phone with other geeks, so I guess it's only fair that he gets to make fun of me. It was kinda funny.

So my journey with spinning has been a long one. I took a class a 'long time ago' probably sometime in my late 20's to learn to spin. Mostly, we played around with the drop spindle. The woman loaded us with a lot of information, most of which I couldn't use cause there really wasn't anywhere to go to to get more instruction or to decipher a lot of her language. But I retained what I learned about the drop spindle and sometime last year I dug it out and found a local store, (for local people)that sold nice clean, pre-dyed roving. So I got a book and started to re-teach myself. Apparently, not doing too bad of a job, neither. Now I'm ready for a wheel, and pretty much, it's all I can think about right now.

Positive Reinforcement

Well, I had an excellent time at Northern Faire. Met some nice people and made some new friends. Drank lot's of Chai. Saw the stars. Not such a big deal to some, but when you live in a big city, seeing a lot of stars can be a wonderful, mesmerizing experience.
Had some problems with tummy issues early on, but for all the worrying I did with other issues, I did remarkably well. One problem I did encounter was with the shower situation. The 'camp' showers were designed with taller people in mind, I couldn't reach the handle enough to get more than a trickle. This was highly annoying, I could have done better with a sponge-bath. So that's what I did the next night. Dustapha was great and heated up water for me and everything.
So I am going up again this weekend, and I'm bringing brownies, from scratch. Didn't get to go last weekend cause there was nowhere for me to stay, but I wound up getting a cold on Sunday anyway, so that would have been miserable. Alls well that ends well.
I am excited cause there are people up there looking forward to seeing me. Yay. And I am looking forward to seeing them, hence the brownies. I really like this faire so much more than the one down here. Just need to move I guess.

Northern

Well, I am going to Northern Faire, that's the Renaissance Faire for those not in the know, this weekend. I will be going with Dustapha, and leaving both my BaldGuy and my Bin Diesel at home. I will miss them both terribly. After all, how can Faire be fun without the BaldMan? But I've been dying to go to Northern Faire since I met the BaldMan, at "Southern" Faire, but he just hasn't been up for it. So I boldly go where no BadKitty has gone before.

As those who know me know, I am anxious about all hygiene issues. Sharing a Priv with other people is always a source of anxiety for me. High Anxiety. And the whole shower issue, which I may or may not be able to use alone. How will I deal with my contacts? This will be my first time camping with them. But I shall perservere nonetheless. I am going to have F-U-N. Damn-it! I love Faire, and Northern Faire should be full of cool peeps. I hope to make some new friends, eat some yummy food, and shop for stuff I don't need but will make me smile.

I will post some pix upon my return.

Dog Love

In general I love dogs. In practice, I love some dogs more than others. For instance, our friends basset hound. Don't love. He smells bad, and he has a listening problem. But in most instances, I love dogs and they mostly love me. I'm an alpha.

Chihuahuas are a longtime favorite, a childhood love. As a baby we had a Chihuahua, Nino, who bonded with me and wouldn't let anyone touch me except my parents. That's a strong kind of love. Since then I've been languishing without a Chihuahua.

My dog, Bindi, whom I love with a passion I share with little else, is possibly the best dog in the world. At least, for me, which is what's so great about dogs. Everyone thinks their dog is the best one. She and I are in a little fight about food right now. She has stopped eating her food, and she is a remarkable hold out. She has barely eaten anything for over a week. I cajole her into eating a little of the Royal Canin kibble each day, feeding it to her by hand. And this is a new food as she stopped eating her Canidae canned food all together. What she wants is people food. And it's my fault. I always share a little of my food with her. I consider treats an enrichment to her life, but now she has become uncommonly fussy. I've never had a dog before that didn't love it's food, so I've made a mistake with her. As second in our pack, I guess she feels she's not an animal. I'm very close to just giving in and baking her a chicken every week. I'm bad. She's winning.

Spiders

Well, I have been away from the ol' puter cause there was a spider lurking. Making it's merry way, oblivious to the emotional trauma I was being caused by it's encroachment into my little world, straight for my conduit through which I access the world during the week. Pesky. Creepy.

Horrid.

I went up and brought the computer down cause I still can't stand to be up there by my lonesome.

But, there are certain things I admire about spiders as well. They eat bugs, which I am all for. Daddy longlegs eat other spiders, also a good thing in my book. But I am a great admirer of their webs. Particularly in the mornings when you can see them bejewled in dew. Orb weaver spiders make the most spectacular webs and I am always fascinated by them. They themselves are often quite beautiful. It's too bad really that I can't get over my irrational fear of them.

One spider that I am enamoured of is Miss Spider. She's a vegetarian. I can get behind that.

And then there is the mythological tale of Arachne;

The mythological story of the contest between the goddess Athena and the mortal woman Arachne was perhaps told best by the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses. A summary of Ovid's version of the tale follows. According to Ovid (Metamorphoses, Book VI), Arachne lived in the country of Lydia (which had a legendary reputation for producing some of the most splendid textiles in the ancient world), where she matured into one of the finest weavers ever known. Arachne was in fact so adept at weaving that she became arrogant, and claimed that her ability rivaled that of the goddess Athena. Athena, as the patron deity of weavers and quite an accomplished weaver herself, immediately took notice of Arachne, and travelled to Lydia in order to confront the boastful woman. There the goddess assumed the guise of an old peasant, and gently warned Arachne not to compare her talents to those of an immortal; Arachne merely dismissed this reproach, and so Athena was compelled to accept the mortal woman's challenge. They would each compete by creating a tapestry. Athena wove her tapestry with images that foretold the fate of humans who compared themselves with deities, while Arachne's weaving told of the loves of the gods. Such was Arachne's skill that her work equaled that of the goddess, and Athena, overwhelmed by anger, struck the hapless woman repeatedly. Terrified, Arachne hung herself, but Athena transformed the woman into a spider who quickly scurried off. Thus, this tale explains the spider's ability to weave its web.

Technology Revisited

So, MyBaldGuy figured out why I wasn't able to upload pictures; It won't work with IE. So I wasn't hopelessly technotarded. It was the tool. So there.

Here is a picture of my FaerieWorlds Shawl...
Finally.

On Hoarding

Beads are one of my obsessions/addictions.
These beads are a recent purchase. I think about them a lot, but have yet to break the strand to do something with them. I'm a little afraid that I will dispel their magic by breaking them up, but they're not workable as a strand. Plus, strung as they are, you miss out on their real beauty.
At any rate, these carved shells are old, often worn in the hair of north african ghwaazee dancers. You can check out some of these women photographed in Africa Adorned, by Angela Fisher. This is a worthwhile buy as it contains over 400 spectacular color plates. When I'm feeling low on inspiration, I break this puppy out and drool over the beautiful pages.

When I'm honest with myself, I'll admit that I'm a hoarder. But, I tell myself, without materials, on hand, how can I create. What I need is a room of my own, a studio. Maybe then I wouldn't feel so bad about my piles of stuff crammed here and there.

Technology

Ummm. For three days now, I have been trying to upload a picture. As one can see, no pictures appear in my blog. MyBaldGuy assures me that it's not my fault, it's the upload tool's fault, and yet, he has pictures on his blog.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So, I've been working on crocheting a strap for my FaerieWorlds bag. If it's gonna take me this long to finish a piece, I'm in trouble. And I wonder why it is that Knitting seems to garner more respect than Crochet. I've noticed this in trying to sell some of my wares. A woman at a local doggie boutique had issues with paying me what I thought was a very reasonable price ($12-$18 bucks) for my crocheted collars, made with top of the line materials, and yet she had no problem charging $200 to $300 bucks for a tiny knitted sweater. Crazy. The materials are the same, and as far as I'm concerned, the time spent is the same.
I don't get it.

FaerieWorlds Festival

Back from Oregon and the FaerieWorlds Festival. La-La-Luved Oregon. So nice and green, friendly folks, clean. I want to move there. MyBaldGuy really dug it too, so maybe. Ate mostly vegetarian while there, and I liked it! Yum. If I can manage 'mostly' vegetarian, I would be happy. Gotta get my mind around lovin' the veg. Since my history with vegtables is mostly bad cause my mom used to boil the hell out'a everything, along with all flavor, I need to re-boot.

Anyway, busy, busy little bee I've been making shawls and skirts for costumes. Made a georgeous brown and copper shawl for myself and a copper-orange one for my friend Ivy who went with us. Also made silk and velvet faerie skirts, cut on the bias, a new learning hurdle for me. Ivy helped me with all the sewing. We also drafted out a pattern for a bias camisole, but due to time constraints, we didn't make them. But got an awesome pattern anyway. I happened to find two cami's at LB that were just about perfect color and style wise, so I was set. Though, because Ivy is a perfectionist, and generally plans too many things, we spent trip time working on her costume stuff as well. My little finger can tell you what it feels like to hand stitch a corset cover all by it's lonesome in one day. Though now I can do this! Cool! Love learning new techniques! Maybe I'll become a corsettier! It thrills me when something takes shape like that!

Didn't finnish the bag I was crocheting to go with my costume, but I'm working on it now. My shawls were a big hit, so maybe I'll vend next year. That could be fun. Though I'm not much for camping, maybe we could work out some sort of RV situation. The peeps at the festival were so nice and easy to talk to, it would be nice to hang around, maybe make some new friends, connections.

My next looming project is for a camisole/thong that I purchased the pattern for from http://whiteliesdesigns.com . I plan on making this for a birthday present for a good friend, though I haven't found the yarn yet, so I might have to make it for a Winter Solstice present. I'll make myself one eventually. I also want to make sleeves for a t-shirt. Wild, expansive, expressive sleeves, with ruffles at the wrist.

So thats all for now.

Obsessions

I ordered a new spindle on Ebay. Unfortunately, the wrong picture was displayed, so while I got the spindle in like 3 days, I was completely surprised and disappointed. The one I ordered was a beautiful wood called 'marble wood'. The one I got was a plain brown katalox. It did feel like it would spin wonderfully though. So I sent it back and ordered a different one, not quite as pretty, but we'll see. It should have some nice striations.

I've also ordered some Colinette point5 from Ebay, for a whole lot cheaper than I can get it here. I don't understand that. Even with shipping from England, I can get for half as much. That must be annoying for local yarn shops who are trying to make a living. It annoys me, but I do love this yarn, too much. Yarn, wonderful yarn....
I also got some turquoise mohair from Colinette. I had knitted up a very pretty shawl in this which got stolen from the car. So now I'll make another one.

Modest Endeavors

It's always so hard for me to think of what to say when faced with the blank white page.This is a new attempt at blogging for me, if not the first. Mostly, I think, to keep track of what creative endeavors I am up to.

What I'm working on right now;

• A block for a wedding blanket for a friend. I'm working with the lovely and ever alluring Rio de La Plata yarn. I might stop here to add that I LOVE THIS YARN. It is a wonderful single ply thick and thin yarn in colors that make my heart sing. It is very similar to Mano's del Uruguay, but a wee bit softer maybe?
• I have also been teaching myself to spin and have recently purchased a bunch of silk worm cocoons from this lovely person, http://www.pluckyfluff.com . I want to make a bag from some roving I purchased that will go with a fairy costume, and add these in for some 'leaf-like' texture.
• I am halfway done with a shrug when I see a different but similar pattern that I like better in this months new Interweave Knits. Hmmmm, what to do, what to do. I am of course working with the Rio de La Plata in a pink/brown/mauve colorway. Super beautiful.
• And I have completed knitting, but still have to sew up one fingerless mitt I've made with a green/brown Oddessy. It's cold right now so these would come in handy.